Heather's Bytes

One of our favorite Saturday morning breakfasts is German pancakes. I’ve seen them called a lot of different things — Dutch babies, puff pancakes, etc., but I grew up calling them German pancakes so that’s what they are here! The kids still love standing at the oven to watch them rise and still get a kick over how big they get.

They’re very easy to make: 4 eggs beaten well, add one cup of milk, and then one cup of flour. You can add a tablespoon of sugar and a dash of vanilla for a little sweetness, or if you’re going to put something sweet over them already (syrup, fruit sauce, powdered sugar, etc) you can leave that out.

Put half a stick of butter in a 9×13 casserole dish and put it in the oven while the oven warms to 350 so that the butter melts. When it’s completely melted and the oven has reached temperature, pour the batter in and cook for 20-25 minutes (mine come out perfectly at 23 minutes).

I’ve tried mixing it two different ways, with a whisk and with an electric beater and the pancakes I’ve made with a beater always stay flat, but the ones I’ve just mixed with the whisk always rise like crazy. I’ve seen Alton make his in a blender and beat the heck out of it, but mine don’t like that for some reason so a gentle mix with a whisk works best in my experience.

It was a mistake to make these cookies. It was an even bigger mistake to make these cookies when no one else was home.

But it’s okay, because even though no one’s here to hold me accountable (“Mom, you had a cookie! Can I have one too?”) I’m making myself be very, very good. But I still won’t tell you how many I’ve had.

Anyway, making these cookies for this week’s Tuesdays with Dorie was a last minute decision. I love the TWD project and didn’t want to be kicked out because I haven’t participated as often as I should be. So, after double checking this week’s recipe (which was chosen and is hosted by Ugly Dude Food), I determined that even though I didn’t have the called-for ground hazelnuts (which I don’t like anyway) or raspberry jam, I could make do.

In place of the hazelnuts I ground my own walnuts and used strawberry jam. And, once again, my beloved almond extract made an appearance, which made me very happy.

My dough, like many others have noted, was also pretty dry and crumbly. I added about a tablespoon of milk during the mixing process which really helped hold things together. I also refrigerated the dough for about an hour before I rolled out the first batch, and put it back in the fridge while each batch was in the oven.

And even though I mixed the dough a heck of a lot more than just to get the ingredients combined, the cookies still turned out very light and shortbread-y, so keep in mind that it’s pretty forgiving even if you have to beat it into submission.

Let’s get on with some pictures: Read More

It’s a good thing that making soft pretzels is a bit on the labor-intensive side of things because otherwise I’d be making them all the time and that would not be good for the upcoming swimsuit season.

Homemade soft pretzels are a great weekend treat to make for the family. Serve them with some yellow mustard or melted cheese, or sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar instead of salt before baking, and voila, you’re an instant rock star.

Homemade Soft Pretzels

1 cup warm water (about 98 degrees)
1 package active dry yeast
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar

4 cups water
5 teaspoons baking soda
4 tablespoons butter, melted
Kosher salt

In a large mixing bowl, combine warm water and yeast. When the yeast dissolves, add half of the flour, the butter, salt, and sugar and mix for about 3 minutes. Stir in the remaining flour. Turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead until the dough is no longer sticky.

Let the dough rise in a greased, covered bowl until it doubles in size, about 45 to 50 minutes. Punch down the dough and divide into 12 pieces. Roll each piece of dough into 18-inch long ropes. On a greased cookie sheet, shape each rope into a pretzel shape. Let rise again until almost doubled, about 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 500 degrees.

In a large non-aluminum Dutch oven over high heat, bring the four cups of water and baking soda to a boil. Using a large spoon, gently lower pretzels into water a few at a time and boil for about 1 minute, or until they float. Return the pretzels to the cookie sheet and brush with melted butter then sprinkle with kosher salt. Bake until browned, about 12 minutes.

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It’s been nice and chilly here in Vegas for the last few days (you can’t even really call it cold) and because I know these days are limited I’ve been pulling out my dinner recipes that require the use of an oven. I do baked meals during the hot months too, of course, but even then I tend to put them in our (very awesome) toaster oven to bake rather than fire up the big one. A hot kitchen in the middle of a Vegas summer is miserable indeed.

Anyway, this baked ziti is one meal that I haven’t made in a while — in fact, it’s apparently been so long that my grocery store no longer even carries ziti, and I had to use rigatoni instead. Penne would work really well too, depending on what you can get.

Baked Ziti

1 pound dry ziti or penne pasta
1 pound lean ground beef
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
2 (26 ounce) jars spaghetti sauce (or equivalent homemade sauce)
1 1/2 cups sour cream
12 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add pasta, and cook about 8 minutes; drain.

In a large skillet, brown onion, garlic and ground beef over medium heat. Add spaghetti sauce, and simmer 15 minutes.

Butter or spray a 9×13 inch baking dish. Layer as follows: 1/2 of the pasta, 1/2 the mozzarella, all the sour cream, 1/2 sauce mixture, remaining ziti, remaining mozzarella cheese and remaining sauce mixture. Top with grated Parmesan cheese.

Bake for 30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until cheese is melted.

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