Archive for April, 2009
I like to make lists, whether they’re grocery lists, lists of recipes that I want to work on or lists of friends I haven’t delivered baked goods to in a while. It is always over the first cup of coffee in the morning that things start to come into focus and I tend to write on what’s available at the moment; just like remembering a dream, if you don’t write it down when you first think of it, you’ll probably forget completely.
Writing on post-its, pieces of newspaper and the backs of envelopes isn’t such a bad strategy for grocery lists, but it’s not great for anything else because it is just too easy to loose that little paper before I get around to checking things off. This is precisely why this Write-On Mug caught my eye. The mug is designed so that you can write right on the surface with a pencil (with eraser, included). It couldn’t be more perfect for making lists over that first cup of coffee – and if you’re anything like me, you know that it’s a lot easier to misplace a piece of paper than it is to loose track of a mug of freshly brewed coffee. Pencil is the perfect medium for this mug because it comes off easily and you can write on the mug while it is upright and filled up. You can reuse it again and again, too. The Glassware comes in two options – a mug and a tumbler – so you can pick the style that suits your drinking habits and get the tumbler if you prefer to start your day with juice instead of coffee.
I recently tried a new chocolate bar from Dove, the Silky Smooth Milk Chocolate with Blueberries and Almonds bar. The blueberries in the chocolate bar were dried, so they weren’t entirely dissimilar from chocolate with dried cranberries or cherries, but unlike those other fruits, I didn’t really expect to find blueberries in a chocolate bar! Needless to say, the flavor combination worked well and the sweet, slightly chewy blueberries and the crunchy almonds made a great contrast with the milk chocolate. I liked the bar, but I couldn’t help thinking that the combination would be even better in something else. Something like a muffin or a cake.
So, I whipped up a batch of blueberry muffins, incorporating the chopped up chocolate bar along with more dried blueberries and some chopped almonds. I also put some some sliced almonds on top to further highlight their crunch. The combination worked just as well as in the original bar, although, of course, the muffin is a bit less chocolatey than the bar of chocolate itself.
I used some vanilla and almond extracts to flavor the muffin batter, giving it a good flavor but allowing the berries and chocolate to really come through. Even though I used a Dover bar that already had the fruit and nut combination in it, there is no need to run to the store to make this recipe. Just use any bar of your favorite milk chocolate and chop it up. The flavor from the dried blueberries and the toasted almonds on top come through just fine on their own.
+Continue Reading
Baking with Julia is a compendium of nearly 200 recipes from some of the best known bakers in the worlds, experts in their areas of bread and pastry. It’s a companion to the PBS TV show of the same name, where each of these contributing bakers made an appearance and not only shared their recipes with Julia Child, but gave on-camera demos of the techniques they used to produce perfect results. The on camera demos didn’t make the print edition, but the volume is nothing short of a “full course in the art of baking” with a wide variety of recipes and techniques, as well as the clarity to present it in an easy-to-understand fashion.
This is not the simple, make-it-in-five minutes type of cookbook. The recipes all emphasize technique and flavor and include croissants from scratch, artisan-style breads, wedding cake how-to, and a variety of cookies and other pastries, just to name a few of the offerings. Don’t be put off by the fact that there are no shortcuts (a selling point for so many books!) because the recipes are all extremely well written and thorough. Whether a batch of muffins takes a few minutes or a tray of from-scratch danishes takes a lot longer, the results are well worth the effort you put into them. In addition to the pleasure of eating your creations, you also take away improved skill and a greater depth of knowledge every time you work through a recipe or read through a chapter. This is especially true of the chapters in the beginning of the book that cover baking basics, doughs and batters and give you some foundation recipes that will come in handy again and again.
Baking with Julia is a cookbook that I’ve had in my collection for several years now and I’m so glad it’s on my shelf. There is so much great information on ingredients and baking techniques that it is practically a must-have volume if you’re really looking to become a better baker. On top of that, it’s one of those cookbooks that you can just look through and be inspired – whether you make a recipe from the book itself or just use that inspiration as motivation to bake from another source – thanks to the lovely commentary throughout and the beautiful photos of some of the recipes.
To only name a few of the recipes I’ve tried, here are some I’ve both tried and mentioned before:
An Orange Julius is a frothy cold orange juice drink that tastes kind of like a creamsicle, except much lighter and much better. The company that makes them – also named Orange Julius – has been making these drinks since 1926. I remember getting so excited when I was a little kid and saw an Orange Julius stand. Absolutely nothing was more refreshing on a hot day. These days, O.J. is owned by Dairy Queen and, for whatever reason, there really aren’t any in my area anymore. So when I want one, I make up a batch at home using fresh orange juice.
The first time I made an Orange Julius at home was four years ago, almost to the day. At the time, I used a recipe from a Top Secret Recipes book, but I ended up tweaking it just a bit over time to get the exact consistency I want. The changes are very minor because the recipe is very simple: orange juice, water, sugar, egg white, vanilla and ice. Fresh orange juice is the key to getting the best flavor possible, so use it if you can. The egg is the key to the drink’s consistency. I still use a whole egg white in mine, but any pasturised egg white product will give you the frothiness that makes the drink unique.
+Continue Reading
I really like having a batch of granola around the house for snacking, and topping off yogurts and ice cream. I almost always use my recipe for Mix-n-Match Applesauce Granola. As the name suggests, it’s a versatile recipe that you can use many different kinds of flavors in, changing the nuts, fruits and the spices to suit your mood and tastebuds every time you make a batch. Another reason I like it is that there is no added fat in the granola itself; it uses applesauce to create clumps of oats and the resulting granola still manages to be crunchy. This means that I can load up on nuts and other goodies but keep the granola s a relatively healthy snack.
For this batch, I made Coconut Almond Granola. The basic elements are all still there – oats, puffed rice cereal (for lightness), brown sugar, applesauce and maple syrup – and I added in lots of sweetened shredded coconut and some almonds. The granola is baked at a low temperature, so the the coconut and the almonds don’t toast up faster than the rest of the granola and can be put into the oven with the rest of the batch. While you can simply add nuts in at the end if you already have toasted almonds around the kitchen (toasting them twice might lead to burning), too, it’s just a little bit nicer to be able to mix them in with the granola base, so there will be both coconut and almonds in all of the crunchy clusters of oats.
I didn’t mix in any dried fruit with this batch of granola, but you could certainly add dried cranberries to the mixture after it has completely cooled. I also think that chocolate chips might be a good addition if you’re thinking about going a little more decadent with the whole thing. Otherwise, just enjoy the crisp, coconutty goodness by the handful – which is what I did.
+Continue Reading
