Sandwich Rye Bread

Recently I have become obsessed with all things yeast. Whole wheat bread, cinnamon buns (coming soon) and, of course, this Rye Bread. People warned me that it would be sticky and hard to work with, but my dad really loves him some rye toast in the mornings so I pushed all the possibilities of failure to the side and searched for a dairy-less recipe (because my family keeps kosher, the bread can't contain dairy if I want to eat a roast beef sandwich on it!).

I've made this bread three times in the same number of weeks- that's how good it is. And I thought I didn't like rye bread...until I tried this one. It has a fine grain, mild flavor and goes perfectly with turkey pastrami and mustard. You can find the recipe here. I used the King Arthur Rye Flour Blend instead of the pumpernickel called for because well, that's what we bought and it's the reason behind the more mild rye flavor (which I like better anyways). The greatest part about the whole recipe is the pickle juice used in place of some of the water- it really adds a whole other deli-dimension to the bread. Plus, although King Arthur claims this bread isn't a high riser, just check out that finished loaf. It's the epitome of a perfect sandwich slice.

Coconut Cupcakes

When I took classes at The Cambridge School of Culinary Arts they gave us a recipe packet for each day of Baking Basics. During the Cake class, I was assigned Coconut Cupcakes.



The recipe is an adaptation of Ina Garten's. The original can be found here. It claims that it makes 18-20 cupcakes but I made an even 24.

If you're looking for a moist, buttery, flavorful coconut experience, this is it. I've also made a 2 layer 9-inch cake using this recipe and the recipient claimed it was the best coconut cake she's ever had- and she's from the South!


Some chopped almonds to cover the top in addition to the coconut would make a delicous Almond Joy-style treat.

Gingerbread Men

Finally, House of Munch is back up and running. Sorry about the prolonged absence- balancing school and life has been a bit overwhelming. It's not as if I haven't been baking; I've just been selfish and haven't shared it with you!

The recipe is from The King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion: The All-Purpose Baking Cookbook, a book I highly suggest for anyone who likes to bake. The recipes are not overly complicated and there are diagrams in select recipes to help show you how to achieve the final product.

In total, I baked over 180 gingerbread men for the holidays. My mom and I decorated for 4 hours. It started out as gifts for my friends, which turned into a list of 25 people, which spilled over to my aunts and uncles, grandparents and cousins. Luckily, the weather was in my favor because Boston got at least 16 inches of snow over the weekend- allowing me to become a hermit without getting weird looks from my sisters.




So worth it.

TWD: Chocolate- Chocolate Cake

On Tuesdays, as well as TWD, I have Wilton Cake Decorating, for which I need to bring a cake for. That's why instead of cupcakes here, you see a cake. I added 1 tsp of espresso powder to the recipe to amp up the chocolate flavor.
Sorry for being late- I've been baking non-stop for a bakesale on Friday that supports my ceramics teacher.

TWD: Pumpkin Muffins

I'm back. After three long weeks of barely any baking and absolutely no time to participate in Tuesdays with Dorie, I finally cracked down and made these muffins. It was well worth it. This was a recipe I had wanted to make on my first flip-through of the book, and thanks to Kelly from Sounding My Barbaric Gulp! I finally had all the motivation I needed to make them.
The sunflower seeds on top added an interesting crunch and flavor to the muffins. The muffins themselves didn't come out as orange as I expected, but that's not such a big deal. When I started getting out all the ingredients I found out that we have no nuts in the house except for hazelnuts, and those sounded wrong in these muffins. I left out the nuts and only added golden raisins. I used the large Oxo cookie scoop to fill the muffin cups because I read on the Q&A that you could fill these all the way and not have a problem with overflow. I also took most of the TWDer's advice on the baking time, taking out the muffins at 18 minutes instead of Dorie's recommended 25.
I don't know if this tops my mom's recipe for pumpkin muffins, but I will most likely make these again.

Cranberry-Orange Scones

I made these scones for my family's open sukkah today. Sukkot is the Jewish holiday that celebrates the fall harvest, and our temple selects families to welcome new and old members of the community into their sukkah. We have done this for the past couple of years, but I was in charge of the baking this time.
The recipe is from Simply Scones by Leslie Weiner and Barbara Albright and were the first scones I have ever made. They turned out really well, usually scones are too dry but these were the perfect balance of crumble and slight moistness. They're aesthetically pleasing too with their bright red flecks of cranberry and pale yellow crumb.

Wilton Class: Fondant & Gumpaste