Cranberry Orange granola

 

This Granola is perfect to take with you on hikes or camping trips.  It has the same base recipe as my Mango Ginger granola and is just as easy to make.

4 cups rolled oats

pinch of salt

1 cup dried cranberries

1 cup chopped pecans

1 tbsp zested orange peel (about 1 orange)

1/2 tsp orange extract

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup honey

1/2 cup brown sugar

First put the oats, salt, cranberries, pecans, and orange zest in a large glass bowl.

In a large sauce pan add the brown sugar, vegetable oil, and honey.  cook on medium until the mixture is boiling and the oil is mixed with the brown sugar.  Remove from the heat and add the orange extract.  Be careful when you do this because the mixture can splash a little bit.  Hot syrup does not feel good on your hands....trust me.  Quickly stir the extract in and then add to your oat mixture.  Try to do this fast because the syrup will start to harden and make it hard to mix.

Pre-heat the oven to 325 degrees F.  Spread the granola evenly onto a cookie sheet  and cook for about 15 minutes.  Make sure you are stirring the granola every 5 minutes to make sure it is evenly cooked.  When the granola is done the oats will be browned and the mixture will still be soft.  Place it on the counter and let it cool.  When the granola cools it hardens, store it in an air tight container or zip lock bag.

This granola has a nice citrus after taste which goes well with plain yogurt and honey, or just something to snack on this summer while your working on the garden.

Whole Wheat bread

This bread is easy to make and it will make your whole house smell like a bakery.  I strongly suggest making your own bread, it saves money and is healthier to you because there isn't a large amount of sugar, or corn syrup.  This bread only takes a long time to make because of the waiting period while it is rising.  I like to make it on my day off because I can lounge around the house while it is rising and it takes little effort.  One loaf lasts me about a week and I freeze the other loaf, So I make bread twice a month.  I am only feeding two mouths though so for a family you may go through bread a lot faster.  I put this recipe together by looking at many recipes and picking what I liked and changing what I didn't like.  For example I used soy milk instead of water or regular milk, and I use honey instead of sugar.  The amount of bread flour is tentative because each time I make the bread, the amount varies.

Whole Wheat bread

2 1/2 cups soy milk (you can use regular milk if you like)
1/2 cup honey
1 1/2 tbsp yeast
3 cups whole wheat flour
2 1/2-3 1/2 cups bread flour
1/2 cup wheat bran
3 tbsp oat bran
1 1/2 tsp salt

First you need to warm up your soy milk so the honey will dissolve.  Put it in a sauce pan with the heat on low.  Don't bring it to a boil, just warm it up and stir until the honey is completely dissolved.

The soy milk mixture is going to wake up your yeast so make sure it is just the right temperature, about 100 degrees F.  If you don't have a thermometer just touch the milk with your fingertip to make sure it is warm but not so hot your burning yourself.  Pour the soy milk into a small  bowl and sprinkle the yeast over it.  Let that sit for about 5-10 minutes.  You can see that the yeast makes a brain like texture on the top and it will foam a bit.

In a large mixing bowl add the whole wheat flour, 2 1/2 cups bread flour, wheat bran, oat bran, and salt.  Mix together and make a well in the center.  When the yeast mixture is done sitting, pour it into the well.  Fit your mixer with a dough hook and turn it on low, mixing until everything has come together.  Slowly begin adding the rest of the bread flour until the dough is no longer sticky and has pulled off the edge of the bowl and climbed up your dough hook.  You can do this step without a mixer, just using your hands but it will take a bit longer and you will have to knead it longer in the end.

Place your dough on a floured surface.  I left mine a little sticky so that I could knead the rest of the bread flour in by hand.  Sprinkle a bit of flour on the top of the dough and put some on your hands.  Knead for about five minutes.  If the dough becomes sticky just add a bit more flour.

In the end your dough should be smooth and have an elastic texture to it.  Shape it into a ball and place in a lightly greased bowl (using olive oil).  Turn your dough around in the bowl so that your dough is covered lightly with olive oil.  Cover with plastic wrap and place in a draft free warm area for about an hour.

Deflate the dough and cut into two pieces.  Shape them into two loaves and put them in lightly greased bread pans.  Cover this and let it rise for about an hour.  After your bread has doubled in size, heat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Put your bread in on the lower middle rack (so the top doesn't burn) and cook for about 30 minutes, or until golden brown.  To make your bread pretty you can cut slits in the top and give it an egg wash over the top.  Egg wash is just a beaten egg which is then brushed over the top of breads and pastries to give it a golden shine.

Let it cool for a bit then dig in!  I ate this with some jam I canned last year.  It is a cinnamon grape jam I made with grapes from a neighbors garden.

perfect chocolate chip cookies

 

Gooey on the inside and slightly crunchy on the outside, hint of coconut and little melted chocolate morsels.  That sentence perfectly describes my experience as I chomp down on these.  When people first start baking they usually start with cookies or easy sheet cakes.  I was the cookie person.  I absolutely love great cookies and a real classic is the chocolate chip cookie.  This cookie goes great with coffee, hot chocolate, or black tea.  I believe because the chocolate chip cookie goes so great with all three of these drinks this makes it the ultimate comfort food for a cold, wet, night.  Like I stated before it was the cookie that I first started baking when I was new to the science of baking.  I have tried multiple variations and finally I have the recipe which is just perfect.  First you will notice there is no granulated sugar.....brown sugar just tastes better.  Other than that the recipe isn't that different.  A bit more vanilla, flour, and less chocolate chips.  The reason I have less chocolate chips is because I like to enjoy the flavor of the cookie itself with a hint of chocolate.  Some recipes put so much chocolate in there the true tase of the cookie is lost.  For this recipe you will need:

3 1/2 cups unbleached flour

1 tsp baking soda (if you are at a high elevation make it a scant tsp)

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup unsalted butter (melted)

1 1/2 cups brown sugar packed

2 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chops

1 cup coconut

1 cup walnuts (opt)

My butter is cubed in the photo, but I found out later that it works better melted. mix melted butter with brown sugar.  mix it until you can't see the butter anymore and the mixture is creamy.  Add the vanilla and the eggs.

Sift all of your dry ingredients into a bowl.  If you look at the bottom of the picture you can see where I dropped my small camera into the flour....oops!  Switch to a paddle mixer before adding the dry ingredients.  While the mixer is on low, slowly add the flour mixture.  If you go to fast you will have a flour mess.  After the flour is completely mixed in, add the coconut, chocolate chips, and nuts if you are using them.

Now this next instruction is very important.....don't eat all of the cookie dough!  I snagged a couple of bites but I was able to retrain myself so I would have enough room in my belly for the cooked cookies.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.  Lightly grease a cookie sheet and scoop onto the sheet leaving about an inch of space between them.  I use a cookie scoop, it makes everything so easy and all of my cookies are the same size so I don't have to worry about uneven baking.  Bake the cookies for about 8-10 minutes and allow to cool a bit before eating.

 

Serve with your hot drink of choice.  This is a picture of my coffee and all of my cookies.....just kidding I had help eating these.  These cookies store really well in the freezer, or the refrigerator depending on how long you want them to last.  I suggest storing them in the freezer cause they will taste fresh for a lot longer, just let them warm up on the counter for a couple of minutes before you eat them :)

Conchas (Mexican Pastry)

 

I am married to a Mexican and he loves conchas.  I really wanted to make him authentic conchas and it took me a couple of tried to get it right.  He is extremely picky about his conchas and he told me this recipe was truly a winner.  I got the bread recipe from the San Antonio cookbook by the San Antonio junior forum.  The bread is "Pan de Huevo"  or egg bread.  The top I came up with by using a couple different recipes and modifying them to fit my taste.

Pan De Huevo

1 TBSP dry yeast

1 TBSP sugar

1/4 c warm water

3 2/3 c bread flour

1 tsp salt

1/3 c sugar

2 TBSP shortening

5 eggs slightly beaten at room temperature.

Topping

1 1/3 cup sugar

1 c butter

2 c flour

4 tsp cinnamon

4 tsp cocoa powder

First in a small bowl, dissolve the yeast and 1 tbsp of sugar in the warm water.  You want the water to be warm enough to wake up your yeast, but not hot enough that it will kill it.  I make the water about 100 to 110 degrees F.  Put this bowl aside and let the yeast do it's work.  After about five minutes you will notice that the yeast mixture is starting to get bubbles.  The yeast is producing carbon  dioxide, this is what allows bread to rise and gives it the airy soft texture.

While your yeast is working hard get a larger mixing bowl.  Add 3 cups of the flour, salt, sugar, and shortening.  Mix until you get a texture that resembles the picture on the right.  It is almost the same texture pie crust has before you add the water.  When the yeast is done doing it's work (about 5 minutes)  Add it too your flour mixture along with two eggs.  when this is completely mixed add the rest of the eggs.  Slowly add the rest of the flour.

Your dough should be smooth and elastic, yet slightly sticky.  To get the dough out, butter up your hands and your work surface.

Using your buttered fingers, not a rolling pin, gently flatten out your dough until it is a square about 1 1/2 inches thick.

Cut the square into 16 little squares. (4x4)  Roll those squares into balls.  If they aren't even, no sweat, just take a bit of dough from the bigger ones and add that to your smaller ones.  In the end, try to make your balls as even as possible so they cook evenly.  Place your dough balls two sheet pans, eight on each, and cover them with plastic wrap.  Store them in a draft free, warm place for about an hour and a half or until the balls have doubled in size.  A little side note, I left my conchas four a couple of hours because I got busy and they rose for too long.  This was bad because some of them deflated, and when the bread was baked it tasted really sour and disgusting.  Lesson learned, I had no idea you could leave bread to rise too long!

 

While your dough is rising, make the topping.  For the topping beat the sugar with the butter.  Stir in the flour until the mixture is a thick paste.  Divide into two parts.  In one half knead in the cinnamon and in the other half, the cocoa powder.  Shape each flavor into eight even balls (about 2 TBSP) and then place them in the refrigerator.

When the dough is done rising get your topping balls out.  Flatten each ball and place it over the dough balls.  Lightly press down with the palm of your hand.  The topping should completely cover the dough ball.  Make sure you do all chocolate on one tray and all cinnamon on the other cause they look similar and you will mix them up if you don't keep them separated.

Using a small knife, lightly cut the topping into a design.  It doesn't matter what the design is you can be creative.  I just did it the traditional way which is supposed to help the concha resemble a shell.  When you are done cover them again with plastic and let them rise a second time for about an hour and a half, or until they have doubled in size.  When they are done rising pop them in the oven at 350 degrees F for 12-15 minutes or until they are golden brown.  Make sure you bake them on the middle rack so the bottoms don't burn!

Serve warm with coffee or Mexican Hot Chocolate (Abuelitas by Nestle is the best!)

Homemade GInger Mango Granola

Now winter is starting to back off and plans of camping and hiking are starting to form.  My favorite thing to munch on is granola.  Granola is super easy to make, and it is tastier when you make your own.
Ginger Mango Granola
4 cups rolled oats
pinch of salt
1 cup chopped walnuts
2 cups chopped mango
1 tsp ginger
syrup:
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup honey
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

In a large bowl mix together everything but the ingredients for the syrup.











In a sauce pan bring the vegetable oil, brown sugar, and honey to a boil.

When it is boiling take off the heat and add the vanilla.  Mix with your wooden spoon, and then add it to the rest of your ingredients.  Mix until everything is evenly distributed.






Pour the granola onto a sheet pan and spread it out evenly.  Cook in the oven for about 15-20 minutes and stir it every five minutes.  When granola is lightly browned, pull it out of the oven and let it completely cool.

When it is done cooling you can store it in an air tight container for weeks!

It tastes good with your favorite yogurt.  I love snacking on it with Greek honey yogurt.

Hazelnut chocolate tart

 

I wanted to make these because I bought a set of six little tart pans, perfect for one serving and I was dying to use them.  If you are a chocolate lover you will love this tart.  For the filling I used agave syrup which you can find in the baking section of any grocery store.  If you don't want to use agave syrup you can substitute it with corn syrup.  I got the idea for this recipe from the "Golden Book of Desserts".  The idea came from the chocolate pecan tart.  These tarts were so good but next time I may roast my hazelnuts first.

Here is what you will need:

 Pastry
1 1/4 cups flour
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
1 large egg yolk
7 tbsp cold butter
2-3 tsp iced water

 Filling
1/2 cup of coarsely chopped dark chocolate
1/4 cup butter
2/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2/3 cup agave syrup
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups chopped hazelnuts

First make the pastry.  In a bowl add the butter, flour, and confectioner sugar.  Mix this with a pastry cutter.  I like to start with a pastry cutter and then use my hands.









Mix until it is crumbly.  Add the egg yolk and 2 tsp of water.  Mix this using your hands.  Add more water 1 tsp at a time until you are able to pull the dough together into a nice ball.  I ended up using 4 tsp of water.  It will depend on the moisture in the air on how much water you will need.


wrap the ball in plastic wrap and let it rest in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes.

Take your pastry dough out of the refrigerator and cut it in half.  Roll out one half to about 1/4 inch thick.  To lift the dough roll it lightly around your rolling pin and place a pastry tin in front of it.  Gently unroll the dough over the top of the tin.  Using your fingers, push the dough down and into the sides of the tin then push your hand down over the top using the top of the tin as a cookie cutter.  Remove the excess and roll it out again.  Repeat this six times with all of your tins, then return them to the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Line each tart shell with parchment paper and fill with beans, or pie weights.  Place in the oven for about 15 minutes, or until a light golden brown.

To make the filling,  put your chocolate chips in a double broiler and cook over a slightly simmering water until full melted.  Beat the butter, and brown sugar together until creamy.  Add the agave syrup and beat again until smooth.

While the mixer is on low, slowly add the egg, vanilla, and then chocolate, continue to mix until everything is incorporated.  Stir in the hazelnuts by hand.

Pour the filling into your pastry shells and cook for about 30 minutes or until set.  This tart cooks like a pecan pie, when it jiggles slightly in the middle it is done.

Allow the tarts to cool, and then remove them from there tins.  Decorate however you like.  I sprinkled powdered sugar on mine, then cut a flower out of a piece of paper.  Using the flower as a stencil I placed it on each tart and sprinkled cocoa powder on them.  You can also garnish them with melted chocolate and roasted hazelnuts.  Serve with whip cream or ice cream.

Cream puffs with vanilla and chocolate pastry cream

I mad these for my sister for her 18th bday.  Though they are a bit time consuming, they are really easy to make.  You can make the pastry cream ahead of time but I suggest making your choux pastry the day ahead because pastry always tastes better the fresher it is.  I made two different kinds and then garnished the chocolate ones with melted chocolate so I could tell the difference between the two.  The recipe below will make more than enough pastry cream, and you will probably have a little bit left over.  I think it is better to have more than less so you don't feel like you have to ration the amount of cream you are putting into these puffs.  With cream puffs, the more cream the better I say!
I got this recipe out of a book called "The Golden Book of Desserts" edited by Ann McRae.
Choux pastry
1 Cup water
1/3 cup butter
1 cup unbleached flour
2 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
4 large eggs

Vanilla Pastry cream
5 large egg yolks
3/4 cup sugar
2 tbsp corn starch
pinch of salt
2 cups milk
2 tsp vanilla

Chocolate pastry cream
5 large egg yolks
3/4 cups sugar
2 tbsp corn starch
pinch of salt
2 cups milk
2 tsp vanilla
5 oz of chocolate

First make the pastry cream.  Beat the egg yolks until the are pale and creamy.  Next add the corn starch and salt, beat until completely mixed and set aside.  In a sauce pan bring the milk to a boil on a medium heat occasionally stirring.  When the milk is boiling slowly pour it into your egg mixture and stir.  Return everything to the stove and cook on low heat continuously stirring with a wooden spoon.  If you are unable to break up the lumps that form use a whisk.  Boil for a full minute or until mixture has thickened.  Remove from the heat and add the vanilla.

When you are done place in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap.  gently push the plastic down until it is touching the top of the cream, this will prevent a skin from forming as it cools.  To make the chocolate cream, follow every step except for add the chocolate to the milk as you are bring it to a boil.  When the milk is boiling and all of the chocolate has melted add it to your egg mixture.  Allow both creams to cool on the counter top for about half an hour.  Place in the refrigerator until you are ready to use it.

For the Choux pastry, preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  In a saucepan bring the water and the butter to a boil on low heat.  Make sure you don't cook it to long or on a high heat otherwise your butter will brown.  Will the butter is heating up combine the sugar, flour, and salt in a small bowl.  When your butter mixture is boiling, add the flour mixture to it stirring constantly until it comes away from the sides of the pan and starts looking like a soft dough.  Remove from heat, and let cool for five minutes.

Beat the eggs in one at a time.  When you are done the mixture will be a sticky glossy dough.

Fit your pastry bag with a plain nozzle and fill it up half way with the choux pastry.

On pastry lined baking sheets pipe walnut sized balls about about 2 inches apart.  Place in the oven   Bake for about 20- 25 minutes or until golden brown.  When done poke with a skewer or a small knife on the bottem of each puff to release steam.  Turn your oven off and leave it slightly ajar with the pastries still inside for about 15 minutes, then transfer them to a rack.  Turn the oven back on, when it is back to 350 degrees F, place your second batch in.  This is the most time consuming part!

 

Wait until your pastries are completely cool until moving on to the next part.  Fit a pastry bag with a small plain tip and fill half way with either the chocolate cream.  Using the holes you made earlier to realease steam, fill half of the puffs with the chocolate cream.  Do the same with the other half and the vanilla cream.  Garnish with powdered sugar, melted chocolate, and whipped cream.  I made these for seven people and they were gone withing a couple of minutes.  Even though we each had enough we could have eaten more.  I would say this recipe fully satisfies five people, the recipe makes forty small cream puffs so that would be eight per person.  This seems like a lot but the are so light and creamy that eight seems like a reasonable serving to me ha ha!

P.S. This was my attempt at a swan, it was a lot harder then I thought it would be!