Crunchy Granola Bars

Week 34

This week's host was Emily she choose Crunchy Granola Bars. Recipe on page 226 of our book.

Thank-You Emily for picking a quick and easy recipe this week. It's 11:00 pm on Wednesday night and here I am trying to get my post written. I just finished making the granola bars two hours ago. We went camping this weekend and came home on Monday. Tuesday felt like Monday and the next day was Wednesday which left me little time to bake. I'll have you know that I did some yummy baking for our camping trip which included some Monkey Bread we warmed up over the fire, on a stick, one morning. It was SO GOOD! Needless to say, I was determined to get the granola bars done. I have always wanted to make homemade granola bars. I love a good granola bar for a snack.

Here they are looking as golden as can be!

The recipe was pretty simple and gave a variety of options for nuts to include in your bar. I choose what was in my pantry. Sliced almonds and crushed pecans, There was also a variation which added coconut and sesame seeds. I didn't have sesame seeds but there was no way I was leaving out coconut. If coconut can be added to my baking I am all over it.

Chocolate!? This ingredient wasn't included in the recipe. I was a little puzzled why you would have a granola bar without a little chocolate. Tried to resist putting them in but as you can see my resistance didn't hold out long enough. One cup of chocolate chips added to my granola bars.

They did melt a little while I stirred them in because the liquid mixture was warm but that didn't bother me.

Right out of the oven at 10:00 pm tonight. They look great but I was to tired to wait for them to cool, cut them up, and taste. So, I will have to rate them tomorrow. I can't imagine them not being a success. Thanks Emily for picking a recipe I could manage to finish on time, just barely. :)

To get the recipe for these tasty looking granola bars click HERE.

A Tip & Question:

1. Great snack for kids! You can pretty much put whatever you want into a granola bar as long as the base and liquid mixture stays the same.
2.  How do they get the chocolate chips into granola bars, from the store, without them melting?

Glazed Lemon Cookies

Week 33

This week's host was Michelle she choose Glazed Lemon Cookies. Recipe on page 167 of our book.

I was really looking forward to making these cookies because my neighbor Jen said they were very good. Also, a Lemon cookie is very different from what I bake.

Everyone bombs at least one, RIGHT! Well, I would say it's been a pretty good baking year so far. I have baked 33 weeks now and this is my first bombed recipe.

I think it started before the baking began. The recipe indicated that a food processor was a must have for this recipe. I brushed that note a side because in past recipes I have substituted a food processor with my blender. It has never been a problem, so why would it be this time?

Trying to get the cookie dough out of the blender was a mess. As you can see it was very sticky and the next step was to roll the dough into a log. Rolling STICKY dough=???

No log rolling for this dough. The recipe didn't say to add flour if dough is to sticky so I didn't do that but, now, wish I had.

The recipe did say that if the dough was to sticky put in the fridge to cool for a couple minutes. Then roll your log. The only problem was my dough never got hard enough to roll. It continued to be to sticky for rolling into a log. I ended up trying to put the dough in the freezer for  a couple of minutes but that only harden the outside of the dough which didn't help my log rolling.

This is the best I could do. . .

After the dough was in plastic wrap I was able roll it a bit better. At least it looked smooth. Into the fridge it went to chill for two hours. I was hoping that after the chilling step my problem would disappear.

As you can see the cut cookie dough doesn't look that great. My hopes weren't very high and I am glad they weren't because they didn't turn out right.

The cookies had a great flavor and taste. In fact, they actually tasted pretty good to my surprise.

To bad they broke when I tried to remove them from the pan. I knew for a fact that there was no getting any icing on these cookies. I snacked on them anyway. I want to try and make them again. The only problem is I am not sure how to fix my mistakes.

Find the recipe for these cookies by clicking HERE.

A Tip & A Question:

1. If something isn't right in your baking try to fix it. Don't assume it will turn out anyway.
2. What is the difference between a food processor and a blender? (I hope that doesn't sound like a dumb question.)

inlinkz codes for Week 34

Raspberry Streusel Bars

Week 32

My week to host! I choose Raspberry Streusel Bars. Recipe on page 219 of our book. There are a couple reasons for choosing this recipe. When I was thumbing through our book the raspberry recipes were very intriguing because they are growing in my backyard. The name was also intriguing because it sounded German. I love German baking. That is what I grew up eating. My Mom's Mother is German and is a fantastic Cook and Baker. Now that the name caught my curiosity I had to research the meaning and origin of Strusel:

"In baking and pastry making, streusel is a crumb topping of butter, flour, and sugar that is baked on top of muffins, breads, pies, and cakes. Some modern recipes add spices and chopped nutmeats. Although the topping is of German origin, it is sometimes erroneously referred to as Danish or Swedish." From Wikipedia

Raspberries and German baking sound right up my alley. Here we go:

P.S. This one is for my Oma (Rita Rau)!

These were scrumptious! Behind are my delicious raspberries from our garden. I was afraid there would be none to use for my hosting week. It's odd that we had so many raspberries at the beginning of July and then none for about a month. I was lucky to get a handful to use in the bars.

I suggest you give this recipe a try if you haven't already. Here it is:

RASPBERRY STREUSEL BARS

Frozen raspberries can be substituted for fresh, but be sure to defrost them before using. We like the chew of old-fashioned rolled oats here but quick-cooking oats can be substituted.

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 1/4 sticks unsalted butter, cut into 18 pieces and softened
• 1/2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats (see not above)
• 1/2 cup pecans, toasted and chopped fine
• 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 3/4 cup raspberry jam
• 3/4 fresh raspberries
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1. Adjust an oven rack to the middles position and heat the oven to 378 degrees. Line a 13 by 19-inch baking pan with a foil sling and grease the foil.

2. Whisk the flour, granulated sugar, and salt together in a large bowl.

Beat in 16 tablespoons of the butter with an electric mixer at low speed until the mixture resembles wet sand, 1 to 1 1/2 minutes. (I used my standing mixer. Why would I use a hand mixer when I have this fabulous non-hand mixer on my counter that will work with a switch, and does the same job. Maybe even better.)

Reserve 1 1/4 cups of the mixture for the topping.

3. Sprinkles the remaining mixture into the prepared pan and press into an even layer with the bottom of a measuring cup. Bake the crust until fragrant and the edges begin to brown, 14 to 18 minutes.

4. Mix the reserved flour mixture, oats, nuts, and brown sugar together in a medium bowl.

 

Add the remaining 2 tablespoons butter and pinch the mixture between your fingers into hazelnut-sized clumps of streusel.

In a small bowl, mash the jam, raspberries, and lemon juice together with a fork until just some of the berry pieces remain. (I used a potato masher and it worked good as well.)

5. Spread the berry mixture evenly over the hot crust, then sprinkle with the streusel topping. Bake the bars until the filling is bubbling and the topping is deep golden brown, 22 to 25 minutes, (mine were done at 22 minutes) rotating the pan halfway through baking. (Which I never do :))

6. Let the bars cool completely in the pan, set on a wire rack, about 2 hours. Remove the bars from the pan using the foil, cut into squares, and serve. ( I let them cool in the pan for a couple hours. Then cut them in the pan and enjoyed.)

To Make Ahead

The cooled, uncut bars can be wrapped in plastic wrap, then toil, and frozen for up to 1 month. Thaw the bars completely at room temperature (do not unwrap), about 4 hours, before cutting and serving.

I hope everyone enjoyed this recipe as much as we did. This will be made again and again, as my family loved it.

A Tip & A Question:

1. These bars are similar to Linzertorte. Well, not really when you look at the ingredients but they seem to have the same texture and fruit taste. (Also, that is what my husband said when he tried them.) This is a German tart that my family makes for Christmas every year.
2. N/A

Cheddar Cheese Bread

Week 31

This week's host was Betsy and she choose Cheddar Cheese Bread. Recipe on page 60 of our book.

What a great choose! Our cheese loving family was excited for this week's baking.

Can you guess what I did wrong? (that question is for my baking friends) I did not read the recipe to closely. All week I was preparing for a bread that had to rise. To my surprise this bread didn't need to be risen at all. That was exciting because it meant' I could cut my baking time down to an  hour or so compared to half a day. Still, that is not the mistake I made...

Here is my batter all ready to put in the oven when I realized that the Parmesan cheese was supposed to go on the bottom of the bread pan and sprinkled on top of the bread. There is nothing more frustrating in baking then realizing you've messed up the recipe when it's to late to go back and fix it. Also, not to mention my bag of "shredded" sharp cheese instead of a block. Oops again! Now the decision to throw it away and start over or finish it the best I can. Well from my first picture you can see what choice was made. I couldn't bring myself to throw a perfectly good bread batter away. I also couldn't think of any reason why it wouldn't taste good. It just wouldn't be as cheesy. In in the oven it went and the sharp cheddar cheese went on top with more grated Parmesan as well.

Out it came! Looks really good despite my screw up, right? Right, it was really good! So, good that I was really close to making it again before our posts. Then I could see how much better it would taste with the big cheese pockets in the middle of the bread. I will be making this bread again very soon. It's a great loaf to bring to a party or have as a side at dinner on any night. It doesn't take a lot of work or time. Just make sure you have the right cheeses. 

 As you can see we couldn't wait for the bread to cool off before diving in. This is why it's crumbling a bit. The bread had a corn bread type texture to it and was very moist.

I even tried serving it the next day toasted with butter and garlic powder on top. (Got a little burnt though)

Please try this week's recipe and read the instructions carefully. Get the recipe by clicking HERE.

A Tip & A Question:

1. When you mess up a recipe always try to revive it with your own techniques. Most likely it will still be good anyway and you won't have wasted all those ingredients.
2. I wonder why the recipe uses sharp cheddar cheese because it's so strong. To my surprise it wasn't to strong, even on top of the bread. Does sharp cheddar give more of a cheesy flavor when baked?

Monkey Bread

Week 30

This week's host was my good friend and neighbor Jennifer. She choose Monkey Bread. The recipe is on page 88 of our book.

Yummy, cinnamon bread/buns again. Can't go wrong with them. . .

This whole week I though about why they named the recipe "Monkey Bread". Still can't figure out why other then they are scattered everywhere like monkeys. (Don't know if that made sense.) Either way my kids liked the name. This recipe is very similar to the cinnamon buns we made a couple weeks ago. It even uses the same dough recipe, but has a different icing recipe with no cream cheese, which I am sure caught Jen's eye. I really like the idea of scattering the cinnamon balls in a platter. It was easy to eat and clean up. Plus the small balls were kid friendly. I think this would be great to make for a kids party of some sort.

 

The recipe wanted us to use a bundt pan, roll the dough into balls and coat them in butter and cinnamon sugar. Then scatter them evenly in the bundt pan. It was just about as easy as it sounds, other then rolling the balls and coating them was time consuming and very repetitive. It's easier to just roll out a cylinder and cut it or place it in a bread pan. If your short on time I wouldn't recommend doing this. The book indicated that you would get 36 balls out of the dough. I was still curious to know how big they wanted the balls to be. I made mine pretty small because they still had to rise.

 As you can see I started off big and then thought they should be smaller. By making them smaller I ran out of cinnamon sugar. I made half more of the cinnamon sugar recipe.

Even after dumping the rest of the butter on top and most of the extra cinnamon sugar there was a bit still wasted. My question was: will the balls on the bottom still rise? Yes they did. Isn't baking amazing!

Right out of the oven. My other question was: will they pull apart? Yes they did! The bundt pan was great because the side detaches from the bottom so the Monkey Bread came out very easily. I just dumped them in the platter, pulled them apart a little with my fingers, and poured the glaze on top. Ready to eat right out of the oven. DELICIOUS!

The recipe made more then 36 balls but, remember, I might of made mine smaller then suggested. They were really good and I will make them again just like all the other cinnamon breads we've made. In fact I was excited to share them with my parents-in-law. I was taking my Mother-in-Law to the doctor today and forgot them at home. Errr, that made me made but I am not complaining that now we just have to eat their share. 

Thanks Jen for hosting even when your baby is due any day now. :) Click HERE for the recipe.

A Question & A Tip:

1. How many types of cinnamon breads are there? I would like to bake them all!
2. Make the balls smaller then you think because when risen they become a lot bigger.