Cataloging and Cookies

Tonight, in true Martha fashion, I made molasses crinkle cookies. The recipe is an old favorite, taken from Molly Katzen's Still Life With Food, which is currently filed under 641.5636 in accordance with the Dewey Decimal System. Because the cookbooks had to make room for cupcakes at the party last night, Spencer got the extra treat of re-organizing the reference and cooking shelf:

(Watchful readers will notice that Spencer is shelving The Joy of Cooking)

We have since coined the term "have a 640 day!", which is the code for domestic arts and sciences. The cookies turned out very well, and taste great:

Don't let the picture fool you - I'm really enjoying myself...

If you decide to make these cookies, do NOT skip the last step of rolling them in sugar - this pushes the cookies from delish to divine, and adds some sparkle for bonus presentation points.

Mrs. Buerschaper's Molasses Crinkles
Prep Time: 25 min. Bake Time: 12 - 15 min.

Wet Ingredients:
1/2 c. Butter
1/4 c. Blackstrap Molasses
1 c. Sugar
1 Egg
Dry Ingredients:
1/4 tsp. Salt
2 tsp. Baking Soda
1 tsp. Cinnamon
1 tsp. Allspice
1 tsp. Ground Ginger
2 c. Unbleached White Flour (also works to use half whole wheat)
1 - 2 tbsp. sugar

1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a cookie sheet.
2. Melt the butter in a glass bowl, add wet ingredients and stir until combined
3. In a separate bowl sift together dry ingredients (except the additional sugar), then add to the wet mixture, stirring until combined.
4. Form 1-1/2 inch balls of dough, roll them in the sugar until coated, and place on baking sheet.
5. Bake 12-15 minutes until firm to the touch. Cool and enjoy!

If anyone makes this, tell me how it goes - I'd love to know!

Month of Muffins

Last night, Celia, our wonderful other roommate, made pumpkin apple muffins. They were, of course, delicious.



What you should know is that last winter, before Sierra lived with us, Celia and I baked muffins every day for over a month. This phenomenon has become known as the Month of Muffins, and basically corresponded with the 36 straight days of rain we got here at the same time. We used a wonderful and adaptable recipe from the Moosewood Restaurant New Classics cookbook:

wet ingredients:
6 tablespoons butter or vegetable oil
1/2 to 3/4 c. sugar
1 egg
1/2 c. plus 2 T. milk
1/2 t. vanilla
2 c. chopped fruit, and/or nuts, and/or chocolate chips (or other combinations, see below)

dry ingredients:
2 c. flour
1 t. baking powder
1/4 t. baking soda
1/4 t. salt
1/4 t. cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly oil a 12-cup muffin tin. Cream together the butter and sugar in a medium bowl, then mix in the other wet ingredients. In a separate large bowl, sift together the dry ingredients. Add the wet ingredients and fold together with a rubber spatula. Divide into the muffin tins and bake 30 minutes.

For this recipe, I think Celia put in a cup of pumpkin and a cup of chopped apples. Our favorite from the Month of Muffins was 1 c. frozen raspberries and 1 c. chocolate chips. We kept a log of all the muffins we tried, and here are a few that turned out well:

* blackberry almond
* strawberry chocolate almond
* banana walnut
* strawberry granola (1 c. strawberries, 1 c. granola)
* zucchini strawberry (grate the zucchini)

Zucchini as a muffin ingredient is really amazing. Replacing half the flour with cornmeal also makes good corn muffins. These muffins are also really good when made vegan, just use vegetable oil instead of butter, egg replacer, and soy milk. You won't be able to tell the difference.

Oh, and that's a box of satsumas behind the muffins in the picture. Satsumas are my favorite fruit, and it's the time of year they have them in stores - go get some.

Check It Out!

This evening, I felt like making a coffee cake, so I found this recipe from marthastewart.com. I pretty much followed it exactly, except I used butter instead of vegetable shortening, buttermilk instead of milk, and half whole wheat flour. It turned out really well. Martha definitely came through.

Cutting in the butter:

Stirring in the wet ingredients:

Ready to go in the oven:

Done:

The Great Waffle Bake-Off

Sierra and I both like to make waffles for our friends, and Sunday morning waffle brunch has become and intermittent tradition for us. In fact, that was how I convinced Sierra to come live with me. My signature waffles are cornmeal waffles that a family friend makes every year when my family visits (for the Logger's Jubilee, in fact). Sierra's signature waffles are made with yeast. She got the recipe from her father. I had never actually had Sierra's waffles before, and we decided that it was time for a bake-off. We invited some friends over and each made a batch of waffles.


Sierra's waffle batter rising in the oven.



Spencer adding buttermilk to his waffles.


Sierra made some hashbrowns in case a vegan showed up.


Just one of many excited guests.

Unfortunately, once the guests arrived, we were having too much fun to remember to take pictures of the finished waffles. In the end, this bake-off resulted in a tie. Every last waffle was eaten.

Spencer's Cornmeal Waffles:

Beat together:
* 2 cups buttermilk
* 2 eggs
Add:
* 1 c. whole wheat flour
* 3/4 c. cornmeal
* 2 t. baking powder
* 1 t. baking soda
* 1/4 c. wheat germ
* 2 T. sugar
* 1/4 t. salt
Blend until smooth
Add:
* 6 T. oil
Cook in your waffle iron.

Sierra's Yeast Waffles

Warm the oven
Mix together:
* 2 c. warm milk
* 2 T. oil
* 2 c. flour (mix of whole wheat and white)
* 2 eggs
Add:
* 1 t. sugar
* 1 T. hot water
* 1 T. yeast
Put into the warm oven for about an hour until it rises, then cook in the waffle iron.