Blueberry Muffins

I'm not usually a breakfast person, but since this little baby has been incubating in me, I am suddenly starving by the time morning rolls around. Like, my stomach grumbles loudly before I even roll out of bed. This is not normal for me. Towards the end of school I resorted to muffins and granola bars, so now that I am on vacation I decided it would be a good idea to make some muffins to have around for my morning starvation. My favorite type of muffins are definitely blueberry, especially when they have a little lemon zing to them and a sugary, crunchy top. Lucky for me, blueberries are in season and looking great, so I set off on my muffin making spree! 

This particular version of the recipe came out great. I made mine a little extra large because I like when the top puffs over and gets a little crunchy (the good type of muffin top, ladies!). These also freeze well - I defrost mine in the microwave on high for about 30 seconds so they get a little warm.

Blueberry Muffins

Makes 10 larger or 12 regular sized muffins

Ingredients

Crumb Topping:

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 cup flour

1/4 cup slightly softened butter, cubed

Muffins:

1 1/2 cups flour

3/4 cups sugar

1/2 tsp kosher salt

2 tsp baking powder

1 egg

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1/3 cup plus 2 tbsp. milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tbsp freshly grated lemon zest

1 cup fresh blueberries, rinsed and dried (feel free to use more than 1 cup. Frozen does not come out as well)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners. If you have a muffin pan prone to sticking, I suggest also spraying cooking spray around each cup in case they cook over.

Make the crumb topping: in a small bowl, mix together all crumb topping ingredients using a fork. Set aside.

Make the muffins: in a medium bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder until combined. Add the egg, oil, milk, vanilla, and lemon and stir until just combined. Gently fold in the blueberries.

Evenly scoop the batter into the muffin pans (fill 10 cups 7/8 full, or 12 cups about 3/4 full). Spoon the crumb topping evenly over each muffin before baking.

Bake at 400F until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean (for larger muffins about 22-25 minutes, for regular sized muffins about 18-22 minutes). Allow to cool slightly, then remove to a cooling rack to cool completely. Enjoy!

Check out those blueberries!!

Pizza Dough.... finally!

A couple of years ago, Andy and I ventured into the world of homemade pizza. At the time, that meant a ball of store-bought dough and a greased baking sheet...easy peasy. We loved experimenting with toppings and ended up making some pretty great creations! After researching pizza a little bit more, we adapted and updated our technique. We swapped out the baking sheet for a pizza stone, we played around with the cooking time and temp, tried versions with cornmeal vs. flour vs. oil as a base, and we experimented with types and quantities of toppings. 

The pizza was good. Real good. But something was still not quite right... the crust. Don't get me wrong, the store-bought stuff did it's job by holding the toppings and crisping up, but it just wasn't exactly what we were hoping for. We both agreed that we prefer a thinner, chewier crust as opposed to the puffy and doughy version that our store version provided for us. Thus began the new - and most difficult part of our - pizza endeavor. Crust. 

Well, as it turns out me and yeast do not get along. Our tumultuous relationship has become evident with my failed attempts at various homemade breads and baked goods, and apparently pizza dough, as well. (Insert discouraged sigh here). Not going down without a fight, I continued searching and discovered The Bread Baker's Apprentice and the slow and cold rise pizza dough method. Say whaaat? No warming water for yeast? No finicky temperatures to deal with? No proofing on the counter? Sign me up!!

This dough is perfect. I have come to realize that everyone likes their pizza slightly different, but for us this is THE crust for two reasons. One: it is foolproof and effortless to make (trust me, throw it in the fridge and leave it alone). Two: it has the perfect consistency, especially when baked on a pizza stone. The only downfall is that it takes a little planning ahead. For example, if you want to make pizza on Friday night, you should make the dough on Monday so it has proper time to come together by dinner at the end of the week (see this nifty fermentation timeline). Also, you need to take the dough out a couple of hours before you bake it, so if you aren't good at planning ahead this might take some serious iPhone reminders to plan for. It's worth it. Trust me.

Pizza Dough

Makes 6 balls of 6 oz. dough, or 4 balls of 9 oz. dough 

Ingredients

4 1/2 cups unbleached bread or all-purpose flour, chilled 
1 3/4 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. instant yeast 
1/4 cup good olive oil 
1 3/4 cups water, ice cold 
cornmeal for dusting

Directions:

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, stir together the flour, salt and yeast. Slowly mix in the oil and water on low speed until the flour is absorbed. Switch to the dough hook and mix the dough on medium speed for 5-7 minutes or until a smooth, sticky dough is formed (the dough should clear the sides, but stick to the bottom). Add more water or flour, as necessary, to create a springy, sticky dough (not just a little tacky... like sticky). The temperature of the dough should be around 50-55 degrees F.

Sprinkle some flour on the counter or on a board and dump out the dough. Using floured hands split it into 6 equal portions, and form the dough into 6 smooth dough balls. FYI: the dough could also be split into 4 (9 oz.) portions for a larger pizza. Lightly coat each portion of dough with olive oil (the spray kind in a can makes this easier) and put into individual plastic food storage bags. If you are using the dough within 3-5 days, pop it into the fridge, otherwise you can freeze it for future use (lasts up to 3 months). Just take the frozen dough out of the fridge about 5 days prior to the day you want to use it and continue with the next step.

On the day you want to cook the pizza - 2 hours before meal time: sprinkle the counter lightly with flour, and use a little more spray oil to spritz the top of the flour. Dump the dough ball on top of the oil/flour and gently press into a disk about 1/2 inch thick. Sprinkle with more flour, mist with a little more oil, and cover loosely with a piece of plastic wrap. Walk away for 1.5 hours.

1.5 hours later, preheat your oven and pizza stone to the highest possible temperature that your oven will allow (mine goes up to 500 degrees). Let it pre-heat for at least 30 minutes. If you are using a sheet tray, do not pre-heat the pan.

After 2 hours are up: Dust a pizza peel with cornmeal and form one ball of dough into a large circle with floured hands. (If you're brave, try tossing it!). When the dough is about 9-12 inches in diameter, gently shake the pizza peel to make sure the dough hasn't stuck (that is a miserable situation to be in when you try to slide it into the oven, trust me) and add more cornmeal, if needed. Brush the outer 1 inch edge of the dough with olive oil, then top as desired**. 

Slide the topped pizza onto your pizza stone and bake for about 6-10 minutes, depending on your oven, rotating as necessary to ensure even cooking. Once the pizza looks ready, remove to a cutting board. Allow it to rest for about 3 minutes (the longest 3 minutes of your life... but otherwise it will be a mess!) then cut and serve. Yummmmm!

** Topping disclaimer: get as creative as you want with sauces, cheeses, meats, veggies, etc. But as a fair warning, less is more! If you have Andy-Syndrome (aka The Kitchen Sink Problem) you will be tempted to pile on tons of toppings. Don't. Resist the urge. Less is more. A light coating of sauce, a light sprinkle of cheese, and 2-3 carefully chosen toppings are all you need. Our favorite pizzas have been ones with cheese plus 2 toppings! Proceed as you see fit, but consider yourself warned :o)

Pepperoni Pizza... simple and delicious!!

Adapted from The Bread Baker's Apprentice by Peter Reinhart

Sugar Cookies with Royal Icing

I am a sucker for cute desserts. "Cute" can have a wide array of meaning, depending on my cravings, but one thing is for certain - if I see a cookie that is frosted beautifully, I can't resist. When I was little, my mom and I would always make Christmas sugar cookies that had strong hint of almond extract in them, much like this recipe. We would cut out the typical holiday shapes, sprinkle the tops with colored sugars and sprinkles, then bake and devour. Simple. Santa was a huge fan. 

I always admired those perfectly iced cookies that you might see as wedding favors or on display in fancy bakeries (you know the ones I'm talking about... they have brightly colored, perfectly smooth and hardened decorative icing tops, almost too pretty to eat? Those). I never thought I could possibly make those on my own, but then Annie entered my life. She did a step by step tutorial for using royal icing to decorate, so I gathered the ingredients and dove in. Success! My cookies are not (and will not ever be) the most elaborate, perfect cookies ever, but considering that I have ZERO artistic ability I am pretty proud of how I can get some cookies to look! Give these a try and see how creative you can be... don't worry if they look terrible, the cookies are still delicious no matter what! :o)

Sugar Cookies

Makes about 3 dozen (depends on size)

Ingredients
1 cup butter, at room temperature
1 cup powdered sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 1/2 cups AP flour, sifted
Royal Icing for decorating, recipe follows


Make the dough: cream together the butter and sugar. Mix in the egg, extracts, and salt. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Slowly mix in the flour until just incorporated. Form the dough into a disk and wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Chill the dough until it is firm, about 1 hour (at this point you could double wrap the dough and freeze for up to 6 months - put dough in refrigerator at least a day before you want to bake the cookies).


make the cookies: pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees. Lightly flour a smooth work surface. Roll the dough to 1/4" thickness (if dough doesn't roll easily at first, allow to warm up for a few minutes then try again). Cut into desired shapes and transfer to a baking sheet that has been lined with parchment paper. Bake for 8-10 minutes (cookies should not brown at all!). Allow cookies to cool completely on a wire rack before decorating.


Adapted from Annie's Eats

Royal Icing

Makes about 3 cups

Ingredients
3 tbsp. meringue powder (craft stores with a cake decorating section should have this)
4 cups confectioners sugar
6 tbsp. water
food coloring (I swear by gel food colors... they rock!)


Beat all ingredients together using an electric mixer until peaks form, about 8 minutes. Icing should be stiff. Color as desired (split into individual bowls to make more than one color). Use a piping bag with a small tip to outline the cookies, then allow the outline to set (about 1 hour or more). Keep the unused icing in an airtight container. Once the outlines on the cookies are set, mix a tiny amount of water into the remaining icing. You are making "flood icing" that will spread out to cover the cookie but not be too watery and runny (when you drizzle the icing back into the container it should make ribbons that incorporate back into the other icing in about 5-10 seconds). Flood the cookies using the thinned icing - use a toothpick to pop any air bubbles that form. Allow the flood icing to set completely. You can use leftover outlining icing to decorate on top once the flood icing is completely set.


I usually split the icing process up over 2 days or so to allow adequate drying time between steps. Just plan ahead if you want to decorate this way! :o) 


Adapted from Wilton

It's been a while...

So my last post was in March.... sorry! We've had a busy couple of months. First, iPhoto crashed on my computer and I didn't want to post recipes without the pictures to accompany them. Oh, and we also got some great life-changing news.... I'm pregnant! Andy and I are expecting our first child in November and we are SO excited!! Needless to say, once we got the great news I got a little distracted and starting thinking "baby" more than "blog". 


On top of all that, pregnancy has brought on a strange sensation.... I have had absolutely NO desire to cook!!! I've never felt that in my adult life, as cooking and food have always been my go-to stress relief at the end of a long day. The past couple of months have been filled with makeshift dinners, take-out, frozen meals, and other general non-cookery in our kitchen. Oops. Now that I am just about halfway along in pregnancy, the urge to cook is slowly coming back, so I am hoping to have more blog posts in the near future. 


Until then, sorry for disappearing since March. More recipes coming soon :o)