Granola I did not make

D makes big batches of granola so that he can eat it all week. He uses this recipe (which is from Molly, but he didn't know who that was until I told him) but I think he leaves out the dried fruit and maybe adds a bit of lemon zest.

{d's granola}

I don't usually eat it for breakfast, because I'm loyal to eggs. But I like snacking on it at other times of the day.

Rosemary butter cookies

The second part of the edible Christmas gifts ...

{rosemary butter cookies}

These are simple but the texture is excellent and the rosemary makes it interesting. Bonus - no cookie cutters needed. Log cookies are my fave. You could easily make these ahead of time and freeze the logs (wrap well in saran wrap and then with aluminum foil). I find they cut more easily if they aren't completely frozen, so I would let them defrost in the fridge before cutting.

{rosemary butter cookies}

For the packaging, I just used stuff I already had lying around. I tucked 6 cookies into small wax paper bags and then tucked those inside my larger kraft paper bags. Kraft paper on its own isn't ideal for cookies because you'll end up with grease stains. I had stamped the kraft paper bags with a holiday stamp I designed for us this year. On the folded down flap, I used my favorite green pen to hand write and draw a simple illustration (can you tell that it's supposed to be rosemary? drawing is not my strong suit) and secured it with a bit of washi tape.

{rosemary, kitchen}

Rosemary butter cookies (supposed to make about 5 dozen, but I found it to be closer to 3 dozen, somehow - recipe from here, I didn't make changes, but I'm reposting because the MS website tends to delete recipes and move links, which is really frustrating if you find this post a year from now)

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg plus 1 egg white, beaten (the egg white is for right before baking, so don't bother with it if you plan to freeze them for later)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh rosemary
3/4 teaspoon coarse salt
1/2 cup fine sanding sugar (ditto egg white note)
 

:: Beat butter and granulated sugar until light and fluffy, at least two minutes. Mix in whole egg and vanilla. Reduce speed to low. Add flour, rosemary, and salt, and mix until combined. 

:: Halve dough; shape each half into a log. Place each log on a 12-by-16-inch sheet of parchment. Roll in parchment to 1 1/2 inches in diameter, pressing a ruler along edge of parchment at each turn to narrow log. Transfer to paper-towel tubes to hold shape, and freeze until firm, about 1 hour. 

:: Preheat oven to 375. Brush each log with egg white; roll in sanding sugar. Cut into 1/4-inch-thick rounds. Space 1 inch apart on baking sheets lined with parchment. Bake until edges are golden, 18 to 20 minutes. Let cool on sheets on wire racks. Store in airtight containers at room temperature up to 3 days.

The recipe doubles easily, so I made four logs at once and got about 7 dozen cookies out of the deal. D and I ate the leftovers the following week and we both agreed they were even better than the day they were baked.

Best carrot cake, seriously

My current favorite carrot cake recipe (from Smitten Kitchen). No need to modify anything - it's perfect as it stands. As Deb suggests, do use the box grater rather than the food processor to do the carrots, even if it is tedious. I've made these as cupcakes and they were wonderful but I had quite a bit of batter left over. They will rise, so don't overfill the cups (like I did). This time around I wanted a cake and the recipe perfectly filled two 9 inch rounds.

{carrot cake, vintage stand}

I topped it with crushed walnuts, the national sign for carrot cake. You can free hand the circle, of course. But that always makes me nervous, so I take a rather more obsessive route. 

{pattern}

Cut out a stencil, lay it lightly on your (refrigerated*) frosted cake, top with walnuts.

{carrot cake topping}

Remove the stencil gently and fill in the two little bars by hand. It's like cake decorating for pre-schoolers!

{carrot cake top}

P.S. I get that sort of rustic frosting finish by using an offset spatula. A million times easier than trying to use a regular knife, truly.

* If the frosting is chilled, then your stencil is less likely to stick to it and cause a mess. Of course, the walnuts are also less likely to adhere, but you can press them down gently with your fingers after you take off the stencil.

Chocolate pavlova with fresh berries

We don't eat a lot of dessert - we're talking a couple times a month, max, with the exception of the holidays. I know that seems shocking, given the many recipes for cakes and pies and cookies that you see here. Almost every single one of those treats was made specifically for an occasion. Often a birthday. And because we don't get to eat it often, I tend to be conservative when it comes to choosing recipes. I want something amazing, something flavorful, something indulgent.

Meringues, however lovely, do not fall into those categories. While I like meringue dolloped on top of a pie, I've never really believed it could stand on its own. Egg whites enhanced with sugar do not a complete dessert make. Or so I thought. The latest birthday in our group was for a friend who is currently both gluten and dairy free. I'm pretty comfortable with food restrictions, and I can easily do one or the other but the combination is sort of mind boggling.

Then I remembered meringue's showy cousin - the pavlova. Egg whites and sugar, whipped carefully and cooked slowly at low heat. Afraid that it would come out tasting like air, I opted for a version with cocoa powder and shaved dark chocolate. It came out with a shatter to the touch crust and a slightly chewy center, much more substantial (and delicious) than I had hoped. Piled with fresh berries, it didn't feel at all like a consolation prize.

{pavlova}

Chocolate pavlova with fresh berries (serves 6, adapted slightly* from Nigella's recipe here)

6 large egg whites, room temperature
2 cups superfine sugar (or regular sugar whizzed about in the food processor)
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
2 ounces dark chocolate, finely chopped
4 cups fresh or defrosted berries (we used a mix of strawberries, raspberries, blackberries and blueberries)
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons (ish) fresh lemon juice (optional but recommended)
1 tablespoon fresh lemon zest (optional but recommended)

:: Preheat the oven to 300 degrees and line two baking sheets with parchment paper or Silpat.

:: Beat the egg whites with a mixer until satiny peaks form (this is past the foamy stage, but the egg whites won't be very shiny yet), and then beat in the sugar a large spoonful at a time until the meringue is stiff and shiny. Beating the sugar in slowly is worth the time - you won't end up with a gritty meringue. Add the vinegar and whip it in. If you run your finger through the meringue, it should feel thick and very smooth and it should easily form peaks.

:: Sprinkle the cocoa and the chopped chocolate over the egg whites. Gently fold everything with a rubber spatula until the cocoa is thoroughly mixed in. "Folding" is one of those instructions that drive new cooks crazy. It's just a way to gently mix the ingredients. I take the rubber spatula and run it around the edge of the bowl, sort of lifting up the batter and then gently draw it through the middle of the bowl the pull the ingredients through the center. Repeat several times, until the mixture is uniform. What you don't want to do is just stir it around like crazy. You're trying to get the ingredients mixed without deflating the meringue, so the lifting motion will help keep the air incorporated.

:: Mound the meringue onto the lined baking sheets, making 6 mounds total. I did all of mine on one large baking sheet and they juuuust fit, but they expanded a bit as they baked and this made it difficult to separate them afterward so I'd recommend spreading them out a bit more. The mounds will be fairly large, about 5 inches across and a couple inches high.

:: Use a metal spoon to form a large well in the center of each mound. The meringue will rise as it bakes, so keep that in mind.

:: Place in the oven, then immediately turn the temperature down to 275 degrees F and cook for about one hour. When ready, they should look crisp and dry on top, and you may see some cracking in the middle of the wells. Nigella recommends opening the oven and touching the meringues to check for doneness. I read another recipe that recommended avoiding opening the oven altogether, so I didn't check.

:: Turn off the oven and walk away. I actually left mine in the oven overnight, for serving in the morning.You can apparently make the pavlova a couple days ahead and store it in an airtight container in a cool, dry place. DO NOT refrigerate it. Refrigeration wrecks havoc on meringue. When removing the pavlova from the baking sheet you'll want to use the thinnest metal spatula you have, to reduce the risk of shattering the delicate crust.

:: About half an hour before you want to eat, toss the berries with the sugar, lemon juice and zest. Just before serving pile the berries in the center of each pavlova. 

{pavlova, eaten}

Unless you are more talented than I, a few of your pavlova will probably shatter or crack a bit. They still taste excellent, but if you're compulsive about only serving perfect looking dessert you'll want to plan on making a few more than you actually need.

I'll be honest - I don't pavlova will ever win out over cake for me, but as a gluten-free, dairy-free dessert option, they're pretty spectacular. If you can add whipped cream, they'll be even better (as D and I discovered when we devoured the cracked leftovers later on).

* I changed the baking instructions (lowered the temp after looking at several recipes). The original recipe calls for a single 9 inch round, but I made 6 individual servings instead. Nigella also calls for adding freshly whipped cream to the pavlova, which sounds divine but wouldn't work for us as we needed a dairy free option.  If I were to make fresh whipped cream, I think I'd be tempted to add a little bit of mint. It seems like it would play well with the berries and the chocolate.

The cookie spreadsheet, explained

Last week's frozen cookie dough post forced me to get going on something I've been procrastinating on for a loooong time. I've had lots of requests for the cookie spreadsheet I used while I was planning the wedding cookie buffet for my sister's wedding, and I'm terrible at getting back to everyone individually (and not always on a computer with the file). Sorry to everyone who thinks I'm ignoring them. This is for you! I'm honestly not sure how often anyone finds themselves in a position where they need to make this many cookies (Christmas, maybe? If you're really intense?), but it will help if you're trying to tackle a huge baking project.

And while I was figuring out how to explain the spreadsheet to you and clicking back and forth between the pages, I found the little last month of planning schedule that I'd drawn up for us so that everything would run perfectly smoothly. I looked at it and laughed hysterically for a minute and then decided to share some of my (less pretty) DIY wedding reflections with you, a few years later. That part is coming tomorrow.

For the uninitiated (people who have not been reading for long enough that you are horribly sick of hearing about this wedding already) there are a series of posts about my sister's family made wedding here (overview, invitations, dessert buffet, cake making).

Back to the spreadsheet - I've uploaded it to my Google docs, so you should all be able to view it here. I've tried to set it up so that you can't edit it, but you can download it in Excel format and play with it on your own computer. If you have trouble, let me know in the comments and I'll try to troubleshoot.

Keep in mind that it's going to take a lot of adaptation unless you want to make exactly the same cookies in exactly the same quantities that I did. I made this for myself, so it isn't foolproof at all, and it will work best if you're already very comfortable with Excel. Here's a brief rundown on how I used it ...

The first page is the master list of recipes. It includes all the recipes I decided to use and how many batches I needed. There is a little check off section so that I could check off batches of dough as I went along, to keep myself organized. There are notes about whether the cookies were to be frozen as dough or as baked cookies. You'll have to enter your own information here.

The second page is the master list of ingredients. I tried to include most of the common ingredients so I would know what to buy in bulk. I looked up rough cup to weight conversions for the dried goods, and they probably aren't exact but I didn't end up way over or under. In order to calculate the totals, you have to tell Excel where to find the values. We'll get to that.

The third and fourth pages are the broken down recipes. For each recipe, you'll need to enter the ingredients and the amounts in the correct columns. The spreadsheet will automatically calculate your scaled up amounts if you enter the number of batches you want to make. To figure out how many cookies you're getting, change the formula in the box that says "total" by substituting your number of cookies per batch for whatever number I have in there. Excel will automatically multiply it by the number of batches you've entered.

In general, I made four batches of each cookie by making two double batches. This saved the most work. Make them one after the other and you won't even have to wash the mixing bowl between batches, most of the time. I automatically had Excel calculate the amounts needed for the double batch, because I found this helpful.

Now the fun part - pulling it all together to get your shopping list. I won't lie, this part can be tedious and it's easy to make mistakes. You'll have to do it yourself because all the cells are going to be moved around once you sub your own recipes in for mine. Let's say you're trying to figure out how much flour you need. You go to the second tab (master list ingredients) and select the cell between "flour" and "cups". Delete whatever is there, because it's my information. Type an " = " sign so that Excel knows you're going to enter an equation. Then click over to the tab with your recipes and select the cell from the first recipe with the total amount of flour for that recipe (you're looking at the "extended" column). Once you've selected the cell, enter a " + " sign and then click on the flour cell for the next recipe. When you've selected all the flour cells, hit enter. You should automatically be taken back to the master list ingredients tab and the total amount of flour needed will show up.

Excel is picky and it can be annoying when you aren't used to it. I don't recommend this spreadsheet to beginners, but if you have some experience I think you'll find it's significantly faster than trying to manually figure out all these totals.

I left my random bits and pieces of information in here as well. If you're curious to see how the last month-ish  of wedding planning went, you can click over to the last tab and see my calendar. I work full time, so I packed in all the major activities on Saturdays. I had goals for each week (you can see them in one long cell that underlines the week in question), and this was stuff that I had to do during the evenings. I started baking on the first of October, to give myself a full month. I aimed to spend about three evenings a week baking or mixing dough, getting two - three recipes done each week. It actually wasn't that bad. Once you have it all laid out, there aren't any decisions to make. You just plug along until you finish the checklist. When you're making double batches of dough, it all goes relatively quickly. The cookie part of this went exactly as planned, but the last week of wedding prep was a killer, for everything except the cookies. More on that tomorrow.

Lemon meringue pie

As far as lemon meringue pie goes, there are two distinct types and the one is not at all similar to the other. The pie I most commonly see in restaurants has a filling that resembles lemon jello to an unsettling degree. I am sure that many, many people love this filling. Personally, I avoid almost all gelatin based desserts (sincere apologies to my Midwest ancestors).

{meringue, peaks}

The lemon meringue pie I know and love is more like lemon custard, made easy by sweetened condensed milk. I have, in fact, sweated my way through a more traditional recipe that involved making a lemon curd type filling on the stove and pressing it through a fine mesh strainer. It was delicious, but no more delicious than this easy version. I happily reverted back.

{lemon meringue pie}

Lemon meringue pie (family recipe, adapted from various sources)

Unfilled 9 - 10" pie crust (the recipe I use is here)
6 egg yolks (set the whites aside for the meringue)
2 cans sweetened condensed milk (14 oz each)
1 cup fresh lemon juice
3 tablespoons fresh lemon zest

6 egg whites, room temperature
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
2/3 cup sugar

:: Pre-bake your pie crust in a 450F oven for 10 - 12 minutes, until just barely golden. Allow to cool. Reduce the oven heat to 325F.

:: Beat the egg yolks (I use my KitchenAid, you can also just use a whisk) for a minute or so and then slowly add the sweetened condensed milk. Add the lemon juice and the lemon zest and continue beating until well mixed. Pour into your cooled pie crust. Pop the filled pie in the 325F oven for 15 minutes.

:: Meanwhile, put your reserved egg whites and the cream of tartar in a scrupulously clean bowl and start beating. You can do this by hand but it will take a bit of muscle and endurance - personally, I lack the drive. Once the egg whites have started to form soft peaks (they will hold their shape slightly, but the mixture still looks matte and a bit foamy) you can start adding the sugar, 1 or 2 tablespoons at a time. Scrape down the sides of the bowl once in a while to make sure all the sugar is incorporated. Adding sugar too quickly can result in a gritty finish. Using bakers sugar (superfine) can reduce the risk of grittiness, but if you are patient and work the sugar in slowly you'll be fine with the regular stuff. Once all the sugar is added, you should continue to beat the egg whites for an additional 4 minutes (if you're using a mixer - probably a bit longer if you're doing this by hand). Finished meringue will be very thick and beautifully glossy.

:: When the 15 minute baking time is up, take your pie out of the oven (increase the oven heat to 350F at this time) and immediately spread the meringue over it. Do this by adding large dollops to the pie in various places and then smooth the dollops together. Then use your spoon or spatula to create peaks in the meringue. Fun! The only rule is to make sure that the meringue goes all the way to the edge and has contact with the pie crust.

:: Put the pie back in the oven (now at 350F) and let it bake for another 15 minutes, until the meringue peaks are gently browned. Remove and let stand at room temperature for at least two hours before serving.

The pie can be stored in the fridge, but your meringue will get chewy and gritty fairly quickly. I recommend making the pie the day you need it and then eating the leftovers quickly enough to avoid the need to refrigerate. It isn't hard to do.

Baking and perseverance

For everyone who has ever felt intimidated by all the pretty pictures of baked goods you see all over the internet - this is for you.

{sunken pie crust}

This pie crust looked absolutely beautiful after I fluted the edges and carefully tucked it in the freezer, but it somehow collapsed into itself during the baking bit, leaving me with a very flaky and delicious pie crust that is capable of holding 1/8 inch of filling, max.

Thinking maybe I had set the oven temperature too low, I went ahead and stuck another one in there.

{sunken pie crusts 1 + 2}

Nope, clearly not the temperature. Decided it must be the fancy European butter I used, which is such a dream in croissants and free form tarts, but which appears to be too creamy to form a sturdy pie crust. Chalked it up to a learning experience and stuck another pie crust (sans European butter) in the oven.

Got distracted by the little terrier and ignored the timer when it went off. Only realized that it was for the oven when I smelled something burning. Third failure of the morning. Frustration sets in, much gnashing of teeth. Circe, a pie crust connoisseur, refuses to eat even the non-burned parts of the pie crust, clearly feeling it is beneath her terrier dignity. I can't blame her.

{burned pie crust}

Started to panic, thinking that a birthday pie was not going to emerge from the kitchen at all. Stuck another pie crust in the freezer to firm up and baked a lemon-yogurt cake as a back up plan. Half expected something disastrous to happen to said cake. Considered trying to find a bakery open on the 4th of July that might have a cake decorated with something other than an American flag.

By some miracle, both the cake and the fourth pie emerged unscathed.

{lemon cake + lemon pie}

While they cooled, I caramelized a pile of onions with a bit of rosemary and then spread the mixture in my collapsed crusts, adding a bit of aged white cheddar to the top. Voila! An (only somewhat unsightly) onion tart.

{improvised tart}

The burned crust had to be thrown away, of course. There are limits to what you can salvage. 

Oh, and I also burned myself on the oven, adding to a rather spectacular array of baking induced arm scars. Some days are just like this.

P.S. - The lemon cake recipe is actually just Deb's lime yogurt cake, but with lemon juice and zest instead of lime. I didn't have blackberries to make the sauce, so I cut the cake in half once it cooled and spread a generous layer of boysenberry jam in the middle. Pretty tasty and not overly sweet - the kind of cake you could almost justify eating for breakfast. The lemon pie recipe is coming soon.

Indoor s'mores

I had lofty dessert visions for the baby shower. It had a beach barbecue theme, so I wanted to try a riff on s'mores, which are one of my favorite summer treats.

I considered - learning how to temper chocolate, making chocolate ganache, mastering homemade graham crackers, incorporating digestive biscuits instead of graham crackers, subbing fancy chocolate for the standard Hershey's for improved flavor,  keeping the standard Hershey's for the sake of nostalgia, finding a recipe for homemade marshmallow fluff, making a boiled icing that would be reminiscent of marshmallows without being too obvious, purchasing a kitchen torch for artistic toasting of either icing or marshmallows ...

And then suddenly it was Friday and I was out of time and slightly embarrassed by how much mental energy I'd given to the s'mores issue. 

Quick solution - le petit ecolier cookies, which have a nice biscuit base covered in chocolate + marshmallows, toasted.  I did make the marshmallows, so that I could cut them into heart shapes.

{indoor s'mores, prep}

If making marshmallows sounds unbearably unnecessary to you, I think you could cut regular marshmallows in half  to make them thinner and then cut them with a cookie cutter. But really, once you get your hands on Deb's recipe for fluffy marshmallows you'll realize that making them is faster than running out to the store to buy them. I put them in a larger pan, so that they were a bit thinner and easier to cut into shapes.

After cutting, I arranged a few marshmallows on top of each cookie, then popped them in the broiler briefly (watch the entire time - do not step away from the broiler!) and pulled them out once they were golden. After they cool, they're easily transportable and the whole process takes very little time.

{indoor s'mores, toasted}

I think these fall into the better in my head category. Don't get me wrong - they're perfectly tasty and fairly cute and certainly time efficient. But the hearts puff up enough that you can't really tell what they are and the chocolate melts a bit more than you'd like because the broiler is so darn hot. I'm thinking this actually is one of those rare occasions where a kitchen torch would really have come in handy, but I can't quite justify purchasing something I would only use once or twice a year.

I love s'mores so much that I'll probably keep trying to find a dessert that does them justice. In the meantime, I have lots of leftover marshmallow scraps to nibble on and add to hot cocoa, and that is good enough for me.

Prettiest sugar cookies, made easy

There are rigorous guidelines for cookies appropriate for tea parties. They should be dainty, so you can eat them without looking unladylike. They should be decorative, because they are going to be displayed and oohed and aahhed over. Also, they should be relatively easy to make, because you probably have a million other things to do, including somehow making yourself look ladylike enough to attend said tea party.

Bam.

{tea cookies}

A sugar cookie recipe that I love (not overly sweet) + the genius linzer cookie cutter which makes this relatively foolproof + boysenberry jam.

How to make cookies without spending 3 straight hours in the kitchen  - aka obsessive time management for people who work full time and don't love being stuck in the kitchen till 1 am

Wednesday: Make dough, wrap in saran, leave in fridge.

Thursday: Remove dough from fridge, let it soften up while you eat dinner. Roll it out and cut cookies, placing them on a baking sheet as you go. Stick baking sheet in freezer for about an hour. Once frozen, transfer cookies to a Ziploc bag. Put them in the freezer again (you can actually do this up to a month ahead of time, if you make sure you push all the air out of the bag and seal it tightly).

Friday: Bake cookies (side advantage to the freezer method is that you get beautiful, crisp shapes instead of blobs) and let them cool.

Saturday: Sandwich cookies together with a bit of jam in the middle, eat.

The cookies in the back are Deb's brownie roll-out cookies, sandwiched with a bit of ganache in the middle. Tasty, even for a non chocolate lover. 

Brioche with chocolate ganache

I should probably admit that I'm not big on chocolate. I like it as an accent to peanut butter, and I'll certainly eat homemade cake if someone is kind enough to offer, but I don't seek it out. Unless, of course, the chocolate in question is coyly hidden inside pastry dough - then it's a whole different ballgame.

I received the Artisan Bread book last year, and I haven't had time to use it as often as I would like. This super rich, barely sweetened brioche was the perfect introduction - much easier to make than my usual recipe (no kneading!) and with the most perfect texture ever.

{work horse}

You can use the brioche dough for anything, really - the book has several excellent suggestions. I opted for a chocolate ganache filling, because I knew it would go over big with my chocolate obsessed family. And even a chocolate ambivalent person like me can appreciate this deliciousness. The simplicity of the dough provides the perfect foil to the rich filling.

{brioche, ganache}

You make a big batch of brioche dough (enough for four loaves) and then you can either store it in the fridge for up to a week or you can divide it into four pieces and freeze it for easy use later. There is something magical about having homemade ready to bake pastry in your freezer, I think. You don't need a mixer for this recipe, at all. I just used my Kitchenaid out of habit. The mixing is minimal and the dough is pretty soft, so you could easily do this by hand with a wooden spoon.

Brioche dough (makes about 4 loaves. Recipe from the Artisan Bread book)

1 1/2 cups lukewarm water (I used milk instead, because I felt like it)
1 1/2 tablespoons granulated yeast (2 packets)
1 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt (no, that isn't a typo, and no, it doesn't taste salty)
8 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup honey (I actually used sugar and it was fine)
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
7 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

:: Proof your yeast (the book doesn't mention this, but I always do it anyways). Mix your yeast with a little bit of sugar and the lukewarm water (or milk, in my case) and set it aside while you measure out the other ingredients. In 5 - 10 minutes it should look nice and foamy on top. If it doesn't, check the date on your yeast and try again.

:: Mix the yeast/liquid mixture, salt, eggs, honey and melted butter in a 5-quart bowl. The dough is going to rise quite a bit, so make sure your bowl is big enough.

:: Mix in the flour, using a spoon, until all of the flour is incorporated. (I actually used the dough hook on my Kitchenaid for this step, for maximum laziness) Don't worry about over or under mixing. It will be fine. The book mentions that you might have some lumps in your dough at this point, but they'll disappear during the rise. I didn't notice any lumps in my dough, but it's worth noting.

:: Cover (not airtight - I just draped a damp kitchen towel over the bowl), and allow to sit at room temperature for about two hours. You want the dough to rise and then flatten out. It was chilly in our apartment and when I checked the dough after an hour, I could have sworn it hadn't risen at all. I put the bowl in the oven (which was just a tiny bit warm, because we'd cooked in it a few hours before) and let it sit for another two hours and the dough popped right up. A nice patch of sunlight will have a similar effect.

:: Put the bowl (still loosely covered) in the refrigerator. You can keep it there for up to 5 days, otherwise you need to freeze it. If you want to work with the dough right away, I recommend letting it chill for a few hours - otherwise it will be soft and sticky and difficult to work with.

Chocolate ganache filling (enough for one generously filled loaf)

1/4 lb bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
4 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tablespoon rum (I left this out, because the rum flavoring tends to not go over too well with kids)
5 tablespoons corn syrup

:: Melt the chocolate (you can use a double boiler, but I highly recommend a microwave, if you're lucky enough to have one). Remove from heat and add butter. Stir in the cocoa powder, the corn syrup and the rum, if using.

Assembly

:: Take the dough out of the fridge and cut off about 1/4 of it for each loaf you're going to make. Roughly shape it into a ball, using the heel of your hand to press it down and then shape it. You're basically just trying to warm it up a bit and get it ready to roll out.

:: Working on a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out into a rectangle. You want the dough to be about 1/4" thick, but don't fuss over the thickness or the size too much. It all cooks into a blob regardless.

:: Spread the chocolate ganache over the dough, giving yourself about an inch of space on each side.

:: Starting with the short end, roll the dough up, thus enclosing the ganache inside. Again, perfection isn't the point here. Fold the ends over the seamed edge, and then place the dough in a buttered loaf pan, seam side down. At this point, I actually covered the loaf and left it in the fridge overnight. The next morning I pulled it out and continued on.

:: Let it rest at room temperature for about 1 1/2 hours - it should rise slightly. The book recommends doing an egg white wash and sprinkling some sugar over the dough at the end of the rise, before baking. I didn't have time for that and it still turned out beautifully.

:: Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes. Remove from oven, allow to cool, serve.

My chocolate ganache spilled out the sides quite a bit when I went to serve it, but I just scooped up the extra ganache and put it in a little bowl on the serving platter - the chocolate lovers in the house appreciated the chance to load up.

Next time I want to make this dough but fill it with homemade apricot jam instead. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Coconut lime revenge cake

or ... the post in which I apologize and eat my words.

D and I had a conversation in the car over the weekend and he mentioned that he wanted to make a boulder cake at which point, instead of asking the logical question (um, what is a boulder cake?*), I made the mistake of scoffing at him and stating you can't make a cake. Yes, I said it. I'm not proud of it. It just came out somehow. I think I meant you've never made a cake or maybe I can count on one hand the number of times I've seen you eat cake because you don't even really like it.

And so, solely to prove me wrong, he produced this ...

{coconut lime cake}

It's Deb's coconut lime cake, but with the added benefit of cream cheese frosting. We served it last night for an impartial jury (aka, mutual friends) and we all agreed it was amazing. Revenge is very, very sweet.

{lime coconut cake}

So, I admit I was completely wrong. I will never again tell Dustin he can't do something (unless I'm secretly hoping that he'll do it just to prove me wrong - maybe I can leverage this system to get more desserts).

*Turns out a boulder cake is exactly what it sounds like - a cake carved into the approximate shape of a boulder and decorated to look like a rock. And no, it's not a thing. Dustin just came up with it on the spur of the moment. And don't worry - it's coming, probably in the near future.

Granola bars from Summer

We needed a replacement for snack bars. Neither of us is in love with protein bars, because we'd pretty much always rather have an actual snack, but D needs them for his long rides. It's tough to peel an orange while riding a bicycle.

{granola prep}

A while ago Summer posted her mother in law's granola bar recipe, and people, these are genius. These are easy to make (the ingredients list is long, but I swear the work is minimal) and so soft and chewy and delicious. They aren't low calorie, but neither are protein bars and these don't have any sketchy ingredients. And they're a million times cheaper. I'm not an expert, but they look like they're gluten free (if you make sure to buy gluten free oats).

{granola bars}

I added cranberries to ours. I'm going to have to figure out how to put chocolate chips in there without melting them. These made my whole week. Hop over to Summer's post to see the recipe.

{granola bars}

Lemon-ginger muffins

I have issues with muffins. I think they're sneaky - masquerading around as health food when they're usually nothing more than cupcakes without frosting. Don't get me wrong - I love cake in the morning, but I like it straight up and honest and fully frosted. If you're waiting in the line for coffee, agonizing over the donut you really want and the lowfat muffin you feel like you should order, go ahead and buy the donut. Nine times out of ten you'll find that it has fewer calories, I kid you not.

Of course, there are exceptions. Muffins are handy for grabbing on the way out the door early in the morning, so I'll often make these uber-healthy ones. This weekend I wanted something a bit more decadent but not as toothachingly sweet as your average muffin. I had a large chunk of fresh ginger in the fridge, so I started searching around for a good recipe.

{baking}

I know you don't frequently see me lighten up recipes, but there are occasions where it's justified. You won't even miss the extra butter and sugar in these babies, I promise. They have a tender crumb and the most perfect balance of fresh lemon and ginger flavors. I added extra yogurt to make up for the lost butter and subbed half the all purpose flour with whole wheat pastry flour. We gobbled them up. The ginger plays especially well with homemade apricot jam.

{lemon-ginger muffin, with apricot jam}

Fresh lemon-ginger muffins (makes 16, heavily adapted from this recipe)

• A 2-ounce piece unpeeled ginger root
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons lemon zest with some pith
• 1/4 cup butter, room temperature
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/4 cup plain low-fat yogurt
  
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
  
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line (or grease) 16 muffin tins.

:: If you have a food processor, process the ginger until it is in tiny pieces. And yes, 2 ounces of ginger is a pretty substantial hunk. In my picture above, I used the entire piece of ginger. I was skeptical about leaving it unpeeled, but it was fine. Or, hand chop it into fine pieces. You should have about 1/4 cup. It is better to have too much ginger than too little.

:: Put the ginger and 1/4 cup of the sugar in a small skillet and cook over medium heat until the sugar has melted and the mixture is hot. Do not walk away from the pan - the sugar will melt quite quickly. Remove from the heat and let the mixture cool completely.

:: Put the lemon zest (because the recipe calls for zest with a bit of pith, I didn't use my zester but instead sliced off pieces of the lemon peel, leaving a bit of pith on, as seen here) and the remaining 1/4 cup sugar in the food processor and process until the peel is in small bits. Or, sprinkle the sugar over the zest and chop by hand. Add the zest and sugar mix to the ginger mixture and set aside.

:: In a mixing bowl, beat the butter slightly, then add the lemon and ginger mixture. Add the eggs and beat well. Add the yogurt and mix until blended. Add the flour, salt and baking soda and mix until just combined and relatively smooth.

:: Spoon the batter into the muffin cups so that each cup is about 3/4 full. Bake 15-20 minutes. Serve warm.

Nutrition facts - 129 calories per muffin, 4 grams of fat (2.2 grams saturated), 19.9 grams carbs, 1.1 grams fiber, 7.8 grams sugar, 3.4 grams protein

Key lime meringue tart

D has the world's most non-existent sweet tooth. He never craves sweets, he doesn't care for cake and he'll walk past cookies. I can't imagine how he manages.

He does, however, love anything to do with key limes. And his requests for dessert are so few and far between that when he asked me to make the key lime meringue tart from the latest issue of Bon Appetit, I agreed immediately.

And then I read the recipe. Ouch. It takes up a whole page and involves the use of a double boiler, a candy thermometer and a fine mesh strainer. Signs that a recipe might be a bit more involved than I need it to be on a Sunday afternoon. I persevered. It really wasn't difficult - it just required that I actually pay attention to what I'm doing.

{key lime tart - not burned, just shadowy}

I made a simple change with the tart crust and pulsed the cold butter and cream cheese in the food processor with the flour instead of using the mixer. Because it is tart crust heresy to cream your butter and I couldn't bring myself to do it, even though that was what the recipe said.

I browned the meringue in the broiler because I don't own a kitchen torch. It worked a bit too well on the first try and I had to scrape the blackened meringue off and put a new layer on and try again (do not leave the kitchen, even for a second, if you have meringue in your broiler - that is my advice).

It was delicious, but quite a bit of work - I recommend it if you are feeling relaxed and want to spend a bit of time in the kitchen. I can't bring myself to re-type the recipe, but you can find it in it's entirety here.

Working with yeasted bread, a primer

Bread is not scary. Repeat that to yourself several times.

{kneading}

I am certainly not an expert breadmaker, just someone who happens to love bread and has been making for years, with generally good results and a few disasters. Making your own bread is incredibly rewarding and the entire process is peaceful, once you get the hang of it.

{resting}

For those of you who are intimidated by bread recipes, here are some of the tips I've picked up along the way. Feel free to ask questions in the comments and I'll answer.

{homemade pizza dough}

Ingredients - at its most basic, you're looking at flour, yeast and water. Most recipes throw in a teeny bit of sugar and a few teaspoons of salt. Fancy-schmancy recipes add eggs and milk and flavorings. It really doesn't matter - the concept is the same.

Flour - I use all-purpose flour and frequently substitute some whole wheat flour (up to half and half, usually). I don't recommend going completely whole wheat unless the recipe calls for it. Whole wheat flour is coarser and a bit of white flour helps keep the texture of the bread workable. Not all white flours are equal (King Arthur brand is known for having a higher gluten content, which makes it great for bread making) but don't stress yourself out about it. You can make excellent bread with just about any flour.

Yeast - I use active dry yeast, which is what you'll commonly find in the grocery store baking aisle. It comes in packets or in a little tub. Unless you are a dedicated bread maker, you probably won't use up your tub before it expires. Get the packets and store them in the freezer. There are other yeasts you can use and I'm sure they're wonderful, but so far I haven't had any experience with them.

Water - Most recipes specify lukewarm water. Some even note that it should be 110 degrees. If the water is cold, the yeast won't become active. If it's boiling, you'll kill them off. Before you start stressing and break out the thermometer, just dab a bit of the water on your wrist. It should feel comfortable - neither warm nor cold. That's good enough.

Recipes - bread recipes are pretty similar, once you get used to the formula. You generally mix the wet ingredients with the dry, let it rise, punch it down (and possibly shape it) and then let have a second, usually shorter, rise before baking. Easy, right? The problem is that some bread recipes assume you know this formula and they don't give you much explanation.

Proofing the yeast - this means exactly what it says. You are testing out the yeast to make sure it's still viable before you use it. You can skip this step (and some recipes do) but I prefer to know the yeast is working before I start putting the effort in. You just need to mix the yeast into a bit of lukewarm water with a pinch of sugar (might be a folktale, but I was always taught that a little bit of sugar helps the yeast) and wait about 5 minutes. That's it. If the mixture is starting to foam a bit, then you know your yeast is good. Go forward.

Building up the gluten - flour contains gluten, which contributes to the unique texture of bread. We build up the gluten by mixing and kneading, which is why you never want to overmix your cake or cookies - you lose the delicate texture and end up with bread-like product. To get a good start, I use my stand mixer for the initial mixing of the wet and dry ingredients and let it work the dough for a while. You can also do this by hand with a wooden spoon. When the dough forms a ball (if you're using the mixer) or is thoroughly combined (if you're doing it by hand), it's time to move onto kneading.

Kneading - I really don't think you can do this wrong. I did a quick search and found this helpful video on Epicurious. I don't knead the bread with exactly this method, but it's very similar - I think everyone has their own style. I enjoy the kneading process, because it gives me time to think and just enjoy the moment. In general, dough takes about 10 minutes of kneading.

Rising - Shape your dough into a ball and put it in a bowl (usually with a light coating of oil). Set it in a warm place and let it double in size. Times are all approximate. On warm days, your bread will rise more quickly. I'll usually search out a little patch of sunlight and put the bowl there, to facilitate the rising. If there's no warmth to be found, I'll just set it on the stove top (turned off) in hopes that the pilot light will help it along. Unless it's actually freezing, your dough will eventually rise. Cover the bowl with a damp towel or a piece of plastic wrap to keep it from drying out.

Punching down - Less violent than it sounds. I usually just push it down with my fingers, turn it out of the bowl and knead it a couple times to get it back in a ball shape and then put it back. At this point you'll either shape it according to the recipe or let it sit for a second rise.

I highly recommend working with your mistakes. I've had dough that didn't rise and I've finally just tossed it in the oven in desperation. Sometimes it even comes out well. Funny looking bread still tastes good, so don't worry about appearances - shaping takes practice.

I certainly don't make bread everyday (or even weekly, anymore), but having it in my arsenal is hugely helpful. And as much as I love the product, I find I enjoy the experience of making bread even more. It isn't quite like anything else you do in the kitchen.

Questions? Extra advice? I'll respond to all of it in the comments.

Bolillos

There are many excellent types of bread to eat at breakfast time - buttery biscuits that melt in your mouth, flaky scones with a dusting of sugar, cinnamon rolls swaddled in icing that leave you no choice but to spend the rest of the day on the sofa, recovering.

But sometimes you just want something simple. A hearty bread that will stand up to homemade preserves or even a wedge of cheese. Something without sugar, that could potentially transition to a sandwich if need be.

{bolillos}

For those times, I recommend bolillos. They are the most basic form of bread, with flour, water, salt, yeast and a pinch of sugar. There is something comforting about a food whose ingredients I can count on one hand. They emerge from the oven browned and rustic, with a crisp crust and a soft interior. This bread doesn't steal the show, but it's a perfect back up dancer.

{bread, dates}

Bolillos (makes 16 - 20 rolls, from Prairie Home Breads)

1 pkg active dry yeast (2 1/4 tsp)
1/4 cup lukewarm water
6 - 6 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
2 cups lukewarm water

* In a small bowl, sprinkle the yeast over 1/4 cup lukewarm water and set aside to proof (see if it gets foamy), about 5 minutes. In a large bowl, combine 5 cups of the flour with the salt and sugar. Pour in the yeast mixture and the additional 2 cups lukewarm water and stir until the dough forms a ball (I do this in my stand mixer, but you can also do it by hand with a wooden spoon).

* Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead for 5 - 8 minutes, adding more flour if the dough gets too sticky to handle. The dough should be nice and smooth when you're done. Form the dough into a ball and place it in a large oiled bowl and turn to coat. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled in bulk, 1 1/2 to 2 hours. (Because I wanted the rolls for breakfast, I did this the night before, popped it in the fridge overnight and then pulled it out when I woke up in the morning to let it warm up a bit).

* Grease two baking sheets and set aside (or use your Silpat). Punch down the dough and turn it out onto a floured surface. Cut the dough in half and divide each half into 8 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a ball and then flatten it with your hand into a 4 inch oblong football shape. Place about one inch apart on the prepared baking sheets, cover with slightly damp kitchen towels and let rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour. (I find rolls this large to be slightly intimidating at breakfast time, so I made mine a bit smaller and left them round instead of oblong).

* Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. With a serrated knife, cut a 1 inch deep slash down the center of each roll. Brush with canola oil, if desired (I didn't bother). Bake for 25 - 30 minutes, or until the rolls are golden brown.

Various hearts

Little paper hearts, scattered on all surfaces...

{little paper hearts}

Delicious brownie hearts, waiting to be nibbled...

{heart brownies}

(brownie recipe from Deb - I cut them out with a cookie cutter instead of slicing them)

Tiny tip - perfect graham cracker crust

I find graham cracker crusts to be much more daunting than regular pie crusts. I didn't grow up making them, but D's favorite pie is key lime with graham cracker crust so at least once a year I try my best.

This year I came up with a new method. You just dump most of your mixture in a glass pie plate, then take a second pie plate (we have an aluminum one lying around that now I know to never return) and smoosh it down on top. Apply pressure to pack the crumbs down. With the pie plate still firmly in place, add additional crumbs to the gap in the top edges and use your finger to tamp them down.

{graham cracker crust in process}

There's no picture of the finished product (because we dove in before I could get one) but it was the best looking crumb crust I've ever made.

Graham Cracker Crust (from an old recipe pamphlet my family uses)
* 1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs (a bit less than half a box of graham crackers)
* 1/4 cup sugar
* 6 tbs butter, melted

I toss the graham crackers and the sugar in the food processor and pulse until I get fine crumbs. Then I add in the butter and pulse until it is combined. Make into a crust as described above. Bake at 355 F for 8 - 10 minutes.

Almond crescents

I didn't get around to doing much baking this year. At 2 pm the day before Christmas Eve I had a brief panic when I realized I hadn't started and I needed supplies. I took a deep breath, went to Trader Joe's and bought several boxes of cookies and then came home a took a long nap. It wasn't the same as homemade, but I enjoyed the feeling of being fully rested and sane.

{almond crescents}

But I couldn't let the season slip by without any kitchen time, so I made D's favorite Christmas cookies for New Year's Eve. This is a family recipe and we call them almond crescents but they are very similar to Mexican wedding cookies. They are not terribly sweet and they have a wonderful, crumbly texture. I think you are supposed to add almond extract, but I have a violent opposition to it and I don't see why it's necessary when the dough is largely composed of actual almonds.

The dough is a cinch, but shaping the crescents is a bit time consuming, so make sure you have some music on before you start working. These also freeze beautifully (after being baked), so you can make them ahead of time and then just let them defrost when you want them.

{almond crescents}

Almond Crescents

Beat until soft:
1 cup unsalted butter

Add gradually until light and fluffy:
1/2 cup powdered sugar

Beat in:
2 egg yolks

Add:
2 1/4 cups flour
1/4 - 1/2 lb ground almonds (I buy the almond meal from TJs to save time)

Roll into crescents by hand and place on greased baking sheet. Bake at 375 until the bottoms are just golden brown.

Cool slightly, then roll in powdered sugar (per the original recipe) or superfine bakers sugar (our modern preference).

To freeze, let them cool completely and then seal tightly in freezer bags, pressing out as much excess air as possible. Remove cookies from the bag and place them on a plate to defrost before serving.

{almond crescents}

Gingerbread snacking cake

I found this recipe in a Christmas Martha Stewart years ago, and it is a firm favorite. Martha (or her people, credit where credit is due) almost always nail the gingerbread recipes. They understand the need for copious amounts of spice and dark molasses. This particular recipe has both dried and fresh ginger.

The cake is perfect when baked in a 9x13 inch dish and lightly dusted with powdered sugar, as directed. It is moist and spicy and light. I fancified it over the weekend by baking it in two 9" cake pans (8" would have been better, I think) and dolloping barely sweetened whipped cream over it. My poor cakes fell quite a bit, but I just hacked at them with a large knife until they were more or less evened out and then covered the mistakes with the whipped cream.

{gingerbread snacking cake}

The lesson? Enough whipped cream fixes everything.

{gingerbread snacking cake}

Gingerbread snacking cake (serves 12 - recipe from here)

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pan
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for the pans
1 cup boiling water
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
2/3 cup packed dark-brown sugar
1 cup unsulfured molasses
1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
2 large eggs, room temperature, lightly beaten
Confectioners' sugar, for dusting (or whipped cream)

*Heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a 9-by-13-inch cake pan (or two 8" cake pans); set aside. In a bowl, combine boiling water and baking soda; set aside. In a large bowl, sift together flour, ground spices, salt, and baking powder; set aside.

*In an electric mixer with the paddle attachment, cream butter until light. Beat in brown sugar until fluffy. Beat in molasses and grated ginger, baking-soda mixture, and flour mixture. Beat in eggs.

*Pour batter into prepared pan; bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack. Cut into squares; dust with confectioners’ sugar. (Or even out the layers and dollop with freshly whipped cream).

For the whipped cream - homemade whipped cream is really worth the few minutes it takes, if you have a mixer. Dump one carton of heavy whipping cream in a mixer. Beat on the highest speed for a few minutes, slowly adding a tiny bit of sugar (I like to use about 1/8 of a cup, for a tiny hint of sweetness) and a dash of vanilla. It's done when you have pretty peaks and it tastes right to you.