ANZAC (Australia New Zealand Army Corps) biscuits became popular during World War I.  They were perfect for care packages that were sent to soldiers since they could be made without eggs, and they kept well on the overseas voyage to Europe.

INGREDIENTS

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups rolled oats

2 cups sugar

1 cup desiccated coconut

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter

2 tablespoons Lyle’s Golden Syrup

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 cup boiling water

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper, and set aside. In a large bowl, combine flour, oats, sugar, and coconut. Set aside.

In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt butter with syrup. Dissolve baking soda in boiling water, and add to butter mixture. Stir to combine.

Add butter mixture to dry ingredients, and stir to combine. Using a 1 1/2-inch ice-cream scoop, drop onto prepared baking sheets, about 2 inches apart (be sure to pack the scoop tightly so the mixture doesn’t crumble). Flatten cookies slightly with the heel of your hand.

Bake until golden brown and firm but not hard, about 15 minutes. Transfer to wire racks to cool.

I got the recipe here.

Not sure why more people don’t know about these.  One of my faves from Jersey.

INGREDIENTS

Dough

2 cups bread flour

1/2 teaspoon instant yeast

1 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons water, at room temperature

Onion-Poppy Seed Filling

2 1/4 teaspoons vegetable oil

6 tablespoons onion, chopped

3/4 teaspoon poppy seeds

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

Black pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS

Dough

Whisk flour and the yeast, then salt. Using dough hook, on low speed, gradually add the water, mixing for about 1 minute or until the flour mixture is moistened. Raise the speed to medium and continue mixing for 7 minutes. Bowl should be clean but the dough should be soft and elastic. Add a little extra flour or water if necessary. Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, press down and spray a little oil on the top. Cover and let double about 1½ to 2 hours.

Shaping

Punch dough down and place on a floured counter. Cut into 6 equal pieces (about 3 ounces). Work with one piece at a time, keeping the remaining dough covered. Maintaining as much air as possible in the dough, round each piece by pulling the dough together to form a pouch, stretching to make a smooth skin, and pinching it together where the edges meet. Set it on a floured baking sheet or tray, pinched side down. (The rounds will be 2 1/2 inches by 1 1/2 inches high.) Flour the tops and cover with plastic wrap.

Allow the bialys to rise for about 2 hours at 75 to 80°F or until almost doubled; when pressed lightly in the center, they should keep the impression. If the dough is underrisen, it will puff up in the center instead of maintaining the characteristic hollow crater. The trick for underrisen dough is to make a small hole in the center before adding the filling. Since the dough bakes so quickly, it’s easy to test bake one to see if the dough is ready. If you want to be on the safe side, make the hole anyway.

 

Onion-Poppy Seed Filling

Heat oil in small pan. Add the onion and saute over medium heat, stirring often, for about 5 minutes or until translucent. You can get them as caramelized as you like. Remove from the heat and add the poppy seeds, salt, and pepper to taste. Cool.

Good time to preheat the oven to 475°F 30 minutes before baking. You will need to place two pans in the oven. One for baking the bialys and the other for ice just as you start baking them to create steam. Now back to the shaping of the bialys

 Holding each piece of dough with both hands, with your thumbs in the middle and almost touching, pinch the center of the dough tightly between your thumbs and first two fingers and stretch the dough to 4 1/2 to 5 inches in diameter, forming a crater in the center. Place it on the lined baking sheet and spoon 1 teaspoon of onion-poppy seed filling into the center.

Place the bialys directly on a hot baking sheet. Toss a handful of ice cubes into the sheet pan on the oven floor (this helps make your oven closer to a professional bread oven; the steam helps form a crust), and immediately shut the door. Bake for 6 to 10 minutes or until pale golden and mottled with brown spots. 

Remove the baking sheet or parchment from the oven and transfer the bialys to wire racks to cool until just warm.

I got the recipe here.

Raspberry, walnut, and poppy Hamantaschen. Happy Passover.

INGREDIENTS

3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

2/3 cup sugar

1 egg, room temperature

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp grated orange zest

2 1/4 cups flour

1/4 tsp salt

Place butter and sugar in bowl and use electric mixer to until light and fluffy.

Add the egg, vanilla, and orange zest to the bowl. Beat again until creamy and well mixed.

Sift flour and salt into the bowl.

Mix until crumbly dough forms.

Knead dough into a ball and then flatten into a disk.  Wrap in plastic and refrigerate overnight.

Make any fillings you want.

Here are some ideas

Poppy Seed Filling

Nut Filling

Raspberry Filling

In the morning, preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Lightly flour a smooth, clean surface. Unwrap the dough disk and place it on the floured surface. The dough will be very firm after chilling.

Use a rolling pin to roll the dough out to 1/4 inch thick. At the beginning, it will be tough to roll out– you may need to pound it a bit. A heavy rolling pin works best. As you roll, cracks may form on the edges of the dough. Repair any large cracks with your fingers and continue rolling.

When the dough reaches 1/4 inch thickness, scrape the dough up with a pastry scraper, lightly reflour the surface, and flip the dough over. Continue rolling the dough out very thin (less than 1/8 of an inch thick). The thinner you roll the dough, the more delicate and crisp the cookies will turn out– just make sure that the dough is still thick enough to hold the filling and its shape! If you prefer a thicker, more doughy texture to your cookies (less delicate), keep the dough closer to 1/4 inch thick. Lightly flour the rolling pin occasionally to prevent sticking.

Use a 3-inch cookie cutter (not smaller) or the 3-inch rim of a glass to cut circles out of the dough, cutting as many as you can from the dough.

Gather the scraps and roll them out again. Cut circles. Repeat process again if needed until you’ve cut as many circles as you can from the dough. You should end up with around 35 circles (unless you’ve kept your dough on the thicker side, which will result in less cookies).

Place a teaspoon of filling (whichever filling you choose) into the center of each circle. Do not use more than a teaspoon of filling, or you run the risk of your hamantaschen opening and filling spilling out during baking. Cover unused circles with a lightly damp towel to prevent them from drying out while you are filling.

Assemble the hamantaschen in three steps. First, grasp the left side of the circle and fold it towards the center to make a flap that covers the left third of the circle.

Grasp the right side of the circle and fold it towards the center, overlapping the upper part of the left side flap to create a triangular tip at the top of the circle. A small triangle of filling should still be visible in the center.

Grasp the bottom part of the circle and fold it upward to create a third flap and complete the triangle. When you fold this flap up, be sure to tuck the left side of this new flap underneath the left side of the triangle, while letting the right side of this new flap overlap the right side of the triangle. This way, each side of your triangle has a corner that folds over and a corner that folds under– it creates a “pinwheel” effect. This method if folding is not only pretty– it will help to keep the cookies from opening while they bake.

Pinch each corner of the triangle gently but firmly to secure the shape. If any cracks have formed at the places where the dough is creased, use the warmth of your fingers to smooth them out.

When all of your hamantaschen have been filled, place them on a lightly greased baking sheet, evenly spaced.

Place them in the oven and let them bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes, till the cookies are cooked through and lightly golden.

I got the recipe here.

 

 

 

 

Everything you need for breakfast in one bread.

INGREDIENTS

3 very ripe bananas

1 large egg at room temp

2 tablespoons sour cream or yogurt

2 ounces of espresso

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon ground espresso

1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted

¾ cups granulated sugar

1 ½ cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon kosher salt

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350°F and grease a 9X5-inch loaf pan.

In a medium-large mixing bowl, stir the mashed bananas together with the egg, sour cream, espresso, and vanilla extract, until everything is well combined.

Stir in the instant espresso.

Stir in the melted butter until it is completely incorporated. Follow this by stirring in the sugar until everything is well mixed.

In a small bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, and salt.

Dump this mixture into the wet ingredients and stir just until there are no dry streaks left. The batter will still be lumpy. Scrape the batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake in the oven until a tester inserted into the loaf comes out clean, about one hour.

Remove from the oven, allow to cool.

I got the recipe here.

 

My favorite college baseball team is the one that Steve Rodriguez is coaching.  These raisin, walnut, chocolate chip cookies have some flax seeds, wheat germ, and whole wheat flour to make them the perfect dugout snack.

INGREDIENTS

2 cups Cake Flour

1 2/3 cups Whole wheat flour

2 1/2 sticks butter (room temperature)

1 1/4 cups Brown sugar

1 cup sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

10 ounces of milk chocolate chips

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 cup raisins

2 tablespoons flax seeds

2 tablespoon wheat germ

DIRECTIONS

In a bowl sift together flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Set aside. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs (one at a time) and vanilla. Incorporate flour mixture. Stir in chocolate  chips, walnuts, and raisins.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Scoop out a small ice cream sized amount of dough onto silpat lined cookie sheet and slightly flatten dough. Sprinkle a little bit of sea salt on each cookie. Cook for approximately 12 minutes.

  

 Strawberries, raspberries, and tarragon. It tastes like summer if it were a bread.

INGREDIENTS

5 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon unsalted butter, softened, plus more for pan

1/2 pint strawberries and ½ cup raspberries, quartered and mashed

½ cup yogurt

1 tablespoon tarragon chopped finely

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup sugar

2 large eggs

½ cup milk

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter an 8-by-4-inch loaf pan.

In a small saucepan, bring strawberries and raspberries to a boil over medium heat. Cook, stirring, 1 minute. Add chopped tarragon and set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

With an electric mixer, cream butter, sugar, and eggs in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Add yogurt.

Add flour mixture alternately with 1/3 cup milk, beginning and ending with flour. Fold in reserved strawberries and raspberries.

Scrape batter into prepared pan, smoothing top.

Bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, about 1 hour (tent with foil after 45 minutes if top is getting too dark). Cool in pan 10 minutes.

  
Nathan gave me some real cinnamon so I’ve been using it everywhere.  Too bad Nathan is gluten-free.

INGREDIENTS

4 cups flour

4 tablespoons kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon yeast

Approx. 2 cups water

1/2 cup raisins

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1 tablespoon brown sugar

Mix dry ingredients together and then add water slowly until dough is a little sticky.  Fold in raisins.  Cover and leave overnight.

In the morning, preheat oven to 475 degrees and put dutch oven (any oven safe covered pot will work) in oven to heat.  You need a really hot oven and dutch oven.  Remove dutch oven from oven.  Flour hands and a top of bread.  Carefully plop dough into pot and sprinkle wheat germ over the top.  Cover and bake for 30 minutes.  Remove lid and let bread brown for about 10-15 minutes.  Remove from oven, tip bread from dutch oven and let cool on counter.

 

I ran out of whole wheat English muffins so I had to make my own, hence the quotes.

INGREDIENTS

2 teaspoons active dry yeast (1 packet)

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

½ cup  plain yogurt

½ cup warm whole milk

½ tablespoon honey

1 teaspoon fine sea salt

1 cup whole-wheat flour

1 cup all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking soda

Cornmeal, preferably coarse, as needed

DIRECTIONS

In a small bowl combine yeast and 1/3 cup warm water (80 milliliters) and let rest until yeast has dissolved, about 5 minutes.

Melt 2 tablespoons butter and put it in a large bowl. Whisk in yogurt, milk, honey, salt and the yeast mixture.

Add flours and baking soda to bowl and beat thoroughly with a spoon or rubber spatula until well combined. Cover bowl and let rest in a warm spot for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, or until dough has doubled.

Heat oven 350 degrees. Lightly dust a small baking sheet with cornmeal.

Place a large skillet over medium heat and melt 1 tablespoon butter. Using a large ice cream scoop or 1/2 cup measuring cup, drop batter into skillet to form round muffins about 4 inches in diameter, mounding the batter in the center. (You may need to coax the dough a little with your fingers, so be careful of the hot pan, and don’t worry if they’re not perfectly circular.) Repeat until you have 3 muffins, leaving the rest of the batter for a second batch. Reduce heat to low. Cover skillet with lid or baking sheet and cook 3 to 5 minutes, until bottoms are golden brown. (Be careful not to let them burn.)

Uncover skillet and flip muffins using a spatula. Cover again and cook 2 to 4 minutes or until the other sides are golden brown. Place muffins on prepared baking sheet. Repeat using remaining batter and another tablespoon of butter.

Bake muffins for 6 to 9 minutes, or until puffed and cooked through. Split the muffins with a fork and toast before eating.

I found this in The New York Times.