Summer Blackberry Muffins

I love the summer. Not only do I love the hot weather, but there are lots of things that go along with summer that I can't get enough of, like it's luscious fruit. I've been inspired a lot lately to bake with these ripe summer treasures and there is a fantastic organic produce store on the corner that I depend on for the best fruit you can find outside of a fresh farmer's market. Summer berries are some of my most favorite, and I really love blackberries, one because they are a sturdier berry, so therefore easier to work with than say, a tender and delicate raspberry, and because they have such an amazing flavor. I wanted to make something that highlighted the blackberry and didn't overpower it, instead letting it shine on it's own. I found a beautiful looking recipe at Williams-Sonoma's website and got to work.

The recipe was extremely easy to assemble, although I added a bit more flour and sugar to the topping recipe, as I love a sugary, crumbly topping. I also lined my muffin tin with paper liners, because I feel like they are just easier to deal with in every aspect, especially since these muffins were extremely dense with fruit....without the liners, it would have been very tricky to get them out of the wells of the pan. And of course I picked the muffin with the entire center made up of blackberries to take a picture of! But these were delicious and moist and the batter let the blackberries be the star of the show. Like the recipe says, you could substitute any berry you like, but I think I'll stick to blackberry. Enjoy!

Blackberry Muffins

Original recipe can be found here.

For the Topping:

1/3 cup sugar
3 Tbs. all-purpose flour
Grated zest of 1/2 lemon
2 Tbs. unsalted butter, melted

For the Muffins:

2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
Grated zest of 1/2 lemon
1/4 tsp. salt
1 egg, beaten
5 Tbs. unsalted butter, melted
1 cup buttermilk
2 cups fresh blackberries or 2 1/2 cups frozen unsweetened blackberries, unthawed

To Make the Muffins:

Preheat an oven to 375°F. Grease 12 standard muffin cups with butter or butter-flavored nonstick cooking spray, or put paper liners in muffin pan. To make the topping, in a small bowl, stir together the sugar, flour and lemon zest. Stir in the melted butter until the mixture is crumbly. Set aside.

To make the muffins, in a bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, lemon zest and salt. Make a well in the center and add the egg, melted butter and buttermilk. Stir just until evenly moistened. The batter will be slightly lumpy. Sprinkle with the blackberries and gently fold in with a large rubber spatula just until evenly distributed, no more than a few strokes. Take care not to break up the fruit. Do not overmix. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups, filling each to a bit above the rim of the cup. Top each muffin with the topping, dividing it evenly. Bake until the muffins are golden, dry and springy to the touch, and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool for 10 minutes. Unmold the muffins. Serve warm or at room temperature. Makes 12 muffins.

Rustic Apple Galette

I have been wanting to make a rustic fruit galette or free form tart for a long time. Something about the baked fruit, wrapped up in a flaky, browned crust without the perfect edges of a tart pan or pie dish appeals to me alot, but for some reason or another, other desserts always got made instead. Finally, I decided to try my hand at it, armed with a 100% 'would make it again' and 4 fork rated recipe (with a photo!) from one of my most favorite websites, Epicurious.com.

The dough came together very easily and was a perfect consistancy with no additional water added. I use a mandoline or food slicer to get perfectly uniform apple slices, and highly recommend them. I have this one, which is wonderful, and I definitely believe that a good mandoline is an essential tool to have in your kitchen. I had a bit of difficulty rolling out the dough between two pieces of parchment, with it sliding around a lot, but once it rolled out a bit, it became easier. My crust had a bit more overlap than in the recipe picture, but I have always loved that look anyway, so it was perfect. As a tip, I would wait to slice your apples until you put your rolled out crust back in the fridge to chill, to minimize the chance of your apples browning. I had quite a few apple slices left, but they were a delicious snack while I was watching TV, waiting for the galette to be done. The galette was done exactly as timed in the recipe and I have to say that it was just as gorgeous as the picture! I always love that feeling of pride when the things I bake turn out beautifully....it's a great sense of accomplishment, especially when it tastes as good as it looks, which I am told, it did. That's right, I didn't even get a slice after bringing in to work, although I take that as a very big compliment!

This is a simple, homey, and delicious dessert that would be wonderful for breakfast or dessert or any time of day! Enjoy!

Apple Galette

Original recipe can be found here.

For the Galette:

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
2 tablespoons (or more) ice water
1 1/2 pounds Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, cut into 1/8-inch-thick slices
4 tablespoons sugar, divided
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon peel
1/4 cup apricot preserves
Whole milk

To Make the Galette:

Blend flour and salt in processor. Add butter and blend, using on/off turns, until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add 2 tablespoons ice water and blend just until dough begins to clump together, adding more ice water by teaspoonfuls if dough is dry. Gather dough into ball; flatten into disk. Wrap in plastic and chill 1 hour. Soften slightly at room temperature before rolling out.

Roll out dough between sheets of parchment paper to 1/8-inch-thick round, 14 inches in diameter. Remove top sheet of parchment. Using bottom sheet as aid, transfer dough on parchment to large unrimmed baking sheet. Chill 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 450°F. Combine apple slices, 2 tablespoons sugar, and lemon peel in medium bowl; toss to blend. Spread preserves over crust, leaving 1 1/2-inch plain border. Arrange apple slices in concentric circles atop preserves, overlapping slightly. Using parchment as aid, fold plain crust border up over apples, pinching any cracks in crust. Brush crust with milk. Sprinkle crust edges and apples with remaining 2 tablespoons sugar.

Bake galette 20 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 375°F and continue baking until crust is golden, about 30 minutes longer. Remove from oven. Slide long thin knife between parchment and galette. Let stand at least 10 minutes. Cut into wedges and serve warm or at room temperature.

Amended Lemon Cornmeal Cookies

A few years ago, my roommate Chris gave me a beautiful little cookbook called 'Luscious Lemon Desserts' by Lori Longbotham. It is a gorgeous book, with wonderful photography and lots of amazing looking desserts. The other day, I was looking through it for recipes that I could make with things that I already had in my kitchen, when her Lemon-Black Pepper Cornmeal Cookies caught my eye. Well, truth be told, it caught my eye because I was a little taken aback at the combination, and read a bit more. She goes on to promise that you don't really pick up on the black pepper flavor, but feel a nice warmth from it instead, but if you wanted, you could substitue ground ginger instead of the pepper. I was sold.

The dough was simple to make, but be warned, it is very soft and sticky, so much so that I though I might have not added all the flour or cornmeal I was supposed to! Another problem I had was that I chilled the dough for too long and tried to cut slices right after I took the dough out of the fridge, which resulted in the dough crumbling. I would say the perfect consistency for cutting the dough is when it slightly gives to a medium firm press of your finger, with it softer around the edges than in the middle. The good thing about the dough, even if it's too firm or too soft, is that it's very forgiving, and when it thaws a bit, it's easily molded into the shape you need. My dough, when formed into the wax paper logs, was not perfectly round, due to the softness of it when first made, so after I sliced the dough, it was easy to shape any edges into a perfect circle with my fingertips. The cookies bake up perfect and crisp in the stated time and are beautiful! I would have liked to taste a bit more of the ginger, so instead of the recommended 1/2 teaspoon of ginger, I might add 1 teaspoon next time, or omit the ginger in the cookie dough and roll the slightly thawed logs in crushed crystallized ginger, to make a border of ginger surrounding the crunchy lemon cookie. Even without the modifications, they are delicious and addicting, rich and crunchy and sure to be a hit! Enjoy!

Lemon-Ginger Cornmeal Cookies

For the Cookies:

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger
Pinch of salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup finely grated lemon zest
2 large egg yolks

To Make the Cookies:

Whisk the flour, cornmeal, ginger, and salt together in a medium bowl and set aside. Beat the butter, sugar, and zest in another medium bowl with an electric mixer, beginning on low speed and increasing to medium-high speed, until light and fluffy. Add the egg yolks and beat to combine well. Reduce the speed to low, add the flour mixture, and beat on low speed just until blended.

Press the dough together with your hands and divide it in half. Place each half on a sheet of wax paper and form each piece into a 10-by-1 1/4-inch log. Smooth each log with dampened fingers. Chill the logs, wrapped in wax paper, for at least 3 hours, or until firm.

At least 25 minutes before baking, position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat the oven to 400°F. Butter 2 large nonstick baking sheets or line with parchment or silicone liners.

Cut each log into 1/4-inch-thick rounds and arrange the rounds 2 inches apart on the baking sheets. Bake, 1 sheet at a time, for 10 minutes, or until the edges of the cookies are golden brown. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack and let cool.

'Wedding' Biscotti

Biscotti has always been interesting to me, but something I never tried, because almost all of the biscotti available has some sort of nuts in it, which I don't eat. I have also always been interested in the way that it is baked twice, but just like tasting it, when searching for recipes, 99% of them call for almonds/pistachios/hazelnuts, etc. So I was excited when I found a recipe by Katie Lee Joel on the Food Network website that not only didn't call for nuts, but put interesting and contrasting flavors together! Now, I'm not positive why it's called 'Wedding Biscotti', and a Google search came up with nothing, but I think it's safe to guess that it was either whipped up for someone particular's wedding (possibly to Billy Joel? Although that's ending soon, so maybe this biscotti isn't such a good omen?!?! Yikes!) or it's a traditional Italian biscotti served at special events. All I know is that for the first time baking biscotti, I was quite happy with the result. I'm not sure that it was as crunchy as it's supposed to be, but it did have a nice snap and I really loved the flavors. It was rich without being overwhelming. I also used a little less rosemary than the recipe called for, because I didn't want it's strong flavor overwhelming the cookie. I think the biscotti dough would be a good base or starting point to add any ingredients that you like, if you aren't into the fruit and herb flavors. So, get experimenting and enjoy!

Wedding Biscotti

Original recipe can be found here.

For the Biscotti:

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh rosemary leaves
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup dried currants

To Make the Biscotti:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a small bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, salt, and rosemary. Set aside.

Using an electric mixer and a large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, incorporating each egg fully before adding the next. Add the vanilla. and gently stir in the flour mixture until just combined. Stir in currants.

Cut dough in half and shape into 2 logs. They should be about a 12-inches long; and 1-inch thick.
Bake until just starting to brown at the edges, about 35 minutes. Let cool for a few minutes on the baking sheets. While the biscotti logs are still warm, cut each log into 1/2-inch wide slices on the diagonal. Place the slices back on the baking sheet (using 2 baking sheets if necessary to fit all the slices). Bake for 7 to 8 minutes. Remove the baking sheets from the oven. Turn the biscotti over and bake for an additional 7 to 8 minutes, until the biscotti are crisp.
Let the biscotti cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet(s). Serve when cooled to room temperature, or store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.

Hungarian Shortbread

I have always been a fan of really good shortbread. I also am a fan of interesting techniques in baking (even if sometimes I'm very intimidated by them!). So, when I was browsing through the Saveur website, I came across a recipe that caught my eye for what was called 'Hungarian Shortbread'. It's made by making a soft shortbread dough, then dividing it in half and freezing the two balls of dough. After an hour or two, you take the dough out, and grate one ball into your pan, top with a good jam, and then grate the other half onto it and bake. It promised a light, crumbly texture and I couldn't wait to try it. The recipe came together very simply and the results were divine. I also love that you could easily interchange your favorite flavor of jam into the recipe, however, I think a jam that's not overly sweet would work the best, to offset the richness of the shortbread. A few tips I have are to only remove one ball of dough from the freezer at a time and to grate each dough ball onto wax paper and then spread evenly into the pan. Also, the recipe calls for uncultured butter, but I've always used plain, unsalted butter and it turns out beautifully. It would seem hard to mess up this simple and delicious recipe, so give it a try today! Enjoy!

Hungarian Shortbread

Original recipe can be found here.

For the Shortbread:

2 cups flour, plus more as needed

1 tsp. baking powder

1⁄8 tsp. fine salt

1⁄2 lb. unsalted, uncultured butter (like Straus), plus more for pan, at room temperature

1 cup sugar

2 egg yolks

3⁄4 cup raspberry jam

To Make the Shortbread:

Using a sieve over a bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside. Cream butter in a large bowl, using a hand mixer on high speed, until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add sugar and egg yolks; mix until sugar is dissolved and mixture is light, about 4 minutes. With mixer on low speed, slowly add flour mixture; mix until dough just begins to come together, about 1 minute.

Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface; bring it together with your hands. Divide dough in half and form 2 balls. Wrap each ball in plastic wrap; freeze for at least 30 minutes or up to 3 hours.

Arrange an oven rack in center of oven; heat to 350°. Grease a 10" springform pan with butter. Remove a ball of dough from freezer, unwrap, and grate, using the large holes of a box grater, directly into prepared pan. Gently pat grated dough to even it out. Spread jam evenly over dough, leaving about a 1⁄2" border around edges. Grate remaining dough over jam layer; pat gently until surface is even. Bake until light golden brown, about 25–35 minutes. Let cool completely in pan, on a rack, before cutting into wedges.

Back with something new but familiar....

It seems like it's been forever since I've posted anything on here.....wow, January??? Where does the time go....well, being that I only have one job now, I don't have any excuse to not be more committed to this blog. So here goes...funny that my first blog in months includes flavors that I've already highlighted on here....oh well....if it's not broken, don't fix it, right?

So, I had some blueberries that were needing to be used and I didn't have much time last night, so I decided to bake up some very easy and delicious scones. I think many people have a misconception of scones as being very dry and boring. These scones are rich and crumbly at the edges and tender, even airy, on the inside with a subtle sweetness enhanced by the tartness of the glaze.

I found this recipe years ago in Tyler Florence's first cookbook. Although it's close to being perfect, there are two notes I would like to share about this recipe. First, wait until the dough is assembled before adding the blueberries. I have found that it's too dense to mix the berries in without smashing them, and I usually form the dough and stud the entire surface with the berries and then very gently fold the dough in half and then shape into the rectangle the recipe calls for. Second, the glaze recipe in the book is way off. I would say that you only need about 1/8 of a cup of lemon juice instead of the 1/2 cup the recipe calls for. The first time I made the glaze as written, the glaze was more like sugary juice, and I like my powdered sugar glazes to be opaque and thicker. Feel free to play around with the proportions until you find your perfect consistency. *

These scones are beautiful, delicious and extremely easy and quick to make. They are a wonderful treat to pair with your favorite cup of tea or coffee and would make a fantastic addition to any brunch. Enjoy!

Blueberry Scones with Lemon Glaze

Courtesy of Tyler Florence's Real Kitchen

For the Scones

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold, cut in chunks
1 cup heavy cream, plus more for brushing the scones
1 cup fresh blueberries

For the Lemon Glaze

1/8 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice *
2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
1 lemon, zest finely grated
1 tablespoon unsalted butter

To Make the Scones

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Using a pastry blender, cut in the butter to coat the pieces with the flour. The mixture should look like coarse crumbs. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and pour in the heavy cream. Fold everything together just to incorporate; do not overwork the dough. Fold the blueberries into the batter.* Take care not to mash or bruise the blueberries because their strong color will bleed into the dough.
Press the dough out on a lightly floured surface into a rectangle about 12 by 3 by 1 1/4 inches. Cut the rectangle in 1/2 then cut the pieces in 1/2 again, giving you 4 (3-inch) squares. Cut the squares in 1/2 on a diagonal to give you the classic triangle shape. Place the scones on an ungreased cookie sheet and brush the tops with a little heavy cream. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until beautiful and brown. Let the scones cool a bit before you apply the glaze.

To Make the Glaze

Mix the lemon juice and confectioners' sugar together in a microwave-safe bowl. Stir until the sugar dissolves. Add the lemon zest and butter. Nuke it for 30 seconds on high. Whisk the glaze to smooth out any lumps, then drizzle the glaze over the top of the scones. Let it set a minute before serving.

New Years Resolutions

So, one of my New Year's resolutions was to be better about blogging. So far, well, I guess I'm slipping, because it's already the middle of January and it's taken me this long to post something. And the thing I'm posting is something I made during the holidays!

There are certain flavors that immediately make you think of the holidays....eggnog, peppermint (at least for me), and gingerbread. And since I've been on a cupcake bender lately, I was wanting to find a good gingerbread cupcake recipe. The recipe I found here got rave reviews online, but the frosting proportions looked way off, so I decided to use an old standby, my favorite cream cheese frosting. The resulting cupcakes were very light and airy, something that I loved, because gingerbread normally is very dense and I wasn't sure if that would translate well to a cupcake. The flavor also develops in your mouth, from a light ginger flavor into very intense as you're finishing the bite, which everyone seemed to love. Now, I know that it's January already, but I didn't want to wait a whole year to post them, because I think they are delicious and could be made all year round, if you like the flavor. You could try to mix it up with a lemon frosting too. I also used a small star tip and piped little stars all over the cupcake, instead of the swirl of frosting that I normally do. Enjoy!

GINGERBREAD CUPCAKES with CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

For the Cupcakes

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup unsulfured molasses
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon Dutch process cocoa powder
1 1/4 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup hot milk

For the Frosting

2 8-ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
4 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

To Make the Cupcakes

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line with paper liners a 12-cup muffin tin.
Cream 5 tablespoons of the butter with the white sugar. Add the molasses and the egg and egg yolk. Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, ginger, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg and salt. Dissolve the baking soda in the hot milk. Add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture and stir until just combined. Stir in the hot milk mixture. Pour the batter evenly into the prepared tin, about 2/3 full in each muffin well. Bake for 20 minutes or until slightly springy to the touch. Allow to cool a few minutes in the pan and remove to a rack to cool.

To Make the Frosting

Using electric mixer, beat cream cheese and butter in large bowl until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in powdered sugar. Beat in vanilla. Cover and refrigerate until just firm enough to frost, about 30 minutes. Frost cupcakes as desired.