Candy Cane Scones

April 18, 2021December 20, 2020 ~ Max ~ Leave a comment

These were another new test recipe based on my original scone recipe. Give them a try with your leftover candy canes.

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
6 tbsp granulated sugar
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup crushed candy canes
1/2 tsp salt
1 stick butter, frozen
1/2 cup heavy cream (plus more for brushing)
1 egg
1 and 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 tsp peppermint extract
1/2 cup white chocolate chips
Turbinado sugar

Directions:

Mix dry ingredients (flour, sugar, crushed candy cane, baking powder, and salt) in a bowl. Grate and add frozen butter. Mix well.

In a bowl mix egg, vanilla, and peppermint extract.

Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix well.

Shape into rectangle (approx 10 inches by 3 inches). Cut in quarters vertically, and half horizontally. Cut each of those squares in half vertically to make triangular shaped scones.

Brush with cream and top with turbinado sugar. Bake for 15 minutes at 400˚F. Makes 16 small triangular scones. Alternatively, dough can be frozen for up to three months.

Melt chocolate in microwave and drizzle over scones after they’ve cooled. If you’d like you can top with crushed candy cane.

White Chocolate Pumpkin Pie Scones

March 21, 2021 ~ Max ~ Leave a comment

These were a new test recipe based on my original scone recipe. The texture of the pumpkin made it crumble perfectly. Give these a try!

Ingredients

2 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
6 tbsp granulated sugar
1.5 tsp pumpkin pie spice
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 stick butter, frozen
1/3 cup pumpkin puree
1/3 cup heavy cream (plus more for brushing)
1 egg
1 and 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup white chocolate chips
coarse sugar

Directions:

Mix dry ingredients (flour, sugar, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, and salt) in a bowl. Grate and add frozen butter. Mix well.

In a bowl mix pumpkin, cream, egg, and vanilla.

Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix well.

Shape into rectangle (approx 10 inches by 3 inches). Cut in quarters vertically, and half horizontally. Cut each of those squares in half vertically to make triangular shaped scones.

Brush with cream and top with turbinado sugar. Bake for 15 minutes at 400˚F. Makes Alternatively, dough can be frozen for up to three months.

Melt white chocolate in microwave and drizzle over scones after they’ve cooled.

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

February 21, 2021November 5, 2020 ~ Max ~ Leave a comment

I’m not sure if this is considered a muffin or cupcake, but we’ll call it a muffin so it sounds healthier. I based this recipe on The Best Blueberry Muffins but turned it into a pumpkin muffin that was delicious.

Ingredients:

For the Muffin:

1 stick and 2 tbsp butter, melted
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup toffuti sour cream
1.5 cup pure pureed pumpkin
2 eggs
3 tsp baking powder
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup old fashioned oats
turbinado sugar

For the Icing:

1 cup icing sugar
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 stick butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

For the Muffins:

Heat oven to 375˚ F and line muffin tin with 12 liners

Combine melted margarine, sugars, sour cream, eggs, and pumpkin in mixer.

Add baking powder, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda, salt, flour and oats. Mix well.

Transfer to muffin tin and top with turbinado sugar.

Bake for 30-35 mins.

For the Icing:

Mix sugar, cream cheese, butter, and vanilla extract in mixer. Combine well.

Transfer to piping bag with round tip. Cut slice into top of muffin and inject icing into muffin.

Sourdough Pretzels

January 24, 2021January 24, 2021 ~ Max ~ Leave a comment

Looking for more starter uses I thought I would make some more pretzels, this time using a starter as a leavening agent.

This recipe comes from Baking Sense. It worked perfectly on the first attempt and I highly recommend.

Ingredients:

For the Dough:

225 g active starter (fed 1:1:1 starter, flour, water by weight)
1 1/4 cups warm water
490 g bread flour
1 tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt

For Boiling:

2 litres water
1/3 cup baking soda

For Toppings:

1/4 cup sugar + 1 tsp cinnamon
Cheese
Melted butter and 1 clove garlic
Everything but the bagel seasoning
1 egg white
flaked sea salt

Directions:

Combine starter and water.

With mixer on low add half the flour (approx 1 cup at a time). Let sit for 30-60 mins.

Switch to dough hook, add sugar salt and rest of the flour. Allow to combine then knead for 5 minutes.

Transfer dough to lightly oiled bowl, turning to coat.

Perform 3 stretch and folds, every 30-60 minutes. Allowing dough to rise a total of 3 hours. Refrigerate overnight.

Divide dough into 12 equal parts. Shape into pretzels (roll out and fold left side over centre of a “U” then right side over centre), twists or cut into bite size pieces.

You can also flatten some dough, sprinkle shredded cheese inside and then roll back up to make some cheese stuffed pretzels.

Cover and let rise for 1 hour.

Bring Baking soda and water to a boil. Boil on each side for 30 seconds. Transfer to paper towel or drying rack.

Brush with melted butter or egg white (I used butter for the cinnamon ones and cheese ones). Top with whichever toppings you please.

For cinnamon sugar I rolled them in topping as soon as they came out of the oven.

Bake at 475˚F for 12-15 minutes .

Cheesy Pull-Apart Loaf

December 27, 2020 ~ Max ~ Leave a comment

Ingredients:

For the Bread:

3/4 cup milk, warmed in microwave
1/4 cup warm water
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp yeast
3 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 egg
Block Cheddar cheese, thinly sliced
Shredded mozzarella to top
Optional – add parmesan on top

For the Topping:

1/4 cup butter, melted
2 gloves garlic minced
1/2 tsp oregano

Directions:

Combine warm water and milk in a bowl. Add sugar and yeast and mix. Allow to sit for 10 minutes.

In a stand mixer with paddle attachment combine 2 cups of flour and salt, add butter and egg and mix well until crumbly.

Add yeast mixture, mix well and add remaining flour.

Switch to dough hook and knead for 6-8 minutes.

Transfer to oiled bowl and allow to rise for 1 hour covered (until doubled)

In a parchment lined and greased pan alternate between placing torn pieces of dough and cheese. Cover and allow to rise for 1 hour (I proofed in the oven on bread proof for 30 minutes). I also topped with additional shredded mozzarella on top.

Mix topping ingredients in a bowl

Brush dough with topping.

Bake at 400˚F for 10 minutes, and then lower to 350˚ (remove lid of dutch oven if using – see below) and bake for an additional 25 minutes.

Alternatively bake at 375˚F for 40 minutes

Optional: bake for the first 10 minutes in a dutch oven to help contain the moisture and give it a crispy top. I preheated my dutch oven prior to putting the bread in.

Sourdough Focaccia

November 29, 2020April 18, 2020 ~ Max ~ Leave a comment

I’m still pandemic baking. This is scheduled for November and I really hope we’re allowed out.

I’m on a bit of a sourdough binge. I made a foccacia a couple weeks ago but it didn’t turn out well so I went back to the drawing board. This was the result and it was PERFECT.

Ingredients:

100 g active starter
10 g salt
440 g water
530 g bread flour
Olive oil
Flaked sea salt

Directions:

Mix starter, water and salt in a large bowl.

Add flour and mix well.

Allow to rest 30 minutes.

Stretch and fold.

Allow to rise 8-12 hours.

Oil the top and pull edges towards centre in bowl.

Transfer to oiled 9×13 pan and stretch out to edges.

Allow to rise 5-6 hours.

Oil the top and using and oiled finger create “dimples”. Top with flaked sea salt

Bake at 425˚F for 25-30 minutes.

Instant Pot Jam

October 4, 2020April 7, 2020 ~ Max ~ Leave a comment

During isolation we ran out of jam, but had plenty of strawberries so I starting looking up how to make jam. I didn’t have pectin and with passover approaching I didn’t want to use cornstarch. So that limited me. But I did have an instant pot!

I found this 3 ingredient strawberry jam recipe on The Belly Rules The Mind. I cut it in half just to try it, but it worked perfectly!

Ingredients:

4 cups quartered strawberries (or any other fruit)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 tbsp lemon juice

Directions:

Wash and cut strawberries. Add to instant pot with sugar and stir. Allow to sit for 1 hour.

Add lemon juice and Mix.

Turn on instant pot and set timer for one minute. Turn off Keep Warm and allow pressure to naturally release for 15 minutes.

With an immersion blender or masher, puree the jam.

Turn the instant pot onto saute to reduce the liquid (this took about 7 minutes for me).

Remove the foam layer on top and put into a glass container or jar. Seal (I used a Weck canning jar).

Allow jam to cool then refrigerate for up to two weeks

Apple Pear Galette

September 6, 2020June 21, 2020 ~ Max ~ Leave a comment

This recipe was based on a previous apple pie I made. I modified it to turn it into a galette which was simple and quick.

Ingredients:

For the Crust:

2 cups all-purpose flour
6 tbsp. ice water.
1 tsp. apple cider vinegar
2 tbsp. powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 cup (1.5 sticks) butter or margarine
1 egg, beaten + 1 tsp water (can replace with melted margarine to be vegan)

For the Filling:

2 apples, thinly sliced
2 pears, thinly sliced
0.5 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/3 cup sugar
1.5 tbsp. all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
a pinch of salt

Directions:

Combine 1/2 cup flour, water and vinegar in a small bowl.

In a large bowl, combine remaining flour, powdered sugar and salt.

Add margarine (cut into small pea sized balls). Cut into flour mixture with a pastry cutter or fork.

Add wet ingredients to this mixture.

Wrap dough in saran wrap and refrigerate for 30mins – 1 hour.

Mix filling ingredients in a bowl.

Preheat oven to 400˚F

Roll out to approximately 1/8 of an inch.

Transfer to a cookie sheet.

Place filling on dough with approximately 2 inches of crust around the edge.

Fold crust over top.

Brush crust with egg wash. Sprinkle with coarse sugar.

Bake for 35-45 minutes.

Multigrain Higher Hydration Sourdough

August 9, 2020April 4, 2020 ~ Max ~ Leave a comment

I’ve now continued to make sourdough and have slowly been altering my recipe with a little more water and different flours. Feel free to look at the last recipe to see my notes on starter and more detailed photos of the process.

Instructions:

150 g bubbly, active starter
375 g warm water
25 g olive oil
350 g All-Purpose Flour
150 g best for bread multi-grain flour
10 g sea salt or kosher salt
Flour for dusting

Directions:

Here is the active starter, which doubled after being fed.

Whisk the starter, water, olive oil in large bowl.

Add flour and salt and squish together. Allow to rest for 30 minutes.

Once rested work dough into a ball, leave in bowl and cover.

Perform stretch and folds at 1 hour intervals 2-3 times. Pinch a side of the dough, pull up and fold over itself. Turn bowl and perform on another side until you have moved the bowl 360˚.

Allow to rise for 6-12 hours.

To shape the dough use a bench scraper to fold the dough over to the centre moving around the dough in a full circle. Flip the dough and cup the sides of the dough rotating in a circular motion.

Either place in a bannton basket or in the dutch oven for the second rise (1-2 hours). I placed half this one in the banneton and the other half in a loaf pan. I baked the loaf pan inside the dutch oven as well.

Cut a slice in the top with a very sharp knife

Preheat oven to 450˚. Drop temperature to 400˚ and bake covered for 40 minutes. Remove dutch oven lid and bake for an additional 20 minutes.

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