Gingerbread Pancakes for Christmas morning

This is a special treat for a special day.  Well worth the indulgence.  But I did make a few adjustments, shown in italics and strikeout.

Here's what I used:

1 cup whole wheat flour
1½ 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 1 teaspoon ground dried ginger

1 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup molasses

1½ 1 cup water
1/2 cup milk

Whisk the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ginger, and cinnamon in a bowl; set aside. Beat the egg in a separate mixing bowl with the vanilla and molasses until smooth. Whisk in the water and milk until completely incorporated. Stir the flour mixture into the molasses mixture until just combined -- a few lumps are okay. Heat a lightly oiled griddle over low heat. Drop batter by large spoonfuls onto the griddle, and cook until bubbles form and the edges are dry. Flip, and cook until browned on the other side. Repeat with remaining batter.

Some people complained that these were thin, but mine turned out fluffy and spongy and delicious. I'm not sure if it made any difference, but I did let the batter sit for about 5 minutes before cooking on a very low flame (rather than medium-high, as the original directions instructed.)  It's also likely that the thirstier whole wheat flour soaked up more liquid and so contributed to a thicker pancake.

Conclusion:  Excellent! Definitely a keeper. I had them with cream cheese and maple syrup, but I would like to try creating a cream cheese based syrup.

Recipe: Grandma's Gingerbread Pancakes via allrecipes

Spiced Pecan Twist

Sunday morning -- start it with this spicy, twisted sweet bread.  It's soft and crispy, sweet and fragrant.  It has a consistency much more like a scone than a bread.  In fact, it's pulled together just like a scone, differing only in the shaping. As a loaf, however, the result is less crispy crust and more fluffy interior.

This is quite sweet, with sugar in the dough, the filling, and the glazes.  Personally, I don't see the point of both an apricot jam glaze AND a lemon glaze,  and I'm not sure either is necessary since the dough receives an egg wash.  I recommend the apricot for a less sweet touch, but in that case it should probably be eaten the same day as the jam is sticky and will soften the crust.  The lemon glaze adds a nice citrusy flavor, but no need to drape it on.   You could also easily reduce the sugar in the dough, if desired.

This was a little tricky to make -- there were no photos and the directions were a bit scant.  She offers that you can make one large loaf or two smaller ones, but then gives directions for only one variation without telling you which that is.  I had halved the recipe, and as it was had the dough rolled out into about a 14" square before I checked the measurements:  25 cm, which is just under 10".  Oops.  And of course, I didn't know if that was for the full recipe or only half.  Considering the small size of the recommended square (which would have left my dough fairly thick), I determined her continued directions must be for the half-size loaf.

I didn't want to gather up the dough and re-roll it to the proper size, so I charged ahead and waited to see how it would work out.  My finished log was only about 2" in diameter, but once sliced and twisted I was able to sort of squish it up a bit to about 10" long.  This gave the dough room to rise, but might have caused the layers to blur a bit more during baking than if the twist had been tighter.  (Another disadvantage to the lemon glaze is that it obscures the pretty layers.)

I used the original recipe as a guideline for the total quantity of spices, but used a 2:2:1:2 mix of cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, and Chinese 5-spice (which is somewhat anisey, though mine was old and low in flavor.)  I also used about half whole wheat flour in the dough.

This bread is quite rich with all the butter and sugar, so plan your accompaniments accordingly.  Simple scrambled eggs and dark coffee would go nicely.

For the filling:
42g plain flour
25g dark brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cardamom
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon Chinese 5-spice
1/8 teaspoon salt
20g butter, soft
1/2 cup pecans, broken pieces
1 egg white

For the dough:
190g plain flour
100g whole wheat flour
30g caster sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
35g butter
1 egg yolk
100ml milk

For the egg wash (optional):
1 egg mixed with 1 tablespoon water

For the apricot glaze (optional):
1 tablespoon apricot jam

For the lemon icing (optional):
1/3 cup confectioner's sugar
Zest of 1/2 lemon
1/2 tablespoon butter, melted
Hot water, added a teaspoon at a time until you get the desired consistency

For the filling, whisk together the flour, brown sugar, and spices in a small bowl; blend in the butter. Add the egg white a little at a time.  (If you are not using the egg wash, reserve a small amount of this egg white, about 1/2 teaspoon, to secure your log roll.) Stir well until you have a smooth, creamy paste and set aside.

Sift together the flours, sugar, baking powder and salt together in a mixing bowl. Rub in the butter until you have a soft crumb texture. Whisk the egg yolk and milk together and pour slowly into the dry ingredients, mixing all the time. Your dough should be smooth, light and very soft. Heavily flour your work surface and tip the dough onto it. Sprinkle with a little more flour and very gently knead for a few seconds, pulling the edges of the dough towards you, working in a circular motion until you have a neat ball of soft dough. Roll out your dough to about a 10" square. Spread the filling over the dough with a palette knife, leaving one inch untouched along the far edge. Sprinkle the pecans evenly over the filling.

Starting away from the clean edge, roll up the dough into a log. Beat your egg for the egg wash (or use your reserved egg white) and brush the clean edge. Secure the roll closed with the egg wash strip underneath the roll. With a sharp knife, cut through the center of the roll lengthwise, leaving one inch at the top still adjoined. Rotate the halves outward to expose the layers, then wrap them loosely around each other about two times to form a twisted strand. Secure the end by pressing lightly with your fingers.  If using, brush all over with the egg wash. Move to a lightly greased baking sheet and bake for 30-40 minutes at 375F.

Make the lemon icing by whisking together the confectioner's sugar, melted butter, lemon zest and a little hot water until you have the desired consistency. Leave to one side.

Once the bread has come out of the oven, dollop the apricot jam in a few spots and allow it to soften, then brush thinly over the hot loaf.  Allow to cool on a wire rack. When cooled, drizzle the icing decoratively over the loaf.

Conclusion:  This was somewhat fussy, but worth the effort for a special breakfast or brunch.  Be cautious with the sugar layering -- it can overpower the flavors of the bread without necessarily adding to the whole.  Next time I would probably limit the topping to a light, decorative drizzle and call it good, but all options are provided here.

Original recipe:  Cinnamon and Pecan Twist Bread via Food Network UK

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Pound Cake

The only pound cake I knew as a child was the frozen one that came in a box.  It's still a favorite, I must admit -- or at least it is in my head.  My memories from childhood are of an intensely buttery, dense cake with a soft, dark crust that needed nothing else.  I was never satisfied with the thin, 1/2" slice I was doled out.  (It was a small cake, and a big family.)  So to be honest, I was somewhat disappointed the first time I had homemade pound cake.  It was too sweet, not buttery, and had a weird, crunchy crust.  I've had several different recipes, and they were all pretty much the same.  What's with that top crust that doesn't quite attach to the cake, anyway?

Enter:  this one.  Perhaps it's the cream cheese that makes the difference.  All I know is this cake is moist, buttery, not too sweet, with the added warmth of cinnamon.  I doubled the spice, which made it clearly a cinnamon cake, but I think the original version with just a light touch would be lovely as well.

No crunchy, crumbling crust here.

The recipe is very easy, though a little time-consuming with all the mixing involved.  (You don't want to take this on without modern conveniences.)  Aside from the increased spice, the only other change I made was to use whole-milk Greek yogurt instead of buttermilk, thinned down with some skim milk.  It seemed to work out fine.  This recipe made a large cake that was perfect for the company potluck holiday lunch.

Conclusion:  Delicious.  Fine plain, but would be extra special served with a tangy cranberry/pear compote and a dollop of whipped cream.

Recipe:  Cinnamon Cream Cheese Pound Cake  via Evil Shenanigans

December ABC challenge: Hot Buttered Soft Pretzels

Anything that starts with "hot buttered" in the description has got to be good, right?  I mean, you've got bread, you've got butter, and you've got salt.  It's hard to go wrong.

I've been a soft pretzel junkie since I can't remember when.  For years, whenever I was in Santa Barbara, I'd go out of my way to visit this little hole-in-the-wall bakery just to buy their soft pretzels.  These things were the best I've ever tasted!  Bavarian style, they were fat and soft in the middle, while the arms were thin and chewy.  I'd buy a half dozen, which lasted me only a couple days.  (It was the most I thought I could get away with before they'd lose their remarkable texture and flavor.  I limited myself to eating only two a day.)  Then one day I stopped by and found the shop gone.  I don't know what happened to them.  I didn't know the name, so I couldn't even look them up to see if they'd simply moved.  I've searched Santa Barbara bakeries since then but to no avail.  Those amazing pretzels are gone forever.

I never even thought about making my own at home. I thought there was a big, complicated process involved -- the shaping, the boiling vats of toxic fluid, the special salt...  Besides, I was getting to an age when I really couldn't afford to be eating large wads of white dough.

Consequently, I approached this month's challenge with a little trepidation.  The recipe sounded pretty easy, and it turned out to be just that.  I suppose the only question was exactly what texture the dough should be.  The recipe called for it to be "soft, smooth, and quite slack."  It was a very dry day here, and I'd used part whole wheat flour, so I found myself adding more and more water as I kneaded, the dough seeming to be drying out before my eyes.

Fun with bread ropes!

In the end, perhaps my dough was a little too slack, because the pretzels were very flat on the bottom.  But the dough was easy to work with and the pretzel knots came together nicely.  I made them Bavarian style like the ones I used to buy -- fat in the middle and skinny (well, I tried) on the arms.  (The arms on these aren't nearly as thin as I was aiming for.)  The baked pretzels were about 5" across.

With luck, the fat middles will break open a little during baking.

I wasn't happy with the whole wheat addition.   In most baked products I don't even notice a difference, but it was very detectable in these.  Soft pretzels need to be plain white flour.  There's no getting around it.  They also lacked the smooth, shiny exterior that a pretzel should have.  Still, the texture and flavor was good.

Crispy on the outside, soft on the inside.

Conclusion:  These were very easy and very good, but I'll have to keep up the search for the ultimate soft pretzel.  If I weren't on a quest, I would stick with this recipe, as there really is nothing bad about it.  But next time, regardless of the recipe, I'll make them larger around so I can get those arms thinner!

Recipe:  Hot Buttered Soft Pretzels via King Arthur Flour