So, from my last post, here are some ways i coped with the loneliness:
-tried to plan activities that involved interacting with other people almost every night
-tried to take up knitting again while falling asleep to "Phantom of the Opera"
-borrowed my neighbors doggy in the evenings for company
Segue:
My neighbors are awesome! I had an amazing dinner with them on Monday to take my mind off of worries. They are slightly older than me and husband and they have a 7 mo old adorable cutie. They are essentially examples of the people husband and I hope to be in a few yrs or so. It's really fun seeing a peer-ish couple doing the kid thing and still being cool, fun, interesting and not all consumed by child. They are v. loving toward the babe by the way. She's going to grow up great. I think you can tell a lot about a family by how the baby takes in the world. Neighbor baby (we will call her N) is a v. well adjusted, easily amused, calm baby. I want one just like her!
Anyways, the new neighbors like to cook and bake, and that was actually our first intro to them. The age old "Hi new neighbors! We baked some goods for you to welcome you to the neighborhood!" V (wife type neighbor) baked some amazing ginger cookies with large chunks of melt in your mouth chocolate and cocoa flavor all around. They were delicious! So, I borrowed her recipe, made it, and loved the cookies again. I do not know who the originator of the recipe is or I would give them mad props. Also, I plan on baking a ton of these and giving them in little baggies to all non-family for Christmas due to budget-induced-tight-walletedness.
A must post recipe:
Chewy Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies
(Makes about 20 cookies)
-7 oz high quality semisweet chocolate chopped up (I used 3/4 of a 12oz bag of Ghiradelli choco chips)
- 1.5 cups + 1 tbsp flour
-1.25 tsp ground ginger
-1 tsp ground cinnamon
-1/4 tsp ground cloves
-1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
-1 tbsp cocoa powder
Chop chocolate in 1/4" chunks. Combine dry ingredients listed above. Set aside.
8 tbsp (1 stick) unsalted butter (room temp)
1 tbsp ginger
1/2 cup dark brown suger
1/2 cup unsulfured molasses
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup granulated sugar
Beat ginger and butter in electric mixer with paddle attahcment until fluffy (about 4 min). Add brown sugar until combined. Add molasses until combined.
Dissolves baking soda in 1.5 tsp boiling water (I know this is a ridiculously small amount of water to boil, but I guess this step is important. So boil a few cups of water and then use only 1.5 tsp). Beat half of the flour mixture into the butter mixture. Beat in baking soda mixture. Beat in rest of flour mixture. Add chocolate and mix. Wrap up the complete cookie batter into plastic wrap. Refrigerate.
This is the part that is up to your discretion; Refrigeration.
The key to chewy cookies is refrigeration time. If you want denser, flatter, heavy, chewy cookies refrigerate these babies for ~2hrs. If you want really fluffy cookies do not refrigerate at all. My preferred time frame for chewy, slightly dense, yet light cookies is 1hr.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Roll cookies into into 1" balls and roll in granulated sugar (this gives them that pretty sugar plum christmas look!). Place on non-stick cookie sheet and bake for about 10 minutes. The cookies will look plump and raised with a couple of cracks in them. Be careful! 2 minutes too late for these cookies can make them v. crunchy and not as yummy.
Let cool until you can bear to pick up the hot aromatic melted chocolate goodness and stuff your face!
Love.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Day 1
I don't know what to title this yet. I idolize my husband. So much of my happiness is dependent on him. Some ways you know if you idolize someone/something;
1. You get angry (to the point of doing things you regret, or not characteristic for you to do) when something gets between you and your idol
2. You are really sad (depressed; you have trouble getting out of bed and have no motivation to do anything) when you don't have your idol.
I wish I didn't in some ways. But I don't know how to stop. He is gone for 6 days this week because of a business trip. He left this morning. The past two days were rough. I tried to be strong and not let it bother me, but I know I know I miss him more than he misses me and all I do is waste time/wait until he gets back. He laid with me while I essentially cried myself to sleep the last two nights.
Why am I like this? I used to be SO independent. The last two years of our relationship were long distance. The first year was fun and not too hard. The second year we missed each other a lot, but it was definitely doable. But now I am this puddle of a mess. I have to remember how it is I survived 23 years of life before this without falling asleep next to someone or having someone to come home to/with. What did I do all of that time??? How did I have any motivation?
We have been praying a lot about me putting my attention and investing my energy on God rather than him. It's a lot of pressure for him too you know. I hold him to a standard he can never live up to, no matter how much he wants to. He can never make me happy all the time, or be there everyday, or meet all of my needs at once. No one can, except God.
I have a lot of trouble with that though.
We spent our last day together cooking and baking. It's our past time. He made Beet Soup, and Potato Leek Soup. I made Cinnamon Rolls and Pumpkin/Harvest Bread. Everything turned out great. I don't really feel like typing out some quirky version of these recipes, so here ya go;
Pumpkin/Harvest Bread
Cinnamon Rolls
1. You get angry (to the point of doing things you regret, or not characteristic for you to do) when something gets between you and your idol
2. You are really sad (depressed; you have trouble getting out of bed and have no motivation to do anything) when you don't have your idol.
I wish I didn't in some ways. But I don't know how to stop. He is gone for 6 days this week because of a business trip. He left this morning. The past two days were rough. I tried to be strong and not let it bother me, but I know I know I miss him more than he misses me and all I do is waste time/wait until he gets back. He laid with me while I essentially cried myself to sleep the last two nights.
Why am I like this? I used to be SO independent. The last two years of our relationship were long distance. The first year was fun and not too hard. The second year we missed each other a lot, but it was definitely doable. But now I am this puddle of a mess. I have to remember how it is I survived 23 years of life before this without falling asleep next to someone or having someone to come home to/with. What did I do all of that time??? How did I have any motivation?
We have been praying a lot about me putting my attention and investing my energy on God rather than him. It's a lot of pressure for him too you know. I hold him to a standard he can never live up to, no matter how much he wants to. He can never make me happy all the time, or be there everyday, or meet all of my needs at once. No one can, except God.
I have a lot of trouble with that though.
We spent our last day together cooking and baking. It's our past time. He made Beet Soup, and Potato Leek Soup. I made Cinnamon Rolls and Pumpkin/Harvest Bread. Everything turned out great. I don't really feel like typing out some quirky version of these recipes, so here ya go;
Pumpkin/Harvest Bread
Cinnamon Rolls
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
i might have a problem peanut butter bars
It's my day off from work. I had to work a v. stressful event over the weekend starting from Thurs. and I have been exhausted. Too much sun and heat, on the water all weekend dealing with careless people. I decided to take a comp. day from work. As usual I come up with a menacing list of "to dos" on my relax day. I need to go grocery shopping and I wanted to finish reading my Bible today (selfishly so I can move onto another book). I just wrote 30+ thank you notes. How do I decide to spend the rest of my afternoon? Baking peanut butter bars with 1 1/2 sticks of butter to make me feel even worse about not working out!Recipe taken in part from Jif
Ingredients:
Crust:
1 stick butter
3/8 c sugar
1/2 c flour
3/4 c oatmeal
Peanut Butter Bars:
1/2 stick butter
1/2 c water
1/4 c peanut butter (a bit more if you want a stronger pb flavor)
1/4 c oil
1 c flour
1 c sugar
1/2 tspn baking soda
1/4 c milk
1/2 tspn vanilla
1 egg
Crust:
Mix dry ingredients. Add in melted butter and mix until combined. Press into the bottom of an 8"x 8" pan.
Peanut Butter Bars:
Heat butter, water, peanut butter, and oil in a saucepan, stirring occasionally. Once it is brought to a boil, set in fridge to cool.
Combine dry ingredients in mixture. Add milk, vanilla, and egg. Add peanut butter mixture and combine. Pour into 8"x 8" pan over crust. Place in 380 degree oven for ~40 min, until the corners brown and pull away from the edges and a chopstick comes out clean after poking the center.
Enjoy!
My husband is coming home Linzer Torte
This one goes out to the Mommys.
My husband grew up in Germany. His mother is a great cook and baker. He has a few "Mother made this" favorites, and they usually turn into favorites of mine too. This is one of those favorites. My husband had to go on a business trip the past three days and it was our first time apart since we got married. I missed him and wanted to treat him to something special when he got home.
I also have a habit of launching right into a project without knowing for sure whether I have everything I need to get through the project. Despite the numerous amount of times I have gotten half way through a project and realized I didn't have the tools I needed, I continue to make this mistake. But it is usually a great experience. Even if the food didn't turn out great, I learned some really good tricks for how to get by without things I thought I needed, or a neat alternative to what the recipe calls for. I realized I owe this characteristic to my Mommy.
When I was a little stranger than baker, my mommy would have to make meals for me with v. little in the pantry. She became v. wise in the skill of improvisation. Watching her jaded me to the thought that something is impossible without a certain ingredient or tool. I've learned to do without actual powdered sugar, buttermilk, and even eggs, among other things!
This was also one small part of the development of my inner motto: nothing is impossible.
Anyway, the original recipe calls for raspberries and raspberry preserves. I had a few raspberries, more blueberries, and tons of strawberry preserves. I also had a blender instead of a food processor, not enough almonds, and no hazelnuts. Whatevs!
This recipe taken in part from Joy of Baking
Ingredients:
Preserves:
1/2 c frozen raspberries
1 c blueberries
1/4 c sugar
1/2 tspn currant wine (optional)
2-3 tbspn strawberry preserves
Linzer Torte:
1/4 c plain almonds
1 1/2 c walnuts
1 1/2 c flour
2/3 c sugar
1 tspn ground cinnamon
1/8 tspn ground cloves
1/4 tspn salt
1/2 tspn baking powder
14 tbspn (~1 and 2/3 stick) cold butter
1 egg, 1 egg yolk
1 tspn vanilla extract
Preserves:
Heat and stir raspberries, blueberries and sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat until it begins to boil. Turn down the heat to a simmer and allow most of the juices to evaporate (~ 15 min). The result should coat the spoon. Stir in currant wine. Before it burns, pour it into a measuring cup and add strawberry preserves until the mixture makes 1 cup. Stir the mixture together and place in the fridge.
Linzer Torte:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place almonds and walnuts on a baking sheet and place on center rack in the oven. Let the nuts bake until they are aromatic and slightly browned (~10 mins). Remove from oven to cool. Once the nuts are cool, place nuts and 1/2 c flour in blender. Blend up the nuts and flour until the nuts are relatively finely chopped (really, whatever your preferance is). This may require plenty of pulsing, stopping to turn off and unplug the blender, and push down the mixture on the sides into the center with a long handled rubber spatula or fork. (I recently met a little old lady who got her fingers sliced up in a blender just 2 days ago, so this was a v. slow, cautious process for me.) Once the nuts are chopped to your satifcation, pour into the bowl of your mixer. Add remaining flour, sugar, ground cinnamon, ground cloves, salt, and baking powder and mix until combined. Add the butter in pieces. Mix. With all intentions of adding only the egg yolk to the mixture, accidentally add in one whole egg. Then carefully seperate the second egg so you only add an egg yolk. Add vanilla extract and mix until the dough is so moist you don't think it will work right as a crust.
Scoop out a little less than half of the dough and place on aluminum foil in the freezer. With the remaining dough, spread into the bottom and up the sides of a tart pan. You will have to use a spatula, and you will really begin to doubt the consistancy of the dough. It will be sticky and a little hard to handle.
Pull remaining dough out of the freezer, place another peice of aluminum foil on top and roll the dough between the foil into a circle slightly larger than the tart pan. You might have trouble removing the top sheet of foil. If so; place the dough in freezer for another 5 minutes. Remove top sheet of foil and realize the dough is too sticky to cut into pretty little slices for lattice work on top of the tart. Take a butter knife or spoon and scoop up rows of the dough to pinch off and drip on top of the tart in a design of your choice. The truth is it is so moist it will spread out and bake in a totally different shape anyway. Let it go. It will still be extremely tasty.
Bake the tart in your 350 degree preheated oven for about 35 min until the edges begin to brown and the dough is soft, but makes a dull knocking sound when you tap it with a chopstick. Remove from oven and let cool. Dust with powdered sugar.
This tart is really good straight from the oven, or a couple days old. I prefer it warm either way.
Enjoy!
My husband grew up in Germany. His mother is a great cook and baker. He has a few "Mother made this" favorites, and they usually turn into favorites of mine too. This is one of those favorites. My husband had to go on a business trip the past three days and it was our first time apart since we got married. I missed him and wanted to treat him to something special when he got home.
I also have a habit of launching right into a project without knowing for sure whether I have everything I need to get through the project. Despite the numerous amount of times I have gotten half way through a project and realized I didn't have the tools I needed, I continue to make this mistake. But it is usually a great experience. Even if the food didn't turn out great, I learned some really good tricks for how to get by without things I thought I needed, or a neat alternative to what the recipe calls for. I realized I owe this characteristic to my Mommy.
When I was a little stranger than baker, my mommy would have to make meals for me with v. little in the pantry. She became v. wise in the skill of improvisation. Watching her jaded me to the thought that something is impossible without a certain ingredient or tool. I've learned to do without actual powdered sugar, buttermilk, and even eggs, among other things!
This was also one small part of the development of my inner motto: nothing is impossible.
Anyway, the original recipe calls for raspberries and raspberry preserves. I had a few raspberries, more blueberries, and tons of strawberry preserves. I also had a blender instead of a food processor, not enough almonds, and no hazelnuts. Whatevs!
This recipe taken in part from Joy of Baking
Ingredients:
Preserves:
1/2 c frozen raspberries
1 c blueberries
1/4 c sugar
1/2 tspn currant wine (optional)
2-3 tbspn strawberry preserves
Linzer Torte:
1/4 c plain almonds
1 1/2 c walnuts
1 1/2 c flour
2/3 c sugar
1 tspn ground cinnamon
1/8 tspn ground cloves
1/4 tspn salt
1/2 tspn baking powder
14 tbspn (~1 and 2/3 stick) cold butter
1 egg, 1 egg yolk
1 tspn vanilla extract
Preserves:
Heat and stir raspberries, blueberries and sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat until it begins to boil. Turn down the heat to a simmer and allow most of the juices to evaporate (~ 15 min). The result should coat the spoon. Stir in currant wine. Before it burns, pour it into a measuring cup and add strawberry preserves until the mixture makes 1 cup. Stir the mixture together and place in the fridge.
Linzer Torte:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place almonds and walnuts on a baking sheet and place on center rack in the oven. Let the nuts bake until they are aromatic and slightly browned (~10 mins). Remove from oven to cool. Once the nuts are cool, place nuts and 1/2 c flour in blender. Blend up the nuts and flour until the nuts are relatively finely chopped (really, whatever your preferance is). This may require plenty of pulsing, stopping to turn off and unplug the blender, and push down the mixture on the sides into the center with a long handled rubber spatula or fork. (I recently met a little old lady who got her fingers sliced up in a blender just 2 days ago, so this was a v. slow, cautious process for me.) Once the nuts are chopped to your satifcation, pour into the bowl of your mixer. Add remaining flour, sugar, ground cinnamon, ground cloves, salt, and baking powder and mix until combined. Add the butter in pieces. Mix. With all intentions of adding only the egg yolk to the mixture, accidentally add in one whole egg. Then carefully seperate the second egg so you only add an egg yolk. Add vanilla extract and mix until the dough is so moist you don't think it will work right as a crust.
Scoop out a little less than half of the dough and place on aluminum foil in the freezer. With the remaining dough, spread into the bottom and up the sides of a tart pan. You will have to use a spatula, and you will really begin to doubt the consistancy of the dough. It will be sticky and a little hard to handle.
Pull remaining dough out of the freezer, place another peice of aluminum foil on top and roll the dough between the foil into a circle slightly larger than the tart pan. You might have trouble removing the top sheet of foil. If so; place the dough in freezer for another 5 minutes. Remove top sheet of foil and realize the dough is too sticky to cut into pretty little slices for lattice work on top of the tart. Take a butter knife or spoon and scoop up rows of the dough to pinch off and drip on top of the tart in a design of your choice. The truth is it is so moist it will spread out and bake in a totally different shape anyway. Let it go. It will still be extremely tasty.
Bake the tart in your 350 degree preheated oven for about 35 min until the edges begin to brown and the dough is soft, but makes a dull knocking sound when you tap it with a chopstick. Remove from oven and let cool. Dust with powdered sugar.
This tart is really good straight from the oven, or a couple days old. I prefer it warm either way.
Enjoy!
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
low budget lemon bars
Sometimes things fall into place. My husband and I are trying to be good stewards of God's money. This past week was the last week of our first month's budget and we had about $7 left for groceries. A friend at work went blueberry picking with his family and gave me a ton of extra blueberries. I spent the remainder of the work day (including a 2 hr meeting) contemplating the best way to use these blueberries. I decided to put them in a lemon bar recipe. But, as it turned out, we didn't have lemons and only 1/8 c lemon juice. What do you do when the world gives you no lemons? Make low budget lemon bars!
This recipe is taken in part from Joy of Baking
Ingredients:
Crust:
1 stick vegetable spread or margarine (it was the cheapest "butter" we could find. We didn't realize it wasn't butter until we got home)
1/4 c powdered sugar
1 c flour
1/8 tspn salt
Filling:
1 c sugar
2 eggs
2/3 cup orange juice
1/8 cup lemon juice (optional!)
1 tbspn flour
1 c blueberries
For the crust: Mix sugar and butter until smooth and light (whatever that means). Add flour and salt and mix until combined. Press the dough into the bottom of an 8"x 8" baking pan and bake in 350 degree oven for ~25 min until the dough looks cooked but not quite brown. Remove from oven to cool while making filling.
For filling: Mix eggs and sugar until smooth. Add orange juice (and lemon juice if you've got it) and mix again. After juice is combined, pour in flour while mixing. When completely mixed, add in blueberries and stir around. Pour into baking dish over crust, spreading the blueberries evenly. Bake in 350 degree oven for 30-40 minutes until berries start to burst and the edges of the crust begin to brown.
This dish is gooey-er than usual lemon bars when still warm. If you let it cool for a couple of hours it will be easier to serve. Serving warm is still really good, but it will serve more like a cobbler than lemon bars.
Enjoy!
This recipe is taken in part from Joy of Baking
Ingredients:
Crust:
1 stick vegetable spread or margarine (it was the cheapest "butter" we could find. We didn't realize it wasn't butter until we got home)
1/4 c powdered sugar
1 c flour
1/8 tspn salt
Filling:
1 c sugar
2 eggs
2/3 cup orange juice
1/8 cup lemon juice (optional!)
1 tbspn flour
1 c blueberries
For the crust: Mix sugar and butter until smooth and light (whatever that means). Add flour and salt and mix until combined. Press the dough into the bottom of an 8"x 8" baking pan and bake in 350 degree oven for ~25 min until the dough looks cooked but not quite brown. Remove from oven to cool while making filling.
For filling: Mix eggs and sugar until smooth. Add orange juice (and lemon juice if you've got it) and mix again. After juice is combined, pour in flour while mixing. When completely mixed, add in blueberries and stir around. Pour into baking dish over crust, spreading the blueberries evenly. Bake in 350 degree oven for 30-40 minutes until berries start to burst and the edges of the crust begin to brown.
This dish is gooey-er than usual lemon bars when still warm. If you let it cool for a couple of hours it will be easier to serve. Serving warm is still really good, but it will serve more like a cobbler than lemon bars.
Enjoy!
crying croissants
I have been married about a month. There are a lot of emotions that go into marriage. I bake because I feel like I am telling people how much I care for them; that I want them to feel good. I bake because I like to see people enjoy the food and be tempted to break diets because of how good it tastes. I bake for my husband because I love him and I want him to feel loved. Baking is an act that involves all of the senses. You enjoy the texture, the smell, the sight, and especially the taste. I love the sounds associated with baking; pyrex dishes being clanked with spoons, mixers going while ovens are warming. I want those sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and textures all to be connected with my love (it's ok if you're nausiated by this point).
I made croissants last week after going on a backpacking adventure with my husband. We went on an 8 hr (roundtrip) hike that involved an incredibley steep 1.5 mile stretch right at the end. It was hot and steamy, my thighs felt like they were going to give out, and we were being eaten alive by bugs. We arrived at the top of the mountain to find a gorgeous lake with steep cliffs on three sides. After finding a camping spot we pitched our tent and dived inside to avoid the swarm of mosquitoes and skin licking flies. We spent the rest of the evening and morning in our little tent avoiding bugs, playing cards games, napping and heating up the water for a horrible freeze dried package of Pad Thai with two lighters. Needless to say, when we got home the next day we were starving and exhausted.
I wanted to bake something for us to enjoy for breakfast for the following week. We were short on time and I had started the dough for croissants last week and it was about to go bad. I decided to make criossants. Croissants are a very tricky thing to make, and this was not the right time to do it. Our apartment has no A/C and the temperature was over 80 inside. I was tired and short tempered, and felt pressured to make a baked good that would compensate for the crappy emotions I was feeling and would make my husband feel loved. Bake this recipe with caution;
Recipe borrowed in part by Leslie Mackie's Macrina Bakery & Cafe Cookbook
Ingredients:
1 1/2 c whole milk
1 1/2 tbspn dried yeast
3 tbspn granulated sugar
2 tbspn vanilla extract
1 1/2 tspn salt
3 cups, 3 tbspns, and a bazillion more cups flour
3 sticks chilled, rechilled and chilled again butter
1 crappy rolling pin
2hrs impatience
1 confused husband
Warm milk to yeast cultivating temp (v. warm bathwater temp), and sprinkle in yeast, sugar and vanilla. Whisk. Let sit for 5 minutes until yeast blooms.
Combine 3 c flour and salt in a medium bowl. Add milk/yeast mixture, and stir. Don't over mix this dough. Cover dough and place in fridge for 8 hrs-one week.
Cut butter into ~12 pieces, and combine with 3 tbspn flour in a mixer. Mix until smooth. With a spatula remove the butter and place on a floured surface. Form the butter into a 6" square, flour top and bottom. Attempt to wrap the butter square with plastic wrap and place in freezer. Expect to begin feeling frustration at this point.
Once butter square and dough are the same temp, roll out dough into a 7" square on to floured surface. Pull the corners about 4" away from the center and place the butter square in the center. Bring the corners over the top of the butter and cinch the corners together so it looks like a squarish lump of dough. Sprinkle more flour on to the counter, the dough and on your crappy rolling pin and begin the impossible task of rolling the dough into a 12"x 20" rectangle.
Give up and settle for something close to these dimensions. Then begins the bidissing book fold process. These folds will make you cry with frustration, but hang in there. It won't look perfect, but as long as you keep folding the dough, it will give the effect of a flaky croissant.
With the longer side facing you, fold both ends in towards the center so they meet. Then fold the left side on top of the right side (the original center of the dough will now be the 'hinge' of the book). Lift the folded mass that looks more like a subway roll than a book onto a lined baking sheet and place it in the freezer. You will probably only be a little flustered at this point.
In 20 minutes you will begin this process again starting with rolling the dough out into a 12"x 20" rectangle. The dough will break and butter will seap and ooze out. Attempting to pinch the dough together will only tear it more so use your bazillion cups of flour in reserve at this point to dry up those butter spots. After you have completed the bidissing book fold so that it looks worse than the last time, put the dough on the lined baking sheet again, throw it in the freezer and slam the door. Run upstairs and throw yourself on the bed dramatically. After waiting 10 minutes, ask your husband what he is doing and why he isn't making you feel better.
After 20 minutes has passed, pull the dough out of the fridge and do the whole process again. You will do this two more times for a total of four sets of book folds, the last one ending with you slamming the freezer door shut and crying into your elbow.
This dough can be rolled out, cut into triangles and rolled up into croissants. Or you can make them into "Morning Rolls" by cutting the dough in half, rolling the dough out (~10"x 20"), spreading a sugar mixture (1 1/2 cup sugar and 1 1/2 tbspn vanilla extract) on the surface of the dough, and then rolling it lengthwise into a log and cutting into six short rolls. Do this again with the other half of the dough. Let sit at room temp (or in fridge if your room is over 80 degrees) for 1 hr.
Place the twelve rolls in a muffin pan and bake in 385 degree oven for ~45 min until golden brown. Remove rolls from pan before they cool completely or else the sugar will harden and the rolls will stick to the pan.
Enjoy!
I made croissants last week after going on a backpacking adventure with my husband. We went on an 8 hr (roundtrip) hike that involved an incredibley steep 1.5 mile stretch right at the end. It was hot and steamy, my thighs felt like they were going to give out, and we were being eaten alive by bugs. We arrived at the top of the mountain to find a gorgeous lake with steep cliffs on three sides. After finding a camping spot we pitched our tent and dived inside to avoid the swarm of mosquitoes and skin licking flies. We spent the rest of the evening and morning in our little tent avoiding bugs, playing cards games, napping and heating up the water for a horrible freeze dried package of Pad Thai with two lighters. Needless to say, when we got home the next day we were starving and exhausted.
I wanted to bake something for us to enjoy for breakfast for the following week. We were short on time and I had started the dough for croissants last week and it was about to go bad. I decided to make criossants. Croissants are a very tricky thing to make, and this was not the right time to do it. Our apartment has no A/C and the temperature was over 80 inside. I was tired and short tempered, and felt pressured to make a baked good that would compensate for the crappy emotions I was feeling and would make my husband feel loved. Bake this recipe with caution;
Recipe borrowed in part by Leslie Mackie's Macrina Bakery & Cafe Cookbook
Ingredients:
1 1/2 c whole milk
1 1/2 tbspn dried yeast
3 tbspn granulated sugar
2 tbspn vanilla extract
1 1/2 tspn salt
3 cups, 3 tbspns, and a bazillion more cups flour
3 sticks chilled, rechilled and chilled again butter
1 crappy rolling pin
2hrs impatience
1 confused husband
Warm milk to yeast cultivating temp (v. warm bathwater temp), and sprinkle in yeast, sugar and vanilla. Whisk. Let sit for 5 minutes until yeast blooms.
Combine 3 c flour and salt in a medium bowl. Add milk/yeast mixture, and stir. Don't over mix this dough. Cover dough and place in fridge for 8 hrs-one week.
Cut butter into ~12 pieces, and combine with 3 tbspn flour in a mixer. Mix until smooth. With a spatula remove the butter and place on a floured surface. Form the butter into a 6" square, flour top and bottom. Attempt to wrap the butter square with plastic wrap and place in freezer. Expect to begin feeling frustration at this point.
Once butter square and dough are the same temp, roll out dough into a 7" square on to floured surface. Pull the corners about 4" away from the center and place the butter square in the center. Bring the corners over the top of the butter and cinch the corners together so it looks like a squarish lump of dough. Sprinkle more flour on to the counter, the dough and on your crappy rolling pin and begin the impossible task of rolling the dough into a 12"x 20" rectangle.
Give up and settle for something close to these dimensions. Then begins the bidissing book fold process. These folds will make you cry with frustration, but hang in there. It won't look perfect, but as long as you keep folding the dough, it will give the effect of a flaky croissant.
With the longer side facing you, fold both ends in towards the center so they meet. Then fold the left side on top of the right side (the original center of the dough will now be the 'hinge' of the book). Lift the folded mass that looks more like a subway roll than a book onto a lined baking sheet and place it in the freezer. You will probably only be a little flustered at this point.
In 20 minutes you will begin this process again starting with rolling the dough out into a 12"x 20" rectangle. The dough will break and butter will seap and ooze out. Attempting to pinch the dough together will only tear it more so use your bazillion cups of flour in reserve at this point to dry up those butter spots. After you have completed the bidissing book fold so that it looks worse than the last time, put the dough on the lined baking sheet again, throw it in the freezer and slam the door. Run upstairs and throw yourself on the bed dramatically. After waiting 10 minutes, ask your husband what he is doing and why he isn't making you feel better.
After 20 minutes has passed, pull the dough out of the fridge and do the whole process again. You will do this two more times for a total of four sets of book folds, the last one ending with you slamming the freezer door shut and crying into your elbow.
This dough can be rolled out, cut into triangles and rolled up into croissants. Or you can make them into "Morning Rolls" by cutting the dough in half, rolling the dough out (~10"x 20"), spreading a sugar mixture (1 1/2 cup sugar and 1 1/2 tbspn vanilla extract) on the surface of the dough, and then rolling it lengthwise into a log and cutting into six short rolls. Do this again with the other half of the dough. Let sit at room temp (or in fridge if your room is over 80 degrees) for 1 hr.
Place the twelve rolls in a muffin pan and bake in 385 degree oven for ~45 min until golden brown. Remove rolls from pan before they cool completely or else the sugar will harden and the rolls will stick to the pan.
Enjoy!
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