Bauernkrapfen

No, I did not choke.. that is the word for this delightfully wonderful fried pastry that I ate growing up in Austria.  “Bauernkrapfen” is a rustic version of a doughnut, with less sugar than the American equivalent.  Traditionally, it is brushed with Apricot jam and dusted with powdered sugar, but you can use any jam you wish- strawberry or red currant jam would also be very good choices. I woke up this morning thinking about the Bauernkrapfen, so I called my Mom for the recipe she had from the friend who first introduced us to them.  A “Bauer” is the German word for “farmer” – “Krapfen” is the German word for “doughnut” (usually the jelly filled type without a hole in it).  These are easy to make, though a little time consuming, and my kids enjoyed them too, but would have preferred a different type of jam on them.

Bauernkrapfen (Austrian Farmer’s Doughnut)

Yields: 15-20 recipe translated from German into English – it is an authentic recipe

Ingredients:

• 6 oz milk
• 6 Tbsp unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp sugar
• 3 large egg yolks
• 2 yeast packets
• 3 cups all purpose flour (400 grams)

Additional ingredients:

• Apricot jam (or strawberry or red currant)
• powdered sugar

Instructions:

Pour milk in a small saucepan and heat over medium heat until it is steaming.  Turn off the heat and add the butter and allow it to melt in the milk, stirring a few times.  Allow to cool 5 minutes.  Pour the milk into a large mixing bowl.  Add the sugar to the milk mixture and stir to dissolve.  Allow to cool to lukewarm temperature (100-110)  Add the yeast and egg yolks.  Stir to combine.  Add the flour about a cup of it at a time, stirring to incorporate it to a dough.  Add a little more flour if it is sticking to the bowl, just enough to get it to release (I only had to add another tablespoon of flour, but it may vary depending on the size of the egg yolks you used).  Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for at least 1 hour.  Form the dough into 15-20 balls, roll each ball in a little flour and cover with a tea towel and allow to rest 30 minutes.

Stretch each ball a little, similarly as you would pizza dough, a thin layer of dough in the center and a rim slightly thicker on outside.

Heat 3/4 inch- 1 inch of oil in a large skillet over medium high heat.  When the oil is hot, carefully add 4-5 of the doughnuts to the oil and fry to a golden brown color on each side (this takes about 30-45 seconds per side).  Remove the doughnuts to a cookie rack to drain Tip:  I place my rack upside down on a cookie sheet that I have lined with paper towels, this allows the excess oil to be pulled away from your doughnut and keeps it from becoming soggy.

Heat the desired jam in a saucepan until it is slightly runny and warm.  Glaze the tops of the doughnuts with the warmed jam using a pastry brush.  Sprinkle a dusting of powdered sugar over the tops of the jam and doughnut.  Best still served warm, but tastes okay at room temperature as well.

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Chocolate-Chocolate Chip Muffins

My daughter asked for Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins one morning.  I of course knew where to turn: Pinterest and my many pins!  The pin led to this link. I followed the directions exactly – but was disappointed in the baking time they recommended – they  muffins were seriously over-baked and dry. The next time I made them, I reduced the cooking time to 15-18 minutes and was much happier with the results.  It is not as chocolatey as the ones you can get at Costco – or the like, but they are still quite good.  Here is my adaptation:

Chocolate-Chocolate Chip Muffins

adapted from Ingredients, Inc (see link above) Makes 1 dozen regular sized muffins

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
3 Tbsp cocoa powder
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup 2% milk
1/4 cup sour cream
1/3 cup plus 2 tsp canola oil
1 egg
2 tsp pure vanilla extract

additional mini chocolate chips to sprinkle the tops of the muffins before baking.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400F.

Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa powder, sugar and chocolate chips in a medium sized bowl.

In a separate bowl, combine the milk, sour cream, canola oil, egg, and vanilla.  Whisk to combine.

Add about 1/2 of the flour mixture into the liquids and stir to combine, using a spatula.  Add the remaining flour and incorporate it into the batter.

Using an ice cream scoop, fill the muffin cups (lined ones- or spray the muffin tin with a non stick spray like Pam)

Sprinkle the tops of the muffins with additional mini chips if you have them on hand (about a teaspoon per muffin).

Bake for 15-18 minutes. (originally 20 minutes, but I found that to be too long for this preparation)

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Peanut Butter Banana Bread with Chocolate Chips

Okay, Pinterest has  become an obsession, but I have not made very many recipes that I have found at that site.  This one is though- Peanut Butter Banana Bread with Chocolate Chips called to me- it is a winner.  I used a banana more than it called for because I had that many! It worked out really well. I think these would be great as muffins too, just reduce the cooking time – for those breakfast on the go mornings. I would even increase the peanut butter amount to bring out the flavor even more – it was subtle, and increased the vanilla as well, because I love the flavor of vanilla. My recipe is adapted from the recipe found here.

Peanut Butter Banana Bread with Chocolate Chips

adapted from For Goodness Sake Catering

Serves 12

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup unbleached all purpose flour (King Arthur)
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour (King Arthur)
• 6 Tbsp white sugar
• 6 Tbps brown sugar, packed
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3-4 ripe bananas, mashed
• 1/3-1/2 cup chunky peanut butter (I used natural)
• 2 Tbsp yogurt (Greek works too)
• 1 large egg
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 2 Tbsp canola oil
• 3/4 cup semi sweet mini chocolate chips (tossed in 1 Tbsp flour)

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Coat a loaf pan with cooking spray and line the bottom with parchment paper (this will help remove the loaf from the pan).

Combine the dry ingredients in one bowl: flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, or the bowl of your mixer add: bananas, peanut butter, egg, vanilla, and oil.  Mix to combine.  Add about half of the flour mixture and mix to incorporate.  Add remaining flour mixture and mix until you do not see any more dry flour.  Fold in the chocolate chips (the flour helps them not sink to the bottom for the loaf pan as it bakes.  Pour the batter into the loaf pan and spread with the spatula to even the batter.  Bake 40-50 minutes (mine took almost an hour, but every oven is different, so test if it is done with a toothpick or skewer.

Cool the pan on a wire rack for about 15 minutes before removing the pan.  Cool completely before slicing (this is totally optional– we tore into the loaf as soon as we removed it from the pan.  Delicious!

I imagine the baking time in regular size muffins would be around 20 minutes.  I will have to try that next,because I have bananas to use up!

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Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

I remember having rhubarb from time to time as a child, but never made any in my near 20 years of marriage.  My husband in fact, never had any rhubarb that he can remember!  This, I had to correct!  My Mom sent me a recipe for a strawberry rhubarb pie that was easy to make — and I found out also equally delicious!  I used a pre-made pie crust from the grocer’s refrigerated section.  This makes the process for pie making even easier! The original recipe called for 1 1/4 cups sugar.  I reduced it to 1 cup, but next time will only use 3/4 of a cup of sugar.  The only unusual ingredient is Minute Tapioca.  This serves as a thickening agent.

Mom’s Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

2 pie crusts (I used Pillsbury pre-made pie crusts)

Filling:

• 2 cups rhubarb, roughly diced
• 2 cups strawberries, hulled and sliced

Combine following ingredients then combine with the fruit:

• 3/4 to 1 cup sugar (originally 1  1/4c)
• 2 Tbsp minute tapioca
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon

• 1 Tbsp butter (to dot the top of the fruit before topping with second pie crust)

Prepare the pie pan with the first crust.  Combine sugar, tapioca, salt, and cinnamon and mix with the chopped rhubarb and strawberries.  Toss to combine.  Fill the pie with the filling.  Dot the tops with little pieces of butter.  Cut the top crust with slits to vent.  Top the pie and seal the edges.
Bake pie at 400F for 40-45 minutes.  Allow the pie to cool before slicing. (If you cannot wait, it is still good, but may be runny).

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Hot Buttered Pretzels

Pretzels! Yum! Enough said!

Oh wait.. you want me to blog too? Wait, I am busy eating my third buttery pretzel! I have gained 2 lbs just sitting here. There! Licking my fingers and ready to type.  I tried a recipe for pretzels last week from all recipes.  It was their top rated recipe and I was hopeful, but it did not turn out right.  The dough was dry, but to be completely honest, I cannot be sure that it was not my error, because the yeast was past its expiration date too.  The pretzels tasted okay. but I was not completely happy with the texture.. armed with fresh yeast in hand, I went on my quest to find a good pretzel recipe.  I have a nice thick cookbook from the King Arthur Flour Company and in it I discovered a recipe called Hot Buttered Pretzels. (p 229 The King Arthur Flour Baker’s Companion: The All-Purpose Baking Cookbook) LINK

I doubled the recipe.

Hot Buttered Pretzels

Yield: 16 palm sized pretzels

adapted from The King Arthur Flour Company Bakers Companion pg 229

Dough:

• 5 cups all purpose unbleached flour (King Arthur Brand of course)
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp sugar
• 4 1/2 tsp instant yeast
• 1 3/4-2 cups warm water

Topping:

• 1 cup warm water
• 2 tsp sugar
• coarse, kosher salt
• 6 Tbsp salted butter, melted

Preparation:

In your kitchen aid stand mixer, combine the ingredients listed under dough.  Use a dough hook to knead the dough for about 5 minutes.  You may need to dust the dough with a teaspoon of flour if it is sticking to the sides of the bowl.  Scrape the dough off the dough hook and remove the hook.  Dust the dough with a pinch of flour so it does not stick to the bowl and cover the bowl with plastic wrap.  Allow to sit for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 500F (for my oven that was a little hot and the tips of the pretzels burned, so I reduced the temperature to 475F and the results were better).  I prepared the pans with my favorite silicone mats.  These are an excellent investment as the bottoms of items I bake do not burn.  You can also line your cookie sheets with parchment paper if you do not have silicone mats.

Divide the dough into 16 equal sized balls of dough.  Spray a casserole dish with cooking spray or grease lightly with cooking oil and place the balls of dough in the dish.  Turn to coat them with the oil.  Allow to sit for 10 minutes.

Take one small ball of dough and begin to roll it out into a 18 inch long snake.

Dissolve 2 teaspoons of sugar in the cup of water and dip the string of dough into the water and form them into a pretzel.  Place the pretzel on your cookie sheet (I could fit 8 on my large cookie sheet). Sprinkle the pretzel with a little coarse salt.  Allow to rest 10 minutes before you put them in the oven.  Bake at 500 (or 475 in my case) for 8-9 minutes, rotating the pans half way through cooking time. After removing them from the oven, brush the tops with the melted butter.  I brushed each pretzel 2 times with the butter.  You really want the buttery taste to get on the pretzel.

My family loved the result of this recipe.  I will be making them again, even though I do not bake often.  These are worth the time!  And by the way, they are better and cheaper than the ones I can get at the mall.

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Chocolate Cake

I do not bake often.  I much rather cook!  With baking you have to be exact and I like to improvise in my cooking. I add a little of this a little of that.  Well, I had a friend request I make her a cake for her husband’s Birthday.  I said I would.  Then I went on the hunt for that perfect chocolate cake recipe.  The chocolate cake that got a lot of high ratings on the internet was that published by Ina Garten.  Only the cake called for 8 inch cake rounds and all I had was 9 inch.  I proceeded to follow the recipe.  Only instead of using 1 cup of hot brewed coffee I used the room temp coffee that I had brewed earlier in the day.  I used the 9 inch cake rounds that I had and baked them… but they fell. That is right the center of the cake collapsed during baking.  It rose around the outside perimeter, but there was a definite valley in the center of my cakes.  But we tasted the cake and it was delicious!  The hint of coffee was good.  I was about to abandon ship on this recipe.  But it was good… so I went in search of the 8 inch cake tins.  I hit up 6 stores before I finally found disposable foil ones in the right size at Walmart.  Armed with this, and the information that the HOT liquid makes all the difference I tried again.. and my second attempt was much better! But it also was full of issues.  I do not bake.. I do not bake.. I do not bake…

About 15 minutes into baking time my blower on the oven stops blowing, which only means one thing: the oven has come to a cool enough temperature that the blower is not blowing!!! WHAT!!!?? I had the oven all preheated and now my second attempt is in the oven? and the blower stops blowing?  Sure enough.  My oven is most decidedly OFF!  This is not good!  I removed the cakes, got the oven back up to baking temperature and baked them again.  Keeping my fingers crossed!  They came out beautifully, but it was the stress I could have lived without.

A few reviews of the frosting were negative, but I had a Vanilla Frosting that I have used before that came out with good success, so I decided to use that.  My friend was thrilled! For the frosting recipe I used please go to my Choir Cake.

You can find the original recipe at this link.  Thank you Ina for a winning recipe of Chocolate Cake.  I may make it again.. once I get over the shock of this past baking experience.  And my dear readers can learn from my mistakes – do use HOT coffee!!! or your cake will look like this:

As a side note:  I have not been as active on my blog in recent months.  I have taken on home schooling my high school student and have found less time to cook creatively.  I have been still cooking, but many recipes I have already posted here.  Next year I am home schooling two of my three kids, so I imagine I will have even less time to blog.  Home schooling is going pretty well overall, other than it is even harder to get the kids up in the morning.  I never saw myself to be a home school mom, but I have found a great support group and do not feel alone in this endeavor.  My son has also started to play baseball. While he is brand new to the sport, it is quite fun to see him learn a sport I have no knowledge about.  My husband and I joke that we don’t have the sports gene.  We don’t watch it on TV.  I used to ride horses, and occasionally play volleyball, but I was not into sports by any means!

 

Herbed Oatmeal Pan Bread

I used a recipe in the Pillsbury The Complete Book of Baking Cookbook that was published in 1993.  It is a wonderful edition filled with wonderful recipes.  You may be able to find a used copy at popular book sellers.  It reminds me of an oatmeal bread that my Aunt made when I was living with her.  This one has a nice herb topping. It takes some time to make, but is well worth the effort I think.

Herbed Oatmeal Pan Bread

Serves 16

adapted from Pillsbury The Complete Book of Baking p 458

Ingredients:

• 2 cups boiling water
• 1 cup rolled oats (Old Fashioned)
• 3 Tbsp butter
• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 packets active dry yeast (but I used only one and they turned out fine)
• 1 egg
• 1 3/4-2 1/2 cups additional flour, as needed

Herb Topping:

• 2 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 tsp dried basil leaves
• 1/4 tsp dried oregano leaves
• 3 Tbsp melted butter

Instructions:

Combine the boiling water with the rolled oats in a large bowl and stir.  Allow to cool to 110-120.

In your stand mixer combine the 1 1/2 cups of flour, sugar, salt and yeast.  Use your paddle attachment to stir the ingredients to combine on low for just a few seconds.  Add the cooled rolled oat mixture and the egg.  On low speed, mix the ingredients until combined and then increase the speed to medium and mix for 3 more minutes.

Add the remaining flour a little at a time and stir together with a spatula until it forms a stiff dough.

Flour a surface and knead the dough for another 5 minutes adding in another 1/2 cup of flour or until the dough is no longer sticky.  Let the dough rest on your kneading surface and tent it with a bowl.

Spray your 9″x13″x2″ baking dish with a cooking spray.  Spread the rested dough into the pan spreading it out evenly. Cut the dough with a sharp knife making diagonal cuts about 1 1/2 inches apart to form the bread.  Spray plastic wrap with cooking spray and cover the dish.  Then cover with a towel.  Allow to rise for 45 minutes in a warm place (I love to use the top of my fridge).

Heat your oven to 375F.  Uncover the dish, Cut along your score lines again.  Combine the dry ingredients for the herb topping.Brush the tops of the bread with melted butter and bake at 375F for 15 minutes.  Remove the bread.  Brush the tops again and sprinkle evenly with the Parmesan Cheese and Herb mixture.  Bake another 10-15 minutes.

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Corn Bread Pudding

Okay, this is the world’s easiest recipe to make!  It is our favorite adaptation of corn bread.  It goes really well with Chili… which is my next post.

Every year I “enter” a chili cook off.  Okay, mostly it is good fellowship with great friends that we have known for 15+ years now.  This year my girls want to bring a chili to enter – so we will be bringing 2!   How fun it is to see my girls take an interest in cooking as well.

Back to the corn bread pudding.  It is easy as pie.. actually easier than pie! Unless of course you buy your pies…

Corn Bread Pudding

adapted from a Betty Crocker Cookbook (a friend’s cookbook, so I don’t know the year or edition sorry)

Serves 8

1 box Jiffy corn bread mix

1 stick butter, melted

1 (15 oz) can corn kernels, drained

1 (15 oz) can creamed corn

1 cup sour cream

2 eggs

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Melt the butter in a microwave for 1 minute  (cover the dish or it may splatter).

In a  mixing bowl, combine the jiffy corn bread mix, eggs, sour cream, corn kernels, and creamed corn and mix.  Add the melted butter and mix.  Pour into a square 8 inch baking dish.

Bake for 45-60 minutes, or until it is set.  Serve with Chili.

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Sausage Gravy

Wake up sleepy head!  Biscuits and Gravy will get them up and out of bed!

I found this recipe on my all time favorite site (allrecipes).  The recipe was posted by Bob Evans.  It is a restaurant chain on the East Coast that serves incredible breakfasts. I tweaked the recipe here and there.

Biscuits and Gravy

adapted from Bob Evans recipe on allrecipes.com

Serves 8

Ingredients:

• 1 lb sausage
• 2 Tbsp butter (optional)
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 cups milk
• salt and black pepper to taste

additional ingredients:

• 8 prepared biscuits
• 8 fried eggs

Instructions:

Bake biscuits (I used the Bisquick Mix and used the recipe on the box).

Heat a large skillet over medium high heat and cook the sausage, crumbling the sausage as you cook it until it is no longer pink.  Move the sausage to the side of the pan and tilt the pan to let the drippings flow to the other side.  Add the flour and about 1/2 tsp of salt to the drippings (oh this is BAD!  But I feel a tingle! I should really not be eating this, but oh it is sooo good for you –oops tasty!)  Stir the flour into the drippings and combine until there is no raw flour left.  I actually added 2 Tbsp of butter to the drippings so the flour was not clumpy.  Heat the milk up in the microwave.  I find it combines better adding a warm liquid.  Slowly add the milk to the flour mixture and whisk it into the pan.  Add the sausage back in.  Taste and season with salt and pepper if needed.  Bring the gravy to a boil and allow to thicken.  If it becomes too thick you can thin it out with additional milk.

To serve, split a biscuit in half  Top with a fried egg and ladle sausage over the egg, replace the top of the biscuit and ladle more gravy over the dish.  Soon you will have all sorts of creatures (children) crawling out of the woodwork to eat breakfast (big ones too).

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Easy Banana Bread

My friend and mentor Mom, Carol is a fantastic cook.  Here is an easy recipe for Banana bread that uses ready made biscuit mix to make it.  It does not use any oil either, which is nice.  Bake it a loaf pan.

Carol’s Easy Banana Bread

Serves 12

3 cups Bisquick Mix

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg

1/2 cup milk

3 (very) ripe bananas, mashed

3/4 cup chopped pecans (or other nuts)

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 375F.  Spray the loaf pan with cooking spray (or coat with butter).  Mix all the ingredients together.  Pour into a loaf pan and bake at 375F for 45-60 minutes or until the cake tests done, when you insert a toothpick (mine usually is done around 45 minutes).  For an extra twist you can sprinkle about 3/4 cup chocolate chips on the loaf when you pull it out of the oven, wait a few minutes for the chocolate chips to melt and spread them.  Allow the loaf to cool and slice into 12 slices.  Yummy for breakfast or anytime.

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