Wordless Wednesday - Sunday football season traditions

(recipe here--made two-thirds; sprinkled w/cheese powder for J & B but not G; I don't really like popcorn)

An apple cake for fall

I didn't want the whole month to pass by without at least one Tuesdays with Dorie post.  I don't have the fig cake that was on the agenda for this week.  (Head over to Cookie Rookie for this week's recipe.)  I also passed on last week's Ginger-Jazzed Brownies.  You may have seen why I had some trouble with the biscuits the week before that.  (I made them, but they weren't great, and I didn't take any pictures.  I'm still hoping to make them again.)  The cake I have for you today is actually the first recipe for October, the Apple Nut Muffin Cake picked by Katrina of Baking and Boys.  

In the hopes that my girls would eat the cake, I skipped the nuts and raisins.  Afraid that the cake would be a little plain after that, I added a crumb topping.  This was also a good chance to break out my bottle of King Arthur boiled cider, since I didn't have any regular cider on hand.  I used about 3 tablespoons of the boiled cider, then added milk to make a full 8 ounces of liquid.  I thought about using some white whole wheat flour in place of the all-purpose, but didn't this time.  I fully intend to make this cake again, so I'll see how that works out next time.

The verdict?  The cake was well-received both at home and at work.  I really liked it with the crumb topping, but that's not really a surprise. =)  I know Dorie originally made the cake because she was too rushed for muffins, but I want to try the muffin version next time, keeping the crumbs.  

If you'd like to play around with the recipe yourself, you can find the original on Katrina's blog.  For more about the muffin cake, check out the Links for that week.  For the fig cake, check here.  I promise to do better with posting next month, especially since I get to host again! =)

Handmade Loaves - The round-up

I was thrilled to see such a wonderful turnout for my Handmade Loaves event!  We got all kinds of loaves--yeast breads, quick breads and pounds cakes, as well as a few savory contributions (yes, including a meatloaf) and a no-bake dessert.  I hope these enticing pictures will lead you to check out the full posts from all of these great bakers.

First up is the one that I'm probably most eager to try.  Abby of Stir it! Scrape it! Mix it! Bake it! made this gorgeous Windsor knot loaf of Berne Brot.  I'm so glad that she included a link to a shaping tutorial, because I have got to try it for myself.  Read more about it here.  

Next is Phyl from Of Cabbages and King Cakes, lover of all things pumpkin.  He recently hosted a pumpkin blogging round-up, and in the process of deciding what to make himself he ran across this yummy pumpkin cornbread.  He discovered that it paired nicely with a bowl of chili.  Check it out!

Pamela of Cookies with Boys also went the pumpkin route.  She added some Biscoff Spread (I admit, I have a jar, but so far it's only made it as far as a spoon) and drizzled it with caramel.  Sounds good to me--go take a closer look!

If you're in a rush, try out this cake from Mike of Living Out West.  He freely admits that he used cake mix and box pudding.  But with the additions of lots of nutmeg and even more sherry, I don't think anyone will complain!  Just be sure to check the liquor cabinet before you head to the store for the other ingredients--3/4 cup will certainly put a dent in your sherry supply.  Read more here.  

My daughters are sure to approve of this loaf from Elaine of California Living.  She shared a loaf of pumpkin bread that's chock full of chocolate chips.  I was pretty skeptical about the combination of chocolate and pumpkin the first time I tried it, but I have to agree, it's pretty tasty.  Head over to her blog for the recipe!

Next we have a new participant, Carol of Bookcase Foodie.  I totally agree with the goal of her blog--trying to use all the cooking magazines and cookbooks that she already has.  I need to do the same.  At first glance, you might think that she's made us another quick bread.  But it's actually a kugel in loaf form.  Read more about her Carrot Kugel here.  

Yay!  I was very excited to see some savory entrees from our next baker, Chaya.  She sent me one for each of her blogs.  The first is a breakfast quick bread with cheese and veggies that you can find on Bizzy Bakes.  The second is, yes, a meatloaf!  I'm sure that my husband would love the Mexican flavors if I made it for him.  Read about it here on My Sweet and Savory.  

I love how Mary of Popsicles and Sandy Feet subtitled her blog post "A cautionary tale."  Apparently she missed the instruction in the recipe that said to lower the oven temperature after putting her loaf in the oven.  Hmmm, I wonder who else will admit to having similar baking mishaps?  (For me, it's not if I've done it, it's how many times...)  Read more here. 

Besides Abby's shaping, this is the loaf that I am most excited to try.  Margaret of The Irish Mother developed her own recipe for Multigrain Bread.  And it is absolutely gorgeous!  There are lots of helpful process pictures in her post, so go read it!

Now for my other friend Margaret.  You might think that she brought us another pumpkin quick bread. But she went with another winter squash to make this lovely Butternut Squash Bread.  I'm always looking for more ways to sneak veggies into my kids, so I'm going to have to try this.  (though I may have to add chocolate chips to get them to eat it)  Head over to Margaret's blog for more info, as well as a picture of her cute steamer.  

The list of things I want to try ASAP just keeps getting longer and longer.  As someone who never gets tired of pizza, I was so excited to see the pictures for Jeannette's bread.  She added pepperoni, but I might have to see what other "toppings" I can get in there.  (Mushrooms are my favorite.)  Go check out her blog post at The Whimsical Cupcake, for more photos to drool over.  

I may have a hard time finding space for all the bakeware I already have, but that doesn't stop me from wanting the cute 4-loaf pan that Peggy has in her post.  Head over to her post at Pantry Revisited to see the pan as well as all the cute Halloween decorations she has pictured with her Pumpkin Bread mini loaves.  

Gillian keeps bugging me to make raisin bread for her.  I'm still trying to work it into the baking schedule, but when I do, it's going to be this loaf from my friend Nancy.  She posted it on her bread blog, Corner Loaf.  Her daughter bakes with a bread collective, and they were kind enough to let Nancy share the recipe for this yummy cinnamon swirl loaf.  You can get the recipe here.  

Jessica of Cookbookhabit found out about our blogging event at the last minute.  She says that her loaf of Portugese Sweet Bread isn't handmade since it came out of her bread machine.  I say that it came out of her kitchen rather than from a store, so that's close enough. =)  Every time King Arthur has a blog post that uses a bread machine (mostly for mixing), I kind of want one.  You can read more about Jessica's loaf here.  

A couple friends were running a bit late, but I often have the same problem, so I understand.   Marthe of The Baking Bluefinger shared this easy no-bake dessert with us--Arretje's Cake.  I love reading about Dutch things on Marthe's blog--it's fun to see what's popular in other cultures.  Be sure to read about this recipe and others.

Tracey was also having a crazy week.  She got her loaf baked, but just took awhile to get it posted.  No problem--her Lemon Lemon Loaf was definitely worth waiting for!  I love anything lemon, so I can't wait to try this recipe.  Tracey always has gorgeous pictures, and this post is no exception.  Go take a look!

And last but not least, I made a pound cake, too.  Mine was flavored with nutmeg, one of my favorite spices, as well as a bit of bourbon.  I had to make a second loaf to get pictures, since the first loaf disappeared so quickly.  You can read more about it here.  

I hope you've enjoyed reading about all of these wonderful loaves.  (If I somehow missed your loaf in the round-up, please let me know!)  Check back in early December for our 2nd annual Virtual Cookie Exchange!  If you want to join in the fun but aren't already getting emails from me about the seasonal blogging events, send me an email at diskitchennotebook at gmail dot com.

Wordless Wednesday - Birthday girl

Handmade Loaves - Bourbon & Nutmeg Pound Cake

The only problem with picking loaves as the theme for my autumn blogging event was that I had a really hard time deciding what to make myself!  My first thought was to make a yeast bread.  I usually do non-pan loaves when I bake bread, since I'm not that excited by typical sandwich loaves.  However, I seriously considered Dan Lepard's Simple Milk Loaf (posted here by my friend Nancy), since somehow I haven't blogged it even though I've made it many times.  This week ended up being kind of crazy, though, and I spent my day off on Thursday making a fancy birthday cake for a certain young lady who turned 5 on Friday.  Thursday evening I decided to try to throw something together quickly so I wouldn't end up baking at the very last minute.  The other thing I had been considering was pound cake.  I ended up turning to my copy of Alice Medrich's Pure Dessert.  I made several of the variations of her Kamut Pound Cake a couple years ago, but again, never got them posted.  I didn't have an kamut flour in my pantry, so I decided to go with one of the variations.

The version that caught my eye was the Bourbon and Nutmeg Pound Cake.  As I mentioned in another recent post, nutmeg is one of my favorite spices, and this recipe sounded like a good one for fall.  The kamut flour from the original recipe is replaced with either spelt flour (nope, out of that too) or whole wheat flour (yes! I have that!).  I actually used white whole wheat flour.  I also got to use some of my unbleached cake flour blend for the cake flour in the recipe.  

My favorite pound cake recipes are usually the ones that fold melted butter into the batter at the end.  I haven't had much luck with pound cakes using the creaming method.  This recipe doesn't really do either.  Medrich mentions that she adapted the recipe from The Cake Bible, so if you've made cakes from that book, the mixing method will be familiar.  First you whisk together the wet ingredients--milk, bourbon, eggs and vanilla, and set that mixture aside.  Next, you mix together the dry ingredients--flours, sugar, baking powder, salt and nutmeg.  Chunks of butter are added to the dry ingredients, along with a third of the liquids, and the mixture is beaten together for about a minute to develop the structure of the cake.  Then the remaining liquid is added in two additions, beating for about 20 seconds after each addition.  

The recipe calls for an 8" by 4" loaf pan lined with parchment paper, and a bake time of 55 to 65 minutes at 350ºF.  I decided to use the vintage loaf pan that I received from my friend Nancy, which is about 3.5" by 10" and only 2.5" deep.  For others who have similar pans, the bake time is about 40 minutes.  Once the cake was baked, I let it cool in the pan for about 10 minutes, then lifted it out (I let the parchment overhang the sides a bit so I'd have handles) and let it cool completely on a rack.  The next morning I cut it into thick slices and took it to work.  (I did take a few pictures, but it was early in the morning and still dark outside, so they weren't very good.) 

The verdict?  Well, I had to bake a second loaf today to take decent pictures.  I thought I'd have some left from the first loaf that I took to work, but it was pretty well devoured.  I'll take that as a positive review. =)  I really liked it myself--the cake is delicious, with a subtle spice from the nutmeg.  I've made some dry pound cakes in the past, but this one definitely is not.  I really like the slight nuttiness from the whole wheat flour, too.  But don't take my word for it, try it for yourself!  

I highly recommend getting your hands on a copy of the book (maybe your local library will have it!)--there are lots of other enticing recipes besides this one.  I was also able to find the recipe on Google Books here.  (The link shows the variations page; the full recipe is on the previous page.)  For those who like to use metric weights, here are the ingredients I used:

30 grams(2 tablespoons) whole milk, at room temperature

15 grams (1 tablespoon) bourbon

3 extra large eggs (what I had--the recipe calls for large)

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

100 grams unbleached cake flour blend (KAF)

50 grams white whole wheat flour (KAF)

150 grams granulated sugar

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon table salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

185 grams (13 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened

For lots of other delicious loaves of many varieties (including some savory ones!), check back later this week for the round-up!

Handmade loaves (a seasonal blogging event)

Time for another blogging event!  I mentioned in my Sundae Sunday post back in July that I was going to start hosting this sort of round-up about once per season.  Today we have the Autumn event.  I had a few different ideas for the theme.  I thought about going with a specific fall ingredient (kind of like my friend Phyl's pumpkin round-up).  My only hesitation was that not everyone likes the same things, and I wanted a theme that would appeal to everyone.

Then it hit me--loaves!  Lots of things can be made in a loaf shape--yeast breads, quick breads, pound cake, terrines, even meat loaf. =)  Now that we're getting some cooler weather (even here in Texas), it's much more appealing to turn on the oven, so loaves seemed like a perfect idea.  Be on the lookout for a bunch of loaves this weekend, either from pans or freeform.  Don't worry about missing some--I'll have a round-up of all the posts later this week.

If you'd like to join us in future events, you can leave a comment on this post or email me at diskitchennotebook at gmail dot com.  Next up will be our 2nd annual Virtual Cookie Exchange, in early December!

Sugar and spice and everything nice

One of the things that I love about blogging is all the great friends that I've made.  I'm especially glad that some of my bloggy friends convinced me to start using Twitter--it's so fun to bake along with each other.  It's also so nice that there's usually someone around pretty much any time of the day (and well into the night) if I need someone to talk to.  As wonderful as that is, though, sometimes it's nice to talk to someone in person.  Which is why I was so happy to have lunch with my friend T when I was off from work last Friday.  I have a new--male--manager, and she's currently working in an office full of guys.  So we both really wanted needed some girl time. =)  Of course, I can't show up for a lunch date empty-handed, so I decided to bake some cookies. 

Chocolate is good, but this time of year I'm more in the mood for spices.  When you think fall, you probably think cinnamon first, but my favorites are actually nutmeg and ginger.  I go with nutmeg more for cakes or muffins, but ginger is perfect for cookies.  So I turned to one of my favorite ginger cookie recipes, Double Ginger Crackles from Fine Cooking.  I first made these cookies shortly after they appeared in the magazine, around the holidays in 2005.  I've made them many times in the past 6 years, yet somehow I've never included them here on my blog!  Time to fix that. 

You start by creaming butter and granulated sugar, then add molasses, an egg, and a bunch of diced crystallized ginger.  I admit, I add about a quarter cup, rather than the 3 tablespoons that the recipe calls for.  Then the dry ingredients--flour, baking soda, salt and a hefty dose of ground ginger--are stirred in.  The dough is scooped out by the tablespoon (I use my #70 disher), and rolled into balls.  The balls are coated in more granulated sugar, then baked on a sheet lined with parchment paper.  The dough can be rather sticky right after mixing, so I often chill it first.  The dough doesn't get rock hard like some, probably thanks to the molasses.  The recipes says to bake at 350º for 12-14 minutes, but mine are usually done in about 11 minutes.  

The verdict?  We all love these cookies.  I still can't believe that I haven't blogged about them before.  They have a wonderful texture--slightly crisp around the edges, and chewy in the middle.  One thing to watch out for--the dough itself is very tasty, so some of it may never make it to the baking sheet.  The cookies are actually more flavorful cool than warm, so be patient and let them cool completely.  If you manage to keep them around for a few days, the ginger flavor continues to intensify.  I haven't tried it, but I bet these would be great for ice cream sandwiches.

If you'd like to try these for yourself, you can find the recipe here at Fine Cooking.