Blueberry Bars

These bars really let the fresh blueberry flavor come through. The secret ingredient is just a touch of balsamic vinegar. My husband thought I had gone crazy, but you would never guess it is in there if no one told you. Actually, balsamic vinegar is a pretty common thing to add to strawberries and blueberries. It enhances their tartness, which is particularly good if you are starting with very sweet berries. If you are using very tart blueberries, you can omit the balsamic vinegar and still get a good result.

The bottom crust mixture (which is similar to a shortbread) is used as the topping as well, making these blueberry bars fairly quick and easy. One caveat - unlike other bars, these are not really finger food. Serve them on a plate with a fork since they tend to crumble a bit.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Crust:

1/3 Cup Confectioner's Sugar

1 Cup Butter

1 1/2 Cups Flour

Mix in food processor or by hand with a pastry blender. Set aside 1/2 Cup of this mixture to use as the topping on the bars. Press the remaining crust mixture into the bottom of an 8x8" square pan. Prick the crust all over with a fork, then bake for 12-15 minutes, until it is starting to get golden brown. Remove the crust from the oven and let it cool to room temp.

Filling:

2 Cups Fresh Blueberries (washed and stems removed)

1/4 Cup granulated sugar (more or less to taste)

1/2 teaspoon balsamic vinegar

1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom

(just a pinch of cinnamon can be substituted here, but the taste will be a little different)

1 Tablespoon Cornstarch

Place about 1/2 cup of the berries with the sugar in a small saucepan. Heat on low, smashing up the berries with a fork or a potato masher. Continue cooking over low heat for a few minutes until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is syrupy. Remove from heat. Add the balsamic vinegar and the cardamom, stir well. Let the mixture cool a bit, then add the remaining blueberries and the cornstarch. Stir well. Spread the blueberry filling over the cooled crust. Sprinkle the remaining crust mixture over the top. (Alternately, you could substitute a standard streusel topping or crushed almonds if you prefer.)

Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes, until golden and bubbling. The filling should look "set" and no longer liquidy. You must let these bars cool completely or they will not cut well.

Blueberry Cardamom Ice Cream

I know, this is a baking blog, but I just had to branch out and add an ice cream section to the recipe list. This quick and easy recipe is a little bit healthier than most ice creams. It combines cream with yogurt, fresh berries, and only a small amount of sugar. Blueberry and Cardamom is a more sophisticated flavor combination, so it definitely has a more adult appeal. (Translation: If your kids are anything like mine, they won't like it). But I really love it. And besides, if I wanted a super-sweet kid flavor, I could just go buy that in any store.

Blueberry Cardamom Ice Cream

2 Cups Fresh Blueberries

1/4 Cup Sugar

3/4 tsp Cardamom

1 Cup Heavy Cream

1 1/2 Cups good quality Vanilla Yogurt

Put the blueberries, sugar, and cardamom in a small saucepan over low heat. With a potato masher, smash the berries and cook on low for a couple of minutes, until the sugar dissolves and the mixture just starts to become syrupy. Take off the heat and cool for a few minutes.

In a mixing bowl, mix the cream and yogurt together. Add in the blueberry syrup and stir well. Refrigerate until very cold.

Pour the mixture into your ice cream maker and mix as directed for your machine (instructions will vary for electric vs. hand-cranked ice cream makers).

When the ice cream looks like a thick milk shake, spoon it into a tupperware container and freeze until it is more solid (several hours). FYI - This ice cream never gets super hard.

Garnish with fresh blueberries.  

Tools I can't live without

Every baker has a list of tools that they just can't live without. Aside from the obvious - Good quality pans, measuring devices, sharp knives and a good sturdy rolling pin, my list is a pretty short. Each of them is a good multi-purpose tool. Like the wonderful Alton Brown, I do not employ many gadgets in my kitchen that only do one thing.

In fairness, I must admit that I am also a cake decorator, and when I put on my decorating hat, I need a lot more tools and gadgets to make my job easier. But for good old-fashioned baking, there are a just few tools I can't live without:

This simple cheap plastic scraper and multi-purpose tool is one of the things I use most often in my kitchen.  I use it as a spatula, a bowl scraper, a frosting knife, and it makes the best pie server ever. It has a very thin flexible "blade" to get in between the pie crust and the pie plate, for serving up beautiful slices that are not broken or dented. I actually bring it with me every time I bring a pie anywhere, because standard pie servers make for messy slices. It is also my go-to tool for loosening cake layers from their pans, and any time I need to get a thin edge under a baked item to lift it. To find this (seemingly nameless) plastic tool, you have to go to a cooking supply shop, or order it online.

Pastry Cutter/Blender - Yeah, that is how much of a baking geek I am. I actually prefer to mix my pie crust with this old-fahioned hand tool rather than the modern food processor methods. Food processors are perfectly capable of mixing dough, and most modern bakers have stepped up to the food processor method. But I still like to "feel" the dough, and why clean up the food processor when doing it by hand is not that hard?

Wire Whisk: I have several in different sizes. I use them to stir, to whip air into things like meringues and whipped cream, and I also use it to mix my dry ingredients together well (flour, salt, baking powder). It is the ideal tool for stirring things when you don't want to get clumps - gravies, puddings and pie fillings (see above, making pudding on the stove).

My KitchenAid Mixer - Okay, I am not so old-fashioned that I can't appreciate a good modern tool. I would cry if my trusty old KitchenAid broke. I have had it for more than twelve years and I use it nearly every single day. KitchenAid mixers may seem expensive, but they last and last. I may love retro recipes and techiniques, but this is one case where we are definitely better off than our Grandmothers were!

Banana Cream Pie

This pie is always a favorite - it is one of my most requested pies (after Apple, Lemon Meringue and Key Lime). The banana flavor comes from the filling and also a layer of fresh banana slices on that line the crust.

Cream Pies are great in the summer - not only do they taste cool and creamy, but they are cooked only briefly on the stovetop instead of a prolonged baking in the oven. So you aren't spending an hour heating your kitchen.

This Banana Cream Pie is adapted from something I found in my old copy of The Joy of Cooking. Once you get the basics of making a cream pie down, there are endless variations you can do. I have made up some pretty unusual flavors over the years, but cream pies are so popular that it's really worth learning the basic recipe for making them.


1 Cracker Crumb Crust made with Ritz crackers or Vanilla Wafers. After pressing into the pie pan, CHILL the crust instead of baking it.

Filling:
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 2/3 Cups milk
3 egg yolks
2 bananas
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract

In the top of a double boiler combine the sugar, flour, salt, and milk. Stir the mixture in the bowl while the water boils beneath it, cooking for about 10-12 minutes until the mixture thickens. *Thickening time depends on how cold your milk is to start with. It can take anywhere from 9-14 minutes to get it nice and thick like a pudding. In the first 5-7 minutes it doesn't thicken much at all, but when it starts it goes fast. So watch the filling carefully and when it starts to thicken, stir it constantly. Once it has thickened, remove it from the heat.

In a separate bowl, beat the egg yolks. Take a small amount of the hot milk/flour mixture (about a tablespoon) and stir it into the eggs. Add another spoonful and stir it in (you are "tempering" the eggs so they don't cook and curdle). Now pour the egg mixture into the rest of the hot milk mix. Return it to the double boiler and cook until thickened some more (about 3-5 minutes) stirring constantly. Take it off the heat. Cut one of the bananas in half. Mash half of the banana in a small bowl. Add the mashed banana and vanilla extract to the filling mixture. Now place a layer of Saran wrap directly on top of the filling (to avoid getting a thickened skin on top). Put it in the fridge to cool. 

In the meantime, cut the remaining 1 1/2 bananas into thin slices and line the

cracker crust with the slices.

When the filling has cooled (it can be a lukewarm, but not HOT), pour it slowly into the

pie shell, being careful not to mess up the banana slices.

Top with fresh whipped cream (see below for recipe) and refrigerate for at least an hour before serving.  Try to eat it the same day because the sliced bananas turn brown.

Fresh Whipped Cream:
1 pint heavy cream
1/4 - 1/2 cup confectioner's sugar, depending on how sweet you want it

Make sure the cream is well-chilled, (I even chill the mixing bowl and beaters when I make whipped cream). Beat on high speed with mixer until it is thickened. Spread it over the chilled pie and then put the pie back in the fridge until serving.

Watermelon Daiquiri Pie

A cool, refreshing summer pie that requires no baking! Like a tropical drink in a pie, this is perfect for those hot summer evenings when you don't want a heavy dessert. If you want to read about how I came up with this recipe out of error and experimentation, read on. Or just skip to the end for the recipe itself.

This Watermelon Daiquiri Pie is a perfect example of how a mistake can end up leading you to something unexpectedly good. I started out ready to make the Watermelon Chiffon Pie recipe from Ken Haedrich's book Pie (a great book, by the way). But I found that two things made me tweak it: First, I had run out of eggs, and the recipe called for two beaten egg whites. I am someone who ALWAYS has eggs in the house, so I hadn't even thought to double-check, and here I was totally out. I could run to the store, but with two kids in tow there is just no such thing as a quick trip to the store. I had lots to do that day and couldn't take 40 minutes out to go to the store. I weighed my options - put off the pie for another day? No, I decided that although it would not be a true chiffon pie, it would probably still set up without the egg whites, just with a denser, creamier texture. And it was the perfect time to experiment, because this pie was not for any special event, but just for us. So I gambled. But then I came to another hurdle: when I cut up my watermelon, I found that it was not as ripe and flavorful as it should have been. Again, I could have gone to the store and bought another, but instead I decided to go with it and improvise. Here is what I did:


I simply omitted the egg whites. Knowing that some people do not like to eat raw egg whites, I wondered if this might lead to a good chiffon pie alternative (F.Y.I. - you can buy pasteurized egg whites that are safe to use raw if you want to). Then, to remedy the lack of flavor from my sadly underripe melon, I poked around my cabinets to see what I had. I came up with coconut extract and Rum. Taking an idea from a recipe I have for Margarita pie, I replaced 1/4 cup of the watermelon juice with rum. There was already lime juice in the original recipe, and I added a touch of zest with the juice. So with the lime and rum, it became a Daquiri pie! Adding a teaspoon of coconut extract gave it another layer of tropical flavor. Now you could call it a colada-daquiri pie, but that name would be pushing it too far.

I didn't expect to get the chunks and streaks of watermelon and cream, I thought it would be more of a smooth uniform color. Perhaps I had waited too long to fold the whipped cream into the watermelon gelatin mixture. But anyway, my husband said he liked to see the bits in the finished pie. Okay, but how would it taste after these changes? Surprisingly, we loved it! Although I am sure Ken Haedrich's Watermelon Chiffon Pie is excellent, I think I will stick with this flukey recipe instead - it was really good!

Watermelon Daquiri Pie

1 recipe Graham cracker crust
Note: Omit the sugar and just use the graham crackers, since this filling is sweet. Chill the crust to set it instead of  baking it - for this pie I like the slightly crumblier texture of the chilled crust.

1 Watermelon
3/4 - 1 Cup of sugar (to taste)
2 Envelopes unflavored gelatin
Juice of 1 whole lime
Zest of 1 whole lime
1/4 cup Rum (Malibu Coconut Rum is good, or any white rum)
1 Cup chilled heavy cream
Up to 1 Cup Confectioner's Sugar (to taste)
1 teaspoon coconut extract

Before you start, put the mixing bowl and whisk that you are going to use to whip the cream into the freezer.

Cut up the watermelon into small chunks. (I like to do the whole watermelon, even though for this recipe you only need 1/2 to 2/3 of it. But I like to make lots of juice and use it in smoothies or other drinks. If you would rather save some for eating, just use 6 cups of watermelon pieces together with only 1/3 cup sugar).

In a very large bowl, put all the chunks together with 3/4 - 1 Cup Sugar. Mash it all up with a potato masher and then let it sit for about 20 minutes. Give it another good mashing after that 20 minutes, and then strain the liquid into another bowl. Measure out 2 1/2 Cups of the liquid and set aside. Save the rest of the liquid in a tupperware in the fridge or freezer for other drinks. Throw out the leftover pulp and seeds.

Put 1/3 Cup of the watermelon juice in a small bowl and sprinkle the gelatin over it. Dissolve for about 5 minutes. In a small saucepan, heat 1/2 cup of the leftover juice until it is nearly boiling. Whisk this hot juice into the gelatin to dissolve it. Pour the remainder of the juice into a bowl and add the gelatin juice into it. Add the lime juice, zest, and rum. Chill this mixture, checking it every 6-8 minutes to see when it is starting to gel. You want to catch it when it is chilled and just starting to set up. While you are waiting for it to chill, put your heavy cream in the freezer for 5-10 minutes. Then take the bowl, whisk and cream out and whip the cream until it forms soft peaks. Add in the cofectioner's sugar (up to 1 cup, to taste) and the coconut extract. Continue whipping on medium speed until it forms stiff peaks.

When the gelatin mixture starts to gel, take it out and add one big dollop of the whipped cream into the gelatin and beat it good. Then gently fold in the rest of the whipped cream until well-incorporated. Spoon this mixture into the chilled pie shell and refrigerate the pie for 3-4 hours, up to overnight.

Cut with a sharp, non-serrated knife dipped in hot water for nice clean edges. Garnish with minature slices of watermelon.

The Addictive Blog award

Thank you so much to Stephanie at Its not just about the recipe for nominating my site for the Addictive Blog Award! I am excited to know that she enjoys Baking Outside the Box and thinks it is "addictive" :)

The rules for the Addictive Blog Award are:

• Thank the person who nominated you and link them back.
• Share a little bit about why you started blogging.
• Copy and paste the award onto your blog.
• Nominate up to 10 other bloggers you think are addictive enough to deserve the award.

I started blogging a little over a year ago. My  husband and kids are eager taste-tasters, but they grew tired of me talking about baking techniques and recipes all the time. I had the urge to bake so often that everyone I knew started asking, "Are you trying to make me fat?!" I was running out of friends, family, neighbors and school bake sales to make goodies for. And nobody really wanted to discuss in detail whether it would have been better to add a touch more clove or try a lower oven temp next time. So I took my passion for scratch baking to the only place a self-taught baker like me can be heard - the blogosphere! I love sharing everything I do whether or not it gets read, but it is always nice to know that people do read and appreciate the posts.

Here are MY nominees for the Addictive Blog Award:

1) Bake at 350 blog

2) Bargain Becky

3) If it bakes you happy

4) Life's a Batch

5) Cravings of a Lunatic

6) Fountain Avenue Kitchen

7) Sweetapolita

8) Baking Bites

9) i am baker
10) Farmgirl gourmet

Thanks again to Stephanie at Its not just about the recipe!

Happy Independence Day!

It's the Fourth of July!

Here are some festive dessert ideas for your party:

"Hidden Flag" cake (I got this tutorial from CakeCentral.com)

Decorated Sugar Cookies

Red Velvet cake with hand-painted fondant flag

Blueberry Pie with Star Crust

"I cannot tell a lie" Cherry Pie

"As American As" Traditional apple pie

Cherry Berry Pie

When summer fruit is at its peak, a Cherry Berry pie is a delicious way to use it up. If you can, use fruit from your local farmer's market (or even your own garden), since it will taste better the fresher it is. I used dark sweet cherries, strawberries and raspberries for this recipe to get a deep red color. You can use any combination of cherries and berries you have on hand, but do not use more than 1 cup raspberries. They turn to mush when cooked, and contain small seeds, so you will end up with a mushy, seedy filling. 1 cup or less is good just for flavor.

Note: If you are looking for a traditional tart cherry pie, see the cherry pie recipe on my recipe page instead of this one.

Cherry Berry Pie:

This recipe makes one DEEP dish pie. If you have a shallow pie plate, you can lessen the measurements for the filling, or cook the leftover filling briefly on the stovetop then store in the fridge to use as a jam.

Crust:

Prepare and chill one recipe Flaky Pie Crust

Filling:

3 Cups dark, sweet cherries (I used Bing cherries)

2 Cups ripe strawberries

1 cup ripe raspberries

3/4 Cup Sugar (you can add more or less to taste, depending on how sweet your fruit is)

1/4 Cup Instant Tapioca beads (available near the pudding in your grocery store)

1/2 teaspoon almond extract, optional

Wash the fruit and drain well. Pit the cherries and slice in half. Cut the strawberries into halves (or quarters for very large berries). Leave the raspberries whole. Mix the cherries and strawberries together in a large bowl with the sugar, tapioca and almond extract. Let this mixture sit and macerate for at least 20 minutes. Fold in the raspberries last.

Line the pie plate with the bottom crust. Sprinkle a little flour in the bottom and then add fruit mixture. Cover with the top crust and crimp edges. Cut slits into the top crust to vent (I attempted a decorative polka-dot design here, but it didn't look as pretty as I thought it would.) Brush crust with milk and sprinkle sugar on top. Bake in a preheated 400 degree oven for 40 minutes, or until golden brown on top and the filling is bubbling. Check the pie halfway through baking to see if the edges are getting too brown - if so, cover edges with foil.

Cooked Milk Buttercream

Once again, I have to ask myself why-oh-why did a classic old-fashioned recipe go out of style? This retro kind of frosting is SO good, tasting like a cross between homemade vanilla pudding and whipped cream. I don't know why nobody makes it anymore. There are many different recipes for this, but the one I tried recently was from the book United Cakes of America by Warren Brown. This book is a treasure trove of old-fashioned recipes. I do take exception to certain things in the book (like the strangely flat and un-authentic looking Whoopie Pies, for example) but overall the book's concept of capturing regional favorites is great, even if it doesn't quite live up to its FULL potential. Okay, this isn't a book review, so on to the recipe:

 Warren Brown's "Old-Fashioned Milk Buttercream"

1 Cup Milk
1/4 Cup All-purpose Flour
1 Cup Unsalted Butter (if you only have salted butter, omit the salt in the recipe)
1 Cup Superfine granulated sugar (put regular granulated sugar through a food-processor)
Pinch of Salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Put 4 Tablespoons of the milk and all of the flour into a small saucepan. Using a wire whisk, whisk them together vigorously to mix well and make a slurry.  Press out any lumps with a rubber spatula if necessary. Turn the heat on under the pan and add the rest of the milk. Whisking continuously, bring the mixture to a simmer for about 30 seconds (it is thick, but you will see it bubble up. Let it bubble while stirring constantly, for a good thirty seconds to cook off the starchiness of the flour). Take the pan off of the heat. To avoid getting a "pudding skin" on the surface, press plastic wrap directly onto the surface of the milk (which will be thick like a custard at this point). Cool the mixture to room temperature.

Meanwhile, with an electric mixer, beat the butter, sugar, salt and vanilla on medium speed for about 5 minutes (don't shorten the beating time - you need the butter to be fluffy and the sugar to be less grainy. The sugar will dissolve even further when you mix the thickened milk in.)

When the milk mixture has cooled, spoon it into the butter/sugar and beat for another five minutes, or until you have a spreadable consistency.

This will frost a regular 9" two-layer cake, or 24 cupcakes.

Note: This buttercream is a great choice for standard layer cakes or swirls on cupcakes. It is not for piping intricate decorations. It will stand up just fine at room temperature, but on a hot day you should refrigerate your cake/cupcakes until about 30 minutes before serving. (The butter solidifies in the fridge making the frosting hard, so take them out 30-60 minutes prior to serving, depending on how hot the day is).

Black & White Cake

Super-dark chocolate cake looks stunning with bright white icing. This cake is so moist that is doesn't slice very neatly (as you can see), but boy is it delicious! The dark chocolate color really looks black when you put it next to white icing. This comes from using Hershey's Special Dark cocoa powder and strong coffee. This recipe is inspired by the classic Hershey's chocolate cake recipe, but I have made several adjustments until I have something that I like even better than the original:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prep two 9" or 10" round cake pans with parchment paper.

1 3/4 Cups All-purpose Flour

2 cups Sugar

3/4 Cup Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa Powder

1 1/2 teaspoons Baking Powder

1 1/2 teaspoons Baking Soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

3/4 Cup Milk

1/2 Cup Vegetable Oil

1 Tablespoon Vanilla

1 Cup hot strong coffee

In a large mixer bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, cocoa, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Set aside. (To make it easier, you can just mix this in your KitchenAid mixer on low until well-combined).

In a smaller bowl, beat eggs lightly. Add the milk, oil, vanilla and stir well.

Add the egg/milk mixture into the dry ingredients and beat on medium for about 90 seconds.

Add the coffee in last, stirring by hand just until it is thoroughly mixed. This batter is very liquidy, so don't be alarmed when it looks thin. 

Bake approximately 30-35 minutes (until the center springs back to the touch or a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean).

Cool and frost with Seven Minute Icing

When slicing, wipe the knife clean in between cuts. You may even want to run the knife under hot water before cutting to make it even cleaner. But let's face it - when you have a really moist dark cake with white icing, you're going to get crumbs all in it. Oh well. Enjoy! :)

Does the type of pan you use really matter?

Check out these two chocolate chip cookies. They were baked on the same day, with the same dough and the same oven temp. The ONLY thing that was different was the cookie sheet I used.

I had been wondering why my chocolate chip cookies always seemed to spread too much and come out really flat. Sometimes they were fine, but often they were too flat and crispy.  What was I doing wrong? I've been baking cookies for a long time, why could I not get something as basic as chocolate chip to come out consistently good??? When a friend's cookies came out puffier and she had used the same recipe as me, I was baffled.

Then suddenly it dawned on me that I have seven different cookie sheets and I had never really thought about how each one performs a little differently. After I thought about it, I realized that certain cookie sheets tended to make flatter, browner (and crisper) cookies, while other cookie sheets let them stay puffier and softer. How could I not have thought of it sooner?!

You can experiment with different pans to see what works best for you, but here are some recommendations to start with. (This goes for both cookie sheets and cake pans): 1) Use good quality aluminum pans and cookie sheets that DO NOT have a dark non-stick coating. Darker pans tend to overbrown. I prefer not to use any pans with a non-stick coating, even a lighter non-stick coating. (You can always line the pans with parchment if non-stick sprays don't work for you.)  Good quality pans will usually be aluminum and feel very sturdy but not overly heavy. If they feel really lightweight, they will probably warp. If they feel super-heavy, you probably paid too much for some new-fangled bells and whistles that won't help you bake better in the long run. As far as brands go, it is hard to recommend one brand because most companies make regular and non-stick bakeware, as well as making a variety of lines (for everything from the amateur home cook to the pro).  One thing I do not recommend is those silly air-bake things that have a double layer of metal with air between. Don't even waste money on those.

Avoiding dark coated pans is a recommendation that goes for all bakeware as far as I'm concerned. I know that stores like Williams-Sonoma sell pricey bakeware that is supposedly non-stick. But honestly, you'll have to spray or line the pan with parchment anyway, because nothing is truly non-stick. And here's a side-note: half of what you find in those kind of stores is just an array of expensive gadgets with a lot of bells and whistles for wanna-be chefs, not genuinely useful equipment. The bakeware sections in these stores are chock-full of dark non-stick cake pans, which really are not the best for baking. You'd be better off to buy your bakeware from a kitchen supply store or a cake decorating store where they sell the kind of pans that pros use.

For more about cake pans, see my post about Levelling cake layers

Tip: If you must use a pan (for any kind of baking) that has a dark non-stick coating, try lowering your oven temp by 25 degrees. This usually solves the problem, but you still have to watch things very carefully with these pans.

Happy Baking!

When Good Recipes Go Bad

I was all prepared to blog about homemade cinnamon rolls, using a recipe from one of my all-time favorite cookbooks, The Breakfast Book by Marion Cunningham. I had high expectations, but something went wrong: The rolls were not as puffy as they should have been, and they turned out dry and over-browned (not quite burnt, but very close). Since every recipe I have made from this book has been incredible, I can only imagine that it was something I did (or didn't do). When good recipes go bad, you can learn a lot from investigating what went wrong. Learning from your mistakes can make you a better baker, but only IF you can solve the mystery of what happened.

It started out fine - I made the dough the night before and let it rise slowly in the refrigerator overnight. The next morning, I rolled the dough out, brushed it with butter and sprinkled it with cinnamon sugar. So far, so good.

Then, I rolled the dough into a long log:

Then, I cut the dough into several sections:

Next, I put the pinwheel pieces into muffin tins. I covered them and allowed them to rise a second time (for about an hour):

Here is where things went wrong.

1) Looking back, I should have chosen a different pan. This muffin tin has a dark, non-stick coating. I usually shun these pans altogether since they cause things to brown too quickly. I never use them for cakes, but I wasn't thinking about how it would affect cinnamon rolls. Hey, it was early and I hadn't had my coffee yet, so I had a serious lapse in baking judgement.

2) If you must use a dark non-stick pan for ANY type of baking, lower your oven temp by 25 degrees. If all you have is one of these pans, don't worry, just lower your oven temp and watch them carefully. I forgot to set the oven for 325 instead of 350 - this small adjustment could have saved my poor rolls.

3) I would actually try not using a muffin pan at all next time. Although the recipe calls for baking them in individual muffin tins, I think I would prefer baking the rolls close together in a cake pan, so that they all bake together and stay soft on the outer edges.

4) Don't rush it - These rolls were not as puffy as they should have been because I rushed the second rising time. After an hour they didn't seem to have fully risen, but I baked them anyway because at this point it was late morning and everyone was starving. You just can't rush anything with yeast, it won't be light and soft.

5) I should have listened to my nose. I could smell the wonderful smell of "doneness" but told myself it was way too early for them to be done. The recipe said 20-25 minutes, and I had set my timer to check them at 19. But they started to smell done at 15, because I cooked them in a dark pan without lowering the temperature, they were done much more quickly. By the time I checked on them at 19 minutes, they were overbrowned and dry.

My family still ate them, and I learned a good lesson, so it wasn't a complete disaster. But it is SO disappointing to start a recipe the night before and baby it along, only to have it fail. The upside is that I used the leftover scraps to form a braided cinnamon bread, which turned out great!

Grandma Minnie's Carrot Cake

My mother found this recipe in my Great-Grandmother's box, typed on a 3x5 card with a couple of hand-written notes added later. It is dated 1967. This carrot cake is quite good, maybe the best I've ever had. That says a lot since I'm not a huge carrot cake fan! There are no nuts or raisins in this cake, although you can always throw some in if you like them.


3 Cups peeled and finely Grated Carrots (Grandma Minnie ground them with a hand-crank food grinder; I grate them mine with a microplane, you can use a food processor if you wish). Grate them and set aside to be added last.

2 1/3 Cups All-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
4 whole eggs, beaten well
1 Tablespoon Vanilla
2 Cups White Sugar
1 1/2 Cups Vegetable Oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease (or line with parchment) three 6" or two 9" pans (or three 8" pans will work fine, the layers will just be a little thinner).

Mix the dry ingredients together in a large bowl and set aside. In a separate bowl, mix together the eggs, vanilla, sugar and oil and stir well. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir until thoroughly blended. Stir in the carrots last and mix well.

Spoon the batter into the pans and bake for approximately 25 minutes.

I do not use the icing recipe that comes with this, I use a standard Cream Cheese Frosting or American Buttercream (or even seven-minute icing sometimes). But  the original recipe for the icing is so retro that I feel I just have to post it here! It is as follows:
8 oz. package of cream cheese, softened
1 Cube Butter or margarine (I assume she meant 1 stick)
1 Box (1 lb) Powdered sugar
1 Cup Coconut
1 Cup chopped nuts

Mix thoroughly and spread onto and between layers.

Easy French Bread

This tasty basic French Bread is surprisingly easy to make. Like any bread, "easy" does not mean FAST - you still have to let it rise twice. BUT you could be doing a million other things while it rises, so you really aren't spending much time on it. This is a really excellent white yeast bread, and you can choose to make the outside nice and crusty like a traditional French Bread or, by skipping one small step, leave the outside softer and less crusty. This recipe makes one good-sized loaf. You can double the recipe if you want two loaves.

3 - 3 1/2 Cups All-purpose flour (start with 3 C and only add more if needed)
2 teaspoons instant yeast
2 teaspoons salt
1 1/4 Cups water (You can also use beer if you'd like)
1 Tablespoon melted butter

Add the yeast and the salt to the flour and stir well. Slowly add in the water and melted butter, and stir well. (You can also do this step in a KitchenAid mixer with the dough hook attachment). Add more flour a little at a time as needed to make the dough workable - it should be very moist, but not so sticky that it won't come off your hands when you work with it). Turn the dough out onto a floured board and knead for a few minutes until smooth and soft.

Place the dough in a greased bowl and cover loosely with plastic wrap. Put it in a warm place free from drafts, and let rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour. I like to put it in my oven (unheated but with the light on and the door closed).

When it has doubled in size, punch down the dough.  With a rolling pin, roll the dough into a rectangle (about 12" wide by 15" long). Starting on one of the long sides, tightly roll the dough into a long loaf. Pinch the ends a little to taper them. Place the loaf on a greased cookie sheet and cover loosely. Let rise again for another hour or until doubled in bulk.

During the last 25 minutes of rising time, preheat your oven to 450.

When the loaf has doubled, take a sharp knife and make four diagonal slits on top of it (gently - don't press down hard and deflate the loaf). Bake at 450 for 15 minutes. Take the loaf out and brush it with egg white mixed with a little water. Put it back in the oven and bake another 5-8 minutes. (If you do not want the traditional crusty outside, you can skip this step and just leave it in the oven until done.) If it is browning too much and doesn't seem completely done yet, you can tent aluminum foil over the top. 

Enjoy!

Chocolate Beer Bread

This bread is only slightly sweet, and strangely reminiscent of a Pumpernickel. The cocoa flavor is married with stout beer to give it a deep richness. This "appetizer" bread would be great paired with honey butter or walnut cream cheese. Or you could have it as a breakfast bread, toasted and spread with Nutella.

If you prefer to have it sweeter like a dessert bread, increase the sugar to 3/4 Cup and Sprinkle coarse sugar on top before baking. You could even add chocolate chips to really sweeten it up.

3 Cups Self-Rising Flour (you can buy it, or see instructions below to make your own)
1/2 Cup Sugar
1/3 Cup Cocoa Powder
12 oz. Stout Beer (I like Young's Chocolate Stout for this)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a loaf pan with parchment paper, or grease it.

Mix together dry ingredients and then add in beer slowly, mixing by hand with a wooden spoon for 60-70 strokes. The batter will be thick. Spoon it into the loaf pan and smooth the batter to even it out. Bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes, until a cake tester or toothpick inserted in it comes out clean. Don't rush it - this bread takes a while to be done in the center! You may need to cover the top with foil at some point to prevent over-browning on top.

To make Self-Rising Flour:

4 Cups Flour (you can use 1/2 white and 1/2 wheat if you prefer)
2 teaspoons Salt
2 Tablespoons Baking Powder

Mix well and store in an airtight container until needed.

Savory Beer Bread

This bread has a crusty outside and a dense, moist interior. The beer flavor is subtle but noticeable, and the spices can be varied to your own taste. If you want a hint of sourdough flavor, add 1/2 cup of sourdough starter and increase the flour by 1/2 Cup.

1 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
4 Cups All-purpose flour (or 3 C white flour + 1 C wheat) plus a little more for kneading
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons dried herbs (like Italian Blend, Herbs de Provence, or make your own blend with any of the following: Sage, Rosemary, Thyme, Oregano, Tarragon, Basil, Dill, Marjoram, Lavender, etc.)
1 12-oz bottle of Beer (I use a medium-bodied Amber Ale)
Optional: Melted Butter and Parmesan Cheese to top the bread before baking.

Mix the flour with the yeast, stir well. Add the salt and herbs, stir well again. Add in the beer gradually, until the mixture is well-moistened. The dough should be moist but not too sticky. If you need to add a little more flour in order to work with it, add the flour gradually one tablespoon at a time until the dough can be worked.

Put the dough on a floured board and knead it for a few minutes until smooth, soft and no longer sticky to the touch. Put the ball of dough in a greased bowl and cover loosely with plastic wrap or a clean kitchen towel. Let it rise in a warm area of your kitchen for  60-90 minutes, until it has doubled in size.

When the dough has doubled in size, punch it down and form into a loaf (I like to do it free-form on a baking sheet, but you can put it into two small loaf pans if you prefer). Cover and let rise again for 30-40 minutes.

Brush the top with melted butter and Parmesan cheese (optional) then bake approximately 35 minutes. The dough is done when you can knock on it and it sounds hollow. You can also gently press in the center and it will no longer feel soft in the center.   

Beer Brownies

Yes, that's right, I said BEER brownies. Not being a huge brownie person, I wanted to give the traditional brownie a little twist. Dark beer ("Stout") and chocolate are a marriage made in heaven! Anything you bake with beer is going to be better the next day after the flavors have mellowed, so I recommend making these the night before you plan to serve them. These brownies are more cakey than chewy, but they are so moist and full of chocolate flavor. I don't like a lot of chunky stuff in my brownies (nuts, chocolate chips, etc.) but if you do, by all means add some in.

1 Cup Flour
1 1/4 Cup Sugar
1 teaspoon Salt
1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
1/3 Cup Cocoa Powder
2 oz Chopped Dark Chocolate
1/2 Cup Young's Chocolate Stout (If you can't find this beer, substitute any Stout)
1/2 Cup (1 Stick) Butter
2 Eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Mix flour, sugar, salt and baking powder together in a large bowl and set aside.

In a small saucepan, heat the stout and butter just to a simmer. Take it off the heat and add in the cocoa powder and chocolate pieces. Stir until they melt. Allow this mixture to cool a bit.

In a mixing bowl, lightly beat the eggs and vanilla. Add in the chocolate mixture slowly (If you have not cooled it enough, you can temper the eggs by adding just a spoonful of the chocolate mixture at a time and stirring well before you add in the rest.) Blend in the flour mixture. Stir it all together just enough to make sure it is well mixed - do not overbeat. I just mix this recipe by hand, an electric mixer really isn't necessary.

Spread the batter into a greased/parchment lined 8x8" square baking pan. Bake at 325 degrees for
35-45 minutes.

Let them cool a bit before cutting into squares.

Potato Yeast Rolls

Any homemade rolls are good, but the addition of mashed potato makes these rolls nice and moist, and just a little bit denser than your average dinner roll. I found this recipe in Bernard Clayton's New Complete Book of Breads (1987 edition). I have made a couple of minor modifications here, since I use instant yeast instead of active dry yeast.

Have ingredients at room temperature:

1 Egg
1/4 Cup Sugar
1/2 Cup Mashed Potatoes (I just cook a potato in the microwave, peel the skin, and mash it up with a small amount of milk. In the book, Mr. Clayton says you can use instant potatoes if necessary)
3/4 Cup Milk
1/3 Cup (5 Tbsp) Butter, softened
1/2 tsp salt
3 to 3 1/2 Cups All purpose flour (I start with 3 and add more as needed)
2 tsp instant yeast
3 Tablespoons melted butter

Add the instant yeast into the flour and give it a good stir. In a separate bowl, blend the egg and sugar (I like to use my KitchenAid mixer for this - I start with the paddle attachment and then switch to the dough hook for the kneading). Add in the potato, milk, softened butter, and salt. Mix well. (If using a KitchenAid mixer, here is where you switch to the dough hook) Add 2 Cups of the flour and work it in. Gradually add the remaining flour 1/2 cup at a time. I use 3 cups, but you may need that extra 1/2 cup if it is looking too moist. The ball of dough should cling to the hook and "clean the sides" of your mixing bowl. It should not be too sticky to the touch, if it is add a little more flour. Knead with the dough hook for about 3 minutes, then by hand for another 3-4 minutes.

Place the ball of dough in a large greased bowl and cover loosely with plastic wrap. Put it in a warm place free from drafts and let it double in volume, about 60-80 minutes. I put mine in an unheated oven with the light on for the first rising.

After it has doubled, punch it down, divide in half, and roll each half into a long log. Cut each log into small pieces and roll each piece into a ball in the palm of your hand. You should get about 20 rolls - don't make them too big. Place the balls into greased cake pans close together but not too squished - remember they are going to expand on the second rising. If they are too squished together I find that they do not fully cook in between the balls. Just barely touching is good. Brush them with the melted butter and cover with a clean kitchen towel. Keep at room temperature and let them rise for another 30-40 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees a good 20 minutes before you bake.

When they have risen, bake until golden brown - about 12-15 minutes.

Best when served still warm from the oven. :)

Hot Cross Buns

These sweet, slightly spicy rolls are traditionally served at Easter time, and this is a really good recipe for them! The Cinnamon and Nutmeg mix with Lemon Zest and Currants to give these buns a festive, old-fashioned holiday taste.


2 2/3 Cups All-purpose flour (have more on hand incase you need it)
2 teaspoons instant yeast
1 Cup Milk
1/4 Cup Sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons finely grated lemon zest
1/4 cup currants
2 Tablespoons Butter
1 Egg

Mix the instant yeast into the flour and stir well.

Warm the milk in a small saucepan or in the microwave until it is very warm but not HOT. Put the milk, sugar, butter, salt, spices and lemon zest into a mixer bowl and mix well. Add the egg and mix on low until blended (this is why you do not want the milk HOT - it will curdle the egg). Add half of the flour a little at a time. Take the dough out of the mixing bowl and knead in the rest of the flour (additional flour may be needed at this point if it is too sticky. Use only enough to handle the dough easily without sticking). When the dough feels smooth,  place it in a greased bowl and cover loosely with plastic wrap. Let it rise in a warm place (I put mine in the unheated oven with the light on) until doubled in size, about one hour.

In the last 20 minutes of rise time, preheat your oven to 425 degrees. 

After the dough has risen, shape it into small balls and place them on a greased cookie sheet. (Don't make them too big - you should get 16-18 balls.) Cover with a clean kitchen towel and let rise again until doubled, about 40 minutes.  After rising, brush with milk or butter to help them brown. Bake until golden, about 13-16 minutes.

When they have cooled, decorate them with a cross made from milk glaze: 1/2 Cup Confectioner's Sugar + 2 teaspoons milk.

So Many Cookies From Just One Dough!

I love recipes that can be made into many different things. Old-fashioned sugar cookie dough is probably the most versatile cookie recipe I know of. You can tweak it into an endless variety of shapes and flavors.

There are basically two kinds of sugar cookies - Old-fashioned sugar cookies and rolled sugar cookies. Most modern rolled "sugar cookies" are actually a butter cookie, not the kind of sugar cookies our grandmothers made. But if I am decorating a bunch of cookies (and especially if I am shipping them), I prefer a more modern butter cookie recipe - it is sturdier, and I like the butter taste.

Old-fashioned sugar cookies, on the other hand, are a softer, less sweet cookie. This dough, which lacks an assertive butter flavor, is more versatile than a butter cookie. You can still roll it and cut it into shapes, but you can also use it as the base for any number of other cookies. Here is my personal recipe, which was my great-grandmother's: Old-fashioned sugar cookies

Here are some of the different things I do with old-fashioned sugar cookie dough:

Rainbow Sugar Cookies:

Roll dough into balls and roll in sprinkles. Bake as usual.

OR, cut into circles, brush with water and sprinkle with colored sugars:

Almond Tea Cookies:

roll and cut into circles. Bake and then top with an almond milk glaze (1 Cup confectioner's sugar, 1 Tbsp milk, 1/4 tsp almond extract) and sprinkle crushed

almonds on top:

Jam Cutouts

Roll dough and cut into circles. Cut a smaller "window" circle in half of the cookies. Bake and then sandwich two cookies together with seedless raspberry or apricot jam inside:

Decorated Rolled Cutouts:

 

Roll dough out and cut into shapes. Bake as directed and decorate with royal icing or glace icing.

Soft Tea Cookies:

Bake as a drop cookie and dust with powdered sugar. Note: I also like to add 1/2 tsp almond or anise extract to the dough for a nice flavor if I am making tea cookies.