snack

Blueberry Streusel Muffins /  by Amy Cantu

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Blueberry Streusel Muffins are the kind of breakfast I have when I've been eating spinach and egg white scrambles one too many days in a row. (I know some of you are super healthy and don't see a problem with that, and all I can say is that I deeply envy you, and please don't judge me!) The texture of these blueberry muffins is endlessly moist (thank you yogurt), bursting with juicy fruit, and reminds me of cake, thanks to it's delicate, airy crumb. Really, anything cake-like that I can eat for breakfast is instantly my most favorite thing in the whole entire world. (Never mind that I have a long list of "my most favorite" foods.) The streusel is the sweet, crunchy crowning glory of these blueberry muffins, and while you could certainly skip it in the name of health, I would argue that these are not the muffins one chooses for cutting calories. Indulge! Enjoy! Go back to spinach and egg white scrambles tomorrow!

Notes: For once, I don't have a ton of notes. These Blueberry Streusel Muffins are moist and delicious, and sure, you could sub whole wheat flour for half of the all-purpose flour, or grapeseed oil and/or apple sauce for some or all of the butter, but that would be a totally different kind of blueberry muffin. The only optional ingredient that I list is the walnuts - the muffins are lovely if you include them in the streusel, but equally delicious without. So go nuts (or not), but these Blueberry Streusel Muffins (with a glass of Cold Brew Coffee with Mint Syrup,) will definitely perk up any morning!

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen.

Time: 35 minutes
Yield: 9 or 10 muffins

For the streusel:
3 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons finely chopped walnuts (optional)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
pinch of salt
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

For the muffins:
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
3/4 cup plain yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt (1/2 teaspoon table salt)
1 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen (do not defrost)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a 12 cup muffin pan with paper liners or grease with butter or cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, smash together all streusel ingredients with your fingers, rubbing the butter into the flour and sugar, until well-combined and crumbly. Set aside.

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

In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine butter and sugar. Beat until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Beat in egg until well-incorporated. Add yogurt and vanilla, beating well. Pour in the flour mixture and beat until the batter is just mixed. With a rubber spatula, fold in the blueberries. Batter will be very thick and not pourable.

Using an ice cream scoop or a large spoon, fill the muffin cups 3/4 full. Top generously with streusel. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until tops are golden and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the middle of a muffin. Let cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan. Delicious warm (with a pat of butter???) or cooled to room temperature.

Lime Bars with Pistachio Crust /  by Amy Cantu

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One of my best friends often craves anything tart and citrusy, and has an especially deep love for key lime anything, as well as lemon bars. This recipe is undoubtedly for her. Not quite key lime pie and not quite lemon bars, these Lime Bars with Pistachio Crust are intensely creamy, cooling, tangy, and perfectly complemented by the nutty, sweet crust. This recipe is somewhat adapted from a Martha Stewart recipe for Key Lime Bars and also one I found for Lemon-Pistachio Bars on NYT Cooking. I found the Martha Stewart one, while delicious, always fell apart due to an overly delicate crust. So I loosely adapted a crust from the latter recipe to come up with this one. It holds together a bit better, but is still a creamy (even a bit gooey) bar.

Notes: Don't skip any of the cooling steps, or the bar will not hold together. The limey tanginess is fairly intense, so you can cut the bars into 16 small squares, rather than the 9 large squares I have pictured here - a little can go a long way! Make sure to store any leftovers (what??!) in the fridge.

Time: 20 minutes (active), 2 hours (inactive)
Yield: 9 large squares or 16 small squares

For the crust:
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/4 cup wheat bran, toasted
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
1/2 cup cold, unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1/3 cup shelled salted pistachios, finely ground

For the filling:
2 large egg yolks
1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup fresh lime juice
1 teaspoon finely grated lime zest

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a n 8-inch square baking dish with non-stick cooking spray or  melted butter. Line bottom with parchment paper, leaving a 2-inch overhang on two sides.

In a small food processor or a clean coffee bean/spice grinder, finely grind pistachios.  In a large bowl, combine ground pistachios with flour, wheat bran, and sugar. Dump in the butter pieces and use your fingers to squish the butter pieces into the flour mixture, until everything looks like lumpy wet sand. You should still see streaks of butter.  (This can also be done completely in the food processor. Add all the dry ingredients and pulse until finely ground. Add butter and pulse a few times, until only pea-sized pieces of butter remain.) 

Press mixture into bottom and 1 inch up sides of prepared pan. Bake until lightly browned,  about 20 minutes. Cool crust, 30 minutes.

In a large bowl, whisk together egg yolks and condensed milk. Add lime juice; whisk until smooth. Pour filling into cooled crust; carefully spread to edges.

Bake until set, about 15 minutes. Cool in pan on rack; then chill at least 1 hour before serving. Using parchment paper overhang, lift out of pan, and transfer to a cutting board. With a serrated knife, cut into  9 large squares or 16  small squares, wiping knife with a damp kitchen towel between each cut. Eat with delight (or store in refrigerator until ready to serve).

Adapted from here and here.

Buttery Soft Pretzels /  by Amy Cantu

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I fell in love with the soft, chewy, buttery, salty goodness that are these pretzels, the moment I sank my teeth into them. To make these even more appealing, they can be made from start to finish in an hour. There's no fussy waiting for an hour or more begging the dough to rise or fiddly boiling them in pot of baking soda water. The process has been streamlined to get these beauties in your mouth as quickly as possible!

Notes: I would not and did not change one thing about this recipe. I do have a couple thoughts on it though. (Don't I always?) I did not have pretzel salt on hand, so I used a very light sprinkling of Fleur de Sel. Coarse sea salt or any other larger crystal finishing salt would work great.

Fun variations - Sprinkle these with cinnamon sugar after brushing the butter onto the pretzels - oh yes! Stir together granulated sugar and finely grated orange/lemon zest, then dust over the buttered pretzels - so zesty! Or shower finely grated parmesan and dried oregano over the buttery tops - oh my!  Add a minced garlic clove to the butter before brushing over the pretzels - mmhmm! Or go the mini-route, and cut the dough into bite-sized pieces for pretzel bites - perfect party food!

These are best eaten the day they are baked and are heavenly if eaten straight from the oven. 

Recipe from King Arthur Flour.

TIme: 1 hour
Yield: 8 pretzels

Dough
2 1/2 cups Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast
7/8 to 1 cup warm water*
*Use the greater amount in the winter, the lesser amount in the summer, and somewhere in between in the spring and fall. Your goal is a soft dough.

Topping
1 cup boiling water
2 tablespoons baking soda
coarse, kosher or pretzel salt, optional
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

To make dough by hand, or with a mixer: Place all of the dough ingredients into a bowl, and beat until well-combined. Knead the dough, by hand or machine, for about 5 minutes, until it's soft, smooth, and quite slack. Flour the dough and place it in a bag, and allow it to rest for 30 minutes.

To make dough with a bread machine: Place all of the dough ingredients into the pan of your bread machine, program the machine for dough or manual, and press Start. Allow the dough to proceed through its kneading cycle (no need to let it rise), then cancel the machine, flour the dough, and give it a rest in a plastic bag, as instructed above.

To make dough with a food processor: Place the flour, salt, sugar and yeast in the work bowl of a food processor equipped with the steel blade. Process for 5 seconds. Add the water, and process for 7 to 10 seconds, until the dough starts to clear the sides of the bowl. Process a further 45 seconds. Place a handful of flour in a bowl, scoop the slack dough into the bowl, and shape the dough into a ball, coating it with the flour. Transfer the dough to a plastic bag, close the bag loosely, leaving room for the dough to expand, and let it rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.

While the dough is resting, prepare the topping: Combine the boiling water and baking soda, stirring until the soda is totally (or almost totally) dissolved. Set the mixture aside to cool to lukewarm (or cooler).

Preheat your oven to 475°F. Prepare a baking sheet by spraying it with vegetable oil spray, or lining it with parchment paper. Transfer the dough to a lightly greased work surface, and divide it into eight equal pieces (about 70g, or 2 1/2 ounces, each). Allow the pieces to rest, uncovered, for 5 minutes. Pour the baking soda/water into a 9" square pan.

Roll each piece of dough into a long, thin rope (about 28" to 30" long), and twist each rope into a pretzel. Working with 4 pretzels at a time, place them in the pan with the baking soda/water, spooning the water over their tops; leave them in the water for 2 minutes before placing them on the baking sheet. This baking soda "bath" will give the pretzels a nice, golden-brown color.

Transfer the pretzels to the prepared baking sheet. Sprinkle them lightly with coarse, kosher, or pretzel salt, if desired. Allow them to rest, uncovered, for 10 minutes.

Bake the pretzels for 8 to 9 minutes, or until they're a dark golden brown. (If your oven runs hot or you are using a convection oven, start checking at 6 minutes.) Remove the pretzels from the oven, and brush them thoroughly with the melted butter. Keep brushing the butter on until you've used it all up; it may seem like a lot, but that's what gives these pretzels their ethereal taste. Eat the pretzels warm, or reheat them in an oven or microwave.