Monday, November 18, 2013

"C" is for Cookie

That's good enough for me! And are they good! Greg has spent quite a bit of time perfecting his chocolate chip cookie recipe and I am always happy to sample. The key to a great chocolate chip cookie, at least in our minds, is the chip. Our favorite is Guittard, but we can never find them. We used to find them at BJ's but they haven't carried them in years. So we wind up using Nestle or Hershey's because those are the easiest to find, but they're not the same. Ghiradelli are pretty good with a richer, darker flavor but if you're making cookies for kids, I say go with Nestle.

For "C" week at school, Greg got out the Nestle chips for a tasty batch of cookies for the little ones.

Ingredients:
2 1/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 lb butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
3 cup chocolate chips
1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Directions:
In medium bowl combine flour, baking soda and salt; set aside. In large bowl, cream together butter, sugar and brown sugar. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Gradually add dry ingredients until blended. Add chocolate chips and nuts (if desired). Drop by rounded teaspoonful onto cookie sheets lined with parchment paper. Bake at 375 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes.

The cookies come out more evenly shaped when you use an ice cream scoop. These were made with mini chocolate chips.


I like cookies a little chewier so I bake on the shorter side, but if you like crispy, go for 12 minutes.

And if anyone has leads on where to get Guittard chocolate chips, let us know. What I wouldn't do to find Guittard chips again!

Sunday, November 10, 2013

"B" is for Banana Bread

We're continuing on our mission of making weekly treats for the Pre-K class at one of our local schools and blogging out our recipes. Each week the class studies a letter of the alphabet, so for "B" week, Greg made banana bread muffins. This is a very easy recipe to make, but not my personal favorite when it comes to banana bread.

Here is the recipe we made for the students:

Ingredients for Banana Bread
Ingredients:
3 over-ripe bananas, cut into slices
6 Tbs butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda



Directions:
Butter & sugar with bananas.

Cream together butter and sugar. Add in sliced bananas and whip in electric mixer until smooth. Add vanilla and salt and mix. Add one egg at a time and mix until each is incorporated. Add flour and baking soda and mix together. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes for mini muffins; 15 minutes for full size muffins.





Here's the recipe I prefer to use when making banana bread. It's not as simple and requires a lot more bowls, but I think the muffins are much lighter and more moist. And if you really want to jazz them up, toss in a handful of chocolate chips for Chocolate Banana Nut Bread.

Ingredients:
3/4 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 egg yolks
1/2 tsp salt
2 cup flour
2 large bananas mashed
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 egg whites
1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Directions:
Cream together butter and sugar. Add yolks, salt and mix. Add flour and mix. In separate bowl, mash bananas with baking soda. In another bowl, whisk egg whites to stiff peak. Add bananas to flour mixture and mix until blended. Fold in egg whites. Do not over mix, but you do want to make sure you don't have any streaks of egg white. At this point, add nuts or chocolate chips if desired. Fill pans about 2/3 full and bake at 350 degrees until dark brown - about 20 minutes if making loaves, and 10 minutes if making mini muffins. If you make loaves, the bread freezes well and you can defrost overnight. You can toast lightly and smear with a little butter - makes this person who really doesn't like bananas, like banana bread.

Try out the recipes and let us know which one you prefer. 

Monday, November 4, 2013

"A" is for Applesauce

We're doing a cookbook! Okay, don't get too excited…..Greg volunteered to do a cookbook for one of our local schools. Their Pre-K class studies a letter of the alphabet each week and the students have to bring in an item that starts with that letter. Greg's idea was to make foods with the letter of the week, and then at the end of the year the students would receive a cookbook with all the recipes. So we've been cooking and baking for the little ones and hopefully, exposing them to some fun foods.

Applesauce isn't that creative, but what Pre-K'r doesn't like applesauce?


Applesauce
4 lbs. apples - mix of Granny Smith, and something else, should be about 3 lbs peeled, cored and cut into chunks
1 cup water
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
dash ground cloves
dash ground ginger


Peel, core and cut apples. Place in dutch oven or large stockpot, and cover with water and all dry ingredients. Over medium-high heat, bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Reduce temperature to low, and cook covered for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. There will still be a fair amount of liquid in the bottom of the pan (it's perfectly fine). Mash with a potato masher until desired consistency. For finer, smoother consistency, process through a food mill.

Use a mix of different types of apples.
Cut up into chunks so they will cook down faster.



Cook down apples with water and dry ingredients.
Mash away until the desired consistency.


We recommend using at least 2 Granny Smith apples. They are firmer, don't release as much water, and add a great flavor when mixed with other apples. I know that MacIntosh are usually the least expensive to purchase, but they are also the mushiest (in our opinion). You would think you would want mushy for applesauce, but they don't really have much flavor when used for applesauce. We like Gala and Fuji, but there are so many great varieties out there. Use a mix!