I can't seem to remember how I first found the recipe, featured back in February in the Boston Globe. But it sounded yummy, so I saved it. (Huh. Exactly seven months to the day it was published. How bizarre.)
I had weird feelings from the get go. The batter looked funny before I added the dry ingredients, but I double-checked and everything was correct, so... just chalked it up to something being weird.
And I don't know if it was that weirdness in the start that just carried through or what, but the taste leaves a lot to be desired. And they certainly aren't as pretty as the ones on the Boston Globe website. The recipe is there, if anyone's interested, but these definitely aren't worthy in my eyes. *shrug*
Showing posts with label baking boo-boos. Show all posts
Showing posts with label baking boo-boos. Show all posts
9.13.2008
9.06.2008
Buttermilk Muffins
Oh, man. I'm glad that this wasn't the first thing I baked yesterday. Because if it was? I would've taken it as a sign that the Baking Gods really didn't want me in the kitchen.
First, I put the flour in the wrong bowl at first. Had to switch bowls, wash the bowl out again. Then realized I didn't have enough nutmeg. In an attempt to add some more spice, when I opened the cinnamon, I forgot it didn't have the little, um, sprinkle-guard-thingie, and like two tablespoons' worth went in the bowl. Oh, and the piece de resistance? My buttermilk went bad. *sigh*
The recipe is originally from Mimi's Cafe, which is a great restaurant that's mostly on the west coast and midwest. They have a New Orleans feel to them, have a fabulous five-cheese grilled cheese sandwich, and you get a muffin with any soup or salad. And these aren't just ordinary muffins. Jumbo size muffins that are just... delicious. I'm a big fan of the carrot raisin, but this buttermilk one comes in at a close second. If you can get to a Mimi's, by all means, go! Have a muffin and think of me, all the way out here in MA, with no Mimi's for many, many miles.
Being that I had such issues with the making, mine taste nothing like the original. Substitution buttermilk never tastes the same as the real thing. That and the spice mix-ups, too. But, despite my fears, they don't taste all that bad. I just had one for breakfast, actually. The topping of sugar and cinnamon gets a bit crunchy, and that was my favorite part. :)
Ingredients:
2½ cups flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. nutmeg
1 cup sugar
½ cup butter, softened
3 eggs
½ tsp. cinnamon
3/4 cup + 1 Tbsp. buttermilk
Topping:
½ cup sugar
½ tsp. nutmeg
½ tsp. cinnamon
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375F. Line 12-16 muffin cups with paper liners.
Whisk together flour, baking soda, and nutmeg; set aside.
Cream butter and sugar until smooth. Add eggs. Alternately add flour mixture and buttermilk, beating just until combined. Fill muffin cups 3/4's full.
Mix topping ingredients in a small bowl. Sprinkle 1 Tbsp. on top of each muffin right before putting the pan in the oven.
Bake at 375F for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Let cool on wire rack. Eat warm or cooled down.
First, I put the flour in the wrong bowl at first. Had to switch bowls, wash the bowl out again. Then realized I didn't have enough nutmeg. In an attempt to add some more spice, when I opened the cinnamon, I forgot it didn't have the little, um, sprinkle-guard-thingie, and like two tablespoons' worth went in the bowl. Oh, and the piece de resistance? My buttermilk went bad. *sigh*
The recipe is originally from Mimi's Cafe, which is a great restaurant that's mostly on the west coast and midwest. They have a New Orleans feel to them, have a fabulous five-cheese grilled cheese sandwich, and you get a muffin with any soup or salad. And these aren't just ordinary muffins. Jumbo size muffins that are just... delicious. I'm a big fan of the carrot raisin, but this buttermilk one comes in at a close second. If you can get to a Mimi's, by all means, go! Have a muffin and think of me, all the way out here in MA, with no Mimi's for many, many miles.
Being that I had such issues with the making, mine taste nothing like the original. Substitution buttermilk never tastes the same as the real thing. That and the spice mix-ups, too. But, despite my fears, they don't taste all that bad. I just had one for breakfast, actually. The topping of sugar and cinnamon gets a bit crunchy, and that was my favorite part. :)
Ingredients:
2½ cups flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. nutmeg
1 cup sugar
½ cup butter, softened
3 eggs
½ tsp. cinnamon
3/4 cup + 1 Tbsp. buttermilk
Topping:
½ cup sugar
½ tsp. nutmeg
½ tsp. cinnamon
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375F. Line 12-16 muffin cups with paper liners.
Whisk together flour, baking soda, and nutmeg; set aside.
Cream butter and sugar until smooth. Add eggs. Alternately add flour mixture and buttermilk, beating just until combined. Fill muffin cups 3/4's full.
Mix topping ingredients in a small bowl. Sprinkle 1 Tbsp. on top of each muffin right before putting the pan in the oven.
Bake at 375F for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Let cool on wire rack. Eat warm or cooled down.
8.29.2008
The Lemon Bars That... Weren't.
I set out the other day to make some lemon bars. Ya know, they usually have the shortbread cookie base and then the lemon-yellow almost-custardy filling. The traditional lemon bar, right?
Well, I found a recipe on Allrecipes that used a graham cracker crust instead. Which would be better for my dad since he has a hard time with really crunchy or harder textures. Alright, good deal. So I'm mixing it together, and the batter seems to taste decently enough, with some added lemon juice. It goes in the oven.
Twenty-five minutes later? It looks like some sort of lovechild between a blondie and a biscuit. And that's the nicest thing to say about it.
But the strangest part? Everyone else in this house loves it. The entire pan was gone by last night. I don't get it. It has the texture of a blondie for the most part. The bottom part, near the crust, is a bit moister, but it's still a lemon blondie as far as I'm concerned. The people living here must be crazy. ;)
I'm going with a Baking Bites recipe tomorrow morning, and I'm quite certain that one will be a winner.
And that I'll get a picture before the masses descend upon it.
Well, I found a recipe on Allrecipes that used a graham cracker crust instead. Which would be better for my dad since he has a hard time with really crunchy or harder textures. Alright, good deal. So I'm mixing it together, and the batter seems to taste decently enough, with some added lemon juice. It goes in the oven.
Twenty-five minutes later? It looks like some sort of lovechild between a blondie and a biscuit. And that's the nicest thing to say about it.
But the strangest part? Everyone else in this house loves it. The entire pan was gone by last night. I don't get it. It has the texture of a blondie for the most part. The bottom part, near the crust, is a bit moister, but it's still a lemon blondie as far as I'm concerned. The people living here must be crazy. ;)
I'm going with a Baking Bites recipe tomorrow morning, and I'm quite certain that one will be a winner.
And that I'll get a picture before the masses descend upon it.
11.24.2007
Baking Gone Wrong
As I was walking home from the library today, I started thinking about the four bags of Hershey's Candy Cane Kisses my mom had sent me. Yes, you read that correctly. Four bags. I know. And I thought that, hey, maybe, instead of making the peanut butter cookies with Kisses on the top, I'd try a chocolate cookie base, and top them with the Candy Cane Kisses.
I went with this recipe as the base, since it said that the cookies didn't spread very much. I felt the batter tasted a bit funky, but hey, the pineapple cake batter wasn't my favorite either, but the cake came out delicious, so...
Thankfully I only made a dozen. I took two bites of the cookie before tossing it out. I'll let others try, just to see, but I don't think this is a winner. Back to the drawing board...
I went with this recipe as the base, since it said that the cookies didn't spread very much. I felt the batter tasted a bit funky, but hey, the pineapple cake batter wasn't my favorite either, but the cake came out delicious, so...
Thankfully I only made a dozen. I took two bites of the cookie before tossing it out. I'll let others try, just to see, but I don't think this is a winner. Back to the drawing board...
9.22.2007
Almond Apple Bars
It really shouldn't have surprised me that my first time baking after vacation would have its difficulties. But, no. That never occurred to me. Let's see... I had softened the cream cheese in the microwave (I know, cardinal sin, but I had no choice). As I was about to put it into the mixing bowl, a piece of it 'exploded' and flew onto me. Did I mention I was wearing a tank top at the time? Yeah. Cream cheese burns.
Then, as I'm trying to grab an egg from the carton, it stuck a bit, so I applied more pressure. You know where this one's going, I'm sure. Egg, dripping onto my bare foot, down the front of my shirt and the front of my jeans. This is where I start crying because I have egg on my foot. And on the carpet. Finally get the egg off, Dave "edits" my egg-carton due to the broken one (which was not my fault! It was broken to begin with!) and gets the carpet cleaner out. And then I slip and nearly fall where the carpet spray hit the floor. Then start crying again.
*big sigh* It's probably good that Dave peeled and cut my apples for me, otherwise I'm sure I would've wound up in the emergency room. (Thank you, honey, for putting up with me, btw) ;)
Alright. Accidents aside, the recipe was pretty simple. I found it at Alpineberry earlier in the year and saved it in my "maybe trying" folder. With today's weather being rather autumny, I thought it was only appropriate.
The only thing I would do differently next time (and there will be a next time) is to add more spice to it. They're delicious as is, but I think some cinnamon or nutmeg would really jazz it up a bit. :)
Ingredients:
Crust:
1¼ cup all purpose flour
¼ tsp. salt
3 oz. cream cheese, softened
4 Tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
¼ tsp. pure almond extract
¼ tsp. pure vanilla extract
¼ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup light brown sugar
1/3 cup almonds, finely chopped
Topping:
2 Tbsp all purpose flour
2 Tbsp granulated sugar
2 Tbsp light brown sugar
¼ cup almonds, coarsely chopped
Filling:
5 oz. cream cheese, softened
½ cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
Pinch of salt
2-3 medium Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored & cut into thin slices
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 9-inch square baking pan.
For crust:
Sift flour and salt. Set aside dry ingredients.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the cream cheese and butter on medium speed until smooth. Add the almond and vanilla extracts, beating on medium until smooth. Add the granulated and brown sugars, and beat on medium speed until blended, scraping down the sides of the bowl once or twice.
On low speed, mix in the flour-salt mixture and the 1/3 cup of finely chopped almonds just until the dough comes together. Dough should be crumbly.
Reserve about 2/3 cup of the crust mixture (for the topping). Press the remaining dough evenly into the bottom of the prepared pan. Prick the dough all over with a fork. Bake for 16-18 minutes, or until light golden. Remove crust from the oven.
For the topping:
While the crust bakes, make the topping by adding the flour, granulated and brown sugars to the reserved dough. Mix until well combined. It should be crumbly. Set aside topping and 1/4 cup coarsely chopped almonds while you make the filling.
For the filling:
In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Beat in the egg, lemon juice and salt until well mixed.
Assembly:
Arrange the apple slices over the baked crust. Pour the cream cheese filling over the apples and gently spread the filling to cover. Crumble the topping over the filling. Sprinkle with the almonds.
Bake at 350F for 45-50 minutes, or until light golden brown. Let the bars cool in the pan for about 30 minutes. Remove from pan and cool completely on a cooling rack before cutting.
Then, as I'm trying to grab an egg from the carton, it stuck a bit, so I applied more pressure. You know where this one's going, I'm sure. Egg, dripping onto my bare foot, down the front of my shirt and the front of my jeans. This is where I start crying because I have egg on my foot. And on the carpet. Finally get the egg off, Dave "edits" my egg-carton due to the broken one (which was not my fault! It was broken to begin with!) and gets the carpet cleaner out. And then I slip and nearly fall where the carpet spray hit the floor. Then start crying again.
*big sigh* It's probably good that Dave peeled and cut my apples for me, otherwise I'm sure I would've wound up in the emergency room. (Thank you, honey, for putting up with me, btw) ;)
Alright. Accidents aside, the recipe was pretty simple. I found it at Alpineberry earlier in the year and saved it in my "maybe trying" folder. With today's weather being rather autumny, I thought it was only appropriate.
The only thing I would do differently next time (and there will be a next time) is to add more spice to it. They're delicious as is, but I think some cinnamon or nutmeg would really jazz it up a bit. :)
Ingredients:
Crust:
1¼ cup all purpose flour
¼ tsp. salt
3 oz. cream cheese, softened
4 Tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
¼ tsp. pure almond extract
¼ tsp. pure vanilla extract
¼ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup light brown sugar
1/3 cup almonds, finely chopped
Topping:
2 Tbsp all purpose flour
2 Tbsp granulated sugar
2 Tbsp light brown sugar
¼ cup almonds, coarsely chopped
Filling:
5 oz. cream cheese, softened
½ cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
Pinch of salt
2-3 medium Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored & cut into thin slices
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 9-inch square baking pan.
For crust:
Sift flour and salt. Set aside dry ingredients.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the cream cheese and butter on medium speed until smooth. Add the almond and vanilla extracts, beating on medium until smooth. Add the granulated and brown sugars, and beat on medium speed until blended, scraping down the sides of the bowl once or twice.
On low speed, mix in the flour-salt mixture and the 1/3 cup of finely chopped almonds just until the dough comes together. Dough should be crumbly.
Reserve about 2/3 cup of the crust mixture (for the topping). Press the remaining dough evenly into the bottom of the prepared pan. Prick the dough all over with a fork. Bake for 16-18 minutes, or until light golden. Remove crust from the oven.
For the topping:
While the crust bakes, make the topping by adding the flour, granulated and brown sugars to the reserved dough. Mix until well combined. It should be crumbly. Set aside topping and 1/4 cup coarsely chopped almonds while you make the filling.
For the filling:
In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Beat in the egg, lemon juice and salt until well mixed.
Assembly:
Arrange the apple slices over the baked crust. Pour the cream cheese filling over the apples and gently spread the filling to cover. Crumble the topping over the filling. Sprinkle with the almonds.
Bake at 350F for 45-50 minutes, or until light golden brown. Let the bars cool in the pan for about 30 minutes. Remove from pan and cool completely on a cooling rack before cutting.
9.01.2007
Oops
I've been having a bad time with headaches lately. Pretty much every day for this entire week, and a few times a week for a while before that. Dave told me after this morning's disasterous walk, that maybe I should take today off.
"No, I'll be fine," I insisted. Come on, with my heritage (English, Irish, Portuguese), of course I'm stubborn!
Thought I'd try something different. He wanted something with oats, peanut butter, and chocolate chips. Found one the other day.
I mixed it all together, found the dough to be a bit odd, but didn't really think anything of it. In, out of the oven. Looks decent enough.
It's not until he gets home from work and is about to put a slice of pizza in the microwave...
There's a bowl of melted butter in there.
Oops.
Well, that explains the oddness of the dough, right? :P
There's a lesson in this, of course: don't bake when you feel like your brain is mutinying upon itself.
As a side note, on Tuesday, we fly out for vacation (Woohoo! I'm going home! LOL), and while I'll still be baking there, I have no way to upload photos. So, most likely I'll post the recipe and then do pics later.
Enjoy your labor day weekends! :)
"No, I'll be fine," I insisted. Come on, with my heritage (English, Irish, Portuguese), of course I'm stubborn!
Thought I'd try something different. He wanted something with oats, peanut butter, and chocolate chips. Found one the other day.
I mixed it all together, found the dough to be a bit odd, but didn't really think anything of it. In, out of the oven. Looks decent enough.
It's not until he gets home from work and is about to put a slice of pizza in the microwave...
There's a bowl of melted butter in there.
Oops.
Well, that explains the oddness of the dough, right? :P
There's a lesson in this, of course: don't bake when you feel like your brain is mutinying upon itself.
As a side note, on Tuesday, we fly out for vacation (Woohoo! I'm going home! LOL), and while I'll still be baking there, I have no way to upload photos. So, most likely I'll post the recipe and then do pics later.
Enjoy your labor day weekends! :)
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