A friend referred me to this recipe in the NYTimes for a savory quickbread. Here's the recipe:
Oil or butter for greasing pan
1 2/3 cups buttermilk or plain yogurt, or 11/2 cups milk and 2 tablespoons white vinegar (see Step 2)
2 1/2 cups (about 12 ounces) whole wheat flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup molasses.
1. Heat oven to 325 degrees. Grease an 8-by-4-inch or 9-by 5-inch loaf pan, preferably nonstick.
2. If using buttermilk or yogurt, ignore this step. Make soured milk: warm milk gently — 1 minute in the microwave is sufficient, just enough to take the chill off — and add vinegar. Set aside.
3. Mix together dry ingredients. Stir molasses into buttermilk, yogurt or soured milk. Stir liquid into dry ingredients (just enough to combine) then pour into loaf pan. Bake until firm and a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean, 45 minutes to 1 hour. Cool on a rack for 15 minutes before removing from pan.
Yield: 1 loaf.
Lighter Whole Wheat Quick Bread: Use 1 1/2 cups whole wheat and 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour; omit cornmeal. Substitute honey for molasses. Beat 1 egg into wet ingredients in Step 3. Proceed with recipe.
You can find the article by Mark Bittman here. As simple and easy as this recipe looks, I'll likely give it a try tonight or tomorrow. There's buttermilk leftover from waffles and the gnocchi, so I may as well use it up. Few things in life smell more awful than buttermilk gone bad.
Showing posts with label baking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label baking. Show all posts
Oatmeal Cookies - v3.0
Experimentation continues - as always.
Version 2.0 was NOT great. It doesn't even merit posting. That being said, I marched on to version 3.0 (taking my co-workers' excellent feedback) and have settled on this recipe:
Cream together:
1/2 c shortening
1/2 c butter (softened)
1 c brown sugar, packed
3/8 c white sugar
Add:
1 t pure vanilla extract
2 eggs at room temperature
and mix at medium-high speed until light and fluffy.
Now add:
1 1/2 c flour
1 t baking soda
pinch of salt
1 t ground cardamom
1/2 t ground cinnamon
Mix at low speed until incorporated. Add
1/2 c dried cranberries
1/2 c white chocolate chips
1/2 c shelled, unsalted pistachios (you can roast these for a stronger flavor)
Finally, add:
2 c quick-cooking oats
1 c mixed grain quick-cooking breakfast (mix of barley, oat and wheat)
Now here's where it gets interesting. The size of the cookie matters - big surprise! The last few batches yielded <30 cookies and baking time was approaching 20 minutes. This time, I was closer to the 1" ball size and the yield was ~3 dozen (37 to be exact). Baking time was 15 minutes - and *perhaps* could have gone a bit longer - but not much.
Stick with aluminum 1/4 sheet pans - you can get about 14 cookies on them. One sheet at a time, middle rack - oven temp 350 degF.
These were awesome. I should take some pictures!
Version 2.0 was NOT great. It doesn't even merit posting. That being said, I marched on to version 3.0 (taking my co-workers' excellent feedback) and have settled on this recipe:
Cream together:
1/2 c shortening
1/2 c butter (softened)
1 c brown sugar, packed
3/8 c white sugar
Add:
1 t pure vanilla extract
2 eggs at room temperature
and mix at medium-high speed until light and fluffy.
Now add:
1 1/2 c flour
1 t baking soda
pinch of salt
1 t ground cardamom
1/2 t ground cinnamon
Mix at low speed until incorporated. Add
1/2 c dried cranberries
1/2 c white chocolate chips
1/2 c shelled, unsalted pistachios (you can roast these for a stronger flavor)
Finally, add:
2 c quick-cooking oats
1 c mixed grain quick-cooking breakfast (mix of barley, oat and wheat)
Now here's where it gets interesting. The size of the cookie matters - big surprise! The last few batches yielded <30 cookies and baking time was approaching 20 minutes. This time, I was closer to the 1" ball size and the yield was ~3 dozen (37 to be exact). Baking time was 15 minutes - and *perhaps* could have gone a bit longer - but not much.
Stick with aluminum 1/4 sheet pans - you can get about 14 cookies on them. One sheet at a time, middle rack - oven temp 350 degF.
These were awesome. I should take some pictures!
Ultimate Oatmeal Cookies
The cook in me likes to experiment with recipes. Right now, I've been working on a recipe for oatmeal cookies - and, of course, foisting them on my coworkers to garner feedback and (hopefully) helpful criticism.
My initial variations were simple - change the "extras" that go in. I'm not a fan of raisins in my oatmeal cookies, but I like the chewy-ness of dried fruit. So, I've opted for dried cranberries. Also, instead of walnuts, I go with pistachios. Finally - white chocolate.
On the spice side, I like a combination of cinnamon and cardamom - because the "warmth" and "spiciness" of the cardamom goes so well with the earthiness of the oatmeal. Then again, that's what I think.
Last batch was definitely too sweet - which means I need to back off the white sugar.
Recipe as it stands today:
1/2 c shortening
1/2 c butter (softened)
cream together with
1 c brown sugar, packed
1/2 c white sugar
Add
1 t pure vanilla extract
2 eggs at room temperature
and mix at medium-high speed until light and fluffy. This is your last chance to get air in the mix!
Now add
2 c quick-cooking oats
1 c mixed grain quick-cooking breakfast (mix of barley, oat and wheat)
1 1/2 c flour
1 t baking soda
pinch of salt
Mix at low speed until incorporated. Add
1/2 c dried cranberries
1/2 c white chocolate chips
1/2 c shelled, unsalted pistachios (you can roast these for a stronger flavor)
Mix well.
Roll mix in to ~1" balls and place on an ungreased, heavy aluminum sheet pan. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 15 - 20 minutes or until the cookies have spread and the edges are just starting to brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool before removing from the cookie sheet.
These cookies are very moist and chewy - because of the brown sugar and the shortening. They don't spread too far (again, because of the shortening) but get some loft out of the baking soda.
Makes about 2 1/2 dozen.
My initial variations were simple - change the "extras" that go in. I'm not a fan of raisins in my oatmeal cookies, but I like the chewy-ness of dried fruit. So, I've opted for dried cranberries. Also, instead of walnuts, I go with pistachios. Finally - white chocolate.
On the spice side, I like a combination of cinnamon and cardamom - because the "warmth" and "spiciness" of the cardamom goes so well with the earthiness of the oatmeal. Then again, that's what I think.
Last batch was definitely too sweet - which means I need to back off the white sugar.
Recipe as it stands today:
1/2 c shortening
1/2 c butter (softened)
cream together with
1 c brown sugar, packed
1/2 c white sugar
Add
1 t pure vanilla extract
2 eggs at room temperature
and mix at medium-high speed until light and fluffy. This is your last chance to get air in the mix!
Now add
2 c quick-cooking oats
1 c mixed grain quick-cooking breakfast (mix of barley, oat and wheat)
1 1/2 c flour
1 t baking soda
pinch of salt
Mix at low speed until incorporated. Add
1/2 c dried cranberries
1/2 c white chocolate chips
1/2 c shelled, unsalted pistachios (you can roast these for a stronger flavor)
Mix well.
Roll mix in to ~1" balls and place on an ungreased, heavy aluminum sheet pan. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 15 - 20 minutes or until the cookies have spread and the edges are just starting to brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool before removing from the cookie sheet.
These cookies are very moist and chewy - because of the brown sugar and the shortening. They don't spread too far (again, because of the shortening) but get some loft out of the baking soda.
Makes about 2 1/2 dozen.
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