Goodies

Check out what Mr. Kaizer had for me when I came home from work today.  Five mini loaf pans, a liquid measuring cup, a strainer, a pastry cutter, and a sifter.  He just picked them up for me while he was out and about in the city.  So sweet of him!

But I think it’s his way of asking politely for more banana bread.

Scones & Lemon Curd

The question this Sunday was, what to bake?  After an apple pie and banana bread, the only other thing I really felt comfortable making was cookies.  My mom is a cookie-baking fiend.  Making eight different types of cookies for Christmas is pretty standard.  But when it came to other baked goods, they were almost never from scratch (except Grandma’s banana bread, of course).  There’s nothing wrong with that, of course.  I think we have always been cookies and ice cream people.  I’m just saying that coming from a house that didn’t have a springform pan or a bundt pan, trying to navigate the world of baking is a little unnerving.  After just two recipes, I feel like I’m totally flying blind.  So what to try next?

Cookies was the obvious choice.  I’ve helped my mom make so many batches of them, it seems like the logical step – not to mention an easy one.  Ok, if you don’t count eating a bunch of raw dough as helping, I’ve probably actually helped about a dozen times.  The problem was that cookies seemed too easy, too familiar.  I mentioned in my very first post that I’m trying to do more things that scare me.  Well, baking anything besides an apple pie, banana bread, or cookies definitely scares me.  So I decided to try scones.

Ingredients for Lemon Curd

I know there are tons of recipes out there for scones with cranberries or chocolate in them, but what about just plain scones?  And what can you have with a scone besides jam so you can actually swallow it?  (I think every scone I’d ever had up to this point had been painfully dry.)  While looking for recipes, I found the answer.  Lemon curd!  Ok, I had never had it before.  But so many people raved about it, that I figured there must be something to it.  And I did a bit more reading and found out that It was a component of the filling used in fruit tarts.  So being able to make lemon curd couldn’t be a bad thing.

I prepped all my ingredients because I wasn’t sure how quickly the process would go once it started.  I’m glad I did – I didn’t stop stirring the entire time.  The only thing I didn’t do was zest the lemon.  But Mr. Kaizer, sweetheart that he is, did it for me.  As soon as it went in to the fridge, I cleaned up and started making the dough for the scones.  Since I have  never seen buttermilk for sale in Japan, I had to make my own following the instructions from the scone recipe.  It worked beautifully.

Ready for the oven!

I was not prepared for how sticky the scone dough was.  I was convinced I had done something wrong.  I mean, the recipe just said to cut the rolled out dough into wedges and to give it an egg wash.  It didn’t say the dough would stick to the knife like superglue!  I did what I could, though, and then shoved it all in the oven in the hopes that it would turn out ok.

After 20 minutes, I sprinkled the scones with powdered sugar and put them back in the oven with the broiler on.  But I had to take them out before the sugar was able to crystallize over the entire surface because the tops were getting too dark.  But aside from the tops being a bit darker than I wanted, they were perfection.  I mean, just look at the picture at the top and try saying no to it.  Cannot be done, my friends.  As for the lemon curd, holy awesomeness, Batman!  Totally amazing stuff.  I don’t know how I lived my life thus far without it.  If you have never had it, you must make some.

Both of these recipes will be printed out and stuffed into the Betty Crocker cookbook.  Dear Betty already has a lemon curd recipe, but hers calls for a lot more lemon juice.  I’m not overly fond of citrus, so I opted for the Joy of Baking recipe instead.  (When in doubt, use the recipe that calls for more sugar.)  The plain scones were fantastic for allowing the flavor of the lemon curd to really shine.  And I suspect that if I take them out of the oven sooner they will be the best tasting, least oh-my-gosh-it’s-so-dry scones ever.

Any suggestions for what to make next Sunday?

May life continue to inspire you,

Miss Kaizer

Banana Bread

You may remember that last week I baked an apple pie and immediately declared myself a baking fiend.  Well, the unbelievable success of last week inspired me to try again.  This week I planned ahead and got the ingredients for the banana bread I wanted to make.

Now, I don’t mean to brag, but I have an outstanding banana bread recipe.  It’s in my Betty Crocker Cookbook behind the Family Recipes tab.  The thing I love about this cookbook is not just the fact that it has all the very basic information that a non-cooking non-baking person like me needs.  I love it because before I moved to Japan my mom went through her old metal recipe box looking for all my favorites.  She typed them out and added to the book behind a custom made Family Recipes tab.    So not only did I get to make banana bread, I got to make the banana bread that my grandma used to bake for my dad when he was little.  The same bread he still loves to eat warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top.  (It’s an almost religious experience – next time you have warm banana bread I suggest you give it a shot.)

Some people drink wine when they bake. I drink beer. Don't judge me.

Everything was going well until I realized I had no idea what happened to the 1/2 cup and 1/4 cup measurers.  I had to use tablespoons.  Measuring 3/4 cup of sugar in tablespoons wasn’t a big deal, but measuring out the butter was a bit more tedious.  I really need to get some new measuring cups.  I might just have to make the trek out to Ikea soon…

After mixing in about twice as many walnuts as Grandma suggested, the bread was put in the oven for an hour.  When it was done, we had a loaf of bread with sharp corners.  I mean, seriously, running with that loaf is akin to running with a pair of scissors.  But the little local shop only had the metal loaf pans you see in the background.  Yet another reason to go to Ikea.  Hmmmm…

By the way, that wooden cutting board you see is pretty much the only counter space available in the Kaizer Kasa.  The kitchen in this place is minuscule, but I digress.

Back to that gorgeous loaf of banana bread.  Well, it was Mr. Kaizer’s first experience with the family banana bread recipe and he couldn’t stop eating it.  He even said I may have to make more in the middle of the week because he doesn’t expect it to last long.  And that is the kind of response that gets me excited about baking.  Now if I could only figure out what to make next week…

May life continue to inspire you,

Miss Kaizer