You are currently browsing the tag archive for the ‘Baking’ tag.
Remember those bacon things?
Sometimes I like to mix it up, without having to work or think too hard.
Quick and easy, same steps, sweet not savory.
Should I be calling these apple turnovers?
That just doesn’t seem like something I’d do.
Call something by its proper name? Not me!
Breakfast just got fancy.
I made bacon things and apple things, which is why there’s bacon in the photos. I briefly considered combining everything into bacon/apple things, but I was lazy. It will happen soon, don’t you worry!
Apple Things
Makes 8
2 apples (of your favorite variety) sliced thinly
1 can crescent rolls
8-12 tsp cream cheese
brown sugar and cinnamon for sprinkling
Preheat oven to 375F.
I’ve made these with baked apples and raw apples. Honestly, there isn’t much of a difference, so if you’re pressed for time, just slice the apples and go.
“Bake” the sliced apples by gently heating them in a skillet or griddle over medium heat. You may want to use a little cooking spray to keep them from sticking.
In the meantime, spread out the crescent rolls. Drop a teaspoon to teaspoon and a half of cream cheese on each. Sprinkle the cream cheese with brown sugar and cinnamon. Top with several slices of apples, and roll up the crescents.
Bake for 16 minutes or until golden brown. Cool for several minutes before serving.
I should like cherry pie.
I really, really should.
But I just don’t.
It’s ok, you can call me crazy.
There are just some things I cannot like.
No matter how sweet and pretty they are.
Don’t worry, I’m not trying to sell you on something mediocre! I’m told this was an excellent pie.
The bite I tried was…cherry pie.
If cherry pie is your thing, this one shouldn’t disappoint. It has a nice balance of tart and sweet, decadence and simplicity.
But man, it’s still…cherry pie.
Cherry Pie
Makes one pie
2 chilled pie crusts (making your own is easy!)
4-5 cups of frozen pitted cherries
1/3 cup sugar, plus a little more for sprinkling on top
juice from one medium lemon
3 tbsp cornstarch
1 egg yolk mixed with 1/2 tbsp cool water
Preheat oven to 375F
In a large bowl, combine cherries, sugar, lemon juice and cornstarch. Toss together until all the cherries are covered.
Roll out one pie crust, and place it in a 9 inch pie pan. Fill with the cherry mixture. Roll out the other pie crust and top, crimping the edges together to seal. (If you don’t want to mess with a lattice top, I don’t blame you! Just make sure to cut slits to vent the steam) Brush the top with the egg wash, and then sprinkle sugar on top.
Bake for at least an hour, and as much as an hour and a half. Cover the edges of the pie with tinfoil after a half an hour to prevent them from getting too brown. You will know the pie is done when the top is golden brown and the filling is bubbly.
Allow the pie to rest at room temperature for several hours before serving. It’s even better (I’m told) the next day, so if you have time, make it a day ahead and store in the refrigerator until ready to serve with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.
Calzones are so great for those times when you have a lot of random ingredients that you need to use up.
For instance, we bought some chicken and apple sausages from Costco. I really liked them, but Nick didn’t care too much for them.
When you buy something at Costco, you don’t just end up with one package. So, the other package of sausages have been sitting in our refrigerator long enough that I was worried we’d have to throw them away if I didn’t come up with something.
Our broccoli was the same deal. We had a lot of it, and although we’d been slowly nibbling on it for awhile, (and adding it to a few dinners) I knew that if I didn’t use up a big portion of it, a big portion of it was going to go in the trash.
Unacceptable!
And cheese! How did we end up with four different kinds of cheese? There’s no possible way we can eat that much cheese!
Ok, so we totally can, but we needed to use it up faster than nibbling would allow.
The solution? Roast the sausages and vegetables, add two kinds of cheese…
Make pizza dough ***and then play with the perfect pillows***…
***I mean*** Roll out the individual portions of dough and then package everything up like so…
And voila! You’ve just used up a ton of ingredients and made something far fancier than pizza.
And if you’re going to go, why not go all out and make a lot?
You can freeze what you don’t need right away, thereby not wasting any food, and you have back up dinner or lunches when you’re pressed for time.
And Nick thought the sausage taste was disguised enough that he didn’t even realize it was the same sausage. Win one for me 
Chicken Sausage Calzones
Serves 8
1 pre-made pizza dough (I used my bread machine, but lots of stores have ready made stuff in the freezer aisle)
2 cups chopped broccoli
1/2 cup sliced onion
3 sausage links (3 oz each) sliced into rounds. I used these
2/3 cup cream cheese, softened
2/3 cup grated mozzarella
Salt and pepper to taste
cornmeal to sprinkle on the baking sheet
Preheat the oven to 350F
On a cookie sheet, spread the sausage out to create one layer. Roast on the bottom shelf of the oven for 30 minutes (or until done), making sure to move the sausage around on the pan several times to prevent burning.
On a separate cookie sheet, spread the broccoli and the onion out to create one layer. Roast on the top shelf of the oven for about 15-20 minutes, moving everything around on the pan several times to prevent burning.
Set the vegetables and sausage aside to cool slightly before adding the cheeses, salt and pepper. Stir everything together until fully combined.
Increase the oven heat to 400F
Prepare a stone baking pan or cookie sheet by sprinkling cornmeal onto it.
Divide the pizza dough into 8 equal portions, and roll or spread the dough to create little circles. Add a few spoonfuls of the filling onto one side, leaving about 3/4 of an inch edge. Fold the other side of the dough over to create a pocket, and use a fork to seal the edges. Cut a slit or two in the top, and bake for 20 minutes, or until crust is golden brown.
Ah, comfort food.
You know that scene in Amelie where she reaches her hand into a sack of beans because it’s one of her life’s simple pleasures? That’s how I feel about a bag of cornmeal. I have to resist the urge to dip my fingers into it every time I get it out of the cupboard.
It’s ok. I know I’m an odd duck.
I don’t have a fancy recipe for cornbread, I just follow the directions on the cornmeal bag. Maybe that will be a future project–fancy cornbread.
Run of the mill cornbread, baked for about 10 minutes.
In retrospect, I should have decreased the amount of cornbread and increased the eggs.
Not that it really mattered a ton, but it would have been a better egg to crust ratio.
The cheese was perfect though. Just a little will do.
And in my book, broccoli will always be classified as a comfort food.
Cornbread Quiche
serves 8
8 eggs
1 1/2 cup chopped broccoli
1/4 tsp cayenne
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese
Cornbread**
Preheat the oven to 425F
**Follow your favorite cornbread recipe, omitting most–if not all–the sugar. Add enough batter to an 8 inch round pan to fill the bottom about a half inch. (Use the leftover batter to make cornbread muffins!)
Bake the cornbread for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, beat the eggs with the cayenne, cumin, salt and pepper. Stir in the broccoli.
Pour the egg mixture over the cornbread, top with the cheese, and reduce the oven temperature to 375F. Put the quiche back into the oven and bake for another 30-35 minutes. Just until the eggs are firm and everything turns a nice golden brown color. Serve hot.
If you want a little more kick or moisture, feel free to add some salsa as a topping.
I’m going on a road trip this week, and I can’t tell you how excited I am!
I’ll be performing “Views from Grandma’s Porch” with Bare Bait Dance, a fantastic modern dance company right here in Montana. I get to hang out with five of the loveliest ladies you’d ever meet, and dance till I drop.
Don’t you dare pinch me if this is a dream!
Because our schedule will get a bit hectic here and there, I’m going to be bringing some homemade snacks to get me through our techs and workshops. I was trying to think of what would be easy to make, easy to throw in a dance bag, and not be heavy in my belly.
Yes, yes, and yes.
Blueberry Muffins
From Good Housekeeping
makes 12+ muffins
1 cup oats, processed in a blender until mostly uniform in consistency
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
1 cup plus 2 tbsp buttermilk (If you don’t have buttermilk, see the notes below)
3 tbsp olive oil (or substitute unsweetened applesauce)
1/2 tbsp vanilla extract
2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries (no need to thaw)
Preheat oven to 400F and prepare a muffin tin with liners or non-stick spray.
Combine all the dry ingredients in a large bowl until fully mixed.
In a smaller bowl, beat the egg with the buttermilk, then add the remaining wet ingredients.
When everything is almost fully incorporated, add the blueberries and fold them into the batter.
Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin tin and then bake for 25-30 minutes. A toothpick should come out clean when inserted into a muffin’s center, and the tops should be golden brown before you remove them from the oven.
So quick!
So easy!
So delicious!
And pretty.
If you don’t have any buttermilk
Simply pour 1 cup plus 2 tbsp of milk into a bowl, and then add 1 1/2 tbsp of lemon juice. Let that sit while you prepare your dry ingredients, and you’re good to go!
So, what else should I make for my trip?
“Don’t tell my wife these are Sloppy Joes or she’ll hate them.”
I overheard this line coming from the kitchen after I’d thrown together what I thought was a brilliant new concept for dinner.
Seriously? How did I not catch on?
It was one of those nights where we had nothing planned for dinner, and no fresh ingredients. You know those nights? Where it would just be easier to go out to dinner because you’re starving and you couldn’t possibly go to the grocery store and then come home and cook dinner? (I’m the queen of the run-on sentence, by the way.)
Except we had company. And my husband and said company were in the process of making home brew, so they couldn’t leave.
What to do? What to do?
I got it! I’ll make biscuits. Those are fast and easy.
Maybe I could even follow in my Aunt Patsy’s footsteps and make chocolate sauce! (True story. I’ll never forget that dinner as long as I live. I thought she was the coolest mom in the world.)
No, I can’t very well serve three grown men and a growing 6 year old chocolate covered biscuits. I don’t have her recipe for chocolate sauce 
Ok, what else? Tomato sauce! Perfect! Oh my gosh, we have ground beef! This is going to be so awesome!
I get it now. Seriously, how did I not pick up on that?
But they were delicious! And gourmet…or something.
Not Sloppy Joes
Serves 6
For the biscuits:
2 cups all purpose flour
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup olive oil
2/3 cup milk
Preheat oven to 425F
Sift dry ingredients together in a mixing bowl until well combined. Add oil and milk, and mix until all the ingredients are just incorporated. Don’t over mix.
Turn the dough out on a floured surface, and roll out to about 1/4 inch thick–you don’t want it to be too thin. Using a round cutter (mason jar rings work really well), cut out circles and place onto a stone ware pan or lined cookie sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until tops and bottoms are golden brown.
For the *ahem* gourmet and totally fancy meat sauce:
1 pound ground beef
1 jar of your favorite tomato sauce (here’s mine)
Brown the meat in a skillet, draining the juices periodically. Add the sauce and heat through completely.
Serve the biscuits warm, covered in the meat sauce.
And don’t tell anyone I made Sloppy Joes. It would ruin my street cred…or something.
Sometimes* I get these cravings.
*Who am I kidding? Always!*
Serious, serious cravings. For chocolate. Rarely do I crave anything besides chocolate.
Except coffee, grapefruit, and peanut butter.
I pretty much crave these things constantly. I’m sure I’m not lacking nutrients found in chocolate, it’s completely mental. What evs, dude. I like chocolate!
I have the most epic chocolate chip oatmeal cookie recipe ever, but it’s kind of an involved process.
These cookies, however, are very similar in texture and chocolatey goodness, but they come together in a snap.
So when it’s 7:30 on a school night, and I NEED some tasty morsels, I can whip these up and be in bed by 9:00.
As an added bonus, these cookies have chia seeds.
So we can basically call these healthy. Even though they’re chocolate chip cookies.
I love sound reasoning.
Lined up and ready for consumption!
These cookies taste best on the day that they’re made, but they’ll keep pretty well in an air tight container for a few days.
Chia Cookies
from YummyMummyKitchen.com
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 1/2 tbsp chia seeds
1/4 cup butter at room temperature
1/2 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup natural peanut butter
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 to 3/4 cup chocolate chips (I used dark chocolate chips with excellent results)
Preheat the oven to 350F.
Mix together the oats, baking powder, flour and chia seeds.
In a stand mixer or with a beater, beat the butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Add the peanut butter, eggs and vanilla, and mix until combined.
Add the oat mixture to the butter mixture, and add the desired amount of chocolate chips. Mix until well combined (with a wooden spoon or your hands).
Scoop dough onto stoneware pans or lined baking sheets. Bake for 12-15 minutes.
Serve warm with coffee (or grapefruit or peanut butter ) or milk.
So! What do you crave?
I had some recipe failures recently.
It happens sometimes. No big deal!
Unless it happens three times in a row. In a row!
The first failure was still edible. Really spicy, but that can be ok.
The second two?
I need to talk about it. Can I vent? Thanks.
Look at how pretty these were! All plump and soft. Sure they looked great, but the flavor? After two days of sitting on the counter uneaten, I threw them in the trash. Something was off. Very, very off.
I didn’t even take pictures of the next failure. I should have, just so you could see what I had done. I was so ashamed!
Have you ever made muffins that totally collapsed on themselves and tasted like a puddle of mushy goo? I hadn’t until last week. Bottoms burnt, insides mush, flavor unpalatable. In. The. Trash.
Man, was I a wreck! I have some thoughts on what went wrong, but I have never thrown that much food away at once. The hippie in me was totally devastated. The baker in me was pissed. And my belly was totally sad.
I had to do some immediate comfort/ego boosting baking. So I made these amazing muffins (and added chocolate chips, naturally) and these:
Don’t worry, that post is coming soon!
So, what about that delicious looking photo at the top? Yeah, that didn’t turn out as expected, but at least it didn’t end up in the trash!
Can I tell you a secret?
Chipotle powder is a great substitute for Ancho chile powder. AS LONG AS YOU REDUCE THE AMOUNT!
I know that now.
I was loosely following this recipe, but clearly I need to work on it a little more before I post it. I’m going to think of my mistakes as public service announcements. The more I learn, the more I can share. And then you won’t end up like me: a sad and hungry hippie baker.
Happy baking!
Step one: Roast a head of garlic and a red bell pepper.
Comment repeatedly about how the roasted red pepper looks like a flower.
Step two: Find a brie baker.
This one was made by my very talented mother in law. If you don’t have a brie baker, or a very talented mother in law, any oven safe container with a lid will work.
Step three: Place brie, garlic, and sliced red pepper into the brie baker. (You can remove the brie shell or leave it on. We prefer to scrape most of it off.)
Step four: Bake the brie at 350F for 10-15 minutes.
Step five: Remove the brie from the oven. Do not inhale! (It’s really hot)
Step six: Ogle the baked brie. It smells like cheese heaven. Then tell everyone again how much a roasted red pepper looks like a flower. Show them the pictures as proof.
Step seven: Serve with homemade baguette. (Or, if you’re not a foodie dork like me, buy a really high quality baguette, slice it up and just tell everyone it’s homemade. When they ask for your recipe, tell them it’s a strictly guarded family secret. Or you could give them my recipe. Either way, your secret’s safe with me.)
Step eight: Bask in the glory that is baked brie. Try not to let it go to your head when everyone raves about how amazing it is.
Friends will be made, and food will be eaten. Done and done!
I know, I’ve made a few pies lately.
But see how these are different?
Look at how adorable these are!
I mean, come on. Could you resist?
I sure couldn’t. Which explains why I don’t have a picture of these all plated nicely, snuggling with ice cream.
We ate them before I had a chance to think about pictures.
Oops.
This is why I had leftover dough for that impromptu dinner.
Although this recipe is a little time consuming, it’s no harder than making any sort of real pie.
It still involves slicing fruit.
Rolling out crust and making it look pretty.
Mixing fruit and sugar and cornstarch.
And taking bites with your eyes closed so you can focus solely on each flavor.
That’s my favorite part.
Please give these a try. They’ll impress your friends for sure. And if you don’t want to share, I won’t tell.
Apple Pies
Inspired by Pinterest
1 prepared pie dough, rolled out and sliced into strips
6-8 large apples (really any kind of apple will do)
1/3 cup sugar, plus more for sprinkling onto the crust
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 or 1/2 tsp cardamom, if desired
1 tsp cornstarch
Juice of a lemon or lime, mixed with 1 cup of water
1 tbsp melted butter
Preheat the oven to 375F.
Core an apple, then use a melon baller or knife to hollow out the apple more, being careful not to go all the way through the skin. Make sure you save all the apple bits! Once the apple is hollow, submerge it briefly in the citrus water to keep it from browning too quickly. Turn the apple over to drain. Repeat this process with all the apples.
Slice the apple bits into smaller bits, and then mix them with the sugars, cinnamon, cardamom (optional) and cornstarch.
Place the hollowed out apples in a muffin tin. This will keep them from tipping during the baking process. Fill each apple with the bit mixture.
Take the long strips of pie dough and cut them into 4 inch strips. Then “weave” the strips together to create the square tops. (See this photo for reference) Place one square over each apple. Brush the dough with melted butter and sprinkle sugar over the top.
Bake for 30-35 minutes (until the dough is fully baked and the apples reach the desired tenderness). Once the apples have cooled, you can use a fork or spoon to remove them from the muffin pan. Serve with ice cream or a drizzle of caramel.
