Who Wants Vegetables When There're Cookies in the House...

Hey Ma-

I think I was supposed to write about how I served G eggplant and other--as he put it, "funky"--vegetables for dinner the other night (recipe here) and he gobbled them down (ok, maybe he didn't gobble...but he certainly ate 'em). I'm too delighted, though, by your cake pop adventure not to relay to you all the baking I did this weekend.


First of all, my hat's off to you for even endeavoring cake pops. They're the kind of thing that I look at and immediately decide requires more patience than I'd ever be able to muster. My only lament is that I wasn't there to eat all of your rejects because, you know, I like to support you in your times of need.

All of your talking about baking, though, left me feeling a little bit inspired. Did I bake anything new? Nope. I did, however, churn out banana bread (it was only pretty good because--in a truly rare moment--we were out of yogurt...the key ingredient, evidently, after the bananas) AND chocolate chip cookies (really, this recipe is just perfect...G can testify on my behalf if you have doubts). In a fun twist, M and I did it together. She's become such an alert little person and she's really interested in what we're doing in the kitchen these days. The only problem arose when she wanted to put a cookie in her mouth. Soon! But not yet...



Anyway, I know I can't go on and on about M and not let you see her, so here you go:


(In case anyone's paying attention, yes she's wearing a Yankees tee from her Pamp and, yes, John felt the need to represent the Phillies by standing in the background lest anyone believe M's allegiances lie with New York...)

She's grown that belly all by herself without a single cookie or slice of banana bread (ok, I've eaten my fair share, but still)! Go, M, go! Someday all three of us can bake together and that will be really, really nice.

Alright, off to school. I love you.

xxoo
R

Ode to Banana Bread

Janet here: I was feeling a little verklempt about everyone having flown the coop (see my post here) and generally wanting to bake, which is what I often want to do when I'm feeling a little blue but also feeling as if there was no one to bake for (sorry Peter but you can only eat so much), and then I had one of those AHA moments and remembered we have a freezer. Duh!

So, inspired by making zucchini bread (which was seriously fantastic thanks to the molasses and applesauce; I strongly encourage you to try it out), I looked at the very ripe bananas on the table and decided to make banana bread. Not just any banana bread, mind you, but one with chocolate chips adapted from Anna Getty's Easy Green Organic, one of my new favorite cookbooks.

While I generally feel as if just about every baked good can benefit from the addition of chocolate chips, I did worry a bit these might be overkill. I mean chocolate chips in a typically breakfast bread? Really?

The answer is a definitive yes — even from Peter, who is not someone who indulges in chocolate in the morning the way some of us do — okay I do — but who does eat this for breakfast ... happily.

Rachel here: I love banana bread, like love it love it. I found what I've figured is a completely perfect banana bread recipe and haven't looked back since. It's what I make for people I love when they hit a rough run and I've been known to overnight it across the country. Anyway, the recipe I usually use can be found here. Next time (and I have two brown bananas in my freezer...one more and I'm baking...I wasn't kidding that I love banana bread), though, I'm giving my mom's recipe a shot (oh, and hey Ma-I really like your tablecloth).

Banana Bread with Chocolate Chips
Anna got this from her good friend, Julie, who adapted it by adding chocolate chips. I adapted further by using butter instead of soy margarine

ingredients
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 stick butter
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/4 cup buttermilk
2 eggs, beaten
3 very ripe bananas, mashed (about 1 1/2 cups)
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

walnut topping
1/4 cup ground walnuts
1 tablespoon brown sugar

method
Heat oven to 350 degrees

Mix together the flour, salt and baking soda. In another bowl cream together the sugar and butter. Stir in the vanilla and buttermilk. Add the eggs and bananas and mix well. Add the dry ingredients, stirring until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips and walnuts.

Pour batter into a loaf pan. To make topping, mix ground walnuts and brown sugar. Sprinkle over batter.

Bake 1 hour and 15 minutes. Let cool in pan before serving.

Speedy Suppers: Take Two

Janet here: I have been obsessed with pasta recently, most particularly with pasta that doesn't have a single thing red saucy about it. I grew up with marinara sauce and meat sauce and I loved it for years, but now I am all about pasta that has everything BUT red sauce in it the same way that my favorite pizza does not have any red sauce at all. What is that about?

Anyway this pasta takes about 10 minutes to pull together and if you love walnuts and olives, you're going to like this. I hadn't made this before so I'm still tinkering a bit. Perhaps kalamata olives next time? Anyway, I hope you like it.

Pasta with Walnuts/Olives and Capers
serves 3

ingredients
3/4 pound pasta (I used farfalle because I like how it looks but fusilli could work too)
about 1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons diced garlic (about 1 large clove)
2 heaping teaspoons capers, drained
1/2 cup black olives, drained and cut in half (pitted obviously)
3/4 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup pecorino cheese, grated
1/2 cup bread crumbs

method
Cook the pasta. While it's boiling, pour about 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a pan and saute the walnuts and garlic, stirring so the nuts don't get black and the garlic doesn't burn. Then add the bread crumbs and stir until slightly browned. Take it off the heat and add the cheese, olives and capers.

After draining the pasta, mix the whole mess together, adding perhaps some more grated cheese because when do you ever get enough cheese, and the rest of the olive oil. You can always add a little more olive oil if it seems dry.

Bar None

Rachel here: This week we're offering up some ideas for barbecues, picnics and the like since Memorial Day is next Monday. While the meat on the grill and the salads are certainly key components to any good outdoor celebration, I think you have all figured out by now how my mother and I feel about dessert. Fond would be an understatement. Anyway, for these types of gatherings, dessert is preferably portable and something that can sit out of the fridge for hours. Because of this, today we are making bars.

Growing up, more lunches than not at my grandma's house ended with her date-nut bars. You could usually find them tucked away in a tupperware in her breadbox if you found yourself with a hankering and it wasn't the lunch hour. Anyway, I'd never made them before this post. As has consistently happened for me when I've made recipes of those I love, making these treats transported me back to when I was younger. The sunlight streamed across my grandma's dining room table and, though full from lunch, I discovered I still had a little bit of room in my belly for dessert. A glass of milk in hand and the memory was complete. This recipe is incredibly simple, so so satisfying, and guaranteed to please those looking for something a little sweet after an afternoon in the sun.

Grandma Reynolds' Date-Nut Bars
makes 10, depending on size

Ingredients
1 c. all-purpose flour
1/4 tspn. baking powder
1/8 tspn. salt
1/4 lb. butter (one stick), melted
1 c. granulated sugar
2 c. dates, coarsely cut
2 c. walnut pieces
2 eggs

Method
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees with the rack in the center position. Line a shallow pan with foil (she recommends a 9x13, but I think mine was a little smaller and it worked fine) and brush with butter. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt and set aside. Beat butter and sugar in your electric mixer (if you have one...if not, the butter's melted, so the mixing shouldn't be too hard). Add the eggs and beat until combined. Stir in sifted ingredients until just combined. Fold in dates and nuts. Distribute batter evenly in your pan, giving it a few taps down on the counter at the end to get air out and make sure everything's divvied up nicely. Place in oven, rotating halfway through, for roughly 35 minutes. Cool in pan for 10 minutes on a wire rack before inverting onto a cookie sheet and then inverting again to finish cooling. Cut into squares and enjoy!



Janet here: My friend, Anne, often makes lemon bars when we visit her for dinner and I always leave her house thinking, I should make these sometime. And then I don't. But when Rachel and I decided we were going to make some kind of bar cookie this week, I realized now was my chance. So without further ado, the lemon bars.

Lemon Bars
12 servings

Ingredients
crust
1/2 cup salted butter, softened
1/4 cup confectioner's sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla
1 cup all-purpose flour

cream cheese filling
8 ounces softened cream cheese
1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure lemon extract

lemon curd
4 large egg yolks
1 tablespoon cornstarch
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup water
2 medium lemons grated for 2 teaspoons lemon peel and squeezed for 1/4 cup lemon juice
2 tablespoons softened salted butter

topping
2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar

Method
To make the shortbread crust cream the butter and sugar in a medium bowl with an electric mixer at high speed. Add vanilla and combine. Add flour and mix at low speed until fully mixed. Then press the dough into an 8X8-inch pan evenly. Refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes. Prick with fork and bake at 325 degrees for 30 minute or until golden brown. Take out and cool completely.

While the crust is baking, prepare the cream cheese filling. Beat the cream cheese and sugar until smooth with an electric mixer until smooth. Add egg and lemon extrax and beat on medium speed until light and smooth. Cover the bowl and refrigerate.

To prepare the lemon curd, blend egg yolks with the cornstarch and sugar in a medium non-aluminum pot. Place over lowe heat and slowly whisk in water and lemon juice. Increase heat to medium-low and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. Remove from heat. Add lemon peel and butter and cool 10 minutes.

To assemble the bars: Spread the chilled cream cheese filling evenly over the cooled shortbread crust with a spatula. Spread the lemon curd evenly over the cream cheese filling. Place pan in center of the oven. BAke 30-40 minutes until the edges begin to turn golden bwon. Cool to room temperature. Then chill in the fridge 1 hour before cutting. Dust top with confectioners' sugar.

The Cookie Competition

Rachel here: I have made these cookies a million times. They are my go-to "Oops! We're supposed to bring dessert tonight" recipe, both for their ease and their reliably awesome turn-out. This time, however, I made them for our birthing class. For some reason, bringing food for this bevy of pregnant ladies over the past three weekends has left me feeling a bit more pressure than I usually do when I cook. I think, perhaps, it's an underlying fear of somehow exposing myself as a bad mom or something by not bringing an appropriate food item. When I was assigned to bring dessert for our final class, I didn't think twice about what I would make. I knew I would make this foolproof recipe from "The Best Recipe" by Cook's Illustrated.


During our lunch break, I had one of the most satisfying cooking related experiences of my entire life. While John and I sat and ate, multiple people bit into their chocolate chip walnut cookies and announced that these cookies were amazing. The woman sitting next to me and her husband said that they think these are the best homemade chocolate chip cookies they've ever had. Now all I did was follow a darn good recipe, but it still felt super good. It felt so good, in fact, that I felt a little bit bad for the other woman who brought cookies. Don't worry, though, ever the altruistic eater, I dutifully ate her (quite yummy) ginger cookies.

Anyway, seriously: make these cookies. Though certain people that I blog with bake in whatever order they please, I can only assume that the success behind these cookies lies in following the various steps and combinations as they are detailed in the recipe. I have adapted the recipe ever so slightly and share my version below. I should warn you, though. If, as I did, you are going to bake these cookies for an event, leave a few at home. There won't be any leftover for you to enjoy late night if you don't and, trust me, this is tragic.



Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies
makes 2-3 dozen

Ingredients
2 c. plus 2 T. all-purpose flour
1/2 tspn. baking soda
1/2 tspn. salt
12 T. unsalted butter, melted and cooled to just warm
1 c. brown sugar, packed (*TIP: Pour out 1 1/2 times the amount of brown sugar that you need--in this case that would be 1 1/2 c.--and this should get you very close to the right amount once it's packed*)
1/2 c. granulated sugar
1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk
2 tspn. vanilla extract
1+ c. bittersweet chocolate chips
1 c. toasted walnuts, broken/chopped

Method
preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Whisk flour, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl and set aside. Mix the melted butter with the two sugars until thoroughly blended (make sure to break down all sugar lumps at this point). Add the egg, the extra yolk and the vanilla until combined. Add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Stir in chips and walnuts. Pull 1 to 2 T. chunks off and place on cookie sheet, leaving in rough ball form. Bake--rotating half way--for roughly 15 minutes, until cookies are a light golden brown. Cool and enjoy.




Janet here: Yeah, so apparently this week's decision to make cookies wasn't about merely making cookies; it was about "winning" the cookie bake-off. Guess I didn't get that memo.

Anyway, while I can't claim that my cookies are THE.BEST.COOKIES.EVER. the way some people are, I can tell you that these, which were adapted from Salty Sweets, are mighty fine and that people will enjoy them. Christie Matheson includes coconut, but I hate coconut so it's not in my version. So without further ado....the completely adequate "other" cookie recipe.

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup granulatedsugar
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 cup old-fashioned oats
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
grinder sea salt

Method
Heat the oven to 350 degrees.
Combine the flour, coca powder, baking soda and fine sea salt in a bowl.

In a separate bowl, beat the butter, sugars, vanilla and eggs until creamy. Add the flour mixture a little at a time, mixing thoroughly each time. After this is all mixed up, add the oats and chips.

Spoon onto a baking pan. Add a few sprinkles of salt to each scoop on top. Bake at 350 degrees for 11 minutes. Let cool on a rack.

Fruit Bread Frenzy

Janet here: I remember very little of my father's grandmother, Nana, who died when I was in elementary school except this: she made outstanding date bread that I loved to eat smothered in cream cheese. Her recipe died with her and I've been on the lookout ever since for that exact date bread. This one is one I've come up with that is pretty darn close. Do you have a favorite date bread recipe? Share it up! In the meantime, find some cream cheese after you make this version.

Date Nut Bread

Ingredients
8 ounces chopped dates
1 1/2 cups boiling water
2 3/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cups chopped nuts--I used pecans and walnuts this time

Method
Combine all the dry ingredients together. Then add the egg, sugar, butter, vanilla and dates. Stir. Add nuts.
Pour into baking pan. Bake at 350 for one hour.

Delicious with cream cheese....

Rachel here: Banana bread, I think, is what I make best. It's certainly the only thing of any complexity that I have made over and over again without a single mishap and, if I do say so myself, the recipe I use is just perfection (it's from "The Best Recipe" by Cook's Illustrated and after I made it for the first time I wrote "perfect" next to the recipe, so...). I am so pleased with this banana bread, in fact, that I have overnighted it across the country to two of my nearest and dearest friends, Jessica (my bff since high school) and G (my brother who is closest to me in age). I'm pretty sure that Jessica and G will agree: this banana bread has straight-up healing powers, be it a broken heart or a head wound (I just realized that this could serve as incentive for people I know to feign ailments in the name of getting their own fresh-from-the-oven loaf from California...uh-oh). Anyway, I love making it and I've loved sending it to people I love when they're down for the count (I should confess that I love my ma's date bread, too...a certain somebody I co-habitate with doesn't "do" dates, though, so I haven't made it in years). Oh, and I love making it for myself, as well, including the challenge of trying not to consume the entire loaf before the sun has set. While it's no aphrodisiac, clearly for me banana bread is a food of love...do you have one?



Ingredients
2 c. all-purpose flour
3/4 c. sugar
3/4 tspn. baking soda
1/2 tspn. salt
1 1/4 c. toasted walnuts, chopped coarse (I use closer to 1 1/2 c. because I love nuts)
3 very ripe, speckled bananas, mashed well (approximately 1 1/2 c.)
1/4 c. plain yogurt
2 large eggs, beaten lightly
6 T. butter, melted and cooled
1 tspn. vanilla extract

Method
With rack on lower-middle position, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. If you're using a non-stick loaf pan, grease and flour the bottom and side. If you're using a regular loaf pan, grease and flour only the bottom. Combine dry ingredients (flour through walnuts) in a large bowl, whisk, and set aside. In a medium bowl, combine the wet ingredients (bananas through vanilla) using a wooden spoon or spatula. Fold the wet ingredients into the dries using a rubber spatula until just combined. Batter should be thick and very lumpy. Pour batter into loaf pan and place pan in oven. Cook until a toothpick comes out of the center clean, approximately 55 minutes. Cool in pan for 5 minutes before removing to finish cooling on a wire rack. Enjoy!

Crazy for Cookies

Janet here: A few weeks ago, I made — or more accurately, tried to make my mother-in-law's molasses sugar cookies. We were coming up to the anniversary of her death and my husband asked me to make them. I thought it would be a nice way to remember her.

But then I looked at the recipe and it called for Crisco instead of butter and I just couldn't wrap my baking head around using Crisco for anything other than part of pie crust (and my father would roll in his grave if he knew I used anything but pure butter for all of it) so I substituted butter and they were good but not quite the real thing. (Not that I'm sure anything would have really been the real thing anyway because my mother-in-law wasn't making them, and I mean that in all the best ways.)

So when we decided to make cookies this week, I decided to try to redeem myself and make another molasses recipe, this one the Barefoot Contessa's ultimate ginger cookie from her At Home cookbook. It included the all-important molasses ingredient of my mother-in-law's tasty cookies but also included bits of crystallized ginger (a particular favorite of my husband). Although I was nervous while working with the dough — it was much drier than most cookie batter — I'm happy to report it was a success. While not a substitute for his mother's cookies — nor should they be — Peter proclaimed them tasty.

Ultimate Ginger Cookies
makes about 16 cookies

Ingredients
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup dark brown sguar, lightly packed (I only had light brown and it was fine)
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup unsulfured molasses
1 large egg at room temperature
1 1/4 cups chopped crystallized ginger (6 ounces)
granulated sugar for rolling the cookies

Method
Heat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, ginger and salt and then combine the mixture with your hands. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or if you're like me, just in a bowl where you're going to mix everything with a trusty old fork), beat the brown sugar, oil and molasses on medium speed for 5 minutes. Turn the mixer to low speed, add the egg and beat for 1 minutes. Scrape the bowl and beat for one more minuted.

With the mixer still on low, slowly add the dry ingredients to the bowl and mix on medium speed for 2 minutes. Add the crystallized ginger and mix until combined.

Scoop the dough with 2 spoons or a small ice cream scoop. With your hands, roll each cookier into a 1 3/4-inch ball and then flatten slightly with your fingers. Press both sides of each cookie in granulated sugar and place on the cookie sheets.

Bake exactly 13 minutes. The cookies will be crackled on the top and soft on the inside. Let cool on the sheets for a minute or two. Then transfer to wire racks to cool completely. Try not to eat a half dozen.

Rachel here: Without planning on it, or much discussing it, it seems my mom and I both baked cookies with other people in mind this week. Aren't we good people to know? Anyway, one of my dearest friends in the world is coming to visit for a few short days this weekend and I am immersed in an insanely chaotic couple of weeks right now so, to prepare for her visit I made cookie dough ahead of time this past weekend. Since it's a recipe I'd never used before, though, I figured it would only be wise to bake off a quick dozen to make sure they're edible. This has actually been my approach to cookie baking for the last year or so, and I have to say I highly recommend it. I make the full dough recipe and then usually just bake a dozen, either refrigerating or freezing the rest of the dough depending on when I think I'll be wanting more cookies. This way, fresh cookies are never more than ten minutes away in my house and, let's be honest here, there's nothing like a cookie warm from the oven. Plus, it's a great way to get a chunk of baking out of the way in advance when you have a busy week with an event looming at the end of it.

Anyway, the recipe I used I modified from one I found on epicurious that was featured in the July 2003 Bon Appetit. The texture is perfect, I think (and my co-taster, John, agrees). In a completely spacey pregnant moment, I forgot to put in all of the spices and nearly (like, very very nearly) forgot to put in the oats. I remembered the oats in the nick of time (like, right before I was about to put the cookies in the oven) and, at that moment, realized my complete neglect of the spices. I didn't want to over-mix the dough, though, so I sprinkled the spices on top. I imagine these cookies are a little bit better with the spices mixed into the dough and I suspect you can go a little heavier on the spices than the recipe calls for. Even with all of my errors, though, these cookies are seriously delicious. Now I just have to try to forget how much dough I have in the fridge until closer to my friend's arrival...

Oatmeal Cookies with Raisins, Cranberries, Walnuts and Chocolate Chips

Ingredients

2 c. all-purpose flour

1 tspn. baking powder

1/2 tspn. baking soda

3/4 tspn. salt

1 1/2 tspn. cinnamon

1/2 tspn. nutmeg

3/4 c. butter, room temperature

1/4 c. vegetable shortening, room temperature

1/2 c. white granulated sugar

3/4 c. brown sugar (I used dark)

2 large eggs

1/4 c. honey (for ease, 1/4 c.=4 T...easier to measure in this case, I think)

1 T. vanilla

1 c. raisins and cranberries

1 c. walnuts, broken

1 c. chocolate chips (I used bittersweet...sooooo good)

3 c. rolled oats

Method

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine first six ingredients (flour through nutmeg) in a small bowl and set aside. In your mixer, beat the butter, shortening and sugars until fluffy. Beat in the eggs, honey and vanilla. Mix in the flour mixture. Stir in the last four ingredients (raisins/cranberries through oats). Spoon batter onto cookie sheet (I used a heaping tablespoon) and bake for 10-15 minutes, until golden brown. Let sit on sheet a minute or so before transferring to a wire rack to cool. Yum!

The base for this recipe, I think, would lend itself well to anything you wanted to add in the place of the last four ingredients (though, personally, I'd keep the oats). The original recipe called for way more sugar, too, so if these aren't sweet enough for you, then feel free to increase both of the sugars to 1 cup.

Glorious Granola

Rachel here: My mom suggested making scones for this post (stay tuned for a future post featuring these), but I desperately wanted to make granola and so here we are. I've been eating it on-and-off for breakfast for years and, for about the last month, combined with some plain yogurt and fresh fruit, it's been my breakfast of choice. Anyway, there's really not much to say about it except that it is significantly better when homemade. And speaking of homemade, though the specific recipe posted below is my own concoction, it is very closely related to the granola I learned to make while working at the Homemade Cafe (they don't have a website, but if you ever find yourself in the Bay Area make your way over to 2454 Sacramento Street in Berkeley for a breakfast that most certainly won't disappoint...if you're lucky, John will be cooking). Enjoy!

Ingredients
4 c. rolled oats
1/4 tspn. salt
1/4 tspn. cinnamon
1/4 tspn. all spice
1/8 tspn. cloves
1 c. walnuts (broken)
1/2 c. almonds
1/2 c. pumpkin seeds
1/2 c. whole ground flax seed meal
3/4 c. honey
1/4 c. canola oil
dried cranberries

Method
Preheat oven to 275 degrees. Combine all dry ingredients in a large bowl and mix well. Heat honey and oil on the stove until combined and pourable. Pour over bowl of dry ingredients and combine well (this will get stuck in your rings, so definitely take them off if you care about them at all). Spread evenly over a cookie sheet (I put my silpat down first, which makes cleaning up a non-issue). Place in oven, removing and stirring to redistribute granola every 10 to 15 minutes. If granola starts to brown before it is dry, leave oven door ajar. Remove granola once dry feeling (it won't feel completely dry, but will finish this process as it cools). Let cool. Add dried cranberries (or any other fruit you like) to taste. Personally, I like a lot so I threw in several generous handfuls. Place in an airtight container. Yum!



Janet here: I have basically been eating granola just about every day for, oh, decades. I mix it with yogurt and I am ready to start the day. I had never made granola, however, until today. I just assumed it was very complicated — all those ingredients! — and figured it was just something hippy dippy people did. I was a little nervous about making this, too. Again, I just thought it was going to be complicated and a flop.
I was wrong.
Simply put, I may never eat store-bought granola again. This homemade version is so superior it's like I don't even know what I was eating all those years. I created this recipe after trolling around on the web. It's a conglomeration of things I read on Chowhound under Best Homemade Granola and my go-to cooking goddess, The Barefoot Contessa.

Homemade Granola

Ingredients
4 cups rolled oats
1 1/2-2 cups nuts (I used sliced almonds, pecans and walnuts)
about 1/4 cup flaxseed meal
a large handful or so of sunflower seeds
1/4 cup canola oil
about 1/2 cup honey
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup or so of dried fruit (( used blueberries, but I could see adding cherries, apricots, bananas, etc.)

Method
Heat oven to 300 degrees. Toss all the ingredients into a large bowl except the fruit. Heat the oil and honey in a pot and whisk together. Take it off the heat; add the vanilla, and then pour the liquid into the bowl and stir everything together. Place in two large roasting pans on one layer. Cook for about 40 minutes until golden brown, turning every 10 minutes or so. (I set the timer so I wouldn't burn it.)
After you take it out of the oven, mix in the dried fruit. Let cool. It will crisp up as it cools. Store in an airtight container. Delicious!

Muffin Ma'am

Janet here: We're kicking off this week's blogs with, appropriately, a breakfast item. If breakfast is the most important meal of the day, why not make it something just a little special? I've been eating yogurt — usually Dannon's coffee flavor, although Stoneyfield's organic non-fat yogurt has been a staple since I did Weight Watchers — for decades. My husband and son S, meanwhile, are cereal eaters. All kinds of boring, don't you think? And that's the joy of muffins. Bake up a batch on the weekend, and you have instantly made breakfast a cheerier meal for the rest of the week.

Muffins' ability to bring cheer hit home with me last year after my mother-in-law died. My father-in-law was understandably bereft losing his help and soul mate after 56 years of marriage. She was also a good cook so the loss was a double whammy for a man who enjoys a good meal. So I started making these muffins. I made them week after week after week — so regularly, in fact, that he started calling me the Muffin Queen. We all got just a bit tired of them, but he didn't and so I kept baking, bringing just a bit of sunshine to a life that was all shades of gray.

This particular recipe is from one of my favorite culinary ladies, Ina Garten aka the Barefoot Contessa. I have five of her cookbooks and I refer to them all the time. (Indeed there will be another recipe of hers featured later this week; stay tuned.) This one for triple berry muffins is from The Barefoot Contessa at Home. I amended it to just use blueberries and raspberries; I'm pretty sure Ina would approve. I also make my muffins in large tins rather than the regular size. Why scrimp when muffins are so special?

Triple Berry Muffins

Ingredients
3 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon (the ingredient that really gives these pizazz I think)
1 1/4 cups milk
2 extra large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
1 cup fresh blueberries
1/2 cup fresh raspberries
1/2 cup diced fresh strawberries
1 1/2 cups sugar

Method
Heat oven to 375 degrees. Line muffin pan with liners.
Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in large bowl. (FYI, I don't sift. Ever.)Stir with your hand to make sure ingredients are combined. In another bowl combine milk, eggs and butter. Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients, pour wet ingredients into the well and stir until just combined. There will be some lumps; don't overmix the batter. Add the fruit and sugar and combine gently.
Use a 2 1/4 ice cream scoop to spoon the batter into the liners. Bake 20-25 minutes until a cake tester comes out clean and the tops are brown.


Rachel here: So, my partner and I are in the process of moving. We have the good fortune of having two apartments this month and, with that luck, the accompanying difficulty of remembering what is where at any given moment. Seriously, the only thing I own whose location I am positive of these days is my bed. Anyway, needless to say, this created some err....fun...baking escapades this morning.

The plan was to spend the day at the new apartment, unpacking what we could and generally getting things going in the new space. So, after our coffee this morning, I dutifully packed up my cookbook, butter, a spatula, and other muffin making necessities, checking items off of the list I'd developed in my head. No sooner had I preheated the oven (oh, and what an oven it is...it's an O'Keefe and Merrit a la photo number 6) then I realized I had brought no measuring spoons NOR did I have a single spoon in the house, I had fewer muffin/cupcake paper wrappers than I needed AND I had neglected to bring the paddle to my KitchenAid mixer. Grrr...

My partner was adamant I could still pull these muffins off. This optimism irritated me until I decided that, if not, it would at least make a good story and, most likely, a pretty yummy mess. And so, instead of creaming my butter and sugar into a wonderfully fluffy goo, I threw them in my Cuisinart (which, of course, I only had the sharp metal blade with me for) and turned them (along with the eggs, banana and yogurt...which I also didn't bring enough of) into an unpromising liquid. At this point I had strayed so far from the recipe's orders that I was convinced there was no way in hell these muffins wouldn't come out like little boulders. Instead, in some freak incident I'm sure (because if not following the rules always works this well than my entire world will be turned upside down), my muffins came out just fine. WEIRD. OK, they're not wonderful, but they are completely edible and definitely still better than their store-bought counterparts. Could they be fluffier? Absolutely. Will they all be eaten? Without a doubt.

The moral of my story is, I suppose, twofold: First, just because your partner thinks something can still work out doesn't mean he is trying to ruin your life with his optimism or that your general propensity toward skepticism need be re-evaluated; second, evidently muffins (and baking in general?!?) might not be the finicky princesses I had figured they were beforehand. Anyway, follow this recipe from The Best Recipe (I added some strawberries to the banana walnut variation) or just mix all of these ingredients together and cross your fingers. Either way, I'm pretty sure your breakfast tomorrow morning will be a little bit brighter.

Ingredients
3 c. all-purpose flour
1 T. baking powder
1/2 tspn. baking soda
1/2 tspn. salt (*Note: I always lean towards the generous side with salt during baking. I swear it brings out flavors.)
1/2 tspn. nutmeg
10 T. unsalted butter, softened
2 large eggs
1 1/2 c. plain low-fat yogurt
1 c. light brown sugar
1 1/2 c. finely diced banana
1/2 c. strawberries
3/4 c. walnuts

Method
Preheat oven to 375 degrees with rack in middle position. Whisk flour, baking powder, soda, salt and nutmeg in bowl and set aside. Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each one. Add half of dry ingredients and incorporate. Beat in 1/3 of the yogurt. Continue alternating dries and yogurt until everything is incorporated. Fold in bananas, strawberries and walnuts.

Now, according to the official recipe you should scoop your batter into greased muffin tins. I used little cupcake paper wrappers, though, to cut down on clean-up (on account of the move). While the sides don't get quite as well cooked, I personally feel like there's nothing wrong with this approach. If I were making them for an event I wouldn't use the paper wrappers, but when it's just for home, the time I save on clean-up is worth the compromise to me! Anyway, enjoy!

Variations on a Theme: Brownie Bake-Off

Rachel here: There is a book in my kitchen that I turn to in times of need. It is the first cookbook I ever bought and, all of these years later (ok, I'll be honest, all of these five years later...yes, I'm a youngin') it remains my steadfast kitchen companion (besides my partner, but more on him another time). It is the cookbook whose recipes I will try for the first time and bring the end result to a party untasted (I live in the Bay Area or, the Land of Food, and so this is no small statement, particularly since my partner and a disproportionate number of our friends make their livings in kitchens); the cookbook that has literally never let me down (although it has not always blown my mind). Anyway, when we decided to do this great brownie bake-off of ours, I didn't hesitate before pulling this book from its trusty place near my stove. In fact, I didn't even look at another recipe. And now, a drumroll please, for The Best Recipe (compiled by the editors of Cook's Illustrated) and their basic brownie recipe. With a scrumptiously fudgy center and perfectly crisp top, I promise you won't be disappointed.

Ingredients
8 T. (1 stick) unsalted butter
2 oz. unsweetened chocolate
2/3 c. cake flour
1/2 tspn. baking powder
1/4 tspn. salt
1 c. sugar
2 large eggs
1 tspn. vanilla extract
1/2 c. chopped nuts (the recipe says these are optional, but barring an allergy I wholeheartedly disagree and I usually use toasted walnuts)

Method
Preheat over to 350 degrees. In a heatproof bowl placed over a pan of simmering water, melt the chocolate and butter until smooth. Set aside to cool.
Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt together in a small bowl. Set aside.
Whisk sugar into cooled chocolate mixture. Whisk in eggs and vanilla. Fold in flour mixture and nuts until just combined.
Pour batter into a greased 8-inch metal baking dish (or, in a pinch, you can use a 9-inch metal pie plate) and place in oven. After 20 minutes, insert a toothpick into the center. When it comes out with a few crumbs on it, the brownies are done. Place on wire rack to cool. To preserve moistness, only cut when ready to eat if possible.

Pour yourself a glass of milk and enjoy!




Janet here: So the brownie gauntlet was obviously thrown when Rachel decided — without telling me! — to use that damn Best Recipe cookbook that she knows I don't own. Seems a little devious don't you think? Well, I turned to a different kind of "best", the Beat This Cookbook by Ann Hodgman, a cookbook whose subhead proclaims it provides "the very best recipe" for everything from apple pie and brownies to crab cakes and guacamole. Pretty gutsy, don't you think? I have no idea if this is the "best" brownie recipe but I was intrigued so here it is. I will also say that I was dubious about actually following this recipe to a T; I mean is it really necessary to mix the sugar, eggs and pinch of salt for a full 15 minutes? I decided, though, for the sake of experimentation to do exactly what Ann said, and I am happy to report these are very very very creamy brownies. If you like cakier brownies, you won't like these, but if you like your brownies almost custardy inside, this recipe could be exactly what the doctor ordered.


Ingredients
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs at room temperature (I actually did this for the firs time; tip: soak them in lukewarm water for 1/2 hour to take the chill off if you don't plan ahead)
pinch of salt (I use kosher as much as possible)
5 ounces best-quality semisweet chocolate
3 ounces best-quality unsweetened chocolate
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup miniature chocolate chips

Method
Heat oven to 375 degrees. Butter an 8-inch pan.

In a large bowl beat sugar, eggs and salt for 15 minutes. If you have to use a hand mixer (as I do since I don't own a stand-up mixer, she suggests having a book to pass the time). Meanwhile, melt the semisweet and unsweetened chocolates and butter in a double boiler over a very low flame. When the chocolate concoction is 3/4 melted, take it off the flame and stir until smooth. Cool to lukewarm (don't rush this!) and fold gently into the sugar-egg mixture. Fold in flour, vanilla and finally the chips.

Spread the mixture into the prepared pan and bake for 20 minutes if you like your brownies custardy or 30 if you like them drier. I did 25 and got a nice mix between the two.

Let us know what you think? Which one did you prefer? Do you have a favorite brownie recipe?