You know how I told you about that weekend a few weeks back that my mom, my sister and I baked a TON of stuff? Well this is another one of the products that came out of that weekend. Heavily adapted from an Ina Garten recipe, these granola bars only have about half of the orignial ingredients that she included in the original recipe. We wanted pure and simple, great tasting granola bars with only sliced almonds and dried cherries for added flavor.

These bars were a breeze to make. Just toast oatmeal and nuts together until lightly browned, then transfer to a large bowl. On the stove in a small saucepan make a syrup by melting together your wet ingredients (butter, honey, brown sugar, & vanilla). Pour that mixture over your oats and nuts, stir and then incorporate your dried cherries into the mix.

With a prepped sheet pan-lined with parchment, pour the mixture onto the pan. Spread evenly with wet hands or spatula. Top the granola with parchment and press down with a sheet pan so that the granola is tightly packed. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool for at least 2-3 hours then cut into bars with a serrated knife.

Easy right? Well, once the bars are cooled and cut, then comes the fun part…packaging! We bought a roll of cellophane and green tulle from the Container Store and used those to wrap each granola bar individually. For each bar we then handwrote labels and adhered them to the package. And voila! Homemade granola bars that you can be happy having for a snack, since you know everything that went into them (no scary additives), plus they’re as cute as can be!

Homemade Granola Bars (Heavily adapted from Ina Garten)

4 c. old-fashioned oatmeal

1 1/2 c. sliced almonds

3 T. unsalted butter

2/3 c. honey

1/4 c. light brown sugar, lightly packed

1 1/2 t. pure vanilla extract

1/2 t. kosher salt

1/2 c. – 1 c. dried cherries

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Butter an 8 x 12″ baking pan and line it with parchment paper.

Toss the oatmeal and almonds onto a sheet pan and bake for 10 to 12 minutes, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned. Transfer the mixture to a large mixing bowl.

Reduce the oven temperature to 300ºF.

Place the butter, honey, brown sugar, and vanilla, and salt in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Cook and stir for a minute, then pour over the toasted oatmeal mixture. Add dried cranberries and stir well.

Pour the mixture into the prepared pan. Wet your fingers and lightly press the mixture evenly into the pan. Top granola with parchment and press down with same sized pan. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes until light golden brown. Cool for at least 2 to 3 hours before cutting into rectangle. Wrap.

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Granola Bars

Happy Valentine’s day everyone! What are you doing this weekend to celebrate? Pete and I will be spending the weekend painting our new apartment in preparation for our move-in in May.

In celebration of Valentine’s Day my mom, Liz, and I baked these cute Linzer Heart cookies to give as gifts. We found the recipe for the cookie from Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbook. This recipe makes a cookie that is delicate and quite flavorful (from the nut flour and lemon zest). I do want to warn you though, this dough is fairly hard to work with (it may crack), but you just need to be patient and keep working with it to get it rolled out to the desired thickness. To make this recipe you also need to make sure you have two different sized heart-shaped cookie cutters on hand for cutting the “window” on the top layering cookie. The extra small heart you cut out can also be baked and made into nice bite-sized sandwich cookies.

The raspberry jam was made by a recipe that I’ve adapted from various recipes that works pretty well for me and it very easy to make. All you need to do is weigh out 800 g. frozen raspberries, 600 g. sugar, and juice one lemon. Place the frozen raspberries and the sugar in a large pot and cook over a medium-high heat. Stir to ensure sugars dissolve and continue cooking until it reaches 105ºC and be patient because this takes a while! Once it reaches this temperature, remove from heat and stir in the lemon juice. This recipe makes a lot of jam, so what I did was pour some of the jam into a glass pyrex dish (with lid) to use for the cookies and jarred the rest. Making the jam ahead of time, makes the cookies all the easier when you go to make them, plus homemade jam tastes so delicious!

Linzer Hearts (Martha Stewart)

2 c. all purpose flour, plus more for dusting

1 t. baking powder

1/2 t. ground cinnamon

1/4 t. salt

1 c. blanched hazelnuts (I used almonds)

2 sticks (1c.) unsalted butter, room temperature

3/4 c. sugar

2 lg. egg yolks

1/2 t. vanilla extract

1/2 t. freshly grated lemon zest

1/2 c. raspberry jam for filling

1/4 c. confectioner’s sugar, for dusting

In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. In a food processor, pulse hazelnuts (or almonds) until finely ground. Whisk the ground hazelnuts into the flour mixture; set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy about 2-3 minutes. Add the egg yolks, vanilla and lemon zest; beat to combine, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. With mixer on low speed, add nut-flour mixture, and beat until just combined.

Turn out dough onto a lightly floured work surface, divide in half, and shape into flattened discs. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate 1 hour or overnight.

Remove one disc of dough from the refrigerator, and let stand until softened slightly. (This will help the dough from cracking when rolled) On a large piece of parchment paper lightly dusted with flour, roll dough to 1/8″ thickness (I found more success with a slightly thicker dough). To prevent sticking while rolling, occasionally run a large offset spatula under dough, and add more flour to the top or bottom of the dough. Transfer parchment paper and dough to a baking sheet; freeze until firm, about 2o minutes. Repeat with remaining dough (you can stack the parchment and the dough).

Preheat the oven to 325ºF. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper. Remove one sheet of dough and parchment from the freezer; working quickly, cut into heart shapes with a 3-inch cookie cutter. Cut out center from half the shapes with a 2-inch cutter. Using a wide metal spatula, transfer open hearts to prepared baking sheets, about 1 1/2 inches apart; freeze until firm, about 15 minutes (you can bake the cutouts centers for bite sized cookies, or reroll them to make larger hearts).

Bake, rotating sheets halfway through, until cookies are crisp and lightly golden all over, about 15 minutes. Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely (cooled cookies can be stored overnight in an airtight container at room temperature before filling). Spread the flat sides of the whole hearts with about 1 1/2 t. jam. Sift confectioner’s sugar over the open hearts. Just before serving, top open hearts with jam. Cookies should be eaten the day they’re filled.

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Valentine’s Day Linzer Hearts

A week ago, my mom and sister spent the weekend at my apartment. While they were here we baked about ten different recipes, some to send as care packages for friends and family and some we made just for us. Among the products we made were two great desserts made with chocolate, that I thought I’d share with you.

The first one we made was an old favorite, chocolate brownies. A specialty of my mom’s. This is an easy recipe that comes on the back of Baker’s chocolate boxes, all you need to do is to microwave butter and chocolate together until melted and stir in sugar, eggs, vanilla, and flour. We normally then bake our brownies in a 13×9 in. pan, but since we had cute Valentine’s Day mini baking cups (from Sur La Table) we decided to make brownie bites-which are a perfect poppable size. Since we changed the brownie size, it is important to keep an eye on these guys since they are much smaller, it took 10-15 min. in my oven to bake. Once cooled, we then packed them in small clear bags for care packages.

My sister is responsible for finding the recipe for Tyler Florence’s chocolate banana bread. The combination of cocoa powder, melted bittersweet chocolate, and bananas makes this my favorite banana bread recipe. Since we were giving these loaves away we baked them in four mini loaf paper molds that we also found at Sur La Table. This bread baked up beautifully, with a crackly rustic top. When the loaves cooled we wrapped them in plastic wrap and packed them in clear plastic bags to keep them as fresh as possible.

The weekend spent with my mom and sister was one of the best weekends I’ve had at my apartment. It was amazing how much we accomplished, it was so much fun! I hope you try these recipes, especially if you like chocolate!

Baker’s One Bowl Brownies

4 squares BAKER’S Unsweetened Chocolate

3/4 cup  (1-1/2 sticks) butter

2 cups sugar

3   eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

1 cup  flour

PREHEAT oven to 350°F. Line 13×9-inch baking pan with foil, with ends of foil extending over sides of pan. Grease foil. (Or line muffin tin with baking cups)

MICROWAVE chocolate and butter in large microwaveable bowl on HIGH 2 min. or until butter is melted. Stir until chocolate is completely melted. Stir in sugar. Blend in eggs and vanilla. Add flour; mix well. Spread into prepared pan.

BAKE 30 to 35 min. or until wooden toothpick inserted in center comes out with fudgy crumbs. (Do not overbake.) Cool in pan on wire rack. Remove brownies from pan, using foil handles. Cut into squares. Store in tightly covered container at room temperature. (Bake 10-15 if using mini muffin pan)

Chocolate Banana Bread (Tyler Florence)
Makes 1 loaf (or 4 mini loaves)

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened, plus more for the pan
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted
2 large eggs
3 very ripe bananas
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Butter a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan. Mix together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. In another bowl, cream the butter until lightened, then beat in the chocolate, eggs, bananas, and vanilla. Stir in the dry ingredients just until combined; do not overbeat.

Pour the batter into the loaf pan and bake until a toothpick stuck into the center of the bread comes out almost clean, 50 to 60 minutes.  Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for at least 15 minutes before unmolding.

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What I’ve Been Up To: Chocolate Desserts

The first thing that I did to make this cake  was draw out a diagram of how I wanted it to look inside and out. It’s dorky, but it helps! I also wrote out a list of the components of the cake and a timeline for when they needed to be completed as a guideline for production. I also decided to make my own addition to the cake: raspberry jam (to cut the richness of the cake and buttercream).

Once I had done that, I set out to find the recipes I would use for the cakes and the buttercream icing. After researching I decided to use Martha Stewart’s recipes for chocolate and vanilla cake and a tradtional buttercream recipe from the Magnolia Bakery cook book. Since this cake was going to be six tiers high, i thought it was best to make the cakes a smaller size and used 6 in. cake pans instead of the more common 9 in. cake size. This created a cake that had a really cute appearance, especially when placed on my small pink cake stand. (The recipes made more cake than I needed so instead of wasting the batter, I baked some cupcakes)

So the Friday before Annie’s birthday party I baked each of the three cakes, let them cool, cut off the tops to even them out, sliced them in half and wrapped each one individually to freeze until the next day (so they wouldn’t dry out). I also made a fresh batch of raspberry jam and refrigerated it until I was ready for assembly of the cake.

On Saturday, with most of the components already completed, I mixed a double batch of buttercream and set out to assemble the cake. With the aid of my diagram and my great sous chef, I started icing and layering the cake on top of a cardboard cake round. First layer down was vanilla, then I piped on some pink buttercream. Then it was topped with pink vanilla and an outer ring of buttercream (or moat- to prevent jam from leaking) and jam inside, then topped with chocolate cake. After that, I just repeated the process until all six of my tiers had been layered. I then covered the outside of the cake with two layers of buttercream and let it rest in the refrigerator before decorating.

To decorate the cake I piped vertical lines of frosting a half inch apart down the sides of the cake. At the end of each line I placed a pink draget (decorative sugar ball) and also used them to decorate the top. I was happy with the result of the cake. It was really fun to make and I was really happy to make it for Annie!

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What I’ve Been Up To: Annie’s Birthday Cake

Mahmool are Lebanese filled cookies that have three traditional fillings including walnut, pistachio and date. Each is formed in a specific designed wooden mold, the design on the cookie lets you know what the filling is inside. Our particular cookies were made with a walnut filling and shaped into round and oval shapes.

These cookies are made quite easily with the use of a electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and a food processor. Other than that, the only ingredient that may not be so easy to find in your local grocery store is the rosewater. Luckily for those of you living in Chicago, Fox & Obel carries it in their baking section.

The cookies are some of the best that I’ve eaten, they have a great texture and they aren’t too sweet and have a hint of rose. Plus, they are very pretty with their intricate designs and light dusting of powdered sugar. These cookies are not just for the holidays, they are definitely a year round treat! Thanks Patty for teaching me this family recipe!

Grandma Coury’s Mahmool

Ingredients

1 2lb box regular Cream of Wheat

1 lb. Margarine (or butter)

3-3.5 c. flour

1/3 c. granulated sugar

1/2 t. baking powder

1/2 t. rosewater

3/4- 1 c. milk

Filling

1 lb. walnuts

1 c. granulated sugar

1 T. rosewater

Blend cream of wheat & margarine (or butter) in electric mixer using paddle attachment. Add flour, sugar, baking powder, rosewater, & milk. Add more flour if too wet or more milk of dough is too dry.

To make the filling blend walnuts, sugar, and rosewater in food processor until you have a coarse mixture.

Form mixture into a ball and then using thumb hollow out center to create a cup. Fill with nut mixture (about 1T per cookie). Pinch sides together to close.

Flour wooden mold. Place cookie in mold and press to get the design impression. Tap mold to remove cookie. Continue procedure with rest of cookies.

Bake on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper at 400 degrees for 15 min. Bake until “toasted almond” shade. Sprinkle with powdered sugar with still warm on cooling rack.

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What I’ve Been Up To: Mahmool Cookies with Patty

This year I am very thankful for so many things. I’m thankful for my family and friends who make me feel loved especially when I’m feeling sad or frustrated. For my boyfriend Pete and his family who welcome me as if I were part of their family. I am so lucky to have someone like Pete in my life who makes me feel happy, cared for, safe, and loved. I’m grateful to have so many loving people in my life and living so near.

I’m also thankful for having the opportunity to attend  pastry school. Sometimes I lose sight of this and get overwhelmed by being so busy and on my feet all day. When I get past this I remember why I’m there and I am so happy that I’m busy and exhausted  by something that I love. I am also thankful for those of you who read these posts and forgive me for being so behind on updating.

As a thank you I thought I’d share with you  two of the four desserts we had at our Thanksgiving feast. My mom made pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting (Bon Appetit) and I contributed with my apple pie (from the Bucktown Apple Pie Contest).

Four-Layer Pumpkin Cake with Orange-Cream Cheese Frosting (Bon Appetit)

INGREDIENTS

CAKE

Nonstick vegetable oil spray

3 cups all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon Chinese five-spice powder*

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

2 cups (packed) golden brown sugar

3 large eggs, room temperature

1 15-ounce can pure pumpkin

1/3 cup whole milk

FROSTING

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

2 8-ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature

1 tablespoon finely grated orange peel

2 cups powdered sugar, sifted

Chopped walnuts or walnut halves, toasted

*A spice blend that usually contains ground fennel seeds, Szechuan peppercorns, cinnamon, star anise, and cloves; available in the spice section of most supermarkets.

PREPARATION

CAKE

Position rack in bottom third of oven; preheat to 350°F. Spray two 9-inch cake pans with 1 1/2-inch sides with nonstick spray. Line bottoms with parchment; spray parchment.

Whisk flour and next 4 ingredients in large bowl. Using electric mixer, beat butter in another large bowl until smooth. Beat in brown sugar. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating to blend between additions. Beat in pumpkin. Add dry ingredients to butter mixture in 3 additions alternately with milk in 2 additions, beating to blend between additions. Divide batter between pans.

Bake cakes until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 40 minutes. Cool in pans on rack 15 minutes. Run knife around cakes to loosen. Invert cakes onto racks. Remove parchment. Using tart pan bottom as aid, turn cakes over onto racks, top sides up, and cool completely. DO AHEAD Can be made 1 day ahead. Wrap cakes in plastic and store at room temperature.

FROSTING

Using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl until smooth. Add cream cheese and orange peel; beat until smooth. Add powdered sugar and beat on low speed until smooth.

Trim rounded tops from cakes. Using long serrated knife, cut each cake horizontally in half. Place 1 cake layer, cut side up, on large platter. Spoon 2/3 cup frosting atop cake in dollops; spread to edges. Repeat 2 more times with cake and frosting; top with remaining cake layer, cut side down. Spread remaining frosting over top and sides of cake (layer will be thin). DO AHEAD Can be made 2 days ahead. Cover with cake dome; chill. Let stand at room temperature 1 hour before serving.

Decorate cake with walnuts and serve.

Bucktown Apple Pie Contest Pie

Crust

2 ½ c. all-purpose flour

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. sugar

1 c. unsalted butter, chilled and cubed (I use Plugra)

6-8 tbs. ice water

Filling

6-8 apples (Granny Smith, McIntosh, Honey Crisp & Cortland), peeled and thinly sliced

1 tbs. fresh lemon juice

½ tsp. lemon zest

¾ c. sugar

2 tbs. flour

1/8 tsp. salt

1 tsp. cinnamon, divided

¼ tsp. grated nutmeg

¼ tsp. ground ginger

2 tbs. cubed butter

Egg Wash

2 whole eggs

1 egg yolk

1 pinch salt

Turbinado sugar to sprinkle over top crust

For the crust preheat the oven to 425˚F.

Combine flour, salt, and sugar in large mixing bowl. Add butter and combine with a pastry blender until the mixture is a coarse meal. Add ice water, two tablespoons at a time until the dough comes together.

Form into two equal balls and flatten into discs. Wrap and refrigerate at least one hour or overnight.

Roll out both rounds of dough until to 1/4” thickness. Line pie tin with first pie crust. Prep second crust by cutting slits for ventilation.

For the filling combine apples with lemon juice, lemon zest, 3/4 c. sugar, flour, salt, ½ tsp. cinnamon, and nutmeg.

Microwave 1/3 of the apple mixture in 2 min. intervals until apples are tender.

Combine cooked apples with raw apples and then pour into pie crust. Dot with cubed butter and top with second crust. Press along the edge with a fork to close the seam.

Brush top crust with egg wash and sprinkle with turbinado sugar. Bake for 30 minutes in a 425˚F oven. Lower temperature to 325˚F and bake for another 30 min. Allow to cool for at least 3 hours.

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Thankful

Scottish Scones
Adapted from Orangette

½ c buttermilk
1 egg
2 cups all-purpose flour (I like using whole wheat flour)
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
½ stick (2 ounces) unsalted butter, cubed and chilled
3 Tbs sugar (I use  finely milled raw cane sugar and use extra to sprinkle on top before baking)
Flavorful additions of your choice, to taste (For this particular recipe I used 1 tbsp. orange zest and about 1/3 cup dried cranberries)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.

Beat together the milk and the egg and then set aside. In a large bowl, mix flour, baking powder, and salt. Rub the butter into the flour mixture, working until you have no lumps bigger than a pea. Add the sugar and whatever additions you choose, and stir or toss to mix. Pour the wet ingredients into the dries, reserving just a tad of the milk-egg mixture to use as a glaze. Bring dough together gently with a wooden spoon.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured counter and knead it no more than 12 times. [Apparently, twelve is the magic number here; surpass it at your own risk.] Pat dough into a round approximately ½-inch thick, and cut into 8 or 12 wedges. Place on an ungreased baking sheet or a Silpat, if you have one. Using a pastry brush, glaze wedges.

Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until golden. Cool on a rack.

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Scones

One thing that this break has helped me with is giving me time to get back into what I really love to do: reading and learning about food and, of course, cooking and baking! When people ask me what I’ve been doing my stories usually lead to food.

I feel as though this is a great time to tackle some of the recipes that I’ve been meaning to try or have been too timid to try. Inspired by Gemma at the Pro Bono Baker I decided to make her “Homemade Pasta for Hectic Nights.” I have never made pasta or even thought it would be feasible without a pasta maker, but I was surprised as to how easy it was. I followed her instructions by making a well of 1 cup of flour and then cracking two eggs into the center. Then I mixed and kneaded the mixture with my hands until the dough became smooth. Don’t worry if your eggs run a bit from the well like mine did, just make sure to incorporate everything and then let the dough rest for about five minutes. Lightly flour a cutting board and roll the dough until its thin. Then with a pizza cutter cut the sheet of dough into 1/4 in. strips. Then add to a pot of boiling salted water and cook for 2-3 min.

For an easy sauce I decided to make pesto. For this recipe all you need to do is take about 2 cups of basil leaves and blanch them in a pot of boiling water for about 2 seconds and then transfer to a bowl full of ice water. Dry the basil leaves and add them to a food processor. To that add 1/3 cup each of toasted pine nuts and freshly grated parmesan cheese, about 1/2 cup of olive oil, and one chopped clove of garlic. Pulse and season with salt and pepper.

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Summer Break

I am so grateful to have such a loving and thoughtful mom. Yesterday my mom and sister came over for lunch in the new apartment.

This is what we had:

Ham, brie, and apple paninis

Spinach salad with strawberries, walnuts, and feta

Oatmeal Blueberry Applesauce Muffins

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Happy Mother’s Day

Thursdays are an especially difficult day for me to get through. At the Art Institute, where I work as a visitors services assistant, Thursdays are open an extra three hours for free admission, making my day a ten-hour day. Yeah…it’s pretty rough. So when I get home I want something satisfying and delicious that doesn’t take a long time to make, since it’s usually 8:30 by the time I get home.

The last time I went home my mom gave me a recipe that she acquired through unknown sources. It seemed pretty easy especially since the ingredient list was so short and I had everything on hand. Even though my mom said she really loved this soup, I was a little doubtful when I was making it since it really didn’t have many added spices or the usual flavorful garlic and shallots. But, let me tell you…I was very pleasantly surprised. The sausage itself added a lot of flavor to the soup. My boyfriend and I declared this our new favorite soup!

Italian Sausage Soup

8 oz. Italian sausage
2 cups low sodium chicken broth
14.5 oz. diced tomatoes
1/2 cup uncooked shell pasta (I used whole grain penne)
2 cups baby spinach leaves
2 tbs shredded parmesan
2 tbs fresh chopped basil (I used fresh parsley)

Take sausage out of casings and brown in a large pot. Drain excess oil. Add broth, tomatoes, and pasta. Cook for 10-15 minutes. Add spinach and stir to wilt. Add parmesan and basil to finish it off.

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My New Favorite Soup