BANANAS muffins – with serious nana flavour

it’s strange for me to be sharing a muffin recipe because it seems that making muffins is all I do these days. why would that be strange for me then? well, most posts on the firdge are from food things I build here at home because I really like them. I of course love muffins, but they’ve become a work-associated food item as I make between 250 and 400 a week.
work or not, banana muffins are an essential in any baker/food preparer’s repertoire. these are dense, moist, and super-duper flavourful. I like them a lot.

before embarking on this, make sure you have 4 really ugly, super brown bananas, otherwise get out:
4 super ugly brown bananas, peeled
1/2 C oil
1/2 C milk
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp banana extract (this is essential!)
1/2 C white sugar
1/4 C brown sugar
2  1/2 C flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon

. crank yer oven to 375
. in a bowl, chuck in the bananas. mash them with a fork until they’re mostly just mush… or mash if you prefer
. add the eggs and give them a little whip with the end of a spatula

. add the oil, milk, and extracts and stir
. dump in the sugars and stir
. in another bowl, combine all the dry ingredients and wisk
. dump the dry into the wet and stir until just incorporated. remember it’s important not to overmix muffin batter because it will get very hard, very quickly. if there are some smaller bits of flour it’s ok, they will get absorbed during the baking process

. spoon the mixture into a greased muffin tin. I like big bulgey muffins, so I fill the cups to the top
. bake at 375 for 20-ish minutes or until they’re a light goldeny colour

. a couple minutes after they’ve come out of the oven, pop them out of the tins with your hands, or with a knife if they’re too hot, and get them into a big tupperware and slam the lid on them. this way they will steam a little and become sticky and moist, just like a banana! if you like your muffins to be less awesome, you could just let them cool in the pan and eat them dry-ish… maybe with butter though.
. also, these are craaaazy good with a cup of blueberries added in with the wet mix

enjoy your newfound bad-banana-user-uppers and how awesome your house smells after baking them!

 

le tea biscuits

when I was a kid I tried to eat as many of these as I could. not much has changed.
yet another recipe from my mom of her mom’s. thank you ladywomen of my family for such great food.

a very simple affair:

1/3 C good shortening
1 3/4 C all purpose flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
3/4 C milk

. set thine oven to 450
. grab a goodly bowl and put the flour, baking powder and salt in it. mix to get everything evenly incorporated
. wunk in the shortening and cut it into the flour either using two knives or a fork or a pastry cutter. I prefer the latter. you don’t want to mix this with your hands because the heat from them will melt the shortening and you won’t get nice flaky biscuits
. when the mix is all crumbly, add in the milk. if you live in a dry climate you’ll need the full 3/4 cup, but if you’re in a more humid zone, try adding a half cup first and seeing if the mix is dry enough. to incorporate the milk, use your hand to fold the dry crumbs into the milk gently while giving the bowl a quarter spin with your other hand. repeat this until a loose dough is formed and it peels away from the side of the bowl
. do 5-8 gentle kneads (pressing the heals of your hands into the dough and pushing it out to stretch it a bit) and then lightly flour a flat surface so you can roll the dough out. roll until it’s 3/4 of an inch thick and cut out rounds with a glass, or just use a knife to cut them however you like
. get ’em on a baking sheet and fire ’em into the oven for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown

these are obviously great with tea… serve hot with butter, or at room temp with whatever you fancy.

amber sunshine oatmeal cookies – they’re soft

right off the bat, I’ll confess to not coming up with this recipe in anyway. not only that, I have also forgotten where I got it from. so, someone, somewhere, I’m sorry for ripping you off. I find this recipe is fairly versatile as far and the chunks-of-something you can add into them. I prefer diced apple or dried blueberries, but raisins or chocolate chips or nuts or cranberries and orange zest would probably be pretty nice as well.

spread out before you is:

1 1/4 c rolled oats
1 c all-purpose flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 c unsalted butter, at room temp
3/4 cup sugar
2 tbsp molasses
1  egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup dried blueberries (or some other fruit, nuts, etc. chopped [if necessary] into smallish pieces)

. set le oven to 350
. cream the butter, sugar, vanilla, and molasses. add the egg and stir until it’s smooth
. combine all the dry ingredients except for your fruit addition
. dump the dry into the wet and add the fruit or nut selection. stir until all combined and there aren’t any dry bits of oaty flour
. form the dough into whatever sized cookies you like to eat. they won’t spread out much, so keep that in mind when it comes to the thickness you desire. or you could mash it all together on one sheet and bake as a giant cookie you can cut into bars or wedges

. bake for 16-20 minutes depending on how crispy or soft you want them. they should be golden on the edges and cooked through in the middle, but not hard

bacon, cheddar and caramelized onion scones of tender loving… or róny sconies for short

well friends, it’s time for baking to get savoury. yes? yes. ok, so today it’s the salty goodness of bacon; the tongue tucker of sharp cheddar; and the sweet yielding lilt of caramelized onions all nestled together in a flaky scone. it’s a collld blustery ought-to-be-spring day, but it’s clear and sunny and it smells nice… so logic dictates scones. plus, I had invited my mom over after work for tea and a snack.

out of the pantry will fly:

5 rashers of streaky bacon, cut into strips
1 medium onion sliced thin
2 C self rising flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
a pinch of salt
several cracks of black pepper
1/4 tsp cayenne
1/4 tsp paprika
1 full tsp dry mustard
1/3 C cold unsalted butter
1 1/2 C grated sharp cheddar (or applewood cheddar if you’re feeling smokey and in the autumn spirit)
2/3 C buttermilk plus a bit more for brushing the scones before they hit the heat

. crank yer oven to 425
. get a frying pan on medium high heat. fry the bacon until it’s crispy. drain it and set aside to cool
. turn the burner down to low. when the bacon fat has cooled a bit, add the onion and stir to coat in the grease. put a lid on it and let slowly sautee until golden brown and translucent. you’ll have to stir it a few times, and it should take 15 to 20 minutes to get it done rightly. it’s worth it. when they’re done, take off the heat and allow to cool

. while the onions are going you can mix all the dry ingredients together in a bowl
. add the butter to the flour mix. use your hands, not a spoon, to squish the butter into the dry stuff until it becomes a fine sort of crumble. it will be quite dry, but fear not, milk will save the day

. add the bacon, cheese and onions. again, with your hands get in there and make sure everything gets covered with the dry mix. you want to avoid clumps of bacon or onion, so be thorough and tender, it’s baking remember?
. add the milk and start squershin’ around in the bowl again to get everything combined. the consistency should be quite stiff, but not falling apart. if you need to add more milk, only do so a tablespoonful at a time to avoid getting it too mushy. of course, the more you work it, the tougher and less flaky they’ll get… so beware.
. lay out the dough on a cutting board and shape into a rectangle or circle that’s at least an inch thick. cut into crescents, wedges, squares, whatever, and put them on a baking sheet. give them a brush with some milk so they get nice and golden. I like to sprinkle a bit more paprika on top and some pepper too
. fire them into the oven for 10-18 minutes, until they’re goldenish and cooked through

if you would prefer a more savoury scone, forget about the onion and chuck in a couple diced scallions instead. if sweet is your thing, try adding 1/3 cup of frozen corn niblets. and of course you can experiment with flavoured butters too… but that’s a whole other blogg…

best fudgey fucking brownies

yep. they’re so good they’re swear-worthy. these have taken (literally) years to get right, but now, I have them right and so can share them with you. as many baked things in my life, this is a variation of a recipe I got from my mom though I’ve tweaked it quite a bit. these are super dark, super dense and uber chocolatey. they hardly last one day around my place, and I think that’s a good enough reason for you to try them and see how long you can keep them to yourself.

surrounding your eager hands are:

½ C butter
5 squares unsweetened baker’s chocolate, chopped into small pieces
1 ¼ C brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp coffee (the dregs of a french press are just fine)
1 egg
2/3 C flour
1/3 C cocoa
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt

. crank yon oven to 350. grease up your favourite brownie tin
. in a double boiler, melt the chocolate with the butter. stir to combine
. while the chocolate’s melting, mix the egg, vanilla, coffee, and sugar together in another bowl
. in yet another bowl, mix the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt until the cocoa lumps are gone
. once the chocolate butter mix is melted, slowly pour a little bit into the egg sugar mix and whisk as you do so to avoid the egg curdling. once you’ve got that tempered, dump all the chocolate mix in and stir until smooth
. next pour in the dry mix and mix until incorporated. pour into the greased tin of choice and fire into the oven for 30-35 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted into the middle comes out mostly clean.
. allow these to cool to room temperature before eating

these are lovely with a glass of milk, and mindblowingly coma-inducing at the bottom of a sundae…

fall standby in what should be early spring: apple crisp

we should all know what to expect in an apple crisp… but for those sad few who don’t or have forgotten, it’s about tender baked apples, coated in a cinnamon, brown sugar glaze and topped with a crunchy oat crumble. warm or cold it makes getting up early for breakfast exciting, or sneaking out of bed in the middle of the night to get an extra mouthful before your boyfriend does, quite a thrill.

you will need:
6 medium sized apples (I prefer granny smiths because they don’t turn to mush and aren’t too sweet)
1/4 brown sugar
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tbsp flour
* optional – 1/4 C chopped walnuts and/or dried cranberries

. crank yer oven to 350
. peel and slice the apples into thin wedges
. toss the slices in the sugar, juice, cinnamon and flour (and the optional things iffin you desire)
. place in a baking pan, preferably ceramic or glass

then you’ll need:
1/3 C flour
1/3 C brown sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 C oats
1/4 to 1/3 C cold butter, depends how you like it

. mix all of these things in a bowl with your hands. press the cold butter into the mix to make a crumble, but not a paste, i.e. don’t overwork it
. evenly distribute the crumble on the apple wedges
. bake for 45 minutes to an hour uncovered, or until crunchy on top and the apples are cooked through

Serve hot or cold, with whipped cream, or vanilla ice cream, or maybe even some cottage cheese, whatever you like really.

this sunday, baking means chocolate chip cookies

oh yes, and how! without introduction (or much of one), chocolate chip cookies:

with the utmost enthusiam, establish the following:

½ C white sugar
½ C brown sugar (demerara, please, it really does make a difference, and that ‘golden’ crap just isn’t going to cut it)
1/3 C butter (unsalted)
1/3 C shortening
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla (if you respect yourself, you’ll use real vanilla…)
1 ½ C flour
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1/2 pack semisweet chocolate chips

. preheat your oven to 375
. in a bowl, mash the butter and shortening together until combined and smooth
. add the sugar, egg and vanilla. mix until smooth
. in a separate bowl, have you boyfriend (or you can do it) mix the flour, baking soda and salt with a whisk or run it through a sieve
. add the chips to the wet mix, and then dump in the flour mix. stir gently so you don’t send flour everywhere, but get everything incorporated and happy. the dough should be fairly light, but not crumbly
. place semi roundish balls on baking sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes or until they’re the sort 0f doneness you like

if you like granola, I suggest baking these at 325 for longer so they’re rock hard. then bang ’em up with a rolling pin and sprinkle into unsweetened yogurt. in my house, this is known as róny granoly.
if it’s luxury you crave, rather than chocolate chips, do a mix of 75% cocoa chocolate (you know the lindt bars with different percentages that are supposed to be from different places like cuba, columbia, all that nonsense) wunked into little pieces along with chopped up frozen caramilk bars (as my dear friend Emelia and I used to do). they are special, let me tell you

30 Helens agree… texture, is important – peanutbutter cookies

it’s sunday. you can’t go to a dinner you would like to go to, so make something sweet to take your place. peanutbutter cookies, you know the ones… a bit more affordable because they’re made with shortening instead of butter; are soft and have that brown sugar comfort thing going for them. this is my grandma’s recipie and I hope she’s cool with me sharing it with you. I never got to meet her, but I really cherish being able to share the food she used to make for her friends and family (like my mom, who passed it on to me). try these and see why.

½ C short’nin’
½ C raw peanut butter (no salt or sugar)
1 C brown sugar (demerara is best)
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 C flour (½ C all-purpose and ½ C whole wheat is nice)
¼ tsp soda
¼ tsp salt

. cream the short’nin’ with the peanut butter
. add the sugar, vanilla and egg
. in a separate bowl, mix the flour, soda and salt
. sift the dry ingredients into the wet stuff and mix well
. roll the dough into balls (large egg size) and flatten with a fork on the cookie sheet. these don’t really spread out much when you bake them, so only squish ’em down to about 3/4″
. bake in a preheated oven for ten-ish minutes at 375. they should be goldenish but still a bit soft in the middle. texture is important.

12 octoburgers later, it’s a sunny, sunny day

lovely day out there. a good day to make a mess and shave your head. It’s a good idea to wear tight shorts and make some double-strong tea for you and yer lover(s). After the bread gets baked of course. 🙂    what a nice time.