Gingerbread Biscotti

Ohhh, who doesn't love a good ol' dipping cookie for that festive cocoa or coffee? Me me! That's what biscotti's are for. I've never made them before, but these turned out wonderfully.

Ingredients

1/3 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup molasses or sorghum
3 eggs
3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 heaping cup pecans, toasted and chopped
1/4 cup finely chopped crystallized ginger
9-10 ounces semi-sweet or dark chocolate, melted

Create 

Whisk or blend the butter and brown sugar until they are properly creamed together.

Beat in the molasses/sorghum, then the eggs (one at a time!).

In a separate bowl, sift together the dry ingredients.

Gradually add the dry ingredients into the wet ones, and then fold in the ginger and pecans.

Divide the dough in half and place them on parchment paper covered baking sheet. Place that in the fridge for about 30 minutes. Set the oven at 350!

Then, take out the sheet, and form the dough into log-ish (3 x 10) shapes. Bake for about 25 minutes, until golden brown on top.

Take it out of the oven, and cut the logs up into biscotti-shaped slices. Place the slices on one side at a time, into the oven for about 5-7 minutes each side. This will crisp them up. Take them out and let them cool.

Melt that chocolate in the microwave, and dip the cooled biscotti in it! Let them dry in the open air for about an hour, and then you can store them away for the family or give them away as delicious gifts for the neighbors.

Enjoy!!

Whole Wheat Cranberry Brown Sugar Bread

I still don't feel confident in my bread-making skills whatsoever, but I'm going to continue trying until I get it right. I found this delightful recipe from pinterest (where else?!), and thought I'd give it a go! The loaves came out a bit flat, but delicious nonetheless. The bread-making process itself is so joyful!


What you need:
2 pkg yeast
2 tsp sea salt
½ cup warm water (110-120 degrees)
4 cups lukewarm water
6 tbl brown sugar (divided)
6-8 cups whole wheat flour (divided)
½ cup dried cranberries

Make & Create:

 In a large bowl, place the yeast, salt, and warm water-- blend together and let sit for 5-7 minutes.

Add in lukewarm water and 2 Tb of brown sugar.

Then add about 5-6 cups of your flour, pouring and stirring in one cup at a time, until the dough becomes like a gooey-lava texture.

Cover with a cloth for about 2-3 hours, allowing it to rise.

Next, throw the dough out onto a floured surface. Work the extra flour into the dough and knead well. (It gets a bit messy...)

Divide the dough into 2-3 pieces.
Flatten out the dough-balls, sprinkle brown sugar and cranberries evenly overtop, then fold in the sides of the dough and pinch the end-seams. Make a few slits in the tops of the dough.

Transfer them to your parchment-papered baking sheet, place aluminum foil over top, and allow them to sit for about 30 minutes before transferring them into the oven.

They'll remain in the oven for about 50 minutes. Take the foil off of the top for the last 10 minutes so that they can brown up a bit.

Enjoy!

Candy Cane Dark Chocolate Cake

The Christmas season is better with chocolate and peppermint, just ask any coffeeshop, with their sweetly conjured up seasonal specialties. It's also better with cake. We had a little dinner party the other night, so I set out to make a little something that everyone, including my gluten-intolerant father, could enjoy! This is one of the first times that I have successfully  actually created my own recipe of a baked good. Usually I start from a recipe and maybe add my own spices or special touches, but this time I just looked at about four different recipes, and then created my own. So fun!! And it actually tasted amazing! I feel like a proud parent.


Ingredients:
for the cake
1 3/4 c. Gluten-Free Baking Flour
2 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Salt
1/2 c. Melted Butter, cooled
1/2 c. White Sugar
3 Eggs
2 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
1 c. Milk (1% and up)
1/2 c. Melted Dark Chocolate
York Peppermint Patties

for the glaze
1 c. Confectioners Sugar
1/4 tsp Peppermint Extract
3 Tb Milk
Candy Canes, smashed into bits

The Process:

Set the oven to pre-heat at 350.

In one bowl, combine the dry ingredients of flour, baking powder, and salt. In a separate bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Add eggs, vanilla, and milk to the butter-sugar bowl. After all is mixed thoroughly, gradually add in the dry ingredients. Fold in the melted chocolate. Chop up about 5-6 York into small pieces, and fold those into the batter as well.

Oil or butter-up your baking dish-- I used a bundt cake mold, because it's more festive and seems to bake more evenly, but do as you please! Place in the oven for about 55 minutes or so.

While that's baking, mix up your Peppermint Glaze. Combine the pepermint extract and milk, then slowly sift in the confectioners sugar, stirring vigorously, so as to avoid any clumps in the creamy glaze.

After your cake has been removed for the oven and had time to cool a bit, take it out of its mold, and drizzle the peppermint glaze overtop. Delicately and boldly throw lots of candy cane pieces into the glaze. Voila!

Enjoy!!

Cranberry Spice Cake

What I'm craving more than Christmas foods is Christmas spirit. Where's the Christmas spirit?! Since moving down to Louisville, I'm suddenly much more aware of how unnaturally warm it is outside for this season. It ain't right to be 60 degrees outside on December 5th! So it doesn't feel like Christmastime. Thankfully, we have successfully put up all of our pretty Christmas decorations in our house, and I have to remind myself to play Christmas tunes when I so badly want to play Bon Iver for these dreary warmish, cloudy, rainy days. So, I'm taking it upon myself to do some sort of Christmas-y task every day. Yesterday, I made homemade ornaments to hang from twine off of our chandelier. This morning, I'm making a cranberry spice cake, which I will pair with delicious hot cocoa when it's time to eat up. 

 serves 6-8
 
For the Cake:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (or whole wheat pastry flour)
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon allspice
dash of nutmeg
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups (8 ounces) fresh (or frozen, thawed) cranberries
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup (packed) dark brown sugar
1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil
2 large eggs
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon freshly grated orange zest
2 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest (roughly 1/2 a lemon)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup apple cider (or applesauce)

For the Lemon Glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar
2 teaspoons freshly grated lemon zest (roughly 1/2 a lemon)
3 tablespoons strained fresh lemon juice (about 1 lemon)
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt


Preheat oven to 350° Fahrenheit. Coat the bottom and sides of 8 1/2-inch round cake pan with nonstick cooking spray (or use vegetable oil spread with paper towel). Line the bottom of the cake pan with parchment paper and coat the paper with spray too. Whisk flour and next 6 ingredients in a medium bowl and set aside. Pulse cranberries in a food processor until minced but not puréed; set aside.

In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, stir together granulated sugar, brown sugar, and oil to blend. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing on low to blend between additions. Mix in sour cream, orange zest, lemon zest, and vanilla.

Gradually stir in the dry ingredients in 3 additions, alternating with cider in 2 additions and mixing on low to blend. Fold in chopped cranberries. Scrape batter into prepared pan; smooth top.

Bake, rotating pan halfway through, until a tester inserted into center of cake comes out almost clean, about 50-60 minutes. We recommend checking the cake after 45 minutes since ovens vary. Transfer the pan to a wire rack; let cake cool in pan for 15 minutes. Run a thin knife around inside of pan to release cake; turn out cake onto rack. Peel off parchment paper, then flip cake and let cool for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile make the lemon glaze. Whisk powdered sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice, and salt in a small bowl. Spread glaze over warm cake, drip down sides. Let stand until glaze becomes crackly, about 1 hour. Serve at room temperature.

(FYI: I didn't take this picture... the cake I made was gone before I took snap a photo of it!)

Enjoy! And Merry Christmas!
 

Mini Pumpkin Spice Donuts

In honor of my very last day of massage therapy class, I made a nice fall treat for the class to enjoy. Also, it was ridiculously warm outside today (eighty degrees!), which I actually really didn't like because it's October 24th, and I should be snuggling up in the brisk air with a warm sweater and a mug of chai tea in hand. I should not be sitting outside in a t-shirt and jean shorts getting burnt on my pale face and sweating as I write in my journal. It ain't right. So, making a fall-ish treat, such as these delightful little donuts, helped me to pretend like it really is still fall, despite the crazy weather. I still made myself some Twinnings tea and enjoyed the pumpkin morsels as they ought to be enjoyed.

Anyways, here's the recipe :)

Ingredients

raw! (before they become unhealthy)

For Donuts:
1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/8 teaspoons ground cloves
1/3 cup melted shortening (natural!)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 cup whole milk

For Coating:
1/2 cup butter, melted
2/3 cup sugar
1-2 tablespoons cinnamon (more if you're a cinnamon lover)

who doesn't love butter?

Create
1) Preheat oven to 350, coat mini-muffin pans with butter (or a true donut pan)
2) Combine flour, salt, spices, baking powder in a bowl and set aside.
3) Mix oil, brown sugar, pumpkin, egg, vanilla, and milk until just combined. Then, add in the dry ingredients. Don't over-mix :)
4) Pour into the pan, and bake for about 13 minutes. If you're using a donut pan, it may only take about 9 minutes. Be attentive!

5) After taking out your donuts and allowing them to cool slightly, melt the butter, and mix up your cinnamon-sugar. While donuts are still a bit warm, dip them in the butter and coat them with cinnasugar. Set them out and watch them disappear as they are quickly gobbled up by anyone in their path.

enjoy!

Almond Cakelettes with Figgy Filling

So, it's been a while. The main reason I haven't recorded my creations is because I've been enjoying summer and traveling too much to create creative foods.

Anyways, it's officially autumn and I really love autumn. So here's a baked good to start off my new season!

 I really love figs. I think that they are the most beautiful colors. To me, they taste exactly as they look. Sweet, soft, honey-like. 

Ingredients (for Almond Cakelette)

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup shortening
• 4 large eggs
• 2 cups  sugar
• 2 3/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour
• 3/4 cup almond meal/flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 cup warm milk
• Handful of almonds  

Combine

1) Preheat oven to 325. Line 24 cupcake molds with paper liners.
2) In a large bowl, cream together butter and shortening. Add in eggs, 1 at a time, until mixed completely. Add sugar, mixing on a low speed.
3) Whilst alternating with warm milk, add in the dry ingredients, one at a time.... Pastry flour, almond flour, baking powder, and salt. Fold in the sliced almonds.
4) Fill the liners about 2/3 full with cake batter. Bake for 16-20 minutes. Let them cool :)

Ingredients (for the Figgy Filling)

• 5-10 ripened black figs
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup honey
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Dashes of cinnamon, ground ginger, nutmeg... whatever you want. 

 Combine

1) Basically, just blend it all together! 
2) Cut out a small circle in the middle of the cakelette, fill the middle with some figgy filling, and place the center-top back on. If this is too confusing, click here for a better description.

Because I was too lazy to make a frosting, I just swirled some more of the figgy filling on top of the cakelettes and added a few sliced almonds atop.

Hope you enjoy them as much as I did :)

Crunchy Buckwheat Granola

Ohh who doesn't love a good granola? Every morning I have plain, natural yogurt with heaps of blueberries and a few large spoonfuls of this granola, alongside my small cuppa coffee and a glass of fresh grapefruit juice. What a way to start the day :)

Just in case you would like to join me in my breakfast ritual, here is the following recipe!

Fixins:
2 c. raw rolled oats
1 c. buckwheat groats
handful of the following:
-sliced almonds, crushed raw hazelnuts, raw sunflower seeds

1/4 c. coconut oil (or canola, if you please)
1/4 c. local maple syrup (or honey, or mixed!)
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground ginger

coconut shavings
dried cranberries & blueberries (or whatever else you like)

Combine:
Mix all of the ingredients (except the coconut shavings and dried fruits) into a large metal bowl that is oven-safe. Mix well! Place it in the oven at 300 degrees for about an hour, sporadically checking in on it and mixing it together. Once the granola looks to be a nice goldeny-brown, take it out and add the coconut and dried fruits, allowing the granola to cool a bit, whilst mixing it still.

It should get a bit clumpy... that's good!

Refrain from transferring the yummy granola into a container until it is fully cooled... otherwise you've got a soggy mess.

Simple and delicious... enjoy!!