Tropigal Granola

Maybe I'm wishing for spring, and even pretending that when it gets here it will be warmer like summer. Maybe I was just dreaming of being on vacation in the Bahamas with Gwyneth. Who knows. But here goes: granola modified from this recipe at Joy the Baker, who modified it from Martha Stewart. I am, by the way, very enamored of Joy the Baker. Have I mentioned chocolate peanut butter pretzel sea salt brownies lately?! But I digress....back to the granola.

4 cups old fashioned oats

1 cup slivered raw almonds

1 cup whole raw almonds

1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut (the Whole Foods bulk coconut is great)

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons butter

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup honey

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

approximately 3 oz. dried unsweetened mango slices, snipped into small pieces

approximately 4 oz. dried tart cherries, cut in half (I used Montmorency cherries from Trader Joe's)

Place a rack in the upper third and middle of the oven and preheat to 325 degrees F. Line one large or two small baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

Whisk together oats, whole almonds, slivered almonds, sweetened coconut cinnamon and salt. Set aside.

In a medium saucepan, melt together butter, oil, honey and brown sugar until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture begins to boil. Carefully whisk together so it’s well incorporated. Add the vanilla extract. Pour the warm mixture over the oat and almond mixture and toss together with a wooden spoon, ensuring that all of the oat mixture gets moistened by the sugar and oil mixture.

Spread mixture onto prepared baking sheet(s) and bake for about 25 minutes, removing the oats to stir and toss on the pan twice during baking. Remove from the oven, letting cool and turning over/breaking up every few minutes until it is almost room temperature and relatively dry. Mix in cherries and mango pieces. Store in an airtight container.

Even Kels likes this. I would like to make this with macadamia nuts next time, but it was a spur of the moment thing, and at that moment, Trader Joe's was out of them. But--for the record--when they have them, they are both good and affordable.

Dry roasted granola

I like making granola, but most recipes are fairly heavy and sweet.  I have never cared much for the raw taste of muesli.  Here is a nice in-between version, with toasted oats and nuts, and a little brown sugar, that I found while browsing The Enchanted Broccoli Forest recently.

DryRoast Granola
1 cup raw rolled oats
⅓ cup chopped nuts
⅓ cup wheat germ
⅓ cup sesame seeds
⅓ cup sunflower seeds
⅓ cup shredded coconut
¼ cup brown sugar
¼ tsp salt

Use a large heavy skillet (preferably cast iron). Toast the oats and nuts over medium low heat, stirring continuously for 5 minutes.

Add wheat germ, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, coconut and dried fruit. Heat and stir for another 10 minutes.

Sprinkle in brown sugar and salt. Cook for 2-5 more minutes, still stirring. Remove from heat, cool, and store in an airtight container.

 From The Enchanted Broccoli Forest, via SparkRecipes

Steel cut oats

Now that the weather's getting cooler, I'm starting to make steel cut oats for breakfast again.  They take a long time to cook, but you can make a big batch to keep in the fridge and microwave portions.  I really like the texture compared with rolled oats.

I haven't tried cooking with them yet, but the recipe for Scottish buttermilk oat scones on the package sounds good.

Lemon-Ricotta Hotcakes

Shelley and Russ made the best pancakes I think I've ever tasted this morning!  They made Lemon-Ricotta Hotcakes from Hell's Kitchen in Minneapolis.  I think we haven't had enough variety in our pancake making, we'll definitely have to add this to our repertoire.

Poppy seed muffins

As Alton Brown would say, these aren't really muffins, they're cupcakes.  But they're good.  It's a very runny batter, like a cake batter instead of muffin batter.  I didn't realize what a huge recipe I was making until I was already too far along to back out, so I made a dozen muffins and two small loaves.  The glaze is nice, but so sweet that I wish I had backed off on the sugar in the muffins themselves.

Poppy Seed Muffins

3 eggs
2½ cups white sugar
1⅛ cups vegetable oil
1½ cups milk
1½ teaspoons salt
1½ teaspoons baking powder
1½ tablespoons poppy seeds
1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
1½ teaspoons almond extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
¾ cup white sugar
¼ cup orange juice [I used lemon juice]
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon almond extract
2 teaspoons butter, melted

1. Beat together the eggs, 2½ cups white sugar and vegetable oil. Add in milk, salt, baking powder, poppy seeds, vanilla, almond flavoring, and flour. Mix well.
2. Bake in paper lined muffin cups (filled ¾ full or 3 small greased loaf pans) at 350° F (175° C) for 15-20 minutes for muffins and 50-60 minutes for loaves. The tops should be browned and a toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean.
3. Remove muffins as soon as you can while still warm/hot and dunk tops into glaze. Turn right side up and cool on a cookie rack. With loaves just pour the glaze evenly over the three loaves while still in pans. Let cool to a warm temp. and remove from pans. Yes, it is a little messy but it is really good.
4. To Make Glaze: In a saucepan over low heat, combine ¾ cup sugar, orange juice, ½ teaspoon vanilla, ½ teaspoon almond flavoring and 2 teaspoons melted butter. Warm in pan until the sugar is dissolved. Pour over loaf pans or dunk muffin tops into glaze when cooled to room temperature. (Omit the glaze altogether if you don't like the mess.) 

Allrecipes.com

Crunchy Granola

Since I've been making my own yogurt, I thought it might be time to try making granola as well. I think I've tried it once before, a long time ago. This batch was good, though the oats got a bit too dark. The toasted almonds are perfect. The recipe came from Feast by Nigella Lawson. The official UK version (with masses instead of volume measurements) is here.

Andy's Fairfield Granola

4½ cups rolled oats
1 cup/4 oz. sunflower seeds
¾ cup/4 oz. sesame seeds
¾ cup/6 oz. apple sauce
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. ground ginger
⅓ cup brown rice syrup or rice malt syrup, or failing that, golden syrup
¼ cup clover honey or other honey
¾ cup light brown sugar
2 cups/8 oz. whole almonds
1 tsp. sea salt
2 tbsp. sunflower oil
2 cups raisins

Mix everything except the raisins together very well in a large mixing bowl. I use a couple of curved, rigid spatulas; normally, I’d be happy to use my hands, but here it just leaves you covered with everything.

Spread this mixture out on two baking tins (the sort that come with ovens, and are about the width of a rack) and bake in a 300-325°F oven, turning over about halfway through baking and re-distributing the granola evenly during the baking process. The object is to get it evenly golden without toasting too much in any one place. This should take anything from about 40 minutes. I use a gas oven, which doesn’t brown as fast as an electric one, so often leave it in for up to an hour.

Once it’s baked, allow to cool and mix together with the raisins. Store airtight.

Apple Coffeecake

From Julie Allen, via the "Sailor's Delight" WHOI cookbook.

½ c. walnuts
2 tsp. cinnamon
1½ c. sugar, divided
½ c. butter
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2 c. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 c. sour cream
2 apples, peeled and sliced

Mix nuts, cinnamon, and ¾ cup sugar in small bowl. Mix butter, remaining sugar, eggs and vanilla in a separate bowl. Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; add to batter. Beat in sour cream. Spread half of batter in a greased 9-inch tube pan or bundt pan. Arrange sliced apples on top of batter. Cover with nut mixture and then the rest of the batter. Bake 40 minutes at 375 degrees.

I made this a couple of weeks ago and I am just getting around to posting it; I remember thinking that it was good, but I had some ideas for improvements. I have, naturally, now forgotten them. Darn. The only thing I remembered is that I substituted pecans for walnuts, and liked that. I also melted the butter, like in a muffin recipe, instead of creaming butter and sugar; that also worked well, though I am not sure if it's what was intended. I made it in a silicon bundt pan and wasn't sure it would hold together, what with the thick apple layer, but it did nicely. I think one main thing was that the baking time was really different than what the recipe said. Wish I remembered how.

Spider Cake

This is another long time favorite I've never posted before. Apparently "spider" is an old New England term for a cast iron pan.

New England Spider Cake
2 cups milk
4 teaspoons white vinegar
1 cup all-purpose flour
¾ cup yellow cornmeal
¾ cup sugar
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
2 eggs
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup heavy cream.

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Combine milk and vinegar in a bowl and set aside to sour. In another bowl, combine flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking soda and salt. Whisk eggs into the soured milk. Stir into dry ingredients and set batter aside.

2. Melt butter in a 12-inch cast-iron skillet. Pour in the batter. Pour cream into the center, slide skillet into the oven and bake until golden brown on top, about 45 minutes. Slice into wedges and serve warm.

Yield: 8 servings.

From the New York Times Magazine

Chili Relleno Casserole

1 sweet onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
8 eggs
½ cup milk
2 T. all purpose flour
½ tsp. pepper
½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. ground cumin
3 7-ounce cans whole green chilies, split open and cut into strips
5 corn tortillas, torn into strips
1 pound shredded Monterey Jack cheese
paprika

Lightly grease 9x9-inch glass baking dish. Heat a small amount of oil in a skillet on medium, and saute onions and garlic until onions are lightly browned. Remove from heat and set aside. Beat eggs with milk, flour, pepper, salt, and cumin in a medium bowl to blend. Arrange chilies from 1 can in prepared dish, covering bottom completely. Cover with strips of tortilla, then sauteed onion mixture. Sprinkle with approximately ⅓ of the cheese. Repeat layering twice. Pour egg mixture over the top. Sprinkle with paprika. Let stand 30 minutes. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate.)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Bake until casserole is mostly set, slightly puffed in center and golden brown on edges, about 45 minutes. Cool 10 minutes and serve.

Modified from this epicurious post, incorporating various comments and updates.

Waffles (or: Joy of Cooking 1, Alton Brown 0)

We decided that waffles would make a great Saturday morning vessel for our Five Fruits Sauce, uh, Jam. I am the primary waffle maker (probably; instigator, definitely) and I reached for our Joy when Kels asked why I always use that recipe. Why not try another one? Why not indeed. So he reached for Alton Brown and found his. Look, it's much simpler! And indeed it was. What we learned: there is a reason that they come out so fabulously when you go to the trouble to separate the eggs, and beat, then fold in, the egg whites. We have a Villaware Belgian waffle maker, and the Alton Brown ones did not rise enough. Overdone on the bottom, deflated and doughy on top, these were not keepers. Tasty with the jam, though....

Raspberry lemon muffins

She lives, she breathes, she even bakes muffins!

1 1/4 cups sugar, divided
4 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest (about 2 lemons' worth)
2 cups all purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 large egg
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
juice of 1 lemon
1 cup frozen raspberries

Preheat oven to 375°F. Mash 1/4 cup sugar and lemon peel in small bowl until sugar is slightly moist. Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt in medium bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat remaining 1 cup sugar and butter in large bowl until smooth. Beat in egg. Beat in buttermilk, then vanilla, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, and half of lemon sugar. Beat in flour mixture. Very briefly mix in raspberries.

Divide batter among muffin cups. Bake muffins until lightly browned on top and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 35 minutes. Brush tops of muffins lightly with lemon juice; sprinkle with remaining lemon sugar and cool.

Modified from this recipe on epicurious.

Eggs & Cake

For Saturday brunch today, Cardamom Coffee Cake from the original Moosewood Cookbook, and bacon and eggs baked in ramekins. The cake was as rich as the Ashkenazic Sour Cream Coffee Cake we've made before, and it's a nice, easy way to make eggs.

Cardamom Coffee Cake

1 lb (4 sticks) butter or margarine, softened
2 c light brown sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
4 c flour
2 tsp baking powder
2½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 tbs cardamom
2 c sour cream (or yogurt or buttermilk)
¼ c light brown sugar
1 tbs cinnamon
½ c walnuts, finely chopped

Preheat oven to 350° F. Grease and flour a 10-inch tube or bundt pan.

In a LARGE mixing bowl, beat butter with 2 cups brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. Stir in the vanilla.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, soda, salt, and cardamom in a separate bowl.

Add the flour mixture, ⅓ of it at a time, to the butter mixture, alternating with the sour cream. Stir just enough to blend after each addition. Don't beat or otherwise overmix.

Combine ¼ cup brown sugar, cinnamon, and walnuts in a separate small bowl.

Spoon approximately ⅓ of the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle with half the nut mixture, then add another third of the batter. Cover with remaining nut mixture, then top with remaining batter. Lightly spread into place.

Bake approximately 1¼ hours or until a knife inserted all the way in comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan for 20 minutes, then invert onto a plate. Cool at least 30 minutes more before cutting into it. Enjoy!!

Serves 18

Better Blueberry Pancakes

This was from Cook's Illustrated, and I've been wanting to try it for a while, since I haven't been that happy with pancakes from the Joy of Cooking (they're a little rubbery, and don't cook evenly in my cast iron pan). Cook's Illustrated isn't freely available online, but I found the recipe on someone's random food blog via Google.

The pancakes were pretty good, though they didn't cook as evenly as I would have liked either. Much more tender that Joy's, but I'm not sure I see the point of sprinkling the blueberries on after the pancake hits the skillet. I'm not afraid of swirly blue batter. They would probably cook better in a big teflon pan, but we don't have one these days.

Ingredients
1 tbl. lemon juice from 1 lemon
2 cups milk
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (10 ounces)
2 tbl. granulated sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. table salt
1 large egg
3 tbl. unsalted butter , melted and cooled slightly
2 tsp. vegetable oil
1 cup fresh blueberries or frozen blueberries, preferably wild, rinsed and dried

Preparation

1. Whisk lemon juice and milk in medium bowl or large measuring cup; set aside to thicken while preparing other ingredients. Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in medium bowl to combine.
2. Whisk egg and melted butter into milk until combined. Make well in center of dry ingredients in bowl; pour in milk mixture and whisk very gently until just combined (a few lumps should remain). Do not over mix.
3. Heat 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat for 3 to 5 minutes; add 1 teaspoon oil and brush to coat skillet bottom evenly. Pour 1/4 cup batter onto 3 spots on skillet; sprinkle 1 tablespoon blueberries over each pancake. Cook pancakes until large bubbles begin to appear, 1 1/2 to 2 minutes. Using thin, wide spatula, flip pancakes and cook until golden brown on second side, 1 to 1 1/2 minutes longer. Serve immediately, and repeat with remaining batter, using remaining vegetable oil only if necessary.

Dutch Baby Bunny

This is easy, and good brunch food. I guess it's a dutch pannenkoeken. I often make one when I'm home for lunch and don't have handy leftovers. Either a full recipe or 1½ recipe go well in a 12" cast iron skillet. It's good with or without bacon, though you may want to add more salt if you make it with unsalted butter and no bacon. We don't usually have vanilla sugar, so I use granulated sugar and add a little vanilla extract to the liquid. They usually puff up higher than the one in this picture.

Dutch Baby Bunnies

½ cup flour
2 tbl. vanilla sugar
¼ tsp. salt
4 tbl. butter [I usually use 2-3 tbl.]
½ cup milk
2 eggs
3 strips bacon, cooked and crumbled

Preheat oven to 400ºF.

Put the butter in the skillet and place a 10" cast iron skillet into the oven to melt the butter. Watch out--- don't let it burn.

Combine the dry ingredients (except the bacon), then the wet ingredients in a separate bowl, and mix the wet into the dry, then add the bacon.

Remove the skillet from the oven. Pour the batter into the skillet and bake for 20 minutes, or until golden brown.

Remove the skillet from the oven and transfer the bunny to a serving plate.

Sprinkle with more vanilla sugar and top with desired topping [usually maple syrup for me]. Cut into wedges and serve immediately.

From I'm Just Here for More Food by Alton Brown

Blueberry Pancakes

We are pretty frustratingly bad at pancakes, and a week or so ago we saw a blueberry pancake recipe in Rob and Iris' Cook's Illustrated magazine that looked good. We mentioned it to them and they recommended the Giant Sunday Pancakes recipe from Epicurious. I made them this morning with blueberries, and they turned out pretty well. I thought they were a little too sweet, though, and might try halving the sugar next time. Now just to get the temperature in the pan right....

Smeteneh Kuchen

I've made this very rich coffee cake a couple times now, from a recipe on Epicurious: Ashkenazic Sour Cream Coffee Cake (Smeteneh Kuchen). It's very good, if you're willing to put 1½ sticks of butter in a single dish. I can't imagine wanting to put the optional glaze on top. It sounds good, but pouring another cup of sugar on top of the streusel would take this over the top, I think.