Breads, Breakfast/Brunch, Sandwiches/Paninis, Sides

Whole Wheat Sunflower Seed Sourdough Artisan Bread

It’s Wednesday, so that must mean a new sourdough experiment for the week! Sticking to my “learn about Ukrainian food” theme, this bread is a Whole Wheat Sunflower Seed Sourdough Artisan Bread. The Ukraine produces some of the largest crops of sunflower seeds globally (although with Russian and other Eastern European countries). And the sunflower is also a symbol of peace in the Ukraine. So, this bread is meaningful and economically appropriate. The Ukrainians, I have read, also eat a lot of rye, so that will be next Wednesday’s experiment. In the meantime, this bread is moist, rounded (literally and figuratively), hearty and has good flavor with the sunflower seeds, whole wheat and honey.

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9. March 2022
Dinner, Lunch

Harvest Beef Chili, Peppers, Beans and Corn

Working on the “restock the freezer” project after a recent complete meltdown, and decide to make a big pot of chili. Turns out, it was the best pot of chili that I have ever made. Just the right amount of heat. Lovely flavor. Added in frozen corn on a whim and it really worked. Yum.

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7. March 2022
Cookies, Sweet Snacks

Honey Plum Linzer Cookies

Lots going on in the world right now, and I am really feeling it. As long long time friends and followers will know, I get very emotionally invested in current events — in a very unhealthy manner, I must admit. I try to now channel pain and anger into learning — try to learn the language, learn about the people, the culture, the food. This could be anything, not just the current situation in the Ukraine, but conflicts in other parts of the world, or natural disasters, or extreme economic situations. But back to now: I tried to come up with a few recipes, this being the first of which, that form every day cuisine in the Ukraine. And I tried not to be too prototypical. Like, I don’t know if they would actually make Honey Plum Linzer cookies like these, but I do know that honey and plum preserves are common. So I made these. Quite lovely in fact.

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6. March 2022
Breakfast/Brunch, Desserts, Sweet Snacks

Pâte à Choux Beignets

As they say in New Orleans at Mardi Gras, Laissez les bons temps router! Instead of making Fasnachtsküchle or Krapfen this year for Fat Tuesday this year, I went with traditional Pâte à Choux Beignets. Light and airy, these were great. Eat them quickly though because they don’t taste nearly as good once the fry oil has chilled. Would be great with a strong black chicory coffee!

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1. March 2022
Breads, Breakfast/Brunch, Sweet Snacks

Cardamom Swirl Muffins

Decided to make these lovely Cardamom Swirl Muffins (are they a cinnamon bun? are they a muffin?) to share with fellow tenants after the weekend snowfall, and the respective digging out of the cars and clearing of the snow. For once, almost everyone pitched in. These are a cross between a muffin and cinnamon roll — definitely bigger than a usual muffin though. I used my hamburger bun pan, with homemade parchment paper liners, because the big liners are too high and the normal sized liners too small. Because of the butter and sugar, it’s best to go with liners even in a nonstick pan, lest they stick. Recipe makes 12 swirls so I had to bake in two batches. At any rate, these are fantastic straight out of the oven.

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28. February 2022