Cherry & Brown Butter Streusel Muffins

Whew. Well, that was unexpected. It has been almost 4 weeks since I posted anything, I can hardly believe it. I went out of town fully intending to bake and post while I was there - I even drove half-way across the country with my stand mixer, digital scale and a box of baking essentials. Then about 3 days into the trip, my laptop died. My 1 1/2 year old MacBook Pro. Died. I was not so happy about this. I waiting to find out if it can be fixed, and in the meantime, I'm borrowing my mom's laptop. Thanks, Mom!

I've been back in town about a week, and finally got around to baking last night.

I miraculously found cherries for $1.49 per pound - organic, of course - and decided to make a treat for my little ones to wake up to this morning.

It is no secret around here that I'm slightly obsessed with all things containing brown butter and topped with streusel; I mean, how can you go wrong?! I thought the deep nutty flavor of the brown butter would pair nicely with the juicy, moderately tart cherries. Oh, yes. Oh. Yes.

These muffins arenot excessively moist, so don't overbake them! They are, however, soft and tender and incredibly flavorful. The brown butter really comes through, and melds beautifully with the whole wheat flour and vanilla extract. The streusel adds a wonderful crunch, while the cherries provide little bursts of juiciness every couple bites. Berries of any variety would also work great in this recipe, just be sure not to thaw them if you use frozen ones.

* * * * *

Cherry & Brown Butter Streusel Muffins

For the Streusel

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

pinch of salt

1/2 cup palm sugar

2.5 oz (5 tablespoons) unsalted butter, browned

For the Muffins

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup palm sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

3 tablespoons arrowroot or cornstarch*

1/4 teaspoon salt

4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter, browned

1 cup milk

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups pitted cherries, then halved

Preheat oven to 375. Line 12 regular muffin cups with liners, or butter and flour cups.

In a small bowl, combine all ingredients for streusel, mix well, and place in refrigerator until needed.

In a large bowl stir together flours, palm sugar, baking powder, arrowroot or cornstarch and salt. In the pan you browned your butter in, add milk and vanilla extract. Add butter mixture to dry ingredients, and mix until just combined. Fold in cherry halves. Distribute batter evenly among muffin cups. Crumble streusel on top of batter in cups. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until a tester inserted into center of muffins comes out clean.

*You may have noticed this is an eggless recipe. If you would prefer to use eggs instead of the arrowroot or cornstarch: omit arrowroot/cornstarch from dry mix; reduce milk to 3/4 cup; add two eggs to butter mixture after you've added the milk - it should be cool enough that the eggs won't cook.

Ginger Scones

If you're still looking for something special to make for your mom tomorrow, look no further. These are some seriously fantastic scones.

The recipe comes from Pastries from the La Brea Bakery, by Nancy Silverton. In the book, Nancy calls these the best selling scones in the bakery, and after making them I can see why.

Before I tell you any more, a disclaimer: my scones shouldn't have been as thin as they were. I contemplated not posting them until I could make them again, but they are too good to hold back for however long it will take me to get around to doing that. The reason they were so thin is that I made them on an incredibly hot day, and even though my butter started out frozen, within only 5 minutes out of the freezer it was melty. I should have refrigerated my biscuits after I cut them, but I was impatient - on the day I made them I also made 2 tarts, 2 kinds of cookies and ice cream, all in a 5 hour time span - so I popped them in the oven. Ah well...

These are cream scones, and as such are incredibly light and fluffy, studded with chewy bits of crystallized ginger, and flavored with lemon zest. The tops are dusted with sugar before baking, creating a crunchy sugar crust; a beautiful contrast to the soft interior. Can you imagine anything better? They are the most wonderful scones I've ever had; they are lovely in every way.

Ginger Scones

adapted from Pastries from the La Brea Bakery by Nancy Silverton

2 1/4 cups white whole wheat flour

1/3 cup granulated sugar + more for dusting

1 tablespoon baking powder

finely grated zest from one lemon

1 1/2 sticks (6 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into chunks and frozen

4 1/2 ounces crystallized ginger, chopped into 1/4 inch pieces

1/2 - 3/4 cup heavy cream + more for finishing

Preheat oven to 400. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar and baking powder. Add butter, and using a pastry blender, cut it in until mixture resembles a coarse meal. Add zest and toss in with your fingers. Add 1/2 cup cream, stirring with a wooden spoon or tossing with your hands until it is incorporated. Do not overwork dough. If it seems too dry, add remaining 1/4 cup of cream. Turn dough out on a lightly floured board, knead a few times to form a cohesive ball, and pat into a disk about 3/4 inch thick. If dough seems soft, refrigerate for about 5 minutes. Cut dough into circles using a 3" biscuit cutter, and place them 1 inch apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Cut as closely together as you can, then re-form the scraps into a 3/4 inch disk, cut as many circles as you can, etc... until you have cut all of the dough. Again, if the dough seems soft, refrigerate for 5-10 minutes before baking. When ready to bake, brush tops of scones with cream, then dust with sugar. Bake for 12-16 minutes, until they crack and are a light golden brown.

TWD: Sweet Cream Biscuits

Got 5 minutes? Then you have enough time to mix, roll and cut these biscuits and pop them into the oven. They are that quick.

I was very pleased to see these as a TWD selection this month. I love biscuits. I was raised on biscuits. We have biscuits at every family function. Small fights break out over who gets the last one. We're biscuit people.

I made these particular biscuits for the first time last summer, and have probably baked them a dozen or more times since. They are just so simple, so fast, so delicious.

That first time I made them I was skeptical, I'll admit. I didn't think they would have the satisfactory fluffy interior, the crispy edges that constitute the perfect biscuit. It was one of the most magical oven transformations I have ever seen. I continue to be awed every time I bake them. I won't say that these are the perfect biscuit - though they're close - but they are perfect for when you're short on time, and considering the minimal effort that is put into these, the result is fairly spectacular.

These biscuits are light, tall and fluffy, with a melt-in-your mouth creamy and tender interior. The edges are crispy, and though they are more delicate than a butter biscuit, they will still stand up to a good drenching in honey.

I omitted the sugar - biscuits shouldn't be sweet, in my opinion - and upped the salt a bit, and used white whole wheat flour. I also used closer to 1 1/4 cup cream - the upper end of the range Dorie gives in the recipe.

These will never replace a butter biscuit for me, but they certainly hold their own, and will continue to be a regular breakfast goody in my house!

Thanks to Melissa from Love at First Bite for hosting this week. This fantastic and simple recipe can be found on her blog.

Green & Black's Peanut Sticky Buns with Salted Butter Caramel Sauce

A couple of weeks ago, Tastespotting sent out a tweet on Twitter that said to contact them if interested in an opportunity that involved baking, blogging and chocolate. Those happen to be my three favorite things in the world aside from my kids.

I received a response a few days later asking for recipe ideas involving the new Green & Black's chocolate bar, Peanut. It is a milk chocolate bar containing caramelized peanuts and sea salt. I love Green & Black's chocolate. As many of you know, I eat exclusively organic food, including copious amounts of G & B chocolate. The ideas started coming. I sent a list of about 8 or more possible recipes to Sarah of Tastespotting and The Delicious Life, including these rolls. They picked four bloggers' submissions, and I was so lucky to be one of the four!

I had so much fun developing this recipe. I made it three times in five days, and unfortunately I ate almost all of them. True story: the day I was photographing the final batch, I looked down and saw that there were only five of twelve rolls left in the pan. I had eaten seven. SEVEN!!! They are just so damn tasty!!!

These are some of the most delicious, decadent things I have ever eaten. Really. They have everything: bread, crunch, chocolate, goo, caramel. Oh my. Oh. My.

The roll itself is not something I would call moist, but it is most certainly not dry. Soft. It is soft. It is ever so slightly sweet with a hint of vanilla. This is a roll that could stand on it's own - all too often I find that the bready part of a cinnamon roll/sticky bun is flavorless without all of its acoutrements. In this case, the roll is already so good, it is brought to a ridiculous level of deliciousness by its toppings and fillings. The Peanut bar is really quite something. I'm normally not a big fan of peanuts, but these are caramelized, so you get a wonderful sweet crunch every bite or so that is a lovely counterpart to the rest of the bun. The chocolate is rich and decadent but not overdone, and its sweetness is balanced by the barely sweet roll and the salty caramel sauce. Oh the caramel sauce. It is perfection. If I could eat it with a spoon I would. Oh, wait. I have been eating it with a spoon. It is smooth. So smooth. So creamy. The perfect balance of sweet and salty with a deep, dark caramel flavor.

Thank you so much to Sarah of Tastespotting for giving me the opportunity to create a fun and scrumptious recipe with a fantastic new chocolate bar. My recipe will be posted on the new Tastespotting blog. The blog launches next week, but there is no word yet on the order that the recipes created by myself and the other bloggers will be posted, so check back here for a link to the recipe.

*** UPDATE *** 3.23.10

The recipe is up!!! Here is the link. Enjoy!

Pistachio + Date Scones

I've been chasing simplicity for quite some time, but can never seem to achieve it. In my mind, all I want is a quiet life in the town I grew up in; baking and being with my kids, friends, family. There is something very comforting about a place where you know everyone you see, and they have all known you since toddlerhood. In reality, I am nowhere near that (and may never be). The last few years have been very stressful for me. In no particular order; I've had two kids, gotten married, sold a house, built a house, moved 5 times, and opened a retail store. It hasn't all been easy - and it certainly hasn't been simple - but it's life. My life. Now another chapter is beginning in my life; that of being a single mom. It will certainly be an adjustment, but everyone will be a lot happier. Now that's all I'm gonna say about that.

Scones are simplicity itself - even when as gussied up as these are. So, even if I can't live my bucolic dreams, I can eat them.

These scones are eggless, and made with cream. I love breakfast treats made with cream - it gives them such a soft, light crumb that almost melts in your mouth. Pistachios have a very distinct flavor - buttery, smoky, savory - and are not commonly found in scones, so these are an unexpected and delightful addition. They are also a wonderful foil for the sweet dates. I love dates. I love them plain, I love them rolled in coconut, I love them in baked goods. I've never met a date I didn't like. When baked, they become unbelievably tender - date paste, almost - and if you're lucky enough to get one that is slightly exposed in the dough you're in for a real treat. The edges become slightly crispy and chewy and caramelized, and they are delicious.

These are sure to be a regular treat around these parts. Next time, however, I will add more dates - I think 1 1/2 cups instead of 1 cup. I thought the date to pistachio balance was a little off. Also, they took a bit longer to bake than the recipe specified. I had to turn the oven down and cover them with foil to prevent them from burning. I would recommend baking them at 400 instead of 425, as the original recipe calls for. I'm writing the recipe below as I made them, with changes I would make in parentheses.

Pistachio + Date Scones

adapted from eatmakeread

2 cups unbleached white flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

3 tablespoons palm sugar (or any other sugar; if you use unsalted pistachios, you could reduce this by 1 tablespoon)

1/2 teaspoon salt

5 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes

1 cup dates, chopped (I think they need 1 1/2 cups)

1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons pistachios, chopped, divided

1 cup + 2 tablespoons heavy cream, divided

Preheat oven to 425 (I think this should be more like 400). Line baking sheet with parchment. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. Add butter, and using a pastry blender cut it in until well-combined, but so that there are still some large-ish pieces of butter in the mixture. Add dates and 1/2 cup pistachios, tossing with your hands, and separating any large clumps of dates. Add 1 cup heavy cream, and stir with fork until a dough forms. Turn out onto a floured board, and pat into a disk about 1/2" thick. Cut into 8 wedges. Place wedges on baking sheet, giving them as much space as you can. Spoon a bit of the remaining cream on the top of each scone, spreading it with the back of the spoon to coat the surface of the scone. Sprinkle tops of scones with remaining chopped pistachios. Bake for about 15 minutes, or until scones are golden. If they seem to be browning too quickly, cover them loosely with a piece of aluminum foil. Let cool on rack for at least 10 minutes.

Coconut Bread

I've always been impulsive.

This impulsiveness surfaces in every aspect of my life, from the most trivial - such as the constant changing of my hair - to the potentially dangerous...

An example: when I was 23 and I took off on a cross-country road trip by myself. It seemed harmless enough. I was supposed to be gone for 2 weeks, but close to the end of my trip I blew a tire on the interstate. I was just outside Claremore, OK, whose only claim to fame is being the birthplace to Will Rogers. The speed limit was 75, so I was going about 80. I was listening to Tori Amos' Tales of a Librarian, when all of a sudden my car started to fishtail. Before I knew it I was air-bound, flying off the side of the road. My car landed - blowing another tire - spun around several times and came to rest in some tall grasses. Miraculously, I wasn't injured. Not even a bruise. My car was another story. It required almost $8000 in repairs, and while it was being fixed I was stranded in Tulsa. For two weeks. By myself. I spent the whole time in my motel room watching Law & Order re-runs and knitting.

Though hopefully no experience as extreme as my stay in Tulsa will result from any decision I make in the kitchen, my impulsiveness shows itself in my baking, too - this is on the trivial end of the impulsive spectrum. Sometimes I have a desire to bake, but I have a hard time deciding exactly what I want to bake. If I happen upon a recipe that inspires me, however, I have to make it immediately. Whether it is late at night, early in the morning, in the last 30 minutes I have before I go to work, etc... This was one of those recipes.

As soon as I saw this on Seven Spoons, I started measuring ingredients. It was a perfect recipe to happen upon, as I had been wanting to make my boys a new quick bread for breakfast. Plus, I had just made this fantastic coconut cake that they weren't able to eat, which I felt a little bad about because it was so delicious. Making this bread was my way of giving them a little taste of what they had missed.

This coconut bread is like the less-refined cousin of that cake. Denser, heavier than the cake, with none of its fluffy delicacy though all of its coconut-y goodness. This has more heft, more texture from a greater amount of shredded coconut, which also gives it a little chew. It has a moist, soft crumb and a substantial crust. It is humble, yet sublime.

Taking a cue from the cake, I used coconut milk in place of whole milk to enhance the coconut flavor. I also used palm sugar to sweeten it - which comes from the coconut palm; coconut everywhere! This is a fantastic quick bread eaten plain or toasted with butter and equally as appropriate eaten for breakfast or with your afternoon tea. If you wanted to dress it up a little and serve it as dessert, I'm sure it would also be delicious with chocolate chunks - though for me it would slightly defeat the purpose, as then my kids wouldn't be able to eat it.

Thankfully, not all roads of impulsiveness lead to Tulsa.

Coconut Bread

adapted from Bill Granger via Seven Spoons

2 large eggs

1 1/4 cups coconut milk

seeds scraped from 1/2 a vanilla bean, or 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla paste or 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups unbleached white flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup palm sugar

5 ounces (about 1 1/2 cups) unsweetened shredded coconut

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly

Preheat oven to 350. Butter and flour an 8 1/2" x 4 1/2" loaf pan. Whisk together eggs, coconut milk and vanilla in a small bowl, set aside. Sift flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl, then stir in the palm sugar and shredded coconut. Make a well in the dry ingredients, and pour in egg mixture, stirring until just combined. Fold in melted butter, mixing only until incorporated. Do not over-mix. Pour into prepared pan. Bake for about an hour, or until a tester inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean. Cool in pan for 30 minutes, then un-mold and cool completely on rack before cutting.

One-Step Croissants

Croissants are a very special food for me and my mom. I have more wonderful memories associated with croissants than almost any other food I can think of.

When I was growing up, we didn't have a lot of money. We didn't eat out, and we ate simple food. One treat that we ate about once a month though, was croissants. Not fancy croissants, mind you, they were frozen in fact. But they were something that seemed so decadent and so sophisticated. I just loved them. There was a ritual to the way my mom and I ate our croissants; we heated them up, tore off one end, hollowed out the insides and stuffed them with a link of veggie sausage. Sometimes we ate them with cheese, sometimes not. They were especially wonderful when dipped in mustard.

The summer before my senior year of high school, my mom arranged for us to go to Europe by becoming a tour leader for an educational tour company. The tour was 2 weeks in Italy, and then the two of us stayed in Europe for an extra 2 weeks which we spent in Greece. Some of our first nights there were spent in Nafplio in a pension that was above a bakery. You have not known heaven until you've woken up every morning to the smell of fresh bread, and the satisfaction of attaining that bread through nothing more difficult than a flight of stairs and a few dollars. It quickly became an addiction, and even after leaving Nafplio we couldn't function in the mornings until finding ourselves a fresh croissant and our other weakness - a cup of hot cocoa.

I've wanted to make croissants for as long as I have been baking. There are a lot of recipes out there, but the one that caught my eye was this one from The Modern Baker by Nick Malgieri. I've had the book for a few months but hadn't made anything out of it yet, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity.

These croissants are a whole lot easier - and less time-consuming - than traditionally made croissants, anything that helps me save time is pretty great in my book.

I only made a half recipe of these, because I made them by hand instead of with a food processor as the original recipe calls for. They turned out beautifully, so I wish I made a full batch!

These croissants are delicious; unbelievably flaky, buttery, tender on the inside, crisp on the outside - all in all, perfect little croissants!

Are they as good as croissants made with a preferment, laminated dough, and given lots of time to rise? I'll have to let you know when I find the time to make those! I'm planning on trying out the recipe from Tartine sometime soon, they come highly recommended. Until then, these are a wonderful alternative that are ready in a few short hours, and that in itself makes them amazing. Next time, I won't make the mistake of only making a half recipe!

One-Step Croissants (full recipe)

adapted from The Modern Baker by Nick Malgieri

1/2 cup milk

4 teaspoons instant yeast

2 cups unbleached white flour

2 tablespoons palm sugar

3/4 teaspoon salt

20 tablespoons (2 1/2 sticks) cold unsalted butter

egg wash: 1 egg, well beaten with a pinch of salt

Heat half of the milk in a small saucepan (keeping the other half of the milk cold) until it is lukewarm - about 90 degrees. Pour into a small bowl and whisk in yeast. Set aside. In a large bowl, combine flour, palm sugar, and salt. Add 4 tablespoons of the butter - keeping the rest of it in the refrigerator - and using a pastry blender, cut the butter in until it is finely mixed into the dry ingredients. Cut the rest of the butter into small chunks and add them to the mixture. Cut in with a pastry blender, just until the chunks have broken up somewhat - about 20 strokes with the blender - but large pieces remain. Add the cold milk to the yeast mixture and pour it into the bowl. Cut the dough once more with pastry blender for about 45 seconds - the dough will not form a ball. Turn the dough out onto a well-floured board, flatten the dough into a disk and roll out into a rectangle about 12" x 15". Fold dough into thirds - like a business letter - then roll up the folded dough and press into a rough square. Lightly flour dough, place in a plastic bag and seal it. Let dough rise inside the bag for 1 - 1 1/2 hours. The dough will not double in size. After the dough has risen, using the palm of your hand, deflate the dough and place bag in the fridge for at least 1 hour or as many as 8 hours. Remove dough from bag, place on well-floured board, gently deflate, and roll out to a rectangle about 12" x 15". If the dough seems hard to roll, let it rest for 5 minutes then resume rolling. If at any point the dough becomes too soft, slide a baking sheet under it and place it in the fridge for 15 minutes. Once the dough is rolled out, straighten the edges, and using a sharp knife (or pizza wheel) cut dough lengthwise into two strips, then cut each strip into 6 triangles. Roll each triangle starting at the flat end and ending at the point. Tuck point under, and place on parchment-lined baking sheet. (You'll need 2) Repeat with remaining triangles until all are rolled. Cover each sheet of rolled dough with buttered plastic wrap and let rise until they are almost doubled in size. About 20 minutes before the rise is complete, preheat oven to 350. Place racks in upper and lower thirds of oven. Just before baking, carefully brush each croissant with egg wash, making sure it doesn't pool under the dough. Bake for about 15 minutes, then rotate pans. Bake for another 10-15 minutes or until they are deep golden brown and springy to the touch. Slide parchment with croissants from baking sheet to rack to cool.

SMS: Lemon Walnut Buttermilk Pound Cake

This week's SMS selection is one that I was quite excited about. As I mentioned a couple of days ago, I love any excuse to make a quick bread!

I was slightly disappointed in this one, however.

It wasn't bad, it just wasn't as fantastic as I wanted it to be. The main problem was that it wasn't lemon-y enough, even though I used a considerably more lemon juice and zest than the recipe called for. Other changes I made were to use palm sugar in place of cane sugar and buttermilk instead of sour cream.

I will say that it was unbelievably moist, which was fantastic, and it had that wonderful caramelized crust around the edges that is always a delicious foil to the soft center of a pound cake or quick bread.

I'm not likely to make this one again, though it was tasty (and disappeared rather quickly). I just think there are probably better lemon pound cakes out there. Stay tuned over the next couple of weeks, because I'm planning on making this one sometime soon.

Thanks to Raeann of Basically, Baby Boots for hosting this week. You can find the recipe on her blog.

Maple Sweet Potato Bread

Oh my, I have been so sleep deprived lately. I've been trying to post something for a couple of days, but I've had a very difficult time writing anything remotely coherent, or taking any remotely appealing photos. I look forward to that day (probably still several years off) where I will wake up feeling rested and calm instead of exhausted and on edge. Seriously, the only thing (sort of) maintaining my sanity is baking. Sort of is better than not at all, though, isn't it?

So, what I have for you today is a fantastic quick bread. It is inspired by Joy the Baker, but I made several changes to the recipe she posted.

Quick breads are probably my favorite thing to bake, next to cookies. They are something I need to remember to keep around, because my kids love them and they are perfect for breakfast, snacks, you name it. Plus, there are just so many possibilities!

I've been wanting to try a sweet potato version of cake or quick bread for a long time, and I'm so glad I finally had my chance this morning! This is now one of my favorite quick breads, and I will certainly be making it again.

This sweet potato bread is incredibly moist, and perfectly spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg. It has a wonderful crunchy crust and a tight, soft crumb. It is probably no surprise that it is very similar to carrot cake, though not as sweet.

Both of my boys went crazy for it, which means it will definitely be making future appearances in my house.

Maple Sweet Potato Bread

adapted from Bon Appetit, November 1992, via Joy the Baker

1 cup unbleached white flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

12 tablespoons of unsalted butter, softened

1 cup palm sugar

1/2 cup maple syrup

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 cups grated sweet potato - I like Bauregards, they're sweet, flavorful, and have a deep orange color

Preheat oven to 350. Butter and flour a 9"x5" loaf pan. In a medium-sized bowl, combine flours, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, baking powder and salt, set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and palm sugar. Mix in maple syrup. It's okay if the batter looks a little curdled at this point, it will smooth out. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing for about 30 seconds with each addition. Add vanilla. Stir in grated sweet potato. Add dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Pour into prepared loaf pan and bake for about 1 hour and 20 minutes, or until a tester inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean. If the loaf looks like it is browning too quickly, place a foil tent over it. I did this at just over an hour though I probably could have done it a little sooner. Cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then remove from pan and cool completely on rack before slicing.

Dried Fruit & Nut Cake

This is the fruitcake that will redeem the name of fruitcake. It is a beautiful mess of dried fruit and nuts held together by some flour and eggs. The small amount of batter forms a delicious sugary coating across the surface of the cake that is simply addictive. This fruitcake is so good. Now those aren't words you hear every day, are they? Read on, my friends, read on.

The recipe comes from Pure Dessert by Alice Medrich. I love this book. I have never made anything from it that wasn't fantastic. If you don't have it, it isn't too late to put it on your Christmas wish list! This was one of the first recipes that really jumped out at me when I got the book, though I didn't have a chance to make it until recently. A shame, because I have seriously been missing out!

If you've been wanting a wonderful, flavorful, complex, dynamic, creative, delicious fruitcake recipe, look no further. Here it is.

This recipe is very versatile, in that you can use any combination of dried fruit, plus it is perfect for so many occasions. Certainly great for the holidays, but equally as wonderful as a breakfast treat. Especially if baked in bar form, which I'm planning on trying sometime soon.

It does look a little lop-sided, I know, but don't hold that against it! I didn't do the greatest job of leveling out the batter, but it is so craggy it is rather difficult to do...

I used a combination of dates, apricots, figs and cherries. Next time, the only change I would make fruit-wise would be to use a slightly higher proportion of cherries, because they added a delightful tang to the cake. Everything else was great - the crunch of the fig seeds, the chewy gooeyness of the dates, the soft sweetness of the apricots. Really, this is so good.

The recipe calls for 3/4 cup sugar, which isn't a whole lot under other recipe circumstances, but this has so much dried fruit in it, which is naturally so sweet, I think the sugar could be reduced considerably. Don't cut it out entirely, though, or you won't get that yummy coating.

I used part whole wheat, simply because I ran out of unbleached, but there is so little flour in this, I think you could use just about any kind. I think buckwheat would be fantastic, or kamut, or all whole wheat. I think this cake could very easily be made gluten-free as well.

In addition to being unbelievably, incredibly delicious, this recipe is also ridiculously easy. I made it for brunch last weekend, and threw it together in a matter of minutes after our guests had arrived. Easy, delicious, what more could you ask for? And a fruitcake at that!

Dried Fruit and Nut Cake

adapted from Pure Dessert by Alice Medrich

1/2 cup unbleached white flour

1/4 cup whole wheat flour

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup palm sugar (though next time I will use more like 1/3 - 1/2 cup)

1 cup dried fruit (I used un-sulphured apricots, cherries and figs) chopped into medium-sized pieces.

2 cups medjool dates, quartered

3 cups walnut halves

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3 large eggs

Preheat oven to 300. Line a 9" x 5" loaf pan with parchment. Combine flours, baking soda, baking powder, salt and palm sugar in large bowl. Add dried fruit and nuts and toss with your hands. In a small bowl, whisk together eggs and vanilla extract. Pour into large bowl, toss until all of the fruit and nuts appear well-coated. It will not look like there is enough batter to form a cake, but trust me, there is. Pour into prepared loaf pan, and smooth as well as you can. Bake for about 1 hour 15 - 1 hour 20 minutes. If it looks like it is browning too quickly, place a foil tent over it. After removing from oven, let the cake sit in the load pan for about 5 minutes, then, using the edges of the parchment, lift the loaf out and cool on rack for 45 minutes before cutting into it.

Buckwheat Scones with Pears & Chocolate

Scones have always been one of my favorite breakfast treats. When I was in high school, there was a local baker that brought them by every morning for us to but for breakfast, and just about every day, I bought one. The only flavor available was currant, but they were wonderful. Tender and creamy. I never did a lot of scone baking until recently, it was always biscuits in my house. I am so glad that that has changed, however, because scones are so fantastic. It is also the perfect thing to make in a large quantity then freeze, baking them as I need them.

I had some pears that needed to be used, and hadn't made scones for a while, so I started looking for a pear scone recipe and found this one at My Recession Kitchen. The thing that was most intriguing to me about these scones was the method for incorporating the add-ins - instead of incorporating them directly into the dough, the dough is rolled out, then sprinkled with the pears and chocolate, then rolled up a la cinnamon roll, then cut into slices. Genius! No fruit leaking juices into the dough creating extra moisture, no need to work fast to keep frozen fruit from thawing, no messy bleeding color from other fruits you could use, like strawberries, cranberries, blackberries, etc...

The technique worked perfectly, and these were fabulous scones. There is a lot of room to play around here, the filling possibilities are endless. I made some with chocolate and some without (for my son). I preferred the ones with chocolate. You wouldn't think that would be surprising, given my deep love for it, but I don't usually like it in breakfast treats. Of course, making them chocolate-free also makes them cane sugar-free (if you use palm sugar, as I did).

Buckwheat Scones with Pears & Chocolate

adapted from My Recession Kitchen

1 cup buckwheat flour

1 cup unbleached white flour

1/4 cup palm sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg

4 tablespoons butter, cut into small pieces and frozen

3/4 cup buttermilk

1 pear peeled and chopped into small chunks

2 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped into bigger-than-chip-size pieces

Preheat oven to 425. In a medium-sized bowl, combine flours, palm sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg. Drop butter pieces in, and working with a pastry blender, cut it in until the butter is well-distributed and there are pieces of varying sizes throughout the flour-mixture. Add buttermilk slowly, tossing mixture with pastry blender until all dry ingredients have been moistened. When a dough has formed, turn it out onto a well-floured board, and knead 8 times. Roll dough out into a 12" x 12" square. Fold into thirds, like a business letter, then fold into thirds again, forming a thick square. Wrap dough in plastic and place in freezer for 5 minutes. Remove dough from freezer and roll out into 12" x 12" square again. Sprinkle pear and chocolate chunks over surface of dough. Roll dough into a log. Cut log into 4 equal pieces, then cut each piece diagonally into a wedge. Place wedges on buttered baking sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes. Or freeze wedges, and bake them without thawing first, adding a minute or two to the baking time.

* If you need extra instruction on forming the scones, there are great step-by-step photos in the My Recession Kitchen post that is linked above

SMS: Raised Waffles with Warm Palm Sugar Bananas

I have not been a good SMSer lately, and I apologize to my fellow bakers! I skipped last week, and then I went and skipped this week's recipe, plus I've been a terrible commenter. At least a new year is coming up and I can resolve to be better...

In the meantime, I have some fantastic waffles for you. (Which were actually the pick for last week, so I am making an attempt to catch up.)

I received a wonderful cast iron waffle maker for Mother's Day this year, though had yet to make any waffles with it, because it required seasoning, and I hadn't gotten around to it. I was so excited to finally pull it out and put in the work to make it useable, because it made the best waffles I have ever eaten. I'm not sure how much of that can be attributed to the waffle iron and how much to the recipe, but let me tell you, these were fantastic.

The texture was amazing. I have never had a waffle that was so crispy on the outside, and so tender on the inside. No sogginess here, even when drenched in maple syrup and warm bananas. We folded ours over to eat them like a sandwich, with all of the bananas and maple syrup on the inside. Oh my. I was so glad I only made a half recipe, so that 2 waffles was my limit...

I made a lot of changes in the recipe: I used instant yeast, I doubled the amount of nutmeg and added 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (remember, this was a half recipe), added 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, used 3 teaspoons of palm sugar, and I was out of eggs so I used 2 tablespoons of tapioca powder as an egg substitute.

The banana topping was divine. I used palm sugar in place of brown sugar, and added about 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract. I didn't put the maple syrup in the topping, but poured it on my waffles separately, and it was wonderful.

This was the first raised waffle I have ever had, and I can certainly say it won't be the last.

This recipe was chosen by Lauren of Fried Pickles and Ice Cream. Sorry I was a little late with these, Lauren! You can find the recipe on her blog.

BBA Challenge: Whole Wheat English Muffins

I've always enjoyed English Muffins, but they aren't something I ever remember to buy. I was really excited to make my own for the BBA Challenge. They looked simple enough, and they are cooked in a skillet before being transferred to the oven to bake through which looked like a lot of fun to do.

English Muffins were supposed to have been posted oh, I don't know, a month or so ago... I made them on schedule, but they were a total flop. I felt defeated and deflated and hadn't made bread since. Then I saw Nancy's post on her English Muffins and I was inspired to try again.

Everything that went wrong the first time - they were huge and round like rolls, they burned on both sides in the skillet, they had no flavor - was remedied this time around. To combat the lack of flavor, I used 5oz whole wheat bread flour and 5oz unbleached white flour. This added a wonderful complexity that was earthy, a little sweet, and very hearty. Once I put my risen dough balls into the skillet, I pressed them down with a spatula to flatten them. I may have lost my nooks and crannies that are typical of English Muffins, but I much preferred them this way. I think I may have had my burner on too high the first time around, hence the burning, so I was very careful to have a rather low flame for their time in the pan. I also used salted butter instead of oil, and let me tell you what a brilliant idea that was! It added just a hint of saltiness, that played so well off of the crunchy caramelized spots on the crust. So, so good.

I am very pleased to say that I really look forward to making these again. Though I'll probably double the batch and freeze some, because they are already gone (and were only baked last night!).

The recipe for these English Muffins can be found in The Bread Baker's Apprentice by Peter Reinhart. A must-have book if you enjoy baking bread at home.

Whole Wheat Apple Muffins

My son loves muffins. His nickname for most of his life has been Muffin. So, I try to make muffins for him as often as I can. When I saw these on Tracey's blog, I got to work right away. I had wanted a hearty breakfast treat with apples in it, and these were perfect.

The original recipe comes from the King Arthur Flour website. I made a few changes, the most significant being an egg substitute, as I was all out.

Whole Wheat Apple Muffins

adapted from King Arthur Flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup unbleached white flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 tablespoons arrowroot

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup palm sugar

1 cup buttermilk

2 large apples, peeled, cored and coarsely chopped

Preheat oven to 450. Grease and flour 12 muffin tin. Mix flours, baking powder, baking soda, arrowroot, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and 3/4 cup of palm sugar, beating for about 2 minutes, until fluffy. With the mixer on low, add the buttermilk in a stream. Don't worry if the mixture looks curdled, it will be fine once the dry ingredients are in. Stir in dry ingredients, mixing until just incorporated. Stir in apple pieces. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups, sprinkle remaining 1/4 cup of sugar on top. Bake for 10 minutes at 450, then turn oven down to 400 and bake for another 15-20 minutes, or until a tester inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean. Let the muffins cool for 5 minutes in the pan, then transfer to wire rack.

I made 6 muffins and 2 mini loaves. They baked in the same amount of time

We loved these. They are a wonderful Fall breakfast treat. Fluffy, just barely sweet, full of apples, and they have a light crunch on top from the sugar that is sprinkled on before baking. I wasn't sure how the palm sugar would do as a topping, but it worked great.

This is definitely one I'll be making again.

TWD: Sweet Potato Biscuits (one week late)

We're biscuit people, my family. I grew up eating them every Sunday along with fried green tomatoes and cheese grits. We never celebrate a birthday or holiday without biscuits, and will use pretty much any excuse to whip up a batch. I was so intrigued and excited about making these Sweet Potato Biscuits, but things kept getting in the way.

This week we were supposed to make a brownie torte, but I failed to read the recipe until 9:00 last night, at which point I realized that I was missing several key ingredients. So, I thought I'd make the biscuits that I was unable to make last week.

I knew from reading people's blogs that there were problems with the dough coming together, and with the biscuits rising. I used fresh sweet potato that I baked then mashed, and just under a cup was nowhere near enough moisture in my dough. I added about 2/3 cup of heavy cream a little at a time until my dough came together. It worked perfectly!

These biscuits were fluffy and delicious, though I must say, I kept thinking there was cheese in them because of their orange color and the little flecks of sweet potato, and I was confused every time I took a bite. The sweet potato flavor is not terribly strong, though it is there. They are barely sweet, and delicious just as they are, though my son enjoyed a couple fresh out of the oven with a little honey drizzled on them. Next time I make them I'll add more nutmeg, because I couldn't really taste it and I wanted to.

Thanks to Erin of Prudence Pennywise for this delicious - not to mention quick and easy - choice. You can find the biscuit recipe on her blog.

I'll try to make this week's torte before next Tuesday...