Little Beach Street Bakery - A Novel

I'm sure summer is just around the corner… can you feel it?  Spring time in Oklahoma has been anything but sunshine and flowers blooming!  The sun is hiding and my flowers have all but drowned!  What's a girl to do when she can't get out and dig in the dirt?  Why… curl up with a good read and bake of course!  I have a stack of to be read books calling my name on my bedside table.  Side note, hop on over to Modern Mrs. Darcy.  Anne Bogel's blog is chalked full of great reads. Every book I have read from her blog has never disappointed.  I just read the last page of Little Beach Street Bakery by Jenny Colgan.  Such a fun and yummy read.  A sweet story about a young woman starting over and finding her passion… baking!  I found myself being pulled to the kitchen and searched my pantry for something delicious to bake!  On one such trip to the kitchen after firing up the oven, I stumbled on some very ripe bananas.  Perfect for banana bread!  Instead of bread I wanted to try muffins.  So I started digging in my cookbooks looking for just the right recipe.  I love adding a dollop of sour cream to my muffins, cakes and scones but I couldn't find a recipe with the ingredients I wanted to use.  So wallah… I came up with my own!  Mark, my kids and grands were my taste testers.  I got a "two thumbs up" from the family!  Score!

Scoot to your local book store or order your copy of Little Beach Street Bakery and bake up some muffins.  Make time this summer to curl up with a good book and just enjoy!

Streusel Banana Nut Muffins

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 large ripe bananas, mashed

3/4 cup dark brown sugar

1 egg

1/3 cup melted butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 cup sour cream

3/4 cup or a little more pecans, if desired

Streusel Topping:

3/4 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup flour

1 tablespoon water

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 cup butter softened at room temperature

Mix all topping ingredients until crumbly.

Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together and set aside.  In a separate bowl mash bananas- I use a fork but fingers work quite well!  Add the egg, brown sugar, sour cream, melted butter and vanilla, mix well.  Combine banana mixture to the dry ingredients and mix well.  Stir in the nuts if so desired.  Line muffin tins with muffin papers and fill about 2/3 full.  This recipe makes about 16 muffins.  Cover each muffin with streusel topping and bake in a 350 degree oven 25 - 30 minutes.  Muffins are done when you touch them and they spring back.

Now pour a tall glass of ice cold milk and lather up a muffin with a pat or two of butter, grab your book and enjoy the goodness!

don't try this at home...

Epic Fail…  If you read my bio I boldly stated I would share my "epic fails!"  Here is one for the books!  On Sunday we had the family over to celebrate Wyatt's birthday.  I thought I would kick the cupcakes up a notch for Wyatt.  In my head I had visions of him sharing with his friends "wow you should have seen what my GG made for my birthday!"  Well I can honestly say I didn't even show him this disaster!  I've seen this on Pinterest several times and thought, "I can do this!"  I used a basic chocolate cake mix and filled the ice cream cones part way as the directions indicated.  What came out of the oven isn't even close to the pictures pinned.  The batter over flowed all over the cone and when I took the "test" bite I quickly spit it out in the sink!  The cone tasted like moist cardboard!  I can assure you I will never try this again!  If anyone out in cyber world has tried these and has had success please share the secret!  I think I will stick with filling the cones with ice cream as it was intended to be!  Guess some things just can't be improved… but hey, I tried!

Something for the First Time...

     Something for the First Time is the theme this year at my church, St. Luke's United Methodist Church.  Each week Dr. Bob Long encourages us to try something for the first time.  Since the beginning of the year, I have thought about many things I want to try.  Most of the time the road takes me to the kitchen.  I have always loved scones.  A cup of Chamomile tea, with honey of course, a scrumptious scone with lemon curd and I'm in paradise!  I can certainly see me at Buckingham Palace (with a beautiful hat of course!) having tea with the Queen or Princess Kate!  Everything about "high tea" intrigues me… the tea cups, pretty dishes, tiny spoons, little sandwiches and cakes.  Mmmmmm makes me hungry!  It's got to be tea time somewhere! Maybe I will start treating myself to high tea every day,  or maybe once a week!  I see a fancy tea party with my granddaughters in the near future!  Ok, back to something for the first time!  I have never ever made a scone and was honestly a little intimidated at the thought of baking them.  I tried several recipes; some too dry, some too crumbly.  After combining 5 or so different recipes, I believe I have the perfect scone!  Everyone says their recipe is the perfect one right???  Of course there is always room for improvement in anything!  For me, I love this one and plan to stick with my creation.  The best thing about this recipe is you can add fresh fruit, different flavors of chips or just enjoy them plain!  The first time I made them, I used mini cinnamon chips.  Ooo la la… they were yummy!  But… I forgot to save a couple scones and take pictures!  A senior moment I guess!

I recently discovered King Arthur Flour.  I ordered lemon chips and sanding sugar and couldn't be happier.  Check out their website, good stuff!

Enjoy these sconealicious lemon scones.  Put the tea kettle on and have yourself a "tea party!"

Scones

Ingredients:
2 cups flour + a few Tablespoons for rolling out dough
1/2 cup light or dark brown sugar
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter (freeze the stick of butter, after frozen grate the butter with a cheese grater and place back in freezer)
1 extra large egg  (I use extra large eggs in all my baking)
1/2 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups lemon chips
zest of a lemon
course sugar for sprinkling on top before baking (optional)

Glaze:
1 cup confectioners' sugar
3 Tablespoons milk/half and half or cream
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
lemon zest if desired

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400F degrees.  I place my baking shelf in the middle.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicon baking sheet works great as well.

In a good size bowl, whisk the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, and salt.  Remove the grated butter from the freezer and toss in the flour mixture.  Using a fork or pastry cutter combine until the mixture looks like course cornmeal.  Set aside.

Whisk the egg, sour cream and vanilla in a small bowl.  Pour over the mixture and then mix with a rubber spatula until everything is moistened.  Gently fold in the lemon chips.  Try to not over work the dough.  Don't start getting intimidated!!!  The dough is going to be pretty moist at this point.  Work the dough as best you can into a ball.  On a lightly floured surface pat the dough in an 8" round circle.  Cut the dough in 8 wedges.  Place wedges on the prepared baking sheet.  Give each scone some space.  Using a little cream, brush the wedges with the cream and if desired sprinkle with course sugar.

Bake 20 - 25 minutes or until lightly browned.  The first time I made them I over baked them a tad!  Remove from the oven and let the scones cool down a bit.  Meanwhile… whip up the glaze.  Drizzle the glaze over the scones.

Scones are best if enjoyed right away, well wait till the tea is ready!  If you have any leftovers, the scones keep well in an air tight container at room temperature for 2 or 3 days.

Now it's time to sit on the patio, garden, watching a good movie or soaking in the tub, enjoying a hot cup of tea and a sconealicious scone!

Once again big thanks to my sweet friend Nelou.  You encourage me to do better every day!

Brownies Extraordinary

Mom was a master in the kitchen and I am so grateful she taught me how to cook many of our favorite recipes.  I don't remember mom baking many pans of plain ole brownies but I do remember these yummy delights!  What I find so comforting is I have mom's original recipe in her own handwriting!  Long gone are the days of reaching in our recipe box for a blank recipe card and writing down a recipe to share with a friend or loved one.  Remember the cute cards that said "from the kitchen of…?"  We now jump on our computers and "google" a recipe and save it to our files.  Hey I have been known to take a picture of a recipe with my phone for later use!  Don't get me wrong, I love being able to find a recipe at the click of a button, but I miss going to mom's recipe box and pulling out a recipe and whipping up something delicious.  Anyone remember picking out a recipe box for your wedding registry?  I think I just aged myself!  Okay back to brownies!  If you are looking for an ooey gooey chocolate treat, this is a must for you!  I've added my own twist by drizzling melted caramel, course salt and chocolate over the top after the brownies have baked and cooled.  Not quite enough richness for you… take it to the next level, and add a dip of ice cream!  Shut the front door and get in my mouth now!

Brownies Extraordinary

Filling:
1 - 8 ounce package of cream cheese softened at room temperature
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon almond extract

Brownies:
2 - 1 ounce squares unsweetened chocolate (I use Baker's Chocolate, found in your grocery store)
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Filling:

In a mixing bowl combine the cream cheese, sugar, egg and almond extract.  Beat with a hand mixer until all combined, set aside.

Batter:

Melt the unsweetened chocolate and butter in a sauce pan or microwave, set aside.

Sift flour, baking powder and salt.  Beat together the eggs and sugar, add the melted chocolate to the egg and sugar mixture.  Combine the chocolate mixture with the flour and mix well.  Butter a 9x9 pan.  Add 1/2 of the chocolate batter to the pan and spread evenly.  I find it useful to use those little offset spatulas but of course anything will do!  I'm the queen of gadgets and I have my favorites!  Okay back to the brownie batter!  Now spread the cream cheese mixture evenly over the batter.  Add remaining brownie batter to the top and spread evenly.  Bake in a 350 degree oven for 30 - 45 minutes.  To test if the brownies are done, just insert a toothpick in middle, if toothpick comes out clean- brownies are done!  There are a couple of things you can do at this point.  After the brownies have cooled you can sprinkle powdered sugar over the brownies and they are yummy.  To kick it up a notch or two… melt in a double boiler 8 - 10 ounces of caramel.  I like to add a tablespoon of cream for a bit more creaminess after the caramel has melted.  Drizzle over the brownies, and at this point if you would like, sprinkle with a little course salt.  Maybe a teaspoon in all, a preference call on this one!  Melt 8 ounces of chocolate chips, your choice of milk, dark or semi sweet.  White chocolate chips would be good as well!  Drizzle the chocolate over the caramel and course salt.  Let the caramel and chocolate set up a bit before cutting.  Now for the best part… pour yourself a glass of ice cold milk, cut a brownie and enjoy!  Oh and don't forget the ice cream!

© Images taken by yours truly, and edited once again by the lovely  n e l o u G R A C E.

sweet smell of cinnamon rolls

     First of all for the record...  Hi, I'm Gwyn and I'm a cinnamon roll-aholic!  Annnnd all together now... Hi Gwyn!  Haha okay, just making sure we're all in the right place!!  Alrighty, I have been on a mission to create the best ooey goey, cinnamon filled slice of heaven you've ever tasted.  As I think back upon the many cinnamon rolls I have enjoyed over the years, my mind often wanders to my sweet childhood friend in Casper, Wyoming.  Her mom made the best cinnamon rolls, I tell ya.  If I close my eyes and breathe in slowly, I can still smell the aroma drifting down the stairs into the basement.  Needless to say we took them two at a time in order to savor those first couple rolls fresh from the oven!  Oh the memories... Ok... eyes back open and back to reality!  In my not so humble opinion, I believe the secret ingredient to these amazing cinnamon rolls... is mashed potatoes!  You heard correctly... I said potatoes!  How can you go wrong combining yummy mashed potatoes with dough?  A true match made in heaven!

Timeless Cinnamon Rolls

Ingredients:

Rolls:
1 cup mashed potatoes - do not salt the potatoes
1 cup potato water (scoop out a cup of potato water before you drain the potatoes!)
3/4 cup melted butter
3/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1 cup hot water
2 packages of yeast
1/2 cup warm water (100 - 110 degrees F, to dissolve yeast)
2 eggs
8 1/2 cups plus 2 Tablespoons all purpose flour (I don't know why plus 2 T., it just works!)

Filling:
1 cup melted butter, plus more if needed
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup ground cinnamon

Maple Icing:
These are "approximate" measurements.
1 pound powdered sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup (pancake or waffle syrup works just dandy!)
3 Tablespoons melted butter
Milk for thinning if needed

For the Dough:

Combine potatoes, potato water, butter, sugar, salt and hot water in a large mixing bowl.  Set aside to cool.  Combine yeast and 1/2 cup warm water in a small bowl.  Let rest so the yeast can get going, about 5 minutes.  Add the eggs, 2 cups of flour and yeast mixture to potato mixture.  Beat until well mixed.  I use my big girl mixer with the dough hook attachment but you can do this by hand.  Get ready to use your muscles!  Continue adding flour, one cup at a time, until a soft dough forms.  Knead on a lightly floured surface until smooth and elastic (about 6 minutes), or use your big girl mixer!  Place the dough in a clean greased bowl, then cover.  You won't want to stop playing with this dough, it is soooo soft and supple!  Big girl play dough!  Let the dough rise and do its thing in a warm cozy place for an hour.  Laundry?  The dryer is a perfect place for the dough to do its magic!  Get ready!  This dough poofs up big time!  After an hour get your fist ready and punch down!  Divide dough in half.

Roll one portion of dough on a lightly floured surface to an approximate 12" x 18" rectangle.  Now for the oh so good goodness...  Spread 1/2 of the melted butter over the dough.  Use your fingers to spread the butter evenly over the dough.  Combine the brown sugar, granulated sugar and cinnamon in a bowl.  Spread the sugar mixture over the dough.  At this time the sweet smell of cinnamon will start filling up your kitchen!  Now it's time to roll the dough.  Drumroll please...  Beginning at the end farthest from you, start rolling towards you keeping the dough as tight as possible.  When you reach the end, pinch the seam together.  I use a serrated knife to cut the dough in 1 1/2" slices.  I eyeball the log before I make the first cut and cut the log in half, then I cut in half again.  This gives me 4 mini logs.  Next, I cut 3 rolls from each log.  I have found my rolls seem to bake more evenly if I bake 6 rolls in a pan.  So I use round pie pans or aluminum pie pans for baking my rolls.  Melt a couple of tablespoons of butter and swish around the pan and place the cinnamon rolls in the buttery pans.  Cover the pans with a kitchen towel and set aside to rise for at least 20 minutes.  More laundry?  Once again the dryer is a great place for the rolls to hang out!  Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Remove the towel and bake for 20 - 25 minutes.  Don't allow the rolls to become too brown.

While the rolls are baking and filling up your kitchen with the most heavenly fragrance, use this time to prepare the maple icing!  In a large bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, maple syrup and butter.  This is where you have to use your best judgement.  As you mix you may need to add a little milk to get the consistency you want.  If you get it too thin, no worries, add more powdered sugar!

Once the rolls come out of the oven, I let them cool about 10 minutes before I add the icing.  Remember those ooey goey cinnamon rolls I mentioned earlier?  Now's the time to drizzle or spread the icing all over them!  And guess what?  These rolls freeze beautifully.  After you frost the rolls and they have completely cooled, you can pop them in the freezer.  I put the pan and all in a gallon freezer bag.  When you are ready for a fresh pan, pull them out of the freezer and allow to thaw about 15 minutes.  Pop in a 250 degree F oven for about 15 minutes.  Yum yum!

I hope you enjoy this recipe and it takes you back to a wonderful memory.  It's not so much of what we eat, but the memory of what we have eaten!

Another big shout out to my dear friend nelougrace.com for her expert advice, support and editing!

Enjoy!

new direction...

     I took a little "hiatus" from my blog.  Let's be honest, I haven't posted since July, 2014 and not often before then!  Over the past year I have dabbled at many things.  Learning guitar, blogging, reading, photography, cooking, & even taking French lessons on my computer.  And while I love the "idea" of doing so many things, I have discovered my true passion is being in the kitchen.  What warms my heart the most is making something yummy and then passing it on to someone else to enjoy.  I have been working the past couple of years with an amazing woman, photographer and a person I now call friend!  Nelou of nelougrace.com is so talented in so many areas- photography, computer skills, Lightroom, design and so on…  I have learned so much and look forward to learning more from my sweet friend.  What I have discovered over the past few months is when I have time to do as I please, I often gravitate towards the kitchen and whip something up!  While driving in the car the idea came from the back of the Suburban… "bake and take!"  Perfectly fitting, since I just adore to bake and take to family, friends, coworkers and whoever will be my guinea pig!  So I am putting my "big girl" camera on the shelf for a while and placing my primary focus on baking, along with taking pictures with my iPhone (seriously… so handy!!).  Don't get me wrong, I love my "big girl" camera and I plan to use it a lot, especially when we go to the cabin.  But for now… I'm finding the iPhone camera does an amazing job and is super simple when it comes to photographing my yummies for blogposts!  Thanks to Nelou for "re-designing" my blog!  Nelou has fantastic ideas and I highly recommend her services!

     One of my favorite treats as a kid were Rice Krispy Treats!  Mom made them all the time and she would vary the ingredients from time to time.  Today I am sharing her "kicked up treats."  These treats aren't your basic off the box recipe… no sireeeee!  They are soft and just the right amount of "goo!"  Altogether now… mmmmmmmm.

Ingredients:

5 Tablespoons butter

8 cups mini marshmallows

1/2 cup peanut butter (I prefer smooth)

6 cups Krispie Rice Cereal

1/2 teaspoon salt

Melted chocolate chips (optional)

Directions:

1. Butter a 9x13 pan, set aside.
2. In a large pot over low heat, melt butter and peanut butter.  Add 8 cups of mini marshmallows, stirring constantly until melted.  Add salt.
3. Once the marshmallows and peanut butter are melted, stir in the cereal.  Mix well and press into the prepared pan.
4. Allow to cool completely before drizzling chocolate or cutting into squares.  I usually put the pan in the refrigerator to speed up the cooling process.  

Additional Notes:  You can omit the peanut butter if you prefer.  If you omit the peanut butter I would add 1/2 cup - 1 cup more cereal.

Adapted from my mom's recipe.  Thanks mom!

Grab a cup of tea or coffee, kick back and enjoy!

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my kitchen is my studio

I have always envied those that have a "studio."  You know the kind I am talking about....the charming small structure in stunning backyards we have all seen in magazines?  They come in many forms, potting shed, green house, photography studio etc.....  I recently discovered that I have always had a studio in my home.  My kitchen!  I love to cook and my passion is baking!  My shelves are filled with more cookbooks than I can count!  I also love reading recipes online, Pinterest, blogs, Food Network.......like many of you I have pinned and saved more than I can bake!  So what good are all these recipes doing sitting on the shelf or locked up in my computer?  It's time to get them out and start baking and sharing!  My goal is to take a couple cookbooks off the shelf each week and choose something from my many files on my computer and "bake!"  I know several people that are always willing to sink their teeth into something fresh out of the oven!

My Kitchen Aid is my favorite tool in my "studio!"

I was really in the mood to whip up something scrumptious.  I flipped through cookbooks, looked online and finally pulled out an oldie but goodie!  My mom was on my heart a lot today so I baked Chocolate Drop Cookies.  Mom made these cookies more times than I can count when I was a kid.  I remember many times helping her and as we would frost the cookies I loved how shiny the frosting was but when the frosting dried it became dull!  I would always tell mom I wish they would stay shiny. There was just something about the shine that made them look more inviting.  

I wrote this recipe on this card when I was in 7th grade!  Thank goodness my handwriting has improved!  

Today I happened to catch an episode of Barefoot Contessa (one of my favorite cooking shows), Ida was making Chocolate Ganache' and talked about how ganache' keeps it's shine once it dries.  I had to give this a try!  

Wa La!!!!  Totally Shinny!  

Making cookies from my childhood warmed my heart, cookies warmed my tummy!  I am forever grateful for all the wonderful times I had with mom in the kitchen.  I am thankful I have many of her recipes that I can create in my "studio!"

Bon Appetit'