Posts filed under 'baked goods'
It might snow here in Boston tomorrow, but my mind is set on spring. I bought some culinary lavender a few weeks back and finally decided to use it in some shortbread. This shortbread is super simple, but it has a secret: rosewater. It’ll be plenty good without it, but if you happen to have a bottle (or have an Indian grocer nearby), it adds a most delightful yet subtle floral note that complements the lavender well.
Here are two methods for rolling out your shortbread dough, one free form and the other uses miniature springform pans. You can use full size 8″ or 9″ pans, but I like the small rounds my 4.5″ pans produce. If you want to increase the lavender flavor, let the lavender sit in the powdered sugar for a day or two before making this recipe. If you measure it out this way beforhand, you can just dump it into your softened earth balance when you’re ready to make the recipe. If I were you, though, I’d make some extra lavender sugar while you’re at it to add to tea and other baked goods.
Lavender Shortbread
Makes Approximately six 4.5″ rounds
1 Cup Earth Balance, softened
1/2 Cup Powdered Sugar
1-2 tsp Rosewater
1 1/2 Tbs Dried Culinary Lavender
2 Cups All Purpose Flour
Preheat oven to 325º F.
Cream earth balance, sugar, lavender, and rose water together in an electric mixer until very soft and fluffy. Mix in four by hand with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula. If needed, use your hands to work the dough but do not overmix. The dough should be very soft but not overly sticky.
If making free form rounds: Divide dough in half, form into flat rounds, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour.
Roll out dough on parchment paper into rounds that are 1/4″ thick. It doesn’t really matter how large they are in diameter, just make them all consistent so they they bake evenly. I recommend between 4″ and 8″. Place the parchment paper, dough and all, on cookie sheet and bake for 15-18 minutes, until golden around the edges. See the last photo for the last set of instructions.
If using springform pans:Divide dough between greased springform pans pans.
Pat down on the dough to evenly distribute it. Make sure it is no more than 1/4″ thick. To test for thickness, insert a butter knife into the dough vertically and remove – just like checking your oil in your car.
You do check your oil, don’t you?
You can further smooth your shortbread round by greasing the back of a spoon and pressing lightly on the dough. This is great for evening out the edges especially. Be gentle here, or you could accidently tear the dough. If you do, simply press it back together.
Carefully place plastic wrap over the surface of the dough (so no part is exposed to air) and refrigerate for at least an hour. Though dough should feel firm once fully chilled. Simply remove the plastic wrap and place directly in your preheated oven and bake for 15-18 minutes or until golden brown around the edges.
When the shortbread comes out of the oven, remove the rings if using pans, and lightly use a spatula or the back of a long knife to score the tops of the shortbread. Once the bread cools, it will become harder and crispier and will easily break along these lines. Allow to cool completely before serving.
This would be extra nice served with tea!
April 11th, 2007
Why oh why do I buy granola? Why?! It’s so easy to make it’s laughable.
We ran out of granola and I really wanted some. I decided to make a small batch with the last cup of oats I had as an experiment. And it was a success!
Here’s there recipe, but it’s only for one cup of oats, so I imagine you might want to increase the amounts. When I make a bigger batch I’ll update the quantities. However, this is a great amount to make if you want to experiment with different flavors, or if you’re not sure you can eat a larger batch within two weeks. It will keep longer if frozen.
Apple Flax Currant Granola
Makes about 2 1/2 cups
1 Cup Rolled Oats
2 Tbs Veg Oil
2 Tbs Agave Nectar
2 Tbs Dried Apple Chunks
2 Tbs Currants (sub raisins)
2 Tbs Flax Seeds*
1 Dash Cinnamon
1 – 2 Pinches Salt
Preheat oven to 325º F.
Mix oil, agave, and salt in a large bowl. Dump in remaining ingredients except for any dried fruit and stir until well coated. Spread out granola onto a parchment paper covered cookie sheet or baking dish and bake for 10 minutes.
Stir well and bake for another 10 minutes, until oats are slightly golden.
Add any dried fruit and allow to cool. Oats will get crispy as they cool, do don’t worry if they seem soft when they’re hot.
*If you want to preserve all the nutrients of the flax seeds, add them to the granola after baking when it has cooled slightly. Baking them will destroy some of the good stuff.
I don’t need to tell you that you can add kind of nuts, dried fruits, or seeds to this you want, do I? So what are you doing, buying granola? Make it!
April 6th, 2007
I had three ripe bananas and an open container of Tofutti Better than Sour Cream that I wanted to use today, so this was my solution. I love it when I have a problem and the answer is cake, don’t you?
Sour Cream Banana Cake
Makes one bundt cake
1/3 Cup Canola Oil
1 Cup Tofutti Sour Cream
1/3 Cup Soymilk
1 tsp Vanilla
3 Medium Ripe Bananas, mashed
2 cups All Purpose Flour
1 1/4 Cups Sugar
2 Tbs Cornstarch
1 1/4 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Nutmeg
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
Preheat oven to 350º F.
Whisk all the wet ingredients together in a medium bowl until smooth. Set aside. Whisk dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Spray your bundt pan with cooking spray, or lightly grease. Flour the bundt pan with some of the dry mix, pouring excess back into the bowl when finished.
Mix wet ingredients into the dry, adding a tablespoon or so of soymilk if needed. Batter will be thick but not dry. Pour evenly into the bundt pan and bake for 50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool completely before removing from pan.
Serve with powdered sugar and fresh strawberries.
March 28th, 2007
I made these a few years ago for the first time, hoping to find the perfect blueberry muffin recipe to add to my collection. When I took them out of the oven, I was sad. They hardly rose at all, I thought. Where are my muffin tops?
I thought I would have to continue my muffin search. Then Stewart ate one. Then another. I tried one. The batch was gone within hours. Don’t be fooled by their diminutive stature. These little lovelies are moist and fluffy. They’ve got everything I love in a muffin – a crunchy sugar top, a balance of blueberries to cake, and above all, consistent results. I realize it’s a risk to say that when I post a recipe, but they’ve always come out well for me, even in four different kitchens over three years.
I should say that they do lack a proper muffin top, but that’s not an issue for us. I suppose my search for a perfect muffin isn’t over, but I hardly think about that when I get to have these. They’re not muffins, they’re not cupcakes, they’re blueberry breakfast cakes. Or afternoon cakes. Or midnight snack cakes. Or gimme now cakes!
Blueberry Breakfast Cakes
Makes 12 cakes
1 1/2 Cups + 2 Tbs All Purpose Flour
1 tsp Baking Soda
2 tsp Baking Powder
Heavy pinch salt
1 Cup Sugar, and more for sanding
1/2 Cup Vegetable Oil (like canola)
1 Ener-g Egg Replacer
1 Cup Vanilla Silk Yogurt (a little less than 2 small containers)
1 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
1 Cup + 1/2 Cup Blueberries (frozen okay, see directions*)
Muffin liners
Preheat oven to 380º F, (will be increased to 400).
Line metal muffin trays with paper liners and set aside.
*If using frozen berries, keep frozen until the last second! I’ll tell you when to take them out of the freezer in the directions.
Mix all the dry ingredients (through sugar) in a large bowl. Use a whisk or a fork to incorporate everything very well. Remove 1 Tbs of this dry mix and place in a small bowl and set aside (this is for coating your blueberries).
In another bowl (or 2 cup liquid measure, I find that easier), mix your yogurt, oil, vanilla and prepared “egg”. Whisk well to incorporate.
Get your blueberries from the freezer, measure out 1 Cup and place in the small bowl with 1 Tbs of dry ingredients. Toss to coat. Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture, getting every bit (a rubber spatula helps). Using your rubber spatula or a wide wooden spoon, gently fold the wet ingredient into the dry. Once it is JUST incorporated, scatter blueberries on top.
You have 3 stirs to mix them in, so make them count. I’m not kidding.
See, here’s the deal. Frozen blueberries tend to turn everything, well, blue. You want your cake part to be yellow, not some weird purple-gray color. Any more than 3-4 stirs, and that protective coating of dry ingredients we tossed the berries in will start to come off and dye your batter. (Fresh blueberries aren’t this fussy.) The good news is that you really can stir them in in just 3 turns, even though you’ll really really want to stir more.
Once the berries are mixed in, distribute all the batter into your tins. You’ll feel like you’re over filling a bit, but that’s a-okay. These don’t really rise all that much so it’ll be fine. Add up to 1/2 cup more blueberries over the tops, pressing them into the batter gently but not submerging them.
Sand cakes with a (un)healthy amount of sugar, using a coarser sugar if you’ve got it, such as Sugar in the Raw. I’m weird and keep like three different kinds of sugar in my kitchen at all times. The sugar you used for the batter will work just fine.
Place them in the oven and increase the temperature to 400º. Bake for 20-25 minutes on the middle or top-middle rack of your oven, turning half-way to ensure even cooking. They’re done when a toothpick comes out clean and the tops are a rich golden brown.
Let cool on a wire rack. They’re delicate when they’re hot so be careful when transferring them. These taste amazing at room temperature, so wait as long as you can to try one.
I know there are a lot of specific directions for these, but hey, it’s what I do and they come out great!
March 24th, 2007
I was thinking about you today. I was thinking about how badly you want to make mini pies, but how you don’t have mini pie tins, and therefore you’ve been walking around depressed due to your lack of mini pies. So I came up with a soultion for you! Hand pies! No tins required.
You can use whatever filling you want. Really. Blueberries, strawberries, apples, pears, whatever floats your boat. If it’s juicy (like berries) add a couple tablespoons of cornstarch so the filling thickens as it bakes. You could even do a more savory filling like sweet potatoes if you want. Or if you don’t have time for cutting fruit or mixing berries and sugar, use your favorite jam or preserves. I won’t tell.
Blueberry Hand Pies
Makes 8-10 pies
1 Recipe Pate Brisee
1 10 oz Bag Frozen Blueberries
2 Tbs Sugar
2 Tbs Cornstarch
Preheat oven to 425º.
Make and chill dough (click on the link in the ingredients for directions). Roll out 1 disc of dough to about 1/4″ thick. It’s much easier to do this on a large cutting board that has been covered in parchment paper and lightly floured. If the dough rips, press it back together with your fingers.
Cut two rectangles out of the dough. It doesn’t really matter what size they are, since you’re going to roll them out again and make them larger, but mine were about the size of index cards.
Roll out a rectangle again to its final thickness, about 1/8″ thick. That’s thin enough that the dough begins to become slightly translucent, but thick enough that you can still pick up the dough without ripping it. Use more flour as you’re rolling the dough out if you need to.
Trim the dough again into a neat rectangle. Again, size isn’t important, so go for whatever size appeals to you. I wanted my finished pies to be the same size as pop tarts, so I guestimated the height (5 inches?) and the width (7inches?) and rolled out the dough accordingly. This will make a 3.5×7″ pie once it’s filled and folded in half to close.
Prick one half of the dough with a fork, and place two tablespoons of filling on the other half. Pricking the dough helps it bake more evenly, preventing dough bubbles. You could cut out little shapes as vents instead if you want, but the filing will bubble up and out of any large holes.
Fold the dough over the filling and press closed with your fingers to seal. Then use a fork to crimp the edges. It’s okay if some juice escapes, but try to keep it at neat as possible. Use a spatula to pick up your hand pie and place on a baking sheet covered in parchment or lined with a silpat.
Repeat these steps, rolling, cutting and filling, until you run out of dough. Lightly brush each pie with soymilk and sand with sugar.* Bake the pies for 18-20 minutes until golden brown. Cool slightly on a wire rack and serve warm.
*If you want to freeze these and then reheat them in a pop-up toaster like poptarts, skip the sugar so it doesn’t burn up when you toast it. If you’re going to use a toaster oven, you can sugar them or frost them with a simple powdered sugar and soymilk glaze.
Keep an eye on them while baking – escaped berry juice and tender, flaky edges burn quickly when you’re not looking! Ours didn’t last long enough to save for later, but they will keep at room temperature for a few days if stored in an airtight container.
March 10th, 2007
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