Basic Wholewheat Pancake with or without Banana

This is from Favorite Recipes from Quilters, contributed by two different cooks--Emma Troyer of Partridge, KS and Cathy Mazur of Williams Lake, BC.

It is easy and, for wholewheat pancakes, very light and high. I added the lemon zest.

You can add fresh berries; add them whole when you flip them in the loose batter on the second side.

1 c. wholewheat flour
1 T sugar
1 t. baking powder (push through a sieve)
1/2 t. baking soda (push through a sieve)
1/2 t salt
1 egg
1 c. buttermilk

optional: one mashed ripe banana
2 T melted butter
grated lemon zest to taste
cinnamon to taste

In medium bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. 

Add egg, buttermilk, melted butter, and lemon zest. Whisk.

In hot, oiled skillet or grill, drop about 1/4 c of batter per pancake. Flip. On the induction burner, you can turn off the burner for the second side and the pancakes will cook fine and be less likely to burn.

Cranberry Bars

Bars are faster than cookies, and I like that you can cut them in various sizes. These are from a cookbook I picked up for $1 at the Seattle Public Library, Favorite Recipes from Quilters. The book is from 1992; lots of recipes call for margarine or shortening. But a good recipe is a good recipe. These were good. I anticipate having lots of other berries in Chestertown from Micah's garden. These are a little simpler than the crumble recipe. Contributor is Irma H. Schoen.

Note there is no baking powder - this makes a dense bar.

I learned that a 9" x 13" pan is equivalent to a quarter sheet pan, meaning you can bake these in the Breville.

1 stick softened butter (if it's winter and the butter doesn't soften, grate it ahead and let it sit)
1.5 c sugar (if you use a different berry, you could cut back on sugar)
1.5 flour (half whole-wheat works fine)
2 eggs
1 c. chopped nuts - best if done by hand
1.5 c whole cranberries (a half bag)

salt, cinnamon to taste

Grease a quarter sheet pan well.

Cream the butter and sugar.

Add the flours, eggs, salt and cinnamon and mix. It's very stiff. You can use a wooden utensil and then your hands.

Add the cranberries and chopped nuts.

Spread out in the pan, wetting hands to fill in all the spaces.

Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes. Don't overbake or they're hard to cut.

Cool and cut. Recipe says 8x8. 

Becca's Charred Broccoli

We all love Becca's broccoli. 

I cut the broccoli florets in vertical slices to give it more surface area, like they do to make cauliflower steaks, but much smaller.

Using our 9" Lodge cast iron, heated to 8 on the induction, I put in about 2 T. olive oil, let it heat, and dumped in the broccoli.  I let it singe for about a minute, then stirred it for another minute or two. Then turned off the burner, covered it, and it steamed. Just added salt, as Becca directed.

8 minutes later: perfect!

Chocolate Chip Meringue Bars

I am baking for Zeke Hausmann's bar mitzvah. Now that I ditched kichel, we need new traditions!

I never bother baking chocolate chip cookies, since such good varieties are available commercially. These bars were a recipe my mom got from my friend Joan Wambheim's mother Carol. Apparently it's a popular recipe from mid-20th century church and community cookbooks, sometimes called Halfway to Heaven Bars. 

Mom's recipe calls for shortening, very mid-20th century for sure. Back to butter! Be sure to put the butter out to get to room temperature

I like to chop nuts with a big knife now, instead of a food processor or hand chopper.

Recipe says a 9 x 13 pan. That's very similar in size to a quarter sheet, and it worked fine.

Cookie base layer

1 stick butter, softened
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. white sugar
2 c. flour (half or 1/4 whole wheat is fine)
1 t. salt
1 t. baking powder
1 t. baking soda
2 egg yolks (you'll use the whites for the meringue)
1 T water (or more if needed)
1 t. vanilla

Mid Layer:

1 c. chocolate chips
1/2 c. chopped nut (walnuts or pecans)

Meringue

2 or 3 egg whites (the extra egg white would give a little lift to the top layer).
1 c. brown sugar (white seems to be OK too)

======

In large bowl, cream butter and sugars. It's not necessary to use a mixer, just a good spatula and some effort.

Add the rest of the ingredients and mix til smooth. Spray the quarter sheet pan with oil and pat down the dough, with wet hands. 

Spread the chocolate chips and chopped nuts, pressing in gently.

In a clean bowl, beat the egg whites until glossy with stiff peaks. The volume increases so make sure the bowl is big enough! Slowly add the sugar until incorporated.

Spread over the chocolate/nut layer. Drop it on in a few different places, as it's thick and a bit hard to spread.

Bake for 20-25 minutes at 350 until browned. Cook and cut in small squares. I use a pizza cutter. Cutting 6 x 7, it made 42 bars.

One recipe says they don't freeze well -- we'll see!