Happy Monday

We had a very busy weekend and today I am tired and sore and in need of a nice kilted person.  :)  Let's see what we can find.

Okay, a kitten in a sporran works, too.  :)  Happy Monday.  (Please ignore the fact that his kilt seems to be on backward.)

Food Friday--Blondies

I'm weird.  I have mentioned that before, but it bears saying again.  :)  See, I don't like brownies.  I know, I know.  Everybody likes brownies!  Not this everybody.

However, blondies are darn tasty, and the recipe is forgiving and versatile, and comes together really fast, which is good when one has a craving.

This recipe comes from a cookbook that was given to me many years ago, and there is no name listed for me to give credit to.  Thank you, anonymous blondie baker.  Your recipe is being sent around the world.  I hope you don't mind.

Blondies (Blonde brownies)

What you need:

1 stick butter, melted (I use unsalted)
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract or 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
Pinch salt (Omit the salt if you use salted butter)
1 cup all purpose flour (I use unbleached flour, regular works fine, too.)

What you do:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and spray an 8 x 8 inch baking dish with nonstick spray.

In a medium microwave safe bowl, melt your butter, then add the brown sugar and whisk until smooth.

Buttery brown sugar.  It smells good.

Whisk in the egg, the salt, and the vanilla (or almond) extract.

I used almond this time.  The whole house smelled amazing.

This spoon measures a "pinch".

Now, whisk in the flour and if you want to add anything, do it now.  (1/2 cup of chopped nuts or chocolate chips, or anything else you think might be good.  I left this batch plain.)

Pour the batter into your prepared baking dish and bake for 20-30 minutes, depending on your oven.  Remove and let cool  in the pan until you can't stand it anymore, then slice into small squares and enjoy.

Hot from the oven.

Ready to eat.  

Happy Monday

I was feeling a little cheeky this morning, and so was the air grate.    

Happy Monday.  :)

In kilts vs air grate, air grate wins every time.  Or maybe it's the spectators who win?  :)  

Food Friday--Soft Pretzels

We all like pretzels of all shapes and sizes, but the soft, butter-slathered-coarse-salt-sprinkled ones are probably the best.

I will be honest.  I have attempted to make soft pretzels in the past and achieved a spectacular failure that tasted nothing like pretzels, or even anything edible.

This time, though, I modified the recipe and bravely tried again.  These pretzels tasted very pretzel-like and were eagerly devoured by everyone, even garnering a sigh of contentment from the picky teenager. Success!  :)

Soft Pretzels
This recipe is one of those that sounds like it might be more trouble than it's worth.  It's not.  Really.  These pretzels are so good, and totally worth it.

What you need:

2 cups warm (NOT hot!) water (110 - 115 degrees)
1 package or 1 Tablespoon yeast
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
5-6 cups flour
6 cups water
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 large egg
1 Tablespoon water
Toppings: coarse salt, sesame seeds, poppy seeds, grated parmesan cheese, cinnamon butter, butter, vanilla sugar

What you do:

Heat your oven to 475 degrees and spray a baking sheet with non-stick spray, or line with parchment paper.

I do a lot of baking, so this is the kind of yeast I buy.  

Place your brown sugar and yeast in a large bowl, then add the 2 cups of warm water and stir gently with a wooden spoon.  Let this sit for about 10 minutes.  The yeast will activate and the mixture will get bubbly.

Brown sugar and yeast, ready for warm water.

Add in your flour slowly, stirring with your wooden spoon, until the mixture gets too thick to stir with the spoon, then add in the rest of the flour slowly while mixing by hand.  You may not need all 6 cups of the flour--I only used a bit over 5 cups.  Turn your dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 2-3 minutes, then divide into 16 roughly equal portions of dough.

Done kneading, ready to become pretzels.

Using your hands, form your dough into whatever shapes you desire, pretzel shapes (or circles or even dinosaurs) on a lightly floured surface.  Add more flour to the surface as necessary.

Oddly shaped pretzels, before cooking.  

Now for the part that will make the pretzels taste like pretzels.  :)  Add the 6 cups of water and the 1/2 teaspoon baking soda to a large skillet and bring to a boil. Place three or four pretzels in the water at a time and cook for 1 minute, then remove from the boiling water and drain on a cooling rack. If your water turns a weird orangish-yellow color about halfway through, pour it out and add another 6 cups of water and 1/2 teaspoon baking soda and bring that to back to a boil before you go on.

After your pretzels are boiled and drained, put them on your prepared baking sheet(s) and beat the egg with the tablespoon of water and brush on top of the pretzels.  At this point, you can add your desired toppings and bake, or you can wait to add topping until after the pretzels are done.  Either way, bake them for 10 minutes, then remove from the oven and let cool slightly.

After boiling, they look even more weird.  :)  

If you waited to add your toppings, melt some butter and brush the melted butter onto the tops of your pretzels and then sprinkle them with your toppings right before you eat them.

We made some with pink Himalayan salt and some with vanilla sugar and they were both good.

Coarse salt might be better, but this was pretty good.

This was really good, too.  

Store in an airtight container, and eat them quickly.  They will get moldy in less than a week if you don't eat them.

Happy pretzel eater.  I didn't think to get a photo of the finished pretzel before he devoured it.  

Also, in the background you can see the aftermath of a spider infestation.  We had to clean out the pantry closet and all the stuff we were able to save is on the floor while I fumigated the closet.  Life is never boring!  

Happy Monday

For your Monday viewing pleasure, a shirtless kilted boy, and a castle.  

Happy Monday.  

Happy Monday

With all of the excitement over the announcement of the 12th Doctor, I thought a TARDIS kilt would be in order.  :)   Happy Monday.

And since you can't have a TARDIS without a Time Lord, bonus David Tennant!

Food Friday--Beer Bread and Cinnamon Butter

When I was a child, my mother used to make beer bread fairly regularly.  I hated it.  It tasted like my dad's beer, which I also hated.

One day when I was in my early twenties, I got a weird craving for beer bread, so I decided to get my mother's recipe and make a loaf.  I was quite surprised to discover that even though I still disliked beer, the bread was surprisingly good.  It was also easy to make, which is a huge plus in my opinion.

Now I make it every once in a while, and my husband and I (neither one of us like beer, by the way) will happily devour the entire loaf of bread in a couple of days while our teenage son sits sulkily by and watches with much angst and disgust.

It's good slathered with butter and drizzled with honey, but this time I decided to make cinnamon butter to go on it.  I have been making honey butter for years and after seeing the cinnamon butter in the grocery store, I decided to take a shot at making some since I know I could do it for MUCH less than what the grocery store was charging for it.

It's tasty, too, and would probably be good on toast or a bagel or perhaps on French toast or waffles.  I hope you like it, too.

Beer Bread

What you need:

3 Cups of flour (All Purpose is fine, Bread Flour is better)
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1 Teaspoon salt
1/4 Cup granulated sugar
12 Ounces of your favorite beer
1/4 Cup melted butter --I use unsalted, but you probably know that by now.  :)

What you do:

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees, and spray a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan with nonstick spray.

In a medium sized bowl, add your flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt and stir well.

Added, not yet stirred.

Pour in your beer.  It will be foamy, so watch out for that.  

This is what I had on hand, so this is what I used.

Beer foam!

Stir until everything is just combined.  It will be kind of wet and shaggy.  It's supposed to be that way.

Wet, shaggy dough.

Put your dough in your prepared loaf pan, spreading as evenly as possible, and pour your melted butter over the top.

Butter!  Yum.  

Pop this in the oven and let bake for 40-45 minutes, until the top is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.  Let cool for about 10 minutes before slicing.

It won't win any beauty contests, but it tastes good.

Cinnamon Butter:

What you need:

1 Stick of unsalted butter

1/4 Cup powdered sugar

1/4 Cup honey

1 Teaspoon to 1 Tablespoon of ground cinnamon, depending on your preference.  I used an entire tablespoon.

What you do:

In a microwave safe bowl, melt your butter, then stir in the powdered sugar, the honey and the cinnamon.  Mix it very well, then cover the bowl and put it in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes to allow the butter to solidify before using.  Store this in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Mixed thoroughly and refrigerated for 45 minutes.

Spread on a chunk of beer bread.  Om nom nom.