Showing posts with label baking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label baking. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Nursery pretties.

Here are some fabrics that I ordered on Etsy the other day for our wee one's nursery.  They are mainly to cover canvas boards and some to frame (maybe a pillow or two here and there).  I had gone to Joanns and saw nothing that rivaled these prints so I headed towards cyber world.  Enjoy!

This is the shop that I ordered them from: http://www.etsy.com/shop/poppyseedfabrics




xoxo, Anna N

PS: The recipe of those cookies came from Miss Fallon .
Trust me, Jayne called me later and told me she had to have the recipe ASAP.

Here it is!

Everything Free Cookies

2 tbl ground flax seed (mix w/3tbl of water)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup of applesauce
2 tbl earth balance butter
1 tsp vanilla

1 cup oat flour (or whole wheat)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon

add:
1 1/2 cup of oatmeal (has to be slow cooking oatmeal)
1/2 cup of dark chocolate chips or raisins 

Cook at 350 for 10-12 mins.

*Oh, and I added cinnamon icing from the pumpkin muffins...naturally.  I also used real butter (Paula Deen style).  I would get you that recipe to but the site is down...bummer. Any good ole' cinnamon icing will do!

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Pumpkin Pull-Apart Bread

Hello, Lovelies!

Here is a recipe that I am sure many of you have pinned on Pinterest but I decided I was actually to try to make it last night.  Recipe from here :)

Words of Wisdom:
-it takes 3.5 hours
-be sure to make cream cheese icing (google a recipe) versus the one that is on here.  I wasn't a huge fan and it was way too sweet...shocking!
-you can't really taste the pumpkin but it makes it look pretty!
-and butter goes from "brown" to "burnt" in about two seconds.




Pumpkin Pull-Apart Bread Ingredients:
1/2 cup milk
3/4 cup pumpkin puree
1/4 cup white sugar
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/4 teaspoons (1 envelope) active dry yeast
2 1/2 cups bread flour

Filling Ingredients:
1 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg
2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Butter Rum Glaze Ingredients:
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/8 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon plus 1 1/2 teaspoons milk
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon rum (the original recipe called for extract, which I found too strong)

Directions:
Make the pull-apart bread dough: Grease and flour a loaf pan and set aside. In a saucepan over medium-high heat, brown the 2 tablespoons of butter. Let it bubble and foam and when you see it start to brown, stir it so that it browns evenly. When it’s the color of dark honey, remove it from the heat and pour it into a large heat-safe mixer bowl to cool. In the same saucepan over medium-low heat, warm the milk until it bubbles. Remove it from the heat and pour it into the bowl with the butter. Let these cool until they’re about 100-110 degrees F (use a candy thermometer to check). Set the saucepan aside for another use later. I use the same one throughout the entire recipe; why do more dishes?

Stir the sugar and yeast into the milk/butter mixture and let it sit for about 10 minutes to proof (it should foam; if it doesn’t, discard it yeast and try again with new yeast). Stir in pumpkin, salt, and 1 cup flour. If you haven’t already, fit your mixer with a dough hook. Add the rest of the flour 1/2 cup at a time, stirring between each addition. When the dough is combined, knead on low speed with a dough hook until smooth and elastic (about 4 minutes with a mixer).

Place the dough in a greased bowl and cover it with a damp cloth. Let it rise in a warm place for about an hour until it doubles in size (After it rises, you can put it in the fridge overnight to use it in the morning, but let it sit out for half an hour before rolling if you do.)

Make the filling: While the dough is rising, whisk the sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg together in a small bowl. Toward the end of the rising time, melt the 2 tablespoons of butter for the filling in the saucepan over medium-high heat and brown it as directed above. Put it in a small heat-safe bowl to cool for use later.

Shape and bake pull-apart bread: Knead a sprinkling of flour (about 1 tablespoon) into the dough, deflating it, and recover it. Let it sit to relax for 5 minutes. Flour a large work surface and turn your rested dough out onto it. Roll it out to a 20 inch long and 12 inch wide rectangle, lifting corners periodically to make sure it’s not sticking. If it seems to be snapping back, cover it with your damp towel and let it rest for 5 minutes before continuing (I had to do this twice during the process).





Spread the browned butter over the surface of the dough with a pastry brush and then sprinkle the sugar mixture over the top, patting it down to ensure it mostly sticks. Joy the Baker encourages you to use it all even though it seems like a ton, but I admit I got squeamish at the amount and only used most. It was fine despite my nerves. Go ahead and pile it on.



With the long edge of the rectangle toward you, cut it into 6 strips (do this by cutting the rectangle in half, then cutting each half into equal thirds. I used a pizza cutter). Stack these strips on top of one another and cut the resulting stack into 6 even portions (again, cut it in half, and then cut the halves into equal thirds). Place these portions one at a time into your greased loaf pan, pressing them up against each other to fit them all in. Cover the pan with your damp cloth and place it in a warm place for 30-45 minutes to double in size.




While dough rises, preheat oven to 350 degrees F (or 325 if you have a glass loaf dish instead of a metal pan). When it’s risen, place the loaf in the center of the oven and bake for 30-35 minutes until dark golden brown on top (if you take it out at light golden brown, it’s liable to be raw in the middle, so let it get good and dark). Cool for 20-30 minutes on a cooling rack in the loaf pan while you make the glaze.Make the glaze: In your saucepan, bring the butter, milk, and brown sugar to a boil over medium-high heat. Remove it from heat, add the powdered sugar and rum, and whisk it to a smooth consistency.                                                                                                    



Assemble and serve: Use a butter knife to loosen all sides of the bread from the loaf pan and gently turn it out onto a plate. Place another plate on top and flip it to turn it right side up. Drizzle glaze over top. Serve each piece slightly warm with a drizzle of glaze.


Yes, it is like a gooey, ooey, yummy pumpkin cinnamon roll...

Off to sand and paint!

xoxo, Anna N

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Cookies. A baby. A house. Love.

We got to see our wee one!  

Please note the bicep in the photo :)  I kind of hope for the wee one's sake it is a boy because husband's muscles were already shining through.  Oh, and the little one weighed a pound (the average is 10-12 ounces at that date)...  Baby must love Thai food and pizza.  Glad to see the baby isn't afraid to eat!

We were also blessed to have both of our parents (more affectionately now known as grandparents) to the ultrasound.  It was so beautiful and I think both of our moms were about done-in with how excited they were :) 

Our little one did a flip for us, too.  And a few bicycles just to show it knows how to use its legs. 

Updates on the belly: it keeps growing!  My stomach muscles definitely felt it this last weekend while I was trying to launch stuff into the 40 yard dumpster (now full) in front of our new home.  Apparently they  feel like they have stretched enough in two weeks...  Pic below.


And growing...and growing...and growing...  

Also- WE HAVE A HOUSE!!! The style is called a "Rummer" (google if so inclined) and we are loving it.  They are basically homes with really open floor plans built in the 60s and centered around an atrium.  Love it. And LOVE our neighbors :) 









The house needs quite a bit of work so next came the family demolition event :)  Pics to be posted tomorrow once I get them out of lightroom.  Praise be to the LORD for such an amazing family and friends who helped us tear up all the flooring, some walls, trees/bushes, strip cabinets, take out around 100 screws/nails/hooks, etc.  

And cookies.  Please go make this recipe-you will make lots of friends :)  They are super chewy and amazing if you only leave them in for 15 minutes...off to go take them to our bank (Umpqua-world's best bank)!  With milk of course. They seriously sent us a gorgeous flower arrangement (below) because they found out we were pregnant and bought a house...we will miss those guys that work there.

There might be a bite taken out of the one in the back (oh, and my milk to the side).

So beautiful!  xo, the peops at Umpqua
xoxo, Anna N

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Baking.

So here are two recipes I made in the past week that are a must!  I have a slight affinity for cream cheese hence both of them are somewhat centered on it :)

Zucchini Nut Cookies with Cream Cheese Filling

*Recipe from: Martha Stewart Living, May 2011

Ingredients

  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • Coarse salt
  • 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1 cup finely grated zucchini
  • 1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
  • 1/2 cup chopped toasted walnuts
  • 8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
  • 1 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted

Directions

  1. Sift flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, and 1/4 teaspoon salt into a bowl. Beat 1 stick butter and the sugars until pale and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla.
  2. Beat flour mixture into butter mixture. Mix in zucchini, oats, and walnuts. Refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour. Then heat oven to 350.
  3. Using a 1 1/2-inch ice cream scoop (about 2 tablespoons), drop dough onto parchment-lined baking sheets, spacing about 2 inches apart. Bake until edges are golden, about 17 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack.
  4. Beat together remaining 1/2 stick butter, the cream cheese, and confectioners' sugar until smooth. Spread 1 heaping tablespoon filling onto the flat side of 1 cookie, and sandwich with another cookie. Repeat with
    remaining filling and cookies.


    LEMON CREAM CHEESE COOKIES

    *I modified the recipe slightly to make them more lemony and more chewy.
    (from foodiefriends.blogspot.com)

    Ingredients:
    3/4 cup butter, softened
    1- 3 oz pkg cream cheese
    1 cup sugar
    2 T grated lemon rind
    1 egg
    2 T lemon juice
    3 cups flour
    1/2 tsp salt
    1 tsp baking powder

    Heat oven to 375. Blend ingredients. Shape into small balls (approx. 1 in) and place on baking sheet. Flatten with glass dipped in flour (I did sugar). Bake 8-10 mins. Do not overbake. Frost while warm with glaze (I used extra cream cheese frosting I had made).
    *PS: I also used embossing stamps to make floral imprints on top of each one...just an idea!

    Glaze: 1 cup powdered sugar, 1/2 tsp lemon juice, 3-4 tsp milk until smooth. (You can use less milk and more lemon juice).

    Here is a great idea of gift packaging the zucchini cookies!*



    *http://www.marthastewart.com/photogallery/cookies-clip-art#slide_4

    Now I am going for a run (in the rain...amazing!), going to pick up these little cuties at New Seasons,

    then off to hang out with the most amazing Little ever!