Sprung At Last

  • The Divorce
  • The Dating
  • Teen Tales
  • Dog Days
  • A Long Story
  • Cooking
You are here: Home / Archives for rye

Macrina Bakery’s Rocket Muffins

03.05.2015 by J. Doe // Leave a Comment

For the past few summers, The Child and I have been tormented by unwanted guests. Not the rats that occasionally move into the crawl space, silent and unseen. Not the moles, which are visually destructive, but silent, and at least provide some marginal comic relief, in the form of neighbors doing Bill Murray In Caddyshack impressions.

The bees, on the other hand, we can hear, and they’re loud: They buzz aggressively on the other side of my office wall, and The Child’s bedroom wall.

Last summer, I hired a bee guy, who couldn’t locate them easily, but based on an inspection of the outside of the house, informed me that my noisy neighbors were “probably” mud daubers. They are tiny and harmless wasps, he said. Probably coming in through the vent screens. I suggest you wait until winter, when they go dormant, and replace the screens.

He took my check and was on his way.

With winter almost over – at least in Seattle – my thoughts turned to Spring, and I called my handyman, who stopped by and inspected the crawl space next to my office, and the one next to The Child’s room, and then the attic area; he found nothing. He moved his ladder outside, and climbed onto the garage roof, and inspected the wall. Eventually he climbed down, and said he’d found two warped siding boards: The gaps are how the bees were getting in, he said. Your screens are fine.

Then he handed me his phone, to show me the pictures he’d taken of the furnace vent, specifically, the holes that had rusted out of it. He went into the attic again, and came back with more pictures: more rusty holes. I stare at the pictures like the inadequately knowledgeable homeowner I am.

Those holes will vent carbon monoxide into your attic, he tells me.

I listened to the sound of the mud dauber wasps in my wall all summer, several years in a row, and they frightened me, but could never have hurt me. It would seem I owe them a debt of gratitude, since they led to the discovery of a very real danger that I could have neither seen nor heard. I am grateful to the wasps, as I stand on a ladder, trying to help the handyman loosen rusted pieces of vent pipe. I am grateful to the wasps as I make a note on the grocery list to replace the batteries in the smoke detectors, including the one that kept going off, with no obvious cause, a year or so ago.

I am grateful to the wasps as the handyman nails down the siding, closing off their entrance to my wall.

When the handyman leaves, I lock the back gate after him, and notice that my rhubarb is coming in, and not just a little. I’m absurdly happy: The sun is shining, The Child and I aren’t going to die in our sleep, and there will be rhubarb, soon. Spring is coming; it’s almost here.

There isn’t much in the way of in-season produce that I actually want to eat at the stores, but late last summer I received a small bag of Oregon hazelnuts as a gift, and thought that now would be a good time to use them. I wanted cookies and cakes but since I also had yet another mushy banana to use up – just one this time – I chose a recipe from the Macrina Bakery & Cafe Cookbook that included hazelnuts, a ripe banana, and other things I already had on hand: carrots, molasses. The ingredient list sounded like a healthy way to start a day, and the name – Rocket Muffins – suggested they’d kick-start me with energy.

One thing I didn’t have on hand was whole wheat flour, and since I was feeling kind of lazy, and thus in need of a muffin to kick-start my energy level, I swapped in some dark rye flour to see what would happen. The original recipe also calls for adding a dollop of jam to the top of each muffin during baking, which I skipped entirely, figuring I’d rather add whatever flavor jam I felt like eating at the time I ate each muffin.

I don’t know how these are supposed to taste, and to be honest, when they first came out of the oven, they reminded me of the supposedly healthy “bread” that was the bane of my 1970s school lunches. A liberal dose of melting salted butter did not help matters much.

I set the muffins aside, but vowed I would finish them – all of them – no matter how much jam it took.

The next morning, I was running late, so I grabbed one of the muffins, and ate it at my desk as I began work: No jam, no butter.

It was stupendous.

It’s hard to appreciate a muffin that isn’t sweet, when muffins, for the most part these days, are simply small cakes pretending to be muffins. But when you stop expecting something to be sweet, and when there is no sweetness to overwhelm the flavors, well, you can really taste them. The delicious crunchy, nutty hazelnut was shown off superbly by the earthy rye and molasses; the buttermilk probably accounts for the muffins’ ethereal lightness.

They don’t need jam or butter or to be toasted or anything, except to be eaten.

And the best part: The Child doesn’t like them, so I get them all to myself.

Rocket Muffin

Macrina Bakery's Rocket Muffins
 
Print
Author: adapted from Leslie Mackie, Macrina Bakery Cookbook
Ingredients
  • ¾ cup hazelnuts, toasted, chopped
  • ¾ cup all purpose flour
  • ¾ cup dark rye flour
  • 2 tbsp light brown sugar
  • 1 tbsp baking powder
  • 2½ tsp baking soda
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • 1½ cup rolled oats
  • 3 medium carrots, grated
  • 1 small, ripe banana, mashed or pureed
  • 2 eggs
  • ½ cup vegetable oil
  • ½ cup molasses
  • ½ cup buttermilk
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350F. Spread hazelnuts out on a baking sheet and roast until they're golden brown and fragrant (about 15 minutes). Cool slightly and remove the skins by rubbing nuts together in a clean dish towel. Chop coarsely and set aside.
  2. Whisk the flours, brown sugar, baking powder and soda, and salt together in a large bowl. Add the oats, nuts, and carrots; toss together with a spoon or your hands until the carrots are well coated with flour.
  3. In a medium bowl, beat the eggs. Whisk in the banana, oil, molasses, and buttermilk until thoroughly combined.
  4. Add the liquid mixture to the dry mixture, stirring with a fork until the batter just starts to come together.
  5. Spoon the batter into a paper liners in a muffin tin, filling the cups to the top. Bake until the muffins are deep brown and spring back when pressed lightly with a finger, 15-20 minutes. Cool on racks.
Wordpress Recipe Plugin by EasyRecipe
3.2.2802

 

Categories // The Joy of Cooking Tags // baking, bananas, buttermilk, carrots, hazelnuts, muffins, rye

Buttery Rye Crepes

08.07.2014 by J. Doe // 2 Comments

Last year, I added two raised garden beds to my back yard, loaded them up with compost and other organic enrichments, and planted a dazzling assortment from the local garden store. I would have zucchini galore, and carrots, and peas, and I could pickle my own beets, and come fall, I’d teach myself to can so that I could feast on my homegrown bounty all winter.

My grandfather used to tell me, never let a day go by that you don’t learn something, and I’m pleased to report that I learned things daily from my garden experiment, such as:

  • – plants, like second-graders, get lice, though they’re called aphids
  • – slugs will happily eat whatever parts of your plants the lice leave behind
  • – there are many organic remedies for every possible garden problem on the internet, and none of them work
  • – thin your plants. You won’t need to do this until you take care of the slugs and lice, but after that, it’s pretty important

Last year’s garden yield: some peas, a few tomatoes, and a couple of zucchini.

This year, having eliminated the slugs (in one mighty onslaught that The Child filmed and uploaded youtube with the title “Slugpocalypse!”), the garden seemed to do well at first, but then it did the same thing it did last year – just kind of stopped growing, and sat there, looking sad.

The Child didn’t see anything different, and told me I was obsessed again. I continued spraying with my internet-recommended mixture of household items that supposedly kill pests, but still nothing grew.

Then, I noticed my pepper plant leaves, which weren’t leaf-shaped at all. Something was sucking the life right out of them, and try as I might, it was nothing I could see anywhere on the plant. I googled again, and determined that the problem might be thrips, but then again, might not be, and either way, my internet-recommended household remedy was clearly no match for this invisible assailant. Moreover, given the steady stream of critters that have invaded my home and yard this summer, I clearly need to go on the offensive against every possible critter, not just whatever it is that’s currently bothering my pepper plants. I go to Amazon, and find some concentrate that promises to eliminate all sucking pests along with a few other things, mix it up in a big sprayer my father bought to help me clean my fence, and spray it all over my garden.

Every last drop of it.

I do the same thing the next week.

Three weeks later, my tomato plants are loaded with green tomatoes, my pepper plants boast little white buds, and my first cauliflower head has made an appearance. I may even get a zucchini or two this year.

Of course, I still have to wait a bit for the garden bounty to reach my kitchen, but I’m pleased that eventually there will be ratatouille and zucchini bread and a slim chance that I may yet need to learn to can so that I am able to manage all the tomato sauce I’m going to have to make. In the meantime, we’re winging it – trying to cook summery dishes without heating up the house, or using a grill, which has reverted to a nonfunctional state in spite of repeated efforts to fix it.

I ran across this recipe while searching for ways to use up the rye flour I bought to make Salted Chocolate Rye cookies a while back, since I enjoyed the rich flavor the rye flour imparted to the final product. I had sort of expected an odd-tasting cookie, mostly because I sort of expected the cookies to taste of caraway, like traditional rye bread does – but of course they didn’t, and neither do these crepes.

These crepes, dear reader, are buttery.

I struggled a bit with the recipe, because the batter did not “swirl and coat the pan” the way I expected it to, and my efforts to help it along tended to result in crepe deformities. I suspect the issue was too much rye flour: I failed to sift it – yes, I know better – and when I measured it out, tapped the measuring cup several times, and added more flour as it settled.

The end result, though, was some delicious, rich, buttery crepes, that were a bit thicker and a bit smaller in diameter than crepes usually are. The Child adored them, and sliced up some strawberries to eat with hers. I opted to squeeze a bit of lemon juice over mine, as the recipe suggests, and loved the way the acid complemented all that butter. I love the deep flavor that the rye adds, which holds its own against all that butter, but doesn’t overwhelm it either.

I’ve included the step for a caramelized sugar coating on the crepes, which I didn’t really feel added anything to the recipe – the crepes end up picking up even more butter (I love butter, but even I have my limits) for not that much sweetness and very little crispness, though that may have been my fault with the batter. Either way, next time I make these, I will try just a dusting of powdered sugar, or maybe a bit of sugar in whatever filling goes in.

They didn’t really meet the criteria of not heating up the house, but they were worth it.

 

Rye Crepes

 

 

Buttery Rye Crepes
 
Print
Author: Allison Roman, Bon Appetit
Ingredients
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 large egg yolk
  • ¾ cup buttermilk
  • ¼ cup milk
  • ½ cup rye flour
  • ¼ cup all-purpose flour
  • ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
  • 2 tablespoons plus 4 tsp. sugar
  • ¼ cup unsalted butter, melted, plus 8 tsp., room temperature
  • Lemon wedges (for serving)
Instructions
  1. Blend eggs, egg yolk, buttermilk, and milk in a blender until smooth. Add rye flour, all-purpose flour, salt, and 2 Tbsp. sugar and blend well. With blender on low, gradually stream in melted butter. Strain batter through a fine-mesh sieve into a large measuring cup or medium bowl.
  2. Heat ½ tsp. butter in a medium nonstick skillet over medium heat until foamy. Pour ¼ cup batter into skillet and swirl to coat bottom of pan. Cook crepe until lacy and golden brown on one side, about 2 minutes. Carefully flip crepe and cook on other side until just cooked through, about 1 minute longer; transfer to a plate. Repeat 7 times with remaining batter and stack crepes, placing a piece of parchment paper between each as you go to prevent sticking (you should have 8 crepes).
  3. Just before serving, heat 1 tsp. butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Fold 2 crepes in half and place side by side in skillet; sprinkle with 1 tsp. sugar total, then flip. Cook until sugar is beginning to caramelize, about 1 minute. Repeat with remaining crepes. Serve with lemons for squeezing over.
  4. Crepes can be made 2 days ahead. Cover and chill.
Notes
I suggest omitting the caramelized-sugar step, and simply using a sweetened filling if you're looking for a sweet treat. The last step adds a bit too much butter and not enough sweet or crunch to warrant it.
Wordpress Recipe Plugin by EasyRecipe
3.2.1303

 

Categories // The Joy of Cooking Tags // rye, snack

Salted Chocolate Rye Cookies

12.25.2013 by J. Doe // 2 Comments

The Child and I completely opted out of Christmas, at least the endless socializing part of it. For years, we co-hosted Christmas and Thanksgiving with one friend, who has a son about The Child’s age; for years we have abandoned our Christmas treats and toys midday and headed off to play board games with people we see twice a year – three times, if they showed up at our cookie party – and only during the holidays.

 

It seemed like a good thing, until The Child pointed out that she has exactly nothing in common with my friend’s son, who usually spends the time playing video games with his father, a man whose past I know too much about to make eye contact, most of the time. Other years, I would have felt too guilty to not attend Christmas at her house, but this year she did me a kindness: She declined Thanksgiving.

 

And so, with no guilt, I decide to honor The Child’s request, and cancel our Christmas visit. She wants to eat cookies and go to the movies and maybe, if she gets lucky, play on the Xbox she hopes she’s getting. Instead of all the things we usually do this time of year, we do nothing except watch Christmas movies of varying degrees of quality, and bake cookies. Lots of cookies.

 

I am not usually a maker of anything that involves melting chocolate, but when I ran across this unusual recipe from the Tartine No. 3 cookbook in several places (Tasting Table, Saveur magazine), I thought it must be a sign to try something completely new. Rye flour in a cookie definitely qualifies as new to me, but once you get past that, there isn’t really anything unusual in terms of technique. As an added benefit, the recipe didn’t require me to do any rolling out or complex assembly, things I’m not good at but probably should try to learn, one of these days.

 

These cookies, not unlike the lebkuchen, are not the prettiest cookies I’ve ever made, but they make up for it by being intense and sophisticated. The bittersweet chocolate and rye flour together create a complex flavor, offset by just the right amount of sweetness. The cookies have the soft texture of a brownie, but none of the heaviness, and a slightly chewy texture.

 

The dough was a little unnerving, because it’s all made with a whisk and when you’re done mixing, it looks more like a thick pancake batter than a dough, leaving me wondering if I’d done something wrong somewhere. After the required 30 minutes of refrigeration, though, the cookies were easy to scoop and drop. Don’t skip this part. Also, don’t skip the parchment paper, because the cookies are fairly delicate, but they came right off the paper with ease.

 

Given the cookies’ intense flavor and lack of plate appeal, I expected The Child to turn her nose up at them, but she didn’t, and pronounced them delicious. The recipe doesn’t make a lot of cookies, but they are so rich and satisfying that they go a long way.

 

Merry Christmas, one and all, and thank you for reading along this year.

 

 Salted Chocolate Rye Cookies

Salted Chocolate Rye Cookies
 
Print
Author: Saveur Magazine, adapted from Tartine #3 Cookbook
Ingredients
  • ¾ cup whole-grain dark rye flour
  • 1 tsp. baking powder
  • ½ tsp. kosher salt
  • 2⅔ cups bittersweet chocolate (finely chopped or chips)
  • 4 tbsp. unsalted butter
  • 4 eggs, at room temperature
  • 1½ cups light brown sugar
  • 1 tbsp. vanilla extract
  • Maldon salt or fleur de sel, for sprinkling
Instructions
  1. Whisk flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl; set aside. Place chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water. Cook, stirring occasionally, until melted, 5 minutes. Remove bowl from pan; set aside.
  2. Place eggs in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment; whip until fluffy. With the motor running, slowly add sugar until eggs have nearly tripled in volume, about 6 minutes. Add reserved chocolate mixture and the vanilla; mix until combined. With the motor running, slowly add dry ingredients until a soft, loose dough forms. Cover dough with plastic wrap; chill 30 minutes.
  3. Heat oven to 350°. Using 2 tablespoons for each, drop cookies onto parchment paper-lined baking sheets, spaced about 2” apart. Sprinkle cookies with Maldon salt or fleur de sel; bake until cookies are puffed, about 10 minutes.
Wordpress Recipe Plugin by EasyRecipe
3.2.1269

 

Categories // The Joy of Cooking Tags // chocolate, cookies, rye

Connect

  • Bluesky
  • Email
  • RSS
  • Substack

Subscribe to hear more from Sprung at Last

Loading

Top Posts & Pages

  • Momofuku's Ginger Scallion Sauce
  • Rhubarb Sour Cream Muffins
  • Blueberry Focaccia
  • Richard Nixon's Chicken Casserole
  • Spiced Blackberry Jam

Recent Posts

  • Herbert Hoover’s Sour Cream Cookies
  • Ricotta, Lemon, and Blackberry Muffins
  • Deborah Madison’s Potato and Chickpea Stew
  • Richard Nixon’s Chicken Casserole
  • A Room at the Inn, Part 5

Tag Cloud

apples baking bananas beans biking breakfast candy cheese chicken child support comfort food cookies dating dessert divorce holidays Idaho IVF jdate kitchen disasters marriage match.com meat okcupid orange pasta pets pixels prozac random thoughts recipes reflections Seattle single single parenting snack soup The Alumni The Departed The Foreigner vegan vegetarian vintage recipes weekend cooking Wisconsin

About Me

If you’re just jumping in, you might have some questions, which I’ve tried to answer here.

Legalese

Legal information is here
Web Analytics

Copyright © 2025 · Modern Studio Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in