This is my favorite cornbread recipe. I feel like it splits the difference between Northern (dry) and Southern (sweet) style cornbread- it’s tender and lightly sweetened. I usually make it in a cast iron pan with bacon drippings because that is how Mother Nature intended cornbread to be made. My Dad splits cornbread and tops it with a pat of butter and a heavy drizzle of sorghum, which is hard to beat.
1 TBSP butter or bacon grease
3/4 cup cornmeal
1 cup flour
1 TBSP sugar
1 TBSP baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1 cup milk
1 egg
4 TBSP butter, melted
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place 1 TBSP butter/bacon grease in an 8-inch cast iron pan and place in the oven to melt. Alternately, grease an 8-inch pan and set aside.
Whisk cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt together in a medium bowl.
Whisk milk and egg together in a large measuring cup. Pour over cornmeal mixture and whisk until smooth. Stir in 4 TBSP melted butter.
Remove pan from oven and swirl butter/grease around so it coats the bottom of the pan. Pour batter into pan.
These muffins pop up in my kitchen and my sister-in-law’s kitchen frequently – pretty much whenever there are 3 ripe bananas that need to be used. They stay moist and are kinda healthy.
This recipe is from King Arthur Whole Grain Baking.
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe banana (3 large)
1/4 cup honey
2 eggs
2 cups whole wheat flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 cup chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease or line a 12-cup muffin tin.
Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add vanilla, banana and honey and mix until smooth. Beat in eggs. Whisk dry ingredients together. Add to egg mixture. Stir in chocolate chips. Remove from mixer and give a good stir to make sure all the ingredients are incorporated.
Fill muffin cups almost to the top. Bake 20-25 minutes, until firm in the center.
Each month a baker from our Homebakers Collective is assigning a challenge for us to bake our own version of and post at the end of the month. January was my choice so I assigned a cake roll because they are fun and delicious. The Fuzzy Navel is a drink that keeps popping up in my life because I have a place in my heart for peach schnapps, and thus the Fuzzy Navel Cake Roll is born.
Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan and stir over medium low heat with a heatproof spatula until thickened. Chill.
Jaconde Cake Batter Decoration:
From Fantastical Cakes by Gesine Bullock-Prado
4 TBSP butter
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup egg whites
1/2 cup cake flour
Cream butter and powdered sugar together in a medium bowl. Add egg whites and beat until smooth. Mix in cake flour until incorporated. Separate and add food coloring as desired. Fill a small pastry bag (or several, depending on your design) with a small round tip.
Line a 17×12 inch baking sheet with a silicon baking sheet that fits exactly. You can either freehand your design, or print a design out on paper – place underneath your silicon mat and trace over the design. Let freeze until firm.
Biscuit Roulade:
From Rose’s Heavenly Cakes by Rose Levy Berenbaum
33g cake flour
24g cornstarch
4 large eggs
1 large egg yolk
1/2 cup plus 1 TBSP sugar
3/4 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
Powdered sugar for dusting
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Mix flour and cornstarch together in a small bowl.
Separate 2 eggs. Place the whites in a medium bowl. Place the yolks in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Add the 2 remaining whole eggs, extra egg yolk and 1/2 cup sugar. Beat on medium high until very thick, about 5 minutes. Beat in vanilla. Sift in half of flour mixture, fold gently to incorporate. Repeat with second half and fold gently until there are no streaks.
Add cream of tartar to egg whites and beat until foamy. Add remaining 1 TBSP sugar and whip until firm peaks. Fold into batter.
Pour onto the ungreased decorated baking sheet and smooth with an offset spatula. Bake for 7 minutes, until just golden brown.
Carefully separate the cake from the edges of the baking sheet with a paring knife. Lift the cake out of the baking sheet and place on the counter. Dust with powdered sugar. Roll the cake, silicon mat still attached, into a tight cylinder, starting with the short side. Let cool completely.
Peach Whipped Cream:
2 tsp instant Clearjel powder (available from King Arthur website – this helps the cream keep its shape )
2 TBSP powdered sugar
2 TBSP peach schnapps
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 good quality jarred peach, diced
In a medium bowl, whisk together Clearjel and powdered sugar. Stir in peach schnapps and heavy whipping cream. Whip until firm. Fold in diced peaches.
Assembly:
Unroll cooled cake and carefully remove silicon baking mat. Hopefully your design will be in tact. Brush liberally with peach schnapps. Spread orange curd over entire cake, leaving the last 2 inches on the short end bare since it will squeeze out there anyway. Spread with peach whipped cream, also leaving last 2 inches bare. Roll cake back up, and chill. Cut away the ends to reveal your perfect spiral (and to get a sneak taste test).
This will keep, refrigerated, for at least 2 days. Eat the cake, then make fuzzy navels the rest of the winter with that bottle of peach schnapps. Thank me later.
My Grandma Jean used to make us cherry kolaches and they were my very favorite treat. Using all white flour weighed on her conscience, so they were always made with part whole wheat flour. I did the same, adjusting my favorite dough -Julia Moskin’s japanese milk bread- with half whole wheat flour. This recipe makes 18 kolaches, and if you make both cherry and black sesame you will have filling leftover. I’m thinking pop-tarts…
For the Dough:
1/3 cup bread flour
1/2 cup milk
2 1/2 cups bread flour
2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 1/2 tsp instant yeast
2 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
Cherry Filling:
2 lbs. pie cherries, liquid drained and reserved
1 cup reserved cherry liquid
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup cornstarch
1/4 tsp salt
1 TBSP lemon juice
4 TBSP butter
1/4 almond extract, optional
Black Sesame Filling
1/2 cup black sesame seeds, toasted
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
Make the starter: Combine 1/3 cup bread flour and 1/2 cup milk in a small saucepan, whisk until smooth. Over medium heat, cook until thickened, whisking constantly. Transfer to a small bowl and cover with plastic wrap until cool.
When starter has cooled, combine it with the remaining dough ingredients with the exception of the butter in a stand mixer with the hook attachment. Mix on low for 5 minutes. Add butter, one tablespoon at a time and mix until a smooth dough is formed – about 10 minutes. Transfer to an oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled in size, about an hour.
Make Cherry filling: Whisk to combine sugar, salt and cornstarch in a medium saucepan. Whisk in 1 cup reserved cherry liquid and lemon juice. Add cherries and bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring constantly with a heatproof spatula until very thick and translucent. Remove from heat. Stir in butter and almond extract, if using. Let sit a room temperature until ready to use.
Make Black Sesame filling: Toast sesame seeds in a small skillet. Let cool completely. In a food processor or blender, combine cooled seeds, butter and sugar. Process into a paste.
Grease or line 2 large baking sheets with parchment.
When dough has risen, pinch off pieces of dough a little larger than the size of golf ball, or if using a scale, about 75g per piece. Shape into a ball by hand, then roll on the counter with your palm in a circular motion to even it out. Place on prepared baking sheet. Repeat until you have 18 balls total – 9 on each sheet. Spray with cooking spray, cover and let rest for 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Assemble kolaches: Make a large indentation in the center of each dough ball, about 2″ in diameter. Fill with about 2 tablespoons of the cherry or black sesame filling. Repeat with remaining dough balls.
Bake for 15-18 minutes, until the bottoms are just starting to brown. Eat while they are warm, or reheat slightly for best eating.
These are completely uncalled for. This is a variation of a hand-written recipe titled “Hello Dolly Cookies” that has been in my recipe box for years, but I have no idea who’s handwriting it is (please let me know if this sounds familiar). It was a very forgiving recipe – I used up a variety of cookie crumbs and flavored chips that I was food-hoarding in the pantry. You could do the same. These are sweet.
1 stick butter
1 1/2 cups homemade speculoos cookie crumbs (or Biscoff or graham cracker crumbs)
1 cup sweetened coconut
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup cinnamon chips (these can be hard to find, but they are not too sweet so I like them. I get them at the Amish grocery store in Iowa.)
1 cup chocolate cookie crumbs ( I used some of my chocolate shortbread cookie crumbs)
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup chopped pecans
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt butter in a 9″ square pan. Sprinkle speculoos/graham cracker cookie crumbs over butter and mix a little bit, then spread evenly. Sprinkle evenly over the top in this order: coconut, then chocolate chips, then cinnamon chips, then chocolate cookie crumbs. Pour condensed milk evenly over the top. Finally, sprinkle pecans.
Bake for 35-45 minutes, until they are well-caramelized and not too gooey. They shouldn’t be wet when you press in the center.
Cool completely before cutting into small squares. Makes 16 diabetic sugar bombs.
These muffins are super moist, light, and delicious. Mix them by hand in a large bowl, bake what you want, then refrigerate the batter for up to 2 weeks and bake them as needed. This is my mom’s recipe.
3 cups All Bran cereal
1 cup boiling water
1 cup brown sugar
2 cups buttermilk
2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 1/2 cups flour (you can substitute up to 1 cup whole wheat flour)
2 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup raisins (optional)
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Grease or line your muffin tin.
In a large bowl, mix bran with hot water until moistened. Stir in brown sugar. Add buttermilk, eggs and oil, stirring until well combined. Add flour and baking soda, then raisins, if desired.
Scoop batter into greased muffin cups, filling about 3/4 full. Bake for 15-18 minutes until the tops spring back when touched. Serve hot with butter or jam or both or none.
If anyone deserves an opera cake, it’s Elvis. It is one of the classiest desserts out there, for one heck of a class act. Taking Care of Business indeed.
Jaconde:
32g flour
50g almond flour
140g egg yolks
180g egg whites
170g sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
Peanut Butter French Buttercream:
100g sugar
5 large egg yolks
227g unsalted butter
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
80g creamy salted peanut butter
Bananas Foster:
2 bananas, thinly sliced
42 g butter
3 TBSP brown sugar
1/3 cup heavy cream
2 TBSP dark rum
Ganache:
227g dark chocolate, chopped
240 ml heavy cream
57g unsalted butter, room temperature
Glaze:
75g dark chocolate
25g unsalted butter
Make jaconde: Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Grease a 12×17″ jelly roll pan. Line with wax paper and grease and flour the paper.
Whisk flour and almond flour together and set aside. In a stand mixer with whisk attachment, beat egg yolks, 1/4 cup whites and 100g sugar until thick and fluffy, about 5-10 minutes. Beat in vanilla. Fold in flour gently. In a second mixing bowl, beat remaining egg whites with cream of tartar until soft peaks. Gradually add remaining sugar and beat to stiff peaks. Fold into batter gently. Smooth in prepared pan and bake 7-10 minutes, until light golden brown and springs back in the center. Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then flip onto cooling rack to cool completely.
Make buttercream: Cut butter into tablespoons and let sit at room temperature. In stand mixer bowl over a pot of simmering water, combine yolks, sugar, rum, vanilla and salt. Stir constantly until 155 degrees on thermometer – about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and beat with whisk attachment until fluffy and cooled completely to room temperature, about 10 minutes. Add butter, one tablespoon at a time until all butter is incorporated and buttercream is thick and smooth. Add peanut butter, one tablespoon at a time and mix to incorporate.
Make bananas foster: Melt butter and brown sugar in large saucepan. Add sliced bananas. Add heavy cream and simmer for 3-5 minutes, until bananas are cooked through and start to caramelize. Remove from heat and stir in rum.
Make ganache: Place chopped chocolate in small bowl. Heat heavy cream in saucepan or microwave until warm. Pour over chocolate and let sit 5 minutes. Stir until smooth. Add butter and stir to incorporate.
Assemble Opera Cake: Cut jaconde into 3 even pieces, trimming sides first if necessary. Layer 1/3 of peanut butter buttercream on first layer of cake. Refrigerate 10 minutes too firm. Top buttercream with sliced bananas and syrup. Top with 2nd layer of cake. layer 1/3 buttercream. Refrigerate 10 minutes. Pour ganache over buttercream and smooth. Refrigerate. Top ganache with bananas. Place last cake layer on top. Spread remaining buttercream on cake and smooth. Refrigerate at least 10 minutes.
Make chocolate glaze: melt 50g chocolate and butter together in a double boiler. Remove from heat and stir in 25g chocolate until smooth. Pour over chilled buttercream and smooth. Refrigerate until firm. Trim all sides.
Decorate as desired, preferably with TCB lightning bolts.
This is as easy as bread gets and practically fool-proof. Makes 2 loaves so you can eat one right out of the oven and still have one left.
6 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 TBSP kosher salt
2 TBSP vital wheat gluten
1/4 cup dried skim milk
2 1/2 tsp instant yeast
2 cups lukewarm water
1 stick butter, melted
Put everything in a stand mixer with hook attachment – just make sure not to put the yeast and salt on top of each other. Mix at low speed for 3-5 minutes, until a rough dough is formed. Turn off mixer and let rest 15 minutes. Mix again at low for 8 minutes until the dough is smooth and uniform.
Place dough in a greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rise until double in size – about 45-60 minutes. Grease 2 bread pans. Divide dough into two pieces. Flatten each piece into a rough rectangle and roll up into a cylinder. Place in prepared bread pans and punch down to flatten. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until double in size. About 45-60 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake for 35 minutes. Let rest 5 minutes in pan, then turn out. Try to wait 30 minutes before slicing.
This is my favorite granola recipe – adapted from an Alton Brown recipe. This time I used cashews, Craisins AND raisins because I don’t want to get on Big Raisin’s bad side.
6 cups old-fashioned oats
1 1/2 cups sweetened coconut
1/2 cup flaxseed meal
3 cups whole or chopped nuts
2 tsp salt
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 cups dried fruit
Preheat oven to 250 degrees.
Combine oats, coconut, flaxseed, nuts and salt in a large bowl. In a small bowl, whisk together brown sugar, maple syrup and vegetable oil. Pour over oat mixture and stir to combine really well, about 5 minutes- making sure the oat mixture is well coated.
Divide between two rimmed baking sheets and spread evenly. Bake at 250 degrees for 25 minutes. Rotate trays and bake for another 25 minutes. At this point I usually turn the oven off and let the granola cool down completely with the oven.
Toss dried fruit and granola together. This makes a large batch, but keeps in an airtight container for several weeks.
This is a slightly adapted version of my Grandma Suzie’s favorite Christmas cookie. They are a not-too-sweet slice-and-bake cookie. The beauty (and problem) with them is that they can be eaten at any time of day or night, even if you are not hungry in the least.
14 TBSP butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
8 ounces cream cheese
2 tsp vanilla
2 eggs green food coloring
4 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
red hots
Cream butter, cream cheese and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time. Add vanilla and several drops of green food coloring (the color will fade significantly after you add the flour, so make it a little brighter than you’d like). Stir in flour, salt, and baking powder and mix well until a uniform dough is formed.
Shape into 2 rolls, each about 12 inches long. Wrap in wax paper and freeze until firm.
When ready to bake: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. If desired, roll outside of dough in colored sugar. Slice about 1/4 inch thick and place on lined baking sheets, about an inch apart. Press red hots into center. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until firm to the touch.
