Gingerbread Molasses Scones

Gingerbread Molasses Scones

I'm finally acknowledging that it's fall. Los Angeles is filled with Santa Ana winds (which translates into very hot, dry conditions) and no rain ever (huge drought). By the way, all those covered in snow? California will totally trade you some sunshine for some of your snowpack! :) Now that I see Christmas lights on homes (still too early), I'm finally starting to believe that it really is fall and Thanksgiving is only a week away.

So, to celebrate fall and all its wonderful spices, here are some gingerbread scones.

I found this recipe on the Grandma's Molasses website. It only uses 1/2 stick of butter and regular milk, so it is "lighter" then the usual cream and hella butter scones (not that these scones are health food, but I have a baking blog so what do you expect?!) ;)

Sorry for the photos, I had to use my cell phone and it was dark in the kitchen.

The flour, sugar and spices are combined in a large bowl, and the cold butter is cut into the flour.

In a separate bowl, the molasses,milk and egg yolk are combined. The liquid and dry ingredients are quickly combined until just moistened, and then the dough is kneaded a few times. I should have kneaded mine a little more on the floured surface, because my dough was a little too wet.

The original recipe calls for one circle cut into 12 wedges. I made two circles and cut each into six wedges. (Those white pieces in the dough are small pieces of butter)

A quick brush egg white wash and a sprinkle of sugar completes the scone. The original recipe uses granulated sugar, but I substituted sanding sugar for a little extra crunch.

These were a hit with my coworkers at our morning meeting. Next time, I might add some diced crystallized ginger. I hope you make some for your friends and family this autumn.

Gingerbread Molasses Scones
Adapted from the Grandma's Molasses website (Their scones are much lighter colored compared to mine)

2 cups (280 g) flour
3 tablespoons (38 g) brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 cup cold butter (1/2 stick)

1/3 cup molasses (Grandma's recipe uses the Robust Molasses, but I used the Original Molasses)
1/2 cup milk (I used low-fat milk)
1 egg yolk

Topping:
1 egg white
Sanding sugar or granulated sugar

Preheat oven to 400°F.
1. In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients.
2. Cut butter into dry ingredients using to knives, pastry cutter or your fingers until butter is the size of peas.
3.  In a medium bowl, combine the molasses, milk, and egg yolk until blended.
4. Add the molasses mixture to the dry ingredients, and stir with a fork until just moistened.
5. Turn the mixture onto floured surface and knead 6 - 8 times. Form the dough into a circle. I divide the dough into two balls and made two circles. Cut into wedges. I cut each of my circles into six wedges for a total of 12 scones.
6. Beat the egg white until frothy. Brush the scones with the egg white, and sprinkle with sanding sugar.
7. Bake at 400° for 12 to 15 minutes, until lightly golden brown.

Happy National Bundt Day 2014

Happy National Bundt Day 2014!

Wishing you and yours a lovely National Bundt Day. I hope you make and share a Bundt today with your friends, family and co-workers. That's what the day is all about - baking and sharing!

I made my favorite Chocolate Cinnamon Bundt this morning and will deliver it tonight to friends! (I hope I can hold out that long...my friends won't mind if there was a small piece missing :)

If you need recipe ideas, you can find some under the I Like Big Bundts page. Take care and Happy Bundt Day!

Palets de Dames - Tuesdays with Dorie Baking Chez Moi

Hello. Good morning!
It's Tuesday.
And since it's Tuesday, I'm happy to say it's Tuesday with Dorie Day!

In May 2007, I started this blog to learn how to bake from scratch and drop the cake mixes.

After I started baking, I learned about a group of bakers who were baking their way through Dorie Greenspan's cookbook, Baking: From My Home to Yours. I joined in 2008 and then spent the next few years not only baking many things I might not have made if weren't it for the group, but I also met lots of friends along the way.

Dorie has a new wonderful book Baking Chez Moi: Recipes from My Paris Home to Your Home Anywhere and it's time to try to bake my way through this one as well.

The Tuesdays with Dorie group will be making two recipes per month and I hope I can keep up with that schedule. Please visit the Tuesdays with Dorie website and take a look at all the bakers who baked the recipe of the week. And if you're a baker, I hope you join in the fun and bake with Tuesdays with Dorie too. The cookbook is so lovely and I hope we can bake together. Please note that we will not be publishing the recipe on our blog posts, as we want to support Dorie and encourage everyone to purchase her beautiful cookbook.

The first recipe is Palets de Dames. These are sweet little butter cookies with a glaze of powdered sugar. They are cakey cookies and are perfect with coffee or tea. You can tint the glaze if you want to suit the occasion, or use sanding sugars to give it an extra sparkle or color - or do both!

These cookies are a perfect start to the group because you're quite easy to make. Simply creaming together butter, sugar, eggs and adding just a bit of sifted flour makes the base. When you make these, plan your time because you need to chill the dough for at least one hour or overnight before baking.

Aren't these really cute and sweet? Only bake them until the edges are lightly browned.

After the cookies cool, an easy glaze of powdered sugar milk and a few drops of lemon juice (I substituted orange juice because I was out of lemons) is made, and the cookies are dipped in the glaze. I topped some of mine with sanding sugar - clear and pink.

I'm looking forward to another round of Tuesdays with Dorie. I see some old friends already (Di, Katrina, Alisa, Jules, Audrey, Cathy...) - I'M SO HAPPY TO SEE YOU GUYS!!! It's like a bakers reunion!

And I look forward to meeting more "baking interwebs" folks. See this post for links to other baker's posts.

- mary the food librarian

P.S. Dude, buy the book. It's fantastic! Like, crazy fantastic. And it makes the perfect holiday cookbook gift!

P.S.S. If you are new to my blog, I haven't been blogging much lately, but you can always find me on Instagram and Twitter @foodlibrarian

Pumpkin Cupcake with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

Pumpkin Cupcake with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

Oh, Pumpkin. The best time of the year.
Well, until Peppermint season comes around.
So, let's enjoy pumpkin season with these "Pumpkin Snack Cake baked in Cupcake cups and topped with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting." Kinda a long name, but that's what this is. It's not a true cupcake (which I feel should be lighter) - it's has a denser consistency. Not that that's bad! I love snack cakes...thus, with the muffin/snack cake texture, this is perfect 24 hours/day - including breakfast!

This cake uses a whole can of pumpkin - very pumpkin-y flavor. I've made it as a snack cake, but the cupcakes are easy to bake and serve. And they look all pretty!

The recipe is adapted from Everyday Food from the Martha Stewart empire (I really miss this cooking magazine) and it was baked on the PBS Everyday Food show back in the day.

The consistency is more snack cake/muffin. I like that in a pumpkin cake - you should taste and feel the pumpkin!

I made a Maple Syrup Cream Cheese Frosting. The original recipe had honey but I used maple syrup instead and added some powdered sugar to stiffen it so it was "pipeable" (that's totally a word, right?)

A lot of non-bakers don't believe me, but it is so much faster to pipe frosting with a big tip than spread it with a butter knife or offset spatula. I use disposable plastic piping bags and that makes it super easier.

As you can see, I'm kinda crazy about pumpkin and Trader Joe's is too! Have you tried the Pumpkin O's? I'm addicted. And that Pumpkin Brittle? OMG. So good. To tell the you truth, I was going to break off pieces of the brittle and put it on the frosting...but I didn't want to use all the brittle! (sorry co-workers). I love the Pop-Tarts and Pumpkin Butter every year. Oh, and the Pumpkin Mochi Ice Cream? YUM. The Pita Crisps aren't life changing - I'm going to skip them next time. I haven't tried the soup yet.

Celebrate Pumpkin Season by making these pumpkin treats!

Pumpkin Cupcake with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting
Adapted from: Everyday Food Pumpkin Spice Cake with Honey Frosting

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
2 1/2 cups (350 grams) all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon pumpkin-pie spice (I used Trader Joe's Pumpkin Pie Spice). The original recipe says you can also use: 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon, 3/4 teaspoon ginger, 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, and 1/8 teaspoon each allspice and cloves)
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups (300 grams) sugar
1 can (15 ounces) solid-pack pumpkin puree (I used Trader Joe's organic pumpkin puree)

Frosting
1 stick (4 ounces or 1/2 cup) butter, softened
1 block (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
3 Tablespoons maple syrup

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prep muffin tin with liners. I got 17 muffins from this recipe. (Original recipe bakes in a 9-inch square pan).
2. In a large, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, and spices.
3. In a medium, whisk together eggs, sugar, butter, and pumpkin puree until combined.
4. Fold together the wet and dry ingredients until combined. Don't overmix.
5. Fill muffin cups. I use an ice cream scoop.
6. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean. 25-30 minutes. Cool completely before frosting.

Frosting
1. In a mixer with paddle attachment, cream the butter and cream cheese together until well blended.
2. Add maple syrup and powdered sugar and blend until smooth.
3. Pipe or spread on the cupcakes.

Brownie Batter Cookies - Trisha Yearwood recipe

Brownie Batter Cookies

Every Sunday, I go to my parent's house so I can hang out with my dad while my mom goes to church. I make Dad breakfast, push him in his wheelchair around the block with Cidney the Girl Dog and currently, watch some football or baseball.

Since the games don't begin til 10 am, we watch the Food Network in the morning. 9 am is The Pioneer Woman and 9:30 am is Trisha Yearwood. On a recent show, she made these Brownie Batter Cookies along with her college girlfriends. It was a sweet show and reminds me of my longtime college friends. Note to self: Need to get together with them and make them cookies!

Whether you are getting together with college friends or hanging out with the family, you can make these brownie cookies! They bake faster than brownies and everyone can have a few.

I made half the recipe and scooped smaller cookies (because I got 2 dozen cookies when it should have only made 1 dozen). Here are my measurements and instructions; you can find the original recipe from The Food Network here.

Brownie Batter Cookies
Adapted from Trisha Yearwood's recipe

Makes 24 small cookies (I mostly halved Trisha Yearwood's recipe)

1 stick butter, softened
1/2 cup + 2 Tablespoons (125 grams) granulated sugar
1/4 cup + 2 Tablespoons (75 grams) dark brown sugar
1/2 ounce unsweetened baking chocolate
1 egg, at room temperature
1 1/4 cups (175 grams) all-purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2  teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used Nestle)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper or Silpat.
2. Melt the unsweetened baking chocolate bar in the microwave and let cool slightly. Or melt over a double boiler (it isn't much so the microwave is easier).
3. Sift together flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt into a bowl or piece of parchment and set aside.
4. In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and melted chocolate until smooth.
5. Add egg and mix until fully combined.
6. Add the flour mixture slowly until just mixed. Then add the vanilla extract.
7. Use a spatula and fold in the chocolate chips to the batter. Batter will be thick.
8. Drop cookies onto sheet and bake for 13-16 minutes, depending on your oven and the size of your cookies.
See the original recipe on the Food Network's website here.

Soft Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Soft Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Have you looked at a calendar lately? Can you believe it is almost October? HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?

Luckily for me, my work has a calendar that extends September. "What?" you ask? Look for yourselves below...

You had one job. How many days in September?

The making of the cookies. These are not very sweet, but nicely spiced and pumpkin-y.

When I heard Starbucks brought back the Pumpkin Spice Latte a little early this year, Los Angeles was in a heat wave...we ended up with the hottest summer EVER. Like...we were inches from the sun hot. But I turned to my co-workers and said, "You guys okay with me starting the pumpkin stuff now?" They said yes (big shock there ;). But then I even couldn't bake with pumpkin because it was too hot in the kitchen. So finally, I baked these at 4 am with the fan going so I didn't melt along with the butter.

Recipe: Soft Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 1/2 cups (350 grams) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 cup (150 grams) granulated sugar
3/4 cup (150 grams) light or dark brown sugar
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, softened
1 cup pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling) - I used Libby's Pumpkin
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

Prep: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line trays with parchment paper or Silpat.
1. Combine flour, baking soda & powder, spice, and salt in a bowl and whisk together. Set aside.
2. Using a mixer with paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugars together until light and fluffy.
3. Add the pumpkin, egg and vanilla and mix until well blended. If it looks a bit curdled, that's fine.
4. With the mixer on low, slowly add the flour mixture and beat until just about all blended.
5. Fold in the chocolate chips.
6. Drop cookies onto baking trays and bake for 15-18 minutes (depending on the size of your cookies and your oven) until the edges are firm and bottom is golden. I scooped 12 cookies onto a half-sheet tray.
7. Let sit on tray for a couple minutes and then move to a cooling rack. Enjoy these soft pumpkin chocolate chip cookies!

Heirloom Bakery's Sour Cream Coffee Cake - Los Angeles Times Culinary SOS

Heirloom Bakery's Sour Cream Coffee Cake

This is really, really, really good. Sometimes, I make something and say, "Well, that was a good experience...and I'll probably never make that again." This coffee cake? Totally going to make this again.

This recipe comes from Heirloom Bakery and Cafe in South Pasadena and it's via the Los Angeles Times Food Section. They have a column called Culinary S.O.S. and readers send in requests for recipes from restaurants...and the LA Times begs them for it. The LA Times test kitchen always does a great job of testing and writing easy to follow directions.

This cake starts with a topping of melted butter, chocolate chips, cocoa powder, cinnamon, pecans and brown sugar. This is spread in two layers on the cake - so each slice had some on top and in the middle. Delicious!

Be sure you have an offset spatula to smooth out the layers!

I haven't been to the Heirloom Bakery and Cafe yet, but can't wait to visit. If you are in Los Angeles, they can be found in South Pasadena.

Recipe: Sour Cream Coffee Cake

Adapted from Los Angeles Times's Culinary SOS (June 24, 2010) of Heirloom Bakery and Cafe in South Pasadena.

Topping:
1/2 cup (100 grams) light brown sugar
1 tablespoon cocoa (I used Callebaut Dutch-Processed cocoa)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup chocolate chips (I used Trader Joe's Chocolate Chunks)
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, melted and cooled

In a large bowl, stir the brown sugar, cocoa, cinnamon, chocolate chips, pecans and butter together. Set aside.

Cake:
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1 cup (200 grams) granulated sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
1 cup sour cream (I used full fat)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups (210 grams) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prep a 9-inch square pan by butter and flouring and/or line it with parchment paper.
2. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda and salt. If your kosher salt doesn't go through the sieve, add that at the end and whisk to blend the dry ingredients. Set this bowl aside.
3. Using a mixer with paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 to 5 minutes.
4. Add eggs, one at a time, and beat until fully incorporated.
5. Add sour cream and vanilla and blend together.
6. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the dry ingredients. Don't overmix - stop the mixer before it is completely mixed and finish folding with a spatula until no big lumps remain. You can also fold all the dry ingredients into the batter.
7. Spoon half the batter into the 9-inch square baking pan and smooth out with an offset spatula. Top with half the topping. Add the remaining batter and smooth out. Finally, top with the remaining topping.
8. Bake until golden and a toothpick comes out clean, about 40-50 minutes.

Cherry Blueberry Cake

Cherry Blueberry Cake

Cherries are no longer available in my farmer's market but I saw them at Trader Joe's. If you are lucky, grab some cherries and make this simple, simple cake. So easy. No Kitchen Aid. Just a bowl and a whisk. And you don't even need dairy products. Did I mention that this is way easy?

Cake and Fruit. Dude, two of the best combos ever. I brought this into work and we demolished it. Make it for your next meeting!

One bowl.
Can I tell you how nice that is? You don't even need to bust out the Kitchen Aid. Just grab a whisk.
This would be a good cake for the kids to make too.

My friend sent me a can of Bak-Klene ZT no stick spray. IT IS SO AWESOME. It will be great during Bundt season! (It's not cheap like Pam Spray, but I've not been happy with Pam's new formula. Bak-Klene works much better. You can also get it at Williams Sonoma).

This is my Instagram picture.

Dorie Greenspan (yes, THE Dorie Greenspan) commented on the post and I freaked out. Love how my friends on Instagram used the emoji to express their delight too! :)

Simple to make and the baking really brings out the best in the fresh fruit.

Topped with Sugar in the Raw (turbinado)!

Recipe:

Cherry Blueberry Cake
1 cup (140 grams) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 cup (150 grams) sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup canola or vegetable oil
1 1/2 t vanilla
1 cup blueberries
3/4 cup cherries, pitted, cut in half
2 Tablespoon raw sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare a 8 or 9-inch cake pan (butter & flour or spray with baking spray) I use this great Bak-Klene ZT spray...it's rad.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and sugar.
3. Add eggs, vanilla and oil to the bowl and whisk until just combined. The batter will be a little thick.
4. Pour batter into prepared cake pan. Smooth out top with an offset spatula.
5. Spread the fresh fruit on top of the batter.
6. Sprinkle raw sugar all over the fruit.
7. Start checking the cake at 45 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Can take 45-60 minutes to bake, depending on your size of pan and the type of fruit used.

You can also use other soft fruits such as strawberries or stone fruit such as peeled peaches or apricots.

Banana Chocolate Chunk Muffins

Banana Chocolate Chunk Muffins

You know those bananas in the back of the refrig? The ones you brought home perfectly yellow, but then you forgot to eat them, and then it's so hot in the house that they ripen in a flash, so you put them in the refrig, and they turn brown, and they sit and sit?

Those bananas - get them and make these muffins!

On Monday, I woke up, remembered we had a meeting at work, threw these together, popped 'em in the oven while listening to NPR, jumped in the shower, dressed, took them out of the oven and threw them in the car for my commute. Whew! It's was a busy Monday.

Hope you are enjoying your summer! Are you participating in your library's Summer Reading Program (some have adult programs!)? I hope you are...it's a good way to stay motivated to read and relax a bit this summer. Read anything good lately? The last book I really enjoyed was The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion.

Recipe: Banana Chocolate Chunk Muffins
Adapted from Food & Wine (The original recipe is for 24 muffins. I cut the recipe in half except for the chocolate - the original uses mini chocolate chips)

3/4 cup (150 grams) sugar
3/4 stick butter, melted
1 cup mashed overripe bananas (2-3 bananas)
1 1/2 eggs (To get 1/2 an egg, break one, lightly beat and use half)
1 1/4 cups plus 2 (192 grams) Tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chunks (I used Trader Joe's chocolate chunks)

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Prep 12 muffin tins.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, melted butter, bananas and eggs.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt.
4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix together just until the batter is moistened - don't overmix. Fold in the chocolate chunks.
5. Scoop batter into muffin tin. Bake for 24-28 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center of the muffins comes out clean.
6. Remove from oven and let sit 10 minutes before removing to cool.

Mini M&M Chocolate Cookies

Mini M&M Chocolate Cookies

At work, we hit a milestone in a crazy big project so we had to celebrate. We had an ice cream social for the team and one of the ice cream toppings included mini M&Ms. By the way, I was trying to figure out how to transport the sprinkles and toppings from home to work and I used my cupcake tin! Worked perfectly.

Since we had a lot of mini M&Ms leftover, I made these chocolate cookies - the recipe was easy to find...it's on the back of the package!

Mini M&M Chocolate Cookies
Adapted from the recipe on the back of the 12 ounce package

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 cup (200 grams) sugar
3/4 cup (150 grams) light brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/4 (315 grams) all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder (I used 28 grams of Callebaut dutch processed cocoa powder)
1 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of kosher salt
1 cup M&M minis (The recipe calls for 1 3/4 cup M&Ms but since I was using leftovers, I only had a little over 1 cup)

Note: You need to chill the dough for an hour or overnight.

1. Cream butter and sugars together in a mixer with paddle attachment.
2. Add eggs and vanilla and blend until combined.
3. In a bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.
4. With the mixer on low, slowly add the flour mixture and blend together just until combined.
5. Fold in the mini M&Ms.
6. Chill for an hour or overnight.
7. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees.
8. Scoop out tablespoons of dough and place on cookie sheet. I like to top each cookie with a few M&Ms so I'm guaranteed some m&m on the top. If you use the full amount of M&Ms, you might not need to do this because you'll have enough M&Ms in the batter.
9. Bake 10-13 minutes. (Their instructions say 7-9 minutes for chewy cookies and 10-12 minutes for crispy, but mine were totally not done at 7 minutes)