Instant Fudge Cake Mix

This is a copycat of your standard box cake mix, but makes a much smaller cake or fewer cupcakes.  It's shelf-stable for several months in a sealed container.

• 2/3 C flour
• 1/2 C + 1 tsp sugar
• 1/3 C cocoa
• 1/2 rounded tsp baking powder
• 1/4 rounded tsp baking soda
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 Tbsp shortening

1.  Stir together all ingredients except shortening.  Using a hand mixer, add shortening until it is completely mixed in and no visible chunks remain.

To use:

• 1/3 C + 1 1/2 Tbsp water
• 2 Tbsp + 2 tsp vegetable oil
• 1 egg

1.  Preheat oven to 350°F.
2.  In a medium bowl, combine wet ingredients with dry cake mix.  Divide batter equally between two mini loaf pans (or two 6-inch round cake pans).  Bake at 350°F for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Robyn's notes: I mixed up the dry ingredients and put them in a mason jar, which was left on the counter for a couple weeks of changing weather conditions, to see how well it would hold up in heat, direct sunlight, and unexpectedly cold nights.  No problems with the mix.  I used the mix for Chocolate Cherry Bars and they came out fabulously.  For cupcakes, I baked for 17 minutes.  Waatch me demonstrate this recipe on youtube!

**** 4 Stars: Very Good.  Enjoyed by us both, I will make this frequently.   

Maple & Brown Sugar Oatmeal Cupcakes

I'm really quite pleased with this recipe.  I was doing some chores one morning recently, and thought to myself "a cupcake that tastes like my favourite instant oatmeal would probably be really good".  I was quite sure I could make an easy maple buttercream frosting, so the next step was the cupcakes themselves.  My elevation gave me some real challenges this time, so after I had the recipe working I had two family members test it for me, as they both live at sea level.  Came out even better for them than it had for me!

• 1/4 C boiling water 
• 1/4 C old-fashioned oats (not "quick cooking") 
• 2 Tbsp sugar 
• 3 Tbsp brown sugar 
• 2 Tbsp butter, softened 
• 1 1/2 Tbsp beaten egg 
• 1/2 tsp 100% real maple syrup (not Mrs Butterworth's, Log Cabin, Aunt Jemima, or other "breakfast syrups") 
• 1/2 C flour 
• 1/4 tsp baking soda 
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon 

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line four regular-size muffin cups with paper liners.
2. In a small bowl, pour boiling water over oats, stir so that all oats are wet, and set aside to cool.
3. In a medium bowl cream together sugars and butter. Beat in egg and maple syrup. Stir in oats.
4. Combine dry ingredients and add to batter. Blend until just combined, do not overmix.
5. Spoon batter evenly into prepared muffin cups, and bake at 350°F for 19-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Remove cupcakes to cooling rack and allow to cool completely before icing. 

Maple Buttercream Frosting:

• 4 Tbsp butter, softened
• 2 Tbsp 100% real maple syrup (again, not "breakfast syrup")
• 1 C powdered sugar

1. With a mixer, beat together butter and syrup until fluffy, add sugar and mix at low speed until combined.

Robyn's notes: high altitude may have to increase flour measurement to 2/3 C.  These will be just a little bit muffiny, but the frosting is so sweet that I think it makes up for that.  And since this is oatmeal, it could even be an excuse for cupcakes for breakfast, right?  Breakfast syrups have little or even zero actual maple syrup in them, and the main ingredient--hfcs--won't have the same reaction in baking as real maple syrup will, so the pure product is necessary.  After taking the picture I sprinkled some maple sugar on top of one of the cupcakes, since I had it in the house, and it was great!  But as that's a specialty ingredient I didn't mention it in the recipe.

**** 4 Stars: Very Good.  Enjoyed by us both, I will make this frequently.

Refrigerator M&M Cookies

Since the company is now offering m&ms in specialty colours all throughout the year, this is an easy way to make holiday-themed treats for any holiday!  In the photo above I've used the 4th of July candies, I've also made this recipe at Christmas with the red and green.

• 1/4 C brown sugar
• 1/4 C butter, softened
• 1 egg, beaten
• 3/4 tsp vanilla
• 1 C flour
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 4oz m&m candies

1.  In a medium bowl, cream together sugar and butter.  Discard 1 tsp of egg and beat remainder into butter-sugar mixture.  Add vanilla and beat until combined.
2.  Stir together flour, soda, and salt.  Add to wet ingredients and mix well.  Stir in m&ms.  Refrigerate, covered, 30 minutes or up to one hour.
3.  Preheat oven to 325­°F.  Scoop dough onto unlined baking sheet in rounded spoonfuls.  Bake for 11-13 minutes.

Yield: 8-10 cookies

Robyn's notes: The dough of this is really tasty, and since there's less sugar in it than many other cookie recipes, I sometimes make the dough without the m&ms and we just eat it raw. Watch me demonstrate this recipe on youtube!

*** 3 Stars: Good. At least one of us liked this enough for me to make it again, but not often

Vintage Cheese Ramequins

One of my Christmas gifts this past year was a vintage 1909 Cooking for Two cookbook by Janet McKenzie Hill.  Quite a few of the recipes can still be made today with a minimum of tweaking, because Ms Hill attended the Boston Cooking School, where recipes written in the style we know them today really took off.  Unfortunately, Ms Hill did tend to use the same recipe in more than one of her cookbooks, which means that this particular one was not actually a 2-person yield originally.  I've reduced it and updated a couple things (baking temperature and time, for example).  I am, though, using her original spelling for the recipe name. 

• 1 1/2 Tbsp melted butter (plus additional butter for ramekins)
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp paprika
• 1/4 C + 2 Tbsp plain bread crumbs
• 2 oz Cheddar cheese, shredded
• 1 egg, beaten
• 3/4 C milk

1.  Preheat oven to 350°F.   Butter inside of two ramekins or custard cups and set aside.
2.  Combine melted butter, salt, paprika, bread crumbs, and cheese, mixing thoroughly.  Set aside.
3.  Add milk to egg and stir into cheese mixture.
4.  Pour evenly into buttered ramekins.  Place ramekins in a casserole dish and surround with hot water (bain-marie) to about half the height of the ramekins.  Bake at 350°F for 45-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.  Serve hot before they deflate. 

Robyn's notes: The baking cheese smelled fantastic, but I admit I don't eat a lot of souffles because I don't care for the texture of the moist curds inside.  This is basically a much easier cheese souffle, so while it was good, it wasn't a big treat for me.  If desired, after buttering the ramekins, sprinkle them with freshly grated Parmesan cheese on the bottom and sides.  This will form a crust around the finished dish.  Watch me demonstrate this dish on youtube!

*** 3 Stars: Good. At least one of us liked this enough for me to make it again, but not often

Pear Butter

Served over Baking Powder Biscuits, shown above.

• 3 lbs pears
• 2 C sugar
• 1/2 tsp grated orange peel
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 2 Tbsp + 2 tsp orange juice

1.  Wash pears, core, peel and slice. 
2.  Combine pears and 1/4 C water in a large saucepot.  Simmer until pears are soft.  Puree using a food processor or food mill, being careful not to liquefy.
3.  Measure 1 quart pear pulp, combine with sugar in a large saucepot, stirring until sugar dissolves.  Add remaining ingredients.  Cook until thick enough to round up on a spoon.  As mixture thickens, stir frequently to prevent sticking. 
4.  Ladle hot butter into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace.  Remove air bubbles, adjust two-piece caps.  Process 10 minutes in a boiling-water canner at sea level, increasing 1 minute for every additional 1,000 feet elevation.

Yield: 5 half-pints

Robyn's notes: I made this the same day I made Spiced Peach Butter, and while he didn't have a preference between the two, enjoying them both, I admit I preferred this one slightly.  It had such a fresh, summery feel that I didn't want to stop eating it!  I did make one error with this, taking a phone call while the pulp was cooking.  I knew that the peach butter had cooked for over 25 minutes uncovered, so I covered this batch and stirred less frequently.  At the end of my phone call I realized I was approaching that 25 minute mark, and rushed to stir.  It had started to stick while I wasn't watching it, and a small amount of the butter scorched.  Fortunately it didn't give a burned flavour to the whole batch, and I got to it in time, but it's a good reminder to focus on one task at a time. 

**** 4 Stars: Very Good.  Enjoyed by us both, I will make this frequently.

Spiced Peach Butter

Served over Baking Powder Biscuits, shown above.

• 2-2.5lbs peaches
• 2 C sugar
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1.  Wash and blanch peaches.  Put peaches in cold water; peel, pit, and slice peaches. 
2.  Combine peaches and 1/4 C water in a large saucepot.  Simmer until peaches are soft.  Puree using a food processor or food mill, being careful not to liquefy. 
3.  Measure 1 quart peach pulp, combine with sugar and spices in a large saucepot.  Cook until thick enough to round up on a spoon.  As mixture thickens, stir frequently to prevent sticking.
4.  Ladle hot butter into hot half-pint jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace.  Remove air bubbles, adjust two-piece caps.  Process 10 minutes in a boiling-water canner at sea level, increasing 1 minute for each additional 1,000 feet elevation.

Yield: about 5 half-pints

Robyn's notes: the only peaches available to me were cling, where I'd rather have had freestone.  While peeling went surprisingly well, I mangled the heck out of each peach in attempting to get the pits out.  For the peeling process I had each peach in the boiling water for a full 60 seconds, while my instructions suggested 30-45.  However, I had canned peaches in light syrup the previous day and found them very hard to peel, and remembering that water boils at 208F at my altitude, felt that the longer blanch might help.  It definitely did, after each peach had been moved to a bowl of ice water for a couple minutes the peels slid right off.  The thickening took longer than anticipated, I was cooking the pulp for more than 25 minutes before I decided it was probably good enough.  Again, at this altitude, everything takes longer to cook.  We definitely liked this, and when I asked if he had a preference between the two flavours of fruit butter I made that day he said no.  Personally, I felt that this was slightly more of a winter dish, but that's probably because I made the spiced version, and I associate those spices more with the holidays.  It can also be made as plain peach butter, by omitting the ginger, nutmeg, and cinnamon.

*** 3 Stars: Good.  At least one of us liked this enough for me to make it again, but not often

Old-Fashioned Baking Powder Biscuits

My favourite biscuits of all time, my mom has been making these as long as I can remember.  When I struck out on my own for the first time she made me a recipe binder with some well-loved dishes, several of which she reduced to serve fewer people.  The original recipe made 8-9 biscuits, my mom did the work of cutting it down to this form.

• 1 C flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 C shortening
• 1/3 - 1/2 C milk

1.  Preheat oven to 450°F.
2.  In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt.
3.  Using a fork or two table knives, or a pastry blender, cut shortening into flour mix until consistency of coarse meal.
4.  Add milk beginning with smaller amount; stir with fork until mixture leaves sides of bowl and forms a soft, moist dough, adding additional milk one Tablespoon at a time, if necessary to achieve desired consistency.
5.  On floured surface, toss lightly until no longer sticky.  Roll out to 1/2 to 1 inch thick; cut with 2 inch floured cutter or cut into squares with serrated knife or dough blade.
6.  Place on ungreased baking sheet.  Bake at 450°F for 8 to 12 minutes or until light golden brown.  Serve hot.  Yield: 4 biscuits

Robyn's notes: to make these into buttermilk biscuits, add 1/8 tsp baking soda to flour mix and substitute buttermilk for milk.  For cheese biscuits, add 2oz shredded Cheddar cheese to flour-shortening mixture.  Bake on greased baking sheet.  These are a big hit around here, and we will both eat basically as many as are available, so it's good to limit it to making fewer.  You can watch me prepare these biscuits on youtube!  

***** 5 Stars: Excellent. A favourite for both of us, I will make this repeatedly

 

Now on YouTube!

I've been wanting for a long time to start uploading cooking demonstration videos, but had to wait until Google+ was uncoupled from YouTube.  First video covers one of my more popular recipes, Small-Batch Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Soft Pretzels

I made these for a care package for my sweetheart for Valentine's Day.  He's still trying to avoid sugar as much as possible, which means no red cupcakes or pink cookies or similar, and I despaired at finding something visually related to the holiday until the light dawned: heart-shaped pretzels!  The recipe would make 4 pretzels, I used it to make 2 plus a bunch of pretzel bites. 

• 3/4 C warm water, 110-115°F
• 1/2 Tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 envelope active dry yeast (1 1/8 tsp) (not rapid rise)
• 11 oz all-purpose flour
• 1 oz unsalted butter, melted
• Vegetable oil
• 1/3 C baking soda
• 2 C cold water
• pretzel salt (or kosher salt)

1.  Heat oven to 350°F.  Combine the warm water, sugar and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and sprinkle the yeast on top. Set aside for 5 minutes, or until the mixture foams.
2.  Add flour and butter and, using dough hook attachment, mix on low speed until well combined. Change to medium speed and knead until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the side of the bowl, 3 to 4 minutes.
3. Remove dough from the bowl, clean the bowl, then oil it well. Return the dough to the bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and set aside in a warm place for 50 to 55 minutes, or until the dough has doubled in size.  At the same time, spread baking soda on a baking pan and bake at 350°F while dough is rising - about 55 minutes.  Be very careful when removing pan from oven!  Do not breathe in the soda dust!
4. Turn oven heat up to 375°F. Line sheet pan with parchment paper and lightly brush with oil. Set aside.
5. Add baked soda to cold water, stir to dissolve. Turn dough out onto a lightly oiled work surface and divide into 4 equal pieces. Roll out each piece of dough into a 24-inch rope. Make a U-shape with the rope, and, holding the ends of the rope, cross them over each other and press onto the bottom of the U in order to form the shape of a pretzel. Place into cold water solution and allow to soak for 3-4 minutes. Repeat with the remaining pieces of dough.
6. Remove pretzels from water using a large flat spatula or spider. Place onto lined pan and sprinkle with salt.  Allow to air-dry for 15 minutes.  Move to a fresh section of the pan and bake at 375°F for 20-25 minutes, watching for appropriate browning. Cool on a rack for 5 minutes before serving.

Robyn's notes: this is multiple recipes from other sources combined and reduced.  I can't eat anything that requires chewing at the moment (just had surgery), so no star rating or opinion on finished product until he gives me his feedback.  This was actually a very easy baked good to make, even though there are so many steps.  For the pretzel bites, I let them air-dry for about 10 minutes instead of 15, and baked for about 10 minutes instead of 20.  Each was about an inch of dough prior to baking.

Chocolate-Raspberry Surprise Muffins

I love raspberries, and used to just keep them on hand pretty much all the time.  But Yoplait has stopped selling the yogurt that is a necessary ingredient for my favourite dip for them, and the seeds do bother my tummy, so I have had a few times in the last couple years that a package goes bad without me finishing it.  This is another way to use just a few when some are in the fridge.

• 1 egg white 
• 1 1/2 Tbsp sugar 
• 1 1/2 Tbsp butter, melted 
• 1 Tbsp seedless raspberry jam 
• 2 Tbsp flour 
• 2 Tbsp cocoa 
• 1/4 heaping tsp baking powder 
• pinch of salt 
• 1 Tbsp milk 
• 2 Tbsp chocolate chips 
• 6-8 fresh raspberries
• 2 tsp additional cocoa

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a muffin pan with 2 liners.
2. In medium bowl, add egg white and sugar and beat until combined. Add jam and melted butter and stir until mixed. Add flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt and stir until smooth. Stir in milk, then chocolate chips. Pour 1/4th of batter into each muffin liner.  Toss four raspberries with 2 tsp cocoa and place two in each liner gently on top of batter.  Top with remaining batter, covering completely.
3. Bake at 350°F for 16-18min, or until cake is set. Top each muffin with 1-2 raspberries, barely pressing them into place.  Let cool completely.

Robyn's notes: tossing the inner raspberries in cocoa is done to keep them from sinking to the bottom of the liner during baking, without having a clump of white flour in the middle of a lovely brown chocolate muffin.  These are good, and since they went from idea to reality in less than 6 hours, I'm pretty pleased with them.

*** 3 Stars: Good. At least one of us liked this enough for me to make it again, but not often

 

Tomato Soup Cake

I had never even heard of this type of cake until I got a Daughters of the Nile charity cookbook and saw the full-size recipe in it.  My immediate thoughts were a) weird; and b) if that works as a reduced recipe, it would be a great way to use up half a can of condensed tomato soup.

• 1 Tbsp butter, softened
• 1/2 C sugar
• 1/2 beaten egg
• 1/2 C condensed tomato soup (half of a 10.75oz can)
• 3/4 C flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• Raisins (optional)

1.  Preheat oven to 350°F.  Grease a mini cake pan or mini loaf pan.
2.  Cream together butter and sugar; add egg and tomato soup.  Mix well.
3.  Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  Fold flour mixture into batter, being careful not to overmix.  Add raisins if desired.
4.  Pour batter into prepared pan.  Bake at 350°F for 33-36 minutes (loaf pan may require longer baking) or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool in pan 5 minutes, then remove to rack to finish cooling.  Dust with powdered sugar if desired.

Robyn's notes: see "Using Up Ingredients" at top of page for uses for the other half of the can of soup.  I wasn't sure how far the batter would go, so prepared a few pans.  Probably a mini loaf pan would be just the right size, my mini angel food cake pan was over-full but still worked as the tube in the center helped the cake bake quickly.  This came out basically as a spice cake, really quite good and smelled fantastic, especially good during the holidays.

*** 3 Stars: Good. At least one of us liked this enough for me to make it again, but not often

Chunky Applesauce

My mom has been making this applesauce for a good 45 years or so.  Back when she started, my great-grandfather gave her a crate of apples every year that he'd grown, and they had to be dealt with before they turned, so applesauce was a great project.  She doesn't use a recipe, so she sent me basic instructions for her method, which I have used repeatedly and turned into this recipe.  Read all notes before beginning.

• 3 lbs apples (about 8 medium)
• 1 1/2 C apple juice
• 1/2 C sugar
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1.  Core, quarter, and peel apples, cut them into 1 inch chunks.
2.  In large saucepan, combine apple juice and cut-up apples.  Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer 15-20 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally.
3.  Using sugar and cinnamon, sweeten to taste.  Be careful!  These apples and the liquid they're sitting in can burn your tongue.  Be aware that the apples will taste sweeter when hot, so for a very sweet applesauce it may be necessary to over-sweeten them at this stage.
4.  Return to a boil for about 1 minute, remove from heat and allow to cool for 10 minutes.  Smash with potato masher to desired consistency.  (For creamy applesauce, press through a ricer or food mill instead)

Applesauce is ready to eat at this point, or it can be preserved in a boiling water canner as follows.

5.  Carefully ladle hot applesauce into hot half-pint jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace.  Remove all bubbles; wipe rims and adjust lids.  Process for 10 minutes in a boiling water canner at sea level, increasing processing time by 1 minute for each 1,000 feet of additional altitude.

Yield: 5 half-pints

Robyn's notes: I've used several different varieties of apples, but have to say that my favourite batches have been made with two varieties together.  Because of what's available at my market this has generally been Fuji and Golden Delicious.  I have been told that the best varieties for applesauce are those as well as Braeburn, Cortland, Crispin, McIntosh, Liberty, and Rome.  Use a saucepan large enough that the liquid and apple chunks combined in it fill no more than 30-50% of the interior.  While simmering, the apples will splatter and bubble up the sides, so they need a lot of room in the pan.  The juice should be enough to cover the bottom of your pan by 1/2 inch.  A larger saucepan may need more than I use.  Water can be used in place of apple juice, but the flavor will not be as deep and more sugar will need to be used.  I always use 100% not-from-concentrate apple juice.  While I'm a fan of the assembly-line method of doing practically anything, I don't use it for prepping the apples.  As soon as they are exposed to the air they will start to oxidize, but this will be slowed when they're in the juice.  So I do each apple as quickly as possible without risking my fingers and move on to the next.  I have never measured the cinnamon, instead just dashing it in.  I quite like the taste of cinnamon in my applesauce, so if I use a bit too much I'm ok with it, it just makes for darker applesauce. 

**** 4 Stars: Very Good. Enjoyed by us both, I will make this frequently

Mini Cheddar Apple Pies

• pie crust dough (homemade or purchased)
• 4 Tbsp grated sharp Cheddar cheese, divided
• 1/4 C sugar
• 1/2 heaping Tbsp flour
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• dash salt
• pinch nutmeg
• 1 large apple

1.  Preheat oven to 425°F.  Cut two circles of crust for the bottom of the pies (see notes, below).  Press into bottom and up sides of two mini pie pans or tart dishes.  Sprinkle 2 Tbsp cheese over the bottom of each crust. 
2.  In a small bowl, combine sugar, flour, cinnamon, salt, and nutmeg.  Peel and slice apple into small pieces, coat apple pieces with sugar and flour mixture.  Place seasoned apple pieces into crusts, layering them well above the top level of the pie pan (apples will sink during baking due to water loss).
3.  Cut circles for top crusts or strips if a lattice top is desired.  If using a circular top crust, use a sharp knife to cut slits in several places.  Crimp edges of crusts together with the tines of a fork or with fingers.  Sprinkle top with a small amount of additional sugar. 
4.  Place pans on a baking sheet for easier handling and bake at 425°F for 16-18 minutes.  Allow to cool 5 minutes before serving.

Robyn's notes: I know some people traditionally enjoy apple pie with a thick slice of Cheddar cheese alongside, though I was raised on French apple pie a la mode instead.  I thought incorporating the cheese into the pie itself might make for a nice flavour combination, and knew I would splurge on really good cheese for the purpose.  The cheese I got was Kerrygold Reserve, which is aged 2 years, but I didn't realize until I got home that I had grabbed the version that's aged with Irish Whiskey.  The taste of the whiskey is quite strong, and made the first pie attempt into more of a Drunken Apple Pie.  Still tasty.  I used a Gala apple, other good choices are Red or Golden Delicious.  Might be 4 stars with a less whiskey-flavoured cheese, and/or with homemade crust.

About the crust: a homemade crust recipe is fantastic, or just use a pre-made crust from the market.  Because this was an early test version of the recipe, I used a pre-made.  The first test I made just one mini pie, rolled the leftover crust up in plastic wrap, and refrigerated it.  For that pie I used one of my mini pie pans, which has relatively steep sides.  I placed it upside down gently on the unrolled crust, and cut a circle about one inch away from the edge of it all the way around.  For the top crust, I cut another circle just at the edges.  Because of the size of my mini pie pans, I had to fudge this process, and couldn't really get both circles out of one unrolled pie crust.  This is where homemade dough would be best, as it could be re-rolled to accommodate the second circle instead of having to be cut from the same layout.  For the second test pie, I used one of my mini tart pans, again cutting about an inch away all the way around, but I did (as seen above) a lattice top, in order to make the dough go farther.  Because I still had leftover dough from the first pie, I ended up having about a 6" diameter circle of dough left after completing the second pie.  Since I made the two test pies on different days, I was using different apples and had some apple leftover.  I dipped those apple slices into the leftover filling mixture from this recipe, grated some Edam cheese over half the dough circle, topped it with the seasoned apples, sprinkled more grated Edam on top, folded the dough over, pinched it shut, and made it a turnover.  It went onto a square of parchment paper and into the oven at the same time, on the same baking sheet, same temperature, as the pie.  Not the prettiest turnover in the world, but tasty.

*** 3 Stars: Good. At least one of us liked this enough for me to make it again, but not often

Banana Bread Mini Loaf

Since the checker at the market chose to put my canned goods in the bag on top of my bananas, some had to be sacrificed to bread.  This was meant to also have a chocolate glaze, but the unsweetened chocolate that was in my grocery basket was never rung up by the checker.  No way was I driving all the way back to town when I got home and discovered I didn't have it (since I also was not charged for it), so I decided to just make the bread without the glaze, which is of course also perfectly good.

• 1 1/4 C all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/3 C sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 Tbsp butter, softened
• 1/2 C mashed ripe banana 
• 2 Tbsp plain yogurt
• 1/4 C chopped pecans or walnuts (optional)

1.  Preheat oven to 350°F.  Grease and flour a mini loaf pan (5 1/2 " x 3") .
2.  In a medium mixing bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, and baking soda.
3.  In another medium bowl, beat sugar, eggs, and butter until fluffy.  Slowly beat in bananas and yogurt.  Add flour mixture and mix just until blended.  Do not overmix or the bread will be tough.  Stir in nuts if using.
4.  Pour batter into prepared pan and bake on middle shelf for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Cool in pan on a wire rack for 5 minutes, then remove from pan to finish cooling on wire rack.  Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and let stand overnight to allow flavours to mellow.

Robyn's notes: I did not use the nuts, because I'm not able to eat them.  For me, the amount of banana needed was one-and-a-half medium bananas once the completely black bruised sections had been cut out.  This probably translates to one large banana that hasn't been manhandled by a checker who was presumably having a lousy day.  My baking time was 40 minutes.  I made this bread again after we moved, so I can confirm it was as good without any needed changes at 4,500ft.

*** 3 Stars: Good. At least one of us liked this enough for me to make it again, but not often

Small-Batch Oatmeal Scotchies

After successfully writing and testing my recipe for Small-Batch Chocolate Chip Cookies, I decided to turn the same technique to other cookies.  I love Oatmeal Scotchies, but the recipe makes so many!  Fortunately, the egg and butter ratio could be modified in a fairly straightforward manner, so I'm pleased to have successfully written the below recipe. In the Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe, I used vanilla sugar to counteract any tang from the acid that's in mayonnaise.  I use regular sugar in this recipe, partly because I doubt the vanilla sugar is strictly necessary in either recipe, but mostly because a common ingredient in some butterscotch-oatmeal cookies is a bit of citrus (usually orange zest), so the tiny bit of lemon juice usually found in mayonnaise won't be an issue flavour-wise. 

• 2 Tbsp butter, softened
• 3 Tbsp sugar
• 3 Tbsp packed brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 Tbsp mayonnaise
• 1/3 C flour
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
• 3/4 C quick or old-fashioned oats
• 1/3 C butterscotch flavored morsels

1.  Preheat oven to 375°F.  In a medium bowl, cream together butter, sugar, and brown sugar until combined.  Stir in vanilla and mayonnaise until blended.
2.  Sift together flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon, add to butter mixture and stir until combined.  Stir in oats and morsels.
3.  Drop dough onto baking sheet in rounded spoonfuls.  Bake for 8-10 minutes or until cookies are beginning to brown at the edges.  Allow to cool for 2 minutes on the baking sheet.  Remove to wire rack to cool completely.

Yield: 8 medium-sized cookies

Robyn's notes: I made this twice, and the first time refrigerated the dough for an hour because I was in the middle of doing other things and wasn't ready to bake it yet.  That's not at all necessary, but it certainly doesn't hurt anything, just makes it a bit more difficult to form the dough into balls.  It will seem like there is far too much oat compared to dough when you start to mix in the oats, but stick with it and be sure to scrape your spoon, a lot of dough tries to hide in it.  Same with the butterscotch chips, there seems to be too many, but they can all be combined, even if it means pressing the stragglers into the dough balls before placing them on a cookie sheet.  The first four cookies I baked for 8 minutes, the second four for 10.  Not much difference between the two, and neither batch flattened much while baking, though they certainly baked through and I think they're delicious.  Just be aware that the cookies may not look cooked through if they've not flattened, but they actually are.  If you want flat cookies, make them small, the littlest cookies I made did flatten out during baking, but they were about 1 1/2 inches in diameter.  Oatmeal Scotchies are some of my favourite cookies, so I'm very happy that these came out.  I have also made this recipe at high altitude, successfully, with no changes.  Several friends had them and all loved them.  

**** 4 Stars: Very Good. Enjoyed by us both, I will make this frequently  

Small-Batch Chocolate Chip Cookies

One of the challenges with reducing baked goods, especially cookie recipes, is that there's only so far you can reduce them before you're dealing with the ridiculousness that is parts of an egg.  There are ways to address this, and I've used them all.  One-and-one-half Tablespoons of beaten egg will often work for half an egg.  Some recipes choose to use just the yolk.  There's always the use of egg substitute (Egg Beaters being the most recognizable brand name).  And I've got a few recipes that call for a quail's egg instead of a chicken egg, as they're much smaller.  All of these options have their drawbacks.  Using part of a beaten egg means either throwing away the rest or whipping up a partial-serving scrambled egg snack, because it won't last long safely in the fridge (2 days max).  Using just the yolk often makes the final dish taste too eggy and means quickly (within 2 days) finding a use for the white or, again, throwing it away.  Egg substitute is another thing to purchase and have on hand (must be used within 7 days of opening the carton), and to be honest I'm not entirely happy about the product.  They are 99% egg white, with beta carotene for colour and vitamins and minerals added back in, but the manufacturers choose not to disclose how that's done.  And as for quail's eggs, yes, they happen to be available in my town, but they certainly aren't available everywhere, they're more expensive, and the shells are more gelatinous, which not only makes them more difficult to crack but can change the consistency of the white. 

The thing is, we love cookie dough and we even occasionally like to bake chocolate chip cookies.  But if I make an entire batch, or even a half batch, of cookie dough, it'll be gone within 2 days.  We don't even notice we're dipping into it until we're looking at an empty bowl.  And more than 2 dozen cookies is far too many for the two of us.  So I wrote this recipe to solve the problem.

• 2 Tbsp butter, softened
• 3 Tbsp vanilla sugar
• 3 Tbsp brown sugar, packed
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 Tbsp mayonnaise
• 1/2 C + 1 Tbsp flour
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 C semisweet chocolate chips

1.  In a medium bowl, cream together butter, vanilla sugar, and brown sugar until combined.  Stir in vanilla and mayonnaise until blended.
2.  Sift together flour, baking soda, and salt, add to butter mixture and stir until combined.  Stir in chocolate chips.
3.  Refrigerate, covered, for 1 hour.
4.  Preheat oven to 375°F.  Drop dough onto baking sheet in rounded spoonfuls.  Bake for 9-11 minutes or until cookies are beginning to brown at the edges.  Allow to cool for 2 minutes on the baking sheet.  Remove to wire rack to cool completely.

Yield: 8 medium sized cookies (3-inch diameter) or 1 dozen small cookies (2-inch diameter)

Robyn's notes: I'm calling for vanilla sugar instead of regular granulated in order to counteract the slight tang of the mayonnaise.  It is not strictly necessary, I have made the recipe several times with regular sugar.  I did test baked directly on the baking sheet, with parchment paper, and with aluminum foil.  The aluminum foil made for a flatter cookie that I found too crunchy for my taste.  If you like a really crunchy cookie that may be the way to go.  The other two options had no discernible difference, so I'm saving the parchment paper and saying to use just a regular baking sheet.  It was a bit difficult to get all the chocolate chips mixed in, as the dough is not very sticky, so I just forced the stragglers into each ball of dough when I loaded up the baking sheet.  Based on the relative humidity on a given day, the dough may be dry and crumbly (happens about 40% of the time to me), in which case I simply add a very small amount of milk (about 1 tsp is enough) before adding chocolate chips, and mix well.  I find that these cookies have a crispy exterior and soft inside.  There is no trace of mayonnaise flavour, either in the baked cookies or in the dough.  As hard as it is, the cookies are best after 8 hours of resting in a sealed ziploc bag.  I have also made these successfully at high altitude with no changes.   

This recipe has been demonstrated on my YouTube channel!

**** 4 Stars: Very Good. Enjoyed by us both, I will make this frequently