Giant M&M Cookie

Posted on April 20, 2012 by sparecake

Y’know what’s cheerful? An M&M cookie. Y’know what’s just downright day-changing? A GIANT M&M cookie! If that doesn’t put a smile on your face…time for a new face.

It’s for you!

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup white sugar
  • 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 1/2 cup flour
  • 1/2 cup M&MS… I didn’t really measure, I just poured a bunch, then we patted a bunch more on top

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a large baking sheet with foil and set aside.

Cream together the butter and sugars in a large bowl. Add the egg and vanilla and beat in. Add the dry ingredients and beat until evenly combined.

Heeey look, it’s my friend Jani. We’ll probably be seeing a lot more of her, now that I live in NH.

Fold in the M&Ms, without worrying too much about measuring. It’s a big cookie, it can take a lot of M&Ms, right? Definitely.

Press the dough into an even circle on the baking sheet, leaving about an inch between the circle and the narrower sides of the pan for it to spread. Pat some more M&Ms on the top, if you like.

SO EXCITED

The recipe I followed then said bake 13-16 minutes until lightly golden brown. I think ours took more like 25-30. So, if your dough is roughly 1/4″ thick when you bake, start checking around 13 minutes, if it’s closer to 1/3-1/2″ thick, you can probably leave it in there for 20 minutes before you need to keep a close eye on it.

Let the cookie cool completely on the pan, and you’ll be able to peel it off the foil in one giiiiant cookie. And then hug it. Because, really. Just look at it. It’s soooo happy! It’s also got the perfect amount of salt, and a really good texture. Two thumbs way up!

Giant Cookie

Just a bit adapted from Mel’s Kitchen Cafe.

  • 1/2 cup white sugar
  • 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 1/2 cup flour
  • 1/2 cup+ M&MS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a large baking sheet with foil and set aside.

Cream together the butter and sugars in a large bowl. Add the egg and vanilla and beat in. Add the dry ingredients and beat until evenly combined. Fold in the M&Ms and pat the dough into an even circle on the baking sheet, leaving about an inch between the circle and the narrower sides of the pan for it to spread. Pat some more M&Ms into the top, if you like.

Bake 13-16 minutes for 1/4″ thick dough, 20-25 for 1/2″ thick, or until golden brown. Let cool completely on the pan before serving.

Posted in Dessert | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Same Day 6 Fold French Bread

Posted on April 18, 2012 by sparecake

Going to be around for most of the day some weekend day? Then most definitely make this bread! It’s super easy, and requires very little hands-on time, but unfortunately does keep you kind of house-bound for most of an afternoon. Well worth it, though, for some perfectly crusty French bread! As my mom’s boyfriend said, “mmm mmm mm mmm mmm!”

Ingredients:

  • 1 kg bread flour
  • 730 grams water
  • 3½ tsp fine sea salt
  • 1¼ tsp dry instant yeast

My scale is in storage, but this website was able to tell me that 1 kg of bread flour is 7.87 cups, and google helped me figure out that 730 grams of water is 730 ml. If your measuring cup doesn’t have milliliters, that’s about 24.6 ounces, or 3 cups and .6 ounces.

Combine all 4 ingredients in a large bowl and stir together until evenly combined. It will look dry, and not be a nice smooth dough, but that’s ok. Cover it with saran wrap and leave it to hang out for 3 1/2 hours.

At the end of the 3 1/2 hours, get a bowl scraper or strong spatula. Get your spatula under the bottom of the dough, and drag the bottom up to the top. Do this 20 times, rotating a bit after each. There may still be a few parts that seem drier than others, but they’ll come together eventually.

Cover the bowl, and set aside for another half hour. You’re going to do this 5 more times, for 6 total, with half hours between each. Each time you come back to it, the dough will seem a bit smoother and nicer.

After the 6th time.

After the sixth turning, if there are air bubbles in your dough after the turning, gently deflate it. Divide the dough and form into 4 baguettes, or some baguettes and some rolls. I made two baguettes, and 5 rolls out of the other half of the dough. The rolls turned out big enough that I think you could easily make six out of half the dough and have them big enough for sandwiches.

I need some work on my baguette forming technique!

Cover the dough with saran wrap and let rise another hour and a half. You’re almost there! During the end of the rise time, preheat the oven to 460 degrees. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown and crunchy looking.

Move to a wire rack to cool completely, or burn yourself trying to eat one of the rolls still hot, it’s up to you. Well worth the time for such perfectly crusty rolls!

I found this recipe through yeastspotting, and will be submitting it back there for anyone that missed it in the past!

Same Day 6 Fold French Bread

From Living in the Kitchen With Puppies.

  • 1 kg bread flour
  • 730 grams water
  • 3½ tsp fine sea salt
  • 1¼ tsp dry instant yeast

Combine all 4 ingredients in a large bowl and stir together until evenly combined. Cover with saran wrap and leave it to rest for 3 1/2 hours.

After the rest, turn the dough using a bowl scraper or strong spatula. Place the spatula under the bottom of the dough, and drag the bottom up to the top. Do this 20 times, rotating after each. Cover the bowl, and set aside for another half hour. Repeat 5 more times, for 6 total turns, with half hour rests between each. The dough texture should improve with each rest.

After the sixth turning, gently deflate the dough. Divide the dough and form into 4 baguettes, or a combination of baguettes and rolls. Cover the dough with saran wrap and let rise another hour and a half. During the end of the rise time, preheat the oven to 460 degrees.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown and crunchy looking. Move to a wire rack to cool completely

Posted in Bread | Tagged | 1 Comment

Thit Kho To (Vietnamese Caramelized Pork)

Posted on April 16, 2012 by sparecake

Back in January a coworker told me about what he’d made for dinner the night before and I knew I had to try it. I’ve had his emailed recipe sitting there for months while I looked for the exact right pot to cook it in (who would have thought it’d be so hard to find a clay pot with an unglazed interior?!), but it eventually just became time to get over the pot thing and try the recipe. I cooked this in a cast iron dutch oven, and it worked out fine! So…now we know. I learned two other things while making this: 1) my phone doesn’t recognize the word caramelized; 2) my mother has some crazy hatred of hard boiled eggs. Huh.

Look out, somewhere under that pork mixture a dreaded hard boiled egg lurks!

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 2 1/2 pounds pork riblets (pork ribs cut into smaller, basically bite sized pieces – if you can’t find them, use pork butt sliced into thin, inch-long pieces)
  • 1 tablespoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 1/4 cup fish sauce
  • 2 heaping teaspoons minced garlic
  • 1 dash sesame oil
  • 1 medium Vidalia onion, sliced thin
  • 4 hard boiled eggs (or one for each person sharing the meal)
  • 4 scallions, sliced, green part only
  • jasmine rice for serving

Pour 1 cup of the sugar into a cast iron dutch oven, or a skillet with reasonably high sides, and place over medium low heat. Heat until the sugar melts and turns golden.

Once the sugar has melted, add the pork, raise the heat to medium, and stir until the pork is coated. Don’t worry if the sugar clumps and sticks to the pot/spoon/pork, it will eventually melt again, just stir the best you can.

Stir in the remaining half cup of sugar, followed by the salt, pepper, and fish sauce. Cover and cook for two minutes. It’ll smell pretty strongly, but that’ll die down eventually. Uncover and stir in the garlic and sesame oil. Reduce the heat, keeping the mixture at a simmer for about 20 minutes until the liquid in the pot has reduced some. I kept mine at a pretty high simmer and stirred frequently through this time, to make sure the sugar clumps were melting off the pot and spoon.

Add the onions and cook until translucent, 5-7 minutes.

While the onions are cooking add the eggs, stirring to make sure they get fully covered in the sauce.

When the onions are ready, if the pork is cooked through and caramelized on the outside, you’re ready to eat. If not, raise the heat and cook a few minutes more until the pork is cooked. Serve over rice, and sprinkle with scallion greens.

I was a bit unsure about this, because fish sauce is pretty stinky, but really… sugar and pork is way too good a combo to go wrong. The main flavor is sweet pork, and it’s fabulous. The fish sauce is definitely in there, but it’s not strong – it just works well with everything else. I will definitely be making this again!

Sort of related note, I just found a super thorough website that answers just about any question you could ever have about pork, here. Now I kind of want to try a crown roast?!

Thit Kho To (Vietnamese Caramelized Pork)

  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 2 1/2 pounds pork riblets or pork butt sliced into thin, inch-long pieces
  • 1 tablespoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 1/4 cup fish sauce
  • 2 heaping teaspoons minced garlic
  • 1 dash sesame oil
  • 1 medium Vidalia onion, sliced thin
  • 4 hard boiled eggs
  • 4 scallions, sliced, green part only
  • jasmine rice for serving

Pour 1 cup of the sugar into a cast iron dutch oven and place over medium low heat. Heat until the sugar melts and turns golden.

Add the pork to the melted sugar and raise the heat to medium. Stir until the pork is coated, working around any sticky clumps as well as possible.

Stir in the remaining half cup of sugar, followed by the salt, pepper, and fish sauce. Cover and cook for two minutes. Uncover and stir in the garlic and sesame oil. Reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes to reduce the sauce.

Add the onions and cook until translucent, 5-7 minutes. While the onions are cooking add the eggs, stirring to make sure they get fully covered in the sauce.

Check pork to ensure it’s cooked through and caramelized on the outside; if not, turn up heat and cook several minutes more. When ready, serve over rice and sprinkle with scallion greens.

Posted in Dinner | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Chocolate Cake

Posted on April 13, 2012 by sparecake

This is a chocolate cake recipe that I found in an email that wasn’t even to me. Like you do, all the time? It’s nice and very chocolatey tasting, especially the frosting! Oh, and the email noted that this cake freezes well after it’s been frosted.

Ingredients:

Cake:

  • 1 tablespoon vinegar
  • 1 cup minus 1 tablespoon vinegar
  • 2 cups brown sugar
  • 3/4 cup shortening
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 1/2 cup flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup cocoa powder
  • 1 cup boiling water
  • 2 heaping teaspoons baking soda

Frosting:

  • 1/3 cup margarine or butter, at room temperature
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 1/3 cup cocoa powder
  • 2 cups powdered sugar
  • 2-3 tablespoons milk

Pour the tablespoon of vinegar into a measuring cup, and fill up to the 1 cup line with milk. Set aside.

Grease and flour a 9X13″ pan and set aside. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Sift together the flour, cocoa, and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.

Ok technically I didn't sift, I more stirred...

Cream the brown sugar and shortening until smooth.

Add two eggs and beat again until smooth. Around now, get your cup of water on the stove. Add the flour mixture in three batches, alternating with the milk in two batches and beating after each addition.

Add the baking soda to the boiling water. It should bubble a fair amount. While that’s still going on, pour it into the batter and blend until smooth.

At this point it smells kind of gross and baking soda-y, but that goes away as it bakes. Spread the batter into your prepared pan and bake 35-40 minutes, until a toothpick stuck in the middle comes out clean.

Let the cake cool completely before frosting. With the greased and floured pan, mine popped right out and stayed in one piece, which was a relief since I’d decided I didn’t want to frost it in the pan.

To make the frosting, beat together the butter, vanilla, cocoa, and powdered sugar, then add enough milk (starting with 2 tablespoons) to make it a good spreadable consistency.

Preeeetty tasty! I recommend serving with whipped cream or some ice cream. It’s not the fanciest cake, but I was able to throw it together with stuff my mom already had, and it’s chocolatey enough I would make it again.

Chocolate Cake

Cake:

  • 1 tablespoon vinegar
  • 1 cup minus 1 tablespoon vinegar
  • 2 cups brown sugar
  • 3/4 cup shortening
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 1/2 cup flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup cocoa powder
  • 1 cup boiling water
  • 2 heaping teaspoons baking soda

Frosting:

  • 1/3 cup margarine or butter, at room temperature
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 1/3 cup cocoa powder
  • 2 cups powdered sugar
  • 2-3 tablespoons milk

Pour 1 tablespoon of vinegar into a measuring cup, and fill up to the 1 cup line with milk. Set aside.

Grease and flour a 9X13″ pan and set aside. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Sift together the flour, cocoa, and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.Cream the brown sugar and shortening until smooth. Add two eggs and beat again until smooth. Add the flour mixture in three batches, alternating with the milk in two batches and beating after each addition.

Add the baking soda to the boiling water and pour into the batter. Blend until smooth. Spread the batter evenly into the prepared pan and bake 35-40 minutes, until a toothpick stuck in the middle comes out clean. Let cool completely before frosting.

To make the frosting, beat together the butter, vanilla, cocoa, and powdered sugar, then add enough milk (starting with 2 tablespoons) to make it a good spreadable consistency. Frost, and serve with ice cream or whipped cream.

Posted in Dessert | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Chocolate Swirl Brioche Buns

Posted on April 11, 2012 by sparecake

When I was home a month or so ago, I tried this recipe. It was a disaster! I didn’t thicken the filling enough, so I was basically trying to roll a dough filled with pudding, and then when I’d nearly muddled through, I went outside to meet a repair man and my dad’s dogs stole and ate the entire thing, leaving a surprisingly clean floor and counter.

Who, me?! *Burp*

This time I gave the filling time to actually work, and my mom’s dog is too scared of the kitchen to come steal anything, so it turned out great! The best thing was finishing it watching Paris-Roubaix (a bike race), and seeing my favorite ridiculous bike-stuff ad about a million times. Thanks, Eurosport!

Ingredients:

Sponge:

  • 1/2 cup bread flour
  • 1 tablespoon or 1 packet yeast
  • 1/2 cup lukewarm milk

Dough:

  • 5 large eggs, slightly beaten
  • 3 cups bread flour
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
  • 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

Chocolate Filling:

  • 2/3 cup milk
  • 2 egg whites
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 6 tablespoons flour
  • 6 tablespoons cocoa powder
  • 3 tablespoons butter

Chocolate Glaze:

  • 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
  • 3 tablespoons cocoa powder
  • 2 1/2 tablespoons milk

Now, I know that’s a whole lot of ingredient sections, but with the possible exception of bread flour, you probably already have it all, so…why not go for it?!

Start off by preparing the sponge. Combine all the sponge ingredients in the bowl of a mixer, or another large bowl, and stir until the flour is all moistened. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside 30-45 minutes.

While you wait you can make the chocolate filling. You don’t have to, as both parts get refrigerated overnight before use anyway, but you might as well be productive!

Mix the egg whites and sugar in a medium bowl. Stir in the flour and cocoa powder until evenly mixed.

Heat the milk to a boil on the stove. You can start this while you combine the egg/sugar/flour/cocoa mess, just be sure not to start so early that the milk starts to burn. When the milk has reached a boil, drizzle it over the cocoa mixture, whisking as you do so that the eggs in it don’t cook. Because the cocoa mixture is so thick, I had to add a bit of milk at a time, whisking after each addition, until the mixture was thinned enough to not just clump up in the whisk immediately. Keep whisking until it’s a smooth liquidy mixture.

Pour the chocolate mixture back into the pot you heated the milk in and cook over medium heat, constantly stirring and scraping the bottom of the pot, until it thickens. You don’t just want a slightly thicker liquid, you actually want it to come together a bit in clumps. Don’t turn the heat up above medium, or you might still cook the eggs, just give it a few minutes, and keep stirring, and it will start to do what you want. Once it’s started thickening, add the butter. Keep stirring until the butter has melted and is evenly mixed in the thickened chocolate mixture.

Take the thickened mixture off the stove. Line a baking dish (I used a 1 quart bread pan) with saran wrap and spread the chocolate into the dish. Cover with more plastic wrap and refrigerate until well chilled, ideally overnight.

It should look this thick when you take it off the stove, don't expect a liquid to set significantly in the fridge.

Once the chocolate mixture is out of the way, return to your dough sponge, which should by now look something like this:

Add the eggs to the sponge and beat together on medium speed to combine.

In another bowl, combine the bread flour, sugar, and salt. Add the dried goods to the egg mixture and beat until evenly combined, about 2 minutes. If you don’t have a dough hook, you’re going to have to stop your mixer several times to help it out and scrape down the sides. If you don’t have a mixer at all…get kneading! Add the butter, several tablespoons at a time, beating until one chunk is fully incorporated before adding another. After the last chunk of butter, beat/knead several more minutes until the dough is well mixed, smooth, and soft.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and spray the parchment with baking spray. Seriously, don’t assume your parchment is non-stick enough. Spread the dough out on the greased parchment in a thick rectangle, roughly 6X8″. Spray the top of the dough with more baking spray, cover it with saran wrap, and put it in the fridge at least 4 hours, or just over night.

In the morning, take the dough out and press it down to degas it. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to be roughly twice as big as your chocolate brick. Put the chocolate in the middle of the dough…

and wrap the dough around the chocolate, sealing up the seams.

Roll the dough out in the direction it’s already longer, making it longer still.

Fold the ends in to meet in the middle.

Fold that in half, making a sort of book shaped thing. This fold process is apparently called a tour double.

Roll it out again, using the newly longer direction as your long side and rolling it out longer.

Fold again, doing another tour double. Roll out a third time, making a roughly 14X8″ rectangle. (That’s a very rough guess! Any rectangle at least 12″ long should be ok.) You can really see the chocolate well through the thin layer of dough.

Roll the dough up lengthwise, to make a long roll.

Cut into 12 even pieces.

Put the pieces into a well greased muffin tin, cover with plastic wrap, and set aside to rise 30-45 minutes.

While the dough rises, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Uncover, and bake 15-20 minutes, until golden brown.

Remove to a wire rack to cool. I was able to pull these out of the baking pan by hand immediately without them falling apart or burning me. You can eat them now, and indeed, the recipe I was following ends there.

They do look nice!

I wanted a bit more chocolate flavor, though, so made a glaze. Once the cooked buns are well cooled, whisk together the glaze ingredients and drizzle over the buns for extra chocolateyness!

I mean...why wouldn't you??

I’ll be submitting this to yeastspotting, which continues to be a grand place to find bread recipes!

Chocolate Swirl Brioche Buns

Adapted from C Mom Cook.

Sponge:

  • 1/2 cup bread flour
  • 1 tablespoon or 1 packet yeast
  • 1/2 cup lukewarm milk

Dough:

  • 5 large eggs, slightly beaten
  • 3 cups bread flour
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
  • 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

Chocolate Filling:

  • 2/3 cup milk
  • 2 egg whites
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 6 tablespoons flour
  • 6 tablespoons cocoa powder
  • 3 tablespoons butter

Chocolate Glaze:

  • 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
  • 3 tablespoons cocoa powder
  • 2 1/2 tablespoons milk

Prepare the sponge by combining all the sponge ingredients in the bowl of a mixer and stirring until the flour is all moistened. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside 30-45 minutes.While you wait, make the chocolate filling.

Mix the egg whites and sugar in a medium bowl. Stir in the flour and cocoa powder until evenly mixed. Heat the milk to a boil on the stove and then drizzle heated milk over egg mixture, whisking constantly to keep the eggs from cooking. Whisk until a smooth liquid, then pour into milk pot and put back on the stove over medium heat. Stir constantly until mixture thickens, then add butter. Continue stirring until butter has melted and been evenly mixed in, then remove from heat. Transfer to a saran-lined baking dish, cover with more plastic wrap, and refrigerate until cold, preferably overnight.

Pick your sponge back up and beat the eggs in on medium speed.

Combine the flour, sugar, and salt in a separate bowl and then add to the egg/sponge mixture. Beat until evenly combined, about 2 minutes. Add the butter 1/4 cup at a time, beating until well combined after each addition. Beat several minutes further after the last addition, scraping down the sides of the bowl several times, until well mixed, smooth, and soft.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and spray the parchment with baking spray. Spread the dough out on the greased parchment in a thick rectangle, roughly 6X8″. Spray the top of the dough with more baking spray, cover it with saran wrap, and put it in the fridge at least 4 hours, or over night.

In the morning, take the dough out and press it down to degas it. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to be roughly twice as big as your chocolate brick. Put the chocolate in the middle of the dough and wrap the dough around the chocolate, pressing to seal up the seams.

Roll the dough out in the direction it’s already longer, making it longer still. Fold the ends in to meet in the middle, then fold in half so the two new doubled ends meet. Roll out again in the new longer direction, and again fold the ends into the middle, then fold in half.

Roll out a third time, making a roughly 14X8″ rectangle. Roll the dough up lengthwise, to make a long roll. Cut into 12 even pieces. Put the pieces into a well greased muffin tin, cover with plastic wrap, and set aside to rise 30-45 minutes.

While the dough rises, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Uncover, and bake 15-20 minutes, until golden brown.

Remove to a wire rack to cool. Once cool, whisk together the glaze ingredients and drizzle over the buns if desired.

Posted in Bread, Breakfast, Brunch, Dessert | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Oatmeal Bread

Posted on April 9, 2012 by sparecake

This is the last post with something I cooked in DC, and I guess sort of fittingly, I used some of this bread in the sandwiches my mother and I ate while we were driving my stuff from DC to New Hampshire. This recipe makes a particularly light, fluffy bread. It’s a bit sweet, probably too much so for some fillings but great with something like turkey.

Ingredients:

Oat Mixture:

  • 1 1/2 cups boiling water
  • 1 cup rolled or steel-cut oats
  • 1/2 cup honey
  • 1/4 cup butter, cut into pieces
  • 1 tablespoon salt

Dough:

  • 1 tablespoon or packet active dry yeast
  • 1/2 cup warm water
  • 1 teaspoon honey
  • 2 cups whole wheat flour
  • 3 1/2 – 4 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

Put the oats in a large bowl and pour in the boiling water. Stir in the honey, butter, and salt until evenly mixed. Let cool to room temperature.

In another bowl, dissolve the yeast and honey in the 1/2 cup warm water. Let sit until the yeast starts to bubble, then pour it into the oat mixture. Add the whole wheat flour and 3 1/2 cups of the all-purpose flour and stir until it sticks together mostly in one lump.

Sprinkle some of the remaining cup of flour on a counter and turn the dough out. Knead the dough for 3 – 4 minutes, then stop to clean out the bowl your dough had been in. Dry and grease the bowl, then set aside. Knead the dough another few minutes until elastic and springy and form into a ball. I only added about a quarter of that last cup of flour.

Place the dough in the greased bowl and rotate the dough to grease on all sides. Cover, then let rise 1 1/2 hours somewhere warm and draft-free.

Punch down the dough, divide it in half, and shape into two loaves. Cover, and let rise a further 45 minutes.

Place the risen loaves in a cold oven and turn on the heat to 400 degrees. Bake for 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 for a further 25 minutes. Remove from the pans and let cool completely on a wire rack.

It’s a tasty bread that stands up well to slicing and having things spread on it, without being heavy and thick. I’ll be submitting it to yeastspotting.

Oatmeal Bread

From the King Arthur Flour Cookbook.

Oat Mixture:

  • 1 1/2 cups boiling water
  • 1 cup rolled or steel-cut oats
  • 1/2 cup honey
  • 1/4 cup butter, cut into pieces
  • 1 tablespoon salt

Dough:

  • 1 tablespoon or packet active dry yeast
  • 1/2 cup warm water
  • 1 teaspoon honey
  • 2 cups whole wheat flour
  • 3 1/2 – 4 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

Put the oats in a large bowl and pour in the boiling water. Stir in the honey, butter, and salt until evenly mixed. Let cool to room temperature.

In another bowl, dissolve the yeast and honey in the 1/2 cup warm water. Let sit until the yeast starts to bubble, then pour it into the oat mixture. Add the whole wheat flour and 3 1/2 cups of the all-purpose flour and stir until it sticks together mostly in one lump.

Sprinkle some of the remaining cup of flour on a counter and turn the dough out. Knead the dough for 3 – 4 minutes, then stop to clean out the bowl your dough had been in. Dry and grease the bowl, then set aside. Knead the dough another few minutes until elastic and springy and form into a ball.

Place the dough in the greased bowl and rotate the dough to grease on all sides. Cover, then let rise 1 1/2 hours somewhere warm and draft-free.

Punch down the dough, divide it in half, and shape into two loaves. Cover, and let rise a further 45 minutes.

Place the risen loaves in a cold oven and turn on the heat to 400 degrees. Bake for 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 for a further 25 minutes. Remove from the pans and let cool completely on a wire rack.

Posted in Bread | Tagged , | 3 Comments

Brown Butter Oatmeal Chunk Cookies

Posted on April 6, 2012 by sparecake

This was the last thing I cooked with Ted before I left DC (ok, except a box of brownie mix…), and, as usual when he and I cook, I botched it slightly, but they came out delightfully anyway!

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup loosely packed brown sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
  • 3/4 cups rolled oats
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 1 cup chocolate chunks
  • 1 – 2 tablespoons milk, if dough is crumbly (optional)

In a small saucepan, heat the butter over medium-low heat. Stir frequently and cook until the butter is brown, bubbly, and has little brown bits floating in it. It should smell a bit nutty. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature.

Cooling goes faster out of the hot pot.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking powder, oats, and cinnamon. Stir together, then set aside.

Put the cooled butter in a large bowl and whisk in the sugars, stirring until smooth.

Add the egg and vanilla and whisk again.

Stir in the dry ingredients, adding the milk if necessary to get all the dry goods incorporated – I think we added just a tiny bit.

Fold in the chocolate chips and refrigerate dough for 30 minutes. We had really big chunks of chocolate, so just put them in once the dough was on the pans.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Form the dough into 1 1/2″ balls and place them 2″ apart on a nonstick baking pan.

If you haven’t added your chocolate yet, this is the time!

Bake the cookies 10-12 minutes, until the bottoms are golden, and let cool before serving.

I read 375 degrees, but what came out of my mouth was 275, so these cookies were in the oven a whole lot longer, and may not have had quite the texture that one cooked at the right temperature would have.

They still tasted great, and they have oats so they’re basically health food!

Brown Butter Oatmeal Chunk Cookies

From How Sweet It Is.

  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup loosely packed brown sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
  • 3/4 cups rolled oats
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 1 cup chocolate chunks
  • 1 – 2 tablespoons milk, if dough is crumbly (optional)

In a small saucepan, heat the butter over medium-low heat. Stir frequently and cook until the butter is brown, bubbly, and has little brown bits floating in it and a nutty smell. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking powder, oats, and cinnamon. Stir together, then set aside.

Put the cooled butter in a large bowl and whisk in the sugars, stirring until smooth. Add the egg and vanilla and whisk again. Stir in the dry ingredients, adding the milk if necessary to incorporate all the flour. Fold in the chocolate chips and refrigerate dough for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Form the dough into 1 1/2″ balls and place them 2″ apart on a nonstick baking pan. Bake the cookies 10-12 minutes, until the bottoms are golden, and let cool before serving.

Posted in Dessert | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Hot Cross Buns

Posted on April 4, 2012 by sparecake

Before I left DC, I visited a relative I don’t see often, and who had told me before her favorite baked good was hot cross buns. I’d never had them before, so I can’t really tell you how these compare to other ones, but they were tasty, and have frosting, so… that’s cool. I guess they’re Easter-related, so… now is the time to get baking!

Ingredients:

Sponge:

  • 1/2 cup warm milk
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • 2 tablespoons or 2 packets yeast
  • 1/2 cup whole wheat flour

Dough:

  • 1 cup milk
  • 1/3 cup brown sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1/2 teaspoon allspice
  • 1/2 – 1 cup raisins (optional) – I didn’t put raisins in mine, because I know some people who are weird about fruit in things
  • 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • egg wash (1 egg mixed with 2 teaspoons milk)

Glaze:

  • 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla or 1 teaspoon lemon juice
  • 1-2 tablespoons milk

Combine all the sponge ingredients in a large bowl, stir, and let sit 10-15 minutes until bubbly.

Add the cup of warm milk and the brown sugar.

Beat in the eggs and the whole wheat flour.

Stir in the butter, salt, spices, and the raisins if you’re using them. Add the all-purpose flour and stir together until the dough starts to hold together in one lump.

Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead 3-4 minutes. Clean, dry, and grease your large bowl, then knead the dough another 3-4 minutes until smooth and satiny.

Place the dough into the greased bowl and rotate to grease on all sides. Cover and let rise 1 1/2-2 hours, until you can stick a finger in it and it doesn’t spring back.

Punch down the dough. It goes down a lot!

Divide your deflated dough into 2 pieces, and roll each out into a 16″ ‘snake.’

Cut each snake into 16 pieces, and roll each piece into a ball.

Grease two 9″ cake pans and put 16 pieces in each pan.

Cover, and let rise 45 minutes to an hour. When there are 15 minutes left in the rise, preheat the oven to 350.

Using a sharp serrated knife or razor blade, cut crosses in the top of each bun, being careful to press very lightly so you don’t deflate them. Brush the surface of the buns with the egg wash.

Bake 20-25 minutes, until golden brown.

Let cool in the pans 5-10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

When the buns are cool, stir together the vanilla and powdered sugar. Add just enough of the milk to create a drizzle-able consistency. Draw crosses on the top of each bun with the glaze, tracing the crosses you cut if possible.

**If you want to use more of the frosting up, and don’t want crosses, just drizzle the glaze over the tops of the buns while they’re still warm, and the glaze will run down and cover them more completely. The recipe makes plenty of glaze.

As I said, I have no idea if these are standard, but they were tasty! I’ll be submitting this to yeastspotting.

Hot Cross Buns

From The King Arthur Flour Cookbook.

Sponge:

  • 1/2 cup warm milk
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • 2 tablespoons or 2 packets yeast
  • 1/2 cup whole wheat flour

Dough:

  • 1 cup milk
  • 1/3 cup brown sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1/2 teaspoon allspice
  • 1/2 – 1 cup raisins (optional)
  • 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • egg wash (1 egg mixed with 2 teaspoons milk)

Glaze:

  • 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla or 1 teaspoon lemon juice
  • 1-2 tablespoons milk

Combine all the sponge ingredients in a large bowl, stir, and let sit 10-15 minutes until bubbly.

Add the cup of warm milk and the brown sugar. Beat in the eggs and the whole wheat flour. Stir in the butter, salt, spices, and the raisins if you’re using them. Add the all-purpose flour and stir together until the dough holds together.

Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead 3-4 minutes. Clean, dry, and grease your large bowl, then knead the dough another 3-4 minutes until smooth and satiny.

Place the dough into the greased bowl and rotate to grease on all sides. Cover and let rise 1 1/2-2 hours, until you can stick a finger in it and it doesn’t spring back.

Punch down the dough and into 2 pieces. Roll each piece out into a 16″ ‘snake.’ Cut each snake into 16 pieces, and roll each piece into a ball.

Grease two 9″ cake pans and put 16 pieces in each pan. Cover, and let rise 45 minutes to an hour. When there are 15 minutes left in the rise, preheat the oven to 350.

Using a sharp serrated knife or razor blade, cut crosses in the top of each bun, being careful to press very lightly so you don’t deflate them. Brush the surface of the buns with the egg wash.

Bake 20-25 minutes, until golden brown. Let cool in the pans 5-10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

When the buns are cool, stir together the vanilla and powdered sugar. Add just enough of the milk to create a drizzle-able consistency. Draw crosses on the top of each bun with the glaze, tracing the crosses you cut if possible.

**If you want to use more of the frosting up, and don’t want crosses, just drizzle the glaze over the tops of the buns while they’re still warm, and the glaze will run down and cover them more completely.

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Vegan Cookies and Cream Ice Cream

Posted on April 2, 2012 by sparecake

My last full Saturday in DC, my friend Jon and I finished a multi-year project: Watching ALL of Star Trek. There is SO MUCH Star Trek! Daaang. But we finished just in time, and made this to eat while we watched the final episode of Enterprise.

Goodbye, Enterprise!

Ingredients:

  • 2 cup soy creamer
  • 1 cup soy milk
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 2 tablespoons arrowroot
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla
  • 1 cup chopped Oreo cookies

Stir together 1/4 cup of the soy milk and the arrowroot in a small bowl and set aside.

This recipe looks pretty boring for a while...

Combine the soy cream, the rest of the soy milk, and the sugar in a pot on the stove and bring to a boil.

As soon as it begins to boil, remove from the heat and stir in the arrowroot mixture, followed by the vanilla. Transfer to a bowl and cool in the fridge until chilled, at least 2 hours.

Freeze the chilled mixture according to your ice cream maker’s directions, adding the Oreos in the last 5 minutes. The ice cream maker we were using doesn’t really allow you to add things while it’s going, so our cookies were in for a long time and were mostly crushed up, turning the ice cream brown. If you add yours just at the end, they should still mainly be whole chunks in off-white ice cream.

It doesn’t taste vegany, whatever that would mean, just like delicious cookies and cream ice cream! Perfect way to end Star Trek.

PIG BOWL!

Vegan Cookies and Cream Ice Cream

From A Vegan Ice Cream Paradise.

  • 2 cup soy creamer
  • 1 cup soy milk
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 2 tablespoons arrowroot
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla
  • 1 cup chopped Oreo cookies

Stir together 1/4 cup of the soy milk and the arrowroot in a small bowl and set aside.

Combine the soy cream, the rest of the soy milk, and the sugar in a pot on the stove and bring to a boil. As soon as it begins to boil, remove from the heat and stir in the arrowroot mixture. Add the vanilla then transfer to a bowl. Cool in the fridge until chilled, at least 2 hours.

Freeze the chilled mixture according to your ice cream maker’s directions, adding the Oreos in the last 5 minutes.

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Brown Sugar Cupcakes

Posted on March 30, 2012 by sparecake

Despite the pretty hefty amount of brown sugar that goes into these cupcakes, they are really not very sweet. To a pretty surprising degree. They are tasty, though, and the cream cheese frosting’s a grand complement.

Ingredients:

Cupcakes:

  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 2 & 1/4 cups packed light brown sugar
  • 4 large eggs, at room temperature
  • 3/4 cup buttermilk

Frosting:

  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
  • 1 cup packed light brown sugar

Preheat oven to 325°. Line two muffin tins with liners. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl and set aside.

In another bowl, beat together butter and brown sugar until pale and fluffy.

Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Add the flour mixture in three batches, alternating with the buttermilk.

Fill the cupcake tins 3/4 full with batter. I only have one cupcake tin, so I also greased and floured a bread pan, and filled that with the rest of the batter.

Bake 25-30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean. If you do a loaf, it will probably need to bake a few minutes longer. Cool in pans for 10 minutes.

Remove from the pans and let cool completely before frosting.

Beat together all frosting ingredients until smooth.

Frost cupcakes!

Brown Sugar Cupcakes

From Bake or Break.

Cupcakes:

  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 2 & 1/4 cups packed light brown sugar
  • 4 large eggs, at room temperature
  • 3/4 cup buttermilk

Frosting:

  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
  • 1 cup packed light brown sugar

Preheat oven to 325°. Line two muffin tins with liners.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl and set aside.

In a large bowl, beat together butter and brown sugar until pale and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the flour mixture in three batches, alternating with the buttermilk.

Fill the cupcake tins 3/4 full with batter. Bake 25-30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean.

Cool in pans for 10 minutes, then remove and cool completely on a wire rack.

Beat together all frosting ingredients until smooth, then frost cupcakes.

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