Apple Nuttie Cream Cheese Braided Bread

I hadn't made braided bread in awhile, so I'm a bit out of practice on the braiding part. The loaf on the left was my first attempt and I think I got it pretty good on the second loaf on the right side. It really doesn't matter how pretty the braid, really!! They are delicious!!

I adapted the recipe from a website called The Fresh Loaf whom I believe adapted the recipe from a book called The Bread Bible   by Beth Hensperger. I really only made a few minor adjustments. The other recipes were calling for berries and I chose apples. I also chose to change all the sugars to dark brown sugar and the butter to unsalted. And for the salt I chose sea salt. That is really pretty much all the adjustments, other than I really didn't see the need to refrigerate the dough over night when I had the time to put it all together during the morning hours. The dough was so nice and satiny, that it was very easy to roll and work with..

I had all the fixins for making these this morning and all the conditions were right too! It was cold in the kitchen and I needed to warm it up. So as usual my favorite way to do that is baking. I had most of a cream cheese block left over in the refrigerator from Thanksgiving pie crusts. I had lovely apples looking cheerful in a bowl. And I had that quart jar of pumpkin cream cheese frosting in the fridge left over from making those delightful pumpkin carrot cupcakes. All I had to do was thin out the frosting a bit to make glaze.

So what are we waiting for? Let's Bake!! First things first...the ingredients. This recipe makes two loaves. You may go ahead and prepare the glaze at any point if using the pumpkin cream cheese frosting that I used, or you can wait and prepare it in the end if you are just making a normal glaze of your choice.

Ingredients

Sponge 

1 tbsp. dry active yeast

1 tbsp dark brown sugar

1 1/2 cup warm organic whole milk

2 cups unbleached organic bread flour

Dough
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp sea salt
1/3 cup dark brown sugar
2 1/2-3 cups unbleached organic bread flour
1/2 cup unsalted butter

Apple Nuttie Filling

4 large chopped Granny Smith apples
2 tbsp fresh lemon or lime juice
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup walnuts, crushed
1/3 cup corn starch
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg
1 tbsp. unsalted butter

Cream Cheese Filling 

3/4 cup organic cream cheese

2 tbsp sugar

 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Glaze

See Recipe for Pumpkin Cream Cheese Frosting by clicking this link.

Directions

1. First we make the sponge. Simply warm the milk in a small sauce pan and add it to your bowl. Add the sugar, yeast and flour to the warm milk and whisk until well combines. Cover it with plastic wrap and a towel and place it in a warm place for about 30 minutes. It will become nice and bubbly.

2. While the sponge is fermenting, we make the filling. Add the crushed nuts, butter and sugar to a medium sauce pan on medium to medium low heat. Stir frequently until the nuts become a bit toasty and everything is well combined. Add the apples, lemon juice, cornstarch and spices and stir well until everything is well coated. Place the lid on the sauce pan and stir every now and then. I turned the burner off and set the pot aside to cool. The apples do not need to be completely cooked at this stage. They will finish while baking.

3. When the time is up for the sponge we can make the dough. I transfer the sponge to my mixing bowl and use the dough hook. Add the eggs, salt, sugar, and one cup of the flour to the sponge.Turn on mixer to speed 2 and mix until smooth. Begin to add the butter in small pieces and continue to knead with dough hook. The butter will not be completely incorporated at this time. Go ahead and begin to add the rest of the flour a little at a time. The dough will be slightly sticky, but will be smooth and will pull away from the sides of the bowl. The butter will be well combined as well.

4. Place dough in a warm and lightly oiled bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and a towel. Place in a warm spot until dough becomes double in size. Mine took about one hour.

 

5. Beat the cream cheese filling until light and fluffy.

6. When the dough has risen, dump it out on a lightly floured surface and divide it in half. Roll the first half into a nice rectangle shape. Spread the cream cheese filling down the center and then spread the apple filling on top of it. 

7. Cut strips along the sides about one inch apart, leaving the ends wide to tuck in first.

8. Next, tuck your ends over. Then just alternate the strips by pulling them over one at a time. The first one I did, I didn't hide the ends with the next strip, but really did it pretty nicely on the second one. I think I need to make these more often for more practice. I don't think the family will mind one bit. 

9. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Slide your loaves carefully onto a large jelly roll pan or cookie sheet. Cover them with a towel and let rise for about 45 minutes.

10. Bake for approximately 30 to 40 minutes. After taking them out of the oven, I slid the loaves onto a wire rack and then placed the wire rack back onto my jelly roll pan. That way when you glaze them the drippings will go onto the pan.

I hope you enjoy them as much as we have.

Happy Gardening and Happy Baking as well!

Pammy

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Homemade Pizza Pie

 This is a pizza mountain when there are a lot of goodies in season from the garden. Fresh heirloom tomatoes, eggplant, peppers and summer spinach. Fresh herbs, onions and garlic. And in fall I love using kale. I just pre cook it a bit before I add it to the pizza. Makes two pizza crusts.

Pizza Dough

1 1/2 cups warm tap water
2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
5 cups organic unbleached flour
2 eggs
2 tbsp. active dry yeast
Pinch of sea salt
2 tbsp of honey or sugar
1 tsp. garlic powder
3 sprigs of fresh Basil flowers (Cinnamon is my favorite)
3 sprigs of fresh Oregano ( chopped)
1 tbsp. grated Parmesan Cheese


Directions
Place water, yeast and sugar in bowl and whisk gently while you prepare your other ingredients. This makes a nice dough starter and you will notice it begin to foam or bubble a bit when it is ready.
Place all the rest of the ingredients in your mixing bowl. Add your dough starter and mix with hook until the dough begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl.
Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap and the place a towel on top to cover for extra warmth. Let rise until double in bulk.
I use two 12" round pizza pans. First I prepare my pans by lightly oiling them with extra virgin olive oil. Then I sprinkle a little corn meal on them. Roll out the dough as close to the size of the pan you are using as possible. After I slide the dough onto the pan I shape the edges a bit. It doesn't have to be perfect because it is homemade!! Lay a towel over the whole thing and put it in a warm place to rise. You should let it get double in size. It usually takes about an hour.. After it has risen, preheat your oven to 400. Your going to pre-bake the crust for about 10 minutes in a hot oven. I always pre-bake the crust before I place toppings on it. This will ensure your dough will be completely baked when it's all finished. Just don't over bake it at the pre-baking stage.
After they are pre-baked you can begin adding your toppings. I like to go ahead and freeze one of the crusts for later, unless we have company and need two pizzas.



My sauce and toppings are seasonal to what is growing in the garden. When I have plenty of tomatoes I will cook them down for the sauce, but that is not always the case.

Pizza Sauce
1 small can of tomato paste
add water, maybe 1/2 the paste can size or to the desired thickness
salt to taste, but at least 1 tsp.
about 1 1/2 tsp. of brown sugar (regular sugar is fine)
a good dash of garlic powder
fresh herbs, Basils, Oregano, Fennel Seed

Take all the ingredients and stir it in a bowl. Cover your bowl and place it in the refrigerator. No need to pre-cook it. It will marinade in the refrigerator if you prepare it ahead of time. I usually make mine in the morning.

Toppings

When your ready to put your pizza together you will first add the sauce and then place pepperoni's on top.

I like to saute an onion (finely chopped) with 2 or 3 minced garlic cloves. If spinach is available in the garden I will add a ton of it and saute it with the onions. Sprinkle a little salt if your using spinach.

Other toppings I have used from the garden include grated Japanese Eggplant, sliced tomatoes, all kinds of peppers (mainly sweet varieties) mushrooms (from the store) and black or green olives.

Then it's time for the cheese. I love to use Monterey Jack Cheese. Yummy and you will need to grate at least 1 lbs to finish topping off your pizza.

Bake in preheated oven at 400 just until the cheese is barely turning brown.

 

Happy Gardening!

Pammy

Pumpkin Carrot Cupcakes w/ Pumpkin Cream Cheese Frosting

Don't you know this recipe really caught my eye!! I was very inspired by a new blogging friend at Mother Thyme. I think the frosting really puts these cupcakes way up over the top and of course the fresh roasted pumpkin puree as well. They are light and fluffy, just like a cupcake should be. I only altered a few things in the recipe because I only have and use organic ingredients in the kitchen. I also didn't have any coconut (which would be fabulous) so I substituted with golden raisins (which ended up fabulous) as well. I'm posting the recipe in its original format with the things that I altered highlighted in brown. 

The recipe made 2 dozen cupcakes. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour (organic unbleached bread flour)

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking soda

4 eggs at room temperature and lightly beaten

1 ½ cups sugar (¾ cups raw organic cane sugar)

1 cup vegetable oil (½ organic coconut oil, ½ sunflower oil)

1 cup fresh pumpkin puree

2 cups shredded carrots

½ cup sweetened coconut flakes (½ cup golden raisins)

Directions

Preheat oven at 350 degrees.

In a medium bowl stir together flour, baking powder, cinnamon and baking soda and set aside.

In a medium bowl blend eggs, sugar, oil and pumpkin puree.  Add in flour mixture until well combined followed by shredded carrots and coconut flakes.

Pour in to lined cupcake tins ⅔ full.  Bake for 18-20 minutes until cake tester comes out clean.

Cool on a wire rack.

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients

8oz cream cheese, softened (I found some organic, yeah!)

½ cup (1 stick) butter, softened (organic unsalted)

½ cup fresh pumpkin puree

1 teaspoon cinnamon

4 to 4 ½ cup confectioners sugar

Directions

Using an electric mixer combined cream cheese, butter and pumpkin until creamy.  Slowly add in confectioners sugar until all combined. 

The recipe makes a huge amount of frosting, but it is soooo delicious we will put the rest in a quart mason jar and use it on more goodies!!

 

 Hats Off to Mother Thyme! These were a huge hit with my Grandson!!

Happy Gardening!!

Pammy

Processing Pumpkins During The Great Pumpkin Shortage

 

A lot of people might not have realised there is a hug pumpkin shortage this year due to all the crazy weather around the country. Between flooding and droughts many farmers had crop failures. Although it seemed as though pumpkins were everywhere, folks might be noticing the higher prices. Perhaps even more so when they go to purchased canned pumpkin or a store bought pie for their Thanksgiving meal.. 

We had total pumpkin failure here at the farm this year. The poor heirlooms were doing great in their rich organic loom, but just couldn't hold up to the relentless triple digit temperatures for days on end. Shade or no shade, it just wasn't going to happen. So needless to say I was on the lookout for some good looking heirloom pumpkins for holiday baking. 

Well, Pammy just won't fork out a fortune on a pumpkin, I don't care how pretty they are. So I held out this year waiting for the prices to drop. That usually happens after Halloween because most folks only find use for them to decorate with. Well, Guess What? That didn't look like it was going to happen before I needed to begin my traditional puttin up the pumpkin in the freezer ordeal before Thanksgiving. I suppose that should have been expected from retailers and farmers trying to get some of the money back during troubled times. Then again, it could be possible that some are taking advantage of the situation. Who knows? All I know is I need pumpkins!!.

As you can see, I ended up with a slew of pumpkins this year. My dearest and sweetest daughter-in-law, Monica knows how good fresh pumpkin tastes and how healthy they are. I wonder how many people have eaten a pie made with real pumpkin? Heck, I wonder how many people have even eaten real food these days? She got a sweet deal at 50 cents a pumpkin!! WOW WEE!! The question was are they going to be any good inside. Well, they are NOT my homegrown heirlooms, but they do have a pretty good wall of fruit inside and were not to terribly stringy. This is a blessing indeed!!!

So we begin the process of puttin up the pumpkins. It's really not hard at all to anyone who has never done it before. Scrub up your pumpkin in the sink with a mild soap and water and then cut out the lid or stem, much like you would if you were going to carve a silly face in one. Pop the top out and set it aside in a bowl. Ours goes to the chickens for a special treat. They might even lay an extra egg or two. If you don't have livestock, please give it back to the earth. 

Next, scoop out the seeds and put them in a colander to rinse later. The seeds are wonderful for roasting and make a very nutritious snack. My grandson REALLY loves them!! It's a lot of work, but I've cracked a bunch a time or two after roasting just for something special to add to bread or muffins. The trick will be to let my grandchildren get just a little bigger and let them crack them all for baking. Just sayin...

After the seeds are all out, cut your pumpkin into wedges. Place them on a baking sheet face down. Be sure to line your pan with foil. This will protect your cookware and keep it from having hard baked on food and make clean up a breeze. Turn the oven on 375 and put it in. Mine are taking about 50 minutes to bake. The time will depend on the size of your pumpkin and how thick the wall of fruit is. Just test it by sticking in a fork to see if it has become tender.

Finally, when the pumpkin is done, take them out of the oven and let them cool all the way. When I'm looking for a shortcut, as soon as they are not to hot to touch, I take them off the baking sheet and set them in a separate bowl to finish cooling off. That way I can reuse the foiled pan to get another pumpkin going in the oven. 

Once your pumpkin has cooled all the way, simply take a spoon and scoop out the fruit from the skin. If your pumpkin is tender the fruit scoops out very easily. I usually put the fruit in an airtight container in the refrigerator over night before I puree it. That way it allows any extra liquid from the fruit to drain to the bottom and you don't end up with soupy pumpkin. 

Now you can puree it in a blender or food processor. Even a hand mixer will work great. I put up two cups of pumpkin per ziplock freezer bag. The reason for that is because most recipes, especially pie calls for two cups. The first time I ever put up pumpkin I filled the bags to the freezer and when I took one out I thawed out way more than I needed. Be sure after putting your puree in the bag to run your hands down the bag to push out any extra air before you seal it. If you flatten out the puree in the bag after it is sealed they store much nicer in the freezer. You can simply stack them on top of each other.

Happy Gardening From The Great Pumpkin Patch!!

Pammy

Enchanted Apples: Granny Smith Streusel Bars

The apples in Fall are truly enchanting!! There is simply nothing that compares to the smell of apples baking in the oven, especially on a cool day. Beautiful Granny Smiths are just begging to go in the oven. Expensive? YES, and since we don't have our own tree I won't be doing this to many times, but they are so delicious and we shall savior the moment. Count yourself blessed if you have your own organic apple trees. The original recipe just called for cinnamon but I love just a few more fallish spices and upped the amount of apples for it. I also decided it needed the juice from one whole lemon. The recipe has quite a bit of sugar but you could cut that in half by using raw organic cane sugar. Since I was low I decided to just go with the regular granulated sugar this time.

INGREDIENTS

SWEET PASTRY 

2 c. unbleached bread flour

1/2 c. sugar 

1/2 tsp. baking powder 

1/2 tsp. sea salt 

1 c. unsalted real butter, softened (no substitutions) 

1 egg, beaten

 

APPLE FILLING

1/2 c. sugar

1/4 c. unbleached flour

5 Granny Smith Apples, peeled and sliced

2 tsp. cinnamon

1/8 tsp. ginger

1/8 tsp. cloves

1/8 tsp. nutmeg

Juice of one whole lemon

GLAZE

2 c. confection sugar

3 tbsp. organic whole milk

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS

 

To prepare pastry crust, mix flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder in a medium bowl with a whisk. Cut in butter with a pastry knife or two butter knives until nice and crumbly. Gently mix in beaten egg with your fingers, pulling it up from the bottom of the flour until it seems fairly well blended throughout the mixture while keeping it crumbly.

Lightly butter a 9X11 glass baking dish. Gently pat about 2/3 of the crumb mixture onto the bottom of the dish. Preheat oven to 350 and set aside.

To prepare apple filling, combine flour, sugar, and cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves and lemon juice. Toss it together with the apples and spread them out on pastry crust. Sprinkle reserved crust mixture over apples evenly and bake in preheated oven for 40 to 50 minutes. Let cool.

To prepare glaze simply combine confectioners sugar, vanilla and milk. Whisk together getting out any lumps. Drizzle on top of bars. Make sure they are cool and then slice into bars.

  Happy Gardening And Happy Baking!!

Pammy

Garden Fairytales And Candy Corn Cookies

“Everything you look at can become a fairy tale and you can get a story from everything you touch.” ~ Hans Christian Anderson

I try so hard to remember my own fairytale dreams from when I was a child. I sometimes wish I could live that dream of a little girl. I think that is what makes Grandchildren such a blessing and keeps us young in mind and spirit. What a delicate and beautiful age when everything can seem so magical and majestic. It must be why I love my garden so, because I can dream there like no other place I know. 

And so....it is time for the goodies. Grandma made Candy Corn Cookies.

I found this lovely recipe from Stylish Cuisine as it seems she adapted it from Martha Stewart. The only thing I changed is the flour. I just can't go bleached and as well, I used all things organic. The Grandbabies absolutely loved them.

Candy Corn Sugar Cookies


4 tablespoons unsalted butter, very soft
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg yolk
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup Unbleached Bread Flour (spooned and leveled)**
About 18 pieces of candy corn
** For chocolate cookies, reduce the flour to 1/2 cup and add 1/4 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place butter and sugar in a medium bowl; beat with a wooden spoon until combined. Beat in egg yolk, vanilla, baking powder, and salt. Add flour (or flour and cocoa if you’re making chocolate cookies), and mix until a dough forms. Scoop out level teaspoons of dough, and roll into balls about the size of a walnut. (chill dough briefly if it becomes too soft to handle). Place balls on baking sheets, 2 inches apart.  

Bake, rotating sheets halfway through, until edges are firm and cookies are dry to the touch (do not let cookies color), 10 to 12 minutes.

Remove from oven; gently press a candy corn into center of each cookie (surface of cookies may crack slightly). Cool on sheets 1 minute; transfer to a rack to cool completely.

Yield:  18 cookies

Happy Gardening!!
Pammy