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Why Does My Cornbread Burn on the Bottom?

August 3, 2011 By 13 Comments

Dear Home-Ec 101,

How do you keep the bottom of the cornbread from burning? I use an electric oven and I’ve tried putting my muffin pan on the higher rack but that didn’t help. The bottom burns but the top stays light.

Signed,

I Would Prefer Cajun Style Blackening

Heather says:

It’s fairly common for household ovens to not heat to an accurate temperature. This is an incredibly frustrating experience, especially for new cooks who may think, “I followed the directions! I’m a complete failure at cooking.”  How would a novice know that it was mechanical failure and not their fault? Heck, I get frustrated on their behalf and please don’t even get me started on flimsy cookware.

Cooking food is a balance of applying enough heat to cook the inside of food in a reasonable amount of time and not so much that the outside burns before the interior has cooked. This is true regardless of the cooking method. When baking or roasting, the temperature of the air in the oven is responsible for the majority of the heat transfer (indirect heating). However, the baking sheet (or muffin tin or pan) gets heated by the air, too. Metal is a great conductor of heat, in fact it is far better at heat transference than air. Once the pan reaches the temperature of the oven, it also cooks your food through direct heating. This is why the bottom of your cornbread gets done before the top (and quite possibly the middle)

The first thing I suggest is getting an oven thermometer, this will give you an accurate indication of whether or not your oven is heating to the proper temperature. To test your oven, place one of the racks in the middle position, hang the thermometer from the rack, set the oven to 350F and wait for 20 minutes. Now check the temperature on the thermometer, this should be a much more accurate indication of the actual cooking temperature your oven is maintaining.

If your oven’s temperature is off, it may need calibrating, check your owner’s manual of your oven. If you can’t find it, use Google and perform a quick search of the make and model of your appliance. Many manufacturers have the pdf of  the owner’s manuals available online.

If your oven’s temperature is off by 20 degrees or more, the thermostat -the part that controls the temperature- may need to be replaced. If it’s only off by five or ten degrees it won’t matter for all but the most delicate of baked goods. Just make a note and set your oven’s temperature accordingly.

As a stopgap measure to try to keep the bottom of your cornbread from burning, place the pan on a room temperature baking sheet or pizza stone in the oven. This may delay the direct heating long enough that the top of your cornbread has a chance to finish cooking.

 

Send your questions to helpme@home-ec101.com

This question came from a comment on the post: Sweet Cornbread Recipe.

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Banana Muffins

December 26, 2010 By 3 Comments

Heather says:

Muffin recipes are a great introduction to baking. They aren’t fussy and a flat muffin is still a delicious muffin. Don’t get smug and try to pass these off as health food; they aren’t. They are however delicious and semi-portable. What is semi-portable? Great in a lunch bag, not so great while driving.

Just as an FYI the optional streusel topping isn’t so optional, in my opinion.

Optional Streusel Topping

  • 2 TBSP cold butter, cut into small cubes or grated
  • 1/8 cup rolled oats
  • 1/8 cup white sugar
  • 1/8 cup brown sugar
  • a pinch of cinnamon

Use a fork to stir these ingredients together in a small bowl. Set aside.

Simple Banana Muffins

Yields 9 – 10 muffins (depending on the size of your bananas)

  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose or plain flour
  • 2/3 cup white sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1.5 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/3 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 3 medium bananas, mashedOptional Streusel Topping

Preheat the oven to 400°F.

Mash the bananas and set aside. In this case, a little oxidation is a good thing, it helps bring out the banana flavor.
Grease  a muffin tin, you can use butter or cooking spray.
In a bowl whisk together the flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder. In another bowl, whisk together the egg, vanilla, and vegetable oil. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry and stop as soon as they are mixed. Overmixing leads to flat muffins.
Banana Muffins
Fill 9 muffin cups with 1/3 cup batter each and sprinkle with the topping. If you have a standard ice cream scoop, this is the perfect size for muffins. I use a measuring cup and spatula.
Banana Muffins
Bake for 20 -25 minutes and cool on a wire rack, if you can wait that long.
Enjoy!
Related recipe:  Blueberry Muffins
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Chocolate Biscotti Recipe

December 1, 2010 By 11 Comments

Heather says:

What’s your favorite cookie? Mine is the very simple chocolate biscotti. I prefer this recipe without the chocolate chips and with the walnuts, but since I was making it for the family, they got it their way.

Biscotti is actually an ancient technique for making food fit for travel. Consequently biscotti is suitable for mailing. Just remember that not everyone is a biscotti fan.  I dig the crunch, the chocolate, and the way they aren’t overly sweet. The word biscotti comes from two Latin words, “bis”  for twice and “coctum” for baked. Humans being the way they are, eventually slurred the words together. I’m sure y’all¹ understand.

¹Intentional.

Chocolate Biscotti Recipe

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder²
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 6 TBSP butter
  • 1 cup granulated sugar (It is possible to reduce the sugar depending on your preference)
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 cup walnuts -optional
  • 3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • about 1 TBSP confectioners or powdered sugar

²Hershey’s Special Dark Unsweetened Cocoa Powder is a thing of beauty. Just sayin’

    Directions for easy chocolate biscotti

    Set out the butter and eggs. (The butter to soften, the eggs to come to room temperature).

    Pre-heat the oven to 350ºF. Butter and flour a baking sheet.

    In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. In another bowl cream the butter and granulated sugar until fluffy. While this is going on, crack the eggs, beat them lightly and stir in the vanilla. Add the vanilla egg mixture a little at a time to the butter and sugar and beat until well combined.

    Slowly stir in the flour mixture and stir until just combined. The dough will be stiff, this is normal. Add the chocolate chips and walnuts if you want them. Flour your hands and divide the dough in half. On the floured baking sheet, shape the dough into two, slightly squashed logs. They should be about 12 inches long and two inches wide. Dust with confectioners sugar and bake for 35 minutes. The logs should be slightly firm to the touch.

    I didn't get a good picture of the cooked biscotti logs, but when the come out of the oven, cut on the diagonal, like this.

    Cool on the baking sheet for five minutes. On a cutting board cut the biscotti carefully with a serrated knife. The logs should be cut diagonally into 3/4 inch slices. Place the slices cut side down on the baking sheet and return to the oven for approximately 10 minutes.

    Cool on a wire rack and enjoy.

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    Meringue 101: The Great Meringue Caper

    September 24, 2010 By 6 Comments

    Heather says: I’m out of town, getting my geek on at a the Type-A Mom Blog Conference. Patrick Stuckart, an excellent photographer and all around cool guy (don’t let him say otherwise), volunteered to write this post on his meringue making adventure. As I occasionally try to engage the brain cells I still have, I immediately took him up on the offer. Enjoy!

    Pat says:
    When normal people make key lime pies they toss out the egg whites because they’re not a part of the recipe. You’re not likely to find a recipe for Key Lime Meringue Pie. Lemon Meringue Pie certainly, but not Key Lime Meringue Pie. I think the lemon pie recipe people have put some sort of restraining order on the key lime pie recipe people. It’s like Burger King can have a Whopper, but McDonalds can’t. Poor key lime pie maker people have to resort to frilly whipped cream glob thingies and a thin lime slice split and twisted in a clever artsy design. Personally I think that twisted slice looks like a bicycle wheel after a particularly nasty crash.

    One day after having thrown away yet another batch of egg whites in accordance with the laws of key lime pie making I decided to go rogue and look into this whole meringue myth, without the knowledge or consent of the lemon meringue pie maker people. I figured if egg whites were the primary ingredient there was a possibility I might already have the other ingredients necessary or have access to their whereabouts. I looked in one of my mother-in-law’s cookbooks and found what I was looking for. I was looking at a cookbook printed in 1950 (Betty Crocker’s Picture Cook Book, yes, “Picture”), so although the 3 ingredients were readily available, the implements of construction were not. The image in the book showed a hand mixer in use. Not an electric hand mixer, a mixer with a handle you turn with your hand. That contraption had more meshing gears than a drawbridge. I was pretty sure we didn’t have one of those lying about and decided I would bust the mold and go electric. Like I said, the ingredients were simple enough; Egg whites, sugar and cream of tartar. And the process of combining the ingredients seemed innocuous as well. You mix the stuff together until you get white fluffy meringue. Even in 1950 the whole thing from beginning to end only took up one page, and that included 5 pictures.

    The result of my first attempt was less than fluffy white meringue. It was white, it was meringue by virtue of its ingredients, but it was far from fluffy. I had managed to whip up what looked like a batch of Milk of Magnesia. It was even thinner than the pie mix. I thought I had followed the directions as indicated in Betty Crocker’s Picture Cook Book, but apparently something had changed between 1950 and 2000. My immediate thought was that meringue can only be made by using actual hand mixers, that electric mixers were too violent and noisy for the fragile sensibilities of egg whites and cream of tartar. I kept trying and kept getting similar results. One day I decided to take the proverbial gloves off and just beat the hell out of it and see what happened. It was definitely more meringue-y, but still not a match to the photo in the book. One day, while waiting for the local news to come on TV I caught the end of Rachel Ray and whatever she was making involved meringue. She pulled a bowl out from under the counter and there it was in all its thick creamy white fluffiness. That did it. I was going to find out the secret even if I had to sneak in to the headquarters of the lemon meringue pie maker people and steal it.

    I started researching meringue recipes in earnest on the Internet. One thing became immediately clear; I needed to start using glass bowls exclusively. Apparently plastic bowls contain oils that have an effect on the process preventing the fluffy from happening. I also learned that even trace amounts of yolk in the egg white could affect the outcome. I was pretty sure I was only getting white from the separation because my wife had gotten me one of those nifty little egg separators that were way better than trying to separate them using only the shells. Although using only the shells does convey a sense of Zen awareness of becoming one with the egg. But it can be a messy Zen awareness where you end up with more egg on the counter than in the bowl. The last and most intriguing aspect of meringue making was the issue of egg temperature. Most of the sources I read were promoting the room temperature approach to egg whites. So I now had a new understanding to making meringue. I now understood that baking is a lot like chemistry class. The process goes a lot deeper than just throwing ingredients into a bowl.

    Even after all the research and newfound knowledge I just couldn’t get the stuff to fluff. I was beginning to think that being left handed was part of the problem. Then last week I took another shot at the Internet and found a recipe with a little different take on the mixing part, which up ‘til then had just been assumed to be “turn it on, mix it up, turn it off”. And the real key to putting this all together came on a quiet Sunday morning recently when I was visiting with my Niece in Idaho via Skype. I was bemoaning the fact that my meringue was a failure. The conversation arose after she was telling me about her husband the pilot-hockey player-snow boarder-skier-skydiver-hunter-fisher-camper he-man. I was explaining that even though I really like him we were a little different when it came to leisure pursuits. Anyway, I was mentioning about the room temperature eggs when she suggested I try using them right out of the refrigerator while they were still cold. She said she suspected that the humidity in South Carolina may be having an effect on the process. I told her that it made a lot of sense and that I’d give it a try.

    It’s taken me almost 1,000 words to get to the point. I’m Irish, it’s how I roll. Here’s the point; I finally got the meringue to do what it was supposed to do all the other times. All the other times were close, but just about 3 jelly beans shy of an Easter basket. Here’s the key lime pie I made today, and in keeping with the tradition of Betty Crocker’s Picture Cook Book (1950), with pictures.

    The Ingredients/Implements


    The Key Lime Pie

    The key lime pie is almost embarrassing in its simplicity. Very few ingredients and little or no preparation. You don’t even need a mixer (but it helps).

    • One 14 oz. can of condensed milk
    • ½ cup key lime juice (I prefer Nellie & Joe’s , but Mrs. Biddle’s is also very good)
    • 4 egg yolks
    • 1 pie shell (9 inch graham cracker crust)

    Now, here are 2 secret ingredients that I have since added to the recipe only because I can’t leave well enough alone. I add a sprinkling of sugar cinnamon on the bottom of the pie shell before adding the mix. I also put in one heaping teaspoon of honey into the mix itself. You don’t have to do this to get a good pie, but try it and see if you like it.

    Mix the ingredients up; pour them into the pie shell and toss it into the oven pre-heated to 350° for about 12 minutes.

    The Meringue

    • 4 egg whites
    • 1 cup sugar
    • ¼ tsp cream of tartar

    Making the meringue should be started while the key lime pie is in the oven. I like to give the pie a good 12 minute head-start so I can put the meringue on while it’s hot, and then finishing cooking the pie while the meringue is on top.

    The glass bowl containing the egg whites should contain only the egg whites. And it really should be a clean glass bowl. For some reason egg whites tend to get a little cranky and refuse to play nice when they don’t like their surroundings. A little overly sensitive to that whole pristine environment if you ask me. I took the eggs right out of the refrigerator, separated them and after making the pie stuff went right to the meringue. The whites were still cool.


    Mix this up at medium speed until you get a good head on it. You’ll know when it’s ready for the cream of tartar when it stops looking like a bowl of egg whites and starts looking like the top of a beer mug.

    Once the whites go all foamy on you add ¼ tsp of cream of tartar. Just sprinkle it in on top of the foam and get ready to bring on the noise.

    Now, here’s the fun part. Start mixing the whites at medium speed for a minute or so, and then give it the gas. Add about a tbsp of sugar and let ‘er rip. Mix the sugar in at high speed until you’re fairly sure it’s dissolved and then add more sugar and whip it, whip it good. Keep whipping the mix and adding the sugar. If all goes according to plan (and we all know what happens when you say that) the meringue will start appearing right before your eyes. The stuff will get positively goofy with fluffiness. And thick. You’ll start feeling the beaters drag as the meringue thickens up. All this may take from 10-15 minutes, so be patient. If you whip it, it will fluff.

    Bringing it All Together

    While you’re beating the daylights out of your egg whites the timer on the oven has probably gone off and you didn’t hear it. Take the pie out of the oven and while it’s still hot put the meringue on the pie. With 4 egg whites you’re going to have a lot of meringue. Spread it on all over the top of the pie paying particularly attention to the edges of the shell. The meringue will shrink a little as it cools so you want to make sure you have the edges covered so no slips are showing. You can get as creative as you want when it comes to sculpting the meringue. Since you’ve made it perfectly it will be nice and thick and easy to mold. I use a big serving spoon with holes in it to help create nice big peaks. You may be the swirly, swoopy kind of meringue sculptor, so just knock yourself out.

    Put the pie back in the oven and cook it for another 15 minutes. When the timer goes off on the oven turn the oven off, open the door a little and keep the pie in there as the oven cools to complete the baking process for both the pie and the meringue. After about 20 minutes take the pie out and let it finish cooling on the counter/mantelpiece/chiffonier/welding bench or whatever you normally use to cool baked goods. After a while you can then place it in the refrigerator to cool for about 2 hours. Of course you can ignore all this cooling and chilling foolishness and just snatch it out of the oven and dig in. You probably won’t like it, but you can do it.

    So there you have it, my method of madness when it comes to not only making key lime pie, but adding blasphemy to insolence by invading the sacred domain of the lemon pie maker people and putting meringue on it. And not just meringue. I’m talking uber fluffy meringue.

    Pat Stuckart can be found wielding his camera in the Lowcountry of South Carolina.

    Be sure to check out PatStuckartPhotography.com

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    How to Keep a Cake from Sticking to the Cooling Rack

    September 20, 2010 By 9 Comments

    Dear Home Ec 101,

    I really need help. I found an awesome chocolate cake recipe and can keep the cake from sticking to the pan with the parchment paper/oiled/flour method. However, once the cake is on the wire rack, that’s another story. It sinks into the wires and sticks to the rack. When I try to remove it, it rips and breaks apart. Mama didn’t teach me any tricks to keeping the cake from sticking to the wire rack.

    Any suggestions?

    Signed,

    Sticky Bits

    Heather says:

    There is such thing as a Non Stick Cooling Rack which can help, but if you’re not in the mood to run out and buy a new one, there are still a couple of things you can do to keep your cake from sticking to the wire rack. First, unless your recipe states otherwise most cake recipes call for the cake to cool in the pan for 5 – 10 minutes. Make sure you’ve given the cake this important cooling time. (You may already be doing this step) The cake pan should be resting on the rack, to ensure that even the bottom of the cake pan also has air flow.

    You can try spraying the rack with non-stick cooking spray, this should help in many cases. As a last resort, you could also experiment with a using a sheet of parchment paper on the rack. A slightly steamed cake is preferable to the destroyed version.

    To remove a cake that has stuck to the wire cooling rack place a plate -with the right side of the plate in contact with the cake. You should now have a cake sandwich: wire rack, cake, plate. Place one hand under the rack and the other over the plate. Your hands should be as centered as possible and your fingers splayed, you want to support the weight of the cake as evenly as possible. Turn the sandwich over and let it rest for a minute. If the cake is only lightly sticking to the rack it should separate without much damage. If it is badly stuck, grab a length of unwaxed dental floss and floss the cake to separate it from the rack. While you will lose the topmost portion of the cake it should prevent large chunks of cake from separating which can make frosting a royal pain in the rear.

    Let the cake cool completely before frosting.

    Good luck with your future cake baking! Would you be willing to share the recipe?

    Send your questions to helpme@home-ec101.com.

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    Biscuit Recipe, No Knead

    February 23, 2010 By 31 Comments

    Heather says:

    These are the simplest, pillow-soft, no-knead biscuits you’ll ever make. I’ve been wanting to try out coconut oil as a substitute for vegetable shortening in my biscuit recipe, but I haven’t been in a biscuit making mood for months. Last night I celebrated meeting a deadline by making country-fried steak and there was left over milk gravy this morning. I couldn’t, in good conscience, let that go to waste, could I? I also experimented by using my food processor (thanks Mom!), that was so fast it was definitely worth washing.

    I love that these biscuits only need to be folded. Who likes to knead first thing in the morning? Not this gal.

    Click if you need a handy, printable shopping list?

    Buttermilk Biscuits

    Simple Biscuit Recipe Ingredients

    • 1/4 cup + 2 TBSP unsalted butter, divided
    • 1/4 cup vegetable shortening OR 1/4 cup coconut oil
    • 2 cups all-purpose flour + extra for dusting
    • 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
    • 1 tsp salt
    • 1 cup buttermilk or  only 3/4 cup milk if coconut oil was substituted

    Simple Biscuit Recipe Instructions

    Preheat the oven to 400F and melt the 2 TBSP of butter. I use a metal measuring cup and melt the butter on a rack in the pre-heating oven, just don’t forget it’s in there.

    Whisk together the dry ingredients.

    Use either a food processor, a pastry blender, or two forks to cut the butter and coconut oil into the dry mixture. As soon as the mixture resembles crumbs, add the milk and stir until just combined. At this point the dough will be quite sticky, but should hold together.

    Heavily flour the work surface and dump the dough from the bowl onto the flour. Flour your hands and pat the dough out into a rough square. Sprinkle the square with flour and fold the dough in half and then half again.

    Turn the dough over and pat it out into a square again. Again, sprinkle it with flour, fold it in half, and then half again.

    This process creates lots of layers in the dough, but we don’t want to over-work the flour.

    Pat the dough out into a rough square until it’s about 3/4″ thick. Use a glass, biscuit or cookie cutter and cut the dough into 2 – 3″ circles. You should get 9 biscuits.

    Buttered Biscuits in a Cake Pan

    Pour the melted butter into a 9×9 square pan and tilt to evenly coat the bottom. One at a time place the biscuits into the pan and then flip the biscuit over so both sides are buttered. Your 9 biscuits will rise to fill the pan while baking.

    Bake for 12 – 15 minutes.

    Remove from the oven and carefully invert the pan to dump out the biscuits, I just put a cutting board on top of the pan and then flip to avoid dropping any.

    Biscuits and Jam

    Enjoy! Oh and added bonus? None of that filmy mouth feel you get with the canned kind.

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    Chocolate Chip Cookies Thick or Puffy Style

    November 29, 2009 By 4 Comments

    Heather says:

    I hope some of you are happy. Today I broke my one of my cardinal rules of cooking and not only purchased, but used and consumed shortening. It was all in the name of science mind you and the leftovers are being distributed. The first attempt? Not so great, but it was tasty and the recipients don’t have to know what my goal actually was.

    For what it’s worth, I did not change the size of the cookie portions. You can certainly increase the size of the dollop with this recipe to get a thicker cookie, as it does not spread very fast.

    Stacked up

    I experimented with two recipes to bring you a fool proof, recipe for the thicker chocolate chip cookies that some of you seem to lust over. As I live firmly and contentedly in the chewy butter world, this baffles me, but I suppose we can’t please everyone. So here is a recipe / technique for thick chocolate chip cookies. Oh, one of my children absconded with a bag of chocolate chips, so the pictured cookies have butterscotch chips, as I was not in the mood to interrogate or return to the store.

    I also experimented with putting the dough in the freezer, at room temperature, and cooking for a longer time at a lower temperature.

    Lastly, ensure your baking powder is active. If it’s been a long time since you’ve baked anything and the cookies didn’t rise at all, something isn’t right.

    Ready?

    Puffy CookieIngredients:

    • 1 cup butter flavored shortening
    • 1 cup brown sugar, packed
    • 1/2 cup white sugar
    • 2 large eggs
    • 1 TBSP vanilla
    • 6 tsp water (this is 30 mL and a medicine measuring cup works fabulously)
    • 3 1/4 cups all purpose flour
    • 1.5 tsps baking powder
    • 1 tsp salt
    • 2 cups or 1 12oz bag semi-sweet chocolate (or what the heck, butterscotch chips)
    • optional 1 cup chopped nuts

    Don’t get excited, we’re not preheating the oven, yet.

    Combine the dry ingredients, except the chocolate chips in a medium bowl (flour, baking powder, salt). Give them a brief stir with a whisk or fork.

    In a second, small bowl lightly beat the 2 eggs, vanilla, and water together, until just homogeneous (this means just until it’s all together with no clumpy bits)

    Now it’s time to get started.

    In a mixing bowl with a hand or stand mixer, cream the shortening and the sugar, both brown and white. When everything is thoroughly and evenly combined, begin adding the wet ingredients, about 1/3rd at a time. Wait until the wet is incorporated into the sugar mixture before adding the next third.

    Once everything is all mixed, begin adding the flour mixture, a little at a time. You don’t have to be too careful, 2 or 3 portions, not a spoonful at a time.

    Turn off the mixer and stir the chips and if you use them nuts in by hand.

    Place the mixing bowl in the freezer for at least 20 minutes.

    Preheat the oven to 300F while the dough is chilling.

    Spoon the chilled dough onto dry, ungreased, room temperature baking sheets by rounded tablespoonful. Make sure each dollop is at least two inches from the next. Immediately place in the 300F degree oven and bake for 20 – 22 minutes.

    It’s best to slightly under cook these cookies to prevent the dough from falling.

    Allow to cool on the cookie for 2 – 5 minutes before placing on a wire rack to cool completely.

    Enjoy.

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    Toaster Pastries: Fearless Friday #24

    October 30, 2009 By 19 Comments

    Heather says:

    Does anyone ever notice how Thursday just seems to sneak up on a person? I mind my own business, but it seems to happen every seven days or so. This week I managed to squeeze in a quick Fearless Friday. I decided to try out making a homemade version of PopTarts™. Guess what? They are fabulous, absolutely butt ugly, but fabulous. I think with practice and tweaking the technique I’ll figure out how to make them pretty, but I don’t really care if they ever get there.

    fearless-fridays1Fearless Fridays are a chance for cooks of any skill level to push their boundaries in the kitchen. We all have boundaries, whether it’s a food we don’t care for or a skill we’ve never attempted. Anyone is welcome to join in this carnival by sharing a link to their latest attempt at fearlessness (it doesn’t have to be from today, the carnival just runs on Fridays). This series isn’t about perfection, it’s about trying something new and knowing that sometimes we fail. So don’t worry, we want to hear about the flops just as much as the successful attempts. If you don’t have a blog, please share your adventure in the comments.

    -Ugly- Toaster Pastries

    There's room to grow here

    There's room to grow here

    Ingredients:

    • 2 cups flour + extra for dusting
    • 2 tsp baking powder
    • 1/2 tsp kosher salt
    • 6 TBSP room temperature coconut oil -I avoid shortening whenever possible, but you can use an equal amount here-
    • 3/4 cup milk
    • Egg wash = 1 egg + a few tsp cold water + beaten
    • Filling = your favorite jam

    Tools:

    Directions:

    In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and kosher salt.

    Use two forks, your clean hands, or a pastry blender to work the 6 TBSPs of coconut oil into the flour mixture. Keep working it in until thoroughly blended. Add the milk and use a spoon or spatula to mix thoroughly.  The dough will be very soft and a little sticky. That’s normal.

    Generously sprinkle your work area with flour and turn the dough out of the bowl.

    Knead dough

    Have you ever tried taking pictures one handed while kneading? That's an adventure.

    Knead the dough 10 – 15 times. To do so:

    1. push the ball of dough with the heel of your hand
    2. grasp the edge of the dough with your fingers
    3. fold the dough over
    4. turn 90 degrees
    5. repeat

    Divide the dough in half. Next time I make this, I’m going to wrap it and let it chill in the refrigerator while the oven preheats to 350F and I hunt down my rolling pin. -One would think it would be in the drawer where it’s supposed to be, but no, not ever.-

    Roll 1/2 the dough into a narrow strip about 1/8th inch thick. Try to keep the rectangle somewhere between 3 – 4″ on the short side.

    I managed to do that with the second half of the dough.

    Once you have a rectangle, use a butter knife to cut it into smaller rectangles of approximately the same size. Shoot for an even number.

    Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or just grease a baking sheet.

    Transfer half the rectangles to the sheet.

    dollop of jamGrab your favorite jam, use a clean fork to give it a good stir, this makes it easier to spread. Add a generous dollop of jam to the center of each rectangle already on the baking sheet. (The blackberry was great, the peach was lovely, but the pastry where I mixed the two was divine.) Spread the jam as evenly as possible, but leave about 1/2 inch from the sides to prevent leaking during baking.

    Beat the egg with the 2 – 3 tsps of water in a small bowl to create your egg wash. Use a pastry brush or your fingers to line the edges of the jam laden pastries. Carefully transfer the other rectangles from your work area and use a fork to crimp the edges.  Poke each pastry a few times with the fork to create vents.

    Bake for 20 minutes at 350F. They will be very pale, but done. Transfer the pastries to a wire rack to cool and store in an airtight container.

    Toast just as you would any other toaster pastry. Enjoy the fact that you know every ingredient that created these ugly little marvesl.

    In the future, I will be experimenting with the jam to pastry ratio and I will lightly sprinkle the tops with a coarse sugar before baking.

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    Blueberry Muffins Recipe

    September 16, 2009 By 11 Comments

    Heather says:

    This is a great basic muffin recipe. Swap out the blueberries for whatever fruit you’d like. Reduce the amount of milk for exceptionally wet ingredients such as mashed bananas.

    Blueberry Muffins

    Simple Blueberry Muffins

    Yields 9 muffins

    • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose or plain flour
    • 3/4 cup white sugar
    • 1/2 teaspoon salt
    • 1.5 teaspoons baking powder
    • 1/3 cup vegetable oil
    • 1 egg
    • 1 tsp vanilla extract
    • about 1/3 cup milk
    • 1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

    Optional Streusel Topping

    • 2 TBSP cold butter, cut into small cubes or grated
    • 1/8 cup rolled oats
    • 1/8 cup white sugar
    • 1/8 cup brown sugar
    • a pinch of cinnamon

    Preheat the oven to 400°F.

    Grease  a muffin tin, you can use butter or cooking spray. If you use cooking spray, wipe of the overspray, unless you enjoy scrubbing cookware.

    In a bowl whisk together the flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder. In a liquid measuring cup stir together 1/3 cup veg oil, 1 tsp vanilla, and one beaten egg. Add enough milk to bring the liquid volume total to one cup. Stir. Add the fruit to the dry ingredients, then add the liquid and stir just to combine.  Overmixing yields muffins with flat tops. *ahem* I don’t really mind this.

    streuselIn a small bowl combine: butter, oats, brown sugar, white sugar, and pinch of cinnamon. Stir together with a fork, the mixture will be crumbly.

    Fill muffin tinFill 9 muffin cups with 1/3 cup batter each and sprinkle with the topping. I find it easier to use a spatula to scrape the thick batter out of the measuring cup and into the muffin tin.

    Bake for 20 -25 minutes, cool on a wire rack.

    Easy peasy.

    Filed Under: All, Cook It Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

    Cinnamon Rolls Recipe

    September 10, 2009 By 25 Comments

    Heather says:

    Cinnamon roll

    It’s probably been at least five years since I’ve had a Cinnabon cinnamon roll. I’m drooling just thinking about it, but there aren’t any in our area and I never seem to remember while I’m travelling. These cinnamon rolls come pretty stinkin’ close. If you want to match their decadence you’ll have to increase the sugar mixture and roll the dough out wider and thinner. That’s the only difference. My favorite part of a cinnamon roll, it’s the inside dough that is moist and gooey with cinnamon and sugar. If that’s the part you’re after, it’s manageable, but will take a just little more effort.

    These are frugal, if you consider the cost of going out for fabulous cinnamon rolls. I’m sure someone can find cheap grocery-bakery alternatives, but I promise those are nothing like tearing into these straight from the oven.

    These can be made up to the proofing point and refrigerated overnight or they can be frozen in the pan. I would not double this dough, it’s somewhat obnoxious to work with, as it’s very soft. I would use a bread machine to make one batch, while I made a second to freeze for another occasion. If I had a functional bread machine, that is.

    I’m not into putzy recipes. There are three mini-recipes within the big one, but only the dough seems complicated.  It’s probably a good thing I’m not patient enough to ever be a pastry chef, but these cinnamon rolls are good enough to be worth the effort.  I promise, this is high praise indeed from the likes of me.

    Cinnamon Roll Dough Recipe

    • 1 cup warm* milk
    • 1 packet or 2 1/4 tsps of active or instant dry yeast
    • 5 1/3 TBSP or 1/3 cup butter – melted
    • 3 eggs
    • 1/4 cup sugar
    • 1 tsp salt
    • 4 – 5 cups** of all purpose or plain flour (this is highly dependent on humidity)

    *It’s very important that milk be warm, not hot. It shouldn’t be over 110F or you risk killing the yeast
    ** It was exceptionally humid the morning I tested this recipe and I needed nearly all 5 cups of flour. I would guess that the standard would be much closer to 4 cups.

    To get started, stir the yeast into the milk and set aside for a moment.  While the yeast gets started, beat the eggs, melt the butter, measure the flour, sugar and salt.  In a mixing bowl combine the yeast & milk mixture, the beaten eggs, melted butter, sugar and salt. Stir until the sugar has dissolved. If you have a stand mixture, life just got easy. Add half the flour mixture and mix on medium low until combined. If you’re stirring by hand, same thing, but your arm might get tired. Begin adding the second half of the flour by half cupfulls until you reach the 4 cup point. Continue mixing the dough during this process.

    If you are using a stand mixer, switch to the dough hook and knead for 2-3 minutes on low. Add the last cup of flour by scant 1/4 cups, only if necessary. If you are mixing by hand, turn the dough out onto a heavily flour dusted work surface and knead for 5 – 10 minutes, adding the extra flour only if necessary. This dough is very soft and we don’t want to create too much gluten, but it is important that it have enough structure to not fall apart when rolled into the spiral.

    Spray or oil a large bowl and place the dough inside to rise. Set the dough in a warm, moist area, cover and let rise until nearly double in size. This will take an hour to an hour and a half.

    Make the filling while you wait and butter a 9×13 pan.

    Cinnamon Filling Recipe:

    • 1 packed cup of brown sugar
    • 1 TBSP ground cinnamon
    • 1 tsp salt
    • 1 1/2 TBSP melted butter

    Whisk together the first three ingredients. *whew* that was rough.

    When the dough has finished rising, turn it out onto your work surface. Again, this needs to be heavily dusted with flour. Gently shape and roll into a 9 x15 rectangle. If you are trying to replicate Cinnabon cinnamon rolls, here’s where the variation happens. The dough rectangle should be at least 12 x 15, try for 15 x 15. It’s going to be a little awkward to work with, but think of the results.  Don’t double the filling recipe, increase it by half.

    Brush with butterBrush the dough with butter.

    cinnamon sugarThen sprinkle and spread the sugar mixture evenly over the dough.

    Begin rollingVery carefully, begin rolling the dough into a spiral. Start at the edge closest to you and roll toward the far edge. Try to keep the roll as even as possible, but do NOT roll it tightly. If you roll it tightly the middles are going to pop out while they rise and bake and we’ll have to point and laugh at your funny rolls. I don’t like being mean, so don’t roll it tightly. Now that we’re straight, finish rolling your spiral.

    Pinched SeamWhen you get to the far side, pinch the seam closed.

    Rolled DoughNow turn the log of dough so where the seam was is now on the bottom. This helps squish it together so the rolls aren’t unspiraling as you transfer them to the baking dish.

    Now, grab a serrated knife, a paper towel, a buttered 9×13 pan (glass or metal) and all the patience you can muster and cut the log into 12 rolls, just over an inch in thickness each. Cut using a gentle sawing motion. Transfer the roll after each cut, the dough is so soft that it will try to fall apart if you wait to move them at once. Wipe the knife blade with your paper towel after each cut. Like magic, you’ll have just enough room in the pan for the 12 rolls.

    Now, it’s either time for proofing, refrigerating or freezing. Your choice. If placing the refrigerator overnight, cover the pan with plastic wrap. If freezing, cover with foil, if proofing turn your oven on to its lowest setting (110ish) for 3 minutes.  If you freeze the dough, let it thaw in the refrigerator overnight before baking. Whether frozen or refrigerated begin with the proofing step after the dough has rested in the fridge overnight.

    proofingTo proof, fill a shallow pan with hot or boiling water and place on the lower rack of the oven.  Place the pan of rolls on the upper rack and close the door. DO NOT forget to turn the oven off if you let it heat for 3 minutes. We’re not cooking the rolls just yet, they are rising in a very humid and warm environment. Allow to proof for 30 minutes.

    Remove the rolls and pan of water from the oven and preheat it to 350F. When the oven has reached temperature return the rolls to the rack, which should be in the middle position and bake for 30 minutes. The rolls should be light brown.

    While the rolls are baking, make the icing. Everyone has an opinion about the icing to roll ratio. I’ll leave that up to you, but I’d assume you’ll probably want to double my version as I don’t have a big sweet tooth.

    Cinnamon Roll Icing Recipe

    • 1/4 cup cream cheese – softened
    • 1 cup powdered sugar
    • 1 tsp vanilla extract
    • 1 tiny squirt or squeeze of lemon juice
    • 1 – 2 TBSPs milk

    Combine all of the ingredients with an electric mixture until smooth. Spread the cream cheese frosting over the cinnamon rolls as soon as they are removed from the oven.

    Rolls with frosting

    Enjoy.

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