The BEST pancakes ever….in my opinion.

Tags

Breakfast, food, Greek yogurt, multi-grain, pancakes, yum

This summer when I was visiting my sister she made us delicious pancakes made with yogurt.  They were really fluffy and good.  I have a standard multi-grain pancake recipe I use so I thought….why not add yogurt and see how they turn out?  They were so wonderful that I have to share.  The basic recipe can be modified with any grains you like.  I don’t always make them the same way.  I’ve added cooked quinoa, cooked rice, oatmeal etc.  The version I like lately which is below has rice flour which makes them a bit crispier than usual and sesame seeds.  Please try these and definitely try changing up the combination of grains.

Oh so good.

Basic recipe

• 3/4 c whole wheat flour (I usually keep this as the base but you do whatever you like)
• 1/4 c corn meal
• 1/4 c oatmeal
• 1/4 c mix of rice flour & ground flax seed
• 1 Tb Sesame seeds
• 1 – 3 Tb sugar
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp baking powder
• salt
• 2 eggs
• 3 Tb melted butter or oil (coconut oil is tasty)
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup Greek yogurt

1 tsp vanilla

Mix the dry ingredients together (just remember your grains should equal 1 1/2 cup total). Mix the wet ingredients together.  Add the wet into the dry until combined.  The mixture gets very thick, add milk if needed but the batter should be much thicker than regular pancake batter.   Heat a pan or griddle to a slightly lower temperature than you use for regular pancakes.  Cook until one side is golden, flip and cook until golden.  The batter may still be wet when you flip the first time but it will be ok.

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Not your usual Blackberry cobbler

Tags

baking, blackberry, cobbler, dessert, Fall, sweet, yum

Blackberry season is upon us up here in the Pacific Northwest.  The blackberries are at their prime and might last another week or two!  I love this time of year.  You can feel fall in the air but it’s still warm during the day and the blackberries are bursting out everywhere!  The blackberry bush is considered a weed and a pest to some. It will definitely take over a space if left unchecked and that is one of the things I like about living here. I can find blackberries most everywhere.  The trail I take my dogs walking on….blackberries, the empty lot across the street, blackberries, the walk around our block….you got it…blackberries!

I use this recipe every year (this is my second one this year so far)  and diet be damned, I will eat this and enjoy it mightily!  Oh and why is this recipe different from other cobblers I’ve seen?  The biscuit starts out on the bottom, the fruit on top and then a whole lot of water is poured over everything. It looks like it will be a disaster but it has worked every time.

Blackberry Cobbler  (You could probably use other fruit as well but I’ve only ever done it with blackberries)

Biscuit topping

• 1/4 c butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 c flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 c milk

Filling

• 2 c berries
• 1/4 – 1/2 c sugar (depends on how sweet the berries are)
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1 1/2 c water
• 1 tsp tapioca powder (optional)

Cream the butter & sugar together.  Sif the flour, salt & baking powder together and add to the butter mix alternately with milk.  The batter will be stiff, spoon into a greased 2 qt baking dish.  Preheat oven to 375F.

Spoon the berries over the biscuit dough. Sprinkle with sugar, cinnamon and the tapioca powder.  Pour the water into the baking dish. Bake for 45-50 mins.  Fruit will sink, the biscuit will rise.  It’s done when golden brown on top.

Mango blueberry protein muffins

Tags

baking, blueberries, body for life, chia seeds, clean diet, clean eating, healthy treat, mango, muffins, protein muffins, snack, sweet, yum

More protein muffins!  Can you stand it?!  I love them. I eat them every day! Things like these make life enjoyable nowadays.  You can have your frosting covered cupcakes, I am not the least bit jealous.  Actually I’ve never really liked these new cupcakes with tons of frosting anyway, too much frosting. Now a yummy scone on the other hand? Now I’m jealous. But I can have those on my cheat day.

Here’s the back story…awhile back I made a mango, candied ginger quick bread.  I took it to work and everyone loved it. One lady in particular loved it so much she asked for the recipe.  But somehow hers did not turn out which was disappointing as she wanted to make it for her new daughter-in-laws bridal shower.  So I offered to make if for her…turns out she needed at least 10!!!  So I made 10…in my tiny little kitchen….in the middle of my clean eating 12 week challenge…and they smelled heavenly.  I won’t lie, I made one for my cheat day and ate 3 pieces and didn’t feel one bit guilty.  But I still had lots of mango puree left over.  I thought about recreating the quick bread in a protein muffin but it’s crystalized ginger, which means lots of sugar. Back to the drawing board.  I had plenty of wonderful blueberries! That would be a winning combination. Oh and I added Chia seeds, what’s the big deal about Chia seeds?  They are good for you….and they remind me of poppy seeds.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup almond flour
• 1/2 cup protein powder (I use Whey)
• 1T baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/2 T Chia seeds
• 1 cup nonfat Greek yogurt
• 1 cup mango puree
• 3 egg whites
• 3 T honey (if you like it sweet, you should use more)
• 1/2 c blueberries

Preheat oven to 375. Combine all the dry ingredients in one bowl and all the wet ingredients in another, except the blueberries.  Fold the wet into the dry and do not overmix.  Gently fold in the blueberries. Separate the batter between 12 greased muffin tins (or use silicon cups) and bake for 20 mins.

The pictures below are courtesy of my beautiful step daughter.

Mango & Crystallized Ginger Quick Bread!

Tags

baking, crystallized ginger, food, ginger, mango, quick bread, sweet, yum

I don’t know about you but I really like the small, yellow mangos.  Sometimes I’ve seen them called Champagne mangos.  They are smaller than the regular green/red mangos and they are always a bright yellow!  When I see them in the market I always pick them up because they are not always available.  We usually just eat them fresh but, I got a cute little book at a second hand store called Scones, Muffins, Tea Cakes and it has some really nice recipes in it.  I’ve made a few things out of it and they always turn out well.  In fact I think these scones came from the same book.

Anyway I was reading the book and various recipes caught my attention but the Mango and Crystallized Ginger Quick Bread was the one that sounded just right.

You can use any kind of mango you enjoy, make sure you have enough to make 1 cup of puree.  I used 4 of the yellow ones and I got over a cup.  Also it asks for 1/2 cup of crystallized ginger.  The stuff I had was powerful and I was worried it would be too much but it was PERFECT!  So if your ginger bites, don’t worry it won’t be overpowering.

Ingredients

• 1 stick butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup fresh mango puree
• 2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup (3 oz) diced crystallized ginger

Preheat the oven to 350F . Butter a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan.

Puree the mango and set aside.  In a bowl beat the butter and sugar until well blended. Add the eggs one at a time and beat until creamy.  Add the mango puree.  The mixture will look separated but it will come back together so don’t worry!

It will come back together!

In a separate bowl combine flour, baking soda and salt. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet and do not overmix.  Gently fold in the crystallized ginger. Pour the batter into the loaf pan and bake for about an hour. The cake will be golden brown and feel firm if you press with your fingertips. Cool for 15 mins in the pan and then transfer to cooling rack.

The smells coming from the oven were heavenly.

This quick bread was so moist and delicious. There were plenty of ginger chunks throughout and their bite was gone!  I couldn’t really taste the mango as a definite flavor. I think it added moistness and the sweetness tempered the ginger. I took some to work and I’ve already been asked for the recipe. I will be making this one again!

Lazy weekend Cranberry scones with Orange Marmalade

Tags

baking, cranberry orange scones, food, marmalade, scones, Seville orange, sweet, tart, yum

After my croissant fiasco I wasn’t ready to try making them again…just yet.  I wanted something simple and easy.   Everyone is probably aware of my love of all things citrus especially now that they are in season.  It’s the rainy, dreary season up here in the Pacific Northwest and citrus reminds me of growing up in California.  Recently ChicaAndaluza posted her recipe for Orange Marmalade. I has asked her what type of oranges were typically used and I was bemoaning the lack of variety available at the supermarkets around here.  She said you could use any kind but that Seville oranges were the best option.  The other night I walked into my local neighborhood ethnic grocer and lo and behold….Seville bitter oranges!!!!!!

The link above will lead you to her recipe.  I halved her recipe because Jason said he doesn’t like orange marmalade so I would be the only one eating it (I should have known better).  I used 4 1/2 oranges, 1/2 a lemon, weighed it and almost doubled the sugar.  I wasn’t sure whether to cover the oranges while they were cooking so I left the lid off.  It seemed like too much water was lost so next time I’ll put the lid on and see what happens.  I added more water in the pulp boiling stage and cooked it for probably 15 minutes. I was worried that it would be too runny but it turned out beautifully!!!

It made much more than this.

Now what to make to eat this with?  I did not make bread this weekend, too lazy….I’ve got it cranberry/orange scones.  That will be perfect!

Cranberry Orange scones

• 400 g ( 3 cups) flour
• 80 g (1/3 c) sugar
• 11 g (2 1/2 tsp) baking powder
• 2 g (1/2 tsp) baking soda
• 5 g (1/2 tsp) salt
• 150 g (1 1/2 sticks) butter
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries (more or less to suit your taste)
• zest of one orange
• 1 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 400.  I don’t usually have buttermilk on hand but there is a trick, add 1 tsp white vinegar to 1 cup milk and let it sit for about 10 minutes and you’ll get a substitute for buttermilk. This is what I usually do for scones, pancakes etc.  I’m sure real buttermilk is much better but I don’t use enough of it to justify buying a container.

Sift together, flour, sugar, baking powder & soda and salt.  Add the butter and rub it into the flour mix with your hands until it turns crumbly.  You can use a pasty cutter too but I prefer my hands!

 

Add the cranberries and orange zest.

Such pretty colors!

Pour in the buttermilk and combine until it’s all mixed together, do not overmix.  I know many people make the dough into one big circle and cut it into triangles or wedges but every time I try that the middle stays doughy.  So I just shape individual scones and bake them that way.  Either way put them on a silicone baking sheet or parchment.  (I love silicone sheets,  I have saved a ton in parchment paper since I got one.)  You can either leave them plain or paint them with cream, sprinkle them with sugar or even paint on an egg wash, it’s entirely up to you.  You can even glaze them when they are done if you like.

Bake them for 12-15 minutes depending on your oven.  If you want to glaze them you can combine powdered sugar with orange juice (or lemon, or lime etc) until it reaches the consistency you want and then pour the glaze on them.  You can also mix 1 Tb cream with 1/4 tsp cinnamon & 2 Tb sugar which you can brush on.   I had them plain with the orange marmalade.  So Delicious!

Oh!  And how did Jason like the marmalade you might ask?  He said “This is pretty good if you like orange marmalade” (which he said he didn’t) and then he proceeded to eat it on his next scone as well. 

 

Croissants 1 – A buttery mess!

Tags

baking, croissants, food, snack

The Fresh from the Oven challenge this month is Croissants.  Brilliant, I thought. I’ve always wanted to make Croissants, I thought. How hard can it be, I thought…. Oh wow, for me, it was quite a mess!!!!!  BUT, I am determined to figure out where I went wrong and try again. I have some ideas of what went wrong but please, feel free to comment and give advice!

You can find the original recipe over at Lavender and Lovage. I will write it out next time, or the next, whichever time I’m successful!

It all started off so well……

A dough like any other?

I think my first mistake was to over-knead the dough.  I’ve since learned that croissant dough should not be over worked as the folding and rolling with the butter develops the gluten enough. Second mistake was using butter that was too cold (I think).

Things seemed to be going well up to this point.  Then it went downhill 😦  So sad.  Anyway, once I started rolling the layers together the hard butter in between started tearing through the dough and I ended up rolling butter.  As I got into the later layering I kept running into spots of pure butter.  The rolling pin was covered in butter, the countertop was covered in butter, I think there was butter in my hair, on my face, even in my belly button (joking but you get the point).

Butter poking through.

I’m not one to give up easily though. No, not me!  So I rolled, layered, rolled again, cut the dough into triangles, shaped them into croissants.  I was laughing like a mad woman throughout this fiasco, at this point there really was butter everywhere.  I had no idea what these would turn out like but DAMMIT I was going to make croissants!  Look at the picture below and you’ll notice that there are chunks of pure butter sticking out all over.

Look at all that butter everywhere!

So I baked them and some of them actually looked like croissants.  The taste wasn’t bad either….but they weren’t flaky, they were rather dense and kinda chewy…. but I will press on and I WILL make these again before the challenge is over and try to redeem myself! 

Meyer lemons, how I love you, let me count the ways.

Tags

almond, baking, blueberry, food, Meyer lemon, muffins, snack, sweet, yum

My little dumplings

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They caught me the instant I walked into the supermarket.  Meyer lemons I squealed! (yes unfortunately I did let out a squeal)  J. grabbed a bag without my even asking, he is quite aware of my Meyer lemon obssession.  I had no idea they were available.  If you have never had one you just must.  When they are available I use them constantly, fish, chicken, I slice them thinly and bake them with the dish and then eat them up.  You can eat the peel and all.  And desserts….oh desserts.

 

I had been considering an orange, blueberry, almond recipe from the cookbook “Baked, new frontier in baking” by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito.  I really enjoy their cookbooks.  Anyway better than orange would be Meyer lemon muffins! 

MMMMMMMMMMMMeyer!

 

      Just my luck that it snowed

      today so I got to stay home

      and bake the muffins!

      I changed a few things

      besides adding the Meyers.

      I added more ground

      almond and almond extract.

      J said these were the best

      muffins he’s ever had. 

      He doesn’t care for cakes

      and muffins that much so

      it said alot.  I will be making

      these again!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

zest of 1 Meyer lemon

1/2 cup fresh orange juice, next time I will try lemon juice (Meyer of course)

1/2 c milk

2 egg whties

4 Tb melted butter (let cool)

1/2 tsp almond extract

 

Whip the above ingredients together.  In a separate bowl mix together:

 

1/2 c ground almonds

2 c flour

3/4 c sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp soda

1/2 tsp salt

 

Add the wet ingredients to the dry until just combined.  Add 3/4 c blueberries to the batter.  If you are using frozen blueberries, rinse well and toss with flour.   Preheat the oven to 375 and grease 12 muffin tins.  Fill the tins 3/4 with batter and decorate the top with sliced almonds if you want.  Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden and a toothpick comes out clean.  Let cool in the pan for 15 mins and then remove to a wire rack.

 

Lovely flavor.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now I’m off to make lemon curd!  Meyer lemon curd that is!  And then…I’ve heard that you can grow citrus trees inside……

Bubble, Bubble, Toil and…not that much trouble, really.

Tags

baking, bubble, dessert, holiday, idea, monkey bubble bread, sweet, yum

Monkey Bubble Bread!!!

Doesn’t that look amazing?  It smells wonderful while it’s baking too.  So, as you may have noticed I’ve been on a baking spree.  There’s even some things I’ve made that I haven’t posted because I forget to take pictures!  I found this in a cookbook, Baked Explorations by Matt Lewis & Renato Poliafito, which I highly, highly recommend.  I remember seeing this type of bread when I was younger but I forgot about it so when I saw it in their book, well it had to be made. I and a bunch of my friends, are glad I did!  I’ve decided to bake for other people now because I’m having to up my gym time to 5 days a week to keep up with the baking and it’s a losing battle. So….bake for others!  I’m probably gonna break down and have to start bringing baked goods to work too.

Anyway….on to the recipe. You REALLY should try this cause it just looks so damn cool and when you walk in carrying this, everyone wants to know what, how etc.  A definite friend impresser….if you’re into that type of thing….and really who’s not?

So here we go again, this is a yeasted bread.  Start with 1 1/4 cup of milk at room temperature, and add an envelope of instant yeast (the kind you get from the supermarket), whisk it in really well and let it sit for at least 10 minutes.  Then in a separate bowl mix together 4 cups flour, 5 Tb sugar, 1 ts salt and then add in 1 beaten egg.  Slowly add the milk/yeast mixture and combine, then add 5 Tb melted butter and start to knead the dough. After you knead the dough to a silky stage, put it in a greased bowl, cover it and let sit for at least an hour, it should double in size.

Let it sit.

Now punch it!

Punch it down and reknead for a few minutes.  Now here I did my famous…I want to go to bed, I don’t want to finish it today and so I wrapped it in plastic and stuck it in the fridge.  FAST FORWARD TO….next day.

Punch down the dough if you left it in the fridge and re-knead, if you did not leave in the fridge, just proceed from here…

Shape the dough into little round balls, about 1 inch or so in diameter.

round dough balls!

Melt a stick of butter in a saucepan. In a seperate bowl combine 1 cup brown sugar and 2 tsp cinnamon.  Dip the balls into the butter and then the sugar/cinnamon mix and then place in a bundt pan.  Make layers. Cover the bundt pan in plastic and let sit for another hour to rise again.

Another brick in the wall

start

After the dough balls are nice and puffy, preheat the oven to 350 and bake for 1/2 hour.  Cool in the pan for 5 minutes and then turn it out on a plate. Best served warm.  You can just pull apart the pieces and eat them!

Done!

Carrot Coconut scones

Tags

baking, carrot, coconut, healthy treat, scone, sweet, yum

So it’s after Thanksgiving and I need something healthy.  Scones, oh yeah that’s super healthy, but these have carrots, oats and coconut in the ingredients (this is the arguement in my head). So guess which arguement won? On to the scone recipe then…

I have been going to the library and checking out cookbooks.  This has been a wonderful practice except for one thing. I end up wanting to purchase almost every book I check out!  I found the carrot coconut scone recipe in Baked Explorations by Matt Lewis & Renato Poliafito. These two opened a bakery shop in Brooklyn and this is their second cookbook (I’m looking for the first next time).

Now I have a problem with not completely reading the recipe and getting familiar with it so I did do things a bit differently than what was written. But they turned out well so if you decide to make these, it’s up to you. My way or the correct way!

Ingredients

• 2 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup rolled oats (I used Quaker oats in the round tub, don’t know if they are rolled or not)
• 1 Tb baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup shredded, sweetened coconut
• 1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
• 1 large egg
• 3/4 cup buttermilk (I didn’t have it so I added 1 1/2 tsp vinegar to the milk)
• 1 Tb vanilla (next time I will use less so the other flavors come through more)
• 1/4 cup puree carrot
• 1 egg white beaten

Preheat oven to 400.  Mix the flour, sugar, oats, baking powder, salt & coconut together.  Make sure your butter is still cold and cut into pieces, add to the flour mix and rub in with your fingers until the butter is pea sized and mix is coarse (You can use a pastry cutter or fork too).  This is a technique that is used for pie crusts and other pastry too. Once you do it a few times you will know when to stop.

In another bowl mix together the egg, buttermilk, vanilla & carrot.  (This is where I made the mistake, I saw the egg white so I beat it and added it here, it’s actually for a wash later, but it didn’t seem to adversly affect anything).  Slowly pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir until barely combined. Knead briefly with your hands, it will be sticky, add some flour.  The directions then said to roll out the dough and flatten it to 1 3/4 inches and then cut into 6-8 wedges & put onto a baking sheet prepared with parchment paper or a silicone mat.  I don’t think this step is necessary but it does make the scones look pretty.  If you just plop onto the sheet, make sure you press them down a little so they will cook evenly.  Now here is where you do use the egg white (I skipped this step)  Whisk the egg white with 1 Tb water and brush the tops of the scones with the mix.  Bake for 18-20 mins. My oven is hotter in the back so I always turn my sheet halfway through.  It took 18 mins in my oven. Do not overbake.

Straight out of the oven.

Now wait!  They are not done yet.  There is a citrus glaze!

• 1 Tb lemon juice
• 2 Tbl orange juice
• 1 cup powdered sugar

Whisk all the ingredients together.  I did not have orange juice so I used 3 Tb lemon juice.  Drizzle over the scones when cool and then eat up!

I had to eat them still warm!

Oh, carrot puree.  Cut up about 2 med carrots, put in a bowl with either orange juice or lemon juice with a tiny sprinkle of sugar and microwave for a few minutes until you can puree them.  You could also probably use a jar of carrot babyfood.

Pumpkin Cheddar Muffins!

Oh my! I’m reading a new cookbook called “Baked Explorations” by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito.  The writer I believe is Matt and I love his writing style.  The recipes are intriguing.  Today being a lazy Sunday, I decided to pick a recipe and make it for breakfast. Don’t feel sorry for Jason, he gets to eat all my experiments and mostly they turn out well. (Except for the seafood Coconut curry that I still can’t figure out what went wrong, it was truly inedible)

So it was a toss up between the Pumpkin Cheddar muffins or the Carrot Coconut scones with citrus glaze.  It was decided by my not having orange juice in the house and being too lazy to go to the store. I did have canned pumpkin.  I did not have sour cream but Greek yoghurt was a reasonable substitute in my lazy, not wanting to go to the store, opinion. I did some research and Greek yoghurt plus a pinch of baking soda is allowed. On to the recipe!

PUMPKIN CHEDDAR MUFFINS

1 cup canned pumpkin (Oops I used the whole 15 oz can!)

3 Tb sour cream (I used 3 Tb Greek yoghurt with pinch of baking soda)

2 large eggs

1/2 c (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted & cooled

2 c flour

1 1/2 ts baking powder

1/4 tsp cayenne (I think next time I’ll add some more)

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp black peper

1/2 c brown sugar

1 1/4 cup grated sharp cheddar (I only had medium)

2 Tb pumpkin seeds (I didn’t have those)

Preheat oven to 400. Spray or butter 12 muffin tins.  Whisk together pumpkin & sour cream, add eggs and butter and whisk until combined.

In a separate bowl combine flour, baking powder, cayenne, salt, pepper and brown sugar. Make a well in the middle and pour in the wet ingredients. Fold until combined and then fold in 3/4 of the cheese.

Divide the batter among the muffin cups, sprinkle the remaining cheese and pumpkin seeds on top. Bake for 20 mins. Cool on rack for 10 mins then remove muffins and cool or eat warm.

I love the word muffin!

They were really good. Peppery, cheesy and warm. They did not seem to be harmed by almost doubling the pumpkin so….maybe next time I’ll use the correct amount of pumpkin…or not.