General Baking » simmiecakes

Lake Tahoe

I just came back from a week at Lake Tahoe. The weather was beautiful, the water was clear, and the company delightful.

It was a perfect vacation of reading, hiking, water skiing, relaxing, and eating. While I was there I took my first foray into high altitude baking and whipped up a batch of ginger snaps and a double batch of chocolate chip cookies. I didn’t change the chocolate chip recipe at all, but I did reduce the baking soda in the ginger snaps to 3 tsp.

At one point there were 18 of us in the cabin and we managed to devour upwards of 300 cookies in a day and a half. I feel like I should be concerned about this mass consumption, but instead I’m impressed. Who says cookies can’t be eaten for breakfast? (Well, me, but that’s a different story.)

We had a couple of visits from the friendly neighborhood bears who must have known we were having too much fun and eating too many cookies. Sadly I slept through the excitement so I didn’t get to see them. I did wake up at 5 AM the first night I was there to the sounds of what surely was a large woodland creature rifling through my suitcase. However, by the time I managed to get this guy to protect me from the vicious beast, he had escaped while returning all of my stuff to its appropriate place. Turns out those Lake Tahoe animals are quite polite.

Alas, vacation cannot last forever. We’ve returned back to our regularly scheduled lives which means late night baking is back. Tuesday night, me and some blueberries spent some quality time together. It was magical. A post is soon to follow.

Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

We’ve had record breaking temperatures here in Maryland for the last…what seems like forever. When I moved here people would warn me of the hot summers down here to which I would respond, “Pshaw, I can take the heat.”

Ok, I admit, I started writing this post like a week and a half ago when it was still sweltering. Temperatures have fallen to double digits and I can walk to from my car to my office without having to change my shirt. But just because it isn’t ridiculously hot, doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy some ridiculously good ice cream. (Also, I maintain that slightly cooler temperatures are better for eating ice cream so you don’t have to race to beat the heat before it melts. As a notoriously slow eater, this is important to me.)

I made me (and I say me, because I’m pretty sure I ate this entire batch by myself) some mint chocolate chip ice cream. Please note: mint chocolate chip ice cream requires PEPPERMINT extract. Don’t buy mint extract unless you want to eat a bowl of frozen toothpaste.

I love this ice cream. I used fancy-schmancy dark chocolate, but it was still light and refreshing. It’s the kind of ice cream you want to eat on a hot summer day while sitting in a Norman Rockwell painting.

Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

2 cups heavy cream
1 cup skim milk
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp PEPPERMINT extract
4 oz of dark chocolate, finely chopped

Ice cream is so easy to make.

Combine all of the ingredients except the chocolate in a large bowl and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes if not more. Getting the ice cream mixture really cold before freezing helps keep it creamy.

Pour the ice cream mixture into your ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions. When the ice cream has thickened add the chocolate. Spoon into an airtight container and freeze until hardened. Wax nostalgic.

Blackberry Bundt Cake

Technically this is a mixed berry bundt cake. There are two, count ‘em, two raspberries in this cake as well. If you find them, you win a prize. It’s awesome.

This cake is also awesome. And I finally, finally, got to use my new bundt pan. And by new, I mean I got it two Thanksgivings ago and it’s been sitting in my cupboard ever since. It’s not that I don’t like bundt cakes though. In fact, I think bundt cakes are the bee’s knees. It’s just that I have high standards for bundt cakes, so I couldn’t just use any recipe for the inaugural baking with my new pan.

Read the rest of this entry »

Strawberry Quick Bread

loaf

I have a problem. A strawberry problem.

Remember how I said I bought 4 pounds of strawberries the other day? So I made strawberry ice cream? Well, I couldn’t help myself…I bought another 4 pounds of strawberries. I’m not even kidding. I have been eating strawberries for breakfast, strawberries for snacks, strawberries for dessert…and the funny thing is, I’m not even sick of strawberries.

strawberries

While I was swimming in strawberries, I figured I might as well throw together a quick little strawberry treat. So I flipped open my cookbook and this recipe had both “strawberry” and “quick” in the title which somehow seemed just right.

This bread reminds me of banana bread…except with strawberries. It’s not too sweet, but super moist and easy to grab a slice as you head out the door in the morning.

slice

Strawberry Quick Bread

adapted from The King Arthur Flour Baker’s Companion

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 Tbsp lemon zest or 1/4 tsp lemon oil
2 eggs
1 1/4 cups mashed strawberries
1/2 cup vegetable oil

In a large bowl, wisk together the lemon zest/oil, eggs, mashed strawberries and vegetable oil. You will have a not that tasty looking mixture, but it will smell awesome. Strawberries and lemon make a delicious aroma.

batter_in_pan

In a medium bowl, sift together all of the dry ingredients. Then add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until combined. Pour the batter into a greased loaf pan and bake for 35 minutes at 350º.

They say breakfast is the most important meal of the day…

breakfast

And this is what happens when I have too much free time on the weekends. I’m not entirely sure how this came about, but apparently we decided we were going to have a hearty breakfast. As long as hearty means ginormous.

It started with some breakfast polenta…

breakfast_polenta

Then we moved onto french toast…

french_toast

And ended with fresh homemade biscuits and blackberry jam…

biscuits

There may have been some bacon in there too…

breakfast_closeup

And the best (worst) part is that we ate almost all of it. (Ok, I have like 9 biscuits left and we threw out a piece of french toast.)

Persimmon Coffee Cake

coffee_cake_slice

When I was little, The Jackster gave me this book called The Tiger and the Dried Persimmon. It’s a Korean folk tale about a tiger who wanted to eat an ox but got distracted by a crying baby. The baby’s mother gave him a piece of dried persimmon which made him stop crying. So, naturally the tiger thought that the dried persimmon was some amazing fearsome beast. Hilarity ensues.

But anyways…I was a big fan of the book and since then, persimmons have always been a real treat, right up there with Fruit Roll-ups (still love ‘em!) or carob covered rice cakes (no joke, the Jackster would buy me those when I was little and I thought they were just about the greatest things ever).

persimmons

So imagine my excitement when I walked into the store the other day and there they were! By the case. Piles and piles of shiny, gleaming, orange persimmons just sitting there. Naturally I decided that I should grab as many of these delectable treats as I could. So I bought a case. Fourteen ripe persimmons for me to do as I pleased. Which then posed a slight problem. What was I supposed to do with fourteen persimmons? We ended up eating a few and then I took a bunch and made this delightful coffee cake. It’s light, slightly sweet, and the persimmon flavor really shines through.

Persimmon Coffee Cake

adapted from Jessica’s Dinner Party

1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
5 Tbsp butter, softened
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 eggs
1 cup persimmon puree

Combine the flour, sugar, and 4 Tbsp of the butter in a large bowl until it forms a loose crumble.

topping

Take 1/2 cup of that mixture and put it in a small bowl. Add the remaining tablespoon of butter and the nutmeg to the small bowl and stir and set aside. This is your topping.

mashed_persimmon

In the large bowl, add the baking powder and the baking soda to the remaining crumble mixture. Then add the eggs and persimmon puree until fully combined. I used fuyu persimmons that were really really ripe. You basically just cut open the persimmon and scrape out the fruit. Mine were so soft that I didn’t have to do much more than gently mash them with a fork.

batter

The batter becomes quite a lively orange color. Pour the batter into a well greased 9″x9″ pan.

crumb_topping

Sprinkles the crumb topping evenly over the batter and bake in at 375º for 30-35 minutes.

finished_cake

Merry Christmas!

baking

There’s been a frenzy of baking in the land of Simmiecakes.

mini_cakes

You know, some traditional Christmas baked goods.

close_up_m-cake

Except not really.

Close_up_O-cake

When Life Gives You Lemons…

Make a delicious trifle.

Sometimes you have dreams of making an adorable igloo cake complete with penguins and possibly a cute little polar bear.

Then you get this:

cake_mess

But instead of fretting of your inability to gauge if a cake is actually done even though you stuck it with a cake tester like five times and you’ve previously baked dozens and dozens of cakes, take your big ole mess and make something delicious.

Like this:

trifle

Trifle people. No worries.

Now that wasn’t so bad, was it?

Apple Cider Doughnuts

sugared

Right, so I meant to post this a few days ago when it was actually Hanukkah and still kind of relevant. But then a bit of cold, two feet of snow, and the second season of Mad Men got in the way. It happens.

But anyways. Doughnuts. Or donuts. I thought they were hard to make. Turns out, they are actually pretty easy. Oddly, I just happened to have some apple cider in my fridge, so on a whim (seriously, it was a whim, I had already scoffed at the idea of making doughnuts earlier that day) I decided to give it a go. And what a good decision that was.

Apple Cider Doughnuts

adapted from Smitten Kitchen

1 cup apple cider
3 1/2 cups flour, plus additional for the work surface
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
4 Tbsp (1/2 stick or 2 ounces) butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
Vegetable oil for frying

Cinnamon Sugar Topping

1 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Start by measuring out the apple cider into a medium saucepan. Reduce it over medium heat for about 20 to 30 minutes, until it’s down to about 1/4 cup.

ingredients

While that’s happening, measure out the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, and nutmeg into a bowl.

cider

Using an electric mixer (or stand mixer) beat the butter and sugar until fluffy and smooth. Add the eggs one at a time, making sure each egg is fully mixed in before adding the next. Gradually add the reduced apple cider and the buttermilk until just incorporated. Finally, add the flour mixture until a soft dough forms.

Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and sprinkle them with flour. Lots of flour. Turn out the dough on one sheet, sprinkle with some flour, and using your hands, flatten until it’s about 1/2″ thick. Stick this sheet of dough into the freezer for about 20 minutes until the dough has firmed up.

doughnuts

Using some round cookie cutters (or doughnut cutters if you are fancy like that), cut out doughnut shapes. I used a 3 1/2″ round cutter for the outside and a 1″ round cutter for the inside. Place the shapes on the other cookie sheet and stick them in the fridge for at least 20 minutes. I re-rolled the dough a couple of times to make more doughnuts.

frying

In a frying pan (or deep fryer), heat up enough oil to measure about 3″ in depth to about 350º. Carefully drop in the doughnuts so as to not let the oil splatter and fry on each side for about 60 seconds. Remove from the pan and lets them drain on many layers of paper towels.

fried_in_pan

Carefully dip the doughnuts into the cinnamon sugar mixture and serve.

cooling

Makes about 18 doughnuts.

Oatmeal Cranberry White Chocolate Chip Cookies

oatmeal_cranberry_chocolate_chip

I’ve known my friend Melissa since our freshman year of college. She’s a pretty fantastic person. Here are a few things about her:

Melissa and I met because we were apparently the only two girls in our writing seminar who did sports. Turns out we did the same sport. Gymnastics.

The first time I did gymnastics with Melissa she was wearing an Ithaca is Gorges t-shirt and black shorts. Is it creepy that I remember this?

When we were in college I used to say that Melissa reminded me of Rory from the Gilmore Girls. My thoughts were confirmed when a girl in her class (who I had never met) said the same thing.

Melissa is really really smart. She was so smart that during graduation she got to walk at the front of the procession holding a stick with a ribbon. Then she gave a speech. They don’t just let anyone give a speech at graduation you know.

Melissa was a teacher for two years on the South Side of Chicago. She was one of the more…progressive teachers at her school. She also has very effective “teacher voice”.

Melissa is now in law school. She still teaches children in the mornings. And does a lot of homework. Sometimes I don’t see Melissa for long stretches of time because she is so studious.

Oh, and one last thing about Melissa. She really likes to bake oatmeal cookies. Oatmeal raisin, oatmeal chocolate chip, oatmeal pumpkin…and they are all really good.

So, when I saw this recipe, I immediate thought of Melissa. I think when she digs herself out from under her massive textbooks, I will share some of these with her.

cranberry_chocolate_chip

Oatmeal Cranberry White Chocolate Chip Cookies

adapted from Oceanspray.com

2/3 cup butter
2/3 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups of old-fashioned oats
1 1/2 cups of flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp of salt
6 oz of dried cranberries
2/3 cup of white chocolate chips

This recipe is easy-peasy. I think it took me less than twenty minutes from start until I had warm cookies on my counter.

Preheat the oven to 375º.

Mix softened butter and brown sugar in a bowl with an electric mixer until fluffy. Add the eggs one at at a time making sure each egg is fully incorporated before adding the next one.

In a separate bowl, combine the oats, flour, baking soda, and salt. Slowly add this dry mixture to the wet one, mixing well so that it is all combined.

batter

Stir in the cranberries and white chocolate chips.

Drop rounded teaspoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes until golden brown. Let cool on a wire rack.

Makes about 3 dozen.

cookie_stack