Orange Muffins w/ Cinnamon Glaze | The Awkward Path to Getting Lucky

You must be comfortable with the liberal use of words like vagina, penis, sex, and dildo if you're going to read The Awkward Path to Getting Lucky, the debut novel by Summer Heacock. Really. It's all about Kat's quest to fix her broken lady bits. As long as that doesn't scare you off, you're in for a hilarious...and even a little sexy...read.

Cinnamon Scones | The One That Got Away

Welcome to the TLC Book Tours stop for the debut novel by Leigh Himes called The One That Got Away!  I'll start by saying that I always love these kinds of stories...the "what if" stories. For example—would my life have turned out differently if I had said yes instead of no that one day 20 years ago? I actually think this is my first time reading one of these, so I'm basing my love on movies like The Family Man and a handful of made-for-tv movies.

Spiced Red Wine Cranberry Sauce aka The Best (and Easiest) Cranberry Sauce. Like, ever.

Growing up, I used to cringe at the thought of eating cranberry sauce. I would say I didn't like it, but honestly, I can't remember even trying it. The thing is, the one on our Thanksgiving table was the kind that was still in the shape of the can. My grandma had a special crystal dish that she served it on every year. The dish was rectangular and the cylinder of gleaming red jelly fit perfectly on its side, then somebody would slice it. It just wasn't appealing to me.

When I decided that I wanted to start contributing  to the Thanksgiving meal, the first two things I made were pie...and homemade cranberry sauce. Through the world of food magazines, I realized that cranberry sauce—
a) didn't have to come in a can
b) could contain whole berries
c) is the simplest thing on the planet to make
d) is DELICIOUS!

This is my family's favorite version; I've been making it for almost 20 years now. Even though I still like to experiment and try new flavor combinations, you'll always find a batch of this on the table—it has four generations of people who look forward to it!

Spiced Red Wine Cranberry Sauce

Red wine, cinnamon, and star anise elevate this simple cranberry sauce to a whole new level.

by Heather Schmitt-Gonzalez

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 5 minutes

Keywords: simmer side sauce dairy-free nut-free soy-free vegan cranberries wine cinnamon Christmas Thanksgiving American fall

Ingredients (serves 6-8)

• 3/4 cup of your favorite red wine (Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, or Merlot are all good choices)
• 3/4 cup granulated or raw sugar
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 whole star anise
• 12 ounces whole, raw cranberries

Instructions

Combine the wine, sugar, cinnamon stick, and star anise in a medium-sized pot over high heat, stirring until sugar is dissolved and the wine just comes to a boil, ~3 minutes.

Add the cranberries to the pot, then reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer, stirring from time to time until the cranberries just begin to pop, ~5 minutes.

Remove from heat and allow to sit until cooled to room temperature. At this point, you can transfer it to a bowl or container with a lid and refrigerate for up to 5 days.

Remove cinnamon stick and star anise before transferring to a serving dish. Serve warm or cold (I love it warm).

Notes:

This recipe doubles well - I know because I ALWAYS make a double batch.

Sometimes I add a pinch of vanilla sea salt in with the sugar. It's not necessary, but if you have some hanging around anyway, give it a try.

Dulce de Leche Paletas

This month for she made, ella hace, Leslie and I are sharing PALETAS aka my absolute favorite way to kick-off summer! It is about this time every year that I announce The Summer of the Popsicle, but this year I'm running behind. I'm still hoping to bring it back this year, but no definite plans yet.

And yet, this is already the second ice pop recipe that I've shared this month (the first being my Strawberry Pink Moscato Ice Pops). The popsicle making itself hasn't slowed down.

Speaking of popsicle making, my good friend and she made, ella hace partner-in-crime, Leslie told me that she and the kids made like FIVE types of paletas over the past weekend. It's really no wonder that I dig this chick so much.

Cinnamon-Cardamom Buns

We eat our fair share of freshly baked bread in this house (as you well know if you hang out here at all).  Everybody has their favorites, the ones that are requested on a regular basis.  My oldest prefers pretzels, potato bread, and crusty white bread; my middle child adores cinnamon rolls of any variety; my youngest is forever asking me to make pull-apart bread of the cinnamon-sugar variety or a long loaf of Italian bread.  The hubster?  Well, he's happy with anything, as long as it's not pumpernickel or something equally dark that doesn't taste like chocolate.  He firmly believes that if bread is dark brown, it should be sweet.

Me, myself?  I have a hard time choosing.  It seems that whichever bread, roll, bun, or twist that is warm and fragrant and cooling on my counter is the one I prefer.  Most recently, these Cardamom-Cinnamon Buns.

Rompope Pops {#SummerOfThePopsicle Guest Post: Nibbles & Feasts}

Who's Holding the Stick:  Well my friends, this is it.  Today wraps up an amazing summer (of the popsicle) full of generous friends stopping by and sharing their frozen creations on a stick.  But, we'll talk more about that next week when I bring the whole shebang to a close.  Right now, please join me in giving the lovely Ericka from Nibbles & Feasts a warm welcome as she gently coaxes us from summer to fall with her fun and tasty little Rompope Pops!

The fall season is about to begin.  But that doesn’t mean that my paleta season will be ending any time soon.  Living in California, September tends to be one of the hottest months of the year, which means that I still have 30 more warm days to indulge in my favorite frozen treats.

Since fall is my favorite season of the year, I am torn.  I love paletas but I am really looking forward to the fall colors, wearing sweaters, scarfs and definitely welcoming the beginning of the holidays.

To give it one last goodbye to my summer, I decided to combine the best of both worlds and make rompope paletas.

Cinnamon Ornaments

Cinnamon smells like the holidays.

Twisted sticks steeping in cider or wine.  Or infused into thick, creamy eggnog or rompope.  Tied with twine to adorn a gift.  Arranged in a pretty jar as both a means of aromatherapy and as seasonal decor.

Rust-colored powder folded into batters and doughs.  Bubbling in the swirls of warm, puffy sweet rolls.  Sprinkled atop a soft pillow of whipped cream on hot chocolate... or hot coffee... or hot boozy beverage.

Lip balms and hand creams filled with essential oils... stimulating, energizing, warming your skin against the nip of winter air.

Banana Bread + Stewed Prunes w/ Citrus & Cinnamon inspired by A Homemade Life

Growing up, my family had banana bread.  Sure, we had other things as well, but our banana bread was where it was at.  I don't remember the first time I ate it.  I don't remember the first time I made it.  It's as if it just always was.  I know the recipe comes from at least as far back as my maternal great grandma.  She passed before I was even born, but it was carried on through my grandma and her gaggle of sisters.  From there, it was passed on to my mom...and surely countless cousins.  Somewhere down the line, she passed it on to me.

Our banana bread smells like home...tastes like home...is home.  It's something I've always been able to make, no matter my station in life because there is no mixer required.  No.  Scratch that.  There is no mixer allowed.  It's always been mixed by hand, using a fork.  Hand-written instructions explicitly detail the fact that it must be done by hand, using a fork.  So we do.  It originated in a time before electric mixers were even invented.  I think.   We've also always lined the pan with foil, as opposed to greasing or buttering (or oleo-ing) it.  As far back as I can remember our banana bread, I can remember it wrapped in the long layer of foil it was cooked in.  I still love peeling back the foil and slicing off a big, thick, moist slice.  I think it's perfect for breakfast.

Now, I'm not going to pretend that I've never tried to make this in a mixer.  Or in a pan that wasn't lined with foil.  Of course I have.  But it never turns out quite the same when I do.  The one exception is the mashing of the bananas.  I've come to like using my old baby food processor to mash up the banana all nice and smooth.  It eliminates chunks of banana throughout the bread.  Not that that is necessarily a bad thing...I just prefer it.  As far as the foil goes, I like to take off a sheet that is at least double the size of the loaf pan.  This allows me to wrap the banana bread inside of it and let it sit on the counter.  We're a family divided on nuts.  Usually the adults are pro-nuts and the kids are firmly against them.  I've always liked it either way.  I mean...sometimes you feel like a nut...  I've also used chocolate chips or dried fruits and ginger instead of or in addition to the nuts.  I don't think this makes much of a difference- add your favorite or leave it plain.

I mentioned that I love a warm slice for breakfast, right?  Well, I decided that after hearing Molly Wizenberg's description of one of her family traditions passed down from her father, that I needed to make a batch of luscious stewed prunes to eat with my banana bread.  Molly says she likes them best cold.  I found that I did enjoy them cold with some thick and tangy Greek yogurt, but I love them even more warm alongside some warm banana bread and coffee...or meltingly swirled into hot oatmeal or grits.

Our Favorite Banana Bread

from the kitchen of girlichef

yield: 1 loaf

4 oz. butter, at room temperature

1 c. sugar

1 Tbs. sour milk

1 tsp. baking soda

2 eggs, at room temperature

2 c. unbleached all-purpose flour

pinch sea salt

2-3 very ripe (we're talkin' brown) bananas (to make ~1 c. purée)

½ c. chopped pecans, walnuts, chocolate chips, or other add-ins, optional

Preheat oven to 325° F.  Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy by hand, using a fork.  Dissolve the baking soda in the sour milk.  I usually measure the milk and pour it into a tiny bowl or measuring cup, then add soda and stir.  Add this to the bowl and stir to mix.  Add the eggs and mix well.  Add flour and salt, and mix gently until just combined.  Mash up the banana as well as you can.  I often break the "rules" here and do it in my mini-processor...the one I used for making baby food so many years ago...  Gently stir the banana into the mixture and then fold in any add-ins, if using.

Line a loaf pan with foil, pressing it against the bottom and sides until flat, and then scoop the thick batter into the lined tin and smooth out the surface a bit.  Slide into the preheated oven and bake for ~50-60 minutes, or until a toothpick slides in and out cleanly.

Stewed Prunes w/ Citrus & Cinnamon

slightly adapted from A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes from My Kitchen Table by Molly Wizenberg

yield: ~6-8 svgs.

1 clementine

½ lemon (cut lengthwise)

~9 oz. best-quality pitted prunes

1 cinnamon stick

Cut the clementine in half from step to tip, and then slice it and the lemon very thinly (peel & all).  Pop out any seeds you run across.  Place the slices in a saucepan with the cinnamon stick and prunes, then cover with enough water to just cover.  Bring to a simmer over medium heat, then turn the heat down so that the liquid just "barely trembles" (<--- I love that term), for ~30-40 minutes, or until prunes are tender and the citrus is soft.  The liquid in the pan should look a bit syrupy, as well.  Serve warm, or let them cool to room temperature and store in a sealed container in the fridge for up to a week.  

As with many things, the flavors improve with rest.

Our current Cook the Books selection is A Homemade Life by Molly Wizenburg (Orangette).  This is my post inspired by the book.  Dare I voice the fact that I always thought, when I wrote a book, it would be in this same style.  Wizenberg writes in thoughts and memories.  There are no sections, rather a collection of short pieces brilliantly written to conjure up her memories and how they relate to food.  It reminds me of Nora Ephron's writing, which was what made me think this would be the perfect way for me to write a book.  I Feel Bad About My Neck: And Other Thoughts On Being a Woman, specifically.  I think it's a lot like writing a blog...it's a collection.  And it's brilliant.

I am also sharing this post with:

Sugar and Spice Monkey Bread

Sweet Thang told me that he doesn't like this bread.  He loves it! Ha ha ha...from the mouths of babes.  I mean, you expect that sometimes when it's coming from an adult, but he was so serious.  It shocked me that he didn't "like" it since he asks me weekly to bake a loaf of the cinnamon-sugar pull-apart ricotta bread that he craves.  And yes, this is along the same lines. He totally gets his sense of humor from me. {wink, wink}  In all seriousness, though...the actual taste, texture, and consistency of the actual bread hiding inside that glimmering layer of cinnamon-sugar goodness is to die for.  It's substantial, yet soft...enriched with eggs and butter...and would make a great base for many sweet breads.  Do I need to tell you that this was gone in much less time that it took to make it?  I thought not.

Sugar and Spice Monkey Bread
adapted from The Artisan Bread Machine
yield: 1 loaf

dough:
½ c. sugar
¾ tsp. fine sea salt
2 large eggs, beaten
⅔ c. lukewarm buttermilk
⅓ c. unsalted butter, softened
3½ c. bread flour
1½ tsp. instant yeast

topping:
scant ¾ c. granulated sugar
1 heaping Tbs. ground cinnamon

½ c. unsalted butter, melted

Add the dough ingredients, in order listed, to pan of bread machine (ending with yeast).  Select the dough cycle and press start.  When the cycle is finished, turn dough out onto work surface and punch down gently.  Divide dough into 20 equal pieces.  Form each piece into a ball between your palms.

Combine the sugar and cinnamon for the topping in a small, wide dish/bowl.  Dip each of the dough balls into the melted butter, then roll each in the cinnamon-sugar.  Arrange them in a silicone (or well-greased) bundt pan in even layers.  Cover with plastic wrap or a clean kitchen towel and let rise for ~30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350° F during last 15 minutes of rise time.  Slide remove plastic, slide into oven and bake until lightly browned on top and 190° F in center, ~35-40 minutes.  Let cool on a wire rack for ~15 minutes before inverting onto a serving plate.  Serve warm or at room temperature.

There are many theories as to why monkey bread is called monkey bread.  Once you've made it, all suspicions will be confirmed.  The scent of the loaf baking will start to drive the little monkeys mad.  They will all be eagerly awaiting the moment it can be turned out onto a serving plate.  And it will be totally irresistible sitting there beckoning from its perch.  Hands will reach out and in the seconds that follow,  you will hear "ooooh...ooooh...aaaah" as those tender fingers try gingerly (yet madly) to pull steaming bits of sticky bread from the loaf sitting in front of them.

I am sharing this post with:
*Yeastspotting!