Getting my crumpet on! Congrats William and Kate!

So like millions of Americans, I woke up at 3:00 am to watch the full coverage of the Royal Wedding. And what better way to celebrate, than with traditional English flair: tea and crumpets.... yes... seriously.

of course, crumpets with English Teatime Bigalow Tea

I have never made crumpets before, and frankly, I was petrified. Every recipe I read said "try at your own risk," or "there is a reason why these never took off in America." But I will never be one to balk at tradition... so like Kate and William did an hour after I enjoyed my crumpets, I took the plunge. Hopefully, their marriage will be as successful as this recipe. It was easy, quick, and delicious. I will definitely make these again, and well before the next royal wedding. :-)

The sun was barely peaking out from the trees when I sat down to enjoy them!

Traditional English Crumpets

Makes 2 dozen crumpets

-1 pkg instant rise yeast
-1 T sugar
-2 T powdered milk
-1 c. warm water (110-115F)
-3 c. all-purpose flour
-1 1/2 c. warm water
-1 1/2 t. salt
-2 T warm water
-1 t. baking soda

Mix together the yeast, sugar, milk, and 1 cup water. Cover with plastic wrap and let bloom for 10 min.

Mix in the flour, salt, and 1 1/2 cups water. Stir until just combined. Let rise in a warm place for 1 hour. (And watch the royal family parade from the palace to the church... side note, I am starting to wear hats to every occasion)

Add and stir in 2 tablespoons water and baking soda. Let sit for 10 more min. Meanwhile, preheat fry pan, well oiled.

Using well oiled cookie or biscuit cutters, pour dough into circle mold on the hot fry pan. Cook for 5-8 mins or until little bubbles form and pop on top. Remove mold, and flip crumpet. Cook 1 more minute to brown the other side. Enjoy!

I added whip cream, blueberry sauce, and strawberry glaze to represent the British flag colors. But these are great with butter and jam... and of course.... tea. :-)

How can it not feel like home with "home"-made bread?

There is something about the changing of seasons that really makes you miss home... Maybe it's the fact that I didn't want to spring clean MY home. But seriously, with the warming weather breaking through (and my tomato plants breaking through their warm soil home!), you can't say that you don't think of springs past. The springs filled with playing on swing-sets, and finally being able to take off that light jacket so you can swing uninhibited. When your biggest stress was how far could you bike ride and still make it back in time for dinner. Yep, it is those times I'm missing.

Yay for baby tomato plants and herbs!!

In the kitchen, my favorite spring time memories (that always extend into summer as well) are the smells of mom canning her strawberry jam and apple butter. Thinking about the jam and butter, I remembered how once I ate half a loaf of home-made bread and a whole jar of strawberry jam in one sitting. Then it came to me: make some home-made bread to feel more at home this spring.

Well, I kinda did more than just make a loaf of homemade bread. I made 2 loaves of cinnamon raisin bread and a loaf of honey wheat... and (since there was a sale on strawberries) a strawberry-apple galette.

Unfortunately, I didn't get to grab a picture of my goodies. Time for me to eat my words... if Ty is sitting on the couch watching me bake and he doesn't immediately jump up to ask for a bite when it comes out of the oven, I start to question why. Immediately, I run to him and make him try my baked good with me and ask tons of questions about the taste, texture, and why he wasn't waiting for it to come out of the oven with me. Obsessive... yes. But, that's what you get for being an over-analytical medical student. And for some reason, he tolerates my crazy.

Anyway, by the time I grabbed my camera, half the galette was gone and my bread was in the toaster with butter and apple butter standing by to be spread on it. I'd say that the recipes were a success!  So, I'll only share one recipe for now, and the others shortly to follow. I think everyone knows how divinely tempting the swirls of cinnamon-raisin bread can be (and far be it from me to tempt you!). At any rate, at least I have an excuse to remake bread. And who wouldn't jump at the opportunity to revisit home and those elusive spring days of swings and bike rides.

Cinnamon-Raisin Bread

-1 pkg instant yeast
-1 c. warm milk (110F-115F)
-3 1/2 c. flour
-4 T butter, room temperature
-1/4 c. sugar
-1 egg
-1 1/2 t. salt
-1 1/2 t. cinnamon
-3/4 c. raisins

Filling:
-3/4 c. sugar
-1 T ground cinnamon

-1 egg, lightly beaten

In a small bowl, combine the yeast and the milk. Let bloom for at least 10 minutes. In stand mixer, combine flour, sugar, salt, and cinnamon. Stir to combine. Add the yeast/milk, butter, and egg. Dough should start to pull away from sides of the bowl. Switch to dough hook. Add in raisins, and knead dough in stand mixer for 5-6 minutes, or until springs (ha there's that word again!) back. Transfer the dough into a lightly oiled bowl, turn once to coat, and let rise until doubled in bulk... about an hour.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Pat out the dough into a large circle. Fold the dough in thirds, like a letter, turn dough 90 degrees and fold in thirds again. Let rise again for 30 minutes. Meanwhile make your filling by combining the sugar and cinnamon (if its a dry day, add a little smidge of water)

turn dough out onto that lightly floured surface again. Pat into a rectangle about 8"x11". Spread filling out leaving a 1/2" border on all sides. Fold the 11" sides in about 1/2". This fold creates a buffer so no filling will ooze out during baking. Then, roll the dough beginning at the 8" end. Pinch the dough together to seal the edge, and transfer to well greased loaf pan. Let rise another 20 minutes. Preheat oven to 425F.

Bake bread for 45 minutes, tenting with aluminum foil half way through baking. Cool in pan for 10-15 minutes before removing from pan. Wrap in a dry, clean towel and let finish cooling on a wire rack. Slice and Enjoy!

Making up for belated celebrations

Well, one unfortunate thing about living on your own is that you have to celebrate birthdays after- or before-the-fact. Its never really been a problem, but it seems a little ridiculous that we had to put off celebrating my mom's birthday for 3 weeks. (Clearly, medical school does not allow frequent visits home) Nonetheless, later is much better than never. So, on her first free weekend, mom came out to visit me here in KC, and by-golly, I was going to have a birthday cake ready for her!

Two things my mom wants in a dessert: dark chocolate and something that's not overtly sweet. Considering that I LOVE anything that's super sugary, that eliminated half of my cupcake and cake recipes. Then I found this one that I had saved from a year ago. I knew instantly that this was my mom's birthday cake: Strawberry and Vanilla Mascarpone Cake with Whipped cream and Chocolate Ganache.

The whipped cream frosting was just sweet enough to qualify the cake as a dessert, and the chocolate gave a great contrast to the strawberry cake. I think next time I revisit this cake, I would put a layer of strawberry jam in between the mascarpone layers.

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Strawberry-Vanilla Mascarpone Cake with whipped cream and chocolate ganache

recipe from: I don't remember it was so long ago!

Cake:
-6 eggs
-125 gms sugar
-1 t vanilla
-150 gms flour
-1 t. baking powder
-1/8 t. salt
-1 t. strawberry extract
-5-6 drops red food coloring


Mascarpone Filling/whipped cream:
-600 gms mascarpone, room temperature
-1 t. vanilla + 1/2 t. vanilla
-3/4 c. powdered sugar + 1/4 c. powdered sugar
-200 mL heavy cream, cold or well chilled


Ganache:
-1 c. dark chocolate
-1/4 c. heavy cream


Preheat oven to 375F. Grease and flour two 8 inch cake pans and set aside.
Sift together the dry cake ingredients and set aside. Beat eggs and sugar together until very thick! (~10 min). Add vanilla and strawberry extract and beat for another minute. Gently fold in sifted dry ingredients. Divide batter between cake pans. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until an inserted tooth pick comes out clean. Let cool for 5 minutes, then remove from pans and let cakes cool completely.


Meanwhile, whip the mascarpone with powdered sugar and vanilla extract until well combined. Divide in fourths. Set aside.
Whip the cold heavy cream until stiff peaks form. Whip in 1/4 c. powdered sugar and 1/2 t. vanilla. Slowly whip in 1/4 of the mascarpone filling.
In a double broiler, melt chocolate. When melted, stir in cream. Set aside to cool before topping cake. 

To assemble:
Cut each cake in half horizontally to make 4 cake layers. Spread 1/4 of filling on one cake layer. Top with cake layer and another 1/4 of filling. Top with another cake layer and last 1/4 of filling. Top with final cake layer. Ice cake with whipped topping. (If you want to decorate with swirls like I did, reserve 1/3 c. and add a drop or two of red food coloring. Draw swirls on top of cake.) Using your cake pan, draw a circle in wax paper. Cut out circle just slightly smaller than pencil outline. Place circle lightly on top of cake. With a spoon drizzle ganache over sides of cake, letting the yummy chocolate drip over the sides.

Hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

Peanut Butter Cookies with Blackberry Jam-Miss Missouri Orientation

photo from Foodnetwork.com... we ate them too fast to get pics of them!

The only way anyone could improve upon the combination of either peanut butter and chocolate or peanut butter and jelly, is to, obviously, combine all three! Now, I can't take credit for this recipe, and I didn't change the original bit. If it ain't broke, I ain't gonna look for ways to fix it!

This past weekend was the Miss Missouri Orientation, in which all contestants come to learn the ins and outs of the competition. It's a blast meeting all the girls and hearing about what they've been up to as local titleholders. I had an equally wonderful time making cookies to share with the girls, board members, and everyone's family. So in between studying for my pathology test, I relaxed by making a load of cookies! Chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin, and sugar cookies shaped like crowns, like in my previous entry. But I couldn't forget my favorite cookie: Peanut Butter Cookies with Blackberry Jam. They were a hit!

Peanut Butter Cookies with Blackberry Jam
Recipe from Giada De Laurentiis

-1 c. flour
-1/3 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
-1/2 t. baking soda
-1/8 t. salt
-1/2 c. butter, room temperature
-3/4 c. smooth peanut butter, room temperature
-3/4 c. granulated sugar + 1/4 c.
-1/2 c. brown sugar
-1 egg, room temperature
-1 t. vanilla
-1/4 c. blackberry jam

Preheat oven to 375F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside. Sift together flour, cocoa, soda, and salt. Set aside.
Cream together the butter, peanut butter, 3/4 c. granulated sugar, and brown sugar until light and fluffy, scraping sides of bowl when needed. Mix in egg and vanilla. Stir in flour mixture.
Put the 1/4 c. granulated sugar in a bowl. Form two tablespoons of dough into a ball. Roll ball in sugar and place on prepared cookie sheet. Repeat with remaining dough. Using the handle end of a wooden spoon, press a hole into the center of each dough ball. Fill each hole with jam. Bake for 11-14 min. Cool on a rack for 5 min before removing from cookie sheet. Transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.
ENJOY! (I know you will!)