Cooking and Baking

There are 33 posts filed in Cooking and Baking (this is page 3 of 4).

Peach Muffins are in the Oven

Peach Muffins
I had to substitute brown sugar for the white and shrunk the recipe overall cause I only have a few peaches left, not 2 cups worth.

* 3 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
* 3 eggs, lightly beaten
* 2 cups white sugar
* 2 cups peeled, pitted, and chopped peaches

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DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Lightly grease 16 muffin cups.
2. In a large bowl, mix the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, mix the oil, eggs, and sugar. Stir the oil mixture into the flour mixture just until moist. Fold in the peaches. Spoon into the prepared muffin cups.
3. Bake 25 minutes in the preheated oven, until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes before turning out onto wire racks to cool completely.

Looking for… Buttermilk Overnight Pancake Recipe

I used to have a recipe for buttermilk pancakes that were made the night before. It was from my Aunt Emma in Kelowna, BC. But I don’t know where it ended up, too much moving around. So tonight I am looking for something like it I can make and add blueberries too.

Overnight Refrigerator Pancakes
Ingredients

1 T. active dry yeast
 1/4 c. warm water
4 c. all purpose flour (we prefer Prairie Gold) (it’s whole grain)
 2T. baking powder
2T. baking soda
 1t. salt
1T. honey
 4c. buttermilk
6 large eggs
 1/4 c. veg. oil

Directions

1. Combine yeast and water in small bowl
2. Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl.
3. Mix eggs, oil, buttermilk, and honey in seperate bowl.
4. Add wet ingredients to dry, add yeast mixture, stir till moistened.
5. Let batter set in fridge for at least 8 hours before using.
6. Batter will keep in fridge for up to one week.
7. Preheat griddle to 350.
8. Cook pancakes till they bubble on one side then flip.
9. I like to add chopped nuts to the batter and serve with chopped fresh fruit and pure maple syrup.

This one (below) sounds more like my old recipe. But everything was put together the night before.

OVERNIGHT PANCAKES

NIGHT BEFORE:

2 c. flour
1 tsp. salt
1 egg
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tbsp. sugar
2 c. buttermilk

NEXT MORNING:

1 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. hot water

Mix all ingredients in first list and let stand at room temperature overnight. Next morning, add remaining ingredients and cook on greased griddle.

Meyer Lemon and Black Pepper Icebox Cookies

I made the cookies tonight, finally. They are wrapped up and in the freezer for at least one overnight now. After reading this recipe online I was inspired to add pepper to them too. But, not the lemon. Seemed too much with the vanilla, cinnamon and ginger. Though it would have gone ok with the candied cherries. Maybe another time. The pepper seems ok, I have only had a little of the batter so far so I won’t be sure until I decide to bake up a batch of them.

Meyer Lemon and Black Pepper Icebox Cookies
The combination of meyer lemon zest and black pepper is a classic pairing in savory dishes, but it adds an elegant twist to the often too sugary icebox cookie.

2 cups all-purpose flour
 1/4 cup finely grated Meyer lemon zest
2 teaspoons baking powder
 1/2 teaspoon finely ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
 8 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 stick), room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
 1/4 cup whole milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
 1 large egg, room temperature

1. Whisk together the flour, lemon zest, baking powder, black pepper, and salt in a medium mixing bowl to aerate the mixture and break up any lumps. Set aside.
2. Combine butter and sugar in bowl of stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 to 5 minutes. Add milk and vanilla and blend well. Scrape down bowl, add egg, and mix well. Reduce mixer to low, add flour mixture, and mix until just incorporated.
3. Turn dough onto a piece of plastic wrap, shape it into a log (approximately 12 inches long and 1 1/2 inches in diameter), and wrap tight. Place in refrigerator until firm, at least 1 hour but preferably 8 hours.
4. When ready to bake the cookies, heat oven to 350°F and arrange rack in the middle. Remove cookie dough from the refrigerator and slice into 1/4-inch thick rounds. Place on an ungreased baking sheet and bake until golden brown on the bottom, about 12 minutes.

Tomato Marmalade with Ginger

Tomato Marmalade

Recipe By : Elizabeth Powell
Serving Size : 64 Preparation Time :2:00
Categories : Canning, Preserves, Etc. Jams & Jellies

Amount Measure Ingredient — Preparation Method
——– ———— ——————————–
4 pounds red ripe tomatoes
2 oranges
1 lemon
12 cloves
1 3-inch cinnamon stick
4 pounds sugar
1/3 cup candied ginger root — chopped
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

Peel, seed, and chop tomatoes, reserving juice. Wash lemon and oranges well, seed and chop, but do not peel. Break up cinnamon stick into 2-3 pieces and tie in a cheesecloth bag with cloves and allspice.
Combine tomatoes, oranges, and lemon in a large, heavy duty kettle. Stir over medium high heat until sugar dissolves. Add cheesecloth bag of spices and bring to a boil. Turn heat to low and continue to boil until mixture thickens (about 1 hour). Remove cheesecloth bag, add lemon juice and ginger, bring to a boil again, and cook 10 minutes more. Pour into hot sterilized jars, and seal according to manufacturer’s instructions. Makes 3-4 pints.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

NOTES : This marmalade has a wonderful texture and very spicy-sweet flavor. Pinwheel tea sandwiches can be made by slicing a loaf of fine grained white bread length wise into thin slices, spreading softened cream cheese on the bread, followed with Tomato Marmalade. Roll the slice up from the short end, wrap in wax paper, and chill at least 2 hours. To serve, cut into slices crosswise, as a jelly roll.

Icebox Cookies Recipes

This one is pretty plain and simple. You can go from here and add all kinds of variety to it. I usually add candied cherries (red and green for Christmas) and nuts.

ICEBOX COOKIES

1 c. butter
2 c. brown sugar, packed
2 eggs, unbeaten
1 tsp. vanilla
3 c. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 c. chopped nuts

Mix all ingredients together. Roll into 1 1/2 inch rolls with waxed paper. Refrigerate for 1 hour. Cut into 1/4-1/2 inch slices. Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes. Dough can be prepared in advance and frozen until needed.

This one sounds good too.

OATMEAL ICEBOX COOKIES

1 c. shortening
1 c. brown sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. salt
3 c. quick oats
1 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 c. flour
1 tsp. soda

Mix shortening, sugars, vanilla, and eggs. Sift flour, salt, and soda; add along with oats to mixture. Form into long rolls and wrap in waxed paper. Chill; cut in slices and bake 10 minutes at 350 degrees.

Cookie Baking in Canada

RainyPete that Useless Hamiltonian is blogging about baking cookies. I’m so jealous. The new kitchen is very small with very little counter space. I’d like to make cookies before Christmas though. I’m not getting much else done today maybe I should give in to laziness and go out to get ingrediants. Likely I just need to find a Bulk Barn store, I bet there is still one in the Scarborough Town Centre. It would be a shame if I got lazy while there and went to see a movie too. I still have a couple of free passes. Oh, how lazy can she go… pretty damn far actually. I’m already planning the laziest (non-cold) bus route.

I want to make icebox cookies. I think I would just need more flour, brown sugar, candied cherries, eggs and vanilla and nuts for the recipe.

Refrigerator Cookie Recipe

Honey – Lemon Refrigerator Cookies
10 tbsp. unsalted butter
2/3 cup mild-flavoured honey
2 tsp vanilla
1 large egg
pinch of salt
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
2 tbsp grated lemon zest
1 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
1 1/2 cups unbleached white flour
1/4 to 1/2 tsp ground cloves, to taste

In a food processor or electric mixer, cream the butter and honey. Beat in the vanilla, egg, salt, lemon juice and zest. Gradually add the flours and cloves. The dough will be very soft and sticky.

Divide the dough in half and, using a spatula, spread it on 2 long pieces of wax paper or plastic wrap. Don’t be intimidated by how wet the dough is; use the spatula to spread the dough on the paper, then carefully shape it into a cylinder about 2 inches in diameter and roll it up in the paper. Don’t worry if your cylinder isn’t perfectly round; these cookies usually have very irregular shapes. Place the dough in the freezer for 2 hours, or refrigerate it overnight. (Can be made days in advance this way).

About 45 minutes before baking time, put the dough, if refrigerated, in the freezer to facilitate cutting. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter 4 baking sheets.

Unwrap the chilled dough, cut off 1/4 of the log, and return the rest of the dough to the freezer so it doesn’t soften. Cut the dough in very thin slices, about 1/4 inch thick or even thinner, if possible. Place the slices on the baking sheets, about 1/2 inch apart. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, until golden brown around the edges and crisp. While the first batch is baking, slice more cookies and place them on the remaining baking sheets. When the cookies are done, transfer them to a rack and allow to cool. Store in a tightly sealed tin.

Makes 4 dozen.

I especially like refrigerator cookies. I usually make ones with red and green candied cherries for Xmas. I will be looking for the recipe again this year in a couple of months. Seems odd that Christmas isn’t all that far away. Of course, my birthday is that month too so that’s hanging over my head too. I didn’t used to feel that way about birthdays. I don’t mind getting older it’s just the number that bothers me.

This recipe came from a book "Feasts & Fetes" by Martha Rose Shulman. I haven’t tried the recipe but wanted to keep it where I could find it easily. The book is one my Mom picked up from one of our GoodWill excursions.

Ginger with Ginger

A recipe I came across this morning from A Spoonful of Sugar

Ginger Crunch

Base:
200g plain flour
100g caster sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground ginger (organic is particularly pungent)
125g softened butter (unsalted)
40g crystallised ginger chunks, roughly chopped

Icing:
150g unsalted butter
4 tbsp golden syrup
270g icing sugar, sifted
1 tbsp ground ginger

Preheat oven to 180C. Line a 9″ square tin with baking parchment. (I don’t do anything fancy here. Just squish it into the tin and the base will push into the corners nicely. No need for scissors!)

Put flour, sugar, baking powder and ginger into the bowl of a food processor and pulse briefly in lieu of sifting. Tip in the butter and pulse. When half-mixed, add the ginger pieces and continue pulsing until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. If it clumps together claggily, you’ve gone too far. It’ll still taste fine, though.

Press crumbs evenly over base of the tin. Bake for approximately 30 minutes until puffed up and golden brown. Do not remove from tin. Put tin on a wire rack.

Before the end of the cooking time, prepare the icing. Melt the butter and golden syrup together in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Tip in the sifted icing sugar and ginger and stir well. Cook for another minute or two–this prevents the butter from “leaking” out of the icing–then quickly pour the icing over the still piping hot base. Shake the tin gently–with oven glove on!–to even it out and ensure icing gets all the way to the corners, then leave to set.

When set cut into squares or bars. Store in an airtight tin or plastic tub. It makes rather a lot!!

Canadian Living: Green Velvet Soup

Green Velvet Soup
1 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
2 leeks (white and light green parts only), sliced
1 large onion, diced
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
4 cups diced zucchini (about 1 1/4 lbs)
1 potato, peeled and diced
1/3 cup 10% cream
1 tbsp. lemon juice
Garnish :
4 thin slices lemon
2 tbsp. finely chopped fresh chives

In large saucepan, heat oil over medium heat; fry leeks, onion, salt and pepper, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes.

Add zucchini, potato and 4 cups water; bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes.

In batches, transfer to blender or with immersion blender, puree until smooth. Return to pan. Stir in cream and lemon juice, adding more lemon juice, if desired. (Make ahead: Let cool for 30 minutes. Transfer to an air tight container; refrigerate, uncovered, until cold. Cover and refrigerate for up to 24 hours; reheat over medium heat without boiling).

Garnish: Top each serving wtih lemon slice; sprinkle with chives.

Makes 6 to 8 servings.

I typed this one from Canadian Living magazine. It was one of the recipes they had last month, to help use up all that zucchini growing in so many gardens. I like soups and this one sounds really good.