Lemon Poppy Seed Sour Cream Loaf

Fresh and delicious! I had a lonely lemon in the fridge and some poppy seeds that have been in the pantry far too long... and now I have this delicious cake instead!

Lemon Poppy Seed Sour Cream Loaf from Canadian Living Magazine
1 1cup cup(250 mL) (250 mL) granulated sugar
2 2tbsp tbsp(25 mL) (25 mL) freshly grated lemon rind
1 1cup cup(250 mL) butter, softened
4 4eggeggs
1/4 1/4cup cup(50 mL) (50 mL) lemon juice
2 2cups cups(500 mL) (500 mL) all-purpose flour
2 2tbsp tbsp(25 mL) (25 mL) poppy seeds
3/4 3/4tsp tsp(4 mL) (4 mL) baking powder
1/4 1/4tsp tsp(1 mL) (1 mL) baking soda
1/2 1/2cup cup(125 mL) (125 mL) sour cream
Icing:
1 1cup cup(250 mL) (250 mL) icing sugar
5 5tsp tsp(24 mL) (24 mL) lemon juice, (approx)
Glaze:
2 2tsp tsp(10 mL) (10 mL) lemon juice

Mix the grated lemon rind with the white sugar. Add butter/margarine (softened in microwave), eggs, and lemon juice. Mix well. Add flour, poppy seeds, baking powder, baking soda, and sour cream.  Mix well again, until batter is uniform. Pour into small loaf pan (9 x 5 inches). Bake 1 hour at 325*F, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Mine took more like 1 hour 15 minutes.

Mix icing sugar and 5 teaspoons lemon juice to make icing. Divide in half and thin one half with 2 teaspoons more lemon juice. Brush thinned glaze onto loaf while warm. After cool, spread icing on top. Slice. Serve with coffee. 

Ooey Gooey Cinnamon Rolls

If you were wondering what I did about the other half of my Brioche dough from a few days ago, here is the answer: Cinnamon Rolls. The original recipe had pecans, but I prefer raisins so mine has raisins.

Cinnamon Rolls
1 1/2 pounds brioche dough or other white bread dough (a cantaloupe-sized piece)
For bottom of pan:
5 tablespoons butter or margarine
1/2 cup brown sugar
For rolls:
4 tablespoons butter/margarine
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup raisins (or pecans if you prefer)

Melt the 5 T butter and add a half cup of brown sugar. Mix up, put in the bottom of an 8 or 9 inch square or round pan. Roll the dough out into a rectangle (about 1/4" thick). Spread with butter, sprinkle on brown sugar, top with cinnamon and raisins. Roll up, slice into 8 pieces. Place into prepared pan.  Let rise an hour, covered with plastic. Preheat oven to 350*, bake 40 minutes until golden brown. Let cool about 5 minutes, then invert onto a plate or into a storage container. Do not cool completely in the pan, or they may never come out.

Ganache-filled Brioche

Here you have it: Ganache-filled Brioche. It's like heaven, if heaven were a donut-like bread treat with chocolate inside. This is my latest foray into the Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day book that I got for Christmas after hogging the library copy for weeks at a time.

The base for this bread is the Brioche Dough. I made a half recipe, as there is a limit to how many sweet treats I can bake in the five day life of this dough (I plan to make cinnamon rolls with the other half). The dough does freeze if you'd rather space out your butter intake. I bought real butter for this, and while I haven't tried it with margarine, I'm willing to say it was worth it to get the butter.

From there, I took my pound of dough (half of my half batch), rolled it into a nice-sized rectangle as wide as my loaf pan and as long as it would happily stretch (1/2"-1/4" thick, depending on your rolling pin skills), and covered with ganache (recipe follows). The dough was spread with a 1/2 cup of ganache, then rolled up into a loaf and put into a greased, non-stick medium sized bread pan. It's a sticky dough, so yes, you need the non-stick and the extra butter. Seal the edges well, and put the pan on something when you bake it so you don't have to chip chocolate off the bottom of your oven. Rise about 2 hours, bake 45 minutes at 350*, and then taste something so delicious it can't possibly be made so easily at home - but it is! It did cross my mind after all this work that Nutella would also be a superb filling and much less effort. Anyway, bake it and then drizzle with the leftover 1/4 cup of ganache. Let cool well before slicing or you'll have chocolate everywhere.

Ganache
1/4 lb good chocolate (I used PC Decadent Chocolate Chips, a generous 1/2 cup)
2 tablespoons butter
4 teaspoons cocoa powder
1 tablespoon Kahlua (original recipe uses rum)
5 tablespoons corn syrup

Put butter and chocolate in microwavable cup. Microwave in short intervals, stirring frequently until melted and smooth. (You may use a double boiler if you prefer.) In another cup, mix the cocoa, liquor, and corn syrup. Add this to the chocolate, heating a little if needed to get it smooth.

Spread over dough as described above. The leftover 1/4 cup for topping will need to be remelted after the loaf is baked - microwave 20-30 seconds on high. This varies from my usual cream and chocolate ganache, but I think the lack of cream makes it more shelf-stable so it doesn't sour on the counter.

I am thrilled with the results of this recipe. It was so easy to whip up the dough, and so very impressive as a final product. I can't wait to try another brioche-based recipe in a day or two to finish up my dough!

Four Grain Honey Bread

Now, I know that you've probably never heard of the book Kneadlessly Simple, and it's not as sexy as Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day, but it has some great recipes and makes some fine bread. It also doesn't have a waitlist in my library.

Four Grain Honey Bread (No-Knead) from Kneadlessly Simple
1 loaf
Ingredients:
2 cups white flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup corn meal (white or yellow)
1/3 cup rolled oats
1/3 cup cooked and cooled brown rice
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3/4 teaspoon instant, fast rising, or bread machine yeast
1/2 cup honey or corn syrup
1 1/4 cups ice water
Canola oil or corn oil to coat dough and pan

Directions:
First rise: In large bowl, mix flours, corn meal, oats, rice, salt, and yeast. In measuring cup, mix very cold water with honey/syrup. Stir the water into the flours - it will be very thick, but you won't need to use your hands. Mix well and thoroughly blend. Add water or white flour if needed to get a thick dough. Spray or brush top of dough with oil. Cover with plastic wrap. If desired, chill in fridge 3-10 hours, then let rise at cool room temperature for 12-18 hours. It works best to mix this up, set in the fridge until bed, and leave on the counter overnight.

Second rise: Stir the dough. Fold the dough using a spoon or spatula toward the middle of the bowl. Oil a 9 x 5 loaf pan, then sprinkle with a little cornmeal and oats. Turn the dough into the pan and spray/brush with oil again. Sprinkle a little cornmeal and oats on the top and press into the dough. Slice 4 or 5 diagonal lines into the loaf with a sharp knife. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise: 2-4 hours at room temperature, 1.5-2.5 hours in the microwave with a warm cup of water, or 4-24 hours in the fridge. Rise until the dough is 1/2" above the edge of the pan.

Bake: Preheat oven to 350*F. Bake 50-60 minutes. Tent with foil and bake an additional 10-15 minutes. If you have a fancy-pants instant read thermometer, it should read 207*-209*F. It really does take this long to bake - the moist dough takes a long time to get finished. Let cool on a wire rack before slicing. Keeps 2-3 days on the counter, or up to 2 months in the freezer.

It's Sunday night and I was again hankering for something good for me (yet yummy) to eat for snacks this week. I believe we have a winner: Irresistible Double Chocolate Muffins. Whole wheat flour, wheat bran, flax seed, pumpkin puree... and cocoa and chocolate chips. The chocolate chips are what takes this from yet another "well, I suppose it's good for me" to "mmmm".

Irresistible Double Chocolate Muffins

INGREDIENTS (Nutrition)

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 3/4 cup ground flax seed
• 1/2 cup wheat germ (or bran)
  
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup low-fat buttermilk (or add 1 Tbsp vinegar to 1 cup milk)
  
• 3/4 cup pumpkin puree
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat an oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease 12 muffin cups, or line with paper muffin liners.
2. Combine flour, flax seed, wheat germ, baking soda, baking powder, cocoa powder, cinnamon, and chocolate chips in a large bowl. In another bowl, beat the buttermilk, pumpkin puree, brown sugar, egg, and vanilla until smooth. Gently stir the wet ingredients into the dry, mixing just until combined. Spoon equal amounts of batter into muffin cups.
3. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean, about 20 to 30 minutes.

Pineapple Flax Muffins

from Flax Seed Recipes

I decided to make something healthy for snacks and lunches, and I have a bag of flax seed languishing in my cupboard, so I was looking for something flaxy. This looked good - and it is. It isn't a coffee shop muffin. You won't mistake it for cake. The muffin part is not very sweet at all, and they're very dense. The fruit, however, makes it a really nice snack. I love the pineapple. Crushed might be better than the tidbits the recipe recommended, though, as I find the pieces kind of big in proportion to the muffin.

These make a great breakfast on the run (although you'll either want 2 or a piece of fruit on the side).

Alas, the digital camera appears to have left me to go to a wrestling tournament. I'll update with photo tomorrow, perhaps.

Pineapple Flax Muffins

1/2 cup whole wheat flour 1 cup all-purpose flour 3/4 cup ground flaxseed 3/4 cup oat bran 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed 2 teaspoons baking soda 1 teaspoon baking powder 1/4 teaspoon salt 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1-1/2 cups shredded carrots 1 cup pineapple tidbits, drained 1/2 cup raisins 1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon egg substitute 2 tablespoons unsweetened applesauce 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 cup skim milk 1 tablespoon lemon juice

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. In large bowl, mix flours, flax, oat bran, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.
3. Stir in carrots, pineapple and raisins.
4. Combine eggs, milk, lemon juice, applesauce and vanilla in separate bowl.
5. Add liquids to dry ingredients, stir until moist (batter will be lumpy).
6. Coat muffin tin with non-stick spray. Pour batter in tins.
7. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown.

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Baking time: 15-20 minutes

Yield: 18 muffins

Nutrition Info (per muffin): 113 calories, 1.4 g fat, 23.4 g carb (2.2 g fiber, 2.7 g sugar), 3.5 g protein. 2 Weight Watchers Points .

Chewy Granola Bars... a thousand ways.

I posted this base recipe back in September. I just whipped up another batch to take to work this week. It’s a very forgiving, flexible recipe, so I thought I’d post some ideas on how to vary the ingredients to get your very favourite combination.

First choice: Cereal (4 ½ cups total)

Oatmeal is the base – keep at between 2 ½ cups and all 4 ½ cups

Other options: rice crispies, puffed wheat, Kashi Puffs, Cheerios, bran flakes... any non-sugar cereal

Second choice: Flour-ish stuff (1 cup total)

Whole wheat flour is the default choice. You could sub up to ½ cup with:

Ground flax seed, wheat bran, oat bran, wheat germ, protein powder etc.

Third choice: Fruit puree

I use banana, but any fruit will add some moisture and a bit of flavour.

Applesauce, pureed prunes, pureed peaches, mashed pears.

Fourth choice: Sweeteners

The honey is important for stickiness, but corn syrup would work. White or brown sugar doesn’t matter much. Could add a little molasses in place of some of the honey.

Fifth choice: Candy

The recipe calls for 1 cup of chocolate chips. I usually go with about ½ cup. Other options:

Dark chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, peanut butter chips, Reeses pieces, anything that works in cookies.

Sixth choice: Dried fruit

Raisins is the default, but of course you could try:

Dried cherries, apples, blueberries, mango, pineapple, etc.

Last choice: Nuts

Almonds, peanuts, walnuts... whatever you like, or none at all. I was out of nuts, so I subbed ¼ c peanut butter for ¼ c honey.

There you have it! A thousand combinations of deliciousness.

Monkey Bread

Cinnamon rolls are one of my favorite things in the world... but they take a lot of effort. Monkey Bread is the lazy cook's cinnamon roll. This recipe uses dough made in the bread machine, but you can easily use a mixer with a dough hook or just do it up by hand.

Monkey Bread II

INGREDIENTS (Nutrition)

• 2 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 2 tablespoons margarine, softened
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup margarine
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 cup raisins

DIRECTIONS

1. Remove baking pan from machine. Place yeast, flour, ground cinnamon, salt, white sugar, 2 tablespoons butter and water in the order that is recommended for the bread maker. Make sure that no liquid comes in contact with the yeast. Select dough cycle and press start.
2. When dough is complete, place dough on floured surface and knead 10 to 12 times.
3. In a medium saucepan on low heat, melt one cup of butter, stir in brown sugar and raisins ( 1/4 cup of chopped nuts is good too!). Stir until smooth. Remove from heat.
4. Cut dough in one inch chunks. Drop one chunk at a time into the butter sugar mixture. Thoroughly coat dough pieces, then layer them loosely in a greased Bundt or tube pan, staggering layers so you're plopping each dough chunk over a space between two below. Let rise in a warm, draft-free spot until dough is just over the top of the pan, 15 to 20 minutes.
5. Bake in a preheated 375 degree F (190 degree C) oven for 20 to 25 minutes or till golden brown. Remove from oven, place a plate face down in top of the pan and, using oven mitts to hold plate on pan, turn over both until bread slides out onto plate. Serve warm...and enjoy.

I cut the sauce (margarine, brown sugar, raisins) in half, and I shouldn't have. It sounded like too much, but it would have been even ooier and goier with more caramel. This is actually my first try at monkey bread, and I think it's already my go-to "wow" recipe for a bake sale or office potluck.

Homemade Pastry and Apple Pie

A long time ago, I took Home Ec and learned to make pie crust. Then my mom took over the farmer's market pie-and-coffee stall for a summer and we had to make pie weekly. This is the crust that got us through. It's just plain delicious. I know most of you fancy-pants cooks have a food processor do all the work, but I don't own one (and neither did my mom or grandma, who make a damn fine pie). So these are purely manual directions that may be adapted if you're more technologically advanced than I am.


Basic Pastry
1 cup shortening (Crisco, lard, butter, or marg)
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 egg (beat and discard 1/2)
1/2 tbsp vinegar
1. Beat egg w/ fork in measuring cup. Leave 1/2 egg in cup. Add vinegar to egg and then add enough liquid to make 100 ml (scant 1/2 cup) liquid.
2. Measure dry ingredients into bowl. Stir. Cut in shortening using a pastry blender or 2 knives until the size of peas. Add liquids. Stir lightly with a fork, then mix into a ball with your hands.
3. Divide pastry in half. Roll between waxed paper. Ease one portion into pie pan. Remaining portion is for top crust.

Apple Pie
5-6 apples, peeled cored and sliced
2/3 c sugar
2 tbsp flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp butter/margarine
1. Preheat oven to 425*F.
2. Combine apples, flour, cinnamon, and sugar. Put into crust. Dot with butter.
3. Add top crust. Be sure to cut a few vents (holes), and seal the crusts together.
4. Bake 15 min. Reduce oven heat to 350*F and bake until crust is lightly browned - about 35 more minutes.

Chewy Granola Bars

I was looking to make something new and a little healthy last night, and I came upon this recipe.

Then I read all the reviews and modified it kind of a lot. So I present to you:

Uncanny's Chewy Granola Bars
3 1/2 cups oatmeal
1 cup rice crispies
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup melted butter/margarine
1 mashed banana
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup chocolate chips (mini if you've got 'em)
1/2 cup raisins (or other dried fruit)
1/2 cup slivered almonds (or other nuts)

1. Preheat oven to 325*. Grease a 9" x 13" pan.
2. In large bowl, mix everything except the chocolate raisins and nuts. Add those after the oatmeal mixture is well mixed. Mix it up so everything is well distributed.
3. Press into pan. Bake for 18-22 min, until golden brown. Cool 10 min, slice. Cool completely before removing from pan.

There is lots of room to change this recipe to your liking - add more fruit and less chocolate, more chocolate and less nuts. Use whatever strikes your fancy. Add some puffed wheat. Take out the rice crispies. As long as the general proportions are right, it'll be fine.

And my oh my, is it fine. About a hundred times better than anything that comes in a wrapper.