Thank you, thank you, Sam-I-am!

I do not like granola.  I do not like it from a box; I would not like it with a fox.  I will not eat it as a bar; I will not eat it in a car...  

I bought some granola several years ago to make these TWD cookies, and as Brianna would say, it was okay, but not my favorite--definitely not something I'd eat outside of a cookie, or on a regular basis.  I can sort of understand the appeal--it's a good way to get some fiber, and it can have assorted fruits and nuts in it, which are good for you.  It just doesn't taste all that great, and way too much of it seems to have coconut of some sort.  No need for that.  And don't get me started on store-bought granola bars.  Ick.  

In spite of my dislike of granola, when I saw my friend Tracey's blog, I was intrigued.  I had just made some oatmeal scones for breakfast using toasted oats.  I don't like cooked oatmeal due to the texture, but sometimes I wish that I did like it, since you can add so many interesting things to it.  The granola Tracey made had lots of ingredients that I like--pecans, brown sugar, cinnamon.  I also have a giant bag of dried cranberries (thank you, Costco) in my pantry, so I was excited to see a way to use some of them.  I figured, what the heck, if I hate the granola, I can always give it away. =)

I wasn't sure how much I'd like the honey in the recipe (another thing that isn't my favorite), but decided to make the recipe as written.  It's really easy--first you mix together the oats, pecans, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt in a big bowl.  Then you put the oil, granulated sugar, and honey in a small saucepan and warm them up.  I'm guessing that's to make it easier to mix into the dry ingredients, since honey is a lot more fluid when it's warm.  You stir in a whole bunch of vanilla (I used my good stuff) once the rest of the ingredients are warm, and pour the liquids over the oat mixture.  Once everything is stirred together, it goes into a somewhat low oven (300ºF) for about half an hour, stirring every ten minutes or so.  That's another thing that I liked about the recipe--some granola recipes have you baking the granola for a hour or longer.  Once the granola is out of the oven and cool, you mix in the cranberries.  

The verdict?  Wow.  This stuff is fantastic!  It's a perfect example of why you should make things at home--freshly made granola is a whole different thing from the stuff you buy at the store.  Who knew?  I took a bunch of this batch to work--everyone seems to be avoiding sweets right now, having indulged too much over the holidays, so I thought maybe they'd appreciate something healthier.  It was a big hit all around.  I promised them that I'd bring in more as I try different variations.  I can't wait to play around with the recipe to see what else I can come up with.  Today I tried substituting grade B maple syrup for the honey--the honey taste isn't overpowering in the first version I made, but I really prefer other sweeteners.  And how can you go wrong with maple & pecans & brown sugar?  The result isn't super mapley, but it's really good.  It's a bit drier/less sticky than the honey version, probably because the maple syrup isn't as viscous as honey.  I also rubbed vanilla bean seeds into the granulated sugar, and cut the vanilla extract back to just one teaspoon.  I'm really happy with how it turned out.  

If you'd like to try the original granola recipe for yourself, you can find it here on Tracey's blog.  Be sure to look around while you're there--she posts so many delicious recipes, both sweet and savory. =)

Warm and toasty

So I said that more information would be coming on how I want to focus on my blog this year.  It took me a few days to come up with a plan that I think will work well.  My initial problem was that there are so many things I'd like to do.  I have a ton of cookbooks, and I don't use them nearly enough.  Ditto with the cooking magazines that I read regularly.  I have lots of baking pans these days, and don't use them enough either.  I have lots of great cooking tools, and interesting ingredients.  When I started to think about all the possibilities, I didn't know where to begin.  That's where the focus idea comes in.  I started to make a list of ideas, and here's what I came up with:

Cookbooks

Magazines

Friends (featuring a recipe from a friend's blog)

Kids (cooking with, or stuff they would like)

Ingredients (maybe seasonal?)

Pantry (using what I routinely have on hand)

Bread (I want to make at least one new one a month)

Pans (I have lots of interesting ones, and lots of different sizes)

Tools

I stopped there--nine is my favorite number, and nine seemed like a reasonable number to fit into a month's time.  Some recipes may fit into more than one category, but I'll post at least one for each separate category each month.  I'm not going to do them in any particular order, since I don't need that much pressure.  This idea appeals to me because it's sort of like a puzzle.  Some categories may be easy to cover in a given month.  Then I'll have to see what I can come up with to fill in the blanks.  For January, I've already done Tools (my balloon whisk) and Magazines (the fudge cake was from Fine Cooking, one of my favorites).  I've got ideas for all but Kids and Pantry, but it's fun to try to figure out what to make for those categories.  This post is going to take care of Cookbooks.

I thought I'd go with one of the new cookbooks I got for Christmas.  The Cook's Illustrated Cookbook is quite the tome, and contains all the best recipes from 20 years worth of magazine issues.  I love my website subscription to CI when I'm searching for something, but I really enjoy browsing through a physical cookbook--that way things can jump out at me that I might never think to search for.  In this case, I knew I wanted to make scones for breakfast because when I ask the girls what I should make, the answer is always "Scones! With chocolate chips, please!"  I wanted something a bit more interesting than a plain scone.  As for the chocolate chips, I'm not always in the mood the way they are, but it's pretty easy to divide the dough (usually two-thirds for them, one-third for me) and add in different things.  I settled on the Oatmeal Scones--never hurts to sneak in some fiber when the girls aren't paying attention. =)

The thing that intrigued me about this recipe is that you toast the oats before you start mixing things together.  I never would have thought to do that, but it makes sense that, like with nuts, it would add to the flavor.  There are several variations at the end of the basic oatmeal scone recipe.  I love maple scones, so I went with that option.  In place of the granulated sugar, you use maple syrup (I used grade B).  I also toasted some pecans to add to my part of the dough and I put a mix of semisweet and bittersweet chocolate chips in the rest so I wouldn't have to listen to B&G complain. =)  I think the substitution of the maple syrup made the dough stickier than usual, and I didn't think I could pat it out without having to use a lot of flour.  So I made drop scones instead.  I used my #16 disher and got an even dozen.  I baked them for 12 minutes, but could probably have left them in a minute or two longer to get a bit more browning on top.  Once the scones had cooled for a few minutes, I drizzled them with maple glaze (just some maple syrup & powdered sugar, with a bit of water to thin it out).

The verdict?  Who would have thought that toasting oats would make such a bit difference in the taste? These are my new go-to scone.  Brianna and Gillian loved them with the chocolate chips; I thought they were terrific with the pecans.  They weren't at all dry; I'm sure the maple syrup helped with that, as did the high baking temp and shorter baking time.  

If you'd like to give these a try, you can, of course, find the recipe in the new Cook's Illustrated Cookbook.  It's also in Baking Illustrated, and can be found online here if you have a membership to the CI website.  

I'm excited about blogging again, so I think my focus idea is going in the right direction.  I've added a tab at the top of the blog where I can keep track of the different categories each month.  I'm also tagging the individual posts (e.g. this one is labeled with "cookbook focus" among other things) so they can be searched that way.  Next up, another new acquisition--my 6-cup Bundt pan!

Nuts about scones

Well, I made it.  The past week and a half at work have been draining; I've pretty much felt like I might as well live there with the number of hours I've worked.  But the worst is over--the rest of the week is pretty normal, and then I'm off this weekend.  I only had one day off this past weekend, and didn't manage to fit in much baking.  I ended up making these scones Monday morning so I could take some of them to work with me.  (I'm not the only one who's been working hard, so I thought some breakfast would be appreciated.)  I had enough energy Sunday night to do most of the mise en place, which really helps when I want to pull off some early morning baking.  

I'm tired enough that I just realized that I haven't yet mentioned that I was making the scones because they're one of this week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipes.  Yes, plural--we're almost done with the book, and are doubling up on recipes so we'll be finished by the end of the year.  I've really enjoyed the scones recipes in Baking, and was looking forward to trying this one, Honey Nut Scones.  Well, except for the fact that I'm not that fond of honey.  But then I had an idea--I could substitute maple syrup (grade B) for the honey.  I'm sure that walnuts would have been great with maple, but I had pecans in my freezer (thanks, Margaret!), so that's what I used.  The only other change I made was due to laziness and being a bit short on time--I used my 1/4 cup scoop to make drop scones, rather than patting the dough out and cutting it into triangles.  To bring out more maple flavor, I also drizzled my baked scones with a maple glaze (powdered sugar, maple syrup, a bit of milk and a pinch of salt).  

The verdict?  I love scones, and these were no exception.  They aren't very sweet, so I liked the addition of glaze.  The girls won't eat them because they don't like the pecans, but the ones I took to work disappeared pretty quickly.  I'll definitely make these again, even if it's just for me.

Jeannette has the scone recipe on her blog, and you can find everyone else's Links here.  I didn't get to the Far Breton, but be sure to check out those Links, too, and head over to Nicole's blog for that recipe. And be sure to come back here next week, when I get to be a host!

I can't resist leaving you with a picture of my trick-or-treaters from last night:

Drop in for breakfast

I don't use maple syrup very much.  When I was growing up, my dad was the only one in the house who used real maple syrup on his pancakes, etc.  The rest of us used pancake syrup (not the same thing at all).  Dad got the real butter, too, rather than margarine.  It wasn't until I was much older that I realized what a good thing he had going. =)  To be honest, my kids eat Log Cabin and like it just fine, but I don't know how much of that is just because they haven't had the real thing.  I'm kind of afraid to find out.  

I definitely associate maple syrup with breakfast, but hadn't thought past drizzling it on top of things.  Sure, I've encountered recipes that used it, but nothing that really grabbed my attention.  Nothing, that is, until I got my copy of Joanne Chang's Flour cookbook.  The very first recipe in the book is for Oatmeal-Maple Scones.  Yum.  I don't like to eat oatmeal as hot cereal (can't stand the texture), but I love it in baked goods like scones.  And these scones are really easy to make, even when you aren't quite awake yet.

These are drop scones, meaning that you scoop them out onto the baking sheet, rather than patting out dough and cutting it into shapes.  So the dough is rather sticky.  The only sweetener is the maple syrup; it also provides moisture in the dough, along with cream and an egg.  For the dry ingredients, there's a mix of all-purpose flour and rolled oats, along with baking powder, baking soda and salt.  The recipe calls for nuts, but they aren't very popular in baked goods around here, so I left them out.  I've used raisins in these a couple times, but for the most recent batch, I went with cinnamon chips.

I was a bit surprised by the baking temperature of 350ºF, since most of the other recipes I've made call for baking scones at a higher temperature (usually 400ºF).  To go with the lower temp, the baking time is longer.  I didn't bake mine for quite as long as the recipe said, only 25 minutes instead of 40.  That was partly because I made mine smaller, but if I'd made them the size in the recipe, I still don't thing they would have taken that long.  

We had to have the glaze, of course.  To be honest, I usually kind of wing it on the glaze.  I put some powdered sugar in a bowl and whisked in a couple tablespoons of maple syrup along with just enough water to make thick glaze.  Rather than brushing it all over the scones, I drizzled it on top--I prefer how it looks that way.  

The verdict?  Well, I've made these scones three times already, so that should give you an idea of how much I love them!  I liked them just fine with raisins, and so did Gillian.   But Brianna was very happy that I finally made a batch without dried fruit.  (She liked to eat it straight up, but not in baked goods.)  These scones also went over well at work.  

If you'd like to try these for yourself, I highly recommend getting your hands on a copy of Flour.  But in the in meantime, you can find the recipe for these yummy scones online here.  Unfortunately, the article only gives the volume measurements, which frustrates me to no end.  One of the things I love so much about this book is that every recipe includes weights in grams in addition to the volume measurements.  So I'm listing the weights of ingredients for you here.

Oatmeal-Maple Scones

(adapted from Flour, by Joanne Chang)

210 grams all-purpose flour

125 grams rolled oats

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

80 grams cinnamon chips (or raisins)

113 grams (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 16 pieces

80 grams cold heavy cream

160 grams Grade B maple syrup

1 cold egg

115 grams powdered sugar

2 tablespoons Grade B maple syrup

up to 1 tablespoon water

I used my #16 disher (which holds 2 ounces, or 1/4 cup) to scoop out my scones.  I got 12, rather than the yield of 8 in the recipe.  I baked them for 25 minutes at 350ºF.