Rosemary Butter Cookies

Gosh, has it really been so long since I posted? I've been caught up in a baking whirlwind, baking for the LMC Holiday Market, then tackling the full Thanksgiving Dinner a few days later, then the rush of relatives, etc. I've been baking quite a lot, just not stopping to blog, I really must be more disciplined.

So, of the 15 kinds of cookies I've baked in the last two weeks, this simple rosemary shortbread was the most popular (of mine) at the Cookie Walk. My rosemary plant was still going strong, and I knew from previous experience that any kind of butter cookie or shortbread would sell quickly. Rather humble in appearance, they're not too sweet, but have a rich butter flavor accented by rosemary. I will definitely make these again soon, as a more adult addition to my Christmas cookie selection.

Baker's Notes: Since I was baking for an event, I made the dough a couple days ahead, wrapped it well, and left it in the freezer. However, I did the egg white /sugar coating the day I baked them, to ensure the sugar stayed crunchy. My dough has never fit in a paper towel tube, as Martha suggests, I just chill and roll them into a log as best I can. These cookies should keep and ship well, although I haven't yet tried to do either.

Rosemary Butter Cookies

adapted from Martha Stewart Holiday Magazine 2005, Cookies Special Issue 

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• ¾ cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg plus 1 egg white, beaten
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 ½ cups sifted all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh rosemary
• ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
• ½ cup sanding sugar

Put butter and granulated sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Mix in whole egg and vanilla. Reduce speed to low. Add flour, rosemary, and salt, and mix until combined.

Halve dough; shape each half into a log. Place each log on a 12-by-16-inch sheet of parchment (wax paper works too). Roll in parchment to 1 1/2 inches in diameter, pressing a ruler along edge of parchment at each turn to narrow log. Transfer to paper-towel tubes to hold shape, and freeze until firm, about 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 375°F. Brush each log with egg white; roll in sanding sugar. Cut into 1/4-inch-thick rounds. Space 1 inch apart on baking sheets lined with parchment. Bake until edges are golden, 18 to 20 minutes. Let cool on sheets on wire racks. Store in airtight containers at room temperature up to 3 days.

Big Batch Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

It's a big week for baking here. I'm contibuting to the local Christmas Market, so I'm up to my eyeballs in cookies doughs and tart shells. Tomorrow, we're getting out the spritz gun.

It's also our turn to bake cookies for The Night Ministry. I wrote about this wonderful group awhile back, and even though it was a busy week, I knew I needed to add this to my baking list. As to the cookie, I wanted to make something hearty and full of flavor, so I worked up a chewy oatmeal raisin chocolate chip cookie. I love the tart sweetness of dried cranberries, so I added those too. This makes a big batch of dough (that's the point), so you can bake some, and freeze the rest for another time. Or drop some cookies off at your local shelter.

Baker's Notes: this recipe is combination of several, and I increased the yield to put it in the "Big Batch" category. I try to plan ahead, I think this type of dough benefits from several hours in the fridge, the flavors are stronger somehow. You can use a combination of rolled and quick oats as you prefer, I was going for a hearty texture. Next time, I may use equal parts raisins and dried cranberries, it just depends on what's on hand.

Chocolate Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1½ teaspoons salt
• 2 cups (4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1½ cups packed light-brown sugar
• 1½ cups granulated sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 5 cups rolled oats
• 2 cups raisins
• 1 cup dried cranberries
• 3 cups (18 ounces) semi-sweet chocolate chips  

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside. With an electric mixer, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy.

Add eggs and vanilla; beat until combined, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Add flour mixture; beat until just combined. Add oats, raisins, dried cranberries and chocolate chips; mix until just combined. I (just) managed this in my stand mixer, but if you feel yours is too full, dump the dough into a larger bowl and mix with a wooden spoon or your hands. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap, or pack into a storage container and chill, preferably overnight, in the refrigerator.

Preheat oven to 375°, or 350° convection. Drop heaping tablespoons or scoops of batter, about 1½ inches apart, onto baking sheets lined with parchment or silpats. If your batter is cold, press down on each mound with the bottom of a glass, or your impeccably clean hand. Bake until cookies have spread and are golden brown and soft to the touch, 10 to 12 minutes. Cool 5 minutes on sheet, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Makes about 90 medium cookies.

Peanut Butter-Sour Cream Bundt Cake with Milk Chocolate Ganache Glaze

It's National Bundt Cake Day! Inspired by Mary the Food Librarian, who celebrates this historic occasion by baking a Bundt cake each day for 30 days straight, I made a new (to me) Bundt cake.

Charlie gave me Cake Keeper Cakes for my birthday this year, she's a girl who knows how to please her mom and get something for herself as well. The author, Lauren Chattman, wrote that this recipe was her family's favorite, and I can see why. It has the great peanut butter/chocolate combination, it has a nice pound cake texture, it's an all around great Bundt.

I love a good Bundt, and thanks to the Food Librarian, I will celebrate in style.

Baker's Notes:  I did not have a Butterfinger Bar handy, I would definitely add one next time, as I love them. I would decrease the cream in the glaze next time, it was too runny, even after a rest. My bundt needed closer to 55 minutes to test done, so try yours at 40-45 minutes as the recipe indicates, and see.

 
Peanut Butter-Sour Cream Bundt Cake with Butterfinger Ganache Glaze
Adapted from Cake Keeper Cakes

For the cake

• 1 cup sour cream
• 3 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 2 ¼ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup smooth peanut butter (I use Jif)
• 1 ½ cups packed light brown sugar

For the glaze

• 8 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped (I used 6 ounces milk and 2 ounces semisweet chocolate)
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup heavy cream
• 1 Butterfinger bar (60 grams), chopped

Make the Cake 

1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Grease a 12-cup Bundt pan and dust with flour. Whisk together the sour cream, eggs, and vanilla in a large glass measuring cup. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl.

2. Combine the butter, peanut butter, and brown sugar in a large mixing bowl and cream with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl once or twice as necessary.

3. With the mixer on low, add 1/3 of the flour mixture and beat until incorporated. Add 1/2 of the sour cream mixture. Repeat, alternating flour and sour cream mixtures and ending with the flour mixture, scraping down the  sides of the bowl between additions. Turn the mixer to medium-high speed and beat for 1 minute.

4. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 40 to 45  minutes. Let the cake cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then invert it onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Make the Glaze

1. Place the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl. Heat the cream in a small saucepan over medium-high heat until it comes to a boil. Pour the cream over the chocolate and butter and let stand for 5 minutes. Whisk until smooth.

2. Pour the warm glaze over the cake, letting it drop down the sides. Sprinkle the chopped Butterfinger bar over the glaze. Let stand until the glaze is set, about 1/2 hour. Slice and serve. Store uneaten cake in a cake keeper or wrap in plastic and store at room temperature for up to 3 days.

Oatmeal-Wheat Pancake Mix

 I love pancakes. I know, everyone loves pancakes, but I luurrvve pancakes. As a child, I wasn't that keen on eggs or cereal for breakfast, so I became the griddle girl, flipping pancakes on Sunday mornings. Buttermilk, blueberry, corn, and pecan, I've made them all. Who knew my favorite version would be oatmeal?

King Arthur Flour is a great company, with an impressive blog, great especially for beginners, with professionally tested recipes, and process shots so you can see how the dough is supposed to look....and no, no one is offering me a freebie to say so. When King Arthur wrote the book on whole grain baking, they found that adding a bit of orange juice toned down the tannin in whole wheat recipes, that's why this recipe calls for just a bit.

We've been making these pancakes on a regular basis, despite the fact that they're healthy and wholesome. Not too sweet, with a hearty yet tender texture. Grab the mix from the freezer, whisk a few ingredients together, then heat up the griddle and make coffee while the batter rests a bit. Usually, I serve them with butter and maple syrup, otherwise I spread them with apricot jam.

Baker's Notes:  I use old-fashioned oats in this recipe, since they're to be chopped up a bit, and we like our oatmeal with a bit of chew. Sometimes, I swap light brown sugar for the white, someday I'll try turbinado. This recipe makes relatively thin pancakes, so I add a bit more mix to thicken them up.


Oatmeal-Wheat Pancake Mix
adapted from King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking

•     3 ½    cups    (12 ¼ ounces) old-fashioned or quick rolled oats
•     4    cups    (1 pound) whole wheat flour     
•     1    cup    (4 ¼ ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
•     3    tablespoons    (1 ¼ ounces) sugar
•     3    tablespoons    (1 ½ ounces) baking powder
•     1    tablespoon    salt
•     1    tablespoon    baking soda
•     ¾    cup    (5 ¼ ounces) vegetable oil

To make the mix: Grind the oats in a food processor until they're chopped fine, but not a powder. Combine the oats, flours, sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in a large bowl, preferably the bowl of an electric mixer. Mix on low speed, and drizzle the oil into the bowl slowly while the mixer is running. When all the oil has been added, stop the mixer and squeeze a clump of the mix in your hand; if it holds together, it's just right. If it won't hold together, stir in 1 tablespoon of oil at a time, until it does. Store indefinitely in an airtight container in the freezer. I jot down the pancake recipe on the front of a zipper-top freezer bag, then fill it up with mix.

For Pancakes  (may be doubled or tripled)


1 cup buttermilk (or ½ cup each yogurt and milk)
1 tablespoon orange juice
1 egg
1 cup (4 3/8 ounces) mix

To make the pancakes: First, preheat the oven to 200°F. Whisk together the buttermilk, orange juice, and egg, then whisk in pancake mix. Don't worry if the batter seems thin at first; it'll thicken as it stands. Let the batter stand for 15 minutes before cooking.


Heat your griddle or pan till a drop of water sputters when you drop it on the surface. Lightly oil, and pour pancake batter by the 1/4-cupful onto the griddle. A muffin scoop works well here. Cook the pancakes till they're golden brown on the bottom, flip them over, and cook till golden brown on the other side. Keep them on a baking sheet in the warm oven until all the batter is used.

Serve with butter and syrup; fresh fruit is a plus, of course.

Yield: 7-8 medium-sized (3 1/2") pancakes.

Pear Bread

 We're eating so many apples this season that I forget to buy pears, even though we love them, particularly with cheese or in salads. Fortunately, a kind relative sent me a box of lovely pears for my birthday, and since I was down to the last few, cake seemed in order.

Last year, one of the birthday gifts I received was Southern Cakes, a wonderful cookbook filled recipes for the elegant yet homey cakes from the South. So far, the Sweet Potato Cake is my favorite (more later), but the Pear Bread is really, really good. You may be tempted to add more spice, or crystallized ginger, but try it plain, so the flavor of the pear (and walnut) can really shine. Moist, but still sturdy enough to pack in Charlie's lunchbox, I will definitely make this again, maybe for Christmas gifts.

Baker's Notes: My pears were not mushy, but turned to puree anyway when I grated them, however the flavor and texture were still excellent. I omitted the walnuts, I'm just not crazy about nuts in my cake. I used a combination of butter and oil. The cake is topped with a quick maple icing.

Cornelia Walker Bailey’s Pear Bread  
adapted from Southern Cakes: Sweet and Irresistible Recipes for Everyday Celebrations

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1 cup chopped walnuts
• ¾ cup butter, softened (or use ¾ cup vegetable oil)
• 3 eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 2 cups peeled and finely grated ripe, firm pears (2-4 pears)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350°. Lightly grease and flour (or use Pam w/flour) a 10-inch tube pan or two 9″x 5″ loaf pans.

Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Scoop out about ¼ cup of this mixture and combine it with nuts (if using) to coat. Stir back into the flour mixture.

In a separate bowl, combine butter, eggs, sugar, pears, and vanilla. Add the pear mixture to the flour mixture, stirring just until flour disappears and batter is evenly moistened.

Pour batter into prepared pan(s). Bake for 60-70 minutes, or until bread is browned and firm on top. A pick inserted into the center should come out clean.
Cool in pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Then, remove from pan and place top side up on a plate or wire rack to cool completely.
                                      ------------------------------
I added a thick icing by whisking 2 tablespoons each maple syrup and cream into 1 cup confectioner's sugar.

Chocolate Velvet Pound Cake

Sometimes, I like plain chocolate. No frosting, no filling, not even a glaze to distract from pure chocolate cake.

I like pound cakes. They're sturdy and substantial, and when they're good they're very very good. When they're bad, well, you can always make trifle. Or a doorstop. This one is heavy, with a very tight crumb, which I loved, because I could slice it thinly. After supper, we each had a thin slice and were completely satisfied. The next day, I dabbed another slice with whipped cream cheese and apricot jam. Fantastic.

Here's a great website: Things Cooks Love, where I was browsing and found this recipe. Lots of recipes from the publisher of The Art and Soul of Baking, among others.

Baker's Notes: I made this on the spur of the moment, and I didn't have any "good" cocoa powder in the pantry. That's why the color is so black, almost the color of an Oreo. I'll get down to the Blommer Factory soon to remedy that, but even with supermarket cocoa, it was delicious. I made the loaf, but included the instructions for the mini-bundt pans, in case you're lucky enough to have those. Note the bubbles in the photo, I guess I needed to rap the filled pan on the counter to get rid of excess air.

Chocolate Velvet Pound Cake
adapted from The Art and Soul of Baking

• 1 ½ sticks (6 ounces) unsalted butter, softened (65° to 68°F)
• 1 ¼ cups (8¾ ounces) sugar
• 1 teaspoon water, at room temperature
• 2 teaspoons instant espresso powder, such as Medaglia d’Oro
• 3 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 cup (5 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
• ½ cup (2 ounces) unsifted unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
• ¼ teaspoon baking powder
• Pinch of salt
• ½ cup (4 ounces) buttermilk, at room temperature

Preheat the oven to 350°F and position an oven rack in the center. Lightly coat an 8 ½ by 4 ½-inch loaf pan with melted butter, oil, or high-heat canola-oil spray, and fit it with parchment paper to extend up both long sides to the top of the pan (I just sprayed my loaf pan with Bakers Joy.)

Cream the butter and sugar: Place the butter and sugar in the bowl of the stand mixer and beat on medium-high until light—almost white—in color, 4 to 5 minutes. You can also use a hand mixer and a medium bowl, although you may need to beat the mixture a little longer to achieve the same results. Scrape down the bowl with the spatula.

Add the eggs: In the small bowl, stir together the water and espresso powder until smooth. Crack the eggs into the bowl and beat to blend. With the mixer running on medium, add the eggs to the butter mixture about 1 tablespoon at a time, allowing each addition to completely blend in before adding the next. About halfway through, turn off the mixer and scrape down the bowl, then continue adding the eggs. Scrape down the bowl again.

Add the dry and wet ingredients alternately: With the fine-mesh strainer, sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt into the medium bowl and whisk to blend. With the mixer running on the lowest speed, add the flour mixture and the buttermilk alternately, beginning with one-third of the flour mixture and half of the buttermilk; repeat, then finish with flour mixture. Scrape down the bowl and finish blending the batter by hand, if necessary.

Bake the cake: Scrape the batter into the prepared baking pan and smooth the top.  Rap the pan on the counter, to eliminate air bubbles. Bake for 45 to 55 minutes, until firm to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Transfer to a rack to cool completely. When cool, remove from the pan, peel off the parchment paper, and serve.

Storing
The cake can be made several days ahead and kept at room temperature, wrapped in plastic wrap. Or double-wrap it, put in a resealable plastic freezer bag, and freeze for up to 8 weeks.

Individual Chocolate Velvet Bundt Cakes
Use an individual Bundt cake pan (with six 1-cup molds) and follow the instructions for the Individual Bundt Cakes variation (page 312), but bake for 16 to 19 minutes. See recipe introduction for finishing ideas. Makes 6 individual Bundt cakes.

Mini Chocolate Velvet Bundt Cakes
Use a mini Bundt pan (with twelve ¼-cup molds) and follow the instructions for the Mini Bundt Cakes variation (page 312), baking for 13 to 15 minutes. See recipe introduction for finishing ideas. Makes about 18 mini Bundt cakes.