Tuesdays with Dorie: Savory Corn and Pepper Muffins
January 13, 2009 at 2:04 am | Posted in breakfast things, groups, muffins/quick breads, savory things, tuesdays with dorie | 44 Comments
Rebecca of Ezra Pound Cake chose Savory Corn and Pepper Muffins for TWD this week. I love months where we get a savory or breakfast recipe…one less dessert to squeeze in. I made six muffins. We had a couple for breakfast with scrambled eggs, and a couple with a Mexican-ish tortilla casserole I made for dinner. They were the perfect accompaniment for both.
These muffins are wonderfully spiced from the chili powder, and have lots of good add ins, like corn kernels, jalapeños and red pepper. While I know some people can’t stand the stuff, I am a cilantro fiend and always use a heavy hand with it. If you’re a cornbread purist, you may not go for these. I’m not, so I did…I thought they were best warm.
For the recipe, read Rebecca’s post or see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll.
Tuesdays with Dorie: Pumpkin Muffins
October 21, 2008 at 5:14 am | Posted in breakfast things, groups, muffins/quick breads, tuesdays with dorie | 52 Comments
It’s spring-time warm here, and pumpkin would be the last thing on my mind if it weren’t for the fact that Kelly of Sounding My Barbaric Gulp chose these muffins for TWD. I’d actually better get used to the idea of cool weather foods, and quick, because come Friday, I’ll be back in the States! That’s right–this is my last TWD from Oz…I’ve already done next week’s recipe, but I won’t be able to post “early” anymore. Boo.
I’ve never noticed canned (or tinned) pumpkin in Australian grocery stores. Maybe I’ve been looking in the wrong aisle, I don’t know, but I assume it’s just not popular here. I would have had to roast and mash my own if I hadn’t had a can of Libby’s that I brought back from home. As an aside, which my American friends may or may not find interesting, all the hard-skinned gourds are referred to as “pumpkin” here (not just the orange ones that I think of in the US). For instance, I’ve gotten used to calling butternut a pumpkin, not a squash.
So, armed with my Libby’s, I was ready to tackle Dorie’s muffin recipe. I started by dividing it half (to make just six) and replacing the raisins with dried cranberries. Then I decided to skimp on the butter a bit, leaving out one tablespoon and replacing it with an additional tablespoon of buttermilk. The baked muffins were moist and soft, so I never even noticed that bit of butter was missing. What was missing, though, were the nuts! I had the exact amount of walnuts needed for this…they were right there on the counter…and that’s where they stayed. Oops! Early morning baking is apparently not my forte. Oh well–they found a new home in a spinach salad instead.
I can’t say that I ever crave pumpkin muffins, but I liked these a lot. I’ll make them again if I have an open can that needs to be used up. Next time, I’ll be sure to remember the nuts!
For the recipe, look in Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan or read Kelly’s post. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll to see what close to 300 other people had to say!
Bill’s Ricotta Hotcakes
September 25, 2008 at 1:55 pm | Posted in breakfast things, pancakes/waffles | 14 Comments
Pancakes, hotcakes, flapjacks, griddlecakes…whatever you’re callin’ ’em, I’m lovin’ ’em! Without a doubt, they are my favorite breakfast. In theory, I relish the idea of ordering pancakes in a café: letting someone else do the work for me while I rub my eyes and sip cappuccino. It’s not so much the cooking itself, but the thought of all that washing up afterwards (and in the morning!) that bores me to tears. In practice, though, I make them at home quite often, because the restaurant ones are so often heavy, dense and disappointing.
Of course, if you look around enough, you can find restaurant pancake excellence, and in Sydney my gold star goes to Bill Granger’s ricotta hotcakes. There are three bills restaurants here in the Big Smoke and, although I’m partial to the Woollahra branch, they all serve the same delicious hotcakes. So light, thanks to the creamy ricotta and meringue folded into the batter, they are like little puddingy, syrup-drenched souffles. Luckily, Bill doesn’t keep his recipes secret, and since I have his cookbook bills Sydney Food, I’ll be able to make these myself when I am no longer living such a short drive from pancake bliss.
If you have an Italian or gourmet store that sells fresh ricotta in the deli case, do yourself a favor and buy a little tub of that. I hadn’t tried fresh ricotta myself until a few months ago, and couldn’t believe the taste and texture–so much better than the prepacked, mass produced stuff. And, at least where I normally shop (at Norton St. Grocer, but I see it all over the place), it’s less expensive and I can just buy what I need. Low fat is what I get, and it works great here.
I made half of the recipe below, and it turned out four small-to-medium cakes each (there are two of us). It looked like I had a big plate, but all I was left with was this…
Bill’s Ricotta Hotcakes– serves 4-5
adapted from bills Sydney Food by Bill Granger
Note: Hotcake batter can be stored for up to 24 hours, covered with plastic wrap in the refrigerator.
1 1/3 c ricotta
3/4 c milk
4 eggs, separated
1 c AP flour
1 t baking powder
a pinch of cinnamon (optional)
a pinch of salt
butter for the pan or griddle
-Place ricotta, milk and egg yolks in a bowl and combine.
-Sift the flour, baking powder and salt (and cinnamon, if using) into a bowl. Add to the ricotta mixture and mix until just combined.
-Place egg whites in a clean dry bowl and beat until stiff peaks form. With a large metal spoon, fold the meringue through batter in two batches.
-Heat a large non-stick frying pan, cast iron skillet or griddle over medium heat. Lightly grease with butter (I like to lightly spray mine first, then butter) and drop two tablespoons of batter per hotcake. Don’t cook more than three per batch. Cook over a low to medium heat for two minutes, or until hotcakes have golden undersides. Turn hotcakes and cook on the other side until golden and cooked through.
-Transfer to a plate. Dust with icing sugar and serve with fresh fruit and maple syrup.
Tuesdays with Dorie: Dimply Peach Cake
September 23, 2008 at 5:49 am | Posted in breakfast things, cakes & tortes, groups, simple cakes, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 49 Comments
Michelle of Bake-En selected Dorie’s Dimply Plum Cake for this week’s TWD. I’ve read about this little breakfast cake all over the place, so I was really looking forward to trying it. Unfortunately, stone fruits are not in season just yet here in Australia. I had to take what I could get on this one, and what I could get were a couple of rock-hard peaches. I stuck ’em in a paper bag and crossed my fingers that they’d ripen after a few days.
Well, they didn’t really ripen at all, and frankly I was surprised that I could even get the pits out, but I charged ahead with my out of season fruit anyway. I went with one of Dorie’s “playing around” suggestions and added a few shredded basil leaves instead of citrus zest to the cake batter. I kept in the cardamom, which is a spice I love, and added a pinch of cinnamon, too. To try and help the crunchy peaches along a bit, I sprinkled each exposed half with sugar just before putting the cake in the oven, and then a couple more times during the baking process as well.
Such a cute cake– I loved the fruity dimples, and the peach halves looked almost like hearts! What I’ve hidden from you in these photos, though, is a little patch of raw batter left under each peach half. Drat– I couldn’t get that part to cook through for the life of me! In a flash of genius while taking these photos, I thought that if I flipped the individual slices upside-down on a baking sheet and stuck them under the broiler for a minute, I cook get the raw bits to firm up. And it worked! (That technique might get a little messy with a whole large cake.) There was no time to take extra pics, however, as the coffee was good to go, and R was grumbling that breakfast was already taking too long.
I made half a recipe and baked it in a standard-sized loaf pan. Leftovers weren’t a problem, as R and I polished off the whole thing in one sitting! The peaches did sweeten and soften nicely in the oven (I do think the sugar sprinklings helped), and I loved the warm, spicy cardamom flavor. Although R was initially suspicious, the basil was a really nice touch, too…I should bake with herbs more often.
For the recipe, look in Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan (she also has it on Serious Eats) or read Bake-En. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll to see what over 250 other people had to say!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Apple Cheddar Scones
July 1, 2008 at 5:10 am | Posted in biscuits/scones, breakfast things, groups, tuesdays with dorie | 43 Comments
These are the last treats baked in the oven of my old apartment (sniff). Karina of The Floured Apron has chosen Dorie’s Apple Cheddar Scones for TWD this week. If it weren’t for the group, I probably wouldn’t have made this recipe. Not that doesn’t sound good to me, it actually sounds quite good, but I just know I wouldn’t have gotten around to it. I’m so glad I got the push I needed, because I thought they were fantastic!
Apples and cheddar cheese are a classic combination. I used to think it was a southern thing…then I thought it was a New England thing. I have no idea what kind of thing it is now, except for a good thing. This recipe calls for dried apples, which hold their form well in the scones, and grated cheddar (I used white), which melts into the background. The dried fruit and cheddar cheese, along with apple juice, make for a slightly sweet and salty combo that I love. Cornmeal in the dough makes them bake up golden and gives them texture. If I make them again, I’ll either scoop out the sticky dough in rounds or pat it out a bit fatter, but that’s purely for looks. I served mine with a little honey butter on the side–tasty!
Sorry to keep this so short, but as I write this, I’m still in the midst of packing. A big thanks to Karina for this week’s pick! My internet connection may be down for several days due to the move, so I might not be able to check out the TWD blogroll myself this week, but you should! And check out Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan or Karina’s post for the recipe for these Apple Cheddar Scones.
Daring Bakers in June: Danish Braid
June 29, 2008 at 5:48 am | Posted in breakfast things, daring bakers, groups, sweet things, sweet yeast breads | 70 Comments
This month, the Daring Bakers tried our hands at making a laminated dough. Hosts Kelly of Sass & Veracity and Ben of What’s Cooking? chose a recipe for a Danish braid from Sherry Yard’s book The Secrets of Baking. While I can’t say that I ever feel the urge to have a Danish, I do appreciate tasty homemade breakfast treats, so I was looking forward to this challenge.
Like its sisters, puff pastry and croissant, a Danish is made from a butter-laminated, or layered, dough. This means a block of butter is encased in dough and repeatedly rolled and folded to create layers. Danish dough is sweet and contains a bit of yeast to help it rise (it also makes it a bit more bready than puff or croissant). While this type of dough may initially seem intimidating, it’s not hard to make in small quantities, and Danish dough is a good introduction to the laminating process.
The dough is flavored with cardamom, vanilla and orange. While the cardamom and vanilla were must-have flavors for me, I found the orange to be a bit too pronouned. If I made it again, I’d probably leave out the zest and use only the orange juice. We were allowed to choose our own filling, and I made mine with a center of sweetened quark cheese and cherries. It was great, but I was worried about having a runny filling so I was a little skimpy with the cherries. I wish I’d been a bit more liberal with them. Just about all sweet breakfast pastries should have an icing sugar glaze in my opinion, so I was liberal with that!
The full recipe provided by Kelly and Ben made two braids. I didn’t need that much, so I halved it to make just one. It was beautiful, and big enough for six quite healthy portions. And braiding dough is way easier than braiding hair, let me tell you. If I’d thought about it enough, maybe I would have made a smaller braid and saved aside some dough for other fun shapes like pinwheels…another time.
If you’d like to test your laminating and braiding skills, you can find the recipe in Kelly’s post or Ben’s post. And no need to worry if, even after you look at the zillions of braids on the DB Blogroll, you still feel nervous about trying it yourself. Kelly and Ben also pointed out a great video clip from Julia Child’s Baking with Julia series on PBS. This clip demos a different recipe by Beatrice Ojakangas, but the technique is very similar.
Tuesdays with Dorie: Pecan Honey Sticky Buns
May 27, 2008 at 4:47 am | Posted in breakfast things, groups, sweet things, sweet yeast breads, tuesdays with dorie | 52 Comments
Oh yeah–pecans and brioche laquered in brown sugar and honey goo. Does it get any better than that? I think not.
Madam Chow of Madam Chow’s Kitchen chose Dorie’s Pecan Honey Sticky Buns for this week’s TWD, but I actually made these awhile ago (luckily I had the forethought to take a few pictures). These sticky buns share the same brioche base as the Brioche Raisin Snails the group made back in March. I had a little extra dough from those snails and I turned it into these sticky buns the following week.
I only made two buns, but they were probably double the size of Dorie’s. I don’t always think that bigger is better, but with sticky buns, I sure do! Since I was so drastically scaling down the recipe, I just eyeballed the ingredients for both the filling and the glaze. I added some chopped toasted pecans to the cinnamony-sweet swirl inside the buns as well.
With a big cup of black coffee, these are a delicious (if not quite nutritious) breakfast! You can find the recipe here on Madam Chow’s Kitchen or in Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
Mom’s Banana Apple Bread
April 20, 2008 at 5:35 pm | Posted in book review, breakfast things, cakes & tortes, events, muffins/quick breads, simple cakes, sweet things | 58 Comments
Well, not my mom’s. I’m guessing Melissa Murphy’s mom’s, since it’s in her new cookbook The Sweet Melissa Baking Book. You know, I really don’t like bananas in their raw form (not even in smoothies), but once they are baked into something sweet, it’s a whole ‘nother story. R does like to have bananas in his cereal, but sometimes he buys more than he can eat. When that happens, I wrap them up and stash them in the freezer…after I’ve accumulated a few, it’s time for banana bread, cake or muffins!
What makes this particular banana bread extra-special are the bits of caramelized apple throughout. Most banana bread has a pretty good shelf life and can even get better after a day of so. This one is no exception, as the sweet apples just meld more into the spiced bread.
I was so happy with this, that I’m entering it into Sydneysider Not Quite Nigella’s Banana Bread Bakeoff event. If you have a favorite banana bread recipe, go check out her bakeoff, too.
Mom’s Banana Apple Bread– makes one 1 1/2-quart loaf pan
from The Sweet Melissa Baking Book by Melissa Murphy. All rights reserved. Copyright © Melissa Murphy, 2008
For the apples:
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 tablespoons firmly packed dark brown sugar
2 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
For the banana bread:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
¼ teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon kosher salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
¼ cup fresh orange juice
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 ¼ cups very ripe mashed bananas (2 to 3)
Before you start:
Position a rack in the center of your oven and preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly butter and flour a 1 1/2-quart loaf pan.
To make the apples:
Preheat a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add the butter and brown sugar and heat until bubbling. Add the apples and cinnamon and sauté until golden and tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in the vanilla. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.
To make the banana bread:
-In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and salt.
-In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
-In a small bowl, combine the orange juice and vanilla.
-Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture in three batches, alternating with the orange juice mixture, mixing well after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl after each flour addition. Stir in the mashed bananas until combined. Then stir in the reserved apples.
-Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Bake for 55 to 60 minutes, or until a wooden skewer inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove to a wire rack to cool for 20 minutes before unmolding onto the rack to cool further.
*Serve slightly warm or at room temperature. The banana bread keeps well wrapped in plastic wrap at room temperature for up to 3 days. For longer storage, freeze well wrapped in plastic wrap and then aluminum foil for up to 3 weeks. Defrost (still wrapped) at room temperature.
Tuesdays with Dorie: Brioche Raisin Snails
March 18, 2008 at 2:48 am | Posted in breakfast things, groups, sweet things, sweet yeast breads, tuesdays with dorie | 32 Comments
Ah yes, it’s that day of the week again, and Peabody has chosen Dorie’s Brioche Raisin Snails as the recipe for this round of TWD. I imagine this would be an ideal breakfast treat, but R & I moved faster than a speeding snail and ate them for dessert just a few hours after I made them.
Actually this recipe is a few recipes in one, beginning with brioche dough. It’s not hard to make (especially if you have a stand mixer to do the dirty-work for you), but requires a some time and patience, as it needs to spend a night in the fridge before it’s ready to shape. I strayed from Dorie’s advice in her opener for Golden Brioche Loaves (which is the base for the snails) and did half a recipe…it came out just fine. Once the brioche dough has had its beauty sleep, it’s rolled out and smeared with pastry cream (I don’t think I’ve ever baked pastry cream before!) and rum-flamed raisins. I said last time that I am not a raisin fan, so here I used dried cherries in lieu, as I knew they’d be nice with the rum. Then it gets rolled up and sliced into rounds– hence the whole “snail” thing.
Like I said, we ate these the day they were made, and they were really nice…soft and slightly boozy. Of course I glazed them, which Dorie says is optional (but in my books is mandatory). I only turned a portion of my dough into snails…I froze the rest as Pecan Honey Sticky Buns for another time. Yum!
You can find the recipe on Peabody’s site (her version includes a few yummy-looking modifications to the original) or in the book Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan. And head over to the Tuesdays with Dorie space to see all the other snails crawling around the blogosphere.
P.S.: I’ll be on vacation by the time you see this. I’m not sure about the internet situation, as I’ll be a tourist in lands unknown to me…so if I can’t comment on your posts for a few weeks, please forgive me!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Pecan Sour Cream Biscuits
February 26, 2008 at 7:06 am | Posted in biscuits/scones, breakfast things, groups, tuesdays with dorie | 30 Comments
Ashley of eat me, delicious lured us out of the realm of cakes and into the world of breakfast treats by choosing Pecan Sour Cream Biscuits as this week’s Tuesdays with Dorie recipe.
I will fess up and tell you off the bat that I made these twice. The first time around, they were truly delicious, but they didn’t come out the way I thought they were meant to. Dorie described them as ‘high’ and ‘flaky,’ but mine didn’t rise much at all (surprising, given the large amount of leavener in the recipe), and while very tender, I wouldn’t have said they were flaky. Also, my photos of that batch were so blah-looking, I didn’t want to put them up. I still don’t like this photo either. What can I say…I am a perfectionist who never attains perfection. How frustrating to be me!!
The second time around, I followed a good suggestion made by Lemon Tartlet Leigh to grate my butter into the dry ingredients rather than try to cut in larger pieces. Then you can just toss the grated bits to coat and don’t run the risk of over-working the dough. I am usually pretty sensitive to over-working, but maybe I did on my first attempt, who knows. I’d say the second batch did rise a bit higher than the first, but I was expecting them to double in height or something, and they certainly didn’t. The only way I can put it is that they seemed more like scones than biscuits. That being said, they made darn fine scones (pecans and brown sugar are a great combo), and I’d certainly make them again, again…if that makes sense.
If you read the recipe in the book Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, or here on eat me, delicious, you’ll notice that Dorie calls for cutting the biscuits into two-inch rounds. I cut mine into larger squares, so there was no waste. Also two inches is tiny…I could eat like five of those. And if you’re wondering what that crazy red stuff is on my scones, it’s cranberry honey, which I received in the last go-round of Blogging by Mail.
Did anyone achieve high and mighty pecan sour cream biscuits this week? I dunno. Join me at the Tuesdays with Dorie site to view the blogroll!
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