Welcome Baby Kendal!

Welcome to the world, Kendal

My dear friend Racheal gave birth to the most beautiful baby girl on February 10, 2012. Here are Kendal and her mom in the hospital less than two days after she came into the world. She was a couple weeks ahead of schedule so her lungs needs a little extra care for a few days, but now she is home and happy.

All those cute little toes! Isn't she precious?!

I love being Auntie Mary and can't wait to spoil her with lots of hugs and cookies. Her older brother's first real food? My chocolate cinnamon bundt! Awesome.

Congratulations Racheal & Lee! - mary

White Loaves - Tuesdays with Dorie: Baking with Julia

White Bread - Baking with Julia

Whoo Hoo!
It's Tuesday.
And we're back! It's the first week of Tuesdays with Dorie: Baking with Julia edition.

For the past few years, a group of bloggers baked our way through the awesome Dorie Greenspan cookbook: Baking from My Home to Yours. When that finished (4 years later), we all wanted to continue baking! So we embark on baking twice a month from the classic book Baking with Julia - combining two treasures: Julia Child and Dorie Greenspan!

For this week's Tuesdays with Dorie: Baking with Julia, the organizers Laurie and Jules are hosting our inaugural baking extravaganza!

Whenever I make bread, I wonder why I don't make bread more often! I love the chemistry of it all...all those little yeast molecules coming back to life.

I made 1/2 the recipe for one loaf. I raced home after work, kneaded the dough, and let it rise while I went to pilates. Then I punched it down and let it go for a second rise while I shopped at Costco. It was a multi-tasking night!

Thanks to my friend Shannon, I was able to put lovely homemade Apple Preserves on the bread. Thanks Shannon for this treat!

Be sure to check out the other Tuesdays with Dorie members!

Recipe:
The Tuesdays with Dorie group encourages you to support cookbook authors like Dorie Greenspan and purchase the book. You won't be disappointed! You can also check WorldCat to see if your local library has the book.

White Loaves, page 81-82
Recipe is also on the host's blog:  Someone's in the Kitchen

Napa Cabbage, Asian Pear and Carrot Salad

I'm guest blogging over at Kitchen Corners blog. Damaris is one of my favorite bloggers and she started off 2012 with 31 days of salads!

I made a Napa Cabbage, Asian Pear and Carrot Salad. Check it out on Kitchen Corners! ;) - mary

Chocolate Breakfast Muffins - King Arthur Flour

Chocolate Breakfast Muffins

Chocolate for breakfast. Sign me up!

This is pretty much a cupcake without frosting...so that makes it totally legit for breakfast. ;)

This recipe is super duper easy and from the fine folks at King Arthur Flour. You can throw the ingredients together in the morning and bake them while you are taking a shower. The muffin has Dutch-process cocoa and some chocolate chips for a double chocolate punch.


My friend Racheal came down with the dreaded cold... Have you had it yet? It is going around like crazy. I dropped this care package for Racheal and her cute son, Caden to get the healing started. Chocolate is medicinal, right?! Believe me, this is much better than a get well card.


Look what I bought myself for my birthday! A little stamp that says "From the Kitchen of...The Food Librarian." It's made by Three Designing Women. You can pick one up on Amazon - they mail you a blank stamp and a certificate to order the design online.

Recipe:

Adapted from King Arthur Flour's website

Chocolate Breakfast Muffins

2/3 cup (2 ounces) Dutch-proces cocoa 

1 3/4 cups (7 1/4 ounces) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

1 1/4 cups (9 3/8 ounces) light brown sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon espresso powder, optional (I used the espresso powder...coffee punches up with chocolate flavor) 

1 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup (6 ounces) chocolate chips (I used Nestle semi-sweet chocolate chips)

2 eggs

1 cup (8 ounces) milk (I used whole milk)

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 teaspoons vinegar

1/2 cup (4 ounces, 1 stick) butter, melted

Optional: coarse pearl sugar, for topping (I didn't have any pearl sugar (must get some, it is so pretty on the chocolate muffin)...I used some sanding sugar instead)

Prep: Preheat oven to 400°F. Prep muffin tin (I sprayed mine with Pam with Flour spray).

1. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the cocoa, flour, sugar, baking powder, espresso powder, baking soda, salt and chocolate chips. 

2. In a large measuring cup or medium mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, vanilla and vinegar. 

3. Add the wet ingredients, along with the melted butter, to the dry ingredients, stirring to blend, just until combined. Do not overbeat.

4. Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin tin. King Arthur makes 12 muffins with big tops, but I made them a bit smaller and got 16 muffins. Sprinkle with sugar. 

5. Bake the muffins for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Remove the muffins from the oven, and after 5 minutes remove them from the pan, to cool on a rack.

Quartre Quarts - French Fridays with Dorie

Quartre Quarts

I'm back! I'm back on the French Fridays with Dorie circuit! This week, the French Fridays with Dorie group made Quartre Quarts from Dorie Greenspan's cookbook Around my French Table. 

It's a snacking cake with no frosting. Um, I'm sooooo there!

This is totally delicious. I just made it afternoon and am trying to save some to bring into work tomorrow! It reminds me of the Swedish Visiting Cake sans the nuts. It is light, not very sweet and goes perfectly with a cup of coffee or tea. I used vanilla (you can also use rum) so it has a great warm, vanilla taste. It's topped with just enough brown sugar to give it sweetness.

Be sure to check out my fellow French Fridays with Dorie members and see their creations!

Please note: French Fridays with Dorie will not be posting recipes. Please support Dorie and purchase the book or find it at your library.

Any Day All-Occasion Apple Snack Cake (Flo Braker)

Flo Braker’s Baking For All Occasions

I love snack cakes as much as I love Downton Abbey. I'm a bit late to the party and have been watching marathons of the first season. Oh, that Thomas...you are vile. And Bates and Anna? So perfect...if it weren't for that crazy pesky wife. Anyway, Miss Patmore might not make this, but you can make a quick cake any morning.

This recipe is from Flo Braker’s Baking For All Occasions - pick up the book, it is filled with lots of yummy recipes.

This cake uses oil and no butter, even for the topping. Mix most of the dry ingredients together with oil and then pull out some of it. Add nuts (I used chopped walnuts from Trader Joe's) and some cinnamon to finish off the topping.

In the headnote, Flo says you can add a cup of fruit or veggies to the mix...it's very versatile. I shredded an apple (skin on).

Any Day All-Occasion Apple Snack Cake
(adapted from Flo Braker’s Baking For All Occasions)

2 1/3 cups (300 grams) all-purpose flour (I used King Arthur all-purpose unbleached flour)
3⁄4 cup sugar (150 grams)
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon - divided (I used Penzy's cinnamon)
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar (200 grams)
3⁄4 cup vegetable oil (I used Wesson's canola oil)
(I added 1 cup shredded apple with skin on)
1 cup chopped walnuts, pecans or hazelnuts (I used Trader Joe's Walnut baking pieces)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup buttermilk
1 large egg

Prep: Preheat oven to 350 F. Prep a 9 x 13 pan.
You don't need a KitchenAid mixer...just a couple bowls and a whisk.

1. Sift together the flour, sugar, salt and 1⁄2 tsp cinnamon into a large bowl.
2. Mix in the brown sugar with a whisk.
3. Stir in the oil. (By this point, my batter was a little dry and in crumbles - this worked out fine).
4. Crumb topping: Remove enough of the flour mixture to measure 3⁄4 cup loosely packed. Add the remaining 1 tsp cinnamon and blend well with your fingertips until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Set aside.
5. To finish the cake batter, stir in the baking powder and baking soda. Add the buttermilk and egg and whisk until the mixture is smooth.
6. Stir in your added fruit or veggies (if adding). I added one shredded skin-on apple.
7. Pour the batter into pan, then sprinkle the crumb topping evenly over the batter.
8. Bake for about 35 mins until toothpick comes out clean.
9. The instructions say to depan the cake after 10-15 minutes and let cool completely. However, I just left it in the pan to cool off.

Vegan Cocoa Cake with Cinnamon Sugar Topping

Vegan Cocoa Cake

Happy New Year! How is 2012 treating you?

I sort of missed the first half the month... sick on New Year's Eve with days of sinus infection...and a Z-Pack that killed my stomach for a couple days. Then I almost broke my 4th toe (what's that called? The "ring" toe?) yesterday hiking up a mountain. Well, you can replace "hiking up a mountain" with "in my house, moving junk around." Sigh.

Why don't you start of your 2012 with some vegan cocoa cake with a light cinnamon sugar topping. I found this recipe in Hawai'i's Best Local Desserts by Jean Watanabe Hee. The fact that it's vegan isn't mentioned in the cookbook, but as I started to assemble the ingredients, I noticed it was vegan! The resulting cake is very moist. I cut it when it was still warm so the edges are all ragged...but it was still enjoyed at the library!

Recipe:
Vegan Cocoa Cake
Adapted from Hawai'i's Best Local Desserts by Jean Watanabe Hee

2 1/2 cups flour (350 grams)
1 1/2 cups sugar (300 grams)
1/2 cup cocoa (40 grams Hershey's cocoa)
2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup oil (I used canola oil)
2 Tablespoons white vinegar
1 Tablespoons vanilla
2 cups cold coffee or cold water (I used two packages of Starbucks Via. I dissolved the coffee in 1/2 cup boiling water and then added ice and cold water to get 2 cups of cold coffee)

Topping (combine together in a small bowl):
1/4 cup sugar (50 grams)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1. Prep: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 x 13 pan.
2. Sift together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt into a large bowl. Whisk to combine.
3. Add oil, vinegar, vanilla and coffee/water to the bowl. Stir together with a whisk - but be sure you don't overbeat. Do not make this in a KitchenAid mixer or electric mixer - a fork or whisk are just fine. You'll see bubbles because of the reaction of the baking soda and vinegar.
4. When combined, immediately pour into the 9 x 13 pan. Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar topping.
5. Bake until toothpick comes out clean, about 30-35 minutes.
6. Let cool and cut into squares.

Tuesdays with Dorie Finishes Book - Thank you Dorie & TWD

Just some of the delicious recipes made during Tuesdays with Dorie...

This past week, the baking group Tuesdays with Dorie completed making all the recipes in Dorie Greenspan's wonderful book, Baking: From My Home to Yours.

I wasn't able to participate each week, but I have made a majority of the recipes in the book. Aside from the butter, flour and chocolate, the Tuesdays with Dorie group changed my life in so many positive ways. I've made new friends and felt such a sense of community and friendship in this vast online world. TWD has helped me discover blogs and inspired me to bake each week! I learned new skills and gained confidence in my baking. Thank you Dorie Greenspan for being supportive of our group (getting a comment from The Dorie Greenspan on your post is such a thrill) and answering our questions. Dorie would give us hints and explanations...she's awesome! Thank you Laurie (who started the group) and Jules (who helped with  coordination) for keeping us organized and on track!

My new year's resolutions is to join the group going through Dorie's classic, Baking with Julia!

I'm sad this round of Tuesdays with Dorie has ended...but I know I have a book full of great recipes and notes, friendships and inspiration to carry me for many years to come.

Please read this Washington Post article about the group!

Mochi Mochi Mochi - Mochitsuki 2011

It's that time again! My family and friends got together on December 26th for our annual mochi making day!

These unsweetened rice cakes are eaten on New Year's Day in a special soup called ozoni to bring about good fortune and health and all that jazz. Our family has been getting together since 1955 to make mochi. We have two electric machines and a bunch of gas steamers to cook the special Koda Farms Sho-Chiku-Bai sweet rice (old school method is with a pound it by hand with a mallet.)

I think this year was a record - 190 pounds of rice! That took about three hours alone just to wash and soak on Christmas day (thanks Mom for doing that!)

Rice is steamed in steamers then poured into the machine. It comes out piping hot! Little bits are cut off and shaped into rounds. They are cooled on racks and then dusted with mochiko (rice flour).

All hands on deck for mochi making! Often, this is the one time a year we see some of our aunts, uncles, cousins and their growing children so it is a very important tradition for my family. And, of course, we have a bouncy house...just like our ancestors had I'm sure...

Um, we had two food tables and one salad table...making mochi definitely stirs the appetite!

Yum! Yum! Yum!

And this year lots of my friends dropped by!

We can't forget the desserts too! My auntie made this delicious cookie tray, JustJenn brought delicious and cute cupcakes and my cousin made these fried cookies.

Days later, my cousin and I are still cleaning the house and putting back things (we need to clear out three rooms of the house for mochi day). Of course, the benefit is that I'm eating fresh toasted mochi every day!

Looking forward to joining JustJenn's family for her annual New Year's feast...featuring our mochi for the ozoni soup! :)

Happy New Year everyone! 2012 is going to ROCK! - mary the food librarian

Other mochi-related posts: 2010, 2008, 2007 family event, sweet mochi with red beans, zunda mochi from sendai, blueberry mochi cake.

Merry Christmas from the Food Librarian & Cidney the Dog

Why yes, my cousin and I did dress up Cidney the Girl Dog. After the graduation hat and Halloween sessions where Cidney just pretty much sat there, you can expect lots of torture, I mean, fun with the dog.

Wishing you and your family a wonderful Christmas and holiday season!

On Monday, my family descends and we make 150 pounds of mochi!

Merry Christmas! Happy Hanukkah! Happy Holidays!

- mary the food librarian

"Okay, I'm done until the next costume. Where's my biscuit?"