Category Archives: muffins, breads, biscuits, and sweet breads

Jun 11 1 comments
cookies, cakes, and cupcakes, grilled, barbequed, smoked, and fried, muffins, breads, biscuits, and sweet breads

Apple Sage Fritters

About a month ago I started a new job at the Jewish Museum of Maryland, working in their education and programming departments.  It’s amazing and I love it.  And, in an effort to keep work life separate, that is all I will say about it.  Except that I love my coworkers because they are sweet and wonderful and on occasion bring sage in from home.  Which, it turns out, I use by frying it.  Because I have to stay true to my roots.

There is something about sage where, when I smell it, I can only pictured it paired with a granny smith apple.  Sometimes that means on top of a burger or a pork chop, and other times that means in pie.  When I first started dreaming up the apple/sage dessert, I was picturing something akin to a hand pie.  Something bite sized but definitely in the realm of pie.  But I kept describing it to people (Dan) as a fritter.  Not because I can’t tell the difference between a pie and a fritter, but because apple sage fritter sounded better than apple sage pie. And because I’m crazy.

So I set out to make fritters.  And they were so good.  And I was in heaven.  And for a brief, fleeting moment (a week or so), I wanted to cheat on pie with fritters.  I’ve calmed down a bit, and now I just want to be polygamous.  Also, ALSO, I fried these on the grill.  Partially because I’m obsessed with my grill and partially because frying things on the grill is THE BEST THING EVER.  Because here’s the deal, internet.  Since I turned 18 and left the comfort of my parent’s house, where there was always pickled okra and tomatoes,  I’ve lived in apartments.  And you know what is NOT fun to do in apartments?  Fry things.  But, as a southerner who requires a quotient of fried food in her diet, I fried in my apartments.  And it was smoky and hot and messy.  But not any more.  Now I will fry ON MY GRILL.

Apple Sage Fritters

2 granny smith apples

1 cup fresh sage leaves

1/2 cup sugar

2 cups flour

2 cups cake flour

1/2 cup milk

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp baking powder

Pinch of salt

1 tsp cinnamon

Powdered sugar for sprinkling

Oil for frying

In a medium mixing bowl, combine milk, eggs, and vanilla.  In another mixing bowl combine flours, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and sugar.  Mince sage and add that.

Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.

Peel and dice your apples.  Fold them into the batter.

Place a large cast iron skillet directly on the grill and heat your oil to 350 degrees.  With a spoon (for a more freely shaped fritter) or an ice cream scoop (for a rounder fritter), drop your fritter into the oil.  The batter should sink and then float to the top.  Fry for 2-4 minutes and then, using a slotted spoon, turn them over.  Fry an additional 2-4 minutes or until both sides are golden brown.

Remove from oil and set on a paper towel.  Douse with powdered sugar.  Let cool, and devour.

Apr 19 0 comments
muffins, breads, biscuits, and sweet breads

Ramp & Cheddar Biscuits

The smell that always makes me breathe deep, wrap my arms around myself, and sigh in delight is, oddly enough, the smell of freshly mowed wild onions.  Nothing smells more like spring, not the Bradford Pears or the warm air.  It’s the tart, stinky smell that makes it seem like the world has come alive again.  So it is no wonder, knowing that stinky onions equate spring for me, that I love ramps so much.

Ramps are a member of the onion family, a long leafy green attached to a small bulb.  They grow wildly and are most easily found in the woods (if you know where to look) or at your local farmers market.  While there are many things to do with the bulbs (pickle them, saute them, etc) I threw mine in the freezer for future use and focused on the greens.  Like most pungent flavors, I find that ramps pair nicely with cheese, and in the form of a bread.  I’ve had ramp scones and ramp muffins, ramp cornbread and ramp sourdough, but I think that these ramp biscuits have been my favorite variant yet.

I served them with a fig jam (which by the way was amazing and got me so jazzed for figs to be in season that I cried a little in anticipation of the summer months) which was the perfect pairing.  The sweet jam played off the ramps in a fun way, and it all felt very spring.  I suggest you make them.  Go forth to your local farmers markets, pick up some ramps, and make biscuits!  Lots and lots of biscuits!

Ramp & Cheddar Biscuits

1 1/4 cups self rising flour

3/4 cup pastry flour (or cake flour)

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/8 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 tbsp sugar

4 tbsp cold butter

2 tbsp melted butter (for glazing)

1 1/4 cup heavy cream

1/4 cup all purpose flour (for shaping the biscuits, not to go into the mix)

1/2 cup fresh ramp leaves, diced

1/2 cup white cheddar cheese, grated

Preheat the oven to 475(f).  Whisk together the dry ingredients, the cheese, and the ramps.  Use fingers to incorporate cold butter.  With the butter, you really just have to knead it with your fingers until the mixture has a course texture, like corn meal.  Pour in cream.  Stir (preferably with a wooden spoon) until dough forms.  It’s okay if the dough is a little sticky, you’ll work it out on the countertop.

Sprinkle the all purpose flour onto the countertop and scoop your dough onto it.  Use your hands to flatten it out.  I like to flatten it a little, flip it, and flatten it some more.  This method ensures that one side doesn’t get over worked, which is important.  If your dough (and this goes for any dough, really) ever gets too sticky and unmanageable, pop it into the fridge for twenty minutes or so.  The stickiness is really coming from the butter getting too warm, so cooling it off will allow it to firm up a bit.  Using a biscuit cutter (or whatever you have laying around), cut the dough into circular shapes.  Place on ungreased baking pan.

Now, I put aside the measuring cup that I used to hold the heavy cream and melt the butter for glazing in that.  It just gives it an extra creaminess.  Using a baking brush, brush melted butter on top of the biscuits.  Bake for 10-12 minutes.

Makes 6 biscuits

Mar 24 9 comments
muffins, breads, biscuits, and sweet breads

Corn Bread

For the past few months, I’ve been participating in the Bread Baker’s Apprentice Challenge, an online challenge that has bloggers (and presumably other home cooks) baking their way through Peter Reinhart’s The Bread Baker’s Apprentice. This book, I have come to discover, is a bastion of bread baking tips, the ultimate home baker’s guide to bread.  It’s been slow going because I can do, at most, two loaves a week, but I’m really enjoying it.  I didn’t originally intend on sharing the recipes here because a lot of people are participating in this project and the last thing you need is my take on something that’s been said 1000 times.  Unless it’s me reiterating for the 1000th time that I love pie.

The reason I decided to post this particular cornbread recipe, however, is because it knocked my socks off.  It was out of this world good- brown sugar and honey in the bread itself topped with delicious bacon.  Thank you Mr. Reinhart, I will never make another cornbread.  Until the next amazing recipe I find.  God, I love cornbread.

Anyway, this week for the zillionth time this year I’m sick and since the weather had been rainy, I indulged in a favorite comfort meal- chili and cornbread.  I won’t lie and say it healed me (it’s not magic cornbread), but it did make me feel warm, happy, and totally loved.  Bacon has that effect.

A side note about bacon, this recipe calls for rendered bacon fat.  Which, is not a problem because I had to cook bacon for the recipe, but sometimes you want the essence of bacon without, you know, the bacon.  Which is why I like to keep a few tablespoons of bacon fat in the freezer.  I simply pour it, while it is still hot, into a glass measuring cup and then when it’s cooled a bit (but not solidified), I pour it into small glass jars and freeze.  Then, I have it ready whenever I need it.  Bacony advice from me, to you.

Corn Bread
Source: Peter Reinhart’s The Bread Bakers Apprentice

1 cup (6 oz) coarse cornmeal (or grits)

2 cups (16 oz) buttermilk

10 slices (8 oz) bacon

1 3/4 cups (8 oz) all purpose flour

1 1/2 tbsp (.75 oz) baking powder

1/4 tsp (.05 oz) baking soda

1 tsp (.25 oz) salt

1/4 cup (2 oz) sugar

1/4 cup (2 oz) brown sugar

3 large eggs

2 tbsp (1.5 oz) honey

2 tbsp (1 oz) unsalted butter, melted

2 1/2 cups (16 oz) fresh or frozen kernels

2 tbsp (1 oz) bacon fat

I give the ounces here along with the normal measurements because that’s how Pete does it.  Is it too familiar to call him Pete?

The night before you want to make your cornbread, soak the cornmeal in the buttermilk, covered, and at room temperature.

When you’re ready to make the cornbread, start by making your bacon.  Bake at 375 for 15-20 minutes, or until crispy and golden brown.  Drain the fat into a glass or metal container and let the bacon cool.  When it’s cool, crumble and set aside.  Lower the oven temp to 350.

Mix together flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.  Stir in sugar and brown sugar.  In another bowl, beat eggs, lightly.  In yet another bowl, melt your butter and dissolve the honey in it.  Stir the honey mixture into the eggs, and add that to the cornmeal mixture.  Add the cornmeal mixture to the dry ingredients and stir with a large wooden spoon.  Mix in corn kernels (make sure to drain them if you buy them frozen).

Pour the bacon fat into a 10″ round cake pan (or a 9 x 12″ baking pan) and stick it in the oven.  Keep in the oven for 7-10 minutes or until it’s piping hot.  With an oven mitt on, swirl the fat around and make sure all the sides are greased.  Pour the batter into the hot pan.  Sprinkle the bacon over the top evenly.  Bake for 30-45 minutes until the center is solid and it’s golden brown.

Let cool 15 minutes and serve.  And enjoy!

Feb 24 2 comments
biscuitsandsuch news, muffins, breads, biscuits, and sweet breads

Bobbie’s Rolls

This past weekend I took a trip to Durham that I’d been planning for months.  You see, Paula Deen was coming to the Durham Performing Arts Center.  I know that everyone has mixed feelings about Paula Deen but y’all, I find her completely entertaining.  And that’s what she is, an entertainer.  The show was pitched as her and her sons, Jamie and Bobby, telling stories and cooking food with too much butter.  So my mom, my dear friend Megan, and I got tickets and we were SO PUMPED.

You know where this is going.  If you follow me on twitter you’ll have seen the disappointed tweets I sent out into the universe after she up and cancelled her whole east coast tour.  Her excuse was something to do with a lousy production manager and not wanting to put on a sub-par show but frankly, after driving all the way to North Carolina to see her, I would have taken anything.  I was devastated and angry and might not even watch her show for a while.  I won’t go so far as to cut butter out of my diet, but I am definitely not pleased.

With or without Paula I had other things planned in Durham, so I made the trek down.  It was a great weekend full of lots and lots of margaritas, a few photoshoots, so much gossiping and catching up that I lost my voice, and time spent with some of my favorite people.  I got to partake in some of my favorite Durham activities, try some new restaurants, and take in the 70 degree weather (which, after all this damn snow, felt like heaven).

My mom convinced me to stay an extra day so I got back Monday night and much of yesterday was spent grocery shopping, editing photos from the aforementioned photoshoots, and recovering from the aforementioned margaritas.  Which means that last night we dined on leftover turkey soup and some of my grandmother’s rolls.  These are the perfect dinner rolls, fluffy and warm and ideal for paring with soups, stews, and butter.  Butter that I will not be dedicating to Paula Deen.

In other news, I’ve set up a formspring account, for the asking of questions.  This is in addition to our FAQ page and is really just a place for you to ask anything, anonymously (or not).  They don’t have to be food related, so ask away!

afternoon sun in my brother’s farm house

Bobbie’s Rolls

1 cup whole milk

2 tbsp sugar

2 tbsp vegetable shortening

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp yeast

1/4 cup warm water

1 egg, beaten

2 cups bread flour

1 tbsp butter, melted

Scald the milk.  Stir in sugar, salt, and shortening, remove from heat.  Allow to cool to lukewarm.

Dissolve yeast in warm water.  Stir into milk mixture.  Add in egg.  Stir in flour, 1/2 cup at a time, until a soft dough forms.  Knead 10 minutes.  Form into a ball.  Grease a bowl and place the dough in, flipping once.  Cover and let rise 1 hour.

Cover a baking sheet in parchment paper.  Divide the dough into 8-10 pieces.  Form a ball by pinching the dough at the base of the ball so the top is tight.  Cluster dough balls together on the baking sheet.  Cover and let rise another hour.

Brush the tops with melted butter.  Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown.

Jan 10 0 comments
muffins, breads, biscuits, and sweet breads

Basic White Bread

This weekend was Dan’s 25th birthday.  I know, a big deal right?  No, you don’t think it’s a big deal?  Whatever, we’re pet and childless, we just got married, and this is the biggest birthday we’ve had to celebrate since I turned 21.  Incidentally both weekends ended with bacon, egg, and cheese croissants from City Cafe in Baltimore.  Emphasis on the bacon.

For Dan’s triumphant 25th birthday we took advantage of a wedding present from my mom’s good friends Elaine and Brenda, a stay at Baltimore’s new Hotel Monaco.  As you may know, we lived in Baltimore for quite some time, attending the Maryland Institute College of Art.  We now live in D.C., but we miss Baltimore and every square inch of that city holds a special place in our hearts.  So we spent the weekend taking in some of our favorite aspects of the Charm City.

Saturday started with cinnamon rolls and quickly phased into Dan being blindfolded.  You see, I’d been keeping the destination of our big weekend away a secret (a difficult task) for months.  So I made him wear a blindfold for the drive and doubled back a few times to throw him off.  Unfortunately for me he’s been watching too many crime shows in HD because he figured my plan out months ago.  Surprise or not we ended up at Holy Frijoles, hands down the best chimichanga I’ve ever had.  The service leaves a lot to be desired but it’s always worth it for those chimichangas.

After lunch we went to The Wine Source in Baltimore, where Dan picked out some birthday scotch.  He picked out a sampler box and a holiday blend.  Then it was onto the hotel, where we were upgraded to a suite covered in rose petals.  After such an undertaking as the Holy Frijoles chimichanga (and margarita) a nap is in order.  So we rested, watched some travel channel, enjoyed some wine and scotch.  After the hotel’s complimentary cocktail hour we had dinner at their restaurant, the B&O American Brasserie whose Chef Reidt was named one of the “Top New Chefs” in 2001.  Dinner was amazing.  So amazing that I was motivated to try both duck and creme brulee for the first time.

This morning we awoke to, well, hangovers.  We stopped by City Cafe for brunch, indulging in the aforementioned bacon, egg, and cheese croissants.  And lots and lots of coffee.  When we got home to Takoma Park today we were tired, cold, and beat.  Which meant that a trip to the grocery store and the whole “preparing for the week” thing was absolutely the last on my list.  Part of my new culinary life list is a commitment to make all of our own bread.  For a few weeks I’ve been baking this delicious white bread from the recipe book that came with our Kitchen Aid Mixer.  It’s fluffy and just a little sweet with a perfectly crunch crust.   It’s just the first step in my commitment to learning bread baking techniques, my hope is to one day make our own hangover croissants.

Basic White Bread
Source: Kitchen Aid

5 to 6 cups flour

2 tbsp dry active yeast

1/2 cup skim milk

3 tbsp sugar

2 tsp salt

3 tbsp butter

1 1/2 cups warm water

In a sauce pan melt butter in milk and sugar.  When sugar has dissolved remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.

Dissolve yeast in warm water in warmed mixing bowl.  Add milk mixture and 4 1/2 cups flour.  Attach bowl to your stand mixer and begin to knead on speed 2 with dough hook.

Continue to knead, adding the remaining flour 1/2 cup at a time.  Knead until the dough clings to the hook, and then an additional four minutes longer, or until the dough is smooth and elastic.

Grease a mixing bowl and place the dough inside, turning once.  Cover and let rise in a warm spot for an hour.  Punch down and divide in half.  Roll out on a nonstick surface.  Tuck ends in and roll into a loaf shape.  Place in a greased bread pan, cover, and let rise another hour.  Bake at 400 for 30 minutes.  Turn out onto a wire rack and let cool.