Delicious Oven Food:

The oven seems to be the least used kitchen tool of all time.  Here are some of the favorite foods that one can prepare using this tool, and make you look like a master chef in the process.  Enjoy.

Lemon Bread, Makes 1 loaf, baked in a 2-quart dish

¾ cup margarine

1 ½ cups sugar

3 eggs

2 ¼ cup flour

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon baking soda

¾ cup buttermilk

Grated rind from 1 lemon

¾ cup chopped nuts

Glaze:

The juice from the 1 lemon and ½ cup sugar

Cream together margarine and sugar. Beat in eggs. Sift flour, salt, and baking soda together and add to batter alternately with buttermilk, mixing well each addition. Stir in rind and nuts. Pour batter into a greased and floured 2-quart baking dish. Bake at 325° for 1 hour and 20 minutes. Cool bread 15 minutes in dish, remove to serving plate, pierce top and spoon on glaze: To make glaze combine the lemon juice and sugar until smooth and drizzle over bread and into pierced holes.

Soft-Baked Bread Sticks, Makes 32 bread sticks, or 2 loaves of bread

6 to 6 ½ cups unbleached flour

2 packages yeast

2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon salt

¼ cup vegetable oil

2 ¼ cups warm water

Coarse salt, at baking time

Mix together 2 cups flour, yeast, sugar, salt, oil, and water. Beat 2 minutes at medium speed. Add 1 cup flour; mix 1 minute longer. Add 3 cups flour, stirring with a wooden spoon. Knead dough on a floured surface for 5 to 10 minutes, using more flour as necessary. Rest dough in greased bowl, covered with a tea towel for 20 minutes. Punch down dough before shaping.

To shape, cut dough in half and then in half again. You should have 4 approximately 3 x 8-inch pieces of dough. Cut each into 8 pieces. Roll between hands to form bread stick shapes. Place on cookie sheets. Oil tops and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 2 to 24 hours to rise again before baking. (This is called the cool-rise method.) Remove from fridge and sprinkle rolls with coarse salt just before baking. Bake at 425° for 15 to 20 minutes.

This recipe can be baked as 2 loaves of bread. To do so, shape dough into 2 loaves and place in greased loaf pans, oil tops, and cool-rise for the 2 to 24 hours, covered with plastic wrap just like the bread sticks. Adjust baking temperature to 400° and bake for 30 to 40 minutes.”

Banana Chocolate-Chip Muffins, Makes 12 muffins

2 extra-ripe bananas

2 eggs

¾ cup brown sugar

½ cup butter, melted

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 ¼ cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 cup chocolate chips

Mash bananas. In large bowl, beat bananas, eggs, sugar, butter, and vanilla until blended. Add flour, baking powder, and cinnamon. Stir in chocolate chips. Mix just until blended. Spoon into paper-lined muffin tins. Bake at 350° for 25 to 30 minutes. Remove from pan and let cool.  For tender muffins, mix liquid and dry ingredients until just moistened. Over-mixing causes muffins to be tough, coarse textured, and full of tunnels.

Fresh Pretzels, Makes 8 servings

Put into a large bowl and stir until dissolved:

1 ¼ teaspoons dry yeast

¾ cup warm water

Sift into small bowl:

1 ½ cups flour

1 teaspoon sugar

½ teaspoon salt

Gradually add the flour mixture to the liquid mixture. Use your hands and work dough until it’s soft and firm but not sticky. Add a little more flour if necessary, about 1 tablespoon. Knead dough until smooth and elastic about 5 minutes. Grease a medium size bowl. Lightly grease your fingertips and place the dough in the bowl. Set aside.

At time of baking: 1 egg, beaten and Coarse salt

Grease a cookie sheet. Divide dough into 15 pieces. With your hands, roll each piece from center out to ends, forming a thin rope about a foot long. Loop each rope into the shape of a pretzel and place on cookie sheet. Brush each pretzel with beaten egg; sprinkle with coarse salt. Bake 10 to 15 minutes in 450° oven, until golden brown.

The Flourless Chocolate Cake, Serves 12.

This cake is like a super-moist fallen chocolate soufflé with a delicately crisp crust. It puffs up a lot while it bakes and then falls as it cools—so don’t panic. Be sure to give it at least 20 minutes to cool before serving; if it’s too warm, it will be tasty but much too difficult to cut.

5 eggs

1 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup coffee liqueur

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Powdered sugar, for dusting

1 1/2 cups whipped cream, as accompaniment

Organic rose petals, for garnish

Preheat the oven to 350°. Grease a 10-inch spring-form pan and wrap the outside with foil to prevent leaking; set aside.

Place the eggs and sugar in the bowl of a mixer fitted with a whip attachment, and whip on high speed, occasionally scraping down the sides of the bowl, until very thick and fluffy, about 10 minutes. (Yes, it really takes that long; if you mix it for a shorter length of time, the cake will be only 1/4 inch tall.) Add the liqueur and mix well. With the mixer on medium speed, add the butter, a few pieces at a time, and beat until well blended. (The batter may look "broken," or separated, at this point, but the chocolate will bind with the butter and fix that.) With the mixer on low speed, add the chocolate and vanilla extract, and mix until smooth. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake until the cake moves as one mass when you gently jiggle the pan, about 30 minutes. (It’s much better to under bake this cake than to over bake it; it will be a bit gooey, but I’ve never seen anyone turn up their nose at that.) Let cool for 10 to 20 minutes, remove the outer ring of the pan and the foil, then let cool about 30 minutes longer before serving. Serve at room temperature, topped with a dusting of powdered sugar and softly whipped cream. Garnish with rose petals.

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This batch of gingersnaps are from my great-grandmother’s recipe, Spicy and chewy, they are just how I like gingersnaps to be.

Great-Grandma’s Gingersnaps, Serving Size, about 30 cookies.

3/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 cups sugar

1/4 cup unsulfured molasses

1 egg

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup graham flour

Pinch of salt

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground cloves

1 teaspoon ground ginger

Preheat the oven to 350°. Grease a sheet pan well and set aside.

Place the butter and 1 cup of the sugar in the bowl of a mixer and beat on high speed, scraping down the sides of the bowl often, until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. With the mixer on low speed, add the molasses and egg, and beat well. Add the flours, salt, baking soda, and spices, and mix on low speed until all of the ingredients are incorporated. Increase the speed to medium and mix just until the dough is smooth. Remove the bowl from the mixer.

Place the remaining 1 cup sugar on a large plate. Shape the dough into 1-inch balls, roll them in the sugar to coat, and place on the prepared pan, making sure you give the cookies enough space to spread as they bake. Bake until golden brown (they will be a bit darker than other drop cookies because the dough is dark to begin with), about 15 minutes. Let the cookies cool on the pan for a few minutes, then transfer to a rack or paper towels and let cool completely.

Zucchini Bread, Makes 2 loaves.

Anyone with a garden has made zucchini bread. I like to serve it sliced and toasted, topped with a pat of butter. If you have any left the next day, use it to make an incredible version of French toast.

1 cup vegetable oil

2 cups sugar

3 eggs

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

2 cups shredded zucchini

1 (8-ounce) can crushed pineapple, drained

3 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 cup chopped nuts

1 cup shredded sweetened coconut

 

Preheat the oven to 350°. Grease two 9 by 5-inch loaf pans; set aside.

Combine the oil, sugar, eggs, and vanilla extract in the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, and mix on medium speed until well blended, about 2 minutes. Add the zucchini and pineapple, and mix well. Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices, and mix on low speed just until combined. Remove the bowl from the mixer, and fold in the nuts and coconut. Divide the batter between the 2 prepared pans, and bake until the bread slowly springs back when touched lightly in the center, about 1 hour. Let cool for about 15 minutes, then remove the bread from the pans. Serve warm or at room temperature.

May your eyes twinkle and your stomach be content - Bird