Tag: baking

Blueberry Lemon Muffins

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

I love blueberry muffins. To me blueberries have the perfect level of sweetness balanced by tart flavor. It makes my morning breakfast special and yet I’m not queasy afterward due to a nutrient-hollow, calorie-filled sugar bomb (however I do love a good frosted cinnamon roll every once in awhile). As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, baking is a skill and art form in which I am not particularly well versed. Its a form of edible chemistry that results in an incredibly delicious product, ONLY if you follow a very particular equation. Lately I’ve been very intrigued by these equations and I’ve enjoyed the trial and error, success and failure that comes along with it. This particular recipe, for blueberry lemon muffins was one of my latest successes.

Continue reading

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Banana bread rocks because when bananas are too ripe to eat right out of the peel, they’re the PERFECT consistency for banana bread and you won’t have to throw away your uneaten bananas.

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread rocks because, well.. lets face it, chocolate is delicious. And chocolate added to good banana bread, makes GREAT banana bread.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Banana bread may seem like a general bare bones recipe that’s hard to mess up and while that’s true, there are a variety of recipes that will produce very different breads. I prefer a banana bread that is moist, and this recipe from Joy of Cooking is the most basic, moist, delicious banana bread I’ve ever tasted.

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Adopted from Joy of Cooking

Preheat Oven: 350 degrees

grease a 8 1/2 x 4 1/2-inch loaf pan

Whisk together thoroughly:

1 1/3 cups of flour

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

In large bowl stir together

5 1/3 teaspoons unsalted butter

2/3 cup sugar

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Beat in flour mixture until blended and the consistency of brown sugar then, gradually beat in:

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

combine 1 cup mashed very ripe bananas (about 2 whole bananas)

1/2 cup chocolate chips

scrape the batter into the pan and spread evenly. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 50-60 minutes. Let cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes before unmolding to cool completely on rack.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

I received this super cute loaf pan from my boyfriend’s brother for Christmas. He obviously knows me quite well, because this exact green is one of my absolute favorite colors, plus when you add a golden loaf of warm chocolate chip banana bread its about the prettiest thing in my kitchen!

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

A piece of this bread is the perfect solution for breakfast, a snack or even to manage your sweet tooth.

Just slice, serve and enjoy!

love,

tricia

2013 Northern Michigan Small Farms Conference: Grayling, MI

This past Saturday was the 14th Annual Northern Michigan Small Farms Conference. A gathering with the mission to build and foster a local vibrant agricultural community. The conference is an educational forum with the opportunity for sharing ideas, developing a local network, and empowering participants with the tools necessary to be successful. The day includes a series of educational sessions and speaking seminars, with a well-balanced lunch allowing for the chance to stretch your legs, recharge, or casually build relationships with 1 or more of the 800 attendees.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

I was involved in the conference not as an attendee this year, but rather in the kitchen with Michael Everts of Blackbird Gardens and his team of farmers, foodies, & friends. We spent the morning baking apple crisps, muffins & scones. We layered lasagnas, chopped produce for salads and roasted squash in the oven. Blackbird Gardens’s catering company Real Food Dream Kitchen, sourced fresh local produce, breads & ciders in the heart of winter. With Saturday’s dream team, we prepped, cooked, and fed about 800 conference goers. The people I had the pleasure of working with were great. We were a “well-oiled machine” of a team, with most of us never having worked together in the past. The synergy was incredible; people helping people, “Farmers Feeding Farmers.”

The Menu:

Menu

P1261469

Mike Everts and Real Food Dream Kitchen have been catering The Northern Michigan Small Farms Conference for several years now. What better way to celebrate Northern Michigan Agriculture and the people whose hard work make it available to us, than a fresh and local culinary display of the very produce we’re celebrating. This alone makes it a tribute of the heart, but to have access to this type of bounty in January, makes it a grateful tribute of ingenuity & excellence as well.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

After smelling the aromas all day and working hard in and out of the kitchen to serve the 800 attendees we sat down and enjoyed the fruits of our labor as a team. Congratulating one another on a swift, problem-free and more than enjoyable afternoon of Real Food catering.


OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Thank you to all those who made the Northern Michigan Small Farms Conference possible as well as the food community that supports and attends it. Here in Northern Michigan, we have an access to fresh local produce that is invaluable. I love knowing, meeting, and working with the people that make it all possible.

No Farms, No Food.

love,

tricia

Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Cookies

These cookies make me weak in the knees. Just the smell of them in the oven and I buckle. One bite and I’m reminded of a time in my life when apple cinnamon oatmeal was the breakfast of elementary school champions. Except this cookie is better. Its made with fresh apples, ground cinnamon and a little lemon juice. This cookie isn’t made to walk you through a 7 hour school day, this cookie is made for breakfast, lunch AND dinner. Its cinnfully delicious and without a doubt a must try.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Makes about 2 dozen cookies

Preheat oven to: 350 degrees

ingredients:

1/2 cup of butter softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup flour
1 1/4 cup oats
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
generous pinch of nutmeg
3/4 cup chopped walnuts
1 medium apple peeled and diced
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Directions:

Peel and dice the apple, toss it in lemon juice and set aside. Beat the sugars and butter in a bowl until smooth. Add 1 egg and beat for a minute. Add vanilla extract and beat until blended.

In a separate bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, oats, spices and salt. Slowly add to the sugar and butter mix until just incorporated. Stir in your apple chunks and chopped walnuts last.

Line baking sheets with parchment paper, place in the oven at 350 and bake for 10 minutes. Enjoy!

adapted recipe from Joy the Baker.

photo

A few people asked me recently about baking substitutes for vegan diets so I thought I’d add my favorite substitutes for this recipe here. For butter, vegan shortening is really the perfect consistency to substitute in these cookies and of course there is always margarine if you’re after the buttery flavor. As for the eggs, they could be substituted with applesauce and truthfully in this recipe theres no other substitution. Not only will it adjust the recipe to be vegan and add an additional apple flavor to your cookie body, but it also completely eliminates the added cholesterol of an egg.

Whether you are vegan or not these substitutions can be helpful if the situation arises where you are baking in your pajamas and just realized you are out of eggs. You don’t have to clean up and walk to your neighbors or drive to the grocery store, you don’t even need to put on a hat over your unwashed hair. You just grab the applesauce and keep on baking.

keep on, keepin’ on

love,

tricia

Edible Holiday Gifts: “Tea Bag” Cookie

christmas

Edible Gifts for the holidays are both thoughtful & light on the pocket book. Its a gift designed from the heart that finds its way straight to the belly of a loved one. When you put thought, time & creativity into your holiday gifts, rather than spending more than you can afford, the gift giving is that much more enjoyable for both the one giving & the one receiving.

These days I find that I know quite a few people who truly enjoy tea, including myself which honestly I thought I’d never say. My grandmother always drinks tea and and as a young girl I never understood why. To me it was nothing but watered down flavor, making it that much more perplexing as to why people, including my own grandmother enjoyed it. However, as I’ve grown older I’ve learned to savor a warm cup of tea before bed. I enjoy it when I’m feeling sick or stressed, and simply just because. Over the years it would seem that the flavors I felt were once missing from tea have actually blossomed, but I’m willing to bet its merely that my tastes have evolved.

tea

For the holidays, and all my tea loving friends, I decided to try baking these adorable tea bag cookies I came across recently. For those who don’t know me well, I’m not much of a successful baker. Its not because I don’t LOVE sweets, cookies, or pies, its simply due to the science of baking and my lack of “coloring between the lines.”

As I’ve begun to explore the culinary world I’ve really enjoyed  experimenting with flavors, textures and combinations; adding a “splash” here or a “pinch” there and often using a recipe as a guidebook rather than rules that need to be followed. With baking, a recipe is specific because it has to be. Its a creative form of chemistry in that the measurement of substances in a mixture are precise and exact; if you guess, quite often it will result in a different or more extreme reaction than you were expecting.  In the same way, a cookie will turn out flat & thin if your ratios are off, and a cake will be dry & crumbly for the very same reason. When you stick to the recipe though and your mixture is precise, boy oh boy! those treats are simply divine.

PC111307

With my holiday spirit beaming this December, I decided to give baking my undivided attention and truly focus on the recipe this time. Of course as is my nature i’ll always leave room for a little innovation & creativity, but I’ve now realized my baking mistakes and learned that measuring precision is key. What once had frustrated me now became a personal challenge. This Holiday I’m accepting the baking challenge and as a result making delicious treats and edible gifts for the loved ones on my list!

 

Preheat Oven: 350 Degrees

Cook Time: 8-10 Minutes

 

ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 cup powdered (confectioners or icing) sugar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 teaspoons herbs de provence with lavender

optional chocolate coating:

6 ounces of dark chocolate chips

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

These shortbread cookies were based off of a recipe from joyofbaking.com but I gave them a little twist by adding the rosemary lavender combination of the herbs de provence. The first step is to combine the flour and salt in a small bowl and set aside. Next, powdered sugar, room temperature butter, pure vanilla, and herbs de provence are folded together in a bowl. If you have a stand-up mixer, hand mixer or spoon you can do this, but the key here is the temperature of the butter.

Now we add the flour & salt to the mixture, then cover and place in the refrigerator for 1 hour. When we roll out the dough its important than its neither too cold nor too warm, and this cooling process will help make it easier for you in the long run. With little patience to wait an hour, I  simply let my dough cool over night, and then took it out the next day, softening in room temperature for about 10 minutes.

dough

With flour lightly tossed on my countertop, I placed the dough on top and rolled it out with a rolling pin to about 1/4 inch thickness. A tea bag helped create the perfect shape and I simply cut around it, making a hole near the top with a chopstick large enough to easily get a string thru.  You could also use a straw, which would create the perfect shape, but I didn’t have one so I improvised. As a side note: Its important not to place the hole too close to the top, because the weight of the cookie could easily break when your “dunking” the finished product.

makehole

By placing parchment paper on the pan, you’ll ensure the cookies wont stick. So on top of the parchment lined baking pan, place your tea bag cookies and pop them into the oven. Once they are a very light brown its time to take them out, usually about 8-10 minutes. I let my cookies cool a bit on the pan, because my first attempt to remove one resulted in a cookie snapped in half..of course I ate that one though, so it really wasn’t that heartbreaking.

cookie

For finishing touches, you can string a thin but durable string thru, add a clever design to the paper on the end of the string, or even add a little dark chocolate. I kept a few cookies plain to add a little variety to my edible gift, but I couldn’t pass on dark chocolate so I did a few of those as well. To add the dark chocolate is really quite simple. You need a heatproof bowl to place over a pot of simmering water and you place about half of your chocolate into the bowl to let it melt. Once it has you remove the bowl from the heat, add your remaining chocolate chips and stir until it all has completely melted.

PC111326

With the string already tied to my tea bag cookies, I diped the ends in the chocolate and placed them on parchment paper lining a baking pan. Once they were all dipped I placed them in the refrigerator to cool.

teabag

I’m sitting here imagining the look on my loved ones faces when they receive this edible gift, and I simply cannot wait. Of course I’ll be including the recipe with my tin of cookies as well, so my friends can always make more (the gift that keeps on giving!). Next week I’ll be sharing another gift with you all, but until then get on with your crafting & baking! A Homemade Holiday is something to celebrate!

love,

tricia

Growth by the Season

© Growth by the Season. All rights reserved.