Fresh goodies from the oven, Part 2

Honey almond bars-These are a crowd pleaser. Simple and delicious but not too sweet. I've made this with all three varieties of honey from Uriah Creek Apiaries and been very pleased with the results. You can taste the subtle difference in flavor and it's wonderful.

This the first batch I made, following the recipe to the letter. Since then I no longer put the icing on them, they're just too good by themselves. The honey does it without needing any other flavors to distract from the simple combination with the almonds and cinnamon.

Raspberry peach bread-I throughly enjoy making seasonal quickbreads and this was my first try at this combination. Very well received but next time I'm dicing the peaches instead of being lazy and just slicing them.

Blueberry peach bread-I made this at the same time as the raspberry to start off my spring season baking. I try to use local ingredients as much as possible and go with the seasons.


Forest fruit bread- I call it this because saying blueberry strawberry raspberry bread is just too long. I love the base recipe for this quickbread because it's only limited by my tastes and imagination. In the fall and early winter I make it with apples and cranberries, by themselves or combined. I've also made this in a pineapple coconut combination. I expect to try my hand at a version of this, come autumn, with fresh pumpkin from the garden of my friends Rob and Mary.

I've gone over to using local, seasonal, and organic ingredients as much as possible. It only makes sense to me to follow the rhythm of the seasons, support local farmers, and stop putting unnatural chemicals into the earth. Not trying to change the world, just how my behaviour affects it. I'm a part of the cycle of life on this planet and need to act accordingly.

Fresh goodies from the oven

I've waxed lyrical about my baking, but never actually posted what I make. Here is some of what I've been bringing forth from my oven this season.

Pineapple cookies-I'll have to go back and try this again. They came out more like biscuits in smell, taste, and texture. Not a problem in itself but not "pineappley" enough. If I can get this recipe to work to my satisfaction, I will experiment with pineapple coconut cookies.

White chocolate macadamia coconut cookies-No need to change this recipe, they were a hit the first time around. I brought a few dozen to a friend's barbeque and there were no leftovers for my friend to enjoy. I used a tool called a cookie scoop and they came out perfectly uniform in size, allowing me to get a dozen more than the recipe said it would make.


Blueberry buckle-A "buckle" is a berry filled, single layer cake with a streusel topping. It's not a cobbler which it is sometimes confused with. Another first time hit, the only changes I'd make to this would be how many varieties I could make. Strawberry, blackberry, raspberry, etc.


Molasses cake-Good but it needs something. I'm trying this one again with raisins and a cream cheese based icing like you would find on a carrot cake.


Fruit filled oatmeal bars-Another first time favorite, this one is with cherry pie filling. I'll be doing this again with apple, blueberry, and peach. I went lazy on this and used canned pie filling. Eventually I will be making my own, just not yet.

I've got a few more recipes to show off but that's for the next posting. Need to get off my lazy ass and not go weeks between posts. I apologize to you my dear readers.

Blueberries and my #@!&ing kitchen

Once again it's blueberry season here in New Jersey. I wish I had a freezer so I could put a couple of flats of blueberries away and have them year round. Eventually, when I gut my kitchen and turn it into something that I can really work in, along with a separate pantry including the aforementioned freezer and plenty of storage.

The original owner of the house did nothing to the place. No big deal, except that the amount of work space in the kitchen is miniscule. This house was built in the early Seventies when it was all tv dinners and frozen crap. No one needed or wanted counter space to work on. I literally have to juggle to do the prep work for real cooking and baking.

I hate it. To quote my friend Morphy, "I hate, hate, stabbity-stab, absolutely hate it!"

I can picture what I want in my head. The stove, sink, and dishwasher will remain in their locations because moving any one of them will require way too much trouble. Knocking out walls and re-routing water and electric lines. If I go whole hog, it will require gas being installed in the house for a combo gas/electric oven. Electric for the oven and gas for the stovetop. As it is I will be closing off a door and moving it into another room for access to the laundry. This will allow me to almost triple my counter and cabinet space. The kitchen table goes. To be replaced by an island with electric installed or a very large butcher block. Instead I'll just add some raised counter space with a few high stools and a view into the back yard for an eating area.

I haven't yet been able to picture the pantry/storage area. I do know it will be in another room. Either I greatly enlarge the laundry room or cut the mud room in half.

When (and I emphasize when) I'm done, I will have a real working kitchen that I can do large amounts of baking in, along with canning and preserving. And I'll finally be able to have friends visit and treat them with proper hospitality.

Someday. Eventually. Sigh...

But for now, back to the blueberries, the official state fruit of New Jersey. If you live here or are in the area this month and want some, go out and pick your own. There's baking to be done.

Baking as therapy

There's something about baking just for the sheer pleasure in it. The creation process that goes from raw ingredients to hot, fresh from the oven, smells oh so good. I have realized that since my return from Iraq, I seem to be doing it as therapy without knowing it. What led me to this conclusion is the fact that I have given away almost all of what I've made even before I was diagnosed as diabetic.

As I look back through my life, I can see how there was always an interest in baking. Of course in my younger days it was all pre-made mixes out of a box. But being young without a focus, and too many interests in other things, it never really developed.

It's only now in my mid-forties that I'm looking at it as what I want to do for the rest of my life. I would like to do it for a living but am prepared to accept it as just a sideline if that's how my life goes. My military career is drawing to a close after twenty-six years and making my living in the culinary world seems to be the only thing that brings out any passion and interest for me (aside from books of course). I need to do something that I love and care about, just punching a clock for a living at a job is living death as far as I'm concerned.

My ultimate goal is to be involved in food somehow. My dream is to open a small cafe or make and sell baked goods at farmer's markets. Only time will tell if I realize those dreams. Who knows what the future holds, I sure don't.

I do know the satisfaction of watching others eat what I've made. It tells me I've done something good. That I can create a solid, tangible thing that not only is sustenance, but pleasureable to people. Something real. I've taken good things from the earth; grains, fruits, and vegetables and turned them into a finished product that gives someone nutrition and is pleasing to the palate.

The two instructors I had this past semester told me I had talent and worthy goals. Their words meant something to me and I have to pursue it.

"[Breadbaking is] one of those almost hypnotic businesses, like a dance from some ancient ceremony. It leaves you filled with one of the world's sweetest smells...there is no chiropractic treatment, no Yoga exercise, no hour of meditation in a music-throbbing chapel, that will leave you emptier of bad thoughts than this homely ceremony of making bread." M.F.K. Fisher, The Art of Eating