January 2, 2012
Happy 2012! I’m back from the Midwest and am officially (kind of) tired of eating cookies and other holiday treats. Like a lot of other people, I’m trying to recover from end-of-year feasting and want to start the new year on a healthy note. So the first thing I decided to bake this year is a loaf of bread that I love for being both healthy and delicious. I have recently gotten into the habit of baking a loaf of bread every week for sandwiches and this honey oatmeal bread has become one of my go-to recipes. I’ve made some other whole grain breads in the past that just tasted “too healthy” for me, but this bread is wonderfully mild and sweet while still having the benefits of whole grain.
I’m not going to lie, making this bread is kind of a lengthy process. First, you start out by making oatmeal (I LOVE oatmeal) and add it to some flour and yeast. Then you mix all the ingredients together, let it rest (so the whole grains can absorb the liquid), knead the dough (which is super easy with a mixer), and let the dough rise for about an hour. Then you shape the dough, place it in the pan, and let it rise again. After the second rise, it’s ready for the oven.
You’re probably thinking why I even bother with all this when it’s so easy to pick up a loaf at the store, but I really enjoy the whole process. Plus, I’m kind of obsessed with baking–didn’t you notice? So I foresee a lot more bread baking for me in 2012.
Not to get too sentimental, but I thought I’d end this post with, well… some sentimental stuff. I will always remember 2011 as the year that I:
… said goodbye to NYC and moved to Houston.
… finally made it to Paris!
… got both a new niece and a new nephew.
… had time to start this food blog.
… hosted Thanksgiving dinner for the first time.
… turned 25 (and only freaked out a little bit about it).
I’m certain that 2012 will bring some great things too. Maybe it will be the year that Andrew and I take that trip to Peru that we’ve been talking about or the year that I finally figure out what I want to be when I grow up. I’m excited and optimistic about the year ahead and look forward to sharing more recipes with you!
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See more: Honey • Oats • Whole Grain • Whole Wheat • Yeasted Baked Goods
December 22, 2011
Holiday traditions are the best! Because Andrew and I don’t live near our families, we have this tradition of celebrating Christmas at home the night before we start our holiday travels. Every year we exchange ornaments, give the pups their gifts (yeah, they get gifts too), and watch Love Actually. We did this last night and I think it’s safe to say that the dogs should be set with toys for the next couple of years… might have gone a little overboard. Should I be embarrassed for telling you this?
Anyways, family time is going to come before blogging time this week, so I wanted to leave you with one last recipe before the New Year. I’ve always had a soft spot for palmiers… with all that butter and sugar, what’s not to love? This version is made super simple by using store bought puff pastry and has a touch of cinnamon (just because I love it). These cookies may very well become a tradition in my house every Christmas–they are REALLY good.
Amazingly, these palmiers have very few ingredients and only take a few minutes to assemble and bake. First, you mix up some sugar, cinnamon, and salt and dump half of the mixture on your work surface. Then, you place the puff pastry sheet on top and dump the other half of the sugar mixture on the puff pastry.
After smoothing out the sugar mixture, you take a rolling pin and roll out the pastry (making the square larger and adhering the sugar mixture to the pastry). Then comes the tricky part: rolling up the pastry dough. Truthfully, it’s not tricky to do at all; it’s just hard to explain in words. I explain it two different ways in the recipe–hopefully one of them makes sense. Once rolled up, cut with a sharp knife and they are ready to bake!
They seem to “bloom” when they are in the oven and I love how they look like hearts when they are done.
I’m off to the Midwest for some family time! Hope everyone else has a wonderful holiday! And remember, this is the time to indulge and be merry (healthy eating can wait ’til after the New Year)!
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See more: Christmas Cookies • Cinnamon • Cookies • French • Puff Pastry
December 19, 2011
My friend, Cat, invited me to a cookie swap last night and I’m never one to turn down a cookie swap. All the ladies were so much fun and the food was great (I think the stars of show were the homemade heart-shaped marshmallows and mexican hot chocolate made by the host… amazing)! For the cookie swap, I decided to make these fun and festive peppermint butter cookies, which are butter cookies topped with royal icing and crushed candy canes.
It’s hard to tell in the pictures, but these are really small cookies. I used about 2-inch cookie cutters and I like my small gingerbread man and snowflake cutters the best for these.
The butter cookie dough is sturdy and easy to roll out and cut. If the dough gets sticky or too soft during the process, I just stick it in the fridge for a few minutes to firm up again and then pick up where I left off.
When they look this cute even before they are baked, you know the end result is going to be good!
An added bonus to making these cookies is that when they are in the oven, your home fills up with this wonderful warm, sweet, buttery aroma–it’s heavenly. Also, just to caution you, these cookies are best when they are taken out of the oven right before they start to get any color or else they will get too dry and not have that wonderful shortbread texture that you’re after. You want to take them out just before the edges start to turn golden.
Once the cookies are out of the oven and have cooled, you can start icing them. I used a homemade piping bag (aka a ziploc bag with the tip cut off) to ice mine. My piping skills aren’t that great, but luckily the crushed candy canes sprinkled on top help hide any mistakes. So if you’re worried about your piping skills, no worries–you can totally make these too!
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See more: Christmas Cookies • Cookies • Peppermint
December 14, 2011
I had planned on baking cookies all this week and here it is, Wednesday night, and I still haven’t baked a single cookie. Instead of baking cookies, I have been doing things like finishing up the rest of my Christmas shopping, taking my pups to get haircuts (seriously), and eating these sugared pecans. I can’t seem to stop eating them!
The first time I had these sugared pecans was a few years ago when my sister made them as favors for my parents’ holiday party. Everybody loved them and I’ve wanted to make them ever since. Here’s how you make them:
First you start out with a pound of pecan halves.
Then you whip up an egg white with a little water (sounds weird I know, but trust me), dredge the pecans in the egg white, then dredge them in a sugar-salt-cinnamon mixture, and bake. I used plastic bags instead of bowls for the dredging–I think it’s easier to coat the pecans this way and it makes clean up a breeze.
Once they have baked and cooled, you can toss them in a candy dish for easy snacking, or place them in cellophane bags or glass jars to give out as gifts.
Hopefully I’ll get started on some cookie baking tomorrow!
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See more: Gluten Free • Nuts • Pecans • Snacks
December 11, 2011
It’s been a great weekend. With Michael Buble’s Christmas album and a stash of peppermint bark fueling us for the last two days, Andrew and I managed to knock out almost all of our Christmas shopping. I’m feeling pretty good about everything we got and am even more excited for Christmas to get here now that our to-do list has dwindled down.
Before we went shopping today, I decided to make something extra-special for breakfast. I don’t make cakes very often and I usually wait for an occasion (like a birthday), but coffee cake is one of those great anytime cakes and I especially love this version. This cake is decadent yet light at the same time (thanks to the yogurt), has two layers of streusel (on top and in the middle), and is drizzled with the easiest, most delicious cream cheese glaze you can imagine. Serve a slice of this alongside a cup of coffee and there’s really no better way to start your day.
Even though I made this on a random Sunday, I think it’s special enough to make for a brunch, to give as a hostess gift, or even to make for Christmas morning.
Hope everyone else had a great weekend!
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See more: Breakfast • Cake • Coffee Cake • Greek Yogurt
December 9, 2011
I have to admit that I’m not a huge fan of gingerbread. I don’t know if it’s because my mom never baked it growing up or my general aversion to ginger, but I’ve never really liked it. This being said, I don’t think I’ll be sharing any gingerbread recipes anytime soon. These sugar and spice drop cookies are probably as close as I’ll get this season. Filled with cinnamon, allspice, ginger, and molasses (classic gingerbread ingredients), these cookies taste festive and give a wink to gingerbread without being overly ginger-y.
I love the way turbinado sugar looks sprinkled on these cookies. They were almost too pretty to bake, but not baking them would be ridiculous, so in the oven they went.
The best part about these cookies (besides the fact that they are totally delicious) is that they make your house smell like the holidays. It’s pretty wonderful. They also give you an excuse to pull out your holiday cookies tins. I actually use mine to store cookies all year round, but I love them even more in December.
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See more: Christmas Cookies • Cinnamon • Cookies • Ginger • Molasses • Whole Grain • Whole Wheat
December 7, 2011
I just got back from a week in Southern California visiting my sister. It was a fun trip! California weather was great–sunny, cool, fall-like, and very much like Houston’s. I assumed the weather would be similar when I got back home, but Texas decided to welcome me back with a cold front instead. It’s in the 40′s today in Houston (is that normal?) and all I can think about is making soup and drinking hot chocolate.
This hot chocolate is pretty decadent and contains both bittersweet and milk chocolate. The bittersweet chocolate makes this drink dark and rich, while the milk chocolate adds some sweetness for balance.
Combining the two chocolates with milk makes for a great hot chocolate on its own, but I decided to add a bit of peppermint extract to this batch for a festive touch. I’m a big fan of chocolate and mint together… peppermint patties, mint chocolate chip ice cream, and peppermint hot chocolate are all on my favorites list.
If your idea of hot chocolate comes in a packet, I urge you to try making it on your own. The list of ingredients is short and the process is just as easy.
I love adding a candy cane in my mug of hot chocolate because it does two things: it makes the drink prettier (I’m all for the pretty) and it adds an additional peppermint flavor and sweetness as it melts. If you don’t have any peppermint extract on hand, you could get away with just adding a candy cane stirrer to your hot chocolate for that kick of peppermint.
Drinking this reminds me of why I love this time of year. All I’m missing is a fireplace to sit in front of!
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See more: Chocolate • Peppermint
November 29, 2011
Our Christmas tree is up, I have some of my holiday shopping done, and I’ve officially baked my first batch of cookies this cookie season. I love this time of year!
I wanted to try this recipe last year, but I never got around to it, so I put it first on my cookie baking list for this holiday. Shortbread cookies are usually pretty simple, but these ones have a few different textures and flavors in them that make them extra special. The combination of toffee, pecans, and chocolate is heavenly.
Because these cookies have to be rolled out and cut with cookie cutters, you could use any festive cookie cutter that you have on hand. I stuck with boring circles, but they would be cute stars, reindeers and snowflakes too.
Another great thing about these cookies is that they are sturdy and stackable, which makes them great to give out as gifts. I gave a couple bags away yesterday and I think it’s safe to say that everyone always appreciates a gift of homemade cookies.
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See more: Christmas Cookies • Cookies • Nuts • Pecans • Shortbread • Toffee
November 26, 2011
I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! We enjoyed eating leftovers yesterday, but today I thought I’d make something different. These Thanksgiving Leftovers Turnovers are great if you’re already tired of eating leftovers. If you have a ton of leftovers still, you could make a big batch of these, freeze them, and then bake them whenever you feel like.
This is sort of a “no recipe” recipe. You can be creative and put whatever combination of leftovers you have left. I put leftover turkey, gravy, and cornbread and sausage stuffing in mine. They taste like little Thanksgiving pies… so good!
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See more: Puff Pastry • Thanksgiving • Turnovers
November 21, 2011
Since it will be an indulgent week, I wanted to make something on the healthier side. These banana crumb muffins are delicious and will be great to have on hand when my parents get into town tomorrow for Thanksgiving. They are made with white whole wheat flour, agave nectar, and heart healthy canola oil instead of regular white flour, sugar, and butter. The crumb topping does have a little brown sugar and butter though (everything in moderation, right?), so if you are wanting super healthy muffins you could skip the topping.
Around here, bananas almost always turn into banana bread or muffins. I love all fruit, but I never really eat bananas on their own, which is why they usually end up being baked into something.
When you bake these, they don’t go into the oven looking like anything special, but when they come out of the oven, the tops are puffed up, the crumb topping looks super crumbly, and you get really nice looking muffins–if I do say so myself!
These muffins are a great example of how to tweak a classic recipe to be more healthy. I love butter and sugar, but I also love being able to use whole grains and natural sweeteners when I can (you can find more whole wheat recipes here). Looking forward to sharing these with my parents!
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See more: Agave Nectar • Bananas • Breakfast • Cinnamon • Fruit • Muffins • Quick Breads • Whole Grain • Whole Wheat
