Tag Archives: recipe

Better Blueberry Almond Muffins

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It’s all about texture, and these muffins are perfect—not dense, but substantial, and just as delicious warmed up the next day.  They’re not the usual bakery-style blueberry offering; these are grainy, not “white” or strudely.  Inspired by Martha Stewart, it’s the first muffin recipe I’ve found that actually makes exactly 12 perfectly-sized (that is, normal muffin pan-sized) muffins.

Combine in a medium bowl:
10 Tbls. butter or oil, melted
1 tsp vanilla
2/3 cup sugar
2/3 cup milk
1 egg

Whisk together in a large bowl:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup oatmeal
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 Tbls baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and grease a standard 12-cup muffin pan.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry, and add:
1 cup frozen blueberries (keep them frozen!)
1/4 cup chopped almonds
(use any combo of fruit and nut or filling desired, up to 1 1/4 cups).

Fold batter together, using as few strokes as possible—the least mixing necessary.

Fill cups with about 1/4-1/3 cup batter, bake for 17-19 minutes.

The Canlis Salad

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It takes a very special salad to make it onto a company dinner menu twice in one week.

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This SALAD is that special. Served simply with chicken (once grilled, once roasted) this dish makes magic at the table.

I learned it last year while living in St. Louis, a former waiter of the famous Canlis restaurant in Seattle lived nearby and brought this exact salad to a potluck. How lucky we were!

Though ripe for improvisation as encouraged in the recipe, make as written at least once – it’s worth the effort to keep the strange looking ratios. You will be rewarded! Enjoy all spring long…

For Valentines: Brownie Pudding

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From one of my fellow sweet-tooth sufferers: “This pudding looks decidedly unpromising when it goes into the oven—a stiff batter covered with a flood of liquid sauce.  It is, however, one of those miracle dishes: as it cooks, the sauce thickens and sinks down under the batter, which is transformed into a light, squidgy brownie.”

Preheat oven to 325 degrees; grease a glass pie dish, or an 8×8 glass pan.
For the chocolate fudge sauce:
2 oz dark chocolate, roughly chopped
1/2 cup turbinado sugar
5 Tbls. cocoa powder, sifted
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups water
place all ingredients in a saucepan and bring slowly to the boil, stirring occasionally.  Boil for 2-3 mins, stirring constantly, then remove from the heat and leave to cool for at least 15 minutes while you prepare the brownie.

For the brownie pudding:
1 cup flour
2 tsp. baking powder
5 Tbls. cocoa powder
3/4 cup crème fraiche (or sour cream, in a pinch!)
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
1/2 cup pecans, chopped into large pieces
1 tsp. vanilla extract
pinch of salt
Sift the flour, baking powder, cocoa, sugar and a pinch of salt into a bowl and stir.  Add the crème fraiche, melted butter, pecans and vanilla and stir to combine.  Spoon this mixture into dish and level the surface.

Pour the sauce over and immediately place in the oven for 40-45 mins, until the brownie has risen to the surface and feels spongy.  Leave to cool for 5-10 mins and serve warm, with or without cream.

Edited by Emily Hylden; inspired by a recipe received from Sam Wells.

 

The Definitive Refectory Baked Oatmeal Recipe

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Isn’t this how problems are usually solved?  You study the problem, consider the issue from all angles, perhaps even try a few solutions, but you never quite get it right till you walk away and then come back to the problem again later (okay, not always, but sometimes that’s true, and it was definitely true with respect to this long-sought-after recipe).

Six years after graduating, I have finally cracked the Baked Oatmeal code of the (now-defunct) Refectory recipe.  The secret, as released last week on Facebook, is steel-cut oats.  In hindsight, I should have tried swapping them out for the oft-called-for old fashioned rolled oats years ago; the texture of my attempts were never quite chewy enough, and you never could really differentiate the classic rolled-oat-shape in the Refectory original.  Without further ado, with two methods:

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups steel-cut oats

1 1/2 cups water

1 cup milk (extra for serving)

1 egg

1 teaspoon baking powder

pinch of salt

1/4 cup sugar (extra for serving)

1 teaspoon – 1 Tablespoon cinnamon (extra for serving)

Methods:

Overnight method – combine oats with water, egg, sugar, salt, and cinnamon in a large bowl, cover and refrigerate overnight.  In the morning, preheat oven to 350 degrees, add milk and baking powder to the oats, and pour into an 8×8, 9×9, or pie pan.  Bake for 25 minutes, till brown on top.

Morning method – combine oats with water and boil till water is absorbed.  Pour oats into a large bowl, add milk, sugar, salt, and cinnamon.  When oat mixture has cooled somewhat from mixing the other ingredients, add the beaten egg and the baking powder.  Pour into baking dish and bake at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes.

Relive college.

Making Bread: A Magical Recipe for Cinnamon Swirl

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(photo including said-bread.  shot from yesterday’s breakfast-in-bed, thanks to sweet husband)

Today, I’m doing a lot of bread-sharing, so while I’m celebrating with many dear people on this feast of St. Lucy, here’s a recipe I made last night for cinnamon swirl bread.

As any devoted American Girl knows, the Scandanavian way to celebrate December 13th is to don a wreath of lit candles and to serve one’s family delicious baked goods (or at least, that’s what Kirsten taught us…).

Having just recently finished a book in my favorite genre (memoir-and-recipes), and having the charge of reviewing it (therefore being totally required to make at least one recipe in it), I present Milton Brasher-Cunningham‘s “Refrigerator Rolls”-dough-with-Emily-tweaks-into-Cinnamon-Swirl-Loaf!  Viva Lucia!

Cinnamon Swirl Loaf (makes 2 generous 9×5″ loaves)

In a huge bowl combine: 4 cups warm milk, 1 cup sugar, 1 stick of butter, 1/2 cup vegetable oil and 1/2 cup water.  Once the butter is incorporated (but mixture isn’t hot), sprinkle 4 1/2 teaspoons (or 2 packages) yeast onto the liquid and let the mixture sit and foam.

Once you see the yeast working, add 8 cups of flour–a mixture of white and whole wheat gives some texture (I used 3 cups white whole-wheat and 5 white; Milton uses 7 white and 1 whole wheat).  Add the flour gradually to incorporate it well.  Cover the dough and let the it rest (I put mine on top of my warm oven) and grow till doubled–make sure you use a very large bowl!

After it has doubled in size (it always takes longer than it seems like it should–I try to forget about it rising, because there’s no such thing as leaving it to rise for too long the first time), mix in another cup of flour, 3 teaspoons salt, 2 teaspoons baking powder, and 1 teaspoon baking soda.  Cover the dough and let it rise again (at this point, I put the dough in the refrigerator–it will keep rising in there, just at a much, much slower rate).

If you’ve put the dough in the refrigerator to rise, take the dough out to warm up a few hours (even in the morning, if you’re making the bread in the afternoon or evening) before you plan to bake.  At this point, Milton makes dinner rolls or sweet rolls; I divided the dough into 2 portions, covering my counter with a generous helping of flour (this is very loose, sticky dough) and folding it just enough to make sure it wouldn’t fall apart.  Stretch out one portion into a rectangle about 9 inches by 14 inches.  Cover the face of the dough with 1/3 cup sugar, 3 tablespoons cinnamon, 2 teaspoons ground ginger, and any other spices that appeal (I also used Penzey’s Chinese Five Spice Powder), drizzle with 2 tablespoons real maple syrup.  If you would like, sprinkle the sweet filling with 3/4 cup chopped walnuts, and then carefully roll the dough, using a short end as your starting point.  Once you have rolled the dough up, drop it into a sprayed 9×5″ baking pan with the seam down.  Repeat with the other portion.

Let the bread rise while the oven heats up to 425 degrees, about an hour, and then bake the loaves for 40-55 minutes, until brown and hollow-sounding.  Let cool and enjoy!