Double Chocolate Cherry Gingerbread Pigs

This chocolate gingerbread is a variation on a gingerbread recipe on theFoodiechef.com The article is still under construction, but the recipe is ready. 

The dough for this gingerbread would only make good pig shaped cookies when it was frozen. I rolled it out between sheets of wax-paper and slid it on a cookie sheet and put it in the freezer. It was a workout, but it produced soft, delicious, funny looking, dbl chocolate cherry gingerbread pigs.                                                

Chewy Apple Cranberry Oatmeal

Yet another pumpkin seed snack,   

this cookie is a variation on King Arthur Flour's "Chewy Oatmeal Cookie" and it is full of cranberries nuts and apples. 



 




To be ready to cream well, the coconut oil and buttermilk were beaten together and put in the refrigerator to chill while the other ingredients were being prepared.  


While the coconut oil mix was chilling, the pumpkin seeds were ground and sifted with the salt, cinnamon, flour, baking powder, and baking soda, then whisked and set aside.

 The apples and walnuts were chopped about the size of the cranberries. 









I got distracted and let my coconut oil / buttermilk mix get a little too warm. When I dumped the sugars in and beat them together, I slowly got soup. The creaming didn't begin until I put the mixing bowl in the freezer for a few minutes. Once it creamed I beat the egg and vanilla together and mixed it in just until it was smooth. This isn't a very moist mix. I beat in the flour, pumpkin seed, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, and it was obvious the mixer wouldn't be able to handle the oats. I got a stout spoon and dumped in the oats, nuts, cranberries, and apples and stirred a lot.

The recipe made 28 cookies, each a rounded teaspoon. Woo hoo, this time I remembered the vanilla. They were good without it, but they were  definitely much better with it.

Cold Rise Black Bean Blue Corn Cracker

This cracker recipe is an extreme
variation on King Arthur Flour's
"Worth Their Salt: Gourmet
Soda Crackers" recipe. Their
cracker dough rose overnight
in the refrigerator and had a
clay like consistency, becaues
of its low protein Italian  (pasta)
flour.

I used all-purpose, but
only a third as much. For this cracker, 1/3 of the flour was replaced by blue corn meal and another 1/3 was replaced  by ground pumpkin seed.
Their dough almost doubled overnight, while mine carrying blue corn meal, pumpkin seed, black beans, and fresh white corn, only rose 1/4 to 1/3 in 16 hours.










The first time I made these crackers, I used blue corn meal to roll out without sticking. My crackers were to thin to rise and tasted gritty and a bit bland.

 So this time, I went for a no flour roll out. This worked OK, but once again at first I made them too thin. At 6 minutes they were crisping up but they remained very thin and chip-like. The flavor was good even if they were challenging not to burn.

 When I gathered the scraps and tried to make a few that weren't so hard to move (just shy of 1/8 inch thick) I got some to rise enough to reveal their docker dimples.The color these turned as they began to crisp was lighter than the overly thin ones.

So, smaller batches rolling out makes it easier to get the best thickness. This dough didn't move well or bake well at the 1/16 inch thickness. Even the thicker ones only rose about 1/3. The McCormick taco seasoning was a good match. Next time I think I'll use the whole packet instead of half and leave out the 1/4 teaspoon of salt.

A Horseradish Dill Pastry Cracker With Pumpkin Seed

                                   I'm glad to have another pumpkin seed snack that's not a cookie.                                                            


This is a rebuild of a recipe on the King Arthur Flour website. First I beat together
10 teaspoons buttermilk 
and
1 cup coconut oil. 

Once the buttermilk was beaten into the coconut oil, the mixture was transferred to a parchment lined pan and refrigerated while the other ingredients were being prepared.

The raw organic pumpkin seed from the coffee grinder was a little coarser than flour. 



                          For a better mix, I 
 loaded the sifter with the 
1 cup ground pumpkin seed
1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 tablespoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
and sifted them together into the mixing bowl, then stirred them with a whisk.

Once it was chilled I got the coconut oil, buttermilk mixture out of the refrigerator and scratched a grid of 1" squares on the surface and broke it up. I cut the "pats" into the flour, pumpkin seed mixture until it was coarse and crumbly leaving  some pea sized pieces of the coconut oil mixture.

Next the  
1/2 cup sour cream
3 tablespoons prepared horseradish
2 tablespoons chopped chives 
1/4 cup chopped fresh dill
were stirred in until well mixed.

It was moist but not yet cohesive.

I moved the mixture to a floured work surface, and used a pastry scraper to fold it over on itself a few times. I then patted the dough into an 8" x 10" rectangle.

 After dusting both sides of the dough with flour, I folded it in thirds from the short end. I  turned it 90 degrees and rolled it into a rectangle about 8" x 10", then dusted both sides with flour and folded it in thirds again.

Then I wrapped it and refrigerated it for 30 minutes.






     

Once I rolled the dough into a 12" x 24" rectangle (I marked one on the table with masking tape and laid parchment over it), I cut the dough into 8 strips, 1 1/2" wide each, and cut crosswise in 3" sections to form 64 rectangles.  

First batch I used a plastic spatula (to protect the table top), but the dough was fragile and the cuts looked kinda rough. Next time (I burned up the first batch, bummer), I used a pizza roller-knife, gently. It worked great. 

The dough is challenging to move without deforming. I tried a number of ways. I cut the parchment into strips and flipped them over onto the pans. This worked, but it was a pain. Later, I realized it was all parchment; why flip it? I just cut it into sections and moved  them onto the prepared pans. 

The corner fold was another chance to tear up the moist and rapidly softening dough, but they really did look official. 

After baking for 12 to 14 minutes at 400 degrees Fahrenheit, they looked great. They're excellent with a sandwich and fruit instead of chips, and allot less salty.   

Rye & Onion Pita, (coconut oil and pumpkin seed enhanced)

 This Onion & Rye Pita  worked pretty well, and the dill seed gave it an even more unique taste. I used coconut oil instead of vegetable oil, and replaced some of the flour with ground pumpkin seed. Other than that, this recipe is very much like the one from King Arthur Flour. 

The scallion prep took all  of my chives plus a bunch and a half of scallions (tops only). The King Arthur recipe called for 1 cup finely chopped chives or scallions. I started with three bucks worth of washed chives and the kitchen scissors, it barely made 1/3 cup. Good thing I had a bunch and a half of scallions on hand (about $1.50 worth), 1 cup of finely cut chives would have cost $10.00 and another trip to the store.

 With the 
2 cups warm water
2 tablespoons sugar
1 packet active dry yeast
2 cups whole rye flour
beginning to work, I prepared and set aside the other ingredients.


  The "sponge" was looking full and bubbly by the time I got the
1 cup chives and scallions (finely chopped)
1 cup pumpkin seed (ground and sifted) 
2 tablespoons dill seed
1 scant teaspoon salt, and
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
measured up and ready.

My mixing bowl was too small so I switched to a pot. I dumped the bubbly sponge, oil, salt, scallions and chives, dill seeds, ground pumpkin seed, and the all-purpose flour into the pot and stirred it as best as I could with a mixing spoon. I then began knead it and transferred it to a large,well floured sheet pan, and continued to knead it for 2 or 3 more minutes. I allowed the dough a short rest while I cleaned out and greased the mixing bowl. The pot would have been 
                                           a better fit.  

After the short rest, and more mashing, puling, and stretching,  it did feel less lumpy, and eventually springy. It was also as smooth as it seemed like it could be, full of onion pieces. 

The dough, now a nice smooth ball was placed in the greased bowl and flipped over to present a greasy top, and covered with a damp cloth. 





 
Lifting its skirt, it was easy to see it wouldn't fit in this bowl much longer.     

  Look out, it's got a knife! Even with butter knives to hold the towel a little higher the dough has filled the bowl and started to lift the towel as it surges past the soon to be engulfed cutlery. After the dough has risen, begin preheating the oven to 500 degrees Fahrenheit.

 After knocking down the dough and kneading out any stray bubbles, divide the dough into 8 pieces. On a floured surface roll each piece out into a circle about 7 inches in diameter. Place them 2 each on cornmeal dusted baking sheets and cover them with damp cloths and let them rest for at least 15 minutes.

  After the circles have rested and the oven has preheated, place the first baking sheet on the bottom rack, or pizza stone if you have one. Close the oven and wait 2 minutes. It's this first intense heat that begins to create the pocket. After 2 minutes move the pan to a higher rack for 5 to 6 more min.

None of mine ever ballooned up but as I prepared them for storage I cut them in half (to fit them into sandwich bags) and split them all easily. The dill was a little odd but I like them. Next time I might try Caraway seed.                                               
                                                    

                                                                
                                                 

Extra Extra Sharp Cheese Straw

A coconut oil, pumpkin seed, probiotic snack, well that's the idea anyway. I found it suggested that a daily dose of probiotics  (basically the live stuff in buttermilk) offered several benefits, and that even when cooked some of theese benefits could be expected. 
                                         

   This cheese straw uses buttermilk to supply the 19% complex moisture needed to make it's coconut oil "bake friendly". To start off 
1/4 cup raw organic pumpkin seed (ground)
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, and
1/4 teaspoon salt 
       get sifted together, 
(sometimes the coffee
grinder misses a bit)
stirred with a whisk 
and set aside.


                                                               
1/2 cup  coconut oil and the 
5 teaspoons whole cultured buttermilk
are beaten together well then  
8 oz of grated extra sharp cheddar
are blended in and beaten until fluffy
(stiffer, slightly lighter colored).Cut in the flour, pumpkin seed mix 
then knead for 3-5 minutes. Allow the
dough to rest in the refrigerator for 15 minutes, then pack it in a cookie press.
Neatly, it fits on one 11 x 17 pan.

Bake for about 19 minutes at 350 degrees F.