Oatmeal Bread - Recipe

About 15 years ago we started using a bread machine, and it gets used in cycles. My husband actually uses it way more than I do and has gotten several loaves tweaked to perfection. We'll go through a period of making bread in it quite often, and then we'll have a period where we tend to consume little to no bread. I'm not sure why, but we're going through one of the upswings in the cycle right now. Sometimes we'll let the bread machine do everything, and sometimes I'll just use it to make the dough and finish the rest of the process myself in pans, crocks or stones. I love the process of knowing what is going into the foods we eat and minimizing the processed foods. I really don't want my daughter used to eating the substance-less "pillow" bread like the white bread loaves in the grocery store. So we experiment a bit with varying flours and flavors, but one we always keep in rotation is this Oatmeal Bread. It has a denser texture and slight chewiness, than typical white or wheat store-bought bread.

Apple Butter Recipe

I have several sets of directions below for making without a machine, partially with a machine, or letting it do all the work.

Oatmeal Bread

Ingredients

1 cup + 2 Tbsp water
1/4 cup molasses
2 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened
3 cup bread flour or other high protein flour
1/2 cup + 1 Tbsp oatmeal
2 Tbsp dry buttermilk
1 1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp active dry yeast

Bread Machine Directions

Add wet ingredients to the bread pan
Add dry ingredients and form a well in the top of the dry ingredients
Pour yeast into well of dry ingredients
Use the Sweet Cycle with a Light Crust option, I don't recommend the Rapid Cycle for this bread.

Sprinkle with oatmeal before baking, you can't beat the appearance of a manual 2nd rise.
This is before baking, the molasses gives it a rich brown color.

Manual Rise Directions

Add wet ingredients to the bread pan
Add dry ingredients and form a well in the top of the dry ingredients
Pour yeast into well of dry ingredients
Use the Sweet Cycle Dough option, I don't recommend the Rapid Cycle for this bread.

Turn dough out into an oiled bowl, and flip to coat.
Place into either 2 loaf pans, or a large oven safe bowl or stoneware or pan.
Either slash top in crosshatch pattern or sprinkle with oatmeal.
Let rise approx 45-50 minutes in warm place, or heat the oven for 1 minute and turn it off and let it rise in the oven.
Preheat oven to 400, bake for 35-40 minutes depending on how you like your crust.

Manual Directions

Add wet ingredients to the bowl of a mixer
Add dry ingredients and form a well in the top of the dry ingredients
Pour yeast into well of dry ingredients
Using the dough hook, turn it on medium to incorporate, then turn it down to low and let knead for 8 minutes.
Turn the mixer off and cover the bowl with a warm damp dish towel and let rise until double in size (approximately 45-50 minutes)
Turn mixer on low for 5 seconds to punch down.

Turn dough out into an oiled bowl, and flip to coat.
Place into either 2 oiled loaf pans, or a large oven safe bowl or stoneware or pan.
Either slash top in crosshatch pattern or sprinkle with oatmeal.
Let rise approx 45-50 minutes in warm place, or heat the oven for 1 minute and turn it off and let it rise in the oven.
Preheat oven to 400, bake for 35-40 minutes depending on how you like your crust.

This cooked for 40 minutes and has a slightly darker, harder, crunchy crust with a
lovely soft, chewy interior.  Much of the darker color of this bread is due to the molasses.

Tip

For a perfectly formed "loaf" of bread in a loaf pan, roll out dough after punch down to a rectangle or somewhat even thickness with one width being the length of your loaf pan. Roll up into a log the length of your pan and place it in the oiled loaf pan to rise seam side down. You will end up with a "perfect" loaf of bread.

Pita Pockets - Recipe

Craving a chicken salad sandwich last night, I made up a quick batch of pita pockets. These are delicious and taste amazing freshly made, like most everything else. This makes approximately 8 6-8" pitas depending on how thick you roll them out. A stand mixer makes this recipe a cinch, however it can be made by hand.

Pita Pockets

Ingredients

1 1/4 cup warm water
2 tsp sugar
1 Tbsp yeast
3 cups flour, divided + flour for dusting
1 tsp salt

Directions

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough attachment, dissolve sugar in the warm water and sprinkle yeast over the top.  Let sit for 5 minutes.
Add 1 cup of flour and let mix into a batter consistency.
Add remaining flour and salt and turn the mixer on medium-low and leave to knead for 8-10 minutes.
Turn out onto lightly floured surface, divide dough into 8-10 pieces depending on how big you want your pitas. (I make a few 4" ones for my toddler, and the rest approx 6")
Roll into 1/4" thick circles, try to maintain an even thickness, that's what causes the pocket action instead of lots of bubbles.
Place on a baking stone, or a parchment paper or silpat covered baking pan. Leave to rise 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 425.
Gently flip the pitas over and cook for 12-15 minutes at 425.

For storing, let cool when they come out of the oven completely before putting away.  Wrap tightly and use within 2-3 days, or store in the freezer if you want to make several batches. To thaw quickly wrap lightly in a damp towel (paper towel) and stick in the microwave for 15-30 seconds (depends on your microwave).

Cheese Cream Crackers - Recipe

This weekend I gave my daughter the last of our crackers from the cupboard, it's her default snack choice these days... crackers and apple. I found myself needing to make crackers, but all I had left in the fridge was some mozzarella and some feta cheese. Since mozzarella wouldn't add a whole lot of flavor to a cheese cracker I went with the feta.

I'll be honest, I didn't really have high hopes for they way these would turn out due to the moisture content of feta, but figured they'd be fine until I could get to the grocery store for some sharp cheddar. I was so wrong! They didn't quite crisp up quite as much as I'd have liked, but the flavor was delicious, especially with tomato soup for lunch. They also would have benefited from some whole wheat flour, but I was out. Did I mention I needed to get to the grocery store?

Generally I do a combination of cheddar for cheese and pepper for seasoning, or Parmesan and Italian seasoning, but the feta and pepper I made this weekend was quite good and I highly recommend giving it a try at least once. I don't add additional salt, if you would like your crackers saltier add up to 1/2 tsp salt. If you have it, I like to use the Pampered Chef Pastry Cutter with the crimper wheel to cut these, it gives it a little bit of a "Saltine" style edge to it. Also, I cut cheese crackers into diamonds and regular crackers into squares, easier for my family to tell at a glance what kind of crackers they are without asking me.

Cheese Cream Crackers

Ingredients

1 cup flour (substitute up to 1/2 cup with whole wheat flour)
1/2 cup cheese
4 tablespoons cold butter
seasoning to taste, about a 1/4 tsp
1/2 tsp salt (optional)
1/3 cup cream

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400F.
   
2. Add the flour, cheese, butter, seasoning and salt to a food processor, and pulse until it resembles coarse crumbs.
3. Turn on the food processor and drizzle in the cream until it just comes together into a dough (it takes exactly 1/3 cup for me, might need a tiny bit more in drier climates or high altitudes).
4. Turn the dough out and divide into 2 sections.
5. Roll the dough out to 1/16 - 1/8 inch thickness. Cut with a sharp knife, pizza wheel or dough wheel, or for fun use cookie cutters.
6. Bake on ungreased stoneware or cookie sheet for 10-15 minutes.
7. Start watching them at 10 minutes, you may need to pull them out in small groups. Once they are golden brown on the edges and top, pull them off the stone and continue to cook the ones that need more time. Cook time is going to be dependent on cracker size and thickness, so the more uniform they are, the easier to gauge the cooking time.
8. When removed from the oven, place the crackers on a wire rack with no overlapping to cool, you want the steam to escape. Do not store until completely cooled or you'll end up with soft crackers. If you need to "fix" soft crackers, place in a 200F oven for about 10-15 minutes to dry out.
9. Roll out remaining dough and bake, or wrap tightly and stick in the refrigerator to make later (up to 1 week, if wrapped well)

Strawberry & Lemon Marshmallows - Recipe

For my daughter's first birthday I had a pink lemonade theme, and made some homemade lemon and strawberry marshmallows.  I dipped the bottoms in a light coating of white chocolate and put them on sticks to make it easier for the kids to handle. I'll be making some new flavors for her 3rd birthday this year.

Strawberry Marshmallows

INGREDIENTS

3 packages unflavored gelatin
1 cup ice cold water, divided
2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
1/8 cup dried strawberries, finely chopped
1/4 tsp kosher salt
2 tsp strawberry extract or flavoring
red food color
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch

Lemon Marshmallows

INGREDIENTS

3 packages unflavored gelatin
1 cup ice cold water, divided
2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
grated lemon peel from 1 lemon
1/4 tsp kosher salt
2 tsp lemon extract
yellow food color
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch

DIRECTIONS

Sift together confectioners' sugar and cornstarch.  Lightly butter the bottom and sides of a 13" by 9" baking pan. Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper, not necessary but helpful. Then sift about 1/8 cup of the powdered sugar and cornstarch mixture onto the bottom of the pan.  Add 1/2 cup cold water into the bowl of an electric mixer. Sprinkle gelatin over the water and let stand until softened (about 15 minutes)

In a heavy bottomed saucepan, add the sugar, corn syrup, salt, lemon peel or dried strawberries and 1/2 cup cold water. Stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves and the mixture comes to a boil. Use a wet pastry brush and wipe sugar crystals from the sides of the pot, boil for about two minute. Boil on high, until the syrup reaches 240F, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat.

Using a whisk attachment, turn your mixer on low and slowly pour the hot syrup into the gelatin. Slowly increase the speed to high and beat until it comes together and looks like thick marshmallow fluff, about 10 minutes. Add extract and 2-5 drops of food coloring (until color desired is reached, I wanted it pale so only used 3) beat to combine, about 30 -60 seconds.

If you use butter to lightly butter the rubber spatula first it makes it easier to spread out.  Pour marshmallow mixture into the prepared pan and spread with a rubber spatula, scraping out the bowl.  Sift about 1/8 cup of the powdered sugar and cornstarch mixture onto the marshmallows and let stand, uncovered on the counter until set, about 3-6 hours (depends on humidity).

Run a knife around the perimeter of the pan, and invert onto a cutting board which has been dusted with about 1 TBSP of the powdered sugar and cornstarch mixture.  Put remaining sugar and cornstarch mixture in a bowl.  Peel off the parchment paper, if you used it and cut the marshmallows into small squares.  I do about 1"x1" squares.  Toss in sugar and cornstarch mixture in the bowl, shake off and store in an airtight container, separating layers with parchment paper.

Cocktails - Recipes

Just a small sample of my favorite cocktails that are consistent favorites at our yearly cocktail party.

Appletini

1 oz Shakka Apple Liqueur
2 oz Apple Juice
1 oz Smirnoff Apple

Shake with ice, strain into martini glass
optional: Garnish with apple cubes or slices

Ocean Breeze

1.25 oz Malibu rum
.75 oz Curacao
.5 oz Orange juice
.5 oz Pineapple juice

Shake with ice, strain into martini glass
optional: Garnish with an orange slice or pineapple spear

Mojito

3 oz Light rum
Juice of 1 Lime (1 oz)
2 tsp Sugar
2 Mint sprigs, crushed in glass to release flavor
Soda water
Muddle mint and sugar together into shaker with a splash of soda water
Add remain ingredients, shake with ice
Strain into highball glass
optional: Rim glass (dip in lime juice, then sugar) and garnish with a mint sprig

Raspberry Creme

1 oz Chambord
1 oz cream
1 oz creme brulee liquer (Just Desserts)

Shake with ice, strain into martini glass
optional: Garnish with White Chocolate shavings, or a raspberry

A personal favorite:

Pomegranate Champagne

2 oz champagne
1 oz pomegranate juice
0.5 oz orange liquer: Grand Marnier or Cointreau
1/2 tsp simple syrup

Shake orange liquer, pomegranate juice and simple syrup with ice, strain into champagne glass
Pour in champagne and stir gently
optional: Garnish with pomegranate arils

Buttermilk Skillet Cornbread - Recipe

Nothing goes better with Chili then a little cornbread. Especially when said cornbread is sweet buttermilk cornbread, hot out of the oven, slathered with butter and drizzled with honey, with a crispy outside from a hot cast iron skillet. Is your mouth watering yet? I'm going to share my cornbread secrets with you, and I've been told many a time that my cornbread is the best!



Secret #1: Buttermilk
Secret #2: Honey
Secret #3: Hot Skillet

Don't have buttermilk? I keep a buttermilk powder on hand for baking when you want the buttermilk flavor, without added liquid. Or quickly make your own: for the 1 1/2 cups this recipe calls for, remove 1 1/2 Tbsps milk from 1 1/2 cups of milk and add in 1 1/2 Tbsps of vinegar or lemon juice, and let it sit for 5 minutes, then add to the recipe.

Now, this week I got to up the secret factor, because I got to use some AMAZING honey, and I don't know if I'd ever be able to live up to it with any old honey again. I got my honey from Haff Apiaries (701.663.1619‎) in Mandan, North Dakota, it's raw unpasteurized honey and the best I've ever tasted. I also used White Lily White Buttermilk Cornmeal Mix, this is hard to find up here in North Dakota, so I order it online. While I do think it makes a better cornbread, you can use whatever corn meal you have.

Buttermilk Skillet Cornbread

INGREDIENTS
2 cups White Lily White Buttermilk Cornmeal Mix
-OR-
1 cup cornmeal
1 cup flour

1 1/2 cup buttermilk
-OR-
1 1/2 cup milk
2 Tbsp buttermilk powder

1 egg, lightly beaten
4 tsp honey
1/4 cup vegetable oil

DIRECTIONS
Generously grease 8-10" cast iron skillet (I use butter flavored shortening for this, butter just doesn't do as good a job)
Preheat skillet in oven to 425
Measure cornmeal (and flour, if needed) into a bowl and stir (with a wooden spoon) it up to break up large clumps
Add remaining ingredients and mix until just moist, it will have some clumps
Pour into skillet and put in oven for 20 - 30 minutes (depends on the skillet size, start checking on it at 20 minutes. You want the top to get to a nice deep golden color.

Biscuits - Recipe

Biscuits are so easy, unless I'm camping I doubt I'll ever buy canned biscuits again. Just 3 ingredients on a Sunday morning and you can have homemade fluffy biscuits to slather with butter and homemade jam.

Biscuits

INGREDIENTS

2 cups self-rising flour (I use White Lily)
1/4 cup butter, cubed
3/4 cup buttermilk

2 Tbsp butter, melted

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 500F.

Measure flour into a large bowl.
Add shortening/butter and cut in with a pastry blender (or knives or a quick pulse or two on a food processor.)
Pour in milk/buttermilk and stir with a fork until the dough just pulls away from the side of the bowl.

Gather the dough with your hands, then turn out onto lightly floured surface. Knead 2-3 times, until it just comes together. Pat out to 1/2 inch thick and cut with a 2" biscuit cutter dipped in flour (or a glass or cookie cutter or canning jar lid, whatever you have on hand.) You will have 9 plus scraps, I usually lightly twirl the scraps together and use them for sampling when the biscuits are done.

Grease and flour or spray a baking sheet 8"x8" or larger.

Place biscuits in sheet, for softer biscuits place them right next to each other, for crispier edges place them farther apart.

Bake 8-10 minutes.

Brush tops with melted butter fresh out of the oven.

Swedish Almond Cake - Recipe

This is very easy to make and tastes delicious. It's a bit dense, and typically served with a light dusting of powdered sugar, but I rarely bother with that. I've made these in mini loaf pans, but without being able to twist the pan there is no way to get them out cleanly. A springform pan would probably work because you can run a knife between the cake and pan to pop it out. I'd highly recommend the almond cake pan though, this is my go to dessert for company. It's easy to make, stays moist and lends itself well to other flavors by just changing the extract. I've made it with rum, lemon, orange and, of course, almond.

Swedish Almond Cake

INGREDIENTS

1 1/4 cups sugar
2/3 cup milk
1 egg, beaten
1 1/2 tsps pure almond extract
1 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, melted

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease and flour the swedish almond cake pan, or use non stick spray.
In a medium bowl, beat together the sugar, milk, egg and almond extract.
Add dry ingredients to liquid mixture and stir until just combined.
Pour melted butter into the bowl and stir until incorporated.
Pour batter into cake pan and bake for 40-50 minutes at 350F.
The cake is done when a cake tester or knife inserted comes out clean.
Allow to cool completely before popping it out of the pan, or it will stick terribly.
Twist the pan back and forth to loosen, then it should come out.

Fresh out of the oven, golden brown on top, but the rest is very pale in color.

Baked Macaroni & Cheese - Recipe

Baked Macaroni and Cheese is on my list of personal comfort foods. This is not the neon orange cheese food that comes in a box from Kraft (though I admit I love that as well), but rather a creamy concoction started on the stovetop, but finished to a crusty perfection in the oven. If you'd like something a little quicker you don't have to finish in the oven, but then you lose the combination of the crusty goodness along the edges and top mixed with the creaminess in the middle. I always use finely shredded sharp cheddar, but feel free to use your cheese of choice. For a sharper flavor, substitute a 1/2 cup of the cheddar for a 1/2 cup of blue cheese. This recipe is featured in one of my favorite cookbooks, the Ultimate Southern Living Cookbook, and made with little variation it's just that good. The only way to really mess this up is to use high instead of medium heat when using the saucepan.

Ingredients assembled

Whisk flour and melted butter until smooth

Add Milk and whisk until thick and bubbly

At this point you can either cook it for another 5 minutes or place in buttered casserole dish and bake

Baked with a paprika, cracker topping

Baked Macaroni and Cheese

INGREDIENTS

8 oz cooked macaroni, elbow or spiral shaped work best
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup white flour
2 cups milk, I use skim (it's probably intended to be whole)
2 cups shredded sharp cheddar
1 tsp salt
paprika (optional)
crumbled butter cracker (optional)

DIRECTIONS

Assemble ingredients before use, this is fairly important for this recipe.
In medium saucepan over medium heat, melt butter
Whisk in flour until smooth, continue whisking for 1 minute over medium heat
Slowly pour in milk while whisking
Continue stirring over medium heat until thick and bubbly about 6-7 minutes
Switch from a whisk to a spoon (wooden recommended)
Stir in cheese and salt until melted and smooth
Add to macaroni and stir in to coat
Pour into buttered casserole dish
Sprinkle with paprika and/or crumbled butter crackers (like Townhouse Crackers)
Bake at 350F for 30 minutes

If you want to skip the baking, just stir over medium heat for about 5 minutes after combining the macaroni and cheese mixture.

Cream Puffs or Bollur - Recipe

Since Bolludagur is in 2 weeks, February 11th this year, I thought this would be the perfect recipe to share today. Bolludagur is an Icelandic holiday, which I posted about here. This recipe makes a choux pastry, pâte à choux, and is translated from metric measurements, I hope it works out for you. This site has pretty good pictures of the process and what it looks like at each stage. This pastry gets it's height from the steam created by the moisture of the batter, if you open the door you will lose that steam and your puffs will fall. This pastry would be the perfect example of why ovens have a light inside and a window in the door.

Cream Puffs

INGREDIENTS

Pastry:
1 1/3 cup water
1 stick butter
1 1/4 cup flour
3 eggs

Filling:
1 cup whipping cream
2 Tbsp powdered sugar

Chocolate Icing:
1/2 cup Semisweet Chocolate, chopped
3 Tbsp cream

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Heat water and butter in small pot until it just comes to a boil
Add flour to the pot all at once and stir until incorporated, continue stirring for 1 minute or until film starts to form on the bottom of the pot (about 1-2 minutes)
Add eggs 1 at a time and combine completely before adding next egg.
This will form a very soft dough that you drop by tablespoonful onto a parchment sheet lined cookie sheet
Cook for 23-26 minutes at 400 degrees until very light golden brown
Do not open the oven to check the puffs or they will fall, use the window to get an idea of color.
After the pastry comes out of the oven let them cool completely before assembling.

Prepare filling by whipping cream until soft peaks form, sift in powdered sugar and whip additional 5 seconds

Place chocolate in microwave for 15 seconds
Add cream, microwave for additional 15 seconds
Mix well, microwave in additional 15 second intervals, if needed until you can stir it until smooth.

To assemble:
Slice open
Top with dollop of whip cream
Dip top in chocolate and nestle on top of whip cream

Pönnukökur - Recipe

Every family has their recipes that only come out certain times of the year, whether it be THE Christmas cookie, or Auntie's eggnog recipe or Grandma's pecan pie. In my house, it was generally a lot of Icelandic recipes, including this one for my Amma's Pönnukökur. They were only made on special occasions, I'm guessing mainly because the pancakes, like waffles, are made one at a time. The recipe makes a lot of them so it's a somewhat long ordeal, but well worth it. For some reason, I decided to make these for breakfast on Saturday and thought I'd share the recipe.  You'll want to make these on a crepe pan or a griddle, something where it can cook flat to be flipped. Icelanders actually have a special pan well seasoned just for making these pancakes, and just about every household has one. I'll say it's not necessary to try them out, but if you love them and intend to make them often the pan is worth it.

Pönnukökur

Ingredients

250 g flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
25-50 g margarine or butter (1 stick)
6-7 dl milk
2 eggs

Directions

Add dry ingredients to a large bowl, whisk to mix
Melt margarine or butter on pan if using crepe or Pönnukokur pan (else melt in microwave)
Pour melted butter into dry ingredients and whisk with some milk until a smooth paste forms.
Add remaining milk to make a thin batter
Beat in eggs
Pour into pan preheated over medium high heat using 1/4-1/3 cup
Rotate pan until fully covered
After edges are cooked through to the top, use a spatula to loosen the pancake and flip it
Let cook just a bit and flip it over onto a plate
Repeat with the remaining batter

To serve:
Sprinkle with sugar and roll up
-or-
Spread with a thin layer of jam and a dollop of whip cream in the middle, then fold in half and in half again to form a wedge shape

Spiced Cake Doughnut - Recipe

Really early weekend mornings are few and far between for me. I generally like to curl under my covers for a while and snuggle with my daughter after she's woken up and comes padding into my room clutching her blanket. We usually cuddle and talk with each other until she decides she is ready for milk, then we finally make our way to the kitchen. Occasionally, there is a morning that I find myself awake anywhere from 3:30 to 5:00 or so and completely unable to fall back asleep. Today was one of those mornings.

Last week I ordered some Norpro cake doughnut pans from Amazon, one for normal sized doughnuts and one for mini doughnuts. So this morning I thought I'd put them to the test. They turn out these perfectly adorable, perfectly shaped cake doughnuts. They don't look exactly like the ones you'll find at your local grocery store, and they don't get that brown exterior that frying gives them. I made half a batch of Spiced Cake Donuts in the normal doughnut pan and half a batch of Chocolate Cake Donuts in the mini doughnut pan.

These are so easy to make and they take very little time to whip up. I just dipped them in a simple vanilla glaze, and they look so cute.  The chocolate recipe needs a little tweaking, but the Spiced Cake Donuts turned out lovely. I'll try a few modifications to the chocolate recipe before I share a recipe.

Spiced Cake Doughnuts

Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup white sugar
2 tsps baking powder
1/2 tsp apple pie spice or pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup milk
2 beaten eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp shortening

Directions
Preheat oven to 325 F
Lightly grease a doughnut pan with shortening.
In a large mixing bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder, nutmeg, cinnamon and salt.
In a smaller bowl, mix milk, eggs, and vanilla.
Add wet ingredients and shortening to dry ingredients and mix together until well blended.
Fill each doughnut hole approximately 3/4 full, I'd recommend putting the batter in a ziploc bag and snipping a corner to fill the pan, or use a pastry piping bag. Try not to get batter up the sides or over the top of the middle.
Bake 10 minutes in the preheated oven, until doughnuts spring back when touched. 8 minutes for mini doughnuts.
Allow to cool slightly before removing from pan.
Dip doughnuts in glaze.

Vanilla Glaze

Ingredients
1 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
3 tbsp hot water or warm milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract


Directions
Mix ingredients together until there are no lumps are left.

While I was making doughnuts this morning, I couldn't help but remember this commercial for Dunkin Donuts from when I was little.

Enjoy!

Skyr - Recipe

I talked a bit about my love affair with skyr yesterday, and promised after it was whipped up and sampled that I'd share the recipe. You do need skyr to make skyr, so if you are lucky enough to be in Iceland grab yourself a container of plain skyr.  Otherwise go to Siggi's Skyr and see if you can find a location near you that sells it. The nice thing is that you once you make skyr you can continue making the next batch with the skyr you've made and so on.  As long as you make it every three weeks or so you don't need to buy skyr again.

This is what I did after reading as many online recipes for skyr as I could find.  It worked beautifully!

Skyr

Ingredients

1 gallon skim milk
2/3 cup skyr

7-8 drops animal rennet
-or-
4 drops vegetable rennet
-or-
1/4 rennet tablet
1/4 c warm water

Sterilized Cooking Utensils needed

These need to be sterilized (dunked in boiling water) or taken clean direct from the dishwasher.

large pot with lid (big enough to hold a gallon of liquid)
whisk
4 cup canning jar - or equivalent storage
2/3 measuring cup
2 cup or larger bowl
8 cup or larger bowl (I used another big pot)
strainer spoon or slotted spoon
mixing bowl
mixer beaters
rubber spatula
thermometer

If using a tablet:
small cup
1/4 measuring cup
small spoon

You also need cheesecloth or a cotton dishtowel and a big fluffy towel or two.

Directions

Pour the gallon of milk into a large pot and bring to 180F over medium heat whisking frequently to prevent scalding.  Turn the heat to low and bring to 185F, whisking constantly. Remove from heat immediately.  The last bit is to prevent scalding, however a little scalding is alright, just make sure you don't whisk the scalded bits up into the milk.  Place the pot into a cool water bath (sink full of cool water works well) until the temperature reaches 110F.  I changed out the water once during this cool down, I brought it down to 140F rather quickly, then let it come down the rest of the way slowly.  I didn't want to accidentally cool it too much.


Once the milk is cool, pour 2/3 cup skyr and approximately a cup of the cooled milk into a small bowl and whisk it together. Pour into the pot of cooled milk and whisk to distribute.

Add the rennet drops if using liquid.  Drop them into a spoon and then add to the milk mixture, too much rennet will make the skyr rubbery. If using a tablet, dissolve the tablet into 1/4 cup warm water then add that to the milk mixture. Whisk the pot to distribute.

Turn the oven on to 200 for 1 minute (just to take any chill off). Put the lid on the pot. Wrap the pot and lid completely in the towel and stick in the oven for 12 hours. If the pot doesn't fit in your oven, or you need your oven, you can also put it in a cooler and put a couple of containers of warm water in around it.

Forget about the skyr for 12 hours, don't peek at it or disturb it.

At this point I'm sharing lots of pictures, because it's more about look and texture, which is hard to describe but very easy to see.

Take your pot out from it's cozy towel and open the lid.  This is what it will look like (click for a larger views if needed), if you wiggle the pot slightly you'll see a slight layer of whey and the milk will be congealed.

Take a knife and score through the skyr, until it's cubed.

Line your 8+ cup bowl with a double layer of cheesecloth or the cotton dish towel.

Use your strainer spoon or slotted spoon to scoop the skyr curds into the dish towel, draining it as best you can with the spoon as you go.  You may need to pause and pour some whey out of the bowl you are transferring to a couple of times so it will all fit.

Once it's all in the dish cloth (cheesecloth) twist up the ends at the top and tie them up around a long utensil or stick to keep the cloth above the whey if possible.

Put this bowl in your refrigerator for 6-8 hours and let it drain as much whey as possible.  Reduce to about 1/4 of what you started with (gallon of milk).

Unwrap and it'll look like this now.  Sort of dry looking and the consistency of cream cheese.

Put it in a mixing bowl and beat it for 3 minutes or so on high, might need to start on low for a bit at first.

When you are done it'll look like this.  Mmmmmm skyr!

It can be used plain as a cheese spread (treat it similarly to cream cheese as a spread).  Or, you can add a bit of milk to it and stir it together until you achieve a consistency similar to sour cream or yogurt.  Stir in fruit or sweetener of your choice and enjoy.

This made a 4 cup jar of plain skyr (nothing added) which will last between 3-4 weeks.

Plus enough for a small bowl to split with my daughter for dessert tonight, this is just under 1/2 cup skyr, and just under 1/4 cup milk and sweetener or fruit to taste. I like my skyr on the thick side.

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie - Recipe

When I first moved to Grand Forks about 17 years ago, we lived in a hundred year old home in an older part of the city. The back corner of the yard had a huge clump of rhubarb. It was the first time I had seen a rhubarb plant and I don't believe I had ever tasted it prior to moving there. I thought it was a big oversized weed of some sort. Well first I thought it was a flower of some sort, but by the end of the first year with no flowers in sight I figured it was like a hosta or a weed. We had no other plants or flowers by it, just the rhubarb.

Rhubarb Harvest

So one day when hubby's best friend and wife came over for dinner and a little wedding planning, we were sitting around out back talking and I mentioned pulling up the rhubarb. Except I think it was more like "pulling out that ugly thing and put in my pretty flowers". She was mortified and told me it was rhubarb and told me she'd take it if I didn't want it. She walked over to it, snapped off a stalk, wiped it off on her pant leg and took a bite. "Go grab a small bowl with some sugar in it" she instructed me. So, I grabbed a small bowl from the kitchen and put about 1/4 cup of sugar in it and took it outside. She dipped a stalk into it and handed it to me to take a bite. Oh my! The marriage of the tart and sweet, it was delicious! So I kept the rhubarb, of course! And, I went on a rhubarb recipe quest.

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie Filling

When I moved to this house 8 years ago, there was no rhubarb and I didn't think to split my rhubarb and bring half with me when I moved.  After living in this house for about 2-3 years I was missing my rhubarb, so I headed to our local nursery and bought two rhubarb plants.  All was right in the world again!

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie ready for the oven

This is a super simple Strawberry Rhubarb Pie, after you make it a few times you have it down, no recipe required. My first rhubarb harvest of the season happened tonight, and since I made strawberry jam yesterday, I thought rhubarb called for a pie.  Unfortunately, I was slipping it into the oven at 10pm, so the lovely natural light for photography was gone for the evening.  So forgive the next few pictures please.

Like the icky pan I use for pie filling spill over catches?
It's more than 17 years old now, but hey it still works.
I do add a pie crust shield before popping it in the oven.

Two recipes back to back, it's just that kind of a weekend I guess.  I'll be making more popsicles tomorrow as well, though I promise I won't post them twice.  I'll be making scones tomorrow though, should we go for 3 recipes in a row? Maybe I'll save those for another week.

A couple of the strawberries got a little dark, I should
have tented the pie with foil for the last 5-10 minutes.

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

Filling
2 cups strawberries
2 cups rhubarb
1 cup sugar
1 Tbsp lemon juice, or lime if you are out of lemon like I was tonight
1/4 cup tapioca
1 tsp vanilla
2 Tbsp butter, cut into 8 cubes


Mix together in large bowl, let sit while you make the crust.

Crust
This is a single crust, double the ingredients depending on what you want for crust. I use a food processor to make my pie crust, and I use Amy Karol's pie crust ratios off of her cheat sheet, approximately.

1 1/2 cups flour
1 stick of butter, cold and cubed
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp sugar
4-5 Tbsp ice cold water

Crust Wash
1 egg yolk
1 Tbsp water

Add first four ingredients to the food processor, and pulse a bit to coat the butter and break it up a bit, like 4-5 pulses.  Pour in about 4 Tbsp of the water, and pulse a bit, drizzle in a little more until it just barely comes together.  Then pour it out and push it together into a disk (2 disks if you are doing a double crust), wrap in cling wrap and stick in the fridge for 15 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 400F.

Remove the disk(s) from the fridge, roll it out and drape it into your pie plate. If you are doing a double crust, fill it and add the second crust now. Form your edges, however you like.  I like a pretty pinch.

In a small bowl whisk together the egg yolk.

Brush the crust that will be exposed while baking with the wash.  If you are doing a single crust, fill it now.

Stick it on an old baking tray to catch any spills. Add a pie crust guard, or make your own with aluminum foil. (It should cover the crust on the outer edges so it doesn't burn.

Bake it at 400F for 55-60 min.

After baking let it rest for a while so all the juices don't flow out as soon as you cut it.

Serve with real vanilla or strawberry ice cream, or mmmmmm a dollop of fresh whipped cream.

Delicious!

Popsicles - Recipe

If you like this blog on Facebook you saw me mention an easy popsicle recipe yesterday, I made them last night and we enjoyed them as a snack after school/work today.

I forgot to take pictures while they were in the making, but luckily I remembered to snap pictures with my phone before they were eaten! They were yummy, but messy! Perfect for a stripped down warm afternoon. I like that these are made with real fruit.  I used a small bag of frozen strawberries, for the fruit juice I used the liquid from the bag, then added back in 2/3 cup of the strawberries.  I used my emulsion blender to puree the two together, then added the honey and pectin and pulsed it a couple of times with the blender.  Using the emulsion blender made clean up very easy.

Homemade Popsicles

2/3 c fruit puree
2/3 c fruit juice
1/3 c honey
1 Tbsp fruit pectin

Mix together really well, make sure there are no pectin lumps.
Pour into popsicle molds.
Let set about 5-6 minutes.
Push sticks in about half way.
Stick in the freezer for 8-12 hrs.
Enjoy!

Makes about 8 popsicles depending on your mold size.

Homemade Strawberry Popsicles

Yummy!

Also, this week was Teacher's Appreciation Week!  Did you remember? I brought cookies for all of the staff at Kirsten's day care, but then for the admin and all of the toddler teachers I made these little sweet jars with M & M's.  Nothing too fancy, but a little something to say thank you.  There are 2 toddler classrooms, but all the teachers watch her during recess and also at the end of the day as the numbers dwindle down they combine classrooms, so I wanted to include all of the toddler teachers, not just her class.  I made the labels earlier, but I assembled and delivered them without coming home for pictures, so you get an instagram from my phone picture, but you get the idea.