PB & J for Dessert!

In celebration of the Super Bowl, we decided to pay homage to an American Favorite. A six year-old American's Favorite - PB & J. This recipe came from Martha and it came out great (thank God, I couldn't bear another loss)! Delicious, crumbly - like a dense, peanut butter cake. I followed this recipe pretty accurately, except I decided to cut down on a few things...ya know for my supermodel figure. First, it calls for two sticks of butter, but I used a stick and a half, and I buttered the pan, so it turned out to a stick and 3/4. I used 3/4 cup of sugar and added 1/4 cup of agave. Also it calls for 2 1/2 cups of peanut butter which is a lot. I decided 1 1/2 cups of peanut butter would suffice, and it tastes great (but this depends on how peanut-buttery (fattening) you like it, of course). It also calls for 3 cups of flour, and I used 2 1/2 cups, since I prefer my carbs on the denser, sweeter side. When all is said and done, these bad boys are little (Ok, big) bites of heaven. And hopefully, a tiny bit healthier than Martha's recipe...as long as you don't eat the whole pan in one sitting. The Super Bowl IS long people.

Okay, and as always in la vida loca de LZ, here comes the negative: I packed my pan with a little too much of the peanut butter dough. I know, shoot me at dawn. I packed the bottom to about 1/2 inch of dough, but it rose to about an inch after baking. So I would have preferred to line the dough to about 1/4 inch and have it rise to 3/4 inch. Also, it says to reserve 1/3 of the dough to crumble on top, after you layer the 2nd part with jam (which was also all natural low sugar preserves from TJs). I wasn't sure about this, because it was doughy and didn't necessarily "crumble"...probably due to my lack of flour. So I dolloped little bits of pieces on top. If I were to do it again, I would probably put a little more of the dough on top, instead of the bottom. But all in all, I would say success! I'm going to go eat some more now... Go Football Teams!



Peanut Butter and Jelly Bars

Makes about 3 dozen
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pan
3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pan
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
2 1/2 cups smooth peanut butter
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups strawberry jam, or other flavor
2/3 cup salted peanuts, roughly chopped

Directions

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9-by-13-inch pan with butter, and line the bottom with parchment paper. Grease the parchment, and coat inside of pan with flour; set aside. Place butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 2 minutes. On medium speed, add eggs and peanut butter; beat until combined, about 2 minutes.

Whisk together salt, baking powder, and flour. Add to bowl of mixer on low speed; combine. Add vanilla. Transfer two-thirds of mixture to prepared pan; spread evenly with offset spatula. Using offset spatula, spread jam on top of peanut-butter mixture. Dollop remaining third of peanut-butter mixture on top of jam. Sprinkle with peanuts.

Bake until golden, about 45 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool; cut into about thirty-six 1 1/2-by-2-inch pieces.



Makes about 3 dozen
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pan
3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pan
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
2 1/2 cups smooth peanut butter
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups strawberry jam, or other flavor
2/3 cup salted peanuts, roughly chopped

Directions

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9-by-13-inch pan with butter, and line the bottom with parchment paper. Grease the parchment, and coat inside of pan with flour; set aside. Place butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 2 minutes. On medium speed, add eggs and peanut butter; beat until combined, about 2 minutes.

Whisk together salt, baking powder, and flour. Add to bowl of mixer on low speed; combine. Add vanilla. Transfer two-thirds of mixture to prepared pan; spread evenly with offset spatula. Using offset spatula, spread jam on top of peanut-butter mixture. Dollop remaining third of peanut-butter mixture on top of jam. Sprinkle with peanuts.

Bake until golden, about 45 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool; cut into about thirty-six 1 1/2-by-2-inch pieces.

This Bread Kneaded A Miracle

A couple weeks ago, my friend Lizzie brought over a bowl of rising dough and we poured it out onto a floured surface, folded it over itself twice with the extra flour and then folded it up in a floured, cotton towel and waited another 2 hours to let it rise MORE. We heated up a cast iron pot (with lid) in the oven at 450 for about 20 minutes. The we poured the dough into the hot pot and baked covered for 30 minutes and then another 15 uncovered. And the final product - HEAVEN. BREAD HEAVEN.

So, I decided to do it all by myself yesterday, following the "No Knead Bread" recipe from Sullivan Bakery NYC, posted by Mark Bittman in the NY Times a few years ago. Followed the recipe and let the dough rise for 20 hours or so, then "kneaded" the bread and let rise for another 2-3 hours. Well, the first sign that something was amiss was the amount of water that had accumulated under the rising dough when I went to fold it over and wrap it in cloth. I didn't remember there being excess water. Anyhow - the dough did rise more in the cloth, but not enough...which again leads me to believe there was either too much water and/or not enough flour.

Also, I made two batches and wrapped them in different cloth towels (can't use terri-cloth). The dough in the thicker towel was much easier to transfer into the pot and also rose more. So that is key - a towel that will keep the dough covered and dry - and to do that you also need to really flour that towel so it doesn't stick so much (it'll stick either way).

Anyhow, this time was a bust. The bread tasted good, but clearly didn't rise enough and wasn't as delightfully airy (with the wonderful crunchy crust) it's supposed to be. So I will do it AGAIN and really watch my measurements. You know how I mentioned I have a tendency to eye-ball...and multi-task. But it couldn't be an easier recipe, dammit! I'm starting to think I need to change the title of this blog to "The Misadventures of Baking..."

Here's the recipe - in case anyone else wants to take a crack at it. I have no doubt you'll have better luck...

(Note - make sure your pot has a lid and can be baked up to 500 degrees. Most glass lids can't go that hot, but if they are tempered like the one on my new cast iron pot. they should be fine. Also a stainless steel stock pot with (steel) lid can suffice.



No-Knead Bread
Adapted from Jim Lahey, Sullivan Street Bakery

Time: About 1½ hours plus 14 to 20 hours’ rising

3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting

¼ teaspoon Instant yeast

1¼ teaspoons salt

Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed.

1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 5/8 cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.

2. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.

3. Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.

4. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes.

Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.
Yield: One 1½-pound loaf.


I still ate it...of course. And it was pretty delicious dipped in olive oil. More like focaccia or the amazing bread you fill up on at Lo Cocco's while you wait for your pizza. Ok, not that good. I wouldn't be complaining if it was.

Brownie Blues

Ok, so I have to be honest. Although I have always considered myself a fine, amateur baker - there is one thing I have NEVER been able to master.. never...and yep, it's brownies, people. And I'm sorry to let you down, Martha, but today was no different:(. But, I KNOW why and how I fudged them. And I promise to never, ever do it again. And now I have to be honest, about something else: I am guilty of being a half-asser and an eye-baller when it comes to cooking and baking. More eye-baller than half-asser, I swear! But still...half-assing just bites you in the ass in times like these. And besides having an irritating, raspy whine like Rachel Ray, I also cook by the "pinch of this" and "eyeball that." And yes, I admit to uttering "Yumso" and "Delish" on occasion, but I'm noting giving Ray cred for that. It comes from my midwestern mother...but I digress... SO, here's Martha's recipe for delicious fudge brownies (and I know they are perfect when done right because my boyfriend FOLLOWED the recipe when he made them and they were divinely rich and moist):

Martha's Double Fudge Brownies
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more for pan
6 ounces coarsely chopped good-quality semisweet chocolate
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch-process)
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Directions

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a buttered 8-inch square baking pan with foil or parchment paper, allowing 2 inches to hang over sides. Butter lining (excluding overhang); set pan aside.

2)Put butter, chocolate, and cocoa in a heatproof medium bowl set over a pan of simmering water; stir until butter and chocolate are melted. Let cool slightly.

3)Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a separate bowl; set aside.

4)Put sugar, eggs, and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, and beat on medium speed until pale, about 4 minutes. Add chocolate mixture; beat until combined. Add flour mixture; beat, scraping down sides of bowl, until well incorporated.

5)Pour batter into prepared pan; smooth top with a rubber spatula. Bake until a cake tester inserted into brownies (avoid center and edges) comes out with a few crumbs but is not wet, about 35 minutes. (NOTE: I baked them for 26 minutes and they were almost over cooked, so watch them and check at 25 minutes)

Let cool slightly in pan, about 15 minutes. Lift out brownies; let cool completely on a wire rack before cutting into squares.



You follow the recipe - you get amazing brownies. You do what Lane does when she's out of semi sweet chocolate chips, you get bland spongy brown mounds.

Like I mentioned, I was out of chocolate chips -we had used them in Martha's Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies a couple days before...before the birth of this blog, so you'll all to wait until next time for those. Anyhow, so instead of taking my lazy, carby ass to the store, I decided to be creative and use a combo of unsweetened cocoa powder, sweetened dutch chocolate powder and 6 dark chocolate kisses I had laying around in my fridge. Well, it calls for 6 ounces of semi-sweet chocolate (pieces/chips) (AND powder) and that comes out to almost half a bag of chocolate chips, so I don't know what the hell I was thinking when I thought 6 measely kisses would suffice in the chocolate department (at least 10-12 would probably been better). Well I skimped and I paid the terrible price. Am I still going to eat them - of course, I am eating one now - but I am doing it with deep self-loathing and resentment.

Here's another healthy tip and I will include these in all my recipes, as I have baked like this ever since I realized I could very well be obese with my voracious appetite for all things baked. I generally try and cut down butter and (sometimes) sugar in recipes, or I also substitute sugar with agave syrup. I know, I know - but anyone who wants to scoff doesn't know what it's like or apparently doesn't care if they have linebacker shoulders and a muffin top that won't die...so back off of me - I'm Starving!

In this recipe you could get away with keeping the butter at 5 ounces, and lightly grease the pan with the inside of a butter wrapper or a spray. Also, dependent on how sweet you like your brownies/chocolate - you can cut the sugar down to 3/4 cup or 1/2 sugar and 1/4 cup agave for equal sweetness. If you're me- you just eyeball! Sigh...

Onto the next one... Until then - Happy Carbing.

It's Just You and Me, Martha

Well here I am, folks. Finally taking the plunge into the sublime and unparalleled abyss of blogging. Going where no man has gone before. But it is finally my moment. Why now you ask? Well, it's simple: because I am in my pajamas and it's 11:19AM on a Tuesday. And I am always about 5 years behind on anything hip or cool. I am wearing a scrunchie. And I have writer's block, and what do I do when I have WB? I bake or eat, or more specifically: eat while I bake and then eat what I baked. Then I watch a show on Bravo. Then I eat some more and Google dead Russian playwrights or feral children. Or I peruse Perez Hilton. Yes, that's right - I am not above anything. I am unemployed and have the attention span of an infant (or of "Genie", the most famous feral child in American history - oh snap! See I am productive...)

Well people have always told me : "You should blog since you like to write", and secretly I have in fact envied the camaraderie bloggers share. Their secret society, built around uploading well lit photos, amateur graphic design, clever inside jokes, snarky editorials and exposition of one's hobbies, thoughts, opinions and/or proclivities. It is the basis, the foundation of all social networking. And I am a really reluctant, late blooming social networker. I am a passive user of the Internet - I am a voyeur, a lurker and a googler - I use it for either research, keeping in touch, or wasting enormous amounts of time. I haven't stepped foot inside a library in at least 6 years and that is depressing. I miss the simpler times. When TV channels had to be changed by pushing buttons on the actual TV sets and your parents had no way of finding out where you were unless you decided to respond to their (pager) page. I also miss writing and receiving hand-written notes and letters, storks dropping newborns on doorsteps, and that stale, nostalgic smell of the pages in old library books. But times have changed and I have to accept it - because it's my generation's destiny. Right? Whatever. But like I mentioned, I have been a passive participant. I am not interesting enough for Twitter...or even blogging for that matter, but alas, I have finally arrived.

I've decided to be baptized into the blog-i-sphere through baking - because it is a tangible thing and something I can surely create camaraderie over, since there are oh, 100+ million cooking and baking blogs out there. Apparently a lot of us are unemployed (and like to suppress our depression with cakey treats by the pan full). And even if no one reads this, it will create the (false?) feeling of accomplishment and productivity. It will now be OK to scarf a batch of cookies down in one sitting as long as I am recording the process and sharing it with the world! I will wear my carb addiction like a badge of honor! While everyone is at work, or school, or traveling the world, or contributing to humanity - I will be baking and eating and loafing with conviction.

And my journey will start with my girl, Martha. Yes, that's right: The one and only Martha Stewart. Martha, you are a delight and I am lucky to have time now to enjoy your under-appreciated, daytime show. And although you are massively talented and no doubt an enormous ball-buster in both your business and personal life, I consider you the queen of cookies and all things sweet...a modern Betty Crocker...and I love you... and more importantly, I love your Cookies Book. A gift from my favorite uncle and notorious baking master, Uncle Franz, I am ready to get down with this book (and other tasty ones too, why not...). So let's get started on these 175 recipes, shall we? Now, truth be told, I have baked a few of the recipes already since getting this book a month or so ago, but let's start from the top - since a fudged a few of them, and not in a delicious chocolatey way. Except the fudge brownies - those were divine! But of course I didn't make them - my partner in procrastinating and baking crime did. So now it's my turn. Let's get Baking!