Tag Archives: baking

Chocolate Chip Yogurt Cookies – It’s All About the Penzeys Dutch Processed Cocoa

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These dark, rich, chocolatey cookies disappeared within 24 hours of their creation. 

For this season in the Alaska bush, we ordered most of our spices and seasonings from Penzeys Spices. Whether we’re using their smoked chipotle chili peppers in a squash soup, the Italian seasoning blend we make from a combination of their herbs and spices, or a cup of hot cocoa, the quality of Penzeys’ products has been notable. In these cookies, its Penzeys’ Dutch-processed cocoa that takes them to a higher level.

By the way, yogurt is easy and economical to make in your own kitchen!

Chocolate Chip Yogurt Cookies

Ingredients

  • 1 cup all purpose flour
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 5 tbsp unsalted butter
  • 7 tbsp dutch processed cocoa
  • 2/3 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/3 cup brown sugar
  • 1/3 cup plain yogurt
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  2. Measure flour and baking soda into a medium bowl. Set aside.
  3. Melt butter in a large pan over medium heat. Remove from heat.
  4. Stir in cocoa and sugars.
  5. Add yogurt and vanilla. Mix well.
  6. Add flour just until combined.
  7. Drop by tablespoon onto parchment-covered baking sheet, about 2 inches apart.
  8. Bake for 8 – 10 minutes. Cool on pan for a few minutes until firm. Finish cooling on wire racks.

Adapted from Myrecipes.com.

The Wonderful Purpleness of Low Bush Blueberry Fruit Bread

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Arctic Lowbush Blueberry Bread batter_n

This unusual bread became an instant favorite. What we didn’t slather with butter and devour straight out of the oven soon disappeared in our lunchtime peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and as breakfast toast. 

I was tickled purple with the color of this bread batter.

Blueberry on tundra at Shishmaref_n

Unlike the fat, juicy blueberries we used to pick at farms in Oregon, in the Arctic diminutive plants that grow mere inches off the ground produce tiny, tart berries. These berries ripen in August and, like cloudberries, are around only for a few weeks. But a lot of flavor comes in these small packages, and the dark purple color produces beautiful freezer jam. In Shishmaref, the berries grew only a short walk from our home on Sarichef Island. Here in Point Hope we rely on friends who drive Hondas (ATVs) out to the hills 20 or more miles away where the berries grow. Scanning the tundra for bright red leaves slightly smaller than shelled almonds leads to ripe fruit. The bush in this photo, growing among crowberries (the green foliage), barely rose above our shoe tops. (See Summer Blueberry Picking on the Arctic Tundra.)

Arctic Lowbush Blueberry Bread w butter_n

Low Bush Blueberry Fruit Bread

Ingredients

  • 3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 tsp almond extract
  • 2 cups whole fruit blueberry jam

Directions

  1. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Set aside.
  2. In another mixing bowl, combine sugar, butter and applesauce. Mix well. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in vanilla and almond extracts.
  3. Stir wet ingredients into dry ingredients until just moistened.
  4. Stir in fruit jam.
  5. Pour into 2 greased bread pans (8 in. x 4 in. x 2 in.)
  6. Bake at 350 degrees F for 55 – 65 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
  7. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack.

We make two loaves at a time using the above recipe. Keep one in the freezer for a quick, delicious bread.

Cranberry Orange Walnut Scones

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Cranberry, Orange, Walnut Scones_new

Temptingly drizzled with orange icing, freshly baked scones are a great way to begin the day. 

This recipe produces a light, flaky, sweet-but-not-too scone that goes well with a fried egg or by itself with a cup of freshly brewed coffee or tea. I deviated from this recipe a bit because I wanted to have this ready in the morning before our friend’s early flight out. I mixed all the dry ingredients and placed them in a covered bowl in the refrigerator at night. The next morning, I preheated the oven, mixed and shaped the dough, and baked it. While the scone was baking, I mixed the orange drizzle. I let the baked scone cool slightly and then drizzled the frosting. In a manner of about thirty minutes, we had warm delicious scones with enough left over to send with our friend for a snack on the plane.

Cranberry Orange Scones

Ingredients

  • 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1 tbsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp mace
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 cup unsalted butter, frozen
  • 1 cup sweetened dried cranberries
  • grated zest of 1 orange
  • 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
  • 1 cup whipping cream
  • 1 egg

Drizzle:

  • 1/2 cup powdered sugar
  • 2 tsp orange juice

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
  2. In a large bowl, stir together flour, brown sugar, baking powder, mace and cinnamon.
  3. Grate frozen butter with a cheese grater. Stir grated butter into flour mixture.
  4. Stir cranberries, orange zest, and walnuts into flour mixture.
  5. In a separate bowl, beat whipping cream and egg together.
  6. Slowly pour egg mixture into flour mixture. Stir with rubber spatula until dough forms. Turn out onto lightly floured board and knead a few times. Shape dough into circle, about 1 inch thick.
  7. Place parchment paper on baking sheet. Transfer dough circle to baking sheet.
  8. Bake for 20 minutes, or until scone is lightly browned.
  9. Mix together drizzle ingredients until the texture is like honey. Place drizzle in a small plastic bag.
  10. Cool baked scone. When cooled, snip corner of drizzle bag and drizzle topping across the scone in a zig zag formation.
  11. Let scone cool further. Cut scone into 6 wedges.

Enjoy with a cup of fruit and some fresh roasted coffee on a chilly morning with friends.

Tis the Season for Cranberry Bliss Bars

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Sweetened dried cranberries and white chocolate chips pair up in a dessert especially appropriate to the winter holidays.

People in our generation sometimes still flinch a little when cranberries are mentioned – as they invariably are here in America – around holiday time. Gloppy canned cranberry sauce heated (or not) and served alongside such tasty items as turkey dressing, rutabaga with raisons and mashed potatoes with giblet gravy were, for many of us, the original “I don’t want any of that touching the rest of my food” item. It was always something of a puzzle to me. The packages of whole, fresh cranberries at the grocery store looked so pretty. Why didn’t the grownups use those? It seemed that the advent of mass-produced, mass-marketed food had caused generations of Americans to forget what real cranberries taste and look like, and a debased form of the fruit was kept on menus as a nod to tradition rather than gustatory pleasure.

Years later, we discovered the pleasure of cooking with whole, fresh cranberries in our own kitchens, and dishes such as cranberry sauce with tangerines became a much anticipated Thanksgiving and Christmas-time tradition. The tart, bright-red berries sweetened with sugar and cooked on the stovetop are the perfect accompaniment to a holiday bird that has been brined overnight and roasted to perfection.

While the following dessert uses dried cranberries rather than fresh, it keeps our cranberry tradition going strong here in the Alaskan Arctic where the local grocer doesn’t carry fresh berries. If you’ve never had a really great cranberry dish, forget everything you thought you knew about these festive berries. You’ll want to save room for this scrumptious cranberry dessert!

Cranberry Bliss Bars

Ingredients

Cake:

  • 3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
  • 1  1/4 cups packed brown sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 tbsp ground ginger
  • 1  1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1  1/2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 3/4 cup dried cranberries (we used Craisins, which are made from cranberries and sugar)
  • 4 oz. white chocolate chips

Frosting:

  • 5 oz. cream cheese, softened
  • 3 cups powdered sugar
  • 5 tsp lemon juice
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/4 cup dried cranberries (Craisins)

Drizzle:

  • 1/2 cup powdered sugar
  • 1 tbsp milk

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  2. Butter 9 x 13 inch glass baking dish.
  3. Beat butter and brown sugar until smooth.
  4. Incorporate eggs, one at a time, into butter mixture.
  5. Mix in ginger and vanilla.
  6. Gradually mix in flour and baking powder.
  7. Fold in craisins and white chocolate chips.
  8. Pour batter into baking pan. Even out batter so that it is uniformly on bottom of pan.
  9. Bake for 25 – 30 minutes, or until lightly browned on top.
  10. Let cake cool in pan on wire rack.
  11. Make frosting by mixing cream cheese, powdered sugar, lemon juice and vanilla extract with an electric mixer until smooth.
  12. When cake has cooled, spread frosting evenly over the top of the cake.
  13. Sprinkle  1/4 cup craisins on frosting.
  14. Make drizzle icing by whisking powdered sugar and milk.
  15. Fill small Ziploc bag with drizzle icing. Cut off a small piece of the bottom corner of bag. Squeeze out drizzle icing over the frosted cake in zig-zags.
  16. Cover cake and refrigerate for a couple of hours.
  17. Slice the cake down the middle, lengthwise. Then slice the cake across the width, three time. You will have 8 rectangular pieces. Cut each of these pieces in half, diagonally, to make 16 decorative pieces.

Recipe adapted from topsecretrecipes.com.

Chasing the Elusive Perfectly Flaky Crust: Double-Crust Apple Apricot Pie

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This rustic-style pie evoked images of apron-clad moms setting out steaming-hot baked goods on windowsills to cool. The scent of baked apple and cinnamon filled the entire house, contributing to the sense of nostalgia.

I’d always heard that baking the elusive flaky pie crust was so difficult, it wasn’t worth the time and effort. The standard advice was, “Buy pre-made crusts. They’ll come out better.” But as someone who has baked her own graham crackers, I wasn’t so easily deterred.

After doing some research, I began to understand why people shied away from making their own crusts. Fastidious attention to temperature of the ingredients seems to be the key. My first crusts came out fairly decent, but I wasn’t completely happy with the texture. Then this month’s Food & Wine magazine ran an article about making a perfectly flaky crust.

Along with directions for “perfectly flaky butter pie dough,” the magazine also had a recipe for a double-crust apple-apricot pie. Perfect! Granny Smith apples are available at our Native Grocery Store, and dried apricots are a staple in our pantry. The finished pie came out of the oven steaming with the scent of apples and apricot and with a golden-brown crust puffed up into a flaky  top.

Double-Crust Apple-Apricot Pie

Ingredients

  • 1 tbsp all-purpose flour
  • dough for two pie crusts (see link below for pie crust recipe and directions)
  • 1 egg white, beaten
  • 5 large Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, quartered, and cut into thick slices
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup diced dried apricots
  • 1 tsp finely grated orange zest
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon

Directions

  1. Roll out a little more than half of the dough into a 13-inch disc. Transfer to a 9-inch glass pie dish.
  2. Roll out the remaining dough into a 12-inch disc and keep in refrigerator until you are ready for it.
  3. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
  4. In a large bowl, toss together apples, apricots, orange zest, flour, cinnamon and sugar.
  5. Pour apple mixture into crust.
  6. Brush edge of crust with egg white. This will help seal the two crusts together.
  7. Place second pie crust on top of first. Trim edges and decoratively crimp. Cut slashes in top crust to allow steam to vent.
  8. Place oven rack on lower third of oven. Place pie on a baking sheet and put in over to bake for 1 hour. Cover edges of pie with a pie ring or aluminum foil during last 20 minutes of baking to prevent burning.
  9. Remove pie from oven and allow to cool before serving.

We served this pie with extra rich vanilla ice cream, which was excellent. A slice of sharp cheddar cheese is another traditional option.

Recipe adapted from Food & Wine Magazine, November 2012 issue.

Pear and Ricotta Tart

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Creamy, sweetened homemade ricotta cheese makes for a lighter, healthier delicious alternative to cream cheese in this cheesecake-like tart. In this version, slices of pears have been brushed with peach preserves prior to baking.

I was surprised how easy it was to make a ricotta-style cheese at home. My first batch of ricotta went into Jack’s moose cannelloni. A second batch was split between blintzes and a pear and ricotta tart. Infused with vanilla, the beaten egg and ricotta base was smooth, creamy and light. The sliced pears were brushed with a vanilla peach jam which added another subtle layer of flavor.

Pear and Ricotta Tart

Ingredients

  • pie crust
  • 2 cups ricotta cheese
  • 3 eggs
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 d’Anjou pears, halved, cored and sliced
  • 1 heaping tbsp of peach preserves

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
  2. Press pie dough into a 9-inch springform pan and bake for 5 minutes then remove from oven.
  3. Reduce oven heat to 350 degrees F.
  4. Beat together ricotta, eggs, sugar and vanilla.
  5. Pour ricotta mixture into pre-baked pie shell.
  6. Arrange sliced pears on top of ricotta mixture.
  7. Brush pears with preserves.
  8. Bake for 50 minutes, or until tart no longer jiggles in the center.
  9. Let cool. Cover and place in refrigerator until ready to serve. Remove from springform pan just before serving.

White Chocolate Chip Cherry Pecan Chunk Cookies

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Cookies bursting with chewy cherry chunks, white chocolate chips and delicious pecans are so good straight from the oven and even better a couple of days later… if they make it that long! 

It was a cold, overcast afternoon 200 miles north of the Arctic Circle. After two late nights of work in a row, we  were rewarded with a two-hour head start on our weekend. All we needed was a cup of hot tea and some warm cookies to go with. What? No cookies? A quick perusal of the pantry revealed a bag of white chocolate chips, dried cherries, and pecan halves. Don’t worry, Jack, fresh warm cookies are on the way!

White Chocolate Chip Cherry Pecan Chunk Cookies

Ingredients

  • 12 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 2 tbsp milk
  • 1 cup chopped pecans
  • 1/2 cup dried cherries, chopped
  • 1 cup white chocolate chips

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  2. Cream together butter and sugars.
  3. Mix in eggs, one at a time.
  4. Mix in vanilla.
  5. Mix in milk.
  6. In a separate bowl, combine flour and baking soda.
  7. Stir flour into butter mixture until just combined.
  8. Use same bowl as flour to mix together nuts, cherries, and chocolate chips.
  9. Stir nut mixture into dough, until just combined.
  10. Drop by tablespoons onto parchment-covered baking sheets.
  11. Bake for 11 minutes.
  12. Let cool on wire racks.

Recipe adapted from food network.com.

Brown Sugar and Butter Plum Upside Down Cake – for Breakfast or Dessert

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Persimmon slices add a splash of fall orange to a breakfast that will get you ready for weekend chores. 

For most of the year, we rely on the fresh fruits and vegetables that make their way up to Point Hope by way of  the school and the Native Store. This means most of the fresh fruit we get is of the type that travels well – apples, pears and occasionally kiwis. This week, purple plums arrived. They were a bit on the hard side, so instead of gobbling up our coveted fresh fruit right away, Jack and I set them aside to ripen with thoughts of baking something interesting.

The result was this scrumptious upside down plum cake featuring ample amounts of brown sugar and butter. A friend returning to Point Hope from the big city (Anchorage) brought back fresh persimmons, Jack fried eggs seasoned with his special blend of Italian herbs, and breakfast was on. This cake went equally well with homemade extra rich vanilla ice cream for an after dinner dessert.

Brown Sugar and Butter Plum Upside Down Cake

Ingredients

  • 12 tbsp softened unsalted butter
  • 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
  • 5 medium plums, pitted and sliced
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice
  • 3 eggs
  • 1  1/3 cup all purpose flour
  • 1  1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 cup whole milk

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  2. Place 4 tablespoons of butter in an 8-inch square cake pan and heat in oven until butter is melted.
  3. Remove pan from oven and sprinkle brown sugar evenly on bottom of pan.
  4. Arrange plum slices on top of brown sugar and set aside.
  5. In a large mixing bowl, cream remaining butter with sugar and lemon juice. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until combined.
  6. In a medium bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.
  7. Add about 1/3 of flour mixture to butter mixture along with about 1/3 of the milk. Mix together. Repeat with second 1/3 and third 1/3 of flour and milk.
  8. Pour cake batter over plums. Spread evenly.
  9. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean, about 40 minutes.
  10. Let cool 10 minutes.
  11. Invert onto serving dish. Let cool slightly before serving.

Recipe adapted from the Cake Duchess.

Basbousa Cake

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Semolina flour gives this cake an exotic taste. Soaking the cake in orange-honey syrup satisfies the sweet tooth and thinly sliced almonds pleases the eye. We served slices with sparkling water mixed with the remaining orange-honey syrup.

This sumptuous cake was a fitting dessert for a Middle East dinner we prepared in our home in the Alaska bush.

Middle Eastern Basbousa

Ingredients

For the Syrup:
2 cups plus 3 tbsp white sugar
1½ cups water
2 tbsp orange juice (or lemon juice)
1 tsp honey

For the Cake:
2 cups semolina
1 cup white sugar
1 stick butter, softened
1 cup milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tbsp baking soda
2 medium eggs
Slivered almonds

Directions

Preparing the syrup: 

  1. In a medium saucepan, mix the sugar and water. Add the orange juice and bring the mixture to a gentle boil. Add the honey and reduce the heat.
  2. Keep heating for 8-10 minutes until the mixture thickens and has a syrup-like consistency. Set aside to cool.

Preparing the cake: 

  1. Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease and flour a 9-inch springform pan.
  2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the butter and sugar. Add the eggs and vanilla extract and mix thoroughly.
  3. In a separate medium bowl, combine the dry ingredients. Slowly add the dry ingredient mixture into the butter and egg mixture. Stir the milk and mix thoroughly until you get an even batter.
  4. Pour into a baking dish. Sprinkle the slivered almonds on top of the mixture.
  5. Using a butter knife, section the batter into small squares or diamonds.
  6. Bake for 25 minutes.
  7. Remove from the oven and drizzle the syrup on top of the cake. Let cool for 20 minutes and serve.

Recipe adapted from amideastfeast.com.

Click here for the rest of the Middle East feast.

Dutched Hot Cocoa

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Rich, creamy and with a wicked cocoa flavor you can almost sink your teeth into, Dutched cocoa and homemade marshmallows make the perfect after dinner or home movie hot beverage.

Homemade Hot Cocoa with Homemade Marshmallows

Every great food has “secret ingredients.” Here, they are Dutch process high fat cocoa and homemade marshmallows. Also known as “Dutched” cocoa, this cocoa is made from the richest grade of cocoa available and is processed for an especially smooth flavor. As for the marshmallows… As sticky and messy as these are to make from scratch, having experienced how flavorful and wonderfully gooey a melted marshmallow can be, it’s going to be hard to go back to store-bought.

Ingredients (2 cups)

  • 2 cups milk or soy milk
  • 1 tbs Dutch Process High Fat Cocoa (available from Penzeys Spices)
  • 1 1/2 tbs sugar
  • dash of cinnamon
  • dash of vanilla
  • a couple of homemade marshmallows cut into chunks

Directions: Heat milk, cocoa, sugar, cinnamon and vanilla in a heavy pot (to prevent scorching) over medium low heat. A whisk works well for mixing in the cocoa. Do not boil. When steam develops and liquid is hot to the touch, pour into mugs and top with marshmallows.