6 posts tagged “flour”
Saturday night was Dungeons and Dragons. Yes, yes, laugh all you want, but it's fun and I got the opportunity to feed people. For dinner, I just made a large batch of the arroz con pollo I already have posted, but some of us wanted more... something sweet.
I thought about what I had in the pantry, and ended up making chocolate drop cookies. They are soft and chewy, almost like a brownie in cookie form. Be careful not to overcook them!
Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
1 1/2 cups butter, softened
1 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions
Sift together flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
Cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. Beat in vanilla.
On low speed, beat in flour mixture a little at a time, until well blended and smooth.
Drop chocolate cookie dough onto greased baking sheets by rounded tablespoons, about 2 inches apart. Bake at 350° for 10 to 12 minutes, or just until set. Cool on pans on rack for about 5 minutes; transfer chocolate cookies to rack to cool completely.
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups confectioners' sugar
3 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt and set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, cream together the 1/2 cup of butter and white sugar. Add pumpkin, egg, and 1 teaspoon vanilla to butter mixture, and beat until creamy. Mix in dry ingredients. Drop on cookie sheet by tablespoonfuls; flatten slightly.
3. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven. Cool cookies, then drizzle glaze with fork.
4. To Make Glaze: Combine confectioners' sugar, milk, 1 tablespoon melted butter, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Add milk as needed to achieve drizzling consistency.
Last night, our friends Don and Pam had come down to San Francisco for an arts and crafts festival. So, since I often eat at their house up in Citrus Heights, I figured it was only fair I return the favor. They brought a bottle of Topel's '05 Pinot Noir, and I made a Guinness beef stew and served it with some fresh country white sourdough and Kerrygold butter.
Ingredients:
2 boneless beef sirloin, cut into 1 inch cubes
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
All-purpose flour for dredging
4 tbsp unsalted Kerrygold Irish butter
1/4 cup canola oil
4 medium onions, chopped
2 cups beef stock
2 cups Guinness
5 carrots, peeled and thickly sliced
4 parsnips, peeled and thickly sliced
1 medium turnip, peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces
1/2 cup pearl barley
Season the meat with salt and pepper and dredge in flour. In a stockpot or large saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter with the oil. Cook the meat on all sides for 5 to 7 minutes or until evenly browned. Remove from the pot. Stir in the onions and cook for 3 to 5 minutes or until soft.
Return all the meat to the pot and add enough of the beef stock and Guinness to cover. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to medium-low, and simmer for about an hour or until meat is nearly tender. Add the carrots, parsnips, turnip, and barley and cook for 30 to 40 minutes, or until the vegetables and meat are tender and stew is thickened.
Streusel
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground allspice
2 tsp butter
Combine brown sugar, cinnamon, and allspice in a small bowl. Cut in butter with a pastry blender or food processor until it is a crumbly mixture. Set aside.
Cake
3 cups flour
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup softened butter
4 large eggs
1 cup pumpkin puree (NOT pumpkin pie mix)
1 8 oz container sour cream
2 tbsp vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 12-cup Bundt pan or an angel food pan, both work well with this recipe.
Combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt in a bowl. Set aside.
Beat sugar and butter in mixer bowl until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add pumpkin puree, sour cream and vanilla until incorporated. Gradually beat in flour mixture and mix well.
Spoon half of the batter into prepared pan. Sprinkle with streusel mixture over batter (do not allow the streusel to touch edges of pan). Add rest of batter on top.
Bake 55 to 60 minutes or until cake tester inserted in cake comes out clean. Cool 30 minutes in pan on a wire rack. Invert cake onto wire rack to cool completely.
Glaze
1 1/2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
2 to 3 tablespoons orange juice or milk ( i use orange, it compliments
the pumpkin cake).
In a small bowl, add all ingredients stirring until smooth with a wire
whisk. Drizzle glaze over cake.
While traditionally, pound cake originally used a pound of butter, a pound of sugar, etc., they've evolved some, and not all pound cakes subscribe to that school of thought.
Such is the case with today's baking adventure - chocolate pound cake.
2 sticks of butter
1/2 cup vegetable oil
5 eggs
1/2 tsp salt
3 cups sugar
3 cups of sifted flour (I used the equivalent of unsifted cake flour since Softasilk does not need sifting - that was 3 cups 6 tbsp)
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/4 cups milk
With a high speed mixer, cream butter, oil, and sugar until light and fluffy.
Pour into a lightly greased tube or bundt pan. Bake 90 minutes at 350 degrees. After the cake has cooled, remove it from the pan.
I glazed mine with a simple sugar glaze.
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp baking powder
2 tsp dill (if using fresh, use 2 tbsp)
2 cup finely grated cheddar cheese
12 oz beer
Glaze: 1 egg & 2 tsp water, beaten
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, dill, and cheddar in a large mixing bowl. Slowly stir in beer and mix just until combined (I use my hands here... it's far easier). Spread dough in a greased 8 inch loaf pan, brush with glaze, and bake until golden brown and a toothpick stuck in the center comes out clean - about 45 minutes.
Cool in the pan on a rack for 10 minutes. Remove from the pan and cool 10 more minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature (and I put butter on my slice - YUM!)
