Bite into Biscotti

Do you or your loved ones have a have an affection for dry, round, store-bought vanilla cookies?  Or perhaps you know a teething toddler gnawing on hands, tables, and other surfaces (my fingers!) who would really benefit from a crunchy, dry, low-sugar (just under five grams, by my rough calculation) treat.  Or perhaps you have friends that love coffee and eat too many munchkins with their daily cup, searching for a low-ish fat replacement.  You want to help.  But how?

Bake some American-Style Vanilla Biscotti today!  Check out the step-by-step instructions that convinced me to bake biscotti even before I’d succeeded with baking cookies.  The more I bake this, the more I appreciate the simplicity of the recipe.  You are just a few ingredients and steps from a lovely coffee or cocoa companion.  And you are looking at spending just $0.18 per cookie, according to PJ Hamel’s calculations.  Probably, you can spend less if you grab KAF All-purpose flour and other ingredients in bulk or on sale.  Around holidays, I usually see the flour on sale for $2.00 per bag.  (Other times, I justify spending on this flour by not spending money on store-bought doughs and treats.)  Feeling fancy ?  See the end of the recipe for add-in ideas to complement the vanilla flavor.

I won’t go step-by-step since the King Arthur Flour Baking Banter blog does that for us; here’s just a little encouragement if you, like me, are new to biscotti baking.

After quickly mixing a few ingredients, the dough is so easy to work with that I can usually pick it up and stretch it in my hands before plopping it onto parchment as seen here:

You could probably shape & freeze me for baking at a later date, too.

You can bake this in a biscotti pan, and I received one as a gift.  Since I can cut more slices when I make it on a cookie sheet, I usually bake it on a sheet.  But I’ve had quite the time of shaping my favorite Pumpkin Biscotti dough, which is much stickier and I suspect the biscotti pan will work well for it.  Another time.  Where was I?

But bake now and eat today!

Ah, shaping the dough.  It takes just a minute or two of smoothing and shaping to make it the proper width:

And here's the proper width.

Bake for 25 minutes at 350 degrees.  Follow the recipe’s instructions for slicing and re-baking, and congratulate yourself if you don’t do something silly like forget to turn on the timer (never!) or turn off the oven (well … ) during the whole baking process.

Slicing it into 1/2 pieces usually gives me about 30 pieces, plenty to indulge my family and share with friends.

No time for a beauty shot. The toddler lurks near.

Sit back and dunk away, enjoying the fact that it is probably just over 2 grams of fat per slice.  Unless a teething toddler is nearby.  Then, no biscotti for you!

Homemade biscotti: replacing store-bought cookies, soothing teething toddlers, and helping people lose weight by the batch! Ok, only one of these things has actually happened so far, but the year is young.  If you aren’t in the mood to bake these yourself, I love to share them.  Come on down and see who can get to them first.  You … or my little teether.

I’m Back. With Biscuits.

Sniffle.  Snuffle.  Sneeze, cough, sneeze.

After shuffling around in my pajamas all day,  I had no inclination to eat the leftover ham haunting the fridge nor did any of us have the appetite for a big dinner that I didn’t have the energy to cook.  Our snuffly little family just wanted to cuddle on the couch and wallow.

But my parents thoroughly spoiled me with a bag full of goodies from their trip to King Arthur Flour’s store.  And the latest KAF Baking Banter post highlighted New Year’s Ham Biscuits, which my husband thought would be more appetizing than a plate of warmed up ham.  A decision:  playtime with my new kitchen utensils, a new recipe, and warm biscuits or snuggling on the couch with our sniffles and an empty tummy?  Biscuits!

You’ll find step-by-step photos for this recipe here.  The original calls for Bakewell cream and since I didn’t have any on hand (yet!), I used baking powder to substitute.  And while it would be better to use KAF’s Perfect Pastry Blend, we don’t due to possible allergens in that product.  But for those of us without the specialty ingredients, KAF often notes when their Unbleached All-Purpose flour works as a substitute.  (As another side note, King Arthur Flour is terrific about allergen disclosure.  Their newest gluten-free products are also nut and soy-free.  More on that another time.)  Their Unbleached All-Purpose flour worked just fine for this recipe.

Whisk to the rescue!

Usually I mix ingredients in our stand mixer, but I wanted to try my larger Pourfect bowl, a recent Christmas gift from Mom. The bowl seemed a bit small for this recipe and I second-guessed my choice when I saw how full the bowl was even before adding the milk.  But since I didn’t have to stir vigorously, gently using the dough whisk kept the batter in the bowl.  The Pourfect bowl, by the way, is a very welcome gift in our kitchen from my mom.  She finds the neatest things!

Lazy? Tired? Make a "miscuit".

Since this was only my second time ever making from-scratch biscuits (and remember those sniffles?) I took the easy way out and used my new muffin scoop to portion out these little delights.  After chilling for thirty minutes in the freezer, it was time to brush with butter or milk but somehow I’ve gotten this far in my baking life without a brush.  (While I’m not sure I actually need one, I did notice silicone brushes are on sale at KAF.  Hmmm.)  No brush, and I was stumped until I finally poured milk into a measuring cup and dipped the tops.  Since they were partially frozen, they kept their shape.  Next, a sprinkle of shredded Seriously Sharp Cabot Cheese and into the oven as directed on the best baking sheet I’ve ever used.

Mmmm. No butter necessary.

Delicious, although not the highest-risen biscuits ever.  I baked some of them and froze the rest so the next time we find ourselves feverish and snuffling, we are just minutes away from the warm comfort of a New Year’s Ham Biscuit.  (Oh,and just in case anyone is wondering, I do not work for King Arthur, Cabot Cheese, or any company that I mention in these posts nor do I get any payment or incentive from them to mention them.)

Monday Muffin Time

Years ago, I found a recipe for  healthy, whole wheat “Macaroon Muffins” in a Hannaford magazine that tasted nothing like the macaroons that my mommy makes.  These muffins were ok (probably more my baking than the fault of the recipe).  I’m honest about my baking so when I presented “ok muffins” to my uncle during his visit, he understandably passed on them and ate my brownies instead.  So I gave up on the muffins.  But when I heard about King Arthur’s White Whole Wheat flour, I decided to give the recipe another shot while my older one was at preschool.  Perhaps the tamer taste of this flour would make these muffins better than ok.  Got the flour, now I’m ready to bake.  But wait, the youngest is awake.  Is the munchkin happy?  Ah, baby girl is toddling with her sippy cup.

Let’s bake before she realizes she is not the center of attention.  Preheat to 375 and grease the muffin tin.  Sigh.

Store brand muffin cups.

 

In this bowl, whisk one and a half cups of white whole wheat flour with one cup old fashioned oats, 2 tsp. baking powder, and 1 tsp. ground cinnamon.

Whisk it well. No tough muffins, you hear?

In another bowl, whisk a cup of milk with an egg, 1/4 cup vegetable oil, and 1/2 cup of honey.  I also added a tablespoon of orange juice, although the original recipe didn’t call for it.  Add liquid ingredients to dry and stir until blended.  Fold in a cup of shredded coconut and some dried cranberries.  The original recipe called for 1/2 cup raisins; I went with 2/3 cup cranberries.  Fill the muffin cups.  Making muffins is easier now that I use a broken ice cream scoop, but maybe someday I’ll use this.

Do I love my dad? Well, I picked out every cranberry from the top left muffin.

Baked for 20 minutes and tipped the muffins while they cooled.  The original recipe called for 20-25 minutes.  At twenty, they were almost overdone.  Out of the oven, time to tilt.  I learned to tilt the muffins from this blog.  Muffins shouldn’t have soggy bottoms, either.

No soggy bottoms here.

And here, we have a problem.  I am allergic to whole wheat, so I can’t tell you if these are worth trying.  My taste testers (parents present for lunch) have been warned that if they lie and say something is good, they will eat their words because I’ll continue to serve anything they say is good.  Based on what I heard, you might enjoy these warm with butter or whipped cream cheese.  Perhaps the splash of orange juice or raisin substitution was a mistake.  The white whole wheat definitely improved the muffins.  If you eat these, feel good that you are eating fruit, whole grain and no white sugar.  But, no, you won’t like these as much as a sweet blueberry muffin.  See my mom for the best ones.

Iron? Or Bake Bread.

I could iron.

I probably shouldn't be showing you this.

We started baking bread in our Oster bread machine (quite unlike this dream one) due to food allergies and well, it’s cheaper and tastes better than the store bought. But I was tired of ugly loaves with a hole in the bottom that didn’t fit into sandwich bags.   So time to try the oven.  I recently made No Knead Whole Wheat bread for my husband with reasonable success (defined as one good loaf out of three.  Once, I forgot to set the timer.  And once, just once, I turned off the oven in the middle of baking.  You see why the ironing piles up.)

I’m ready to knead some King Arthur Flour Classic Sandwich Bread.  Or at least bestow the privilege to my mixer.

You can find the recipe here, so I won’t repeat ingredients and measurements.  But I will mention King Arthur Flour.  A bit of a stretch for our grocery budget, but I have noticed a difference in the results with their flour.  I figure I’m saving enough baking from scratch to justify buying this.  We went to the KAF tent sale this summer and were so impressed with their service.  They’ve sweetly answered my emails about cross-contamination questions (regarding allergies) and I can comfortably shop around the products that are “unsafe” for us.   And Frank read my blog.  So this may be true, but FRANK read my blog.  So there.

I’m a fan.

I let the mixer knead the bread since I have sensitive little paws and that gave me some clean-up time.  The loaf seemed to bake nicely:

First Oven-Baked Loaf. So excited I forgot to take a better shot of it.

And it sliced neatly.  Just one little slice had a hole — perhaps an air bubble?

One Trouble Slice

Once, I was terrified of baking with yeast.  But fellow beginners, I found this useful.  I love the step-by-step recipes and blog posts at the Baking Banter Blog, too.

My daughter said it was the best bread, and surely I must believe my daughter. Four year olds know everything.

Notes From Norwich — Pound Cake Troubleshooting

The Birthday Vanilla Pound Cake in a tube pan was a near failure, as noted in my first post.  So I sent a photo of it to bakers@kingarthurflour.com since I had used this recipe.  The recipe is wonderful, the batter had a lovely scent, and the cake tasted good (I, um, ate all the crumbs not long after the failed dismount) so I figured I’d done something wrong in the mixing or the baking time.  No way could just leaving out the almond extract have caused such chaos.  What else could it be?

Frank at King Arthur wrote back quickly, expressing his gratitude for the photo and giving several helpful hints.  I had the eggs/cheese/butter at room temperature, so I think that his initial diagnosis (insufficient creaming of sugar/fat) was on target.  I’d read the Baker’s Banter post on the cake and got mixed up about when the batter should look grainy.  Not after the creaming process!

Here are most of Frank’s tips, since they are all useful for the Bundt beginner:

-Keep the stand mixer at medium speed.
-Have the eggs at room temperature as well.  This will help them incorporate and begin to create a structure.  Continue to observe the medium speed rule.
-Only after the addition of egg number 5 should you increase the speed higher.  I suggest medium-high for the 5 minute mix.
-Blend the flour in on low speed, only until you achieve a smooth batter.
-With a bundt pan, omit the syrup topping.  This works it’s way down the sides during baking and make encourage sticking in a decorative pan. (I had used the syrup, although I don’t think that was entirely to blame.  My last bundt did the same thing and no syrup was involved.)

So, Frank, this post’s for you as my public thanks for your help.

Birthday Dinner – Macaroni. Cheese. Cake. And ewwww, hot dogs.

“What would you like for birthday dinner?” I asked, as if I could whip up the dream meal for my husband.  The possibilities were vast and possibly frightening.  I still can’t grill steak.  Chicken is cooked one of two ways when I’m in the kitchen.  Don’t even get me started on vegetable dishes.  He didn’t marry me for my cooking skills.

“Hot dogs and mac & cheese.”

Seriously?  Kraft macaroni and cheese and ew, hot dogs!  ”Is this because you think I can’t cook?” I asked.  Secretly, I both hoped and feared he would ask for THE macaroni and cheese.

My mom’s baked macaroni and cheese is a family classic.  My grandmother made it, but with Velveeta. My mom adapted it over the years and ended up with Cabot Extra-Sharp Cheddar.   I have relatives that fight over it and my husband loves it, too.  I’ve never made it, but it’s about time.

First, I found the dish my mom used to make it in when I was younger.  She has a different one now, but passed this familiar one onto me.  Finally, it came out of the hutch to play.  Two and a half quarts, if you want to make this recipe yourself.

THE Dish

Next, my best baking helper was thrilled to hold my rotary egg beater.  I used it on the egg whites.

I cooked about a cup of dry macaroni, which gave me a little more than what I needed for the recipe (1 1/4 cups cooked for the recipe, a little leftover to keep the youngest entertained during today’s kitchen adventures) while scalding one and a half cups of milk with 6 tablespoons of butter.   Next, four eggs.

Otherwise, I wouldn't separate eggs.

Let the whites drip into a large mixing bowl and plop the yolks into the stand mixer with the whisk attached.  Beat the yolks.  While the milk was scalding and the mac was boiling, my oldest processed two slices of white bread crumbs that I had in the freezer.   Now, the scary part.  Tempering!

Once the milk was scalded, I poured it into a 2 cup Pyrex measuring glass to make tempering the eggs a bit easier.  I’d never done this step before, but I tried it by letting the stand mixer run as I slowly poured the milk mixture in.  No egg cooked during the process, so I count it as a success.

Use cup with spout to easily pour while tempering the eggs

Once the egg yolks, milk, and butter were well mixed, I added the cooked macaroni, two cups of shredded cheese, and the bread crumbs.  Used Cabot Seriously Sharp pre-shredded cheese and breadcrumbs from the freezer as a shortcut.  Thanks, Dad, for getting me hooked on Cabot.

Bad photo. Good shortcuts.

I’d like to say that the youngest was this happy during the whole process or that I was so patient and sweet during kitchen time today. But no.  You win some, you lose some.

 

Not crying. Not yet.

Last step — whip up the egg whites with the rotary egg beater until quite fluffy.  Fold into the macaroni mixture and pour into the greased pan.  Sorry, no pictures of that part of the process.  Remember the youngest?  Probably crying at this point.  I placed the casserole dish in a 9×13 baking dish half full of water.  Set inside a preheated 325 degree oven and an hour later:

Yummy? Yes.

I could stop here, but just to show that all does not end well in the kitchen with Sarah:

Pound Cake in a tube pan. Fail.

But the frosting sure did help.

A li'l lumpy, but my, I make good dark chocolate frosting.

No, I didn’t photograph the hot dogs.  Didn’t even eat one.  But Eric was relatively happy with the food and the cake tasted much better than it looked.   This kitchen adventure did not involve fire or tears, so things are definitely on the upswing in the cooking department.