Another birthday bake and the Brown Bread Recipe

A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away, I owned a bakery in Manhattan Beach, Cake Bakeshop. It was a small but mighty bakery, seasonal and from scratch. We didn’t even have a freezer. It was a neighborhood spot, with many delicious memories, I think about it often, and yes I do miss baking, and I miss the community that grew from the bakery. It was special time and place. Cakes, seasonal fruit scones, breakfast sandwiches with brown sugar bacon on house made bread. Brownies, brown butter rice krispy treats, magic bars, seasonal treats and cookies, lots of cookies. When you would walk into the bakery there was an incredible smell that you would notice right away, sugar, brown butter, chocolate with a hint of bacon and the counter and bakery case, packed full of all that had been baked that day. On the counter glass cookie jars filled to the rim with freshly baked cookies. Almond chocolate chip, the salted chocolate chip, jam thumbprints, pb & j cookies, ginger snaps and seasonal cookies. One of those cookies happens to be a huge favorite of a dear friend of mine who just celebrated a birthday. I knew that a freshly baked box of Toasted Pecan Balls would be his birthday bake. At the shop, the Pecan ball started as seasonal cookie, but it quickly joined the cookies that were baked daily. The baking, boxing and giving of those cookies soothed my baking soul and had me daydreaming of baking cookies and so much more in the kitchen of Cedar House with The Irishman and Goppolini very soon.

The weather last week in Ireland was spectacular so the Irishman was able to get on one of his beloved motorcycles and see parts of Ireland that he said, he did not know existed. The Irishman is beginning to settle into life at home and it shows. There was not much work on Cedar House last week, but they did cut the holes for the beams for the roof that should be going up very soon. Now, the weather is not in our favor, but I trust the builder and the Irishman, that the work will continue as it can Cedar House.

Going into the week, the plan was to cook and eat from the pantry without doing any shopping. It was a success; the only thing I bought was a small amount of pecans to add to what was in the pantry for the birthday cookies. As for what I ate last week, I ate summer spring rolls with shrimp from the freezer, jammy hard boiled eggs , Persian cucumbers, cottage cheese and fruit. I simply was not feeling it, if know what I mean. At the end of the week, I baked the cookies which lit a flame, and I have shopped and started cooking from the Pantry already this week.

Pantry Challenge

This week’s recipe

Toasted Pecan Ball Cookies

Crunchy Brown Bread

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Toasted Pecan Ball Cookies

The trick with these is to toast the pecans and be patient and allow the cookies to cool for 30 minutes, before coating them with powdered sugar.

preheat oven to *350, prepare your sheet pans the parchment paper or a silpat, set aside.

2 c. unbleached flour

2 c. toasted pecans , chopped coarsely

8oz unsalted butter, room temperature

1/3 c brown sugar, you can use white , all I had this time was brown sugar

2 tsp good vanilla

1 tsp salt

Powdered Sugar for rolling cookies in

Cream butter and sugar for several minutes. Scrape the bowl before you add in the vanilla and salt. Mix well. Add pecans and flour , mix till a dough comes together. If it feels a bit softer than a cookie dough you will be hand rollling into balls, add a bit of additional flour. Roll dough into equal size balls, I usually get three dozen.

Bake for 12 minutes , flip the trays in the oven, bake for an additional 12 minutes. Cookies should be lightly golden brown, allow to cool 30 minutes before gently tossing the cookies in powdered sugar until the cookies are fully coated. Store in a tin or a jar. You can freeze these as well.

Crunchy Brown Bread

The recipe I forgot to post along with this article, Midnight in the Kitchen, last month. Thank you again to the Irishman’s sister who taught me her brown bread. I have had the privilege of staying up late at night with her while she lovingly baked her loaves.

Crunchy Brown Bread (from Ballymaloe Cookery School with a few tweaks from myself and the Irishman’s sister)

preheat oven to 200*C/400*F prepare a standard loaf pan with parchment

450g (4c) coarse whole wheat flour

150g (5oz/1c) plain white flour

1 tsp baking soda (my tweak doubled the original recipe)

1 tsp salt

1 tbl neutral oil of choice

2 tbl sesame seeds (my tweak doubled the original recipe)+some for sprinkling on top

2 tbl toasted pumpkin seeds (my tweak, added)+ some for sprinkling on top

1 tbl honey or treacle (the irishman’s sister uses treacle, I will once in Ireland)

425-500 ml (16-18fl oz) buttermilk

1 egg

Mix all the dry ingredients together and make a well in the center. Whisk the oil, honey, buttermilk and egg together. Pour the wet into the dry , mix well. If the dough is stiff, add more buttermilk, dough should be fairly loose. Pour into tin. Sprinkle the top with sesame seeds and pumpkin seeds. Bake for 1 - 1 1/4 hours, when tapping on the bottom of the tin, it should sound hollow. Allow to cool if you can.

Bia maith leat. Bon Appétit. Spis godt.