DoughSeeDough

a balanced plate with room for dessert

Monthly Archives: April 2011


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Eating through the ages

This past weekend I was gifted something extraordinarily special: cookbooks. Not just any cookbooks, but cookbooks from my great-great-grandmother-in-law. Is that a mouthful or what?? I can’t explain why it’s so special to me, but maybe it’s because I could never read the Chinese cookbooks from my side of the family. But these? They’re in English, and that I can do.

I’m going to start a new string of blog posts featuring these recipes. I think that these books are just what I needed to motivate me to get out of my cooking rut. I can’t wait to dig in.

Here’s a sneak peek at just a couple of the books that I was given.

This one here is from the 11th Pillsbury Bake-off. I think they’re into there 40s now. I seriously cannot express my excitement. 


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A Satisfying Bite of Life

I had been so, so good with making sure I had 2 posts going out a week. And then my life exploded (in a good way). How so? Well, first off, I found out I got into a dietetic internship. This means I’ll be back to school come August! Second, things at work are going really well. I’ll be sad to leave in August. Third, Mike and I officially have a house!! It’s a cute little 3 bedroom ranch in Appleton, WI. I love it a little more every day.

The house definitely needs work, and that is where all my time has been going. We’re painting, re-doing the bathroom, cleaning, tearing stuff apart and putting it back together. One project we haven’t really tackled yet? The kitchen. I removed the cabinet doors the day we were handed the keys, but that’s all we’ve done so far. The rest of the house is coming along quite nicely. The kitchen will definitely be the biggest and most important (to me) project. I’m still undecided on what color I want the walls to be.

Needless to say, I haven’t been cooking much (or at all). Between work, running, the house, and various other life events, I have set my cooking aside. Fingers crossed I get to cook up a storm this weekend.

So for now, I leave you with a photo of the kitchen. Here it is before. Hopefully I’ll have a much improved kitchen to show off in a couple weeks!


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Crunchy Caramel Popcorn

Caramel popcorn is one of my favorite foods. We had some around the house, but they were drizzled in one of my least favorite foods – chocolate. After staring at the bag for weeks, having it taunt me, I decided to make some of my own (untainted) caramel corn.

This stuff was seriously delicious. How delicious? It disappeared in 3 days. And this was a LOT of popcorn. Granted, I was kind enough to share with my in-laws and my parents and brother, but I was still in a sugar coma.

I will definitely make this again. Mike and I had a blast doing this together. Combining my two loves (husband and cooking) was a win for sure. Ok, three loves (can’t forget the dogs!) – the pups may have had a few pieces of plain popcorn. And by a few a mean a few handfuls 😉

Crunchy Caramel Popcorn

3/4 cup butter
2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup corn syrup
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 quarts air-popped popcorn

  1. Preheat oven to 250°F. Line three baking pans with foil.
  2. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Stir in brown sugar, corn syrup and salt. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Allow to boil, unstirred, for 4 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in soda and vanilla.
  3. Pour popcorn onto baking pans, dividing evenly between three pans.
  4. Pour caramel in a thin stream over popcorn, stirring to coat.
  5. Bake in preheated oven for one hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool completely. Stir gently, breaking up large pieces. Serve immediately or store in air-tight container.

Tips for clean up – soak the pot and utensils in hot water. The syrup will melt right off and there will be minimal scrubbing required. The foil in the pans will give you a quick, easy clean up. Just crumple up and toss!


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Chocolate Walnut Biscotti

My mom requested one thing from me for Christmas – biscotti. I didn’t make it (oops). She requested one thing from me for her birthday – biscotti. I made it 🙂

I used a different recipe this time, one without any butter. When I first started mixing everything together, I was unsure if it would turn out. I mean, the only ‘glue’ in the recipe are the eggs. To my surprise, the ingredients came together beautifully. You will want to arm yourself with a lot of flour though, and I mean a lot. Flour your surfaces when you roll out the biscotti very, very thoroughly. This is one sticky dough. I floured my hands well and the dough still stuck. Don’t worry, the results are completely worth it. These had the perfect snap and they’re great with coffee! *

Chocolate Walnut Biscotti
adapted from joyofbaking.com

4 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 3/4 cups flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tablespoon instant coffee granules
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup walnuts, chopped

  1. Preheat oven to 300°F.
  2. In a food processor, blend chocolate and brown sugar together until chocolate is very fine.
  3. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, coffee granules, baking soda and salt.
  4. In a large bowl, beat eggs and vanilla with an electric mixer until combined, about 30 seconds.
  5. Add in dry ingredients and beat until a stiff dough forms. Stir in walnuts.
  6. Generously flour work surface and hands. Divide dough in half and roll each half into a log about 10 inches long and 3 inches wide. Place onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet, about 3 – 4 inches apart.
  7. Bake for 35 minutes, or until firm to touch. Remove from oven and let cook in pan for 10 minutes.
  8. Using a long spatula, move logs to cutting board. Using a sharp serrated knife, cut the dough into slices 3/4-inch thick on the diagonal.
  9. Arrange slices cut side down and bake for 15 minutes. Turn slices over and bake an additional 15 minutes.
  10. Remove from oven and let cool completely before storing in an air-tight container.

*Ok, you got me. I’m not a coffee drinker. But, Mike says that they tasted pretty darn good with it. Me? I ate it plain. And I liked it.