The Challenge - To Create Almond Bars as Good as La Mie!

Not long ago we visited La Mie Bakery in Des Moines. For those of you who have not had the pleasure of dining at this establishment, I urge you to visit at your earliest convenience. Not only do they serve delicious meals, they also have an abundant selection of pastries to either sample while there or carry home for a little snack later on. We brought home a selection of several pastries after our most recent visit and I fell in love with one in particular - Almond Bars. It has been my mission ever since to recreate that bar. After tweaking a basic almond bar recipe several times I feel satisfied with my latest attempt. We served this bar, in addition to Crumble Topped Apple Pie, to the team who organized Robert's conference in Denver. It received rave reviews!

Almond Bars Ready to be Served

Carolyn's Almond Bars

INGREDIENTS:
1 1/4 cups butter, softened
1 1/4 cups almond paste (see recipe below)
2 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs + 1 yolk
1 1/2 tsp. almond extract
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup sliced or slivered almonds

DIRECTIONS:

In a large bowl, cream the butter, almond paste and 2 cups sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and extract. Gradually add flour just until moistened.

Spread into a greased 11x15 inch jelly roll pan. Sprinkle with sugar and top with almonds.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack. Cut into squares. Store in the refrigerator.

Yield: 4 1/2 to 6 dozen bars, depending on size.

Homemade Almond Paste

• 1 1/2 cups Almond Flour
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1-2 tsp almond extract
• 1 egg white slightly beaten

Using a food processor, pulse the almond flour and powdered sugar a few times to break up any clumps. Add 1 tsp of almond extract and pulse to combine. Test at this point to see if it has enough almond flavoring. I really like almond so I added 2 teaspoons. Add egg white and to your food processor on for 2 minutes. At this point, the mixture should be smooth and formed a ball. If dough is still sticky add 1 tbsp more of almond flour. Wrap tightly and store in refrigerator.

Kale, Ricotta and Fresh Mozzarella Pizza (Thanks Bon Appetit)

Dough rising in pan after 24 hour rise in refrigerator.

If a magazine wants to get my attention, all they need do is post a colorful pizza on the front cover of an issue. Robert and I intended to grill a pork loin for dinner yesterday until the most recent issue of Bon Appetit arrived in the mail. Yes, a scrumptious pizza, complete with the appearance of sizzling vegetables and tiny droplets of oil surrounding melted cheese graced the cover of the October 2014 issue. Our Sunday dinner menu changed!

Lacinto Kale dressed with olive oil, lemon juice & salt/pepper.

I know how important it is to ALWAYS read a recipe before preparing, but sometimes I forget! That is when improvisation comes into play. The kale was supposed to be salted and drained for 2 hours before baking the pizza. Oops, I caught that detail 30 minutes before topping the dough off. Instead I salted and peppered the kale after dousing it with 2 T. each of olive oil and lemon juice. Then I vigorously massaged the leafy greens until quite limp. They were allowed to sit for 30 minutes before squeezing out as much liquid as possible.

Pizza, hot out of the oven!

At this point I distributed the kale over the dough, placed thin slices of fresh mozzarella over the kale and dolloped the entire surface with fresh ricotta.Finish off with a sprinkling of red pepper flakes, then bake in a preheated 525 degree oven for 20 minutes. Overall I think I cut out at least 1/2 cup of olive oil, cutting the calorie burden significantly. We decided this was a fun way to eat our greens!

Time to Make Yogurt

When you eat a cup of yogurt every day, it doesn't take long before you run out. In recent years I have been buying whatever yogurt I could get on sale. This costs anywhere from $3 to $4.00 per quart. The last time I visited Trevor, he encouraged me to start making my own yogurt as I once did not so many years ago. The very first time I made homemade yogurt was shortly after we married. Robert was a graduate student in Mechanical Engineering at Michigan State University. We had to make a penny stretch pretty far, so making our own yogurt seemed like a good idea. We received a yogurt maker for Christmas and this made about 5 cups of yogurt at a time. We would add fresh fruit and a little honey, making a tasty lunch to be shared on campus.

One gallon of 2% milk heating over a double boiler to 185 degrees

We now use Sandor Katz's method, slowly heating a gallon of milk to 185 degrees over a double boiler and holding it close to that temperature for 15 to 30 minutes. We then cool it in an ice water bath to 120 degrees, at which time we add several tablespoons of room temperature yogurt culture (usually taken from our last batch of yogurt).

Covering the pot of warm milk to hold it close to 185 degrees

When stirred together, we pour it into quart size Ball jars and place in a cooler containing a heating pad set to "low" setting. This keeps the temperature in the cooler around 115 degrees and we leave it for 6 to 8 hours. The longer the yogurt is left, the more sour it will taste. After 6 to 8 hours, the yogurt has solidified and is ready to be refrigerated. At $4.00 per gallon of 2% milk, our quarts of yogurt now cost $1.00 each - quite a savings from the store bought product. Dress it with cinnamon, fresh fruit and muesli or spoon a dollop on top of your porridge in the morning for a fresh, dairy taste.

Yogurt nestled into cooler, warmed by a heating pad



Apple Crumble Pie - Apple Season has arrived!

I found myself at the Downtown Ames Farmer's Market last weekend with a goal of buying flowers from the Friends Flowers stall. I accomplished this pretty quickly, although trying to choose from the beautifully assembled bundles was not an easy task. As I meandered down Main Street on my way to Birds Unlimited, I walked by Deals Orchards stall. Of course I couldn't pass without buying a small bag of an early apple variety called Early Blaze. Described as crispy and tart, I decided they would be perfect in a pie. Finding a recipe for Apple Crumble Pie I got to work.

Apple Crumble Pie

Apple Crumble Pie

         Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

        Ingredients for crust and crumble:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt, divided
• 1/2 cup chilled butter, cut into small pieces
• 1/4 cup ice water
• 1 tablespoon white vinegar
• Cooking spray
• 1/2 cup regular oats
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon, divided
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves, divided
  
  
  Directions for Crust and Crumble
  1. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine 2 cups flour and 1/2 teaspoon salt in food processor; pulse 2 times or until combined. Add butter; pulse 6 times or until mixture resembles coarse meal. With processor on, slowly pour ice water and vinegar through food chute, processing just until blended (do not allow dough to form a ball).
  2. Remove two-thirds of dough and press into a 4-inch circle on plastic wrap. (Leave remaining dough in processor.) Cover dough with 2 additional sheets of overlapping plastic wrap. Roll dough, still covered, into an 11-inch circle. Place rolled dough in freezer 5 minutes or until plastic wrap can be easily removed. Remove top sheets of plastic wrap; fit dough, plastic wrap side up, into a 9-inch pie plate coated with cooking spray. Remove remaining plastic wrap. Fold edges under; flute. Set aside.
  3. Add oats, brown sugar, 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon, and a dash of cloves to the dough in processor; pulse several times or until crumbly. Set aside.

Pie, ready for the oven

 

Ingredients for apple pie filling:

• 5 cups diced peeled tart apples
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg and/or ground cloves

Directions for Filling

1. In a bowl, combine first five ingredients; spoon into pie shell and bake 50 minutes or until golden in color and apples are of desired tenderness.

 

Apples, ready to be put into pie crust

Granola, Plain and Simple

I have enjoyed eating granola for many years.  That is, until we visited the United Kingdom this past spring and we were served Muesli almost every morning for breakfast. I so enjoyed eating this new oat product that I now rarely eat Granola. The fact that Muesli doesn't contain any sweetener was an encouragement to make the switch, but I still enjoy Granola on occasion.

Favorite Granola

Favorite Granola Recipe    
7 c. old-fashioned oats (1# 10.5 oz.)
1/3 c. shelled sunflower seeds (2 oz.)
1/3 c. raw pumpkin seeds (2 oz.)
3/4 c. wheat germ
1/2 c. almonds (4 oz.)
1/2 c. pecans, pistachios or hazelnuts
1/2 c. maple syrup
1/3 c. honey
3 T. canola
1 1/2 T. vanilla extract
dried fruit (optional)

Mix oatmeal, seeds, wheat germ and nuts together. Premix the wet ingredients, then mix these with the dry ingredients. Spread into a jelly roll pan and bake at 300 degrees for 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes. Remove from oven and add any assortment of dried fruit. Cool and keep in air-tight container.

Toasted Oat and Ginger Muesli

Toasted Oat and Ginger Muesli

8 cups old-fashioned oats

1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes

1/2 cup pumpkin and sunflower seeds

1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped dry roasted almonds, pecans or hazelnuts

1/2 cup coarsely chopped candied ginger

1/2 cup chia seeds

Place two racks in the center and upper third of the oven. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 

Place oats on an ungreased and unlined baking sheet. Place coconut on a second ungreased and unlined baking sheet. Toast oats and coconut until coconut is golden brown and fragrant, about 5 to 7 minutes. Coconut browns quickly, keep an eye on it. Remove both the oats and coconut from the oven and allow to cool.

In a large bowl toss together oats, coconut nuts and Chia seeds. That’s it. Just toss it all together. To store, place in airtight jars or a well sealed plastic bag.

Prepare muesli the night before, or at least a few hours before you’d like to serve it. To serve, scoop desired amount of muesli into a bowl of plain yogurt. Top with fresh fruit.   Cover and place in the fridge overnight, or for at least 2 hours. When ready to serve, drizzle with pure maple syrup and enjoy.  

                    

Visiting Daniel this Weekend!

We plan to visit Daniel this coming weekend so I asked him if he needed anything? Initially he said, no, nothing that he could think of. When I suggested one or two of his favorites, he decided that perhaps a few things might be nice. At the top of that list was "Gooey Bread". This has been a family favorite for quite a few years and is always enjoyed slightly under-baked, hence the name "Gooey Bread". 

 

"Gooey Bread" hot out of the oven!

Ingredients                      

• 1 1/4 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1 cup boiling water 
• 1 package dry yeast (about 2 1/4 teaspoons)
• 1/4 cup warm water (100° to 110°)
• 1 1/2 cups low-fat buttermilk
• 6 tablespoons honey
• 3 tablespoons canola oil 
• 20.25 ounces all-purpose flour (about 4 1/2 cups), divided
• 9 ounces whole-wheat pastry flour (about 2 cups)
• 2 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 cup finely chopped walnuts

Preparation

1. Place oats in a food processor; pulse 8 times or until coarsely chopped. Combine chopped oats and 1 cup boiling water in a medium bowl; let stand 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
2. Dissolve yeast in 1/4 cup warm water in the bowl of a stand mixer; let stand 5 minutes. Add buttermilk to oat mixture, stirring to combine. Stir in honey and oil. Add the oat mixture to yeast mixture; mix with dough hook attachment until combined. Weigh or lightly spoon 13.5 ounces all-purpose flour (about 3 cups) and whole-wheat pastry flour in dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flours with salt. Add flour mixture to buttermilk mixture. Mix dough at medium speed 10 minutes or until smooth and elastic, adding remaining all-purpose flour, 1/4 cup at a time, to prevent dough from sticking to sides of bowl. Add walnuts; mix at medium speed just until combined.
3. Place dough in a large bowl coated with cooking spray, turning to coat top. Cover and let rise in a warm place (85°), free from drafts, 1 hour or until doubled in size. (Gently press two fingers into dough. If indentation remains, the dough has risen enough.) Alternatively, stretch and fold every 30 minutes for the first hour and a half to two hours before dividing the dough, braiding and raising for the final 30 minutes before baking in a 375 degree oven for 28 minutes.
4. Preheat oven to 375°.
5. Punch dough down; divide in half. Divide each half into 3 equal portions. Working with 1 portion at a time (cover remaining dough to keep from drying), shape each portion into a 14-inch rope. Place 3 ropes lengthwise on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray (do not stretch). Pinch ends together at one end to seal. Braid ropes, and pinch loose ends together to seal. Repeat procedure with remaining dough to form another braid. Cover and let rise 30 minutes or until doubled in size.
6. Spritz top and sides of loaves lightly with water from a spray bottle. Bake on center rack of oven at 375° for 28 minutes or until deep golden brown. Remove from pan; cool on wire rack.