English Muffins

When I typically try to make bread by hand, it flops fairly fantastically. I rely very heavily on my bosch and previously on my bread maker to make my doughs. I was a bit sceptical that the English Muffins would turn out, but they looked a little less intimidating to me than making a loaf of bread by hand. It became a fun challenge to see if I could recreate something as different as an English Muffin. Believe it or not, these actually turned out pretty well. Well enough, that my family decided it was a keeper and we'd have to try them again (If my kids ask me to make something again, that's usually a good indicator it turned out ok :) ). The only thing I messed up on was putting the salt in a step too early. It ended up killing the yeast a bit, so the english muffins didn't become as fluffy as they should have, but they were still good so next time when I do it right they should be even better, eh?

English Muffins

by cookingbread.com

1 1/4 cups lukewarm water
4 cups bread flour
2 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 small egg whites
fine cornmeal

In a large bowl pour in your lukewarm water. Add in the instant yeast, baking soda and 2 cups of bread flour. Mix till smooth. Allow the mixture to sit for 5 minutes uncovered. In the meantime, add the egg whites into a separate bowl and beat with an electric mixer. You want the egg whites to become stiff and moist. Once the egg white have formed stiff peaks; add to the dough batter. Using a rubber spatula fold in the egg whites till all the eggs are incorporated into the batter.

Start to add in the rest of the flour, a 1/4 cup at a time. After the first 1/4 cup add in the salt and mix. When the mixture becomes to hard to mix in the bowl. Pour out onto a flat surface. Knead the dough for about 5 to 6 minutes till the dough becomes smooth and silky.

Add a little oil to a clean bowl and place the kneaded dough into the bowl. Turn over the dough till all sides of the dough are very lightly coated. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rest till double in bulk, about 1 hour.

Afterwards, pour out the dough onto a flat surface. Press to release some of the air from the dough. Now, using a rolling pin roll out the dough to a 1/2 inch thick. Allow the dough to rest for 3 minutes to relax. Using a 3 inch cookie cutter, cut out the circles. Place the cut out pieces onto some cornmeal. When you have left over dough just gather together and cut out a few more circles. Sprinkle the tops of the dough with more cornmeal. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rest for 45 minutes.

About 5 minutes before you are ready to cook the english muffins turn on your griddle or fry pan to 350F or medium heat. Spray with a little oil spray and once the griddle is hot. Place the muffins on and fry. If you are using a fry pan you may only be able to fry 3-4 at a time. Fry on one side for about 4 minutes. Then turn over and fry for another 4 minutes. Do this once more to a total of 16 minutes. Allow to cool if you can and enjoy!

Dinosaur Chow

This is just a basic no-bake cookie recipe. I'm still trying to track down the recipe of the one I really like. This is just a fun take on the traditional recipe, and having all boys, it's a huge hit. Feel free to apply it to your favorite no-bake recipe.

Dinosaur Chow

1/4 cup Dirt (cocoa)
1/2 cup Swamp Water (milk with green food coloring)
2 cups Crushed Bones (sugar)
1/2 cup Fat (butter)
2 cups Dead Grass (oatmeal)
1/2 cup Squashed Bugs (peanut butter)

In a large pot over medium heat mix dirt, swamp water, bones and fat. Let boil about 2-2 1/2 minutes. Add bugs and grass and stir until melted and mixture is thickened. Remove from heat. Drop by tablespoons onto wax or parchment paper. Cool, eat and enjoy!

Italian Cream Sodas

As much as I love food, I actually love drinks more (non-alcoholic of course!). On our honeymoon, my husband and I discovered the Old Spaghetti Factory. We really enjoyed their food, the inexpensive-ness and, of course, their italian cream sodas. Since then, we've discovered many places that make them, but until I go to Italy and try them there, my 2 favorite places to get them are: Old Spaghetti Factory and Jaxies (they have tons of flavor options and are just an incredible place anyhow....if you haven't been yet--GO!). If you'd like to make them at home, the syrups are available online or at the grocery store (usually down the coffee aisle).

Italian Cream Soda
2-3 Tbsp flavored syrup (we like the Torani ones)
Club Soda
2-3 Tbsp Half and Half
Ice

Pour syrup in bottom of glass. Add some ice. Fill the glass with club soda leaving room to add a few tablespoons of half and half. Stir really well and enjoy!

Chocolate Banana Crunch Bread

Mmmmm! Banana bread is delicious, but who can argue when you add chocolate to it? Ok, perhaps some people, but I'm not one of them, so I will add chocolate to a lot of things :). This recipe has the added bonus (for me :) ) of not only a chocolate banana bread, but chocolate chips and toffee bits as well. yum... sweet!


This recipe comes from one of my favorite bread blogs thekneadforbread.com (this is the blog for it's parent site: cookingbread.com which I've found to be a valuable resource with plenty of fun recipes and how-to's.)

Chocolate Banana Crunch Bread
from cookingbread.com

4 cups flour
2 tsps baking soda
2 tsps baking powder
2 tsps cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup soft butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
6 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
2 tsps vanilla
6 ripe bananas
1/2 cup powdered cocoa
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup toffee bits
extra 1/4 cup buttermilk

In a large bowl combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Using a wire whisk, mix the dry ingredients together. In a separate bowl, peel and mash your bananas. Add in the eggs, butter, vanilla, and 1 cup of buttermilk. Mix together with a whisk till well blended. Add in the white adn brown sugar to the liquid mixture; stir till well blended. Now, separate the flour mixture into 2 bowls (make sure there are equal amounts in each bowl, us a measuring cup to separate). In one of the bowls add in the cocoa powder and blend with a whisk.

Take the banana mixture and separate into 2 bowls again (make sure there are equal amounts, use a measuring cup to separate). In the bowl that is going into the chocolate flour mixture, add an extra 1/4 cup of buttermilk and stir. Add the banana mixtures into each bowl of flour. Now, mix each bowl just until blended. Add the chocolate chips into the chocolate bowl and the toffee bits into the plain bowl.

Grease two 5x9" loaf pans. Add a little of each mixture into pans being sure to alternate between the chocolate and plain mixtures. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 55-60 minutes (15-20 minutes for muffins) or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in the loaf pans for 10 minutes before removing and cooling on a wire rack.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Cookies are just so fun! And you just can't beat a good chocolate chip cookie. This one is thick, chewy, and very vanilla-y :) . Although you can change things up a bit and use different flavored puddings and candies/nuts. We've tried chocolate. It was good, but not as good as the vanilla. Butterscotch might be nice, and who knows what else? Coconut? White Chocolate? Pistachio? :) The sky's the limit!Chocolate Chip Cookies
1 cup butter flavored crisco
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
1 (3 oz) package vanilla instant pudding
2 1/4 cups flour
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

In a large bowl cream together the crisco and sugars. Add the eggs, vanilla, and baking soda. Mix in vanilla pudding and flour. By hand add the the chocolate chips. Drop by tablespoonful onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake in a 350 degree over for 11-12 minutes. Cool for 2 minutes on sheet then transfer to a cooling rack. For variations try other flavors pudding or candies/chips/nuts.

Pretzels

So, despite my best intentions this week, life happened and I wasn't able to get the "bread-recipe-a-day" up like I'd envisioned. So hopefully (if all works out :) ) I'll be able to make up for it today and tomorrow.

This is the pretzel recipe that the Parmesan Breadsticks are derived from. They are great fresh from the oven, but also taste great after they've been frozen and then thawed a few days later :) So I usually make a huge batch of them, then freeze what we don't eat that day.

Butter Pretzels
Dough proportions courtesy of The all-new Ultimate Bread Machine Cookbook

1 1/2 cups warm water (divided)
1 Tablespoon Brown Sugar
4 cups flour
2 1/4 teaspoons yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1 stick margarine or butter, melted
Coarse Kosher or Sea Salt (or other yummy pretzel toppings)

Mix 1/2 cup warm water with the brown sugar and yeast. Let sit for 5 minutes. In the meantime, mix the rest of the water, salt, and 2 cups of flour in a mixer with a dough hook. After the yeast is nice and bubbly, add it to the dough mixture along with another cup of flour. Mix on high for 7-8 minutes. With the last cup of flour, add in a little bit at a time until the dough is not sticky and doesn't stick to the sides. You may or may not use all of that last cup. Beat on high again for 2-3 more minutes.

Dust your work surface with flour and roll the dough into a rectangle until it is about 12-18 inches from top to bottom and and about 1/3" - 1/2" thick.Take a pizza cutter and slice long strips from top to bottom so each slice is about 1-1 1/2" wide and about 12-18 inches long. *Note: You can roll these into long ropes by hand if you want, but I have to admit, that takes too long and is too tedious for my taste :)

Fold each strip into a pretzel shape by forming each strip into a U-shape. Cross the ends and twist. Bring the ends to the curved end of the U-shape to form the pretzel.Set the pretzel on an ungreased pan. When your pan is full, brush each pretzel generously with the melted butter. Bake at 475 degrees for 7-9 minutes or until golden brown. After removing the pan from the oven, and while they are still hot, brush each breadstick with the butter again, and sprinkle immediately with Kosher Salt (or cinnamon sugar, or cheese or whatever you like!). Enjoy!

Breadsticks, Cinnamon rolls and other yummy things!

I absolutely love bread! Fresh from the oven breadsticks, rolls, loaves, baguettes, pretzels, croissants... Mmmm...it's simply heaven! I'm still trying to figure out how to make lots of yummy varieties, but for now I'll share a couple of my favorites this week and we'll cap it off with cinnamon rolls or other tasty treats Saturday morning. (for the cinnamon rolls: just email me, leave a comment, or call me, to put in an order. If all works out well, I should be able to do some other tasty treats for ordering this week as well. I'll keep you posted.) Sound good? Alright, let's get going :)

This breadstick recipe was a happy accident. We love making pretzels and Dave suggested I use his breadstick herb butter topping on some pretzel dough and make them into breadsticks. It worked and a new family favorite was born. Parmesan Breadsticks
dough proportions courtesy of The all-new Ultimate Bread Machine Cookbook


Dough
1 1/2 cups warm water (divided)
1 Tablespoon Brown Sugar
4 cups flour
2 1/4 teaspoons yeast
1 teaspoon salt


Herb Butter
1 stick butter, melted
1 Tablespoon Italian seasoning
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
Parmesan for dusting breadsticks

Mix 1/2 cup warm water with the brown sugar and yeast. Let sit for 5 minutes. In the meantime, mix the rest of the water, salt, and 2 cups of flour in a mixer with a dough hook. After the yeast is nice and bubbly, add it to the dough mixture along with another cup of flour. Mix on high for 7-8 minutes. With the last cup of flour, add in a little bit at a time until the dough is not sticky and doesn't stick to the sides. You may or may not use all of that last cup. Beat on high again for 2-3 more minutes.

Dust your work surface with flour and roll the dough into a rectangle until it is about 12-18 inches from top to bottom and and about 1/3" - 1/2" thick depending on how thick you like your breadsticks. Take a pizza cutter and slice long strips from top to bottom so each slice is about 1-1 1/2" wide and 12-18 inches long.

Take each strip and fold in half, then twist. Set breadstick on an ungreased pan. Fold and twist several more of your breadsticks and space them apart an inch or two on the pan. When your pan is full, brush each breadstick generously with the herb butter mixture. Bake at 475 degrees for 7-9 minutes or until golden brown. After removing the pan from the oven, and while they are still hot, brush each breadstick with the herb mixture again, and sprinkle immediately (and generously!) with Parmesan Cheese. Then sit back and enjoy!