Bad Habits Can Lead to Good Things

I have a hard time getting up in the mornings. This has been going on since middle school, I think. In the mornings before work, my morning routine is really just a flurry of movement, since I tend to get up at the last possible second. I often barely have time to eat breakfast. However, I can’t, can’t go without breakfast. And you shouldn’t, either. In order to save my sanity and some money, I’ve started baking some healthy zucchini muffins. You can tell they're healthy because they look so unappealing in pictures. I put them in the freezer after they cool completely, and I can just pop one or two of these muffins in some Tupperware on rushed mornings. On slower mornings, I’ll defrost one in the microwave and eat it with some fruit. Either way, it’s a guarantee that I have something that will keep me satisfied until lunch.

Zucchini Breakfast Muffins
I developed this recipe from one that I found for dessert-type zucchini muffins or bread on the blog Smitten Kitchen. I’ve tried to make these a little more nutritious without being too dry. One bonus of this mixture is that is sticks together nicely, so it’s easy to get the batter into the muffin cups without much mess. I’ve often thought they would be extra-good and really colorful with half shredded carrots and half zucchini.

3 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
¾ cup demerara or raw sugar
2 cups grated zucchini, with half the skin peeled off for less texture
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups whole wheat flour
3 teaspoons cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup wheat germ
½ chopped walnuts
1 cup raisins

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Line 24 muffin cups with paper liners. Alternately, you may grease and flour to 8x4 inch loaf pans for loaves of zucchini bread.
In a large bowl of a mixer, or with a whisk, beat the eggs. Mix in the oil and sugar, then the grated zucchini and vanilla.
In a separate, medium to large bowl, combine the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, baking powder, salt, wheat germ, nuts, and raisins.
Mix this thoroughly into the wet ingredients. Divide the batter into the muffin cups or pans.
Bake the muffins for 20 to 25 minutes, until a tester inserted in the center of one of the muffins comes out clean. If baking loaves, expect to have them bake 50 to 70 minutes.

An Old Favorite

With the coming of warmer weather and brighter days, I have found myself waking up earlier on weekends than I have over the winter. There is something about beautiful weather that makes me not want to miss any of it. Because of this, my weekends feel longer and fuller. Though I am not really a morning person, I have to admit that it's been nice. This past Sunday was one of those early days. Since the day wasn't hot yet (the temperature would creep up to 80), I turned on the oven and made Scottish scones for breakfast.



I have been making these scones since I was in high school. They are as simple to make as they are tasty. My sister, Rachel, originally tried the recipe from my mother's copy of the Pillsbury Baking Cookbook. I believe most of the recipes were chosen in various Pillsbury baking contests over the years, so I can honestly say that the recipes in this book were all winners. I've tweaked the recipe just a tiny bit to make it reflect the way my family and I have come to make the scones over time.

The end result are scones that can be eaten for a delicious breakfast, brunch or snack. The texture is at once soft and crumbly. The flavor is sweet, but not overly so, and there is no need for butter or jam. The scones aren't exactly nutritious, but using whole wheat flour and the oatmeal would make them acceptable for a breakfast-time treat.

Scottish Scones

Adapted from the Pillsbury Cookbook

Scones:

1 ½ cups all purpose flour

¾ cup "quick cooking" oats (Quaker Oats or something else that you would use for oatmeal)

¼ cup firmly packed brown sugar

2 tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

½ tsp cinnamon

½ cup butter

½ cup milk

Topping:

1 tbl butter, melted

1 tbl sugar

¼ tsp cinnamon

Heat oven to 375. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a medium bowl, combine flour, oats, brown sugar, baking powder, salt, and ½ tsp cinnamon. Blend well. Using pastry blender or fork, cut in ½ cup butter, until mix is crumbly. Add milk all at once, stirring just until moistened. On a well-floured surface, gently knead dough five or six times, or enough to work the dough into a ball.

Placed on baking sheet; press into six inch circle, about one in thick. Brush top with melted butter. In small bowl, combine sugar and ¼ tsp cinnamon. Sprinkle over the top. Cut dough into eight wedges. Separate slightly. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes, or until golden brown. Serve warm.

Makes eight scones.

Kitchen Mishaps

I have had a busy weekend in the kitchen! Saturday delivered results that were so-so. It started with me making french toast from a recipe that I found on Orangette. However, I found myself short on some of the called-for ingredients, so I will reproduce what I did here:


Challah French Toast
(adapted from Molly Wizenberg)

1 cup 2% milk
4 large eggs
2 Tbs sugar
1 Tbs. brown sugar (use this brown sugar and the extra tablespoon of sugar if no vanilla is available to you--I would much rather use vanilla, though)
¼ tsp salt
cooking spray
6 slices challah, about ¾ inch thick
Powdered Sugar


Whisk together the first five ingredients in a wide, shallow bowl.

Place a large skillet, preferably cast-iron (I have a cast-iron grill pan, so that's what I used), over low to medium heat, and add enough cooking spray to cover the bottom of the skillet. You will probably need to go through this process several times.

Two at a time, add the bread slices to the egg mixture in the bowl, allowing them to rest for a minute on each side. They should feel heavy and thoroughly saturated, but they should not be falling apart (Optional: allow the slices to rest for a minute on a plate. This will allow the bread to absorb the egg mixture. However, if you don't like your french toast to be very eggy inside, skip this step). When the oil is hot, place the slices in the skillet. Cook until the underside of each slice is golden brown, about 2 minutes. Turn the bread, and cook until the second side is golden, another 2 minutes or so. Remove the bread from the skillet to a plate lined with a paper towel, allow to rest for 30 seconds or so.
When the heat is off, place the slices back onto the cast-iron skillet. This will allow the outsides to crisp up a bit without burning. Serve immediately with powdered sugar or other toppings of your choice.

Yield: 6 slices, serving 2 or 3.

The french toast turned out pretty well. However, if you are using a cast-iron pan, I do not recommend using a grill pan, as it can leave a charred flavor to it. I plan to try the recipe again, using a different pan. I also recommend the second crisping stage to prevent the outside from being too soft. I used this technique on my last three pieces, and it really improved the results. The other pieces were far too soggy.

In the afternoon, I attempted to make the pizza dough that I had promised two weeks ago. I followed this recipe for the dough, planning to split up the dough into six individual crusts and freeze them.
The initial mixing stage turned out well; it was really easy and the mixture smelled good. I used yeast from a jar instead of packets, so that is one level tablespoon per yeast packet called for.



Greenhorn that I am, I took Chef Oliver's advice and made a well of flour and other dry ingredients directly on my counter top.




Few home kitchens really have the space for this type of process, as I learned the second I poured the yeast mixture into the well. Yeast-water ran everywhere, threatening the life of my precious computer that sat on the stool next to me. It also nearly ran off the ledge, and into the adjacent living room (I know, it was stupid of me to choose this particular surface. Really stupid. But it offered the most space). As you can imagine, there was no time for me to photograph this disaster, so you will just have to use your imagination. Allow me to have made this mistake for you,readers. Do not try the straight-on-counter-top well technique!
After cleaning up the mess and kneading the dough, I was left with a dough that was crumbly and dry. Not being sure what to do, I called my dad, who enjoys making his own pizza dough and breads. He has been doing this type of thing for about ten years, I believe, so he is certainly the person to ask. You might ask, "why didn't you go to him for advice before?" Because I don't always like to admit that father often does know best. At least, mine does. Sometimes I like to try my own thing.
He recommended to me that I add some extra water from the faucet, not very cold, but not hot, either. Adding some extra flour, I should knead the dough until it gets soft, and then place in a bowl and cover with a towel. I then should let it sit for an hour or so. If the dough fails to rise, it is ruined. He also mentioned that perhaps I should purchase a bowl large enough to mix dough ingredients together, and abandon the counter-top method. I directly purchased said bowl.
In the end, my dough did rise, fortunately. I tried to knead the dough as little as possible, so it wouldn't become tough. I then froze the result in smaller balls, as planned. Because the dough is very floury, I covered the dough balls with plastic wrap and placed them in individual zip-lock bags. When I use the dough to make pizza, I will let you know how it turns out.
One exciting thing that came out of this experience is that my dad will be guest posting on Sugar & Spice to talk more about the proper way for home cooks to make pizza dough!
Sunday has been far more successful in terms of my food preparation (weather-wise, it has been rainy, but it is April, after all). I will look forward all day to posting about this tomorrow!