HOLLA

One of my friends made challah this week and I was totally inspired.  Not only is it tender, moist, and great for french toast, it also justifies saying "HOLLA" all day long.  Which I am for.  I added same orange marmalade and cardamom just for fun.

Braids are beautiful

I always thought that the lovely golden crust of egg wash is from the yolk, 

but it is really from the proteins in the white.  

In other news, we got "Jerusalem:  A Cookbook" for a late wedding gift, and I am super excited to cook my way through it.  It also has beautiful photos.  The first thing we made was a meaty, grainy casserole with tahini lemon sauce.   Mmmm.

Whatever Scones

I generally don't enjoy bakery scones.  You know, the sweet, monstrous triangles whose textures somewhat resemble a rock.  I like moist, tender scones:  those that are more like fluffy biscuits than small pastries.  This scone recipe is like that, with the added bonus of being able to mix in whatever the heck you are hankering for.  Thus the name.

In other news, I'm learning the Dvorak keyboard.  This is mostly curiosity-driven; I want to see how fast I can pick it up.  I'm sticking with Qwerty a work, so I can still get things done.  Needless to say, typing at home is slow going.

Whatever Scones

• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 cup white flour
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 cup cornmeal
• 1 1/3 cups rolled oats
• 1/2 cup veg oil
• 6 Tbsp honey/maple syrup/sugar/any combo
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/4 cup plain yogurt
• 2-3 cups stuff*

*I used 

• 1 cup chopped apple
• 1/2 cup chopped cranberries
• 1/2 cup sunflower seeds
• 1/4 cup coconut shreds
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1. Preheat oven to 400F.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silpat.
2. Mix flours, sugar, leavening, salt, cinnamon, cornmeal, and oats.
3. Add the oil, honey, eggs, and yogurt and mix halfway.
4. Stir in the stuff.
5. Drop 1 1/2 to 2 inch blobs onto prepared baking sheets and flatten slightly.
6. Bake for 18-22 minute, rotating pans halfway through.

A New Muffin Year

We've had a pretty excellent Christmas and New Years.  We spent a week at home in Minnesota spending time with friends and family and making and eating delicious foods.  One of my family parties featured an "ethnic" theme, with dress-up encouraged.  We're special.  Every time we go home for a bit, I get excited to move back there and spend more time with family.  They my peeps.

We were hoping to have an epic ski season, as both our schedules enable us to work from wherever for this year only.  However, Ullr seems to have different plans.  Not much is open, and for the week that my parents and sister were out, there was only 1" of snow total.  Oh, the sadness of our little first-world problems.  In the meantime, I've rediscovered my love of skate skiing.  And Matt comes along too.  He's less efficient, which works out pretty well for pacing.  Also, nordic is a lot harder at 9,000 ft than it is in Minnesota.

We're back in Boulder and just getting into the swing of work again.  I'm writing like a fiend and trying to finish up all the last experiments that haven't been working for the last 9 months.  Somehow, I still adhere to the irrational belief that they will work this semester.

After coming home from a week of vacation, we had almost nothing to eat at home, so whipped these up.  While I'm not usually a proponent of weenie baked goods, there are remarkably moist and delicious.


Morning Glory Muffins

• 1 cup whole-wheat flour
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1 cup oats
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup plain yogurt
• 1 cup mashed banana + applesauce
• 1 egg
• 1 cup raisins
• 3/4 cup shredded carrots (about 2 smallish)
• 1/2 cup shredded coconut

1. Preheat the oven to 350F.  Grease 12 muffin cups
2. Mix the flours, oats, sugar, soda, and salt together.
3. Mix the yogurt, bananapplesauce and egg in a separate bowl and add it to the flour mixture.  Stir until blended, but don't overmix.  
4. Stir in raisins, carrots, and coconut.  You can add nuts too if you like.
5. Fill the muffin cups full and bake 20-25 minutes.  

New Favorite Brownie Recipe

I've been an avid fan of the baked brownie recipe for quite some time now.  I like the idea of a brownie with copious amounts of melted chocolate involved.  I have even become a bit snobbish, looking down on lowly brownie recipes who's chocolate flavor is supplied by cocoa powder alone.  So when I saw this recipe in Bon Appetit this month, I was intrigued.  Mostly because there is only 1/3 of a cup of flour, which has to be a good thing in a brownie recipe.  

I like fudgy brownies.  In fact, I frequently ask myself why I bother to bake them in the first place, since the batter is so darned delicious.  (Usually, I decide that the baked form is more easy to transport and distribute.   Usually.)  I have been known to leave a 1/2 inch edge of crusty discards all along the outside of the brownie pan.  Despite--or maybe because of-- the lack of melted chocolate in this recipe, they were incredibly fudgy.  Now if you're one of those people who likes edge-brownies, I don't really know what to say.  But you can come eat my garbage if you like.  

Cocoa Brownies

adapted from Bon Apetit

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, cut into 1" pieces
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 3/4 cup natural unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 1/3 cup flour
• dash (<1 cayenne="cayenne" li="li" optional="optional" pepper="pepper" tsp="tsp">

1. Prehear oven to 325.  Line an 8x8-inch pan with tin foil and grease it.  
2. Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat.  Let cool.  Mix sugar, cocoa, and salt in a medium bowl, and pour the butter in, whisking as you go.  Whisk in vanilla and beat in eggs, one at a time.  Stir in flour and cayenne until just combines
3. Bake until a toothpick comes out with just a few crumbs attached (I don't bake it this long. . .), 25-30 minutes.  Transfer pan to a wire rack, and let cool completely.  

I swear licking the bowl isn't the only reason I make brownies.

In other news, we had an epic date night at Zoo Lights

Hitched

Hi friends!  Matt and I got married a week ago in Boulder, CO.  We made some yummy granola for favors (ha. . . Boulder) and I thought I'd share the recipe.  The wedding was awesome.  We self-officiated at the top of Flagstaff Mountain in the presence of close family.  You can see some pictures here:  http://www.haggerling.com/


Granola
from Epicurious

3 cups old-fashioned oats

1 cup coarsely chopped pecans

1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut*

3 tablespoons (packed) brown sugar

3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon (generous) salt

1/3 cup honey

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 cup assorted dried fruit

Preheat oven to 300°F. Line rimmed baking sheet with parchment. Mix first 7 ingredients in large bowl. Stir honey and oil in saucepan over medium-low heat until smooth. Pour honey mixture over oat mixture; toss. Spread on prepared sheet. Bake until golden, stirring every 10 minutes, about 40 minutes. Place sheet on rack. Stir granola; cool. Mix in fruit. Can be made 1 week ahead. Store airtight.

A Romanian Pastry

I work with the coolest people. One of them is a Romanian mother of two, with whom I joke that we'll open a pastry shop together when academia doesn't work out. She makes an array of delicious desserts on a semi-regular basis (though I'm not sure where she finds the time), including a many-layered dobosh torte, walnut bars, and these. Matt has always been partial to anything resembling a linzer torte, so I asked for the recipe. We're planning to have a baking session sometime where I can learn all her secrets. She's also on my committee, which is awesome.

Dough

• 2 2/3 c. flour
• 2 sticks butter
• 1 1/3 cup sugar
• zest and juice of one lemon
• 4 yolks

Filling

• 2 1/2 cups frozen raspberries
• 1 1/2 cups sugar

1. Combine the flour and sugar and zest in a both. Cut in the butter until the mixture is like coarse sand. Stir in the yolks and lemon juice until the dough just holds together. It should be dry, but should hold together when pressed.
2. Divide dough into 2/3 and 1/3 and form into discs. Wrap tightly and refrigerate for at least an hour.
3. For the filling, bring the raspberries and sugar to a boil in a medium saucepan. Boil for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until thick and jam-like. Remove from heat.
4. Preheat the oven to 350F
5. When the dough is chilled, take out the 2/3 piece and roll it out to fit a 13"x9" pan. You may have to let it warm up a little before it is rollable. Butter the bottom of the pan and place the dough in it.
6. Spread the raspberry filling over the dough, and stick it back in the fridge.
7. Take out the remaining 1/3 of the dough. Roll it to about 10"x5" and cut into 1/2-inch wide strips. Take the pan back out of the fridge and layer the dough strips in a lattice pattern. You don't have to weave them. The angle and frequency of the lattice strips will depend on how you rolled and cut the top dough.
8. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes until the top is slightly browned and the jam is bubbly. Cool completely before cutting into squares.

Making the lattice top

Pumpkin Cookies

Summer arrived in Colorado about a month and a half ago. I was home in Minnesota last weekend, and the trees were budding. This place is crazy. Matt and I have been doing wedding preparation type things. And Ultimate season is starting, which means I get to wear my garish homemade pink tractor skirt (and yes, this fabric is available at JoAnn's)! And that I can bake for frisbee friends.

Today's special is pumpkin cookies (more like pumpkin muffin tops, really).

Soft Pumpkin Cookies

from AllRecipes

Cookies

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup oil
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 1 cup canned pumpkin puree
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Frosting

• 1 cups confectioners sugar
• 1 tablespoon cream cheese
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1-2 tablespoons milk

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line two baking sheets with partchment paper or silpat. (Or not, if you're ill-equipped).
2. Mix together oil, egg, sugar, vanilla, and pumpkin until well-blended
3. Add flour, leavening, spices, and salt in a pile on top and mix them together a bit before stirring into the wet ingredients.
4. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto cookies sheets (supposedly makes 36, my batch made 22 because I got overexcited about large cookies). Bake for 15 minutes or until tops are slightly browned. Cool completely.
5. In the meantime, make the icing. Combine all ingredients but the milk, and add enough milk to make it drizzly. When cookies are totally cool, drizzle the icing over them.