Just Baking

Award Winning Squares

Brilynn Ferguson — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 06:00:38 +0000

Every year around this time, the magazine rack is packed with holiday cookie recipes and cookie contest winners. I always wonder what it takes to win one of these contests so after flipping through the pages of the November issue of Chatelaine, I decided to make one of their award winning treats to see for myself what all the fuss was about. I chose to make Date, Nut and Cherry Squares and although they turned out quite well, (and disappeared in remarkable time) I’m not sure that they’re the best square there is. They have a rather unusual step for a square and that’s to roll, (as well as squares can be rolled…) them in granulated sugar after they’ve been baked. I only did this for a couple of the squares as I found them to be plenty sweet and less messy without the additional sugar. I must say though, the squares certainly looked prettier when they were rolled in sugar. And either way you slice it, (or roll it), my tasters demolished the bars in no time and requested the recipe so I suppose that makes them worthy of winning awards. Maybe I’m just jealous that I didn’t win any awards…

Date, Nut and Cherry Squares

(From Chatelaine cookie contest winner Mary Anna King, November 2007)

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup melted butter
1 3/4 cups lightly packed brown sugar
4 eggs
2 cups chopped pitted dates
1 cup walnut or pecan pieces
1/2 cup chopped red or green glace cherries
1/2 cup granulated sugar

Preheat over to 350 °F. Spray a 9×13 baking dish with oil. In a small bowl, stir flour with baking powder.

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat butter with sugar for 2 min. Then beat in eggs, one at a time, scraping side of bowl between additions. Using medium speed, gradually beat in flour mixture until evenly mixed. Using a wooden spoon, gradually stir in dates, nuts and cherries until evenly distributed. Scrape into prepared baking dish, then smooth top.

Bake in center of oven until top is light folder, 40-45 minutes. Place on a wire rack and cool 15 minutes, then cut into 24 squares.

Place granulated sugar in a medium bowl. Roll squares in sugar to lightly coat. Then cool completely on wire rack. If making ahead, store in an airtight container in a cool place up to 1 week or freeze up to 2 months.

How Did That Get There?

Brilynn Ferguson — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 05:00:11 +0000

Don’t let the chocolate bars in the picture fool you, there is no chocolate in these muffins. Don’t let that dissuade you from making them though, they’re honey bran muffins with blueberries and they complete any breakfast. The reason for the chocolate bars is that they’re what I found while making these muffins. I reached into the baking cupboard to pull out the brown sugar and three chocolate bars fell out. I didn’t put them there and I wasn’t supposed to find them either. My Dad put them there, somehow thinking he was hiding them. When I find things like chocolate ‘hiding’ in the baking cupboard I can’t help but laugh. This is the last place in the house that anyone should try to hide something from me. I am the primary baker in the house, (I wanted to type only, but I thought that might garner some indignation from Mom, the baker who hasn’t actually baked anything in years…) and as such, I use that cupboard on an almost daily basis as it houses such essential ingredients as baking powder and soda, sugar, vanilla, dried fruit, etc… And yet this is a common hiding place for Dad’s chocolate stash. He knows that if he leaves the chocolate laying out in the open, I’ll eat it but doesn’t think I’ll find it if it’s tucked behind the brown sugar. In reality, the only person this chocolate remains hidden from is Mom, the other ‘baker’. I find this funny to no end. But even if you don’t share my sense of humour, I encourage you to bake these muffins. They come together in minutes and everyone loves a warm treat from the oven with their breakfast. Tip: If you make them with blueberries you’ll be forgiven for stealing chocolate from the secret hiding spot in the baking cupboard.

Honey Bran Muffins
(From Muffin Mania by Cathy Prange and Joan Paula)

1 cup natural bran
1 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup butter or margarine
½ cup brown sugar
2 T honey
1 egg
1 cup all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup blueberries, (optional, these are Dad’s addition)

Soak bran in buttermilk while preparing the rest.

Cream butter and brown sugar. Beat in the honey and egg. Add the bran and buttermilk.

Stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Add dry ingredients and stir until moistened. If you’re using blueberries, add them now.

Bake at 375 °F for 15-20 minutes.

Super Natural Super Tasty Muffins

Brilynn Ferguson — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 05:00:37 +0000

When I was little I didn’t like bananas. The only logical way that I can explain this is that I mustn’t have been the brightest crayon in the box. There’s no other reason not to like bananas, they even come with their own carrying case! Maybe my tastebuds were late bloomers. But eventually they came around, albeit slowly. I gradually began to enjoy bananas, beginning with the greenish yellow ones only. The second they had a speck of brown on them, I refused to eat it. At the point at which I was refusing brown bananas I was clearly not a baker. I’ve come a long way baby and since then I’ve realized that bananas are one of the few foods that get better with age. When a strawberry starts to turn from ripe to overripe the only place it belongs is the compost bin. When a banana becomes overripe there’s no end to the places it can go; banana smoothies, bread, pudding, cakes, muffins…

The recipe for these Espresso Banana muffins comes from the book Super Natural Cooking by Heidi Swanson, the blogger behind 101 Cookbooks. I can’t help but be impressed by Heidi as she crossed over from the blogging world to being an official cookbook author, (Super Natural Cooking is actually her second book). She’s also a photographer and designer and with all that going for her I can’t help but have a bit of a crush on her. Oh no, I’ve said too much… Just make the muffins.

Espresso Banana Muffins (From Super Natural Cooking by Heidi Swanson)

2 cups white whole-wheat flour
2 teaspoons aluminum-free baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups toasted walnuts, chopped
1 tablespoon espresso powder
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
3/4 cup natural cane sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup plain yogurt
1- 1 1/2 cups mashed overripe bananas (2-3 bananas)

Heat oven to 375 °F and line 12 muffin cups with paper liners.

Combine flour, baking powder, salt, 3/4 cup of the walnuts and espresso powder in a bowl and whisk to combine.

In a separate bowl using a mixer, cream butter until light and fluffy. Beat in sugar and eggs, one at a time. Stir in vanilla, yogurt and mashed bananas, then gently mix in dry ingredients; overmixing will result in tough muffins.

Spoon batter into prepared muffin tin (an ice-cream scoop works well), top with remaining 1/2 cup walnuts, bake until golden, about 25 minutes. Fill cups two-thirds full for regular muffins or to brim for a big-topped version. Cool in tin for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely. Makes 12 muffins.

Don’t Call This Pizza

Brilynn Ferguson — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 05:00:25 +0000

Focaccia is kind of like pizza’s puffier, less dressed cousin. However, this is one of those rare occasions where nakedness conveys class instead of trash. Instead of being slandered in the food tabloids for coming out of the oven wearing little more than some onions and herbs, focaccia is held in high esteem, like a James Beard award winner. Maybe it’s the fancy name, maybe it’s the lack of messy red sauce, but it’s fully acceptable to serve focaccia as an appetizer at an adults only dinner party. What’s more, it will even garner oohs and ahhs and requests for the recipe. Pizza can only dream of being accepted at that same party, it just wouldn’t happen. More importantly though, focaccia is easy to make. Try classing up your next dinner party with this minimal effort finger food. Feel free to play around with the toppings, but remember not to overdo it, save the excess for sports, pizza and beer nights.

Onion Focaccia
(adapted from an old recipe printed from epicurious.com that no longer seems to be online)

1 cup lukewarm water
1 packet dry active yeast
1 tsp sugar
½ tsp salt
7 T olive oil
3 cups all purpose flour
1 onion
3 T white balsamic vinegar
10 fresh sage leaves, chopped
Goat cheese
Sea salt
Ground black pepper and garlic

Combine water and yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer and let sit about 5 minutes until foamy. Add the sugar, salt, 3 T of olive oil and flour and with the dough hook in place, mix about 5 minutes until dough has come together and is smooth. You may need to add a little more warm water if the mixture seems too dry. Remove the ball of dough from the mixer and place it in an oiled bowl, turning to coat. Cover the bowl and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size.

Meanwhile, heat 1 T olive oil in a pan. Thinly slice the onion and add to the pan. When the onions begin to soften, add the balsamic vinegar and sage leaves and continue to simmer until all of the balsamic has been absorbed by the onions. Remove from heat.

Preheat the oven to 400 °F.

Punch the dough down and then roll it out into a rectangle and place on a baking sheet. The shape isn’t really important, my focaccia is usually misshapen, it gives it character. Poke the dough with your fingers to create dimples and then smear the dough with 3 T of oil. Spread the onion mixture on top of the dough, dot with goat cheese, sprinkle with sea salt and grind some fresh black pepper and garlic on top to finish.

Put the focaccia in the oven. Bake for approximately 30 minutes or until crust is golden on the bottom. Transfer to a wire rack to cool slightly before slicing.

A Heavenly Use for Egg Whites

Brilynn Ferguson — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 05:00:01 +0000

If you’ve been making as much ice cream as I have this summer then you’ll no doubt have a surplus of egg whites. It seems that even when I try to use up them up, by making a lemon meringue pie for example, I create more of them. Why oh why does everything tasty involve egg yolks? Everything except meringues and angel food cake! However, meringues and I have a history of not getting along and angel food cake is something that is made only once a year in my household, specifically for Dad’s birthday. I’m not going to lie either, for a long time, Dad’s cake came from a box, for the simple fact that you need about a dozen egg whites to make it. And who has that? This past year, I took over the cake making duty and made him an angel food cake from scratch, (and at that time pondered over what to do with all of the extra egg yolks). What I need are eggs that can be purchased in cartons with whites only and yolks only, based on what kind of dessert I’m making. Apparently chickens don’t agree with that idea. In any case, I didn’t have a problem this time around because my ice cream making ventures have provided me with more than enough whites for my cake, (so many in fact, that I actually made a batch of cocoa-mocha meringues as well). So if you’re stuck wondering what to do with all of your leftover egg whites, angel food cake is definitely the way to go. And in case you were wondering, I didn’t make all of that ice cream in one day, the egg whites were accumulated over the past month and frozen until I was ready to use them. Learning that you can freeze egg whites is another helpful hint that I garnered from a savvy food blogger and has certainly made it much easier to bake angel food cake. So what happens if you don’t have a surplus of egg whites? You can try ordering them from a chicken, or you can start churning out some ice cream and you’ll have plenty in no time. I recommend the latter.

Angel Cake (from The Canadian Living Cookbook)

1 cup sifted cake and pastry flour
1 ½ cups granulated sugar
1 ½ cups egg whites, (about 12) at room temperature
1 T lemon juice
1 tsp cream of tartar
½ tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla

Sift together flour and ¾ cup of the sugar. Set aside.

In large mixing bowl, beat egg whites until foamy; add lemon juice, cream of tartar and salt.

Beat until soft peaks form. Gradually add remaining sugar, 2 T at a time, beating until mixture is very stiff and glossy.

Sift flour mixture over egg whites in 4 batches, carefully folding in each batch until well blended. Fold in vanilla. Pour into ungreased 10-inch tube pan and run a spatula through the mixture to eliminate any large air pockets.

Bake in 350° F oven for 40-45 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched. Turn pan upside down and let cake hang until cool. Remove from pan and frost with your favourite glaze or frosting, if desired. (I like to cover mine with chocolate whipped cream, as I did here).

Magnificent Muffins

Brilynn Ferguson — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 05:00:45 +0000

I’m constantly acquiring new cookbooks. It’s become a bit of an obsession really. I know I’ll never be able to make even a fraction of the recipes, but I still like to look at and buy new books. I justify this because I read cookbooks cover to cover like other people read novels. And how often can you say you reread your novels? Not nearly as often as I reread cookbooks. Even if I’m not cooking from a book, I still take it off the shelf and look at it from time to time to get some inspiration regardless of if I use an exact recipe. Some books, however, have earned a special place in my library as ones that I turn to repeatedly when I’m looking for an actual recipe to follow. Some of these staple books are glossy and pretty, others are worn and homely. The Magnificent Muffins Cookbook that I used to make these Banana Carrot muffins certainly falls into the later category. It’s paperback and spiral bound, although surprisingly, each recipe is accompanied by a photo, (albeit a dated one) and it’s packed with a variety of muffin recipes, none of which have been a disappointment.

When I made these Banana Carrot muffins, it was in place of a full sized carrot cake so I thought it necessary to top them with cream cheese frosting. Once they were all dressed up in frosting, these muffins looked suspiciously like cupcakes. But really, aren’t all muffins just cupcakes in disguise? Yes, yes, I know, the technique for making muffins and cupcakes is different but I say the real reason any of them are called muffins is because muffins form a fabulous alliterative with magnificent. This book wouldn’t have had nearly as good a title if it were called Magnificent Cupcakes, and so muffins it was. No matter what you call them, they’re tasty, so go make yourself some magnificent muffins.

Banana Carrot Muffins (from the Magnificent Muffins Cookbook)

Dry Mixture
1 ½ cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
½ tsp nutmeg
1 pinch ground cloves
½ cup raisins

Moist Mixture
2 large eggs
½ cup lightly packed brown sugar
½ cup vegetable oil
½ cup buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ cup mashed banana
1 cup grated carrot

Preheat oven to 400° F and prepare 12 muffin cups. In a large bowl, combine the dry mixture. In a medium bowl beat eggs lightly and combine with the moist mixture. Add the moist mixture to the dry mixture all at once and stir just until moist but still lumpy. Fill the prepared muffin cups ¾ full. Bake for 16-20 minutes. I opted to frost these, but they keep better and are quite good plain as well.