Remember when I ate 30 different veges in 30 days and vowed to post more recipes with vegetables? No, you probably don't because you're probably here for the brownies and ice cream. Me too. Unfortunately being healthy is important and balancing the food groups is key to a healthy diet. That's why today's vegetable (and fruit) recipe takes the shape of a muffin!
While cleaning out the freezer, I found 1/2 cup of shredded zucchini that got shredded and frozen just in the nick of time (meaning that it was probably too squishy for anything else but not yet moldy). "Bring on the zucchini bread!" I thought, only to realize that zucchini bread, zucchini cake, and zucchini blondies all require more zucchini than I had on hand. It seemed counter-productive to have to go to the grocery store to acquire more zucchini in order to salvage that measly 1/2 cup. I could have made zucchini cupcakes, but I wasn't feeling chocolate.
Meanwhile, in the fruit bowl sat a bunch of very sad looking bananas. Three of them became SoNo Baking Co. Cookbook's Banana Cream Tart. (You can find a copy of the recipe here.) The rest needed to be frozen or baked into something delicious, and since we are moving abroad in 30 days (um, exactly 30 days from now… what!), they certainly weren't going into the freezer. Enter: Banana Zucchini Muffins. Why? Because there is no such thing as "not enough zucchini" or "too many bananas." Zucchini is the gift that keeps on giving and banana is the fruit that's better to forget about until it's black and squishy. Paring them together is just plain thrifty, not to mention delicious.
Objective
Make banana zucchini muffins with [mostly] whole grains. Adapted from Taste of Home's Zucchini Banana Bread.
Materials
Dry:
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon flaxseed meal
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
Wet:
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 egg
1/4 cup olive oil (light in flavor)
1/2 cup banana, mashed (about 2 small bananas)
1/2 cup zucchini, shredded
Optional:
1/2 cup walnuts, toasted and chopped
Methods
1. Preheat the oven to 325º. Prepare a muffin pan by lining with paper cups or greasing (or place silicone muffin cups on a baking sheet) and set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, stir together the dry ingredients. In another bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry. Do not over mix, stir only until the ingredients are incorporated. Fold in the walnuts (if using).
3. Pour the batter into the prepared muffin cups. Fill the muffin cups 3/4 full.
4. Bake 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool completely on a wire rack, then flip out of the muffin pan.
Makes 10 small muffins.
Results
Incredibly moist, soft, and healthy? Ok that last part is stretching it. Best within 24 hours or they get sticky to the touch from all the moisture.
Discussion and Future Directions
When C got home from call, the first thing he did was walk into the kitchen and stuff an entire muffin into his mouth. "What do you think?" I asked. His response was a muffin-muffled, "Good!" I wasn't sure he could actually breathe, and since taste requires smell and smell requires breathing, I wasn't convinced. However, a few hours later when he woke up from his post-call nap, his eyes lit up. "Muffins!" he remembered, then walked into the kitchen and returned with three. He proceeded to butter them and eat them slowly. This time I believed him when he told me they were good.
Showing posts with label Whole Grain. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Whole Grain. Show all posts
26 June, 2014
15 March, 2014
Strawberry Pi Pie
Did you notice people acting a bit irrational yesterday? You can't blame the full moon (that's tomorrow). You can't blame Friday the 13th (it was off by a day). No, yesterday was Pi Day, 3.14159 day. Today is the day after Pi Day, which means that everything is rational again. That's why I started the day with a slice of a leftover Strawberry Pi Pie before yoga. I'm sure it was the pie that gave me the extra energy I needed to kick up into my forearm stand!
This weekend is sandwiched between two holidays: Pi Day and St. Patrick's Day. Last night, we made spontaneous dinner plans with our good friends, The Brown Family. We decided that the only way to celebrate properly would be to have sandwiches and pie for dinner. C made Ruebens with leftover corned beef from our premature St. Patty's Day dinner and I made a strawberry pie. I hemmed and hawed over what kind of strawberry pie to make. My go-tos are strawberry rhubarb sour cream crumb pie and strawberry balsamic galettes, so I decided on a plain and simple strawberry pie. To sweeten the pie, I chose to use apricot jam (because we have a lot of it and I'm sick of looking at it in the fridge).
Objective
To make a very simple strawberry pie.
Materials
Crust:
2 oz. rye flour
2 oz. whole wheat pastry flour
4.5 oz. all-purpose flour
1 tbsp. sugar
pinch salt
a couple shakes of cinnamon
12 tbsp. butter, cold and cut into small cubes
4 oz. ice cold water
1 tsp. apple cider vinegar
Filling:
2 lbs. fresh strawberries, de-stemmed and sliced
2 tbsp. granulated white sugar
1/4 cup apricot jam
2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
Decoration:
cream
coarse sugar
Methods
1. To make the crust: combine the flours, sugar, salt, and cinnamon in a food processor. Pulse to combine. Add the cubes of butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add the apple cider vinegar to the ice cold water. Continuing to pulse the food processor, slowly pour the water through the feed tube. Only add as much water as it takes to bring the dough together. Pour the dough out of the food processor onto a large piece of plastic wrap. Use the plastic wrap to squeeze the dough together into a ball. Flatten and chill (1 hr in the fridge or about 15 minutes in the freezer).
2. While the dough is chilling, slice the strawberries and toss them in a medium-sized bowl with the granulated sugar. Set aside to macerate.
3. Remove your dough from the fridge/freezer. Gently roll the dough out to a small rectangle. Fold in thirds, then gently roll the dough back to a small rectangle. Fold again. Cut the dough approximately in half with one half being a little bigger than the other. Flatten into 1/2"-1" thick circles. Chill again until the butter is cold (30 minutes should be sufficient).
4. In a small saucepan, combine the apricot jam and the juice from the macerated strawberries (a strainer is the easiest way to collect the juices). Stir and bring to a boil over medium heat. Let it boil for a few minutes until it begins to thicken. Pour over the sliced strawberries. Add 2 tbsp. flour and stir to combine. Set aside.
5. Preheat the oven to 375º.
6. Remove your dough from the fridge. Roll the bigger piece to a circle that fits in a 9" pie plate with 1/2" overhang. Gently lay the dough in the pie plate. Fold the overhang under the dough to create a lip around the edge of the pie plate. Using a fork, prick the sides and the bottom of the pie crust. Pour the strawberry concoction, juices and all, into the unbaked crust.
7. Roll out the remaining piece of dough to a circle that lays flat on top of the filling and meets the edge of the crust. Pinch the edges of the crust into whatever pattern you prefer (click here for ideas), being sure to seal the top and bottom crust together. Use a sharp knife to slice air vents in the top crust (be creative: if it's Pi Day, maybe write "Happy 3.14159 Day" or simply "π"). Brush the pie with cream and sprinkle it with sugar.
8. Before placing the pie in the oven, set it on a large baking sheet in case the juices bubbles over. Bake for 35-45 minutes or until the juices are bubbling and the crust is golden brown. (If it's getting late and you start to get impatient, you can crank the heat up to 400º to help the pie along.)
9. Let the pie cool for an hour or two to allow the filling to firm up (or slice into it hot and flood the bottom of your pie plate with juicy filling. Slice and serve with freshly whipped cream.
Results
A happy Pi Day, indeed. Delicious crust, slightly tart filling easily sweetened with a dollop of whipped cream.
Discussion and Future Directions
To be totally honest, I think strawberry pie and berry pies in general are kind of strange. Growing up, we only had pie for holidays. Cream pies and pumpkin pies were standard. We never had a fruit pie (unless you count coconut cream). I was 22 when I had my first berry pie. It was a delicious homemade raspberry pie. I got the "recipe" (if you can call a list of ingredients with amounts like "a few cups of berries" and "as much sugar as it takes" a recipe) but I never made it.
So, if I think berry pies are strange, why did I make one for Pi Day? Because I was being irrational. Luckily, it turned out beautifully. It even started an intellectual debate about how to calculate the volume of a pie. People were throwing around ideas like "calculate the volume of a cone, then subtract the volume of the small cone that is taller than the pie." I offered calculus. Use integrals and the disc method and rotation around an axis. Needless to say, we decided the pie was better eaten than measured, so we left the math for another day. Happy (belated) Pi Day!
Supplementary Materials
This weekend is sandwiched between two holidays: Pi Day and St. Patrick's Day. Last night, we made spontaneous dinner plans with our good friends, The Brown Family. We decided that the only way to celebrate properly would be to have sandwiches and pie for dinner. C made Ruebens with leftover corned beef from our premature St. Patty's Day dinner and I made a strawberry pie. I hemmed and hawed over what kind of strawberry pie to make. My go-tos are strawberry rhubarb sour cream crumb pie and strawberry balsamic galettes, so I decided on a plain and simple strawberry pie. To sweeten the pie, I chose to use apricot jam (because we have a lot of it and I'm sick of looking at it in the fridge).
Objective
To make a very simple strawberry pie.
Materials
Crust:
2 oz. rye flour
2 oz. whole wheat pastry flour
4.5 oz. all-purpose flour
1 tbsp. sugar
pinch salt
a couple shakes of cinnamon
12 tbsp. butter, cold and cut into small cubes
4 oz. ice cold water
1 tsp. apple cider vinegar
Filling:
2 lbs. fresh strawberries, de-stemmed and sliced
2 tbsp. granulated white sugar
1/4 cup apricot jam
2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
Decoration:
cream
coarse sugar
Methods
1. To make the crust: combine the flours, sugar, salt, and cinnamon in a food processor. Pulse to combine. Add the cubes of butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add the apple cider vinegar to the ice cold water. Continuing to pulse the food processor, slowly pour the water through the feed tube. Only add as much water as it takes to bring the dough together. Pour the dough out of the food processor onto a large piece of plastic wrap. Use the plastic wrap to squeeze the dough together into a ball. Flatten and chill (1 hr in the fridge or about 15 minutes in the freezer).
2. While the dough is chilling, slice the strawberries and toss them in a medium-sized bowl with the granulated sugar. Set aside to macerate.
3. Remove your dough from the fridge/freezer. Gently roll the dough out to a small rectangle. Fold in thirds, then gently roll the dough back to a small rectangle. Fold again. Cut the dough approximately in half with one half being a little bigger than the other. Flatten into 1/2"-1" thick circles. Chill again until the butter is cold (30 minutes should be sufficient).
4. In a small saucepan, combine the apricot jam and the juice from the macerated strawberries (a strainer is the easiest way to collect the juices). Stir and bring to a boil over medium heat. Let it boil for a few minutes until it begins to thicken. Pour over the sliced strawberries. Add 2 tbsp. flour and stir to combine. Set aside.
5. Preheat the oven to 375º.
6. Remove your dough from the fridge. Roll the bigger piece to a circle that fits in a 9" pie plate with 1/2" overhang. Gently lay the dough in the pie plate. Fold the overhang under the dough to create a lip around the edge of the pie plate. Using a fork, prick the sides and the bottom of the pie crust. Pour the strawberry concoction, juices and all, into the unbaked crust.
7. Roll out the remaining piece of dough to a circle that lays flat on top of the filling and meets the edge of the crust. Pinch the edges of the crust into whatever pattern you prefer (click here for ideas), being sure to seal the top and bottom crust together. Use a sharp knife to slice air vents in the top crust (be creative: if it's Pi Day, maybe write "Happy 3.14159 Day" or simply "π"). Brush the pie with cream and sprinkle it with sugar.
8. Before placing the pie in the oven, set it on a large baking sheet in case the juices bubbles over. Bake for 35-45 minutes or until the juices are bubbling and the crust is golden brown. (If it's getting late and you start to get impatient, you can crank the heat up to 400º to help the pie along.)
9. Let the pie cool for an hour or two to allow the filling to firm up (or slice into it hot and flood the bottom of your pie plate with juicy filling. Slice and serve with freshly whipped cream.
Results
A happy Pi Day, indeed. Delicious crust, slightly tart filling easily sweetened with a dollop of whipped cream.
Discussion and Future Directions
To be totally honest, I think strawberry pie and berry pies in general are kind of strange. Growing up, we only had pie for holidays. Cream pies and pumpkin pies were standard. We never had a fruit pie (unless you count coconut cream). I was 22 when I had my first berry pie. It was a delicious homemade raspberry pie. I got the "recipe" (if you can call a list of ingredients with amounts like "a few cups of berries" and "as much sugar as it takes" a recipe) but I never made it.
So, if I think berry pies are strange, why did I make one for Pi Day? Because I was being irrational. Luckily, it turned out beautifully. It even started an intellectual debate about how to calculate the volume of a pie. People were throwing around ideas like "calculate the volume of a cone, then subtract the volume of the small cone that is taller than the pie." I offered calculus. Use integrals and the disc method and rotation around an axis. Needless to say, we decided the pie was better eaten than measured, so we left the math for another day. Happy (belated) Pi Day!
Supplementary Materials
14 March, 2014
Guatemala: Avocado "Grilled" Cheese
Our first afternoon in Guatemala was spent exploring the colonial town of Antigua. We walked along the cobblestone streets and admired the crumbling architecture. Formerly, Antigua was the capital of the colony of Guatemala. After a series of earthquakes destroyed much of the city, the capital was moved to what is now Guatemala City. Daily life in Antigua is marked by a juxtaposition of modern and as the name of the town suggests, antigua (old or ancient). Without a second glance, the people walk past beautifully crumbling old churches and buildings that were once central to every day life. Some of the ruins have been preserved as museums. Others have new functions or simply became empty, chained lots. Founded in 1543 as Santiago de los Caballeros and now called La Antigua in reference to formerly having been the capital, Antigua is a town with lot to tell.
What does Antigua have to tell? The first lunch we had in Guatemala was at a café across from Parque Central called Café Condesa. The building it occupies was once the house of a count. As the legend goes, the count walked in on his wife (the countess) with the butler. The house was undergoing renovations, so as a punishment, the count buried the butler in mortar and bricks. Many years and a few owners later, the house was undergoing further renovations. It is said that the construction crew found a body in one of the walls they tore down. That's just one of Antigua's many legends.
As I fretted over choosing a sandwich, I read about the legend of the count. Once I knew the history, I knew I had to choose La Condesa (The Countess): wheat bread with melted cheese, avocado, lettuce and tomato.
Objective
Recreate La Condesa sandwich from Café Condesa in Antigua, Guatemala.
Materials
2 slices whole wheat bread
2 slices cheese (Gouda & Swiss if you have them)
1/2 avocado
salt & pepper
tomato
lettuce
jalapeño hot sauce
Methods
1. Very lightly toast the bread. Place one piece on a broiler-safe pan. Top with the two slices of cheese. Broil until the cheese melts, just a few minutes. Do not let the bread burn.
2. Meanwhile, mash up your avocado with salt and pepper, to taste. (I used a mortar and pestle.)
3. Place a large leaf of lettuce on the second piece of toast. Slather the lettuce with the avocado. Top with sliced tomato and add the slice of toast with the melted cheese, cheese side down.
4. Slice the sandwich in half and serve with jalapeño hot sauce on the side. (If you're making this for yourself, you can just add the hot sauce while you mash the avocado because you know how much heat you can tolerate.)
Results
Yum! Warm and creamy with a little bit of a kick.
Discussion and Future Directions
While it will never taste quite right because I'm not in Guatemala, and sometimes the experience and company make the meal, this is a very good imitation. Though Café Condesa does not serve the sandwich with hot sauce, they should! Luckily for me, C ordered huevos rancheros which was served with a side of jalapeño hot sauce. We liked the hot sauce so much that we bought a bottle and brought it back to the USA. Knowing that we have a limited supply, my next goal is to recreate La Condesa's jalapeño hot sauce. Be sure to use jalapeño hot sauce (picante) and not jalapeño salsa!
Supplementary Materials
What does Antigua have to tell? The first lunch we had in Guatemala was at a café across from Parque Central called Café Condesa. The building it occupies was once the house of a count. As the legend goes, the count walked in on his wife (the countess) with the butler. The house was undergoing renovations, so as a punishment, the count buried the butler in mortar and bricks. Many years and a few owners later, the house was undergoing further renovations. It is said that the construction crew found a body in one of the walls they tore down. That's just one of Antigua's many legends.
As I fretted over choosing a sandwich, I read about the legend of the count. Once I knew the history, I knew I had to choose La Condesa (The Countess): wheat bread with melted cheese, avocado, lettuce and tomato.
Objective
Recreate La Condesa sandwich from Café Condesa in Antigua, Guatemala.
Materials
2 slices whole wheat bread
2 slices cheese (Gouda & Swiss if you have them)
1/2 avocado
salt & pepper
tomato
lettuce
jalapeño hot sauce
Methods
1. Very lightly toast the bread. Place one piece on a broiler-safe pan. Top with the two slices of cheese. Broil until the cheese melts, just a few minutes. Do not let the bread burn.
2. Meanwhile, mash up your avocado with salt and pepper, to taste. (I used a mortar and pestle.)
3. Place a large leaf of lettuce on the second piece of toast. Slather the lettuce with the avocado. Top with sliced tomato and add the slice of toast with the melted cheese, cheese side down.
4. Slice the sandwich in half and serve with jalapeño hot sauce on the side. (If you're making this for yourself, you can just add the hot sauce while you mash the avocado because you know how much heat you can tolerate.)
Results
Yum! Warm and creamy with a little bit of a kick.
Discussion and Future Directions
While it will never taste quite right because I'm not in Guatemala, and sometimes the experience and company make the meal, this is a very good imitation. Though Café Condesa does not serve the sandwich with hot sauce, they should! Luckily for me, C ordered huevos rancheros which was served with a side of jalapeño hot sauce. We liked the hot sauce so much that we bought a bottle and brought it back to the USA. Knowing that we have a limited supply, my next goal is to recreate La Condesa's jalapeño hot sauce. Be sure to use jalapeño hot sauce (picante) and not jalapeño salsa!
Supplementary Materials
15 January, 2014
Orange Cream Scones
There's a cafe in Madison, Wisconsin called Lazy Jane's. It's in one of the neighborhoods that's retained some of Madison's Vietnam-era hippiness. Willy Street is home to a many brightly painted homes, food co-op, a bicycle shop, a chocolatier, a number of thrift stores, and a slew of unique bars, restaurants and cafes. It's a great place to grab coffee and breakfast. Lazy Jane's is a popular choice because their lemon cream scones are considered by many to be the best in Madison.
I first heard of Lazy Jane's lemon cream scones when I was an undergraduate. I met two of my best friends in an advanced language course during the spring semester of my freshman year. On the first day of class, I sat by a girl named Laura and we became friends instantly. Sitting along the wall to my right was a girl named Andrea. We didn't really talk much or get to know each other until the following semester when we took a summer class in La Fonética. The subsequent spring semester, we found ourselves learning La Lingüística together with a quirky visiting professor from the University of Hawaii. We're still hoping to take him up on his offer to tomar un café when we make it to Hawaii! Instead of Hawaii, we found ourselves in Guanajuato, Mexico through different summer programs. Shortly after Andrea arrived, we sat on a bench in the rain tomando un helado and reminiscing about the silly things that happened in Professor Chandler's class!
By the time we returned from Mexico, Andrea and I had one literature requirement each to satisfy our Spanish degrees. I took a course in classical Spanish theater and Andrea took a themed literature course about náufragos. It was in the time after our days as Spanish students that our friendship really developed. She always wanted to take me for lemon cream scones at Lazy Jane's, but that was during my 3.5 years on a gluten free diet and they didn't serve gluten-free scones back then. While I was home for the holidays just last month, we decided to meet for breakfast. I knew our reunion had to be at Lazy Jane's because after hearing Andrea rave about their lemon cream scones for the past 5 years, I was determined to try one!
At 7:45 on Christmas Eve morning, we braved the brisk -12 degree temperature and met at Lazy Jane's. Though I ordered a full breakfast instead of a scone, I got to try a sample. It was a scone that was so light and moist that it might change your stance on the scone. I wanted to order one on my way out but decided to pass after seeing the line to order during the 10:00 rush! Instead, I would try to make my own version when I got back to Houston. I opted for orange cream scones instead of lemon to take advantage of the oranges we harvested at Flayler Fruit Farm. While I haven't eaten enough of Lazy Jane's scones to effectively compare mine to theirs, I'm going to consider these to be a pretty good alternative.
Objective
Adapt Apt. 2B Baking Co.'s Rhubarb & Rye Scones into orange cream scones. The idea to use orange marmalade as the filling came from Kim Boyce's Strawberry Barley Scones. The glaze came from Clinton Street Baking Co.'s Sunshine Yogurt Muffins.
Materials
Dough:
4.5 oz. rye flour
6 oz. unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
3 oz. granulated sugar
zest of one orange
zest of 1/2 lemon
4 oz. butter, cold and cut into small cubes
3 tbsp. freshly squeezed orange juice
1 tbsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice
4-5 oz. heavy cream (8-10 tablespoons)
Filling:
1 tbsp. orange marmalade
Glaze:
1 tbsp. orange juice (or lemon if you like tart)
1/3 cup powdered sugar
Methods
1. Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, salt, granulated sugar, and citrus zest. Use your fingers to rub the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture is crumbly with the butter well-distributed.
3. Pour in the orange and lemon juices and gently stir just to distribute the juices.
4. Pour the cream in slowly, about 2 ounces at a time, as you gently stir the dough. You only want to add enough cream to bring the flour together into a dough. Once you get there, stop. I used 4 ounces of cream.
5. Gather the dough together in a ball, give the dough a quick knead to incorporate any crumbs lingering in the bottom of the bowl, and slice the ball in half. Pat each slice of dough into to evenly sized 1" thick discs. Spread the top of one disc with orange marmalade, leaving 1/2 inch border at the edge. Set the second disc over the marmalade covered piece and press the edges together.
6. Cut the disc in half, then in half again, and finally, cut each of the quarters in half so that you finish with 8 triangles. Place the triangles on the prepared baking sheet with at least 1" of space between them because they will expand while baking. Brush the tops of the scones with cream.
6. Bake the scones for 15-20 minutes or until lightly golden. Remove from the oven and place the scones, still on the baking sheet, on a wire rack and allow to cool for a few minutes while you prepare the glaze.
7. Prepare the glaze by whisking the powdered sugar into the orange juice. Feel free to add a little zest for color/texture and/or use any pulp that made its way into the juice while reaming. Once you're done preparing the glaze, spread it over the tops of the warm scones and let the scones cool completely.
8. Best served fresh. Still very good if served after 24 hours of airtight storage, but after that, be sure to wrap and freeze them.
Results
Moist, tangy, orangey, and delicious. The marmalade adds flavor but also texture from the strips of rind. Better with the glaze than without because the glaze packs a citrusy punch.
Discussion and Future Directions
These scones are great with oranges, but I can't wait to try them with lemons. I added lemon juice and zest to the orange scones to add tartness because my oranges were very sweet. To take them to the next level, try using a combination of lemon, lime, and orange as with Clinton Street Baking Co.'s Sunshine Yogurt Muffins. To add more orange flavor, you could try adding about 1/2 tsp. orange extract (or lemon extract to up the tartness). The marmalade could easily be skipped but definitely adds a little something extra. You can find a recipe for 1-cup small batch of orange marmalade here. For lemon or lime scones, another jam, maybe blackberry or raspberry, could be substituted for the marmalade. The options are endless!
These scones are quick and easy to prepare making them an excellent treat for a weekend breakfast. I had the baking sheet of scones cooling even before C was ready to think about breakfast. He's a savory breakfast guy and I love sweet and savory breakfasts, so we ate our orange cream scones alongside sausage, egg and hash brown breakfast tacos. It was the perfect compromise to start to our weekend off right!
Supplementary Materials
I first heard of Lazy Jane's lemon cream scones when I was an undergraduate. I met two of my best friends in an advanced language course during the spring semester of my freshman year. On the first day of class, I sat by a girl named Laura and we became friends instantly. Sitting along the wall to my right was a girl named Andrea. We didn't really talk much or get to know each other until the following semester when we took a summer class in La Fonética. The subsequent spring semester, we found ourselves learning La Lingüística together with a quirky visiting professor from the University of Hawaii. We're still hoping to take him up on his offer to tomar un café when we make it to Hawaii! Instead of Hawaii, we found ourselves in Guanajuato, Mexico through different summer programs. Shortly after Andrea arrived, we sat on a bench in the rain tomando un helado and reminiscing about the silly things that happened in Professor Chandler's class!
 |
| Fuimos de paseo por Guanajuato! |
By the time we returned from Mexico, Andrea and I had one literature requirement each to satisfy our Spanish degrees. I took a course in classical Spanish theater and Andrea took a themed literature course about náufragos. It was in the time after our days as Spanish students that our friendship really developed. She always wanted to take me for lemon cream scones at Lazy Jane's, but that was during my 3.5 years on a gluten free diet and they didn't serve gluten-free scones back then. While I was home for the holidays just last month, we decided to meet for breakfast. I knew our reunion had to be at Lazy Jane's because after hearing Andrea rave about their lemon cream scones for the past 5 years, I was determined to try one!
At 7:45 on Christmas Eve morning, we braved the brisk -12 degree temperature and met at Lazy Jane's. Though I ordered a full breakfast instead of a scone, I got to try a sample. It was a scone that was so light and moist that it might change your stance on the scone. I wanted to order one on my way out but decided to pass after seeing the line to order during the 10:00 rush! Instead, I would try to make my own version when I got back to Houston. I opted for orange cream scones instead of lemon to take advantage of the oranges we harvested at Flayler Fruit Farm. While I haven't eaten enough of Lazy Jane's scones to effectively compare mine to theirs, I'm going to consider these to be a pretty good alternative.
Objective
Adapt Apt. 2B Baking Co.'s Rhubarb & Rye Scones into orange cream scones. The idea to use orange marmalade as the filling came from Kim Boyce's Strawberry Barley Scones. The glaze came from Clinton Street Baking Co.'s Sunshine Yogurt Muffins.
Materials
Dough:
4.5 oz. rye flour
6 oz. unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
3 oz. granulated sugar
zest of one orange
zest of 1/2 lemon
4 oz. butter, cold and cut into small cubes
3 tbsp. freshly squeezed orange juice
1 tbsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice
4-5 oz. heavy cream (8-10 tablespoons)
Filling:
1 tbsp. orange marmalade
Glaze:
1 tbsp. orange juice (or lemon if you like tart)
1/3 cup powdered sugar
Methods
1. Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, salt, granulated sugar, and citrus zest. Use your fingers to rub the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture is crumbly with the butter well-distributed.
3. Pour in the orange and lemon juices and gently stir just to distribute the juices.
4. Pour the cream in slowly, about 2 ounces at a time, as you gently stir the dough. You only want to add enough cream to bring the flour together into a dough. Once you get there, stop. I used 4 ounces of cream.
5. Gather the dough together in a ball, give the dough a quick knead to incorporate any crumbs lingering in the bottom of the bowl, and slice the ball in half. Pat each slice of dough into to evenly sized 1" thick discs. Spread the top of one disc with orange marmalade, leaving 1/2 inch border at the edge. Set the second disc over the marmalade covered piece and press the edges together.
6. Cut the disc in half, then in half again, and finally, cut each of the quarters in half so that you finish with 8 triangles. Place the triangles on the prepared baking sheet with at least 1" of space between them because they will expand while baking. Brush the tops of the scones with cream.
6. Bake the scones for 15-20 minutes or until lightly golden. Remove from the oven and place the scones, still on the baking sheet, on a wire rack and allow to cool for a few minutes while you prepare the glaze.
7. Prepare the glaze by whisking the powdered sugar into the orange juice. Feel free to add a little zest for color/texture and/or use any pulp that made its way into the juice while reaming. Once you're done preparing the glaze, spread it over the tops of the warm scones and let the scones cool completely.
8. Best served fresh. Still very good if served after 24 hours of airtight storage, but after that, be sure to wrap and freeze them.
Results
Moist, tangy, orangey, and delicious. The marmalade adds flavor but also texture from the strips of rind. Better with the glaze than without because the glaze packs a citrusy punch.
Discussion and Future Directions
These scones are great with oranges, but I can't wait to try them with lemons. I added lemon juice and zest to the orange scones to add tartness because my oranges were very sweet. To take them to the next level, try using a combination of lemon, lime, and orange as with Clinton Street Baking Co.'s Sunshine Yogurt Muffins. To add more orange flavor, you could try adding about 1/2 tsp. orange extract (or lemon extract to up the tartness). The marmalade could easily be skipped but definitely adds a little something extra. You can find a recipe for 1-cup small batch of orange marmalade here. For lemon or lime scones, another jam, maybe blackberry or raspberry, could be substituted for the marmalade. The options are endless!
These scones are quick and easy to prepare making them an excellent treat for a weekend breakfast. I had the baking sheet of scones cooling even before C was ready to think about breakfast. He's a savory breakfast guy and I love sweet and savory breakfasts, so we ate our orange cream scones alongside sausage, egg and hash brown breakfast tacos. It was the perfect compromise to start to our weekend off right!
Supplementary Materials
28 September, 2013
Double Pumpkin Quick Bread [with Pumpkin Beer]
I know I said I was waiting for November to pull out the pumpkin, but by November, I really meant October. Obviously pumpkins are a Halloween necessity. Anyway, I failed. It's almost October, so I suppose it's ok. I caved because I really wanted pumpkin bread last weekend but settled on banana bread. While I like banana bread a lot, I was still craving pumpkin bread. Why? Because this recipe for Pumpkin Honey Beer Quick Bread from Cooking Light looked so moist and pumpkiny. I've never made (or had) beer bread, but it's one of C's favorite baked goods to whip up last minute to take to work. With two men in the house, I figured that even if it came out tasting like beer, it would disappear quickly.
The original recipe called for honey beer, but I have absolutely no idea what that is or where to get it. Mead? Apparently not the same thing. When I asked C if we had any beer laying around that was sort of sweet to use in pumpkin bread, he handed me a pumpkin ale from last fall that apparently wasn't good for drinking (and therefore still hanging out in the pantry). I have to disagree with his stance, because I actually drank a little bit of it and that says a lot. I definitely didn't taste pumpkin, but it was also a pretty weak beer (probably why I could drink it--not that I'd drink a whole bottle).
I've been using a lot of whole wheat pastry flour in place of all purpose flour and am getting bolder every time I bake (you'll note I used mostly whole wheat pastry flour in this recipe). I also decided that quick breads are often a bit too oily, so I subbed out some of the oil in favor of the last little bit of our homemade apple butter. I cut the sugar a lot, but added in just a touch of honey since I didn't use honey beer. I used canned pumpkin puree, but if I had a squash or pumpkin on hand, I would have used that instead.
Objective
Make pumpkin bread with pumpkin beer based on Pumpkin Honey Beer Quick Bread from Cooking Light.
Materials
1 cup + 2 tbsp. whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp (heaping) ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp (heaping) pumpkin pie spice
1/4 cup pumpkin beer
2 tbsp. + 2 tsp. ground flaxseeds
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp. granulated white sugar
1 tbsp. honey
1/3 cup oil (I recommend 50:50 light olive oil and apple butter/sauce)
1/3 cup pumpkin beer
2 large eggs
7.5 oz. (3/4 cup + 2 tbsp.) pumpkin puree
Methods
1. Preheat the oven to 350º. You can make either a 9x5" loaf or 2-4 mini loaves, depending on the size of your mini loaf pans. Grease loaf pan(s) and line the bottom with greased parchment paper. Set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flours, salt, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice. Set aside. In a small bowl, stir the flaxseeds into 1/4 cup beer. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl (you can use your mixer, but it's isn't necessary), stir together the sugar, honey, oil, apple butter, and 1/3 cup beer until homogenous. Note: it's going to be wet and sloshy, so if you use a mixer, start on the lowest speed setting. Add the flaxseed mixture and pumpkin puree and stir to mix. Fold in the flour mixture and mix until just combined.
4. Pour batter into the prepared loaf pan(s), filling the pans 2/3 to 3/4 of the way to the top.
5. Bake at 350º, just until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. For a 9x5" loaf, that's about 70 minutes; for mini loaves, around 45 minutes. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then loosen the edge with a plastic knife, flip out, and cool completely on a wire rack. Wrap tightly in saran wrap and store at room temperature.
Results
The loaves are moist and flavorful with a beautiful golden yellow hue. You can't taste the beer very much, but you can taste pumpkin and spice. The crust is a nice golden brown on the mini-loaves and a deep brown on the 9x5" loaf (see photo under Supplementary Materials).
Discussion and Future Directions
Well, I think I found the best way to consume beer! I will be happy to make this bread again. The flavor is very pumpkiny and not too sweet. This recipe is nice because it uses whole grains and flaxseed, has reduce sugar and oil. I took a loaf to C at work this afternoon (he's on call tonight) and "they" liked it (though did wonder if all the pumpkin flavor came from the pumpkin beer or if it also had pumpkin puree in it). Now, considering "they" are residents who work way too much and only have access to McDonald's on nights and weekends, I don't know that it would even have to be good for it to be consumed with gusto. Nevertheless, I'll take it as a compliment.
Next time you're craving pumpkin bread, I say you give this one a try (especially if you have pumpkin beer on hand). If you don't have pumpkin beer on hand, I suggest buying a 6-pack, using one of the beers to make this bread, then gifting the rest of the beer plus a mini loaf of bread to someone you love who loves beer. Brilliant, right?
Supplementary Materials
The original recipe called for honey beer, but I have absolutely no idea what that is or where to get it. Mead? Apparently not the same thing. When I asked C if we had any beer laying around that was sort of sweet to use in pumpkin bread, he handed me a pumpkin ale from last fall that apparently wasn't good for drinking (and therefore still hanging out in the pantry). I have to disagree with his stance, because I actually drank a little bit of it and that says a lot. I definitely didn't taste pumpkin, but it was also a pretty weak beer (probably why I could drink it--not that I'd drink a whole bottle).
I've been using a lot of whole wheat pastry flour in place of all purpose flour and am getting bolder every time I bake (you'll note I used mostly whole wheat pastry flour in this recipe). I also decided that quick breads are often a bit too oily, so I subbed out some of the oil in favor of the last little bit of our homemade apple butter. I cut the sugar a lot, but added in just a touch of honey since I didn't use honey beer. I used canned pumpkin puree, but if I had a squash or pumpkin on hand, I would have used that instead.
Objective
Make pumpkin bread with pumpkin beer based on Pumpkin Honey Beer Quick Bread from Cooking Light.
Materials
1 cup + 2 tbsp. whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp (heaping) ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp (heaping) pumpkin pie spice
1/4 cup pumpkin beer
2 tbsp. + 2 tsp. ground flaxseeds
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp. granulated white sugar
1 tbsp. honey
1/3 cup oil (I recommend 50:50 light olive oil and apple butter/sauce)
1/3 cup pumpkin beer
2 large eggs
7.5 oz. (3/4 cup + 2 tbsp.) pumpkin puree
Methods
1. Preheat the oven to 350º. You can make either a 9x5" loaf or 2-4 mini loaves, depending on the size of your mini loaf pans. Grease loaf pan(s) and line the bottom with greased parchment paper. Set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flours, salt, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice. Set aside. In a small bowl, stir the flaxseeds into 1/4 cup beer. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl (you can use your mixer, but it's isn't necessary), stir together the sugar, honey, oil, apple butter, and 1/3 cup beer until homogenous. Note: it's going to be wet and sloshy, so if you use a mixer, start on the lowest speed setting. Add the flaxseed mixture and pumpkin puree and stir to mix. Fold in the flour mixture and mix until just combined.
4. Pour batter into the prepared loaf pan(s), filling the pans 2/3 to 3/4 of the way to the top.
5. Bake at 350º, just until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. For a 9x5" loaf, that's about 70 minutes; for mini loaves, around 45 minutes. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then loosen the edge with a plastic knife, flip out, and cool completely on a wire rack. Wrap tightly in saran wrap and store at room temperature.
Results
The loaves are moist and flavorful with a beautiful golden yellow hue. You can't taste the beer very much, but you can taste pumpkin and spice. The crust is a nice golden brown on the mini-loaves and a deep brown on the 9x5" loaf (see photo under Supplementary Materials).
Discussion and Future Directions
Well, I think I found the best way to consume beer! I will be happy to make this bread again. The flavor is very pumpkiny and not too sweet. This recipe is nice because it uses whole grains and flaxseed, has reduce sugar and oil. I took a loaf to C at work this afternoon (he's on call tonight) and "they" liked it (though did wonder if all the pumpkin flavor came from the pumpkin beer or if it also had pumpkin puree in it). Now, considering "they" are residents who work way too much and only have access to McDonald's on nights and weekends, I don't know that it would even have to be good for it to be consumed with gusto. Nevertheless, I'll take it as a compliment.
Next time you're craving pumpkin bread, I say you give this one a try (especially if you have pumpkin beer on hand). If you don't have pumpkin beer on hand, I suggest buying a 6-pack, using one of the beers to make this bread, then gifting the rest of the beer plus a mini loaf of bread to someone you love who loves beer. Brilliant, right?
Supplementary Materials
24 August, 2013
Hatch Chile Ice Cream Sandwiches
It's hatch chile season. If you don't know what a hatch chile is, don't worry, you're not alone. I didn't know what a hatch chile was until last year when my boyfriend moved to Texas. One evening, he went to dinner at an upscale Mexican restaurant that had a seasonal "hatch chile menu." Early summer is "flor de calazaza" or squash blossom season; late summer is hatch chile season. This is the time of year when grocery stores dedicate space to hatch chile everything and chefs design special sauces and meals highlighting the chile in their own unique ways. These are important things to know if you ever move to Houston.
The hatch chile is essentially an anaheim chile, but grown in the Hatch Valley of New Mexico. Different varieties have been cultivated for different heat scores. The fame given to this specific variety is year-to-year consistency and many people think the flavor is superior to other varieties. I don't know that I've ever had a regular old anaheim chile, so I can't put my vote one way or the other. What I can tell you is that when we tried "mild" vs. "hot" side-by-side at the grocery store, the roasted "hot" hatch won ten-times over. The "mild" hatch was not good: it lacked heat and any sort of delicious flavor. The "hot" hatch definitely brought the heat, but it also had flavor. Maybe we just got a bad mild chile. I'll have to try again!
We bought 2 bags of roasted "hot" hatch chiles and I bought 2 fresh hatch chiles. We used them for chile con queso, tomatillo vegetable stew, tomato pork stew, corn and rice stuffed peppers, zucchini and tortilla chip fritatta, and chocolate chip cookies. The winners were chile con queso, tomato pork stew, and chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwiches. The vege stew was a little to acidic from the tomatillos without something basic to balance the flavor. The stuffed peppers and fritatta were lacking in flavor. You really can't go wrong with chile con queso as long as it includes chile and queso. We got the recipe for the tomato pork stew from a recipe card lying in the crate of hatch chiles. It was really delicious, though I might like some more textures in it (maybe some sort of grain). The idea to make hatch pepper cookies came from the hatch pepper chocolate chip cookies they were selling at the grocery store. They didn't have samples, so I knew I needed to try baking a batch myself.
Objective
Make chocolate chip cookies with hatch chiles and whole grains (since I'm still on a quest for the perfect whole grain chocolate chip cookie). Recipe based on the original Toll-House recipe, but with reduced sugar and whole grains.
Materials
1/2 cup butter, partially softened, partially melted
1/3 cup dark brown sugar
1/3 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 tbsp. toasted wheat germ
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup hot hatch chile, roasted, de-stemmed/skinned/seeded, patted dry, and chopped
1/2-3/4 cup dark chocolate, chopped
Vanilla ice cream (~1/4 cup per sandwich)
Methods
To make the cookies:
1. Cream the butter, dark brown sugar, and white sugar. Beat in the egg and vanilla.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flours, wheat germ, baking soda, salt, and chopped hatch chile. Stir into the creamed mixture until just combined. Stir in the chopped chocolate.
3. Chill the dough for 30 minutes to 1 hour (this is important or you'll get puffy, cake like cookies that take over your entire pan). Shortly before the dough is done chilling, preheat the oven to 375º.
4. Use a teaspoon to form dough balls and place about 2 inches apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet or seasoned baking stone. Bake for 12 minutes, or until the edges are brown and the middles are still a little wiggly. Cool on the pan for 3-5 minutes, then cool completely on a wire rack.
To make the ice cream sandwiches:
1. Set the ice cream on the counter to soften for a few minutes then scoop the ice cream and smash it between two cookies. Alternatively, let the ice cream soften quite a bit (stirring it helps a lot). When smooth, spread it over the bottom of a baking dish to a depth of 1/2". Return it to the freezer to firm-up. Use a biscuit cutter or circular cookie cutter to cut out circles of ice cream. Use a spoon to lift the ice cream out of the pan and place it between two cookies.
2. Return the ice cream sandwiches to the freezer until ready to eat. Makes 1 dozen ice cream sandwiches (with a few extra cookies).
Results
The cookies are very soft and chewy. They spread out a lot while baking, but that made them ideal for ice cream sandwiches. The heat is fairly subtle and you can't taste it in every bite. With ice cream, the cookies are even better. The dairy helps with the heat and gives the cookies a way to shine, since as straight up cookies, they're a little thin (but not crispy).
Discussion and future directions
I've been trying different recipes for whole grain chocolate chip cookies. So far, my biggest complaint has been that people reduce the butter to make them healthier and that kind of ruins the texture. I tried 100% whole wheat flour and whole wheat pastry flour with oat flour, neither of which was quite right. I decided to try a 50:50 whole wheat pastry flour to all-purpose flour ratio here, but with the additional moisture from the chiles (and dark brown sugar), I needed to add more flour to get the dough to the right texture. I chose to increase the all-purpose flour, though you could swap amounts. Did you know that you can use wheat germ in cookies? There are a few recipes floating around for chocolate chip cookies with wheat germ, like this one from King Arthur Flour. I started out with just a couple of tablespoons to try it. I didn't even know it was there, so I'd happily try it again with more.
I think this recipe would also be great as cookie bars or modified into hatch chile blondies. These are fun because they are different. No one expects to heat when they bite into a cookie. Making them into ice cream sandwiches is optional, but recommended. Ice cream sandwiches hit just the right spot on a hot August afternoon in Texas, hatch chiles optional.
Supplementary Materials
The hatch chile is essentially an anaheim chile, but grown in the Hatch Valley of New Mexico. Different varieties have been cultivated for different heat scores. The fame given to this specific variety is year-to-year consistency and many people think the flavor is superior to other varieties. I don't know that I've ever had a regular old anaheim chile, so I can't put my vote one way or the other. What I can tell you is that when we tried "mild" vs. "hot" side-by-side at the grocery store, the roasted "hot" hatch won ten-times over. The "mild" hatch was not good: it lacked heat and any sort of delicious flavor. The "hot" hatch definitely brought the heat, but it also had flavor. Maybe we just got a bad mild chile. I'll have to try again!
We bought 2 bags of roasted "hot" hatch chiles and I bought 2 fresh hatch chiles. We used them for chile con queso, tomatillo vegetable stew, tomato pork stew, corn and rice stuffed peppers, zucchini and tortilla chip fritatta, and chocolate chip cookies. The winners were chile con queso, tomato pork stew, and chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwiches. The vege stew was a little to acidic from the tomatillos without something basic to balance the flavor. The stuffed peppers and fritatta were lacking in flavor. You really can't go wrong with chile con queso as long as it includes chile and queso. We got the recipe for the tomato pork stew from a recipe card lying in the crate of hatch chiles. It was really delicious, though I might like some more textures in it (maybe some sort of grain). The idea to make hatch pepper cookies came from the hatch pepper chocolate chip cookies they were selling at the grocery store. They didn't have samples, so I knew I needed to try baking a batch myself.
Objective
Make chocolate chip cookies with hatch chiles and whole grains (since I'm still on a quest for the perfect whole grain chocolate chip cookie). Recipe based on the original Toll-House recipe, but with reduced sugar and whole grains.
Materials
1/2 cup butter, partially softened, partially melted
1/3 cup dark brown sugar
1/3 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 tbsp. toasted wheat germ
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup hot hatch chile, roasted, de-stemmed/skinned/seeded, patted dry, and chopped
1/2-3/4 cup dark chocolate, chopped
Vanilla ice cream (~1/4 cup per sandwich)
Methods
To make the cookies:
1. Cream the butter, dark brown sugar, and white sugar. Beat in the egg and vanilla.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flours, wheat germ, baking soda, salt, and chopped hatch chile. Stir into the creamed mixture until just combined. Stir in the chopped chocolate.
3. Chill the dough for 30 minutes to 1 hour (this is important or you'll get puffy, cake like cookies that take over your entire pan). Shortly before the dough is done chilling, preheat the oven to 375º.
4. Use a teaspoon to form dough balls and place about 2 inches apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet or seasoned baking stone. Bake for 12 minutes, or until the edges are brown and the middles are still a little wiggly. Cool on the pan for 3-5 minutes, then cool completely on a wire rack.
To make the ice cream sandwiches:
1. Set the ice cream on the counter to soften for a few minutes then scoop the ice cream and smash it between two cookies. Alternatively, let the ice cream soften quite a bit (stirring it helps a lot). When smooth, spread it over the bottom of a baking dish to a depth of 1/2". Return it to the freezer to firm-up. Use a biscuit cutter or circular cookie cutter to cut out circles of ice cream. Use a spoon to lift the ice cream out of the pan and place it between two cookies.
2. Return the ice cream sandwiches to the freezer until ready to eat. Makes 1 dozen ice cream sandwiches (with a few extra cookies).
Results
The cookies are very soft and chewy. They spread out a lot while baking, but that made them ideal for ice cream sandwiches. The heat is fairly subtle and you can't taste it in every bite. With ice cream, the cookies are even better. The dairy helps with the heat and gives the cookies a way to shine, since as straight up cookies, they're a little thin (but not crispy).
Discussion and future directions
I've been trying different recipes for whole grain chocolate chip cookies. So far, my biggest complaint has been that people reduce the butter to make them healthier and that kind of ruins the texture. I tried 100% whole wheat flour and whole wheat pastry flour with oat flour, neither of which was quite right. I decided to try a 50:50 whole wheat pastry flour to all-purpose flour ratio here, but with the additional moisture from the chiles (and dark brown sugar), I needed to add more flour to get the dough to the right texture. I chose to increase the all-purpose flour, though you could swap amounts. Did you know that you can use wheat germ in cookies? There are a few recipes floating around for chocolate chip cookies with wheat germ, like this one from King Arthur Flour. I started out with just a couple of tablespoons to try it. I didn't even know it was there, so I'd happily try it again with more.
I think this recipe would also be great as cookie bars or modified into hatch chile blondies. These are fun because they are different. No one expects to heat when they bite into a cookie. Making them into ice cream sandwiches is optional, but recommended. Ice cream sandwiches hit just the right spot on a hot August afternoon in Texas, hatch chiles optional.
Supplementary Materials
17 August, 2013
Zucchini Butterscotch Blondies (Updated)
Warning: Do not make these blondies when you're home alone. Last night, my roommate came home to find half of a zucchini, a block of chocolate, and a cup of melted butter on the counter. He immediately voiced concern, wondering what on Earth I was making this time. I reassured him that I'd made this recipe before and that it was very good and that there was no need for skepticism!
Once the blondies were cool, I ate a corner piece to try them and went to bed. The next morning, I found the blondies half-eaten (see the photo below), proof that there was no reason for him to be worried! This recipe is a crowd pleaser, and now, it's a little healthier. The recipe has always included vegetables (well, botanically speaking, fruit), but now, there's less sugar and a little bit of increased nutrition from the whole grain. This is a great dish to take to a picnic or potluck because if you keep it around the house, you'll realize you ate the whole batch in about 36 hours. (I wish I were kidding.) If you're taking it to a gathering of 10 or more, I suggest doubling the recipe. I doubt there will be leftovers.
Objective
Revamp my Zucchini Butterscotch Blondies with the addition of whole grain flour and less sugar.
Materials
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp. brown sugar
1/4 cup + 1 tbsp. white sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
3/4 tsp. baking powder
1/8 tsp. baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup zucchini, freshly grated (1 small zucchini)
1/2 cup butterscotch chips
1/2 cup dark chocolate, finely chopped (or semisweet chips)
Methods
1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease an 8x8 inch baking dish.
2. Beat butter, brown sugar, white sugar, egg and vanilla.
3. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, then sift it into the butter-sugar mixture. Beat until just incorporated.
4. Stir in the grated zucchini, half of the butterscotch chips and all of the chocolate.
5. Spread the batter evenly in the 8x8 inch baking dish. Sprinkle with the remaining butterscotch chips.
6. Bake 30 minutes. Cool completely before slicing.
Results
These are not too sweet, which allows the butterscotch flavor to shine without being overpowered by the sugar. They are extremely moist and crumbly, which prevents them from feeling like cake.
Discussion and Future Directions
Immediately out of the oven, these looked very cakey. I was heartbroken and scrambled to find a sticky-note or recipe card or loose sheet of paper with the recipe I'd been working to perfect in St. Louis. I was worried that I'd written it down wrong in my blog post. Was there too much baking powder? Did I really use baking soda instead of baking powder? I figured I'd let them cool and see how they turned out.
They turned out great. The moisture from the zucchini helped give them a denser, not chewy, but thicker texture. Increasing the amount of butterscotch chips and decreasing the amount of sugar made them taste like butterscotch without making you pucker at the sweetness. I think these are an improvement over my previous recipe if you aren't looking for something super sweet (which is often expected with butterscotch cookies or other butterscotch treats). Don't like butterscotch? Feel free to replace the butterscotch chips with chocolate chips, but you might want to add an extra tablespoon or two of each of the sugars. I highly recommend you try this with your next zucchini! I also recommend that you shred some zucchini to freeze so that you have it on hand for zucchini bread, zucchini cake, and zucchini blondies once summer, and with it zucchini season, is over.
Supplementary Materials
06 August, 2013
Cherry Almond Oatmeal Cookies [Ice Cream]
Yesterday, I packed a measly lunch. I packed a handful of grapes and a bowl of Roasted Carrot Soup that our roommate made as part of a 5-course meal for losing our household March Madness tournament. The soup was delicious, but unfortunately not filling. By 1:00, I was craving cookies. By 2:00, my brain was shutting down because it needed fuel. By 3:30, my head was pounding and I was lightheaded, probably from my hunger combined with "Feels Like" 106º heat. When I got home, I told C that I wanted to make cookies. He said that I shouldn't (perhaps related to the 1/2 blueberry pie in the fridge and fresh batch of Snickerdoodles from our 5-course meal) and instead, he made me a bagel sandwich. There's a good chance I ate a Snickerdoodle (or two) while waiting for my personal Sandwich Artist to create something scrumptious.
A few hours (and 5 paintings) later, I was still craving cookies, oatmeal cookies. When C left to go get more canvases, I booked it to the kitchen to whip up a batch of cookie dough before he returned. Now, he can't get mad at me for my baking problem because he has an ice cream problem. About a week ago, he came back from the grocery store with 3 half-gallon cartons of ice cream. Shortly thereafter, our roommate came back with 2 pints of Ben & Jerry's and alerted C of a sale. It wasn't long before I noted a new pint of Cherry Garcia in the freezer. When I asked him about his flavor choice (I thought he knew I was planning to make cherry chocolate chunk ice cream), he said "I panicked. There was a lady behind me and I couldn't find Oatmeal Cookie, so I grabbed that one. But I really wanted Oatmeal Cookie." So that's why I was craving oatmeal cookies! I decided that I would stir crumbled homemade oatmeal cookies into vanilla ice cream so that C could get his Oatmeal Cookie ice cream fix and I could satisfy my oatmeal cookie craving a la vez. I figured this had to be close to the Ben & Jerry's flavor, though I'd never actually had it.
Earlier in the day, I'd decided to make Thin Oat Ginger Crisps from Green Kitchen Stories. What excited me about the recipe was the list of ingredients, specifically pure maple syrup instead of refined sugar and buckwheat flour instead of wheat flour. What I didn't like about the recipe was the thickness of the cookies. I prefer soft, chewy cookies, not thin, crispy cookies. I decided to try them anyway, but with different flavors, and the addition of steel-cut oats. I got the idea to add steel cut oats from Adventures in Cooking. I decide on cherry and almond additions because I've been craving cherries since they first hit the market in June.
Objective
Make oatmeal cookies to crumble over ice cream as a substitute for Ben & Jerry's Oatmeal Cookie ice cream.
Materials
4 tbsp. butter, softened
3 tbsp. pure maple syrup
2 tbsp. milk
2 tbsp. buckwheat flour
2/3 cup rolled oats
~1/4 cup steel-cut oats
pinch cinnamon
pinch salt
1/4 to 1/2 tsp. almond extract, to taste
2 tbsp. to 1/4 cup blanched almonds, chopped
2 tbsp. to 1/4 cup dried cherries (or dried cranberries flavored with cherry juice)
Methods
1. Preheat the oven to 350º. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, beat the butter, maple syrup, milk, buckwheat flour, rolled oats, cinnamon, salt, almond extract, blanched almonds and cherries. With the almonds and cherries, stir in as many as you want for the amount of chunkiness you desire. Stir in steel-cut oats, starting with 2 tbsp. until the dough stops looking "wet." (You want it to look like normal cookie dough for chocolate chip cookies.)
3. Drop dough onto the parchment by the tablespoon, and gather the dough into balls to make the dough a little cohesive. If needed, redistribute the dough for 12 even dough balls. Flatten the tops slightly.
4. Bake for 15-18 minutes, or until the edges are lightly browned. Remove from the oven and cool on the cookie sheet.
Results
These cookies are delicious and I don't feel guilty about eating them. They are very crumbly, which makes them perfect for crumbling over ice cream, though difficult to eat. The texture is soft and a bit chewy. I would describe the flavor as 50:50 oatmeal to almond, though easily mutable based on how much you decide to add. Stirred into ice cream? Delicious and you'd never even know these are "healthier" oatmeal cookies.
Discussion
The cookie itself? Very good. I'm pleased with the cherry/almond combination as well as the addition of steel-cut oats. I have to admit, I was going to make the cookies as written, as flat, crispy cookies. However, when I saw how moist the dough was, I decided I wanted to make it thicker like my normal oatmeal cookie dough. I kept adding steel cut oats until I got there (~1/4 cup). I knew this would increase the amount of dough and consequently decrease the amount of butter per cookie. I totally forgot that the recipe called for flattening the cookies as flat as you can make them, so I only flattened them slightly. The end result was exactly what I was looking for: thick, soft, and chewy. A happy mistake!
Now, cookie + ice cream? Since I've never had the ice cream flavor, we'll turn to C. "Better than the real stuff." Whew! That makes up for the brownies I made last week with spelt flour (that part was fine) and beet puree (not fine). I wondered what Ben & Jerry's flavor actually does taste like. Apparently its real name is Oatmeal Cookie Crunch and it's described as "sweet cream cinnamon ice cream with chucks of oatmeal and fudge." Mine didn't have chocolate, but I'm glad I added cinnamon to the cookies. I generally omit cinnamon from all cookies and quick breads, but I added it because I figured B&J's oatmeal cookies were bound to be cinnamony. They also add raisins. Gross. Anyway, next time C's craving oatmeal cookie ice cream, I think I'll whip him up another batch.
Supplementary Materials
To make Oatmeal Cookie Ice Cream:
Bake and cool Cherry Almond Oatmeal Cookies. Get out vanilla ice cream and let it sit out to soften. Crumble the cookies over the ice cream and stir to combine. Return to freezer until you're ready to eat it. Cookie recipe makes enough cookie crumbles for about 1/2 quart of ice cream.
A few hours (and 5 paintings) later, I was still craving cookies, oatmeal cookies. When C left to go get more canvases, I booked it to the kitchen to whip up a batch of cookie dough before he returned. Now, he can't get mad at me for my baking problem because he has an ice cream problem. About a week ago, he came back from the grocery store with 3 half-gallon cartons of ice cream. Shortly thereafter, our roommate came back with 2 pints of Ben & Jerry's and alerted C of a sale. It wasn't long before I noted a new pint of Cherry Garcia in the freezer. When I asked him about his flavor choice (I thought he knew I was planning to make cherry chocolate chunk ice cream), he said "I panicked. There was a lady behind me and I couldn't find Oatmeal Cookie, so I grabbed that one. But I really wanted Oatmeal Cookie." So that's why I was craving oatmeal cookies! I decided that I would stir crumbled homemade oatmeal cookies into vanilla ice cream so that C could get his Oatmeal Cookie ice cream fix and I could satisfy my oatmeal cookie craving a la vez. I figured this had to be close to the Ben & Jerry's flavor, though I'd never actually had it.
Earlier in the day, I'd decided to make Thin Oat Ginger Crisps from Green Kitchen Stories. What excited me about the recipe was the list of ingredients, specifically pure maple syrup instead of refined sugar and buckwheat flour instead of wheat flour. What I didn't like about the recipe was the thickness of the cookies. I prefer soft, chewy cookies, not thin, crispy cookies. I decided to try them anyway, but with different flavors, and the addition of steel-cut oats. I got the idea to add steel cut oats from Adventures in Cooking. I decide on cherry and almond additions because I've been craving cherries since they first hit the market in June.
Objective
Make oatmeal cookies to crumble over ice cream as a substitute for Ben & Jerry's Oatmeal Cookie ice cream.
Materials
4 tbsp. butter, softened
3 tbsp. pure maple syrup
2 tbsp. milk
2 tbsp. buckwheat flour
2/3 cup rolled oats
~1/4 cup steel-cut oats
pinch cinnamon
pinch salt
1/4 to 1/2 tsp. almond extract, to taste
2 tbsp. to 1/4 cup blanched almonds, chopped
2 tbsp. to 1/4 cup dried cherries (or dried cranberries flavored with cherry juice)
Methods
1. Preheat the oven to 350º. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, beat the butter, maple syrup, milk, buckwheat flour, rolled oats, cinnamon, salt, almond extract, blanched almonds and cherries. With the almonds and cherries, stir in as many as you want for the amount of chunkiness you desire. Stir in steel-cut oats, starting with 2 tbsp. until the dough stops looking "wet." (You want it to look like normal cookie dough for chocolate chip cookies.)
3. Drop dough onto the parchment by the tablespoon, and gather the dough into balls to make the dough a little cohesive. If needed, redistribute the dough for 12 even dough balls. Flatten the tops slightly.
4. Bake for 15-18 minutes, or until the edges are lightly browned. Remove from the oven and cool on the cookie sheet.
Results
These cookies are delicious and I don't feel guilty about eating them. They are very crumbly, which makes them perfect for crumbling over ice cream, though difficult to eat. The texture is soft and a bit chewy. I would describe the flavor as 50:50 oatmeal to almond, though easily mutable based on how much you decide to add. Stirred into ice cream? Delicious and you'd never even know these are "healthier" oatmeal cookies.
Discussion
The cookie itself? Very good. I'm pleased with the cherry/almond combination as well as the addition of steel-cut oats. I have to admit, I was going to make the cookies as written, as flat, crispy cookies. However, when I saw how moist the dough was, I decided I wanted to make it thicker like my normal oatmeal cookie dough. I kept adding steel cut oats until I got there (~1/4 cup). I knew this would increase the amount of dough and consequently decrease the amount of butter per cookie. I totally forgot that the recipe called for flattening the cookies as flat as you can make them, so I only flattened them slightly. The end result was exactly what I was looking for: thick, soft, and chewy. A happy mistake!
Now, cookie + ice cream? Since I've never had the ice cream flavor, we'll turn to C. "Better than the real stuff." Whew! That makes up for the brownies I made last week with spelt flour (that part was fine) and beet puree (not fine). I wondered what Ben & Jerry's flavor actually does taste like. Apparently its real name is Oatmeal Cookie Crunch and it's described as "sweet cream cinnamon ice cream with chucks of oatmeal and fudge." Mine didn't have chocolate, but I'm glad I added cinnamon to the cookies. I generally omit cinnamon from all cookies and quick breads, but I added it because I figured B&J's oatmeal cookies were bound to be cinnamony. They also add raisins. Gross. Anyway, next time C's craving oatmeal cookie ice cream, I think I'll whip him up another batch.
Supplementary Materials
To make Oatmeal Cookie Ice Cream:
Bake and cool Cherry Almond Oatmeal Cookies. Get out vanilla ice cream and let it sit out to soften. Crumble the cookies over the ice cream and stir to combine. Return to freezer until you're ready to eat it. Cookie recipe makes enough cookie crumbles for about 1/2 quart of ice cream.
03 August, 2013
Blueberry Sour Cream Crumble Pie
As we were getting ready for bed one night, C asked me to tell him a story. Having just finished baking a pie, I decided to tell him a story about the first pie I ever made. It took me awhile to remember which pie actually was my first pie. My first pie was apple. I was in high school, and for some reason, I decided I needed to make a pie. I told my mom that I wanted to make apple pie and she gave me the Oh-no-way!-I'm-not-getting-involved-in-this!-If-you-start-it-you'd-better-finish-it-yourself attitude that comes along with anything it the kitchen that she considers "fussy." If I remember correctly, my dad happily volunteered his hands for apple peeling. Anyway, after hours pie making and baking, I realized that I don't really like apple pie.
You know what's funny? I knew I didn't like apple pie, but nevertheless I decided to try again while I was in graduate school. I made not only one but two apple pies the same day (I always intended to blog about the second and post more of the beautiful pictures that my friend took, but never got excited enough about apple pie to actually do it). I ended up feeding about 60% of the two pies to said friend and inevitably threw out what was left after it sat in the fridge for a few too many days.
The pie that I often confuse with my first pie is a strawberry rhubarb sour cream crumb pie. It was the first pie I made post-GF diet. I made it on a summer day with fresh rhubarb from the farmers' market. It was delicious, but still, I could only get excited to eat a piece, or maybe two. I made it for the third time last summer and again, wasn't as excited to eat it as I was to make it. Finally, I was realizing that pie just isn't my thing. However, I've learned over the years that men love pie. We have a friend who bakes her husband a pie a month because he loves pie so much. C frequently asks me when he's going to start getting his pies of the month! Since they say that the best way to a man's heart is through his stomach, I continue to make pie, even though I don't really like to eat it. Plus, I really can't pretend that I don't get satisfaction from pulling a beautiful homemade pie out of the oven.
Each of the past two nights, I've made a blueberry pie with 2 pounds of blueberries that I saw and had to have. I started with this gorgeous Buttermilk Blueberry Pie from Adventures in Cooking. I was very glad that I made it into a mini pie, because while I really enjoyed the blueberries (and the adorable cut out stars), the "custard" was chunky and chewy and really ruined the pie. Without ice cream, all would have been lost. Instead of the logical choice to make a blueberry pie straight-up, I decided to go the "sour cream crumb pie" route for a certain man I know who loves crumble topping. Apparently baking two pies with the same fruit two ways is my modus operandi.
Objective
Adapt my Strawberry Rhubarb Sour Cream Crumb Pie recipe to make a blueberry pie with crumble topping. I made the pie crust with a variation of the rye rough puff pastry from Peach Galettes.
Materials
Makes a 9" pie (or a 6" pie)
Crust (makes enough for two 9" pies; freeze leftovers):
3.25 oz. rye flour
1.0 oz whole wheat pastry flour
4.25 oz. all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp. salt
3 tsp. sugar
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
6. oz unsalted butter, cold and cubed
2 oz. ice water + 1/2 tsp. apple cider vinegar
Filling:
4 cups fresh blueberries (2 cups)
1 cup sour cream/Greek yogurt (1/2 cup)
1 cup sugar (1/2 cup)
2 small limes, juiced (1 lime)
Crumble topping:
1/4 cup whole wheat flour (2 Tbsp.)
1/2 cup oats--quick cooking is fine (1/4 cup)
1/4 cup brown sugar (2 Tbsp.)
1/4 cup unsalted butter, cold and cut in cubes (2 Tbsp).
Methods
1. Preheat oven to 450º. Grease and flour pie pan and set aside.
2. To make the pie crust: Whisk together the flours, salt, sugar, and cinnamon. Rub the butter into the dry mixture with your fingers until you have pea-sized crumbles. While stirring, slowly add the water+apple cider vinegar. Mix only long enough to moisten the flour and make a dough. If it doesn't hold together when squeezed, add a little more water. Form the dough into a ball, flatten, wrap in plastic wrap and chill for 1 hour or more. Roll out to 1/8" thick. Lay into the pie plate. Trim the overhang to 1/2 inch over the edge. Fold the edge under and crimp the edges. Use the trimmed edges to cut out fun shapes for decorating the top of the pie (optional)
3. To make the filling: Gently place the blueberries into the crust. Mix the sour cream (or yogurt), sugar, and lime juice. Pour over the blueberries.
4. To make the crumble topping: In a small bowl, stir together the dry ingredients. Add the butter, and rub the butter into the dry ingredients by pinching it between your fingers. Crumble over the filling. The crumble should cover the entire pie. If you decided to make decorative shapes, brush them with water, sprinkle them with sugar and arrange them on top of the crumble.
5. Bake at 450º for 15 minutes (or 10 minutes for smaller pie), then reduce the oven temperature to 350º, cover the pie with a tent of foil, and continue baking for 25-30 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack. Chill before serving.
Results
This is the "beauty and brains" version of blueberry pie. Not only does it look pretty, it tastes like blueberry with a little tartness. The crust is a lovely brown and flavorful. The crumble gives texture and oat flavor. Oh yeah, and it's even kind of healthy if you make it with protein-packed Greek yogurt!
Discussion and Future Directions
Since I used Greek yogurt instead of sour cream and added oats to the crumb topping to make it crumble topping, this pie could aptly be called "Blueberry Yogurt Parfait Pie." However my fear was that people would think that it was an unbaked pie. Instead, it's a whole grain crust filled with a creamy, tangy blueberry filling, topped with oaty goodness then baked to release the juices and solidify the cream just a smidgen. The end result is a wonderfully flavorful, juicy purple pie. I couldn't be more pleased with how it turned out.
I didn't cite my Strawberry Rhubarb Sour Cream Crumb Pie recipe because I have no idea where I found it. I've tried searching for it online but can only find recipes that include flour (and often egg) in the filling. My recipe doesn't. I was beginning to wonder if that was an Abby-opps and I wrote the recipe down wrong. Sure enough, I just found an e-mail to myself from June 5, 2011 for Strawberry Rhubarb Sour Cream Crumb Pie that specifically says "Mix sugar and 1/3 cup flour with sour cream and pour evenly over fruit." There's also a note that it freezes well. As if this pie could be around long enough to freeze!
Clearly this pie doesn't require that extra 1/3 cup flour in the filling. In fact, it's gluten-free pie filling if you omit it! The crumble could easily be made gluten free by using the right oats (or just using oat flour and omitting flour all together). I'm also envisioning this served in little ramekins without even bothering to give it a crust. Fewer calories? Bonus! Oh my gosh, so many options!
Believe it or not, I had fun making and eating this pie. That makes it doubly rewarding! This recipe is a keeper, through and through.
Supplementary Materials
You know what's funny? I knew I didn't like apple pie, but nevertheless I decided to try again while I was in graduate school. I made not only one but two apple pies the same day (I always intended to blog about the second and post more of the beautiful pictures that my friend took, but never got excited enough about apple pie to actually do it). I ended up feeding about 60% of the two pies to said friend and inevitably threw out what was left after it sat in the fridge for a few too many days.
The pie that I often confuse with my first pie is a strawberry rhubarb sour cream crumb pie. It was the first pie I made post-GF diet. I made it on a summer day with fresh rhubarb from the farmers' market. It was delicious, but still, I could only get excited to eat a piece, or maybe two. I made it for the third time last summer and again, wasn't as excited to eat it as I was to make it. Finally, I was realizing that pie just isn't my thing. However, I've learned over the years that men love pie. We have a friend who bakes her husband a pie a month because he loves pie so much. C frequently asks me when he's going to start getting his pies of the month! Since they say that the best way to a man's heart is through his stomach, I continue to make pie, even though I don't really like to eat it. Plus, I really can't pretend that I don't get satisfaction from pulling a beautiful homemade pie out of the oven.
Each of the past two nights, I've made a blueberry pie with 2 pounds of blueberries that I saw and had to have. I started with this gorgeous Buttermilk Blueberry Pie from Adventures in Cooking. I was very glad that I made it into a mini pie, because while I really enjoyed the blueberries (and the adorable cut out stars), the "custard" was chunky and chewy and really ruined the pie. Without ice cream, all would have been lost. Instead of the logical choice to make a blueberry pie straight-up, I decided to go the "sour cream crumb pie" route for a certain man I know who loves crumble topping. Apparently baking two pies with the same fruit two ways is my modus operandi.
Objective
Adapt my Strawberry Rhubarb Sour Cream Crumb Pie recipe to make a blueberry pie with crumble topping. I made the pie crust with a variation of the rye rough puff pastry from Peach Galettes.
Materials
Makes a 9" pie (or a 6" pie)
Crust (makes enough for two 9" pies; freeze leftovers):
3.25 oz. rye flour
1.0 oz whole wheat pastry flour
4.25 oz. all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp. salt
3 tsp. sugar
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
6. oz unsalted butter, cold and cubed
2 oz. ice water + 1/2 tsp. apple cider vinegar
Filling:
4 cups fresh blueberries (2 cups)
1 cup sour cream/Greek yogurt (1/2 cup)
1 cup sugar (1/2 cup)
2 small limes, juiced (1 lime)
Crumble topping:
1/4 cup whole wheat flour (2 Tbsp.)
1/2 cup oats--quick cooking is fine (1/4 cup)
1/4 cup brown sugar (2 Tbsp.)
1/4 cup unsalted butter, cold and cut in cubes (2 Tbsp).
Methods
1. Preheat oven to 450º. Grease and flour pie pan and set aside.
2. To make the pie crust: Whisk together the flours, salt, sugar, and cinnamon. Rub the butter into the dry mixture with your fingers until you have pea-sized crumbles. While stirring, slowly add the water+apple cider vinegar. Mix only long enough to moisten the flour and make a dough. If it doesn't hold together when squeezed, add a little more water. Form the dough into a ball, flatten, wrap in plastic wrap and chill for 1 hour or more. Roll out to 1/8" thick. Lay into the pie plate. Trim the overhang to 1/2 inch over the edge. Fold the edge under and crimp the edges. Use the trimmed edges to cut out fun shapes for decorating the top of the pie (optional)
3. To make the filling: Gently place the blueberries into the crust. Mix the sour cream (or yogurt), sugar, and lime juice. Pour over the blueberries.
4. To make the crumble topping: In a small bowl, stir together the dry ingredients. Add the butter, and rub the butter into the dry ingredients by pinching it between your fingers. Crumble over the filling. The crumble should cover the entire pie. If you decided to make decorative shapes, brush them with water, sprinkle them with sugar and arrange them on top of the crumble.
5. Bake at 450º for 15 minutes (or 10 minutes for smaller pie), then reduce the oven temperature to 350º, cover the pie with a tent of foil, and continue baking for 25-30 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack. Chill before serving.
Results
This is the "beauty and brains" version of blueberry pie. Not only does it look pretty, it tastes like blueberry with a little tartness. The crust is a lovely brown and flavorful. The crumble gives texture and oat flavor. Oh yeah, and it's even kind of healthy if you make it with protein-packed Greek yogurt!
Discussion and Future Directions
Since I used Greek yogurt instead of sour cream and added oats to the crumb topping to make it crumble topping, this pie could aptly be called "Blueberry Yogurt Parfait Pie." However my fear was that people would think that it was an unbaked pie. Instead, it's a whole grain crust filled with a creamy, tangy blueberry filling, topped with oaty goodness then baked to release the juices and solidify the cream just a smidgen. The end result is a wonderfully flavorful, juicy purple pie. I couldn't be more pleased with how it turned out.
I didn't cite my Strawberry Rhubarb Sour Cream Crumb Pie recipe because I have no idea where I found it. I've tried searching for it online but can only find recipes that include flour (and often egg) in the filling. My recipe doesn't. I was beginning to wonder if that was an Abby-opps and I wrote the recipe down wrong. Sure enough, I just found an e-mail to myself from June 5, 2011 for Strawberry Rhubarb Sour Cream Crumb Pie that specifically says "Mix sugar and 1/3 cup flour with sour cream and pour evenly over fruit." There's also a note that it freezes well. As if this pie could be around long enough to freeze!
Clearly this pie doesn't require that extra 1/3 cup flour in the filling. In fact, it's gluten-free pie filling if you omit it! The crumble could easily be made gluten free by using the right oats (or just using oat flour and omitting flour all together). I'm also envisioning this served in little ramekins without even bothering to give it a crust. Fewer calories? Bonus! Oh my gosh, so many options!
Believe it or not, I had fun making and eating this pie. That makes it doubly rewarding! This recipe is a keeper, through and through.
Supplementary Materials
31 July, 2013
Whole Grain Recipe Roundup: Tried and True
Ok, this post is long overdo! It probably should have been posted about this time last year. In fact, it's been partially drafted for almost a year, but I never knew quite where to go with it. Since my 24th birthday has long since come and passed, it's time I talk about it. I was nervous about it. I'd had a not-so-good birthday the year before. Twenty four on the other hand? It turned out to be a really good one. Though my boyfriend was stuck at work in Houston, my parents came to visit me in St. Louis. My friend Ann and I had registered for a wine and paint class, but it got cancelled and we each left with vouchers for two extra free paint classes. I got to eat pizza and my favorite salad from Pi and have ice cream. I got a super awesome cast iron skillet from my super awesome parents. And, I got to open my birthday gift from boyfriend over Skype.
Imagine for a moment, that you're the boyfriend of a home baker who hates roses and loves puns. You came up with a brilliant birthday gift for your cheese-obsessed Wisconsinite (a cheese making kit from Wisconsin). But, you feel like something's missing: a birthday bouquet. She's forbidden you from sending her flowers. What do you get her? Well, you could get her flowers with the roots still attached arguing that plants don't count as flowers. You could get her seeds to grow her own flowers. You could send the flowers anyway hoping that she really wanted them and just told you not to buy them. Or, you could go the Stranger Than Fiction route and, wouldn't you know, come up with the perfect gift! Send flours instead of flowers. (Side note: he's made me watch both Stranger Than Fiction and Chocolat, and I'm fairly certain he's subtly planting hints for my next career change.)
Now, I knew to check my mailbox, expecting flowers. Instead, I found a big rectangular box that weighed about 30 pounds. When I opened it, I found a postcard with this note "They're not roses, but who doesn't love flours for their birthday?" Under the card were two more boxes, each full of little bags of flour! Every bag was a different flour: blue cornmeal, yellow cornmeal, brown rice flour, barley flour, buckwheat flour, millet flour, oat flour, rye flour, and spelt flour. The idea was that the flours would challenge me to be creative in the kitchen and try new recipes.
One year later, I've only finished 2 bags of flour: rye and barley. I was very pleased with both and found that they were great to use in baked goods for flavor and moisture. I've even purchased more barley and rye flour in the bulk section at Whole Foods. The buckwheat flour has about 1/2 a crepe recipe-worth left in the bag. I've used a little oat flour, millet flour, spelt flour, and blue cornmeal. C always brings up the spelt flour thinking that it's getting neglected (it hasn't been neglected, it's just the biggest, most colorful bag). I've hardly touched the brown rice flour because it's very tricky to use without xanthan gum, which I prefer to omit. I was also having a hard time using the oat flour, but I think I've finally discovered that the key is using it in cookies. The yellow corn flour has yet to be opened--but I blame C for buying "masa harina," not realizing we already had the English version.
Some of my creativity got the better of me and there were a few real flops. On the flip side, I found a few truly great recipes that I never would have tried before C's challenge. Others were fun to experiment with and lead to yummy treats. Those are the recipes I'll share with you today.
Barley Flour:
Banana Muffin Tops with Steel-Cut Oats from The Kitchn
Prepared as muffins. Subbed cinnamon for the nutmeg. Go buy bananas right now. Make these as soon as they are ripe. Feel free to stir in up to 1 cup of shredded veges (zucchini, beets, and/or carrots). Make these now, thank me later.
Lemon Blueberry Pancakes from Food52
Used Barley flour for the whole wheat flour and divided the all-purpose into 50:50 all-purpose and whole wheat pastry flours. Used only 1.5 tbsp. butter, added an egg, and used 3/4 cup buttermilk. Thinned to the right consistency with milk before cooking.
Buttermilk Barley Bread from Food52
Made as stated in the recipe. The bread was very soft and perfect for sandwiches. I did not like it as toast because it was a little too moist/dense to get crispy. I was a bit underwhelmed for the effort it took to find rolled barley. If I made it again, I'd probably just use oatmeal. Needs a little more flavor, but I'm not sure what.
Blue Cornmeal:
Fresh Corn Cornbread with Lemon Thyme Crumble
This was really quite good. I made this around the time of our chili cook-off. They disappeared quickly. This recipe is from the Dahlia Baking Company cookbook (p. 98). Here's an adaptation called "Raspberry Cornbread Loaf with Cornmeal Oat Crumble" from Flavor the Moments (I haven't tried this version). I can't find the lemon thyme recipe on the internet. It's very good. While the recipe called for yellow cornmeal, I used blue. I also used normal thyme and added extra lemon zest. I made muffins instead of a loaf.
Brown Rice Flour:
I haven't made anything with just brown rice flour. The reason for that is that rice flour doesn't do a whole lot. It is the trickiest of the gluten free flours to use. However, I've used it in the following recipes:
Spelt Pancakes from Bon Appetit (under spelt)
Three Flour Pizza Crust from What Liberty Ate (under buckwheat)
Buckwheat Flour:
Three Flour Pizza Crust from What Liberty Ate
This pizza dough uses wheat, buckwheat, and rice flour. It has a nice flavor and texture. Fair warning: the dough tares easily. I've substituted the rice flour for all-purpose, and it still tares. I might use bread flour next time. I have only made the crust and added my own toppings.
Buckwheat Crepes from Food and Wine
We fell in love with this recipe and have eaten a lot of crepes since we found it. That means a lot because I was terrified of crepes because I'd heard they were very challenging to make. Luckily C is a crepe master and taught me well. Uses 1:1 all-purpose to buckwheat flour. I have only made crepes, but have used savory and sweet fillings. This is also the reason we did a Nutella challenge and have 4 different Nutella-like spreads at home.
Millet Flour:
Five Grain Flour Blend (used here in Cream Waffles)
This flour blend is from the book Good to the Grain by Kim Boyce. Also uses oat, barley, rye and whole wheat. The blend of grains worked really well! I did not like the waffle recipe because (a) it used a ridiculous amount of cream and C was complaining about his arteries, and (b) it tasted egg-y. When I tried the flour blend in another waffle recipe, I had the same egg-y problem. Maybe I just don't like waffles, or, maybe it has something to do with the waffle iron being brand new. I'll have to give the flour blend a try in muffins or something else.
Hmm? I guess I opened the millet just for this recipe. I haven't used it for anything else yet. That will have to change soon!
Oat Flour:
Flour's Famous Banana Bread
Substituted all-purpose flour with oat flour. Was very good fresh, but not very good left over. A combination of flours is probably the route to go for a quick-bread.
Healthier Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies
I made this recipe, but substituted oat flour for the blended rolled oats (I weighed out the correct amount of oats and used that weight in oat flour). These cookies are unique, but not in a bad way. I would prefer them with a little more butter, but they're nice for a lighter, nuttier alternative. I'll try adding oat flour to my normal recipe and see how it goes.
Oatmeal Pancakes from Smitten Kitchen
These oatmeal pancakes use both oat flour and cooked oatmeal. They taste like (surprise!) oatmeal! I used steel cut oatmeal which gave it some texture. I think it would be really tasty and texturally pleasing with coconut. I halved the recipe but used 2 tbsp. butter since I only had skim milk. I used molasses, not honey.
Rye Flour:
Cinnamon Swirl Bread from SoNo Baking Company Cookbook
This is an amazing bread to eat fresh or as french toast. I accidentally swapped the amounts of wheat and rye flour. That gave it a stronger rye flour but was very good. I got compliments on the bread from my qualifying exam committee. You can check out a version made by The Urban Baker.
Most of my non-rye bread inspiration came from Apt. 2B Baking Co. In addition to beautiful pictures and fun stories, you'll find a bunch of great recipes on the site that inspired:
Rhubarb and Sorrel Scones
Peach Galettes and Strawberry Balsamic Galettes
Spelt Flour:
Spelt Pancakes from Bon Appetit
I made these for C the first time he visited me in St. Louis after receiving all the flour. This recipe uses spelt, rice, and oat flours. We both agreed that they are pretty darn good for whole grains!
Wheat-Free Velvety Beet Brownies
I made the recipe but used 1 whole beet, 4 oz. of chocolate, 1/2 tsp. salt, 3/4 cup white sugar + 1/4 cup brown sugar, left out the baking powder, and added a third egg. Ok, so maybe I really didn't make this recipe. Now, I don't know why I keep trying beets. I think it's time to give it up. I can taste them and they make things a little too "earthy." However, using spelt flour in brownies seemed to be just fine. I'm going to try making spelt brownies without beets next time I make brownies. Why not make them a little more nutritious with any flour other than all-purpose?
Conclusions
So, I'm now one year into my every-flour-under-the-sun challenge. What have I learned? I can make a lot more than just rye bread with rye flour. Barley flour is fairly versatile and great in quick-breads (think muffins and pancakes). I think I'm about to learn that spelt flour is also very versatile, I just have to remember to use it. Buckwheat flour is good for crepes. In other things, it can impart a blue/grey tinge which is a bit unappetizing. Oat flour is a great addition to cookies, but, probably not worth buying because you can make your own by giving rolled oats a whirl in the blender (though maybe there is more nutritive value in the flour depending on what part of the grain they use/discard. I read that one person blended steel cut oats in the blender and got good results). Millet and rice flour have been the hardest to use. I wouldn't buy either of them again unless I had to make something gluten-free. I don't think that blue cornmeal is anything special compared to yellow. Not surprisingly, it also imparts a blue/grey tinge (C thinks it makes things look "whole grainy").
I'm really excited to keep using my flours and get to the bottom of the remaining bags. The flour isn't getting any younger and I certainly need to use it up by my next 25th birthday. My goal is to use all of the flours and not throw any away, but brown rice flour might be the exception. When it's all said and done, I'm interested to see what flours I pick as pantry staples. So far, rye and barley have made the list. Buckwheat might if for no reason other than crepes, though I have a recipe for barley crepes enqueue and it's possible that they'll be even better than buckwheat crepes. I've also got a lot of cookie recipes enqueue using buckwheat, spelt, barley, and/or rye flours as well as muffins with buckwheat or spelt. I'll be sure to post the links if I find more keepers!
Imagine for a moment, that you're the boyfriend of a home baker who hates roses and loves puns. You came up with a brilliant birthday gift for your cheese-obsessed Wisconsinite (a cheese making kit from Wisconsin). But, you feel like something's missing: a birthday bouquet. She's forbidden you from sending her flowers. What do you get her? Well, you could get her flowers with the roots still attached arguing that plants don't count as flowers. You could get her seeds to grow her own flowers. You could send the flowers anyway hoping that she really wanted them and just told you not to buy them. Or, you could go the Stranger Than Fiction route and, wouldn't you know, come up with the perfect gift! Send flours instead of flowers. (Side note: he's made me watch both Stranger Than Fiction and Chocolat, and I'm fairly certain he's subtly planting hints for my next career change.)
Now, I knew to check my mailbox, expecting flowers. Instead, I found a big rectangular box that weighed about 30 pounds. When I opened it, I found a postcard with this note "They're not roses, but who doesn't love flours for their birthday?" Under the card were two more boxes, each full of little bags of flour! Every bag was a different flour: blue cornmeal, yellow cornmeal, brown rice flour, barley flour, buckwheat flour, millet flour, oat flour, rye flour, and spelt flour. The idea was that the flours would challenge me to be creative in the kitchen and try new recipes.
One year later, I've only finished 2 bags of flour: rye and barley. I was very pleased with both and found that they were great to use in baked goods for flavor and moisture. I've even purchased more barley and rye flour in the bulk section at Whole Foods. The buckwheat flour has about 1/2 a crepe recipe-worth left in the bag. I've used a little oat flour, millet flour, spelt flour, and blue cornmeal. C always brings up the spelt flour thinking that it's getting neglected (it hasn't been neglected, it's just the biggest, most colorful bag). I've hardly touched the brown rice flour because it's very tricky to use without xanthan gum, which I prefer to omit. I was also having a hard time using the oat flour, but I think I've finally discovered that the key is using it in cookies. The yellow corn flour has yet to be opened--but I blame C for buying "masa harina," not realizing we already had the English version.
Some of my creativity got the better of me and there were a few real flops. On the flip side, I found a few truly great recipes that I never would have tried before C's challenge. Others were fun to experiment with and lead to yummy treats. Those are the recipes I'll share with you today.
Barley Flour:
Banana Muffin Tops with Steel-Cut Oats from The Kitchn
Prepared as muffins. Subbed cinnamon for the nutmeg. Go buy bananas right now. Make these as soon as they are ripe. Feel free to stir in up to 1 cup of shredded veges (zucchini, beets, and/or carrots). Make these now, thank me later.
Lemon Blueberry Pancakes from Food52
Used Barley flour for the whole wheat flour and divided the all-purpose into 50:50 all-purpose and whole wheat pastry flours. Used only 1.5 tbsp. butter, added an egg, and used 3/4 cup buttermilk. Thinned to the right consistency with milk before cooking.
Buttermilk Barley Bread from Food52
Made as stated in the recipe. The bread was very soft and perfect for sandwiches. I did not like it as toast because it was a little too moist/dense to get crispy. I was a bit underwhelmed for the effort it took to find rolled barley. If I made it again, I'd probably just use oatmeal. Needs a little more flavor, but I'm not sure what.
Blue Cornmeal:
Fresh Corn Cornbread with Lemon Thyme Crumble
This was really quite good. I made this around the time of our chili cook-off. They disappeared quickly. This recipe is from the Dahlia Baking Company cookbook (p. 98). Here's an adaptation called "Raspberry Cornbread Loaf with Cornmeal Oat Crumble" from Flavor the Moments (I haven't tried this version). I can't find the lemon thyme recipe on the internet. It's very good. While the recipe called for yellow cornmeal, I used blue. I also used normal thyme and added extra lemon zest. I made muffins instead of a loaf.
Brown Rice Flour:
I haven't made anything with just brown rice flour. The reason for that is that rice flour doesn't do a whole lot. It is the trickiest of the gluten free flours to use. However, I've used it in the following recipes:
Spelt Pancakes from Bon Appetit (under spelt)
Three Flour Pizza Crust from What Liberty Ate (under buckwheat)
Buckwheat Flour:
Three Flour Pizza Crust from What Liberty Ate
This pizza dough uses wheat, buckwheat, and rice flour. It has a nice flavor and texture. Fair warning: the dough tares easily. I've substituted the rice flour for all-purpose, and it still tares. I might use bread flour next time. I have only made the crust and added my own toppings.
Buckwheat Crepes from Food and Wine
We fell in love with this recipe and have eaten a lot of crepes since we found it. That means a lot because I was terrified of crepes because I'd heard they were very challenging to make. Luckily C is a crepe master and taught me well. Uses 1:1 all-purpose to buckwheat flour. I have only made crepes, but have used savory and sweet fillings. This is also the reason we did a Nutella challenge and have 4 different Nutella-like spreads at home.
Millet Flour:
Five Grain Flour Blend (used here in Cream Waffles)
This flour blend is from the book Good to the Grain by Kim Boyce. Also uses oat, barley, rye and whole wheat. The blend of grains worked really well! I did not like the waffle recipe because (a) it used a ridiculous amount of cream and C was complaining about his arteries, and (b) it tasted egg-y. When I tried the flour blend in another waffle recipe, I had the same egg-y problem. Maybe I just don't like waffles, or, maybe it has something to do with the waffle iron being brand new. I'll have to give the flour blend a try in muffins or something else.
Hmm? I guess I opened the millet just for this recipe. I haven't used it for anything else yet. That will have to change soon!
Oat Flour:
Flour's Famous Banana Bread
Substituted all-purpose flour with oat flour. Was very good fresh, but not very good left over. A combination of flours is probably the route to go for a quick-bread.
Healthier Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies
I made this recipe, but substituted oat flour for the blended rolled oats (I weighed out the correct amount of oats and used that weight in oat flour). These cookies are unique, but not in a bad way. I would prefer them with a little more butter, but they're nice for a lighter, nuttier alternative. I'll try adding oat flour to my normal recipe and see how it goes.
Oatmeal Pancakes from Smitten Kitchen
These oatmeal pancakes use both oat flour and cooked oatmeal. They taste like (surprise!) oatmeal! I used steel cut oatmeal which gave it some texture. I think it would be really tasty and texturally pleasing with coconut. I halved the recipe but used 2 tbsp. butter since I only had skim milk. I used molasses, not honey.
Rye Flour:
Cinnamon Swirl Bread from SoNo Baking Company Cookbook
This is an amazing bread to eat fresh or as french toast. I accidentally swapped the amounts of wheat and rye flour. That gave it a stronger rye flour but was very good. I got compliments on the bread from my qualifying exam committee. You can check out a version made by The Urban Baker.
Most of my non-rye bread inspiration came from Apt. 2B Baking Co. In addition to beautiful pictures and fun stories, you'll find a bunch of great recipes on the site that inspired:
Rhubarb and Sorrel Scones
Peach Galettes and Strawberry Balsamic Galettes
Spelt Flour:
Spelt Pancakes from Bon Appetit
I made these for C the first time he visited me in St. Louis after receiving all the flour. This recipe uses spelt, rice, and oat flours. We both agreed that they are pretty darn good for whole grains!
Wheat-Free Velvety Beet Brownies
I made the recipe but used 1 whole beet, 4 oz. of chocolate, 1/2 tsp. salt, 3/4 cup white sugar + 1/4 cup brown sugar, left out the baking powder, and added a third egg. Ok, so maybe I really didn't make this recipe. Now, I don't know why I keep trying beets. I think it's time to give it up. I can taste them and they make things a little too "earthy." However, using spelt flour in brownies seemed to be just fine. I'm going to try making spelt brownies without beets next time I make brownies. Why not make them a little more nutritious with any flour other than all-purpose?
So, I'm now one year into my every-flour-under-the-sun challenge. What have I learned? I can make a lot more than just rye bread with rye flour. Barley flour is fairly versatile and great in quick-breads (think muffins and pancakes). I think I'm about to learn that spelt flour is also very versatile, I just have to remember to use it. Buckwheat flour is good for crepes. In other things, it can impart a blue/grey tinge which is a bit unappetizing. Oat flour is a great addition to cookies, but, probably not worth buying because you can make your own by giving rolled oats a whirl in the blender (though maybe there is more nutritive value in the flour depending on what part of the grain they use/discard. I read that one person blended steel cut oats in the blender and got good results). Millet and rice flour have been the hardest to use. I wouldn't buy either of them again unless I had to make something gluten-free. I don't think that blue cornmeal is anything special compared to yellow. Not surprisingly, it also imparts a blue/grey tinge (C thinks it makes things look "whole grainy").
I'm really excited to keep using my flours and get to the bottom of the remaining bags. The flour isn't getting any younger and I certainly need to use it up by my next 25th birthday. My goal is to use all of the flours and not throw any away, but brown rice flour might be the exception. When it's all said and done, I'm interested to see what flours I pick as pantry staples. So far, rye and barley have made the list. Buckwheat might if for no reason other than crepes, though I have a recipe for barley crepes enqueue and it's possible that they'll be even better than buckwheat crepes. I've also got a lot of cookie recipes enqueue using buckwheat, spelt, barley, and/or rye flours as well as muffins with buckwheat or spelt. I'll be sure to post the links if I find more keepers!
05 July, 2013
Peach Galettes with Rye Pastry
Last weekend was ridiculously hot. The temperature on Saturday was rapidly approaching 105º. We went to the farmers' market, but the heat radiating off the pavement was too much that we decided to go to the grocery store instead. That was a great decision because they had the most beautiful and fragrant strawberries I've seen all year. For the most part, I've stopped buying strawberries at the grocery store because they are usually a disappointment. We missed out on strawberry picking last weekend when we were on vacation in Buffalo, New York. I figured that meant I wouldn't be baking anything with strawberries this year.
That made me sad because I wanted to make a strawberry galette with the rye pastry from Apt 2B Baking Co.'s Strawberry Rye Galettes and the filling from the Balsamic Strawberry Galette from Honey and Jam that I made last year. Thankfully, these strawberries were just what I needed to make said pastries. They were delicious and I wholeheartedly recommend you try them next time you go strawberry picking! To do that, make the pastry recipe that follows and use this recipe for the filling (keep everything the same but use about 2 1/2 cups of sliced strawberries. Also, you can reduce just the liquid coming off of the berries without adding additional honey and balsamic).
The strawberry galettes, especially the pastry, got such high ratings from C and our roommate that I knew I knew I would be making them again. I don't even like crust and I loved these! With the 4th of July coming up, I was throwing around ideas for what to make for a potluck. Because we're living in the south, I was thinking peach cobbler. Peach cobbler isn't the most portable dessert, so I thought I'd try peach galettes using the rye pastry from before and a cinnamon and peach filling. That's just what I did.
Objective
Make peach galettes with rye pastry adapted from Apt 2B Baking Co. and a filling based on Fork Knife Swoon's Rustic Peach Galettes (with some additions from Honey and Jam).
Materials
For the pastry:
4.3 oz. rye flour
4.3 oz. all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp. sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
6 oz. unsalted butter (12 tablespoons), cold and cut into small cubes
4 oz. water, ice cold (1/2 cup) **you will not add all of this water**
1 tsp. apple cider vinegar
For the peach filling:
2 pounds peaches (8-9 small peaches)
1-2 tbsp. lemon juice (optional--omit if your peaches aren't very sweet)
1/2 tsp vanilla (optional)
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. all-purpose flour
2 tsp. almond flour (alternatively: finely chop or process whole almonds)
2 tsp. granulated sugar
1 egg, beaten
Methods
To make the pastry: Add the apple cider vinegar to 4 oz. cold water with a couple of ice cubes and set aside. Whisk together the rye flour, all-purpose flour, sugar, salt and black pepper. Add the cubes of cold butter to the dry ingredients. Using your fingers, squish/rub the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles pea-sized clumps. Remove the ice cubes from the water. While stirring the butter-flour mixture with a wooden spoon, slowly pour in water, tablespoon by tablespoon, until the dough begins to come together. For me, this was only 2 oz. of water and I made mine a lot wetter than I should have (and I preferred it that way because it was easier to roll. I just added a little more flour between layers at the folding steps). Gather the dough together in a ball and pat out to a rectangle (give or take 2" thick). Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for about an hour. You can cheat and use the freezer, but watch it carefully to make sure it only chills and doesn't freeze. If you do this make sure to flip the dough over halfway through. Once the dough is chilled, move it to a lightly floured surface and roll it out to a 1" thick rectangle. Fold the dough in thirds like a letter, then roll back out to a 1" thick rectangle. Turn the dough 90º, and repeat the folding and rolling process twice more. Wrap the dough in saran wrap and chill again for 2 hours or more. Overnight is fine.
To make the peach filling: Slice the peaches into slices of relatively uniform width (I left the skins on for color, but if you prefer, you can peel them first). In a large bowl, gently mix the peach slices with the brown sugar, cinnamon, and lemon juice/vanilla (if you decide to add them). Set aside for 30-60 minutes. At some point, gently move the mixture to a strainer (placed over a bowl or in the sink) and allow the juices to drain. This will help prevent the dough from becoming soggy. In a small bowl, mix together the all-purpose flour, almond flour, and granulated sugar and set aside.
To make the galettes: Preheat the oven to 375º. Line a baking sheet (make sure it has sides) with parchment paper and set aside. Remove the prepared dough from the fridge and cut it into squares (6-10 depending on how many galettes you want and how big you want them). On a lightly floured surface, roll each piece out to a 1/8" thick square (or circle if you're more skilled with a rolling pin than I am). Sprinkle 1/2-3/4 tsp. of the flour-sugar mixture into the center of the square, leaving a 3/4"-1" border on each side. Arrange peach slices in a single but overlapping layer within the borders of the pastry (I used about one small peach worth of slices per galette). Fold the top edge down over the filling and the bottom edge up over the filling, overlapping the peaches, but not totally covering the peaches (see the picture below). Repeat with the side edges, then press the corners with your thumbs to seal the dough. Gently move the galette to the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with the other galettes. Only place 6 galettes per baking sheet. Brush the edges of the pastry with the beaten egg. You can sprinkle it with sugar, but surprisingly, it looks prettier without it. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown and the juices from the fruit are bubbling. Move the galettes to a wire rack to cool. These are best eaten fresh or on day two.
Results
The pastry is delicious. The filling is not very peachy or sweet, but that's because these weren't the peachiest peaches we had. The tarts were very beautiful with a golden brown pastry and the orange and yellow peach skins and fruit.
Discussion and Future Directions
To be fair, the strawberry galettes really out-shined the peach galettes. Thankfully, most people only got to try the peach galettes, so they don't know that they missed! I think the quality of the fruit is what makes or breaks fruit desserts, especially in tarts, crostatas, and galettes. In a pie, you can hide the fruit with enough sugar and a delicious crust. In a dessert like this, the pastry can break the dessert but it can't make the dessert. I think this is a good recipe to set aside for a time when you get a really great batch of fruit. It's a recipe to keep in the back of your mind, but not one to plan on making until you have in your possession the most delicious fruit around.
I'm envisioning rhubarb galettes and cherry galettes. Maybe I could even bake the pastry empty and fill it with custard and fresh blueberries. Yes, that sounds delicious! I really love this pastry recipe. To be honest, I was skeptical of adding pepper to pastry dough the first time I did it, but it's a great idea. And the rye flour! The rye adds such a nice flavor. Most pie crusts I've made are flavorless or take on a fatty flavor. This one is just lightly flavored and delicate. I think I might even try it for a pie the next time I make pie. That will probably be a pumpkin pie over Thanksgiving because I really don't see why I would make a pie when these are so cute and easy. It might not seem easy to you, but I really think it's significantly easier than a pie. The pie crust is always my pitfall--sometimes it's the rolling, sometimes the blind-baking, or even the burnt edges after using a pie shield. I just really hate making pies. But galettes on the other hand, galettes I will happily make again!
Supplementary Materials
That made me sad because I wanted to make a strawberry galette with the rye pastry from Apt 2B Baking Co.'s Strawberry Rye Galettes and the filling from the Balsamic Strawberry Galette from Honey and Jam that I made last year. Thankfully, these strawberries were just what I needed to make said pastries. They were delicious and I wholeheartedly recommend you try them next time you go strawberry picking! To do that, make the pastry recipe that follows and use this recipe for the filling (keep everything the same but use about 2 1/2 cups of sliced strawberries. Also, you can reduce just the liquid coming off of the berries without adding additional honey and balsamic).
The strawberry galettes, especially the pastry, got such high ratings from C and our roommate that I knew I knew I would be making them again. I don't even like crust and I loved these! With the 4th of July coming up, I was throwing around ideas for what to make for a potluck. Because we're living in the south, I was thinking peach cobbler. Peach cobbler isn't the most portable dessert, so I thought I'd try peach galettes using the rye pastry from before and a cinnamon and peach filling. That's just what I did.
Objective
Make peach galettes with rye pastry adapted from Apt 2B Baking Co. and a filling based on Fork Knife Swoon's Rustic Peach Galettes (with some additions from Honey and Jam).
Materials
For the pastry:
4.3 oz. rye flour
4.3 oz. all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp. sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
6 oz. unsalted butter (12 tablespoons), cold and cut into small cubes
4 oz. water, ice cold (1/2 cup) **you will not add all of this water**
1 tsp. apple cider vinegar
For the peach filling:
2 pounds peaches (8-9 small peaches)
1-2 tbsp. lemon juice (optional--omit if your peaches aren't very sweet)
1/2 tsp vanilla (optional)
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. all-purpose flour
2 tsp. almond flour (alternatively: finely chop or process whole almonds)
2 tsp. granulated sugar
1 egg, beaten
Methods
To make the pastry: Add the apple cider vinegar to 4 oz. cold water with a couple of ice cubes and set aside. Whisk together the rye flour, all-purpose flour, sugar, salt and black pepper. Add the cubes of cold butter to the dry ingredients. Using your fingers, squish/rub the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles pea-sized clumps. Remove the ice cubes from the water. While stirring the butter-flour mixture with a wooden spoon, slowly pour in water, tablespoon by tablespoon, until the dough begins to come together. For me, this was only 2 oz. of water and I made mine a lot wetter than I should have (and I preferred it that way because it was easier to roll. I just added a little more flour between layers at the folding steps). Gather the dough together in a ball and pat out to a rectangle (give or take 2" thick). Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for about an hour. You can cheat and use the freezer, but watch it carefully to make sure it only chills and doesn't freeze. If you do this make sure to flip the dough over halfway through. Once the dough is chilled, move it to a lightly floured surface and roll it out to a 1" thick rectangle. Fold the dough in thirds like a letter, then roll back out to a 1" thick rectangle. Turn the dough 90º, and repeat the folding and rolling process twice more. Wrap the dough in saran wrap and chill again for 2 hours or more. Overnight is fine.
To make the peach filling: Slice the peaches into slices of relatively uniform width (I left the skins on for color, but if you prefer, you can peel them first). In a large bowl, gently mix the peach slices with the brown sugar, cinnamon, and lemon juice/vanilla (if you decide to add them). Set aside for 30-60 minutes. At some point, gently move the mixture to a strainer (placed over a bowl or in the sink) and allow the juices to drain. This will help prevent the dough from becoming soggy. In a small bowl, mix together the all-purpose flour, almond flour, and granulated sugar and set aside.
To make the galettes: Preheat the oven to 375º. Line a baking sheet (make sure it has sides) with parchment paper and set aside. Remove the prepared dough from the fridge and cut it into squares (6-10 depending on how many galettes you want and how big you want them). On a lightly floured surface, roll each piece out to a 1/8" thick square (or circle if you're more skilled with a rolling pin than I am). Sprinkle 1/2-3/4 tsp. of the flour-sugar mixture into the center of the square, leaving a 3/4"-1" border on each side. Arrange peach slices in a single but overlapping layer within the borders of the pastry (I used about one small peach worth of slices per galette). Fold the top edge down over the filling and the bottom edge up over the filling, overlapping the peaches, but not totally covering the peaches (see the picture below). Repeat with the side edges, then press the corners with your thumbs to seal the dough. Gently move the galette to the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with the other galettes. Only place 6 galettes per baking sheet. Brush the edges of the pastry with the beaten egg. You can sprinkle it with sugar, but surprisingly, it looks prettier without it. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown and the juices from the fruit are bubbling. Move the galettes to a wire rack to cool. These are best eaten fresh or on day two.
Results
The pastry is delicious. The filling is not very peachy or sweet, but that's because these weren't the peachiest peaches we had. The tarts were very beautiful with a golden brown pastry and the orange and yellow peach skins and fruit.
Discussion and Future Directions
To be fair, the strawberry galettes really out-shined the peach galettes. Thankfully, most people only got to try the peach galettes, so they don't know that they missed! I think the quality of the fruit is what makes or breaks fruit desserts, especially in tarts, crostatas, and galettes. In a pie, you can hide the fruit with enough sugar and a delicious crust. In a dessert like this, the pastry can break the dessert but it can't make the dessert. I think this is a good recipe to set aside for a time when you get a really great batch of fruit. It's a recipe to keep in the back of your mind, but not one to plan on making until you have in your possession the most delicious fruit around.
I'm envisioning rhubarb galettes and cherry galettes. Maybe I could even bake the pastry empty and fill it with custard and fresh blueberries. Yes, that sounds delicious! I really love this pastry recipe. To be honest, I was skeptical of adding pepper to pastry dough the first time I did it, but it's a great idea. And the rye flour! The rye adds such a nice flavor. Most pie crusts I've made are flavorless or take on a fatty flavor. This one is just lightly flavored and delicate. I think I might even try it for a pie the next time I make pie. That will probably be a pumpkin pie over Thanksgiving because I really don't see why I would make a pie when these are so cute and easy. It might not seem easy to you, but I really think it's significantly easier than a pie. The pie crust is always my pitfall--sometimes it's the rolling, sometimes the blind-baking, or even the burnt edges after using a pie shield. I just really hate making pies. But galettes on the other hand, galettes I will happily make again!
Supplementary Materials
04 June, 2013
Rhubarb and Sorrel Scones
Last weekend at the farmers' market, I saw bunches of sorrel for sale. I had no idea what it was. In my head, I thought it was a type a mushroom, but I could clearly see that it was a leafy green of some sort. I didn't think much of it. This weekend, I saw it again and decided I wanted to try it. I still had no idea what it was, but I knew there was a recipe for Rhubarb and Sorrel Crisp in the cookbook C gave me for Christmas, Simply in Season. However, in my mind, crisps are more of a fall food. So, how was I going to use this large bunch of sorrel?
I had a stalk of rhubarb leftover in the fridge from the Rhubarb Upside-Down Cake I made for Memorial Day. One end was starting to get mushy, so I knew I needed to use it or risk losing it. I also had about 3/4 cup cream in the fridge on its "Best By" date. My plan for the rhubarb and cream was to make scones. Since rhubarb and sorrel pair well for a fruit crisp, I didn't see why I couldn't put them together in a scone. Plenty of people make savory scones with spinach, so why not sorrel?
What is sorrel anyway? Sorrel is a perennial herb that is related to buckwheat and rhubarb. Like rhubarb leaves, it contains oxalic acid, which can cause kidney failure by chelating metals and precipitating crystals in the kidneys. Luckily, sorrel contains less oxalic acid than rhubarb leaves and is safe for consumption (but can be lethal if high quantities are eaten). Lots of foods we eat other than rhubarb, buckwheat, and sorrel contain moderate levels of oxalic acid, for example: black pepper, parsley, spinach, beets, nuts, berries, and beans.
Objective
Make Rhubarb & Rye Scones from Apt. 2B Baking Co. with chopped sorrel.
Materials
2 stalks rhubarb (~4.5 oz), chopped to 1/2" pieces
2 tbsp. granulated sugar
zest of 1 lime
1 oz. sorrel, cut in half lengthwise then chopped
4.5 oz. rye flour (or another whole grain flour: barley, whole wheat)
6 oz. unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup butter, cold and cut into 1/2" cubes
4-6 oz. heavy cream (1/2-3/4 cup)
2-3 tbsp. turbinado sugar (or other coarse sugar), for sprinkling
Methods
1. Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
2. In a small bowl, mix the chopped rhubarb with 2 tbsp. white sugar and the zest of one lime. Place the chopped sorrel on top of the rhubarb, but don't mix it in.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, salt, and 1/4 cup granulated sugar. Use a pastry blender to cut in the butter until the mixture is crumbly with the butter well-distributed.
4. Find your small bowl of rhubarb and sorrel. Give the mixture a stir to combine the sorrel and rhubarb and distribute the sugar and juices. Scape the vegetables (yes, they are both vegetables) with the sugary juice into the bowl with the dough and stir to mix.
5. Pour the cream in slowly as you gently stir the dough. You only want to add enough to bring the flour together into a dough. Once you get there, stop.
6. Gather the dough together in a ball. I suggest dumping the dough onto saran wrap and pulling the wrap up and around the dough to shape it into a ball. Then, still on the saran warp, flatten the ball to a 1" thick disc. Cut the disc in half, then continue making cuts until you have 8 triangles. Place the triangles on the prepared baking sheet with at least 1" of space around them (see the pictures in Supplementary Materials to see how much they expand). Brush the tops of the scones with cream and sprinkle with turbinado sugar.
7. Bake for 15-20 minutes at 400ºF. If you can see unbaked dough in any of the cracks, continue to bake. When they are done, the tops should be lightly golden. Remove the scones from the oven. Slide the parchment paper from the pan onto a wire rack and allow the scones to cool. Best served fresh.
Results
The scones are very light and moist. The sugar topping adds a nice crunch. The sweet to tart ratio is great. The rhubarb broke down to "little jammy pockets" just as Yossy from Apt. 2B Baking Co. said it would! The sorrel lost its bright green hue and broke down quite a bit, but maintained its flavor.
Discussion
I tried my first scone just a few months ago. I always thought scones were dense, dry, and hard. Maybe I was confusing them with biscotti, which I have had and do not like. I made a recipe for cardamom and orange scones with orange blossom water and honey mascarpone from Homemade Winter by Yvette van Boven. I learned that I do not like orange blossom water, but that I do like scones. They aren't the dry, dense little hockey pucks I thought they were.
This recipe is even better than the cardamom and orange scones I made. The texture is amazing. The flavor is also very good. If you can't get sorrel, leave it out. Yossy's recipe is a keeper. So much so that I'm going to start craving scones. I like that the scones get all of their flavor from the flour, vegetables, and citrus zest. There are no spices. The scones have a crisp rhubarb flavor that is very refreshing (quite the opposite of the rhubarb cardamom combination I used when I was looking for a warm, comforting cake). I am so glad we came across sorrel today so that I could try this recipe, with my own little twist.
Since this recipe only used 1 oz. of sorrel, we still have quite a bit left. We had the scones for "second breakfast." For lunch, I made blue cheese and sorrel grilled cheese sandwiches from Seattle Times. Both sorrel and blue cheese have strong flavors. I felt like the blue cheese won the battle and I couldn't really taste the sorrel. Nevertheless, it was fun to try. I'm going to have to be creative to figure out how to use the rest!
Supplementary Materials
I had a stalk of rhubarb leftover in the fridge from the Rhubarb Upside-Down Cake I made for Memorial Day. One end was starting to get mushy, so I knew I needed to use it or risk losing it. I also had about 3/4 cup cream in the fridge on its "Best By" date. My plan for the rhubarb and cream was to make scones. Since rhubarb and sorrel pair well for a fruit crisp, I didn't see why I couldn't put them together in a scone. Plenty of people make savory scones with spinach, so why not sorrel?
What is sorrel anyway? Sorrel is a perennial herb that is related to buckwheat and rhubarb. Like rhubarb leaves, it contains oxalic acid, which can cause kidney failure by chelating metals and precipitating crystals in the kidneys. Luckily, sorrel contains less oxalic acid than rhubarb leaves and is safe for consumption (but can be lethal if high quantities are eaten). Lots of foods we eat other than rhubarb, buckwheat, and sorrel contain moderate levels of oxalic acid, for example: black pepper, parsley, spinach, beets, nuts, berries, and beans.
Objective
Make Rhubarb & Rye Scones from Apt. 2B Baking Co. with chopped sorrel.
Materials
2 stalks rhubarb (~4.5 oz), chopped to 1/2" pieces
2 tbsp. granulated sugar
zest of 1 lime
1 oz. sorrel, cut in half lengthwise then chopped
4.5 oz. rye flour (or another whole grain flour: barley, whole wheat)
6 oz. unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup butter, cold and cut into 1/2" cubes
4-6 oz. heavy cream (1/2-3/4 cup)
2-3 tbsp. turbinado sugar (or other coarse sugar), for sprinkling
Methods
1. Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
2. In a small bowl, mix the chopped rhubarb with 2 tbsp. white sugar and the zest of one lime. Place the chopped sorrel on top of the rhubarb, but don't mix it in.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, salt, and 1/4 cup granulated sugar. Use a pastry blender to cut in the butter until the mixture is crumbly with the butter well-distributed.
4. Find your small bowl of rhubarb and sorrel. Give the mixture a stir to combine the sorrel and rhubarb and distribute the sugar and juices. Scape the vegetables (yes, they are both vegetables) with the sugary juice into the bowl with the dough and stir to mix.
5. Pour the cream in slowly as you gently stir the dough. You only want to add enough to bring the flour together into a dough. Once you get there, stop.
6. Gather the dough together in a ball. I suggest dumping the dough onto saran wrap and pulling the wrap up and around the dough to shape it into a ball. Then, still on the saran warp, flatten the ball to a 1" thick disc. Cut the disc in half, then continue making cuts until you have 8 triangles. Place the triangles on the prepared baking sheet with at least 1" of space around them (see the pictures in Supplementary Materials to see how much they expand). Brush the tops of the scones with cream and sprinkle with turbinado sugar.
7. Bake for 15-20 minutes at 400ºF. If you can see unbaked dough in any of the cracks, continue to bake. When they are done, the tops should be lightly golden. Remove the scones from the oven. Slide the parchment paper from the pan onto a wire rack and allow the scones to cool. Best served fresh.
Results
The scones are very light and moist. The sugar topping adds a nice crunch. The sweet to tart ratio is great. The rhubarb broke down to "little jammy pockets" just as Yossy from Apt. 2B Baking Co. said it would! The sorrel lost its bright green hue and broke down quite a bit, but maintained its flavor.
Discussion
I tried my first scone just a few months ago. I always thought scones were dense, dry, and hard. Maybe I was confusing them with biscotti, which I have had and do not like. I made a recipe for cardamom and orange scones with orange blossom water and honey mascarpone from Homemade Winter by Yvette van Boven. I learned that I do not like orange blossom water, but that I do like scones. They aren't the dry, dense little hockey pucks I thought they were.
This recipe is even better than the cardamom and orange scones I made. The texture is amazing. The flavor is also very good. If you can't get sorrel, leave it out. Yossy's recipe is a keeper. So much so that I'm going to start craving scones. I like that the scones get all of their flavor from the flour, vegetables, and citrus zest. There are no spices. The scones have a crisp rhubarb flavor that is very refreshing (quite the opposite of the rhubarb cardamom combination I used when I was looking for a warm, comforting cake). I am so glad we came across sorrel today so that I could try this recipe, with my own little twist.
Since this recipe only used 1 oz. of sorrel, we still have quite a bit left. We had the scones for "second breakfast." For lunch, I made blue cheese and sorrel grilled cheese sandwiches from Seattle Times. Both sorrel and blue cheese have strong flavors. I felt like the blue cheese won the battle and I couldn't really taste the sorrel. Nevertheless, it was fun to try. I'm going to have to be creative to figure out how to use the rest!
Supplementary Materials
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