Apple Cinnamon Muffins

You should smell my house when these are baking!  Oh my does it smell good here!!  What a perfect combination - apples and cinnamon - life is good!  The perfect comfort food (of course, next to chocolate!).

I am going to make these today.  You will need baking apples.  Ok, what are baking apples?  Aren't all apples created equal?  No, some apples just aren't made for baking - they get mushy and just don't hold up to the heat.  Most people will use Granny Smiths, but for a nice blend of flavors, add a mixture of apples.  Some examples of  baking apples are Jonathans, Jonagold, Fugi, Braeburns, Pink Lady, Pippin and Rome Beauty. 

The recipe . . .

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup finely chopped peeled and cored apples
3 t cinnamon, divided
3/4 c + 2 T brown sugar, divided
3 T butter (I always use unsalted)
2 c flour
1 T baking powder
1/2 t ground cloves, divided
1 egg
1/3 c vegetable oil
1 c evaporated milk

Directions

Preheat oven 400 degrees.

Mix apples, 1 t cinnamon, 2 T brown sugar and butter in small sauce pan.
Heat until butter melts, then cover and steam on low heat for 2 minutes.
Sift together flour, baking powder, 1/4 t ground cloves and 1 t cinnamon.
Stir 1/2 c brown sugar into flour mixture
Beat egg, oil and evaporated milk until well blended.
Add to flour mixture and mix until moist - you don't want to mix these too much.  For a really good muffin, DO NOT OVERMIX!!  It will make it tough!
Fold in apples
Fill greased muffin tins (or tins with cupcake liners) 3/4 full.
Combine remaining 1/4 c brown sugar, 1 t cinnamon, 1/4 t ground cloves.  Sprinkle over tops of muffins.

Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.

These are so good that it is hard to wait for them to cool down!  Enjoy!

In search of the perfect pizza!

I just realized that I haven't written in over two months.  No, I haven't fallen off the face of the Earth.  My market season began with a vengenance and I haven't had much time to do any "experimental" baking.  Hopefully, that will change and I can find some time to squeeze in an hour or two of baking.

The sad news is that our local grocery store is closing.  It is one of the smaller chains.  I am going to miss that store.  I ordered a lot of my flour and other ingredients from them.  Many of the store personnel know me by name.  It was always pleasant to walk in and have someone yell "Hey Diane! How's Bob doing?"  They also make pretty good pizza.  The only other pizza available in town is Snappy's.  Now I am not knocking all Snappy's.  I am sure they are an excellent franchise.  The one in our town makes lousy pizza - sorry guys, but it is true.  The crust tastes like cardboard!!  Even our dogs won't eat it!!

So now it looks like it is up to me if we want pizza!  Of course, we could always buy frozen.  Those are always good if you are really desperate!  But, there is nothing like a freshly made pizza.  Peter Reinhardt, a famous breadmaker, wrote a book called American Pie - it is all about his search for the perfect pizza.  Has a bunch of interesting recipes.  Check it out at the local library - good book!!   I borrow it all the time.  Maybe one of these days, I will actually buy a copy!

Anyway, my search for the perfect pizza starts with a recipe from my good old buddy, Old Camp Cook.  He sent me this recipe for homemade pizza dough several years ago.  It is an easy recipe to make.  I've also seen a recipe for a sourdough pizza dough - will definitely have to check that one out!

For a variation, you can add chopped oregano or minced garlic to the dough.

Basic Pizza Dough

Ingredients:
3.5 cups flour
1 cup warm water (between 95 and 115 degrees F)
2 Tablespoons yeast.
2 Tablespoons honey
¼ cup olive oil
½ teaspoon salt

Directions:
1.  Pour warm water into a bowl. The water should be very warm, but comfortable. Too hot and it will kill the yeast. Add the honey and the salt. Mix on low until well blended. Add the yeast and mix some more.

2.  Let this rest for about 5 minutes.

3.  Add 1 (one) cup of flour and the olive oil and mix until well blended. Add the rest of the flour and mix well.

4.  The dough should turn into a ball. If the dough does not ball up because it’s too dry, add water one tablespoon at a time until it does. If your mixture is more like a batter, add flour one tablespoon at a time. Adding flour and water as needed to get the right consistency will assure you a perfect dough. Just remember to do it in small amounts.

5.  Once the dough is balled up. Place the ball on a floured board and knead for about a minute. This builds the gluten which helps the dough rise and become fluffy when cooked. Place the dough in a plastic grocer bag or a cover bowl and store in a warm, dry area to rise. (I spray the inside of a gallon Ziploc bag with Pam and put the dough in the bag to rise.)

6.  After about 45 minutes, the dough should have about doubled in size. Punch it down. Let it rise for another hour or so. The dough is now ready to be used.

7.  Form the dough into a flat ball about six to eight inches wide. Using both hands, on on top of the other, press from the center outwards to start stretching it out, turning the dough a bit on each push. You can also pick up the dough and squeeze the edges of it while turning it like a steering wheel. This allows the weight of the dough to stretch it.

8. Once the dough is about ½ inch thick all the way around, use a rolling pin to flatten it out to about ¼ inch thick. I also sometimes just put the dough on the pizza sheet and push/pull it out to the right size without using the rolling pin.   Use a fork to puncture holes all over the dough. This helps keep the dough from “blooming” and also makes little pits for olive oil which I lightly spread all over the dough.

9.  Transfer the dough to a pizza peel sprinkled with corn meal or place on a lightly greased cookie or pizza pan.

10/  Top with sauce, cheese and/or toppings and bake in a 400 F. oven until the crust is light brown. Keep the sauce and toppings back from the edges about a half an inch and you will get a bit of a puffy edge crust.

11.  I use minimal sauce and toppings since I love the flavor of this dough. Bake usually between 4 and 7 minutes. I watch the edges of the crust carefully.

Today I Bake

Do you ever have one of those days (or weeks) where you feel everything in your life is out of control?  Well, it has been one of those weeks for me.  So today I bake.  With baking, you know that if you follow a set of instructions and mix some ingredients together, you usually get a delicious end product (or the dogs get a delicious end product!).  Normalcy!!  Add 2 + 2 and you get 4!  So today I bake.

I got out the "famous" Internet folder filled with previous printed recipes from who knows where and I found a recipe titled Rosemary Italian Bread.  Glancing over the list of ingredients - good - I have everything I need (no frantic dash to the grocery store) and the instructions were easy enough.  So a new baking adventure begins.

The recipe uses weights versus measurements - I bought a nice little kitchen scale on Amazon.  I've also seem them at Target - I would imagine you can find them at Walmart.  They are not very expensive - $20 to $30.

Rosemary Italtian Bread

Ingredients

Biga
3 ounces Bread Flour
3 ounces Warm Water
1/4 tsp dry yeast

Mix together in a bowl, cover the bowl with saran wrap, a clean dish towel and leave the bowl on the counter for 4 hours.

Dough

In addition to the Biga:

1 1/2 tsp yeast
8 1/4 ounces Warm Water
30 ounces Bread Flour
8 1/4 ounces Cool Water
4 tsp Fresh chopped Rosemary (if using dry rosemary, use only 2 tsp)
4 T milk

1.  Dissolve the yeast in the warm water and let sit for 10 minutes.
2.  Put the flour in the bowl of a large mixer. 
3.  Make a well in the center of the flour and add the yeast mixture, the cool water and the biga.
4.  Mix for a minute or two, until it starts to come together.
5.  Cover the bowl with the dough with saran wrap and dish towel and let it rest for 20 minutes.
6.  Uncover the bowl and mix the dough for 8 minutes.
7.  Add the rosemary and milk and mix for 5 minutes.
8.  Put the dough in a light oiled large bowl.  The dough will expand rapdily, so be sure to use a very large bowl.  Place the dough in the bowl and coat to cover the dough.  Cover the bowl.
9.  Let the dough rise for 1 1/2 hours, then fold the dough.
10.  Cover the dough again and let it rise for 30 minutes.
11.  Put the dough on the counter nad divided it into two parts.  Let the dough rest for 10 minutes, then shape each peace into an oblong loaf with tapered ends (sort of looks like a football!)
12.  Place the dough on parchment paper, cover with a towel and let rise for 50 minutes.
13.  Heat the over to 425F.  Place baking stones or tiles in the oven.
14.  Bake using steam (i.e., but a boiler pan in the bottom of the oven filled with boiling water) for 30 minutes.  Then turn the loaves and continue baking until are brown.  The total baking time should be about 40 to 50 minutes.
15.  Cool on a rack for at least 1/2 hour.

Wild Violet Jelly

Ok, I know this isn't exactly a baking "adventure" - more of a "canning" adventure - but it was so much fun that I had to share. 

We have tons of wild violets in our yard and I remember seeing some where a recipe for Wild Violet Jelly.  So after "surfing the 'net", I came up with this recipe - it is sort of a compilation of all the recipes I found.  This is a GREAT activity if you have little kids!  Just make sure you tell them which purple flowers to pick!!

You will need 4 cups of violet blossoms - just the blossoms - not the stems.  It took me alittle over an hour to pick 4 cups and, yes, you will have a smurf finger or two (don't worry, it washes off with just soap and water!).  I was pleasantly surprised by the sweet light scent that violets put off.  Never thought that violets would have any type of scent - learn something new everyday!

Put your 4 cups of violet blossoms in a pan, pour 4 cups of boiling water over the blossoms and cover your pan.  Let that steep for overnight.  Basically, you are making "violet tea."

Now to make the violet jelly.  Here is the recipe.  Makes 5 half pints.

3 1/2 cups violet tea (discard blossoms - if you don't have enough tea, just add some tap water)
1 package (1 3/4 ounces) powdered fruit pectin (i.e., Sure Jel or something similar)
1/2 cup bottled lemon juice
4 cups sugar

1.  Put the 3 1/2 cups violet tea in a sauce pan, stir in the pectin and lemon juice - the liquid will turn a real pretty violet/pinkish color.
2.  Bring this to a rolling boil while stirring constantly.
3.  Add sugar.
4.  Continue stirring to dissolve sugar and bring to a rolling boil - boil for one minute.
5.  Remove the pan from heat.  Skim off any foam.  Carefully ladle hot liquid into hot sterilized half-pint jars, leaving about 1/4 inch headspace.  Wipe the rims and adjust lids.  Process for 5 minutes in a boiling water canner.

NOTE:  This takes about a day for the jelly to gel, so don't be discourage if it seems to soft.  Just let it sit and don't bother it. 

This is a really good jelly.  Even my "McDonald's Addict" teenager son liked it (and that says a lot!).

The Best Oatmeal Raisin Cookie!

These cookies don't last very long in my house.  I got this recipe from my good friend, Old Camp Cook.  I usually have to make a batch of these cookies at least once a week.

OATMEAL RAISIN COOKIES

YIELD: approximately 4 dozen

INGREDIENTS:
½ pound (2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened**
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
½ cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 ½ cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon salt (optional)
3 cups oats (quick or old fashioned, uncooked)
1 cup raisins

1. Heat oven to 350F
2. Beat together the margarine and sugars until creamy
3. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well
4. Add combined flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; mix well
5. Stir in oats and raisins; mix well
6. Drop by rounded tablespoonsfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet.
7. Bake 10 – 12 minutes or until golden brown
8. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheet; remove to wire rack

**I always use unsalted butter.  If you add the optional salt, I would definitely use unsalted butter!
 
NOTE:  my camera broke, so once I get some extra money, I plan to buy another digital camera so I can again start putting some pictures in my blogs.

Homemade Pancakes

Sorry Aunt Jemina, these are so much better than yours!  Granted, they take a little bit more effort, but they are definitely worth it!!  This recipe is from the Joy of Cooking cookbook.  The secret to this recipe is the eggs.  You separate the eggs - add the yokes and stiffly whip the eggs whites - makes all the difference in the world!!  Here is the recipe:

Griddle Cakes (or in modern "language" Pancakes)

1 1/4 cups sifted bread flour
2 1/2 t baking powder

Add 2 egg yolks (see note above)

Add:
1 T melted Butter (I always use unsalted butter)
1 1/4 cups milk

Mix together
Whip the egg whites so they form peaks
Fold the egg whites into the mixture

Preheat the griddle or pan.  It is ready when a few drops of cold water sputter on the pan.
Drop the batter by spoonfuls onto the griddle.  The cakes are ready for their first turning after they have baked for about two to three minutes - when bubbles appear on their surface and begin to burst.  Lift with a spatula to see that the under surface is well browned, turn them and continue baking them until the other side is brown. 

These are so good.  As I said, a little more effort than Aunt Jemina, but well worth it!!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

This is a family favorite and the cookies don't last long!  The original recipe I got from the Sistercafe blog, but I made a few changes in it.  Here is my version of the recipe:

1 cup Unsalted butter (2 sticks) softened to room temperature*
2/3 cup peanut butter (creamy or crunchy)
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2 2/3 cup all purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 bag dark chocolate chips** (you have to use the dark chocolate - the milk chocolate makes it too bland).

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Cream the butter, peanut butter, sugar, brown sugar, vanilla and eggs together until smooth.
Combine the flour and baking soda.
Add to the butter mixture.
Fold in the chocolate chips.
Bake for 10 to 12 minutes until the cookies just start to get brown.  Let them cool a minute or so on the cookie sheet before transferring to the rack.

Enjoy!

*I always use unsalted butter because there is no standard on how much salt the manufacturers are supposed to put in salted butter.  So it could vary from brand to brand.  It is just easier to put the salt in yourself. 

**Hersheys makes a Special Dark Chocolate Chip which can be found at Walmart and Meijiers.  If you want to get really fancy, you can use Ghirardelli chocolate chips!