Monday Munchies: Rustic Herbed Cheese Bread

It's no secret that I love bread. Love it. There are a lot of bread recipes on here if you go through the archives. And most of them start with the same recipe/method, the no-knead method. This bread is no exception, but the taste is absolutely exceptional! This is a great dinner bread, but I recently served it hollowed out with an herbed sour cream dip as an appetizer and it was phenomenal!

Rustic Herbed Cheese Bread

Ingredients:
3 cups flour
1 5/8 cups water
1 1/2 tablespoons oil
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon yeast
Garlic powder
Sesame seeds
Onion powder
4 ounces sharpest provolone, shredded
Corn meal and additional flour for dusting/shaping


Mix all ingredients but cheese in a large bowl, just until combined. I didn't add the measurements for the spices because I don't measure. I like my breads strongly spiced, so I used approximately half of a small container of sesame seeds, and generous amounts (1 1/2 - 2 1/2 T) of garlic and onion powder.

There is no need to knead or over mix this dough. Simply combine the ingredients and that's it. Cover the bowl (this dough will double in size so make sure your bowl is big enough) and let sit overnight. I let mine sit for at least 12 hours, but have let it sit for 48 hours and the bread still comes out amazing.

After it has sat, place a dishtowel or paper towels in a warm place (I put mine on the stovetop with the oven on) and sprinkle generously with cornmeal. Using only enough flour so that the dough doesn't stick to your hands, ball the dough and place it on the prepared towels. Dust with more cornmeal or flour and cover with another cloth/paper towel. Let rise 1 - 3 more hours, until doubled again in size.

For the last half an hour, place a baking dish (it needs to have a cover) in the oven at 450 degrees to heat up. Turn dough out into the preheated baking dish, cover and bake for approximately 25 - 30 minutes. Remove cover and bake another 15 - 20 minutes until the bread is browned and sounds hollowed when you thump it.


Herbed Sour Cream Dip

Into 16 ounces of sour cream, mix 2T Healing Pixie's bread and cheese herb mix, 1T garlic powder, 1T onion powder and 1T garlic salt. Chill for at least an hour to allow hers to soften and flavors to meld.

Monday Munchies: Apple Spice Cupcakes

There is nothing I like better in the kitchen than baking with fresh ingredients. When A's parents brought over a ton of fresh apples from a local farm, I knew I had to whip up something sweet with them, but didn't want to go with the same old recipes, so I came up with this recipe for apple cupcakes with spiced brown cugar buttercream frosting. We had these at our Halloween party this year (along with vanilla and chocolate cupcakes with dark chocolate and peanut buttercream frostings) and they were the most talked about item that day!

Apple Spice Cupcakes
(makes 2 dozen)

Ingredients:
2 sticks butter
1 cup brown sugar
2 whole eggs
1 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 fresh apples (I used Spencer apples), peeled and chopped into chunks
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional, but they really make these cupcakes!)
1 to 1 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg (to taste)
1 tablespoon cinnamon

Cream butter and sugar together. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Disolve baking soda in buttermilk.

Alternately add flour and buttermilk, mixing well after each addition. Mix in vanilla and spices. I use my kitchen aid for this and let the batter whip for a minute or two to make it light and fluffy. Add apples and walnuts and mix to incorporate.

Bake in preheated 400 degree oven until toothpick comes out clean.


Spiced Brown Sugar Buttercream Frosting

Cream 1 stick of butter with 1/2 cup brown sugar. Add 2 1/2T cinnamon and 2 cups powdered sugar. Mix until the consistency of frosting (you may need to add 1-2 T milk to reach a good consistency). This frosting will be slightly grainy due to the brown sugar. Pipe onto cupcakes using a large star tip or spread over tops with a knife. This keeps very well in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. Just let stand at room temperature and re-whip before frosting.

Monday Munchies: Pretzels

I ♥ pretzels. The kids ♥ pretzels. I have tried a bunch of recipes and have one that I use all the time, but a friend posted a link to this recipe for Auntie Anne's pretzels last week, so I had to try it out. I don't know who Auntie Annie is (must be a regional thing in some region other than Connecticut) but her pretzels are pretty darn good. I didn't manage to snap a picture because they were all gone in the blink of an eye.

Auntie Anne’s Pretzels

1 1/2 C. warm water
1 1/8 tsp active dry yeast (1 1/2 pkg.)
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1 1/8 tsp salt
1 C. bread flour
3 C. regular flour
2 C. warm water
2 Tbsp baking soda
To taste, coarse salt
2 – 4 Tbsp butter (melted)

Sprinkle yeast on lukewarm water in mixing bowl; stir to dissolve. Add sugar, salt and stir to dissolve; add flour and knead dough until smooth and elastic. Let rise at least 1/2 hour.

While dough is rising, prepare a baking soda water bath with 2 cups warm water and 2 tbsp baking soda. Be certain to stir often.

After dough has risen, pinch off bits of dough and roll into a long rope (about 1/2 inch or less thick) and shape. Dip pretzel in soda solution and place on greased baking sheet. Allow pretzels to rise again. Bake in oven at 450 for about 10 minutes or until golden. Brush with melted butter and enjoy!

* Ok, I found this dough to be very hard to roll out to shape into pretzels, so I pinched off small balls and rolled them and made pretzel bites. I dunked them in the baking soda bath for about a minute a piece, and used a larger pot, more water and baking soda, so that I could dunk about 8 at a time. I made three different types - regular with sea salt, cinnamon and sugar and asiago cheese (the asiago cheese were the biggest hit with everyone). I brushed all the pretzels with melted butter before cooking, and salted the regular ones prior to cooking as well. For the cinnamon/sugar and asiago pretzels, I brushed them with melted butter before cooking and in the last 5 minutes of cooking i brushed them again and sprinkled them with a cinnamon sugar mixture or placed a slice of asiago cheese on top. Next time, I will be making stuffed pretzels - spinach and feta topped with asiago for A and me; mozzarella and sauce topped with cheddar for the kids.

Monday Munchies: Cheese Straws

Cheese straws are, in a word, awesome! I found the recipe on one of my favorite food blogs, Smitten Kitchen, last summer. It started out as an experiment with Kenna - we modified the recipe to omit the pepper and added garlic and garlic salt. They have quickly become a favorite of our family and we take them to every party/function we go to.

Cheese Straws
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen, adapted from The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook

12 ounces grated extra-sharp Cheddar cheese
1 stick butter, softened and cut into pieces
1 1/2 cup flour, plus more for dusting
1-2 tablespoons garlic powder (depending on your taste)
1-2 tablespoons garlic salt (depending on your taste)
2 tablespoons milk

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Place all ingredients in your food processor and turn it on high, letting it mix together until a soft ball forms.
*Note - if you are using block cheese like I do, cut the block into a few pieces and whirl those in the food processor first to chop up. no need to shred it first!
3. Roll out the dough on a floured surface. use a pizza cutter or sharp knife to cut into strips. Transfer onto a greased cookie sheet.
4. Bake about 10-15 minutes (depending on length/size of your straws), until the ends start to brown/crisp a bit
5. The original recipe says to cool and serve t room temperature - they never last that long. Everyone in our family burns their mouths on these as soon as they come out of the oven!

When we made the cheese straws on Friday, Holden was quite excited to "invent a NEW cheese straw" ... he rolled up the dough into balls and flattened them out, creating crackers. You can also cut squares/rectangles for crackers. Any way you cut it, these are great. (I may or may not eat the raw dough as well, it is so good!)

Monday Munchies: Chocolate Truffle Cookies

If you know me, you know that I am a HUGE chocaholic. Huge. And not just any chocolate - I am really picky and will only eat the darkest chocolate I can find. Has to be over 60%, preferably over 80%. So the other night, I was craving something good and chocolaty and was scouring my favorite recipe sites for *something* but just couldn't find anything that really appealed to me. So I improvised - just started throwing ingredients in the kitchen aid and hoped for the best! The result was dark chocolate truffle cookies with dark chocolate chips and sea salt. I think they need some homemade caramel next time too!

Ingredients:

1 stick butter softened
3 ounces cream cheese softened
1/2 cup sour cream
3T brown sugar
4T cocoa (no sugar added)
4 ounces dark chocolate, melted and cooled (I used 3 ounces of Lindt 85% and 1 ounce of Ghiradelli 60% because that was all we had in the house)
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 - 2T sea salt (depending on your taste)
1/2 cup chopped hazelnuts
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips (I used Ghiradelli 60% dark chips because that was all I had)

Directions:

1. Cream butter, cream cheese and brown sugar.
2. Add cocoa and sour cream and mix well.
3. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
4. Add flour and sea salt and mix well.
5. Add melted and cooled chocolate and mix until thoroughly combined.
6. Add the chocolate chips and hazelnuts and mix until incorporated.
7. Drop by rounded tablespoon fulls onto a greased cookie sheet and bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for 5-8 minutes. You want them very soft and truffle like, but cooked enough where they don't just fall right apart. Very scientific directions, I know :P
Let them cool a minute or two before you try to remove them from the cookie sheet because they will be very soft. These are one of the only cookies that I think taste better after they cool, so try not to eat too many while they are still warm! And you need a glass of milk or a cup of tea to enjoy these - they are very rich!

Next time, I will make up a batch of homemade sea salt caramel and drizzle it over the tops when they are cooled. Or perhaps I will make them as thumbrpint cookies and fill the indents with the caramel when they are cooled. Either way, they will have some caramel!

If you make these, let me know what you think!

Monday Munchies: Deli-Style Rye Bread

We are huge rye bread fans at our house. Our favorite comes from a farm about half an hour away - it is the one thing we will always come home with when we go visit. Or, it was. When I saw this recipe on Smitten Kitchen last week (one of my favorite food blogs), I knew I had to try it. The results? Fantastic! McKenna even told me it was better than the rye bread we pick up at the farm!

New York Deli Rye Bread
Adapted from The Bread Bible via Smitten Kitchen, cooking process adapted by me

Makes one 1 3/4-pound round loaf

Sponge
3/4 cup (4 ounces, 117 grams) bread flour
3/4 cup (3.3 ounces, 95 grams) rye flour
1/2 teaspoon (1.6 grams) instant yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 tablespoon (4.6 grams) malt powder (or barley malt syrup or honey (10.5 grams), or sugar (6.2 grams)) (I use honey)
1 1/2 cups (12.5 ounces, 354 grams) water, at room temperature

Flour Mixture
2 1/4 cups (12.5 ounces, 351 grams) bread flour
1/2 plus 1/8 teaspoon (2 grams) instant yeast
2 tablespoons (0.5 ounces, 14 grams) caraway seeds
1/2 tablespoon (0.3 ounces, 10.5 grams) coarse salt

Dough and Baking
1/2 tablespoon (0.25 ounces, 6.7 grams) vegetable oil
about 2 teaspoons (about 0.5 ounces, 16 grams) cornmeal for sprinkling

Make the sponge: Combine sponge ingredients in a large or mixer bowl and whisk until very smooth, to intentionally incorporate air — this will yield a thick batter. Set it aside.

Make the flour mixture and cover the sponge: In a separate large bowl, whisk together the flour mixture and gently scoop it over the sponge to cover it completely. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and allow it to ferment overnight (I generally let my bread dough sit anywhere from 10-18 hours, depending on how much time I have).

Add the oil and mix with dough hook (or by hand). Mix on medium speed for 10 minutes to make a smooth, elastic dough.

Place dough in an oiled bowl and sit in a warm place to rise again, 3-4 hours. The last 30-45 minutes the dough is rising, preheat your oven to 450 degrees, with the baking dish you are going to cook the bread in preheating in the oven as well. I use stoneware/pottery baking dishes - the baking dish needs to have a lid. Once final rise is finished, sprinkle the top of the dough with cornmeal, pull out your baking dish and quickly flip the dough into the heated dish (cornmeal side down), jiggling it to disperse it evenly in the dish. Quickly cover with lid and bake for 20 minutes. Remove lid, reduce heat to 400 degrees, and finish baking another 15-20 minutes until loaf is browned nicely.

Monday Munchies: The Ultimate Macaroni & Cheese

It is a well known fact that I love to cook, and that everything has to be from scratch. I get teased in my family because "Bonnie churns her own butter" (it's easy! And way better than store bought butter!). But a good macaroni and cheese from scratch has eluded me for years. I have tried recipe after recipe and nothing has ever turned out the way I wanted. Last night, we had made a lasagna and I had a ton of cooked lasagna noodles left over that I had to do something with ... so I decided to just wing a broken macaroni and cheese recipe. It came out better than anything I could have imagined! This is by no means low fat - but it is GOOD!!

Ultimate Macaroni and Cheese

Heat a skillet on a medium burner. Toss in the following:
* half a stick of butter (4T)
* half block of cream cheese (4 ounces)
* 10 - 12 ounces cheese, cubed - I just used what I had in the fridge - approximately 3 ounces sheep's milk cheese, 4 ounces sharp provolone, 4 ounces sharp cheddar
* about 3/4 cup of milk (I don't measure, which makes writing out recipes a tad difficult!)
Cook until almost melted, stirring frequently. Add pepper to taste, and 1T ground mustard; mix thoroughly. Stir in your favorite cooked pasta (I broke up the lasagna noodles) and simmer, stirring frequently, until warm.

Serve with a really good loaf of bread. Next week, I will post my new favorite - tweaked - deli rye bread recipe!



Look at all that cheese!