Light and Fuffy Pancakes
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon white sugar
- 1 1/4 cups milk
- 1 egg
- 3 tablespoons butter, melted
Directions
- In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Make a well in the center and pour in the milk, egg and melted butter; mix until smooth.
- Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot.
Chicken Noodle Bake
8oz spiral noodles
1 small onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 Tbsp olive oil
3 chicken breasts, cubed
1 cup chicken broth
1 1/2 cups sliced carrots
3 ribs celery, sliced
1 1/2 Tbsp butter
3 Tbsp flour
1 1/2 cups milk
1/8 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp salt
1/4-1/2 tsp dill (optional)
dash thyme
3/4 cup grated cheddar cheese
Cook noodles in salted boiling water in a large pan. Drain and return to pan. Saute onion, garlic, and chicken in oil till chicken is no longer pink. Add to noodles in the large pan. Pour vegetables and broth into the same skillet you cooked the chicken. Simmer for 10-15 minutes or till tender. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a saucepan. Whisk in the flour till smooth. Slowly whisk in the milk. Cook and stir over medium heat; boil for at least 2 minutes. Add seasonings and cheese. Pour over the noodle mixture. Stir to combine, and pour in a greased 3 qt. casserole dish. Bake at 350 for about 15-20 minutes, or till bubbly.
-Serves 8
Credit
Pomegranate Martini Cake
This one is too complicated to post here, check out the credit page for Almost Bourdain's detailed tutorial.
step three: insert stick
As soon as you remove the lollipops from the oven, place stick on lolly at one end, rolling to coat stick with the melted candy. Let cool completely on tray, then carefully remove paper from back. Warning! Your lollies will likely not be perfect ovals or rectangles or whatever shape you hope to create. There will be imperfections, but that's what makes them lovely lollies, no?
Cut both limes in half lengthwise. Scoop out all the fruit with a spoon. Place the limes in a muffin tin to keep them from tipping over. Make the box of Jello according to the Jiggler directions. Carefully spoon Jello into the limes halves. Chill until almost firm. Using a skewer push the mini chocolate chips into the Jello for "watermelon seeds." Chill until until firm, then cut into slices.
Easy Lollipops
step one: assemble your candy
If desired, you can crush hard candies by placing in a Ziploc bag and break up coarsely with a rolling pin on a cutting board. You can use crushed candies in whatever pattern you desire. I didn't crush the candy. I simply used three different colors of whole Jolly Rancher hard candies in a row.step two: bake your candy
Preheat oven to 275 degrees. Line a baking tray with aluminum foil, then lay a piece of parchment paper on top of the foil. Assemble candies as desired. Only put about 4 lollipops per tray (to leave room for sticks later) and arrange a few inches apart. Bake about 6 minutes or until candies melt to desired effect. Make sure to keep your eye on the pops! Don't let them bake too long or they will be too thin and misshapen. Immediately proceed to step three.step three: insert stick
As soon as you remove the lollipops from the oven, place stick on lolly at one end, rolling to coat stick with the melted candy. Let cool completely on tray, then carefully remove paper from back. Warning! Your lollies will likely not be perfect ovals or rectangles or whatever shape you hope to create. There will be imperfections, but that's what makes them lovely lollies, no?
Petite Watermellon Jellos
2 limes
1 small box of red Jellomini chocolate chips
Cut both limes in half lengthwise. Scoop out all the fruit with a spoon. Place the limes in a muffin tin to keep them from tipping over. Make the box of Jello according to the Jiggler directions. Carefully spoon Jello into the limes halves. Chill until almost firm. Using a skewer push the mini chocolate chips into the Jello for "watermelon seeds." Chill until until firm, then cut into slices.
Seed Bars for Breakfast
2 cups oats
1 cup coconut
1 ½ cups of mixed seeds (pumpkin, sesame & sunflower)
1 cup peanuts (unsalted)
1 tin condensed milk
Warm the condensed milk slightly and then add to the rest of the ingredients. Press everything into a greased baking tray and bake for 45 minutes at 130 degrees,
Once cooled – cut into squares.
(Stores well in a Tupperware container).
Soft Pretzels
- 1 1/2 cups warm (110 to 115 degrees F) water
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 package active dry yeast
- 22 ounces all-purpose flour, approximately 4 1/2 cups
- 2 ounces unsalted butter, melted
- Vegetable oil, for pan
- 10 cups water
- 2/3 cup baking soda
- 1 large egg yolk beaten with 1 tablespoon water
- Pretzel salt
Directions
Combine the water, sugar and kosher salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and sprinkle the yeast on top. Allow to sit for 5 minutes or until the mixture begins to foam. Add the flour and butter and, using the dough hook attachment, mix on low speed until well combined. Change to medium speed and knead until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the side of the bowl, approximately 4 to 5 minutes. Remove the dough from the bowl, clean the bowl and then oil it well with vegetable oil. Return the dough to the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and sit in a warm place for approximately 50 to 55 minutes or until the dough has doubled in size.
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Line 2 half-sheet pans with parchment paper and lightly brush with the vegetable oil. Set aside.
Bring the 10 cups of water and the baking soda to a rolling boil in an 8-quart saucepan or roasting pan.
In the meantime, turn the dough out onto a slightly oiled work surface and divide into 8 equal pieces. Roll out each piece of dough into a 24-inch rope. Make a U-shape with the rope, holding the ends of the rope, cross them over each other and press onto the bottom of the U in order to form the shape of a pretzel. Place onto the parchment-lined half sheet pan.
Place the pretzels into the boiling water, 1 by 1, for 30 seconds. Remove them from the water using a large flat spatula. Return to the half sheet pan, brush the top of each pretzel with the beaten egg yolk and water mixture and sprinkle with the pretzel salt. Bake until dark golden brown in color, approximately 12 to 14 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack for at least 5 minutes before serving.
Baked Doughnuts
1 1/3 cups warm milk, 95 to 105 degrees (divided)Place 1/3 cup of the warm milk in the bowl of an electric mixer. Stir in the yeast and set aside for five minutes or so. Be sure your milk isn't too hot or it will kill the yeast. Stir the butter and sugar into the remaining cup of warm milk and add it to the yeast mixture. With a fork, stir in the eggs, flour, nutmeg, and salt - just until the flour is incorporated. With the dough hook attachment of your mixer beat the dough for a few minutes at medium speed. This is where you are going to need to make adjustments - if your dough is overly sticky, add flour a few tablespoons at a time. Too dry? Add more milk a bit at a time. You want the dough to pull away from the sides of the mixing bowl and eventually become supple and smooth. Turn it out onto a floured counter-top, knead a few times (the dough should be barely sticky), and shape into a ball.
1 packet active dry yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)
2 tablespoons butter
2/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
5 cups all-purpose flour (alternately, white whole wheat might work - haven't tried it yet)
A pinch or two of nutmeg, freshly grated
1 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
Transfer the dough to a buttered (or oiled) bowl, cover, put in a warm place (I turn on the oven at this point and set the bowl on top), and let rise for an hour or until the dough has roughly doubled in size.
Punch down the dough and roll it out 1/2-inch thick on your floured countertop. Most people (like myself) don't have a doughnut cutter, instead I use a 2-3 inch cookie cutter to stamp out circles. Transfer the circles to a parchment-lined baking sheet and stamp out the smaller inner circles using a smaller cutter. If you cut the inner holes out any earlier, they become distorted when you attempt to move them. Cover with a clean cloth and let rise for another 45 minutes.
Bake in a 375 degree oven until the bottoms are just golden, 8 to 10 minutes - start checking around 8. While the doughnuts are baking, place the butter in a medium bowl. Place the sugar and cinnamon in a separate bowl.
Remove the doughnuts from the oven and let cool for just a minute or two. Dip each one in the melted butter and a quick toss in the sugar bowl. Eat immediately if not sooner.
Makes 1 1/2 - 2 dozen medium doughnuts.
- 2 1/2 cups quick oats or 2 1/2 cups rolled oats
- 1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
- 3/8 cup margarine, melted
- 1/4 cup corn syrup or 1/4 cup honey
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- Preheat oven to 350.
- Combine ingredients and mix well.
- Press firmly into well-greased 9"X9" pan (although I had so much trouble extracting the bars from my ancient pan, I bought a silicone pan just for this recipe!).
- Bake 22-25 minutes until golden & bubbly.
- Cool completely and cut into bars.
Yummy Looking Summer DrinkIngredients
Serves 8
1/2 cup sugar
Fresh seasonal fruit, such as 8 cups cubed seedless watermelon, 6 cups cubed honeydew melon, 6 cups cubed cantaloupe, 6 cups cubed mango, or 4 1/4 cups raspberries
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
Pinch of coarse salt
Sparkling water, or club soda
Directions:
Put sugar and 1 cup water into a medium saucepan; bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring to dissolve sugar. Remove from heat; let cool slightly.
Puree fruit, syrup, lemon juice, and salt in a blender. Pour through a fine sieve into a bowl. Refrigerate until cold, at least 30 minutes (up to 2 days).
To serve, fill 8 medium glasses with ice; pour 1/2 cup puree into each glass, and top off with sparkling water. Stir to combine. Serve immediately.
