perfect morning for...

This morning was a perfect morning for a lot of things. Many of which I did not in fact do, like sleep in, make my own coffee, or clean my room.


However I did make biscuits.  It may have been one of the best decisions I've ever made on a Sunday morning. Ever.

On Friday I was in Portland and I had a biscuit and egg for breakfast. While I may be giving the biscuit itself more credit than deserved, as my exhausted post concert state may have made me slightly more susceptible to false-biscuit-charm than usual, I've been dreaming of them ever since.


I've made pie dough and scones and the occasional shortcake biscuit, but never your traditional non dessert variety. You know the kind. The biscuit and gravy kind. The biscuit and jam kind (my favorite, obviously). The biscuit and chowder kind. The kind of biscuit that can be easily adapted to any taste or meal- sweet or savory.


Since I didn't have a recipe I thought I would lean upon the world of mathematics. I know, I know, but I'm studying for the GRE so I need my practice and Michael Ruhlman may just be the smartest man I know....


Let's talk about Ratios. Or rather, the ratio that leads us to delicious breakfast biscuits- the likes of which are perfect for lazy, grey Sunday mornings.


According to my man, it's a 3:1:2. Essentially, the same ingredients as pie dough, but with twice the liquid-- meaning more gluten and more flakes, crumbles, butter, and overall doughiness.


Sounds good to me.

Oh and let me tell you, Mr. Ruhlman nailed this one one the head. Or rather, if you will allow me to, took the biscuit with this recipe.


He also added baking powder, which I did as well, and then I took the liberty of adding some baking soda in addition to the powder. Resulting in a more rustic and charming biscuit.


3:1:2 Biscuits
Adapted from Ratio by Michael Ruhlman 


3 cups flour (scant cups)
A measurement I just learned, meaning a cup that is not completely full. Personally, I think it's a terrible word, simply because of the way it sounds, but until I find a better one it will do. 
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
A heavy pinch of salt 
2 scant (or substitute your invented word) cups of butter milk
8 ounces cold unsalted butter. 


Like pie dough, mix flour, salt, powder, and soda in large bowl. Add in cubed ice cold butter and incorporate well into the flour. You can use two knives or just your thumb and forefinger to pinch the butter into the flour mixture. Add in buttermilk. Stir and let set in the refrigerator for about an hour. 


Drop dough onto a lined baking sheet (not greased) and bake for 25 minutes at 400 degrees.  Feel free to sprinkle with a little raw sugar or salt depending on your preference or intended biscuit accompaniment. 


Then enjoy.

Like this...

And like this.

..

Yes, that is a poached egg. I am still working on it, but I've determined it comes down to panache. There are tips and techniques- vinegar, spiraling water, etc- but I'm convinced it comes down to just a splash of verve.


I wanted to end with one last biscuit pun. But the only idioms I could think of didn't seem that fitting. Something to do with buttering my biscuit or broken biscuits and grizzly bears...


I don't know. What I want to say is I have a kitchen full of biscuits and worse things have happened.

sometimes a girls just gotta...

I know, I know, I know.


My guilt is almost palpable.... I can feel my kitchen aid's stare, which is surprisingly alarmingly, gripping, and tinted in pistachio green.


It's mad from neglect. I get it, I really do. And as much as I miss it and have big plans for it in the near future- sometimes a girls just has to...


do this...

Thank you Betty Crocker.

The recipe? Well, it's quite simple really. So simple in fact, it's written on the back of the box. Don't get me wrong we did add some walnuts and pour some wine so there is something to be said for additions. But really, somedays you just have to rely on the expertise of a mysterious ageless woman with a wooden spoon. She knows her stuff. Trust her.


In other news I spent the last weekend of sunshine and springtime weather standing in long lines...

To eat some of these...

They were worth it too. Even if I didn't get my gateau basque because the guy right in front of me ordered the last one... I mean, I would have at least offered a bite. Just saying.




Maybe if I had saved a bite for my kitchenaid, I could have softened the blow of the boxed brownie incident. Who knows really, I'll leave the lives of inanimate kitchen appliances for another day and instead make a promise, to my very core, to put it to good use very very soon.

hello.

Sometimes I get a little too excited.  So excited I talk too fast, move too quickly, and seem to loose control over my ability to keep my hands in check when I talk. Inevitable I knock something over, make a mess- or sometimes both.  Like yesterday, when in the grocery store I was thinking about rhubarb, and then there it was, and in my zeal to get there I knocked over an entire display of avocados.


An entire display.


There is just so much I want to say about this...

The first thing: good morning.  I've really missed them. It's true what they say about early birds and worms, but really I'm just happy to be awake and making pie. The fact that I am once again up and enjoying my mornings is also testament to the fact that spring is here. What better way to welcome back daylight than with pie. Specifically, sweet, tart, lemony, strawberry-rhubarb pie...


I know I say this a lot, about almost everything sweet, but there is something about strawberry rhubarb pie that is almost magical.


I think it's the rhubarb.

Or maybe it's this.

Don't get me wrong, I love strawberries, but rhubarb.... rhubarb as a fruit, or maybe a vegetable, is an entirely different beast. It looks like swiss chard, is partially poisonous, and as a kid I used to play fairy inside a giant rhubarb bush that grew in our backyard. Plus, for me this pie conjures up images of picnic tables, sunflowers, and plaid. Three of my favorite things... 


It's a fruit with oh so many uses.


My favorite though by far is this...

Also. That is what pie looks like by candle light. Very romantic... 




There are a few tricks with this pie, but other than that its simple.  Mostly, when it comes to baking I like to bake my pie for 20 minutes at 400 and then 25-30 at 350.  I find it helps turn the crust that delightful golden brown color. 


Also I use a lot of lemon in the filling. At least 2 lemons worth of juice. I don't know what that works out to in terms of measurements, probably about 2 tablespoons, but just eyeball it- and of course taste, taste, taste. 


I also use a combination of white and brown sugar, leaning a little heavier on the white sugar, totally around 3/4 to 1 cup depending on how sweet you like your pie.  The strawberries add a lot of sweetness, but the rhubarb is tart and needs sugar. For this particular pie I used 1/2 cup white and 1/4 brown sugar. It probably could have been sweeter, but I like things tart. 


Finally, I've started doing my dough by hand. It takes a bit longer but I love it. I'm gonna buy myself a pastry cutter this weekend and then who knows, I may take over the world. 

I've missed you so...

Really. I've missed you. There are any amount of excuses I can give: rainy weather, pile of library books, getting caught up in writing poems about ghosts and the occasional cow, or most recently my near death due to the flu last week, but you deserve more than that.


You deserve cookies.

And rather than tell you all the happy things I've been up to i.e sunbathing, puppy napping, interning, and buying summer clothes, I'll tell you about the words I google searched last night at three in the morning.


Salted. Milk Chocolate. Oatmeal.


That's all it took. One click of a key and some late night (or early morning) salivating and I'm back at it.


One cookie at a time.

You have no idea how excited I am to be back.  So excited in fact that I forgot to add the eggs in the first batch of these little gems. So excited, the second batch is still in the oven while I sit writing this.  So excited, I may just START YELLING.  I hope you've missed me.  Or more importantly, I hope you've missed close-ups of cookies....

Salted Milk-Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies.
Adapted from here


3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder (best quality you can find)
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
3/4 cup packed dark or golden brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups large flake old-fashioned oats
2 bars Theo milk chocolate finely chopped (you could use milk chocolate chips too, but you know me, I prefer texture and rustic bits of chocolatey goodness). 



Preheat oven to 350F

In a bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. In a large bowl, beat butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar MED speed for 3 minutes. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Seriously, do it. Don't get too excited about baking, or chocolate, or cocktail tasting, or one of your good friend's new house, just beat in the eggs.  It's important.   On low add in flour mixture blending til just combined. Slowly add in oats blending again til combined. Mix in Chocolate.

Measure out cookies - dropping them 3-4" apart onto parchment lined baking sheets. Bake17 minutes
and let cool still on the pan for 5 minutes. Transfer cookies to cooling rack and let cool to room temperature. 


Eat. Enjoy. Share. 


It feels good to be back. 

Save it for a rainy day

Or more accurately, nine rainy days. All of which are perfect for cake. Perfect for no fuss, moist, fruity, dark, breakfast cake. That's right, breakfast cake- it's a thing.  Not coffee cake, not crumb cake, just cake. For Breakfast.

And not just any breakfast cake- cake of honey, molasses, and huckleberries.


 I think I've said it before, but I hate frosting. With the exception of German Chocolate Cake, which I've started to realize can never be replaced or recreated from the birthday cakes of my youth,  I am an anti-frosting-kinda-gal.  Frosting be dammed.  Go for the cake, don't let anything get in the way...

That's also my sentiment on things like honey, molasses, and of course huckleberries.  I've made this cake before from Nigel Slater's recipe for Pudding Cake Of Honey, Cinnamon, and Plums, but which I found on Orangette. So in the middle of this zillion day rain, grey, streak Seattle seems set on sticking too, I knew just what  to make, but with a few major substitutions. 


First, I still have about 3 pounds of huckleberries in the freezer from my black market, back-alley, mad, and crazed huckleberry run earlier this fall.  Recently, I've noticed a little bit of freezer burn starting to creep in, so to avoid further and more devastating tragedy, I've set in motion a baking plan to use up every last one.  


Secondly, I didn't have Golden Syrup- which although not hard to find these days, didn't sound as appealing to me as did the words honey and molasses. So I made my own by replacing the called for amount of golden syrup with equal parts amber honey and dark molasses.  Personally, I think it gives the cake a richer color and depth of flavor, but really I just like experimenting. 


Pudding Cake of Honey, Molasses, and Huckleberries
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 slightly heaping teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 slightly heaping teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 pinches salt
1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons Honey 
1/3 cup Molasses 
2 Tbsp. honey
9 Tbsp. (125 grams) unsalted butter
¾ cup lightly packed brown sugar 
2 large eggs
1 cup almond milk (you could use regular milk too) 
2 cups frozen huckleberries (frozen or fresh, mixed with 1/4 teaspoon corn starch and the juice of one lemon) 



Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a 9inch cake pan- circle or square- but I used a circular pan.  Mix, butter, honey, molasses on stove until butter melts. Stir in brown sugar and remove from heat. Let cool slightly.  In a separate bowl mix flour, salt, baking soda, powder, and cinnamon.  Pour cooled honey molasses mixture into flour mixture and stir with a sturdy wooden spoon until just combined.  Batter will be thick.  In another bowl whisk eggs and milk together. Add to flour, honey, molasses mixture.  The batter will resist incorporation at first, but stick it out. The end result will be a rather soupy, but well combined mix.  Pour into cake pan.  Pour huckleberries on top of cake, they will sink.  Bake at 350 for 35 minutes, cover loosely with aluminum foil and bake for another 10 to 15 minutes or until cake is mostly set. Remove foil, turn off oven, and let the cake sit in the oven for another 20 minutes. This allows the cake to continue cooking, without drying up, or over baking.  


Let cool completely. Cut and serve. Since this cake is so moist, there's no need to cover too tightly for storing. As long as you eat it or share it in 2 to 3 days, which believe me you will have no problem doing, the cake should be find with only the cut exposed edges covered. 


Happy Breakfast cake day everyone! 

that time of year

I've noticed there comes a time every year where one aches for spring.  In my case it usually coincides with the time of year I cut my hair, start drinking iced coffee, and decide I should go for a run.  Sadly, although it means spring is just around the corner, it usually means I get sick and have trouble walking for a few days because there is no world in which I am a good runner.

Regardless, it's just about the perfect time for grapefruit.

A mountain of grapefruit.  Squeezed, zested, strained, and laced with sugar...

Welcome Grapefruit Bars- The Lemon Bars more seasoned sister. As you know I love lemon bars and when a few days ago I stumbled upon a recipe for grapefruit curd I knew there was something there.

A lot of somethings...

That go from tart, to sweet, and hit you with just a hint of ginger.  I think grapefruit is my favorite member of the citrus family.  Growing up my sister and I used to peel them like oranges, juice everywhere as we devoured each ruby colored wedge.  Oddly enough my favorite part was the white stuff, the pilth.  I loved how bitter and astringent it was and how if you ate enough of it your mouth went a little tingly.  Like olives that taste like a dairy barn, there are some things you can't stop eating because you can't quite believe how they taste. Grapefruit pilth, for me, is better than those olives.

Then there's the zest.

Unlike the pilth, it's actually nutritious  and actually tastes like fruit.  Therefore, I used a lot of it.

Grapefruit Ginger Bars
For the crust:
1/2 pound unsalted butter at room temp
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup granulated sugar

For the filling:
6 large eggs at room temp
2 1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons grapefruit zest (about 2 large grapefruits)
1 tablespoon ginger juice (I made by grating ginger and pushing it through a micro strainer)
1 cup fresh squeezed grapefruit juice
1 cup flour

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Cream butter and sugar together in standing mixer with paddle attachment. Add salt and flour until just combined. Press into a greased 9 by 13 inch.  Let chill.

Bake for 15-20 min.  Whisk eggs, sugar, grapefruit zest, grapefruit juice, ginger juice, and flour together.  Pour over par-baked crust and make for another 35-40 minutes.  Remove from oven and let chill. I put mine in the fridge to speed up the process.  Dust with powdered sugar.  Cut. Share. Eat.