Big Baking Weekend

I'm not quite sure how this happened but before I knew it, I was baking Mexican Hot Chocolate Cookies,

One-Bowl Chocolate Cake,

and another Chocolate Babka. All in one weekend.

Somebody stop me.

Cinnamon Raisin Bread, Yeast Feast, Part 2

Just the thought of cinnamon raisin toast sends me back to fun, family vacations at the lake during my childhood, so when I came upon this recipe for cinnamon raisin swirl bread that claimed to be simple, I just had to give it a try. Plus, as I scrolled down and saw the ingredients, I noticed whole wheat flour, an added nutritional bonus for me, who considers white flour to be dessert.

Once again, the bread maker comes to the rescue. That thing may just be earning a permanent spot on my counters these days.

Dump into the bread maker, in this order:

• 1 cup warm water (110-115 degrees F.)
• 1/2 cup oil or melted butter
• 4 Tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cup whole-wheat flour
• 1 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons dry yeast

When dough cycle is finished, take dough out and roll out into a rectangle. Sprinkle with 2 teaspoons cinnamon. Drizzle with honey. Sprinkle with raisins, if desired.

Roll up dough and tuck ends under. Place in a greased bread pan and cover and let rise in a warm place for 20-45 minutes (until doubled).

At the last second, I decided to cut off the uneven ends and pop them in the oven as cinnamon rolls.

Clever, I thought, until I heard a chorus of "Where's the frosting?" Shaped as a bun, this dough does beg for some simple glaze, but sliced as bread, it's beautiful with butter and tea.

Anyway, bake at 350 degrees F. for 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Next time, I will adjust the bake time though, maybe to 35 or even 40 minutes.

Despite being golden on top and brownish on the bottom, the inside was too moist and doughy for my taste. That might also explain why the loaf sunk a bit when we cut into it.

That, and not waiting till it was completely cool. That not-waiting seems to be a common problem for us.

I love how this bread brings back all the memories of breakfasts at the lake, without tracking in all that sand.

Oh, boy. She made Babka. Yeast Feast, Part 1

I've recently broken free of my fear of yeast. It's really not that hard to do. My secrets are 1) get ahold of some great recipes and 2) use the bread maker. Is that cheating? Oh, well.

The latest yeast venture was an amazing Chocolate Babka. I'm not exactly sure what a Babka is, but it's really fun to say, super fun to smell, and even more fun to eat. Actually, they say Babka is a sweet yeast cake eaten around Hanukkah. I'm ignoring that Hanukkah was about 2 months ago.

Here's the recipe (modified from Cooking Light, December 2009, yes, I've been meaning to make this for over 2 years now):

Put in the bread maker, in this order:

3/4 cup warm 1% milk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

5 tablespoons butter, almost melted

1 large egg yolk

1/4 teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons sugar

1 2/3 cups white flour

1 1/4 cup bread flour

1 package dry yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)

Set the bread maker to the Dough setting and, for the next 1 hour and 28 minutes, feel very proud of yourself for making something inexpensive, ethnic, and scrumptious.

Meanwhile you can get the filling ready. Toss together in a small bowl:

1/2 cup sugar

3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

4 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped (or mini chocolate chips)

When your bread maker is done mixing the dough, roll it out on a lightly floured surface into a 16 inch square-ish shape. Sprinkle the filling on the dough to within 1/4 inch of the border.

Roll up tightly and pinch the edges to seal.

Then take the dough in both hands and twist like it's a wet towel, but not that strongly. Twist a few times along the length of the roll.

Place in a greased 9x5 inch bread pan (put parchment paper on the bottom and you'll feel especially proud of yourself when the babka comes out of the pan later). The roll will be too long, but that's OK, just tuck the ends to the side and fantasize about how interesting the marble will be inside.

Cover and let this rise for 45 minutes or so. *OR* Cover and place in the fridge overnight. The next day, let the bread dough come to room temperature before baking.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. The original recipe calls for spreading a streusel on top (2 tablespoons powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon flour, 1 tablespoon softened butter, all mixed together), but I was not in love with this and will probably omit this next time.

Pop the pan in the oven for 40 minutes or until the bread is starting to brown and it seems hollow when you tap it.

Cool completely before serving.

We cut into it too soon and the chocolate oozed out. The oozing chocolate was so decadent that Music Man actually said "I think this bread is illegal."

All of us loved this bread. However, I'm tempted to try it with different fillings. Cinnamon and raisin comes to mind. Or peanut butter and jam. Peanut butter and chocolate. Nutella. Oh, boy. I may have to make this right now.

Trash-free lunches, with a side of granola bar

About halfway through this Year of the Boxed Lunch, fell Christmas. And one of my main issues with Christmas is the trash. Have you ever driven through the neighborhood on trash day after Christmas and noticed the mounds and mounds of stuff people through out after the holiday? Mostly packaging.

Well, I started to see a box full of granola bars as a box full of trash with a little granola thrown in. And I got to thinking. How hard could it be to make my own granola bars? That would probably be cheaper and for sure produce way less trash. Then I remembered my trusty Super Baby Foods book by Ruth Yaron.

What follows is a variation of her recipe for Granola Balls.

1 1/2 cup rolled oats (oatmeal)

1/4 cup wheat germ

1/4 cup ground nuts (I use peanut butter)

1/4 cup nonfat dry milk

1/4 cup melted butter or oil

5 tablespoons honey

1 beaten egg

1/4 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup dried fruit, chopped (normally I use raisins or cranberries, but this time I must have been feeling tropical because I used dried mango and a handful of coconut)

optional: 1/4 cup mini chocolate chips, or 1/4 cup Grape Nuts cereal for crunch

Mix all this in a medium bowl. Add more honey to moisten or more oats to dry, if necessary. Press into an 8 x 8 glass pan or pie plate.

Bake for 15 - 20 minutes at 350 degrees.

I was feeling very virtuous about the trash-free aspect of these granola bars until I realized that I'm covering the dish with plastic wrap. Hmm. Next batch I'll cover with a plate.

Anyone want to join my Trash-Free Lunch Campaign?

Update: we like these granola bars so much that I make a double batch in a 9 x 13 inch pan, keep it in the fridge, and snack off of it all week!

Use What You Have, Part 3

What I don't have: warm legs.

What I do have: an old felted wool sweater, ribbon, scissors.

Who knew an old sweater could make such sweet and sassy leg-warmers?!

The party that may start appearing regularly on my calendar

Heirloom Recipe Potluck.

A fine and giggly assortment of ladies brought their food, love, and tradition into my home less than 12 hours ago. Instructed to bring a family dish to pass and 10 printed recipes for sharing, we had a full, fun time. Each woman arrived with an excited smile and left with a relaxed, satisfied one.

Here's what they brought:

One guest has held onto the tradition of bringing a hostess gift. Not necessary, but so, so sweet:

Marczpani Squares (I'm not sure what Marczpani means, but it must loosely mean Rich Heaven, because that's what these tasted like.)

Great Grandma's Banana Bread (fits with my use-what-you-have approach, plus it's simple and delicious)

Cheese Cake (Not any old cheese cake, I realized as I polished off a slice of it while 'cleaning' up after the party. It was so captivating, I had to put the cleaning on pause and allow the cheese cake to sweep me away.)

California Coleslaw (I love recipes like this that turn not-so-healthy ingredients into a fun and healthy dish. And, come on, who doesn't love crushing a block of Ramen noodles?)

Chocolate Chip Zucchini Cake (using 2 cups shredded zucchini, this may be my new summer favorite)

Three Sisters Salad (Not that I'm choosing favorites, but this is the only dish that I allowed myself a second helping of. Plus it comes with the sweet and smart American Indian tradition of growing corn, beans, and zucchini together. Each sister crop provides qualities that the other two do not. I may be planting some sisters this spring!)

Grandma Quigley's Ultimate Chocolate Cake and Frosting (gotta love the secret ingredient - Hellman's Mayonnaise!)

White Chocolate Popcorn and Carmel Corn (A known popcorn fan, I didn't think it could be improved upon. I was wrong. Very wrong. These were amazing!)

Great Grandma's Cinnamon Buns (I'm not sure how she made these every Saturday for her family of twelve. When they were finally in the oven, I had to konk out on the couch too.)

Judy's Baby Cheeseburgers (I love how traditional recipes tend to evolve with the times. These little burgers appeared with soy meat! Not bad.)

Chocolate Pudding Cake (the recipe calls for pouring boiling water over chocolate chips! That's reason enough right there to make this fast and scrumptious cake.)

Did I miss any? If so, that's probably because they were so yummy, all the copies of the recipes were snatched up, all crumbs were gobbled up, and no evidence was left - the sign of a great dish.

Note to self: Potlucks are definitely the way to go for parties - excellent and varied food, with little prep and clean-up. I love how people who can follow a recipe can also follow complicated instructions such as these:

However, next time, I'll try to provide containers and encourage swapping. I saw too many people leaving with leftovers of their own dish, when I wonder if trading and taking home a sampling of the full spread would be more fun.

Sounds like a good excuse to try this again soon!

Use What You Have, Part 2

I absolutely love the Use What You Have approach to life. Didn't someone famous say "Necessity is the mother of invention."? Oh, yeah, I think it was Plato. (I think I need to make more PlayDough.)

Here's the latest in making-life-wonderful-without-spending-money-or-making-trash:

Rose Pillowcases from an old duvet cover.

What I don't have: nice throw pillows

What I do have: old throw pillows, an unused duvet cover, and a sewing machine

Take a look at the result of last Saturday morning.

What we don't have: unlimited funds for heating

What we do have: Wood

How about this sweet scene?

What we don't have: a TV

What we do have: kids who love reading, writing, and fairytales

Way better than Saturday morning cartoons, don't ya think?