Savory Baking

Taking a break from the sweets to mention some mealtime baking that I've been doing as well. First up - biscuits!



I'm sure this is news to no one else but me ... biscuits are easy! This was the first time I'd ever made them from scratch, and will never be buying pre-made or a mix again. I don't make them too often, but there are a couple meals that these go really well with, like beef stew and chicken noodle soup. I used the recipe from Barbarians at the Plate, which I've mentioned before as a favorite cookbook for easy from-scratch dishes. A food processor is a must! I didn't take too much time shaping these, hence the wonkiness, but they are super duper delicious.



Next up - homemade naan. I saw the instructions on one of my favorite baking sites, and thought it looked easy enough to try. I got a little bit nervous about finishing them over the open flame, but cooking on a grill pan worked really well. These were made in advance, then spread out on a cookie sheet, brushed with butter and warmed up in the oven before serving. It went really well with chicken curry - would definitely make again!



I saw the recipe for these breakfast muffins in Family Fun. I hoped they'd be a bigger hit with Dora and be a nice quick morning option, but she didn't love them. Happily, I did! They freeze really well and warm up in a minute in the microwave.

In other cooking news ... seen on Pinterest and tried last week: Crash Hot Potatoes from Pioneer Woman - very, very good! And noted before, but worth mentioning again: Garlic Roasted Potatoes from Sweet Cheeks in the kitchen. A favorite for us - Clark says, "they are DELICIOUS!" (I go a little bit lighter on the black pepper - half a tsp instead of 1.5.) Enjoy!

Baking Monday - Cream Cheese Cutouts

My grandma is an awesome baker. I don't believe she ever had just one specialty, she was always trying out new recipes, and everything she made was fantastic. I remember her making cookies only once that I just loved, called "E" cookies. I've had the recipe for years, but never made them, because the recipe just seemed ... wrong. The only ingredients were cream cheese, butter and flour. But I've been on a cream cheese baking kick lately, so I decided to try them out. I wisely opted to only make half the recipe and have a backup plan in place, just in case. Good thing I did ... more on that later. First up: the backup plan!



I made half of this recipe, which suggested rolling the cream cheese cutout cookies in sprinkles OR adding them directly into the dough. Fun!



Ooooh, pretty.



Cutting them out ...



... and ready to bake.



These turned out terrific, and they are yummy even without frosting. Now, back to grandma's recipe ... clearly, something was not right, because they turned out like this:



Weird, misshapen, and sliding all over the tray. Taste ... not good. They were semi-flaky on top, and still doughy in the middle. Most definitely NOT the delicious cookie that I remember having years ago. So, YAY for backup plans!



Which I made AGAIN later in the week, for the art show at Clark's school. These were closer to the cookie that I remember, but not exactly the same. I've tried searching for an "E" cookie recipe, but have never found them anywhere else, so if anyone has ever heard of these, please let me know!

WFMW - Sewing Girl Scout Badges

Hello! This is my first Works for Me Wednesday post, and this one has changed my life! Okay, at least my relationship with Girl Scout badges. Some iron on, some do not, and even the ones that are supposed to iron on rarely stick well. I've tried Heat & Bond with fair results, and fabric glue was a bust. They are too thick to sew by hand, and I never attempted machine sewing, because who wants to keep changing the thread color?

A few weeks ago, I was chatting with my aunt who was a long time Girl Scout leader. She said, "Oh, I always sewed them on with clear thread."

CLEAR THREAD???

Who knew there was such a thing! I marched myself right over to JoAnn's and there it was! Right with the regular thread, just hanging out all casual-like. I brought that stuff home, loaded up a heavy duty needle and zigzagged my way to badge paradise.



No more peeled edges! No more worrying about badges falling off! I am loving this stuff! Honestly, this was one of my most satisfying moments of the week, and I just had to share the good news with everyone!



CLEAR THREAD!!! It works for me!

Baking Monday - Peanut Butter Pie

Searching for peanut butter dessert on Pinterest turned up this recipe!



(Of course, my photo doesn't look nearly as perfect, but you get the scrumptious idea.) This is really good. Like, restaurant dessert good. Actually, probably even better than that. Whipping the cream takes time, but is very much worth it. I may or may not have run the pie server around the empty plate to eat the last crumbs.

I will be looking for another occasion to make this!

Baking Monday - Sweetie Pies

Nothing fancy today ... I didn't have a plan in advance, so I searched for something that could be made with ingredients already in the pantry. This recipe is from the Mrs. Field's cookie book. They come together quickly (after all the double boiler chocolate melting) and are super chocolatey. Loving the three different chips - and the name!

Bonus Baking Monday - Brownie Batter Pancakes

Happy President's Day! I made these pancakes this morning for a holiday treat.



The original recipe is portioned to make five small pancakes - not going to work in my house - so I adapted it to feed a family. This made 24 small pancakes:

Brownie Batter Pancakes

1/2 cup wheat flour
1 1/4 cup white flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
6 tablespoons Dutch-process cocoa powder
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1/2 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 cup milk

• In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, cocoa powder, sugar and salt.

• In a separate bowl, lightly combine egg, oil, vanilla and milk. Add to dry ingredients and mix until just combined.

The pancakes are a bit sticky - I had to gently nudge under each side of the pancake before the first flip.



No syrup needed - but a sprinkle of sugar was nice.



Despite the face, he actually liked these.



The kids still prefer chocolate chip pancakes, which are way too sweet for me, but I thought these were just right. They paired well with chocolate truffle tea!

Baking Monday - Fudge Stripe Cookies

I saw these cookies on Tracey's Culinary Adventures and wanted to try them right away, as I also have a fondness for making from scratch versions of store-bought goodies.



The cookies themselves are very blah - the dough is VERY oily, and there's no added sugar besides the corn syrup, so they are not really sweet. Clicking back to the original recipe, I see that they could be made with butter instead of oil, which is a substitution I would definitely recommend next time.



However ... dip them in chocolate (milk, preferably), and they taste pretty darn close to the store bought version. Storing them in the fridge keeps them crunchy. The kids liked them and said they "tasted like ice cream in a cookie!"