Mihow » mom it down

Tuesdays With Murray (Chapter 139) Mom It Down! Roasted Myrtle

mihow — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 22:19:49 +0000

Today we’re going to explore a very rare delicacy called Roasted Myrtle.

What you will need

Roasting pan

Ingredients

One strange cat
Kisses

Mom it Down!

Leave roasting pan out for optimal “new stuff” opportunity. Walk away. Wait. Find cat in pan.

Yell to toddler. Ask him or her if they want “Roasted Myrtle” for dinner. Laughter ensues. Kisses follow. You’re done!

Please note: no cats were harmed, cooked or consumed in the creation of this post. Just kissed and laughed at.

Mom It Down! She Made A Strawberry Sorbet

mihow — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 14:20:47 +0000

We studied flourless soufflés last week in class, both fruit and chocolate. By the end of the day, we weren’t able to finish baking everything, so I had some strawberry-flavored simple syrup left over. I took it home and turned it into a sorbet. It’s outstanding. Sweet and outstanding.

Anyway, today I want to share this simple recipe with you. (Unfortunately, I don’t have pictures of the process, but it’s so easy you really don’t need them.)

What You Will Need

Ice Cream Maker (I have a KitchenAid attachment. Worked perfectly.)
Food Processor (I reckon you could probably do this by hand, but having a processor is just so much easier.)

Ingredients

5 ounces of sugar
2 fluid ounces of water
Pint of strawberries

Mom It Down!

Remove the stems from your strawberries. Add them to your food processor and mix ‘em up real good. Put the mixture aside.

In a medium saucepan, slowly heat water and sugar. You want the sugar to dissolve completely. You do not want the mixture to boil.

Once the liquid is perfectly clear and all the sugar is dissolved, stir in your strawberry mixture. Heat that up for about 5 to 10 minutes. Again, just a simmer. Don’t boil it.

Let your mixture cool a bit and then add it to a lidded container. Put that in the refrigerator to cool. (I left mine in overnight.)

Once the mixture is cooled completely. You’re ready to start the slow churn in your ice cream maker.

I set the timer for 30 minutes and checked on it from time to time. It definitely took the full 30 minutes. It could have gone a bit longer, but I was impatient. :] Once it’s at a consistency you’re pleased with, spoon the mixture into a plastic container and freeze.

You’re done!

Overcoming Obstacles

This is the easiest thing ever. It’s right up there with the time I started making applesauce. If you like sorbet and you have an ice cream maker, there’s no reason you shouldn’t be making this delectable snack at home. It’s so easy! It just takes a little time, not your time, but waiting time.

Variations

This could probably be made with less sugar. Remember, the base of this recipe was to be used for a flourless soufflé. It was meant to end up with eggs and baked. So, it’s on the sweet side! Not that we’re complaining. Even Toby Joe, anti-sweets guy, was eating it up! And your kids will love it.

Of course you can substitute any fruit you’d like. YUM!

Mom It Down: Chocolate Angel Food Cake SUCCESS!

mihow — Mon, 03 May 2010 15:30:04 +0000

I revisited the failed angel food cake from last week and had great success with it. It turns out, the many things I had done wrong were indeed to blame. If you follow the directions, it turns out pretty amazing if I must say so myself.

This recipe combines three different angel food cake recipes I have seen over the years. I took a few things from all of them and ended up with something pretty great. I hope you enjoy it too!

What you will need

10-inch tube pan
Mixer
Working brain

Ingredients

12 eggs (1 1/2 cups)
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups powdered sugar
1 cup flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/4 teaspoon salt

Mom it Down!

Put egg whites in your mixer and let them warm to room temperature. (I have cut corners here a bit and things turned out fine, but it’s best to get them closest to room temperature as possible.)

Preheat oven to 350.

In separate bowl, sift together flour, powdered sugar, and cocoa powder. (Or see my shortcut at the end of this post.)

Once eggs are close to room temperature, add extract, salt and cream of tartar. Using the whisk attachment, beat that until it’s bubbly.

Add granulated sugar. Mix on high until it forms hard peaks.

Slowly spoon in flour mixture about 1/4 cup at a time. (You can slowly beat this with your mixer using the flat beater attachment. Just go slowly.)

Spoon mixture into an ungreased tube pan. Sprinkle with almond slices.

Bake at 350 for 40 to 45 minutes.

You’re done!

Overcoming Obstacles

I always try and sprinkle the top of my angel food cakes because it covers up the cracks and other blemishes. :] I know. I cheat. But it also adds a wonderful flavor. The almonds come out slightly crunchy—so good! And they go really well with chocolate.

Also: I mentioned above you can use your flat beater attachment to spoon in the flour mixture. It’s up to you. I usually do a mixture of both—starting with the attachment and then moving on to doing it by hand.

Lastly, if you don’t have time to sift the flour mixture together, which is what you’re supposed to do, you can easily use a wire whisk and just give it a good stir, breaking up the big chunks.

Variations

Next time, I want to try more cocoa and add chocolate chips to the top. I almost did that this time, but was worried that they might be too heavy. I wanted to make sure this worked before getting too groovy. Now that I know it does, I’m going to purchase some of the miniature chips and add them to the top.

I also think there’s room to add some other flavored extracts, but again haven’t messed with this too much yet myself.

I should mention that the only thing I changed was that I used regular, all-purpose flour instead of cake flour. I reckon using cake flour would make it even fluffier.

As usual, let me know if you have suggestions and/or questions!

Mom It Down: Chai Lollipops (For Sale!)

mihow — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 16:57:14 +0000

I love chai. My love for chai is actually why I took up candy-making again a while back. I wanted to make a chai lollipop for myself. Unfortunately, I realized right away that I wouldn’t gain instant gratification; I’d have to make an extract first. So, I revisited my homemade whole wheat chai muffin recipe and came up with a water-based extract. While that was doing its thing is when I began to explore other flavors and play with recipes. So, perhaps it’s good that I had to wait this time.

Well, I’m happy to report that they’re finally here! My extract was put to use this weekend. I made me some Chai Pops!

I’m pretty pleased with how this recipe turned out. They’re for sale over on Etsy. If you’re into chai or the spices in chai, you might really dig these pops. (So far, they’re are my favorite.)

Are you totally sick of this yet? Yeah. I know. I’m getting sick of myself too. It’s probably pretty annoying hearing me write about lollipops all the time, but I’m inspired and I’m having a great time coming up with new flavors. I honestly haven’t been this inspired in years. I will shut up soon, if only because I’ll be busy trying to eat all these lollipops!

No, really. I have a lot of lollipops on my hands.

And I hope to have the real Mom It Down up later today. Peanut Butter Cookies! Yum!

Lollipops By Mihow (What I’ve Been Doing.)

mihow — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 14:10:27 +0000

It may seem like I haven’t been baking much lately. But that’s not the case at all, my friends! I’ve actually been in the kitchen more so than ever. You see, I’ve been making lollipops. The whole adventure came on suddenly but has proven to be rather amazing. And, get this! I’m going to be selling them any day now!

Here’s the skinny: A couple of weeks ago, I revisited hard candy. It had been years since I made candy, and I don’t remember that being all that rewarding so I thought I’d give it another go. This time, I didn’t give up. Yes, I hit a few roadblocks and yes those roadblocks were frustrating, but within a week, I had this down. I had a lollipop created without corn syrup (something I insisted on) that tasted rather good! That’s when I began to play with different flavor combinations—combinations found in cuisines all over the globe. (It helps to have a husband that can cook!)

So I made a bunch of flavors. Some were great, some not so much. But I kept going and going until I ended up with some pretty remarkable flavor combinations. And they’re really beautiful to look at as well. Excited, I put them up for sale on Etsy and sold hundreds of bucks worth of lollipops within the first couple of hours. I was shocked and totally geeked about it. But we decided I moved a little too fast. And since Toby Joe and I like to do things the right way, we refunded all of the money we made, sent out a few freebie packages, and immediately started the process of getting all our paperwork in order; we should be up and running within the week.

In the meantime, go to my Etsy shop and mark it a favorite.

All of my lollipops are made without corn syrup. They are all vegan. They are all really quite beautiful to look at. And they are all made with a great deal of love. I combine flavors such as pink peppercorn and watermelon; oranges, sesame oil and hot peppers; bananas and peanut butter; mango, Tabasco and lime. There’s even one for the youngsters called The Box Office that combines butter with actual popcorn. Kids go nuts for this one, NUTS!

But that’s not all! We have over 10 flavors at the time this was written and more on the way. I do hope you’ll stop by. I can’t wait to offer tongue workouts to all. ;]

I will be back with Mom It Down next week—like the real deal. I have a peanut butter cookie that simply must get some recognition.

Mom It Down: Whole Wheat Flax Seed Bread

mihow — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 15:10:24 +0000

I literally googled “Flax Seed Bread” and took the first recipe that popped up changing only one thing. This is super easy. Labor is next to nothing. The most time involved is waiting for the sucker to rise.

What you will need

Bread pan
Mixer

Ingredients

1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1 3/4 cups of warm water
2 tablespoons honey (original recipe called for 1/8 cup sugar)
1 tablespoon canola oil
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup flaxseed meal
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour

Mom It Down!

Dissolve yeast in (1 3/4 cups) warm water in the mixer. Let that sit until bubbly. (Five minutes.)

Add honey (or sugar), salt, flaxseed meal, and 1 cup of whole wheat flour. Stir that up with a spoon until it looks like this:

Attach the bread hook to the mixer.

Add the rest of the flour and let the mixer do its thing for 10 or more minutes.

Form the dough into a ball.

Coat a bowl with oil and let the dough sit for 2 hours or until it’s nearly doubled in size.

Once it’s doubled, punch it down and roll it into a loaf. Place in a 9 X 5 oiled bread pan. Let that rise for an hour, (less if you’d like, more if you have time).

Preheat oven to 350, bake for 40 – 45 minutes.

Let it cool. Slice and eat with some butter! Yum!

Overcoming Obstacles

I have to admit, I often do not let my dough rise as much as it should. I know. WORST BREAD BAKER EVER. But, yeah. I tend to cut corners here and there. My bread is often denser than it probably should be. (Well, with exception of this bread recipe I posted over a year ago.)

Variations

I substituted the sugar for honey. I reckon you could substitute agave as well. I haven’t thought to change much with this yet, but probably will in time as I bake it more often. But if you have suggestions, do share!

Also: vegan friendly! (Unless you don’t do honey, then hit the sugar or agave.)

As usual, comments, suggestions or critiques are welcome.

Mom It Down: Vanilla Cake with Chocolate Frosting.

mihow — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 15:19:05 +0000

In anticipation of the “Storm of the Century”, I was in a baking mood this weekend. Well, the storm never came, but the baking sure did. I baked a few things. And I was very pleased with both outcomes. This week, I’ll feature the cake.

I am a little surprised with how well this turned out because I combined three recipes into one. And, if you skip the whole melted white chocolate part, it’s super easy.

The recipe below features melted white chocolate. Had my husband not been home, I probably would have omitted this step because it requires watching the stove more than my son.

What you will need:

9 x 9 cake pan
mixer

Cake

1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter (8 tablespoons)
2 eggs (best at room temperature)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups cake flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
2 – 3 oz. melted white chocolate (optional)

Mom it Down!

The Cake

Preheat your oven to 350.

Grease a 9 x 9 cake pan.

Put half stick butter in the mixer and let that sit until it’s nice and melty. Add your sugar. Cream those two together.

Add eggs, one at a time. Add vanilla extract.

If you have a double boiler, melt the white chocolate. I do not. So I used a Pyrex measuring cup and a pot of boiling water.

It did the trick quite nicely.

Add flour and baking powder intermittently with the milk and melted white chocolate.

Give that a good mix to make sure it’s all creamed together.

Pour that into a cake pan. You’re done!

Bake for 30 – 40 minutes. (I checked mine at 30 and gave it just a few more minutes until it was nice and golden.

The Icing

I have a confession. Yesterday, whenever I set out to make this cake, I wasn’t going to make my own icing. I know! Terrible. You see, I haven’t had much luck with icing. Aside from the vegan icing I made for the cupcakes last year, I haven’t been too pleased with the outcome. I’ve made some ganache and it just didn’t appeal to me enough to do it again. Plus, I always end up with too much and then having to throw it out. I thought I’d just have Toby Joe pick me up some trashy store-bought icing. He did.

The biggest mistake one can make in this instance is to read the ingredients as well as the nutritional information. Needless to say, I immediately looked to the Internet in search of yet another chocolate icing recipe; one I could make with what I had available. I found one on All Recipes and modified it ever so slightly. It’s nothing short of awesome. No lie. It’s great stuff.

What you will need

Mixer

Frosting

2 3/4 cups confectioners’ sugar
6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
6 tablespoons butter
5 tablespoons milk (add more if you need to)

In a bowl, combine sugar with cocoa powder.

In mixer, beat your butter until it’s creamy. (You’ll want this to be as close to room temperature as possible.)

Add flour and cocoa powder mixture intermittently with the milk. If you need to, you can add more or less milk to reach the desired consistency.

Add that to cooled cake. You’re done!

Give the child the spoon to lick.

This cake rules. I have one fan for life.

Overcoming Obstacles

Again, if you don’t have the time or desire to melt chocolate, I recommend skipping that step altogether. I can’t imagine it would matter too much. I only added it to mine to give it a little more vanilla flavor.

I haven’t personally tried with this recipe, but I bet you can freeze the batter and bake it at a later date. I have done this with cupcakes in the past and have had success with it. That way, you can split the two steps especially if you don’t have someone around to amuse the little one. You’ll just want to make sure it’s thawed entirely before baking. (Do not quote me on this as I haven’t tried yet!)

Variations

I imagine that this recipe would go great with a vanilla frosting. Also, feel free to make cupcakes. But I reckon you’ll want to lower the baking time down to 20 – 25 minutes.

Doubling this recipe is an option as well if you wish to make a layered cake.

Also, vegans! I cracked open a bloody egg on Saturday night while making pancakes for Em and damn near vomited into the bowl I was using. I know what eggs are. I know where they come from and what they become if we don’t snatch ‘em up right away, but I try and block all of that out most of the time. (This is something I can’t do with most meats.) Anyway, staring at bloody egg was not something I dealt with all that well. I am seriously considering giving up eggs and dairy, so I may try a vegan version of this next. I can’t imagine it’d be that hard. But who knows?

Mom It Down: Vanilla Meringues

mihow — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 14:38:53 +0000

I had a bunch of egg whites that needed to be used, so I googled “things to do with leftover egg whites” or some such nonsense and found a bunch of meringue cookie recipes. So I combined some of the things I read and gave it a go. Twice.

I’m quite pleased with the flavor and the consistency; they taste like marshmallows! And for those of us who try and avoid the consumption of gelatin, this is really quite awesome. But after two batches (three attempts at baking) and a few adjustments, I’m having a little trouble with them sinking as they cool.

I made two batches: the first batch I may not have beat the eggs as much as I should have, so I had a go at it again this morning. (Had the egg whites, figured, why not?) The second batch turned out much better, but still sunk a wee bit. Anyway, you can probably tell the difference between the two batches in the picture above. If not, let me know.

I still think this is a recipe worth sharing as they taste wonderful. And this is by far one of the easiest recipes I’ve ever done. I even used a pastry bag and a special piping attachment to make the dollops—it’s still easy.

What you will need

KitchenAid mixer (wire whip attachment)
Baking sheet
Parchment paper (or a Silpat)
Pastry bag with piping attachment (optional)

Ingredients

4 egg whites
Pinch of salt
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Mom It Down!

Preheat oven to 275.

Place some parchment paper on a cookie sheet (or a Silpat). Set aside.

In mixer bowl, add eggs, salt and cream of tartar and beat until soft peaks form. (Of course, I didn’t get a shot of this stage.)

Slowly add sugar. Beat more until stiff peaks form.

You’re done!

Fill a pastry bag (or you can use a spoon or a freezer bag with the corner snipped). Add dollops onto your cookie sheet.

Bake for 35 minutes.

When you’re done, turn the oven off and crack the door of the oven. Let them cool while in the oven. This will lessen the sinking.

Overcoming obstacles

Like I said, in order to keep these from falling as they’re cooling, it’s best to keep the humidity as low as possible, so keeping them in the oven to cool is your best bet. My second batch still sunk a bit, but not nearly as much as the first.

Make sure your eggs are beat enough. I believe my first batch may have fallen more because I did not. The second batch held its form much better than the first because I beat the egg whites a bit longer.

I’ve also read, this morning, that you can bake at a much lower temperature (200) with the oven door cracked. I haven’t tried this, but figured it’s something I should mention.

Variations

I added vanilla to this instead of what the original recipe called for, which was lemon extract. So, feel free to substitute the vanilla with lime, lemon or orange zest—or all three! I might try this with almond as well. And I hear they make a great holiday treat by grinding up some peppermint.

Egg white experts! What are some other ways to avoid sinking? I am all ears. Learn me something, Internet.

Mom It Down: Vegan Chocolate Walnut Banana Muffins

mihow — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 19:49:27 +0000

Toby was vegan for a long, long time. And I love to bake. So, after we started dating, I learned how to make a few vegan treats. That’s how I discovered this recipe. And boy does it ever bring back fond memories.

I started making these in 2002, right after Toby Joe and I moved from New York down to Washington, DC. I made them weekly (sometimes more often). This was our breakfast staple, and our after dinner treat. There are a great deal of recipes from that time, but this one was our constant. Over the weekend, I made it again. Twice.

The first batch is on the left, the second on the right.

This is how they look on the inside:

The first batch was way off. I was confused. What had gone wrong? Well, I changed two things: I used a different egg replacer and a different vegan butter.

This is what I used for the first batch:

I was floored by how different the muffins turned out. They were flat and dense and way too moist no matter how long I baked them for. They weren’t at all what Toby Joe and I had remembered.

Given that I had made this recipe probably a hundred times before, I couldn’t believe how messed up they were. So I made another batch yesterday morning and have decided that when it comes to vegan baking, it’s best to stick with ingredients you know. The butter I used (shown below) still wasn’t my first choice. I would highly recommend, if you’re going to try this, that you pick up some Canoleo. While the second batch was MUCH better, they weren’t exactly what they used to be, and we still prefer the taste and texture of the ones I used to make with Canoleo.

So, I’m going to give you the recipe with the products I think you should use.

What you will need

Mixer
Muffin tins

Ingredients

1/2 cup Canoleo margarine
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 egg equivalent Ener-G egg replacer
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 cups flour
1/2 cup soy milk
2 ripe bananas
1 cup chocolate chips (or to taste)
Walnuts (however many you’d like)

Mom It Down!

Preheat oven to 350.

Add butter and brown sugar to the mixer. Mix that up until very creamy. Add egg replacer.

Mix that up. Add flour, baking powder, and soy milk. Stir it up.

Add bananas. Give that a stir. Add chocolate chips and nuts.

Fill muffin tins 2/3 (or more).

Bake for 35 – 45 minutes or until golden brown and inserted knife comes out clean.

You’re done!

Overcoming Obstacles

There really aren’t many to report here. They are just so super easy.

Variations

I think I remember substituting one cup of white flour for whole wheat. It’s been a while!

Feel free to omit the nuts or the chips or both.

Also, these can easily be turned into a loaf. Bake that for an hour. (But I would keep in eye on them starting at around 45 minutes.)

Next time, I’m using Canoleo and I will likely use regular Silk as opposed to the light variety.

Vegans or those who are allergic to eggs: Have you found certain egg replacers better than others? Do share! Also, any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Mom It Down: Awesome Chocolate Chip Cookies.

mihow — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 12:49:59 +0000

These chocolate chip cookies are the antithesis of a chocolate chip cookie. I know. That probably doesn’t make much sense. But let me explain. You know how, generally speaking, chocolate chip cookies are usually really truly awesome and full of flavor when they are right out of the oven? Well, these? These are the opposite of that. That’s not to say they aren’t great out of the oven; what chocolate chip cookie isn’t great straight out of the oven? But these? These are magic! They actually get better as they cool. I’m not even kidding. They’re full of flavor days after they leave the oven. I have no idea why. It’s not like they’re all that different from the rest. But for some reason these are fantastic. I will never make another chocolate chip recipe ever again. Maybe.

You should make these cookies.

Original recipe taken from All Recipes and modified ever so slightly.

What you will need:

Mixer
Cookie sheet

Ingredients

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons hot water
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips/chunks

Mom it down!

Preheat oven to 350.

Add butter and sugars to the mixer. Mix that up until it’s creamy. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well between each one. Add vanilla.

Add baking soda to 2 teaspoons of hot water. (I used tap.) Stir that up until it’s dissolved and then add it to the mixer.

Add salt. Add the flour. Mix that up well. Add the chocolate chips.

Drop them on a cookie sheet.

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. (Temperatures and tastes vary. Mine needed 12 minutes because our oven lies. Just keep checking on them. You do NOT want to overcook these. Trust me.)

You’re done! And it’s gonna be awesome.

Overcoming obstacles

I can’t think of any honestly. They are relatively easy as is. I reckon if you wanted you could skip the whole step with the baking soda and hot water and just add the baking soda to the flour itself. Otherwise, it’s pretty simple.

Variations

Add some nuts or milk chocolate chips instead of dark. (We prefer dark here, but I do love milk chocolate as well.)

I think my mother makes a chocolate chip cookie that uses ONLY brown sugar. I reckon you could substitute the white out for brown, but I am not sure. If that’s my mother’s trick, however, it might be well worth a shot. Because her cookies are the only chocolate chip cookies better than these.

Also: I almost forgot, I did sprinkle some salt to the tops of a few of these and sugar to others.

As usual, hit me with ideas and or suggestions!

(I had this ready last night and in my sick state, I apparently didn’t hit “publish”. Ugh.)

Mom It Down: Mini Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins.

mihow — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 19:52:54 +0000

If all things go according to plan, I’m going to start selling a few of my baked goods at a local business here in Brooklyn. It’s not going to be much, but I’m excited. I love baking but I need people to eat all of this stuff! So, this works out really well for me and hopefully makes people smile as well. All that said, I’m currently putting together a list of baked goods that travel well, sit pretty and taste great.

Today I made lemon poppy seed muffins. I hope to make these regularly for this new adventure. It’s simple and I don’t think I’ve ever met a person that doesn’t like lemon poppy seed muffins.

I should mention that the original recipe was taken from The Food Network. All I did was tweak the process.

What you will need

Muffin tins (regular sized or miniature)
Mixer (not necessary but easier!)

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter (room temperature)
1 teaspoon lemon zest
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs (room temperature if possible)
4 teaspoons poppy seeds
1/2 cup milk

Mom It Down!

Preheat oven to 375.

Place the unsalted butter into your mixer. Let that sit for a bit so it’s easy to spread.

Grease your muffin tins.

In a separate bowl, add flour, salt and baking powder. Give that a quick mix. Set aside.

Add sugar and zest to the butter in your mixer. Beat that up until it’s creamy.

Add eggs, one at a time, beating between each one. Remove bowl from mixer. Add the poppy seeds.

Measure out 1/2 cup milk. Add flour in three stages adding the milk in between. Stir it up, but be careful not to over mix.

Fill muffin tins at least 2/3 full.

Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown.

Overcoming Obstacles

I used a canola spray on my muffin tins. It was much quicker than having to butter each one. They popped right out—simple and without a mess.

Also, my eggs were not at room temperature and they turned out just fine. But, next time I will plan ahead and let them sit out. But just an FYI: they will work cold if you’re in a hurry. ;]

Variations

Vegans! These can easily be made vegan. Just use an egg substitute and substitute soy milk for cow’s milk.

I’d also like to try a version using orange zest. In time. In time.

As always, please let me know if you have any suggestions and/or comments.

Mom It Down: Mini Cheesecakes

mihow — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 16:02:20 +0000

Cheesecake is tricky. But when it’s good, it’s worth the frustration. Cheesecake can crack, cave in, or just taste bad. And even when you think you’ve got it figured out, someone tells you they prefer New York style over the Italian variety or vice versa. Maybe they don’t like it baked, and someone else hates when it is. The point is: there are a LOT of different ways to make a cheesecake. I personally prefer the creamy, sweet variety. That’s where this recipe falls. But it can be temperamental.

Today’s recipe is not the easiest when one was has a child to tend to. It’s not that it’s difficult, it’s just time consuming. I wouldn’t turn this into a weekly thing. But it’s really quite nice for special occasions. I’m planning on baking some for a party we will be attending next week.

What you will need

Mini muffin pans and liners
Food processor
Mixer

Ingredients

Crust

1 cup graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup finely chopped walnuts
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
5 tablespoons melted butter

Cake

3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese
1 cup sugar
1 cup sour cream
1 cup heavy cream
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3 eggs

Mom It Down

Line mini muffin tins with papers. Set aside.

For the crust…

Using your food processor, grind up graham crackers until you have a cup. Transfer to another bowl and set aside. Grind up your walnuts. (A handful of walnuts turned into a little more than 1/4 cup.) Add your graham cracker crumbs and give that a quick stir. Add all the rest of the dry ingredients. Give it a stir. Add the melted butter. Put some into each mini muffin paper and delicately push it down. Set aside. (You do NOT need to pre-bake the crust in this case since the size of each cake is so small.)

You’re done.

For the cake…

Preheat oven to 350.

Add sugar and cream cheese to the mixer. Beat it until creamy. Add sour cream, vanilla, flour and heavy cream. Beat that. Add 3 eggs, one at a time, beating between each one.

You’re done.

You can distribute the batter any way you’d like. I used a pastry bag because it mess-free. (TIP! If you don’t have a pastry bag, you can cut the tip off one corner of a large freezer bag and use that.)

The batter will settle. If it doesn’t, you can either smooth it down using a knife or lightly tap the bottom of the muffin tin onto the counter.

Bake for 20 minutes. DO NOT open the door if you can help it. Turn the light on and keep an eye on them. If it looks like the outsides are browning too much and too quickly, lower the temperature a bit. I ended up lowering mine to about 340 the first time because I got worried.

When the time is up, turn off the oven and open the door a little bit. You can either let them cool in the oven with the door ajar, or if you’re worried about someone getting burned by the oven (like the cat), you can remove them and let them cool on the counter. That’s what I did. After they were perfectly cooled, I put them in the refrigerator to cool for several hours.

Since every single last cheesecake I made yesterday sunk at least a little bit (some even cracked, I’ll get into that a bit later under “Overcoming Obstacles”) I used that opportunity to add a dab of fresh strawberry jam.

Overcoming Obstacles

I took the original recipe from All Recipes. It was for one large cheesecake. I knew I wanted to make mini muffin-sized cakes, so I thought I’d give it a go. There was a great deal of the criticism that the cakes cracked and/or fell in on themselves. This did happen to me especially with the larger sizes. I read that you have to lower the temperature and I did that for batch two. I lowered it from 350 to 320 and it still fell and cracked—worse even. The good news is, not one of my mini muffin-sized cheesecakes cracked. They did fall in on themselves a bit, but not too much. Plus, I knew I’d be adorning them, so this actually worked out quite well.

I made two larger ones (shown below) and they both cracked and sunk in a great deal. But here’s the skinny: they tasted freaking fantastic. And you guys know how I feel about how things look, right? I’m not planning on winning awards for these. They look OK and they taste awesome. So who cares? Here are pictures of that cake. (Keep in mind, I pre-baked the crusts below for 10 minutes in a preheated 350 degree oven.)

Not the best looking cake, right?

But OMG so good. One bit in and I totally didn’t care what it looked like anymore.

I’m still very much learning all things cheesecake. In fact, last week I tried a non-bake variety and HATED it. It’s not often I throw out desserts, but that entire cake went into the trash. It was terrible, in my opinion. I will not be attempting the non-bake cheesecake ever again. Not my thing.

Otherwise? I love the stuff, but man can it be temperamental. I am researching ways to overcome the whole cracking situation and judging by what I’ve read so far this is a common problem that people are constantly trying to work out through trial and error. I do plan on doing this again and very soon so I will keep you posted on what I find. In the meantime, feel free to school me on this, cheesecake veterans; I’m all ears.

Also, these did freeze fine overnight. I thawed them to room temperature and baked a batch the following day—it worked out perfectly. So, you can always cut your day in half if you’d like.

Variations

Haven’t gone there yet! I want to try and perfect the technique first. (So, it’s likely I’ll never try a variation. heh.) Again, learn me something, Internet.

1 cup graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup finely chopped walnuts
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
5 tablespoons butter, melted
3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese
1 cup white sugar
1 cup sour cream
1 cup heavy cream
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3 eggs

Mom It Down: Homemade Xmas Ornaments

mihow — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 14:38:12 +0000

Last week, Emory and I had fun with flour. We made christmas tree ornaments! I hadn’t done this since I was a kid, so my skills were rusty at best. But, boy was it ever fun!

I know this recipe isn’t edible, but if you’re anything like me, you’re looking for ways to amuse a toddler during the cold winter months. So I thought that given the season, I’d share this as today’s Mom It Down.

What you will need

Cookie sheet
Cookie cutters
Cabin fever
A little bit of patience

Ingredients

2 cups flour
1 cup salt
1 1/2 cups warm water

Mom It Down!

Sift the flour and salt together. Add the water. Mix it up.

When the dough begins to form, you can start using your hands. If it’s too sticky, add some more flour.

Please note: You’ll want to knead the dough for as long as possible. (At least 10 minutes.) You don’t want the dough to rise while it’s baking.

Roll out some dough for yourself and give some to your little people too. My son made a huge mess. He loved it.

Also, this will happen:

And they will likely make this face:

And they’ll probably go in for seconds. And then you may have to take the dough away from them before they get a bellyache.

But I digress…

Roll the dough out as thin as possible. (The handprint on the far right in the picture below is far too thick and inconsistent; that one rose way too much. I lost the handprint almost entirely.)

We did a few hand prints as well—you know, for the grandparents. (The one below was still a bit on the thick side. I ended up redoing this one and rolling it out even thinner.) Don’t forget to add the ribbon holes!

Preheat oven to 250.

If time permits, let them sit out on the counter for an hour or so to dry out.

Bake for at least an hour. (I let mine bake for a bit longer. I wanted them good and hard.)

We haven’t been able to find any food shellac. (I have no idea if that’s what it’s called.) We used poster paint because that’s what we had.

This week, we’ll buy some ribbon and finalize them. I’ll post pictures of them when we’re finally done!

Overcoming Obstacles

The longer you let them sit out before baking, the lighter in color the dough will be at the end. And the thinner you roll out each ornament, the less of a chance each one will rise and/or crack.

I have to admit, we had several mishaps before we got to anything decent. With the first batch, I hadn’t rolled mine out thin enough so the moisture from the inside began to crack the outsides. It was definitely a learning experience! The good news is, he couldn’t have cared less about all my technical difficulties. He just wanted to play and paint. That said, we’ll probably give it another go this week. I think I have a better understanding as to how this is done and goodness knows we could use the indoor activity!

Variations

I read somewhere that someone added a little spice to the dough so they would smell great while baking. I haven’t tried this. I figure if I want to smell that, I’ll make me some homemade applesauce since it’s so freaking easy!

More than ever, I’d love any suggestions and/or pointers on this. Don’t hold back! Learn me something new, people.

Mom It Down: Lady Grey Cookies

mihow — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 14:05:40 +0000

This is a perfect cookie for Santa. They’re easy to make, bite-sized and not too heavy. They remind me of Royal Dansk butter cookies. Plus, they go really well with a hot cup of tea or a glass of milk.

I lifted this recipe from Twinings and modified the technique ever so slightly. I hope you find it as easy as I have!

What you will need

Mixer
Cookie sheet

Ingredients

1 stick (4 oz) butter
1/2 cup (4oz) sugar
1/4 cup water
4 Lady Grey teabags
1 large egg
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp lemon zest

Mom it Down!

Take 1/4 cup hot tea water and add four Lady Grey teabags. Let that sit for a bit. The bags will absorb a great deal of the water. You should be left with a concentrate that’s at least 1 tablespoon. (We used loose tea and therefore made 1 big bag.)

While your tea is steeping, cream together butter and sugar.

Add egg and lemon zest.

Add tea concentrate. Mix that up. Add flour (half cup at a time) and baking powder. Mix that until dough forms.

Remove the dough from the mixer. Flour a board and roll out your dough. It will be wet to the touch, so you should do this quickly. I feel it’s easier to form it now rather than wait until it’s chilled. It’s up to you.

Loosely wrap it in Saran wrap and refrigerate for at least several hours or overnight.

Later

Preheat oven to 350.

Remove the dough from the refrigerator. If necessary, reform the dough into a nice circle. Cut off cookies up to 1/2 inch thick. (Thinner the crispier. I mixed mine up a bit.)

Bake on ungreased cookie sheet for 12 – 15 minutes. (Mine needed 13)

You’re finished!

Overcoming Obstacles

I can’t really think of much that gets in the way here. They really are simple. I already included What I feel makes these even easier by forming the cookie dough before it’s chilled. This cuts down on forming the dough later.

Variations

I want to try these using chai. (Remember the chai muffins I made last spring?) I’m also thinking combining orange zest with Lady Grey’s lover, Earl would work well. In fact, I kind of want to try these using a bunch of our favorite teas. We’re tea lovers over here.

These cookies are so versatile, I think you could steer them in several different directions when it comes to flavor. But Lady Grey works perfectly.

These can also be made vegan really easily.

As usual, let me know if you have any comments or suggestions! And thanks to Twinings for the recipe!

Mom It Down: OMG! Homemade Applesauce

mihow — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 13:25:07 +0000

I can’t believe how easy it is to make applesauce! I know. I know. You seasoned applesauce-makers are probably thinking, “Dude, you’re an idiot, it’s just apples, some stuff and a little heat.” File this one under: Things I should have started doing a long, long time ago.

So, how did I finally arrive here? I tend to go overboard at the farmer’s market. Being that close to such fresh produce makes me lose all sense of scale. Suddenly huge bags of chestnuts and bunches and bunches of rhubarb are items I simply must have. Forget the fact that I haven’t ever roasted chestnuts before, nor have I baked with rhubarb. Doesn’t matter. I’m like a Black Friday shopper when it comes to the farmer’s market.

Anyway, a few weeks ago, I ended up bringing home way too many apples. Normally this wouldn’t be a problem, but I’m still sorta dieting, so baking an apple pie or some apple crisp was out of the question.

What was I going to do with all these apples? Applesauce for my son!

What you will need:

Saucepan
Peeler
Knife

Ingredients

4 large apples (I used five smallish ones)
1/2 cup water
up to 1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Mom It Down!

Peel, core and chop up your apples. They can be all different sizes! You’re gonna mash the suckers later.

Add the apples, water, sugar and cinnamon to the saucepan.

Cover and cook for 20 minutes on medium heat stirring occasionally.

Remove from heat. Mash them up.

You’re done! You have fresh applesauce. Serve it straight away and treat it as a dessert, or chill it and serve it to your kid as a snack. So good!

Overcoming Obstacles

PLEASE NOTE: If there’s a great deal of water left over after they’re done stewing, pour a bit out. I emptied a bit of water. You want to leave some liquid; it will thicken up a bit later. But use your best judgement. Pouring out some of the liquid will not take away from the flavor. Trust me on that one!

If you buy one of those fancy peelers, this recipe is an absolute cinch. Like, it’s so easy, you’re going to start feeling terrible EVER buying store-bought applesauce again.

Variations

I haven’t messed with this yet. It’s really quite great on its own, however, I think I will cut way back on the sugar next time and see how it goes. It’s not super sweet, but I think the apples and cinnamon might stand on their own. Or maybe I’ll go with just a couple of tablespoons of sugar. I’m also thinking brown sugar might be something to try, but not nearly as much.

And believe me you, there will be some bourbon added to this in the future. I was worried about serving it to Emory with a bunch of booze in it, so this one has been approved for those 21-years and younger.

Please enjoy! And for those of you that have been making homemade applesauce all along: WHY DIDN’T YOU EVER TELL ME?

Mom It Down! Gluten-Free Oatmeal Cookies.

mihow — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 16:56:21 +0000

I’m sorry I didn’t get this up yesterday. The days have been a little nuts lately and pretty much all of my attention has been devoted to Em. Anyway! I have some more gluten-free goodies today!

Here’s the skinny: I recently cut sugar out of my diet and most carbs as well. It’s been weeks worth of salads, nuts, tofu, veggies, low fat cheese, and more fake meat than you can shake a stick at. The good news: I’ve lost 6 pounds. The bad news: baking has been difficult. And while this diet isn’t forever, I’ve decided to play around a bit with healthier baked goods. Baking without sugar, heavy cream, flour and the like has been a learning experience to say the least. But I am enjoying the newness of it. I’m not sure how long I’ll continue eating this way, but for now I figured why not share?

And so. These oatmeal cookies are sugarless. They are instead sweetened with honey, molasses and agave nectar. They are also wheat and gluten-free. (I think!)

What you will need

Cookie sheet
Mixer (optional but easier!)

Ingredients

6 tablespoons unsalted butter (very, very soft)
2 teaspoons bourbon or vanilla extract (I used bourbon)
1 egg
3 tablespoons agave
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon molasses
1 cup almond meal
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup soy protein powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt

Add butter, sweeteners, bourbon or extract, and egg into the mixer. Stir it up until creamy. (It will likely be a wee bit lumpy. Normal.) In separate bowl, add all dry ingredients. Mix that up a bit with a spoon. Add it to the mixture. Until it looks a bit like this:

Spoon balls onto baking sheet. Flatten with your hand.

Bake for 11 – 14 minutes. You’re done!

Overcoming Obstacles

These are super duper easy, so there isn’t much to cut back on. The only thing I can think to say is let your butter warm to room temperature in the mixer itself. Cuts back on cleaning.

Variations

The flavor of these babies are really nice, however, the consistency is a bit dry. That said, I think they would do nicely with some dried fruit, maybe some raisins? It’s up to you. My husband prefers to use some jam on the side. That works too.

A Special Note

Hey all you wheat-free folks! I would love to read your suggestions and/or criticisms. I am a novice with this type of baked good, so please, don’t hold back! Learn me something new!

Mom It Down! Gluten Free Flax Seed Cookies

mihow — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 13:58:31 +0000

Today’s Mom It Down is going to be a bit different. There are two recipes below: the first one includes the use of artificial sweeteners, which is what the original recipe called for. The second recipe is modified based on the fact that neither my husband nor I can get over the taste of the Splenda. I have tried to bake with Splenda before. I want to like it, but it always leaves a strange taste in my mouth that can linger for an hour or more. Is this something Splenda eaters get used to? Is this something everyone experiences? I do wonder.

Also, you’ll have to correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure these aren’t only low-carb but I think they’re gluten free as well. Let me know!

I’m going to give you both recipes. The first one includes the artificial sugars. The second one is my modification. Please note: I prefer the modified version because I am not fond of the Splenda aftertaste.

What you will need

Cookie sheet

Ingredients

Artificial Sweetener Version

6 tablespoons unsalted butter (3/4 stick)
1 egg (as close to room temp as possible)
5 tablespoons Splenda
1 teaspoon Stevia
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 cup flaxseed meal
1 cup whole almond meal
1/4 cup soy protein powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon lemon peel (optional)
pinch of salt

My Modified Version (No artificial sweeteners)

6 tablespoons unsalted butter (3/4 stick)
1 egg (as close to room temp as possible)
2 tablespoons honey
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 cup flaxseed meal
1 cup whole almond meal
1/4 cup soy protein powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt

Mom it Down!

Take your unsalted butter out of the refrigerator a while before starting. It should be room temperature—super soft. I usually put mine directly into the mixer.

Preheat oven to 350.

Add sweetener (honey if you’re making my version, artificial sweeteners if you’re making the original), vanilla, and egg. Stir that up until creamy. It might be a little lumpy. I found that’s OK. Once you add the dry ingredients, it will smooth it out.

In a separate bowl, add all the dry ingredients.

Mix that up using a spoon.

Slowly add that to your mixer.

Spoon walnut-sized balls onto a cookie sheet.

Flatten each one down usig your fingers, a spoon, or a spatula until they are about half their height.

Bake for 10-14 minutes. Mine used 13 both times.

You’re done!

Please note: Since these cookies have flax, they need to be kept in the refrigerator or the freezer. I put mine in the fridge because they will be gone within a day or two.

I should probably mention that my son loves the modified version of these. (I didn’t give him the artificial sweetener version.) He consumed two this morning alone.

Overcoming Obstacles

If the dough is too sticky, you can refrigerate it for 15-30 minutes. If you’re in a hurry, add a little bit more soy protein powder.

Variations

I wish to change the original even more. I might glaze the tops with maple syrup or honey before baking. Also, I think serving these alongside some jam or preserves would outstanding—specifically, strawberry or raspberry. YUM!

Last night I ran out of vanilla extract during the second batch. I used Booker’s bourbon instead. It worked perfectly. Yay booze for baking!

I’d love your thoughts and/or suggestions for this recipe. It’s a work in progress for sure. More and more I want to find healthier/less-caloric sweets to serve to my expanding waistline as well as to my son. And while I’m not necessarily opposed to using artificial sweeteners, I would rather stick to “natural” ingredients. I’m all ears.

Mom It Down! Chocolate Chip Hazelnut Scones

mihow — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 12:39:28 +0000

My husband doesn’t particularly like sweets. So yesterday whenever he looked at me and said, “These scones might be the greatest thing I’ve ever eaten.” I knew I had succeeded. Finally!

That should tell you how good these are. I converted my husband—at least for a day—with these scones. They are so good. They have the perfect crispiness on the outside and the perfect amount of moisture on the inside. And they’re easy!

What you will need

Mixer
Baking sheet

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 egg
1 teaspoons almond extract
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped hazelnuts

Mom It Down!

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Butter a cookie sheet.

Cut up the unsalted butter into cubes. Place it back in the refrigerator to cool.

In your mixer, add the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Give that a quick stir.

Add your butter.

Stir that up until it’s crumbly.

In another bowl, add the buttermilk, eggs and almond extract.

Add that mixture to the flour mixture and stir it again.

If you’re using hazelnuts, chop them up however you’d like. I used a food processor.

Add that to your dough. Mix it up.

Add the chips.

Remove the dough from the mixer. It will be very sticky, seemingly unmanageable, but it’s not. Roll it into a ball so that you can easily form it into an 8-inch disc on the buttered cookie sheet.

Take a pizza cutter or a knife and cut that into 8 triangles.

You’re done! Bake for 17 – 20 minutes.

Overcoming Obstacles

When combining the wet ingredients, I measured out the buttermilk in a measuring cup and added everything to it. Less dishes to clean!

Important! Since these scones are cooked together (like a pizza) the middle might need a little more work after the 20 minutes are up—while the inside is nice and crispy the inside might be a little too wet. If you insert a knife and you find this to be the case, simply remove the scones from the oven after they are finished. Turn off the oven! Pull them each apart with a knife and then put them back into the (cooling off) oven for another 5 – 10 minutes. If that doesn’t make sense, please let me know in the comments section and I will explain better.

Variations

I haven’t messed with these yet because they are so close to perfect as is, but feel free to leave the hazelnuts out. You can also substitute the chips for whatever dried fruit you might like.

As always, please let me know if you have any comments and/or suggestions!

Original recipe taken from All Recipes and modified slightly to suite my taste buds.

Help Me?

If you like the Mom It Down posts, I’m wondering if you might be able to help me. I’m trying to figure a better way to organize the recipes I’ve covered. Do you have any suggestions for making this easier to use or navigate? If there are any comments about ways to make this particular section more useable, please let me know.

Mom It Down! Quick Rosemary Dinner Rolls

mihow — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 13:16:58 +0000

These dinner rolls have a touch of sweet, a touch of spice and a touch of homemade goodness. They’re relatively quick to make (for yeast rolls) and quite easy as well.

These rolls will go with just about anything and although I refer to them as “dinner rolls” they work pretty well with breakfast as well. (Trust me. I just finished one with a touch of butter. YUMMY.)

What You Will Need

Mixer (optional)
Muffin tins

Ingredients

1 Package dry yeast
1 cup lukewarm water
1 egg
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup oil
3 cups all-purpose flour
Chopped rosemary (to taste)

Dissolve yeast in lukewarm water.

In the mixer, add egg, oil, sugar and salt. Give that a quick stir. Add yeast and water and rotate that a few times.

Add flour. Mix it up.

Add chopped rosemary. (I use dry rosemary.)

Fill generously greased muffin tins half way and let it sit in a warm place until about double. (I have cut corners here, folks. All is well if you do.)

Makes 10 rolls.

Preheat oven to 400.

Bake for 15 minutes. You’re done!

Overcoming Obstacles

I mentioned earlier that the dough can be unruly while trying to distribute into the tins. But it does work. It might help if you slightly flour your finger tips. I used a spoon and spooned each one in. They were rough on the top, but all that goes away once they’re baked. What I’m trying to say is don’t worry TOO much about how they look before they’re baked.

If you don’t have a lot of time and you aren’t able to let them rise until doubled, you can cut corners a bit. I have put them in the oven after 45 minutes rise time. I would TRY and give them at least a half an hour to sit, however.

Variations

I feel that these would be great with a touch of orange zest or maybe even some lemon. The next time I make these I’m definitely trying some orange. They seem to ask for it. :]

As usual, please let me know if you have any questions and/or suggestions!

Mom It Down! Spelt Crackers

mihow — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 14:13:54 +0000

These crackers are made from spelt flour, ~~so I reckon they’re even gluten free~~. The time and money invested in this recipe is absurdly little. Gone are the days I drop 5 bucks for a box of organic crackers. These are perfect for kids! They’re also super healthy.

What You Will Need

Standard Cookie Sheet (12 x 17, I think)
Rolling Pin
Bowl
Pasta cutter (optional. Shown below.)

Ingredients

1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup cold water
1 1/2 cups spelt flour
Seeds of your choice (I used sesame)
Coarse sea salt (optional)

Mom It Down!

Preheat oven to 350.

Dissolve the salt in the cold water. Add flour and mix it up until a ball forms. Use your hands and knead it for a bit.

Take your cookie sheet and flip it over. Flour the surface. Grab the ball of dough.

Using a rolling pin, flatten the dough until it covers the cookie sheet. Keep adding spelt flour so the dough doesn’t stick.

Coat the top with cold water. If you have a spray bottle, use that. I did not so I used my hand. Add seeds and salt (if using). If you feel like it, score the crackers. (I used a pasta roller for this.) Also, poke each square a few times with a fork.

Bake as is for 20 to 25 minutes. (But make sure to keep checking it after 10. Mine usually uses 20 minutes.)

Let cool on the sheet. The edges will rise up. That’s perfect!

You’re done!

Overcoming Obstacles

The thinner you roll out the dough the better. They REALLY snap if they’re thin enough.

Also, make sure you poke each pre-baked cracker with a fork. If you don’t, you risk a great deal of sticking.

If the very middle sticks, just use everything around it and toss the very middle piece.

You don’t have to score the crackers, but they break easier if you do. If you don’t score them, they’ll look a bit more rustic. Not that that’s a bad thing!

Variations

You can use poppy seeds, rosemary, salt and/or salt crystals, ginger, garlic—pretty much anything you fancy!

Also, they are great with jelly, butter, peanut butter or (especially!) hummus.

Let me know if you have questions or comments!

(The original recipe was taken from The New York Times.)

Mom It Down! Halloween Cookies: Skull & Crossbones, Black Cats

mihow — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 13:25:58 +0000

I love Halloween. Actually, I love every holiday but there’s just something about Halloween. Perhaps it’s the time of year? The fact that you get to be someone else for a day? I don’t know. But some of my most fond memories take place right around Halloween. And to this day I’m unable to sit in a public library without conjuring up thousands of memories surrounding Halloween.

I first discovered this recipe 4 years ago while I was trying to find a sugar cookie base for my annual Christmas Story Leg Lamps. (Remember this?) The problem I was having was that most every recipe left me with too weak of a cookie and these cookies were to be mailed to many different people. The good news is, the leg lamp (in the original story) breaks and the father is devastated, so I just went with it. I sent everyone one large leg lamp cookie surrounded by a bunch of smaller (and therefore more stable) cookies as stuffing material.

So, while trying several different types of sugar cookies (and I tried a LOT of recipes) this recipe was my favorite. It was the sturdiest and the easiest to manage.

Since then, I’ve been using this recipe for every holiday. You simply can’t go wrong with it. If you’re a lover of holiday, cut-out cookies, I highly recommend bookmarking this baby.

What you will need

A cookie-cutter (Something spooky!)
Cookie sheet
Rolling pin
Mixer

Ingredients (For the cookie)

1 1/2 cups butter, softened
2 cups white sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

Ingredients (For the icing and decor)

Milk
Powdered sugar
Food coloring (in this case, black)
Decorative icing (in this case, yellow)

Mom It Down!

Remove the butter from the refrigerator. Let it sit in the mixer until it’s room temperature and easy to spread.

Add your sugar. Mix that together until it looks like this:

Add the vanilla and eggs. Stir it up!

Add flour, baking powder and salt. Stir that up. The dough will become a bit unruly for the mixer. I used my hands at that point and formed it into a big ball. Cover it with saran wrap and refrigerator until chilled.

If you’re splitting this up, you’re done. Put that in the fridge for the night and clean up!

Please note: This does not have to be done the day before, you can do it day of and let it sit for an hour or two, but I like splitting this up due to total time involved.

The next day…

Preheat oven to 350.

Remove the dough from the fridge. Cut a piece off the large ball and put that on a piece of parchment paper. Let it sit for a minute or two until it becomes a bit more manageable. Begin to roll out the dough until it’s 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut out your cookies until you have very few non-useable scraps left.

Place cookies on a cookie sheet at least half an inch apart.

Bake at 350 for 6 to 8 minutes. (Mine used up all 8!)

Let them cool until you can safely remove them without breaking them. Place them on a wire rack to cool entirely.

Decoration Time!

I mentioned before that I don’t use measurements while making my icing. I just eyeball it. If I have too much powdered sugar, I add more milk and vice-versa.

Remember: you need a LOT more powdered sugar than milk. Start small and work your way up. Trust me when I say that a little milk goes a long when when dealing with powdered sugar.

My base (just powdered sugar and milk):

Dip or paint your cookies in white.

Add black food coloring to some of the white base.

Dip or paint that onto your cats (or whatever it is you’re creating).

Let that dry.

Add the eyes and faces. Finish the scary cookies! (Thanks to TobyJoe and his many years of practice drawing skulls and penises.)

You’re done!

Overcoming Obstacles

I like to break this recipe up into a three-parter because it works out better for me that way. (First: dough; Second: baking; Third: decorating.) Just do what works best for your schedule.

Also, you can give the kid something to do too! I have these baking pens. I gave Emory one of the skull and crossbones and let him go to town on it.

He had a blast. And then he ate it. :]

Use sugar instead of flour while rolling the dough. Not too much! But it does the trick and keeps the dough from sticking.

Roll your dough out on a parchment paper. It’s much easier to manage. Some people even bake the cookies on the parchment paper instead of peeling them off and transferring them to the cookie sheet. That also works, especially if you have delicate cookies (like the leg lamps!) These didn’t need that, though. They didn’t have too many areas conducive to tearing.

Also! Feel free to freeze the dough. I did that this time so I could make more cookies as we near Halloween.

Variations

I’ve made theses using orange zest. (For Easter). I have added almond extract to Christmas cookies. I’ve also added lemon zest for anytime cookies. I’ve used half whole wheat pastry flour, (not for any other reason other than I ran out of all-purpose). It worked just fine.

As always, let me know if you have comments and/or suggestions!

Mom It Down! Pumpkin Spice Muffins (Not So Healthy!)

mihow — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 16:14:33 +0000

Internet: I love the fall. I love it. I love everything about it—the clothing, colors, smells, foods, everything.

This recipe screams fall to me. These muffins aren’t particularly healthy. If you want healthy, try this recipe from last week. But these muffins are awesome, in my opinion. And your house will smell amazing.

(Original recipe taken from All Recipes.)

What you will need

Muffin Tins
Mixer

Ingredients

3 cups flour (I used pastry flour)
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons cloves
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons nutmeg
1 teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon salt
1 can of pumpkin (15 or 16 oz)
2/3 cups oil
3 eggs
1 – 2 cups of raisins

Mom It Down!

Preheat oven to 350.

Mix pumpkin, eggs and oil in mixer.

In another bowl combine flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, baking soda and spices.

Add that to the pumpkin mixture. Stir it up for a few rotations then add the (optional) raisins.

Fill muffin tins about 2/3 full.You should get an easy 12 large muffins from this recipe. I actually had some left over!

You’re done!

Bake for 20 – 25 minutes.

Overcoming Obstacles

I bet you can just dump everything into the mixer instead of messing up another bowl. I can’t imagine why it would be a problem. See the comments section, might not be a good idea.

I had a little trouble getting my muffins out of the pan last night, so if you have the liners, I might suggest using them to line the tins. I don’t like doing this because it seems wasteful if I don’t need them. But these babies did NOT want to let up. However, it’s important to add, I did not have any trouble in the past getting them free. I have no idea why last night posed such a problem. Anyway… make a note of it.

Another way around the possible sticky factor (which, remember, only happened to me once) might be to lightly dust the oiled tins with flour. Up to you!

Variations

Feel free to use an actual pumpkin. If you do, grab a small sugar pumpkin.

You might omit the raisins or add in some nuts. It’s very versatile. Also, if you want it to be healthier, replace the oil with apple sauce and use egg whites instead of whole eggs. You can literally cut the sugar in half—or down by even more. The way I came up with the healthier version to these muffins was by forgetting the sugar all together. My husband loved it. I wasn’t too crazy about it. To each their own taste! But, yeah, cut the sugar down by however much you want. Really!

Also, you can add one cup whole wheat flour to 2 cups all-purpose. I used pastry flour yesterday because I needed to clear out space in the refrigerator. But all-purpose works awesome as well.

Again, hit me up with suggestions or questions!

Mom It Down! Whole Wheat Pumpkin Spice Muffins (Super Healthy!)

mihow — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 00:37:12 +0000

OK, so here’s the skinny with this one, Toby Joe and I were kicking around over the weekend and wandered into a local eatery here called Urban Rustic. They sell local fruits, vegetables, sandwiches and baked goods.

Toby Joe doesn’t like sweets, but on Saturday he was so hungry he settled for a muffin from Urban Rustic. And wouldn’t you know? He loved it. It was perfectly healthy, barely a touch of sugar and the brown bag it came in didn’t have a spot of oil on it. All was well with the world.

A little bit more history.

Several years ago, I started making these pumpkin spice muffins. I make them every fall. They’re far too sweet for Toby Joe’s tongue, but there was this one time right after Emory was born (my brain still a bit hormonally challenged) where I forgot to add the sugar. I was bummed because I felt muffin-less and I hate wasting food. Naturally, Toby loved them. I had forgotten all about it until our Urban Rustic experience.

All that to say that today I’m going to share a variation of those healthy muffins with you today. (Next week, I’ll share the not so healthy version, which are awesome.) These muffins are not for everyone, and they definitely aren’t going to win any awards when it comes to how they look, but they sure do hit the spot if you’re craving something healthy and seasonal.

What you will need

Muffin tins
Mixer

Ingredients

1 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
3 tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon cloves
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 beaten egg
3/4 cup milk
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 to 1 cup of raisins (optional)
1 cup of walnuts (optional)
1 tablespoon ground flax (optional)

Mom It Down!

Preheat oven to 375.

Lightly oil and flour muffin tins.

Add flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices to your mixer.

Mix up milk, beaten egg and melted butter and pumpkin in a separate bowl.

Give that good stir.

Add it to the mixer.

Stir that up a bit. (It will be lumpy.)

Add raisins, walnuts and flax seed, give it a few turns. You’re done!

Fill up six to 10 muffin tins. (I did six this weekend and it worked, but I think the next time I’ll spread it out to maybe 10. We’ll see.)

Bake for 15 – 18 minutes

Overcoming Obstacles

If you don’t want to oil your tins, feel free to use muffin liners. It’s less clean up and you don’t risk sticking.

Varations

I’ve substituted brown sugar for regular sugar. I’ve added half a teaspoon of vanilla. I’ve also used whole wheat pastry flour instead of regular whole wheat flour. The pastry flour makes for lighter, airier muffins.

Also! Vegans! These can easily be made vegan. Use an egg substitute, substitute the butter with applesauce and use soy milk instead of milk.

And dieters, if you want to cut back even more, you can omit the sugar and use splenda instead.

Hit me up with suggestions!

Mom It Down! Chocolate Cupcakes With Vanilla Icing

mihow — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 16:39:46 +0000

We went to a barbeque over the weekend and I wanted to bring something unhealthy for the kids. I made cupcakes.

I’ve made two different types of cupcakes in the past and I have to be honest with you, I wasn’t particularly blown away by the red velvet cupcakes. There was something about them that didn’t quite do it for me. The vegan ones were pretty great, but they may kill you if you eat them more than a couple times each year.

Today’s recipe is another stab at the cupcake. I took this recipe from The Cake Bible by Rose Levy Berannbaum. It’s actually a recipe for a chocolate cake but I made cupcakes instead. The icing recipe was taken from Cupcakes Year-Round.

What you will need

Muffin liners
Muffin tins
Mixer (not absolutely necessary but so much easier!)

Ingredients (Cake)

1/2 cup + 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa (dutch processed but I found Hershey’s worked fine.)
1 cup boiling water
3 large eggs
2 1/4 teaspoons vanilla
2 1/4 cups + 2 tablespoons cake flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter (softened)

Ingredients (Icing)

Powdered sugar
Milk
Vanilla extract

(There are no measurements listed above. Don’t freak out! I’ll explain later.)

Mom It Down!

At some point during the day remove the unsalted butter from the refrigerator and let it warm to room temperature.

Preheat oven to 350.

Bring water to boil in saucepan, remove from heat and add your chocolate. Stir until it’s dissolved. Let that cool to room temperature. (About 30 minutes.)

While the chocolate is cooling, take the sugar, flour, salt and baking powder and add them to the mixer. Give it a stir just to mix it up.

In another bowl, beat your eggs and your vanilla.

Add a little bit of the cooled chocolate to the egg mixture. Set that aside.

Add your butter to the flour mixture and give it a good stir. Once it’s relatively coated, add the remaining chocolate mixture to that.

Mix that up until all dry ingredients are moistened. Beat for an addition 1 1/2 minutes on medium speed. (This helps build the cake’s structure.)

Gradually add in egg mixture. I poured mine in in three rotations stirring for roughly 20 seconds between each one. I don’t think this has to be an exact science. I was counting Mississippi style. :]

You’re done! Line muffin tins with liners, fill them 2/3 the way full.

Bake for 20 – 25 minutes. (Mine took only 20.)

Icing

I mentioned earlier that I didn’t add amounts to the icing ingredients. This is because every time I make icing, I always end up with WAY too much of it. This time, I froze an entire tray of pre-baked cupcakes so I could bake them at a later date. I didn’t want to store leftover icing, so I just made a little bit at a time. I hope that makes sense.

Here’s how I did it: I added a little bit of butter (maybe 3 to four tablespoons) and then a cap full of vanilla. I then added powdered sugar and mixed it up until it was a little less lumpy. I then added a little bit of milk at a time. (Maybe a tablespoon?) If it was too runny, I added more powdered sugar; too thick, more milk. This worked out much better for me. You really can’t go wrong with the icing because the only thing that can go wrong is consistency and that can be fixed super easily by adding either milk or sugar (or even more butter if you want). Basically, flavor your icing to taste and consistency. :]

Cover your cupcakes with icing or, if you don’t want the sweet stuff, lightly dust them with powdered sugar.

Overcoming Obstacles

I mentioned above that I froze a tray of cupcakes before they were baked. I wasn’t sure how this would work out, but it worked out just wonderfully. On the day I wanted to bake the second batch of cupcakes, I just removed them from the freezer, let them thaw for about 20 minutes (while the oven heated up) and then baked them for 20 minutes. I couldn’t tell the difference between the ones I made fresh and the ones I froze. I think this is a wonderful idea for people who are busy and don’t have many hours to make, bake, and ice a bunch of cupcakes. Do it in stages!

Variations

I haven’t tried anything different with this. I haven’t even given it much thought. The only thing I will say about this is that the icing is really easy to color. Just add a few drops of food coloring and you’re good to go.

As always, please feel free to give advice and/or suggestions.

Mom It Down! Jalapeño Cheddar Corn Muffins

mihow — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 12:23:18 +0000

Need to whip up some yummy corn muffins for dinner one night? This is the recipe for you! It’s relatively simple to do and it tastes great. You really can’t go wrong with this recipe, the base is what it is (which is to say simple) making it incredibly versatile!

What you will need

Mixer
Muffin tins

Ingredients

1 cup cornmeal
1 cup all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup brown sugar
3 ounces cheese chopped up (or shredded, whichever is easier)
1/4 cup jalapeño peppers (de-seeded and minced)
1 cup milk
1/4 cup canola oil
1 egg, beaten

Mom It Down!

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease muffin tins (or line with muffin papers).

Add all of your dry ingredients to the mixer. Give it a good stir. Add the cheese. Stir it again. You just want to coat the cheese in the dry mixture.

Add everything else and stir it up. The mixture will be on the runny side—almost like pancake batter. You’re done!

Fill up to 12 muffin tins with your batter. (I usually get 10.)

Bake for 15 – 20 minutes.

Let the muffins cool in the tins for a bit then remove.

Serve them with butter or sour cream—whatever you want. Yum!

Overcoming Obstacles

If you have a child who demands your full attention at almost all times, I might suggest cutting up the jalapeño first and then setting it aside for later, the cheese as well.

Also, feel free to substitute store bought shredded cheddar if you don’t feel like chopping it up yourself.

Otherwise, this should be pretty straight forward and doesn’t take much time at all.

Variations

Sky’s the limit! The base is what it is, but you can add whatever you want to the inside.

You can substitute brown sugar for white sugar. I might also suggest either adding in a little honey. I reckon you may also substitute the sugar entirely with honey but you may need to adjust the dry ingredients a bit to even out the liquid content.

I don’t see why this can’t easily be made vegan. Just use an egg substitute and some soy milk and omit the cheese—it should work perfectly! I may try this next weekend, I’ll let you know if I do and how it works out.

Let me know if you have any suggestions and/or comments.

Mom It Down! Toasted Almond Angel Food Cake

mihow — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 12:13:19 +0000

This summertime treat is so light and fluffy, it’s the perfect substitute for cake on a hot summer day. Not only does it taste awesome, but your home will smell like a pancake house. (True story: while this was in the oven on Saturday, our Fresh Direct delivery showed up and the two guys would not stop talking about how great our hallway and apartment smelled.)

This cake is one of my more prouder Mom It Down recipes especially when one considers the time to taste ratio. It also looks professional (in my not so humble opinion) especially considering how easy it is.

What you will need

Spring-loaded cake pan OR angel food cake pan (tubed)
Mixer

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 cup cake flour
1 1/2 cups egg whites
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
3/4 cup white sugar
chopped almonds (just to coat the top)

Mom it Down!

Preheat oven to 375.

Add flour and powdered sugar to a bowl and set aside.

Add the egg whites to your mixer. Using the whisk attachment, whip them up until they start bubble.

Once they start to bubble up, add the salt, cream of tartar, and extracts. Whip that on high speed until the mixture forms hard peaks.

Using a wooden spoon, fold in the flour mixture being careful not to deflate your eggs. (Don’t worry! It’s not that delicate.) Once that’s mixed up, pour it into the spring-loaded (or angel food) cake pan.

Coat the top with almond slices.

Bake for 30 – 40 minutes. (Mine was done at 30.)

When the cake is finished, remove it from the oven and place it upside down on top of a cookie sheet or plate. Let it cool. Once it’s cool, flip it over and remove from the pan.

Overcoming Obstacles

I did not have a tubed angel food cake pan so I used a regular old spring-loaded cake pan. It worked perfectly.

If you use a tubed angel food cake pan, it’s supposed to slide right out after you let it cool upside down. I haven’t used one of those because (to be honest) I didn’t have one. The spring-loaded didn’t give me any trouble during removal. The cake came away from the sides and we used a knife to free it from the base.

Also, I did not sift my cake flour and powdered sugar together. Again, everything worked fine. If you have time, feel free to do so. If you don’t, no need.

Lastly, I purchased organic egg whites from the grocery store. CHEATER! But if you’re feeling really crazy, I might suggest making several batches of Mom It Down Lava Chocolate Cakes one day, saving the egg whites from that and then baking this the following day. You may go into a diabetic coma, but it’ll be a happy one!

Variations

I have a fall version of this already in my head: pumpkin seeds! I can’t wait to do a Halloween version of this. (That said, this may reappear.)

I think a sprinkle of orange zest would be nice on top as well. I don’t think I’d add it to the batter, however. I am not sure how well the mixture will stand up to the weight. But next time I go for this, I will add some zest to the top for sure.

My mind is racing when it comes to variations and this recipe. I think that’s why I like it so much. It’s tasty and I think can be pushed in all different directions. I’m also curious about switching out the almond extract for another flavor and coming up with a topping that suits it. And I think that as long as the topping isn’t too heavy, anything goes!

If you have suggestions and/or comments please let me know!

Recipe taken from All Recipes and modified ever so slightly.

Mom It Down! Cinnamon Raisin Cookies

mihow — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 16:37:17 +0000

These puppies are sooooooo easy to make! I have a more advanced version of an oatmeal raisin cookie, but they’re more of a fall thing, so I’ll likely do those later on in the year. These guys are a bit lighter, so I figured, what the hey? Plus, my kid is coming down from a weekend full of cake and cupcakes. (It was his second birthday on Saturday!) Instead of cutting off the continuous flow of sugar cold turkey, I figured I’d better wean him off with some cookies.

What you will need

Cookie sheet
Mixer

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
3 eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 to 1 1/2 cups raisins

Mom it Down!

Take your butter out whenever you can and let it sit at room temperature. I usually let it sit in the mixer for however long. Today I took Em to the playground while it was warming.

Preheat oven to 375.

Add your sugar, shortening, and eggs to the mixer.

Stir it up until it’s almost creamy.

Add everything else but the raisins. Mix that up for a while.

Add the raisins. Mix that up for a bit. (If you’re worried about the raisins breaking up, you might do this by hand. I did not.)

Using a spoon, scoop out dollops and place them roughly 1 inch apart onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes.

You’re done!

Overcoming obstacles

If your mixture of butter, shortening, sugar and eggs isn’t entirely creaming, don’t worry about it. Mine had a few lumps in it and once the flour was added, it was fine.

Variations

If you want to add nuts, feel free to do so. Add maybe 1 cup and then cut back to 1 cup of raisins. Bake time is the same.

For some reason, a lot of people hate raisins. If you’re one of these weirdoes, substitute them for currants. Everything else can stay the same.

I have also added in some whole wheat flour. They are heartier. I’m not sure what will happen if you substitute in more than one cup whole wheat flour, however.

That’s it! Let me know if you have any suggestions and/or comments.

Original recipe taken from Cooks.com.

Mom It Down! Cinnamon Buns

mihow — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 14:40:52 +0000

I’ve been making a variation of these for years and they are spectacular. They’re a little bit more time-consuming than what I usually write about, but well worth the time involved in my opinion. I’ll give a few pointers for making the recipe easier as I’ve learned to cut a few corners.

Cinnamon Buns

1-1/2 packages dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water
1 cup milk
1/2 cup shortening
1/3 cup sugar
1-1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
4 to 5 cups sifted flour
melted butter
brown sugar
cinnamon

Vanilla Frosting

2 cups powdered sugar

1 tablespoon melted butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 to 4 tablespoons milk

Mom It Down!

Proof the yeast in warm water. Set that aside.

In a medium-sized bowl add the shortening, sugar and salt.

Scald milk. Add that to the shortening. Stir until dissolved. Let that sit until tepid.

Once it’s cooled, add proofed yeast, egg and flour. Stir that up until you can work it with your hand. On floured surface, work dough until it’s slightly sticky to the touch.

Let dough sit in well oiled bowl. Leave that for 1.5 hours. (I have cut this short at one hour and it seems to work.)

Later

Take your dough and work it into a big rectangle. Coat it with melted butter.

Add generous layer of brown sugar and sprinkle that with cinnamon.

Roll it up like a big jelly roll.

Snip with scissors.

Add each roll to a greased pan. Let sit for 30 minutes. (See “Overcoming Obstacles” for other options.)

When you’re ready to bake them, put them in preheated oven at 350 for 20 – 30 minutes.

While they’re baking, go ahead and make your frosting. Add everything to the bowl, stir it up, you’re done!

When the buns are finished, drizzle them with the icing. I usually add a small amount to the whole lot and let people add however much they want to their individual roll. It’s up to you!

Overcoming Obstacles

I’ve impatiently added the egg before the mixture cooled and it kind of curdled. I was worried about the final product, it was totally fine. So if this happens to you, don’t worry about it, just add the flour and go with it.

Some folks want them for breakfast but don’t want to get up at 5 AM in order to make them. Not a problem! Feel free to make the dough the night before, cut the rolls, cover them with saran wrap and refrigerate them overnight. You can even make the drizzly icing ahead of time and refrigerate it for later.

If you decide to make the icing the night before, store it in a tupperware container. The following morning, microwave it for 10 seconds. It should be easy to spread again.

Also, make sure you keep an eye on the buns while they’re baking. I have baked these in several different ovens and temperatures vary greatly sometimes. I would start checking them after 20 minutes. In one oven it took 40 minutes! I covered them with tinfoil toward the end so the tops wouldn’t burn. Just keep an eye on them.

Variations

I haven’t messed with these too much, but I bet nuts or raisins would rock. Just add them to the brown sugar mixture. As always, please let me know if you have questions or suggestions!

Original recipe taken from About.com.

Mom It Down! Blueberry Muffins

mihow — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 09:45:36 +0000

I actually surprised myself on Sunday morning. I woke up at six AM, rolled out of bed, retrieved my 2-year-old and started baking by 6:30. The house smelled absolutely out of this world and we were munching on fresh muffins all before 7:30 AM.

My inspiration took place Saturday whenever we visited our local farmers market and picked up two containers of the freshest blueberries you’ve ever seen. And they’re local! I encourage you to do yourself a favor and make these muffins immediately.

The original recipe comes from All Recipes with one small change. And let me tell you, people, these muffins are to die for.

What you will need

Mixer (not absolutely necessary, but much easier)

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1/3 cup milk
1 cup fresh blueberries

Topping

1/2 brown sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup butter, cubed
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Mom It Down!

Preheat oven to 400.

Take the butter out of the refrigerator. (Make sure it’s room temperature before you move onto the topping later.)

Add the flour, baking powder, and sugar to the mixer. Put that aside. Take a measuring cup, add the oil, egg and milk so you have the equivalent of 1 cup.

Add that to the flour mixture. Stir it up!

Add the blueberries. It’s probably best to do fold in the blueberries by hand as you don’t want them to break up.

Fill greased (or cupcake papers) muffin tins 2/3 full. I filled mine up really quite high because I like my muffins to rise above the top of the muffin tins! (For the record: I only got 8 muffins from this recipe.) It’s up to you, really.

The Topping

Add everything into the mixer. Stir it up. It should be crumbly but I have over-mixed and ended up with a more creamy topping and it’s ended up perfect.

Sprinkle your topping on top of each muffin. It’s best to be too liberal with the topping as the muffins may not rise under the weight.

Bake for 20 minutes.

Overcoming Obstacles

Make sure you have fresh blueberries. Frozen blueberries aren’t nearly as awesome and wonderful. There’s nothing that can compare to the way some of the berries burst during baking. A few of my muffins had caramelized gooey blueberry juice oozing out of them. It was awesome. That probably won’t happen with frozen berries.

Variations

You can substitute any fruit for the blueberries. Next up, I’m going to try strawberries or maybe, JUST MAYBE if I’m feeling really insane, I’ll grab some fresh currants from the local market and give them one more try.

I haven’t yet tried this with part whole wheat flour because they are just so amazing as is. But I reckon I’ll do that eventually.

Also, if you don’t have brown sugar, feel free to use regular sugar for the topping. That was what the original recipe suggested.

Lastly, you can skip the topping entirely. They’re perfectly wonderful without it.

As always, I’d love your comments and suggestions!

Whole Wheat Raisin and Walnut Bread

mihow — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 11:46:55 +0000

I’ve been making this bread for over five years. I’m not sure where I first picked up the recipe. If I could remember, I’d thank the person because it’s absolutely fantastic. And the variations come as easy as making the bread. You won’t be let down with this one. It’s really wonderful. Also, to the vegans: as long as you’re not opposed to honey, this is a vegan recipe.

What you will need

Mixer (Optional, but much easier)

Ingredients

3/4 cup golden raisins
1 package (1/4 ounce) active dry yeast
2 cups lukewarm water
2 tablespoons honey
2 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
2 to 3 cups of all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt
1 cup walnuts (slightly broken up)
1 large egg (just for glazing the top!)

Mom It Down!

In a small bowl, soak your raisins in 1/2 cup lukewarm water. Leave that for however long.

In your mixer, add 1/2 cup of warm water, yeast and honey. Stir that until it’s dissolved. Let that sit for at least 5 minutes or until foamy. Stir in the remaining 1 1/2 cups water.

Add whole wheat flour, and 1 1/2 cups of the all-purpose flour and salt. Stir that up until it’s combined. Mine was still very sticky at this point. Continue adding your flour until it’s easy to handle and the dough comes away from the bowl. I continued adding flour until it was just sticky enough to work with, but not so sticky it proved unmanageable. This won’t sound nearly as confusing or vague once you’re doing it. I promise.

Remove the dough from the mixer and/or blade and work it on a lightly floured surface for 5 – 10 minutes. (I cut corners BIG time here because my mixer did a fair amount of kneading on its own. It’s up to you, really. Knead it for however long you’d like. Seriously.)

Place dough into a lightly oiled bowl. Let that sit for at least 1 1/2 hours. (Yesterday, I let mine sit for at least 2. We went into the city to try and help Em overcome his fear of the subway while it rised on the counter at home.)

When your dough has risen and you find some more time, drain and pat dry the raisins that have been sitting in the bowl soaking in water. Then, turn to your waiting dough and punch it!

Remove the dough from the bowl and work it on a floured surface. Slowly begin kneading in the raisins and walnuts. It may seem a bit cumbersome at first, that’s normal. Just keep adding both items and as they fall out knead the bread overtop of any of those that were liberated. I promise, it works!

Place the ball of dough onto an oiled cookie sheet. It will spread out! I usually take a damp towel, and while the oven is heating up to 425, I cover the dough up to its sides. It keeps it from spreading out too much, not that it’s really a problem. If it spreads out, simply work it back into a nice big circle whenever you’re ready to bake it.

Let it sit for 30 minutes while the oven heats up.

If you’re using the egg, beat it and use it to cover the top and sides of the bread. I usually use my hand because a certain feline member of this household ate our brush. I’m usually pretty liberal with the egg but feel free to do whatever comes naturally. Egg it up! Or don’t egg it at all.

Bake at 425 for 15 minutes after 15 minutes, at which point lower oven temp to 375 and bake for another 25 to 30 more minutes. YOU’RE DONE!

Overcoming Obstacles

I think I covered any obstacles in the write up of this recipe but just to recap, if your dough spreads out while rising on the oiled cookie sheet, just work it back into a circle. It will be fine. Also, I might suggest checking the bread at 25 minutes. It depends on how intense your oven is, but mine was done yesterday after 25. This varies, however. Our old oven took the full 30 and sometimes 35.

Please, if I have missed something or you’re confused about something you read here, please don’t hesitate to comment here. I have been making this for so long, I probably am forgetting something or taking my comfort level for granted.

Variations

I have added spices. I have skipped the walnuts (because I didn’t have them on hand!) I think I’ve used normal raisins. The base of this bread is so simple, you can really get creative with the flavor and additions. Enjoy!

Lastly! I totally messed up the Amish Friendship stater I had been given. How? Well, I am apparently not very good at long-term dough relationships. I let it go far too long (12 days instead of 10) and it smelled not so good. I had no choice but to toss it. Forgive me! But then I realized that if I can’t seem to do this, it’s not very Mom It Down-able, at least not for this mom. Perhaps I’ve just had my head in the clouds lately. Either way, I’m sorry. But for now there will be no Amish Friendship Bread. (And that’s too bad, because the sample I had from a more successful mother was superb. I ate so much of it, I got sick.)

Mihow » mom it down

Tuesdays With Murray (Chapter 139) Mom It Down! Roasted Myrtle

Related posts:

Mom It Down! She Made A Strawberry Sorbet

Related posts:

Mom It Down: Chocolate Angel Food Cake SUCCESS!

Related posts:

Mom It Down: Chai Lollipops (For Sale!)

Related posts:

Lollipops By Mihow (What I’ve Been Doing.)

Related posts:

Mom It Down: Whole Wheat Flax Seed Bread

Related posts:

Mom It Down: Vanilla Cake with Chocolate Frosting.

Related posts:

Mom It Down: Vanilla Meringues

Related posts:

Mom It Down: Vegan Chocolate Walnut Banana Muffins

Related posts:

Mom It Down: Awesome Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Related posts:

Mom It Down: Mini Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins.

Related posts:

Mom It Down: Mini Cheesecakes

Related posts:

Mom It Down: Homemade Xmas Ornaments

Related posts:

Mom It Down: Lady Grey Cookies

Related posts:

Mom It Down: OMG! Homemade Applesauce

Related posts:

Mom It Down! Gluten-Free Oatmeal Cookies.

Related posts:

Mom It Down! Gluten Free Flax Seed Cookies

Related posts:

Mom It Down! Chocolate Chip Hazelnut Scones

Related posts:

Mom It Down! Quick Rosemary Dinner Rolls

Related posts:

Mom It Down! Spelt Crackers

Related posts:

Mom It Down! Halloween Cookies: Skull & Crossbones, Black Cats

Related posts:

Mom It Down! Pumpkin Spice Muffins (Not So Healthy!)

Related posts:

Mom It Down! Whole Wheat Pumpkin Spice Muffins (Super Healthy!)

Related posts:

Mom It Down! Chocolate Cupcakes With Vanilla Icing

Related posts:

Mom It Down! Jalapeño Cheddar Corn Muffins

Related posts:

Mom It Down! Toasted Almond Angel Food Cake

Related posts:

Mom It Down! Cinnamon Raisin Cookies

Related posts:

Mom It Down! Cinnamon Buns

Related posts:

Mom It Down! Blueberry Muffins

Related posts:

Whole Wheat Raisin and Walnut Bread

Related posts: