Just Baking

Of all the recipes I made last year, this one was my favorite. It is tangy and moist, sweet and flavorful. I make it at least once a month, whenever the craving hits. It hits often.

Cornbread Supreme

Makes one 9″ x 13″ pan

2 boxes Jiffy cornbread mix (7 1/2 oz. each)
16 oz. container sour cream
1 cup margarine or butter, melted
1 (16 oz.) can whole kernel corn, drained
1 (16 oz.) can cream-style corn
4 eggs, slightly beaten
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (optional)

1. In a large bowl, combine cornbread mix, sour cream, butter, whole kernel corn, cream style corn, and eggs. Place in a lightly greased 9″ x 13″ baking dish and sprinkle with 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese. Bake at 350 degrees F for 45 to 50 minutes or until golden on top and cooked through.

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Breakfast has a precious place in my life. I can’t imagine a single day without it. I just can’t, both for the good sake of my body and my mood. I can’t leave my house without my breakfast, even when the purpose of my outing is to have breakfast. (Got it?) Until now nothing to ramble about you might say, but where it starts to be alarming is when I find myself every night, while trying to fall asleep, thinking about what I am going to have for breakfast tomorrow. My brain starts wandering if it’s going to be cold in my kitchen and if I would have to wear my warm slippers and probably my fake Asian kimono dressing robe to face the cool day; if I will have time to sit down with my beloved and early-morning-chatty husband before he goes out to work, or if I would have to wait until he is out and have my breakfast quietly without feeling rushed; and God knows how much I hate being rushed when I’m eating. If I should have granola, toasts, leftover bread crumbled with some milk or prepare something special for breakfast. (My grandfather and I used to play a game during breakfast that consisted of crumbling bread as quickly as possible into our mug of milk. Every time he tried to distract me from winning by faking faintness and by throwing some extra bread in my mug.)

If I should have coffee or chocolate with my bowl of milk, which would require heating up the milk, which might slow me down a bit from sitting down with my chatty husband; and God knows how much I love listening to his cute jokes and childhood memories while I am trying to start off the engine of my sleepy brain.

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Sweet, savory, and tangy with citrus — this is one of my favorite ways to prepare carrots as a side dish, and, not coincidentally, it’s also one of the easiest!

Try this alongside any kind of grilled meat or poultry, and if you have any leftovers, dice them up and add them to a batch of couscous or rice for color and flavor.

Roasted Carrots with Cumin and Lime

• 8 carrots, washed and peeled
• 1/2 lime, cut into wedges
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Lime wedges to garnish

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray with nonstick cooking spray.

Cut carrots in half and quarter each half lengthwise. Place carrot pieces in a large mixing bowl and squeeze lime juice over. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with cumin, minced garlic, and salt and pepper to taste. Toss well to coat evenly. Pour carrots out onto baking sheet in a single layer and roast at 425 degrees for 20 to 30 minutes or until tender when pierced with a fork. Using a broad spatula, turn carrots over halfway through roasting.

Serve with lime wedges, if desired.

Makes 4 to 6 servings

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Biscotti is a large-coffeehouse-chain staple. Everywhere you go, there are those huge glass jars layered with these perfectly identical Italian cookies ready to be dunked into hot beverages across the country. I never really enjoy these commercial biscotti because I find them more rock-hard than crisp and dry as they should be. Perhaps because of this aversion, I don’t make them very often at home, but when asked by family, I relent.

Biscotti is a double-baked cookie (plural of Italian biscotto, roughly meaning “twice baked”; also the translation of “biscuit”). After making the dough (which is sticky), it has to be shaped into logs and then baked. Afterwards, they’re taken out of the oven, cooled, and sliced. From there, you pop them back in the oven to golden them up and get them crisp. I have tried different recipes, some of which brown more quickly than others, but I found with this Canadian Living recipe, the biscotti turned out perfectly. They were nicely golden on the outside and, when cooled, were crunchy, dunkable, and thoroughly enjoyable. Eat them as is, or dress them up with a drizzle of chocolate or a dusting of icing sugar.

Almond Biscotti

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp each vanilla and almond extract
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsps baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup unbleached almonds
1 tbsp icing sugar

In bowl, beat butter with sugar until fluffy; beat in eggs, 1 at a time, then vanilla and almond extract. In separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt; add to butter mixture all at once, stirring just until combined. Stir in almonds.

Divide dough in half; with floured hands, shape each half into log about 12 inches (30 cm) long. Place, about 4 inches (10 cm) apart, on parchment paper-lined or greased rimless baking sheet; flatten each until about 3 inches (8 cm) wide, leaving top slightly rounded.

Bake in center of 350 F (160 C) oven for about 30 minutes or until firm and tops are just turning golden. Let cool on pan on rack for 10 minutes. Transfer to cutting board; with serrated knife, cut into 1/2-inch (1 cm) thick slices. Stand slices upright on two rimless baking sheets. Return to oven; bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until dry and crisp. Let cool on pans on racks. (Make Ahead: Layer between waxed paper in airtight container and store at room temperature for up to 1 week or freeze for up to 2 weeks.) Dust with icing sugar just before serving. Makes about 40 cookies.

Source: The Complete Canadian Living Cookbook, 2001

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Seized with a burning desire to tell us about what’s coming out of your oven these days? Don’t hold back! If you love to bake (cakes, cookies, pies, souffles, tarts, casseroles, quiches, roasts, vegetables, custards, game, breads, whatever goes into the oven!) and have some writing or blogging experience, why not consider joining the Just Baking team?

Just drop us a note at info@wellfed.net and let us know a bit about yourself (writing and/or blogging experience, including the URLs of any blogs you currently write for; what kinds of things you like to bake; what your level of baking expertise is — from beginner to pro, we’ll learn from you or alongside you).

If you have an enthusiasm for baking that keeps your oven hot, and enough passion about it to share your recipes and photos with others, we hope to hear from you! 

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Imposters!

I came up with the idea for Wannabe Portuguese Egg Tarts after seeing many pictures of egg tarts around the Web. I’ve never eaten an authentic egg tart — heck, I’ve never even seen one in person. These were my attempt to get something in the ballpark of what an egg tart would taste like. I didn’t quite get the dark brown top I was going for, but they were delicious nonetheless. If you are in the same boat as myself and aren’t able to get an authentic egg tart, I recommend trying these out.

Image & Recipe from Divine Domesticity

Wannabe Portuguese Egg Tarts
Makes 6 Tarts

• 1 package frozen puff pastry shells (6 shells come in a typical package)
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 1/2 T. cornstarch
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract or 1/2 vanilla bean
• 1/2 c. white sugar
• 3 egg yolks

1. Bake puff pastry shells at indicated temperature (about 400 degrees F), but only for 10 minutes. While baking, prepare the custard. In a saucepan, combine the milk, cornstarch, vanilla and sugar. Stirring constantly, bring up to a medium heat until thickened. Place egg yolks in a medium bowl. Slowly whisk 1/2 of milk mixture into the egg yolks. Gradually add the egg yolk mixture back into the remaining milk mixture, whisking constantly.

2. After 10 minutes, take puff pastry shells out of the oven and cut off the tops of the middle part of the shell. Fill with custard to the brim of each shell. Return to oven for approximately 10 minutes. (At this point I turned off the oven and let them sit for about 10 more minutes, I would recommend doing this.) Serve and enjoy!

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This week, our school is celebrating Teacher Appreciation Week. Every day this week, parents are encouraged to send in a little something for the teachers — a note of encouragement, maybe some home-baked cookies, whatever. And every morning in the teacher’s room, a continental-style breakfast awaits, supplied by parent volunteers. This year, my contribution was these Apple Walnut Muffins.

Everyone knows that apples are the traditional expression of giving a shout-out to teachers we love, and I have much love for the teachers at our school (full disclosure: my husband is one of them). So even though it’s not apple season, I think these are appropriate for the occasion.

The batter is a bit touchy, but don’t let it worry you. It won’t come together like normal muffin batter, but will remain dry and crumbly until the oven works its magic. Just heap it into the muffin cups and believe.

Apple Walnut Muffins

• 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup oil
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 large baking apples, peeled, cored, and chopped (I like Cortland, Empire, and Golden Delicious for these)
• 1 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray muffin pan with nonstick cooking spray.

In a medium mixing bowl, combine dry ingredients except for sugar (flour through salt) and set aside. In a large mixing bowl, stir together oil and sugar. Add eggs, vanilla, chopped apples, and walnuts; stir by hand until combined.

Add flour mixture to egg mixture and stir until all the dry ingredients are moistened. The batter will be dry and crumbly but no flour should still be visible.

Spoon heaps of batter into prepared muffin cups, filling two-thirds full. (These muffins do not rise much.)

Bake at 350 for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in center of muffin comes out clean and muffins are golden brown and look dry.

Let sit in pan for 5 minutes, then remove to wire rack to cool completely. Store leftover muffins in the refrigerator, or wrap in waxed paper and plastic or foil and freeze.

Makes 12 jumbo muffins or 24 regular muffins

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This morning my six-year-old woke up and was moping around before school, claiming “my tummy hurts.” He wasn’t running a fever, he ate a good breakfast, and was feeling good enough to torment his sisters. We walked up to school, I kissed him good-bye, and all was well. All was well except for the small nagging in the back of my head about his tummy hurting. His actions told me that he was feeling okay, but my instinct told me that maybe I should have listened to him.

Fast forward to 10:30 a.m., I am just getting ready to go and pick up the middle munchkin from preschool, and the phone rings. Sure enough, it was the school nurse. “I have Jacob in my office . . . he just got sick in class.” Ugh . . . “No, he didn’t make it to the bathroom, but he seems to be okay at the moment. How soon can you pick him up?” I was up there within minutes, feeling horrible that he had to be embarrassed in class simply because I didn’t listen to my instinct and keep him home. Bring on the mom of the year award, again!

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These are the cookies for when you need something dense, chocolatey, and brownie-licious — in cookie form. Keep a box of brownie mix on hand (my hands-down favorite mix, store brand or otherwise, is Wal-Mart’s Great Value. Really!), and when the craving for chewy, dense brownies strikes but you don’t want to wait for them to bake and then cool so you can cut them neatly from the pan, these will do the trick.

To serve, sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Big Brownie Cookies

• 1 (19.5 to 21.5-ounce size) box fudge brownie mix
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup oil
• 3 tablespoons water 
• 2 eggs

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Spray a baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Place all ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Stir until all dry ingredients are incorporated, but do not overmix. Drop by rounded tablespoons (I use a #40 scoop) onto the greased baking sheet. Leave at least 2 inches between cookies as these will spread. 
3. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, until cookies appear set and do not look “wet” in the middle. Let cookies sit on baking sheet for 3 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool.

*If desired, you can stir in 1 cup of white chocolate, semisweet chocolate, or peanut butter chips; 1 cup of chopped almonds or pecans; or 1 cup of M&MS or Reese’s Pieces before scooping and dropping onto cookie sheet.

Makes about 2 dozen cookies 

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Need a side dish for a steak or burgers? These oven-roasted potatoes come together in minutes, can be adapted to feed a crowd, and are a healthy alternative to French fries.

Oven-Roasted Potatoes with Garlic and Rosemary

• 4 russet potatoes, skin left on, well scrubbed and dried
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon dried rosemary, crumbled (or 1 tablespoon chopped fresh)
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Olive oil

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Spray a 9- x 13-inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Cut potatoes into cubes about 1 to 11/2 inches square. Place in medium mixing bowl and sprinkle with garlic, rosemary, salt and pepper. Drizzle generously with olive oil and toss to coat. Pour potatoes out into baking dish and arrange in a single layer. Roast at 400 degrees F for about 1 hour, or until potatoes are crispy on the outside and tender when pierced with a fork. Stir about halfway through cooking time.

Serves 4 to 6

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