Baking – Page 15 – morestomach

Blueberry Breakfast Cookies

Published on September 9, 2013September 9, 2013 by Lan | MoreStomach14 Comments

last week i read a book that made me pause,
look up and ask dw the most random questions,
prompted by the story,
but mainly because i wanted to hear his voice
and i wanted to know his answer
(fyi: no it’s not romantical to be boba fett,
even if skies are crossed on your behalf)
(and i also made dw croon love will tear us apart,
because i’m not familiar with the song
and it seemed SO IMPORTANT that the main protagonist loved it so much)
it’s been 3 days since i finished the book
and i’m still thinking about it
(it’s like i’m 15 again)
he always thinks about my questions,
treating each with the same reverence
for someone who likes to ask silly questions
it means so much that he doesn’t make me feel irreverent

one of the things i love so much about dw
is that he is game for anything
it’s never “do we have to?”
it’s always “sure, LET’S DO IT!”
during one of our early conversations,
it may have been our 4th date,
i mentioned to him that i was giving up meat for Lent
then i offhandedly said that if he
wanted to hang out during mealtimes
it’d be a good idea for him to give it up for 40 days
cus you know,
it’d be hard for me to watch him nibble on a steak
while i noshed on cauliflower
i didn’t seriously think he’d do it,
nor did i think he had to,
and most importantly, it wouldn’t have been a deal breaker
for me if he didn’t want to partake
but without blinking an eye
or skipping a beat
he said OK
and that was that

Blueberry Breakfast Cookies
*note: i am a stickler for breakfast. i’m not always good at eating breakfast but i know the importance of it. every sunday i try to make something for the week so to keep myself accountable i’m starting this Breakfast Series. i won’t be able to do it every week, and likely, there’ll be some weeks that are repeats but i’m hopeful that i’ll come up with delicious but wholesome treats for us to eat during the early hours of the day.
**note: blueberry season is over, sadly. early in the summer we went berry picking to make jam and well 22lbs is a lot of berries. we still have a bag left in the freezer from that adventure. you’ve been warned: there might be a few more blueberry treats coming up. any seasonal fruit will do in these cookies.

1 cup spelt flour
1/2 cup rice flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup tahini
2 tbl lemon juice
1 tsp ground ginger
1/4 cup brown rice syrup
1/2 cup of fresh blueberries

Pre-heat oven to 400F

in food processor, combine dry ingredients and pulse a few times. add in the tahini, pulse until combined. add the lemon juice and maple syrup. the dough should feel moist and pinch together.

divide the dough into 4 equal parts, then divide each part in two, shape into flattened rounds. dot the top with a few blueberries, as many as you’d like.

place on baking sheet.

bake for 14 minutes

cool on sheet. will keep in tightly covered container at room temp for a few days, after which, put in fridge.

other blueberry treats:
angry asian creations – blueberry pie + orange nut crust
angry asian creations – lemon blueberry scones
une gamine dans la cuisine – blueberry orange scones
use real butter – blueberry scones
movita beaucoup – blueberry break cake

meyer lemon bars

Published on September 3, 2013June 17, 2015 by Lan | MoreStomach15 Comments

so avoid using the word ‘very’ because it’s lazy. a man is not very tired, he is exhausted. don’t use very sad, use morose. language was invented for one reason, boys – to woo women – and, in that endeavor, laziness will not do.” N.H. Kleinbaum, Dead Poets Society

this may be a weird thought,
but i equate online dating,
or rather,
the reading of online dating profiles
to reading a professional resume
i know in my previous
post i used the analogy of
Online Dating as
a Swimming Pool,
one where i dove headfirst into
the deep end
(cus, what other way is there?)
when i signed into
the match making site
i really viewed it as a
job application –
this looking for an ideal mate,
and interviewing to see if i’m
someone’s ideal mate
as a professional headhunter
i say without ego
that i am an excellent judger of
a shitty resume

personally, i have rules with
regards to how a resume should look:
punctuation (this space is exempt)
capitalization (again, this space is exempt)
grammar (seriously)
first person vs third person perspective
length of resume (too short shows lack
of imagination, too much bores me to death & i end up skimming)

this isn’t even touching on the subject
of pictures

again, with my rules:
recent pictures
(i can normally tell if a photo
is outdated, hello 1996 high school class pic)
group picture or worse, a picture
with someone (usually a chick) cropped out
the topless in the bathroom shot
(there’s an alarming amount out there)

last, but actually the beginning:
the manner in which the
perspective applicant applied
the wink or “yo” emails were
promptly deleted and depending
on my mood, blocked
if there was even a slightest
indication that the guy did not
read my profile
(which, i’ll be truthful, read
very much like how i talk,
which incidentally, is how i write here)
if the email was interesting enough,
the profile was alright,
it was then that i responded

i know, i’m such a brat
it’s a wonder i got asked out
but i managed to go on dates,
a few of them repeats!
this went on for an exhausting 3 weeks
when one night
i received an email that
stopped me in my tracks
made me sit down
log into my account
to respond
and give him my personal contact
information right off the bat
it was dw’s email
i just knew

you know when you ask your
mother/whoever how they knew they met
The One
and they say vaguely,
and maddeningly,
that you just know
that was my moment
i just knew
he woo’d me from the first email
and i just knew
he was The One

Meyer Lemon Bars
*note: i didn’t make these. dw did. i know. see what i mean?

1 cup flour
1/3 cup scant coconut oil, melted
1/4 cup confectioner’s sugar
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup sugar

Preheat oven to 350°
Mix flour, coconut oil, and confectioner’s sugar.
Press evenly into bottom of square pan
Bake for 20 minutes

Beat remaining ingredients until light and fluffy.
Pour over hot crust and bake about 25 minutes longer
Cool
Cut into squares

other citrus and/or bars:
angry asian creations – lemon bars
angry asian creations – lime bars
morestomach blog – chocolate wonderfuls
spontaneous tomato – peach rhubarb oatmeal bars
une gamine dans la cuisine – brown butter peach crumb bars

diy homemade goldfish crackers

Published on August 12, 2013August 9, 2013 by Lan | MoreStomach13 Comments

we went to get dw fitted for a few suits
this summer
doing the grown up thing,
chatting with a proper
tailor
dw standing in front of a
3-way mirror
being tucked and nipped
and damnit, me kissing him silly
cus he is just so dang c u t e
(fyi: making out in public,
in a men’s fancy schmancy suit store
is only entertaining for me,
everyone else gets all flustered)

pda aside,
i always equated getting clothes specially
fitted and tailored
to be oh so grown up,
adult,
and well, i realize i am a
grown ass woman,
i feel so (not to mention, act) adolescent
does this feeling ever go away?
i hope not

when i was younger i wasn’t
much of a snacker
sure we had the random dorritos
or triscuits in the house,
sometimes,
however that was later, when my
sisters grew up and for
convenience sake there were
nibbles available
but when it was pretty much
just me in the house,
with my gparents,
there was never enough in the grocery
fund for cookies or fruit roll ups
as a result, i’m awful with
remembering to pick up
snacks
and even with the means to buy
them now,
and even when it’s on the list
i draw blanks with what to buy
so poor dw’s lunches are
always bland:
(he’d be the kid in the cafeteria
with nothing to trade)
the leftovers from the previous
night’s dinner
maybe a piece of fruit
and
that’s it
i know, right?

goldfish crackers are a
childhood staple,
not my childhood,
but you know,
~~the white folk~~
i could buy them now
i suppose, but they’ve been on
my radar to attempt,
and since i’m a grown up without
little ones to mind
i spent a sunday morning rolling the dough,
cutting the fish shapes
no lie, they’re adorable
they taste like the real stuff
i think i would just rather
re-learn how to grocery shop
for snacks

homemade goldfish crackers
adapted from she wears many hats

8 oz Sharp Cheddar Cheese, shredded. i used cabot’s seriously sharp cheddar
4 TBL cold coconut oil, Cut Into Cubes
1 cup spelt flour
pinch of salt
2 TBL ice cold water

in a food processor pulse everything but the water until the mixture looks like coarse sand

add in the water, one tablespoon at a time. resist the urge to add more. just don’t.

divide the dough into 3, wrapped in plastic and chill for 20 minutes.

preheat oven at 350F.

remove dough from fridge and allow for the cold edge to warm a smidge. remember, coconut oil is finicky, it gets hard at a lower temp but also melts real easily.

roll out the dough and cut into desired shapes. for the first 3 dozen i made little goldfish and then i got over it and just cut the rest of the dough into little random shapes with a pizza cutter. it all tastes the same, trust me.

place crackers on parchment paper lined cookie sheet. bake for about 15 minutes. store at room temp in air tight container.

chocolate + coconut macaroons

Published on August 5, 2013August 3, 2015 by Lan | MoreStomach26 Comments

you guys.
it’s August.
which means Summer is drawing to a close
school starts in a few weeks,
and the traffic jams will return
it means that before you know it
it’s September,
it’s Autumn,
it’s mustard yellows
and tweed
and cowls
and of course, for me + dw,
it means our Union

i confess that this post will not be
the funnest
it might even come off as whiny
but i’m tired
that’s it,
i’m just feeling fatigued
what should be so simple,
so incredibly easy,
is kinda turning out to be a downer
there is always 2yen dispensed
advice doled out
and the worst —
oh the worst
everyone else’s expectations & requests
(i could never make it as a customer service representative)

so, for now i am wallowing
it’s an immature indulgence, i know
but it’s all i am capable of right now
but when i get back, people:
Zero. Fucks. Given.

chocolate + coconut macaroons
adapted from the Splendid Table’s How to Eat Supper by Lynne Rossetto Kasper & Sally Swift
yields 13 heaping TBL-sized cookies, or 39 small tsp-sized cookies

*note: dw & i like to have dessert after dinner and well i needed a really quick, one dirty bowl sweet recipe. this was it. i previously made coconut macaroons that used only egg whites. this recipe, thankfully, let me use the whole dang thing and it came out just lovely.

2 large, organic eggs
1/4 cup organic sugar
generous pinch of salt
1 estimated tsp vanilla extract
2 2/3 cup unsweetened shredded coconut flakes
1/3 cup sweetened shredded coconut flakes
chocolate melt, amount per your discretion

preheat oven to 350F

prepare cookie sheet with parchment paper

in mixing bowl mix everything, except for the chocolate. you’re not aiming for a batter, it’s more like clumps of moistened coconut.

form macaroons as you want, into balls, or drop them via tablespoon on sheet. bake for 25 minutes, until golden brown.

transfer to rack to cool.

when cool, dip in melted dairy free chocolate, and drizzle over top. allow to cool.

who else has made coconut macaroons?
felicia of dish by dish, pyramid shaped!
wendi of bon appetit hon, with egg whites only
shanna of food loves writing, lemon almond coconut macaroons

chocolate wonderfuls

Published on July 15, 2013October 3, 2013 by Lan | MoreStomach16 Comments

the thing about planning a wedding
is that there are a bajillion little pieces,
that on their own are manageable,
but the total sum of them all
makes me want to take a nap

and i’m not a napper.

when in the midst of
planning a major blueberry picking expedition
organizing a jam & can session
brainstorming wedding invite layouts
discussing wedding cake options
eyerolling at my bridesmaids’ still not being attired
i had a hankering for chocolate.
these chocolate treats first appeared
in my previous space.
but due to a heavy crack down on dairy treats
we shelved it

it was quickly decided that chocolate wonderfuls
had to make a re-appearance in our lives.
i luckily found a good NON-DAIRY
sub for CONDENSED MILK
(which the consumption of would have me in a moaning fetal position)
(let’s not think about that)

there is no lie in my heart
when i tell you that this is an ass growing treat
i’ve been working out like a mad woman
and counting my calories ~~like kate moss counts cocaine lines~~
to fit into my gown
but these …
all else ceases to matter
the entire pan was meant to be shared
but the most we could bear
was to share with each other

sometimes
just sometimes
when things are chaotic
and the things that need to be done
don’t get done
instead, baked goods get made
(& consumed)
and it’s not just ok,
it’s wonderful

chocolate wonderfuls
adapted from dw’s mama (who’s his gma)

Chocolate Layer

6 oz dairy free organic semi sweet chocolate chips (i used taste the dream)
1 egg + ½ cup brown sugar + ½ tsp vanilla + 1 TBL flour + ¼ tsp baking powder + pinch of salt (from Cooks.com)
1 TBL barely melted coconut oil (you could probably nix it, i will next time)
Pinch of salt
½ cup chopped pecans

Shortbread layer & crumb topping

1 ¼ cups spelt flour, sifted
1 ½ cups quick cooking rolled oats
½ tsp salt
½ tsp baking soda
½ cup softened coconut oil (i usually measure out a cup and put in fridge to firm up for 20-30 min)
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla

preheat oven 350F.

double boiler style, melt chocolate. in a bowl mix together 1 egg + ½ cup brown sugar + ½ tsp vanilla + 1 TBL flour + ¼ tsp baking powder + pinch of salt. very carefully add to the heated chocolate, whisking like mad, you don’t want scrambled chocolate eggs. add in the coconut oil (or nix it) and the salt. finally add in the pecans and vanilla. remove from heat, set aside.

in a mixing bowl with paddle attachment, cream the coconut oil and brown sugar. add in the egg and vanilla. stir in the dry ingredients.

in a 9X9 pan, (you can first add in parchment paper if you want). press about 2/3 of mixture in as evenly as possible. spread the chocolate filling. crumble remaining oat mixture over the filling.

bake for 25-30 minutes until lightly brown.

cut into bars when cool.

to store: well covered in fridge. take out for about 15 minutes prior to eating, though eaten fresh out of fridge is fine, albeit they’ll be hard. due to the use of coconut oil if left out at room temp the treats are on the softer side, since coconut oil melts at such a low temp. we ~~like~~ love these chocolate wonderfuls cold & hard or super soft & warm.