I am really not a big fan of fish.  I know I should be, I know that fish is nutritious, but I just do not generally love it.

However, I do like fish when it’s prepared this way, and my kids really, really love it.  They rarely ask for second helpings of a main dish but when this is on the menu, they almost always want more!

The recipe comes from the Betty Crocker Chinese cookbook I bought when I was a teenager, and despite the fact that Betty Crocker is probably not the most authentic source for Chinese food, a lot of the recipes in the book are really tasty.

You don’t have to use tilapia in this recipe, of course…the original recipe called for walleye or sea bass, and I imagine many other fish fillets would work just as well.

First, pat the fish dry with paper towels and sprinkle with a mixture of cornstarch, salt, and pepper.

Refrigerate the fish for 20 minutes.  Meanwhile, mix white wine, vinegar, soy sauce, sugar, and sesame oil together to make the glaze.

And while you’ve got the time, mince the garlic and the gingerroot so it’s ready to use later.

Heat a large skillet until it’s very hot and add 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, tilting to coat the surface of the pan. Add the fish and fry several minutes on each side until the fish is browned (the time this takes will vary depending on the thickness of your fish.)

I usually end up needing to add more oil to my pan during the cooking process, and even then, I still manage to mangle my fish pieces some. Fortunately my family doesn’t care too much!

Remove the fish from the pan and add garlic and gingerroot. Cook for 30 seconds, and stir in the sauce ingredients.

Add the fish back to the pan and spoon the sauce over the fish.

I apologize for the kind of boring end product picture…I must have not been feeling too inspired when I took these photos.

So, you’ll just have to take my word for it. This recipe is yummy and even if you don’t like fish, you might like it this way!

Asian Glazed Tilapia
Printable Asian-Glazed Tilapia Recipe

1 pound tilapia or other mild fish fillets
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons dry white wine (I use cooking wine because I am just that sophisticated)
2 tablespoons vinegar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
4 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons roasted sesame oil
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 teaspoons finely chopped garlic
1 teaspoon finely chopped gingerroot

Pat fish dry with paper towels. Mix cornstarch, salt, and pepper; sprinkle evenly over both sides of fish. Cover and refrigerate for 20 minutes.

Mix wine, vinegar, soy sauce, sugar, and sesame oil together in a small bowl.

Heat a large skillet until it’s very hot, then add 2 tablespoons vegetable oil. Add fish and cook on both sides until fish is browned and flakes easily with a fork. Remove fish from pan.

Add garlic and gingerroot to pan and cook 30 seconds. Add soy sauce mixture.

Return fish to pan and cook for 1-2 minutes, spoon glaze over top of the fish.

Every Wednesday (ok, most Wednesdays!) I share a baking recipe. And lots of pictures of said baking recipe. I don’t call this Wednesday Baking because I bake solely on Wednesdays…no, my oven gets a workout much more frequently than once a week! Wednesday just happens to be the day I share baking recipes with you. All the past baking posts are archived in the Wednesday Baking category, which can also be found in a tab underneath my blog header.

This bread recipe comes compliments of my grandmother, who saw it in a magazine and sent it to me. She’s from Norway, where cardamom is a favorite spice, so this recipe caught her eye.

Unfortunately, she lives in Illinois, which means that the odds of me being able to share a loaf with her are slim to none. Pictures will have to suffice. Although if she comes to visit, I will be sure to bake a loaf or two.

This recipe produces a soft, relatively dense bread, much like cinnamon bread except without the cinnamon. So if you don’t like the peppery taste of cardamom, you could always just leave it out, and you’ll end up with a plain sweet bread.

We’ve sort of tried it that way, though not on purpose. The first time I made this bread, I used cardamom that was past its prime, so the bread really didn’t taste like cardamom at all. It was a good sweet bread, but there was barely even a hint of cardamom. So, this time I bought cardamom from an open bin so that I could buy only as much as I needed, and the bread I made with this fresh cardamom was much better.

I give a different variety of bread to my parents each month of the year, and last week, I brought one of these loaves to their house.  Unfortunately, Joshua placed our heavy swim bag smack dab on top of the loaf, which made it very…dense.  Ahem.

However, my parents still ate the entire loaf and even enjoyed it, so perhaps there’s no way to mess this bread up!

To start this dough, combine yeast, water, and a bit of sugar.

Then heat the milk, sugar, butter, and salt together to 115-120 F.  Pour the milk mixture into a mixer bowl and add eggs, cardamom, and 3 cups of flour.  Once that’s mixed together, add the yeast mixture.

The dough will be pretty runny at this point.

Add enough flour to make a soft dough, and turn the whole mess out onto a floured counter.

Knead the dough for 3-5 minutes, or until it’s smooth and elastic.

Place the dough back into the bowl, cover it with a wet tea towel, and let it rise for an hour.  Punch it down, divide it into 6 pieces, and roll each piece into an 8 inch rope.

Braid 3 ropes together and repeat with the other 3 ropes.

You can place the braids, as-is, onto a greased baking sheet, or you can do like I do and place them into 4×8 loaf pans.

Cover the braids with a wet tea towel and let them rise until they’re doubled, about 30-45 minutes, depending on the temperature of your house.

Brush the loaves with a beaten egg and sprinkle them with a bit of white sugar.

Bake in a preheated 350 degree F oven for 30-35 minutes, or until the loaves are lightly browned.  Because this dough is fairly dense, you’ll not want to err on the side of underbaking, or you’ll end up with doughy loaves.

If you choose to bake the braids on a baking sheet I imagine the baking time would need to be shortened.  I haven’t tried that myself, though, so you’re on your own.  I’d start with 20-25 minutes, and then just keep an eye on the loaves until they seem done.

Remove the dough from the pans/sheets and let it cool on wire racks.

Cardamom Braids-makes 2

Printable Cardamom Braids Recipe (my printable recipes now have a photo.  Yay!)

1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/4 cup warm water
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup milk
1/4 cup (4 tablespoons) butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
4 1/2 cups flour
1 beaten egg for glaze

In a small bowl, combine yeast, warm water, and 1/2 teaspoon sugar. Set aside.

Heat 1/2 cup sugar, milk, butter, and salt to 115 F. Pour into a mixing bowl and add beaten eggs, cardamom and 3 cups of flour. Mix well; add the yeast mixture. Mix until combined, then add enough of the remaining flour to make a soft dough.

Turn dough out onto a floured surface; knead 3-5 minutes. Place in a bowl, cover with a wet tea towel, and let rise 1 hour.

Punch dough down; divide into 6 pieces. Roll each piece into an 8-inch rope. Braid 3 ropes together to form a loaf; repeat with remaining ropes. Place loaves into 2 greased 8×4 inch loaf pans. Cover with a wet tea towel; let rise 45 minutes, or until doubled.

Brush with a beaten egg and sprinkle lightly with sugar. Bake in a preheated 350 F oven for 30 minutes, or until loaves are brown. Remove from pans and cool on a wire rack.

Today’s 365 post: Normally, I like to get in close.

Every Wednesday (ok, most Wednesdays!) I share a baking recipe. And lots of pictures of said baking recipe. I don’t call this Wednesday Baking because I bake solely on Wednesdays…no, my oven gets a workout much more frequently than once a week! Wednesday just happens to be the day I share baking recipes with you. All the past baking posts are archived in the Wednesday Baking category, which can also be found in a tab underneath my blog header.

(apologies for the belatedness of this post! Normally I post recipes I’ve baked on a previous day, so I can get the post put together promptly. Today, though, I’m posting a recipe that I made this very morning, which explains my tardiness. But, I thought a late post would be better than no post! )

A lot of the recipes I post in the Wednesday Baking series don’t exactly fall under the “Good for You” category, but today’s recipe really, really doesn’t belong in that category.

However, it does fall into the “Uber-Delicious” and “You should eat these every now and again” categories. Unless, of course, you are allergic to wheat flour and copious amounts of butter and sugar.

I made these for the first time last month for the women’s prayer group that meets at my house once a month (I always bake something for us to eat after we pray). I don’t usually make recipes for company unless I’ve tried them before, but I went out on a limb this time, and I was glad I did.

The consensus among all of us was that these cinnamon crisps are really, really yummy. In fact, they were so tasty, I think we are going to have them again after this coming Saturday’s prayer meeting.

This recipe comes from my trusty 1973 Better Homes and Gardens bread cookbook, which houses many of my favorite yeast bread recipes.

I have surprisingly few pictures of the dough prep because I made this dough at 5:15 this morning after Mr. FG left for work. And even in August, it’s awfully dark at 5:15.

My lightscoop saved the day, though, so I do have a few photos.

Like most of the bread recipes I use, this one starts with a yeast/flour mixture and some warmed milk, butter, sugar, and salt.

And like usual, you add the warm liquids to the dry ingredients, beat the mixture for a few minutes, and then add enough flour to make a kneadable dough, which should look like this.

and after you knead the dough, you should put it into a bowl and cover it with a wet tea towel, like so.

Let the dough rise for an hour, or until it’s doubled in size.  Punch it down, and divide it into two equal pieces.  Let the pieces rest on the counter for 5-10 minutes, then roll them out into a 12×12 inch square.

Now, the recipe says to mix butter, sugar, and cinnamon together and then to spread this mixture over the dough.

That’s not really the easiest task in the world, though.

So for one half of the dough, I brushed it with the butter and then sprinkled the dry cinnamon sugar mixture over top.

This was definitely easier, and there was no discernible difference in the end result.  So, go with whatever method you prefer.

Roll each dough half up into a log shape, and cut each log into 12 pieces (you can use dental floss or a knife with small serrations).

Place the rolls onto greased baking sheets.  Since these get a lot wider before you’re done, don’t crowd them.  I’d say that 6-9 rolls fit well onto a standard baking sheet (I put too many on mine and butter and sugar leaked out onto my oven floor!).

Using your hand, flatten each roll to about 3 inches in diameter.

Let the rolls rise for about 30 minutes (I don’t cover mine).  Cover them with a piece of waxed paper (I use one piece for both pans), and use a rolling pin to flatten rolls to about 1/8 inch thick.

Once the rolls are flattened, brush them with melted butter (I know!  More butter!).

Then sprinkle them with more cinnamon and sugar (and chopped pecans, if you want).

Then cover the rolls with the waxed paper again (I reuse the waxed paper from earlier in the recipe), and run the rolling pin over them again, just to kind of smush the sugar and nuts into the rolls. (Do you not love the technical terms I use??).

Bake in a preheated 400 degree F oven (I turn mine on while I’m topping the rolls) for 8-10 minutes.

You should remove these from the baking sheet promptly because the melted butter and sugar will kind of glue them to the baking sheet otherwise. 

These are yummy fresh from the oven (though you should let them cool for a few minutes before eating them), but they’re also really tasty after they’ve cooled down for an hour or two.  At that point, the melted butter and sugar cool and become a little bit crispy, and I actually think these are at their best that way.

Cinnamon Crisps-makes 24

(you can find a printable version on BH&G’s website, right here.)
Dough
3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 package (2 1/4 teaspoons) active dry yeast
1 1/4 cups milk
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup butter
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg

Filling
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Topping
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1. In a large mixing bowl combine 2 cups of the flour and the yeast. Heat milk, the 1/4 cup granulated sugar, butter, and salt just until warm (120 degree F to 130 degree F) and shortening almost melts. Add to flour mixture; add egg. Beat with an electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds, scraping sides of bowl constantly. Beat 3 minutes on high speed. Using a wooden spoon, stir in as much of the remaining flour as you can.

2. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface; knead in enough remaining flour to make a moderately soft dough that is smooth and elastic (3 to 5 minutes total). Shape into a ball. Place in a lightly greased bowl; turn once to grease surface. Cover; let rise in a warm place until double (1 to 1-1/2 hours).

3. Punch down; divide in half. Cover; let rest 10 minutes. Roll each dough half into a 12-inch square. Combine the 1/2 cup granulated sugar, the brown sugar, 1/4 cup of the melted butter, and the 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon; spread half of the mixture over each square. Roll each up into a spiral; seal seams. Cut into 12 slices. Place cut sides down on greased baking sheets 3 to 4 inches apart. Flatten each slice to about 3 inches in diameter.

4. Cover; let rise until nearly double (about 30 minutes). Cover with waxed paper. Using a rolling pin, roll to 1/8-inch thickness; remove paper. Brush rolls with the remaining 1/4 cup melted butter. Combine the 1 cup granulated sugar, pecans, and the 1 teaspoon cinnamon. Sprinkle over rolls. Cover with waxed paper; roll flat again. Remove paper. Bake in a 400 degree F oven 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown. Immediately transfer from baking sheets to wire racks; cool. Makes 24 crisps.

Today’s 365 post: My favorite jam

I was totally going to make a batch of Cinnamon Crisps yesterday so that I could share the recipe with you, but I spent the whole day yesterday helping my friend declutter, and so I didn’t do any baking.  In fact, I didn’t even cook dinner…we spent $10 on pizza from Little Caesar’s (a planning fail on my part meant that our chicken was not thawed by the time I got home!).  I had lots of fun helping my friend, though, and we got rid of two entire recycling bins worth of papers.  Yay!

I also totally meant to bake a loaf of basic white bread.  Why?  I’m dying to do a price comparison of store-bought bread to homemade bread, both because I’m curious and because people ask me about that all the time.

So, those will be the next two Wednesday Baking topics, and I swear I will get myself together enough by next week to actually do a Wednesday Baking post on a Wednesday.

Ahem.

Today’s topic is sort of baking related, though….a reader commented recently that it was just TOO hot to bake right now, so I thought I’d put together a list of all the summer-weather-friendly recipes here on my blog.

The names of the recipes are links to the actual recipes, and I think I have it worked out so that you can simply click on each picture to be taken to the recipe as well.

By far, my most popular no-bake recipe is my Ice Cream Crunch Cake (actually, it’s the most popular post on my entire blog, which cracks me up!)

Chocolate Peanut Butter Squares are a yummy, no-bake bar that remind me of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.

Chocolate Cereal Snacks-more chocolate-peanut butter goodness!

Chocolate Parfait Bars -these do require 10 minutes of baking for the crust, but that’s all!

Homemade English Muffins -these are baked on a griddle, so no oven is required.

Zucchini Salad-a great way to use up garden veggies and basil.

Tropical Island Chicken-It’s grilled, so the heat stays outside!

Grilled Pizza-A yummy and cool alternative to pizzas that require 450 degree oven temps.

Cilantro Chicken Pasta Salad-Have some extra cilantro that you need to save?  Give this a try.

Mandarin Chicken Salad-Super easy to make, and tastes like the Mandarin Chicken Salad you can buy at Wendy’s (I know, it’s fast food.  But that salad is tasty!).

Before I go, could I just say that I can’t believe there’s less than a month before September arrives?  Soup season will be here before we know it.

So, go eat some salads and some no-bake desserts before it’s too late!

I know…it’s Wednesday.  But I’ve been busy sanding, painting, and priming, which means there’s not been a lot of time for baking.  I do have a super delicious recipe for Cinnamon Crisps that I desperately want to share with you (well, mostly I want an excuse to make them again because they were so delectable), but that will have to wait until next week.

So, for now I’m going to share a recipe for a simple, light main dish salad that we enjoy in the summertime.  It’s similar to the chicken salad served at Wendy’s, and I found the recipe online a number of years ago (I’d give credit but I did a search this morning and came up with nothing).

It’s not that hard to come up with the salad part of this…lettuce, grilled chicken, mandarin oranges, and chow mein noodles aren’t rocket science.  But until I found this recipe, I couldn’t figure out how to make a yummy Asian dressing to pour on top of the salad.

I considered trying to figure it out myself, but I’m glad I didn’t go that route, because I’d never have thought to combine this many different ingredients.

The dressing is really easy to make if you own a blender (though I suppose you could do this by hand as well.).  Basically, you just combine everything except the oil in a blender.

Then with the blender running, you slowly add the oil, which turns the mixture into a slightly thickened, honey-colored dressing.

Yum.

The dressing keeps in the refrigerator for a remarkably long time, which is good because I find that the dressing recipe makes way more than we need for one meal’s worth of salads.  So, I just keep in in a jar in the fridge and use it instead of bottled salad dressing, or I sometimes halve the dressing recipe.

Since this makes a fairly light meal, I like to serve it with a good bread, like Pull-Apart Garlic Bread or Glazed Honey Pan Rolls.  Really, though, any number of breads from the Yeast Bread category would be tasty alongside (ok, maybe not the overnight cinnamon rolls!).

Mandarin Chicken Salad-serves 4
Printable Mandarin Chicken Salad Recipe

Dressing
1/2 cup corn syrup (you could try subbing honey if corn syrup freaks you out. This isn’t high fructose corn syrup, though, and only a small amount makes it onto the salad anyways)
3 tbsp. white distilled vinegar
2 tbsp. pineapple juice
4 tsp. granulated sugar
1 tbsp. light brown sugar
1 tbsp. rice wine vinegar
1 tbsp. soy sauce
1 tsp. sesame oil
1/4 tsp. ground mustard
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
1/8 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. paprika
dash garlic powder
dash ground black pepper
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 tsp. sesame seeds (I don’t usually add these)

Salad
4 chicken breast fillets
1 large head iceberg lettuce, chopped
4 cups red leaf lettuce, chopped (I just use green leaf lettuce)
1 1/3 cups canned mandarin orange wedges
1 cup rice noodles
1 cup roasted sliced almonds (I forgot to add these to the pictured salad!)

Prepare dressing by combining all dressing ingredients except vegetable oil and sesame seeds in a blender on high speed. Slowly add oil to mixture (to create an emulsion). Add sesame seeds and blend for 2-3 seconds. Pour dressing into a covered container (I like to use a small Mason jar) and refrigerate.

Rub each chicken breast fillet with oil, then lightly salt and pepper each piece. Grill on medium/high heat until done. Chill chicken breasts in refrigerator until cold.

In 4 large salad bowls, layer lettuce, chicken, orange wedges, rice noodles, and almonds. Serve with prepared dressing.

Today’s 365 post: Sneak Peek

What is freezer jam?  Well, it’s similar to cooked jam, except that instead of being cooked and processed to a shelf-stable state, freezer jam is raw and is simply stored in the freezer.  It’s super-duper easy, and I think that the resulting product is something like 1000 times tastier than the canned counterpart.  The fruit flavor is so much more authentic.

The downside is that the jam needs to be stored in the fridge or freezer until it’s eaten, so if you are short on freezer space, this may not be a good option for you.  But, if you’ve got a nice big freezer, or if you just want to make a few jars of jam, you should definitely give this method a try.  I’m almost positive that you’ll end up preferring freezer jam to canned jam.

Freezer jam is not quite as firm as canned jam, but since I usually think canned jam (especially commercial jam) is a little too resistant to spreading, I don’t consider this to be a downside.

Homemade jam may or may not be cheaper than commercial jam…it all depends upon how much you pay for your fruit (I had a 20 pound box of blueberries that cost me $34). Regardless, I consider homemade jam to be more about eating better jam, eating local food, and reducing trash output than about saving money.

I really ought to sit down and consider the cost, though, because I’m pretty sure that my homemade jam is cheaper than what I can buy even at Aldi.  I’ll keep you posted on that!

I usually just use the recipes that come in the pamphlet inside the box of pectin (which is the stuff that thickens jam), but in case you’d like some step-by-step instructions, here’s how to make blueberry jam.

First, process the blueberries in a food process until they’re finely chopped. Alternatively, you can use a potato masher to crush the berries.  You don’t want the berries crushed into oblivion, though, so exercise some restraint.  It’s good to have some chunks of fruit in your jam.

Add the sugar.  Jams require a lot of sugar, so you may be vaguely horrified at this step.  However, commercial jams contain at LEAST as much sugar…you just don’t see it going in.    So, homemade jam will be no more deleterious to your health than the commercial stuff you’ve been eating.

Mix thoroughly, and let stand for 10 minutes.

Now you’ll need a package of pectin. I use Sure-Jell or Ball, depending on what’s available in the store. I don’t think the brand matters much.  The ball packages usually have a $.50/1 coupon, though, so I try to get those if possible.  My store doubles those, which means I can get $1 off the next package of pectin.  Love that.

In a saucepan, combine the pectin with 3/4 cup water, and cook it over medium heat until it boils (it’ll be fairly thick). Boil it for 1 minute, stirring constantly.

Add the pectin mixture to the fruit and stir for 3 minutes.

Ladle the jelly into whatever container you’re going to use. Straight sided containers work best for freezer jam, as they allow for upward expansion.

Place the lids on your containers and let them stand at room temperature for 24 hours. Then store them either in the fridge or in the freezer.

And that’s it!  Easy peasy.  The process for other flavors is exactly the same, though the proportions of sugar and fruit do change somewhat.

Do give this a try before all the good summer fruit is out of season…I think you’ll be glad you did.

Blueberry Freezer Jam-makes 7 cups

2 1/2 pints blueberries, crushed to make 3 cups
5 1/4 cups sugar
1 package pectin
3/4 cup water

Combine blueberries and sugar; stir well. Let stand 10 minutes.

Combine pectin and water in a saucepan. Bring to boil over high heat, stirring constantly. Boil 1 minute, stirring constantly.

Add pectin to blueberry mixture and stir for 3 minutes, or until the sugar is completely dissolved and is no longer grainy.

Pour or ladle jam into containers, leaving 1/2 space at top for expansion during freezer. Place lids on containers, and let stand at room temperature 24 hours until set. Refrigerate up to 3 weeks, or store in the freezer for 1 year.

Raspberry Peach Jam: The directions are the same, but use 2 cups crushed raspberries, 1 1/2 cups finely chopped peaches, and 7 cups of sugar.  This makes 7 cups of jam.

Today’s 365 post: Want to see some clutter?

Every Wednesday (ok, most Wednesdays!) I share a baking recipe. And lots of pictures of said baking recipe. I don’t call this Wednesday Baking because I bake solely on Wednesdays…no, my oven gets a workout much more frequently than once a week! Wednesday just happens to be the day I share baking recipes with you. All the past baking posts are archived in the Wednesday Baking category, which can also be found in a tab underneath my blog header.

I showed you all my English Muffins in my What I’ve Been Up To post and also on my 365 blog the other day (though that was mostly about my griddle!), and a LOT of you asked for the recipe. Fortunately for you, I was already planning on posting the recipe, so I’ve got pictures in hand. Or rather, on my hard drive.

English Muffins aren’t actually English…they just got their name because they resemble crumpets, which are indeed from England (I know this tidbit because I read way too many baking cookbooks as a teenager. I lived a wild life in those years. ).

But, they are yummy nonetheless, and it’s kind of fun to make these at home. Homemade English muffins are even more unusual than other types of homemade bread, so if you can manage to get your English-muffin-making skills down pat, you can handily impress your friends and family.

The dough is really not that much different than most bread doughs…it’s the cooking method that’s odd. These are cooked on a griddle or in a dry frying pan, which means that you don’t have to turn on your oven (which is just about perfect at this time of year).

To start, dissolve the yeast in a cup of warm water.

Then heat the milk, sugar, salt, and butter to 110 degrees F. This is cooler than the temperature required for most of the recipes I use, and that’s because we’re adding the warm liquids to the dissolved yeast instead of to a yeast/flour combo.

Add the warm liquids to the yeast mixture along with 3 cups of flour. Beat for 3 minutes on medium speed (or mix well by hand). The dough will be more like batter at this point.

Add enough flour to make a soft dough (don’t add too much flour…err on the soft side!). Turn it out onto a floured surface,

and knead for 3-5 minutes, or dough is smooth and elastic.

Place the dough into a bowl (I usually just put it back into the messy mixing bowl and call it good.), cover it with a wet tea towel, and let it rise for an hour.

Punch the dough down, and divide it into half. Let the dough rest for 10 minutes or so. This will relax the gluten in the flour and will make the dough much easier to roll out.

Sprinkle your counter generously with cornmeal. Place each dough half on the cornmeal and roll or pat it out into a 1/2 inch thickness.

Now you’ll need a biscuit cutter or something similar (Cook’s Illustrated recommends this set.)

Dip it into flour, and use it to cut rounds out of the dough. I dip it into the flour between each cut. Place the cut muffins onto an ungreased baking sheet. Do. Not. grease the pan. It’ll bring you grief later if you do.

When you’re finished cutting out the rounds, you’ll be left with some scraps.

Shake them off, and combine them together to form a ball. Let the ball rest for a few minutes to relax the gluten and then pat out the scrap ball to make more muffins. Your very last muffin will probably look all gnarly like this, but it’ll be ok.

Cover your pans of muffins with a dry tea towel. Normally I use wet tea towels to cover dough, but if you use a wet one for English muffins, it’ll be really, really hard to transfer them to the griddle.  You want to keep them dry. Let the muffins rise for 30 minutes.

Heat a skillet or griddle to medium hot. Before I got my awesome electric griddle, I used to use multiple skillets on the stove. An electric griddle is SO much easier, though.

Gently place the muffins, cornmeal side down to the griddle. This will not be an impossible task as long as you’ve (1) covered your counter with cornmeal before rolling the dough out, (2) have not greased the cookie sheet and (3) have not covered them with a wet tea towel. Trust me, skipping those 3 steps will make the transferring stage an exercise in frustration.

Cook the muffins for about 10 minutes on the first side and then flip them over and cook them for another 10 minutes on the reverse side.

The first side will look more flat, like this.

And the second side will have a nice brown circle.

Cool the muffins on a wire rack. To serve, you’ll want to split them in half. Simply take a fork and insert it into the side of the muffin, repeating all the way around the muffin.

Here’s what the inside should look like.

Of course, English muffins are not meant to be eaten all pale like that. You really should toast them first. When I’m serving these to our whole family, I like to place them on a baking sheet and put them under the broiler, as that’s a much faster way to toast multiple muffins.

If you prefer flavored English muffins, you can replace some white flour with whole wheat flour, or you can add a teaspoon of cinnamon and 1/2 cup of raisins.

Store any leftover muffins in a plastic bag for no more than a day or two. Since the dough has very little fat and sugar (those are preservatives), the muffins will not stay fresh for longer than that, so freeze them if you’re not going to use them up quickly.

Homemade English Muffins
printable English Muffin recipe

1 cup warm water (105 F)
1 pkg (2 1/4 teaspoons) active dry yeast
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3 tablespoons butter
5-6 cups all purpose flour

Dissolve yeast in warm water in a mixing bowl. Combine milk, sugar, salt, and butter, and heat to 110 F. Add to yeast mixture along with 3 cups flour. Beat for 3 minutes. Add enough remaining flour to make a soft dough and turn out onto floured surface. Knead for 3-5 minutes, or until smooth and elastic. Place in a bowl, cover with a wet tea towel, and let rise 1 hour.

Punch dough down, and divide in half. Let dough rest for 10 minutes. On a surface generously sprinkled with cornmeal, pat or roll dough to 1/2 inch thickness. Cut into circles with a floured 3-inch biscuit cutter. Place circles onto ungreased baking sheet. Cover with a dry tea towel and let rise 30 minutes.

Place risen muffins gently onto a medium-hot griddle or skillet and cook for 10 minutes on each side. Cool on a wire rack. Split with a fork and toast before serving.

Every Wednesday (ok, most Wednesdays!) I share a baking recipe. And lots of pictures of said baking recipe. I don’t call this Wednesday Baking because I bake solely on Wednesdays…no, my oven gets a workout much more frequently than once a week! Wednesday just happens to be the day I share baking recipes with you. All the past baking posts are archived in the Wednesday Baking category, which can also be found in a tab underneath my blog header.

This week, I bought a 20 pound box of New Jersey blueberries (which are sort of local…just a few states away!), which means I have blueberries on the brain. We’ve been eating them by the handful, on yogurt, on cereal, and in fruit salad, but I do like to do some baking when I have fresh blueberries. Of course, you can bake all year long with frozen blueberries, but they’re not quite as nice to use…even straight from the freezer, they almost always bleed and turn the batter/dough an unappealing green shade in spots.

I found this recipe in a Pillsbury cookbook when I was a teenager and I used to make it for my family, as my parents have a number of blueberry bushes along the side of their house. I haven’t made it as often since I got married, as cheap blueberries are harder to come by now! But with 20 pounds on my hands, I thought a loaf of two of this bread was appropriate (I’m going to be making some blueberry streusel muffins too, of course).

This is a quick bread(it rises with baking soda and baking powder, not with yeast), which is good news for those of you who quake in your boots at the mere mention of yeast or kneading. If you can operate a mixing spoon, you can totally make this.

Before you start, turn the oven on to 350 F.  That way it’ll be hot when you’re ready to bake your bread.

First, you’ll need to mix all the dry ingredients together. A whisk is GREAT for this.

Second, mix up the milk, oil, eggs, and vanilla (and lemon peel if you want).

(when I first combine these ingredients, the milk bubbles caused by the oil were much larger.  Zoe peered into the measuring cup and asked me why I put rocks in!)

Gently stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients along with the blueberries (if you’re using frozen blueberries, mix the batter first and then fold in the berries).

Don’t overstir your batter…if you do, you’ll develop the gluten in the flour, and your bread will be tough.  Pour the batter into greased 9×5 inch loaf pans (I think you could use 4×6 pans as well…you’d just want to maybe bake them a little longer).

Bake for 40-50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Cool on a wire rack.  Quick breads can be beaten while they’re warm, but they’re a bit easier to slice if you let them cool completely.

Blueberry Oatmeal Bread-makes 1 loaf
Printable Blueberry Oatmeal Bread Recipe

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup quick cooking rolled oats
3/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups milk
1/3 cup oil
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
2 eggs
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries (do not thaw)

Heat oven to 350 F.  In a large bowl, combine flour, oats, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; mix well.  In a small bowl (or a measuring cup), combine milk, oil, vanilla, lemon peel and eggs; blend well.  Add to dry ingredients all at once; stir just until dry ingredients are moistened.  Gently fold in blueberries.

Pour batter into greased 9×5 inch loaf pan.  Bake at 350 F for 40-50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.  Cool 10 minutes; remove from pan.  Cool completely on wire rack.

Today’s 365 post: What can I say?  We’re easily entertained!

Every Wednesday (ok, most Wednesdays!) I share a baking recipe. And lots of pictures of said baking recipe. I don’t call this Wednesday Baking because I bake solely on Wednesdays…no, my oven gets a workout much more frequently than once a week! Wednesday just happens to be the day I share baking recipes with you. All the past baking posts are archived in the Wednesday Baking category, which can also be found in a tab underneath my blog header.

Like last week’s Chocolate Parfait Bars, the recipe for these bars comes from my maternal grandmother, a.k.a. The Dessert Queen. Oddly enough, these layered bars call for exactly 0 almonds…the almond flavor actually comes simply from almond extract, which you should be able to find at most any grocery store.

I suppose that makes these a little inauthentic, but I don’t really care because I think they’re delicious.

When I made this particular batch, I didn’t have quite enough almond extract, so I just added a little vanilla to make up for it, and they were still tasty. If you hate almond, I imagine you could substitute any number of extracts and come away with good results.

These bars have three layers just like the Chocolate Parfait Bars…a crust, a filling, and a frosting. The good news is that none of these layers are at all complicated to make. You can totally do this!

Before you start, turn your oven on to 350 degrees. That way it’ll be sufficiently hot by the time you need to bake the crust.

The crust is basically a shortbread layer…to make it, you simply mix 1 cup of butter, 2 cups of flour, and 1/2 cup of powdered sugar. Butter is going to make this crust taste way better than any other shortening will, but if you can’t use butter, a butter substitute will certainly work.

Pat the mixture into a greased 9×13 inch pan.

Put the pan into the oven to bake (at 350 F) for 20 minutes. While the crust is baking, you’ll want to make the filling, which is comprised of cream cheese, eggs, sugar, and almond extract. You really should soften the cream cheese before you make the filling because it’ll be lumpy otherwise.

Take the crust out of the oven after 20 minutes. It should look like this:

Pour the almond filling right on top of the hot crust, and put the pan back into the oven to bake for another 15-20 minutes.

Let the crust and filling cool completely.

To make the frosting, simply beat powdered sugar, butter, milk, and more almond extract together.

Spread the frosting on top of the now-cool bars.

Cut into squares before serving.

I store these in the refrigerator because the filling of these contains cream cheese and egg.  Plus, if you live in the same hemisphere as me, your house is probably on the warm side of things right now and the frosting on these bars would get a little runny at room temperature.

Almond Bars
Printable Almond Bars Recipe

Crust
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
2 cups all purpose flour
½ cup powdered sugar

Mix butter, flour, and sugar. Pat into a greased 9×13 inch pan. Bake in a preheated 350 F oven for 20-25 minutes, or until lightly browned.

Filling
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 eggs
½ cup sugar
1 teaspoon almond extract

Beat cream cheese, eggs, sugar, and extract together. Pour over hot crust, and bake for 15 minutes. Cool completely.

Frosting
¼ cup butter, softened
1 ½ cups powdered sugar
1 ½ tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon almond extract

Beat butter, sugar, milk, and extract together until smooth. Spread frosting evenly over bars. Store bars in refrigerator.

Every Wednesday (ok, most Wednesdays!) I share a baking recipe. And lots of pictures of said baking recipe. I don’t call this Wednesday Baking because I bake solely on Wednesdays…no, my oven gets a workout much more frequently than once a week! Wednesday just happens to be the day I share baking recipes with you. All the past baking posts are archived in the Wednesday Baking category, which can also be found in a tab underneath my blog header.

Today’s recipe comes courtesy of my maternal grandmother. My paternal grandmother was big into yeast baking (I’ve shared one of her recipes with you before!), but my maternal grandmother is more of a dessert baker. She has a special fondness for bars and cookies, and today’s bar recipe is from her.

Incidentally, I think I have a pretty happening grandmother because though she is in her 80s, she reads my blog every day.

Anyhow. These bars are almost no-bake (they require only 10 minutes in the oven), and unlike almost all of my other recipes, this one calls for a packaged ingredient (cake mix, to be specific). I keep meaning to do some research and figure out how to make my own alternative mix for this particular use, but I make these so rarely, it’s not been a high priority.

I make them rarely not because they’re lacking in deliciousness…no, it’s just that the combination of fat, sugar, and flour is difficult for me to resist, so it’s not good for me to have lots of cookies and bars around. Ice cream I can resist, candy I can resist, and homemade bread doesn’t even tempt me to overeat, but homemade cookies and bars are my nemesis.

So, I usually make this sort of thing when we have company or we go to a potluck, because then I can’t possibly eat the whole pan.

To make the crust for these, combine a chocolate cake mix package with 1/2 cup (8 tablespoons, or 1 stick) softened butter and an egg. A mixer makes this an awful lot easier, but you can do it by hand.

Spread the mixture into a greased jelly roll pan. If you don’t have a jelly roll pan, you can use a 9×13 inch pan, and your layers will just be a little thicker.

Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes. Don’t overbake it, or the crust will be hard. Let the crust cool completely (it’ll look puffy at first and will then flatten out as it cools).

After it’s cooled, you’ll make the white filling. First, dissolve a package of gelatin in 1/4 cup boiling water. Make sure you stir it well so that there are no lumps.

Let the gelatin mixture cool for 5-10 minutes. Do NOT leave it for a long time because it will start to set up, and your filling will have icky lumps in it.

Ask me how I know.

Add butter, shortening, sugar, and vanilla and beat until smooth.  You can add mint flavoring and green food coloring at this point, but I’ve not tried that myself.  (Given my obsession with chocolate and mint, I’m not sure why!)

I’m guessing it would be possible to substitute more butter for the shortening, but I haven’t tried it. I use shortening very rarely…so rarely, I bought a really small can of it!

Because remember? I think smaller quantities are sometimes a wiser purchase, even if the price per pound is higher.

Spread the fluffy white filling over the cooled chocolate crust, then cover and refrigerate until firm.

When the filling is firm (it should only take an hour or so), melt chocolate chips and butter together to make the chocolate frosting.

Spread evenly over the chilled white filling. This is a little more difficult than you might imagine because the cold filling makes the chocolate firm up alarmingly fast.

I’m never one to turn out beautiful frosting jobs, but under these circumstances, things are a little worse than usual.

Fortunately, you cut these into squares before serving them, so it’s not manifestly obvious that the frosting job is less than gorgeous.

Cover the pan and refrigerate the bars until the chocolate frosting is firm.  Cut into bars before serving (a bench knife is fantastic for this! You can see one in my little Amazon widget on the right side of my blog.).  Store any leftovers in the fridge.

Chocolate Parfait Bars
Printable Chocolate Parfait Bars Recipe

Crust
1 package devils food cake mix
1 stick (8 tablespoons) butter
1 egg

Mix cake mix, butter, and egg together. Spread in greased jelly roll pan and bake at 350 F for
8-10 minutes. Let cool completely.

Filling
1 envelope gelatin
¼ cup boiling water
4 cups powdered sugar
1 stick (8 tablespoons) softened butter
½ cup shortening
½ teaspoon vanilla

Dissolve gelatin in boiling water; stir to remove lumps. Let cool 5-10 minutes. Mix in sugar, butter, shortening, and vanilla and beat until smooth. Spread evenly over cooled chocolate crust. Cover and refrigerate until firm.

Frosting
1 ½ cups chocolate chips
4 ½ tablespoons butter

Melt chocolate chips and butter together; stir until smooth. Spread evenly over filling. Cover and refrigerate until cool.  Cut into bars before serving.