Sometimes Not Cooking is a Good Thing

Saturday was my birthday.  I didn’t have any particular plans for the day and decided to bake myself some scones.  After rifling through the cabinets to see what was on hand, I opted for some chocolate chip/almond scones.  No muss, no fuss, just like I planned the day to be.

Chocolate Chip Almond Scones

2 cups flour

1 Tbs baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup sugar
6 Tbs cold unsalted butter, cut into chunks
1/2 cup + 2 Tbs  heavy cream
1/2 cup lightly toasted, sliced almonds
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 425°.

In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Cut in the butter with a pastry until butter is well incorporated into the mixture. Add the almonds and chocolate chips.

Stir in the cream until a dough forms. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead lightly to bring the mixture together.  Form into a flattened rectangle, about a foot or so long and about 3/4” thick. Cut into wedges.  Place s on a lined baking sheet and bake for 16-18 minutes, until golden brown.

* * *

Offspring 1 and 2 decided to make dinner for me.  Now, my girls have been raised in a household with someone who cooks to relax, so they are on familiar terms with, shall we say, more complicated offerings than mac & cheese from a box (Which I buy on sale and use as a topping for popcorn – the cheese, at least.  Not the pasta.  Obviously).  That said, neither has exactly inherited my great love of being in the kitchen, either.  But I have to say, I was duly impressed with the menu.  O1 made a chicken and zucchini pasta with lots of garlic (Yes!) and cherry tomatoes.  She also roasted some asparagus.  O2 whipped up some garlic biscuits and then made various renditions of crepes for dessert (I opted for chocolate/apricot/almond).  And aside from an evening spent hanging out with my girls, laughing and having a great time, the best part was that I didn’t have to clean the kitchen afterwards!!

Sometimes Only a Doughnut Will Do

I have an important question to ask.  Are you of the DOUGHnut,  or the DOnut  persuasion?  Me, I prefer the former.  I think Shakespeare would approve.

Anyway, this weekend I woke up with a craving for doughnuts, quite possibly brought on by O2’s dash south to pick some up at Voodoo with a friend of hers, almost causing me to be late for an appointment.  Anyway, while I appreciate the novelty of a good Voodoo Doughnut (and by the way, THEY happen to be of the DOUGHnut persuasion), my tastes tend to run to the basic and boring myself.

And, while I was motivated enough to make them myself, rather than driving across town to pick one (or two) up, I wasn’t patient enough to put together something with a long wait time.  So raised doughnuts were out.  Instead, I dug around and pieced together a couple of recipes and came up with these.

I’m not sure that using an actual vanilla bean made a whole lot of difference here.  It did make me feel better about my ‘quickie’ doughnuts, though, so we’ll call them integral to the success of the dish.  Seriously, though, you can get away with just amping up your vanilla extract if you don't want to mess with the vanilla bean.

I tried these two different ways (ok, three).  One in their pristine condition dunked into a little chocolate, and one sprinkled with a bit of vanilla sugar I had on hand.  I also ate several of them as is, and I think I liked those best.

For leftovers, I popped a few in the oven just to heat them through.  They didn’t have quite the same consistency as fresh (they lost that nice crunch to the outside), but they were still very tasty.

Vanilla Bean Quick Doughnuts

2 Tbs butter flavored shortening
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 vanilla bean, split in half and seeds scraped
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp salt
½ cup buttermilk

Oil for frying (I used canola)

In a mixing bowl, cream together the shortening and sugar.  Beat in the egg.  Add the seeds from the vanilla bean, along with the vanilla extract and stir to combine.  Sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.  Add to egg mixture.  Add buttermilk and stir until ingredients are combined.

Flour a surface and roll out dough to about 1/3” thick.  Cut with floured doughnut cutter, re-rolling scrap pieces and cutting until all the dough is cut out.  Allow to stand while oil is being heated.

In a large saucepan, add oil until it is about 2” deep.  Heat on medium to medium-high until oil reaches a temperature of about 365°.  Add dough a few pieces at a time (don’t overcrowd the pan) and allow to cook on each side until the doughnut is a golden brown, maybe a minute per side. Remove from oil and place on paper towels to drain.  While still warm, roll in cinnamon sugar or powdered sugar, if desired.

Or dunk in a glaze.

Or chocolate.

You get the idea.

A Little Spice is Nice

It’s turned kind of gloomy and cold here. The weather in a word is, boring. Not cold with gusting winds, or cold and miserable because it’s pouring down rain. Just kind of overcast and chilly.

Just… blah.

Anyway, the need to make something homey and warm brought me to these. Oh, and a new tea flavor called ‘Sweet Thai Coconut’. I’m not one for endorsements, but check it out in the Celestial Seasonings area. And follow the package directions by adding a little bit of honey and cream to it.

Yum.

Anyway, these scones also fit the bill. I used just plain ol’ Chai tea that I had, but next time I’ll infuse the milk with my newfound coconut blend and then maybe add a little toasted coconut to the top of them. The scones are very tender and last several days (rather than drying out). Sure beats the heck out of Pop Tarts for breakfast.

Chai Scones

1 cup milk
2 Chai flavored tea bags
3 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
5 tsp baking powder
1-½ sticks cold butter
2 tsp real vanilla

2 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp cloves
1 tsp vanilla
Enough milk to make a glaze-like consistency

Preheat oven 350º. Add milk to a saucepan to warm over low heat. Remove from heat and add tea bags. Allow to steep for about 15 minutes.

Combine flour, salt, sugar, and baking powder in a large bowl. Cut cold butter into the flour until the mixture resembles course crumbs. Remove tea bags from milk and add the vanilla. Stir milk mixture into the flour and butter until combined.

Turn mixture out onto a clean surface. Bring everything together with your hands, handling as little as possible so the dough won’t become tough. Press into a circle or log, about ¾” thick. Cut the dough into individual portions.

Transfer scones to a baking pan and bake for 15-20 minutes, just until the edges turn brown. Allow to cool slightly.

In the meantime, combine all of the remaining ingredients, adding the milk a tablespoon at a time until you get the right consistency. Drizzle over scones.

Frugal Fridays - Dutch, Dutch, Baby

So, I thought I’d introduce a new ‘segment’ to the blog called ‘Frugal Fridays’. Basically, I’m going to highlight a particular meal and give the rundown of the cost. This is by no means scientific. It is mostly to force me to make use of all those good grocery deals I get and make a conscious effort to further reduce my grocery budget.

And this one’s probably cheating a bit, but baby steps, Grasshopper, baby steps.

Next, I would like to say that no leafy greens were harmed in the making of this meal. But I was in a bit of a hurry, so I went really basic. But if you’re in a bit of a hurry, this isn’t a bad meal to turn out, I’ll have to say.

A Dutch Baby is basically an oven baked pancake. Took me about 5 minutes to put it together, another 5 minutes to load a baking pan with bacon and toss it in the oven alongside, and the potatoes were done cooking by the time everything came out of the oven. Start to finish, about 30 minutes total.

Now for the cost breakdown:

½ package of bacon - $1.50
1 lb potatoes - $ .79
Various and sundry additions to the fried potatoes
     (oil, ¼ of an onion, seasoning, etc) - $ .15
Dutch Baby ingredients - $1.04
Strawberry Freezer Jam (already on hand) - let’s call it $ .30 total
Total for the meal (feeding 2 people): $3.78, or $1.89 per serving.

This is what it looks like when it first comes out of the oven. It’s kind of like a soufflé in that it starts to sink very quickly once removed from its heat source.

Dutch Baby

4 Tbs butter
3 eggs
¾ cup milk, heated slightly (just toss in the microwave for about 30 seconds)
2 tsp vanilla
2 Tbs sugar
1/8 tsp salt
¾ cup flour

Preheat oven to 400º. Place a cast iron skillet over medium heat and add the butter. Heat just until butter is melted. In a blender, combine remaining ingredients and half of the melted butter from the skillet. Process on high for at least a minute, until ingredients are completely combined and mixture is frothy. Pour mixture into the skillet and place the skillet in the oven.

Bake for about 20 minutes. The pancake will ‘climb’ the sides of the pan and get brown around the edges, but make sure it cooks long enough to finish cooking the center of the pancake. Serve immediately with jelly and a bit of powdered sugar.

Or fresh fruit.

Or yogurt and a bit of lemon peel.

Whatever blows your socks off, really.

Yard Workin' and Puppy Watchin'

Summer seems to have finally arrived here in Oregon. I had every intention of launching Phase 2 of my back patio project (the only thing out there when I moved in was a concrete pad and a whole lot of weeds), but life has intervened, and I’ve decided to keep it very simple.  So, I've put in a small garden and am just generally trying to maintain what was put in last summer.

I suppose I would have been wise to put together a hearty breakfast before sweating over yard and garden work for several hours, but breakfast just really isn’t my thing. So I made scones instead. I happened to still have a few cans of organic pumpkin in the pantry, and before long I had a spice-scented house that even got O2 out of bed before 10 am.

Spiced Glazed Pumpkin Scones

2 cups flour
½ cup sugar
1 Tbs baking powder
½ tsp salt
½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp nutmeg
¼ tsp cloves
¼ tsp ginger
6 Tbs cold butter
½ cup canned pumpkin
3 Tbs milk
1 large egg, slightly beaten

2 Tbs melted butter
1 cup powdered sugar
1 - 2 Tbs milk
¼ tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp ginger
1/8 tsp cloves

Preheat the oven to 425º.

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger in a large bowl. Cut in the butter using a pastry cutter until mixture is crumbly.

Make a well in the center of the bowl and add the pumpkin, milk and egg. Gently whisk the wet ingredients with a fork, then slowly incorporate the dry ingredients. Use hands to form the dough into a ball and place on a lightly floured surface, forming it into a 1-inch thick circle. Use a large knife to cut into 12 wedges of equal size. Place on baking sheet. Bake for 14-16 minutes, or until light brown. Allow to cool.

To make glaze, combine remaining ingredients in a bowl, adding the milk last (start out with 1 Tbs and add more until it is of the desired consistency). Drizzle over scones.

* * *

G & C have welcomed a new member into their family. It’s this precious girl, Josie…

In addition to two full-time jobs and their new sleep-stealer (house training a puppy is not for the faint of heart), they are also remodeling their kitchen AND Carley has just started rehearsal for a new show.

Crazy, crazy people. I think that’s why I love them so much. We suffer from the same form of insanity.

Anyway, O2 and I offered to hang out for the afternoon to keep an eye on Puppy and make sure she got her potty breaks, and I offered to put together dinner, thus freeing them up a bit to work on staining the 40 cabinet pieces they have in their garage.

Did I use the word crazy???

I’m not sure we gave them a lot of bang for their buck in the puppy-sitting department since shortly after we arrived, Miss Josie passed out near the dining table and only woke briefly… once. G & C assured me this was NOT the norm.

Always eager to experiment on my friends (heh heh), I put together some new dishes, as well as a few standbys. We had barbecued pork ribs, corn on the cob, an Asian savoy cabbage slaw, some roasted baby potatoes and a new cornbread recipe I was auditioning.

You’ll have to excuse the rather boring photo, but there wasn’t a lot of time between the cutting of the bread and the devouring of said bread (mostly by O2) to warrant a photo shoot.

Don’t let the rather thick batter make you nervous. I almost added more buttermilk to it, but it turned out just fine as is.

Jalapeno Zucchini Cornbread

½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
½ cup buttermilk
1 medium zucchini, shredded
1 medium jalapeno, finely minced
1 cup flour
½ cup whole wheat flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
½ tsp baking soda
¾ cup cornmeal

Heat oven to 350 º. Use the butter wrapper to lightly grease a 8” square glass baking dish.

Combine melted butter, eggs and buttermilk in a large mixing bowl. Whisk to combine. Mix in zucchini and jalapeno. On a sheet of waxed paper, or in another bowl, combine all of the dry ingredients. Add to the wet ingredients and stir together, just until blended (remember, the mixture will be thick). Pour into prepared baking dish.

Bake in center of oven until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 55 - 60 minutes.

Mini Rant

So, confession time…

There is something that my children do that never fails to heartily annoy me. It usually starts with some kind of discussion about how there is ‘no food in the house’. Mind you, I am an avid coupon shopper/stockpiler, and I’m pretty sure in the event of a nuclear disaster, I can feed my family a minimum of 3 months with what I have on hand. But apparently all of that food is just not ‘right’ for the recent grad, at least. And now that O1 is staying with us for a few months until she gets a new place, I find her going through cabinets and sighing in disappointment from time to time as well.

Anyway, I digress…

So, the discussion continues with me asking what they would like me to pick up for them the next time I’m at the grocery store. Several weeks ago, the unanimous answer given by both of them was ‘bananas’.

Me, I’m not much of a banana fan. But the girls have always seemed to like them. So being the dutiful mother I am, I naturally picked up a bunch for them and brought them home.

Where they sat.

And sat.

And sat.

{irritated Mommy face}

So there I was with, quite literally, a bunch of bananas that were going brown and soft. And since I had been unhappy with the last banana bread recipe I auditioned, I started hunting around for recipes on the net. I was pretty open to anything, but I knew I wanted them to have butter and buttermilk in them.

I finally ran across a recipe on Two Peas and their Pod and rather than retyping it here, I’m just going to post the link.

‘Cuz I didn’t do a damn thing to change it. And it was really, really good.

I won’t tell you that it made my eyes roll back in the back of my head or anything. I mean, come on. It’s BANANA BREAD. But it was moist and flavorful.

And gone almost immediately.

Problem solved.

Buttermilk Banana Bread (from Two Peas and their Pod).

Lazy Man's Cinnamon Rolls

Before you ask, no, there IS no ‘lazy man’. Just me and O2, a lazy Sunday morning and little motivation for spending 3 hours waiting for yeast cinnamon rolls to be completed. Not that they’re not totally worth the effort. If you have some time to spare, here’s a great recipe.

We did have another fabulous dinner Saturday night with G & C. More to come on that.

Meanwhile… On those days when O2 and I are in the mood for something sweet for breakfast (or breakfast at all, for that matter), this is my quick version of a cinnamon roll. It’s about a 20 minute project, start to finish, and bake time gives me just long enough to dash over and pick up my morning joe and Sunday paper.

See? Not all good things require an entire morning to prepare.

Quick Cinnamon Rolls

1 ¾ cup flour
2 Tbs baking powder
2 Tbs sugar
½ tsp salt
1 stick (8 Tbs) cold butter
¾ cup buttermilk

2 Tbs softened butter
2 Tbs brown sugar
1 Tbs sugar
½ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp nutmeg

4 oz cream cheese, softened
2 Tbs powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 Tbs milk

Heat oven to 400º. In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. Cut butter into small chunks and add to the bowl. Cut butter into flour with a pastry cutter until butter chunks are about the size of small peas. Add buttermilk and stir just until combined.

Turn mixture out onto a floured surface. Knead lightly 2 or 3 times until it comes together, then roll out into a rectangle, about 12” x 6” (roughly). Dough should be about 1/4” thick.

Spread the softened butter over entire surface of the dough, then sprinkle evenly with the sugars and spices. Beginning with one of the long sides, tightly roll up the dough and crimp to seal edges.

Cut log into 1 1/2” pieces and place on a cookie sheet, cut side up. Bake in preheated oven for 12 - 15 minutes, or just until browned.

While the rolls cool, combine the cream cheese and powdered sugar in a small bowl. Slowly incorporate vanilla and milk, adding more milk if necessary until mixture is of the desired consistency. Spread on warm cinnamon rolls.

A Thanksgiving Maybe

I wonder if all new bloggers get to a point where they feel like they're just talking to themselves and really, what's the point?  I talk to myself all the time, and it's a lot less work than writing about it.  :-))

I was in a baking mood last night, happened to have a can of organic pumpkin and some leftover streusel topping from another recipe and thus decided to piece together several recipes and come up with something new.  My official taste taster, Offspring #2, declared this to be 'good times' and suggested we add it to the menu for Thanksgiving.

Notice the dangling pecan hanging on for dear life.

Pumpkin Bread with Streusel Topping

4 eggs
1 c. canola oil
1 15 oz. can pumpkin
1/4 c. water
1 tsp. vanilla
3 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
3 c. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ginger
1/2 tsp. cloves
Streusel Topping (recipe follows)

Preheat oven to 350°.  Grease 2 loaf pans or 4 mini loaf pans.  In a mix stand bowl, combine eggs, oil, pumpkin, water and vanilla.  Mix thoroughly on medium speed until well combined.  Add sugar and mix thoroughly.

Combine the remaining dry ingredients.  Add in 3 batches to the wet ingredients and mix on low speed until combined thoroughly. 

Make streusel:

1 c. flour
1/2 c. brown sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
6 Tbs. chilled butter

Combine first 3 ingredients in a bowl.  Cut butter into mixture using a pastry cutter or a couple of knives.  Mixture will be crumbly.

Pour batter into pan(s) until about half full.  Sprinkle a bit of streusel over the top.  Then add remaining batter until filled about 3/4 of the way.  Sprinkle with remaining streusel (I also added pecan pieces to mine).

Bake in center of oven for about an hour, or until a cake tester comes out clean.

Hot Out of the Oven... Who Could Ask for More?

These are my go-to recipe for scones.  Whipping the whipping cream makes them light; the toffee chips give them a bit of crunch.  Add toasted nuts for an additional crunch.  Mmmm....

Go ahead.  I'll give you a minute to drool.

Chocolate Chip Toffee Scones
(adapted slightly from Bon Appétit)

3 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 Tbs plus 1 tsp baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup chocolate-covered English toffee bits (such as Heath)
2 cups chilled whipping cream
2 Tbs unsalted butter, melted
Additional sugar for sprinkling and sparkling

Preheat oven to 375°F. Lightly butter a large baking sheet. Combine flour, 1/2 cup sugar, baking powder and salt on a piece of wax paper. Stir in chocolate chips and toffee bits. Beat cream in a large bowl until stiff peaks form. Fold dry ingredients carefully into whipped cream. Turn dough out onto lightly floured surface. Knead gently until soft dough forms, about 2 minutes. Form dough into ball; pat out to form 1 1/4-inch-thick round. Cut dough into 12 wedges.

Transfer wedges to prepared baking sheet, spacing apart. Brush with melted butter. Sprinkle with additional sugar. Bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes. Serve warm.