Garlic Bagels

Mmmm... yes, fresh made bagels are so good.  Garlic bagels are one I have been making every other week for awhile now and sometimes as a double batch.

Originally, I was dividing the dough into equal balls once it was ready and having 8, but the last couple of time I have divided it out into 10. My husband said they are more normal bagel size now. I guess it is all about how big a serving of bagel you are wanting. 😊

These are really not overly time consuming. I have a stand mixer and so they don't require kneading the dough by hand either. Yay.

2 teaspoons yeast
1 1/2 tablespoons of white sugar
1 1/4 cups of warm water
3 1/2 cups of bread flour
3/4 tablespoon granulated garlic (could use garlic powder as a sub)
2 tsp salt

oil
fresh minced garlic or pre-minced garlic (from the produce section at the store)
baking soda
corn meal

put the yeast, water, & sugar into the mixer bowl and let it sit about 5 min.

add the flour, salt, and garlic. Attach the dough hook, turn on the mixer speed 1 for a minute then up it to speed 2.  Mix it for 10 minutes.   Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl & cover with a piece of parchment (or pam type spray used on wax paper works) and cover that with a dry dish towel.

Leave it be for 1 hour.

Uncover and punch the dough.  Turn on oven to 425. Get a pot going on the stove filled 2/3 with water and bring to a boil.  oil 2 full size cookie sheets, dusting one of those with cornmeal.  divide the dough into 8-10 pieces/balls.  Poke your thumb through each and shape the bagel leaving the hole a couple inch wide and as you finish shaping sit it on the oiled sheet.

the water should be boiling now, add about 2 tablespoons of baking soda to it. 

add each to the boiling water (I only do one at a time) 1 at a time boiling each side 20-30 seconds.  Remove with a slotted spoon and put onto the oiled and cornmealed cookie sheet.  Once you have them all done, place into the hot oven and bake 12 minutes. Remove and add the minced garlic to the top and place back into the oven for about 5 min.  Remove from oven and transfer the bagels to a wire rack to cool.

I store mine in the refrigerator and toast them up with butter in the toaster oven. Mine keep for a week to 2 weeks in there if any last that long. You can freeze them though.

Tasty eats!  Buttered, with cream cheese, or even as sandwich bread.

Fluffy Pancakes from a mix

So, my favorite pancake is actually a from scratch recipe.  But sometimes you want just enough for one with no leftovers and a box mix can be that quick fix.

The generic brand of mix and a can of sparkling water. In this case, lemon bubly.

You just trade out the water and use the bubly. Equal liquid to what the serving size on the box called for. And in the same fashion, if you don't want as thick a batter add a bit more liquid when initially mixing. It will froth up a bit while mixing. Mix just til well blended. Ladle into a hot greased griddle or skillet and cook per usual for pancakes.

Has a great fluffy texture and a slight lemon taste. Yum.  I do not use syrup, ever, so not sure how that would taste.  But the pancakes themselves can be given this light tinge of flavor with fluff by changing up the flavors of sparkling water used. Lots of possibilities.

Happy eating.....

Cranberry Bagels

As of a month or so ago, I started making bagels. This is the most recent version. I have been making potato cracked peppercorn and also garlic bagels.

  These came out good, but I will likely reduce the fruit by 1/3 next batch to compare and decide which is better.

Recipe
3 1/2 cups bread flour
1 1/3 cups warm water
2 tsp yeast (I use the red star brand I buy in 2 pound bag)
5 tblsp white sugar
1 tblsp soft or melted butter (the real thing)
1 tsp salt
1 cup of craisins
1-2 tblsp oil (for coating bowl for dough rise and also the baking sheet)
Cornmeal
Baking soda (couple of tsp to add to the water boil)

I have an 8 qt kitchenaid stand mixer, but any stand mixer works. If you don't have one you could mix everything and hand knead it awhile.

So, put yeast and warm water in the mixing bowl. Let sit 5 minutes. Add all other ingredients and use your dough hook turn to speed 2 and mix. Once formed into dough continue to mix for 10 minutes.

Then, put in oiled bowl and cover with a towel if bowl deep enough or a piece of wax paper sprayed with pan coating.  Rise til about double which is usually about an hour.

Punch the dough. Let it sit a few minutes. Divide it into 8 balls. Poke your thumb into each one shaping your bagel with a silver dollar sized hole and set on a  greased pan. Turn on the oven to 425. While it heats boil a pot of water. When water reaches boil add baking soda to it. Boil one or two if big enough pot at a time, about 30 seconds per side. Then remove and put on oiled baking sheet dusted with cornmeal. Once done, bake for about 16 minutes. Remove from oven. Let sit a minute, and remove to a cooling rack.

Yum

After cooled completely I keep in the fridge so they hold up longer.

Fabulous homemade candy

This one is a definite keeper.

So glad I found this post Vegan "Butterfinger" Candy  It is only the second recipe for this candy I've found that doesn't use candy corn in it. The other, I tried before finding this post was a larger qty of some ingredients and following the instructions given made way thick candy which didn't have the right texture. It was much harder not as flaky. I was going make again with tweaks, but found this post and made it instead. 

The only change I made was cooking the syrup in the microwave. These turned out amazing and once enrobed in chocolate are pretty spot on. A great clone of the original. Yay! Hurray for homemade!

My photo has one pan (bottom left) of chocolate coated pecans. I will usually use up any excess chocolate coating nuts. No waste and you gain another snack.

Microwave Sponge Candy

So, I had seen assorted posts in my net surfing and scrolling on pinterest regarding sponge candy for quite a long time. I even found several hailing the greatness of the Boston area candy company who apparently started the whole idea many decades ago. And too, also, came across many who posted different names it went by: sponge, hokey-pokey, angelfood, honeycomb, cinder toffee, etc.  Honestly, never heard of any of them before I stumbled across the posts as I mentioned.  I like candy and have been in my share of candy shops over my lifetime yet don't recall ever seeing this stuff. Hm.

Anyway, the photos looked enticing. It seemed similar to the peanut brittle I make except most all recipes were on the stovetop and I do not make my brittle that way. I did once. It didn't turn out so well and then I found a microwave version. After I made the peanut brittle that way (perfect every time!) I never would consider trying to cook it on a stovetop again. The microwave version is also faster. So, that said, with the sponge I started trying to look for a microwave version. The only one that kept appearing had 4 ingredients (included in that vinegar) and I did try it twice. First try got me something sticky that was not the right consistency. I chucked it. Second go at it, correct consistency but it was burnt. The issue was it had a time range on how long to cook and was not exact. I figured 3rd time would be the charm and then ended up not using that recipe again. Instead, I came across another stove top version that sounded appealing and tweaked it for microwave cooking. Success first time I made it. Woot! 

Consequently, I most likely won't make that other recipe I referenced a third time since there is no need to do so. 😎 I am one who likes making candy at Christmas to add to goodie box gifts. So, another that is a winner that is easy to make is fabulous. I have seen many that enrobe their sponge candy in chocolate. I haven't tried that yet because I didn't have any paraffin (food grade) to use with my chocolate chips to make dipping chocolate (that sets up and stays like on a store/candy shop candy would).  That is certainly an option if you want to add it to yours. Or leave it plain! It has gone over very well with the dozen or so people who have tried what I have made (couple batches now).  I should add that this sponge candy is a lot like a lighter more airy butter toffee. Here is the recipe if you would like to try it. 


                   Butter Toffee Sponge Candy - Microwave 

1/2 cup (1 cube) of real butter (no margarine) plus about 1 tablespoon of additional to grease the pan
1 cup of granulated sugar 
1/2 cup of corn syrup (I use Karo)
1 tablespoon of baking soda 
2 teaspoons of pure vanilla extract

Either an 8 or 9 inch square pan. If you go with 8 inch your toffee will be thicker.  I have been using the 9 inch non-stick no-seam metal pan.  You will need to grease it on bottom and all sides to the rim on inside of pan. 

A microwave safe GLASS BOWL (sorry, needed to emphasize you cannot use plastic/metal etc) that is at least 1.5 quarts in size.  Mine in photos below is a Pyrex 1.5 qt.

You need to prep everything before you start cooking because once it's ready to start adding things it goes really quick and the candy will start setting/hardening before you can get it out of the bowl. 

The sugar is measured out and the baking soda has been measured out and put in the green 1/4 cup. Push it around a bit to squish any lumps you might see.

So, butter up the pan.....

 In the glass bowl, put the butter, sugar, and karo. You can try to mix it a little, but really it won't much until the butter is melted. So, place the bowl in the microwave at 1 minute on full power. Take it out and stir as best you can then put it back in the microwave for another minute. Mix well at that point.  

Put back in the microwave and set it for 4 minutes on high/full power. Remove and stir it up.

Put it back in the microwave for 1 more minute at full/high power.

Now you stir in the vanilla.

Then, one more minute in the microwave on high.

Now, stir it up. Now is the really act fast part. Add the baking soda and stir quickly about 4-5 times. Then, pour into the buttered pan scraping the bowl some. Don't touch the pan, don't jostle it, shake it or anything thinking you need to 'settle' the candy. It will spread on it's own and will change appearance some as it cools.

Some air bubbles might surface or pop as it is sitting left alone. Totally normal. Awhile later it is looking like below.

Now, it usually takes about an hour to be totally cool. Touch the bottom of the pan at that point to check. I then smack my palm upward on the underside of the pan while I am holding it with the other hand to put a crack in the candy. It helps to get it out.

Then, you can either exploit the crack with a butter knife or use a hard plastic (or something similar yet safe for non-stick pan surfaces) on one of the sides to pry up a piece. Once you get part of it out the rest lifts up no problem. Snap it into pieces and enjoy!  I store mine while it lasts in a gallon zip lock. Even the little crumbles can be used in cookies, ice cream, just to eat....

Now, you can chose to enrobe it in chocolate before storing. If you opt for that, you need about 1 12oz bag of chocolate chips or equivalent in bar form and about 1/4 of a paraffin bar (a couple tablespoons worth if you shredded it). Melt those together in the microwave heating 1 min at a time and stirring well after each minute til it is smooth. Then, dip each piece of sponge in the chocolate and lay out to set on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper. Once fully set, you can store in a zip lock.

*Enjoy!

oh, a helpful hint for cleaning your bowl you cooked the candy in. Once the candy has been poured into your pan, run the glass bowl under straight hot water at the sink. It will melt the candy off the bowl. After it has melted away, adjust your water temp and wash as you normally would.




 

Rolling

Rolls from week before last. I made up 3 batches at same time.

Usually, I make one at a time or at holidays 2 batches (since the family would have a lot to say about it if I didn't, lol). A single batch is about 24 rolls inside of a 13x9 pan. When just two of us I have sometimes made a half batch.

Homemade bread is great and the recipe for these is no knead that was my husband's grandma's.

Oh, and of course, baking makes the house smell delicious.