Whole Wheat Rhubarb & Spice Muffins

March 28, 2020 By Korena in the Kitchen Leave a Comment

If the empty shelves in the baking aisle of the otherwise fairly well-stocked grocery store are anything to go by right now, there are lots of people dealing with the current global pandemic in same way I am: with lots of baking therapy. These whole wheat muffins stuffed with tart rhubarb, spiced with cinnamon, and topped with crunchy sugar are an extremely comforting thing to bake and eat, so they were the first thing I made when sh*t started to get real a few weeks ago. They are quick and easy to mix up, don’t require any special pantry ingredients, and unlike most muffins, which are best eaten the day they are baked and then decline from there, these are excellent two, three, even four days after baking, thanks to their nubbly whole grain ingredients which help keep them moist and fresh. They are also a great way to use up that bag of slightly freezer burned rhubarb from last summer that you discovered at the back of the freezer when doing a pandemic inventory of all the edible things in your kitchen.

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Cranberry Apple Cinnamon Danish Swirls

November 26, 2018 By Korena in the Kitchen 3 Comments

When Dale Carnegie wrote his famous self-help book, “How to Win Friends and Influence People“, he listed six ways to get people to like you. I’m here to present you with a seventh way: make these cranberry apple cinnamon danishes and share them with whomever you are hoping to befriend.

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Pistachio, Rose & Strawberry Buns

June 25, 2018 By Korena in the Kitchen 1 Comment

I came across this recipe for brioche buns filled with pistachio cream and strawberry jam and brushed with rose-flavoured syrup in the Food52 Baking Club on Facebook, where we are baking from the book “Golden” by Itamar Srulovich and Sarit Packer for the month of June. Despite not being too sure about rose-flavoured things (the last time I baked with rosewater I ended up with sugar cookies that tasted like they’d been made with old potpourri, ie: not good), after reading a few enthusiastic reviews, I decided to try them myself. All my uncertainty was for naught, because THESE – these are amazing!

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Stella Parks’ Spiced Vanilla Hot Cross Buns

March 31, 2018 By Korena in the Kitchen Leave a Comment

Guys, I’m having a serious moment with Stella Parks, aka BraveTart. By which I mean, I want to bake all her stuff. Luckily, “her stuff” includes a killer recipe for hot cross buns, so I’m back this year (after a brief hiatus last year) with HCB take seven on the blog. In the past I’ve dabbled in various combinations of chocolate, sourdough, cider, porter, honey, and tea infused HCBs, and this year’s version comes with a hit of vanilla and the unexpected addition of Greek yogurt. One of the things I love best about Parks’ recipes is the way she explains the science behind certain ingredients. In this case, the Greek yogurt adds softness and moisture to the dough, and its acidity also helps with gluten development (and now I understand what “The Lemon Juice Secret” is from the back of the Rogers Flour bag!).

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Turkish Simit Bread

July 31, 2017 By Korena in the Kitchen 9 Comments

With our Around the World in 12 Plates leader, Gabby, spending the month of July in Turkey on an archaeological dig (#lifegoals), it only made sense that this month’s destination was Turkey! Seeing her post delicious-looking photos of her meals on Facebook, I was intrigued by her mention of a bread called “simit” that is commonly eaten at breakfast (although it is also popular as a snack any time of day). Simit is sometimes called a “Turkish bagel” because of its round shape, hole in the middle, and sesame seed-covered exterior. Made with a very simple lean dough (just flour, water, yeast, and salt), the dough is rolled out into long ropes and twisted together before being shaped into rings, giving simit its characteristic coiled look. Before baking, each ring is dipped in a mixture of pekmez (a fruit-based, molasses-like syrup – I improvised with half regular molasses, half pomegranate molasses) and water, then coated in sesame seeds and baked until crisp. Once cooled, the crust softens slightly and yields to a deliciously stretchy, soft yet chewy inside.

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Cranberry White Chocolate Lemon Tea Braid

December 13, 2016 By Korena in the Kitchen 6 Comments

Along with the perfect Christmas dessert and the best Christmas cookies, every year I’m on the look out for a delicious holiday breakfast or brunch pastry – and this year, I think I may have stumbled on it kind of by accident. I had half a batch of challah dough in my freezer, a container of cranberry sauce leftover from Thanksgiving, and I’d just seen a photo of the beautiful poppy seed tea “braid” from Luisa Weiss‘ Classic German Baking – and it all came together in a swirly braid filled with cranberry sauce, white chocolate chunks, and lemon zest, glazed with a lemony icing. It was a huge loaf, so I gave some to friends and planned to take the rest to work to share with my colleagues… but plans changed when Nate and I discovered how good it was, and we ate it all ourselves! (Sorry, colleagues!)

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Cinnamon Raisin Swirl Bread

November 1, 2015 By Korena in the Kitchen 3 Comments

The bakery in the town I grew up in made a delicious cinnamon raisin bread, and on the occasions that I could convince my mum to buy a loaf, I would eat practically the entire thing myself, toasted and slathered with butter. Now, being an adult, I can, of course, go to the store and buy a loaf whenever the urge strikes – but in this particular instance, the urge also struck to make it myself.

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Orange Rosemary Pecan Zucchini Bread

August 25, 2015 By Korena in the Kitchen 4 Comments

Unlike most gardens at this time of year, my garden is NOT overflowing with zucchini. All summer I’ve had two zucchini plants busily putting out flowers, but zucchini have both male and female flowers which need to be cross-pollinated in order for the little baby squash at the base of the female flower to grow, and my plants just couldn’t seem to coordinate their schedules to have both kinds of flower blooming at the same time. My potential zukes never got past this stage before shriveling up and dying (very depressing). And now the plants are succumbing to dusty mildew, so my homegrown zucchini dreams are over for this summer. Sadness.

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Honeyed Hot Cross Buns

April 14, 2015 By Korena in the Kitchen 6 Comments

Honeyed Hot Cross Buns | Korena in the Kitchen I know, I know, Easter was so two weeks ago. But seeing as I’ve posted about hot cross buns every year since I started this blog, I couldn’t NOT post about this year’s version. Just bookmark this recipe for next year and call it advance preparation. ; )

Honeyed Hot Cross Buns | Korena in the Kitchen

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Cocoa Cardamom Crunch

April 4, 2015 By Korena in the Kitchen 4 Comments

Cocoa Cardamom Crunch | Korena in the Kitchen My daily breakfast is Greek yogurt with fruit and homemade granola, and I look forward to it every morning. However, my last few batches of granola have been a little lackluster, so I was pretty excited to discover a new kind of yogurt-appropriate topping called “nutmeg crunch“, a combination of oats, almonds, honey, coconut oil, and a hefty dose of nutmeg blitzed in the food processor, the resulting crumbles of which are spread on a cookie sheet and baked until toasty and crisp. These little oatmeal clusters are totally delicious, not to mention incredibly addicting. One recipe makes enough for a week’s worth of breakfasts, but my first batch only lasted about three days because I was eating the stuff by the handful. I immediately began thinking of all the variations one could make to the recipe: vanilla bean and almond, cinnamon and pecan, cocoa and cardamom…

Cocoa Cardamom Crunch | Korena in the Kitchen

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