Perfectly Cut Brownies!

I love to make brownies but whenever you cut them from the pan they kind of fall apart and aren't very neat. So I recently read how to prevent this so they look nice and neat when you serve them. You just line the pan with parchment paper vertically, then horizontally so that you can lift the whole block of brownies out of the pan after they have cooled. Then you cut them on a cutting board and viola!, they are cut nice and neat. No more brownies that fall apart when you take them out. Take a look!

Oatmeal Scones

I wanted to make a healthy breakfast food for Mike to take to work in the morning so I searched my Baking Illustrated cookbook and found a recipe for oatmeal scones. Thanks to Lindsey Parsons for letting me borrow a food processor while my blender is on the mend.

Spread 1 1/2 cups rolled oats onto a baking sheet and bake for 9 minutes at 375 degrees. Take out the oats and increase the oven temp to 450. When oats are cooled set aside 2 tablespoons for dusting the work surface later.

Whisk 1/4 cup whole milk, 1/4 cup heavy cream, and 1 large egg together. Remove 1 tablespoon for glazing.

In a food processor, combine 1 1/2 cups flour (low protein flower such as gold metal), 1/3 cup sugar, and 2 teaspoons baking powder by doing four 1-second pulses. Put 1 1/4 sticks of cold butter cut into 1/4 inch pieces into the mixture and blend for about fourteen pulses, or until it resembles coarse cornmeal. Transfer mixture to medium bowl.

Fold in liquid ingredients until large clumps form. Then, use your hands to kneed the mixture until it forms a mass. Dust work surface with half of the set aside oats. Pat the dough into a 7 inch circle (about 1 inch thick). Sprinkle the remaining oats on top. Cut the dough into 8 wedges. Place on a well greased baking sheet (or use parchment paper). Brush the surfaces of the wedges with the milk/egg mixture and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of sugar.

Bake for 12-14 minutes then let cool!

Apple Pie!

A couple of weeks ago I made a delicious apple pie for a lunch with friends. It was the first apple pie I have ever made, and I think it turned out quite well. Everyone seemed to enjoy it, so I'm going to share the recipe here!

For the crust:

Use 1 1/3 cups of flour and 1/2 cup of shortening and blend together with a pastry blender. It's much easier to use a pastry blender for this, but if you're in a pinch you could also use a potato masher. After it's blended toss in 3 tablespoons of ice water one tablespoon at a time and blend together with a fork. Form the dough into a ball and roll it out to fit the pie dish.

For the filling:

Peel, core, and slice 3 apples (I used granny smith). Then toss the apples in a mix of 1 tablespoon of flour, 3 tablespoons of sugar and 1/8 a teaspoon of cinnamon. Then transfer to the pie crust.

For the topping:

Mix 2 1/4 cups of flour and 1 1/2 cups of light brown sugar (unpacked). Next, use a pastry blender to cut in 2 sticks of soft unsalted butter. Cut the butter into pieces to make it easier. It is really difficult to do this without a pastry blender.

To bake:

Set the oven to 425 and bake for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, turn the oven temp down to 375 and bake for 30 minutes. Then you have a delicious apple pie! It tastes best when it's still hot, but it's good cold too.

Enjoy!

First Post

Lately I’ve been thinking about my hobbies and just things that I generally enjoy. Most of these things fall under the category of domestics. For example, some of my favorite activities include baking, knitting, and playing with little children. I feel like everyone I know has a blog, so I’ve decided to jump on the bandwagon and start my own. My blog will be about my escapades in domestics. I’d like to start trying new recipes for baked goods and knitting new things, and I’d also like an excuse to use my camera more often. So hopefully I’ll enjoy documenting my exploits and you will enjoy reading about them!