Minty M&M Cookies

Minty M&M Cookies

I wish I could remember how I stumbled upon this recipe at Colleen’s Cookbook. I’m thankful for whatever I searched for or clicked on to take me there. This is a good chocolate cookie recipe and I love the M&M Mint Chocolate Candies that go into them. They’re a little larger than standard M&M’s, and the shell is a little thicker. My husband and I had a hard time leaving them alone as I was mixing up these cookies. The ratio of candies to cookie dough is very high, but I wouldn’t change that. The mint flavor from the candy is just right and I love the crunch the thick shells bring to the cookie. Colleen’s recipe called for pecans. I omitted them.

I rarely retype recipes that appear elsewhere on the web, but since I weighed my ingredients and think you might find that helpful I’ll jot it down here. Colleen attributes this recipe to M&M’s but I couldn’t find it on their site, and I accidentally tossed the empty bags before comparing this recipe to the one on the back of the bag. If memory serves me right, I don’t think it’s there. I think the recipe on the back of the bag right now is for a decorative baking use of the candy.

Chocolate Mint M&M Cookies

2 bags M&M Brand Mint Chocolate Candies for the Holidays (reserve one cup)
10.6 oz. flour
1 oz. cocoa powder (I used regular Hershey’s)
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
1 c. softened butter
5.25 oz. sugar
5.625 oz. brown sugar
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Line a cookie sheet with parchment.
Whisk together four, soda, salt and cocoa in a small bowl.
In a large bowl cream the butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time, until thoroughly mixed. Stir in the flour mixture 1/2 c. at a time.
Stir in the all but one cup of the candy.
Drop by large tablespoons, at least 2 inches apart, onto the parchment paper. Before baking place a few of the reserved M&M’s on the top of each cookie. Bake for 12-15 minutes.
Yield: 36 cookies
(I got 42)

Cinnamon Goodness

When I saw the recipe for Cinnamon Eggnog Scones on the Baker’s Banter blog I knew I would have to make them. The cinnamon chips and Cinnamon-Flav-R Bites were in my cupboard patiently waiting their turn to shine. They definitely shine in these scones. I only baked off a few of the scones and the remainder are nestled away in the freezer. Maybe I’ll bake them Christmas morning. They would be a wonderful way to start the day.

If you make these and use the Cinnamon-Flav-R Bites be careful not to soak them too long. Mine all but dissolved. I think I was doing too many things at once and left them soaking longer than I thought I did. It didn’t matter. The flavor was still wonderful. If you look at the photos at the Baker’s Banter Blog you’ll notice that theirs are much whiter than mine. That’s because of the melted cinnamon bits.

I might mention that these have a wonderful balance of spices, and don’t seem at all egg like to me. You see I don’t like egg nog in the least. In fact this is the first time I’ve ever purchased it. So, if you’re afraid of the egg nog like I was, don’t be. This is a great place to use it. The scones turn out with a moist but not wet interior and a melt in your mouth crust on the exterior. They are so much better than anything you can purchase at a store or coffee shop. I would make these again, and in fact will probably look for excuses to make them in the future. Just in case you’re wondering, I purchased organic egg nog. The ingredient list seemed a little less frightening to me.

You’ll find the recipe here.

Vanilla Ice Cream

Vanilla Ice Cream

Why would anyone living in the upper Midwest make vanilla ice cream when the temperature outside is only in the single digits during the day and below zero night? Truthfully I have no reasonable explanation except this. My local grocery store had half and half on sale for seventy nine cents per pint and I couldn’t help myself from buying some.

In July I bought my husband the ice cream attachment for our Kitchen Aid mixer. He’s made a lot of good ice cream since then, but for this batch I wanted to try my own hand at it using half and half and vanilla bean paste. We loved this ice cream, and wish we had made twice as much. It was smooth and creamy, and we loved the flecks of vanilla from the vanilla bean paste.

Vanilla Ice Cream by Sue at Basically Baked

3 cups half and half
3/4 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 T. vanilla bean paste

Whisk the eggs in a heat proof bowl and set aside. Heat half and half and sugar in a heavy saucepan over medium until hot. Whisk a small amount of the hot mixture into the eggs whisking constantly, and then whisk the egg mixture into the half and half in the saucepan. Continue to heat this mixture stirring constantly until the mixture reaches 185 degrees. Strain the mixture, and then cool completely in the refrigerator.

When the mixture is completely cool, churn the mixture in your ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s directions. Cure the ice cream in the freezer for one hour before scooping.

One year anniversary!

Basically Baked turns one year old today! I’ve enjoyed connecting with those of you who take the time to leave a comment and I enjoy visiting the blogs of those of you who author them.

To celebrate the anniversary I made the Chocolate Bon Bon Drops that Mary Jane Robbins recently blogged about on the King Arthur Baker’s Banter Blog. They’re very easy to make, very tasty and have a festive look to them. You’ll find the recipe here.

The only change I made to the cookies is to garnish them with Holiday M&M’s instead of the pretty chocolate pearls from King Arthur Flour. I don’t own a tiny teaspoon cookie scoop so when I was done mixing the dough I divided the dough into two equal portions, flattened each portion into a 4 x 3 inch rectangle and then wrapped each rectangle in it’s own piece of waxed paper and refrigerated it for about an hour. Then I cut each rectangle into twelve pieces and formed the pieces into balls and baked according to the directions.

The cookies are sort of a chocolate shortbread. I made my glaze with half and half instead of cream and I would have to agree with Mary Jane that the half and half yielded a thinner glaze than might have been desirable. I also thought the glaze was very good but it was very sweet. The cookies are good enough that I don’t think they need the glaze except for the decorative effect. I think some decorative stencils and powdered sugar might yield a pretty cookie and keep the focus on the cookie. By the way… those flecks you see in the glaze are from vanilla bean paste. Good stuff!!

Basic Granola

Granola is something I’ve always intended to make, but have never gotten around to actually making until now. I rarely purchase packaged granola because I thought I was the only one here who eats it. The push finally came when I started crumbling up my crunchy Kashi bars and sprinkling them on top of my yogurt or cottage cheese. I knew this was a waste of my Kashi bars and that I could easily make my own granola.

In the past I’ve used the excuse that I didn’t have the right ingredients for one recipe or another. Do you know what? I don’t think there are the ‘right’ ingredients. If you use what you have on hand, chances are pretty good that you’ll come up with a pretty good granola. I did, and guess what? I’m not the only one who eats granola. Apparently if you have good homemade granola around other people will eat it too. Like my husband, who ate a startling amount of this while I was gone yesterday.

I had used some ingredients that have been hanging around in my cupboard for awhile. Like organic brown rice syrup, creamed honey from the farmer’s market, and sesame seeds all of which were leftover from other baking projects. Then there were the almonds and oatmeal which I always have on hand, and the pecans which I was lucky to have.

This is a conglomeration of a number of recipes, using a conglomeration of ingredients from my cupboard. The only thing I bought just for this were the raw sunflower seeds. There are a few of those leftover for a future baking project.

While this is full of good stuff, I don’t pass this off as health food. No doubt there are a lot of calories lurking here with all the sweeteners, nuts, and coconut oil. But, a few sprinkles on top of my yogurt won’t be too terrible for me and I’ll enjoy every crunchy bite.

Basically Baked Granola (Adapted from numerous recipes.)

4 1/2 cups rolled oats
1 c. sunflower seeds
1/3 c. sesame seeds
2 t. cinnamon
1 t. ginger
1/3 c. brown rice syrup
1/4 c. creamed cinnamon honey
3/4. golden brown sugar
3/4 c. almonds
1 1/4 c. pecans
1 t. kosher salt
1/3 c. coconut oil

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line a 1/2 sheet cake pan with parchment paper. Mix everything together in a large bowl as evenly as possible. Spread the mixture onto the parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 40-50 minutes stirring every 10-15 minutes. Watch the nuts carefully so that they don’t become too toasted. Use the parchment paper to transfer the mixture to a rack to cool completely. When cooled you might have some big clumps of granola you want to break up before storing.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

About a week ago I was so hungry for a chocolate chip cookie. I’d been wanting to make them for days, but it’s so hard to justify such indulgences when it’s just the two of us here to eat them. I was headed to a meeting out of town with four other friends and our departure time was too early for dinner, but not eating before the meeting meant we were going to have to eat very late. Being the baking fiend that I am I decided this was the perfect excuse to make some chocolate chip cookies to carry us until dinner. In order to make it so they weren’t totally devoid of good nutrition, I conceded and made an oatmeal chocolate chip version. The cookies were appreciated by all, and everyone asked for the recipe so either everyone was really hungry or they’re really good, or both. I froze what my friends didn’t eat and shared them with the kids when they were home for Thanksgiving. I think they were sad when they were gone.

The recipe for these cookies can be found here on the old Baking Sheets blog, and you can read about Anna’s experience with them here where she compares three different oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipes back to back.

Apple Pie

If you read my previous post you know that I planned to serve Pumpkin Cheesecake, and Apple Pie for dessert on Thanksgiving Day. Guess what? When my son asked if I was making Graham Cracker Cream Pie and I told him no I was going to try something else, he looked so sad that I changed my mind on the spot and made the Graham Cracker Cream. Sigh. He loved it, I loved it, everyone loved it. I think I will be making that pie for the rest of my life. Sigh.

Today my son, daughter, and our daughter’s boyfriend headed back to the cities. I got up early and made the Apple Pie that I intended to make on Thanksgiving day and sent half the pie down the road with them. Mmmm I bet that car smelled good! This is a variation on the pie that Anna at Cookie Madness posted about. I didn’t have time to make the crust that goes with that pie, and I had to make some adjustments to the filling as well. Even so we are very happy with this pie. My husband said, “I can’t imagine that Apple Pie could be any better than this.” I don’t think I’ll ever feel the need to mess with this recipe. It is excellent apple pie. I can only imagine how much better it would be following the original recipe exactly as written.

To see the recipe the way that it’s meant to be made click here.

Here is the way I made it when I was short on time and a few ingredients.

Two Crust Shortening Based Pastry

2c. all purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
3/4 c. plus 1 T. shortening
5-6 T. ice cold water

Whisk together the flour and the salt. Using a pastry blender, cut in the shortening just until the clumps are about the size of peas. Use a fork to incorporate the ice water 1 Tablespoon at a time, until the dough clings together when pinched. Turn this out onto a piece of plastic wrap and press it together with your hands. Divide the dough in half. Set one half aside. Pat the remaining piece into a disk and cover with a second piece of plastic wrap. Use a rolling pin to roll the dough into a large enough circle to line your pie dish. I like to make this kind of pie in a Pyrex 9.5″ inch pie plate. Remove one piece of plastic wrap and line the pie dish. Remove the second piece of plastic wrap. Roll out the second piece of dough in a similar manner, but leave the plastic wrap on for now and lay it over the piece of dough and set it all aside while you make the filling.

Apple Pie Filling

3 pounds Granny Smith apples (for me this was six very large apples)
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 c. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 c. flour
1 t. salt
1/2. c. apple juice
1 T. heavy cream
1/4 c. butter

Egg Wash
1 egg
1 T. cream
sugar

Preheat the broiler. Toss together the apples, sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla in a 13 x 9 inch cake pan. Broil until the apples start to brown. Stir them and repeat this until the apples are caramelized but not completely cooked. Remove from the oven and stir in the flour and the salt. When the flour and salt are incorporated stir in the apple juice and the cream.

Remove the plastic wrapped dough from the pie dish and pour the apple mixture into the pastry lined dish. Cut up 1/4 c. butter and distribute it over the filling. Remove the plastic from one side of the second piece of rolled out dough and position it over the filling. Remove the other piece of plastic wrap. Crimp the edges of the pie. Make one inch slits in the top of the pie.

Whisk together the egg and the cream. Brush the top of the pie with this mixture and sprinkle with sugar.

Place a cookie sheet on the bottom rack of your oven to catch drips. Bake the pie at 400 degrees for 30 minutes in the center of the oven, rotating the pie half way through the cooking time. Cover the edges with aluminum foil if they’re browning too quickly. (My whole pie was looking sort of toasty at this point so I loosely placed a piece of foil over the whole thing. After 30 minutes place the pie directly on the cookie sheet and bake for another 15 minutes, until the bottom crust starts to turn golden.

Allow the pie to cool for at least 2 hours before serving. (Mine hadn’t cooled nearly that long before we sliced it, but as you can see in the picture it wasn’t completely set yet.)

Spiced Pumpkin Cheesecake

Do you spend hours looking at recipes on the Internet? I’m embarrassed to admit that I do. I love looking at food blogs, and food sites. I spent a ridiculous amount of time trying to decide what to make for dessert for Thanksgiving. I grew up with Graham Cracker Cream Pie. Have you ever heard of it? It’s a simple affair. A graham cracker crust, vanilla pudding like filling and a meringue top. I don’t know why it’s called graham cracker cream when it has a meringue top, but it is. This year I wanted to shake things up a bit and make something different, but still pleasing. My plan was to make some kind of pumpkin cheesecake, and apple pie. The search for the best sounding pumpkin cheesecake recipe began, and then I couldn’t stop. I even asked my husband and friends to intervene because I couldn’t pull myself away. I wanted a cheesecake that wasn’t mousse like, or pie like. Finally, I decided to turn to Cook’s Illustrated. The recipes are tested repeatedly, and are reliable. I also liked the that this seemed as if it would be more like cheesecake and less like pie or mousse.

The result? This was awesome. Awesome is a much overused adjective but I beg your pardon and use it here. I’m not a huge fan of pumpkin pie. I can eat it, but I only make it to make other people happy. This dessert was loved by everyone including me, and no one missed the pumpkin pie. It was a very special treat, and such a nice change from the usual.

You should be able to see the recipe here. If you can’t let me know.

I served it with topping, but this is the last piece and it’s a couple of days later, hence no topping for the photo.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone is having a great Thanksgiving. We’re eating around 4 today. The rolls are baked, the pumpkin cheesecake is ready to go, the graham cracker cream pie is chilling, the cranberry sauce is gorgeous. In just a bit we’ll start all the last minute stuff. Mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, fresh fruit salad.
Hopefully there won’t be any culinary disasters at my house or at yours!

New books and some bread

Struan

Last month I purchased several new books. The Bread Baker’s Apprentice and American Pie both by Peter Reinhart, and My Bread by Jim Lahey. The books by Peter Reinhart really grabbed my attention. I love his ‘voice’.  I was especially taken with American Pie which reads as much like a novel as it does a recipe book. I read it cover to cover and waited for my copy of his new book Artisan Bread Everyday to arrive, and when it did I read it cover to cover enjoying every detail, tip and nuance. I couldn’t wait to get my hands on some bread dough.

In Artisan Bread Everyday Mr. Reinhart stated that Struan is his favorite bread and that it was his best selling bread at his bakery. I was wanting to try something totally different than the breads I’ve enjoyed so much this past year from Artisan Breads in Five Minutes a Day, or the variations of Jim Lahey’s No Knead and Almost No Knead breads. Struan seemed like a good place to start. I had almost all of the ingredients. The only thing I was lacking was some oat or wheat bran so I added a little more oatmeal.

The bread has unbleached flour, cooked brown rice, oatmeal, cornmeal, honey, brown sugar, salt yeast, buttermilk, and water. The ingredients are mixed and then worked only slightly before allowing to rest in the refrigerator for up to four days. I found this dough to be a pleasure to work with. It was somewhere between tacky and sticky, and after it’s rest in the refrigerator the loaves were very easy to shape.

I baked the first loaf at a friend’s house yesterday, and a group of us ate it with our lunch. I baked the second loaf  this afternoon and it was enjoyed by my husband and I with our dinner. This bread is going to be wonderful toasted. It’s just a tad sweeter than I usually make my bread, but with this bread that’s not a bad thing.

I highly recommend Peter Reinhart’s books. Over time I will probably read his other books as well, and I’ll definitely be trying more recipes from the books I already own.

The recipe for this version of Struan can be found on page 90 of Artisan Breads Everyday by Peter Reinhart.

Update:  Friday morning. This morning I toasted some of this bread, and it was better than I had hoped it would be. It toasted beautifully. It was crisp and chewy at the same time. It’s about as good as toasted bread gets!