Hazelnut Low-Sugar Muffins

 
In The Joy of Gluten-Free, Sugar-Free Baking by Peter Reinhart and Denene Wallace, I have found many recipes to try that fit the way we eat now.  First I had to track down new kinds of flour. After snagging hazelnut flour, I used almost the entire bag to make these muffins.  The original recipe is for a hazelnut-coconut coffee cake.  I couldn't decide between adding blueberries or chocolate chips, so I decided to just make muffins instead.  Half of the dough got chocolate chips stirred in, and the other half got blueberries.  The blueberries added a wee bit too much moisture, I neglected to realize that without traditional flour to soak up the moisture, the blueberry muffins were a bit wet.


I made a few other changes to the recipe - I used almond-coconut milk instead of straight coconut milk, and left out the toasted coconut.  I can see how those flavors would have been really nice, I just didn't have any on hand.  Instead I added vanilla extract. I also didn't use as much Splenda as was called for; I always intentionally cut back on it to limit the chemical taste overpowering the recipe.  From what I've read of others' opinions, I get the impression that taste doesn't bother everyone the way it bothers me.  So I just minimize.

These were lighter than the flaxseed muffin disaster I had last year, although you can still tell they are not traditional flour.  The flavor of hazelnut flour is nice and not overpowering.  I also had to buy xantham gum again, but I couldn't tell you how much it did to the texture.

Low-carb, low-sugar people: buy this book.  I haven't found any cookbook with recipes that are more palatable.  The next recipe I want to try is one of the sandwich bread recipes.  We need bread that fits in with the way we eat!! I may have enough hazelnut flour left to do one of the flaxseed-heavy recipes, so I may do that this afternoon.

Also, the carrot cake on the cover certainly looks tasty!

Low-Sugar Peanut Butter Cookies

This is an adaptation of a recipe found on Pinterest; not too sweet because I find that pulling back on sweetness by using less Splenda is preferable to metallic Splenda flavor! These are a bit crumbly but if you can't eat regular peanut butter cookies, I think you'll still enjoy them.

Low-Sugar Peanut Butter Cookies

1 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup Splenda for baking
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional)

Mix first four ingredients until paste-like and uniform. Stir in chocolate chips. Scoop onto baking sheet (makes 12). Press down with fork to make the peanut butter cookie marks. Bake in preheated 350 oven for 8-10 minutes.

Spinach-Feta Börek

In one of the book groups I am in (The World's Literature in GoodReads), we are reading Turkish literature all year. I have been learning Turkish for fun, and throughout the year plan to make a few Turkish dishes. The first book we read was Snow by Orhan Pamuk, about a poet who returns to the city of Kars to investigate a string of suicides, and to reconnect with a lost love.  You may read my review, if you'd like.  Many important scenes happen in restaurants or cafes, and along with mentions of walnut-filled pastry is this passage:

"...In every city I checked into a cheap little hotel like Ka's and went off with my hosts to a Turkish restaurant where over spinach börek... we discussed politics...."

 From the research I have done, it appears that börek can refer to practically any filled pastry, usually savory.  (Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.)  To ask for börek, you would say "ben börek istiyorum."  And I will be saying that again, because börek is tasty!


While I found a lot of different recipes for börek online, I will simply share my technique with you.  Feel free to substitute any type of filling, shape, or topping.  The original recipe I wanted to make was leek and feta borek, and they were triangles, but then the grocery store had zero leeks (zero!), so I scrambled to gather ingredients for a different version.

Spinach-Feta Börek
(as interpreted by jennybakes.com)

1/2 package filo/phyllo dough, thawed for two hours
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 frozen package spinach, thawed and moisture squeezed out
salt, pepper, and spices to taste (I used oregano*)
4 oz. feta, crumbled
1 can spray butter-flavor nonstick spray
1 tbsp butter, melted 
Sesame seeds

Prepare a 8" cake pan by spraying with nonstick spray.  Preheat oven to 400 F. 

Saute onion in olive oil until translucent.  Add garlic and stir for a minute or so.  Stir in spinach and remove from heat.  

One by one, take five sheets phyllo (covering the rest with a damp towel) and lay on cutting board or clean flat surface, spraying each with nonstick spray.  After spraying sheet 5, spoon 1/3 of the mixture an inch from the bottom, long edge, in a long line.  Roll the pastry from the bottom into a tube.  Start making a spiral from the middle of the pan.  Repeat until you go through the pastry and fill the pan.  (My pan wasn't completely full, but it tasted good.  In Turkey you would probably have dough that was larger to start with, and make one big spiral.)

Brush the top with the melted butter and sprinkle with sesame seeds.  Bake 20 minutes or until golden brown.

*Many börek recipes are spicy, so you might want to add chiles or cayenne, something to add a bit of pep.  I wish I had, but this was still very good.

Raw Citrus Cheesecake

 

This is a strange instance of my Around the USA challenge.  I read Arcadia by Lauren Groff, which was set in a commune in upstate New York.  Everyone in the book lives on homemade bread and soy products, including soy cheese. While these things are made as examples of hippie fare, would seem to get expensive fast.  It isn't the healthiest of diets in the book, as there isn't enough to go around, but the commitment to eating from the land (and not from the grid) seemed to be at the core.

When it came to making something "from New York," I decided to go the "what hippies in a commune would eat these days" route.  I plan on reading other books from New York this year, and that's when I can delve into sterotypical Manhattan cuisine.  (Expect black-and-white cookies, real NY Style cheesecake, and egg creams sometime later!)  Is there anything more modern-day hippie than the raw food movement?  Crackers made of soaked nuts, sprouted grains, smoothies of greens?

I had been pinning raw cheesecakes in Pinterest for a while now, and I was very curious to experience what one tasted like.  Raw cheesecakes often depend either on avocado or cashew cream to create the cream cheese-custard texture, often with a raw nut crust.  I made a 6-inch cheesecake, and even then the raw cashews cost $9.  Raw eating is expensive, boys and girls.  This recipe also called for coconut oil, which I had on hand, dates, and almonds for the crust.  I used pecans.

The end result?  Well, Nathaniel couldn't eat it without laughing, because it really is slightly ridiculous.  You know it isn't cheesecake.  It doesn't taste like cheesecake.  Yet there you sit, trying to talk yourself into it being cheesecake.  I mean, it didn't taste bad. The creamy nuts and the creamy coconut oil were bright with the citrus.  We'll eat it and not throw it away.  But maybe we could call it a cashew-coconut cream torte or something.  I don't mind eating something called that.  I should also point out that "raw" is not the same as "low-calorie," so don't fool yourself.  Vegan baking can go towards lower calorie, but once you start grinding nuts into paste to replace dairy and adding coconut oil for texture, you are adding a heck of a lot of calories.  Still tasty, still worth doing every once in a while, but I wouldn't use "raw" as an excuse to eat the entire thing.

I based my recipe on one I found at the Fragrant Vanilla Cake blog, but will indicate what I did below.

Raw Citrus Cheesecake

Makes one 6 inch cake

Crust:
1/2 cup pecans

1/8 teaspoon salt
3 dates, pitted

Filling:
1 1/2 cups cashews (soaked overnight)

1/4 cup lemon juice

2 Tbsp lime juice

zest of two lemons

zest of one lime

1 Tbsp agave nectar (considerably less than original recipe)

1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp coconut oil (warmed to liquid*)

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Spray a six inch spring form pan with coconut oil spray (or other oil spray) and set aside.

To prepare the crust, process pecans and salt in a food processor until the nuts are fine crumbs, then add the dates and process until the mixture holds together when squeezed between your fingers. Firmly press crust into the bottom of prepared pan. Set aside.

To make filling, drain cashews and combine all ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth and creamy. Pour over crust in pan and set in the freezer or fridge until it is set, 4 hours or overnight.

*I'm unclear on where the parameters of raw really are.  If I melted the coconut oil, is it still raw?  What if I put this in the fridge?  Please forgive my ignorance.  It is possible this is just rawish. :)

Lemon Poppyseed Scones

In a previous post, I explained how I teared up when I looked through The Joy of Gluten-Free, Sugar-Free Baking by Reinhart/Wallace, because I trusted Peter Reinhart as a baker and thought he would steer me the right way in trying to bake this new way we are eating.

I wasn't wrong!  This is my first attempt from that book - lemon poppyseed scones.  I made a half-batch because 2 cups of almond flour is spendy enough.  I feel like there was too much sweetener for my tastes (scones barely need to be sweet), and still can't get past the overly chemical flavor of using Splenda for baking.  Next time I'd use half as much of that particular ingredient. Still, the double lemon in the recipe actually masked that flavor quite a bit. 

These were more crumbly than tender normal scones, but still firm enough to hold up to toppings and to being sliced in half.  I'd say they were definitely the most successful baked good I've made with almond flour!  Next I need to hunt down some more nut flours, as there is an intentional variety throughout the book - hazelnut, pecan, etc. 

Persimmon Cookies

 State: Indiana (2 of 52)

Book Read: The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Baked Good: Persimmon Cookies

 

 

For my Around the USA challenge, I have already found myself in Indiana.  It does not seem like an accident because I lived in Indiana for six years, from 2000-2006.  A lot of the memories I have fit with old-fashioned recipes like persimmon cookies - I worked in a church of mostly elderly people, I worked at a tearoom where we served mainly old-fashioned desserts, and we lived in tiny town of Greencastle with festivals on the town square.

Greencastle was not the only town with a festival.  Festivals were everywhere.  We went to the Apple Butter Festival, the Dogwood Festival, the Canal Days Festival, the Feast of the Hunter's Moon.... but our favorite (and very close by) was the Covered Bridge Festival.  It is hard to describe, exactly.  An enormous expanse of white tents covering multiple fields, full of people selling everything from flea-market appropriate goods, to handcrafted items, to food.

It was at the Covered Bridge Festival where I was first introduced to the persimmon.  In a little corner near some art exhibits were several people selling persimmon pudding.  I had no idea what a persimmon was, let alone know what it tasted like.  In 2005, when my friend Kimberly was visiting from Oregon, we went to the Covered Bridge Festival and I tried persimmon pudding.  It is a pudding in the traditional/English sense of the word - a very moist cake, almost.  They served it with a creme anglaise on top, if I remember right.  That was also the first time I tasted morels!

So basically, when I started listening to a book set in Indiana, I couldn't get persimmons out of my mind.  Sharing a persimmon pudding seemed difficult (after all, they are best piping hot), so I found a recipe for persimmon cookies on the Pinch My Salt blog.   I made half a batch because pulping persimmons is a lot of work, and I wasn't sure I had enough to get a full cup of pulp.  I also wasn't sure how they would taste; the scent reminded me of some essential oil samples I had tested once and rejected.

My student workers loved them.  Two researched persimmons and told me factoids I did not know.  My favorite is the health risks of eating unripened persimmons, found on Wikipedia:

Unripened persimmons contain the soluble tannin shibuol, which, upon contact with a weak acid, polymerizes in the stomach and forms a gluey coagulum, a "foodball" or phytobezoar, that can affix with other stomach matter.^[14] These phytobezoars are often very hard and almost woody in consistency. More than 85% of phytobezoars are caused by ingestion of unripened persimmons.^[15] Persimmon bezoars (diospyrobezoars) often occur in epidemics in regions where the fruit is grown.^[16][17][18] Diospyrobezoars should not be of concern when consuming moderate quantities of persimmons. One case in medical literature from 2004 revealed a 51-year old patient who had eaten a kilogram (2.2 pounds) of unpeeled persimmons each day for 40 years.^[19][20] Surgery is sometimes employed, but Coca-Cola has also been successfully used to chemically shrink or eliminate persimmon-related bezoars.^[21]

Take away: no need to be concerned about too many unripe persimmons in your cookies; just serve them with Coca-Cola.  But how many foods do YOU make that contain the possibility of creating phytobezoars?  Terrifying! These same students went back for more, so I guess the scientific intrigue did not outweigh the tasty cookies.

If you aren't scared away, without further ado, the recipe:

Persimmon Cookies
(from the Pinch My Salt blog, where she has a family story and great pictures of the diferent types of persimmon)

1/2 cup shortening (I used butter.)
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 cup persimmon pulp
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
 1/2 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup raisins

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease or line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, soda, salt and spices; set aside.
3. In a separate bowl, cream the shortening with the sugar using a hand mixer. Beat in egg then beat in persimmon pulp.  Slowly beat in the flour mixture until everything is combined.  By hand, stir in the nuts and raisins.
4. Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto prepared baking sheets. They can be placed close together because these cookies don’t spread much.
5. Bake for approximately 12-15 minutes. Let cool on baking sheets for five minutes and then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

Yield: approximately 36 small cookies

Other resources I used:
gardenmagik on YouTube has several videos on persimmons:
Pulping Persimmons
Persimmon Pudding (with her Grandmother)
Persimmon Seed Magic

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownies

For Nathaniel's birthday a few weeks ago, he requested brownies with cookie dough on top.

Thankfully, in a world full of food bloggers, someone had already tried this idea. 

I used Ghiradelli double chocolate brownies (a box! I know! But this is the only way to get that chew!) on the bottom of a 9x13 pan, and the cookie dough element from Brown-Eyed Baker (because it has no eggs; the cookie dough part never bakes, just chills.) The recipe makes too much for two people, so I cut up half of it into bars and froze it to give away later.  I'd make these again!

Boiled Custard, Tennessee Style

Surprise, surprise, time for another baking-reading project conglomeration!  I so enjoyed baking around the world last year, even if I only made it to twelve countries.  I will continue that project in 2013, but will focus more on United States of America regional cuisine.  Most of the time, I will focus on baked goods and desserts, but every so often you will see a candy, a drink, or something savory. 

My first offering of the year is boiled custard.  According to my co-worker Cris, who is married to a west-Tennessean, this is a regional southern treat.  She spent some time this past December perfecting a recipe to get it as close to what he remembered as she could.  In some states, you can buy it in the store next to the eggnog.  Paula Deen has a similar recipe called "Drinking Custard" that is really a creme anglaise, but Cris's version uses fewer eggs, making it more drinkable.  The only change I made was to add a pinch of salt, which I do to everything that doesn't tell me to.

It can be served hot or cold.  We tried it both ways, but could not really decide what we liked more.  It was delicious both ways.  The weather has been cold, so hot seemed to do the trick for me.  You could do a lot with this besides drinking it - it would make a marvelous sauce for fruit or bread pudding, just for starters.  When I was in Australia, they sold quarts (maybe half-liters, eh?) of something very similar, but I wasn't paying enough attention to remember the exact name of it.  It would be poured over fresh fruit at breakfast, to go with the blood sausage and gravy on toast.  You might understand why I took to it!

As with the Around the World challenge, these recipes will accompany a book set in the same state.  I had been reading The Black Flower: A Novel of the Civil War by Howard Bahr in December, along with the On the Southern Literary Trail group in GoodReads when Cris peaked my interest in boiled custard in Facebook, so I decided they were a match made in heaven.  I have a few more recipes in mind for Tennessee, so I might return there before the year is over.  Technically I read the book in 2012.  I reviewed the book quite extensively over on Reading Envy.

Since the novel is about the Battle of Franklin in the Civil War, there is no boiled custard mentioned in its pages.  They barely scrape by with hoecakes ("journey cakes"), biscuits, dried meat and dried fruit.  The soldiers are always begging for coffee and dreaming about feasts of southern food.  Custard or any dessert would have been an impossible luxury, but of course, anyone who bakes has a compulsion to sooth people with sweets.  These suffering soldiers could have really used some boiled custard!

Best Wishes in 2013 - Sachertorte

Happy New Year!

To celebrate the ending of 2012, I made a sachertorte.  The only people allowed to claim the sachertorte are in Vienna, so instead of piping the traditional "sacher" on top, I used my own name.

So I present to you - the Colvintorte!  I used Lidia Bastianach's recipe on Foodandwine.com.

The sachertorte is on the dry side.  Everything I read said this is how it is supposed to be, and enjoyed with coffee and dunked in whipped cream.  I'd made one ages ago, as a freshman in highschool, but I don't really remember how that tasted.  I went with Lidia's recipe because she seemed to do more to try to remoisten the cake - using the traditional apricot jam as a syrup, a filling, and a glaze.  I thought these ideas were sound and followed her recipe almost exactly.  I baked the batter in two 9 inch cake pans and only had one layer of filling.  I suspect her thin layers are one more method she used to combat that dryness!


Technically, I could claim this dessert on my Around the World list, and I did recently read Rock Crystal, which was set in Austria.  Done! 

You can see some of the other recipes I pinned for sachertorte in my "baked goods to try" Pinterest board.  The King Arthur Flour recipe was well laid out but the comments had several issues with the glaze.  The Kaffeehaus recipe I'm sure would be ultra-traditional, but I was concerned about the dryness.

Would I make this again?  Probably not.  I do love the flavor combination of chocolate and apricot, but I would prefer it in a much moister cake, or just by dipping apricots in chocolate. 

Foodie Gifts 2012

"Santa" always brings me foodie things for the holidays, and this year was no exception. I thought I'd go down the list.

1. Blood, Bones and Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef by Gabrielle Hamilton

"Before Gabrielle Hamilton opened her acclaimed New York restaurant Prune, she spent twenty fierce, hard-living years trying to find purpose and meaning in her life...."

Yeah, despite not staying in the restaurant world, I'm a sucker for a good chef narrative.  Past favorites include Heat by Bill Buford, and the classic Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain.  I've been wanting to read this one for a while.

2. What's a Cook to Do? by James Peterson

Basic reference book for frequent kitchen problems.  It seems to have a lot in it addressing infrequently used ingredients and techniques, so I'm going to try using it instead of the internet for a while.  I did look up persimmons in it already!

3. Short and Simple Family Recipes by Amy Roloff

While most people will recognize her from TLC's Little People, Big World, the Roloffs went to school with my sister, so my Mom gave Amy's cookbook to all three of us.  It seems to have lots of family recipes.  I'm hoping for something that seems Oregon related since the Roloffs live close to where I grew up.  There are a lot of pictures of the family in it as well.

4. Bean By Bean by Crescent Dragonwagon

I know this cookbook author best from her vegetarian cookbooks like Passionate Vegetarian.  This cookbook isn't entirely vegetarian, but when she includes a recipe that isn't, she always has a vegetarian option.  She also clearly marks each recipe and variation if it is vegan or gluten-free.  There are lots of good sounding things in here!  I already have a bunch marked to try.

5. The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook by Deb Perelman

I've followed Deb's blog for years, and made many of her recipes.  They are always well-tested, delicious, and I couldn't wait to get her cookbook.  This was a gift from my sister.  I haven't cracked it yet because I'm delaying gratification.  The cover is gorgeous, and her photography always has been, so this just can't be bad.  

6. The Joy of Gluten-Free, Sugar-Free Baking by Reinhart/Wallace

Not technically a holiday gift, but Nathaniel brought this home from some discount store around the holidays.  I was skeptical as I have read some really terrible sugar-free and gluten-free cookbooks.  Some aren't diabetic-friendly and simply substitute honey, maple syrup, or agave for sugar; some gluten-free cookbooks create their own flour substitute and just use that for everything, rather than varying flavor and texture with flour.  This is co-written by one of the bakers I trust the most - Peter Reinhardt, author of the Bread Baker's Apprentice and American Pie, among others.  To see the results of his superb baking ability applied to sugar-free and gluten-free baking made me tear up (not joking) because I have a feeling that this will revolutionize my own attempts that I've been making for the last year.  THANK YOU, Peter.  

7. Cookbook bone (not pictured) - I had to Google this one to figure out what it is.  Now you can. Ha!
8. Apron, black-white-green, says "Queen of Everything." (not pictured) 

What did Santa bring for you foodie-wise this year?

JennyBakes Reflects on 2012

International Baking


2012 started out with a bang, and huge aspirations.  I participated in the Around the World in 2012 Books challenge in GoodReads, and I thought maybe I'd bake something from each country I read a book from.  Great idea, but I only ended up making twelve recipes.  These were some of the most inspired baking moments from my year, so let's relive the lot:

• Paprenjaci 
• Caraway seed cake 
• Po'e 
• Malva Pudding
• Arroz Zambito
• Cassata
• Rum Cake
• Sticky Toffee Pudding
• Basbousa
• Mil Hojas
• Pavlova
• Cong You Bing

I ended up reading books from 47 countries in 2012, and seem to have acquired at least that many more books.  I'll keep exploring the world of books unread and baked goods/desserts unmade.  I'll be focusing more of my energy on a similar Around the USA reading challenge in 2013, and you guessed it - I will be attempting to do more regional American baking.  Please let me know if you have any favorite regional recipes, because I do not yet have something for each location.

I have a good start on my Around the USA Baking board in Pinterest, so check it out and tell me what you think I'm missing.

Bakery Visits

The highlight this year has to be having a croissant from Sarafina's on St. Martin.  That is as close as I have come to France so far!  I visited a cupcake truck in Dallas and a German bakery in Alabama, but wasn't out seeing a lot of places selling baked goods this year.  The next section will explain.

Cutting Out Sugar (Wait, What?)

This year saw some major changes to my baking habits.  My husband and I went super low-sugar mid-January, eliminating many of the ingredients I took for granted in baking.  It could have been depressing, but I decided to use my powers for good.  I mean, I'm a baker, so this could open up a world of new ingredients and flavors.  Many of my experiments did not even make it into the blog, especially several misunderstandings with coconut flour (not an easy one!), but I found a few recipes that made our new way of eating more bearable.  If you are diabetic, limiting carbs, or just looking for lighter options, I'd highly recommend trying one of the following:

• Waffles
• Crepes/pancakes
• Fruit crumble
• Pumpkin spice syrup for coffee drinks
• Paleo Pumpkin Pancakes

The Best of 2012

I still managed to do quite a bit of "real" baking, despite the limitations.  My favorite recipes of the year (you won't believe how many have caramel as a component):

1.

I resisted salted caramel.  Everyone kept raving about this cake, so I made it for my birthday and it is AMAZING.  A must try.  Martha, I take back anything bad I ever said about your recipes.

2.

Sensing a theme?  These made my co-workers very, very happy.

3.Two candies I made during the holidays - Gingerbread Caramels and Microwave Toffee.  One was a lot of work, one was super easy.  I might repeat both next year.

So I end 2012 a convert to caramel, even salted caramel, and lighter on my feet.  I'll think for a few days on what I want 2013 to hold in the baking arena, and post again.  Happiest of new years to you all!

Easy Candy for the Holidays

After telling my caramel making woes to enough people, I was told a secret - the Secret of Microwave Toffee.  I had no idea you could make toffee in the microwave, and approached the idea with great skepticism.  I finally had time to try it tonight, and it is a must-make for the holidays.  Super easy, and super delicious.  (Thanks, Jane!)  I am going to make a few more batches with different nut combinations.  I used the recipe from Lesley at Kitchengifts.com, but almost all the recipes I found on the internet were variations of the same formula.  I had chopped hazelnuts left over from the big batch we roasted a few weeks ago, so I used those instead of pecans this time around.

The other candy displayed on the plate is so simple to make you don't even need a recipe, you just need good ingredients. We had picked up a few of the single-origin bars from Black Mountain Chocolate when they were at the Asheville Tailgate Market.  I melted the Peruvian bar in a double boiler, dipped dried apricots in it, and rolled them in chopped pistachios.  They have the marvelous combination of sweet/salty/bitter and haven't lasted as long as they should have in our house!

Chocolate Peppermint Cookies

These were my favorites of the cookie baking madness of early December, so much that I made them twice!  The first time happened because I picked up a bag of Trader Joe's Peppermint Bark Baking Bits, which is my preferred ingredient.  Trader Joe's tends to get seasonal food in one time and then not have it again for a year, so when I went back for more, they were cleaned out.  I chopped up a bag of Andes Peppermint Crunch but it wasn't quite the same.  Still good.  The photo pictures the Andes, with the red and white stripe.  I suppose you could make these with crushed up candy canes, but the bark has sweeter white chocolate that adds a lovely texture to the cookies.

Chocolate Peppermint Cookies

Ingredients:
4 oz (1 stick) unsalted butter
12 oz semisweet chocolate, roughly chopped (Baker's chocolate is fine)
1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/4 cups light brown sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp peppermint extract (optional, may use vanilla instead)
1 bag Trader Joe's Peppermint Bark Baking Bits or Andes Peppermint Crunch, chopped

Directions:

1. In the microwave or in a saucepan, melt the butter and chopped chocolate, stirring frequently, over medium heat. Let cool for 15 minutes.
2. Whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt.
3. Beat the sugar, eggs and vanilla at low speed until smooth, 2 minutes. Mix in the cooled chocolate mixture just until blended. Add the flour mixture gradually. Stir in peppermint bark bits or peppermint crunch pieces.
4. Divide the dough and scrape onto plastic wrap, shaping roughly into logs. Refrigerate the dough for at least 1 hour. 
5. Preheat oven to 350 F.  Slice 1/4" pieces from log and place 2" apart on a parchment paper lined baking sheet.  Bake 10-12 minutes or until set. 

 Full disclosure: The framework for the original chocolate cookie recipe comes from the Rachel Ray recipe for "Hot Cocoa Cookies," but I abandoned that idea and took it in this direction. 

Lemon Gingerbread Wonderland Cake

Every year we have a work holiday party the Friday of final exam week. I usually bring one of the desserts, but never have I been as nervous about what I brought as this year!  I wasn't sure the filling was sweet enough.  I wasn't sure the balance was right.  I almost didn't bring it in at all.


In the end, I think it turned out okay. Not overly sweet, but I was hoping for a more sophisticated flavor profile anyway. 

So what is in a Lemon Gingerbread Wonderland Cake?  First, I started with Dorie Greenspan's perfect party cake from Baking from My Home to Yours.  I made her butter cream recipe as well, which is lightly lemon flavored/scented, and REAL, not powdered sugar sickly sweet.  I had run across a recipe for gingerbread latte filling in the Southern Living Pinterest, and couldn't get it out of my head.  I'm not sure the recipe is complete.  The only sugar in it is 1/3 cup molasses, and it is what had me worried!  It makes a custardy pudding type mixture that has to chill overnight (or six hours, which is all I had.)  The pictures they use are much darker, and I really do wonder if they left out the sugar ingredient.  In the end, it had enough flavor without the sweetness to balance the lemon of the outside.

Would I make this again?  Probably not.  I like ginger and lemon together but would prefer stronger flavors.  But I'm just relieved it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be, and sometimes that is all you can ask for.

Gingerbread Caramels

Well, hello, caramel, my old nemesis.  You may have defeated me multiple times in the past, from caramel cake to destroying my oven to failed attempts at caramelized sugar,  but  as I planned my holiday baking, I came across this recipe for gingerbread caramels.  I wanted them.  I wanted to bring them to a cookie exchange and feel like I had something to offer.  I pledged I would not be defeated.

I bought the ingredients over Thanksgiving break, and it took me two weeks to get up the nerve to try the recipe.  Once it is poured into the pan, it has to sit untouched for 24 hours, so it has to be timed right.  I whipped it up Saturday evening so I could wrap the caramels Sunday evening.  Assuming the recipe worked.  Assuming I didn't just throw away 2 pints of heavy cream and 2 cups of corn syrup and 4 cups of sugar in the process.

After the fudge I made for my students ended up overcooked and dry, I treated my candy thermometer with great skepticism.  I went with instinct over the number on the gauge, and the minute the boiling mixture changed to a somewhat stretchy bubbling texture, I pulled it off the heat.  This was about 8 degrees less than what Martha told me to look for, but I think I did it at just the right time.  I was supposed to mix in the vanilla and spices before pouring the mixture into the pan, and I did, but it didn't mix in very well.  In the end, they aren't clumping up enough to make a dusty taste, so I let it go.


After 24 hours came the wrapping.  And the wrapping.  This recipe makes a ton, but it should be enough to bring some to the cookie exchange and give some as gifts.  I'll be making this recipe again.  I won't be afraid.  You should try it too!

Cookie Treats

Although I have several bakery review type posts that I have no reason not to have posted, time is just getting away from me this year.  I don't want to neglect to post about holiday treats before the holidays.

Every year, I make goodie bags for my student workers in the music library and try to give them out on Study Day, that one day of supposed study time between classes and final exams.  Of course, most of my student workers are music majors, so they use that time doing juries, auditions, and interviews for Italy.  Busy brains need fuel!

This year because we changed how staffing works in the libraries, I have roughly 22 students working shifts in my library instead of the usual 10-11.  I should have made slightly less complicated recipes, but I did spread it out over a few days.  I will post the recipe to the chocolate peppermint cookies soon, I hope, once I've made them again, but for now I'll just describe and link to the recipes I used.

• Ninja Gingerbread Men - cookie recipe from Simply Recipes; cookie cutters from Walgreens
• Stained Glass Cookies - cookie recipe from WGBH
• Chocolate Peppermint Cookies - I'll post what I did for these soon, it is a modification
• Hazelnut Thumbprint Cookies - cookie recipe from Martha Stewart, and I'm making these again for a cookie exchange!
• Chocolate Fudge - fudge recipe from Alton Brown. Didn't turn out great, wish I'd used a recipe I'd known.

Still to come for this holiday season - gingerbread trees, cookie exchange, movie night, end of the world chocolate something (idea not fully formed), husband birthday, and Christmas tea.  Lots of baking still to do!  And wait until you see my gingerbread caramels.....

Cong You Bing

It has been a while since I have made a baked good in conjunction with my Around the World reading challenge.  The past few weeks, I have been reading books set in China.  My original idea was to read Wild Swans, but then Mo Yan won the Nobel Prize for Literature.  I read his novel Big Breasts and Wide Hips (linking to my review), which had a lot of food mentioned, but more often the food of severe poverty, where the peasants were eating anything they could find.

One of the plants growing in the wild where the Shangguan family is trying to live is the scallion:

"Mother took the cloth covering off of her basket, and Zaohua handed her a peeled scallion, which she broke in half and stuffed into a flatcake."

Flatcakes are mentioned throughout the book, and reminded me of a recipe I had set aside for China back in 2011 when I was still researching potential recipes for the challenge.  The recipe for Scallion Pancake, or Cong You Bing, comes from The Best International Recipe Cookbook, put out by Cook's Illustrated. 

It makes sense that the families in Big Breasts and Wide Hips would eat something like these flatcakes, because according to food writer Fuschia Dunlop, people in the north are often referred to as "wheat-eaters."  The other book I read for China was Shark's Fin and Sichuan Pepper: A Sweet-Sour Memoir of Eating in China. While she did include some recipes, there weren't any without meat that I could try, and most of the ingredients wouldn't be nearly the same as they would be in China anyway.  But this book made me hungry and I had to stop and make cong you bing just to make it through. 

My cong you bing are not as thin as what I see elsewhere on the internet.  The process is a quick bread of flour, salt, and water that is kneaded and allowed to rest.  I actually think that since I made half the recipe and could fit it in my palm, I may have overkneaded the dough.  After resting, balls of dough are rolled out (I used my hands again), sprinkled with sesame oil, scallions, and I added sesame seeds; coiled into a ball-shape, and rolled out again.

These flat pancakey breads are then pan-fried and served with a scallion dipping sauce.  In both books, any time flatbreads were discussed, they were always wrapped around meat of various kinds, despite where Fuschia would travel in China. The breads might change, but it was pretty prevalent. 

They were pretty tasty, probably best in the course of a larger meal.  I'd recommend both books, although book are pretty dense and will require some time from you as a reader.

Paleo Pumpkin Pancakes

This recipe is another Pinterest find, just from searching "paleo" I found a bunch of people to follow. This recipe was posted on the Balanced Bites blog, and comes from Practical Paleo.

It is posted with a few variations - coconut flour is optional, and so is the sweet element of maple syrup or a sugar substitute.  I left both out, after a few negative experiences with coconut flour.  It has so much fiber and density that you have to use it so sparingly, and I wanted to see if I even needed it at all.  It turns out - no!

This may be my favorite lower sugar breakfast recipe yet.  The pumpkin flavor is very noticeable (after all, there aren't very many other ingredients), and the spices are lovely.  You could serve it with sugar free syrup like we did, fresh fruit and whipped cream, or if you are really more of a paleo person who consumes maple syrup, I would RUN, not walk, to the store to pick up some maple syrup to make this maple cream.


Oh, fall!  Who knew you could be so healthy AND delicious?

Pumpkin Spice Syrup for Coffee

My friend Kasia over at Kasia's Kitchen alerted me to the recipe for Pumpkin Spice Latte Syrup over on the Alaska from Scratch blog. Both Kasia and I mark the seasons by our changing flavors of coffee drinks, so she knows me well!

Woe has been the theme in my household, however.  Nobody seems to make a sugar-free pumpkin spice syrup, at least not in our direct vicinity, and that has meant the foregoing of pumpkin spice coffee drinks.  Until now!  This is a bit late to be posting this, as certain coffee shops already have their red cups of holiday drinks out, but as far as I'm concerned we have another month of fall food, including pumpkin.

I adapted Maya's recipe from Alaska from Scratch, but if you eat sugar, you should use her original recipe.  My version doesn't get quite as thick as making a true simple-syrup based syrup would do.  However if you are trying to consume less sugar, give this a try!  What I'm presenting to you is a double batch with some spice modifications, since we will not have any trouble getting through it at my house.

Pumpkin Spice Syrup, lower-sugar

• 3 cups water
• 1 cup granulated Splenda (use any sugar substitute that works within your needs and doesn't taste too chemically-laden)
• 6 cinnamon sticks
• 1 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp. ground cloves
• 1/2 cup pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)

1. Dissolve splenda into water over medium high heat.  Once the mixture is starting to steam, add cinnamon sticks, spices, and pumpkin puree, whisking until blended.
2. Turn down to medium and let it bubble about for about 10 minutes or so, stirring often.
3.  Let cool for 10-15 minutes.  Strain, otherwise you will end up with a mouthful of gloppy spices and pumpkin. 
4. We add 2-3 tbsp of pumpkin spice syrup to a cup of coffee, plus a splash of cream or creamer.  On days requiring fancier coffee, you might want to add whipped cream sprinkled with nutmeg.

You could also make a latte version, as Maya originally did, but we don't have an espresso machine at home.  Even "just" in coffee, this is a delicious drink for fall!  It is currently fueling my NaNoWriMo writing sprees, where I am almost to 7,500 words on day three.  Phew.

Candy Corn Cookies

I should have posted these yesterday - Happy Halloween belated, everyone!

This recipe for Candy Corn Kaleidoscope Cookies comes from CakeSpy, who modified it from an original Betty Crocker recipe.  Betty Crocker!  I didn't change a thing.  Something about this recipe, maybe the lack of egg or the use of powdered sugar, makes the vanilla flavor really stand out.

I had no Halloween costume, but I did paint my nails to look like candy corn.  So festive!