Tag Archives: snack

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 – 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 – Celebrate With Cookies!

18 Monday Feb 2019

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from Tracey G.

This week’s offerings are more about the stories surrounding the recipes rather than the recipes themselves but that doesn’t make them less yummy!

My planning for a class treat for Harry’s upcoming Birthday started months ago. I’d seen the Paint-Your-Own cookie stencils at my 2 favorite online places for my cookie decorating supplies – The Cookie Countess & Flour Box Bakery – and thought that would be an easy and fun thing for the kids to do. They could do them in class if they had time, or take them home. The ready-to-decorate cookies get packaged with a little brush and food color paint palette – it’s pretty neat! So a few months ago I went ahead and ordered the Birthday Cupcake stencil, with Harry’s blessing of course.

Fast forward to last week – I was as getting the rest of the supplies ready to order: cookie bags, palettes, brushes and the little bags to package the palettes & brushes in. I went to show Jeremy the stencil we were going to use and Harry decided oh no no no, the cupcake was stupid, he didn’t want that at ALL. Needless to say mama was not pleased at ALL. I was ready and willing to scrap it all. Done.

Then, I talked with Kris later and she mentioned possibly a different stencil or something. I wasn’t too sure because most of the PYO (paint-your-own) stencils Are holiday-specific etc. So, I went and looked. I ran across a llama. Now, with Fornite being the hit video game of the moment, and they have “Loot Llamas” in-game, the llama he was all for. Okaaaaaaay. Llama it will be. He’d better not change his mind again because it’s too late now!

For the longest time I used KAF’s Holiday Butter Cookies for my cookie making, but it just wasn’t working as I’d wanted it to, my cut edges weren’t staying nice and “sharp”, which I also knew was partly due to process too (cold dough etc). So, I started looking around and ran across the Bearfoot Baker’s recipe, AND her rolling/cutting method which got me the edges I was looking for and a cookie the boys really liked! Bingo!

I do modify her recipe slightly, I don’t add any baking powder at all. Here’s the ingredients list:

*Butter

*Sugar

*Eggs

*Vanilla

*Salt

*Baking Powder

*Flour

All the usual suspects as you can see. And here’s a link to her recipe and she talks about her method too!!

The Bearfoot Baker’s Sugar Cookie Recipe

Her recipe is so easy and produces a really nice cookie for decorating or as Harry prefers, plain or with a soft frosting. Give them a try next time you’re in the mood to decorate some cookies!

from Kris B.

I suspect that for most kids, the first kind of cookies they learn how to make “all by themselves” is chocolate chip.  For me, it was Snickerdoodles.  I don’t know why this was the case.  I also don’t know where my mom’s recipe originated.  I only ever knew it as being on a vanilla-stained recipe card written in her handwriting and being perpetually misfiled in her recipe box.

When I got married, I no longer had mom’s recipe box at my fingertips, so I turned to the The New Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook (copyright 1981), which I received as a wedding gift, for a Snickerdoodle recipe.  I couldn’t remember mom’s recipe exactly, but the one in the cookbook seemed fairly close, and now has been my go-to Snickerdoodle recipe for thirty-five years.

Here is a link to that recipe:

Better Homes and Gardens Snickerdoodle recipe

At some point, I did get my mom’s recipe.  It is written in her handwriting on a clean blue index card;  her recipe varies slightly from the above – a little less flour, a little more sugar, an extra egg, and salt.  I still use the one from the cookbook.

At the beginning of last week, one of my college level classes started talking about the lack of good coffee on campus.  Since our next class meeting after this discussion was Valentines Day, I told them that I would bring coffee as a Valentines Day treat.  Someone then said that if we have coffee, we need doughnuts too.  I offered cookies instead.  That was received well.  The conversation continued with them saying that maybe we needed snacks every week.  I told them that I was good with snacks, but someone was going to have to volunteer to be our room parent and organize it all.  I had done my time in that particular role.  With that, the idea of weekly snacks quickly died.

I did keep my promise and took them fresh coffee and cookies – Snickerdoodles.  I chose to make Snickerdoodles not only because they are a favorite of mine, but also because they avoid many of the common allergy ingredients found in cookies – chocolate and peanuts or peanut butter.  And let’s face it, the cinnamon-y goodness of Snickerdoodles is the perfect companion to a good cup of coffee!

My students, who range in age from 18 to 65, were most appreciative.  And as is often the case with the younger ones, there was amazement in the fact that the cookies were homemade.  It’s funny to me how such a simple gesture of hospitality can transform the dynamic of a group of people.  We had the best time in class that day – sharing stories and ideas…and eating cookies and drinking coffee.  Very little of what we discussed had anything to do with our class material, but does that really matter?  Sometimes the most important lessons in life come from spending time getting to know others, especially in a group like this that is diverse in age, gender, race, and, obviously, life experiences.

As a bonus, someone did bring doughnuts, as well.  We had quite the feast!

It was such a great day that I may have to rethink being not only the professor, but also the room mother.

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 – Cakes for the New Year!

21 Monday Jan 2019

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from Kris B.

Classic Birthday Cake

Despite the fact that we have had three family birthdays in the last month, we had no birthday cake!    It seems a strange phenomenon with a family full of bakers.  I guess it is because homemade baked goods are normal in our family.  And, we often go out for birthday celebrations.  My oldest daughter wanted pizza from our local pizza shop for her birthday dinner.  By the time she had indulged in eggplant parmesan pizza there was no room for dessert.  We celebrated my youngest daughter’s birthday at a Turkish restaurant and sampled their ethnic sweet treats after our main course.  And for my birthday, our family celebration was over brunch (our favorite meal) so, I had pancakes rather than birthday cake.  All was good.  As I said, it just seems a bit strange to have all these birthdays and no cake!

As I was perusing the King Arthur Flour website on the first day of the new year, I found that they have declared this recipe, The Classic Birthday Cake as their recipe of the year for 2019.  Honestly, I didn’t know that yellow cake with chocolate frosting was a “classic” birthday cake, but it is my favorite kind of iced cake.  I’m not a huge fan of iced layer cakes in terms of making or eating them. They are often too sweet to eat.  And when I try to frost multi-layer cakes, my kitchen often looks like a monkey was allowed to run amok with finger paint!  Frosting ends up everywhere; I’m not even sure how that happens!

With all that said, however, since King Arthur Flour named this as their recipe of the year and since if I am going to eat a frosted layer cake this is the one I’d want to eat, I decided to give it a go, a bleated birthday cake for me, I suppose.

BATTER INGREDIENTS:

As I said, I don’t make many cakes like this.  I’d forgotten how simple cakes really are to mix up. The dry ingredients, minus the sugar, are mixed together in a small bowl. The eggs, sugar, vanilla, and extracts are then beat together in an electric mixer.  Once these ingredients are thickened and become a light golden color, the dry ingredients are mixed in.

In a saucepan, the milk is heated just to a simmer.  The oil and butter are stirred in. Once the butter has completed melted, this mixture is stirred, by hand, into the batter.

The batter is then divided evenly into two 8 or 9 inch round cake pans that have been greased and parchment lined.  One of my biggest fears when making layer cakes is that the cake will stick.  I sprayed my pans and cut circles of parchment from my pre-cut baking sheet liners.  Unfortunately, it took two of these sheets for my two round pans.  Another important thing when making a layer cake is having equal layers.  I did fill my pans using a kitchen scale.  The recipe suggests that each pan should contain 580 grams of batter.  Mine were 584 grams each.

The size of your pan affects the baking time.  The suggested baking time for 9 inch layers is 26-30 minutes.  I ended up baking mine for 34 minutes before the inserted toothpick came out clean.  Confession time: I don’t normally use a thermometer with baked good, though I did just order a fancy probe thermometer from King Arthur, which has not arrived yet.  I’ll let you know how I like it once I’ve worked with it for a while.

Once the cake layers are baked, carefully loosen them from the sides of the pan.  Mine pulled away so I had no issues here.  Let them cool in the pans for 15 minutes before removing them and letting them cool completely, top side up, on cooling racks.

Then it’s time for painting on the frosting!

FROSTING INGREDIENTS

  • natural cocoa powder
  •  confectioners’ sugar
  • salt
  • hot water
  • vanilla extract
  • butter, softened

All of the ingredients are mixed together and beat until the frosting becomes “Lightened in color and fluffy.”  I beat my frosting for quite a while and it still seemed too stiff to me so I ended up added about three TBS of cream to fluff it up.

Then comes the assembly…

The key for me was to place the cake in the freezer between icing steps.  I still ended up with a few wayward globs and smears of icing on my counter, but I felt like a had much more control of the process than I have in the past.

Here is how the assembly goes:

  1. Place one layer on your platter.  Use about 1/2″ of frosting to top this layer.  Carefully place the second layer on top, with the bottom up the layer up for a flat-topped cake.  Place the cake in the freezer for 30 minutes.  This sets the frosting and makes your layers less likely to slide around as you continue to frost.
  2. Create a Crumb Coat.  A crumb coat is a light layer of frosting spread across the top and the sides of the cake.  Some cake, and crumbs, will show through.  Basically you are creating a surface to which the final layer of frosting will stick.  Once you have added the crumb coat, again place the cake in the freezer for 30 minutes.
  3. Add the final layer of frosting.  The frosting will be about 1/2′ thick.  Extra frosting can be used to pipe around the base of the cake if desired.

Here are my observations and suggestions:

  • I wish my layers had been a little thicker.  As  I said, I used 9″ pans because that is what I have.  I think 8″ might have been better.  Also, I may have night beat my batter quite long enough.  I suspect that these two things combined will yield a taller layer.  I think the taller layers are important because the icing is quite rich, needing a “substantial” cake to support it.
  • I substituted the King Arthur Princess Cake and Cookie Flavor for the almond extract.
  • I added 2 TBS of King Arthur Cake Enhancer to my batter.  This cake can be kept at room temperature for three days or refrigerated up to one week.  The Cake Enhancer helps to keep it fresh and moist.

I can see why King Arthur Flour has chosen this as their Recipe of the Year for 2019. This is indeed a fabulous, classic cake.  When you read all of the steps to the recipe, it sounds a little more cumbersome and labor intensive than it really is.  The cake comes together easily.

I will say that a small piece goes a long way; it is very rich.

Give this recipe a practice run so that you are prepared for the next birthday cake that you are called upon to make!  You won’t be disappointed!  Practice makes perfect…and perhaps a little bigger around the middle. 🙂

 

from Tracey G.

Sanders Bumpy Cake from King Arthur Flour

I recently bought the stuff to make this cake, for fun, to see if I could remedy the mistakes I made last time I tried it, which was for this post: Food Friday – Cake Confessions. So, when cakes came around again, I asked Kris if she thought it would be ok for me to revisit this recipe since I was all set to make it anyway! We decided I should go for it! The first time around, I had issues with my fudge frosting, and ended up making another batch to see if I could fix the first mistake and it sort of backfired, and I made it WAY too thick. Oh well, live and learn and hope to make it right the next time you try right? I think I completed my mission by at least 90%, and discovered some things I think to make it work even better next time I make it – because there will be a next time, it’s really yummy!

The ingredients are simple:

CAKE

  • Dutch-process cocoa
  • hot brewed coffee or water
  • vegetable oil
  • buttermilk
  • baking soda
  • salt
  • vanilla extract
  • large eggs
  • granulated sugar
  • King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

BUTTERCREAM

  • unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • salt
  • confectioners’ sugar, sifted
  • vanilla extract
  • milk or half & half, as needed

FUDGE FROSTING

  • buttermilk
  • dark corn syrup
  •  (1/2 cup) unsalted butter
  • Dutch-process cocoa
  • salt
  • confectioners’ sugar, sifted
  • vanilla extract

 

The first time I made this, back in February 2018, I bought the Bensdorp Dutch Process Cocoa (as in linked in the ingredients list!), and I liked it so much that I keep it on hand now for making cakes etc. But I am confident any Dutch process cocoa powder would be just fine!

The cake comes together super easy, you start by combining the hot brewed coffee or hot water with the cocoa powder and mix until smooth. Add the buttermilk and oil, mix until combined. Then the salt and baking soda is added, mixed for 30 seconds, then the eggs and vanilla are put in and it all mixed until smooth. The very last things to go in are the sugar and flour, and mixed for 2 minutes. In the oven it goes at 350°F for 33-35 minutes. Cool on rack at least 30 minutes, then into the freezer it goes for about an hour.

While it’s chilling in the freezer, mix up the buttercream. That’s fairly straightforward, whip the butter, add the vanilla and powdered sugar and mix until fluffy. Add in a bit of milk until it’s a nice smooth consistency. This will get piped on the cake after it’s been chilled, in 7 stripes, from the short side of the pan (the 9 inch side, not lengthwise), that are spaced about 1″ apart. After you do this, it’s back  into the freezer for about 30 minutes.

When time is almost up, it’s time to get the fudge frosting going. This is really easy, and this go around I got the timing right. You combine in a heavy-bottomed saucepan the butter, buttermilk, salt, cocoa and dark corn syrup. Over medium heat bring it to a boil, and boil for 2-3 minutes until the bubble make a snapping sound as they pop.

Now, this is where I messed up the last time – I brought it to a boil too slow last time and it ended up way too thick. This time I brought it up fast, and it worked really well. After you get it to that snapping point, you reduce the heat and whisk in the sugar until it melts and it’s smooth and glossy. Remove from heat and add your vanilla. And I must confess here that in my anxiety to get it at the right pouring consistency, I got it right into my measure cup as directed to cool slightly before pouring on the cake – well, I forgot to add the vanilla. I am here to say though that it is just fine without it!

My house was really cool, so I did have some issues with it pouring nicely, and therefore I did have to pop the measuring cup into the microwave for a couple quick warm-ups so it would stay pourable. I also didn’t pour it as they direct – you’re directed to pour half over the buttercream stripes, then tilt the cake to cover the top. It then gets back in the freezer for a few minutes to set, and you bring it out and pour the rest of the frosting over it. Well, I just did it all in one step. I did go over the buttercream bumps first, got them covered then filled in where needed. It worked out ok, and likely would’ve been smoother had I not had cooling issues that were thickening up my fudge frosting!

But, in the end it turned out pretty well – I am happy with it, and it looks MUCH better than the first attempt! I know it seems complicated, but it’s really not, there’s just a few steps that have to be done in stages. But they all come together really easily, so it takes a bit of time to bring them all together. It’s definitely one I wouldn’t make on the day it’s needed, I would likely do it the day before!

It’s a really fun treat, it’s different – with the fudge icing/frosting and the strips of buttercream, it’s not too sweet, but definitely sweet enough! And I must also say it goes really well with coffee or a nice glass of cold milk! (Jeremy can attest to the milk companionship since I would not drink a glass of milk! LOL)

I am super happy I have made it again, and now that I have it pretty well under control and some experience behind me, it will be a fun special-occasion cake!!! And on that note, I think I’ll go grab a cup of coffee and piece of Bumpy Cake!

Mix It Up Monday – Breakfast Breads

14 Monday Jan 2019

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from Kris B.Fresh Blueberry Scones

It is not fresh berry season here in Texas right now, but thanks to imports from South America, fresh blueberries can be had all year round.  They were even on sale this last week!  I do try to by local and in season most of the time, but going from September through March with no fresh blueberries is tough!  I bought the berries with scones in mind.

As an aside, I chuckled a bit when I read the recipe title on the King Arthur website.  My first thought was, “Well, I’m glad that they are fresh scones because it is sometimes difficult to tell the difference between blueberry color and mold color in baked goods. 🙂  Syntax in the English language is a funny thing.  Moving on…

With this recipe, I read the comments before making it, something that I don’t often do.  More chuckles were had.  Some reviewers said the scones were too sweet; others said they weren’t sweet enough.  Some said the dough was too dry and would not come together; others said the consistency was perfect.  Some said this recipe was too American; others said it was too English.  This final criticism got me wondering what was considered an authentic English scone and what caused a scone to become Americanized.  I decided to do a little research.  This question also gave me an opportunity to find out what the shape of a “real” scone should be, something I’ve wondered about for some time.  Here in the U.S. they are almost always triangular.  The scones I ate (way too many of) while in the U.K. were all round, resembling a Southern rolled biscuit in shape, but nothing like their taste or consistency.

Here is what I found:

What’s the biggest difference between British and American scones?

It’s really about the butter…a true British scone is not as buttery. Not because the Brits are nutritious, but because in Britain you don’t put a lot of butter in because you slather butter on it when you eat it! By the same token, you don’t put a lot of sugar in it but you pile jam on top. They’re probably equally injurious to one’s diet but in different, equally lovely ways.

That makes sense to me.  Basically, the English view a scone as a delivery system for clotted cream )or butter) and jam, much in the same way that here in Texas we consider tortillas chips as merely a vehicle for salsa.  American scones, with their unique texture, sweetness, add-ins, and often added glaze are icing are meant to be a stand alone pastry – no clotted cream and jam required.

Interestingly, I found no definitive answer to my question about the proper shape of a scone.

Basically, I think that it comes down to convenience.  The common wedge-shaped scones are easily cut from a circular disk of dough.  Making round scones, like traditional round rolled and cut biscuits, is less desirable because the continuous rolling, cutting, and gathering of the pieces to re-roll the dough causes the dough to toughen.  Square scones are easy to cut and have no waste or re-rolling like the circular ones. The King Arthur Flour Fresh Blueberry Scones recipe says that it makes 10 scones when cut in wedges.  I made nine squares so mine are slightly bigger.

Scones are super easy to make.  Sift the dry ingredients together.  Cut in the butter.  Whisk the wet ingredients together.  Combine the wet and the dry.  Stir in the blueberries.  Pat the dough out in the shape of your choice on a well-floured surface.  Cut the individual scones.  Place them on a parchment-lined baking sheet.  Bake for 20 minutes in a 375 degree oven.  Done!

INGREDIENTS

Here are a few suggestions and a few things that I did differently:

  1. I used a full 6 oz. container of Chobani vanilla yogurt.  It is slightly more than what the recipe calls for.
  2. I grated frozen butter into the dry ingredients.
  3. In addition to the lemon zest, I squeezed a tiny bit of lemon juice into the dough.
  4. Don’t judge the dryness of the dough until the blueberries have been added.
  5. Place the pan of scones in the freezer for 30 minutes before baking.  This helps them to rise.
  6. Rather than brushing the tops with melted butter, I used heavy cream and sprinkled a bit of sparkling white sugar on top..  One of the reasons the American scones often have a heavy glaze or icing is that it keeps them moist longer.  You could use a simple glaze on these.

That’s all there is to it.  Except to eat them.

from Tracey G.

Back in September, I did the plain Water Bagel recipe, with the King Arthur Flour Everything Bagel Topping and I’d mentioned that I’ve made the Cinnamon-Raisin version – well, I decided to make them again for Jeremy (they are his favorites) and share the method, because they are so much better than the store-bought version (unless of course you’re getting yours fresh from a bakery!). It’s funny because I’m really fickle about raisins, they are ok in certain things for me, but not everything that they’d normally go in – like cookies, never in any cookies, unless of course it’s Hermits, lol. But anyway, I don’t usually like raisins in things like this, but I actually love these!

And I know I said it before, but they are really EASY to make, and not even that time-consuming at all. The time really does seem to fly by as I’m making them. After you mix your dough up, it rises for about an hour and half, or until it’s doubled. And that’s the only rise time of that nature – so you get right to the shaping and making fairly quickly.

I add all my plain bagel ingredients into the bowl of my stand mixer, and then I add about 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, and 1 cup of raisins. Then I mix as directed. Here’s the ingredient list:

DOUGH

  • active dry yeast or instant yeast
  • lukewarm water
  • instant malted milk powder or Non-Diastatic Malt Powder
  • sugar
  • salt
  • King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
  • * 1-2 teaspoons Cinnamon (KAF recommends 1 teaspoon – I used 2 and it worked beautifully)
  • * 1 cup Raisins

WATER BATH

The only *special* ingredient is the Non-Diastatic Malt Powder, and it’s the most important one in my opinion. It’s what gives you and pretty darn close to authentic (if not very authentic) bakery-bagel taste. And it’s really pretty inexpensive, plus I’ve gotten lots of batches out my bag of it. I actually just used up the last of it and am in need of more! It goes in the bagel dough, and in the water bath for it. I can say it again as I said back in September, I will never buy my bagels again if I can help it!

Once dough is mixed and risen, I weigh my total dough, then divide it by 16 so I know how much to pull off for each bagel. I weigh as I go, getting all my pieces ready for shaping into the classic bagel shape. And I really love the shaping part! I get the water bath going and the oven preheating while I get my bagels weighed and divided into 16 pieces. Usually by the time I’m done doing that, my water is ready for them. I get 4 shaped and in the pan to boil for 30 seconds per side. As my timer is going, I’m getting 4 more shaped. When the first 4 come out of the water, the next go in – and when they’re done, that pan in ready to go into the oven! I keep my parchment lined pan right next to the stove so I can transfer already-boiled bagels right to it. When it’s full, I get 8 bagels per sheet, in the oven it goes for about 20-25 minutes. While they’re baking, I get the rest of the dough (the 8 pieces left) shaped, boiled and on the pan ready to go when the others come out of the oven.

I can’t say enough how easy they are to make – the only downtime is waiting for the dough to rise, once that’s done, it’s a pretty quick process from then on. You can be snacking on a fresh-out-of-the-oven bagel while you’re finishing up the shaping of the rest of the bagels!

Mix It Up Monday: Scones!

05 Monday Nov 2018

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Double-Decker Filled Scones from King Arthur Flour

I had picked these out awhile ago to make for scone week. When I re-read the recipe yesterday, I almost said nope, because there were some “steps” I didn’t recall seeing and it just sounded too labor intensive for the energy level I had. But then, I said what the heck, give it a go – with a modification!

The ingredients are all things I had on hand:

DOUGH

  • King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour; or King Arthur White Whole Wheat Flour
  • salt
  • granulated sugar
  • baking powder
  • butter
  • eggs
  • milk
  • vanilla extract
  • coarse white sugar, for sprinkling on top

FILLING

  • about 1 to 1 1/2 cups prepared filling: jam, nut butter, cookie butter, sweetened cream cheese, or the filling of your choice

The directions are really easy, (they just seemed like they had too many steps to me on 2nd read through), – you mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl and cut in your butter. In another bowl you combine the eggs, milk & vanilla. Then, stir into the dry ingredients until just combined.

Now, at this point the directions tell you to divide the dough into thirds, and shape each third into a disk, 1 inch thick and 4 inches in diameter on a parchment or greased baking pan. Once that’s done, you pop into the freezer for about 30 minutes, pull them out then cut them in half around their circumference with a serrated knife. Well, instead of doing that, I thought it would be easier to just make 6 disks 1/2 inch thick & the 4 inches in diameter as directed and thereby cut out the splitting in half step!

So, that’s what I did. I then stuck the 6 disks into the freezer for 30 min, but each on a piece of waxed paper for easier handling when they came out.

While they were in the freezer I prepared my filling. I used about 1 cup of apricot jam, which is one of my favorites. They suggest 1 to 1 1/2 cups of filling. I’d read another recipe by KAF similar to this one that uses seedless raspberry jam to which they add sugar plus some Instant Clearjel, so I did that as well for this one because I was worried about my jam melting into nothing in the oven, or melting right out of the edges. (I used 1 tbsp sugar plus 2 tbsp Instant ClearJel)

To build them, you spread 1/3 of your filling onto 3 of the disks, then top with the other 3. I was really skeptical at this point about it turning out as it should. I still worried my filling would slide right out of the edges as it baked. But I kept the faith and kept on rolling along.

Once they’re “built”, you can brush with milk and sprinkle on coarse sugar if you want to. I don’t normally use it because my guys don’t like the “crunchy texture” the coarse sugar gives things – but I did it anyway for prettiness! You leave them in uncut circles to bake.

I didn’t need to worry at all – these baked up perfectly! The top disks curve down to “seal” up the edges before anything could melt out, and I think it would’ve been fine without the Instant ClearJel in my jam, but I don’t think it hurt either! Once they’ve cooled on the sheet pan for about 10 minutes, you then cut each round into 6 wedges. Mine even cut fairly nice too!

What started out as a big “I don’t know about this…” sort of thing, turned out to be a “I am so glad I made these!” endeavor. And it wasn’t hard or complicated at all – just sounded like it was, when in actually doing it was super easy. I’m sure I must sound like a broken record when I say I will be making these again – but I will for sure be making them not only again, but often!! Jeremy’s already requested a seedless black raspberry-blackberry jam version!

 

from Kris B.

Triple Cinnamon Scones

These scones have been on my “to-make_ list for a while.  For some reason, cinnamon says autumn to me; I’m not sure why. Maybe it is because of the cinnamon scented pine cones that fill the entry way to the grocery store at this time of year.  Who knows.  For whatever reason, they sounded like the perfect recipe for our November scones week.  How can you go wrong with triple cinnamon?

The dough is a basic dough except for the inclusion of the first of the triple cinnamon ingredients – cinnamon chips.

DOUGH

  • King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
  • sugar
  • baking powder
  • salt
  • cold butter, cut into pats
  • cinnamon sweet bits or cinnamon chips
  • half & half or evaporated milk
  • eggs, lightly beaten
  • vanilla extract

The most difficult part of making the dough is finding the cinnamon chips.  I remember a time when they were easily gotten in the baking aisle of the grocery store.  This is not so anymore, at least here in Texas.  Fortunately, I remembered needing them for a previous recipe that I wanted to make and not being able to find them so on one of my King Arthur Flour shopping binges I ordered the cinnamon sweet bits “just in case.”  The making of the dough follows the same process as Tracey’s recipe – the dry ingredients are mixed; the butter is cut in: the wet ingredients are added; and finally the chips are stirred in.

The thing that makes these scones so delicious, in my opinion, is the second of the triple cinnamon ingredients – the filling.

FILLING

I will admit that I was skeptical about buying the King Arthur Baker’s Cinnamon Filling.  Why in the world did I need to buy cinnamon sugar?  In a moment of weakness, I bought it anyway.  This stuff is not just cinnamon sugar.  It is a combination of Vietnamese cinnamon, extra-fine sugar, and dry shortening.  Don’t worry.  If you tracked down the cinnamon chips and don’t have this, you can make a substitute filling with brown sugar, cinnamon, corn starch, and milk.  I love brown sugar and cinnamon, but I have to say that for this recipe, it is worth purchasing the Baker’s Cinnamon Filling.  All you do is mix it with water.

Once the dough and filling are made, it is time to assemble the scones.  The dough is patted out into either a square or a rectangle.  There are some math/geometry inconsistencies in the recipe on the King Arthur website, but it really doesn’t matter.  I made mine into a 12 inch square.  Then you spread the filling on top.  The dough is then folded like a letter – one side into the center nd then the other.  At this point, I had a 4×12 inch rectangle.  You then pat the dough thin until it becomes roughly a 6×18 rectangle.  (Remember it is now tree times its original thickness.)  I found the dough quite easy to work with.

I then deviated slightly from the instructions as far as forming the scones.  I cut my rectangle into 3 6×6 squares and the cut each square into four triangles for a total of a dozen scones.  The scones are then placed on a lightly greased parchment-lined baking sheet and placed in the freezer for thirty minutes.  This helps them to rise better during the baking.

The scones bake for 18-20 minutes in a 425 degree oven.  They are done when they are a light golden brown.  Once out of the oven, allow the scones to cool completely still on the baking tray.

Once completely cooled, it;s time for cinnamon glaze.

GLAZE

  • confectioners’ sugar
  • ground cinnamon
  • water

The recipe calls for the entire scone to be glazed – top and bottom.  I chose only to glaze the top by mixing the glaze ingredients in a wide shallow bowl and dipping each scone.

Every time scones come up in a conversation, someone always says that they don’t like scones because they are too dry.  And, that is often true.  In this case, however, it is most definitely not the case!  These things are perfect!

My daughter said, “These scones are what would happen if a scone and a cinnamon roll had babies.”

I also sent some home with a friend who stopped by the house.  We don’t need to eat a dozen scones!  I got a message from him the next day saying that they were AMAZING!  He is one who said that he normally doesn’t eat scones because of their dryness.  He volunteered to take extras off of my hands anytime that I needed to get rid or extras.

I have to agree.  These are the best scones that I have ever had.  Paired with a nice strong cup of black coffee, it is nirvana!

Mix It Up Monday – Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice!

23 Tuesday Oct 2018

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from Tracey G.

Gluten Free Doughnut Mix from King Arthur Flour

I personally do not need to eat gluten-free, but I really like to try things out for those who do – and mixes interest me because of the ease they offer to make GF treats. So far, everything I’ve tried from King Arthur Flour has been a win in their gluten-free mix line. This Gluten Free Doughnut Mix is a definite win in my book – I think I like it better than their regular doughnut mix! These are also baked doughnuts, like their regular mix, but I find that I love their texture and moistness much more!

They were very easy to prepare, with a couple of variations available to tailor it to your dietary needs. Here’s what you supply:

  • Butter
  • Vegetable Oil
  • Eggs
  • Milk

There is a variation where you can make it dairy-free by omitting the butter and regular milk, and use 1/3 cup vegetable oil and your milk substitute of choice (rice, soy or almond is what they list). So, since I cut cholesterol contributing ingredients where I can, I omitted the butter and used 1/3 cup vegetable oil, but kept the regular milk.

You do need a doughnut pan for these, I love this one from KAF, their Standard Doughnut Pan. And even though it’s non-stick, I do use a spritz of my no-sticky-residue-left-on-my-good-pans Vegalene Spray that I’ve mentioned before – it’s great stuff!

As I’ve been working on cookies again, I wasn’t in the mood to mix up a glaze this time around, so I dug out my KAF Baker’s Special Sugar, a superfine (castor) sugar and mixed it with some KAF Vietnamese Cinnamon and tossed the doughnuts with that in a zip-top bag (one at a time) to coat them. I am so glad I did! I think that combo made them way better than a glaze, lol.

So, Jeremy and I taste-tested and we both agreed they are really – I mean really – yummy and if you have to eat gluten-free, you will not feel deprived one bit! If you don’t have to eat gluten-free, they’re just a fabulous treat no matter what! Give the Gluten Free Doughnut Mix from King Arthur Flour a try!

 

from Kris B.

Cinnamon Sugar Puff Muffin Mix from King Arthur Flour

Sometimes simple is exactly what you need. I often find myself wanting just a little something sweet – not too heavy, not a specific flavor, not a major “experience” to make, and preferably a treat that goes well with coffee. A basic vanilla-ish muffin mix topped with cinnamon fits the bill perfectly.  These muffins are tasty without being overbearing.  For me, they are the best kind of comfort food.

I was away over the weekend at a retreat.  Let me just say that we were not lacking for food.  The camp chef prepared delicious meals.  Between meals, we also had an abundance of snacks.  Unfortunately, I did not bake for this week’s post before I left so I had to bake the Cinnamon Puff Muffins when I got home Sunday evening.  I must admit that food was the last thing that I wanted to think about.  Fortunately, these muffins are simple to make.

To the mix, you provide:

  • Butter
  • Milk
  • Eggs

As with Tracey’s doughnut mix, the mix directions mention the substitution of vegetable oil or a mixture of vegetable oil and applesauce for the butter.  This time, I used butter.  I also used whole milk rather than almond milk, my usual, because that’s what was in the fridge when I was ready to bake.  Though the instructions don’t specifically mention substituting a non-dairy milk, the Baker’s tips on the website do.  I use almond milk almost exclusively in my baking and have never suffered any ill consequences.  It is important to note that the mix contains dairy so using a non-dairy milk will not make the muffins non-dairy.

The muffin mix, eggs, milk, and butter are stirred together and then divided into 12 standard-sized muffin cups.  (Mini-muffins are also an option.)  The muffins bake for 12-16 minutes.  Once done, the muffins cool for fifteen minutes before the topping is added.  The tops are then dipped in melted butter followed by the included cinnamon sugar.  That’s it!  Well, except for the eating part. 🙂

These Cinnamon Puff Muffins really are an anytime snack.  They are not too sweet to have with coffee for breakfast or too heavy too heavy to have as afternoon or bedtime snack.  I took a couple to school yesterday and left them on our secretary’s desk as a Monday morning treat.  Based on her reaction when I saw her later in the day, you’d have thought that I had left or a $100 bill or a Get Out of Jail free (aka day off) card.  I think that making someone’s day just a tiny bit brighter by sharing baked goods, even when from a mix, is why I love to bake so much.

As is often the case,

also offers several alternative ways to use this mix – doughnuts, scones, bundt cake.  Order a few boxes of this mix, try the variations, and make all of your friends smile!

Happy baking!

 

Mix It Up Monday – Testing the KAF Baking Box: Pumpkin Pecan Spoonable Cakes

15 Monday Oct 2018

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from Tracey G. 

Pumpkin Pecan Baking Box from King Arthur Flour

Since we don’t have the KAF Bakealong anymore, we’re picking and choosing how to fill in its spot in the rotation until the end of the year, where in the new year we have some plans in the works to fill the spot that could be rather interesting! So that means branching out a bit and finding something rather interesting. And for this month, we decided to try one of the new Baking Boxes from KAF.

Kris and I noticed that King Arthur Flour was getting in on the “box thing”, in the form of their Baking Boxes. Currently, there are only four, and they seem to be morphing as KAF decides how they want to do them, price them etc. For example, when I first saw them come out, they were more along the $35-39 range, but now they seem to be running about $25. They are not a subscription box, and they don’t come with a recipe, so if you want to make them again, yep – you buy another box.

They do provide you with pretty much everything you need to make the treat, you just provide fresh items and liquids. The instructions are fairly thorough, and easy to follow.

For this particular box they provide:

  • bakeable paper cups
  • pastry bag (for piping on the frosting)
  • sugar and pumpkin mix for cake batter
  • cake mix
  • pecans
  • pecan sauce mix
  • frosting mix

You provide:

  • butter
  • eggs
  • cream cheese
  • milk
  • water

For the Cakes:

You first mix the butter and packet 1, then add in the eggs one at a time. Next, add in packet 2 and the milk alternately as stated. Beat until fluffy, and you’re then instructed to fill the papers 2/3 full with a “heaping” 1/3 cup of batter. Bake for about 20-25 minutes, when done, cool on pan for 5 minutes, then finish cooling completely on rack.

For the Pecan Sauce:

Bring water and butter to a simmer and add packet 3, will thicken a bit. Open packet 4, remove 2 tbsp of the pecans and reserve for garnish and add the rest to the sauce, stirring to coat. Remove from heat and allow to sit about 30 min.

For the Frosting:

Add cream cheese, butter and packet 5 to a large bowl or bowl of stand mixer. Mix on low to combine, then turn up the speed to medium-high until it lightens in color.

To Build Cakes:

Spoon about a tbsp of pecan sauce on cake, pipe a mound of frosting on top of that, then garnish with reserved pecans.

So, since we each made this, we decided to just list our pros and cons in regards to making, mixing or whatever we think of as such!

Pros:

  • Easy!
  • They look much more “fussy” to make than they are.
  • Very yummy, delicious flavor combination
  • Pretty presentation, and easy to make it look like their picture!
  • Would be a great gift for someone who likes to bake, but doesn’t stock a lot of ingredients.
  • A great inter-generational project for children and their parents or grandparents.
  • Would be the perfect item if you had to “bring a dish” to a gathering – it would be easy to have all parts made and ready to go (for instance the frosting can be stored in the uncut pastry bag with the open end secured), then when you get to your destination you can build them. And they’d be a pretty presentation!
  • What you see is what you get.
  • Our guys liked them!

Cons:

  • Kind of pricey considering you must provide some of the more expensive ingredients.
  • No recipe included; so, to make again, you must buy another box
  • Really high in calories, lol.
  • Tastes a lot like carrot cake – not necessarily a “con” but it’s supposed to be a pumpkin cake.
  • There is barely enough batter to fill the ten cups.  You must measure exactly to have 10 full and even cups.  Use a level 1/3 – not heaping!
  • The kit makes way too much frosting.  I used only half of what was made and even then there was more frosting on each cake than I would normally use.
  • if the box is given as a gift, There is no non-consumable keepsake – other than perhaps a few extra pounds!?

We are looking forward to seeing how King Arthur Flour further develops and grows their Baking Box line.

Mix It Up Monday – Cookies and Bars – with Chocolate Chips!

01 Monday Oct 2018

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from Kris B.

Quinoa Peanut Butter Cookies

When you put the words peanut butter, chocolate, and cookie all in the title of one recipe, you’ve got my attention!  I have to say, though, that the quinoa flour was a “player” that I really knew nothing about. I have eaten it as a side dish with savory meals and enjoyed its grain-like texture and nutty flavor.  Quinoa, however, is not a grain, but a seed from a vegetable that is botanically related to spinach, swiss chard, and beets.  Cookies with peanut butter, chocolate, and vegetables…I was willing to give them a try!
Knowing nothing about quinoa flour and its properties in baking, I decided to do a little research.  Interestingly, in this article by the King Arthur Flour, the test bakers worked with substituting quinoa flour for a portion of the all-purpose flour in some of their familiar recipes.  The substitutions ranged from 25-50 percent for the quinoa flour.  The test recipes were for pancakes, scones, quick breads, and muffins.  None was for cookies and none used 100% quinoa flour.  In fact, this article even said that using too much quinoa flour yields a dry final product.  When I read this, I got a little worried because peanut butter cookies run the risk of being dry using the normal all-purpose flour and this recipe for Quinoa Peanut Butter cookies uses only quinoa flour.  Armed with all of this information and an open mind, I set out to try this recipe.
The making/baking process is no different from any other cookie recipe.  The wet ingredients and sugar…

    • vegetable shortening
    • creamy peanut butter
    • cup brown sugar, lightly packed
    • large egg
    • water
    • honey
    • vanilla extract

…are creamed together.  The dry ingredients…

  • quinoa flour
  • baking soda
  • salt

…are whisked together in a separate bowl and added to the wet.  Once combined, bittersweet chocolate chips or chunks are stirred in.

The dough is then scooped by tablespoon onto parchment lined baking sheets, flattened slightly, and baked for 11-13 minutes.

Because my oven almost always requires the maximum baking time, and often then some, I baked my cookies for the full thirteen minutes.  Even with that, they seemed not quite done.  Because of the warning about too much quinoa flour resulting in a dry finished product, I decided that underdone and soft cookies were preferable to overdone and dr ones.  The recipe also warns that once out of the oven, the cookies are fragile until completely cooled; so, allow them to cool completely before removing them from the baking sheet. This made me a bit skeptical because fragile cookies are usually dry and crumbly.  Did I mention that I really don’t care for dry crispy peanut butter cookies!

I was pleasantly surprised!!!  These cookies are fabulous…not dry and crumbly at all!  In fact, their texture is almost cake-like, soft and chewy.  Mine may be slightly underbaked, but they are not doughy.  And more importantly, they are not dry and crumbly.  This is definitely a keeper recipe!

The taste is not noticeably different from “normal” peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies, but these are a gluten-free cookie, a dietary option that is becoming more and more necessary.  And even if you don’t have to eat gluten-free, “quinoa is one of the only plant foods that is a complete protein, offering all the essential amino acids.”

Cookies with some redeeming nutritional value…I’m in!

Give them a try.  I don’t think that you will be disappointed!

from Tracey G

Brownie Crisps from King Arthur Flour

I love making brownies from scratch, so it’s kind of fun when I find a variation on the traditional brownie theme: enter the Brownie Crisps recipe from the King Arthur Flour website. They are a super fun twist on the usual brownie suspect – they’re the equivalent of the just-the-muffin-tops kind of thing, but in brownie form!

They are so yummy and easy. They have the some of the crispiness but also a chewy texture that I absolutely adore. The first thing Jeremy asked me when he tasted them was if they were from a mix – not because he thought they tasted like a mix, but because he wanted to know if it was recipe so I could make them often! He was ever so happy to find out that they could be made whenever, and he’s been asking me since I made them if they’ve had their photos taken yet, so he could get the green-light to eat at will! 😀

As I said, they are easy – I had everything on hand to make them, which always makes me happy when that happens. And it’s stuff I have on hand all the time, nothing special really.

Here’s the list of ingredients:

That’s it. And since I’m still watching my cholesterol (forever it seems), I was really encouraged to see that it only involved egg whites and vegetable oil as the fat – not butter.

There’s an order to mixing it, but it’s nothing too complicated and I did it all by hand, no mixer required.

First you whisk together the flour, salt & baking soda and you set that aside. In another bowl, you beat the egg whites until frothy. To the now frothy egg whites you add the sugar, cocoa powder, espresso powder, vanilla and oil. And mix until blended (for this step, I actually combined the sugar, cocoa powder and espresso powder together in another bowl to make it easy to add to the eggs). Once that’s blended, you whisk in the milk powder then flour mixture. At this point, you stir in half of the chocolate chips.

Now you’re set to get it on your pan. You use a sheet pan, ungreased, with parchment paper on it that IS greased. (I used my favorite spray from KAF, Vegalene Food Release Spray because it absolutely does not leave a sticky residue on my good pans like the leading supermarket brands seem to do, and for $10.95 it’s a really big can!) Once your parchment is ready, you spread the batter on as thin as you possibly can, then sprinkle the rest of the chocolate chips over it. This is what mine looked like before it was ready to do into the oven:

Now it goes into a 325°F oven for about 20 minutes. You then remove it from the oven, cut it into pieces, and, without disturbing them, (for example separating the pieces), you pop it back into the oven and bake for another 5 minutes. Remove from oven for the final time and allow to cool on the pan, then separate the pieces and enjoy!

This recipe, needless to say is a serious keeper – it is so easy and you can have it done in no time at all. Which, most days is my kind of recipe! Give them a try!

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