Monkey Bread!

I had a strategic planning planning today at noon for AFHny.  I figured we could use something delicious to get us through a few hours of thinking, planning, talking, strategizing. I was thinking ambitious planning on making caramel rolls, but I didn't have the time yesterday and I was not getting up earlier than I do for work to make them today.  Instead I made a tasty alternate, Monkey Bread aka Pull Apart Cinnamon Rolls. 

I couldn't find frozen dough at the local grocery store, so this time I actually made the bread dough via Betty Crocker, which was pretty easy.  The only problem was the dough kept getting stuck in hand mixer and slowing or stopping it or pulling the beaters out.  Just another sign that I really need a KitchenAid Mixer, even if it would take up half my counter space. 

Monkey Bread 

• 2 loaves of Bread Dough (see below) or 2 loaves of Frozen bread dough, thawed
• 1/2 cup butter, melted 
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2- 3 oz packages cook & serve vanilla pudding
• 2 Tbsp milk
• 2 Tsp cinnamon

1. Do not let your dough raise very much! Break one loaf into pieces and place in a greased 9x13 pan.
2. Mix butter, sugar, pudding mix, milk and cinnamon together.  Pour over loaf in pan. 
3. Break up remaining loaf into pieces and place on top. 
4. Let Rise (all though I did not let them raise very long in my haste and they turned out fine)
5. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until tops are golden brown. 

I forgot to take a picture when they came out of the oven. This is post meeting.

2 loaves of bread dough

• 6 to 7 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 Tbsp sugar
• 1 Tbsp salt
• 2 Tbsp shortening
• 2 packages regular or quick active dry yeast (4 1/2 tsp)
• 2 1/4 cups very warm water

1. In a large bowl, stir 3 1/2 cups of the flour, the sugar, salt, shortening and yeast until well mixed. 
2. Add warm water and beat with electric mixer on low speed 1 minute, scraping bowl frequently.  Stir in enough remaining flour, 1 cup at a time, to make dough easy to handle. 
3. Place dough on lightly floured surface. Knead about 10 minutes or until dough is smooth and springy. 

Enjoy!  
  

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

I'm not the kind of person who has cooking staples on hand. I don't have a  well stocked pantry (if you can even call it that) of basic items, so when I make a recipe, I generally have to buy some supplies. It bothers me to no end when I am left with random, unused ingredients. After making pulled pork recently, I was left with half a package of dried apricots. What in the world am I going to do with dried apricots?! I don't really like the texture, so I don't see myself eating them as a snack. The next logical answer: bake cookies, of course :)

I am a fan of adding cranberries to oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, so I decided the apricots (or any other dried fruit) would be an easy substitute. And in some alternate universe, I can claim they are healthy because they are upping my fruit and vegetable intake.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Apricot Cookies

(adapted from a cookie recipe found here)

2/3 cup white sugar

2/3 cup brown sugar

1 cup butter, softened

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

3 cups old fashioned oats

1 cup all purpose flour

2 cups chocolate chips (I ended up using an entire 12 oz bag. Who really wants to have chocolate chips lying around anyway?)

couple handfuls chopped, dried apricots (very scientific)

Preheat oven to 375°F. Mix butter with sugars until incorporated and creamy. Add the eggs and mix to combine. Stir in the vanilla extract.

Separately, combine the baking soda and powder, salt, flour, oats, chocolate chips, and apricots. Add the butter mixture and mix only until just combined.

Drop by rounded tablespoons (I made mine way too big) onto an ungreased baking sheet about 2" apart. Bake 8-10 minutes until the edges are crisp and the centers are slightly soft (I would take these before they look crispy. They didn't seem like they were firming up and I ended up with pretty brown bottoms. I would suggest taking them out after about 10 minutes and let them cool on the pan.).

Happy New Year!!

Pumpkin Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

While searching for recipes to take to the Holiday Party, this pumpkin cake was a close second to the Lemon Squares I ended up bringing. I just love pumpkin too. I think this cake would have been a nice addition to our Pumpkin Cook Off in October. It's a piecemeal pairing of two Pioneer Woman recipes. You can find the original pumpkin cake here and the cream cheese frosting here. I like to bake but obviously shouldn't be consuming large amounts of sweets on my own, so I brought a small one to work (which was met with complaints from my boss about calories as she shoved a piece in her mouth) and am taking a larger one to my boyfriend's office warming party tonight. I hope it's a hit!

Mmmm.....I will admit, my finger may have accidentally dipped into this frosting before it made it onto the cake.

I ran into a little snafu with my dishes and filled them too full, resulting in an overflow situation. Normally this would have been fine but I baked them in these Pyrex dishes because they have lids and travel well. Unfortunately, the top layer of cake had to be removed so there was room for frosting. However, the crumbly part of cake doesn't take frosting as well as the outside (I found this out the hard way). If you run into the same issue, make sure your icing is very warm and pliable before you get to the frosting process.

Not so pretty but still delicious!

Pumpkin Cake

2-1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons Cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon ground Nutmeg (a little goes a long way!)

1 stick softened butter

1-1/2 cup sugar

3 whole eggs

1-1/4 cup plain, unflavored yogurt

1 cup canned pumpkin puree

Preheat oven to 325° F. Spray a cake pan with cooking spray. Mix flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a medium bowl and set aside. In a larger bowl, beat together butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each. Add pumpkin and yogurt to butter mixture and mix gently until just combined. Gradually add flour in increments, beating until just combined. Pour batter into pan and bake for 35-40 minutes (mine went longer), or until set. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely before frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1/4 cup softened butter

4 oz cream cheese

1/2 pound powdered sugar* or 2-1/4 cups powdered sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Mix all ingredients until whipped (I don't have a mixer, but beating by hand worked fine. I'm working on my biceps!). Taste the frosting for quality control purposes. Smear all over completely cooled cake!

*Who measures anything in pounds?! I had to consult one of my favorite cooking resources to help with this one. Onlineconversion.com is really useful when making small or large batches of recipes. All those fractions can get confusing! Who knew 16 tablespoons make a cup?!

Quick and Easy Lemon Squares

I attended Jenn's Holiday Party yesterday. She is so on the ball and sent the invitation out weeks ago. I, on the other hand, am not on the ball. It came down to 12:30 yesterday afternoon (the party started at 4) and I was sitting at my boyfriend's house (who happens to live across the hall from Jenn) without a plan of what to make and no supplies to make it with. While scouring the internet for recipes, my main criteria was something easy using ingredients I already had (or could find in a short period of time).

The winner was from the Pioneer Woman. (If you don't read her blog, you should. She is hilarious and has awesome recipes and giveaways!) I named off a few recipes I was considering to Kurt and he chose Creamy Lemon Crumb Squares. It's not the most seasonal dessert ever but sounded good, so I was sold. I was able to steal oats from Kurt and acquire the sweetened condensed milk and lemons from my local deli. Surprisingly, I already had everything else. Time was ticking, so I rushed home to get baking.

I normally like to take my time cooking, spread out, listen to music, and have a glass of wine. However, I was in a time crunch and running around like a madwoman. Somehow I was able to complete this recipe in the midst of doing laundry, buying wine, and tending to my neglected cat. I got halfway through the process and though that's it?! It was that simple. Next time I try this recipe, I would use less dry ingredients or more butter. My "crumb" mixture ended up more like sand. I would have liked it clumpier. Otherwise, it's great.

Lemon Crumb Squares

1-1/3 cups all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 stick butter, slightly softened

1 cup brown sugar, lightly packed

1 cup oats

1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk

1/2 cup lemon juice (2 medium sized lemons should yield about this much)

Zest of 1 lemon

Preheat the oven to 350° F. Mix together the sugar and butter until well combined. Mix together flour, salt, and baking powder (the recipe says "sift" but I lacked the accoutrement to perform such a task and it turned out fine). Combine the butter and flour mixtures and oats. Press half the crumb mixture into the bottom of a pan. In another bowl, mix together the sweetened condensed milk, lemon juice, and zest until smooth. Pour into the pan on top of the crumb mixture. Sprinkle the remaining crumb mix on top. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until the top is golden brown. Let cool before refrigerating. It's best served chilled. Enjoy!

Caramel Sea Salt Brownies

In addition to the salad combination I luckily stumbled upon, I also brought some brownies to the Thanksgiving feast at my boyfriend's apartment this year. I am more confident with sweets and baking then other types of cooking but will admit I've made good friends with Betty Crocker over the years. I never had a problem cutting corners and using a mix. "Made from scratch" never brought me the same satisfaction as I think other people feel. I'm not in this for pride. I'm here for tasty treats! 

I had a bit of a roadblock this Thanksgiving though. My boyfriend and his family revel in doing things the hard way. "Made from scratch" is Kurt's middle name. Practically everything on the table was grown in his parent's garden in Ohio or from nearby. The turkey was raised by a local kid. They would probably grind their own flour before stooping to the level of using a boxed mix of some sort.

So while my Thanksgivings growing up consisted of Stove Top stuffing, cranberry sauce in the shape of a can, and Stauffer's macaroni and cheese, I needed to step up my game, roll up my sleeves, and give this made from scratch thing a try. I had been eying this brownie recipe from a blog I typically read and thought I would give it a try.

The ingredients were pretty basic. However, I would not wait until the Tuesday before Thanksgiving to get your supplies at Whole Foods. It's a madhouse! 

Olivia does a pretty good job of walking you through the recipe and adding some hints. Here are a few of mine:

-I found it helpful to measure out the flour and sugar into small bowls (Martha Stewart style) before starting to cook. Some of the steps move quickly and I didn't want to be fumbling with measuring cups while burning things.

-I let my caramel thicken too long and probably cooked the whole thing in the oven too long. This combined with refrigerating overnight turned my brownie into a brick. It softened a little in the microwave, but I would be mindful of those things and maybe even slice into portions as soon as it comes out of the oven because it will be difficult to cut later.

-In that same vein, wash your caramel saucepan immediately. Otherwise the caramel will harden and be a beast to clean out!

-There isn't any egg in the brownie mixture, so it has a tendency to be crumbly. It is great served warm over some vanilla ice cream. The sea salt is a great complement to the rich and sweet brownie!

Winter warmth

I woke up yesterday and the morning light coming through my window seemed unusually bright. Looking outside, all I saw was white. I'm not sure what triggers this emotion, but I shouted a "woohoo!" and heard my boyfriend giggle downstairs.

I love snow. LOVE snow. It reminds me of so many of my favorite things. Skiing. The UP. Bozeman. Thanksgiving. And for some reason, zucchini bread. Maybe that's because my mom made it at the holidays from zucchini she had in her freezer. Or maybe it's because its so good when eaten straight out of the oven. Whatever the reason, it snowed, so I instinctively wanted to make zucchini bread.

 

I found a really delicious zucchini bread recipe in The Gluten-Free Gourmet Cooks Comfort Foods book. This one is a little less traditional than what I think of when I think zucchini bread, but I'm glad I tried it. I thought the pineapple might have given it a more summer-ish feel, but there's no way zucchini bread can ever be anything but a winter food.

 

Pineapple-Zucchini Bread with Teff Buckwheat

Slightly modified by substituting buckwheat flour for the teff flour, pecans for walnuts, and skipping the lemon peel and raisins:

Dry ingredients

• 1 cup buckwheat flour
• 2 cups featherlight mix
• 3 teaspoons xantham gum
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 3/4 teaspoon cloves

Wet ingredients

• 3 eggs
• 1 1/3 cups sugar
• 1 cup vegetable/olive oil blend or melted butter
• 1 bag of frozen-then-thawed shredded zucchini (probably about 2 cups)
• half a 20oz can of chunked pineapple

and... 1 cup-ish of chopped pecans
Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a large muffin pan with butter or oil.
Mix dry ingredients in a bowl, and set aside.
Using a mixer, beat eggs until frothy, then add sugar and oil. Beat for 2 minutes. Stir in zucchini and pineapple.
Spoon in flour mix and then add pecans.
Bake for 15-25 minutes or until fork comes out clean. Let the muffins sit in the pan for ~5 minutes before taking them out, and then pour the rest of the batter in to make the rest of the muffins.
Makes 12 large muffins.