Rhubarb Crunch (Crisp?)

We got a lot of beautiful rhubarb in our CSA box, so I went looking for some rhubarb recipes. I settled on this one because it features only rhubarb (we had a lot of it!) and the crunch/crisp topping is made with melted butter, not cold butter. Easy peasy!

Rhubarb on its own is a delightful flavor - tart and subtly sweet. This recipe calls for a sugar syrup to be poured over the fruit. I bet you could toss with sugar and let sit for a while, too - I might try that next time, especially if I throw in other fruit like strawberries or apples. I used a 9.5-inch pie pan instead of a 9x9 square pan, and it worked out fine.

One thing I might try next time is just making half of the streusel mixture and just putting it on top (this recipe puts half on the bottom of the pan). I like my crisp, well, crisp.

Rhubarb Crisp, from The English Kitchen
Oven: 350 F
Yield: 9x9 square pan or 9.5 inch pie pan

Crisp:
1 cup AP flour
3/4 old-fashioned oats
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup (1 stick) melted butter
4 cups diced fresh rhubarb

syrup:
1 cup white sugar
2 tbsp corn starch
1 cup water
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 F and grease a pan.

For the syrup:
Combine all of the ingredients in a saucepan; bring to a boil and cook (stirring frequently) until thick and clear. Set aside.

To make the crisp:
Whisk together the flour, oats, brown sugar, and cinnamon. With a fork, stir in the melted butter until you get nice coarse crumbs. Pour half of the mixture into the bottom of a greased pan, cover with the rhubarb. Pour the syrup on top of the fruit, and then cover with the remaining streusel. Bake at 350 F for 35-40 min until the topping is golden brown and you can see the fruit bubbling. Serve warm! (or cold for breakfast. Also good).

 and them pour the rest of the streusel on top of the fruit.

Meyer Lemon Cake

Meyer lemons are kind of my favorite thing. They're dreamy.

So is this cake.

It's a simple, single layer cake, made moist and extra lemony with a simple syrup. It's perfect for dinner parties, breakfast, or whatever. No butter has to be creamed, so it's easy to whip up on a weekday afternoon, even.

Ultimate (Meyer) Lemon Cake, from The Doctor's Kitchen
Oven: 350 F, 40 minutes
Yield: 1 9-inch round cake

cake:
1 1/2 cups AP flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup yogurt (I used plain Greek yogurt)
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp lemon zest
1/2 cup vegetable oil

syrup:
1/3 cup lemon juice (about 2 medium Meyer lemons)
1/3 cup sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 F and grease a 9-inch round cake tin.

Zest your lemons, then juice them. Set these things aside.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the yogurt, sugar, lemon zest. Beat in each egg, one at a time, and then whisk in the vanilla extract.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the baking powder, flour, and salt. Mix the dry ingredients into the wet, and then stir in the vegetable oil until everything is well combined. Pour into the greased tin and bake at 350 F for 40 minutes or until set. Flip out to cool.

To make the syrup, whisk the sugar and lemon juice together in a small sauce pan on medium heat, until the mixture is clear. Pour over the warm cake.

Banana Walnut Pound Cake

I have a weird relationship with bananas; I'm one of those people who only eats bananas in that 2-second window when they are perfectly ripe - not too green, and not smushy. Once they are beyond that window, they are only good for smoothies or banana bread/cake. Even then, banana bread is not one of my favorites (probably because all of the ones I had as a kid were far too sweet and...banana-y) so I don't make it that often.

For some reason, though, when I saw this banana pound cake recipe, I wanted to make it. I figured the orange zest and walnuts would keep it from becoming too cloyingly banana (I've started to like nuts in my baked goods, though I never did before). Sure enough, it's a keeper. It tastes like an orange-banana smoothie, with nuts for texture, and it is so good. Not heavy, not sticky, not cloyingly sweet. Just...good. Don't leave out the orange zest! It gives it a delicious fragrance and a light taste.

[note: I didn't really measure or weigh my walnuts; I bought raw halves in the bulk section of the grocery store - roughly a cup by volume - and toasted them in the oven (5 minutes at 375 F) before pulsing them in the food processor.]

Banana Walnut Pound Cake, from Aapplemint
Oven: 350 F
Yield: One large bundt cake

1 cup (8 oz) butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups white sugar
4 eggs
2 smashed bananas
2 1/2 cups cake flour (made my own)
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 tsp ground ginger
zest of one orange
walnuts, toasted and chopped

Preheat the oven to 350 F and grease a bundt pan (I used an angel food cake pan, which I place on top of a baking sheet in case it leaks).

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together the butter and sugar until fluffy. Then add the eggs, one at a time, until the mixture is smooth and pale yellow. Beat in the mashed bananas.

In a small bowl, whisk together the cake flour, baking powder, salt, and ground ginger (I used a little bit of ground ginger and some cinnamon, because I ran out of ginger). In a measuring cup, mix the milk and vanilla extract together. Add the dry mixture and the wet in batches, alternating between the two. Beat just until combined, and then mix in the orange zest and chopped walnuts. Pour in the greased pan and bake at 350 F for 45-55 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Enjoy!

Peanut Butter Cookies With Just 3 Ingredients

We were having an impromptu dinner guest, and I wanted to have something sweet to serve afterward, so I scoured the net for simple peanut butter cookies. And here we go!

They actually taste pretty awesome for something that doesn't have any flour in it, and the texture is cookie-like (chewy with a crisp edge). You don't even need a mixer. It's pretty fabulous.

Peanut Butter Cookies, from All Recipes
Oven: 350 F
Yield: ~16 cookies

1 cup peanut butter (I used crunchy)
1 cup sugar
1 egg

Mix all three ingredients together. Form little balls, flatten them with a fork, and then bake at 350 F for 6-8 minutes (creamy peanut butter), or 8-10 minutes (crunchy). Cool on a wire rack.

Cinnamon Rolls

I made these for Christmas morning! I did most of the work on Christmas Eve, and then put them in the fridge overnight. Then, on Christmas morning, while we went out for an early morning run with our dog, I left them out to warm up. Heated the oven while I showered, and then popped them in! Absolutely divine.

I froze half of these after shaping and cutting them, and we'll have them later. I think they'll be fine, and a full batch of these is way too many for two people (I even gave some away from the Christmas batch).

I took a few shortcuts because I'm lazy and they seemed to have worked, so I'll use those. You can click the link for the original recipe.

Cinnamon Rolls, adapted closely from The Way the Cookie Crumbles
Oven: 350 F, 25-30 minutes

Rolls:
1/2 cup milk
7 tbsp unsalted butter
1/2 cup warm water
2 1/4 tsp yeast
1/4 cup white sugar
1 large egg, plus 2 large egg yolks
1 tsp salt
4 - 4 1/2 cups AP flour (I used 4)

Filling:
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
2 tbsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp salt

Glaze:
1 cup confectioners sugar
1 ounce cream cheese, softened
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1-2 tbsp milk

For the dough:
Heat the milk and butter separately in the microwave, and then combine (or heat them on the stove). Let cool for a minute while you combine the warm water, yeast, sugar and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer.  Whisk in the eggs, and then the milk and butter. With the dough hook attachment on, add the flour and knead until the dough forms a ball and pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Grease another bowl, deposit the dough ball into it, cover with plastic wrap and let rise for an hour or until doubled in bulk.

After the rise, punch down the dough and flour a surface and a rolling pin. Roll the dough out into roughly a 12 x 16 inch rectangle, with the long side perpendicular to you. Mix together the filling ingredients, and then spread it onto the dough rectangle, keeping an inch border from the ends. Then, starting with the end closest to you, tightly roll the dough into a log, using water to seal the end. Using a serrated knife, cut the dough into rounds - I got roughly 16 or so, but I made mine fairly thin - about an inch and a half wide. Place them in a greased pan (I used a 9-inch round).

If you are going to freeze some, now would be a good time. I placed some on a plastic wrap, wrapped them tightly (all in one layer, not stacked), and then slid them into a freezer bag and placed it in the freezer.

Now, you can do two things - proceed onward with the second rise and then bake them, or you can put them in the fridge overnight for a slow second rise. I did the latter. To continue onward, cover with plastic wrap and let rise again for another hour. Then preheat the oven to 350 F, and bake for 25- 30 minutes or until puffed and golden. If you'd rather wait, then cover them with plastic and put in the fridge overnight. They'll do a nice slow rise. Then take them out about 30-60 minutes before baking, to let them warm up a bit. And then bake at 350 F for 25-30 minutes.

To make the glaze, whisk together all of the ingredients and pour over the warm buns. Divine!

Scottish Shortbread

Or, "instant cookie," if you have a food processor. We have a small one so I did it in batches, but it still came out beautifully.

I have a thing for shortbread. It's so much buttery, crunchy goodness. I made them bite-sized, and in retrospect, that was probably a bad idea.

A really bad idea.

Scottish Shortbread, from Baking Bites
Oven: 350 F, 30-35 minutes
Yield: one 9 x 9 square pan full

3 cups AP flour
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup butter, chilled (2 sticks = 16 tbsp), cut into pieces

Throw ALL THE THINGS into the bowl of a food processor and blitz like crazy (yes, that is the technical term). Pour into a greased 9 x 9 square pan and press down firmly. Mine was a bit floury because I did mine in batches, but it turned out fine. The original recipe says to score before hand, but I cut them as soon as they came out of the oven - before they set!!! - and this was way easier. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until lightly golden.

Eat. Enjoy. With coffee or tea or on their own. Try not to eat them all yourself, yeah?

Yeasted Cherry Swirl Coffee Cake

To be honest, this has turned more into a "things I've baked that were tasty" codex-type record, rather than a real baking blog that shares every single thing I make. Some recipes aren't worth making again or keeping, and I don't have the time or inclination to share those.

This one, however, is a keeper, and easily adaptable to any sort of filling or preserves you might have on hand. Even chocolate or butterscotch chips would do well here, if you were so inclined. I used up the cherry pie filling I had from the Cherry Cheesecake Bars.

The original recipe made two pans and used shortening; I adapted it slightly to make only one pan, and used butter (and a little more liquid) instead.

Yeasted Cherry Swirl Coffee Cake, adapted from Bunny's Warm Oven
Oven: 375 F, 20-25 minutes
Yield: 1 cake (9-inch round pan)

cake:
3/4 cup warm milk
1/2 stick (4 tbsp) melted butter
1 tsp yeast
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp white sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 cup AP flour

glaze:
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
1-2 tbsp milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

filling:
cherry pie filling (about 1/2 cup), or whatever you like

To make the cake:
Pour the melted butter and warm butter in the bowl of a stand mixer. Add the sugar and salt, and sprinkle in the yeast. Let sit for a few minutes. Then whisk in the egg. Beat in the flour until you have a batter with no floury bits. Let "rise" for an hour, or until doubled in bulk. (The batter is really, really wet, but it will rise.)

After an hour, gently deflate the batter with a floured rubber spatula and scoop the whole thing into a greased 9-inch round cake pan. Smooth it out as best you can and let rise for another hour. After it's doubled again, use a floured rubber spatula to make a swirl in the top of the batter. Spoon the filling into this swirled crevice. Bake at 375 F for 25-30 minutes (mine was done at about 22 minutes).

Pre-glaze. Probably just as tasty!

To make the glaze, whisk all of the ingredients together. Pour on the warm cake.