Tag Archives: King Arthur Flour

Mix It Up Monday – It’s Cookie Time!

06 Monday May 2019

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from Kris B.

Vanilla White Chocolate Chip Drops

I love it when it’s cookie week in the Sifted Together world.  I like to make them.  I like to eat them.  And I like to share them.  When I take cookies to school to share with my students, I’m always surprised by how many of them are amazed at the fact that I actually make, from scratch with my own little piano-playing hands, cookies.  They are always most appreciative, though I think they’s be almost as happy, just not as amazed, with store-bought cookies.  They are starving college students, after all.

I am amazed at not only my cookie choice recipes lately, but my dessert choices in general.  I was always a “head for the chocolate” kind of girl – brownies, chocolate cake, French silk pie, chocolate chip cookies.  Not so much anymore.  Maybe my taste buds are finally maturing.  Who knows.  All I know is that I surprised myself when I really wanted to make the Vanilla White Chocolate Chip Drops for this week’s post.

Everything about these “drops”, from the ingredient list to the making and baking, is super easy.

INGREDIENTS

The slight oddity in this list is the use of bread flour, although there is a note that says an equal substitution of all-purpose flour will work just fine.  I can’t say that I’ve ever run across a basic cookie recipe that specifies the use of bread flour.  Perhaps the recipe’s creator needed to use up a stash of bread flour and gave it a whirl.  Who knows?  Anyway, don’t let that keep you from trying the recipe.  I used the bread flour because I had it.  I may try another batch with all-purpose flour just to see if I can tell any difference.

There are no fancy steps to the preparation of the dough.  The butter and sugar are creamed together.  The eggs are added one at a time.  When they are fully incorporated, the vanilla, baking powder, and salt are stirred in.  Finally, the flour is mixed in a little at a time.  The last step is to stir the chips in by hand.

I also about a 1/4 tsp of King Arthur Flour’s Princess Cake and Cookie Flavor.  One of the criticisms of these cookies on the King Arthur website was that they didn’t have enough flavor.  The Princess Cake and Cookie adds a hint of citrus.  The recipe instructs you to refrigerate the cookie dough for at least two hours and up to forty-eight hours.  It says that the chill significantly enhances the flavor of these cookies.  I refrigerated mine for twenty-four hours.  Their flavor is excellent!

Weber and I like this recipe as is, but if you are looking for a bolder flavor, this recipe can be a point of departure lots of experimentation.

Try:

  • Using different flavored chips – cinnamon, butterscotch, or chocolate
  • Drizzling the cookies with a flavored icing – lemon, orange, chocolate
  • Partially dipping the cookies in chocolate
  • Adding crushed peppermints or other candy pieces instead of chips
  • Experimenting with different extracts and flavorings

All this to say that this recipe is a fantastic basic recipe to get you started with thinking beyond the recipe card!

I hope your share your suggestions with us!  Happy baking.

from Tracey G.

Flourless Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies from King Arthur Flour

It was funny because when I opened the KAF website to find a recipe for this week in the cookie section, this was the first recipe to pop up! And I didn’t look any further!

I love peanut butter cookies, this recipe makes 18, so I doubled it figuring the boys would eat a few and I’d still have plenty left for photos. Interestingly I’ve since found out peanut butter cookies are not one of Jeremy’s favorites, so now I have way too many cookies! I can’t be trusted with all these cookies. I’ve already had 3 for breakfast…

But, anyway, they couldn’t be simpler to make.

The ingredients you need are:

• Peanut Butter (they do say that the results aren’t as good with a “natural” peanut butter as with standard store-bought)

• Egg

• Brown Sugar

• Vanilla

• Salt

• Baking Soda

• Chocolate Chips

That’s it. You combine the peanut butter, brown sugar, baking soda & salt in your mixer and mix until it’s well blended. Next you add your egg and vanilla. Lastly, stir in your chips.

I used my tablespoon-sized scoop to place the cookies on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes at 350° F. When they’re done, you cool them right on the baking sheet.

For as easy as these are, the problem I had was deciding when they were done. The first batch that I thought was underdone, ended up being the just right ones compared to the subsequent batches I made. Not to mention I slightly flattened the other batches too much I think. Oh well, easy enough things to fix/adjust the next time!

These are really yummy, super easy and are earning a space in my recipe favorites book!

Have fun and cookie on!

Mix It Up Monday – It’s Mix Week!

30 Tuesday Apr 2019

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Frontier Soups Illinois Prairie Corn Chowder

I’ve had this soup in my mix stash for a while. Other mixes seemed to come along that I’d want to make, so this one kept getting put on the proverbial “back burner”. This week being kind of crazy with deadlines, I decided a nice easy soup mix that could take care of itself was the mix of choice. As I did have a couple of soup mixes to choose from, I decided this one was getting its chance!

I will admit I was a bit fuzzy on the ingredients needed – so, I made a few substitutions. were emergency ones and one that I’d planned on.

The first sub I made was in the use of a couple fresh cubes potatoes. I didn’t have any, so I searched the cupboard and found a can of cubed potatoes – perfect! I just waited until near the end of cooking before I added them so they wouldn’t turn to mush with the long cooking time.

Next, grabbed the 32 ounce carton of low-sodium chicken broth and dumped it into my saucepan. Then, I re-read the ingredients-I-supply list and I needed TWO 32 ounce cartons. Oopsies. I didn’t have two, just the one. So, I used 4 cups of water instead and hoped it would work out and not be too bland etc. It worked out wonderfully! I did not miss the extra broth at all!

The final substitute I made was using 1 1/2 cups half & half instead of the 2 cups of heavy/whipping cream it called for. It worked really well and I’d even be brave enough to try using milk next time to lighten it a bit!

As an optional ingredient, you can add corn cut from a couple of cobs, if it’s available. I didn’t do this but it would add another layer of yum to it!

It’s easy to make, if you use fresh, diced potatoes you cook them in the broth first. So, you add your 8 cups (64 ounces) of broth (or half water like I did, lol) and bring it yo boil, add your potatoes, and you let them cook a bit. Next your mix goes in and it simmers covered, for about 45 minutes. At this point you add your cream (or half & half as I used) and let it cook on low about 30 minutes. And then you have yourself a super tasty soup that you have to do very little in making it!

I will definitely be stocking this soup mix in my pantry, I’ve yet to be disappointed by one of these soup mixes, and this one is no exception! Give it a try!

Frontier Soups Illinois Prairie Corn Chowder

 

from Kris B.

Essential Goodness Super Grain Pancake Mix

I have this rule in the kitchen that I don’t buy one-purpose gadgets or appliances.  The reason?  I love such things; if I bought all of the “one-hit wonders” out there, I would need a kitchen ten times larger than the one I have.  Since, when I cook, we almost always have leftovers since it is just the two of us, I am developing similar feelings about food.  Food should work for at least two meals – breakfast and lunch or lunch and dinner.  If something will work for all three, like pizza and cake, all the better! 🙂   Pancakes are that perfect food.  In our house, they may show up on the table for breakfast, lunch, dinner, a snack , or even dessert!

I almost always have some kind of pancake or waffle mix in the pantry “for an emergency” when I don’t have a meal plan or the day doesn’t go as planned.  At some point, I ordered a box of King Arthur Flour’s Essential Goodness Super Grain Pancake Mix.    The super grains are: sorghum, oats, teff, buckwheat, spelt, as well as chia seeds.  They are definitely packed with grainy goodness!

To the boxed mix, you add vegetable oil, milk, and eggs.  The recipe does not specify what kind of milk to use.  I ended up using a mixture of whole milk, because I had some that needed to be used, and almond milk.  Since I have never made these pancakes before, I’m not sure if this mixture had any affect on the outcome.  The ingredients are stirred together and poured by 1/4 cup measure onto a preheated griddle.

At first, I was  disappointed that these pancakes didn’t “fluff up” like typical buttermilk pancakes.  This may have been caused by my milk substitution???  However, because they are so packed with grains that once I tasted them, I didn’t feel cheated.  Just a couple of pancakes with the traditional butter and maple syrup topping or with syrup and the fruit of your choice were filling and satisfying.

The box made 20 pancakes.  This is 4-5 meals for Weber and me so I packaged and froze the extras, a bonus for busy days.  All I have to do is pop them in the toaster oven!  With a little fruit and whipped topping, one pancake will also make a filling and healthy snack or dessert.

As a bonus to a the healthy meal that these pancakes provide for us, the purchase of King Arthur’s Essential Goodness products help to fight domestic hunger.  Through their partnership with Feeding America, King Arthur has provided over 2.5 million meals.

Give this mix a try!  Feed your family a healthy meal and help someone who might otherwise go hungry!

 

 

 

 

Mix It Up Monday – It’s Cake Simple & Easy!

16 Tuesday Apr 2019

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from Tracey G.

Vanilla Cake Pan Cake from King Arthur Flour

I’d had my eye on this cake for awhile, in fact I’d printed it off to make for fun right before the flu struck. It never got made, so I was happy to see cake recipes come up in the recipe rotation! Finally! I’d get to make this cake!!

There is a chocolate version of this cake that I’ve made before and can be found in our post Food Friday – Cake Anyone? , and it’s called King Arthur Flour’s Original Cake Pan Cake. It’s super easy and yummy as well!

But, anyway, back to the Vanilla Cake Pan Cake! This cake was a HUGE hit with my boys and myself! The hint of almond extract really gives it a great flavor. Harry has asked for seconds each time we had it, as did Jeremy – and I’m here to say it didn’t last long around here! It was gone in 2 days! I was sweating it after I took the photos, hoping at least one turned out, because the cake was already history!

I did do a double-take when I read through the recipe the first time – the cake doesn’t use eggs, milk or butter! (And you can make it gluten free too!) My kind of cake when I’m interested in my cholesterol numbers! The frosting (optional) does use butter, but they state you can use a vegan version too.

The cake ingredients are:

*Flour

*Salt

*Baking Powder

*Baking Soda

*Water

*Vegetable Oil

*Granulated Sugar

*Cider or White Vinegar

*Vanilla Extract

*Almond Extract

That’s it! It’s mixed a little differently, combine all dry I ingredients, except for the sugar, in a medium bowl. In another small bowl (I used my 2 cup liquid measure) combine the water, oil, vinegar, granulated sugar and the extracts. Then, add that mixture to the dry ingredients, and pour into a greased 8″ square pan or 9″ round pan. Bake at 350°F for 30-35 minutes. Allow to cool completely before frosting or skip the frosting and serve warm out of the oven!

The frosting is super simple and yummy as well. My guys don’t like a lot of frosting (which really kind of takes some of the fun out of my cake decorating hobby!), and this makes the perfect amount for the cake!

The frosting ingredients are:

*Butter

*Powdered Sugar

*Salt (if using salted butter omit the salt)

*Vanilla

*Water

I combined the powdered sugar, salt and butter in my stand mixer, and beat until combined. Add the vanilla and enough water to make spreadable – that’s it! Frost the cake right in the pan – that’s one of the best aspects of this cake, it’s frosted and served right out of the pan!

This cake is SO easy! It’s one of those recipes that’s fabulous to have on hand for when you need a yummy cake fix now! And if you’re out of eggs, or milk or butter (or all 3!) it doesn’t matter – you can still make and enjoy this cake!

 

from Kris B.

Brown Sugar Sour Cream Pound Cake

After a crazy month or so, we are almost back on track…and it feels good.  I must say, however, that I almost postponed writing my part of writing this post to go bake Tracey’s Pan Cake.  It looks so cheerful and delicious!  But, I am being a good adult.  I’ll get my work here done first.  Then eat Brown Sugar Sour Cream Pound Cake.  And then maybe make and eat Vanilla Pan Cake. 🙂

Pound cake is probably my favorite kind of cake to both make and to eat.  I like the making of it because it is not a fussy cake in terms of ingredients or the making process.  It is a mix it up and pour it in a pan kind of cake.  If you want it to look fancy, you can make it in a fancy pan.  No expert cake decorating skills needed.  Pound cakes also are versatile when it comes to serving them.  Serve a pound cake with fruit, with ice cream or flavored whipped cream, glazed, sprinkled with powdered sugar, or plain.  None of these possibilities is a bad choice.

The one twist to this recipe is its use of brown sugar.  The recipe calls for light brown sugar.  I had only dark and that is what I used.  This gives the cake a slightly richer flavor…and a slightly darker color.

Ingredients:

  • butter
  • light brown sugar
  • granulated sugar
  • eggs
  • baking powder
  • salt
  • baking soda
  • All-Purpose Flour
  • sour cream
  • vanilla extract

To give you an idea of how easy and low stress this recipe is, I made it at 10:00 at night after a full day of work, book group, and having had only five hours of sleep the night before.  I can honestly say that I actually enjoyed the process.  This may be because it seems like forever since I have baked something.  It may also be because I was looking forward to eating a piece of cake.

The butter and sugars are creamed together for two minutes in a stand mixer.  The eggs are then added one at a time, followed by the baking powder, salt, baking soda, and half of the flour.  The sour cream is then stirred in and the rest of the flour is added.  A one-bowl recipe, another plus!

The batter is poured into a prepared 9 or 10 cup bundt pan and baked for 55-60 minutes.  My pan may have been a little too big because my pound cake was done in 55 minutes, which is unusual for my oven.  I always have to bake things for at least the maximum time suggested and often longer.  I’m afraid that if I had left this cake in the oven any longer, it would have been on the dry side.  As it is, it’s perfect!  The Brown Sugar Sour Cream Pound Cake has a great texture; it is full but not too heavy.  I would suggest checking your cake at the 55 minute mark, or perhaps sooner if you have a “hot” oven.

It definitely feels good to be cooking and baking again!  I had a small slice of cake after I finished the photos.  Yum!  I’m looking forward to a bigger piece with some berries for dessert tonight!

Happy baking!!!

Mix It Up Monday – Bonus Mix Week: French Herb Yeast Bread

09 Tuesday Apr 2019

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from Tracey G.

French Herb Yeast Bread Mix from King Arthur Flour

Yep, things are still a bit sideways for us two here, and we are hoping to be back in sync next week for some cake recipes! But until then, we decided to divide and conquer to keep some food posts going – last week’s Ginger Bread Waffle Mix from Kris going solo, and this week my Mix Week offering, (also solo!) of French Herb Yeast Bread Mix.

This year’s gift of the actual flu (I’m so glad we all had our flu shots last fall, or I think it could’ve hit us much worse!) really knocked me back. I had about 3 days of misery BEFORE it got to the day I spent in bed, with the ability to do nothing more than stare at the walls. I couldn’t even muster the energy/wellness to watch a movie or read! And after that day, the long slow climb back to pre-flu energy levels has been a hard one. I was so grateful when last week Kris offered to go solo, because for me, even the thought of making even a simple mix felt overwhelming. So it was a sign to myself that things were on the upswing when I felt like actually making something!

Granted, I still chose the easiest of all the mixes, and this French Herb Yeast Bread Mix definitely fits the bill for easy!!! The only things you actually have to measure is about 1 1/4 cups of water and either 2 tbsp softened butter or vegetable oil (I chose the oil due to my war on cholesterol), the Herbs De Provence are already in the mix!

I plopped the dry mix, replete with all the yummy herbs measured & added for me, and the package of yeast that comes with it, into my stand mixer with dough hook attachment. (Of course all can be done by hand!) I added the water and oil and let it mix & knead until it was smooth as directed. I covered the bowl and let it rise for the hour suggested. At that point you can shape to pop it into a loaf pan, or do what I did – a free shape on a baking sheet (I lined mine with a parchment sheet instead of greasing it).

It gets another rise of about 30-60 minutes, depending on room temp etc. Now comes the baking – into a 350° F oven for 35-40 minutes. It took the full 40 for me in my oven. And it smelled heavenly as it baked!!

It was really hard to wait for it too cool before cutting it & photographing it! I love bread, and it’s always a challenge for me to wait! But, once I was able to taste-test I fell in love! This is such a yummy bread! The balance of herbs, in my opinion (and Jeremy’s) is just right. Not unnoticeable and not overpowering. It’s fabulous sliced with some butter or even just plain. But I do have plans on turning it into a garlic bread for dinner tonight – toasted, brushed with olive oil and then lightly rubbed with a cut cloves of garlic! And I think next time I make it (definitely will be a next time!) I’m using olive oil in it instead of vegetable oil for a bit of a a Mediterranean-flavor twist! I may even have to buy some of KAF’s Herbs De Provence so I don’t have to wait for a mix to arrive to make this style of bread! But, the ease of this mix can’t be beat! Give this French Herb Yeast Bread Mix a try!

Mix It Up Monday – Blueberries!

19 Tuesday Mar 2019

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from Tracey G.

Famous Department Store Blueberry Muffins from King Arthur Flour

 

Trying this recipe came about in a funny way – and I changed it slightly to suit my needs. Harry loves these little blueberry muffin bite-things from the grocery store, he can whip through a box in no time flat. Jeremy said I should just make my own – but there’s a problem with that as far as Harry’s concerned, they don’t taste like the commercially-prepared version he loves. (And “blueberry” textures are different)

I had recently purchased some natural Dried Blueberries (nothing added at all) from Nuts.com. I normally buy the Juice-Infused Dried Blueberries from there for snacking, but I wanted to try the natural berries for baking. When Kris told me what recipe she was making for this week, I knew now was the time to give my dried blueberries a whirl!

I set out to make my own blueberry mini muffins that Harry would like as much as the commercially-prepared version, without all the commercially-prepared additives. And that’s how I began my search for a recipe I could work with – enter

Famous Department Store Blueberry Muffins. I looked through every blueberry muffin recipe they had and I settled on this one for its simplicity.

Here’s the list of ingredients:

  • butter, at room temperature
  • sugar
  • eggs
  • baking powder
  • salt
  • vanilla extract
  • King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
  • milk
  • blueberries, fresh preferred
  • sugar, for topping

The only differences I implemented are

  • 1 ¼ cup dried blueberries, soaked in hot water while I prepared the batter instead of any other blueberry versions
  • Increased milk from ½ cup to ¾ cup to offset the dried fruit
  • Used 1 tsp Lorann Buttery Sweet Dough Bakery Emulsion AND about a ½ tsp Lorann Butter Vanilla flavoring

The batter mixes up really fast. Cream butter and sugar together, add eggs one at a time, then add the baking powder, salt and vanilla (or flavoring of choice of course!). Next you add the flour alternately with the milk. If preparing the recipe as written, they have you mash a ½ cup of the blueberries and add the mashed and remaining blueberries to the batter, stir just until they’re distributed evenly. For my version, I drained the now-soaked dried blueberries well and stirred them in.

Now it gets scooped into a muffin pan, and each topped with sugar then baked at 375° F for about 30 minutes for regular sized muffins. For my version, I used mini muffin pans and only sprinkled sugar on one pan of the 3. It makes 12 regular-sized muffins, and I got 36 mini muffins out of it, and baked them only about 20 minutes instead of the usual 30. I also used my tablespoon-sized scoop I’d gotten from KAF to get the batter into my pans and boy, did that make quick work of it!

These are so good! I love the texture, it’s a VERY fine crumb, a lot like the commercial versions Harry loves. For me, the dried blueberries worked wonderfully – they have a fun, slightly chewy, texture and great burst of flavor. Best of all I got Harry’s seal of approval – he told me I should package them up in plastic bags and call them Mom’s Mini Bites! I’m sure it was the addition of the Lorann Buttery Sweet Dough Bakery Emulsion that gave it that just-right flavor that even I love!

I am definitely going to give the traditional, as-written  version of this recipe a try next time I make blueberry muffins, as I really liked this one my way, so I’m sure it’s good no matter what! It also has a fun provenance as well that they talk about in the intro of the recipe! If you’re looking for a lovely, simple and yummy blueberry muffin, do give Famous Department Store Blueberry Muffins a try!

from Kris B.

Blueberry Buckle Coffee Cake

As an adult, blueberries have become my favorite berry.  I’m not sure why or how that happened, I just know that it did. For some reason, I was in the mood for them recently.  Usually I’m perfectly happy to toss a few frozen blueberries on top of my yogurt, but I craved fresh ones and in something baked this time.  Muffins is what first comes to mind when I think baked goods and blueberries, but I wanted to try something different so I began searching for options.  I landed on this Blueberry Buckle Coffee Cake.  Coffee cake and blueberries…a perfect combo!

Somehow I seem to forget how easy cakes are to make.  Basically, it’s mix up all the ingredients, spread the batter in a pan, bake, and then eat.  This cake is easier to make than my usual blueberry muffins; it involves less work since it does not require dealing with a muffin pan, liners, and properly portioned scoops.  I need to remember this tidbit of information the next time I have a craving for something sweet.  And the blueberries make it a healthy option, right?  They have antioxidants!

One of the things that drew me to this particular recipe is that it has a “traditional” cinnamon streusel-like topping.

STREUSEL

  • sugar
  • King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
  • cinnamon
  • salt
  • butter

The topping is mixed first and set aside while the cake batter is made.  Don’t tell anyone, but I mixed it and incorporated the butter by just squeezing it all together in my hands.  It works best and leaves one less utensil to wash!

CAKE

  • King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
  • baking powder
  • salt
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • butter
  • egg
  • vanilla extract
  • milk
  • fresh or frozen blueberries

There is nothing fancy about the cake ingredients.  It’s just basic cake stuff, meaning that you’ll almost always have the necessary ingredients on hand if you need to make a quick coffee cake.

The flour, salt, and baking powder are stirred together first.  In a second bowl, the sugar, butter, egg, and vanilla are beaten together.  I was too lazy to get out the mixer so I beat them with a hand whisk.  It worked just fine!  The one mistake I made was using my larger mixing bowl for the flour mixture.  I needed to beat the wet ingredients in that larger bowl because the dry ingredients are poured into the wet ingredients alternatively with the milk.

Like Tracey, I also added a teaspoon of Lorann Buttery Sweet Dough Bakery Emulsion

At this point in my process, my batter seemed a bit heavy and dry.  Because I often have problems with King Arthur recipes being more dry than I like, I added 3 extra tablespoons of milk and then folded in the fresh blueberries.  If I had been using frozen berries, I may have waited to add the extra liquid until after adding the fruit since frozen berries bring with them more liquid than do fresh berries.

The batter is then poured, or in my case spread, into a prepared 8″ or 9″ square or round pan and the streusel topping is sprinkled evenly on top.  The cake then bakes for 40-45 minutes.  That’s all there is to it.

Not only had I forgotten how easy cakes are to make, I’d also forgotten how much I enjoy coffee cake.  In the words of Goldilocks…not too sweet, not to bland, but just right!  This cake is perfect for a breakfast treat if doughnuts send you into sugar overload.  It is also great as an afternoon or midnight snack.  I checked each of these scenarios just to make sure.

Try it!  You’ll like it!

Mix It Up Monday – The “Pies” Have It!

12 Tuesday Mar 2019

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from Kris B.
Maple Sugar Pie

The journey through life is a life-long learning process.  No matter our age, there is always something to learn about the world around us and ourselves.  One thing I have recently learned about myself is that my least favorite thing to make/bake is pies.  That most certainly is not a conscious choice.  I don’t even know why it is other than pie crusts were the last thing in the list of “baking essentials” that I learned to make.  I do have vague memories of hearing my mom say that pie crusts were difficult to make, but other than that, I have no reason to relegate pie to the bottom of the preferred baking list.

Because of my minimal affinity for pies, I always have a difficult time trying to find a recipe that I want to try when pies roll around in our regular baking rotation.  For this week, I narrowed my choices down to three recipes that I had waiting in my “to-make someday” recipe box’ – one savory pie, one fruit pie, and this one.  I deferred to my husband as he likely will be the one who will eat more of it than I will.  Hmmm…maybe the reason I don’t like to make pie as much as other baked goods is because I also don’t like to eat pie as much as I like to eat other baked goods!

So Maple Sugar Pie it is.

Essentially, this is a pudding-y, custard-y pie (except that it uses no eggs in its filling) with maple syrup added.  Again, since I am not a big pit maker, I don’t have a lot with which to compare the recipe, so I soldiered on following the instructions…almost.

I varied to crust.

CRUST

Aside from the cream cheese, this crust is made and handled in the same way as any basic pie crust.

Because I am not an experienced pie crust maker, I opted for a regular pie crust rather than trying this one with the cream cheese.  I may give it a try at another time.  Also, several of the recipe reviews said that a regular pie crust worked just fine.  Another review posited that maybe even a graham cracker crust might be good.  Suffice it to say that this pie can be made and enjoyed with your pie crust of choice.

The filling is super easy!

FILLING

All of the filling ingredients are carefully mixed together.  The carefully comes in making sure that everything is evenly mixed while introducing no bubbles in the process.  This mixture is then poured, over a spoon to again reduce the formation of bubbles, into the already-baked pie shell.

Then comes the hard part…getting the pie into a 375 degree oven without sloshing filling all over the place in the process.  I was not successful with this step!  I managed a trail, much like the pie version of Hansel and Gretel, between the counter and oven.  Fortunately the dogs were at my feet and were more than happy to clean up my mess.  I also managed to drip on the oven door.  That mess I had to clean up myself.  Because this filling uses no eggs, it has minimal viscosity, making it a challenge to move in a full pie plate!

Once in the oven with most of its filling, then came the second challenge with this pie…knowing when it was done.  The recipe gives these baking instructions:

“Bake the pie until the custard appears set on the outside but is still slightly wobbly in the center, 28 to 32 minutes.”

Knowing that I have to bake most things for the maximum time suggested in recipes, I set my timer for 32 minutes.  When I checked the center of the pie at that point, it was not the least bit done.  If I had removed it at that point, I would have had a repeat performance of Hansel and Gretel and the Pie, but in the opposite direction.  I set the timer for another three minutes.  It was still soupy, which is not wobbly, in the center.  When all was said and done, I ended up baking the pie for an additional nine minutes.  I know that my oven temp is off, but I never have to cook anything for a third again as much time as the recipe directs.

All that said, when I finally cut the pie, the center was done and the edges were not overdone.  As I said at the outset, the filling’s texture/consistency is somewhere between a heavy pudding and custard.

The flavor is good, but I’m not sure that I would have known it contained the maple syrup had I not been the one to make the pie.  I would like a little more maple flavor and perhaps a little more cinnamon.  As is the case with most custard pies, the nutmeg is definitely the primary flavor here.

Since Weber was the one who chose this particular recipe, I asked him for his opinion.  He really liked the fact that it was too sweet.  He also said that it is a good pie to have with coffee.  Although, with him anything is good to have with coffee! 🙂

This is an easy pie to make and has the potential to be a good go-to recipe when you need a quick dessert.  I will definitely tweak the flavors a bit when I make it again.  I might also cheat and add an egg, maybe two, and reduce some of the other liquid.  We’ll see.

I look at working with this recipe as one of those important learning experiences in life.  What can we do to make our relationship and experience together the best that it can be.

Give the Maple Sugar Pie (a name that is a bit misleading, in my opinion) a try.  Id love to hear your thoughts!

from Tracey G.

Pecan Pie

I’ve made hundreds of Pecan Tarts through the years – with my mom when I was a kid, then on my own when she couldn’t anymore – the torch of that holiday baking tradition passed to me. But – I’ve never made a Pecan Pie! Never ever! Running across some chopped pecans in my freezer, that I needed to use up, actually made the decision for me – this week Pecan Pie was my pie adventure of choice!

I’m also in agreement with Kris on certain Pie thoughts – I seem to shun them too, and I think for me it’s the making of the crust that’s always a challenge for me. There’s always something that seems to go awry. Anywhere from the actual making the dough to shaping it. There’s a lot of space for me to mess something up! And I never seem to have everything go right at the same time. Like this go around, I got the dough made easily, rolled out lovely but messed up the fluting the edges. Oh well. But, I do love pies – they’re a favorite dessert of mine!

Anyway, the recipe is super simple – even the pie crust recipe. You could easily substitute a ready-made crust if you didn’t want to make your own. But since I need the practice, I made what the recipe called for. 😉

Crust Ingredients

•King Arthur Unbleached Pastry Flour (or KAF Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

• Salt

• Shortening

• Butter

• Ice Water

Filling Ingredients

• Chopped Pecans

• Salt

• Eggs

• Dark Corn Syrup

• Light Corn Syrup

• Granulated Sugar

• Butter

• Vanilla

• Pecan Halves

Making the crust is straightforward – made like any pie pastry. Once made, rolled and in the pan you blind bake it for about 10 minutes. While it’s baking, put the chopped pecans on a baking sheet, sprinkle with the salt and when the crust comes out of the oven, the nuts go in (after reducing oven temp) for a toasting before they go in the filling mixture.

The filling is easy as well: you mix the syrups, granulated sugar, vanilla, butter and eggs together. Once well-combined, stir in the now toasted chopped pecans and it all goes in the crust and in a 375° oven to bake for 45 minutes. And that’s exactly the amount of time it took in my oven.

Once it’s out, cool it completely before you cut it or you’ll have a running filling!

I was really eager to taste-test this pie – and I’ll say it was ok/good. Not as flavorful as I would’ve liked – but they do have a few Pecan Pie recipes on the site, so I’m going to keep trying – because in my opinion, even a “meh” pecan pie is still ok in my book! The other thing I really didn’t care for was it had a whole stick of butter in the filling – I think that could be backed off on, because when it came out of the oven, the grease from it was bubbling at the edges and on the surface.

Aside from the “meh” aspect of it, I’m really happy because it turned out as it was supposed to! And I think that’s got to count for something! 😀 I have some tweaking ideas for it, but I’ll try the other recipes I think before I get creative with this one, I may find what I was looking for without any brain effort!

Mix It Up Monday – A Cinnamony Kind of Day!

04 Monday Mar 2019

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Cinnamon Babka

I guess I have babka on the brain!  After making the Chocolate Babka Mix last week, and loving it, I decided on a made-from-scratch Cinnamon Babka this week.  Aside from having to pull the ingredients for the dough together, making babka from scratch no more time-consuming that making it from the mix.

DOUGH

I also added about 1/2 tsp of King Arthur’s Sweet Buttery Dough Flavor.

The recipe calls for the first rise of the dough to be 1 1/2 -2 hours.  Mine took the full two hours on the bread proof setting in the oven.

Once the dough completes the first rise, it is rolled into a rectangle and spread with the filling.  This dough was super easy to work with.  It did not fight back at all in the rolling process.  I am a huge fan of dough that cooperates.  Lol!

FILLING

I used pecans and did not include the raisins.  I feel like there was not quite enough filling for the bread.  I don’t think my raisin omission is the reason for that.  When I make this recipe again, I will likely double the filling recipe.  Is there really such a thing as too much brown sugar, cinnamon, and butter?

The dough is then rolled, cut in half lengthwise, and twisted into a traditional babka braid.  The braid is then placed into a greased loaf pan, glazed with an egg wash, and sprinkled with a topping.

TOPPING

In the end, the topping is a nice touch; however, it hides the pretty layered babka look.  And we all know it’s about the looks. 🙂  The loaf then rises for another 1 1/2 hours before it is baked.

The only issue that I had with this recipe was in the baking time.  The recipe directs you to bake the babka 40-50 minutes or until an internal thermometer read 195 degrees.  One of my goals this year is to be more faithful to using a scale to measure ingredients and to check temperatures with a thermometer.  I know that my oven usually takes the maximum amount of cook time, so I set my original timer for 45 minutes.  At the end of that time, my internal temperature was 183 degrees.  I then baked the bread for another 5 minutes.  This got the temperature to 190 degrees.  It took another 4 minutes for the internal temperature to finally reach the specified 195 degrees.  This made the ends of my loaf a little dry.  So my dilemma is…who wins…time or temperature.

With a little tweaking, this could easily become a favorite recipe.  It does take some time to make because of the long rise times, but it is not labor-intensive.

Because my loaf is a bit dry, it may become french toast.  I didn’t get a chance to make french toast from last week’s chocolate loaf.  This week may be the week for babka french toast.  Cinnamon is a close second to chocolate!

from Tracey G.

 Cinnamon Pinwheel Biscuits from King Arthur Flour

Contributed by Mark Bittman and featured in the 2018 Holiday issue of KAF’s Sift Magazine

I have to thank Kris for reminding me of this recipe when I was floundering as to what yo make this week, it was so easy I made 2 batches in a row. I’d forgotten I’d ran across it a month or so ago when perusing for recipes to make for future Mondays!

I’m usually a drop biscuit girl if & when I make them, so this was a first for me to roll out biscuit dough. And it was a little unruly to deal with – but, by no means the kind of unruly that makes you swear off making something ever again! And the end result was wonderful, I had a perfectly flaky dough!

I have to say though, that I did follow the advice of one reviewer as far as the filling is concerned: I bumped up the sugar & butter a little bit, and used half granulated sugar & half brown sugar instead of just all granulated. But, this would be totally up to you if you wanted to try it too!

The ingredients for the dough & filling are very simple and basic:

Dough:

• Flour

• Baking Powder

• Baking Soda

• Salt

• Butter

• Buttermilk or Yogurt

Filling:

• Granulated Sugar (again, I used half granulated and half brown sugars)

• Butter (I used an extra tablespoon, so 3 instead of the original 2), melted

• Cinnamon

It all comes together so fast and easy, as I said earlier, I made two batches just as easy as one!

Start with your flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt combined in a large bowl, I just used a whisk to combine them. Cut in the cold butter until it resembles coarse meal.

At this point I mixed up the filling ingredients.

Add your buttermilk or yogurt to the dry ingredients and stir just until it comes together to form a ball. Turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead a few times. Roll it out into about a 10″x14″ rectangle and trim the edges to square it up.

Brush the dough with the melted butter, spread the cinnamon-sugar topping on to about a 1/2 inch away from the edges. Roll it up starting on the long side. Then you pop the rolled log into the freezer for about 10-15 to firm it up for easy slicing.

Once it comes out of the freezer,slice in 3/4″ slices and place on your baking sheet (ungreased, but I used parchment) and bake 11-13 minutes until golden brown.

Another suggestion in the review I read was to add an icing of powdered sugar & milk etc, when it comes out of the oven, so, I tried it. The consensus here was they were better without an icing. But it’s something worth trying if you want to – you may like it! I want to try a cream cheese icing next time…

And that’s it. That’s all there is to these yummy little pinwheels. Easy and yummy – best combination there can be in my opinion! Do give Cinnamon Pinwheel Biscuits a try!!

Mix It Up Monday – Soups On!

12 Tuesday Feb 2019

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Fast and Easy Chicken Stew with Dumplings

Even when the calendar and the weather don’t agree on winter, my head tells me that soups and stews are perfect winter month meals.  I had some frozen oven roasted chicken that needed to be used so I figured a hearty chicken noodle soup might be a good use for it.  I then stumbled onto this recipe for Fast and Easy Chicken Stew with Dumplings on the King Arthur website.  It sounded warm and heart; that’s what I was looking for so I gave it a try.

I must say, that when it comes to dumplings, I normally prefer slippery to fluffy, but I decided to keep an open mind and follow the recipe exactly for these fluffy dumplings.

I liked the way that the recipe was written because it presented the instructions in a way that the pacing for preparing the various components worked well – no wasted time.  The first step was to make the stew.

STEW

  •  butter
  • King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
  • chicken broth
  • thyme
  • bay leaf
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • Worcestershire sauce
  • diced cooked chicken
  •  frozen mixed vegetables, thawed and/or cooked; or a mixture of cooked peas and carrots

You begin by making a roux, to which you then add the broth and seasoning.  This simmers for 15 minutes and then the bay leaf is removed and the chicken and vegetables are added.  The mixture then simmers while you mix the ingredients for the dumplings.

DUMPLINGS

I don’t normally keep Self-rising Flour.  I purchased some specifically for this recipe.  (Watch for it as an ingredient in an upcoming post. :-))  You can make your own self-rising flour by adding 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder and a 1/2 teaspoon of salt for every cup of flour.

The dough for the dumplings comes together easily.  It neither too sticky or too dry.  Once mixed, it is dropped by 1/4 scoop on top of the simmering stew.  The pot of is then covered and placed into a  350 degree oven to bake for 25-30 minutes.

That’s it!  Serve the stew and dumplings hot for a warm and cozy winter meal!

  • I did use a cup more broth in my stew than the recipe called for.
  • For me, the thyme was a little overpowering.  Next time I will probably use poultry seasoning for a more varied flavor.  I might also use a bit more Worcestershire sauce.  With almost any recipe, we have to play with the seasonings to get them “just right.”  That is part of what makes cooking fun!
  • The dumplings were delicious!  I don’t know if it is because they were baked or what, but these were the best fluffy dumplings I’ve had.  This dumpling recipe can be used with any of your favorite stew recipes, though you may have increase the liquid in your recipe a bit.

I will definitely make this recipe again.  It is good as it is, but tweaking the flavors just a bit will make it even better.  I’m always thrilled when I can find an easy and delicious one pot meal!

 

from Tracey G.

Vermont Cheddar Cheese Soup from King Arthur Flour

I’m going to be honest here, I love cheese soups – but usually they are restaurant fare because I can never seem to get the right flavor at home that I’m looking for. I’ve tried numerous times to make them at home, and the only one I’d liked up this point was the mix by Frontier Soups, sold by KAF for Broccoli Cheddar Soup. (Post for this can be found here). Well, this soup is a game changer for me – I can have my homemade cheese soup whenever I want, and I usually have everything on hand to make it!! This recipe surpassed my expectations, I am so glad I tried it!

Ingredients are simple, the only thing that is “special” for it is the KAF Vermont Cheese Powder – that is one thing this recipe would fall flat without! I will say, I discovered that this is another fabulous reason to have the King Arthur Flour Vermont Cheddar Cheese Powder on hand – I’d only originally bought the stuff for purely using on my popcorn! (I am confident though that you could use any cheddar cheese powder!)

Ingredients:

  • butter
  • celery, diced
  • onion, diced
  • carrots, diced
  • garlic, minced
  • dried thyme
  • chicken or vegetable broth
  • cornstarch dissolved in cool water
  • cheddar cheese powder (optional, for extra cheese zip)
  • extra-sharp or sharp Vermont cheddar cheese, grated
  • cream or half & half
  • salt and freshly ground pepper
  • cayenne pepper, or hot pepper sauce, optional

I did veer from the recipe slightly:

  • I didn’t have shredded/grated Vermont sharp cheddar, so I just used the regular shredded sharp cheddar I always have on hand.
  • Because it sounded good, the other thing I did was add a can of drained, diced potatoes. But let me also say that broccoli (or cauliflower!) would be a fantastic addition as well!
  • It called for heavy cream or half and half (I used half and half), but I think it would be ok with milk too, as, part of what thickens it a slurry of cornstarch and water. I will try it with milk, because I usually have that around, but not half and half.
  • Lastly, I didn’t use thyme because Jeremy doesn’t care for the taste, I love it, but I wasn’t interested in eating all the soup by myself!

Anyway, the base it simple. It’s a vegetable combination of carrots, onions, celery and minced garlic, sautéed in butter. To that you add your chicken broth (or vegetable broth), and simmer until your carrots are tender. At that point you add the cornstarch/water mixture, half and half (or cream), Vermont Cheese Powder and shredded cheddar and thyme. At this point you can adjust your seasoning of salt and pepper, as that’s the last thing to do, or you can season in your own bowl if you prefer! I really like that control.

I am seriously excited to add this to my recipe book – I can say it’s one that I will be making when I get the craving for cheddar cheese soup, or cheesy potato soup or even broccoli cheddar soup – maybe all of the above! Do give it a try – it’s easy and delicious!

 

 

Mix It Up Monday – Bake or No-Bake…The Choice Is Yours!

04 Monday Feb 2019

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from Tracey G.

Gingersnaps from King Arthur Flour

These cookies kind of found me this week. I went to the KAF website to find my recipe for the week, fully intending to search for some recipes with specific ingredients as this past week of being stuck home during snow storms and Polar Vortexes really hit my pantry hard, and no real chance to stock up – so I was low on butter and sugar. I knew whatever recipe I found would have to have very little butter or rely on shortening. And it also had to use a very small amount of granulated sugar or an alternative, like brown sugar.

When I started my cookie search, this recipe popped right up, before I even had a chance to recipe-search using specific ingredients! It was meant to be! It really must have been – as it relied on vegetable shortening and only one cup of sugar, I found my recipe first shot, and didn’t search any further.

These are super-duper easy to make, and that’s not an exaggeration one bit. The ingredient list is simple as well:

COOKIES

  • vegetable shortening*
  • sugar
  • salt
  • baking soda
  • egg
  • molasses
  • King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
  • ground ginger
  • ground cloves
  • ground cinnamon

*Can you substitute butter for the vegetable shortening? Yes; but the cookies will be soft, not crisp.

COATING

  • sugar
  • ground cinnamon

The making of the dough is really fast as well, I had these done in no time at all!

You start by beating the shortening, sugar, salt and baking soda together. After that’s blended well, you add the egg and the molasses. Next is the flour and spices, and, I whisked my spices right into my flour so it would be a bit easier – one step in the adding of them to the mixing bowl.

Once you get it all mixed up, mix your additional sugar and cinnamon in a shallow bowl (I use a small cake pan so I can shake/roll the dough balls easily and fairly neatly too), this will be what you coat your dough balls in. Form the dough into about 1″ balls, and then coat with the cinnamon-sugar mixture. I used a teaspoon cookie scoop and this phase went really quick! Scooped and plopped into the sugar mixture and then onto the parchment lined cookie sheet.

These are baked at 375° F, and you have your choice as to how long to bake, depending on how you want your final cookie to be – 11 min for crisp edges, slightly chewy center, or 13 minutes for a fully crisp cookie. I did both and love both!

That’s it. The hardest part about these cookies was making sure there were still enough left by the time I needed to get my photos taken! Some never even made it off the cookie sheet, Jeremy and I couldn’t stay away from them!

I am most certainly adding these to my cookie recipes, they are so fast and easy and taste wonderful, a perfect combination in my opinion! Easy to whip up if you need some cookies FAST for anything from bake sales to holiday gifts/treats!

If you like spice cookies, do give these a try!

from Kris B.

No-Bake Energy Bites

I’m not going to lie, one of my favorite weeks of baking for Sifted Together is when cookies roll back around in the rotation.  That furry blue monster on Sesame Street and I are most certainly soul mates, though I have a hard time getting behind his new philosophy that “cookies are a sometimes food.”  Well, not really…cookies are definitely should be a sometimes food; for me, they are a weak spot and may be the number one reason that I needed to join Weight Watchers.  Like Cookie Monster, I have learned to moderate my consumption.  But…I do still love a good cookie!

As I searched for a recipe, I was sort of looking for a healthy cookie recipe.  What that means, I’m not exactly sure.  I was considering those recipes that used oats, applesauce instead of fat, whole grains, fruit…and then I stumbled upon these – No-Bake Energy Bites.  They are energy bites, not cookies, despite showing up in my search for cookies, so they must be healthy!  Mind games are a wonderful past-timer! 🙂

Whatever…they use ingredients that I love and that I had on hand.  It was a win-win.

BASIC DOUGH

  • nut butter (peanut, almond, sunflower)
  • rolled oats, old-fashioned or quick
  • honey
  • dried whole milk
  • vanilla extract

All of these are pantry staples, making this a recipe that can be whipped up on the spur of the moment, especially since it is also no-bake!

Once the basic dough is mixed, then the real fun begins!  To this dough, you stir in “add-ins” of your choice – mini chocolate chips, nuts, seeds, dried fruit, cookie crumbs – really, the possibilities are endless.  A total of two cups of add-ins are used in the recipe.  You can choose as few or as many as you like, in any proportion, as they as they total two cups.

I added mini chocolate chips, graham cracker crumbs, coconut, and pecan pieces in equal amounts.  Once the dough and add-ins are mixed together, the energy bites are scooped out onto a parchment lined baking sheet using a TBS scoop.  It helps to place them in the refrigerator to allow them to firm up and hold together.

Oh my goodness!  These things are fantastic!  They are the perfect pick-me-up mid-morning or afternoon snack.  And unlike cookies, at least for me, one of them is plenty.  My sweet tooth is satisfied.  Because there is so much packed into these little bites, I’m not even tempted by a second one.

As I said, the combinations of add-ins that one could use are endless.  I think that cereal pieces or pretzels would be good in addition to those things mentioned in the recipe.  The sky…well maybe the contents of your pantry…is the limit.

As I said, I am thrilled to have found this recipe.  These No-Bake Energy Bites may themselves become a staple item at my house!  The recipe makes two dozen bites and they can be stored in the fridge for up to two weeks.

If you give these a try, please share your add-in combos with us.

Happy baking…or no-baking, as the case may be!

Mix It Up Monday – Warm Meals for Cold Temps

28 Monday Jan 2019

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from Kris B.

Cider Baked Beans

I am a big fan of beans…almost any kind of beans.  Unfortunately, my husband is not.  If you know anything about homemade bean recipes, they almost always make A LOT of beans.  I ask a believer in black-eyed peas on New Years  day.  My preferred way to eat them is in Hoppin’ John.  Rather than try to cut down the recipe, I made the full version, which called for a pound of black-eyed peas…and I ate Hoppin’ John every day for the first week of the year!  Based on this, I should be quite prosperous in 2019!

Three weeks later, I am now ready for more beans.  I was intrigued by Bountiful Pantry’s Cider Baked Beans, which are sold by King Arthur Flour.  Half of the liquid used to cook the beans is apple cider.  In addition, one to two pounds of diced green apples are also added.

The mix comes with the beans and a seasoning packet.  To this, you add apple cider, broth of your choice, (I used vegetable.), and ketchup.  The mix offers stove top, oven, and slow cooker instructions.  Because I am now back at work and don’t have as much time to cook, I took the lazy way out…I threw the mix and all the other required ingredients into the Crock-Pot in the morning before I left for work, set it to cook on low for 10 hours, and didn’t think anymore about them until I got home that evening and smelled their deliciousness.

The “sauce” is not as thick as that of canned baked beans, but don’t let that disappoint you.  The flavor is amazing.  I’ll admit that I was a little worried about the beans being too sweet because of the apples and the cider, but they are not.  They are perfect blend of sweet and savory!

The package instructions suggest adding either bacon or sausage to the pot while the beans are cooking, which I did not do.  I did, however, slice a little bit of uncured turkey kielbasa into my bowl of beans once they were cooked, making them a meal rather than just a side of beans.  Since the kielbasa is fully cooked, this makes it easy to adapt the mix to both vegetarians and carnivores.

As tasty as these beans are, I was not keen on another whole week of bean eating, so I froze several small containers of leftovers.  Hopefully they will be just as good when defrosted and reheated!

If you make the Cider Baked Beans in a slow cooker, they take time, but no real energy on your part.  If you need them to be done a bit quicker, I have no doubt that the stove top and oven method will yield equally delicious beans.  

This mix is really good as is, but those of you who like to be creative in the kitchen can probably add a few secret ingredients to make them your own.

from Tracey G.

Frontier Soups Montana Classic Chili Mix from King Arthur Flour

I love trying the soup mixes from King Arthur Flour, because I’ve not been disappointed yet! Around this household, they wouldn’t be enough for a dinner for 3, but for us, they make a perfect lunch!

I was really anxious to try this particular mix, because chili is a popular dish around here, and it would be fun to have one that would make something a little different than I could, and easily. This soup mix fit the bill – it was easy and none of it went to waste! Plus I served it with some cornbread muffins and it was a perfect meal!

The items you add are simple: 1 tbsp vegetable oil, ground beef (although that is optional!), can of petite diced tomatoes, 2 tbsp of red wine vinegar, 2 tsp of sugar and 12 oz of beef broth. I even deviated away from the petite diced tomatoes because I’m the only on around here who likes them, so I just used a can of tomato sauce – and it worked just fine.

It comes together easily, brown the ground beef if you’re using it, in the tablespoon of oil. Next you add the mix, combine it with the meat and cook for about 30 seconds. At this point you add in the rest of the ingredients, and simmer for about 30 minutes.

Now all that’s left to do it eat it – dish it out and dig in! And it tastes even better the next day, as I can personally attest to!

If you’re looking for a chili mix for a little something different in your routine – this is a great one. I will admit,  spicy, but in my opinion it’s just enough!

 

Leave us a comment and let us know how you are keeping warm during these cold winter days and you’ll have a chance to win our $50 gift card to be given away on Friday February 1st!

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