Moomie's Buns - The Hamburger Bun to Rule Them All

Last weekend I made a recipe originally known as Moomie's Buns. These hamburger buns (suitable, of course, to serve as general sandwich buns) are substantial. There will be no danger of a juicy hamburger soaking through and turning the bun to mush. They are not dense, though, but are tender, and almost light. Biting into one of these hamburger buns is remarkably satisfying. They are the Platonic ideal of a hamburger bun; the quintessential bun that all others strive to be.

A few weeks ago I finally tried out the dough hook on my monster KitchenAid mixer and was, well, hooked. I'd always kneaded my yeast breads by hand and just never made the transition to machine, even though I've had the mixer for years. Once I saw how easy it was to translate my recipes to the dough hook, I got into a yeast baking mood. I thought I'd break out from my usual loaves and give bun making a try. Having recently looked up the recently popular cinnamon roll recipe on the King Arthur Flour site, I did a search there for hamburger buns. When I opened the recipe for "Beautiful Burger Buns" I knew I'd hit the winner.

Chrissy Teigen's Banana Bread

The last couple of months I've had little interest in cooking. Even a sandwich or a frozen entree or scrambled eggs almost seemed like too much effort. I can't claim the spell is broken, but yesterday I made something from my dormant to-try list - Chrissy Teigen's banana bread.

I missed this recipe when it was all the rage around 2018, but it came to my attention a few months ago. Despite my long-time devotion to another banana bread recipe, I'm always willing to try something new. 

This recipe requires no creaming, which I like (and is one reason I like my usual recipe). It uses instant pudding mix, in common with some popular cake recipes. It has coconut, but shouldn't scare coconut haters. It has a LOT of sugar compared to the amount of flour, yet doesn't taste "too sweet." I'm not a fan of chocolate chips in banana bread, and I was wanting a nutty bread, so I swapped in chopped walnuts.

The top had a great very thin crackle layer day-of-baking, but after an overnight in the cake keeper that became a slightly sticky top.

It's excellent & I would make again.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/books/2018/09/17/chrissy-teigens-famous-banana-bread-recipe/1283473002/

One-Bowl Banana Bread

This one-bowl Banana Bread recipe is what I call Banana Bread Without All The Fuss. I have been making this recipe since I purchased my first cookbook, The Fannie Farmer Cookbook, in the early 1980s. Unlike most recipes, this banana bread doesn't require a mixer, as it has no butter that needs to be creamed. In fact, it has no fat at all other than that provided by the eggs. This is not a banana cake, therefore, but a banana bread that has a compact crumb that is moist purely from the power of the bananas.

As with all banana breads, though, you want to use ripe bananas. The riper, the better. One common trick is that when you are down to that last banana that's riper than you prefer, let it continue to ripen until it is spotty brown, then stick it in the freezer. The skins will turn almost black, but that's OK. When you have collected 3 or 4, let them thaw to make the banana bread. You'll want to peel them over the mixing bowl. Depending on how ripe they were when they went into the freezer, they will be very soft, and there may even be a separated liquid. That's OK.

The Easiest Easy Roast Chicken

I've been making this easy roast chicken for years. The inspiration comes from Thomas Keller, of the world-famous French Laundry and other restaurants. You'd think that a good roast chicken recipe shouldn't be this simple, but trust me -- If you are accustomed to rubbing things over or under the skin, basting, or otherwise fussing with your chicken, you don't need any of that to have a great bird. If you've never made roast chicken before, this is foolproof and requires next to no effort. The only issues you might run into is if your chicken is spoiled, or if there's a problem with your oven.

The lovely thing about roast chicken for me, as a single grrl, is that it gives me multiple meals. The first is obviously as a traditional entree as it emerges hot from the oven, all crackly brown skin and tender meat. But, after the remainder is cooled sufficiently, the whole thing gets wrapped in foil and put in the fridge. Now I have the makings for a chicken sandwich, or chicken salad, or some tasty protein I can add to a soup or a salad. The possibilities are endless; the presence of a roasted chicken in your icebox is the gateway to additional tasty lunches and dinners.

Small Batch Wedding Cupcakes

Small Batch Wedding Cake Cupcakes

One of my favorite items at Gigi's Cupcakes is the Wedding Cake Cupcake, and this small batch cupcake recipe gives me all of the thrills with none of the downsides. It may sound boring to some people, but I just adore the hint of almond and vanilla and the purity of the white cake and white icing. Even for a dedicated sweet tooth like mine, however, Gigi's mountain of frosting on an oversized cupcake can be a bit much, and I'm just not in the store's neighborhood that often. An issue in making your own cupcakes, though, especially when you are a Single Grrl, is that most recipes make at least a dozen, and often two dozen, and they can be hard to cut down to make fewer. Luckily I stumbled across a great small-batch vanilla cupcake recipe several years ago. It only makes six home-style cupcakes, which is great when you want to have enough to share but not enough to have endless stale leftovers. I've tweaked the recipe to give it that "wedding cake" flavor, but you could easily revert to regular vanilla cupcakes by omitting the almond flavoring. While they are not a duplicate of Gigi's, they are tender and flavorful, just perfect for a sweet bite with tea or coffee or as a fun dessert, with or without colorful sprinkles.

Chicken and Dumplings: The Good Kind

There are two basic schools of Chicken and Dumplings: Those where the dumpling dough is rolled out and cut into strips, and those where the dough is softer and dropped into the stew in blobs. The first type is what you would find at Cracker Barrel: Bits of chicken in a bland gravy with broad, slippery noodle-things. I find this type of Chicken and Dumplings to be edible, but unappetizing. By contrast, the recipe below is a slightly creamy chicken stew, rich with vegetables and herbs and topped with fluffy clouds of steamed dough. This is the definition of comfort food. This is Chicken and Dumplings as it should be.

Lemon Blueberry Muffins

I've been making blueberry muffins for a long time, using various recipes over the years. I never had a particular favorite, though. I hadn't made any for a long time, but recently I needed an easy breakfast-y treat for a Meal Train and the idea of blueberry muffins struck. Looking for a new recipe, I checked Smitten Kitchen as I almost always do, and of course she had one that looked just the thing. It included lemon, which is my favorite flavoring for blueberry muffins, and called for yogurt or sour cream in place of the usual milk or buttermilk. Her recipe is an adaptation of other recipes, and so on, and so on .... Here's my take on it; I've even included a variation for Orange Cranberry Muffins.