Cranberry Chocolate Chip Cookies

Not gonna lie, I just whipped this up with stuff that was lying around the house because I didn't want to go to the grocery on Superbowl Sunday. Last week's coffee cake came out good, but was missing the struessel topping. I've determined that my office just isn't into coffee cake. I think it's because they have to cut it apart, and prefer things to be pre-cut. This week I decided to go do cookies because everyone likes cookies. I had four bags of craisins, so I whipped up a cranberry chocolate chip recipe. Next week stars the next multi-part series, stay tuned.

Ingredients

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1-1/2 cups packed light-brown sugar
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup dried cranberries
• 1 cup chocolate chips

Directions

1. Cream the butter in a large bowl, gradually adding the brown sugar. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each one. Blend in the vanilla.
2. Mix together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir the dry ingredients into the creamed mixture in two stages. Stir in the cranberries, and chocolate chips.
3. Line two cookie sheets with foil and preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spoon heaping tablespoonfuls of dough onto the sheets, leaving 3 inches between each cookie. Bake for about 11 minutes, or until golden brown. Transfer the cookies to a rack to cool.

Search for the Ultimate Coffee Cake: Part Two

Appologies for not posting sooner. For this week's recipe I took last week's recipe and substituted turbinado for the brown sugar and dried cranberries for the raisins. I didn't take pictures but it looks essentially the same. I tried to add a streusel topping, but the butter ended up melting into the cake instead of forming a nice crunchy topping. I'm afraid I haven't mastered the streusel yet. If this version is approved, I'll post the recipe with any improvements next week. I may start over with a clean slate as I'm not sure how I like the boiled butter.

Quest for the Perfect Coffee Cake! Part One

At the suggestion of someone in our office, I've decided to use the next month or so to find the best coffee cake recipe. I'm hoping to start with a base recipe and build on it, take feedback and perfect it. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a before picture so I've only got a couple of afters. If smell is any indication, this came out just fine. It's an interesting recipe that starts with boiling raisins in copious butter and brown sugar. I used a larger pan so I adjusted my baking time to about 20 minutes.

Ingredients

• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup raisins
• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 1 cup water
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon baking powder

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour one 7x7 inch square baking pan.
2. Boil sugar, raisins, butter, and the water until the raisins absorb most of the water and are quite soggy and mushy. Set aside and let cool completely.
3. Sift the flour, cinnamon, and the baking powder together. Stir the flour mixture into the raisin mixture and mix until just combined. Spread the batter into the prepared pan.
4. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 40 to 45 minutes or until cake springs back upon the touch. Immediately put on a wire rack to cool. This is a very soft cake, liable to break easily. Take care when you cut the cake.

Chocolate Chip Gingerbread Muffins

I'm finally settling into my new digs and am back to baking. Last week I brought in a banana chocolate chip loaf that my aunt made. But I'm back at it. This week's recipe was a vegan recipe, but I was having none of that. I added switched the soy milk for regular milk, and because I don't like to use oil, and because I wanted to mix things up, I substituted with Crisco. The muffins formed a hard crust, which likely owes to the high baking soda content.

Ingredients

• 2 c flour
• 1 tbsp baking soda
• 1 tsp ginger powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground cloves
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/3 c sugar
• 1/3 c shortening (Crisco or oil)
• 2/3 c molasses
• 2/3 c milk
• 6 tbsp water
• 2/3 c mini chocolate chips

Directions

1. In a large bowl sift together the flour, baking soda, dry spices and salt.
2. In a medium bowl first mix the sugar with the oil. Then add the molasses, soy milk, ginger and water, mix until thoroughly combined.
3. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and gently mix. Just make sure there are no big dry patches. Mix in the chocolate chips last.
4. Fill muffin tin 3/4 the way full and bake at 350F for 15-20 minutes.

New Year, New Beginnings - Strawberry Pecan Bread

I've been notably absent these past few weeks. Sadly it was not because I was having such an amazing holiday season that I couldn't be bothered to post. I spent Christmas Eve moving out of the apartment I'd been living at for 4.5 years and into a new apartment, very close to my office. You might ask, "why on earth would one move on Christmas Eve?" And you'd be right to wonder. Basically, the roof in my old apartment caved in and collapsed the day before Thanksgiving, and along with about a thousand other reasons, it was time to move on. I found an apartment and have been dealing with realtors, condo associations, moving, and organizing the past half decade. Then, I got sick on New Year's Eve! So basically I've been a grinch this Christmas but am hoping to return to a somewhat normal, if not very different existence shortly. From all I can tell, turning the oven on to bake this bread is the first time it's been used. I can't wait to put it through its paces. Without further soliloquy, here is tonight's recipe (pictures courtesy of my new 70-300 macro zoom lens).

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup granulated white sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 3/4 cup plain greek yogurt
• 1/2 cup pecans, coarsely chopped
• 2 cups chopped fresh strawberries

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) and place the oven rack in the middle position. Grease a loaf pan and Set aside.
2. In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the room temperature butter until softened (about 1 minute). Add the sugar and continue to beat until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and ground cinnamon. With the mixer on low, add the flour mixture (in three additions) and sour cream (in two additions) alternately, starting and ending with the flour. Mix only until combined. Gently fold in the chopped strawberries and pecans.
4. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake about one hour, or until the bread is golden brown and a toothpick
5. inserted in the center comes out clean. Place on a wire rack to cool and then remove the bread from the pan.

Orange Cranberry Bread

For Thanksgiving I made a pumpkin cheesecake, which seems to have been this year's go-to dessert. However, because I was nursing a massive headache, I did not document my undertaking. For those interested, the recipe, which turned out quite well, can be found here. This week's recipe was found while searching for another recipe. It looks like it was part of a party itinerary that I can't quite recall throwing (must have been a great party). I halved it to make a single loaf. Also had to substitute dried cranberries that had been revived in boiling water for fresh cranberries because my grocery was inexplicably out.

Ingredients

• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 cup orange juice
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted, cooled
• zest of 1 orange
• 1 egg, beaten
• 6 oz fresh cranberries or 1 1/2 cups dried cranberries, boiled in water and drained
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 and grease a large loaf pan
2. Combine dry ingredients, then stir in the wet ingredients.
3. Stir in the cranberries and walnuts and pour into loaf pan
4. Bake for 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
5. Cool on a baking rack.

Apple Cinnamon Muffin

This week's recipe was written all wrong. It called for self rising flour and additional baking powder, far too many apples and a whole lot of margarine. I made some corrections, including adjusting the baking time (and switching to butter), and I think they came out alright. I had some incredibly large Gala apples, so I only used one but it yielded about 2 cups of finely chopped apples. Adjust the recipe accordingly based on your apple of choice. The cinnamon sugar bakes up to a delightful crunch.

I'm gearing up for Thanksgiving baking and hope to have a bonus post in the next few days.


Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1 cup milk
• 7 tbsp butter, melted
• 1/4 tsp vanilla
• 3 apples, chopped
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon (for the cinnamon sugar)
• 6 tbsp granulated sugar (for the cinnamon sugar)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375, and grease a muffin pan.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar.
3. In a separate bowl, mix together the egg, milk, butter and vanilla.
4. Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, and mix in the apples.
5. Spoon batter into each muffin cup until it is mostly full, then add a layer of cinnamon sugar.
6. Bake for 12-15 minutes, let cool.

Raspberry Coconut Zinger Squares

This week's recipe is supposed to be a homemade "Zinger," which, I gather, is a Little Debbie type snack cake. It looked interesting and I'm going to pass it off as coffee cake. Nothing special to report here, I made it according to the recipe for once (with the exception of using a glass baking dish instead of a metal cake tin because I didn't have one in the right size). It uses a surprisingly small amount of ingredient. Also, it is supposedly low fat.

Ingredients

Cake

• Cooking spray
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• ¼ cup granulated sugar
• 2 egg whites
• 1/2 cup reduced-fat sour cream
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• ¼ teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/8 teaspoon salt

Topping

• 2 ounces reduced-fat cream cheese, softened
• 1 tablespoon powdered sugar
• 1 egg white
• ¼ cup low-sugar raspberry jam
  
• ¼ cup sweetened coconut

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat an 8x8-inch baking dish with cooking spray.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat oil, sugar and egg whites about 1 minute, until the mixture is thick and starts to form bubbles on top. On low speed, beat in sour cream. Sprinkle the flour, baking powder and baking soda over the wet mixture, then beat on low speed until smooth. Spread batter evenly in baking dish. Bake 15 to 20 minutes until the cake begins to brown around the edges.
• Meanwhile, place the cream cheese and powdered sugar into a medium bowl. Beat with an electric mixture until smooth. Add the egg white and beat until smooth.
• Pour over the partially baked cake and dot with the jam. Bake 10 to 15 minutes more, until the cream cheese topping is cooked through. Sprinkle with the coconut and bake an additional 5 minutes until the coconut browns.
• Cool cake in the pan on a wire rack, then slice and serve.

Cranberry Sweet Potato Muffins

This week's recipe is something of an unproven frankenstein. It started as a double loaf bread recipe that I cut down to make a single load, then I decided to change it from pumpkin to sweet potato based on last post's stellar results. Then I change it from bread to muffins. Next, I decided to use dried cranberries and cherries instead of cranberries and walnuts. I also soaked the dried fruit in boiling water to soften them prior to baking. I think it came out well despite bearing no resemblance to what the recipe started off as. Be aware this recipe in its current configuration only yields nine standards sized muffins.


Ingredients

• 1 heaping cup of flour
• 1/2 teaspoon ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon allspice
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup sweet potato puree
• 1/2 stick unsalted butter, softened
• 3/4 cup dried cranberries and cherries, softened in boiling water and drained

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 and grease a muffin tin (or bread pan)
2. In one bowl combine flour, spices, salt and baking powder.
3. In another bowl cream butter and sugar. Add egg and mix thoroughly. Add sweet potato and mix until combined. Gently stir in dry ingredients, being careful not to over mix. Gently fold in cranberries and cherries.
4. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups and bake for 15 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.

Sweet Potato Spice Muffin

This week's recipe is a variation on the muffin that started it all. This past week was my 1 year anniversary, and in celebration thereof I had intended to bake the pumpkin spice muffins that I did on my first day. However, after visiting my local Winn Dixie, (I normally shop at Publix but had an errand in the same shopping center) I was unable to find pumpkin pie filling! However, they had a lovely endcap display with sweet potato pie filling; so I decided to make do. I find pumpkin pie and sweet potato pie so closely associated that they are hard to distinguish and figured that they would be interchangeable in the recipe. While they don't taste identical, sweet potato being somewhere between gingerbread and pumpkin, I believe it to be a solid success. Here is the recipe (if you wish to make the original recipe, substitute equal part pumpkin for sweet potato):

Ingredients

• 1½ c. dark brown sugar
• 1 stick softened unsalted butter
• 2 large eggs
• ½ lb. pumpkin puree (about ½ can)
• 1/3 c. buttermilk
• 1½ c. all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 tsp. ground ginger
• ½ tsp. nutmeg
• ½ tsp. allspice
• ½ tsp salt

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Grease muffin tins, or just put those paper liners in.
2. Cream dark brown sugar and softened unsalted butter.
   
3. Add eggs, pumpkin puree, buttermilk.
4. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice, and salt.
5. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet pumpkin mixture.
6. Pour into muffin/cupcake tin and bake for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick tester comes out clean.

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins

This week's recipe is founded upon the weatherman's promise of cooler air towards next weekend. Florida has been under an unprecedented weather pattern whereby a high pressure ride of hot air is keeping away cold fronts and leading to day after day of record breaking high temperatures. I've been waiting months to begin the Fall baking season and can't wait any longer. I started this baking journey with my signature pumpkin muffins, so it is fitting that nearly a year later I'm also making pumpkin muffins to kick off Fall. This recipe is a bit different in that it should be lighter and I've added chocolate chips to appease the sweet teeth at the office. The instructions say to add up to 1 cup of extra flour if your batter is runny but I didn't add any and think that 3 cups may even be too much batter. In any event, here is the recipe. It can also be used for bread, but I think the consistency is better suited for muffins.

Ingredients

• 1 15 oz. can pureed pumpkin
• 1 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
• 3 eggs
• 3-4 cups all-purpose unbleached flour
• 2 tablespoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 2 cups mini chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350.
2. Combine the pumpkin, brown sugar, butter, and eggs and mix until creamy. In a separate bowl, combine all of the dry ingredients except the nuts or chocolate chips.
3. Mix 3 cups of the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, then add as much of the 4th cup as necessary to achieve the proper consistency (moist, but thick enough to stand a spoon in).
4. Add the nuts or chocolate chips and stir in.
5. Pour or spoon the batter into greased muffin tins or bread pans. Bake on the center rack until a toothpick poked into the center comes out dry.
6. Muffins should take between 20 and 25 minutes to bake, small loaves between 25 and 30 minutes, and full sized loaves between 50 minutes and 1 hour.

Triple Blueberry Muffins

This week's recipe was born out of the ingredients I had on hand, which luckily included three delivery methods for blueberries. Once again I incorporated the incredible Ikea blueberry preserves, I also used blueberry yogurt (the real stuff, not fat free) and frozen blueberries. I started with a generic blueberry muffin recipe and then changed it to fit my limited ingredients. I also added a coating of turbinado for crunch, which I think came out pretty well.


Ingredients

• 3 cups of all-purpose flour
• 1 Tbsp baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 10 Tbsp unsalted butter (1 1/4 stick), softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup blueberry yogurt
• 1/3 cup milk
• 3 tablespoons Ikea blueberry preserves
• 1 cup frozen blueberries (or fresh)
  
• 1 Tbsp flour (if using defrosted frozen berries)

Directions

1. Adjust the oven rack to the middle-lower part of the oven. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and set aside.
3. In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar together, beating until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating until incorporated after each one.
4. Beat in one half of the dry ingredients until just incorporated. Beat in one third of the yogurt. Beat in half of the remaining dry ingredients. Beat in a second third of the yogurt and half of the milk. Beat in the remaining dry ingredients and then the remaining yogurt and milk. Again be careful to beat until just incorporated. Do not over beat. Fold in the berries. If you are using frozen berries, defrost them first, drain the excess liquid, and then coat them in a light dusting of flour.
5. Coat the cups of a standard 12-muffin muffin pan with butter or oil. Distribute the muffin dough equally among the cups. Sprinkle tops with turbinado, if desired. Bake until muffins are golden brown, about 20 to 25 minutes. Test with a long toothpick to make sure the center of the muffins are done.
   

Cinnamon Apple Studel

This recipe has been so modified from the recipe it started as, I can legitimately call it my own. It uses some of the tricks I learned with the caramel cinnamon apple ugly cookies. It starts with cooking down Gala apples in sugar, brown sugar and spice until they are half cooked. Then the mixture is mixed with a little flour, rolled in puff pastry and baked. When I pulled it out, it had some weird appendages of puff pastry. I have no clue what they are from. It goes into the oven looking a lumpy mess, and comes out looking like a giant hot pocket. Hopefully I will post reactions tomorrow. Also, congratulations to James and Becky on their new baby girl! We wish her and her parents the very best and can't wait till she visits the office!



Ingredients

• 1 sheet puff pastry, thawed
• 3 gala apples, cored and cut into small chunks
• 3 table spoons white sugar
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1/4 cup raisins
• generous dash cinnamon
• generous sprinkle allspice
• 2 teaspoons flour
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon water

Directions

1. Roll out thawed puff pastry dough to 12" x 16"
2. Cook apples, sugars, spices and raisins until apples are mostly tender.
3. Mix flour with apple mixture and place at one end of puff pastry. Roll into strudel and position in center of cookie sheet. There will be extra apple mixture left over, spoon that over vanilla ice cream while the strudel is in the oven.
4. Brush outside of pastry with egg and water mixture.
   
5. Bake at 375 until puff pastry is golden brown. The time will vary based upon how thin/thick your puff pastry is, mine took 15 minutes. Set your timer for 10 minutes and check every few minutes until done.
6. Cool on wire rack and serve warm.
7. Post a comment if you can figure out what those appendages are in the below photo.
   

Banana Crumb Muffins

Today's recipe was shared by a close friend. Normally I am mortally opposed to bananas; (it goes back to an early childhood spent watching my baby sister smash mouthful upon mouthful of banana into her mouth) but this recipe looked interesting. Instead of using butter I used unsweetened applesauce. This gives it a slightly stickier consistency and less rich flavor, but it retains the moisture provided by the butter. I also added a little bit of the brown sugar to the batter to give it a little color. The baking time was cut to about 16 minutes because my oven tends to run hot and cook fast.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 bananas, mashed
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1/3 cup melted butter or unsweetened applesauce
• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• healthy dash of ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon butter

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly grease 10 muffin cups, or line with muffin papers.
2. In a large bowl, mix together 1 1/2 cups flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, beat together bananas, sugar, egg and melted butter/applesauce. Stir the banana mixture into the flour mixture just until moistened. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.
3. In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, 2 tablespoons flour and cinnamon. Cut in 1 tablespoon butter until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. Sprinkle topping over muffins.
4. Bake in preheated oven for (16)18 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean.

Everything Breakfast Bars

After being hectically busy these past few weeks the mayhem died down today and I had the first lazy day in a while. As I scrambled to come up with something to make for today I ran across this recipe. My main requirement in the recipe was not leaving the house to go to the store and oddly enough, I had everything in it. Because I have never had good luck with recipes that call for oil as a shortening, I substituted unsweetened apple sauce. Also, I tried to sweeten it up a bit by using sweetened coconut flakes and substituting slivered almonds for heath toffee pieces. I've also been having complaints of overdone/dryness in my baking; which I attribute to my gas range. As a result, I cut about 5 minutes off the baking time. Also, I ran out of oats so I cut the oats and upped the flour a little bit. The original recipe calls for 3 cups of oats and 1 1/2 cups of flour.



Ingredients

• Butter (for the pan)
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 2/3 cups whole-wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda dissolved in 1 tablespoon cold water
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 1/2 cups old-fashioned (not quick-cooking) oats
• 1/2 cup sweetened coconut flakes
• 1 cup raisins
• 1 cup chopped dates
• 1/2 cup sweetened dried cranberries
• 1 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped
• 1/2 cup Heath toffee pieces (in the baking aisle)

Directions

1. Set the oven at 375 degrees. Butter an 11-by-16-inch jellyroll pan. Have on hand a 12-inch sheet of foil.
2. In an electric mixer, combine the butter, applesauce, and sugar. Stir until the mixture is smooth. Beat in the eggs, vanilla, and honey until thoroughly combined.
3. Add the flour, baking soda mixture, and salt. Stir well until the flour mixture is moist. Beat in the oats, coconut, raisins, dates, cranberries, walnuts, and toffee pieces.
4. Have a bowl of cold water nearby. Tip the batter into the pan and spread it with a rubber spatula. Then dip your hands into the water and pat the dough to within 3 inches of one short side (so you have a rectangle that is 11 by 13 inches. Roll up the sheet of foil, flatten it to make a 1-inch-wide band, and press the band against the dough on the empty side to keep it in place. Alternatively, just shape it with a silicone spatula into a 1" thick square.
5. Bake the bars for 25 minutes or until lightly browned and firm to the touch.
6. Remove from the oven and set the pan on a rack to cool.
7. Make 4 lengthwise and 5 crosswise cuts to form 30 bars. Wrap them in plastic wrap and store in airtight container.

Shortcut Lemon Cookies

I've been incredibly busy these past few weekends and sadly my baking, and this blog, have been among the collateral damage. My sister made these cookies yesterday and though I generally scoff at packaged baking mixes, they were pretty good! This is the recipe, as she made them with the addition of blueberry preserves and extra extract. Once again I used the amazingly good Ikea blueberry preserves. I'd prefer them to be made with butter over oil but the result wasn't too bad. The preparation couldn't be simpler.



Ingredients

• 1 (18.25 ounce) package lemon cake mix
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoon lemon extract
• turbinado sugar for decoration
  
• confectioners' sugar for decoration
• Ikea blueberry preserves (if desired)
  

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2. Pour cake mix into a large bowl. Stir in eggs, oil, and lemon extract until well blended. Drop teaspoonfuls of dough into a bowl of turbinado or confectioners' sugar. Roll them around until they're lightly covered. Once sugared, put them on an ungreased cookie sheet.If desired, drop a small spoonful of blueberry preserves, jam or anything else you like.
3. Bake for 6 to 9 minutes in the preheated oven. The bottoms will be light brown, and the insides chewy.

Lingonberry or Blueberry Muffins

This weekend has been incredibly hectic so I wanted to make something simple, and for once it's (sort of) my own creation. I made a simple muffin batter, added a little bit of cinnamon and then a dollop of either ikea blueberry preserves or ikea ligonberry preserves into the muffin cup before baking. My camera is missing in action on a secret project so there aren't any photos this week, you'll just have to use your imagination (they look similar to the cherry blueberry muffins, posted in January). The recipe I used for the batter was poorly drafted so I accidentally didn't add the butter until after combining dry and wet ingredients. This meant I had to overbeat the batter to incorporate the butter and as a result the muffins were tough. I have corrected the recipe and included a word of warning.

Ingredients
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 large eggs
1 cup milk or cream
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cups granulated white sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt


Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Position rack in center of oven. Butter, or line with paper liners, 12 muffin cups.
2. In a large measuring cup or bowl whisk together the eggs, milk, and vanilla extract. Add cooled melted butter.
3. In another large bowl whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.With a rubber spatula fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir only until the ingredients are combined. Do not over mix the batter or tough muffins will result.
4. Fill muffin cups 2/3 full with batter. Add a dollop of preserves to the center. Fill muffin
   
5. Place in the oven and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean, about 16 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool for about 5 minutes before removing from pan.
6. Makes 12 regular sized muffins.

Monday Musing

It's been a while since I've had a free moment on a Monday to post. Last night's effort was surprisingly well received. Everyone seemed to agree that the taste was amazing and that it would be great warmed up with vanilla ice cream. It was also agreed that it looked terrible. I think if I were to make it again, and I think I will closer to Christmas, I would make it as a cookie bar.

In other news, the vanilla extract is coming along nicely but it is going to be at least a few more weeks before it is extract. I am also considering adding a few more vanilla beans as it appears the extract has plateaued and hasn't grown much darker or more aromatic lately. Also, I think using the cheapest booze I could find was a mistake, it smells like vanilla scented rubbing alcohol.

Caramel Cinnamon Apple FAIL cookies

This week's recipe is the worst kind of fail: a great tasting, horrible looking fail. The taste is amazing but the rest just disapoints. I wanted to make a caramel apple cinnamon cookie but everything out there was an apple cookie dipped in caramel. Now I know why.

I found a vegan recipe that looked promising and made it back into something, I hoped would be, fit for human consumption. Unfortunately the recipe doesn't call for nearly enough leavening and the results are....well, they're visible below. Adding insult to injury I ran out of parchment paper and was left with bare cookie sheets, which further aggravated a bad situation. Adding to that are the thermal properties of caramel and I begin to understand why caramel is dipped or added after baking.

In short, everything turns into a gooey catch-22: if you take the cookies from the pan straight away without letter them set the caramel is too melty but if you let it set for a few minutes (or longer, or in the refrigerator) then the caramel bonds like epoxy to the pan. I even tried to salvage the remaining batter (after I had cemented apple chunks with caramel mortar to every cookie sheet I had) by making mini muffins. Again, I hit the caramel catch-22.

I'm posting the recipe as a challenge to someone with more talent than I to fix it. I'm pretty sure it's a baking soda/powder thing because all the other ingredients are right. Also, maybe freeze the caramel chunks so they don't melt as fast. Input is appreciated.



Ingredients

Cinnamon Apples

• 2 Fuji apples, diced (depends on size of your apples.)
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 generous tablespoons brown sugar

Cookie Batter

• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 2 cups + 5 tablespoons flour
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 7 or 8 caramel candies, cut into small chunks

Directions

1. Prepare the cinnamon apples: Melt the butter in a pan over medium heat. Add the apples, sugar, and cinnamon. Cook until apples are tender. Let cool before adding to dough, this step is critical.
2. Prepare cookies: Preheat oven to 350
   
3. Beat sugars, butter, vanilla, and egg with flat beater at medium power.
4. Sift in the dry ingredients and beat.
5. Mix in the cinnamon apples and caramel (you want enough so that there are apple pieces in each cookie. you might need more apples or fewer) , and drop dough by VERY SMALL tablespoons onto parchment paper. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until done. Let cool.

Summer Berry Lemon Tart

This week's recipe is a variation on a Gordon Ramsay recipe. I baked a simple tart crust which, although ugly, is delicious. Then I added a recipe I found for lemon curd, which is an eggy custard without the milk and topped it off with fresh summer berries. In this case, strawberries and blueberries. The lemon curd is reminiscent of a lemon sauce my mother makes but has a thicker consistency.

Ingredients

Tart Crust

1. 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2. 1/8 teaspoon salt
3. 1/2 cup unsalted butter
4. 1/4 cup granulated white sugar
5. 1 large egg, lightly beaten

Lemon Curd Filling

1. 3 large eggs
2. 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice (2-3 lemons) (do not use the bottled lemon juice)
3. 1 tablespoon finely shredded lemon zest
4. 3/4 cup granulated white sugar
5. 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature and cut into small pieces

Directions

Tart Crust

1. In a medium bowl, sift or whisk together the flour and salt. Set aside.
2. Place the butter in your mixer and beat until softened. Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy.
3. Gradually add the beaten egg, beating just until incorporated. Don't over mix or the butter will separate and lighten in color.
4. Add flour mixture all at once and mix just until it forms a ball. Don't overwork or pastry will be hard when baked.
5. Flatten dough into disk, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 20 minutes or until firm.
6. Roll out dough on parchment paper with rolling pin until 1/8" thick and roughly 1" larger than the sides of your pan.
7. Place your tart pan upside down on the dough and flip parchment paper. Press into the sides of the pan.
8. Chill in refrigerator for an additional 20 minutes.
9. Place a sheet of parchment paper ontop of chilled dough then add pie wieghts or uncooked rice to weigh dough down while baking. Bake in 400 degree oven for 20-25 minutes until crust edges turn golden brown.
10. Remove weights and cool crust on wire rack before filling.

Lemon Curd Filling

1. In a stainless steel bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water, whisk together the eggs, sugar, and lemon juice until blended.
2. Cook, stirring constantly (to prevent it from curdling), until the mixture becomes thick (like sour cream or a hollandaise sauce) This will take approximately 10 minutes.
3. Remove from heat and immediately pour through a fine strainer to remove any lumps. Cut the butter into small pieces and whisk into the mixture until the butter has melted.
4. Add the lemon zest and let cool. The lemon curd will continue to thicken as it cools.
5. Cover immediately (so a skin doesn't form) and refrigerate for up to a week.

Pour cooled lemon curd filling into cooled pie crust and cover with your choice of berries. Refrigerate.