Blueberry Crumb Bars, Blueberry Crumb Bars | Well Worth Repeating

I've been holding out on you -- I've been making these Blueberry Crumb Bars all summer, ever since our first blueberries ripened in late June. Every. Single. Week. Mr. Rosemary likes them that much. (So do I.) And I have enough in the freezer to make, oh, I'd say enough for a weekly batch through January!

And I took a pan of these to the family's annual Labor Day get together, an appropriate official end to summer. And everyone loved them there, too. Even my brother (who boned up on reading my blog before our get together said I should put these up on the blog: "You haven't been posting there much lately," he said.)

And when my eight year old cooking student took them to a friend's home for dinner he got a thank you note and a request for the recipe!

I have found this recipe in a lot of places, so whoever first created it gets no credit! I first found these via the Brown Eyed Baker. She attributed them to Smitten Kitchen, who wrote that she first got the recipe from all recipes.com.  I liked Smitten Kitchen's the best, because it used all butter as the shortening and included a good touch of lemon, both in the blueberry mixture and the crust. So that's the one I used. (And used and used and used.)

Maybe you'll become a blueberry crumb bar junkie, too, after you try these. They're pretty simple, oh-so-good, and can be a great dessert, a nice snack, or a complement to a breakfast spread.

But Mr. Rosemary will suggest that you warm these up a little and add a dollop of Cool Whip.  And I might add, Cool Whip might do in a pinch but real whipped cream is so much better!

Blueberry Crumb Bars

from Smitten Kitchen

Yield: I cut these into 36 smallish rectangles

1 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup cold unsalted butter (2 sticks)
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon salt
Zest and juice of one lemon
4 cups fresh blueberries
1/2 cup white sugar
4 teaspoons cornstarch

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.  Grease a 9×13 inch pan.

2. In a medium bowl, stir together 1 cup sugar, 3 cups flour, and baking powder. Mix in salt and lemon zest. Use a fork or pastry cutter to blend in the butter and egg. Dough will be crumbly. Pat half of dough into the prepared pan.

3. In another bowl, stir together the sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice. Gently mix in the blueberries. Sprinkle the blueberry mixture evenly over the crust. Crumble remaining dough over the berry layer.

4. Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until top is slightly brown. (This took an extra 10 to 15 minutes in my oven.) Cool completely before cutting into squares.

Love Knots | Soft Hot Buttered Pretzels

If you had to choose between an Alton Brown recipe and a King Arthur Flour recipe for soft pretzels, what would you do?

Tough choice.After all, Alton Brown is almost as exhaustive as Christopher Kimball when it comes to figuring out the very best way to make something.

On the other hand, when you're baking, what better authority than the royalty of  King Arthur Flour?

Although nearly a toss-up, in the end I chose the King Arthur Flour recipe because it seemed just a tad simpler and, since this was to be a  lesson with my little 8 year old cooking student, simpler was the way to go.

With school out for the summer, Wyatt and I had plans to make "bread" things since we had more time than during the school year.

We started with a quick bread.  Then moved on to sweet rolls. But to make things interesting (and educational) we conducted our own little experiment.

We made a "quick sweet roll," a recipe that used just baking powder instead of yeast. His job was to take both versions homes and test them out. I was surprised that the "quick" sweet roll -- an America's Test Kitchen recipe --  beat out the traditional yeast rolls. (And I forgot to get pictures before Wyatt took them all home!)

So we moved on to these pretzels -- if I knew that they were this easy -- and fun -- to make, I would have made them a long time ago.

With this success under our belt, we may move on to regular, real bread!

Soft Hot Buttered Pretzels

From King Arthur Flour

2 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon sugar

2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast

7/8 to 1 cup warm water*

1 cup boiling water

2 tablespoons baking soda

coarse, kosher or pretzel salt, optional

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

*Note from KAF Bakers: Use the greater amount in the winter, the lesser amount in the summer, and somewhere in between in the spring and fall. Your goal is a soft dough.

• To make dough by hand, or with a mixer: Place all of the dough ingredients into a bowl, and beat until well-combined. Knead the dough, by hand or machine, for about 5 minutes, until it's soft, smooth, and quite slack. Flour the dough and place it in a bag, and allow it to rest for 30 minutes.
• While the dough is resting, prepare the topping: Combine the boiling water and baking soda, stirring until the soda is totally (or almost totally) dissolved. Set the mixture aside to cool to lukewarm (or cooler).
• Preheat your oven to 475°F. Prepare a baking sheet by spraying it with vegetable oil spray, or lining it with parchment paper.
• Transfer the dough to a lightly greased work surface, and divide it into eight equal pieces (about 70g, or 2 1/2 ounces, each).
• Allow the pieces to rest, uncovered, for 5 minutes. Pour the baking soda/water into a inch square pan.
• 8) Roll each piece of dough into a long, thin rope (about 28" to 30" long), and twist each rope into a pretzel. Working with 4 pretzels at a time, place them in the pan with the baking soda/water, spooning the water over their tops; leave them in the water for 2 minutes before placing them on the baking sheet. This baking soda "bath" will give the pretzels a nice, golden-brown color.
• Transfer the pretzels to the prepared baking sheet. Sprinkle them lightly with coarse, kosher, or pretzel salt, if desired. Allow them to rest, uncovered, for 10 minutes. (We sprinkled half of our pretzels with cinnamon sugar, half with salt. Sugar for Wyatt, salt for me.)
• Bake the pretzels for 8 to 9 minutes, or until they're golden brown.
• Remove the pretzels from the oven, and brush them thoroughly with the melted butter. Keep brushing the butter on until you've used it all up; it may seem like a lot, but that's what gives these pretzels their ethereal taste. Eat the pretzels warm, or reheat them in an oven or microwave.

Makes 8 large pretzels.

Bake Sale Lemon Bars

I was on the docket to make cookies for the social hour after church last Sunday. I'd signed up weeks before and carefully picked the date, considering what I knew we had going on. We'd be back from our fishing trip, hay making should be over, no company visiting, no parties to attend. Perfect. No stress timing.

Trouble was, we were right smack dab in the middle of making hay. We had lots of volunteer helpers who needed food and drink. And granddaughter Emma wanted to come visit and help with hay. So, I got up extra early Saturday morning and started baking these lemon bars.

I chose the lemon bars because a new magazine, Taste of Home, had just come, and these just grabbed me. I love lemony things; Mr. Rosemary doesn't. He's a chocolate, peanut butter and nuts fan. I like those, too, but I also crave something lighter and tangy once in a while. The church social is a great excuse to get to make something I want to sample.

But something about the date kept nagging at me.   Maybe it was next Sunday, I worried, not tomorrow!  I checked the calendar on my iPhone. (I'm really surprised at how much I really use the phone for more than phone calls and games!) 

Yep. Said it was next Sunday all right. But still I don't trust myself. Maybe I entered it wrong. So I called a woman from church who assured me it was indeed the following Sunday.

So I had lots of extra cookies to share. My volunteer farmhands were happy. And I think I'm going to be making these again. On the right Sunday.

.
Bake Sale Lemon Bars
from Taste of Home, June-July 2013
contributed by Mildred Keller, Rockford IL 1996

3/4 cup butter, softened
2/3 cup confectioners' sugar
1 1/3 cup plus 3 tablespoon all-purpose flour, divided
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice
Additional confectioner's sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl, beat butter and confectioners' sugar until blended. Gradually beat in 1 1/2 cup flour. Press into bottom of greased 13 X 9 baking pan. Bake 18- 20 minutes or until golden brown.
Meanwhile,, in a small bowl, whisk eggs, sugar, lemon juice and remaining flour until frothy. Pour over hot crust and Bake 20-25 minutes or until topping is set and lightly browned.
Cool completely on a wire rack. Dust with additional confectioners' sugar. Cut into bars. Refrigerate leftovers.
Makes 4 dozen (if you cut them that small!)

Better than Average Broccoli Salad -- and a Blog-cation

Broccoli salads have become pretty standard fare at summer picnics and parties, sharing the classic rung with the likewise ubiquitous macaroni, pasta and potato salads. And there's nothing wrong with the classics . . . but every once in a while, I itch for just a little twist that makes people go, "Hmmmm . . . . what's in here?"

I was inspired to break out of my broccoli-salad-comfort-zone by "The Meaning of Pie," one of my favorite food blogs. Kelly Yandell has a knack for making ordinary things special . . . and photographs everything so well. Please pay a visit.

Often, you'll find broccoli salads swimming in a creamy mayonnaise dressing and laden with cheese and bacon. (Who doesn't love bacon?)  This version has bacon but a more spare coating of dressing,.a tang from fruit juice, crunch from nuts and onion, and a touch of sweet from cranberries.

The salad that inspired Kelly, she shares, came from her Aunt Jane, who used yogurt in the dressing, but Kelly opted for sour cream because that's what she had on hand. I love a recipe, and the cook, that is flexible enough to take advantage of what's in the refrigerator and pantry.

Better-than-Average Broccoli Salad
only slightly adapted from The Meaning of Pie

4 cups fresh broccoli florets, stems copped and florets cut into tiny pieces
6 slices of bacon, cooked crisp and chopped
1/2 cup slivered almonds, toasted
2 stalks of green onion, chopped fine
1 cup dried cranberries

For the dressing:
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup plain Greek-style yogurt
3 tablespoons apple juice
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 teaspoons sugar

Cut the broccoli into small pieces, using both the florets and the the stems.

Combine the broccoli, almonds, cranberries and onion in a large bowl. In a small bowl, combine the dressing ingredients, combining well. Pour over the salad and mix. Keep refrigerated .

Makes about 6 servings. (Easily doubled!)

* * * * * * * * * * *

Now -- about the blog-cation. I didn't plan to be absent, just happened. We've been busy remodeling. (See the barn wood in my pictures? It's from our old barn and is now siding our fireplace wall. And my kitchen is now painted a beautiful red, outfitted with new appliances. Lots going on; and not quite done.) And then there was the 10-day fishing trip to Canada. And then there was . . . well, you get the idea. Plus, I was feeling I had nothing interesting to write about and, in the midst of remodeling, couldn't find my stuff! Anyhow, I'm calmer now and back in the saddle. Thanks for visiting. Come back again soon!

Split Pea Soup for a Rainy Spring Day

Spring is incurably fickle. She teases us into believing she's really arrived, with a few days of sunshine, a pop or two of daffodils and tulips,  then, WHAM!  A blast of cold air, a cloudburst, and gloomy, gray skies.

                 


But my silver lining in a rainy spring day is that it begs for soup to be made. I never need an excuse for soup, though.  Any day of the year, any season, I'm soup ready. I (humbly) pride myself on being quite good at reprising just about any leftover into a great soup. (Maybe a frittata.)

So when fickle spring handed out yet another dose of wet and windy, I turned on the stove to make split pea soup.  Split pea soup happens to be one soup that is not really made from leftovers, though, except for a ham bone saved from Easter, perhaps. But it's rich and hearty and oh-so-warming.

Not a very pretty soup, though, which is probably why this Martha Stewart version includes homemade croutons as an accessory. I declined to accessorize this soup. It's a classic that only needs a spoon.

But if my lilacs are spoiled by another cry for soup, I'll be having a few words with Mother Nature.

Split Pea Soup

from Martha Stewart

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 chopped medium onion

4 carrots, thinly sliced

3 celery stalks, thinly sliced

1 tablespoon dried thyme leaves

Coarse salt and ground pepper

1 can (14.5 ounces) chicken broth

1 bag (16 ounces) green split peas, picked over and rinsed

Ham bone plus 2 cups reserved ham cut into 1/2-inch cubes

In a Dutch oven or 5-quart heavy pot with a lid, heat oil over medium. Add onion, carrots, celery, and thyme; season with salt and pepper. Cook until vegetables begin to soften, 5 to 8 minutes.

Add broth, split peas, ham bone, and 5 cups water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low, and partially cover; simmer until peas are soft, 30 to 45 minutes.

Remove and discard bone from soup.

Use an immersion blender to partially puree the soup. leave some chunks. (Or, working in batches, puree only 1/2 the soup in a blender and return to pot.) 

Add ham cubes, and simmer until heated through. If necessary, thin with water. Add salt and pepper to taste. (But you won't need much salt!)

Hooray for Challah!

Yep, I did it. I said I was going to and I did. And making challah wasn't as difficult as I imagined. I read and re-read the recipe. I never hardly left the kitchen.  After I got the three ropes ready (I was just going for the basic three rope braid. We can save the six rope braid for another, bolder day.) and made my braid, it looked so pretty.

I have to admit that, all in all, it was just the satisfying experience I thought it would be. I wasn't disappointed at all. (although it did feel kind of heavy.)

The only thing I wonder now  is whether I should feel guilty for letting my mixer do all the kneading work. Is that cheating? Is it like using Miracle-Gro and not telling anyone you really don't have a green thumb?
Just wondering.

I think I'll get off my bread kick now.  Every once in a while, we're supposed to get out of our comfort zone and try something new, right? I did and I feel good about it.

Time for a nice savory stew. Since it's April 2 and it's still snowing.

I made my bread from a recipe I found on Food52, a site I love to visit now and again. After I used this recipe, I remembered that I have a copy of the Bread Bible, so I really didn't have to go to the internet at all. I had my own library as a resource. Getting lazy . . . . and now that I've "re-found" my book, maybe this bread phase isn't over yet. When spring finally comes, then I'll stop.

                                                 

A Virgin Voyage with Focaccia

There has to be a first time for everything and I just made my first focaccia. Buoyed by my conquest of pizza dough, I was even more determined to overcome my fear of yeast and move on to bread. If there was a Scoville scale for bread, I'm thinking focaccia would be on the next rung up.

When I pulled my first focaccia out of the oven, it looked like the surface of Mars. Oh, but the aroma! The piney fragrance of the rosemary, the richness of the olive oil. The smell of bread baking -- any kind of bread -- is just heart-warming. No wonder it's so highly recommended for home sellers.

I was so proud. I had to boast to Mr. Rosemary.

"Smells good," says he. "What's so special about it?"

Nothing, really. Except for the fact that I made it.

His innocent question made me want to research it a little more. And I found a lot of information, although I found it curious that many of the sources I read wove their way back to Wikipedia. (What did we do before Wikipedia? It took hours to do what we can now do in mere minutes, that's what.)

Here's what I learned:

• Focaccia is a flat oven-baked Italian bread that may be topped with other ingredients.
• It is similar is style and texture to pizza dough, consisting of flour, water, salt, oil and yeast.
• It is typically rolled or pressed by hand into a thick layer of dough and then baked in a stone-bottom or hearth oven . . . or on a pizza stone.
• The first focaccia is thought to have been made prior to the Roman Empire by the Etruscans in North Central Italy, or by the ancient Greeks.
• It takes its names from the Roman phrase "panis foacacius" meaning a flat loaf of bread cooked under the ashes of a fire or upon a hearth.

And there are just as many recipes for focaccia as there are for, well  . . . .  bread. The recipe I chose was probably the most complicated, but only because it called for three rises. It was worth it, although I think I'll go for a simpler one next time. I don't think that's the way the Etruscans made it. 

But this recipe from Simply Recipes was perfect, although lengthy! The bread was great for sandwiches or snacking. I confess it was my breakfast for several mornings. And it does freeze well.  

So, now  I have pizza dough and focaccia under my belt.  Can challah be far behind?

This recipe makes enough for 2 good-sized loaves. You can make it all in free-form loaves that look like puffy pizzas, or shape them into casseroles or cake pans – there are no absolutes on the shape of this bread. The bread takes on the flavor of the olive oil so be sure to use a good quality one. 

Focaccia Bread with Rosemary

From Simply Recipes

1 package dry yeast

1/3 cup warm water, about 100 degrees

2 1/4 cups tepid water

2 Tbsp good quality olive oil, plus more for the pan and to paint on top of the bread

3 cups bread flour

4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 Tbsp salt, plus coarse salt (fleur de sel if you have it, otherwise Kosher salt) for sprinkling over the top

2-3 Tbsp finely chopped fresh rosemary 

Stir the yeast into the 1/3 cup of slightly warm-to-the-touch water and let it rest for 10 minutes.

In a large bowl, pour in 2 1/4 cups of tepid water and 2 tablespoons olive oil. After the yeast has rested for 10 minutes and has begun to froth, pour it into the water-oil mixture.

Whisk in 2 cups of flour (either the bread flour or the all purpose; at this stage it doesn't matter which) and the tablespoon of salt. Add the rosemary. Then, cup by cup, whisk in the rest of the flour (both the bread flour and all purpose). As the mixture goes from a batter to a thick dough, you'll want to switch from a whisk to a wooden spoon. By the time you get to the last cup of flour, you will be able to work the dough with your hands. Begin to knead it in the bowl – try to incorporate all the flour stuck to the sides and bottom of the bowl as you begin kneading.

Once the bowl is pretty clean, turn the dough out onto a board and knead it well for 8 minutes. You might need some extra flour if the dough is sticky.

I used my stand mixer for the mixing and kneading of the bread dough. After adding all the flour, cup by cup, I switched to the dough hook and let the machine knead the bread for 8 minutes.

In a large clean bowl, pour in about a tablespoon of oil and put the dough on top of it. Spread the oil all over the dough. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set aside to rise for an hour and a half. It should just about double in size.

Spread a little olive oil in your baking pan or baking sheet (will make it easier to remove the bread). Place the dough in your baking pans or form it into free-form rounds on a baking sheet. This recipe will do two nice-sized loaves or one big one and a little one. Cover the breads and set aside for another 30 minutes.

Dimple the breads with your thumb. Push in to about the end of your thumbnail, roughly 1/2-inch. Cover again and leave it to rise for its final rise, about 2 hours.

With 30 minutes to go before the rise finishes, preheat your oven to 400°F. If you have a pizza stone put it in.

Once the dough has done its final rise, gently paint the top with olive oil – as much as you want. Then sprinkle the coarse salt on top from about a foot over the bread; this lets the salt spread out better on its way down and helps reduce clumps of salt.

Put the bread in the oven. If you are doing free-form breads, put it right on the pizza stone. Bake for a total of 20-25 minutes. If you have a water spritzer bottle, spritz a little water in the oven right before you put the bread in to create steam, and then a couple of times while the bread is baking.

When the bread comes out of the oven, turn it out onto a rack within 3-5 minutes; this way you'll keep the bottom of the bread crispy. Let cool on a rack for 10 minutes before eating.

Makes a large loaf and a small loaf of 1 1/2 to 2 inches thick.