Homemade Ranch Party Pretzels

January 18, 2015 by Jana in Snacks

If you are in the mood for some good snack food I have just the thing for you. Homemade Ranch Party Pretzels are addicting and delicious, and as snack foods go, not too unhealthy. I made this recipe up because I was craving something salty and snacky, but I wasn't going to waste my money on a bag of some snack mix at the store when I can make something better and cheaper at home.

I'm always a sucker for Chex Mix, but just can't justify buying something full of ingredients such as "partially hydrogenated vegetable oil," "hydrolyzed soy protein," and "distilled monoglycerides" with "color added," especially when it's so easy to make yourself at home. It was time to make my own snack mix but I decided to switch it up a little and use ranch flavors instead of the traditional Chex Mix seasoning. I also didn't feel like going out and buying all the different components that make up normal Chex Mix so I grabbed a bag of pretzels and decided that was good enough, and I love these little alphabet pretzels, they are so cute!

It was all worth it, this snack mix is amazing! Covered in delicious homemade ranch seasoning, these pretzels satisfied my craving for some addictive snack. It's a dangerous thing but I'll risk it!

Like I said, I was too lazy to go buy the different cereals, nuts, bagel chips and whatever else you often see in mixes like this. The pretzels worked great by themselves, but it you're looking for all the different textures have at it, I think that would be great too. I covered the pretzels in a homemade ranch seasoning mix, the recipe for which I found online and have been wanting to try. It uses buttermilk powder and a whole bunch of dried herbs and couldn't be easier to mix together. There are so many things you can do with this homemade seasoning besides make this mix so it's totally worth whipping together a batch.

Also, one of the things that makes homemade Chex Mix so wonderful is the stick of butter on it. However, I wanted something that I didn't feel quite as guilty eating by the handfuls in the middle of the afternoon so I nixed the butter and used a lightly beaten egg white and a drizzle of olive oil instead. Honesty, I didn't notice the missing butter, not to say it wouldn't be absolutely fantastic, but I wanted these pretzels to be a little leaner than that. In the end I think I ended up with a super easy and absolutely delicious mix that you won't feel too bad about eating. Give it a try, I bet you'll agree.

Homemade Ranch Party Pretzels

From Delectably Mine

Ingredients

1 15-oz bag small pretzels
1 egg white, lightly beaten
Drizzle of olive oil, if desired
1/2 recipe homemade ranch seasoning mix (see below)

Directions

Place entire bag of pretzels in a large bowl. Pour in the egg white and a drizzle of olive oil (if desired, for a little more flavor). Mix together until evenly coated. Pour on the ranch seasoning and mix until well combined.

Spread pretzels on a large baking sheet and bake for 25-30 minutes at 325 degrees, mixing halfway through the baking time.

Cool to room temperature and enjoy!

Homemade Ranch Seasoning Mix

From

Brown Eyed Baker

Ingredients

1 cup dried buttermilk powder
2 tablespoons dried parsley, divided
2 teaspoons dried dill, divided
2½ teaspoons garlic powder
2¼ teaspoons kosher salt
2 teaspoons onion powder
2 teaspoons dried minced onion
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
½ teaspoon paprika
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper

Directions

Place the buttermilk, 1 tablespoon of the parsley, 1 teaspoon of the dried dill, garlic powder, onion powder, dried minced onion, salt, sugar, black pepper, paprika and cayenne in a food processor or blender. Process until all of the ingredients are evenly distributed, about 15 seconds. Transfer the mixture to an airtight container or glass jar, add in the remaining 1 tablespoon dried parsley and 1 teaspoon dried dill and whisk to combine.

Store the mixture in the refrigerator for up to 3 months, or in the freezer for up to 6 months.

Note: 3 tablespoons of this mix is equivalent to a 1-ounce packet of ranch seasoning mix.

Sourdough Sandwich Loaf

January 11, 2015 by Jana in Yeasted Breads

I've had my sourdough starter for a while now and love how versatile and easy it is to use. I only need to make sure that at least every few I use it in a recipe, or if for whatever reason that just doesn't happen, I only need to feed it to make sure it continues to do well. Since I love making bread and trying out new recipes it usually isn't much of a problem to find something to do with it.

I discovered this sandwich loaf a little while back when I was looking for a quick and easy way to use my sourdough starter. Since I was in the mood for a few sandwiches I searched around for a simple sourdough sandwich loaf. This recipe, adapted from King Arthur Flour, fit the bill perfectly. A nice, pretty basic yeasted bread recipe with the addition of sourdough starter as well as a combination of seeds and grains for some chew and nuttiness. I changed up the recipe just a little bit to suit my needs without any real problem, and ended up with a perfectly delicious sourdough sandwich loaf, just what I needed for a few really fantastic sandwiches.

If I'm going to make bread I like to make sure I make it worth my while so I decided to double the original recipe and make two loaves instead of just one and I was able to do this without any real problem. I've also increased the amount of whole wheat flour in my recipe to make the bread even more nutritious. Throwing in a few handfuls of whatever grains/seeds/nuts I have on hand gives the final product a nice heartiness that I really enjoy, especially in whole wheat bread. I think you could just skip this part all together if you wanted to, but it really does add a nice touch to your bread. In other words, this is a very forgiving bread that I've made several times now and really enjoyed. Play around with it to make it work for you, I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Sourdough Sandwich Loaf

Adapted from

King Arthur Flour

Ingredients

~2 cups (11 oz) fed sourdough starter
1 1/2 cups (11-12 oz) lukewarm water
1 1/2 tablespoon (3/4 oz) olive oil
1 1/2 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1 cup (5 oz) All-Purpose Flour
3 cups (15 oz) Whole Wheat Flour
2/3 cup your favorite blend of seeds and/or grains (such as coarse cornmeal, sesame seeds, poppy seeds, and whole oats)
2 1/2 -3 teaspoons instant yeast

Directions

Combine all of the ingredients in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the dough hook and knead to form a smooth dough, about 5-7 minutes. Cover the dough, and allow it to rise for 1 1/2 to 2 hours; it'll become puffy, though it may not double in bulk.

Lightly grease two 8 1/2" x 4 1/2" bread pan. Gently deflate the risen dough, shape into two logs and place in the pans. Cover lightly with greased plastic wrap, and allow to rise until it crests at least 1" over the rim of the pan, 1 1/2 to 2 hours. The bread doesn't have much oven-spring (i.e., it won't rise much once it's in the oven), so be sure to let it rise fully before baking. A loaf risen 1" over the rim of the pan will be denser and more close-grained; letting it rise higher will give you a "spongier," lighter bread. Towards the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 350°F.

Bake the bread for 30 to 35 minutes, tenting it with foil after 20 minutes if it's as brown as you like it. When it's done, the bread will be golden brown, and will register 190°F on an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center.

Remove the bread from the oven, and turn it out of the pan onto a rack, to cool completely.

Yields: 2 loaves, about 15 slices per loaf

Cranberry Dark Chocolate Gingerbread Muffins

January 04, 2015 by Jana in Muffins

It may be January, but I have one last Christmas-y recipe to share. I am a big gingerbread fan (as you could probably already tell from the Gingerbread Bundt Cake I made for my big family Christmas party) but it seems to be something that is only eaten at Christmas, so I have to try and fit in as many different recipes during December as I can. Since I'm such a huge muffin fan I couldn't resist a gingerbread muffin of course. I decided to fill it with dark chocolate and fresh cranberries, one of my favorite combinations. Along with some molasses, spices and a little butter, this blend of flavors packs the perfect punch of flavor that can be enjoyed all winter long.

Nothing fancy in this recipe, just a lot of nice add in's and spices that can be customized to your tastes. Don't have any fresh cranberries, how about dried cranberries? Or dried cherries for that matter. Try switching out the dark chocolate with some white chocolate, or skip the chocolate + fruit combination and throw in some cinnamon chips. Whatever you like and have on hand. That's what I love so much about muffins, they are so easy to adapt. So go ahead, have some fun!

Cranberry Dark Chocolate Gingerbread Muffins

Adapted from

Sweet Phi

Ingredients

½ stick (4 tablespoons) butter, melted (I've also replaced 2 tablespoons of butter with 2 tablespoons Greek yogurt and they still turn out great!)
½ cup milk
2 tablespoons molasses
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1¾ cups flour
¼ cup brown sugar
¼ cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon ginger
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon all spice
1 cup fresh cranberries, finely chopped
1/4 cup dark chocolate, finely chopped

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a muffin pan with liners.

In a microwave safe bowl microwave butter for 30 seconds, then remove from microwave and add milk, molasses, egg and vanilla. Whisk until combined, it's ok if there are a few lumps.

In another bowl add all dry ingredients except the cranberries and chocolate. Add wet ingredients to dry and stir a few times, then add the cranberries and chocolate, mixing until everything is just combined, don't over-mix. Spoon batter into muffin liners. Bake for 15-18 minutes, remove from oven and allow to cool.

Yields: I got 10 medium sized muffins

Christmas Morning Breakfast Wreath

December 28, 2014 by Jana in Yeasted Breads, Breakfast

Today I'm excited to share one of the most beautiful and delicious recipes I've ever made. Last week I went to one of my favorite bakeries because I had to get a loaf of their stollen before Christmas was over. I'd never actually tried stollen, but I knew I would love this dense, heavy fruitcake filled with boozy dried fruit and almond paste, covered in butter and sugar. I was right, it is one of the most delicious breads I have ever eaten. Inspired by this bread, I decided to make something along the same lines for my Christmas morning breakfast. This recipe that I found from The Kitchn was the reminiscent of a traditional stollen, but with a twist, perfect for a festive breakfast to celebrate Christmas morning.

The ingredient list may look long for this recipe, but it really isn't any more difficult than most yeasted breads. The whole concept is similar to making cinnamon rolls, but with a filling of dried fruit and almonds instead of cinnamon sugar.

I actually halved the original recipe since there was only two of us to eat this cake and we certainly didn't need the whole recipe. There were no problems halving the recipe, the only thing that changed was that the wreath wasn't as big as the original, there wasn't much of a hole in the middle, but this this didn't affect the finished product in any way other than looks.

The recipe called for the wreath to be baked for 25 minutes, but when I checked mine at this point it wasn't anywhere near being done. I ended up baking it for about 50 minutes total. I don't know where this discrepancy came from, but I thought my wreath was baked perfectly at 50 minutes, I don't know why it took double the time called for in the original recipe. The only thing I can think of is that since I halved the recipe and my wreath was much more compact, it took longer for it to cook through, but who knows. Regardless, this recipe turned out so absolutely delicious, the perfect way to start off my Christmas morning!

Christmas Morning Breakfast Wreath
Adapted from The Kitchn
Ingredients
For the bread:

1 1/2-1 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
3/4 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon cardamom powder
1 teaspoon instant yeast
1/2 teaspoons grated lemon peel
1/2 teaspoon grated orange peel
2 tablespoons butter, softened to room temperature
2 tablespoons warm water
1/4 cup warm milk
1 large egg, lightly beaten

For the fruit-almond filling:

1/3 cup dried cranberries, cherries, and/or raisins soaked in 1/2 cup brandy or other liqueur
2-3 tablespoons butter, softened to room temperature
2 1/2 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
1/3 cup finely chopped almonds
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
4 oz almond paste, crumbled
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated lemon peel
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated orange peel
1/2 teaspoon almond extract

For the sugar glaze:

1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon orange juice
1/8 teaspoon cardamom powder

Directions
Prepare the dough: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, mix together the flour, sugar, salt, cardamom powder, yeast, lemon and orange peel. Add the butter, water, milk and egg and mix until starting to form a shaggy mass. Then turn on the mixer and knead until it forms a smooth and supple dough (add more water if it is too dry and more flour if it is too wet as needed).

Place dough in a lightly oiled mixing bowl large enough to accommodate dough when doubled in size. Cover with plastic wrap and let it rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 1 1/2 hours.

Prepare the cranberry-almond filling: Drain the dried fruit from the liqueur and reserve the liqueur for another use. In a small bowl, combine the drained fruit with remaining filling ingredients. Cover and refrigerate.

Shape the dough: When dough has doubled in size, punch it down and turn it out onto a lightly floured board, kneading just enough to release any air bubbles. Roll the dough into a long rectangle. Crumble the filling over the dough to within 1 inch of the edges. Starting along a long side, tightly roll up the dough, pinching edge against loaf to seal. With a sharp knife, cut roll in half lengthwise. Carefully turn the halves so the cut sides are facing up, and then loosely twist the halves around each other, keeping cut sides up. (Check out the photos from The Kitchn if you're having a difficult time visualizing this.)

Line a baking sheet with parchment or non-stick baking mat. Carefully transfer the rope to the baking sheet and shape into a wreath, pinching the ends together to seal. Let it rise, uncovered, in a warm place until puffy, about 45 minutes. (Alternatively, place wreath immediately into the fridge and let it rise overnight. In the morning, remove from fridge and allow to come to room temperature, 1/2-1 hour before proceeding with baking.)

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Bake the wreath until lightly browned, 45-50 minutes. While the wreath is baking, stir together the ingredients for the glaze and set aside.

When wreath is done, transfer to a cooling rack by picking up the sides of the parchment and then sliding the parchment out from underneath. Cool for a few minutes then drizzle the glaze over the warm wreath. Serve with extra butter if you're feeling decadent.

Gramercy Tavern’s Gingerbread

December 22, 2014 by Jana in Cake

We had our Christmas party for my mom's side of the family yesterday. It was a wonderful time of food, conversation and festivities! I had such a fun time seeing everyone and catching up on what is going on in everyone's lives. Of course I offered to supply a few dishes to the lunch menu along with a few other family members. Everything turned out deliciously from the roasted beef tenderloin provided by my grandma to the salads and desserts brought by everyone else. My contribution to the dessert table this year was a rich and dark gingerbread cake that I had spotted on Smitten Kitchen some time ago. It had intrigued me, but until now I had never had the opportunity to make it. Gingerbread is not really something you can make year round so I was excited to have the opportunity to try it out.

I ended up loving the cake. It really does pack a punch of flavor thanks to the oatmeal stout, the dark molasses, and the 2 tablespoons of ground ginger. It is an intense cake, definitely not for the faint at heart. A scoop of ice cream or a dollop of freshly whipped cream are the perfect accompaniment. I think a simple lemon glaze or some lemon curd would also be wonderful options. If you're looking for something different from the typical sugar cookies or chocolate cake this Christmas, give this cake a try, it will be difficult to forget.

Other than needing to go out and buy a few extra ingredients to make this cake (the stout and the dark molasses) there was nothing difficult about this cake. I mixed it all together by hand, didn't even need a mixer thanks to the use of oil. It came together easily and baked up beautifully, perfectly done at 50 minutes, exactly as the recipe said.

From what I read about this cake, it is very prone to stick to the pan so I heeded all the advice I read and made sure to butter and flour my bundt pan very, very throughly. It seemed to work as I didn't have really any sticking at all. However, my bundt pan is pretty new and releases cakes easily. My old bundt pan was notorious for having cakes stick and come out in two or more pieces, not so pretty. But regardless of how nice your pan is, I'd advise making sure you spend a little extra time greasing and flouring it up before pouring the batter in. It would be so disappointing to have this cake fall apart on it's way out of the pan.

Gramercy Tavern's Gingerbread

From

Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients

1 cup oatmeal stout or Guinness Stout
1 cup dark molasses (NOT blackstrap)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 tablespoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
Pinch of ground cardamom
3 large eggs
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
Confectioners sugar for dusting

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°F. Very, very, generously butter a bundt pan and dust with flour, knocking out excess. This cake will stick badly if pan is not thoroughly greased.

Bring stout and molasses to a boil in a large saucepan and remove from heat. Whisk in baking soda, then cool to room temperature.

Sift together flour, baking powder, and spices in a large bowl. Whisk together eggs and sugars. Whisk in oil, then molasses mixture. Add to flour mixture and whisk until just combined.

Pour batter into bundt pan and rap pan sharply on counter to eliminate air bubbles. Bake in middle of oven until a tester comes out with just a few moist crumbs adhering, about 50 minutes. Cool cake in pan on a rack 5 minutes. Turn out onto rack and cool completely.

Serve cake, dusted with confectioners sugar, with whipped cream or ice cream.

Do ahead: I'm told this gingerbread is even better if made a day ahead. I made mine 2 days ahead and it was fantastic. I didn't try it freshly baked, but it didn't appear to suffer at all in the 2 day wait.

Thomas Train 2nd Birthday Cupcakes

December 07, 2014 by Jana in Cake

Just a couple of weeks ago my nephew turned 2 years old. It's amazing how fast he's grown. (Check out his first birthday here). All of a sudden it seems like he is talking nonstop and running around everywhere, it's so much fun, and super cute! My sister-in-law Lindsey once again asked Lara and I if we would be willing to make some cupcakes for his birthday party. Of course I said yes! It's only one of my all time favorite reasons to bake. I love baking cakes and cupcakes for birthdays and other special occasions. They are so fun to make, and can be so festive and celebratory.

Since the theme of the birthday party was going to be Thomas the Tank Engine she asked that we just make a couple dozen cupcakes of any flavor and frost them simply with red and blue frosting to match the theme. This was simple enough to do of course. I just went to my trusty Martha cookbook,

Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook

and picked out her yellow and a chocolate cupcake recipes and whipped them together. Simple and delicious! Lara frosted them in the Thomas blue and red and then Linsey finished them off with some super cute Thomas flags. I think they turned out adorable, and at the party Lindsey had them arranged as the cars of a Thomas train, super cute. It was a wonderful party and a great way to celebrate Tyce's second birthday!

Yellow Butter Cupcakes

Ingredients

1 stick butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting pans
3/4 cups cake flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons milk

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350˚ F. Line cupcake pan with paper liners. In a medium bowl, combine the all-purpose flour, cake flour, baking powder, and salt; whisk together to blend well and set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the butter and sugar. Beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes, scraping down the bowl as needed. Mix in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Blend in the vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, add in the dry ingredients in three additions, alternating with the milk. Beat each addition just until incorporated.

Spoon the batter into lined cupcake pan. Bake, rotating the pans halfway through baking, until the cakes are golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 17-18 minutes. Remove cupcakes from pan and cool on a wire rack. Let the cakes cool completely before frosting.

Yields: 12-14 cupcakes

One Bowl Chocolate Cupcakes

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons (100g) dutch-process cocoa powder
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon plus 1/8 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon plus 1/8 teaspoon salt
1 large eggs
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons warm water

Directions

Preheat oven to 350F and line or spray two standard 12-cup muffin pans.

Sift into the mixer bowl: flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add the eggs, yolk, milk, oil, vanilla and warm water.

Beat with a paddle attachment on low speed until smooth and combined, about 3 minutes; scrape down the sides of the bowl if needed.

Divide batter evenly among the muffin cups. Fill each muffin cup about 1/2 full. The batter is quite runny and if you overfill them they can make a mess as they rise in the oven.

Bake, rotating pans halfway through the baking time, until a cake tester inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean, 18-20 minutes. Cool in the pan for a little bit and then transfer onto a wire rack or board to cool completely.

Yields: 14-16 cupcakes

Pumpkin Cornbread

November 30, 2014 by Jana in Quick Breads

I think every good meal should have a starch of some kind, whether that's some kind of bread, pasta, rice, potato, you know what I mean. When I had my brother and sister-in-law over for lunch a few weeks ago I decided to make chicken fajitas and even though I had already made some soft flour tortillas, that was more of the main dish and I decided that we needed something else on the side, some kind of starch. I have had this pumpkin cornbread pinned for a while now, and since it is fall and I'm in the pumpkin spirit it sounded like the perfect thing.

It was the perfect thing. I thought this cornbread was absolutely delicious. I'm a big cornbread fan in general so it wasn't too big of a jump for me to love this recipe too. I was pleasantly surprised by the fact that it is fairly healthy as cornbread goes. I like my cornbread sweet and moist, I am not a big fan of the leaner, dry and crumbly cornbread that some people like. A lot of recipes (my favorite Cornbread Muffins included) are nice and rich, full of butter, milk and sugar. All good things but sometimes I want something a little leaner and this recipe fit the bill. 1/4 cup oil is the main fat, and I think next time I'll see what happens if I replace some of the oil with yogurt. Some sugar and a few eggs round out the main ingredients, and the pumpkin too of course, a nice amount of it for a good amount of moisture. They all come together to create this perfectly delicious, and beautifully golden cornbread, good as a simple side dish with any meal all year long.

If you are worried about adding pumpkin to cornbread, don't be. I couldn't at all tell that it was there. The only thing I noticed was the beautiful golden color that it added to the bread, the flavor wasn't affected in the least bit. A good way to sneak a little vegetable into your meal without even trying. Like most cornbread, this recipe is a synch. Mix together the dry ingredients, then mix together the wet ingredients. Combine the two and throw the whole thing into the oven. Couldn't be simpler, and really couldn't be more delicious. If you like cornbread at all I highly recommend you give this recipe a try, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

The perfect side to a wonderful lunch of chicken fajitas

Pumpkin Cornbread

Adapted from

Deliciously Yum

Ingredients

1 cup flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 cup cornmeal
2 eggs
1 cup pumpkin purée
1/4 cup canola oil

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Grease an 8 x 8 baking dish and set aside. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, brown sugar, and cornmeal.

In another bowl, beat 2 eggs and add pumpkin purée, oil and honey. Mix until well combined and slowly stir into the dry cornmeal mixture. Stir until well incorporated and pour into baking dish. Even out the surface of the cornbread mixture and put into oven. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let cool for at least 15 minutes before cutting.