hopeful

Checking in from the frigid midwest, where the outside air temperature feels like -48 and a cup of boiling water vaporizes in mid-air when thrown out from the back porch. We were supposed to go back to school today - it's the end of winter break - but school was cancelled, and I just got the call that it is cancelled again for tomorrow. And while many of you out there are going cabin-fever-crazy, I am just plain giddy with happiness. I love being home with my boys.



Way back in my stay at home mom days, Finn and I got hooked on an obscure kids program called Hi-5. In a moment of apparent nostalgia, Finn requested it this morning, and I was all too happy to pull out the old DVDs. At some point during some episode there was a reference to soft pretzels, and I couldn't get it out of my head. And that's how Finn and I ended up making soft pretzels this chilly day. And, oh my goodness, if someone had told me years ago how easy it was to make AMAZING soft pretzels at home, I would have jumped on that bandwagon long ago.

So here you go. Whether you are stuck inside or just can't get the idea of a soft pretzel out of your head now, I hope you enjoy these as much as we did.



Homemade Pretzels
Adapted from Sally's Baking Addiction

Makes 10-12 large pretzels

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1 1/2 cups lukewarm water
1 packet active yeast (2 1/5 tsp.)
1 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. sugar
3-5 cups flour (I used half white, half whole wheat)
2/3 cup baking soda
1 large egg, beaten
coarse sea salt for sprinkling

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone baking mat. Set aside.
2. In a large soup pot, bring 9 cups of water and 2/3 cup of baking soda to a boil.
3. Dissolve yeast in warm water in bowl of stand mixer. Stir with a spoon until fairly mixed. Add salt and sugar. Stir until fairly combined. 
4. Attach dough hook and turn mixer on low. Slowly add 3 cups of flour, 1 cup at a time. Mix on low until dough is thick. Add additional dough (up to one cup) until dough is no longer sticky.
5. Turn up mixer and knead with dough hook for 3-5 minutes, until it forms a soft, supple ball.
6. Turn the dough onto the counter. With a sharp knife, cut the dough into chunks, about 1/3 cup each (bigger than a golf ball, smaller than a tennis ball).
7. Roll each chunk into a rope with an even diameter. Once you have a long rope, take the ends and twist them together, then bring them to the middle. Press firmly.
8. Using a slotted spoon, dunk each pretzel, one by one, into the boiling water for 30 seconds. Transfer to a plate. Once cool enough to handle, dip into beaten egg (both sides). Place on baking sheet and sprinkle with salt. Repeat for each pretzel.
9. Bake for 10 minutes at 425 degrees. Turn oven to broil and bake for 5 more minutes to brown the tops. Watch closely to avoid burning.
10. Enjoy!

t-shirt applique directions here

In lieu of a birthday party, Finn chose a family getaway for his fifth birthday celebration. We decided on Indianapolis and made plans to hit the Indianapolis Children's Museum and Caribbean Cove Water Park, with the added bonus of an amazing parent-selected dinner at Trader's Point Creamery...more on that later.

But what to do about a cake? I couldn't very well not make my kid a birthday cake, but without a party in the works, it kind of fell to the wayside. Throw in the timing (we left for Indy early on Saturday, which was his actual birthday) and it didn't really make sense to knock myself out. The solution? Cupcakes for breakfast.

To be perfectly honest, it was actually a muffin recipe. But once you add cream cheese frosting to a dense, sweet muffin, there isn't really that much of a difference.These were sooooo good, and super easy; we'll definitely be making them again this fall.

Happy birthday, Finn. You truly light up my life.


Pumpkin "Cupcakes" with Cream Cheese Frosting
Adapted from here and here

Makes 12

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1 1/2 cups white flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
6 Tbsp. butter, melted
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin puree (not pie filling)
1 large egg
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a muffin tin with cupcake wrappers or grease the cups.
2. Place the first six ingredients in a bowl and whisk to combine.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk the remaining ingredients.
4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Stir until just combined. 
5. Pour into prepared muffin tin, 3/4 full.
6. Bake for 20 minutes.
7. Cool, frost and serve!

Frosting
1 8 oz package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Combine all ingredients and beat until fluffy, 1-2 minutes.

So for years I have wanted a set of soup and sandwich platters from Uncommon Goods; since I came across these lovely sets four or five years ago, they have had a permanent place on my wishlist.  Aren't they neat?


Besides the obvious soup and sandwich combination (which is usually featured at least once a week for dinner around here), they are perfect for soup and bread, or cereal and toast, or fruit and a muffin, or soup and a salad...just think of all the things that can go together!

Long story short - Sean got me a set for my birthday, and I am ridiculously excited about them. They made tonight's dinner (which was essentially reheated chili that I found in the back of the freezer accompanied by big slabs of corn bread) so much nicer, and I foresee extensive use in our future.

In addition to bragging about my new favorite product, I thought I'd share a quick corn bread recipe with you all. I posted this several months ago, but it is worth posting again. Why, you may ask?

• Making cornbread from scratch (rather than from a mix) takes maybe two or three minutes more. Seriously. The first step is to mix all the dry ingredients. When you buy a mix, that is the only part that is done for you. But chances are the dry ingredients in your cupboard are fresher than those in a boxed mix, and I'm pretty sure this recipe uses more baking powder than the average boxed mix.
• Making cornbread from scratch yields the fluffiest, lightest cornbread I have ever tasted. See above re: baking powder.
• Homemade cornbread does not crumble into a million pieces when you cut it. It stays in nice wedges that are, coincidentally, perfect for putting on the square part of a brand new soup and sandwich platter.

This is the recipe on the canister of Quaker Yellow Corn Meal. Nothing fancy, but oh so good!

Easy Corn Bread

1 1/4 cups flour
3/4 cup corn meal
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 egg whites or one egg, beaten

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Grease 8 or 9 inch pan.

Combine first five ingredients.

Stir in milk, oil, and egg, mixing just until dry ingredients are moistened.

Pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until light golden brown. Serve warm.

I'm not sure when my mother started making this bread on Easter, nor do I know where she came across the recipe. I only know that when I think of Easter morning, it evokes the wonderful taste combination of hard boiled eggs and big, thick slabs of this fantastic, subtly sweet bread with lots and lots of butter. This is actually a variation of Christopsomo, which is a bread traditionally served on Christmas in the Greek Orthodox tradition, but I'm sharing it here with you today in case you are looking for a little something to go with your Easter eggs this weekend.

The bread is made with just a touch of anise. I'll say up front that I do not particularly like the taste of anise (and I absolutely despise the taste of licorice), but it adds a complexity to this dense loaf that works so perfectly.


 Enjoy!

Greek Easter Bread

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2 packages yeast, active dry
1/2 cup lukewarm water
1/2 cup milk, scalded and cooled
1 cup butter, melted and cooled to lukewarm
4 eggs, slightly beaten
3/4 cup sugar
2 tsp. crushed anise seed
1 tsp. salt
7 cups all purpose flour
1 egg white, slightly beaten

1. Blend yeast with warm water and let stand until softened, about 5 minutes.  In a large bowl, combine the yeast mixture, milk, butter, eggs, sugar, anise, and salt.  Blend thoroughly.  Gradually beat in the flour.


2. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 10 minutes or until dough is smooth and elastic. Place in a large greased bowl, turning so surface is coated. Cover and let rise in a warm place about 2 hours or until almost doubled in size.


3. Punch dough down and knead on an unfloured surface. Divide into two balls and knead until smooth. Place on a greased baking sheet and flatten to form two discs.  Cover and set in a warm place for about 1 hour or until almost doubled in size.


4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brush both loaves with beaten egg white. Bake for 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool on wire rack.


5. To reheat, wrap bread in foil and place in 350 degree oven for 10-15 minutes.

As mentioned previously, Sean and his father spent a few days over spring break constructing a swing set in our back yard. So what used to look like this...


...now looks like this!


These are the guys who built it...


...and these are the guys who watched.


And here are a few pics reminding us why we wanted a swing set:



While Sean and his dad put the finishing touches on the set on Saturday morning, I threw together a quick batch of muffins. A few comments about this:

• Muffins are one of those things that remind me how quickly and easily one can bake something homemade. They typically require only about fifteen minutes of hands-on time. I feel that way about scones, also. 


• Muffins are also one of those things that I love because you generally have what you need to make them. I had no intention of making breakfast on Saturday morning - we were planning on stopping somewhere on our way out of town. But as the last few swing set details were still underway, I decided very last minute to make them. And boy were they yummy.


• The recipe comes from an ancient paperback Betty Crocker cookbook. It doesn't even have an ISBN. I use the term "paperback" very loosely, as that implies that the book is bound when, in fact, the book has fallen into four sections and is held together by a rubber band. I believe, however, that everyone needs one cookbook on hand for the essentials.  This is the one I turn to if I need to make a basic white sauce, or pancakes from scratch. 


• I got to wear my new apron for the first time. It was an early birthday gift from my in-laws. Not at all relevant to the muffins, but isn't it cute?

And now, onto the recipe. Included below is the basic sweet muffin recipe included in the quick breads chapter of Betty Crocker's Cookbook. There are several variations that follow. I made Apple Muffins and used chopped pecans in the topping.

Breakfast Muffins
Yield 12 muffins

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1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup oil
1 1/2 cups flour (I used half white and half wheat)
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Grease bottoms of 12 medium muffin cups.

Beat egg. Stir in milk and oil. Mix in remaining ingredients just until flour is moistened. Batter will be lumpy.

Fill muffin cups two-thirds full. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown. Immediately remove from pan.

VARIATIONS

• Apple Muffins - Stir in 1 cup grated apple and 1/2 tsp. cinnamon. Sprinkle with Nut-Crunch Topping: Mix 1/3 cup brown sugar, 1/3 cup chopped nuts, and 1/2 tsp. cinnamon. Bake 25 to 30 minutes.
• Blueberry Muffins - Fold 1 cup fresh blueberries or 3/4 cup well-drained frozen blueberries (thawed) into batter.
• Cranberry Orange Muffins - Fold 1 tbsp. grated orange peel and 1 cup cranberries, cut in half, into the batter.
• Surprise Muffins - Fill muffin cups only half full. Drop 1 tsp. jelly in center of each and add batter to fill cups to two-thirds full.

When I started this blog back in October, one of my goals was to bake more bread. I'm now several months in and, looking back, I've done alright. I feel like with every new bread recipe, I get a better sense of the basics of breadmaking, and I've enjoyed seeking out new recipes to try. If Finn does indeed become a baker, maybe I can convince him to give me a few shifts in his bakery.

I think one of the greatest lessons I've learned is that baking a homemade loaf of bread does not have to be that difficult. It takes some time (though, in many instances, not as much as I would have guessed), but the hands-on is fairly minimal and the payoff extraordinary. The cost effectiveness is pretty remarkable, too, when I see what the grocery store bakery charges for a loaf of whole wheat artisanal bread. Admittedly, I have the privilege of being home with my boys this year so I can get a loaf of bread going in the morning while they are playing...but I think I could just as easily make a loaf in the evening in the hours between dinner and bedtime. Bread turns a simple dinner (soup, for example) into something kind of special; I think of it as an upgrade of sorts. It also makes your house smell really good.

Today is a great example of the use of bread to step up a meal. My friend dropped off a great big container of gumbo for our family to try for dinner. Since the effort required by me for this meal is exactly zero, I thought I'd make some bread to go with it. I found an interesting recipe in what I think is the very first cookbook I ever owned: Mollie Katzen's The Enchanted Broccoli Forest (1995 edition). I remember getting my hands on this book when I was in college and realizing for the first time that cooking could be a joyous process as well as a means to an end. It's still one of my favorites. As an added bonus, it's got a great basic illustrated guide to making yeast breads that is super useful for getting started.

I was looking for something kind of dense and flavorful, and I came upon this recipe. Unlike most of the breads I've been baking lately, this is not a yeast bread. Rather, it's a savory batter bread. I honestly don't think I've ever made a savory batter bread before; batter breads in my world generally come with bananas or pumpkin in them. The wonderful advantage to a batter bread is that it takes minutes to throw together and is then ready to put in the oven; no rising, no punching, no kneading. I made the recipe exactly as written  and it turned out really well. I think I would cut back on the sugar next time, as it was a bit too sweet in combination with the herbs, but I will definitely be making this again. I would also consider trying different herb combinations, or maybe different savory ingredients like olives or sun dried tomatoes.  I didn't get any help from Finn on this one; in fact, I had it made and in the oven before he even realized I was making bread. Emmett was in the mei tai, so I guess I can give him a cooking credit here.

Yogurt and Herb Bread
adapted from The Enchanted Broccoli Forest

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15 minutes to prepare (seriously!)
40 to 45 minutes to bake
Yield: 1 medium sized loaf

a little butter or oil for the pan
1 cup unbleached white flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. salt
1 cup plain yogurt
5 tbsp. melted butter
2 eggs
1/3 cup honey or sugar
2 tsp. dill
1 tsp. oregano
1 tsp. thyme
1 tsp. basil

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a medium sized loaf pan.

2. Sift together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl. Stir in the dried herbs.

3. In a separate bowl, beat together the yogurt, butter, eggs, and honey/sugar.  Pour this mixture into a well in the dry ingredients.  Mix with a wooden spoon until thoroughly blended (it will be stiff).

4. Spread into the prepared pan and bake for 40 to 45 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Let it sit for about 5 minutes then rap the pan sharply to remove the bread.  Cool on a rack for at least 20 minutes before slicing.

We finally got some snow here in central Illinois. My kids spent an entire morning watching it accumulate before I deemed it time to get dressed and head out into the long-awaited winter wonderland.


While waiting for the snow to fall, Finn and I baked a loaf of bread.  The recipe came from a cookbook that he picked up at the library last week. For the last six months or so, Finn has been consistently declaring that he wants to be a baker when he grows up. His determination to be a baker is so set that if he comes up with another career objective, it is always preceded by his baking tenure (e.g. "After I'm a baker, I think I'll be someone who drives a boat"). In fact, Santa (and Melissa & Doug...) even brought him a baker's costume for Christmas:


The cookbook is called The Children's Baking Book and it's published by DK. As a K-5 school library media specialist, I am intimately familiar with cookbooks for kids; they are heavily used and I have purchased a lot of them over the years. The DK ones are good - full of step-by-step directions, lots of color photographs, and, for the most part, yummy recipes. Because many of them were initially published in Great Britain, there are sometimes ingredients that may not sound familiar. For example, many recipes in this book call for "golden syrup" which, as far as I know, is not something readily available in the States (it recommends substituting with equal parts light corn syrup and honey). Alternatives are generally given (or you can figure them out, as in "dessicated coconut" in place of "shredded coconut"), so this by no means affects the usability of the book.

We picked this recipe in large part because Finn liked the picture. And what is wrong with that, really? It's a lovely multigrain bread that has lots of aesthetic appeal because it is braided rather than loafed. It turned out very nicely and was the perfect accompaniment to big bowls of borscht (I do love me some beets) on a snowy night. I don't typically include step-by-step pictures with my recipes, but I did take a few of the braiding process for your reference.

Multigrain Braid
adapted from The Children's Baking Book

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1 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
1 tsp sugar
3/4 cup lukewarm water
4 cups multigrain bread flour (I used half white and half whole wheat)
2 tsp salt
1 oz. butter
extra flour for dusting
oil for bowl and baking sheet

I did not grow up with a strong tradition of Christmas cookies. My mother always made an assortment of cookies around the holidays to have for gatherings and what-not, but there were no must-have cookies or cookie-baking/decorating events that I recall. There were always sweets, and plenty of them, but they tended to change from year to year.

Sean, on the other hand, grew up with a very specific list of requisite holiday sweets. I remember him telling me in detail about his family's Christmas cookies when we were still living in Mongolia (then again, Peace Corps Volunteers in Mongolia often waxed poetic about good food from back home), and I remember very well the first Christmas that I spent with his family, trying all the cookies for the first time.

Given my previously noted wariness of baking, I have for many years been altogether reticent to attempt to make any of his family's Christmas cookies. What follows is Sean's favorite cookie recipe of all time, which Finn and I made this afternoon as a special treat to celebrate the beginning of his winter break. And if I might brag for a moment, we nailed it - they were perfect.

This is basically a sandwich cookie, with a powdered sugar/butter frosting wedged between two very flaky, buttery wafer cookies.  The cookies themselves do not have any sugar in them but are dipped in granulated sugar prior to baking. This is very helpful in that you will not be tempted to eat any of the cookie dough. The resulting cookies are very light and melt-in-your-mouth delicious, and the filling adds just a touch of super sweetness. You can tint the filling to match the holiday if so desired; because tinted cookies generally result in tinted kids around here, I chose to leave mine plain. Case in point:


This is a great recipe to make with little kids, because there are several steps that are just perfect for little fingers. Finn loved dipping the cookie rounds in the bowl of sugar and stabbing the cookies with a fork. This recipe makes about two and a half a dozen sandwich cookies.





Cream Wafers

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For the cookies:
1 cup salted butter, softened
2 cups flour
1/3 cup whipping cream
granulated sugar, for dipping

For the filling:
1/4 cup softened butter
3/4 cup sifted powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
food coloring, if desired

1. Beat butter, flour, and whipping cream until well mixed. Form into a ball, wrap in plastic, and chill for 1 hour.

2. After 1 hour, roll out as thinly as possible (I put the dough between sheets of waxed paper). Cut into 1 1/2" rounds (I used a shot glass).  Dip both sides of rounds into granulated sugar. Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Prick 3-4 times with a fork.

3. Bake at 375 degrees for 7-9 minutes or until slightly puffy. Remove immediately from cookie sheet and transfer to cooling rack.

4. To make filling, beat butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla. Add water as needed to get a smooth consistency (I used about 4 tsp). Sandwich two cooled cookies together with filling in between.

It's been two weeks since I last posted; between hosting out-of-town family, traveling out of town (twice) to visit family, and dealing with a laptop nearing the end of its life, I just haven't had much screentime. That said, it has also been two weeks full of cooking, baking, and crafting...even if I haven't been writing about it.

And so, I thought I'd come back with details of a most unexpected cooking adventure.

1. I decided out of the blue to bake a cake.
2. I chose a cake featured on the cover of a current cooking magazine.
3. It is not a chocolate cake.
4. It is a tangerine-flavored cake.

The thing is, I don't really  1) like to bake cakes, 2) generally attempt to make the kind of fancy cake recipes featured on covers, particularly those that require Bundt pans, 3) make any desserts that aren't chocolate or 4) like oranges. So this was all around uncharacteristic, and, admittedly, kind of fun. In the spirit of full disclosure, I'll add that while I don't much care for oranges, I love those little Cuties that show up in the market at this time of year, and that's what this recipe uses.

The chosen recipe was from Everyday Food Magazine (heart!) and was the cover recipe in the December 2011 issue. The recipe doesn't seem to be online as of yet, so I've included it below.

The recipe recommends making the cake a day in advance and storing at room temperature, so it'll be ready just in time for our tree-trimming plans tomorrow evening. I haven't tasted it yet, but if the batter is any indication...it's super yummy. I only ate a little bit, I promise.

***Note - I had some issues with the glaze. It was too thick, so I added some water, but apparently I added too much as it was then too runny, so then I was adding more sugar, then more juice, etc.. My suggestion would be to start with the suggested amount and add a little water at a time until it is the desired consistency. Also, that cookie sheet under the cooling rack? That's to catch the icing runoff. Missed that detail.




Tangerine Cake with Citrus Glaze
adapted from Everyday Food Magazine, December 2011

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for the cake:
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temperature, plus more for the pan
3 cups all purpose flour, plus more for the pan
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 cups granulated sugar
6 large eggs
2 tbsp finely grated tangerine zest, plus 1/2 cup tangerine juice (I zested and squeezed 7 tangerines)
2 tbsp Grand Marnier (I didn't have any, so I used water)
3/4 cup plain lowfat yogurt
1 tsp vanilla extract

for the glaze:
1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
3 tbsp tangerine juice (I used 3 tangerines)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a Bundt pan and set aside.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt.

3. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat butter and granulated sugar on medium-high until light and fluffy, about five minutes. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in tangerine zest, juice, and liqueur. With mixer on low, add flour mixture in three additions, alternating with two additions yogurt, and beat to combine. Beat in vanilla.

4. Transfer batter to pan, smooth top, and firmly tap pan on a flat surface to remove air bubbles.

5. Bake until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean, 55 to 60 minutes. Let cool in pan on wire rack, 30 minutes. Invert cake onto a rack set on a rimmed baking sheet and let cool completely. With a serrated knife, trim cake to sit flat if necessary.

6. Whisk together confectioner's sugar and tangerine juice until smooth. Spoon glaze evenly over cake and let set one hour (or as recommended, glaze, cover, then store at room temperature a day in advance).

Serves 12. Active time: 30 minutes. Total time: 1 hour, 25 minutes plus cooling.

In a variation on the words of Michael Jackson, I'm a cooker, not a baker. Okay, I bake sometimes, but generally with a great deal of hesitancy and a limited amount of confidence. That said, I have no idea what has gotten into me this week - I literally cannot stop baking, and I am loving every minute of it (as is my husband, I might add). An overview of my efforts: 

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A perfect loaf of whole wheat bread - I got this recipe from the Tassajara Bread Book, which is a classic in the world of bread baking and has been a wholly inspiring read thus far. It was on display at the library last week, and the title caught my eye (I'm fairly certain I checked it out from a different library about fifteen years ago). Anyway, it includes the most fantastic step-by-step guide to making whole wheat bread. I followed it diligently and the results were amazing. The recipe that follows is the shortened version of the detailed recipe, which covers every step of the process over thirteen illustrated pages. Please note that there are three risings, so give yourself plenty of time to make this. The recipe calls for whole wheat flour but notes that you can substitute some white flour to make the bread a bit more "cohesive." I used about 25% white/75% whole wheat.

Tassajara Yeasted Bread
(adapted from The Tassajara Bread Book)

Makes 2 loaves

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3 cups lukewarm water                               
1 1/2 tbsp. yeast (2 packets)                       
1/4 cup brown sugar                                   
4 cups whole wheat flour
4 tsp. salt
1/3 cup oil
4 cups whole wheat flour

1. Dissolve the yeast in water.
2. Stir in brown sugar.
3. Stir in the first four cups of whole wheat flour to form a thick batter.
4. Beat well with a spoon (100 strokes).
5. Let rise 45 minutes.
6. Fold in the salt and oil.
7. Fold in an additional 3 cups of flour until the dough comes away from the sides of the bowl.
8. Knead on a floured board, using more flour (about 1 cup) as needed to keep the dough from sticking to the board, about 8 to 10 minutes, until the dough is smooth.
9. Let rise 50 to 60 minutes until doubled in size.
10. Punch down.
11. Let rise 40 to 50 minutes until doubled in size.
12. Shape into loaves and place in pans.
13. Let rise 20 to 25 minutes.
14. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 1 hour, or until golden brown.

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Corn bread - I recently discovered that making corn bread from scratch (rather than from the Jiffy mix) is not that much more difficult than making corn bread from the Jiffy mix, and the bread is a whole lot tastier. Most notably, it doesn't crumble into a bajillion pieces. It also doesn't stick to the pan. I used the recipe on the side of the canister of corn meal - nothing fancy but quite good

Easy Corn Bread
(adapted from the Quaker Yellow Corn Meal canister)

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1 1/4 cups flour
3/4 cup corn meal
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup skim milk
1/4 cup oil
1 egg, beaten

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Grease 8 or 9 inch pan. Combine dry ingredients. Stir in milk, oil, and egg, mixing just until dry ingredients are moistened. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until light golden brown and wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Serve warm.

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Pumpkin cream cheese muffins - I printed this recipe out from AllRecipes a few weeks ago and have been meaning to make it every weekend since. It's a very moist pumpkin muffin with a dollop of sweetened cream cheese in the center and a crumbly streusel topping over that. So good! I'm kind of a sucker for all things pumpkin, so I was super happy with this recipe.

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Whole wheat pizza crust - I am constantly searching for the perfect pizza crust recipe. This one, which I adapted from The $5 Dinner Mom Cookbook, was pretty darn close:

Whole Wheat Pizza Crust

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1 cup lukewarm water
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 cups white flour
1 packet active dry yeast
1 tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt

In a mixing bowl, combine the lukewarm water and 1 cup of the white flour. Add the yeast, sugar, salt, and oil. Whisk together to make a spongy dough. Let sit for 10 to 15 minutes.

Add the remaining 2 cups flour and stir with a wooden spoon (I used the dough hook on my stand mixer). When the dough becomes thick enough, knead it by hand for 6 to 8 minutes (again, with the dough hook) until it reaches the consistency of soft baby skin. Place in a floured bowl and let rise for 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Once the dough has risen and doubled in size, the dough is ready to be formed. Place the dough on a lightly floured surface. Sprinkle flour over the dough and on the rolling pin. Roll out the dough to the desired size.

Bake the crust for 8 minutes at 350 degrees. Remove from oven and load with toppings. Bake the full pizza for another 8 to 10 minutes. Slice and serve.

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German Apple Pie - Pie is one of those things that I generally leave to people who are really good at making pie (I am not one of those people). I really like pie, however, and I like the idea of being good at making pie, so I'm always willing to try a new recipe. Oh my goodness, this was delicious. I made it for our friend Mace's birthday, upon his request, and over the course of the weekend we ate every crumb. As far as I can tell, the thing that makes this a German apple pie is that, as a final step, you dump a cup of heavy cream over the apples, so that after baking the apples are set in a rich, creamy, sweet sauce. Yum. Not only was the pie insanely good, I also FINALLY found a crust recipe that I love; it's from Ina Garten and can be found here. I found the pie recipe at cpsop.com (which stands for "cooking by the seat of our pants"). As a finishing touch, I cut out a letter "M" from the extra pie crust and baked it alongside the pie to put on top. Cute, right?

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So that's all from here. Here's hoping that some of my baking madness rubs off on some of you!