Muffins

Ive been slacking on posting anything about muffins
weve been selling them to bennas & b2 since the summer
and occasionally at greensgrow
and randomly at other locations
weve been experimenting with lots of add ins
without documenting frequently

>>Chococonut, my favorite
(chocochips, dried coconut)










and the seasonl beauty
Double Cranberry Swirl >>>>>>
(Craisins, spiced cranberry sauce)













muffins are available at Bennas (8th & wharton) B2 (Passyunk & Dickinson) and this weekend at the inliquid art fair at greensgrow (Cumberland St in port fishington)

Uttapam

Uttapams are a slight variation on dosas
i used the same batter
when making dosas u must quickly spread the batter out very thinly with the back of a spoon
whereas uttapams are cooked more like an american pancake
except that it is covered while cooking to ensure the inside gets cooked
the way i have seen them prepared most often is to pour batter in the pan
then add finely chopped onion, tomato, cilantro and oil on top
i subbed roasted red peppers for tomatoes
i tried this way first
but i think they cook better when the additional ingredients are stirred into the batter so they dont just burn when u flip it

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooops

i forgot i had a blog
these crazy holidays
and certain indian-food-centric people
have distracted me from wild creations
as well as necessary test outs
the bakery is going to be so soon!
(stupid health dept bein all slow... mutter mutter.)



but enuf excuses, heres what i HAVE been doing
making dosas!
all the time
averaging at least every day
several times a day many days
masala dosas to start, everything i can think of as time goes on:



banana, pb, raspberry jelly
sweet potato, sorrel
red cabbage, onion, seitan
scrambled tofu, mache

masala dosas are an indian breakfast food
they are similar to crepes with the major exception that
d are traditionally vegan and gluten free!!!!!
they are made from a fermented batter of rice and urad dal (a split and hulled, tiny indian pulse)

ive been experimenting and dont have a definitive favorite yet
ratios or recipes
i like the idea of the "real" old school way
which is soak rice, soak urad dal w/ fenugreek seeds for about 6hrs
then grind each seperately
then combine and let sit, covered at room temperature for 12hrs, add salt and cook

however the cheater way is easier (but still time consuming) and still delicious
and didnt hurt my guts as i was scared it might without the mega soaking time...
rice flour and urad flour combined and let sit 8-12hrs, add salt

Cranberry Saucinnamon Buns

last week at the kitchen, we received a large sack of fresh cranberries from our friend Andrew
his father bartered for them
he cooked up tons and gave the rest to us
we finally got around to using them this week
thanks andrew! they turned out great






i stewed them up in apple cider and spices
while making the dough
and letting it rise for 2 hours
and rolling up the plain buns
cooking them for about 4 hours total
on very low heat
stirring whenever someone thought of it

it ended up super tart even with the addition of some turbinado sugar
i spread the dough with a lil cinnamon schmear before slopping it up with cranberry
it was super wet and hard to roll up
i was scurd it would ooze out everywhere
but it worked really well
the filling is still super tart but the cream cheese icing balances it really well

Rosemary Scones

i sprinkled some with nutritional yeast and sea salt but they turned out pretty pale, the next batch i brushed with olive oil and sprinkled with more rosemary leaves. the salt is nice.

used a forearm length branch of rosemary, leaves picked off the branch and finely chopped; added to flour before butta is cut in
: twice as much might still be ok, currently its subtle and delicious

prolly too sweet

but really great...

hot thanksgiving jawns.

im gonna try sage and chive versions also

PUMPkin pie

im so bad at it

i dont know why

4 pies with little improvement

i cant even keep track of which photos are what recipe

cuz theyre all lame

and not setting up properly

tofu seems like the way to go

one recipe used tofu

one used soymilk/ cornstarch

one used soymilk/ fleggs

one used soymilk/ enerG

different amounts and types of sweetener in each

thus far i believe a small amount of molasses is essential

maple is expensive and mild

and allspice is important and often forgotten in pumpkin spice blends...

i havent even begun messing with crusts...

soon

APPLE CINNAMON BUNS

i bought some Stayman/Winesap apples from the farmers market

they are my favorite apple currently

sweet and tart and kinda spicy, they have a very complex, delicious flavor

theyre good for eating and very good for baking

i peeled, cored and diced them, then sauteed them in earthbalance, nutmeg and turbinado sugar

rolled out the dough, put down a layer of cinnamon goo, then covered it with apples and rolled it up

definitely the best apple bun so far, beating Rome and Rambo.

probably my favorite bun ever.

FRANKENSTEIN

a frankenstein is a scrappy mashup cookie

it is produced with all the scraps that werent big enough to make a full cookie. it may contain brownie ball, chocolate chips, any nuts, craisins, icing, peanut butter, donut batter, cinnabun dough, etc.

(for frame of reference: that parchment paper it is sitting on is 16x20, this week its beast)

we generally make one frank per week and sell it at the farmers market or bring it to a party.

we did an experiment a few weeks ago where we made berry batter donuts. we froze some of the batter and its been wasting space in the freezer ever since.

so yesterday i baked off a few dozen (and they turned out great!) and still had alot left over.

this made the giant pink base.
then theres a whole lot of peanut butter dough down the center.
then theres a few huge chunks of chocolate chips that had melted together.
and a band of chocolate cookie dough.
and small amount of both ginger molassses and oatmeal cashew craisin.

Giant Kandy Kake

so the best tastykakes are the peanut butter kandy kakes.

butterscotch crimpets are good, sure.

but kandy kakes?

hot jawns.

i made this recipe a few years ago and it was good but not quite right.

the peanut butter filling was far too runny, and the ganache shattered when cut- way too hard.

so i remade it yesterday and its much better. still needs a few tweaks but real close.

the cake is close but prolly a lil too moist and the ganache is still not soft enough. Not quit enough peanut butter on the big cake, tooo much on the small cakes

but it is delicous.

the pics dont have a point of reference but this is a nine inch cake as opposed to a 2 inch tastykake. i also made a few 4 inch mini cakes that were gobbled before photos.

PUMPKIN

ive been slacking on re making the pumpkin cookie recipe i came up with last year. i wanted it for october 1st. way off. so i decided it has to be out by halloween at the latest. less than 2 weeks away now.
i made the cookies last night. and i dont like them.
the spice is off. i think i made giant batches of pie spice last year and didnt keep good notes on what ratios i used. what i had written on the recipe wasnt enough. chris even ground me fresh cloves! and still they are kinda dull.
i used light brown sugar instead of turbinado because thats all i had in my house in the middle of the night. it may have carmelized way too much. they seem super sweet and too moist.
at 18 minutes the big jaws were pale and kinda doughy still.
did another pan for 20 and still whack.
kept them in for 23 all together, a bit overdone by then.
the second pan i did a wild experiment of glazing them in apple butter for the ultra fall cookie
i also made small thumbprint cookies w/ gingered apple butter
ive decided the cookie is to close to ginger molasses already so adding apple ginger butter is dangerous; it wants to be gingerbread so bad.
ill try different spicing and less sugar and maybe the snickerdoodle trick...

27 month hiatus is over!

whoops.
im not very good at blogging.
but this is a hot domain name and it should be taken advantage of.
pics coming soon.
constantly.