Cranberry Walnut Bread

The "Wine and Cheese Party" has long been a staple of Bonaccorsi family meals. These "parties" are the dinners where we cut up bread, apples, and all our favorite cheeses and sit around the kitchen counter, snacking up a storm. If we're feeling really fancy, we'll occasionally bust out the shrimp cocktail. No matter how fancy or casual we're feeling, though, there's always a loaf of cranberry walnut bread from Whole Foods. Actually, there are two loaves, because this dream bread heats up like a dream for the next day's breakfast.

I have strong feelings about this bread and wanted desperately to make it myself while I was still in my bread making craze. When I looked up the recipe online, though, I found that the recipe for the exact Whole Foods bread isn't the greatest thing for your health (which is probably why it's so delicious) I decided to spruce it up a little.
This version uses whole wheat flour, a lot less sugar, and apple sauce instead of the fats that the traditional recipe.

I am seriously considering making this bread again and bringing it to Thanksgiving dinner with me, but that might be a little much as I am already responsible for the cranberry sauce (recipe to come). If you're hosting the meal this year, I strongly encourage you to make this bread--the smell alone is totally worth it!
I hope you love this bread as much as we do, whether you serve it at a feast or a wine and cheese party.

Cranberry Walnut Bread
Makes 2 round loaves

3 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour
1 tsp salt
2 tbs sugar
2 tbs honey
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1 tbs unsweetened apple sauce
1 cup milk (I used almond milk)
5 tbs butter
1 Tbs dry active yeast

In a small pot or microwave safe bowl, heat the milk and butter until the butter is melted. Cool the milk Add the sugar and honey, and mix until dissolved.
All ow the mixture to cool until it is warm (105-110ºF), then mix in the yeast. Allow the mixture to sit for 5 minutes, or until the milk bubbles through the butter layer on top.
In a large bowl, mix the flour, salt, nuts, and cranberries.
When the yeast has proofed, add to the flour mixture, along with the apple sauce. Mix with a fork until thoroughly combined.
Turn out on a floured surface and knead the dough well for about 8 minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic.
Form the dough into a ball and cover with flour. Place the dough back in the bowl, cover with a kitchen towel and allow to sit until doubled in size, about an hour and a half. *If you need to move a little more quickly, you can let it rise for an hour, but the longer it sits, the more the flavors will develop.*
Preheat the oven to 400ºF
When the dough is risen, turn it out onto a floured surface and knead for 1 minute.
Divide the dough into 2 balls and allow them to rise, covered, for 30 minutes.
Bake the 2 balls on a pizza stone or parchment lined sheet for 15 minutes, then lower the heat to 350ºF and continue baking for another 45 minutes.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool to nearly room temperature before slicing.
Enjoy!

I Miss You, so Here's a Plum Cake

Hey all! I've gotta say that only posting ince a week s killing me in a small way. I miss the days when I would come home from work, crank up the oven, oblivious to the summer heat, and bake, cook, simmer, and steam almost every day of the week. I'm lustful for the days of spontaneous meringue-ing, baking brownies in the middle of the night. Oh, and this early November snow? I'm finding my hands subconsciously rotating like I'm stirring soup.
I'm an addict. This is withdrawal. It's bad, bad, very bad.

There is light at the end of the tunnel, though. THANKSGIVING IS COMING! This means day after day of shameless cooking. Cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, pot pies, crumbles, smoothies, and custards are all coming your way in the very near future. Oh, and I get to make all the dishes to satiate your sweet tooth every sunday from Thanksgiving until Christmas--an even longer period of shameless cooking with even more spices!

See how dark the batter is? That's from all the vanilla!

I miss you--writing these posts, thinking of new ideas--just as badly as I miss my pink rubber spatula back home. Because I miss you and you're even more fantastic than Christmas cookies and sweet potatoes (the highest of praise in my book) I made you a plum cake. Gone are the days when prunes were the dreaded black, crinkly rocks in the very back of the cabinet. Soaking the prunes in warm milk, and folding them into a thick, vanilla scented batter brings them to life like you wouldn't believe. So bake up, eat up, and enjoy a deeply vanilla cake with bursts of sweet and savory prunes.

Vanilla Plum Cake
Makes 1 9 inch cake

1 cup all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk
1.5 tsp lemon juice or apple cider vinegar
6 large prunes

Preheat the oven to 400ºF, and prepare 1 9-inch cake pan by greasing, lining with parchment, greasing again and dusting with flour.
In a microwave-safe bowl, heat the milk for 1 to 2 minutes, until it's very hot but not boiling. Add the prunes to the hot milk and set aside.
In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and flouw until light and smooth. Add the egg and vanilla, mixing until well incorporated. Remove the prunes from the milk when they are plump and softened. Add the lemon juice to the milk and mix.
Add 1/2 the flour to the butter and egg mixture, when it is fully combined, add half of the milk. Add the rest of the flour and milk, mixing well.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and scatter (or carefully arrange) the prunes in the batter. Lightly cover the tops of the prunes with more batter to prevent burning.
Bake at 400º for 20-25 minutes. Allow the cake to cool in the pan for at least 10 minutes before turning out to slice.
This cake is great served at any temperature, but is at its best when served warm!

Gluten Free Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

These cookies were a challenge to myself.
I sometimes do that, set random challenges for myself when I am bored.

This time around, I wanted to make my favorite thing ever: A Chocolate Chip Cookie
The rules were: I needed to use up the rest of my glutenous rice flour, left from mochi making
                         I needed to make something totally gluten free without a trip to the grocery store
                         I needed to make something with browned butter. And 1 bowl. (Mix in the pot!)
                         I needed to make something that I would want to eat myself.

My chips were a little...huge

These cookies are chewy! There's really no other way of describing them, other than beautifully caramelized, golden with browned butter, and extra soft from extra brown sugar.
Really, though, they're the chewiest cookies I've ever had. I love it!
The recipe may seem a little confusing as they are gluten free cookies, made with glutenous flour. This description is just of the texture of the flour, not the actual gluten content.

I sometimes find the texture and taste of rice flour a little too starchy and just a little off, but the toastyness of the browned butter, the slightly caramelized sugar, and chunky chocolate (something I usually don't go for in chocolate chip cookies) meld so well together, and really counteract any white-starch taste that could otherwise lead to a pasty cookie.

Browned Butter and Brown Sugar

Gluten Free Browned Butter Cookies

1 stick of butter, browned
1 stick of butter, softened
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups + Tbs glutenous rice flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
12 oz semisweet chocolate chips or chopped chocolate

Preheat oven to 350ºF, and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Cream the softened butter and white sugar until fluffy.
Brown the other stick of butter in a medium sauce pan. Quickly mix in the brown sugar and mix well, until some of the sugar has totally dissolved. Allow the mixture to cool to room temperature.
Beat in the softened butter and white sugar and add the eggs one at a time, beating until well combined. Add the vanilla.
In a separate bowl, combine the flour, salt and baking powder. Whisk out any lumps in the flour, and to combine.
Add the flour mixture to the butter and sugar, mixing well with a rubber spatula. Gently fold in the chocolate chunks.
Portion the dough into 1 inch balls and refrigerate for 1 to three hours. Place chilled dough on the cookie sheets and bake for 9 to 12 minutes, or until lightly golden around the edges but still soft in the middle.

*These are slightly different from standard cookies, in that they can be under baked. I know, it's a great shock, but it's true. Rice flour has a slightly starchy consistency so if it's under baked the cookies will taste a bit off. Letting the dough sit and meld in the fridge will help a lot with this, so make sure it gets at least 1 hour to chill*

Whole Wheat Pita Bread

Sometimes I get stuck in a rut. A less flattering term might be obsessive. I am currently going through a yeast phase, a bread obsession. I working with yeasted dough is just about the most fun a girl could have (my weekends sound crazy, I know.)

So, after making a lot of yeasted loafs and rounds, I decided it was time to mix it up and make a flatbread, specifically pita bread to go with the crazy hoarder-like stock of hummus in the refrigerator.
These were really fun to make and the dough is so minimal, you probably have all the ingredients sitting around already--you can even use all purpose flour and it will work just fine.

Whole Wheat Pita Bread
Makes 10 medium pitas

4 cups white whole wheat flour, plus more for rolling and shaping
1 1/4 cups warm water (105ºF)
2 Tbs olive oil, plus extra for rising
1 Tbs dry yeast
1/2 Tbs sugar
1/2 tsp salt

Preheat the ven to 500ºF and place a pizza stone or baking pan in the oven to heat on the bottom rack.
In a small bowl, mix the water, honey and yeast and allow it to proof until it foams. If the mixture does not foam, try again with new yeast.
In a large bowl, mix the flour and salt. Add the proofed yeast and water, and olive oil.
Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead until the dough becomes smooth and elastic.
Roll the dough into a ball, cover with the olive oil and place back in the bowl. Cover with kitchen towels and rise in a warm place until almost doubled in size, about 1 hour.
Split the dough into 10 balls and roll them flat, about 1/4 inch thick. Place on the heated stone and bake on the bottom rack of the oven for 30 minutes, flipping 1/2 way through.
Serve with hummus, baba ganoush, or your favorite fresh veggies!

Pumpkin Cookies with Brown Sugar Glaze

Sometimes things are best left untouched. I can never resist messing with a recipe that I already love, making it vegan, gluten free, or otherwise "alternative". Some of these attempts are more successful than others, much more successful.
Take, for example, the humble pumpkin cookie. These classic cakey treats are the epitome of an adaptable recipe. They're also the epitome of delicious. This past weekend, I was home from school for fall break and I decided that pumpkin cookies were needed, and that they would be made without eggs, any form of fat, and minimal sugar.

Needless to say, they came out tasting exactly as you would expect a cookie that was essentially flour, spices, and pumpkin puree to taste. They had the texture of rubber cement and tasted of somehow overly sweet pumpkin skin.
They were bad.

Luckily, I didn't use all the pumpkin puree, so I was able to whip up a batch of the highly favored original recipe. Unlike my little mounds or orange rubber, these cookies are cakey, surprisingly light in texture, and so fragrant you're going to wonder how you can use them as air fresheners (all you can do is bake more). They're deeper and darker than a standard pumpkin cookie because of the brown sugar and molasses. These burnt orange beauties are a fall classic, tying together the holiday taste of gingerbread and the homey taste of pumpkin, perfect for an afternoon treat with a cup of coffee, milk, or hot cider.

Pumpkin Spice Cookies with Brown Sugar Glaze
Makes 24 cookies

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
1/4 cup molasses
6 Tbs unsalted butter, softened
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat your oven to 350ºF and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
In a medium mixing bowl, mix together the cinnamon, ginger, flour, salt, and baking powder. In another bowl, cream together the butter, sugar and molasses until light and fluffy. Add the pumpkin, vanilla, and egg and stir until thoroughly combined. Add the flour mixture and stir mix well, using a rubber spatula to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl.
Drop by rounded tablespoon-and-a-half-fulls on your lined baking sheets and bake until the edges are firm, about 15 to 18 minutes. Remove from the oven, cool on the pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack for glazing.

Glaze:
3 Tbs unsalted butter
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup milk
1 cup powdered sugar
Bring the first 3 ingredients to a boil in a small pan, stirring. When the mixture deepens in color, after about 2 minutes, remove from the heat and add the powdered sugar and stir until it cools slightly. When the glaze is still warm, drizzle it over the tops of the cookies.

S'more Pie, Dorm Style

Sometimes you need to simplify. Whether it's because you don't have the time, energy, or even the kitchen.
A friend if mine just turned 18 in her first month of college.

She had new friends to celebrate with but no cake. A birthday without a cake is hardly a birthday at all, in my opinion, so I had to make one.
It was actually a pie, but sometimes you just have to sacrifice.
This is not a glory cake(pie) it's as simple as it gets, made with a lot of chemical-sweet packaged products. It's good though. Super sweet and bit tastes like childhood. So simplify and celebrate!!

S'mores Pie

1 graham cracker crust (premade or from scratch)
1 jar marshmallow fluff
1 1/2 cups whipped topping, thawed
4 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped or chips
1/2 cup half and half (stolen from the dining hall is best)

In a microwave, heat the half and half for 2-3 minutes, until almost boiling. Add the chocolate pieces and allow them to stand for 2 minutes. Stir to combine and melt the chocolate into the half and half.
Pour the ganache into the pie crust and chill in the fridge for 2 hours, until the chocolate has set.
In a bowl, gently fold the marshmallow fluff into the whipped topping.
Evenly spread the marshmallow mixture over the ganache and crust.
Add candles, sing, and enjoy!

Amaretti Cookies

When I was a little kid, my dad would go to Domino's bakery every Saturday morning. It was a small Italian pastry shop near my house, and every trip was the highlight of my week. Even the dog loved the trip in the car. Every Saturday, Joe Dad would put on his blue jeans and she would go wild, leaping in circles, and tackling my sister and I until we made our way out to the car.
My sister, Andrea, would always get either a chocolate eclair or a cream napoleon, my mom always got a Danish (I still don't understand this) and my dad and I would mix up our orders every week. I always gravitated toward the petits fours, with either a mini cheesecake, carrot cake, almond cream puff, or cannoli--the only thing more appealing than mini cakes. My dad seemed to get a different thing each time, though if there were almond croissants, he'd get at least one.
He always got a box of amaretti.

Well, he almost always got a box of amaretti. Each time we'd visit, he would ask the little old lady behind the counter whether the cookies were crisp or chewy, and would only buy them if they were chewy (lucky for us, the pastry chef who preferred chewy usually had the morning shift on Saturday)
These cookies are still my dad's favorite and though he has a new favorite bakery, every time he goes, he still picks up a box of amaretti and I get to relive those great Saturday mornings filled with delicious cookies, almond scented pastry cream, and adorable petits fours with my family.
I decided to leave each member of my family with a little gift of food when I leave for school, and thought these would be perfect for Dad. My mom's getting pretzel rolls, and Andrea's getting meringue cupcakes, but of the 3, these are my favorite, and the most sentimental.

I've tried several recipes and though they always come out tasting great (except the one batch that was crunchy shudders) I have never ben able to perfectly recreate the cookies from the bakery. This batch comes closest as it's pretty dense and has a stronger almond flavor from the almond extract. In all honesty, most people probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference between these and the cookies from my childhood, but I've had plenty of experience with amaretti, and the memory of the flavor of these cookies stands out in my mind because it's surrounded with so many other great memories.

Soft Amaretti Cookies
(Gluten Free)
Makes about 20 cookies

7 oz crumbled almond paste
1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 egg white
1/2 tsp almond extract
1 Tbs honey
Pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 350ºF and line 2 cookie sheets with parchment.
In a stand mixer, beat the almond paste on high speed, until thoroughly broken up, somewhere between crumbs and a spreadable paste. Slowly add the powdered sugar, continuing to stir on low speed.
Add the egg white, extract, honey and salt and beat on medium, until thick and well mixed. This should take about 5 minutes.
Put the dough in a pastry bag with a plain tip and pipe 1 inch circles onto the cookie sheets and bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until crisp on the outside but still soft and slightly gummy on the inside.