Recipe Archive | Bake With a Grain of Salt

Brown Butter Peanut Butter Cookies

Rich brown butter peanut butter cookies with the classic cross fork pattern for all your childhood nostalgia!

If you’ve never browned butter for a cookie, you’re missing out! Browning butter brings out the richest, nuttiest flavor to the cookies and only enhances the peanut butter flavor!

Reference this Serious Eats article for tips on how to best brown butter without burning it!

Here’s a shot of the brown butter I made for this batch! I like to get my brown butter as close to brown as possible without burning it.

The fork prong hashing isn’t necessary but it lends to a classic look. However, you can also make normal shaped cookies or even include peanut butter chips!

This is a large batch recipe, but honeslty you can make anywhere between a dozen and a half and two dozen cookies depending on the size you want.

The cross hatching pattern should be pressed in after the cookie dough is shaped into a ball.

Bake at 375 for an even richer flavor for 10 to 12 minutes, but if you want a softer cookie then bake at 350 for 12 – 15 minutes.

Another nice touch would be to sprinkle some coarse salt or flaky salt on the cookies before baking for another kick. If you do so, you may want to withhold some of the salt from the cookie dough itself.

Tag me on Instagram if you try out this or any of my other recipes!

Check out my other cookie recipes!

Print Recipe

Brown Butter Peanut Butter Cookies

Rich brown butter peanut butter cookies with the classic cross fork pattern for all your childhood nostalgia!

Prep Time30

Cook Time12

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Ingredients

2⅓ Cup All Purpose Flour
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Kosher Salt
1 cup butter, browned
1 cup Granulated Sugar
1 cup Light brown sugar, packed
1 cup Peanut Butter, smooth
2 tsp Vanilla Extract
2 Eggs, large

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 or 375 depending type of cookie you want to bake. (refer to post above regarding this)
Brown butter.
Beat brown butter, brown sugar, and white sugar together.
Add egg, peanut butter, and vanilla extract and beat until thoroughly incorporated.
In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
Add the dry ingredients into the wet and mix until just incorporated.
Chill the dough for at least 30 minutes.
Create either a dozen and half or two dozen cookies and bake on a parchment lined baking sheet for either 10 – 12 or 12 – 15 minutes.

Overnight Tiramisu

This overnight tiramisu cake is coffee packed, rich and creamy, with the pillowiest cake layer one can imagine!

Tiramisu is traditionally made with lady fingers lightly soaked in a rich espresso layered within an egg cream cut with a light marscapone whipped cream. I am not a fan of lady fingers, and find that I prefer a tiramusi with more texture and substance to it. That’s why my recipe uses a fluffy cake layer (similar to the one used in my Japanese Strawberry Shortcake) as opposed to lady fingers.

Overnight tiramisu is my solution to all my issues with the bittersweet dessert!

I mean, get a load of those layers!

Make a cup of really strong coffee or two shots of espresso ( you may 2 double shots depending on how soaked you want your cake layers)

Cake

You’ll want to separate your egg yolks from the whites. When you do this, make sure none of your yolks leak into the whites. Any fat in the egg white will cause it to have trouble while whipping up.

Once the egg white reach a frothy state, begin to drizzle in the sugar while you keep whipping.

Whip until you reach medium to stiff peaks and the egg whites are white and glossy.

Mix together the egg yolks and vanilla extract.

Grab a spatula and fold half of the whipped egg whites into the egg yolk mixture. Once that is fully incorporated, add the remaining egg whites into the mixture and fold in.

You want to be gentle when you do this and mix as little as possible. We are relying on the fluffy egg whites to keep this cake soft, the more you mix the more you pull air out of the egg whites.

Next, add the flour, baking powder, and baking powder and gently fold. Finally, add the milk and oil.

This is what the consistency of the batter should look like. For more detailed photos along with your instructions, please refer to the cake section of my Japanese Strawberry Shortcake recipe.

Bake in either a 8 inch square or 8 inch round pan at 320 for 18-22 mins.

Once the cake has cooled, split the cake in half horizontally.

cream

Make the cream in two stages: the egg cream, and the marscapone stabalized whipped cream.

Stage 1. Cook the egg yolks and sugar over a double boiler for 10 minutes, mix constantly so you don’t burn the egg yolks. Ten minutes is sufficient time to cook the yolks to food safety!

Stage 2. Whip heavy cream and sugar into a stiff peaked whipped cream. Mix the marscapone and fully incorporate.

Mix the two stages of creams together when the egg mixture is fully cooled.

Assembly

Trim the cake to fit the bowl you are using for assembly.

I used a bowl that’s around 8 inches across and 3 at least inches deep. Place a coffee-soaked layer of cake into the bowl, then add half the cream mixture. Add the final layer of cake and add the rest of the cream.
Smooth it out and dust cocoa powder on top!

Serve this tiramisu after letting it rest in the fridge overnight for all the flavor to mingle!

Print Recipe

Overnight Tiramisu

This overnight tiramisu cake is coffee packed, rich and creamy, with the pillowiest cake layer one can imagine!

Prep Time30

Cook Time25

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: Italian

Servings: 12

Equipment

8 x 8 baking pan (round or square)

Ingredients

Espresso Shots or Strong Coffee

Cake

3 Large Eggs
½ Cup White Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla Bean Paste or Extract
1½ Tbsp Vegetable Oil
¾ tsp Baking Powder
¾ Tbsp Whole Milk
⅕ cup plus 1 Tbsp of All Purpose Flour

Cream

3 Egg Yolks
⅓ Cup White Sugar
8 oz Marscapone
1 Cup Heavy Whipping Cream
⅓ Cup White Sugar

Instructions

Cake

Preheat the oven to 320°.
Separate eggs whites and yolks (make sure you don't get any yolk in the white or the recipe won't work!)
Whip the egg whites and slowly drizzle the sugar into the whites until they reach a medium to stiff peak consistency.
Mix together the vanilla extract and egg yolks.
Fold in the egg whites into the yolks by folding half of the egg white mixture into the yolks, then fold the remaining the whites into egg mixture. Be gentle as you do this, you don't want to deflate the mixture.
Fold the all purpose flour and baking powder into the egg mixture gently.
Then mix in the vegetable oil and milk.
Line the 8 x 8 baking sheet with parchment paper and pour the batter in.
Bake for 14 – 16 minutes, the cake bakes very quickly but will still be a little soft and pale so take it to the 12 minute mark before you pull it from the oven. Let it take on a very pale golden color before you remove it.Let the cakes cool fully before you ice and stack them.

Cream

Cook the egg yolks and sugar over a double boiler for 10 minutes, mix constantly so you don't burn the egg yolks. Ten minutes is enough time to cook the yolks that they aren't raw when you eat them!
Whip the heavy cream and sugar into whipped cream and add the mascarpone and fully mix.
Once the egg yolk mixture is cool, mix it into the cream / mascarpone mixture.

Assembly

Refer to the end of the post above to see how to assemble!

Big Changes Coming

A much needed update on the blog!

Hi All! Thank you everyone for waiting patiently as I have not posted a recipe in over a year! In the past year, I completed my first year and then my first half of law school, I got married, my house flooded, and my husband and I walked through a tumultuous ten month restoration and insurance battle. Through all of this, I baked, I cooked, I ate, and I drank. I just didn’t necessarily have time for photos and blogging.

And how could I forgot, we went to Iceland for our honeymoon! We hiked a volcano and ate some awesome food! Check out some of the food we ate while we were there!

Tomato vines from Fridheimar, recipe blog

Fridheimar, burrata and heriloom tomatoes

Breakfast at Sand Hotel in Reykjavik, recipe blog

THE BEST CINNAMON BUN FROM THE WONDERFUL BRAUD AND CO, recipe blog

Sushi from Sushi Social in Reykjavik, recipe blog

Back to the boring stuff

For those of you who may not be aware, taking photos while cooking tends to nearly double the prep / cooking time, which is time that I don’t always have to spare. Editing photos and writing blog posts can be anywhere from a 5 to 8 hour process depending on how labourious a recipe may be. There are also other behind the scenes considerations when running a blog and website that I just didn’t have the means to deal with.

When I first started the blog, I was posting nearly twice a week as I was on summer break before law school started, then I phased into once a week before dropping off. I can’t make any guarantees, but I am hoping to get back into posting about once every other week / twice a month before eventually phasing back into weekly posts.

In addition to this, some of my recipes will not be accompanied by any step by step photos or pre recipe blog writings. They’ll just jump right into the recipe block. I’ll be adding step by step photos as time permits. After all, this is a recipe blog and recipes are coming!

Thank you again for being patient and I hope you enjoy the recipes to come!

Socials

In the meantime, please follow me on Instagram to stay up to date on recipes I am testing and foods I am trying!

Check out my other Recipes here!

January 17, 2022Brown Butter Peanut Butter Cookies

Rich brown butter peanut butter cookies with the classic cross fork pattern …

January 3, 2022Overnight Tiramisu

This overnight tiramisu cake is coffee packed, rich and creamy, with the …

October 19, 2020Baked Chicken Gyros with Tzatziki

A simple alternative to an authentic dish! Baked Chicken Gyros with Tzatziki …

October 5, 2020Minestrone Soup with Tortellini

Minestrone Soup is the perfect vegetable soup packed full of flavor. Eat …

Baked Chicken Gyros with Tzatziki

A simple alternative to an authentic dish! Baked Chicken Gyros with Tzatziki is the easiest way to achieve the flavor without the traditional roast!

Sure, gyros aren’t typically chicken, nor are they usually baked but this recipe allows for simplicity and comes with a tzatziki recipe!

Traditionally, gryos are lamb or beef and are roasted on a spit! The marinade on the meat caramelizes and the meat is shaved off of the spit onto a fresh pita pocket!

However, not everyone has the ability to roast meat over a spit so chicken gyros are a simple solution for homecooks!

The longer you marinate the chicken the better, but a minimum of 2 hours is preferable! I wouldn’t suggest marinated the chicken for more than 24 hours. While you can use chicken breasts or tenders, chicken thighs (boneless and skinless) are really juicy and easy to make!

Because the chicken is juicy and is marinated in yogurt it can occasionally seep water and liquid as it bakes. If it does this you can remove the sheet pan from the oven and drain the liquid before placing back into the oven.

You can make homemade pitas or use storebought flat breads.

You can heat up the bread in the residual heat from the oven. But it’s best to heat it up on a pan and toast it. If you don’t warm the bread it won’t be pliable!

You can top the flatbread with tzatziki sauce (recipe included) or hummus, or both!

Lettuce is recommended for a refreshing crunch and so are raw red onions. Tomatoes and bell peppers are optional and you can always add any other type of veggies as toppings!

If you enjoyed this recipe for Baked Chicken Gyros with Tzatziki, check out some of my other chicken recipes!

Print Recipe

Baked Chicken Gyros with Tzatziki

A simple alternative to an authentic dish! Baked Chicken Gyros with Tzatziki is the easiest way to achieve the flavor without the traditional roast!

Prep Time5

Cook Time30

Marinating Time2

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Mediterranean

Servings: 4 -5 Gyros

Calories: 400kcal

Ingredients

Chicken Marinade

1 Lbs Chicken Thighs, boneless skinless
¾ Cup Plain Greek Yogurt
1 Tbsp Red Wine Vinegar
1 tsp Kosher Salt
½ Tbsp Lemon Juice
½ Tbsp Fresh Oregano
½ tsp Cumin
½ tsp Coriander Powder
½ tsp Chili Powder
½ tsp Smoked Paprika
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
3 Cloves Garlic, grated

Pita and Toppings

4 Pita, flat breads or pockets
½ Red Onion, sliced thinly
2 Roma Tomatoes, seeded and sliced thinly
¼ Head Iceberg Lettuce, shredded
½ Orange Bell Pepper, sliced

Tzatziki Sauce

1 Cup Plain Greek Yogurt
¼ tsp Kosher Salt
½ tsp Dill Weed
½ Lemon, juiced
Dash of smoked paprika (optional)

Instructions

Chicken

Marinate the chicken in the ingredients for the marinade for 2 hours. Cover and store in the refrigerator.
Once marinaded, place the chicken onto a foil lined baking sheet and place into a 375° oven for 30 to 35 minutes.
If at any point there is too much liquid being released from either the chicken or the yogurt, you can remove the sheet and drain before placing back into the oven.
Prep the toppings and tzatziki sauce while the chicken is baking.

Toppings

Warm up your pitas in the leftover heat of the oven or on a pan. Warming them up will keep them flexible and pliable!
Prep and chop your vegetables.

Tzatziki Sauce

Mix together the ingredients for the sauce. Adjust for taste!

Assembly

Slice the chicken into thick slices.
Top the warm pita with tzatziki sauce, some lettuce, the chicken, and veggies of your choosing.
Enjoy warm!

Minestrone Soup with Tortellini

Minestrone Soup is the perfect vegetable soup packed full of flavor. Eat it alone as a side dish or with Tortellini to make it the main star. It’s a super healthy and tasty soup.

Minestrone Soup is the perfect vegetable soup packed full of flavor, eat with Tortellini or alone as a side dish!

You can add as many vegetables as you want or swap some of the ones in this recipe out for ones you like better. Celery, carrots, and zucchini are the classic ingredients!

After you saute the celery, onions, carrot, and garlic make sure you saute the tomato paste thoroughly. Don’t let it burn but do let it cook. It will reduce the sourness that raw tomato paste can have in many soups and sauces.

Once the diced tomato and herbs are added you can add the water.

At this stage you have a few choices. You can either use 4 cups of water with 2 bullion cubes mixed in. You can use either vegetable (to keep the soup vegetarian) or chicken bullion (it adds a lot of flavor), and you can choose regular or low sodium! OR you can use 2 cups of water and 2 cups of broth (vegetarian or chicken, low sodium or regular).

Add the bay leaves as well. And once everything has mixed, you can add the sugar and some salt, black pepper, and crushed red pepper to taste. The sugar is used to counter the acidic sourness of the tomatoes in the soup.

Let the soup cook for a bit and then add the zucchini, red kidney beans, and the tortellini. Let cook at a rapid boil so the tortellini can cook. This may take around 8 – 10 minutes.

Add the spinach at the very end so and serve hot!

Add some grated parmesan for some more flavor!

Make sure you remove the bay leaves before servings!

This Minestrone Soup with Tortellini is fully vegetarian!

(depending on which broth or bullion cube you use!)

Print Recipe

Minestrone Soup with Tortellini

Minestrone Soup is the perfect vegetable soup packed full of flavor. Eat it alone as a side dish or with Tortellini to make it the main star. It's a super healthy and tasty soup.

Prep Time10

Cook Time30

Course: Main Course, Side Dish, Soup

Cuisine: Italian

Servings: 6 -8 Bowls

Calories: 200kcal

Ingredients

1 Cup Celery, chopped
½ Medium Onion, chopped
1½ Cup Carrot, chopped
3 Cloves Garlic, grated
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 Tbsp Tomato Paste
1½ tsp Herbs du Provence
1 14 oz Can of Fire Roasted Diced Tomatoes
4 Cups Water
2 Cubes Bullion (veg or chicken, low sodium)
½ tsp Sugar
2-3 Bay Leaves
Salt, Black Pepper, Crushed Red Bell Pepper, to taste
1 Cup Zucchini, chopped
1 Cup Red Kidney Beans
1 Cup Tortellini
2 Cups Baby Spinach, roughly chopped, stems removed

Instructions

Heat up some oil in a pot and saute the onion, garlic, celery, and carrots.
Add the tomato paste and saute it.
Add the canned fire roasted diced tomatoes and the herb du provence.
Dilute the two bullion cubes in 4 cups of warm water. (You can use 2 cups of low sodium broth with 2 cups of water instead) Add the water to the pot.
Add the sugar, bay leaves. Stir and add salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper to taste.
Add the zucchini, red beans, and tortellini and cook for about ten minutes.
Add the spinach and a half cup of water if you want your soup to be thicker.
Remove from heat once your tortellini is cooked!

Easy Buttery Garlic Knots

Soft, fluffy and easy to make, these buttery garlic knots are perfect with any italian dish or soup! Eat on the side with a salad or just as a snack! Top with parmesan or flaky salt!

Okay, what’s better than easy to make buttery garlic knots to eat with any of your Italian dishes?

This recipe only requires about ten to fifteen minutes of active prep time and a few hours of down time.

This is what the dough will look like after you mix the yeast water, half of the dry ingredients, and the olive oil. At this point you want to switch to a dough hook if you’re using a stand mixer.

This is what the dough should look like once it is done being mixed.

After the dough has done it’s first rise. Once you punch, roll, and shape the dough this is what they should look like.

Let them rise once more for an hour before baking.

Then brush with garlic butter and enjoy!

Once you brush the easy knots with garlic -y buttery goodness, you’re welcome to top the knots with flaky salt, grated parmesan, or crushed red pepper!

Some tips on storing these knots if you want to premake them and bake them when the craving strikes.

You can freeze the whole batch or just half of it, whatever you prefer.

If you want to store these, then place them on a parchment paper lined sheet pan and place in the freezer right after you shape them into the knots. Do not allow the dough to do its second rise. Freezing the knots at this stage will freeze the yeast in the dough and prevent it from fermenting or rising more during storage.

Once the knots are frozen, you can remove them from the sheet pan and store in a freezer safe container or plastic bag and place back into the freezer. They can last for a few weeks like this.

When you’re ready to eat them, remove them from the freezer and place on a parchment paper lined sheet pan. Cover with a damp towel and allow to thaw and proof. Once they have thawed, you can bake them the same way you normally would.

Finally, finish the knots with a generous coating of garlic butter and any other seasonings and enjoy!

Print Recipe

Easy Buttery Garlic Knots

Soft, fluffy and easy to make, these buttery garlic knots are perfect with any italian dish or soup! Eat on the side with a salad or just as a snack! Top with parmesan or flaky salt!

Prep Time10

Cook Time10

Proofing Time2

Course: Appetizer, Side Dish, Snack

Cuisine: American, Italian

Servings: 6

Calories: 115kcal

Ingredients

Knots

1 tsp Instant Yeast
½ Cup Water, lukewarm (95° – 110° F)
1½ Cups All Purpose Flour
1 Tbsp Granulated Sugar
1 tsp Fine Sea Salt
1½ tsp Olive Oil

Garlic Butter

2 tbsp Unsalted Butter
2 Cloves Garlic
Parmesan (Optional)
Crushed Red Pepper Flakes (Optional)
Flaky Salt (Optional)

Instructions

Mix the yeast into the water thoroughly and set aside while prepping the rest of the ingredients.
Mix the salt, sugar, and flour thoroughly in a bowl and set aside.
In a large bowl (or your stand mixer bowl with the paddle attachment) Add half of the dry ingredients mixture and the yeast water. Mix with a wooden spoon (or on low with your stand mixer) until combined.
Add the oil and mix until combined (turn the speed up one notch on a stand mixer).
(If using a stand mixer, swap to a dough hook. Make sure you scrape the dough off of the paddle attachment) Add the rest of the dry ingredients and mix until the dough is smooth (turn up to a medium/medium low speed on the stand mixer)
Add the dough to a greased bowl and cover with greased plastic wrap. Let rise at room temperature for about an hour (until the dough has doubled in size)
Punch the dough down once it has risen and cut into 12 even pieces (they can be any shape since we will be rolling these)
Roll those 12 pieces into balls and then roll them out into thin logs that are about 8 inches in length.
Cut those logs in half and tie each half into knots.
Set the knots on a parchment paper lined baking sheet and cover with greased cling wrap. Let rise for an hour.
Once proofed, place the knots in a 400° F oven for 10 – 13 minutes.
While the knots are baking, melt the butter and grate the garlic cloves into the butter. Let the garlic steep.
Once you remove the knots from the oven, brush the garlic butter on.
Sprinkle on any option flaky salt, crushed red pepper, or grated parmesan and enjoy!
Read the blog post above for information on how to store the garlic knots so you can bake them on demand!

Hotteok (Sweet Korean Stuffed Pancakes)

Hotteok is a Korean style sweet pancake that is stuffed with cinnamon sugar and walnuts! Made with a simple yeasted dough and can be stuffed with any flavor of your choosing!

One variety of Korean ‘pancakes’ is Hotteok which is stuffed with a sweet, nutty filling. Another is called jeon a vegetable pancake we can explore later!

Hotteok (Sweet Korean Stuffed Pancakes) cooking

There are store bought dough mixes you can buy for hotteok if you want to use them, but it’s more likely that you’ll have instant yeast on hand than an Asian market near you that carries it.

The dough is really simple to make and requires little kneading. For those of you that have a stand mixer you can set them aside for the recipe! You’ll just need a large bowl and a wooden spoon!

Mix your flour, sugar, and salt together and add in the yeasted water and stir with the wooden spoon. It should look like this.

Add the oil and mix properly. Roll the dough into a ball and place into greased bowl, cover with greased plastic wrap. Let set for an hour at room temperature while it rises. (it’s okay for the dough to be sticky)

Once the dough rises, it should look like this. Punch the air down and turn the dough out onto a floured work surface. (Add the 1/8 cup of flour I said to reserve in the recipe instructions)

Knead or fold that flour into the dough until the dough is smooth. Then cut the dough into four even pieces and roll those in to balls. Cover with the plastic wrap and set aside while you prepare the filling. Make sure you finely chop your walnuts and then measure out the required tablespoon.

Using your hands, flatten the balls to be a little larger than the size of your palm. Then press down the sides of the dough so the perimeter of the dough is thinner than the center. Then scoop the filling evenly between the four flattened dough balls.

To seal and roll the dough, bring four points of the dough together and pinch shut. Then bring the rest of the dough together and roll between your palms.

Place the hotteok balls aside and heat up some neutral oil on a pan. You just want a thin layer of oil on the pan. We are very shallow frying these. Make sure the oil is hot and shimmering before you place the hotteok in there. Place the hotteok in the pan (the oil should sizzle) depending on the size of the pan you may only be able to fit one or two in there. Be sure to leave space for when you flatten them.

Cook the hotteok for about a minute to a minute and a half, or until the dough is a crispy golden brown.

Once you flip the hotteok, grab a flat spatula, a burger flipper, or something like that as well as a heavy handled spoon. Place the flat spatula on the dough and use the wooden handle to push on the spatula to flatten the dough. It should be flat like a disc.

Then cook for another minute to minute and half. Flip one more time and cook until the rest of the dough is golden brown. Place the finished hotteok on a bed of paper towels to absorb any grease.

Enjoy the hotteok warm! But be careful not to burn yourself, the filling can be very hot.

If you enjoy these sweet Korean stuffed pancakes, you can enjoy Hotteok with any type of filling! A friend of mine suggested using pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds! You can also do nutella or mozzarella cheese.

Print Recipe

Hotteok (Sweet Korean Stuffed Pancakes)

Hotteok is a Korean style sweet pancake that is stuffed with cinnamon sugar and walnuts! Made with a simple yeasted dough and can be stuffed with any flavor of your choosing!

Prep Time10

Cook Time10

Rising Time1

Course: Breakfast, Dessert, Snack

Cuisine: Asian, Korean

Servings: 4 Hotteok

Calories: 180kcal

Ingredients

Dough

½ Cup Water Lukewarm (95°-110°F)
½ tsp Instant Yeast
1¼ Cup All Purpose Flour plus ⅛ for flouring surface and kneading
½ Tbsp Sugar
⅓ tsp Kosher Salt
½ Tbsp Vegetable Oil

Filling

¼ Cup Dark Brown Sugar
½ tsp Cinnamon
1 Tbsp Walnut, Finely Chopped
Vegetable Oil for cooking

Instructions

Mix together the water and yeast. Set aside while you prep the other ingredients.
In a large bowl, mix together the flour, white granulated sugar, and kosher salt.
Add the yeast water to the dry ingredients and mix with a wooden spoon.
Add the vegetable oil to the dough and mix properly. It will be sticky but keep mixing!
Roll the dough into a ball and place into a greased bowl and cover with cling wrap.
Place the dough aside in a warm/room temperature room for an hour as it rises.
Once the dough has risen for an hour, punch the gases out of it and roll onto a floured work surface (use the ⅛ cup of flour for this).
Knead the flour into the dough until fully incorporated and the dough feels smooth. It's okay for it to be sticky.
Cut the dough into four equal sized lumps and cover with the cling wrap you used earlier. Set aside while you mix the filling and chop the nuts.
Finely chop the walnuts and then measure out a tablespoon of them. Mix with the cinnamon and dark brown sugar.
Flatten each of the dough balls slightly in the palm of your hands and then evenly add the stuffing between the four dough pieces.
Refer to the photos above on how to seal the dough balls. Set them aside.
Depending on the size of your pans, use enough vegetable oil to thinly cover the bottom of whatever pan you're using. It can be cast iron, enameled cast iron, nonstick, etc. Let it heat up until shimmering.
Place one or two of your dough balls in the pan (the pan should sizzle). Make sure there's enough room in the pan for the balls to expand as you flatten them.
Let the balls cook for about a minute to a minute and a half or until the dough is golden, crispy brown.
Flip the dough and take a flat spatula, a burger flipper, or something like that as well as a heavy handled spoon. Place the flat spatula on the dough and use the wooden handle to push on the spatula to flatten the dough. It should be flat like a disc.
Cook the hotteok for another minute to minute and half, or until its golden crispy brown.
Flip the hotteok one more time and let the rest of it cook before removing from the pan and placing on some paper towels.
Enjoy warm! If you want to make ahead and reheat, you can heat them up on a pan or in a toaster oven!

Fluffy Spicy Mexican Rice

This fluffy mexican rice recipe has a slight spicy and sweet kick to it that you can adjust by taste. It’s one of my favorite things about this recipe! Some days I want extra corn and other days I want it with more lemon.

This recipe is written to be the baseline ingredients, you can adjust to your taste and how you prefer it!

The most important thing about cooking rice is to wash any of the starch out of it and let it soak with some water before you cook it. Drain the water the rice was soaking in and use fresh water to cook with or it will be too sticky.

As far as the ingredients inside go. You’ll want to cook the onion and garlic before adding the corn and black beans. You can add jalapenos to your taste but make sure to account for any additional spice. If you want to add cilantro, it’s better to add it at the end!

Once the rice, tomato sauce, and water is added, add the seasoning and taste. Keep in mind that you want the flavors to be a little more bold than what you would prefer because it’s takes more spice and salt to season rice.

Cook the rice uncovered at a medium heat for above 10 minutes while stirring occasionally to make sure it doesn’t stick. Cook until most of the liquid has evaporated, refer to the photo below.

Once it gets to that stage, add the lemon juice, turn to a simmer and cover for about ten minutes or until the rest of the water has cooked off.

Add the cilantro and use a fork to make your spicy mexican rice fluffy!

Print Recipe

5 from 1 vote

Fluffy Spicy Mexican Rice

Fluffy Mexican Rice with corn, beans, and a spicy kick! This recipe is really simple and doesn't utilize any special ingredients, perfect for any home cook.

Prep Time5

Cook Time20

Course: Main Course, Side Dish

Cuisine: Mexican

Servings: 4 – 6 Servings

Calories: 215kcal

Ingredients

1 Cup Uncooked Rice medium or long grain, I used basmati
1½ tbsp Olive Oil
3 Cloves Garlic, grated
½ Cup Diced Red Onions
½ Cup Canned Black Beans, drained and rinsed
½ Cup Corn, frozen or canned (drained and rinsed)
½ tsp Cumin
½ tsp (Mexican) Chili Powder
1½ tsp Kosher Salt
½ Cup Tomato Sauce, canned
2 Cups Water
1 tsp Lemon Juice
3 Sprigs Cilantro chopped
Jalapeno, diced Optional

Instructions

Rinse the rice and set aside to soak while you prep the other ingredients.
Add the oil to a saucepan and cook the garlic and onions (and optional jalapenos)
Add the beans and corn to the pan followed by the rice, water, and tomato sauce.
Season with cumin, chili powder, and salt and stir. Taste and adjust, the water should be slighlty spicy and salty or the rice will be bland.
Cook uncovered at a medium heat for about 10 minutes until the water has almost fully evaporated.
Stir to ensure that the rice doesn't stick. Add the lemon juice, cover the pot and turn the heat to a simmer. Cook for another 8 – 10 minutes.
Sprinkle the cilantro and fluff the rice up with a fork so it doesn't clump.
The rice is ready to serve!

Chewy Maple Clove Cookies

Chewy, soft not too sweet with a good all spice-esque flavor! Maple Clove Cookies are super simple and sure to curb your sweet craving with just around 100 calories!

This recipe for chewy maple clove cookies is super simple and follows the basic guidelines for making a cookie.

Cream together the butter, white sugar, and brown sugar. Then add in the maple syrup and egg and whip until fluffy.

Finally, add the seasonings and then the flour.

This will be a rather sticky dough so be sure to let it rest and chill in the refrigerator for at least thirty minutes before you roll and bake them.

You should get about 18 0.8 ounce cookies. Flatten them a bit with the palm of your hand and bake at 350 for 10-12 (maybe 14, depending on your oven strength).

Let the cookies rest fully before eating. Enjoy your chewy maple clove cookies with tea or coffee!

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Check out some of my other sweet recipes!

As always, you can store cookie dough in the freezer for a few months so you can whip them out whenever the craving hits!

I always have stores of a few different kinds of cookies in my freezer!

Just be sure to roll the cookie dough into balls before you freeze it.

The baking time of the cookies may be altered if you are baking frozen dough so keep an eye out!

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Chewy Maple Clove Cookies

Chewy, soft not too sweet with a good all spice-esque flavor! Maple Clove Cookies are super simple and sure to curb your sweet craving with just around 100 calories!

Prep Time10

Cook Time14

Chill Time30

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings: 18 Cookies

Calories: 105kcal

Ingredients

1/2 Cup Unsalted Butter, softened
¼ Cup White Sugar
⅛ Cup Brown Sugar
1 Egg
2 tbsp Maple Syrup
½ tsp Baking Soda
½ tsp Baking Powder
¼ tsp Kosher Salt
½ tsp Cinnamon
¼ tsp Ground Cloves
¼ tsp Ground Ginger
1¼ Cup All Purpose Flour

Instructions

Cream together the butter, white sugar, brown sugar, egg, and maple syrup.
Add in the baking powder, baking soda, kosher salt, cinnamom, ground cloves, and groun ginger
Add the flour and thoroughly incorporate.
Refrigerate dough for 30 minutes.
Roll the dough into balls, you should get about 18 .8 ounce cookies. Flatten the cookies out just a bit before baking.
Bake in a 350° F oven for 10 – 12 mins (maybe 14 depending on your oven)

Easy Sandwich Loaf Bread

Once you start making this easy sandwich loaf bread, you’ll never want to buy the store bought stuff ever again! It’s slightly sweet and toasts to the perfect crunch!

This easy sandwich loaf bread recipe is a perfect introduction to the art of bread making! It’s a versatile bread so it surely won’t last long in any household!

I make this recipe using my stand mixer, but I will walk through how to make the bread without one. For home cooks that are trying to bake casually, I would recommend using a stand mixer if you have one just out of convenience and efficiency.

It’s key to ensure that your milk and water (and any liquid you use to bloom yeast) is at a ‘lukewarm’ temperature. This is usually between 95 and 110 F. Anything lower won’t activate the yeast properly and anything higher runs the risk of killing it.

Mix thoroughly and allow the yeast to bloom for around 8 – 10 minutes before you use it. Measure out your other ingredients while the yeast is blooming. Do keep in mind that your butter should be room temperature and soft to the touch.

If you’re using a stand mixer to mix the dough, fit on the dough hook attachment and start by mixing the dry ingredients together. Slowly drizzle in the yeast mixture and continue mixing until the dough comes together. Add in the butter a tablespoon at a time until fully incorporated.

If you’re doing this without a stand mixer, you’ll want to mix the yeast mixture into the dry ingredients with a wooden spoon. Mix until the dough looks like this

When you’re adding the butter, the dough will become sticky you can add a few sprinkles of flour to help but I would be cautious of adding too much. Once the butter is in, you can turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead until smooth.

Place in a oiled boil and cover with greased plastic wrap. Let rest for an hour to hour and half or until doubled in size.

Punch the dough out and work any air bubbles out as you roll the dough out into a rectangle. Then fold the dough over itself into thirds across the long side.

Then roll the folded dough out again so the short side of the dough matches the length of your loaf tin. Tightly roll the dough onto itself so it can rest in your loaf pan. There will be holes in your bread if it’s not rolled tightly enough (my bread rose too much so there’s an air pocket in the center of the loaf).

Place the log in a prepped loaf tin and cover with another loaf tin, let rise for about an hour and bake at 350 for 35 to 40 minutes!

Let your easy sandwich loaf bread cool fully before slicing!

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5 from 1 vote

Easy Sandwich Loaf Bread

Once you start making this easy sandwich loaf bread, you'll never want to buy the store bought stuff ever again! It's slightly sweet and toasts to the perfect crunch!

Prep Time15

Cook Time35

Rising Time2

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: American

Servings: 12 Slices

Calories: 120kcal

Equipment

Standard Loaf Tin

Ingredients

¾ Cup Lukewarm Water (95°-110° F)
½ Cup Lukewarm Milk (95°-110° F) (preferably whole milk)
2½ tsp Instant Yeast
3 Cups All Purpose Flour
1½ tsp Fine Sea Salt (grind your kosher salt if you have kosher)
1 tbsp Granulated Sugar
3 tbsp Unsalted Butter, room temperature

Instructions

Mix together the lukewarm water and sprinkle the instant yeast on top. Stir and set aside for ten minutes to let the yeast bloom.
Mix together the flour, salt, and sugar in large bowl. (Stand mixer bowl if you're using one)
(Fit the stand mixer with the dough hook or use a larger bowl and a wooden spoon if you don't have one) Add the yeast, milk, and water mixture to the bowl and mix on a low speed until incorporated. (this will take a few minutes with a mixer, and more time by spoon)
Add a tablespoon of butter at a time to the mixture until full incorporated. Once fully incorporated mix for 30 seconds more. (If you're doing this by hand, put the dough on a floured work surface a knead the butter into the dough. Work until the dough is smooth.
Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl and cover with greased plastic wrap. Let sit at room temperature for about an hour and half or until the dough doubles in size (make sure it doubles, if you live in a colder or less humid climate this may take longer)
Once the dough doubles in size, punch the air out and place onto a floured work surface. Make sure you punch any air pockets out.
Roll the dough into a large rectangle and fold into thirds across the long side. (refer to photos)
Roll that out into another rectangle where the short side is the length of your loaf pan.
Start from the side of your dough that matches the length of the load pans and Tightly roll your dough into a log.
Place in a greased and floured loaf tin and cover with another loaf tin, let rest for about an hour at room temperature or until doubled in size.
Bake at 350° for 35 – 40 minutes. Let cool for ten minutes until removing from loaf pan and let cool fully on a wire rack.