Former Favorites: Happy Halloween!

Chocolate shortbread with royal icing (Halloween 2007).

Recipes

I was very excited to learn yesterday that there are actually more than 2 people reading this, and was even more excited about getting a recipe request!

For a couple of weeks I have been considering including the recipes in the entries, so now I officially have a reason to do so. I'll be updating some of the older posts throughout the coming days, so if you happened to be wanting any of those recipes, check in occasionally this week.

Thanks for reading!

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[UPDATE]

-Gingerbread and Royal Icing recipes have been added (with a shout-out to the readers in the Schaumburg area!)
-Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins have a recipe now, too.
-Roasted Applesauce has been re-posted!

Gingerbread with Royal Icing

We've been lucky enough to have a wonderful autumn here in New England, so I decided to try a baked tribute to the season. Gingerbread is probably my all-time favorite type of cookie to make (and possibly my favorite to eat), and I think the pairing of the spiced cookie with the subtle lemon flavoring of the royal icing is just wonderful.

This post is happening a whole week after the baking--the photos were forced to stay in my camera while I tackled week two of midterms. One more week of exams left, so hopefully my baking frequency will be a bit better come November...

Royal Icing
-2 large egg whites
-3 1/2 c. sifted confectioners sugar
-juice of 1 lemon (~4 t.)
-2 drops glycerin (optional--it adds a nice shine when the icing dries)
-food coloring (I like to use the gel colors, but the liquid works quite well too)

1. Beat egg whites until stiff but not dry.
2. Add sifted sugar, lemon juice, and glycerin. Beat 1 minute, until smooth. If necessary, add more sugar or water to achieve the desired consistency.
3. Divide into smaller bowls and tint.

Gingerbread Cookies
-6 c. sifted flour
-1 t. baking soda
-1/2 t. baking powder
-1 c. unsalted butter (2 sticks)
-1 c. dark brown sugar
-4 t. ground ginger
-4 t. ground cinnamon
-1 1/2 t. ground cloves
-1 t. ground pepper
-1 1/2 t. salt
-2 large eggs
-1 1/2 c. molasses

1. Sift together flour, baking soda, and baking powder.
2. In large bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Mix in spices. Beat in eggs and molasses.
3. Add flour mixture; mix well. Divide dough into 3-4 parts and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate dough for at least 1 hour.
4. Roll dough on floured surface to ~1/8". Cut as desired. Chill on ungreased baking sheet for 15 minutes.
5. Bake at 350* for 8-10 minutes. Cool completely on wire rack before decorating.

(The Silpats make another appearance--they did an excellent job with this recipe!)

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

After a two week hiatus, I'm back in the kitchen. And a busy two weeks it's been--preparing for Blake's visit, a wonderful long weekend, a bit of a head cold, and the beginning of midterms! There were about a half-dozen different recipes I had been planning to try in that period, so now that I have a little bit of free time, I'm hoping to squeeze in as much baking as possible.

First up--and not on the list of planned experimenting--banana chocolate chip muffins. Why? A few very ripe bananas left over, and some new silicone baking cups to try (the Silpats inspired a craze, I suspect)!

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins
-1 1/2 c. flour
-2/3 c. sugar
-1 1/2 t. baking powder
-1/4 t. salt
-1 c. mashed ripe banana (~2 large bananas)
-1 large egg
-1/2 c. unsalted butter, melted (1 stick)
-1/4 c. milk
-3/4 c. chocolate chips

1. In large bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
2. In smaller bowl, mix banana, egg, melted butter, and milk.
3. Stir wet ingredients into flour mixture until combined. Add in chocolate chips.
4. Pour into muffin cups. Bake at 350* for 30 minutes, until golden on top.
(yield: 12-15, depending on size of muffin cups used)

The bananas that I was persuaded to keep...

The new silicone baking cups (yes, red to match the kitchen).

Yet another silicone success!

UNfreezing Cookie Dough

Believe it or not, I wasn't planning on baking today. However, the surprise arrival of the Silpats today left me with absolutely no choice! The frozen snickerdoodle dough from last weekend was pretty ideal for testing. (Icy!)

Not bad! And not even a little bit of sticking. Non-stick and reusable? Better than parchment!