Rustic No-Knead Bread

This bread is all over the interwebs, and for good reason:  it's damn delicious.  And damn easy!  They all source back to one guy, Jim Lahey of New York's Sullivan Street Bakery.  His recipe is very basic and utilizes a Dutch oven to bake the bread.

This variation is my favorite though, because it makes extra dough, which you "ferment" in the refrigerator for up to a week.  Who doesn't love freshly baked bread on a moment's notice??

No Knead Crusty White Bread (from King Arthur Flour)

• 3 cups lukewarm water
• 6 1/2 to 7 1/2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour*
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 1/2 tablespoons instant yeast

Use 32 ounces of flour by weight - 6 1/2 if scooping flour out of container.
Mix everything together in a giant bowl and let rise for 2 hours at room temp, covered.  Dough will be sticky & messy.   After 2 hours, put dough in fridge for up to a week.
When you're ready to make bread, preheat oven to 450 with a lidded Dutch oven inside.  While preheating, place a hunk of dough on a sheet of parchment paper and let rise for a while.  Once oven is preheated, remove Dutch oven, place bread (on parchment) inside of Dutch oven, cover, and bake for 15-20 minutes.  After 15-20 minutes, remove lid, and bake uncovered another 15-20 minutes (or until browned slightly).

That's it!  So stinking easy.

Easiest fudge, EVER

It's been years since I last made fudge, possibly because it didn't turn out so well last time, and to be honest I'm a little snobby when it comes to fudge. It has to be super creamy, have lots of nuts, and be made with semi-sweet or dark chocolate. The last time I made it, it ended up too crystal-y and grainy...not good.
This time I wanted to make some as a gift, and it only took about 5 minutes (minus the fridge cooling time). Here's the end result:

This is all it takes:
3 c semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips
4 T butter (I used just regular salted butter)
1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
Nut of choice, whatever quantity suites your taste (I like about a cup of chopped almonds)
Melt everything together slowly, 20-30 seconds (on high) at a time in the microwave, stirring between each time reset. When it's almost fully melted but you still see what appear to be whole chocolate chips, stir like crazy. I stopped microwaving at this point because I didn't want to burn or overcook it, since it's really easy to do. Instead I just kept stirring and stirring for probably a full minute or two til it was all smooth.
Pour in a pan that has been lined with parchment paper, stick it in the fridge, and a few hours later pop it out. The parchment paper makes it super easy to remove; just chop it up in whatever size squares you want with a super sharp knife and you're good to go. A good tip is to spray the knife lightly with Pam before each slice - makes the end result look much more presentable!!

Yummi Biscotti

I love dunkable food. Especially when it's dunkable into coffee, one of my required daily nutritional items. So imagine my excitement when I came across a recipe for Biscotti that was super easy - way easier than the last time I made it.
For some reason, the last time I made Biscotti, it ended up being a three hour ordeal; I think because the recipe called for way too much flour (which made the dough WAY to stiff) and a long-n-low bake. Nightmare.
This time, there was very little kneading involved, and intermittent bakes at about 335-ish. I say "ish" because my oven is a little hot and I had to turn it down a bit :-). But the dough in this recipe is easier to handle and the bakes a bit shorter.
Here is the end result:


The recipe:

4 eggs
2 egg whites
2 t vanilla
(if you have almond extract, reduce vanilla by half & add 1 t almond)
4 1/2 c flour
2 c (scant) sugar
1 1/4 c almonds
1 1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
Mix all together; knead about 10 times or so. Turn onto a jellyroll pan (I greased mine), flatten to about 1", and bake at 325-335 for 30 mins.
Remove, cool 10 mins, and slice into 1" sections. Lay each on a cut side & bake another 10-15 minutes. When this side is done baking, turn each one over to the other cut side and bake another 10-15 minutes.
I actually left them in the oven after turning it off to help them dry a bit more, since they still seemed a bit moist & chewy. I prefer my Biscotti hard & crunchy for even better dunkability!