Cheddar-Bacon-Garlic-Chive Muffins

Although this is a cooking blog, I would like to give an anecdote from my weekend.  I was flying home from Rochester, and my flight was delayed by two hours.  The ever-helpful (not) Delta employees assured me that, if everything went smoothly (which it clearly had been so far) I would have 20 minutes in Detroit to catch my flight to LA.

Try four minutes.  Try running through the Detroit airport, across 12 moving walkways and up and down 6 escalators.  While I have a terrible cold.  While keeping an eye on a small asthmatic girl that I have decided to take care of because her mom (in heels) can't keep up.  And then I slip in a puddle of soapy water that no one bothered to put signs around.  Gaaaaahhhhhhhhhh.

Anyhow, I fortunately made my flight, but have spent the day getting over my illness and butt-bruises from the fall.  And, as always when I am sick, I decided I wanted to cook something.  So I decided to try and make some cheesy muffins.

I had tried a recipe from The Pioneer Woman, and I thought it was just O.K.  I didn't like the addition of sugar.  So I made some modifications, and I am extremely happy with the outcome.

I do still have a problem with this recipe.  The problem is that it makes twelve muffins.  Twelve is not enough!!  But nevertheless, here you are.

Ingredients:
1/2 stick butter
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 1/2 c. flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt (and pepper, to taste)
3 c. shredded cheese (cheddar or jack works well, but feel free to get creative!)
1 c. milk
1 egg
4 slices bacon, crumbled
2 tsp. chives

In a small pan, melt the butter and stir in the garlic.  Fry your bacon and set aside.

Meanwhile, in a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and pepper.  Stir in cheese.

In a separate bowl, whisk together milk, egg and butter mixture.  Add wet mixture to dry mixture and stir with a wooden spoon.  Stir in chives and crumbled bacon.

Butter or grease a muffin tin and divide the batter among cups.  Bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

C-C-C-Cinnamon Rolls!

My mom texted me from Alaska saying "We should make cinnamon rolls!"  From which I cleverly deduced that I should make cinnamon rolls.  It was not something I was thrilled about, because typically cinnamon rolls are not my favorite things.  But by chance I stumbled upon this recipe from Whipped, and it looked so good that even I got excited.  And MAN, did it not disappoint.

I trick myself into thinking that cinnamon rolls are not bad for me because they are breakfast, and thus automatically good.  While my logic may not be sound, this recipe certainly is.  Instead of the recommended butter frosting, I instead used a simple caramel-ish recipe.  Here's how that looked, with a pecan:

1 cup milk (heated approximately 1 minute in microwave)
1/4 cup warm water (110 degrees F.)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
2 eggs, room temperature and beaten
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sugar
5 cups bread flour
1 tablespoon vital wheat gluten (which apparently is good for the dough but doesn't seem to affect the overall outcome because I didn't use it and they were PHENOMENAL.)
3 teaspoons instant active dry yeast



CINNAMON FILLING:
1/2 cup butter, melted or softened
1 cup firmly-packed brown sugar
4 to 5 tablespoons ground cinnamon
3/4 to 1 cup chopped nuts (optional)


For the dough, combine all the ingredients in the bowl of a mixer in order.  Use a bread hook to stir everything until dough forms.  Turn the dough onto a lightly oiled surface and knead until elastic, about 10 minutes.  Return to a bowl and cover with plastic wrap, and let sit for another 10 minutes.

Butter a 9x13x2" pan and set aside.  When the dough has rested, stretch it into a 15x24" sheet.  Use a rubber spatula to spread the softened butter over the dough.  Combine the sugar and cinnamon in a bowl and sprinkle it over the butter.  Begin rolling the dough, starting with the long end, and pinch seams to seal.


Mark the roll into 1 1/2 inch sections.  Use a serrated knife to gently saw the sections apart.  Place cut-side up in the prepared pan (don't squish them close together).  I got 16 rolls out of this recipe, and baked them in two batches.

Cover and let rise in a warm place for 45-60 minutes (mine didn't seem to rise much, but they came out so nicely anyhow).  Heat the oven to 350 degrees and bake 20-25 minutes.

While they're still warm, smother them with this delicious sugary sauce:


1 1/2 c. butter
1 1/2 c. brown sugar
3 tbsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. salt
Powdered sugar


Melt the butter, add the brown sugar, vanilla and salt.  Remove from heat and add the powdered sugar until it is the consistency you want.

 Enjoy!

A Feast for the 4th

My dear friend Zoe and I got together to make an elaborate feast for America's birthday.  It came out pretty spectacularly.  Our menu included:

 Salt and vinegar potato salad

Chipotle-caesar salad with grilled avocado (we omitted the corn, however)

 My special delicious burgers (see recipe below)

And these patriotic cookies, adapted from Sprinkle Bakes (I dunno how hers came out so nice, but I am determined to make a more beautiful spiral cookie).

Here is Zoe reveling in sugary patriotic goodness:

It was a wonderful feast (though way too much for us to eat on our own).  Here is a (very) approximate recipe for the burgers:

Ground beef
An egg
Bread crumbs
Milk
Worcestershire sauce
Salt
Pepper

Mush all those thing together in a bowl.  I have faith that you can use your best judgment on the proportions.  Make them into patties and grill 'em up!

Grandma's(?) Zucchini Bread

In the summer my family grows zucchini.  We grow so much of it we don't know what to do.  We give it away, we roast it, we fry it, we fill it with tomato sauce (which I consider a failed experiment).  I get so sick of it.  Luckily, I have a tasty recipe for zucchini bread, which is an easy and delicious way to use up zucchini.  Plus you can give it away to friends and neighbors!

I think this recipe was my grandmother's, but it looks like it's written down in my sister's handwriting, and was discovered in my mom's cupboard, so who knows.  Nevertheless it makes some damn fine bread.

1 c. sugar
1 c. brown sugar
2 c. zucchini, grated (I always peel mine first, but you don't have to)
1 c. canola oil
3 eggs
3 tsp. vanilla extract
3 c. flour
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
3 tsp. cinnamon
1 c. coarsely chopped nuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a large bowl mix sugars, zucchini, oil, eggs and vanilla until well combined.  Add flour, salt, baking powder, and cinnamon and mix well.  If desired, add the nuts (I never add nuts ever).

Grandma then instructs that you bake "1 hour or until done."  Thanks, grandma, I will bake it until it is done.

This recipe makes two 9x5x3" pans of bread, but I only had one pan that size so I made two small loaves instead, as you can see.

A Savory Interlude: Quick and Easy Tomato Sauce

I've been baking a lot recently, but I do like to cook actual food as well.  This weekend I have the house to myself, so I'm making my own dinners.  We had frozen meatballs that we bought from Ikea (Ikea makes meatballs--who knew?) which I suspect were meant to be Swedish meatballs, but a meatball is a meatball really.  So I wanted to make pasta, but didn't feel like making the elaborate tomato sauce my mom makes (which is really the best).

Then I remembered this recipe from Smitten Kitchen, which I have made a few times before.  It's not the most thrilling sauce, but it is delicious, easy and cheap.  Perfect for nights like tonight!

The recipe has only 3 ingredients:

one 28 oz can whole peeled tomatoes
one yellow onion, peeled and halved
5 tbsp. butter

Put the ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat.  Lower the heat to keep the sauce at a steady simmer, stirring occasionally and crushing the tomatoes against the side of the pan with the back of a wooden spoon.  After about 45 minutes, or when drops of fat float free of the tomatoes, remove from heat and discard the onion.

Easy, isn't it?  And it has a simple but fresh flavor.  The recipe says it makes 4 servings, but I prefer a lot of sauce so I found it only made two.  What a glutton.