Snickerdoodles

I know, I know, it's been forever since I've posted here. Things have been pretty busy on my side of the world, but I haven't forgotten about OSSD. A couple of weeks ago my mom asked me when I was going to make a ginger cake. I told her I would make one soon, and instead I ended up making snickerdoodles. I have no idea why, but I wanted to bake these instead. So for those who don't know snickerdooles are like butter cookies covered with cinnamon and sugar.

The recipe is taken from Betty Crocker.com. It's a pretty standard recipe. The only change I made is using only butter instead of butter and shortening. Changes and comments are in italics.

The only comments I can make about these cookies, are that they are very sweet. I thought that I had a sweet tooth, but these are way too sweet for me. I would have loved these when I was a kid, when I used to actually eat granulated sugar *shudder*. Another thing is the serving size. On bettycrocker.com it's states that it serves four-I think the author meant 4 dozen because the batter was so much, I froze some to use for another time. With that said, it's great being back, and I hope I can post more in the future. Happy Baking!

~Ann

Snickerdoodles

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened

1/2 cup shortening (I used 1 cup of butter instead)

2 eggs

2 3/4 cups all purpose or unbleached flour

2 teaspoon cream of tartar (Back in the day, cream of tartar was used as a leavened agent. If you can't find cream of tartar, then use baking powder instead)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup sugar

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Directions

1. Heat oven to 400F

2. Mix 1 1/2 cups sugar, the butter, shortening and eggs large bowl. Stir in flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt.

3. Shape dough into 1 1/4-inch balls. Mix 1/4 cup sugar and the cinnamon. Rolls balls in cinnamon-sugar mixture. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet.

4. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until set. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack.

Apple Cake (w/ skin)

Today I bring you another cake, not a fancy, layered cake, but a humble yet delicious apple cake. Perfect for  a chilly afternoon snack along with a cup of tea. =)

What I like the most about this cake is that there's no waste since you use the whole apple - well, except for the seeds, but you can keep them and plant an apple tree. Who knows, maybe oneday you'll be making this apple cake with your own apples. ;) Haha.

Bake on, people!

-Ana

Apple Cake (with skin)

I took this recipe from a brazilian website but I can't find it anymore. =s

1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups caster sugar
3 apples - I used Fuji apples
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
Ground cinnamon, to taste - I used 1 teaspoon
1/2 cup raisins - optional
You can also add nuts, like hazelnuts or cashew nuts

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF/180ºC. Grease and flour a cake pan.
1. Peel the apples and save the skins. Chop the apples into cubes.
2. In a blender, add the oil, eggs, sugar and apple skins and blend until smooth.
3. In a medium/large bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and cinnamon. Add the wet ingredients and mix well. Add the chopped apples, raisins, and nuts and mix.
4. Bake for 40-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean. Let it cool for 15-20 minutes in the pan.

Cinnamon

For some odd reason, I've always been reluctant to bake bread. It is probably a combination of the amount of time it takes, plus the messiness of it with all that flour and kneading, however if one follows the process of baking bread correctly, then the final product is well worth the work.

This weekend I baked my very first batch of cinnamon and raisin bread from scratch (if you don't count the bread machine I've used in the past.) I've always wanted to bake this bread, and after looking at several recipes I found an easy and straightforward cinnamon and raisin bread recipe from allrecipes.ca. It takes forever to make so you've gotta bake it on a day when you've got plenty of time to spare, even though that (time) is becoming much harder these days.

Although time consuming, there is something therapeutic about baking bread, and the smell of it as it's baking, especially a cinnamon and raisin bread, is heavenly.

-Ann

Cinnamon Raisin Bread I

By Faye Salisbury @ http://www.allrecipes.ca/

1 1/2 cups milk

1 cup warm water (110º F/45º C)

2 (2.5 ounce) package active dry yeast

3 eggs

1/2 cup white sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup margarine, softened

1 cup raisins

8 cups all purpose flour

2 tablespoons milk

3/4 cup white sugar

2 tablespoons ground cinnamon

2 tablespoons butter, melted

Directions

1. Warm the milk in a small saucepan until it bubbles, then remove from heat. Let cool until lukewarm.

2. Dissolve yeast in warm water, set aside until yeast is frothy. Mix in eggs, sugar, margarine, salt, and raisins. Stir in cooled milk. Add the flour gradually to make a stiff dough. (it is more sticky than stiff)

3. Knead dough on a lightly floured surface for a few minutes. Place in a large, greased, mixing bowl, and turn to grease the surface of the dough. Cover with a damp cloth. Allow to rise until doubled.

4. Roll out on a lightly floured surface into a large rectangle 1/2 inch thick. Moisten dough with 2 tablespoons of milk. Mix together 3/4 cup sugar and 2 tablespoons cinnamon, and sprinkle mixture on top of the moistened dough. Roll up tightly, and the roll should be about 3 inches in diameter. Cut into thirds, and tuck under ends. Place loaves into well greased 9 X 5 inch pans. Lightly grease top of loaves. Let rise again for 1 hour.

5. Bake at 350 degrees F (174 degrees C) for 45 minutes or until loaves are lightly browned and sounds hollow when knocked. Remove loaves from pans and brush with melted margarine.

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I love cinnamon, so choosing just one recipe was a very tough task. While flipping through a Cook's Illustrated Holiday Baking edition (2010) I stumble upon a Quick Cinnamon Streusel Coffeecake and thought it would be perfect for the blog. I mean, it's a coffeecake, quick - in less than 15 min you will have a cake in the oven, it has cinnamon in it and streusel! Four perfect words.

The final result is a moist, cinnamon-y and fluffy-like-a-cloud cake. I think I used a larger pan than I was supposed to so I didn't get a thick layer of the streusel. I got a thin-crispy sugar and nuts layer instead, which wasn't a bad thing at all. I highly reccomend this cake, specially for you guys up north. A piece of this cake with a cup of hot coffee/tea/chocolate is perfect for a snowy day.

Keep yourselves warm! And for those of you who are enjoying the hot weather like me, don't forget to put sunscreen! ;)

-Ana

Quick Cinnamon Streusel Coffeecake

Streusel

1/3 cup packed (2 1/3 ounces) light brown sugar - used dark brown

1/3 cup (2 1/3 ounces) granulated sugar - used refined sugar

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1 cup pecans, almonds or walnuts, chopped coarse - I used cashew nuts

Cake

3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour - I used regular all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 3/4 cups buttermilk or plain whole yogurt*

1 cup packed (7 ounces) light brown sugar

1 cup (7 ounces) granulated sugar

3 large eggs

7 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1. For the streusel: Mix sugars, cinnamon, and melted butter together in medium bowl until mixture resembles wet sand; stir in nuts and set aside.

2. For the cake: Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350ºF/180ºC. Generously coat a 13 by 9-inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray.

3. Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt together in a large bowl. Whisk buttermilk, sugars, eggs, and melted butter in separate bowl until smooth. Using rubber spatula, gently fold egg mixture into flour mixture and stir until batter looks smooth and well combined.

4. Using rubber spatula, scrape batter into prepared pan and smooth top. Sprinkle streusel evenly over batter. Bake until streusel is golden and toothpick inserted into centre comes out with just a few crumbs attached, 40 to 45 minutes. Cool cake on wire rack for 15 min. before slicing and serving.

Serves 8 - I got 16 squares.

*You can make your own buttermilk at home! Add 1 tablespoon lemon juice into a small bowl and add 1 cup milk - whole, skimmed - let stand for 2 minutes and it's ready to use.