My Urge to Bake on Saturday

Not sure what came over me last Saturday, but I wanted to do lots of baking for dinner (of course this meant lots of dishes as a result, but I didn't mind). I decided to try the all natural fish sticks I found when I went to the supermarket recently (sorry I can't remember the brand right now - but, I'll write about them again when I pick up another package on the next trip to the store). To go with the fish sticks (which were very good), I served honey glazed baby carrots, couscous and freshly baked corn bread muffins. I even made dessert, oatmeal raisin cookies - I tried a different recipe then I usually use, and they didn't quite hold together like I'm used to, but they still turned out delicious and were nice and crispy (even the next day).
If you have a favorite corn bread or oatmeal raisin recipe that you would like to share, please post it here

Here's the recipes:

Corn Bread Muffins
recipe is from the back of the Hodgson Mill Yellow Corn Meal bag

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups yellow corn meal
1 cup unbleached white flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt (recipe called for 1/2 tsp)
1 cup buttermilk
1 egg
1/4 cup vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Should Yield 12, I only got 11

Step 1 - Mix corn meal, unbleached flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt in a large bowl and set aside.
Step 2 - In another bowl, combine buttermilk, egg and vegetable oil. Pour liquid ingredients into dry ingredients and mix just until blended. Let the mixture sit in bowl for 5 minutes.
Step 3 - Spoon batter into prepared muffin tins (either lined with muffin cup liners or sprayed with no-stick cooking spray). Fill 3/4 full. Bake for 15 minutes or until tops of muffins are golden brown.
Step 4 - Remove muffins and serve immediately or cool on a wire rack.


Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
recipe is from the cookbook cook's library Baking

Ingredients
4 tbsp margarine
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten lightly
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 cups rolled oats
3/4 cup raisins

Yields between 12-15
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Step 1 - Cream the margarine and sugar together in a large bowl until light and fluffy.
Step 2 - Add the beaten egg and mix until thoroughly blended.
Step 3 - Sift the flour, salt and baking powder together into the creamed mixture. Mix well. Add the oats and raisins. Mix to form a dough.
Step 4 - Place spoonfuls of the mixture onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Flatten slightly with the back of a spoon. (I had a problem as the dough became warmer, the mixture didn't want to stick together as easily - I'm also thinking that 2 cups of oats may be slightly too much - I'll have to play around with the ingredients the next time I make them, I might try adding in some cinnamon too)
Step 5 - Bake for 15 minutes or until lightly golden brown.
Step 6 - Remove the cookies and let cool for a few minutes before transferring the cookies to a wire rack and cooling completely before serving.

Cranberry Walnut Scones

I found a basic recipe for scones online the other day and tonight before dinner I had time to make a batch. I started with the basic recipe, but made some adjustments and added a few additional ingredients that I thought would make a perfect scone. They smelled terrific when I took them out of the oven. They taste amazing.

If you're able to make these scones, I'd love to know what you think. And, if you have a favorite scone recipe of your own, feel free to post it here.

Ingredients
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup oatmeal
8 tbsp sugar
3/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
8 tbsp cold margarine
1/2 cup dried cranberries
3/4 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Yields 8

Step 1 - In a bowl, combine the flours, oatmeal, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon with a whisk.
Step 2 - Using a pastry blender, cut the cold butter into the dry ingredients until crumbly.
Step 3 - Mix in the cranberries and walnuts.
Step 4 - Add the buttermilk and blend with a spatula until the dough starts to form a ball and sticks together. (don't overmix)
Step 5 - On a lightly floured surface, push the dough into a flat circle that is about 1 inch thick. Cut the dough into 8 wedges. Transfer the wedges to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Step 6 - Bake for 22-25 minutes or until the edges are lightly browned. Cool on a wire rack.

Pizza Stones - why all the raves?

Last night was the first time I used a pizza stone - thought it was supposed to make the pizza nice and crispy with easy clean up. Boy, was I wrong! The pizza looked delicious and the crust did get crispy - but not much of it was able to be eaten, as the entire edge of the pizza stuck to the stone. The center was a bit firmer than when I would make a pizza on an air bake cookie sheet, but not like I expected. I even had cornmeal under the pizza like it instructed when pressing the dough into shape. (unfortunately, the instructions that came with the stone didn't tell me much) The clean up was horrible - it took forever to get the baked on crust off the stone. Has anybody else used a pizza stone? Do you have any suggestions on how to make it bake better and the clean up easier? In the meantime, I think I'll just stick to making mini pizzas on pita pockets... when baking on parchment paper, no clean up is involved. These pizzas can be enjoyed immediately after baking.