Thursday, December 17, 2009

cranberry and white chocolate scones

I had these first at a Christmas party and could not believe how moist and delicious they were.  Then today, I made these for breakfast.  They disappeared fast!  I think I found my scone recipe.  My other one was pretty sweet.  These are just right.  Perfect for a festive Christmas breakfast.



Cranberry and White Chocolate Scones 

adapted from  http://www.recipezaar.com





Makes 8 large scones or 16 small ones
-----------------------------
  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
  2.  Blend together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and butter.
  3. Add the half and half, beaten egg, cranberries, and the white chocolate, and stir until the dough holds together.
  4. Turn out onto a lightly floured board 
  5. Pat and form into a 1/2-inch thick round, then cut the round into 8 wedges (or 16)
  6. Oil a cookie sheet and gently transfer the wedges with a spatula.
  7. Bake 400 degrees F for 14 minutes 




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Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

We had a family reunion at the beach one summer.  We were in a hurry to get outside but we still needed to  feed several hungry kids plus 8 adults.  What to make?  Pasta!

Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

1 T. olive oil
1/4 c. onions
1 cl. garlic
1 Cup sliced Roasted Red Peppers.  You can make your own and store them for future use.
4 pecan halves
1/4 c. chicken or veggie broth
1 t. balsamic Vinegar
salt, pepper
red pepper flakes or powder to taste
Add fresh basil after coking.

Stir fry onions, garlic in oil.  mix in Roasted Red Peppers blend in processor.

cook capellini Pasta or other pasta. in salted boiling water
drain
toss with sauce
sprinkle basil and parmesan cheese if desired

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individual pizzas

We took the pizza dough from Jamie Oliver:


• 1kg strong white bread flour or Tipo ‘00’ flour
or 800g strong white bread flour or Tipo ‘00’ flour, plus 200g finely ground semolina flour
• 1 level tablespoon fine sea salt
• 2 x 7g sachets of dried yeast
• 1 tablespoon golden caster sugar
• 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 650ml lukewarm water




Sieve the flour/s and salt on to a clean work surface and make a well in the middle. In a jug, mix the yeast, sugar and olive oil into the water and leave for a few minutes, then pour into the well. Using a fork, bring the flour in gradually from the sides and swirl it into the liquid. Keep mixing, drawing larger amounts of flour in, and when it all starts to come together, work the rest of the flour in with your clean, flour-dusted hands. Knead until you have a smooth, springy dough.

Place the ball of dough in a large flour-dusted bowl and flour the top of it. Cover the bowl with a damp cloth and place in a warm room for about an hour until the dough has doubled in size.

Now remove the dough to a flour-dusted surface and knead it around a bit to push the air out with your hands – this is called knocking back the dough. You can either use it immediately, or keep it, wrapped in clingfilm, in the fridge (or freezer) until required. If using straight away, divide the dough up into as many little balls as you want to make pizzas – this amount of dough is enough to make about six to eight medium pizzas.

Timing-wise, it’s a good idea to roll the pizzas out about 15 to 20 minutes before you want to cook them. Don’t roll them out and leave them hanging around for a few hours, though – if you are working in advance like this it’s better to leave your dough, covered with clingfilm, in the fridge. However, if you want to get them rolled out so there’s one less thing to do when your guests are round, simply roll the dough out into rough circles, about 0.5cm thick, and place them on slightly larger pieces of olive-oil-rubbed and flour-dusted tinfoil. You can then stack the pizzas, cover them with clingfilm, and pop them into the fridge.




Then we added:


Our own tomato sauce: below


Mozzarella cheese

Parmesan cheese (fresh)

Fresh Sweet Basil 

Optional:

Salami - Sliced
Red Sweet Peppers - Sliced 
Boiled Eggs - Sliced
 
No Cook Tomato Sauce:

6 large tomatoes Roma tomatoes that are ripe and clear skinned
1 clove Garlic
1 t. salt
fresh ground black pepper
1 T. olive oil
1 T. balsamic Vinegar

1 cup fresh basil chopped or combination of herbs oregano, thyme, basil etc...
1 t. natural sugar to taste
1/4 t. lime or lemon juice to taste
add powdered Cayenne Pepper to taste


Process in food processor, cover, place in fridge overnight or at least 4 hours.



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Pumpkin Cake

When I need to feed a large crowd for the holidays, sometimes I will make this festive pumpkin cake.  Can be served with whipped cream.

1 1/2 cups Sugar
1 3/4 cups cake flour
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 t. salt
1 t. baking powder
1 t. baking soda
1 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. nutmeg
1/4 t. cardamon or ginger

mix dry ingredients together, set aside.

Cream together:  (I use a food processor)

2 eggs
2 cups cooked, steamed or canned pumpkin
1 8 oz. carton sour cream or yogurt
1. vanilla

Add to the dry ingredients.  If too stiff, add some evaporated milk until smooth.

Mix well.

Pour into 11x 13 inch cake dish.

Sprinkle with nut mixture:

1/2 cup almonds
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/8 cup butter

Bake 350 oven for 35 to 40 min.
Pour carmel sauce over the hot cake.

Sauce:
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
2/3 evaporated milk
boil 2 min. add 1 t. vanilla



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Fruit Tart Crumb Bars

I thought I would post some delicious fruit bars Janie and I made last night.
I got the original recipe (called Cranberry Crumb Bars)  from my friend Robin (thank you, Robin!) and then made a few changes.  I also thought of some substitutions that would be nice if you don't have or don't want to use cranberry sauce.


Crust and Topping:

1 cup white flour (cake flour makes a softer dough)
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups oats, I used whole grain
1 cup sugar or less
3/4 cup butter

Mix crust ingredients together until crumbly, you may need to add a little more or less butter.
reserve 1 1/2 cup of mixture for topping and press the rest into a 9x13 glass dish.
Bake for 15 min.  350 F

Meanwhile mix filling together.


Filling:
2 cups of canned cranberry sauce  or raspberry jam (low sugar variety)
3/4 cup dried cranberries
3/4 cup orange marmalade
1/2 cup dried shredded coconut
3/4 cup crushed almonds
1/4 cup flour

Spoon over hot crust and bake another 45 min. Cut while warm to insure low crumbling and let cool in pan till firm.  Bars should be 2 1/2 inches by 1 1/2 inches aprox.  Should make about 25 bars. 

Delicious!






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