Whole Wheat No Knead Bread

Despite what we all might want to believe, mothers really do know quite a lot about their children. Just a couple months ago, J. and my mom had dinner together without me, and my own dear mom decided to take it upon herself to share with J. what she thought was my best and worst trait. This happens to be one and the same: "My daughter is impulsive." And boy, let me tell you, this is one time I will admit that she is completely right. For Mother's Day I bought my mom a new carry-on suitcase and, unable to wait, I gave it to her two months early. It wasn't the first time I have given a gift to someone early, unable to contain my excitement. In fact, it happens all the time.

And it happens when I blog, too. Case in point: this whole wheat no knead bread, which I've been dying to share with you all for almost a week. Did you hear that mom? I waited almost a week! On Monday, I baked my first loaf after being inspired by this recipe from the blog London Foodie in New York.

Some time ago, I swore off bread baking because I felt it took too much time and effort, but after last week's nut butter success, I was feeling adventurous, daring, and crafty. So I tackled homemade bread and was blown away by the ease of it all. It's a fabulous combination of lightness and density, which can be tricky with whole wheat bread, and goes great with almost everything. I would be eating a slice for breakfast this morning if the leftover banana pudding trifle in my fridge wasn't calling my name.

Whole What No Knead Bread
Adapted and converted from London Foodie in New York
Ingredients:
*2 cups whole wheat flour
*1/2 + 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
*1 tsp. sugar
*2 tsp. kosher salt (or 1 tsp. table salt)
*2 (1/4-oz.) pkgs. active dry yeast
*2 cups hot (but not boiling) water 
*1 Tbsp. olive oil

Instructions:
*Preheat oven to 400*F.
*In a large mixing bowl, combine the flours, sugar, salt, and yeast. Make a hole in the center of the dry ingredients, and slowly add the water, stirring as you go, until all the dry ingredients are mixed with the water.
*Once it begins to look scraggly and has come together add the oil and mix with your hands. Remove from the bowl and knead a few times just to bring it together.
*Grease and flour a 2-lb. loaf pan. Form the bread dough into a loaf shape, and place in the pan. Brush the top with additional olive oil and sprinkle with salt or Italian seasoning, if desired.
*Cover with a towel and place in a warm location in the kitchen. I like to open my oven door slightly and set the loaf pan on top of the oven so the draft of the warm oven reaches the loaf and helps it rise.
*Let rise for 30 minutes to 1 hour, until it is doubled in size. Place in the oven and bake for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, remove bread from loaf pan and place directly on oven racks for 10 minutes.
*Cool for at least 10 minutes before slicing. Store tightly covered.

Happy Baking!

Madison

Banana Pudding Trifle

Before getting to regular posting news, I have an exciting announcement.... Espresso and Cream is losing .blogspot.com and switching to a .com! All that basically means for you all is that when you are searching, typing, or sharing how to find Espresso and Cream you can save yourself the extra effort and type in www.espressoandcream.com. Readers who go to the old .blogspot.com address will automatically be re-directed to the new one, and for the next couple of days if some things aren't functioning properly, you know the reason. By the end of the weekend, everything should be fixed! Thanks in advance for your patience.

Now back to regular posting:

I'm not entirely sure what has come over me lately, but for the past two months I have been waking up craving the most unusual foods. Maybe not unusual to most people, but certainly unusual to me, since most of the foods I suddenly find myself wanting to eat are things I have previously sworn off as foods I hate. But before you get all hot and bothered, I can 100% assure you these cravings have nothing to do with possible impending motherhood (amen!) and a lot more to do with my life as a food editor. 

Growing up there was a whole list of things I wouldn't eat, but as the years passed and I matured, so did my taste buds. What was once a picky eater turned into an adventurous one, and up until college graduation, only a few foods remained on the no-eat list, like pickles, coleslaw, mayonnaise, bananas, gravy, and watermelon.

Unfortunately, I still don't have a taste for watermelon or gravy, but a slow trickle of cravings over the past couple weeks led me to discover that I do, in fact, love pickles and coleslaw, and mayonnaise. Strange but true. And today, at work, I suddenly couldn't figure out why I've gone 22 years without eating banana pudding. With half of my family being southern and having been born in the South, I felt shame and confusion creep over me along with an intense desire to make banana pudding.

Within five minutes of returning home after work this afternoon I was barefoot, in my kitchen, stirring a saucepan of what would be the pudding for my banana pudding trifle. Since I had never made banana pudding, I was shocked to realize that after some intense research on SouthernLiving.com that most 'banana puddings' are really just vanilla puddings with banana slices, which really suited me just fine. And once the whole trifle was assembled and photographed, I dug out two heaping bites, bananas and all, and basked in the deliciousness and satisfaction of being right: I love bananas and above all, banana pudding. 


Banana Pudding Trifle
Courtesy of Southern Living magazine
Pudding:
*3 cups milk (2% or whole)
*3 large eggs
*3/4 cup sugar
*1/3 cup all-purpose flour
*2 Tbsp. butter
*2 tsp. vanilla extract 


*4 medium bananas, sliced
*1 (1-lb.) pkg. peanut butter sandwich cookies (Nutter Butters), coarsely crumbled
*2 cups sweetened whipped cream


Instructions: 
*Whisk together first 4 ingredients in a large saucepan over medium-low heat. Cook, whisking constantly, 15 to 20 minutes or until thickened. (make sure you really do whisk/stir constantly) Remove from heat; stir in butter and vanilla until butter is melted. 
*Pour into a bowl, place a sheet of plastic wrap directly on top of pudding, and refrigerate until cool. 
*When pudding is cooled, in a bowl or trifle dish, pour half of the pudding in the bottom of the dish, followed by half the bananas and half the cookies. Repeat with remaining pudding, bananas, and cookies. Top with the whipped cream and additional cookies, if desired. 


Happy Cooking!

Madison 

Whole Wheat Buttermilk Biscuits

Do you ever just miss home? I'm not sure age really matters, because when I think about home it's not the place or the building, it's that feeling and stage in life when you knew that someone else was there to take care of you and have your back. Growing up with divorced parents, I traveled a lot between Iowa and Florida, so getting homesick was rare. Now, living on my own for the first time, I still don't get homesick, but I do miss home every now and again.  


And despite the distance and time that has passed since my years living at home, I am still able to get in the kitchen and capture my childhood with a few simple ingredients, a bowl, and a wooden spoon. (Okay, I used my food processor, too) Food is magical that way. It holds the power to inspire, to transport, to recreate moments and time passed. I think everyone has that special taste of childhood, and for me these buttermilk biscuits are it. 

Things really do come full-circle, because little did I know, my mom's famous biscuits originated from a Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook circa 1972; Better Homes and Gardens, where I work and write and eat today. So yesterday, when I was missing missing home, I pulled out my own Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook circa 1950 that I purchased from a flea market this fall and got to making my mom's buttermilk biscuits. And they turned out, just as I remembered - a piece of the familiar when so many things in life are changing around me.

Of course, I couldn't resist making a few small changes. Instead of using all-purpose flour, I used a combination of whole-wheat and all-purpose. And I took out the shortening, because I hardly ever cook with shortening, and used butter in its place. Oh, and I made them a little bigger than the recipe suggests. Back in 1950 this recipe made 12-18 biscuits. In my kitchen, circa 2010, it made 9. So here's to biscuits, and memories, and recreating home in your own kitchen, wherever that may be.

Whole Wheat Buttermilk Biscuits
Adapted from Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook, 1950
Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole-wheat flour
1/4 tsp. baking soda
3 tsp. baking powder
6 Tbsp. butter, cut into pats
1 cup buttermilk
1 egg white from a large egg
Additional kosher salt, if desired

Instructions:
*Preheat oven to 450*F.
*Combine the flours, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in the bowl of a food processor or a large bowl (if you are using a pastry blender). Add the butter to the flour mixture and process with a food processor or blend with a pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse crumbs, with small, uneven pieces of butter throughout.
*Stir in the buttermilk until wet and dry ingredients are just combined. Turn out onto a floured surface and roll to a 3/8-inch thickness. Cut into biscuits and place on a lightly greased baking sheet. Brush egg white on the tops of each biscuit and sprinkle with kosher salt. Bake for 12-14 minutes, until lightly golden.
*Serve warm, if possible, with lots and lots of butter and jam. Reheat in the oven if necessary.

Happy Cooking!

Madison

Make-Your-Own Nut Butter

 Hi, my name is Madison and I love peanut butter. I also love ketchup, and it's a well-known fact in my extended family, since every time we eat either turkey or ham, I go searching through the fridge of the aunt and uncle's house I am at in search of ketchup to bring to the table.

Unfortunately, this is one duo that does not work well together. Though when J. returned from Europe in January, he did bring me back a chocolate bar that incorporated both. Let's just say I am not going to be trying to sell any of you on that combination any time soon.

But what I really intended to discuss was homemade nut butter. A trip to the peanut butter section of the grocery store will most likely yield some non-peanut butter impostors: soy nut butter, almond butter, mixed-nut butter. They are, of course, impostors in the most wonderful sort of way. Along with the delicious, unusual taste comes an equally unusual and not so delicious price tag. Does anyone really think it's a good idea to shell out $10 (yes, $10!) for a small jar of nut butter? Not this girl, especially when it's so easy to make yourself.

Over the past couple of weeks I've been playing with this recipe, using peanuts, almonds, and walnuts (pictured). I love the taste of walnuts, though if you aren't a walnut-lover to begin with I don't think walnut-butter is going to change your mind. The process is simple, really. And unlike the labor-of-love homemade pop tarts of last week, this nut butter recipe can be completed and consumed in under 12 minutes. Grind up the nuts in a food processor, add a little oil and salt, process some more, and then a little more until you are left with a creamy nut butter better than anything you might buy on the supermarket shelves, for a whole lot less.

Homemade Nut Butter

Ingredients:
*16 oz. (about 4 cups) toasted, unsalted nuts of your choice (I have tried this with almonds, peanuts, pecans, and walnuts and had success with all four, or you could use a combination)
*3 to 4 Tbsp. oil (I used light olive oil)
*1 1/2 tsp. salt (regular, table salt)

Instructions:
*In a food processor, process the nuts for 2-3 minutes, scraping down the sides as needed, until the mixture resembles fine crumbs and becomes slightly pasty.
*Add in the oil and salt. Continue to process for 3-5 minutes more, scraping down the sides frequently, until creamy and smooth, with just a slight texture remaining.
*Refrigerate until ready to use.

Happy Cooking!

Madison

Magnolia Bakery's Vanilla Cupcakes

The first time I tasted a Magnolia Bakery cupcake was in the fall of 2008 while I was in New York for The Rachael Ray Show. For those not familiar with Magnolia Bakery, it gained wide-spread recognition outside of NYC when Carrie Bradshaw, aka Sarah Jessica Parker, on Sex and the City declared the bakery her favorite place for a mini-cake fix. Being a devoted SATC fan, I was determined to play Carrie Bradshaw for the day (er...5 minutes) despite the cold, wind, and rain.

There are multiple Magnolia locations, but only the original on Bleeker Street would do for me. The shop was little, and unassuming with standing room only and a line outside the door that seemed to shout, "delicious cupcakes inside!" Delicious cupcakes indeed. I can still vividly remember my fist bite while walking and window shopping. The light, fluffy, perfectly balanced vanilla cake with a seriously sweet buttercream had me swooning. And while New Yorkers seem to have very strong opinions on what cupcakes are the best in the city, my outsider's vote goes to Magnolia.

Soon after returning home from New York I Googled the recipe for Magnolia's Vanilla Cupcakes and was shocked and delighted that it was both available online and unblieveably easy. I've been making these cupcakes ever since, to the delight of many. And this week at work I was gifted with something from one of my co-workers: The Magnolia Bakery Cookbook. Reason enough to make a couple dozen cupcakes, even if I have already been making the cupcakes for over a year.

Ingredients:

*1 1/2 cups self-rising flour

*1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

*1 cup (2 sticks) butter

*2 cups sugar

*4 large eggs

*1 cup milk (I like to use buttermilk)

*1 tsp. vanilla extract

Buttercream Icing:

*1 cup (2 sticks) butter

*7 cups powdered sugar

*1/4 cup milk, cream, or half and half

*2 tsp. vanilla extract (or extract of your choice)

Instructions:

*Preheat oven to 350*F. In a small bowl, combine the flours. Set aside.

*In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugar gradually and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

*Add the dry ingredients in three parts, alternating with the milk and vanilla. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated but do not overbeat. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl to make sure the ingredients are well blended. Carefully spoon the batter into the cupcake liners, filling them about two-thirds full. Bake for 20–25 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center of the cupcake comes out clean.

*Cool the cupcakes in the tins for 15 minutes. Remove from the tins and cool completely on a wire rack before icing.

For Buttercream:

*Beat butter until creamy, about 1 minute.

*Add in 4 cups of the powdered sugar and the 1/4 cup milk. Beat on medium high speed for 3-5 minutes until creamy. Add in the remaining powdered sugar and vanilla extract. Beat until all the ingredients are well-combined and buttercream is fluffy and creamy.

*Pipe or spread the buttercream on top of the cupcakes when cupcakes are completely cool. Top with decorator's sugar or sprinkles, if desired.

Happy Baking!

Madison

Homemade Pop Tarts

I really, truly want to think of something beautiful and eloquent to write about these homemade pop tarts because boy are they deserving of everything good I could write. But the only thing that I can think of, having just finished eating one, is OH MY GOSH. This, my friends, is what a toaster pastry was intended to taste like before it turned into the processed, flavorless, under-filled brick you have come to know as a pop tart.

I have stumbled across a couple different recipes for homemade toaster pastry over the past couple weeks and immediately thought it was a fun and innovative take on breakfast. And when the flawless Deb of The Smitten Kitchen posted a similar recipe on her site I knew I wouldn't be able to resist. So if you were to have stopped by my apartment around 11:30 last night, you would have found me, covered in flour, fully immersed in pastry dough making.

In the past I've been frustrated with pastry dough. It has always made me feel inadequate and insecure about my baking ability because I didn't feel it was flaky, buttery, or delicious enough. My mom, who growing up served as one of my best, and toughest, critics held the bar pretty darn high when it came to an acceptable pastry crust, always comparing it to her mother's pie crust. If you met my grandmother and had a piece of one of her pies, you would know how high of a bar we are talking. So it's really no surprise I felt bad about my own pastry skills. Until now.

Throughout this whole pastry making process, I was convinced it wasn't actually worth the effort but boy was I wrong. These things are seriously amazing - this coming from a girl who doesn't even like pop tarts and hasn't eaten one in over 10 years. They are yummy, and charming in the familiar-yet-different way. I can already imagine making them on weekends when I want to make breakfast a little (or a lot) more special.

Homemade Pop Tarts
Adapted from Deb via The Smitten Kitchen
Ingredients:
Pastry
*2 cups (8 1/2 ounces) all-purpose flour
*1 tablespoon sugar
*1 teaspoon salt
*1 cup (2 sticks or 8 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into pats
*1 large egg
*3 tablespoons milk

*1 additional large egg (to brush on pastry)

*1 recipe Jam Filling (below)

*1/2 cup creamy peanut butter (not the natural variety)

*1 cup powdered sugar and 1/4 cup milk stirred together for glaze

Jam Filling
1/2 cup raspberry preserves stirred together with 1 1/2 tsp. cornstarch

Instructions:

Make the dough

Whisk together the flour, sugar, and salt. Work in the butter with your fingers, pastry blender or food processor until pea-sized lumps of butter are still visible, and the mixture holds together when you squeeze it. If you’ve used a food processor, transfer the mixture to a large bowl. Whisk the first egg and milk together and stir them into the dough, mixing just until everything is cohesive, kneading briefly on a well-floured counter if necessary.

Divide the dough in half and shape each half into a smooth rectangle, about 3×5 inches. You can roll this out immediately or wrap each half in plastic and refrigerate for up to 2 days. (I refrigerated overnight and found that the dough was still a bit crumbly so I put the dough back into the food processor after refrigerating and pulsed it 6-8 times, then formed it into a rectangle and rolled it out. Worked like a dream and the pastry was still oh so flaky!)

Assemble the tarts: If the dough has been chilled, remove it from the refrigerator and allow it to soften and become workable, about 15 to 30 minutes. Place one piece on a lightly floured work surface, and roll it into a rectangle about 1/8″ thick, large enough that you can trim it to an even 9″ x 12″. [You can use a 9" x 13" pan, laid on top, as guidance.] Repeat with the second piece of dough. Set trimmings aside. Cut each piece of dough into thirds – you’ll form nine 3″ x 4″ rectangles.

Beat the additional egg and brush it over the entire surface of the first dough. Place a heaping tablespoon of peanut butter into the center of each rectangle followed by a teaspoon of the jam mixture, keeping a bare 1/2-inch perimeter around it. Place a second rectangle of dough atop the first, using your fingertips to press firmly around the pocket of filling, sealing the dough well on all sides. Press the tines of a fork all around the edge of the rectangle. Repeat with remaining tarts.

Gently place the tarts on a lightly greased or parchment-lined baking sheet. Prick the top of each tart multiple times with a fork; you want to make sure steam can escape. Refrigerate the tarts (they don’t need to be covered) for 30 minutes, while you preheat your oven to 350°F. Bake them for 20 to 25 minutes, until they’re a light golden brown. Spoon a tablespoon of powdered sugar glaze on top of hot pastries. Cool in pan on rack.

Happy Baking!

Madison

Homemade Granola: Base Recipe

Remember that time not so long ago when I made Whole Wheat Granola Breakfast Cookies? Well, it turns out I am not only the type of girlfriend who likes to bake for her boyfriend, I am also the kind who likes to make her boyfriend's mom think I'm trying to kill her son by means of serious allergic reaction and anaphylactic shock.

Because adventurous eater and fruit and veggie loving me fell in love with someone allergic to more items than even he can count, including, evidently, commercially produced granola and granola bars. And when his mom, who happens to read Espresso and Cream (Hi, Lisa!) noticed I was sending her son a box of cookies filled with granola she did what any caring mother would do and sent him a heads-up e-mail.

It just so happens that before making those fateful cookies, I had just finished whipping up a batch of homemade granola and decided to use it for the cookies. After talking with J. about what I put into my homemade granola, we determined that he could eat the cookies and avoid a life-threatening allergic reaction, or at least a trip to the hospital. So from here on out I've accepted that as long as J. is in my life, I am bound to a life of granola making instead of granola buying. Thank goodness it is both fun and easy!

This granola base recipe is very similar to a recipe for cranberry-almond granola I made this winter, with a few minor changes. It couldn't be easier and it's just so gratifying to see the oats toast up in the oven and transform into granola in under an hour. While we were in Florida last weekend, J. had a bit of a culinary revelation: my 10 year-old sister's vitamin gummy bears. So while this may not radiate culinary brilliance or sophistication, it will be serving a healthful purpose when it arrives up in Minnesota. Customize it fit your taste or leave it plain for a simple, yummy breakfast base.

Homemade Granola: Base Recipe
Adapted from Chow.com
Ingredients:
*3 cups old fashioned rolled oats
*2 Tbsp. brown sugar
*1 tsp. ground cinnamon
*1/4 tsp. salt
*1/3 cup honey
*1/3 cup canola oil
*Desired stir-ins of your choice (I used gummy bear vitamins)

Instructions:
*Preheat oven to 300*F.
*In large bowl combine oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt. In another bowl, combine honey, oil, and extract and stir until well combined. Pour mixture over oat mixture. Stir until well-combine. Use hands, if necessary.
*Pour mixture into a large baking sheet or pan. Spread into a thin, even layer. Bake 40 minutes, or until golden brown, stirring once halfway through. Remove from oven and cool completely. Stir the mixture once or twice while it cools (it will harden as it cools). Once cooled, add in desired mix-ins. Store in an airtight container or zip top bag.

Happy cooking!
Madison