Monday, October 27, 2008

Simple Pancakes


My favorite meal of the day is breakfast and I love to try new recipes to enhance my morning repertoire. These pancakes from King Arthur's are light and fluffy and straightforward to make. Feeling lazy, I didn't even use my mixer for these and they turned out great. I like the flavor of butter better than oil for pancakes, but either are fine. To play around with these, King Arthur recommends adding ground oats for part of the flour for a whole-grain version. I'll have to try this out next time! Continue for recipe.

Simply Perfect Pancakes

King Arthur Flour

2 large eggs
1 1/4 cups milk
3 tablespoons melted butter or vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 tablespoons sugar OR 1/4 cup malted milk powder

1. Beat the eggs and milk until light and foamy, about 3 minutes at high speed of a stand or hand mixer (also worked fine without the mixer for lazy days!). Stir in the butter or vegetable oil.

2. Whisk the dry ingredients together to evenly distribute the salt, baking powder and sweetener.

3. Gently and quickly mix into the egg and milk mixture. Let the batter rest for at least 15 minutes, while the griddle is heating; it"ll thicken slightly.

4. Heat a heavy frying pan over medium heat, or set an electric griddle to 350°F. Lightly grease frying pan or griddle. The pan or griddle is ready if a drop of water will skitter across the surface, evaporating immediately.

5. Drop 1/3 cupfuls of batter onto the lightly greased griddle. Bake on one side until bubbles begin to form and break, then turn the pancakes and cook the other side till brown. Turn over only once. Serve immediately.

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Sunday, October 19, 2008

Chocolate Chip Sour Cream Cake


I was really excited about this delicious looking coffeecake that I saw on the Smitten Kitten blog--a very yummy site. Sour cream cake with a layer of cinnamon and sugar in the middle and chocolate chips. I'm definitely a sucker for breakfast cakes! Although this was a very moist cake, I have to admit, probably not my favorite. It was ok though and it makes a large amount. I think I just prefer fruit coffee cakes instead of the chocolate. But I love the blog! Continue for recipe.

Chocolate Chip Sour Cream Cake

1 stick butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 eggs, separated
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
16 ounces sour cream
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

12 ounces chocolate chips
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350°F.

In a large bowl, cream butter and 1 1/2 cups sugar, then mix in the egg yolks and vanilla. Sift flour, baking soda and baking powder together into a separate bowl. Alternately add sour cream and then dry ingredients into butter mixture. Beat eggs whites until stiff, then fold into batter. Mix last 1/2 cup sugar and cinnamon together in a separate, small dish.

In a greased 9″x13″ pan, pour in half of the cake batter. Sprinkle the top with half of the cinnamon-sugar mixture and half of the chocolate chips. Pour remaining batter on top, sprinkling the top with the remaining cinnamon-sugar and chocolate chips.

Bake for 40 to 50 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean.

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Thursday, October 2, 2008

Pizza Night


Just a basic, simple crust! Nice texture and sturdy enough to support toppings. It's hard to go wrong with homemade pizza! Continue for recipe.


Easy Pizza Dough

2 1/4 cup bread flour
1 1/2 t salt
1 T sugar
2 T olive oil
2 t yeast
1 cup warm water

Mix sugar, oil, yeast, and water together and let sit for 5 min.
Add flour and salt and kneed for several minutes.
Let dough rise until doubled, about 1 hour.
Divide dough into 2 portions, shape into a loose ball, and let rest, covered, for 3o min.
Roll dough out on floured surface and bake!
Easy!

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Fabulous Banana Cookies

These are the BEST cookies!! I absolutely love them!! They are banana bread cookies--yum!! The banana really comes through in these cakey, moist treats that have a hint of cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg. Make them with nuts, chocolate chips, or both (I like chips myself). I'm always looking for great ways to use my browning bananas. Thanks Simply Recipes for posting these cookies from Garrett McCord of Vanilla and Garlic!! Continue for recipe.

Banana Cookies Recipe

1/2 cup of unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup of sugar
1 egg, room temperature
1 cup of mashed bananas (about 2 ½ large bananas)
1 teaspoon of baking soda
2 cups of flour
pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
pinch of nutmeg (optional)
1/2 teaspoon of ground cloves
1 cup of pecans (walnuts and chocolate chips are fine alternatives)

1 Preheat the oven to 350°F. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the egg and continue to beat until the mixture is light and fluffy.

2 In a bowl, mix the mashed bananas and baking soda. Let sit for 2 minutes. The baking soda will react with the acid in the bananas which in turn will give the cookies their lift and rise.

3 Mix the banana mixture into the butter mixture. Mix together the flour, salt, and spices and sift into the butter and banana mixture and mix until just combined.

4 Fold into the batter the pecans or chocolate chips if using. Drop in dollops onto parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Bake for 11-13 minutes or until nicely golden brown. Let cool on wire racks.

Makes about 30 cookies.


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Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies


Coming!

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

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