I tried a new recipe for buttermilk pancakes that’s very similar to my other ones.  I was very happy with the result and so was my own personal Alex Si Hente (from the old Savarin Coffee commercial), my son Benji.  I also made them for my mother’s best friend Adele, and she enjoyed them as well, commenting that she loved my pancakes, but no others!

adapted from ohsweetbasil.com melt in your mouth buttermilk pancakes:

• 2 cups organic King Arthur brand unbleached flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 extra large eggs- fresh from the farm, separated
• 2 cups Friendship 1.5  percent fat (make sure you shake before using) 
• 2 tablespoons melted and cooled butter (either salted or unsalted- I happened to use salted)  

First, melt butter in small microwave-safe dish and set aside to cool.  Put dry ingredients in large mixing bowl.

Measure buttermilk in pyrex glass cup measurer.  Then add egg yolk to the buttermilk.  Add melted butter and mix till well blended.

In separate glass bowl by hand with wire whisk or using a hand-held mixer (I did this by hand), mix egg whites till almost stiff, but not quite.

Add buttermilk mixture to dry ingredients and fold in with rubber spatula till almost smooth- but batter still has some lumps.  Then fold in egg whites gently.

Heat non-stick griddle.  Then coat very lightly with butter. Do not let your butter brown! Scoop 1/4 cup spoonfuls onto hot griddle.   Leave alone till you have the idea that the undersides are brown, use a spatula and peek under.  If sufficiently browned, carefully flip with a wide spatula.  Cook till browned nicely on other side.

Serve immediately with butter and pure maple syrup.

I’ve made many different recipes for corn bread and corn muffins.  I happened to have on hand a mix from Stonewall Kitchen for cornbread which I used for corn muffins.  Although I usually am pretty negative towards mixes, I have to admit that this one was great.  The muffins had that perfect taste between savory and sweet, slightly reminiscent of the sweet Thomas Toaster Cakes I loved when I was a kid.  My daughter in law really enjoyed them, and she requested I make some for her to take back to Vietnam with her.  I didn’t have another of that mix, so I had to choose from one of the many recipes I’ve used in the past.  I settled on one I haven’t made for years from my old Fannie Farmer Cookbook.  The muffins came out great.  The second batch I made, I divided the batter in half and I added 1 cup of fresh blueberries to the one half.  I actually added an extra tablespoon of sugar the second time I made the muffins, and I liked the end result.

Adapted from the Fannie Farmer Cookbook recipe entitled, “Rich Corn Cake” :

• 1 cup yellow cornmeal  (I used Quaker yellow cornmeal)
• 1 cup organic unbleached flour (I always use King Arthur Flour)
• 4 tablespoons sugar (I used 5  the second time)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder (original recipe calls for cream of tartar)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup sour cream (I use Daisy because it is the purest brand of sour cream)
• 1/4 cup whole milk
• 2 extra large eggs
• 4 tablespoons melted butter (I used salted) 
• optional – blueberries-  about 1 cup for half the batter if you want to do half muffins plain and half with blueberries.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Put 12 paper muffin cups in muffin tin.

In mixing bowl, combine flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, salt.

Mix milk, eggs, sour cream with a whisk.  Then pour in melted butter (but slightly cooled).  Mix with whisk. Add wet ingredients to dry.  Mix quickly with rubber spatula just till combined and you can’t see any streaks of the flour.  Scoop into muffin cups.

Bake 20 minutes, just till tops are starting to brown.

Eat hot with lots of butter!

This is the most perfect Irish soda bread imaginable.  My son Danny’s friends couldn’t get over how great it was.

Ingredients:

2 cups flour (I use organic unbleached flour, preferably King Arthur or Heckers)
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder (I use aluminum free)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, from the fridge is fine
2 eggs (1 extra large for the bread;  the other can be any size egg to be mixed with 1 tablespoon milk, half and half, or light cream for brushing on top of the bread before baking)
3/4 cup buttermilk (I usually use Friendship, which is 1.5%)
1/3 cup raisins (I try to use the most amazing raisins, which I get at Whole Foods (they are Sunview Organically Grown Black Seedless)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking powder, baking  soda, and salt. Cut butter with a knife into cubes, and add to bowl.  Cut in butter with pastry blender until crumbly.  Then take the raisins (if you are using the ones mentioned above, you’ll want to chop them up just a bit because they are larger than normal raisins) and add them to the flour mixture. In a small bowl, combine the one extra large egg with buttermilk and then pour into flour and butter mixture.  Fold the wet ingredients into the flour mixture just until moistened.  Take a piece of waxed or parchment paper and sprinkle a little flour on it.  Dump your dough onto the paper, and sprinkle just about 1 teaspoon of flour on top of it.  Gently knead 1 or 2 times.   Knead on a well-floured surface with just 2 or three motions.  You don’t want to overwork the dough.  Grease a cookie sheet with butter, and take the dough onto the cookie sheet, and shape it into a round loaf about 10 inches in diameter.  With a knife, make a X indentation in the loaf.  Mix the Shape dough into a round loaf; place on a greased baking sheet. Cut a 1/4″-deep cross in the top of the loaf. Brush egg wash over loaf. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes until golden brown.  You will know the loaf is done when you put a toothpick in the middle and it comes out clean.

Serve right out of oven with butter.  Or eat later and heat up in microwave or in toaster.

My very nice co-teacher in school, Doris Fisher, bakes these muffins on a regular basis for her friends and family.  Luckily for me, she brought some in to school for me to sample.  They were delicious!  These muffins are a breeze to make and they freeze beautifully, too.  Enjoy!

for the muffins:

• 3 extra large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup canola oil
• 1 16 oz. can pure pumpkin puree
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 1/4 cups unbleached flour
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon (or 2 if you like a more cinnamony flavor)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1  teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 12 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Spray mini muffin pans (recipe makes 48 mini muffins)

In large mixing bowl, blend eggs, sugar, oil, pumpkin, and vanilla.  Whisk till nicely blended.  Then  and add everything else but the chips, mixing in just until blended with a rubber spatula.  Then add chips and fold in.  Scoop out batter into prepared pans, and bake 23-35 min till muffins are lightly browned around edges and toothpick comes out clean.

If You Make This Old Fashioned Sour Cream Coffee Cake, You Will Be Delighted With The Outstanding Taste And Texture Of The Cake!

This was a cake my mother made at least two or three times every year. It was definitely one of my mother’s favorite cakes to bake and to eat. She got the recipe from Lorraine Klein who is my Aunt Sally’s sister-in-law. Lorraine is a wonderful lady, and through the years, I have always appreciated her good nature and sense of humor. I always look forward to having conversations with her every Mother’s Day at my Aunt Sally’s or my cousin Janie’s house. How lucky it is for me that I have been able to gather so many wonderful recipes from my mother and her contemporaries. Most of all, I often think back on all the lovely, beautiful, and fulfilling hours I spent watching my mother bake her favorite cakes, this being one of them. She truly loved this cake, and therefore, I will always have a special place in my heart for this cake!

for the cake:

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 stick unsalted butter or margarine at room temperature
• 2 extra large eggs at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 cups sifted unbleached flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 8 ounces (1/2 pint) sour cream
• 1 teaspoon baking soda

for the filling:

• 1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 cup walnuts, chopped fine

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 10 inch tube pan well all over with butter or margarine.

for the filling: In a medium mixing bowl using a fork or spoon, mix the brown sugar, the cinnamon, and the chopped nuts by hand; set aside.

for the cake batter:

In a medium bowl, put the dry ingredients – the sifted flour, the salt, the baking powder; set aside.

Mix the sour cream with the baking soda by hand; set aside.

In large bowl of Kitchen Aid or electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter on medium to high speed with the sugar till light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time and mix on high speed until light and fluffy. Mix in the vanilla.

Add the flour mixture and the sour cream mixture alternately to butter, sugar, and eggs, and vanilla mixture beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Add the flour in 4ths and the sour cream in 3rds. This is the part of the mixing where you don’t want to over-mix. You are really just adding these ingredients on a very low speed just to blend. Scrape down the bowl one or two times during this process to get any batter off the sides of the bowl.

Spoon 1/2 of the batter evenly on the bottom of the prepared tube pan. Then distribute about 4/5 of the filling mixture evenly all over the surface of the batter. Then spoon the remaining 1/2 of the batter over the filling, and smooth over the filling with a rubber spatula to cover the filling. Sprinkle the remaining 1/5 of filling evenly over the top of the batter.

Bake in the middle of the preheated oven 45-50 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack. Serve slightly warm or at room temperature.

Note: When I make this cake, I usually cut the cake into thirds, but I keep one third out for the family. Then I freeze the other two thirds of the cake. When company comes over unexpectedly, I know I always have delicious homemade sour cream coffee cake in the freezer. It defrosts in no time, and then it can be sliced and served on a pretty cake plate.

Try This Soft and Garlicky On The Inside And Crunchy On The Outside Garlic Bread!

My mother made this garlic bread to go with one of her Tuesday or Thursday night dinner specials, spaghetti with meat sauce.  Although my mother got the recipe for the meat sauce from her sister-in-law (and my aunt), Sally Hindes, my mother used her own recipe for garlic bread rather than making my Aunt Sally’s amazing garlic toast recipe.  We all loved my mother’s garlic bread in our house, but I know my father loved it best.  In fact, I think the reason my father enjoyed the spaghetti dinner in the first place was because of how much he adored the garlic bread.  My father ate this meal with his fork in one hand and a piece of garlic bread in the other.  When there was no more bread left, he was done eating.  How he loved his bread, and in this case his garlic bread!

• 1 loaf of Italian bread
• one stick of Fleischmann’s margarine or 1 stick of butter at room temperature
• good garlic powder (I use organic McKormick)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Slice the bread once horizontally all the way through so that you have 2 halves.  Then spread a good amount of margarine or butter on each cut side of the bread.  Then sprinkle each side heavily with garlic powder.  Put the bread back together again.  Wrap the bread up in heavy-duty aluminum foil.  Make sure that you use a big enough piece of foil.  Place the bread right in the center of the foil.  Then bring up the foil on each side of the bread so that you can close the foil at the top of the bread.  This way, none of the margarine or butter can leak out of the aluminum foil package as it is baking.  Bake about 30-45 minutes until the bread is starting to get crunchy on the bottom. (I always check the bread after about 25 minutes to see if it is getting too brown.)  When it is done, take it out of the aluminum foil, and cut slices, and serve.

This is my Aunt Sally’s famous garlic bread recipe that she always made to go with her delicious spaghetti with meat sauce. My cousin Janie (Sally’s daughter) makes this as well. I never formally asked for this recipe, but I watched my aunt and my cousin while they made this, so I’m reasonably sure this recipe is accurate. In Janie’s house, this garlic bread is a staple, because Janie still serves her spaghetti and meat sauce once a week (it is her family’s absolute favorite meal), and what good is spaghetti and meat sauce without garlic bread to go with it? I just made this garlic toast for a family get together, and I got lots of compliments. This tasty treat is definitely worth the calories!

• • One loaf of Italian bread (or 2 loaves)
  • at least 2 sticks of margarine or butter, melted
  • lots of garlic powder (use a good brand such as McKormick)
  • paprika (adds color and flavor)
  • kosher salt (I’ts important to add a little, but ONLY if you are using unsalted margarine)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Slice the bread about one inch thick. Then melt the margarine or butter in a small saucepan or in the microwave. Then sprinkle a good amount of garlic powder into the bowl with the melted margarine or butter. Add a good sprinkling of paprika and mix. The color will look a pretty pinking orange. Then dip each slice of bread into the melted butter/margarine/garlic mixture pretty thoroughly on both sides. Place each piece of bread side by side on a half sheet pan that has been covered with aluminum foil. Place in preheated oven for about 15-20 minutes until the bread starts to brown on the underside. Then turn each slice of bread over. Bake another 10-15 minutes till brown on the bottom.

This Delicious Recipe For French Toast Bread Pudding Will Warm You On A Cold Winter Morning! 

My family adores french toast. My mother, Shirley Fried, especially loves my French toast. Every once and awhile, I make a batch for her when she comes down to visit me and the kids. I love cooking for my mother, especially since she is my number 1 fan. (My father was my other number 1 fan, but tragically for me, my mother, and my children, the most wonderful man in the world, Murray Fried died 6 years ago. Anyway, I’ve cooked yummy French toast for breakfast for my family for years, and everyone loves it. I sometimes make my french toast using challah, which is an egg bread that is very similar to brioche. Many diners serve French toast made with challah because it has become quite popular. When you use challah to make your French toast, you are definitely kicking the standard recipe up a notch. Anyway, I decided that I needed to adapt my challah French toast recipe so that I could serve it at family gatherings and feed a lot of people without having to stand at the stove while my guests were over. Plus, I wanted to be able to prepare the dish in advance, and you really can’t do that with French toast. I experimented until I came up with the most amazing version of French toast bread pudding, using challah. I served it at a Chanukah party this past Sunday which was given by the wonderful Marsha Greenhouse. Marsha Greenhouse is my daughter Randi’s mother-in-law. Marsha is a warm and genuine from the heart person (a real mensch), and she hosts the best family get togethers imaginable. I love going to every party and gathering at her house. Plus, she kindly lets me cook and bake for these parties to my heart’s content. One of the dishes I made for this gathering was my challah French toast bread pudding. It was delicious! I got lots of compliments, and of course I love that! I think one of the best moments for me was when Marsha’s boyfriend, Al Berman asked me for another piece of the bread pudding. When he put a bite in his mouth he said, “Ooh, this is sooo good.” And Al knows his food. (He’s an excellent cook himself!) There is just nothing as gratifying for me as cooking and baking for people I care about. Please try this recipe. When you take a bite into this yummy challah French toast bread pudding, which truly tastes every bit as good as regular French toast, you will vow to make this again and again for your friends and family, too.

• • 1/2 cup (1 stick) plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter or margarine, plus extra for greasing baking dish (I like taste of butter more than margarine)
  • 1 cup lightly packed dark brown sugar
  • 3 tablespoons maple syrup (I actually use 2 tablespoons of Log Cabin and 1 tablespoon of pure maple syrup, but I don’t think it matters which type of syrup you use)  *see note at bottom
  • 1 large loaf of challah bread (a loaf should weigh about 15 oz.)
  • 8 extra large or jumbo eggs (I used jumbo the last time, and I loved result)
  • 2 cups of light cream or half and half (I don’t notice any difference in end result)
  • 2  tablespoons sugar (optional- you may eliminate if you want to reduce sugar in recipe))
  • 1/8 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt (I use this but you may cut it out for a low salt diet)
  • cinnamon (McKormick) to sprinkle on top before you bake

• optional 3/4 cup chopped pecans (tried it and liked the result, but equally good without- Just remember that many kids don’t like nuts, so if you’re making this for kids, it’s probably better to leave the nuts out!)

Generously grease the bottom and sides of a 13 x 9 x 2 inch oval or rectangular baking dish (I bought an inexpensive, beautiful white oval baking dish at IKEA). Slice the challah about 1 1/2 inches thick. Then cut the slices into pieces. They don’t all have to be exactly the same size, but they should be somewhere around 2 inches square. You definitely should use the crust- do not cut the crust off! In a small saucepan, melt the butter over a low flame. Then add the brown sugar and the syrups; mix until the brown sugar is dissolved. Then pour the syrup mixture into the prepared baking dish. Place the pieces of challah in the prepared dish in one layer. Fit the pieces right up against each other, like puzzle pieces. It’s okay to squeeze them a little so they all fit.

In large mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, light cream or half and half, vanilla, salt, sugar,  cinnamon. Ladle the custard mixture over the challah evenly. Then press down with your hands very lightly on bread, so challah soaks in all the custard.  If using the pecans, sprinkle them on top, and then sprinkle with cinnamon lightly but so that there is a light sprinkling over all.  Cover the dish with foil or plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 2 to 4  hours or overnight. (I usually do it overnight just because it makes the job easier for me.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees – and take bread pudding out of the refrigerator and let sit at room temperature for about 20 minutes.  If you feel you should, sprinkle just a little more cinnamon on top. Bake uncovered in the middle of the oven until puffed and golden for about 45 to 50 minutes. Serve immediately.  I make this to bring in for school breakfasts.  I bake it for about 35 minutes at home.  Then I cover it tightly to keep the heat it.  Then when I get to work, I take off the foil, and bake it for another 20 minutes or so to finish it off.

Optional serving suggestion:  Warm up about 1/8 cup of pure maple syrup in microwave, and drizzle it over the top very lightly right before serving or just serve with extra maple syrup on the side.

You will be amazed by the result!

Note:  The last few times I made this, I used 2 tablespoons of pure maple syrup and 1 tablespoon of light corn syrup. I like to use some pure maple syrup, just because it has more maple flavor.

Note:  Just make sure that the pudding is baked through even at the center so you won’t be eating undercooked eggs.

Note:  last made on July 3, 2011- I used 9 extra large eggs as I didn’t have the jumbo, and I used a mixture of whole milk and heavy cream- and it was yummy!!!

This is a very simple, but perfect recipe for blueberry muffins.  I adapted this recipe from one I got from a mother of one of my daughter Randi’s friends when Randi was in the second grade.  So I’ve been making this recipe for about 17 years.  And in all that time, I have never tasted a better muffin than this.  I have given this recipe out to countless friends and family.  One of my mother’s and my wonderful friends, Sherill, who is a marvelous baker, adores this recipe.  Whenever she sees me, she thanks me for giving her this recipe.  If you bake a batch, you will discover the wonderful taste and texture of these muffins, and you will be hooked, too!

• • 1 1/2 cups unbleached flour (Sometimes, I use 1 cup organic unbleached King Arthur flour plus 1/2 cup organic white whole wheat King Arthur flour, or 3/4 cup of each but my daughter uses all whole wheat- the 1 1/2 cups.  I prefer the mix of the two.  When I do this, I add a little more milk, just maybe a tablespoon to adjust for the heavier flour). 5/31/13- I added about 1 teaspoon of fresh lemon juice too, as I had the extra lemon- very nice, but not necessary. 5/31/14- I added a little lemon zest and the lemon juice- liked it.
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar (I’ve been reducing this to a little less than the 1/2-somewhere between 1/3 and 1/2 now)

• 1 extra large egg
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil (I use corn, canola, or extra-light olive oil, but light olive oil is my preference)
• 1/4 cup whole milk (You can also use lowfat or skim if that’s what you have on hand)
• 1/4 cup orange juice (no pulp, and not from concentrate- I have also squeezed juice straight from an orange)
• about 2 cups fresh- preferably or 1  1/2 cups frozen blueberries, rinsed and then dried with a paper towel, dusted with flour before adding to mixture

Preheat oven to 375 degrees, and put muffin cups into a standard 12 muffin tin.  In a large mixing bowl, put flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Whisk by hand just to blend the dry ingredients.  Set aside.

Measure the oil into a one or two cup pyrex measuring cup, add the 1/4 cup milk to the oil, then the 1/4 cup orange juice.  Crack the egg in, then mix with fork to blend.

Make a well in the dry ingredients.  Pour the wet ingredients in; fold the wet ingredients into the dry with a rubber spatula only until they are just blended.  Do not overmix! When the mixture is still lumpy, gently fold in the blueberries.  Spoon the batter into the muffin cups- about 3/4 cup full.  Bake them about 25 minutes until they are browned on top.  Cool the pan on a wire rack until the muffins are cool enough to take out.

Note- I make another variety by using jam instead of blueberries.  I spoon a little batter in each muffin cup.  I use a miniature ice cream scoop to measure out enough batter just to cover the bottom of the muffin cup.   Then I put about a teaspoon or so of either raspberry, strawberry, cherry jam on top of the batter.  Then, I top the jam off with another scoop of batter.  Just pop these jam muffins in the oven.  Your children will love these as much as mine do!

Another variation is to leave the berries out, and mix in about 6 oz of semi-sweet chocolate chips with the batter.