Pear, Blue Cheese and Walnut Muffins - SMS

I am creating a bit of a muffin mix up with my SMS post today. Today's SMS recipe is Goat Cheese, Olive and Thyme Muffins. You can find the recipe over at Hanna's Kitchen. Tim doesn't care for olives and a co-worker of mine gave me quite a few pears. I decided to bake the Pear, Blue Cheese and Walnut Muffins the SMS group baked a few weeks ago. I baked Carmelized Onion, Sage and Cheddar Muffins that week. Confused? It's a three for one muffin recipe post!

The muffin recipe in Sweet Melissa's cookbook is the same for savory or sweet muffins. Most of the SMS bakers would agree, this recipe tends to make a dry muffin. To create a more moist muffin, I've started adding a little more milk or cream and 1/2 cup of sour cream. Also, it's very important to watch the baking time.

These weren't as flavorful as the Onion, Sage and Cheddar muffins. They needed something, maybe a little more cayenne? As well, they didn't brown like I would have liked. I ended up turning the broiler on for just a bit to try and get the nice brown color. If you've never made savory muffins before, give them a try. They're perfect with soups or stews.

You can find the links to the creative savory muffins by the other SMS bakers here.

Happy Halloween!

Chocolate Honey Madeleines - Chocolate With Francois

With all of the pumpkin, squash and apple recipes on blogsphere, I am ready for a chocolate recipe. How about you? We've been baking along with the book, Chocolate Epiphany by Francois Payard for a year. It was my turn to choose the recipe for October. Since many of the recipes have been more than a little challenging, I decided to choose one that was easier to put together. This is my second time baking madeleines. The first time was this Sweet Melissa Sunday's recipe. When I first read the SMS recipe, I wasn't sure what to do because I didn't have a madeleine pan. Naturally, I'd passed up at least one or two at Goodwill BEFORE I knew we were baking madeleines. Now I'd like to find one, there's none to be found. A mini muffin tin, although not as pretty, makes a good substitution.

This recipe goes together quickly and most likely uses ingredients you have on hand. This batter was much thicker than the Chestnut Honey Madeleine's. It reminded me of a sponge cake batter. Unfortunately, I overbaked them. Seems like I say that quite often? I was pretty sure I set the timer for 8 minutes, went to hang laundry and came back to the kitchen, time had expired. Did I forget to set the timer? Francois says these are best eaten the day they are made. Seriously, why are all of these recipes better eaten the day they are made? He's right. These have a much different texture, almost tough the next day. I was hoping these would have a nice deep honey flavor. The orange zest, while a delicious flavor, overpowered they honey. These are wonderful served with a cup of tea.




Chocolate-Honey Madeleines
4 large eggs
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon light brown sugar
Grated zest of 1 or 1 1/2 oranges, to taste
1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
3 tablespoons Dutch processed cocoa powder
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
Pinch of salt
10 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon honey
Softened butter and flour, for the molds
Batter
Combine the eggs, sugars and orange zest in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Whisk on medium speed for 15 minutes, until the mixture is light and fluffy.
While the eggs are in the mixer, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt over a bowl of piece of wax paper.
Combine the butter and honey in a medium saucepan over medium high heat and let the butter melt. Stir so the honey is well combined. Remove the heat and once the egg mixture is ready, stir about one tenth of it into the butter, to lighten the butter.
With a silicone spatula, gently fold the dry ingredients into the egg mixture in two or three increments. Fold the butter mixture into the batter until well combined. Cover and refrigerate the batter overnight or for up to 3 days.
Bake
Place a rack in the upper and bottom thids of the oven and preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Brush the tins of two large madeleine molds (my note...or mini muffin tins) with butter and dust with flour. Line a baking sheet with wax paper.
With a silicone spatula, gently stir the batter to remove the excess air. Spoon the batter into a pastry bag, or resealable plastic bag, and cut a 1/2 inch opening in the tip or corner of the bag. Pipe the batter almost to the top of each tin.
Bake for about 8 minutes, without opening the oven, and immediately unmold them by tapping the molds against the prepared baking sheet. The madeleines should fall from the tins onto the baking sheet. Serve immediately or cool to room temperature.

You can find the links to the other CWF baker's here! Next up for CWF is Chocolate Coconut Rochers chosen by Joanne at Apple Crumbles . We'd love to have a few more baker's join us for Chocolate With Francois. We bake once a month and post on the last day of the month. Interested? Send me an email!

Happy Halloween (Pink Saturday)!!!

Beverly of How Sweet the Sound, our wonderful host for Pink Saturday opened today's posts up include Halloween!!

Photo by Diann Stelzer.

As you know we live in Nebraska, aka The Good Life. I hope this post doesn't resort in my house being egged or tpeed or worse :). Today is the Missouri/Nebraska football game. Unlike most houses in Nebraska, our house will be cheering on the Missouri Tigers. Neither Tim or I are Nebraska natives and have yet to join the "Big Red" bandwagon. The game today is huge. It will pretty much decide the Big 12 North Champion and is the last time the two teams will meet in Lincoln. Nebraska joins the Big 10 in 2011. You might think since they'll no longer be playing Missouri, we'll become Husker fans? Not so much, Tim's from Minnesota. We'll be routing for those Golden Gopher's next year!

GO TIGERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pumpkin Sage Brown Butter Quick Bread

If you follow my blog you know I planted sage for the first time this year. I've been searching for new and interesting ways to use my sage. I've made this pasta and these muffins. Before this year, I am not sure I've used sage for much except dressing. Thinking of sage and dressing always brings a smile to my face. When I was about ten, I was helping my mom with Thanksgiving dinner. We were making dressing and pumpkin pie. We had the sage and probably the nutmeg out on the counter. Mom told me to put some of that in the pie. I thought that was the sage. I think we were able to scoop out the sage and save the pie.

One of my favorite pumpkin recipes is my mom's pumpkin bread. She used to make it every year about this time. When I saw this Martha Stewart recipe, I decided to break tradition and try it. I love browned butter. I think I am still trying to master the art of getting it just the right shade of brown. Sometimes, it's a little too brown and other times it's not brown enough. Do you have any tips to share with me?


I love this recipe. It reminds me a lot of my mom's recipe. The sage flavor isn't overwhelming. Actually, next time I will add a little more sage. I shared this with my co-workers. I was quick to point out the green flecks in the bread were sage!!

Pumpkin Sage Brown Butter Quick Bread
Recipe Courtesy of Martha Stewart Living

Makes eight 2 1/2-by-4-inch loaves
6 ounces (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, plus more for pans
1/4 cup fresh sage, cut into thin strips, plus more, whole, for garnish
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pans
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup solid-pack pumpkin (from one 15-ounce can)
1 cup packed light-brown sugar
2 large eggs
Directions
1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour eight 2 1/2-by-4-inch loaf pans. Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Add sage strips, and cook until butter turns golden brown, 5 to 8 minutes. Transfer mixture to a bowl, and let cool slightly.
2.Meanwhile, whisk together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and salt.
3.Whisk together pumpkin, sugar, eggs, and browned butter with sage. Add flour mixture, and whisk until incorporated. Divide mixture evenly among 8 pans. Smooth tops gently using an offset spatula.
4.Place pans on a rimmed baking sheet, and bake until a tester inserted into centers comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Transfer pans to a wire rack, and let cool for 15 minutes. Invert pans to remove breads, transfer to wire rack, top sides up, and let cool completely. (Breads can be stored, wrapped, at room temperature overnight or refrigerated for up to 5 days.) Garnish with whole sage leaves before serving.

I am linking this to Foodie Friday at Designs by Gollum.

From The Good Life

Have you had your first hard frost this year? The average first frost in Omaha is 9/23. We've been so lucky this fall, we're having our first frost tonight.

The one armed scarecrow! The wind in Nebraska is hard on him!


My oregano and sage. I am hoping if I cover it with straw, it will come back next year.
What's still growing in your yard?

Beer Can Chicken

How do you prepare a whole chicken? In the winter, there’s nothing better than the smell of a chicken roasting in the oven. In summer, I don’t want to have the oven on 400 for over an hour to roast a chicken. My kitchen is warm enough in the summer without turning on the oven. Our go to recipe for whole chicken in the summer is Beer Can Chicken. There are so many possibilities, different types of beer, spices or a rub can give the chicken it’s own flair. On this particular night, we used an IPA from a local brewery that we love, Lucky Bucket. We used the cajun rub our friends Rat and Julie from New Orleans sent us for Christmas last year. The flavors were delicious and the chicken was so moist. The secret to a moist chicken is to let it rest before carving!

Beer Can Chicken
1 (4-pound) whole chicken
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
3 tablespoons of your favorite dry spice rub
1 can beer
Directions
Remove neck and giblets from chicken and discard. Rinse chicken inside and out, and pat dry with paper towels. Rub chicken lightly with oil then rub inside and out with salt, pepper and dry rub. Set aside.

Open beer can and take several gulps (make them big gulps so that the can is half full). Place beer can on a solid surface. Grabbing a chicken leg in each hand, plunk the bird cavity over the beer can. Transfer the bird-on-a-can to your grill and place in the center of the grate, balancing the bird on its 2 legs and the can like a tripod.

Cook the chicken over medium-high, indirect heat (i.e. no coals or burners on directly under the bird), with the grill cover on, for approximately 1 1/4 hours or until the internal temperature registers 165 degrees F in the breast area and 180 degrees F in the thigh, or until the thigh juice runs clear when stabbed with a sharp knife. Remove from grill and let rest for 10 minutes before carving.

I am linking this to Tempt My Tummy Tuesday's, Tasty Tuesday's and Tuesday's at the Table.

Peanut Brittle - SMS

Knowing we were going to be out of town this weekend, I made this recipe in advance. I always feel good when I have a SMS post ready to go before Sunday. Am I glad I made this in advance? Absolutely, this was one of those problem recipes.

I gathered all of the ingredients in advance, read the recipe a couple of times and began cooking the caramel. I've read about how challenging caramel can be. I was a little nevous about this recipe. I think that was my problem! The recipe is like an animal, it smells my fear. I've made caramel before without any problems. Not so lucky this time. This recipe calls for cooking the sugar and corn syrup on medium high. I wondered if that was too hot but did it anyway. The caramel mixture hadn't been on the stove very long and I noticed it was starting to smoke. Panic! Our smoke detector is wired into our alarm and I didn't want it to go off. I opened the kitchen windows and the backdoor. It started smoking even more. I grabbed the pan and wanted to run to take it outside to the deck. Knowing how my luck was going that particular day, I decided running wasn't a good plan. I walked as quickly as I could and let it smoke away outside. Time to start over but I used all of the corn syrup, so I will be starting over another night.

Never having made peanut brittle before, I didn't really know what to expect. I went to the internet and began reading recipes for peanut brittle. After reading a number of recipes, I decided two things. One, this recipe uses way too high of a temperature to cook the caramel. Second, most of the other recipes used a little water along with the sugar and corn syrup. When I made the second batch, I followed Melissa's recipe except I added 1/4 cup of water and cooked the caramel on medium. This time went much more smoothly, until the final step. One stick of butter is way too much butter. I couldn't get it to incorporate smoothly. As a result, my peanut brittle is a big greasy.

I've never been a big peanut brittle fan. Give me chocolate anything instead. :) I thought this tasted just okay. Tim said it was pretty good. I am anxious to read what the other SMS bakers thought of this recipe.


This week's recipe was chosen by JoVonn of the Givens Chronicles, you can find the recipe on her blog. If you'd like to check out the other SMS baker's peanut brittle, you can find them here.