Social Kitchen

I have this thing.  It’s slightly embarrassing, really.  But whenever I go to a new place or a new environment for whatever reason, I have to have a cry.  Like a big, loud, ugly, homesicky cry.  And then I’m great!  I get it out of my system and enjoy the rest of the time I’m in that new place.  It happened during a middle school trip, when I first went to college, during a summer internship, and shamefully when I got my first apartment.  It has become an expected, albeit slightly ridiculous, routine.

When I went abroad for a semester in college, my mom thought that it would be a good idea to send a care package before I even got there.  You know, in the hopes of preventing the ugly cry.  In the package, she included a huge container of homemade granola that my family has been making for years.  It embodies everything that is homey – warm and cinnamony and cozy.  My roommate grabbed one handful of the crunchy stuff and immediately called it magical.  Actually, what he really said was “magical Indian granola” but we don’t call it that.

Turned out that the magic didn’t stop the cry, but it made me feel better.  Oh, and!  Its crunchy wholesomeness is especially appropriate for this resolution-filled time of year!  Homey and wholesome and quite tasty.  Feel the magic.

Read how my sister inspired Kira to make this recipe.  And as a teaser (because who doesn’t love those), this granola is even delicious in butternut squash soup (recipe coming soon!).

Granola

4 cups rolled oats

3 cups of any combination of nuts (I usually use 1 cup slivered almonds, 1 cup chopped pecans and 1 cup shredded coconut)

2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup pure maple syrup

1 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.  In a large bowl, combine all of the dry ingredients, including cinnamon and salt.  In a smaller bowl, whisk together all of the wet ingredients.  Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix until everything is well coated.  Evenly spread out on to a baking sheet.  Bake for about a 1 hour to 1 hour, 15 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes to ensure even baking.  Let cool completely.  Enjoy with milk, yogurt or soup.

Doughnuts!  Fried cake!  Fried cake covered in cinnamon and sugar!  Do I need to say more?!

These apple cider doughnuts need no introduction, friends!  Just look at them!  From start to finish, they took no more than an hour.  And at the end, we were eating warm, cinnamony, fluffy, cakey doughnuts that seriously cannot be described.

So totally worth everything you think that is usually not worth it.  They will be devoured in seconds.

**Oops!  Sorry about the picture posted prematurely.  Let’s just say it was supposed to be more of an enticement for you to make these!

Apple Cider Doughnuts (slightly adapted from Desserts for Breakfast)

1/2 cup apple cider

1 3/4 cup flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp. salt

2 tbsp. butter, softened

1/8 cup sugar

1/8 cup dark brown sugar

1 egg

1/4 cup buttermilk

oil for frying

For coating:

1/2 cup sugar

1 tbsp. ground cinnamon

Over medium heat, simmer the apple cider until it has reduced to about 2 tbsp.  It will take about 10-15 minutes.  In a bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.  In another bowl, with an electric mixer, beat together the sugars and butter until well combined.  Add the apple cider and buttermilk and mix.  Beat in the flour mixture until everything has been incorporated.  Dump the dough on a baking sheet lined with waxed paper, sprinkled with flour.  Sprinkle more flour on top of the dough.  Using another sheet of waxed paper on top, pat down the dough into a rectangle until it is 1/2 in thick.  Freeze for 20 minutes.

Take the dough out, and using either two biscuit cutters (for the larger circle and the doughnut hole), or a doughnut cutter, cut out as many doughnuts as possible, rerolling the scrape to cut more.  Lay the doughnut circles and doughnut holes on a waxed paper lined baking sheet and freeze for another 20 minutes.

Heat oil to 350 degrees.  Combine the sugar and cinnamon coating in a shallow pan.  Frying 2 at a time, fry each doughnuts for about 60 seconds on one side, and an additional 30 seconds on the other until it has turned a deep golden brown.  Place the doughnuts on a paper towel for 10 seconds and immediately place into the sugar and cinnamon coating.  Continue until all of the doughnuts have been fried and coated.

We all know that the next several weeks will be about eating.  Pies and stuffing and cookies and other delicious stuff that I plan to write about!  But for today, I’d like for you to think of the following: you will need a snack whilst you cook all of these yummy things.  You know, to keep the energy up so you will be alert and ready when it’s actually time to eat.

And what a snack this will be!  Pumpkin bread and cheesecake!  Two entities that are individually in and of themselves so satisfying and delicious.  But together!  And not together like a pumpkin cheesecake, which could never be a snack because of its heaviness.  But together like a perfect balance of a just-enough cheesecake layer atop a lovely spiced, light bread.  A snack that will allow you to eat and stir at the same time.  It is a perfect merriment of flavors and layers that will whet your appetite for the meal you will be preparing.

So go ahead and make this ahead of time.  Have it ready when the Thanksgiving crazy cooking begins.  Your family will appreciate your foresight and gobble it down.  You will appreciate the lovely bread you will have made.  And everyone will appreciate not being cranky by dinnertime.

Pumpkin & Cheese Spice Bread (slightly adapted from An Edible Mosaic)

For the Cheesecake Layer:

8 oz cream cheese, room temperature

1 large egg, room temperature, lightly beaten

1/4 cup powdered sugar

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For the Pumpkin Bread:

3/4 cup brown sugar, lightly packed

2 large eggs

3/4 cup (1/2 can) pumpkin puree

1/4 cup canola oil

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1.5 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon ginger

1/8 teaspoon cloves

For the Cheesecake Layer:  Use a handheld electric mixer to beat together all ingredients until smooth and creamy.

For the Pumpkin Bread:  Preheat oven to 350F.  Spray a loaf pan with cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, beat together the brown sugar and eggs until light and fluffy.  Mix in pumpkin, oil, and vanilla.  Set aside.  In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves.  Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix together until just combined, being careful not to overmix.  Pour the pumpkin batter into the prepared pan.  Pour the cheesecake mixture on top of the loaf.

Bake until golden around the edges, about 40-45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted inside comes out clean.  Cool 10 minutes in the pans, then remove from the pans and transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.

I had big plans for you this week, friends.  I was going to post candy to get ready for Halloween, and then decided on a pumpkin bread to celebrate fall, and then thought of some pie, because that’s what this season is known for.  And man, do I love them all.  But then, all I really wanted were some granola bars.

I love October.  It’s my second favorite month (the only exception is my birthday month, I’m sure you understand).  I love that the weather is just turning a bit cooler, and that leaves are changing colors.  But what I really just love about October is the food.  Really.  Pumpkin and pears and apples and spices.  It’s the most wonderful time of  year (not December as the song may suggest).  But all I kept thinking was that you all will be engulfed in desserts for the next three months (most likely by this blog) and I just thought that it is time to step back and have a heart healthy and satisfying granola bar.

But, quite frankly, there is something pretty October about granola bars too, don’t you think?  A hearty snack full of oats and spices – it’s totally fall like.  Don’t you worry – those candy and cookie and pie and pumpkin recipes are next for you.  Because I have big plans for you.  But just for this week, let’s celebrate October with these beauties.

Flax Seed Granola Bars (from New York Times)

2 cups oats

3 tbsp. butter

½ cup flax seed meal

½ tsp. cinnamon

1/3 cup honey

¼ tsp. salt

2 tbsp. dark brown sugar

½ cup mini chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a 9 inch square or round baking pan with cooking spray.  In a deep pot, melt the butter over a medium-low heat.  Add the oats and stir continuously until the oats are a deeper shade, about 4-5 minutes.  Place the oats in a bowl.  Add cinnamon and flax seed meal.  Stir to mix together.

Wipe out pot and add honey and brown sugar.  Heat over medium heat for about 4 minutes.  The mixture should be bubbly and a bit darker.  Pour over oats.  Mix together immediately until everything is well incorporated.  Gently stir in chocolate chips.

Pour mixture into prepared pan and bake for about 25-30 minutes, until browned.  Take out of the oven and let the bars cool for 10 minutes.  Without taking the bars out of the baking dish, cut the bars into desired size.  Let cool completely and then remove from pan.