I'm back! Butter Popovers and Blueberry Muffins

Wow, it has been a while since I posted on here! Over the past few weeks, I got the opportunity to go to Italy and sample some great food. But, now I'm back and will try to catch up on some recipes.

I made a few recipes from the Bread Bible, I'll post them both here.

First, I made the Butter Popovers. They were good, but really buttery. Usually I'm a fan of butter, but I think these were just over the top. They had a good texture though.


I also made the Blueberry Muffins for breakfast this weekend. They were very good. I used organic, frozen blueberries (they are usually smaller and work better for this recipe). The muffins are not as sugary as normal muffin recipes, and I like that as it lets the blueberry taste really come through. I would definitely make these again.

Touch of Grace Biscuits

This will be my last post for a while as I will be traveling a bit for the next few weeks. So, if you're bored, read some of my older recipes for a refresher :)

I made these biscuits from The Bread Bible. I was looking for a light, fluffy biscuit to go with a curry chicken salad. From the recipe, I thought these should fit. But, they are really liquid, like pancake batter. There is a procedure to dip them in flour and then form the biscuits, but that is a mess and you get lots of uncooked flour on the biscuits. I made the first 4 this way, and for the rest I mixed the flour in and formed them by hand. The last 4 turned out much better.

I don't think I would make these again, they are too difficult for a biscuit recipe, but they were good.

Tuesdays With Dorie - Apple Cheddar Scones

To start, let me say that I like scones but have never made them before so I was excited at the recipe choice. But then I realized that this weekend I had dedicated to the Daring Bakers Challenge of Danish Braids, and that recipe takes a lot of time and space, neither of which I have a lot of in my kitchen.

So on Saturday, I decided I could squeeze these in, but then I realized I did not have all the ingredients needed, namely the apples and cheddar :) I soldered on, and made them with peaches instead and froze them to bake off for Sunday's breakfast.

Well, I had a bit of an issue with the dough. Since I did not add the cheddar, it was much more unstable, too fragile to cut so I had to work in a bit more flour. After about 1/2 cup more, the dough was much more workable so I could cut out the scones.

They turned out ok, not my favorite scones but good for an easy Sunday breakfast.

Irish Soda Bread

Since I'm not going to be in town to celebrate St Patrick's day, I thought this weekend I would bake some Irish themed goodies. First up, a lovely bread that turned out much better than I had expected. Usually I am not a fan of raisins in bread, but it really works in this recipe with the texture and the caraway. I found this recipe on the Food Network site, and I would definitely make it again. This bread comes together in under an hour!

I'm trying to remember to take more pictures during the process, but I get too into the recipe sometimes :)

Raisin Caraway Soda Bread
(Food Network)

1/2 cup golden raisins
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoon caraway seeds
2 tablespoons treacle or molasses ( I used honey instead)
3/4 cup buttermilk
2 tablespoons heavy cream
2 tablespoons rolled oats

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Place the raisins in a bowl and cover with 1 cup boiling water. Let sit and rehydrate for 10 minutes, then drain well in a sieve.

Into a large bowl sift together the flour, whole wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add the butter into the dry ingredients and work with your fingertips until it resembles dry crumbs. Add the caraway seeds, treacle, buttermilk and raisins and work with your fingers until just mixed and a wet dough is formed, being careful not to over mix. Place the dough on a lightly floured surface and form into a round. Press down on the dough with the palm of your hand and press to form a flat round about 1 1/2-inches high.

With a knife, cut a 1/4-inch deep cross in the center of the dough. With a pastry brush paint the dough with the cream and sprinkle the top with the oats. Place on a baking sheet and bake until light brown and cooked through, about 30 to 40 minutes.

Remove from the oven and cool slightly on a wire rack before slicing. Serve warm with plenty of sweet butter.

I decided to use it in a corned beef sandwich, and it was delish!


I also entered this bread in the BreadBakingDay #8, check it out here.