SMS: Fresh Raspberry-Peach Muffins

This week for Sweet Melissa Sundays, JoVonn of The Givens Chronicles chose Fresh Peach Muffins for all of us to make. I actually managed to buy peaches in advance so that they would have a chance to ripen, so I thought I was really ahead of the game this week.

Of the 5 peaches I bought, 4 of them molded overnight on my countertop. I have had terrible luck with peaches this summer - with stone fruits in general, actually. When it came time to make the muffins, I had about 3/4 cup of diced peaches. Luckily had some raspberries in the fridge, so I tossed those in. All in all, I probably had about 1 1/3 cups of fruit.

I used palm sugar in these, as has become my habit - it works perfectly in place of cane sugar and has a glycemic index of only 35.

The batter was very thick. The instructions said that depending on how juicy your fruit was, you may not need all of the milk - 1/2 cup. Since I had extra fruit and very juicy raspberries, I thought I may only need half of the milk, but such was not the case. In it all went.

Other SMSers had problems with their muffins being dense and heavy. Mine were slightly dense, though not unpleasantly so. They were a bit dry, however. I think they could be improved on by using peach puree in place of the milk. I did wish for more peach flavor, though when I got a bite with peach in it, it was so delicious. Of course, having the appropriate amount of peaches would have solved this problem... Using a puree would also enhance the peach flavor.

Thanks to JoVonn for picking this recipe. You can find it here on her blog, or buy the book The Sweet Melissa Baking Book. Take a look here to see what the other SMSers baked up this week.

BBA Challenge: Cinnamon Rolls

Though this was the first time I ever made cinnamon rolls, it certainly won't be the last. These were amazing. Without a doubt the best cinnamon rolls I've ever had.

They were relatively easy to make, I didn't encounter any problems. Though they do take a few hours (of agonizing anticipation).

I used palm sugar in place of cane sugar in the dough and with the cinnamon so that my son - who has never had cane sugar - could eat them. It was my first time baking with palm sugar, so I wasn't sure what it would do, but they couldn't have turned out better. I made the glaze as written, using vanilla extract for flavoring, and left it off of the ones my son ate. Everyone loved them.

My mom's birthday is this weekend. I'm having a brunch for her at my house, and I'm thinking that I might just have to give the sticky bun version of these a whirl for the occasion...

If you'd like the recipe for these amazing cinnamon rolls, you can find it in The Bread Baker's Apprentice by Peter Reinhart.

Finally... TWD: Creamiest Lime Cream (Meringue) Pie

You may notice that there is something missing from my pie. I'll give you a hint, it's one of the title elements. Did the parentheses give it away?

Oh, meringue... You were supposed to be on my pie. I had visions of you in huge, smooth, golden peaks. Alas, it was not meant to be...

The problems started when I was making my meringue while trying to feed/watch a 10 month old and a 2 3/4 year old at 8:00 this morning while making an omelette. Needless to say, things did not go well. I over-whipped my meringue, and it just wouldn't make huge, smooth peaks. I tried anyway, and hoped that a minute under the broiler would magically transform it into something beautiful, golden. Hmmm... As soon as the first pie went into the broiler (I made 2/3 of a recipe in 2 mini pie dishes) I was beckoned by my older son into the living room - did I mention he was sick with a cold? No sooner did I attend to him than I smelled something burning. Pie number 1 had black meringue, looking no better coming out of the broiler than it did going in. The second one didn't get quite as singed, though it still wasn't pretty. I think it would have been slightly improved by using a torch, but I don't have one, so I opted for removing the meringue altogether and smoothing the top of the cream and digging in.

I went with a graham cracker crust made from homemade graham crackers. Wow. Let me say it again. Wow. A little too much trouble to do on a regular occasion, but I still had some dough from a couple of weeks ago.

Oh and the pie? Double wow. Twice. I love it. Smooth, creamy, tart, just sweet enough. Citrus dessert perfection.

Some of the other bakers had trouble getting their cream to temp in a reasonable amount of time, but mine went pretty quick - about 10 minutes.

I wish the ginger flavor was a little more pronounced, so if I make it again, I'll use more. I'm a ginger fiend. Also, I used half the butter called for - a suggestion made by other TWDers. It was a lot of fun to make, and fairly easy, so I'm sure I'll be making it again. One day. Perhaps I won't be making an omelette, keeping my baby from bonking his head, taking care of a sick toddler, etc.. and my meringue will not be over-whipped, and I'll buy a torch and finally achieve my golden peaks.

Linda of Tender Crumb chose this fabulous pie. See hers - meringue included - and get the recipe on her blog.

TWD...

In neglecting to fully read this week's recipe - and in waiting until the last minute to make it - my lime-ginger cream is currently chilling in the fridge... I'll have my post up tomorrow...

SMS: Mom's Banana Apple Bread

Yet another recipe that I was none too excited about at first glance, but happy to have made in the end. I love banana bread, but we just made banana cake for TWD a couple of weeks ago, and last week's TWD was an apple recipe. Banana apple bread seemed a little repetitive to me. However, all of the SMS bakers who made this earlier than this morning, ahem, raved about it so much I had to give it a shot.

When I started making it, I realized that this is no regular banana bread: the first step is to saute cubed, peeled apples - I used pink lady instead of granny smith - in butter, sugar - palm sugar in my case, with a little vanilla extract stirred in at the end. Well, if those apples were any indication of the final result, I knew I was in for a treat. They were a dessert unto themselves.

Other than the apples, the only non-traditional ingredient was the addition of orange juice. I was hoping to taste it in the bread when it was baked, but I couldn't. There was only 1/4 cup, though.

The bread smelled great as it was baking, though it took a bit longer to bake than the recipe stated - mine was in the oven for an hour and 8 minutes.

I used palm sugar in the bread itself as well as the topping, and it gave my bread a dark golden color that I loved.

My husband said this was the best banana bread he has ever had, though I don't agree. I thought it was delicious, but couldn't really taste the banana - which is what he liked about it. To me it was more of an apple spice bread. I think it would be delicious to replace the banana with pumpkin and add some ginger. I'll certainly do this later in the fall.

This bread is incredibly moist, and has a wonderful crust that was slightly crispy. Though it won't become my go-to recipe, I gobbled up two thick slices minutes after it came out of the oven. I'm just a bit of a banana bread purist, I suppose...

Thanks to Joy of Hot Oven, Warm Heart for choosing this recipe. Visit the SMS blogroll to see what all of the other bakers came up with.

Baked Peanut Butter Cookies

Baked the cookbook, that is...

I made these about a month ago for a party at my store, though I never got a chance to take a photo of them. When I was deciding to put in a care package for my wonderful friend Karen - who has had many events occur in the past couple of months in need of celebrating - I knew these had to be a part of it.

I said it once, and I'll say it again: these are the best peanut butter cookies I have ever had. I can't remember if I did anything differently the two times I made them, but they were even better the second time. They are so peanut buttery, but they stay soft and chewy. They are peppered with milk chocolate chunks which are a perfect compliment to the peanut butter. They are simply delicious.

So, here they are. Enjoy.

You can find the recipe for these, and so many other yummy treats in Baked: New Frontiers in Baking.

Salted White Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

I have found cookie heaven.

Smitten Kitchen is one of my favorite food blogs, and I frequently kill time with the "surprise me" feature, whereby a random recipe from Deb's archives pops up, most of which I email to myself. This is one such recipe.

As soon as I saw these cookies, I knew they must be made sooner than later. Oh ho ho, was I right... Deb calls these "scandalously good", and I have to agree. It's a good thing that I sent most of them to my good friend Karen, because they are dangerous to have around.

Karen just finished law school, took the bar and got engaged, so I put together a little baked goods care package for her - more recipes throughout the week...

These have definitely made it into my top 5 cookies of all time. They are buttery, chewy from the oats, a little crunchy around the edges, and every bite or so you get a sweet creamy chunk of white chocolate - I used Green & Black's; it has flecks of vanilla bean in it and it is unbelievably delicious. Then to top it all off, they are lightly sprinkled with coarse sea salt - such as fleur de sel. They are perfect.

Make them. You won't be sorry. Unless you have no one to mail them to and end up eating them all yourself...

The recipe is here, on Deb's site.

Fried Green Tomato Sandwich

Every Sunday, my grandmother- Nana - used to make fried green tomatoes, biscuits and cheese grits. She was an amazing cook. Unfortunately, she passed away when I was 9, but I still remember those meals, and have done my best to recreate them over the years. I don't make fried green tomatoes too often, though I always wonder why that is when I take my first bite...

We have been eating our weight in tomato sandwiches this summer. There are so many wonderful variations: tomatoes placed between slices of fresh bread drizzled with olive oil, with a sprinkling of salt and fresh cracked pepper; caprese with fresh mozzarella and basil; roasted zucchini, heirloom cherry tomatoes and fresh sliced tomatoes; and so on. It was only a natural progression to make one from fried green tomatoes.

Fried Green Tomato Sandwich

1 medium sized green tomato (or enough to make 8 -10 slices, 1/4 inch thick each)

1/4 cup all purpose flour

1 egg white, lightly beaten

1/4 cup cornmeal

1 teaspoon salt

olive oil for pan

8 slices of bread (I used the ciabatta I made over the weekend)

2 teaspoons olive oil

4 tablespoons goat cheese

12 medium sized basil leaves

fresh cracked pepper to taste (optional)

To make the fried green tomatoes:

Heat about 3-4 tablespoons of oil in a medium skillet. Mix flour, cornmeal and salt in a large shallow bowl/plate. Slice tomato into 1/4 inch pieces. Cover each slice in egg white, then dredge in the cornmeal mixture. When pan is hot, lay as many tomatoes in the pan as will fit. Cook until crispy and brown, 3-4 minutes. Flip, and brown the other side. Remove from pan and place on paper towel to absorb excess oil. Repeat until all tomato slices are done.

While tomatoes are cooking, drizzle approximately 1/4 teaspoon olive oil on each slice of bread. If you're using pepper, now is the time to add it. Cover one slice per sandwich with fresh basil leaves - about 3 leaves should do it. When tomatoes are ready, lay them on top of the basil - two slices should do it. Spoon goat cheese on top of the tomatoes - about 1 tablespoon per sandwich - and spread it with your fingers (or a knife if you must) so it covers them. Top with the other piece of bread, and enjoy!

This sandwich is certainly something Nana never prepared, but I think she would have approved. It is perhaps the most delicious sandwich I have ever eaten. I only wish I had discovered it earlier in tomato season!

BBA Challenge: Ciabatta

This is one of the breads that I was really looking forward to - though it took me a while to get to it! It's been weeks since I baked any bread!

Well, it was certainly worth the wait. This is delicious ciabatta. Tender crumb, golden crust, wonderful flavor. It came out of the oven looking so beautiful I knew I was in for a treat. Then I cut it open... Something was missing... Where are my holes?! They say a good ciabatta is measured by the size of the holes - one case where bigger is actually better. My holes were tiny, almost non-existent. It was a bit of a disappointment. Though it tasted so good, I suppose I could have much bigger complaints...

We made sandwiches with it - come back tomorrow for a fried green tomato sandwich - and french toast, and ate it unadorned. It was fantastic. I'll be making it again, and striving for more prominent holes!

If you don't already have The Bread Baker's Apprentice, go get a copy! It is an amazing book, and in it you will find the recipe for this ciabatta.

TWD: Applesauce Spice Bars

This week's recipe was chosen by Karen of Something Sweet by Karen. I honestly wasn't too excited about this one, but (at the last possible minute) went ahead with it anyway. I'm really glad I did, because it was a really nice surprise!

I expected it to be like a blondie, but it was really more of a very thin cake flavored with cinnamon and all spice, and flecked with tender apple bits and pecans. The topping is called a glaze, but mine became more of a caramel (which I'm totally okay with).

I used palm sugar in place of all of the sugar, and agave in place of the corn syrup in the topping. Palm sugar has a very low glycemic index, so it is a great substitute for cane sugar, and is something I feel okay about my son eating. It is also a lot easier to put in a recipe than agave which requires all kinds of tinkering since it is a liquid. It was so delicious in the topping, I'm going to try making caramels with the combo I used. I think they'll work beautifully. I should also mention: I halved the recipe and baked it in an 8x8 square pan and I omitted the raisins.

Thanks to Karen for hosting this week. The recipe for the bars can be found on her blog. Be sure to take a look at the TWD blogroll for more applesauce spice bars.

On another note, fellow SMS baker Katie of Katiecakes is holding a giveaway for a beautiful cookbook. Head on over to her blog to enter!

SMS: Vanilla Rose Pecan Truffles

This week we were actually supposed to make hazelnut truffles, but I just don't like them. I love just about every other truffle I've ever had.

I made a few changes to the recipe, needless to say. I steeped a vanilla bean and 1/2 cup dried rose petals in the cream before pouring it over my chopped chocolate (while straining it). After all of the chocolate was melted, I stirred in 2 tablespoons rose water and 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract. When the ganache was firm, I formed balls and rolled them in finely chopped toasted pecans.

These were delicious. I would have liked the rose and vanilla flavors to be a bit more pronounced, but they were detectable, and everything worked really well together.

Now I need to find some people to give these away to, because it is mighty dangerous to have so many truffles in the house!

These truffles were selected by Annie of Living Life Foodcariously, where you can find the recipe for the hazelnut version.

TWD: Catching Up -Brownie Buttons and Classic Banana Bundt Cake

I'm finally back on track with TWD! It took going on vacation to get there... I've been in Florida for the past few days, and have been taking advantage of the fact that there are more people than usual to bake for.

Up this week: brownie buttons, hosted by Jayma of Two Scientists Experimenting in the Kitchen.

I was planning on baking before I left home, so I copied the recipes I was going to be using and made a shopping list, assuming I'd be able to find all of the ingredients I'd need in Pensacola. Hmmm... Well... We are very strict about eating all organic food, and a problem arose when trying to find organic white chocolate - something widely available in Asheville - to top the brownie buttons that are a little naked in the above photo. They were supposed to be covered in a white chocolate glaze, but there was none to be had. I considered milk or dark, but ultimately decided against it (though at the moment I'm not sure why).

These were pretty good, but not amazing. The flavor was good, the density was good, what fell short for me was the outer texture. I like a brownie that is dense and fudgy on the inside and a little chewy/crunchy on the outside. These had no contrasting outer texture.

They are also not terribly attractive. I know the white chocolate would have resolved the beauty problem, but naked as they are, they never smoothed out in the oven. The batter was rather greasy, and the pattern that was there when I spooned it into the muffin cups never left. All I had around was some maple pecans, so I topped a few brownies with those. It helped a bit.

So, a good recipe, not a great one. Probably not one I'd try again, though I may use a different brownie recipe and top it with a white chocolate glaze. I love that idea.

You can got the brownie button recipe on Jayma's blog.

Now, on to the banana bundt cake, made by most TWDers last week, and hosted by Mary of The Food Librarian.

I love banana bread so I was looking forward to this one. Especially after reading so many favorable reviews on other people's blogs.

I was not disappointed. I tinkered with the recipe a bit to use agave instead of sugar. I used 1 1/8 cup agave instead of 2 cups of sugar; 1 1/2 sticks of butter versus 2 sticks; I added an additional 1/4 cup of flour. It was perfect- nice and moist, with lots of banana flavor. A definite keeper. My 7 year old nephew helped me bake which was a blast, and he and his brother and my son all loved the cake. I think this one can pass for breakfast as easily as it can dessert, especially with the changes I made - it was the perfect sweetness.

I topped it with a lemon agave caramel sauce. The sauce was delicious, but the cake really soaked it up, so it didn't photograph well. I would have make the lemon glaze that was supposed to go with this cake, but I couldn't get powdered sugar in bulk, and spending over $5 on something that I had multitudes of at home just so I could have 3/4 cup of it seemed ridiculous.

This was also an exciting recipe because it was my first bundt cake! It certainly won't be my last... I used a silicone bundt pan, and was so pleased with how easy it was to unmold. It came out perfectly with no sticking whatsoever.

Thank you to Mary for picking such a great one, please visit her blog for the recipe.

The best part of baking in a beach rental.

My son (center) and his cousins enjoying their banana cake.

SMS: Snickerdoodles

Snickerdoodles. Such a strange name for the simple little cookie with the telltale cinnamon-sugar topping. I haven't eaten many snickerdoodles in my life, though I do enjoy them, so I was looking forward to making them for SMS this week. I'm rather sleep-deprived and a little loopy, so I'll be keeping this short and sweet.

I'm in Florida right now visiting my husband's family, so I had a lot more taste-tasters than usual. These cookies were a huge hit.

They taste exactly as I remember a snickerdoodle tasting, and the texture is perfect: soft, chewy, and very addictive. Luckily, there were more taste-testers than usual...

This week was hosted by Spike of Spike Bakes, where you can find the recipe for these cookies.

Graham Crackers

When I saw that part of the July Daring Bakers challenge was to make marshmallows, I knew that s'mores were in my future. Deb of Smitten Kitchen had recently done a post on the graham crackers from Nancy Silverton's Pastries from the La Brea Bakery, so I decided to give Nancy's recipe a try.

I made a few changes to the recipe out of necessity. It calls for dark brown sugar, and I was out so I used granulated sugar and substituted the 1/3 cup of honey (which I don't bake with anyway) for 1/3 cup molasses. Had I had the dark brown sugar, I was planning on using brown rice syrup in place of the honey. I still want to give that combo a try.

These are delicious cookies. They didn't have the texture of a traditional graham cracker - they were slightly soft in the center - but they were certainly tastier. They made delicious s'mores.

You can find the recipe here. Or buy the book, it's wonderful!

Agave-Sweetened Pecan Pie Bars

As you may know if you've ever read this blog, I have a son who will be 3 in November, and he has never eaten refined cane sugar. We have made a conscious choice to keep him off the stuff as long as we possibly can. It has been surprisingly easy thus far.

Last week as I was baking, my son came up to me and asked me what I was making, and if he could have some. When I told him no, it wasn't for him, he said to me, "Mommy, will you make me something I can eat?" After hearing this twice in the same number of days, I knew I had to make something really special for him.

I pulled out a new book, Baking with Agave Nectar, which I bought recently and had yet to bake anything from. The first recipe that jumped out at me was this one. I love pecan pie, and have been looking for a corn syrup-free version forever. I thought these would be really great with the TWD vanilla ice cream that I was supposed to make last week but hadn't had a chance to, so I made it and sweetened it with agave as well.

These are really simple and incredibly fast bars, and I had high hopes for them going into the oven. These took considerably longer to bake than the recipe - about 30 minutes longer, but they looked delicious coming out, and I was sure I'd found my pecan pie replacement recipe.

The topping was, in fact, heavenly. Sweet, but not tooth-achingly sweet, it tasted just like a traditional pecan pie.

I did not care much for the crust. Before it was baked, it was more like a batter than dough, and the result was a very cakey crust. I'm not really sure why it wasn't just put on more traditional pie crust, but when I make it again - and I definitely will - that is what I will put it on. Or a shortcrust.

In any case, these were a great introduction to a book that I know I will get a lot of use out of.

Oh, and my son absolutely loved them.

Browned Butter Shortbread

I'm a sucker for browned butter. I'm a sucker for shortbread. I've wanted to make browned butter shortbread for a long time, and finally did last week. And then again 3 days ago. A double batch. The second time it was for my husband's birthday party, though, we're not complete gluttons...

This is based on Alice Medrich's twice-baked shortbread (though hers is not browned butter) from Pure Dessert - a fabulous book that every baker should own. The first time I made it I did bake it twice, the second I didn't have time. It was delicious both ways.

Browned Butter Shortbread

Adapted from Pure Dessert by Alice Medrich

12 tablespoons butter, browned

6 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

Butter a 9 1/2 inch round fluted tart pan. Set aside. In a medium sized bowl, combine butter, sugar, vanilla and salt. Add flour and mix until just incorporated. Pat the dough evenly into prepared pan. Allow to rest for at least 2 hours or overnight, for the most buttery, tender, crunchy shortbread. The second baking is used to toast the shortbread, and adds extra crunch and deepens the flavor.

When you're ready to bake, preheat the oven to 300. Place shortbread on rack in the lower third of the oven, with a baking sheet or aluminum foil on the floor of the oven to catch butter drippings. Bake the shortbread for 45 min. Remove shortbread from oven, leaving the oven on. Let cool for 10 minutes. Cut into wedges using a sharp, thin knife, being careful to keep pieces intact. Place the pieces on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes. Cool on rack.

TWD: Vanilla Ice Cream (one week late)

First of all, my apologies to Mary of The Food Librarian she chose Dorie's classic banana bundt cake for this week's recipe, but after my husband's birthday party this past weekend - where I made a sweet and salty cake, an agave-sweetened ricotta cheesecake, blondies and browned butter shortbread (recipe tomorrow), I just couldn't make any more sweets. I will make this cake at some point, but for now, I have the vanilla ice cream from last week's TWD.

I wasn't able to make this for last tuesday, but after reading rave reviews on so many blogs - many said it was the best ice cream they had ever had. I was anxious to give it a shot.

I finally had a chance to make it one night last week. I started to heat my cream, I had all of my other ingredients ready, all was going well. I looked over at my pot to check on my cream, and what should be floating there but a moth, its wings disintegrating into the liquid. I had to toss it all, and I had no extra cream to start over with.

A few nights later, I tried it again, and this time I was successful!

The only change I made to the recipe was to sweeten it with agave. I used 1/2 cup for the full recipe of ice cream, and it was plenty sweet.

This was really yummy ice cream, but not the best vanilla I've ever had. Actually the brown sugar vanilla we made for SMS several weeks ago was probably the best. This wasn't nearly as creamy, and I honestly felt it was a bit of a waste of a vanilla bean... Vanilla extract would have worked just as well (which is actually what I used for the SMS ice cream). I'm sure it's a great base for all kinds of fun add-ins, though.

Thanks to Lynne of Cafe LynnyLu for selecting last week's recipe, and thanks to Mary of The Food Librarian for hosting this week. I promise I'll give the bundt a chance soon! I'll be out of town next week, but I'll try to bake in advance so I can keep up with the group.

Sweet and Salty Cake

My husband's birthday was last week, though we waited until yesterday to celebrate it. You may recall the great love he has for chocolate, so it was no surprise when he chose this for his birthday cake. The frosting alone has a pound of chocolate in it (it also has 2 cups of butter and 1 1/2 cups of heavy cream - this cake is not for the faint of heart).

The recipe is from Baked, and can be found here.

This is a 3-layer devil's food cake. Each layer is covered with a salted caramel sauce, topped with a whipped caramel ganache buttercream frosting, sprinkled with coarse sea salt, and then the whole cake is slathered with more frosting and garnished with more salt.

I love the concept of this cake, though I wasn't completely sold out on it. The caramel sauce was delicious, the frosting was ridiculously good, but the cake itself fell a little short for me. It was a little bland, generic even. It had no depth of flavor, and really couldn't stand up to the glory - yes, glory - of the other components. It is perplexing to me that someone can design a frosting so out-of-this-world delicious, and then create a cake that is so unworthy of it. Before I made it, I actually read a few reviews of it on other blogs that said the same thing, so perhaps I should have known better...

If anyone has tried and true devil's food recipes, send 'em over - this cake could be revelatory! If not for the cake... I'll certainly be on the lookout for a suitable replacement.

Despite my criticism of the cake, it was thoroughly enjoyed by all. The frosting and caramel sauce will certainly be making future appearances in my house.

SMS: Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies

I was never a child who liked PB&Js - I'd take stir fried veggies and basmati rice any day. The only way I've ever enjoyed peanut butter is in cookies, and I really love them. The first peanut butter cookies I ever made were from Baked a few weeks ago, and they were unbelievable, so I was excited to see this recipe pop up on the schedule.

These seem to me to be pretty classic peanut butter cookies, and they were very yummy - nice and soft on the inside, chewy, firm around the edges. Delicious. The Baked cookies still rank as my favorite, but these are right up there.

The were easy as could be, though they did take longer to bake than the recipe instructed. It calls for 10 minutes, but even at 12, mine were so soft they fell apart even when cool. They needed more like 14 minutes, and then they were perfect.

Check out Stephanie's blog Ice Cream Before Dinner for the recipe for these yummy cookies.