HOMEMADE CALZONES

 One of the fun dinners we've had with the family is "build your own calzones".  This is the first time though, that I decided to make homemade pizza dough for the occasion.   It certainly isn't difficult to do, and it sure elevated things.

This is the Pizza/Calzone dough recipe that I used......

INGREDIENTS:

1 ¼ cup warm water, no hotter than 110 degrees F

1 Tbsp. honey

2 tsp. active dry yeast

3 cups all purpose flour

1 ½ tsp kosher salt (or 1 tsp table salt)

2 Tbsp. olive oil, divided use 

DIRECTIONS:

• In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the lukewarm water with the honey and stir to incorporate.  Stir the yeast into the water/honey until it begins to dissolve.  Set aside until the yeast becomes foamy, about 8-10 minutes. 
• Add the flour, salt, and oil to the foamy yeast.  Stir by hand with the dough hook of your mixer, or a dough whisk until a shaggy dough forms.
• Place the dough hook and bowl on the stand mixer and knead on medium speed until a smooth elastic dough forms, fully releasing from the bowl's sides.  4-5 minutes.  Add a little flour as necessary if it's too sticky.
• Remove the dough from the bowl and drizzle olive oil into it.  Place the dough back in the bowl and turn it to coat in the oil.  Wrap with plastic wrap and allow the dough to double for one hour, in a draft free and warm area.
• Once the dough has doubled, punch it down and portion it out into 4 equal portions of dough.  Form the dough into 4 round balls, place them onto a parchment-lined baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap.  Allow the dough balls to proof once again for 30 minutes.  

As for assembly.....using your fingers (or a rolling pin, if you prefer) spread the dough into an 8" circle.

Add pizza or marinara sauce, and filling options to half of the circle.  Wet the entire edge of the circle with water.  Fold over the empty side and secure the two edges together by pressing, crimping, or using a fork tine.  

Cut 3 small slits in the top.  Brush with an egg wash to allow for a golden brown finish.  Place in a 425 degree oven for 20-25 minutes. 

Spread the top with melted garlic butter, and some parmesan.    Serve with additional sauce for dipping.

Enjoy!

LEMON BLUEBERRY CREAM CHEESE COFFEE CAKE

 I'm a sucker for a good blueberry coffee cake and this one, which not only has blueberries, but cream cheese, sounded like the perfect combination for an upcoming brunch.  Oh and let's not forget a healthy streusel topping.   I mean.......

I have to tell you it was absolutely delicious.  But, I also need to tell you it takes some prep time and a lot of bowls!  Because it's made in a springform pan, it's large.  You'll get 12 good size servings....which in my case, meant leftovers.......so all the effort was worth being able to enjoy more than one serving.

Also, for all my high altitude bakers....I made no adjustments and she turned out just great.

INGREDIENTS:

Crumb Topping:

½ cup melted butter

1 ½ cups flour

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

Cake:

¼ cup melted butter

¼ cup canola oil

1 cup granulated sugar 

2 large eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

1 cup plain yogurt, or sour cream

¼ cup lemon juice

2 Tbsp. lemon zest

2 cups flour

1 tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. salt

2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries*  

Cream Cheese Filling:

1 8oz. pkg. cream cheese

¼ cup sugar

1 large egg

zest from one lemon

Lemon Glaze:

3/4 cup powdered sugar

1 Tbsp. lemon juice

*if using fresh, reduce oil to 2 Tbsp. 

DIRECTIONS:

Make the crumble:

• In a medium bowl, combine melted butter, flour, sugar and vanilla until crumbly.  Set aside.

Make the cake:

• In a large bowl, whisk together butter, oil and sugar for 2-3 minutes.
• Add the eggs, vanilla, yogurt, lemon juice and zest.  Whisk until combined.
• Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Stir until just combined.  Stir in blueberries.  Set aside. 

Cream Cheese Filling:

• With an electric mixer, beat cream cheese, sugar, egg and zest until smooth.

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a 9-10" springform pan with parchment (lay it in the base and close the sides around it with the paper sticking out the bottom) and spray with non-stick spray. 

Assemble and Bake

• Spread ½ the cake batter into the bottom of the prepared pan.
• Spread cream cheese filling in the center...try to stay away from the edge of the pan if possible
• Top with remaining cake batter and spread to cover as much of the cream cheese as possible.
• Sprinkle the crumb topping over the top.
• Bake at 350 degrees for 60-70 minutes, or until center is set and does not jiggle when moved.  It's a very moist cake, so don't worry about baking so long. It could take up to 80 minutes.
• Remove from oven and let cool before glazing the top

Lemon Glaze

• Whisk together powdered sugar and lemon juice
• Drizzle glaze over the top

 Enjoy!

recipe c/o: the reciperebel.com

PAINT PROJECT

 I'm sure you've found as I have, an item that would be really cute as a home accent.....but it doesn't quite match your color scheme.  I can't tell you the number of times, I've re-painted or re-purposed things over the years.  And this past year was no exception.

I found these cute wall accents at Hobby Lobby.  But, I just felt like they needed a little something. There was so much I liked about them, but I felt I really needed to make them my own.  

The picture to the right is how they looked when I found them.  The top picture is what I did to them to liven them up a bit.  I added a narrow white border and brought the flowers to life with some white/green craft paint.  I like how it emphasizes them and enhances the 3d aspect which is what I really loved about them.  

The picture below is the kitchen wall that I added them to.  I already had the succulents in place, and adding these really pulled it all together and took the whole wall "up a notch."    Wouldn't you agree?  

SOURDOUGH ENGLISH MUFFINS

 Happy New Year!!!  I'd like to wish my sourdough starter, Gertie a Happy Birthday!  She's now one year old.  We've been having fun during her first year.  I can't say I've had any "fails" to speak of, but we've learned a lot on our journey together, and we've tried many, many recipes.   My favorite so far, is the fluffy sandwich bread.  I like always having a loaf made.  

I think another favorite might just be English Muffins.  This is one of the recipes that I learned some valuable techniques along the way....but, I've got it down now and I'm happy to share.

INGREDIENTS: 

1 cup whole milk, warmed to 110 degrees

2 Tbsp., melted butter

2 Tbsp., brown sugar

½ cup sourdough discard, room temp

2½ cups bread flour

2 tsp. kosher salt

1 tsp. active dry yeast

DIRECTIONS:

Mix milk, butter, discard, sugar and yeast in a large mixing bowl and let sit for a few minutes.  Next add flour and salt and mix with a dough whisk or wooden spoon until a slightly sticky dough forms and all the ingredients are combined. 

*Cover & let rise until double in size.  Divide the dough into 8-10 pieces.  Form into a ball and press into a disk.   

Place on a pan lined with cornmeal.  Dust both sides well.  Cover & let rise for about one hour, until light and fluffy. 

Pre-heat a skillet over medium low heat and place muffins in the pan, allowing space between.  Cover and cook for 5 minutes.  Flip and cook another 5 minutes.  Reduce heat and flip a few more times until the internal temp is 195-200 degrees.   To slice, use the fork method.  Slowly use the tines of a fork to pierce into the edge all the way around the circumference of the muffin. 

My "go-to" is toasted with a little butter and my favorite fruit preserves while they're piping hot.   Over the holidays, I had a hankering for a breakfast sandwich, so I cooked up my own version.  It was absolutely delicious!  I made a sausage patty the size of the muffin, then melted cheese over it while I was frying up the egg.  

Enjoy!

recipe c/o: wildthistlekitchen.com

*After the rise, you could place the dough in the fridge overnight and continue the next morning.  Form the muffins with the cold dough-allowing approximately 2 hours to rise before frying.  

SPECIAL NOTES:  I tried one other recipe, but I like this one best.  Also, with the first recipe (and many others I've seen) they had you roll out the dough and use a biscuit cutter/drinking glass.   This did not work well at all!  The dough is very light and fluffy, it's tough to get a clean cut.  Instead, it flattened the edges.  A three inch biscuit cutter is way too small, so I tried glasses in my cupboard until I was closer to the size of an English muffin. My sizes were all over the place trying to find the right size circle and they didn't rise uniformly. 

I highly endorse rolling into a ball and then using your hands to create the disk.  I separate my dough into 8 balls.  The finished product will be the size of store bought versions, or maybe slightly bigger.  

CHRISTMAS SIMMER POT

Last year a friend gifted me a simmer pot and I absolutely loved it!  I was able to get three full days of some of the most joyful scents of the season spreading throughout my house.  So naturally since I enjoyed this gift so much, I wanted to pass it along to my own family members this year (oh, and of course I made another for myself).  

If you're totally unfamiliar with this concept.  I'm going to take you through the steps for those that I created.  The concept is to create either a gift bag or mason jar full of items that blend together when simmered on a stovetop (or crockpot) to bring to mind the scents of the holiday season.  

I chose to use fresh cranberries, and rosemary.  I dried in the oven orange, apple and lemon slices.  Then for my spice mixture, I chose cinnamon sticks, star anise and whole cloves.   The concept with the spices is to choose the natural form versus the ground versions that we all have on our spice shelf.  Wy? Because they're so pretty in their natural state, they're more robust, and you won't leave behind the powdery remnants in the container.  

I also opted to make card labels for the outside to familiarize my gift recipient of what they were receiving and how they could enjoy it.  

Since I have a Silhouette machine, I put together a festive card using it.  You could certainly handwrite the instructions or simply print out a "word" document as well.  Let your creativity be your guide. 

  

To the left is my finished product.  I chose a seasonal gift bag for one of my recipients, and for the other whose gift was being mailed, I chose a mason jar to ensure a little extra protection during shipping (forgot to get a picture before I sent it off).  

Just to get you creative juices simmering (pun intended).....this doesn't just have to be a holiday gift.  Depending on the ingredients you choose to use, you could easily enjoy a simmer pot for other occasions as well.  For instance, dried citrus fruits with a vanilla bean and thyme.    And of course, you don't necessarily have to dry your fruit.  I did that because of the gift I was shipping to my Mother- in-Law (I didn't want to send perishable items) and then used the remainder for my Daughter's and mine.

I had as much fun putting these together for others as I do enjoying my own.  I hope you do as well!

LINZER COOKIES

 I have a solid annual repertoire of Christmas cookies that I bake, but I've always loved the look of the Linzer cookie for the holidays.  They just look so festive to me, so I thought I'd try my hand at them.  

The Linzer is a classic Austrian sandwich cookie, with a raspberry jam filling.  The tops are dusted with powdered sugar.  Naturally, when I spotted a snowflake cookie cutter, I thought that would be so cute as a Linzer cookie.....Well......

Below is a picture of the classic Linzer cookie that is most common.  Either a plain or crimped circle with an interior circle/heart/star cutout so that you can see the raspberry jam inside.  

I learned there's a reason for the simple shape. First, the snowflakes aren't going to all be the same with the process of cutting, transferring to the cookie sheet and baking....so, when you go to stack them, they won't perfectly align.  Not the end of the world....but the second complication is the step after baking, when you're spreading the jam.  Trying to get just enough, but not too much jam all the way down the legs of the stars.  It took some of the fun out of the process.  

The flavor however, is lovely.  You'll find all different recipes out there.  I'll share the one that I used.  

Icebox Cookie Dough

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup unsalted butter, cut into pieces and at room temp

1 cup powder sugar, sifted

1 large egg, at room temp

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 tsp. almond extract

2 ½ cups all purpose flour

½ tsp. salt

seedless raspberry jam 

DIRECTIONS:

Cream the butter and sugar.  Add the egg, and extracts to blend.  Slowly incorporate the flour and salt until the dough comes together. 

Shape the dough into 2 discs and chill for at least 2 hours before rolling.

Knead the first disc of dough and soften it a little and then roll it out on a lightly floured surface to just about ¼ inch thick.  Use a 2 inch cookie cutter to cut out as many circles as you can.  Use a small circle, or even a pastry tip to cut a hole in the center of half of the cookies.  Arrange the cookies with a hole on one tray and the cookies without on a second tray, leaving one inch between them.  Repeat with the second disc and any remaining scraps of dough.  

Bake the cookies for about 10-12 minutes (keep an eye on the cookies with the hole-they may take a minute less to bake) until they just start to show signs of coloring on the edges.  Cool the cookies before assembling.  

Dust the cookies with the holes generously with powder sugar before assembling.  Spread a little jam on the bottom of the cookie without a hold and sandwich it with a dusted one....press lightly.

Will I make these again?  Absolutely.  But before I do, I'm going to get myself a crimped circle cookie cutter.  

Enjoy!

WAINSCOTING

This is the first house we've owned that had wainscoting included in the original build.  It was used around the lower half of the dining room walls, which I found to be a really nice design element. 

Fast forward almost nine years in the house and I decided to "encourage" my husband to continue the wainscoting on the main entryway wall.  

We used the measurements from the dining room as the road map for this wall.  The challenges were determining the actual interior paint color that was used (they left us some touch up paint, but the name of the color was nowhere to be found).  Do you have any idea how many colors of white there are?  Fortunately, the Sherwin Williams up the road was able to help, but only because there was an individual who worked there who knew the original name of the painters who the builder used back then.  

   

The other challenge was finding the actual chair rail moulding.  We never did find the one they used, but what we found was a close enough match.  Both the chair rail and the half inch round were really difficult to find.  The box stores didn't carry it.  We had to have it ordered through a lumber yard.  We never did get an understanding of why you couldn't find these items in stock.  We waited almost six weeks for it to arrive.

My husband was able to finish this in just a couple days, once we had all the supplies in hand.   The dining room has the smooth panels on the lower half with the half inch round on top of it.  We chose to bypass that step and just used the white paint over the existing texture.  Had we wanted to continue with additional wainscoting in the dining room, I definitely would have used the panels, but for the entryway hall, I was perfectly fine with the matching paint.  

I love it!  This has been a really dark area of the house, so the white accents have definitely brightened it up.  The total cost of the project was under $100.....it should have been way under that.  I was shocked what the Sherwin Williams store charged me for a quart of paint (but I felt kind of obligated to purchase the paint there given the help they provided me).  

I moved a painting from the living room and placed it on this wall....not sure, I'm sold on it.  But it works for the time being.