Pinch My Salt » Adventures in Baking

Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Muffins

Nicole — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 09:50:41 +0000

You all know by now that I love muffins, but I bet you didn’t know how much I love Oatmeal Raisin Cookies. My sister is in town visiting and we were talking last night about what I should make this morning. I was wavering between Oatmeal Raisin Cookies and Zucchini Muffins. She and I both love Oatmeal Raisin Cookies, but for some reason I was stuck on the idea of muffins for breakfast. At some point she said I should just make Oatmeal Raisin Muffins and once the idea was planted in my head, I couldn’t stop thinking about how to make a muffin that tasted like my favorite cookie.

It’s not easy to make a muffin taste like a cookie. I needed to find a way to make the muffins taste buttery like a cookie without using a ridiculous amount of butter (because at that point, why not just make cookies). I decided that browning the butter might intensify the flavor enough to do the trick. I also had to fiddle with the amount of salt and sugar until I had a muffin that was reminiscent of a salty sweet cookie without actually being as salty or sweet as a cookie. The whole point of this effort was to end up with something to eat for breakfast that wasn’t quite as bad for me as a stack of oatmeal raisin cookies.

I made these muffins three times before I got the combination right. The winning batch uses whole wheat flour and rolled oats, so you’ll at least get some fiber alongside your butter and sugar. With a cup of brown sugar in the recipe, I won’t make any claims that these are healthy. But like I said, I was just looking for something slightly healthier than a stack of cookies. I think I accomplished that.

Now I’m packing up the rest of these muffins and we’re heading to the cabin for a few days. I’ll be back Sunday night to answer any questions or e-mails. Food Blog Friday will return next week. Have a great weekend, everyone!

Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Muffins

1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
2 t. baking powder
1 t. baking soda
3/4 t. salt
1 1/2 t. ground cinnamon
1 cup rolled oats
2 eggs, at room temperature
3/4 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/2 t. vanilla
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a 12-cup muffin tin or line with paper cups.

Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Allow the butter to melt completely and then cook – the butter will foam and start to crackle. Continue cooking, keeping a close eye on the pan, until the crackling subsides and little brown bits appear in the bottom of the pan when you swirl it. Remove from heat as soon as the butter solids have browned and it smells rich and nutty. Pour butter, including the browned bits, into a heat-proof bowl and set aside to cool.

In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Whisk together until well combined then stir in oats. In a separate bowl, whisk together browned butter, eggs, buttermilk, and brown sugar. Stir in vanilla extract. Add the butter mixture all at once to the flour mixture and stir with a large spoon until just combined (make sure to scrape up all the flour from the bottom of the bowl). Fold in raisins and nuts.

Using a standard-sized cookie scoop or a large spoon, divide batter between the 12 muffin cups (the cups should be mostly full). Bake at 375 degrees for 20 – 23 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of a muffin comes out clean.

Related Recipes:

Around the Web:

Blueberry Oat Muffins from Family Style Food
Banana Peanut Butter Oatmeal Muffins from Baking Bites
Blueberry Maple Oatmeal Muffins from Closet Cooking
Zucchini Oatmeal Muffins from Tasty Kitchen
Overnight Oatmeal Muffin Recipe from Whipped

Blackberry Lemon Crisp

Nicole — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 10:22:21 +0000

By mid-week I had managed to eat all of the beautiful heirloom tomatoes and sweet nectarines I bought at the farmer’s market on Saturday, but I found myself left with a pint of flavorful but not-as-sweet-as-I-would-have-liked blackberries. I didn’t want them to go to waste, but I didn’t really want to eat them. I finally decided that all they really needed was a sweet, buttery, crumbly topping.

Wouldn’t it be great if all problems could be solved with sweet, buttery crumbs?

I used whole wheat flour in the topping because I enjoy the extra flavor it adds. Whole wheat flour, rolled oats, brown sugar, and butter are an excellent combination – try using whole wheat pastry flour in your next batch of oatmeal cookies if you don’t believe me. I also added lemon zest and a bit of cinnamon to the topping and it’s the hint of lemon that really makes this crisp something special.

This recipe makes a small batch – perfect for when you need a homemade dessert fix but don’t want to be tempted by too many leftovers.

Blackberry Lemon Crisp
adapted from Taste of Home
Serves 3-4

2 cups fresh or frozen and slightly defrosted blackberries
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
1/4 cup sugar
1 scant tablespoon + 1/3 cup whole wheat pastry flour
pinch of salt
1/3 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup lightly packed brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
3 tablespoons cold butter, chopped into small pieces

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Butter a 1-quart baking dish (or 3 6-oz individual baking dishes or 4 4-oz ramekins).

2. In a small bowl, toss together blackberries, lemon juice, sugar, scant tablespoon of flour, and small pinch of salt. Pour berry mixture into a greased 1-quart baking dish or divide between 3 or 4 individual baking dishes or ramekins.

3. In a separate small bowl, stir together oats, 1/3 cup flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and lemon zest. Add pieces of cold butter and cut in using a pastry blender or two knives (or rub in with your fingertips) until crumbly. Sprinkle topping over the berries.

4. Place baking dish(es) on a sheet pan and bake, uncovered, at 375 degrees for 20 – 25 minutes, or until filling is bubbly and topping is lightly browned. Serve with vanilla ice cream.

Related Recipes:

Around the Web:

Blackberry Pie Squares from Amanda’s Cookin’
Blackberry Pie Bars from Joy the Baker
Blackberry Muffins from Simply Recipes
Blackberry Ice Cream from Seriously Good

Food Blog Friday: Lemon Poppyseed Zucchini Bread

Nicole — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 09:50:40 +0000

Happy Food Blog Friday! This is my absolute favorite zucchini bread recipe and I’m thrilled to be able to share it with you today. Heidi from 101 Cookbooks calls this her Special Zucchini Bread and with extras like lemon zest and poppy seeds, it truly is special.

101 Cookbooks is an amazing food blog that I’ve been reading for years and I’d bet that most of you have been doing the same. If you’re at all interested in cooking with natural, whole ingredients and/or expanding your vegetarian cooking repertoire, 101 Cookbooks is a must-read. The recipes are exciting and well-written and the photography is fantastic. If you somehow haven’t yet visited, go there now. You won’t be sorry. In addition to the blog, I’d also like to recommend Heidi’s wonderful cookbook Super Natural Cooking. It’s a great book.

I’ve made this zucchini bread a couple of times now, once with whole wheat flour and once with all-purpose flour. Both versions were fantastic. I leave out the optional crystallized ginger and curry powder, not because I don’t think it sounds good, but because I was out of both ingredients the first time I gave this a try. I fell so madly in love with the first loaf, I didn’t want to change the flavors the second time around.

Give this lemon poppy seed version a try and you’ll never bake plain zucchini bread again!

Heidi’s Special Zucchini Bread at 101 Cookbooks
Become a fan of 101 Cookbooks on Facebook
Follow 101 Cookbooks on Twitter
Buy Super Natural Cooking

Previous Food Blog Fridays:

Fattoush from Kalyn’s Kitchen
Spice-Rubbed Flank Steak from Blue Kitchen
Lemon Buttermilk Popsicles from Whipped
Apricot Almond Tart from Tartelette
Blueberry Orange Cornmeal Pancakes from Satisfied
Luscious Lemon Bars from Alpineberry

Recipe Idea: Chocolate Cake with Tart Cherries

Nicole — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 09:50:43 +0000

Fresh tart cherries are a lot harder to find on the west coast than in some other parts of the country. We have tons of sweet cherries available, and while I love sweet cherries, I’m always on the lookout for the tarts. Also known as sour or pie cherries, these beautiful bright red gems are mainly used for cooking and baking. When mixed with a bit of sugar, they have an extraordinary flavor that outshines all the sweet cherries I’ve encountered.

I had never even tasted a fresh tart cherry before my trip to Michigan last year where I attended the National Cherry Festival in Traverse City. It was there that I learned about the fantastic nutritional benefits of this antioxident-filled fruit. I also toured beautiful cherry orchards, ate the best cherry pie I’ve ever tasted in my life, fell in love with tart cherry juice concentrate, and met some of the friendliest people around. I really can’t wait to get back to that part of the country someday!

But until then, I satisfy my cravings with delicious dried tart Montmorency cherries from Trader Joe’s, smoothies and drinks made with tart cherry juice concentrate (I order it online for now, but am hoping it will become more widely available soon), and the occasional jackpot of fresh tart cherries when I can find them.

I felt like I had struck gold when I found some fresh tart cherries at an international market here in Fresno recently. They weren’t labeled as tart cherries, but I could tell from the shape that they weren’t the usual sweet cherries I find around here. I had no clue what variety they were and there was a bit of a language barrier between myself and the woman behind the register, so I never did figure that part out. I just knew I had to buy some. They were rather expensive, so I only grabbed about a pound. While a pound of tart cherries isn’t enough for a pie, I knew I’d figure out something fun to do with them.

What I decided to do was sprinkle them over the top of a chocolate cake batter. We all know that chocolate and cherries go really well together. But I feel that chocolate and tart cherries are a match made in heaven. Remember my tart cherry chocolate chip cookies? I didn’t have any particular recipe in mind, I just wanted to try adding some fresh tart cherries to a basic chocolate cake batter. I ended up adapting a recipe from Baking Bites and making a plain square chocolate cake.

First I pitted the cherries by squeezing them between my fingertips. There’s really no need for a cherry pitter, the pit comes out quite easily! Next, I sliced all the cherries in half.

After adding the cake batter to the pan, I just sprinkled the fresh cherry halves evenly over the top of the batter. I didn’t even bother pressing them in.

Finally, I just baked the cake as usual. I was surprised that the batter didn’t rise up and over the cherries much, but I’m kind of glad it didn’t. I love the way the cake looked with the cherries visible on top. The cake turned out to be absolutely delicious! The tart cherries were such a great contrast to the sweet chocolate cake and just as I expected, the flavors were perfect together.

So as the title of this blog post suggests, this isn’t an actual recipe, just a recipe idea. If you already have a favorite chocolate cake recipe, I suggest baking it in a sheet pan and sprinkling some fresh tart cherries over the top. You won’t even need to bother with frosting. I think it might be fun to try with brownie batter, too, although you might want to actually push the cherries into the thicker brownie batter before baking.

Let me know if you try it!

Related Recipes:

Around the Web:

Sour Cherry Slab Pie from Smitten Kitchen
Persian Rice with Sour Cherries from My Persian Kitchen
Sour Cherry Jam from Food in Jars
Tart Cherry Crumb Cake from Sophistimom

Nectarine Muffins

Nicole — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 09:50:51 +0000

Saturday night I had the pleasure of attending The Organic Stone Fruit Jubilee, a great event celebrating 60 varieties of peaches, nectarines, apricots, plums, and pluots from about a dozen local certified organic farms.

After enjoying some music and eating delicious pulled-pork sandwiches topped with grilled peaches, we wandered from table to table chatting with farmers and sampling more varieties of stone fruits than I ever knew existed!

Needless to say, I walked away from the jubilee with bulging bags of peaches, nectarines, and apricots. The peaches won’t be fully ripened for another day or two, but the nectarines were perfect Sunday morning. I couldn’t resist eating slice after slice of the delicious fruit while cutting it up for the muffins.

I had never made nectarine muffins before, but I knew I wanted a recipe that included buttermilk. I turned to my favorite buttermilk muffin recipe in the book Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone as a starting point and was happy to see instructions for adapting the basic recipe to make fresh fruit muffins. Although nectarines weren’t on the list of recommended fruits, I knew they would work well here. I also decided to add a bit of ground cinnamon and ginger as I really enjoy those flavors with peaches and nectarines.

The muffins were amazing – sweet, tart, and tender. They reminded me of a nectarine cobbler, which says a lot since cobbler is one of my favorite desserts. I was really happy to be able to share them with both my dad and my grandpa on Father’s Day. It’s nice to be home.

Nectarine Muffins
Adapted from Basic Buttermilk Muffin recipe in Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs, at room temperature
1 1/3 cups buttermilk, at room temperature
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup melted butter
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup diced fresh nectarine

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a 12-cup muffin tin or line with paper cups.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, and salt until well combined. In a separate smaller bowl, whisk together the eggs, buttermilk, brown sugar, melted butter, and vanilla extract. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir with a large spoon until just combined (make sure to scrape all the flour up off the bottom of the bowl). Gently fold in the diced apricots.

Divide the batter between the 12 muffin cups (a mechanical ice cream scoop works great for this) – they will be almost completely full. Bake at 375 degrees for about 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of a muffin comes out clean.

Related Recipes:

Around the Web:

Stir-Fried Beef and Nectarines from Steamy Kitchen
Nectarine Turnovers from Baking Bites
Nectarine Golden Cake from Sassy Radish
Rustic Peach and Nectarine Crostata from Herbivoracious
Tomato-Nectarine Chutney from The Perfect Pantry

Bread Baker’s Apprentice Challenge: Pain de Campagne

Nicole — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 09:50:52 +0000

With this bread complete, I’ve officially passed the halfway mark in The Bread Baker’s Apprentice Challenge. I’ve now baked the first 22 of the 43 breads in the book and I’m fairly confident that I will make it through the second half by the end of this year. I really can’t believe it’s been over a year since we first started the challenge. It’s taken me longer than I had anticipated, but even if I haven’t always been able to keep up, it’s been very rewarding to see all my new baking friends plow their way through the book. Several people have already completed the challenge, and there are new people starting from the beginning all the time. Congratulations to Oggi for being the first person to complete all 43 breads! You can read her last post and see her top 10 favorite breads at I Can Do That.

Although I hadn’t originally planned on photographing and writing about every single bread, I’m really glad I decided to do it this way. I now have a list of all the breads I’ve completed so far and whenever I want to bake a bread from the book, I can go back to see photos of what I did the first time as well as read about any difficulties I might have had. It will also be a great resource for anyone who owns the book, as the entire recipe list will eventually be linked to my blog posts (which in turn link to several other people who have made the same bread). Wouldn’t it be great if every cookbook had such a resource?

So the bread this week is Pain de Campagne. It’s a French bread and the dough is similar to the Baguette dough we’ve already seen, but it includes a small amount of whole grain flour. I used whole wheat since that’s what I had on hand, but whole rye flour is another option. The great thing about this bread is that we are given many new shaping options for the bread, so I was able to try some new techniques.

As with the regular French Bread dough, this formula starts with a batch of pâte fermentée. The pâte fermentée, or old dough, is just a small batch of dough that is started the night before and left to ferment overnight in the refrigerator. The old dough is then chopped up and added to the new dough ingredients the next morning, or whenever you get around to starting your bread.

I made 16 ounces of pâte fermentée the night before I wanted to bake the bread. I chopped it up into ten pieces and let the pieces sit at room temperature for an hour to remove the chill.

As usual, I measured the flour for the new batch of dough using a scale, rather than measuring cups. While I still do use measuring cups for recipes that don’t include weight measurements, I turn to my scale more and more for baking bread. It’s so much easier, faster, and more accurate to weigh your ingredients!

I combined the flours, yeast, salt, and warm water in the bowl of my stand mixer and added the pieces of pâte fermentée.

I mixed the dough using the paddle attachment until it was well combined, then switched to the dough hook and kneaded the dough for about 6 minutes on medium speed.

To check if the dough had been kneaded enough, I performed the windowpane test. This dough passed with flying colors!

The kneaded dough was soft and pliable, tacky but not sticky. I rounded it into a ball to prepare it for bulk fermentation – the first rising period for the dough.

I placed the ball into my oiled container, pressed it down to flatten it, and noted the level of the dough. The book says to let it ferment for two hours, or until it doubles in size. It also says that if it doubles in size much faster than expected, you should degas it and let it rise again until doubled from original size. Well, I set the timer for two hours and then went off and forgot about checking on the dough until the timer went off.

It more than doubled! I didn’t want to punch it down and wait to let it rise again, so I just moved forward.

As gently as I could, I pulled the dough out of the rising container and placed it on the floured counter. The goal is to keep as much of the trapped bubbles in the dough as possible.

This amount of dough was enough to make three loaves, so I divided the dough into three pieces using my bench scraper.

The first loaf I shaped is called a fendu, or split bread. First I shaped a basic bâtard, which is like a short baguette. Next I sprinkled flour over the top, and using the handle of a long wooden spoon, I made an indentation down the center of the bread that pressed almost all the way through. More flour was then sprinkled in the indentation and I creased it again to widen the crack a bit. Finally the loaf was turned over and allowed to proof upside down.

For the second loaf I decided to make a couronne, or crown. First, I shaped a basic boule, or round loaf. Then I poked my finger through the center, as if I were shaping a bagel.

I stretched the dough gently into a circle and placed it back on the floured counter.

After sprinkling the dough with flour, I used the handle of the wooden spoon to make creases all around, forming a square within the circle of dough. I then sprinkled more flour into the cracks and set it aside with the fendu loaf for proofing.

This is what the two loaves looked like right before going into the oven. I decided to bake them on parchment because it’s easier for me to slide a piece of parchment onto a baking stone than it is to slide the individual loaves by themselves.

The loaves turned out beautifully, but the indentations in the couronne didn’t really stay indented so it turned out looking like a giant bagel.

The bread had a wonderful flavor and texture, and I found the dough really easy to work with. I definitely enjoyed this bread and will probably make it again so I can experiment with even more shapes.

If you’re following along in the challenge, the formula can be found on page 195 of The Bread Baker’s Apprentice. The next bread I’ll be baking is Pane Siciliano and I can’t wait to see if it tastes like any of the bread I remember eating in Sicily!

Want to Join The Bread Baker’s Apprentice Challenge?

There are several ways for you to join in the fun! First of all, you need a copy of Peter Reinhart’s The Bread Baker’s Apprentice. Read the first section of the book carefully, as this will prepare you for the bread recipes in the second section of the book. Then just jump in and bake some Anadama Bread, which is the first bread formula in the book. You may also visit The BBA Challenge Page for more details on how to participate in the group.

If you haven’t already, you might want to bookmark the BBA Challenge Page. From there you can see which breads are coming up soon, find answers to Frequently Asked Questions, visit and/or add yourself to our World Map, see the BBA Challenge Blogroll, and check out the continually updated slideshow of BBA Bread photos from our ever-expanding group of bakers!

Pain de Campagne from other BBA Bakers:

Food Blog Friday: Apricot Almond Tart from Tartelette

Nicole — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 18:44:45 +0000

When my friend Ruby called me the other day and told me her mom’s apricot tree was overflowing and that we each had a bag of fresh-picked fruit waiting for us, my first thought was apricot cobbler. But then I remembered the tart pan I purchased last year that still hadn’t been used and decided an apricot tart was in order.

At first I was planning on making this simple apricot tart at Orangette. I’m sure I’ll still make that one someday, but my original plan changed after a friend on Facebook shared a link to Tartelette’s Apricot Almond Tart. Not only was the tart beautiful, it was a perfect excuse to bake with some of the local honey I had just picked up at The Vineyard Farmer’s Market. Plus, I knew the almond cream filling would be perfect with the tart-sweet apricots.

Tartelette most likely does not need an introduction. It’s one of the best baking blogs around, which is no wonder since it’s written and photographed by Helen, the supremely talented Pastry Chef, photographer, food stylist, and writer. Tartelette features some of the most beautiful desserts I’ve ever seen and Helen is so warm and welcoming, I feel as if I’ve been invited over for coffee each time I read one of her posts.

This tart was simple to put together and the results were not only beautiful, but absolutely delicious. The honey and almond flavors were amazing with the fresh apricots. I enjoyed a slice (okay, maybe two slices) with a side of lightly sweetened whipped cream flavored with a touch of almond extract. Perfect.

One of the great things about this recipe is that the crust can be made gluten-free. I chose to use wheat flour, but the original recipe is completely gluten-free. Helen gives instructions for both versions. Well, what are you waiting for? Head over to Tartelette and start drooling!

Apricot Almond Tart Recipe from Tartelette

I really hope you’re enjoying these Food Blog Friday posts because it’s really been a pleasure for me to taste and share these recipes. I look forward to it more and more each week!

Previous Food Blog Friday Posts

Blueberry Orange Cornmeal Pancakes from Satisfied
Luscious Lemon Bars from Alpineberry

Bread Baker’s Apprentice Challenge: Marbled Rye

Nicole — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 23:28:49 +0000

It’s taking longer than I anticipated, but I’m still plugging away at The Bread Baker’s Apprentice Challenge and enjoying every minute of it. With the completion of this gorgeous Marbled Rye, I’ve mixed, kneaded, shaped, photographed, tasted, and shared the first 19 breads in the book.

Each successful loaf feels like a huge accomplishment, but this one in particular was special to me because it was the first time that I’ve attempted baking rye bread. I wasn’t sure what to expect, because before this I had never even tasted marbled rye, but I was blown away by this bread. The flavor and texture were wonderful and I fell in love with the striking appearance of the loaves.

The beautiful swirl in the marbled rye is created by making two bread doughs, one dark and one light, and rolling them together into a loaf. It’s not really any more difficult but it is more time consuming than making plain sandwich loaves. Because of this, I graciously accepted the help of my Kitchen Aid stand mixer to speed up the process of mixing and kneading two separate bread doughs.

First I assembled the dry ingredients for the two doughs in separate bowls. The ingredients for each are almost identical with only a couple of differences. One dough includes a flavorless caramel coloring to make it darker. I also added the optional caraway seeds to the dark dough only, although the book suggests adding caraway to both the dark and light doughs.

Next, I mixed the light dough ingredients with the paddle attachment of my mixer. Whether you choose to mix by hand or machine, stir the ingredients together until a ball of dough forms and all the loose flour has been incorporated. In the process you may need to add a dribble or two of water to make this happen. Next, use the dough hook on the mixer or turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 4 to 6 minutes, or until smooth.

The kneaded dough should feel supple and pliable, slightly tacky but not sticky. (To learn the difference between tacky and sticky bread dough, check out this great example at Yumarama Bread Blog.) After the dough has been kneaded enough, place it in a greased bowl, roll it to coat all sides with oil, and cover with plastic wrap.

Repeat the entire process with the dark dough then let both ferment at room temperature for about 90 minutes or until the doughs have doubled in size.

Now it’s time for shaping.

To shape the loaves, the first step is to divide each dough into four equal pieces. The easiest way to ensure your pieces are the same size is to use a kitchen scale. I first weighed the intact piece of dough then divided the weight by four to figure out how much each small piece should weigh. If you don’t have a scale, just divide the dough as evenly as possible. You want to end up with four dark pieces and four light pieces.

Next, each small piece of dough is rolled into an oblong about 5 inches wide by 8 inches long. They don’t have to be perfect, but try to roll each one as close to the same size as you can.

To create a loaf, stack four pieces of dough, alternating the light and dark colors.

Starting at a long end, roll the stack up into an oblong loaf, or bâtard.

Pinch the seam together at the top (the seam side will become the bottom of the loaf).

Repeat the stacking and rolling to form the second loaf then place the loaves into loaf pans. If you prefer free-form loaves they can be placed directly on parchment-lined baking sheets. Allow the loaves to proof at room temperature for another 60-90 minutes or until they have almost doubled in size.

Although not required, I chose to slash the tops of the loaves once they had finished proofing. It was mainly for decorative purposes, but I also wanted to practice my slashing technique since I’m still a bit timid with a razor blade.

The loaves were baked at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes. They had tons of oven spring – so much, in fact, that both loaves split open a bit on the sides.

Despite the blowouts, they were absolutely beautiful and I was thrilled that the slashes on top opened up to show the different colors inside the loaves.

I’d have to say that the most rewarding part of this entire experience was slicing open the loaves to see the beautiful swirl inside…

But this Reuben Sandwich with homemade thousand island dressing was a close second.

If you’re following along in the challenge, the formula can be found on page 184 of The Bread Baker’s Apprentice. The next bread is Multigrain Bread Extraordinaire – hopefully the bread will live up to its fancy name!

Want to Join The Bread Baker’s Apprentice Challenge?

Marbled Rye Bread from other BBA Bakers:

Cherry Banana Muffins with White Chocolate Chips

Nicole — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 22:12:25 +0000

I’m sure you’ve heard me say that I prefer a somewhat healthy muffin. I know that I’ve told you before how I feel about overly sweet muffins – that if I wanted dessert, I’d rather just have a cupcake. But I did it anyway. I made these sweet, delicious muffins that offer very few nutritional benefits and really can’t be classified as anything but dessert.

You know what? I don’t regret it one bit.

These are the best muffins I’ve ever made and I wouldn’t change a thing about them. The banana and white chocolate are perfect together and the tart cherries help to balance the extra sweetness from the white chocolate. The streusel topping, perfect.

When I noticed three well-aged bananas sitting in the fruit basket (they grow up so fast, don’t they?), I figured I’d actually make some banana bread this time instead of banishing them to the back of the freezer. Since I’m in the process of eating down the pantry, I also pulled out a half-empty bag of white chocolate chips that had been hanging out for a while. I learned from Amanda that white chocolate chips are really good in banana-flavored baked goods so I was pretty excited to give it a try myself.

At some point during the ingredient-gathering stage I decided that muffins sounded like more fun than bread. Then all of a sudden tart dried cherries had made their way onto the ingredients list. I was obviously in one of those throw-it-all-in-there moods, so it should come as no surprise that I felt a streusel topping was necessary as well.

I’m glad I let go and followed my instincts on this one. These muffins were outstanding and I take back anything I ever said about muffins needing to be a bit healthy. I’ll never give up the healthy ones, but there’s certainly room for an occasional muffin indulgence. Enjoy!

Cherry Banana Muffins with White Chocolate Chips

Streusel Topping Ingredients:
1/3 cup lightly packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
2 tablespoons butter

Muffin Ingredients:
1 3/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1/2 cup canola oil
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 ripe bananas, mashed
1 cup white chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped dried tart cherries

1. Place rack in middle of oven and preheat to 375 degrees. Grease a standard 12-cup muffin tin (I use Baker’s Joy) or line with paper cups (I spray the inside of the paper cups with baking spray, too).

2. Make streusel topping: In a small bowl, blend together brown sugar and flour. Blend butter into the sugar mixture with your fingertips until it has a sandy, crumb-like texture. Set aside.

3. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt until well combined. Set aside.

4. In a separate bowl, whisk together egg, oil, sugar and vanilla; stir in mashed banana.

5. Pour banana mixture into the flour mixture and stir with a large spoon until just combined. Don’t overmix, but make sure all the flour has been scraped off the bottom of the bowl and mixed in. Fold in white chocolate chips and cherries.

6. Divide batter evenly between the 12 muffin cups. Sprinkle streusel mixture over the muffin batter, letting it mound slightly in the center of each muffin.

7. Bake in preheated 375 degree oven for 21-23 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Let muffins cool slightly in pan then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

Related Recipes:

Around the Web:

Nutella Banana Muffins from Delicious Days
Blueberry Banana Muffins from My Kitchen Snippets
Vegan Strawberry Banana Muffins (gluten-free) from Gluten-Free Goddess
Banana Muffins with Pecans from Nami-Nami
Banana Nut Muffins from Simply Recipes

More Madeleines

Nicole — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 22:11:04 +0000

Remember my first madeleines from the beginning of the year? Well, I decided to give them another try – this time with a completely different recipe. The result? Madeleines that are even better than the first batch! I used this recipe from Bitten, and the only real change I made was to substitute lemon zest for orange zest.

I didn’t bother piping the filling into the molds, a spoon worked just fine. Just make sure you don’t overfill them like I did! The recipe says it yields 12 to 15, but I think you could probably get up to 18 full-size madeleines if you scrape the bowl (and don’t overfill the molds like I did).

What I really loved about these madeleines was the texture. They were light and tender, buttery, and perfectly crisp along the edges. The only thing I wish I could change about the recipe is the amount of batter it produces. I wish that it produced either 12 or 24 madeleines – I can’t stand half-filled pans or leftover batter! So the next time I make madeleines, I’ll try the one from David Lebovitz that yields 24 cakes!

Do you have a favorite madeleine recipe? Want to share some tips or tricks? If so, come join the discussion at the Baking 101 group on Facebook! Created by Master Baker Klecko and food writer Kim Ode, Baking 101 has become a place where beginners and professionals mingle, ask questions, share photos, and discuss all things baking-related. And if you’re on Facebook anyway, you’d might as well become a fan of Pinch My Salt!

Happy baking!