Vermont Oatmeal Maple-Honey Bread

I always told myself that when I finally got a KitchenAid stand mixer I would still knead my bread by hand. Occasionally. Kneading bread is so relaxing and you can really tell a lot about dough when you are working with it so closely. So I mixed and kneaded this bread dough in my mixer, then moved it to a lightly floured surface and kneaded it about twice for good measure. Completely unnecessary, but it made me feel better.

Speaking of stand mixers, I really cannot believe how easy it is to make any bread now that I have one. It seriously takes bread from a slightly time consuming process to throw everything in the bowl and let it rise. I have made bread much more since I got it, which is thrilling, especially since life has only gotten busier lately.

Now to tell you about the bread. The recipe calls for maple sugar and maple flavoring, neither of which I had on hand, so I left both out. I was a little suspicious that this was good sandwich bread at first, as the book claimed, because it has so many sweet, breakfast-like ingredients (oatmeal, honey, brown sugar, cinnamon... sounds liked baked oatmeal to me). It is a little sweeter than what I would normally choose for a sandwich, but it really is divine. We made grilled cheese sandwiches with cheddar, spinach, pepperoni, and fresh basil about 15 minutes after the bread was out of the oven. I'm not even exaggerating when I say it was one of the best sandwiches I've had in my life. Now I just need to find someone to give the second loaf to so I don't eat it all by myself. Any takers? 

Vermont Oatmeal Maple-Honey Bread

Makes 2 loaves

2 1/4 to 2 1/2 cups boiling water

1 cup thick oat flakes (I used old fashioned oats)

1/2 cup maple sugar or brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon maple flavoring (optional)

1 tablespoon honey

4 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 tablespoon instant yeast

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1. In a large bowl, combine the oats, sugar, maple flavoring, honey, butter, salt and cinnamon. Carefully pour the boiling water in and stir to combine. Allow the mixture to cool to room temperature. 

2. When the mixture has cooled, add the flours and the yeast. Stir to make a dough and then knead the dough until it is smooth and satiny. This should take about 10 minutes by hand or about 5 to 7 minutes if you are kneading the dough in a mixer. When the dough is kneaded, transfer it to a lightly greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Allow the dough to rest until in has doubled in size, about 1 hour. 

3. Gently deflate the doubled dough and divide it in half. Shape the dough into loaves and place them in two 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch greased loaf pans. Let the dough rise for about 1 hour more. The loaves are ready to bake when they have risen about one inch above the loaf pan. 

4. While the loaves are still rising, preheat the oven to 350° F. Place to loaves on the middle rack in the oven and bake for 35 to 40 minutes. The loaves should be golden brown and have an internal temperature of 190°. Allow to bread to cool before slicing. Enjoy! 

Source: King Arthur Flour- The Baker's Companion.  

Quick and Easy Chocolate Cupcakes

This week marks my last week at the tutoring center where I have been working since October. It is definitely a bittersweet departure. I will greatly miss my co-workers and the students, but I am also greatly excited about my first full-time teaching job starting in the fall! I'm taking a few weeks off here in July to get ready for all I will be doing, which also means I get to do some things I love that have been placed on the back burner for the last few months, like spending time in the kitchen. 

Cupcakes are about the easiest dessert you can make. They also happened to be about the easiest treat to make for a bunch of students, other than cookies. No forks, no plates, and maybe a pile of napkins. 

My old work schedule at the tutoring center kept me out until 8:30 or 9:00 most nights, so when I got home, I'd whip up something quick for dinner, and then find myself ready to go to bed shortly after. It was during one of these busy weeks about a month ago that I promised two sisters at the center that I would make cupcakes. 

When I asked one of them what kind of cupcakes I should make, she thought a moment, then said to me, "Mmm, just make both." After clarifying a little, I discovered that there are only two kinds of cake in her mind: chocolate and vanilla. I thought I would try a marbled cupcake, but when 9:30 p.m. rolled around, with my energy quickly draining, I looked for a super easy chocolate cupcake. This is what I found. 

One of my first cookbooks was a small, spiral bound Hershey's cookbook. It covers just the basics. I've made the Deep Dark Chocolate cake countless times, but never tried the cupcake recipe that shares the page. I was thrilled with the "throw everything in the same bowl and mix" format. It was just what I needed that late at night. I frosted them with a basic buttercream frosting (half chocolate, half vanilla), and they turned out great. Marbled frosting is about as good as marbled cake, right?! It kind of made them look like a chocolate vanilla swirl ice cream cone. The perfect cupcake to celebrate summer.

Quick and Easy Chocolate Cupcakes

Makes about 24 cupcakes

2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
2/3 cup cocoa
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup shortening
2 eggs
2/3 cup milk
1/2 cup hot water
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Line a cupcake pan with paper or foil liners and set aside.

2. In a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, coca, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Whisk to combine. Add the shortening, eggs, milk, water, and vanilla. Beat on low speed with an electric mixer for about 1 minute, then beat on medium speed until the batter is smooth, about 3 more minutes.

3. Scoop the batter in the the cupcake liners, filling them about 1/2 to 3/4 full. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the center lightly springs back when touched. Let the cupcakes cool in the pan for about 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Frost the cupcakes with your favorite icing and enjoy!

Recipe adapted from Hershey's Best-Lover Recipes, 1997.