Apple Muffins and Surprises

Later today we (myself included) can read a guest post by my baby brother (he's 26, married and has a kid of his own, so I guess I can't really call him a baby) Zach.



I have no idea what he is posting about. All I know is that he made something, took pictures and asked if he could post on my blog. So I'll be as surprised as you are!

But before we do I wanted to share these apple muffins I made last week. I don't have a picture. I made them late one night so my son could take them to school for snack the next day and then the ones left were eaten in about 2 minutes. They were good! I'm always looking for muffin recipes since that is what I signed up to bring for school snacks for my boy. So about once a month I take them. I don't want to do the same things each time and I'd rather make them from scratch so that I know what goes into them and we can avoid any potential allergens. The recipe I finally settled on was from Taste of Home December/January 1995, p. 54. I've adapted the recipe because I didn't have everything it called for, and we were very happy with the results. Plus I got rave reviews from D's pre-K class!

Apple Muffins

1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup applesauce
1 large apple, diced
1/8 cup canola oil
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger

Cream butter and sugar with electric mixer. Add eggs and vanilla, mix well. Stir in applesauce and oil. Combine dry ingredients and stir into creamed mixture. Fold in apples.

Fill muffin paper-lined muffin cups three-fourths full. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks. Makes about 2 dozen muffins.

*You can also make this into bread. Fill bread pans 3/4 full and bake at 350 for approximately 45 minutes to 1 hour or until toothpick comes out clean. (I did make a couple of small bread loaves with this. It took about 35-40 minutes to bake for the small loaves.)

Tortillas!

We love mexican food in our house. Even the boys love it. My middle boy would eat chips and salsa for every meal and be happy (he has actually asked if he could do that, we said no). About 6 months ago my husband decided he was going to make tortillas. So he watched a few youtube videos and found a recipe and started making them. Making tortillas is something we can all do together. The boys love rolling the dough into balls (and sneaking a fresh tortilla).

Homemade Tortillas

3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
3.5 oz. shortening or 7 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1 cup warm water

Mix dry ingredients together. Cut in shortening (or stir in oil). Stir in warm water slowly. Once the ingredients are coming together take it out and place it on a lightly floured board and knead the dough until smooth (about 5 minutes). Cover the dough and let rest in warm place for 15 minutes. After the rest, roll the dough into small balls. (I use a food scale to make sure they are all the same size. I measure out 1.5 ounces per ball and can make approximately 20 small tortillas). Keep the balls covered.

Heat a skillet or griddle on medium heat.

Place a ball on floured surface and press with palm of hand to flatten.



Roll out with a rolling pin.



Turn a quarter of a turn and roll again. This will help achieve the round shape. (Don't worry, they still taste good even if they look funny!)



Once the dough is very thin place it on your hot skillet.



When it starts bubbling, flip the tortilla over and press it down with a spatula and cook for a minute until the second side is starting to brown.



Place in tortilla warmer or on a plate covered with towel to keep them fresh. If you are not using these right away, you can wrap the tortillas in foil and place them in the refrigerator. When you are ready to use them, you can heat up a few at a time in the microwave or heat them in a warm oven until warm.

Bread

I really like bread. Before my man and I got married I decided to do the no-carb diet to lose a few extra pounds before our wedding. When I went for my final dress fitting, my dress was too big. Like 2 sizes too big.


I got my dress fixed and our wedding went off without a hitch. But after that I decided carbs are too good to go without. But it wasn't until a couple of years ago that I actually started making my own bread. I was very afraid of using yeast in my cooking. I'm not sure why. In fact I found yeast that had been expired for 2 years in my pantry. Now I buy a jar of yeast at least once a month. I really enjoy making all kinds of bread.

I've had the Williams-Sonoma Bread book for about 5 years. And until this weekend I've only made one thing out of it, blueberry muffins. (They were really good, but it was right before I found out I was pregnant with my first child and was not feeling well.) Anyway, this book is where I got my bagel and dinner roll recipes that I made Saturday. The dinner rolls were so simple. I make french bread once a week but thought making dinner rolls would take too long so I've never done it. But I'm glad I did and I'll definitely be doing it again. These rolls were so soft and moist. They are still good today (2 days later!).

Dinner Rolls (Williams-Sonoma BREAD)

3 1/2 tsp. active dry yeast
pinch of sugar
1/3 cup warm water
1 cup buttermilk* at room temperature
1/4 cup sugar or 1/4 cup honey
1/2 cup unsalted butter
2 large eggs, slightly beaten
1 tsp. salt
4 1/2 - 5 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra as needed
Canola oil for greasing.

In a bowl, sprinkle the yeast and sugar over the warm water and stir to dissolve. Let stand until foamy, about 10 minutes.
In a heavy-duty mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the buttermilk, sugar, melted butter, eggs, salt and 1 cup of the flour. Beat on medium-low speed until creamy, about 2 minutes. Add the yeast mixture and 1 cup of the flour,a dn beat for another minute. Beat in the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, until the dough pulls away from the bowl sides.
Switch to the dough hook, Knead on low speed, adding flour 1 Tablespoon at a time if the dough sticks, until a very soft dough forms, about 1 minute. The dough should be softer than typical bread dough, yet smooth and springy.
Transfer the dough to an oiled deep bowl and turn the dough once to coat it. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature until doubled in bulk, about 1 1/2 hours.

Grease two 8-inch round cake pans. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured board. Divide the dough in half and roll each half between your palms into a rope 18 inches long. Cut each rope into eighteen 1-inch pieces. Shape each piece into a ball, and place the balls, sides touching, in the prepared pans. Cover loosely with plastic aNd let rise at room temperature until puffy, 30-45 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375*F. Bake the rolls until light golden brown, 18-23. Let cool slightly in the pans or transfer to a rack. Serve warm.

Makes 36 rolls.

*If you don't have buttermilk, put just under 1 cup non-fat milk and 1-2 Tablespoons white vinegar in a bowl or glass. Let it set for about 5 minutes, or until curdled.

Today

Last night before we went to bed we started our bagels so we wouldn't have to wait for them to rise when we woke up. So we had this for breakfast:



Then we dropped the boys off at the Y and went for a run. It was good, but after bootcamp yesterday and the run today I can barely move. In fact I was a little afraid to sit down to post tonight! After we got home I started making this for supper. If you haven't had PW's Pot Roast, you need to.

Then, my day just got better. I got to see this girl and her brothers (but the boys move too fast to get a good picture):



Then I made some dinner rolls. (Here's a pic of what's left over. A full pan was gone!)



Then I made potatoes. If you like butter and potatoes this recipe is for you! And they made my baby VERY happy!



Now, it's 9:00, my kitchen is clean and I am ready for bed! And I am NOT cooking tomorrow. But I will share my pizza crust recipe that I promised earlier this week. I used it for last nights muffuletta calzones (which were really good!).

Pizza Crust (adapted from the back of a Hodgson Mill Whole Wheat flour bag)

1 package active dry yeast
1 cup warm water
3 cups bread flour (or you can use 1 1/2 cups whole wheat and 1 1/2 white or bread flour)
2 tsp granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. olive oil

Dissolve the yeast in warm water. Allow to rest 5 minutes. Stir in 2 1/2 cups flour (if using whole wheat and white stir in 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour and 1 cup of white flour). Knead in remaining flour by hand, about 5 minutes. (The longer you knead the softer and chewier the crust will be). Spray a medium-sized bowl with cooking spray. Place dough in bowl and turn to coat thoroughly. Cover and allow to rise in warm place 15 minutes. Stretch pizza crust to fit pan (you may make two pizza if using smaller pans). At this point I pre-bake my crust at 425 for 7-10 minutes, then top with desired toppings. Then bake until cheese is melted and crust is brown.

Crescents!

I spent the better part of my day making crescent rolls (and doing laundry). I've only made them once before and tonight we were having ham and cheese crescents and tomato soup (which I forgot to get at the store, so we just had the crescents) for supper. I've made ham and cheese crescents before with canned crescent rolls and I have to say these were so much better. It was definitely worth the extra time.



I decided to make some crescent dogs too for my boys to eat for lunch.



Then I ran out of stuff to put in them so I just made plain crescents.

I think I'll have one for breakfast tomorrow with my coffee.

A friend gave me this recipe several years ago. This recipe is adapted from Great American Home Baking. I doubled the recipe so that I would have enough for supper tonight and plenty to freeze for lunches.



Butter Crescents

1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup butter,softened
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 package active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water
1 large egg, lightly beaten
3 1/2 to 4 cups all-purpose flour

glaze
1 large egg, lightly beaten (I forgot to put this on. They would have been much prettier with it!)

1. In a saucepan, heat milk until bubbles appear around edges of pan. Combine butter, sugar, and salt. Add hot milk; stir well. Cool to lukewarm.
2. In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand until foamy, 5-10 minutes.
3. Beat yeast mixture and egg into milk mixture at low speed. Beat in 2 cups of flour at low speed until smooth. COntinue beating until thick. Mix enough remaining flour until dough pulls away from sides of bowl.
4. On a floured surface, knead dough very gently until smooth and elastic, 2 to 3 minutes. Place in a large greased bowl, turning to coat. Cover loosely with a damp cloth; let rise in a warm place until doubled, 1 hour.
5. Punch down dough. On a floured surface, divide dough in half. Cover with a damp cloth; let rest for 10 minutes.
6. Grease 2 baking sheets. Using a floured rolling pin, roll 1 dough half into a 12-inch circle. Cut circle into 6 wedges. Starting at side opposite point, roll up each wedge. Place, point side down, on prepared baking sheets. Cure ends to form crescents. 7. Repeat with remaining dough half.
8. Cover loosely with a damp cloth; let rise in warm place until almost doubled, 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 400. Brush crescents with glaze. Bake until golden, 15 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

To make Ham and Cheese Crescents (or crescent dogs) follow recipe until you are ready to roll up the crescents. Place thinly sliced deli ham (or cut hot dogs) and cheese (I used shredded cheddar) on the dough. Then roll from the each into a wedge. I increased the baking time by a few extra minutes.

Once they cool you can place them in freezer bags and put them in the freezer (If there's any left!). Then reheat them in the microwave for a quick meal.