Leaf-Shaped Fougasse

This fougasse is made from a pretty amazing focaccia dough from the book Baking with Julia, by Dorie Greenspan. The book was written in 1996, and is a chronicle of the recipes from guests of Julia Child's PBS series, Baking with Julia. It's an inspiration.

Stir-Fried Hoisin Pork with Peppers | Wok Wednesdays

This Stir-Fried Hoisin Pork with Peppers is amazingly easy to prepare even though it calls for 14 ingredients.

You know I have this wok thing bad when the only thing I had to go out and buy was the pork!

The pork is cut into bite sized pieces and then marinaded in scallions, hoisin sauce, minced garlic, rice wine, ginger, soy sauce, salt, white pepper, and sesame oil. Unlike most of the stir-fries in the book, the ginger and garlic are in the marinade rather than seared separately. This cut down on the number of final steps and made this dish pretty easy to execute.

Once you've prepped the red bell pepper and carrot slices, along with some shredded scallions, The whole process takes about 4 to 5 minutes, if that.

I loved this stir-fry, and will definitely be making it again. It's easy, delicious, and has a great balance of protein to veggies. We served it with steamed rice. We also got to use our delicious but somewhat twisted looking home grown red bell peppers.

I am participating in Wok Wednesdays. Check out the site as well as the Facebook page for more information. Those of us who are participating have agreed not to provide the specific recipe. Instead, we'd love it if you'd get the book, Stir Frying to the Sky's Edge by Grace Young (who also helps us by discussing techniques, finding ingredients, and maintaining our woks), and join us in this adventure.

Fork Cookies (or Fork Biscuits)

Fork biscuits are, according to the interwebs, a traditional English tea time treat. They are a butter cookie made with just three ingredients: butter, sugar, and self rising flour. They are crumbly and "sandy" in all of the right ways. They are also incredibly easy to make.

The dough is rolled into balls and then pressed down with a fork, the same way we make peanut butter cookies.

"Where is the salt?" you ask. So did I. You see, I do not live in one of the lands of self rising flour. Evidently self rising flour contains pastry flour, baking powder, and salt. Fortunately, you can make your own!

I also added the zest of a tangelo to give these cookies/biscuits a faint citrusy flavor. You can also make a chocolate version.

I found these cookies on Ros's blog, The More Than Occasional Baker. It's Secret Recipe Club reveal day, and I was assigned her blog, a chronicle of her passion for baking. It is filled with an amazing number of baked treats. If you love baking, you definitely need to spend some time on her site exploring all of the goodies.

Self Rising Flour

This makes enough for this recipe, plus a little left over. 

1 1/2 C (6 ounces) pastry flour (you can mix cake flour and all purpose flour if you can't find pastry flour)

2 1/4 tsp baking powder

3/8 tsp salt

Fork Biscuits

Makes 16 cookies. Ros adapted this recipe from Mary Berry.

Ingredients

4 ounces (one stick) unsalted butter, softened

50 grams sugar

The zest of one orange, tangelo, lemon, or tangerine

150 g self rising flour

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 320 degrees F and line one cookie/baking sheet with parchment.
2. Beat the butter until creamy and light. 
3. Slowly beat in the sugar and zest. 
4. Mix in the flour on low until just incorporated. Stir with a rubber spatula to finish blending. 
5. Scrape the dough onto a piece of wax paper or plastic wrap and form it into a rectangle or log. Cut into 16 equal pieces and roll them into balls. 
6. Press each ball down with a floured fork to flatten.
7. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes. 
8. Cool on a wire rack. 

Cherry Scones

These cherry scones began with a basic scone recipe from King Arthur Flour. I added dried cherries, but you could add raisins, chocolate chips, nuts, or any combination of "add-ins."

If you place the shaped scones in the freezer for 30 minutes prior to baking them, you will get a higher rise. I'm not sure why, but it definitely worked. I guess it has something to do with relaxing gluten. Regardless, these scones rose beautifully.

These are easy to make. They are best served warm fresh out of the oven, but are also good re-warmed in a microwave for 10 seconds. They are wonderful with butter and jam. Keep any leftover scones in a sealed container.

I baked these in a Mini-Scone Pan so I shortened the baking time to about 17 minutes.

Cherry Scones

Ingredients

325 g unbleached all purpose flour

67 g sugar

3/4 tsp salt

1 T baking powder

1 stick cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces and placed back into the refrigerator

1 C dried cherries

2 large eggs

2 tsp vanilla

113g to 152g milk or cream (113 g was plenty)

Instructions

1. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder. 
2. Cut the butter into the dry ingredients with a pastry cutter or granny fork until the mixture is crumbly. 
3. Add the cherries and stir.
4. In a different bowl, mix the eggs, vanilla, and milk.
5. Add the wet ingredients to the flour mixture and stir until just mixed.
6. Divide the dough in two and form it into two 6 inch circles on a parchment lined baking sheet. The thickness should be about 3/4 inches. 
7. Cut the circles into 8 wedges and pull the wedges slightly apart. Alternatively, you can use a 
8. Place the baking sheet in the freezer, uncovered, for 30 minutes. 
9. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. 
10. Bake the scones for 17 to 25 minutes, depending on their size. They are done when they golden brown. 
11. Cool for about 5 minutes on the pan, and then serve. 
12. Store leftovers wrapped in plastic wrap at room temperature. 

The Avid Bakers of the Avid Bakers Challenge are continuing to bake recipes from the King Arthur Flour website. Check out how other bakers fared with this recipe. 

Sprinkle Cookies

These sprinkle cookies are flavored with vanilla and lemon zest, and they are just small enough that you might talk yourself into having "just one more."

Butter cookies are just so much more fun with sprinkles aren't they? This is the perfect cookie to make with kids. Just make the disks ahead of time, set out some pastry brushes, whipped egg white, and bowls of sprinkles. The kids can paint the chilled dough disks with the egg white and press them into the sprinkles. My youngest grandson and I made this batch together and it was pretty foolproof (and fun).

One of the fun things about having grandkids is that you have the perfect reason (excuse) to collect jars of sprinkles. You never know when you might need them, right? I like to have individual colors and mixed colors. Then there's themed sprinkles, jimmies, nonpareils, and sanding sugar. I've got this really cool restaurant supply place nearby that sells a wonderful array of sprinkles at really great prices. My grandsons know that I will always have the right color for "sprinkle emergencies."

Sprinkle Cookies

Makes about 36 cookies, slightly adapted from Saveur

Ingredients

1 1/2 C (6.75 ounces) unbleached all purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp Kosher salt

12 T butter, softened

3/4 C sugar

2 tsp vanilla

1 egg

zest of half of a lemon

1/2 C sprinkles

1 egg white, whisked

Instructions

1. Mix the dry ingredients in a medium bowl.
2. Using the paddle attachment of your stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar for about 2 minutes, until fluffy and pale. 
3. Add the vanilla, egg, and lemon zest and beat until smooth. 
4. Add the dry ingredients and mix on medium low until just incorporated.
5. Scoop out 1 inch balls and place them on a parchment lined baking sheet. Press them down with your fingers to create disks. Cover and chill for about an hour. 
6. When you are ready to bake, preheat your oven to 375 degrees F.
7. Brush each disk lightly with egg white and then press them into the sprinkles to fully coat them on one side (the cookies will expand in the oven). 
8. Place them sprinkle side up about one inch apart on parchment lined baking sheets. 
9. Bake, one sheet at a time, for 10 minutes. 
10. Cool on the pan for a few minutes, and then cool on a wire rack. 

The Creative Cookie Exchange theme this month is Red, White, and Blue. Independence Day is coming soon and we have to celebrate! If you are looking for inspiration to get in the kitchen and start baking, check out what all of the hosting bloggers have made:

• Patriotic Pinwheel Cookies by Becca at It's Yummi!
• Raspberry Lemon Blueberry Bars by Stacy at Food Lust People Love
• Red, White, & Blue Oatmeal Cookies by Felice at All That's Left Are The Crumbs
• Spicy Blue Cheese Shortbread Cookies by Renee at Magnolia Days
• Vanilla Pudding Cookies by Jill at Made with Love

White, Rye, and Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread

This White, Rye, and Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread is called Field Blend #1 in Ken Forkish's Flour Water Salt Yeast: The Fundamentals of Artisan Bread and Pizza. 

Singapore Noodles | Wok Wednesdays

The recipe for these Singapore Noodles is from Stir Frying to the Sky's Edge for Wok Wednesdays, and it was amazingly tasty. Even Mr. Kitchen, who tends to be annoyed with my wok adventures loved it.

Even so, the dish was difficult to photograph because:

1. It's full of curry, which makes everything look yellow. 
2. I still need to learn Lightroom and Photoshop. Someone, please kick me in the butt and make me do it. 

Regardless, this dish was amazing. You are going to have to trust me on this. 

One of my favorite parts of this recipe is the Chinese barbecued pork. It is simply one of the most amazing and delicious meats ever. Check out this post for photos of the pork, post broiling. 

This recipe called for just 4 ounces of the pork, but I made 2 pounds of it and it did not last very long in this house. Getting the book for just this recipe is well worth the price. 

This recipe calls for thin rice stick noodles. The hardest part in working with them is they tend to clump up while you are stir frying and all of the extra ingredients hang around the sides of the wok. While long noodles signify long life in Chinese culture, cutting the noodles into 6 inch strands after soaking them is really helpful in preparing this dish. 

As a member of Wok Wednesdays, I can't publish the specifics of the recipe for this dish (get the book, you won't regret it), here's what I did differently:

1. The recipe calls for 4 ounces of small shrimp. I used 16 ounces of large shrimp. 
2. Instead of using Madras curry, I used regular curry and added 1/8 tsp of cayenne pepper. 
3. I also substituted some red bell pepper for some of the green bell pepper, mostly because I had it on hand. 

The key ingredients are rice noodles, chicken broth, soy, rice wine, garlic, ginger, shrimp, bell peppers, curry, Chinese barbecued pork, and scallions. The key takeaway? Amazing. 

Once you've softened the noodles in water, you cut them into 6 to 8 inch strands. You cook the shrimp with the garlic and ginger, then cook the noodles in the curry along with the vegetables. Then you combine everything together (and add the amazing pork). Crazy good. 

We served this alongside the leftover barbecued pork and some steamed sugar snaps. We had plenty of leftovers for lunch the next day. 

Jalapeño Cheddar Coins

The dough for these Jalapeño Cheddar Coins is so easy to make ahead and freeze. When you are ready to serve them, just slice and bake! Super easy. Super delicious.

These are really tasty and are perfect with cocktails or wine.

Jalapeño Cheddar Crackers

Ingredients

2 C all purpose flour

1 tsp kosher salt

1/8 tsp baking powder

14 T cold unsalted butter cut into 1/2 inch cubes

5 oz extra sharp white cheddar cheese, grated

1 T minced jalapeño

1/4 tsp chipotle chili powder

3 T ice water

1 egg beaten with 1 T milk for egg wash

Sea salt for sprinkling

Instructions

1. Pulse the flour, salt, and baking powder in the bowl of a food processor. 
2. Add the butter and pulse a few times until the mixture is a coarse meal. 
3. Add the cheese, jalapeño, and chili powder and pulse. 
4. Add the ice water and pulse until the dough starts to form a ball. 
5. Pour the dough onto a large piece of plastic wrap and form it into a 14 inch log. Wrap with the plastic wrap and refrigerated for at least an hour. 
6. When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
7. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment.
8. Cut the dough into 3/8 inch slices and place them on the parchment. Brush with the egg wash and sprinkle lightly with sea salt.
9. Bake, one sheet at a time, for 12 to 15 minutes. 

Makes about 32 cookies. 

Recipe slightly adapted from Barefoot Contessa Foolproof. 

Cherry English Muffins

These cherry English muffins are probably the closest I've gotten to creating the "nook and cranny" English muffins for which we bakers strive. Plus they have cherries!!!

Chocolate Hazelnut Sablés

I'm pretty excited about these Chocolate Hazelnut Sablés.

First, I figured out how to put the accent over the "é."

Second, I was able to peel these hazelnuts so easily this time! I toasted them in a 325 degree F toaster oven for about 15 minutes, shaking the pan every 5 minutes (I actually started with frozen hazelnuts). Once I pulled the pan from the oven, I covered the hazelnuts with a paper towel, and started rubbing them together in the pan while they were still warm. In no time at all, the hazelnuts were peeled.**

These Chocolate Hazelnut Sablés may look like your average chocolate cookie, but the chocolate is very bittersweet, and the taste is quite sophisticated.

They are perfect with a glass of milk, a cup of coffee, or a glass of cabernet.

Chocolate Hazelnut Sablés

Makes about 55 cookies.

Ingredients

1 C hazelnuts, roasted and peeled**

1 C granulated sugar

2 tsp espresso powder disolved in 1 1/2 T warm water

5 ounces bittersweet (60 to 70 per cent) chocolate, chopped. 

6 T Dutch process cocoa powder

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 3/4 C all purpose flour

1 C cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch pieces

Instructions

1. In the bowl of a food processor with the metal blade, pulse the hazelnuts until roughly chopped. 
2. Add the sugar and espresso and pulse a few more times until the hazelnuts are finely chopped. 
3. Add the chocolate, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt, and pulse a few more times, until the chocolate is finely chopped. 
4. Add 1 C of the flour and the butter and pulse until both ingredients are incorporated. This should only be a few pulses, until you cannot see bits of butter. 
5. Scrape the dough onto a large piece of wax paper and gradually knead in the rest of the flour.
6. Divide the dough in half and roll into two 11 inch logs. Wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate for two hours. Freeze the dough if you are not planning to use it right away. 
7. When it's time to bake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. 
8. Line baking sheets with parchment paper (I alternated two baking sheets and reused the parchment paper).
9. Cut the logs into 3/8 inch slices and place them about one and 1/2 inches apart on the baking sheet. 
10. Bake the cookies, one sheet at a time, for 9 to 12 minutes. I baked mine for 10 minutes. They will be soft at first, but will firm up as they cool.
11. Cool on the baking sheet for about 3 minutes, and then cool on a wire rack. 

This recipe has been adapted from Nancy Baggett's Simply Sensational Cookies. It's a pretty amazing book.