The Best Thing I Had In My Mouth - WheatFields Kalamata Olive Bread

My friend visited Kansas last week and brought home three mini loaves of WheatFields Kalamata Olive Bread.  If you are near Lawrence, Kansas, you have to make a stop at WheatFields, one of the best bakeries in the country.  Seriously, I am still searching for an equivalent in New York and cannot find one.  And you can find anything in New York!  They have great bread, a wonderful breakfast, and the best chocolate et chocolate cookies.  This toasted Kalamata Olive bread with scrambled eggs was the best thing in my mouth all week.  Hands down.  This sourdough bread is filled with whole olives, so you really get a couple of olives in every slice, instead of whimpy, tiny pieces of olives I have found in other olive bread.  No competition!

Click here for the Dutch Baby Pancake with Peaches I made last year.

Flourless Double-Chocolate Pecan Cookies

I miss a lot of things about Lawrence, Kansas, but I particularly miss the choc et choc cookies from Wheatfields. Every time I ate one of their delicious cookies, I would wonder how they made them so someday I could recreate them myself.

Last month, I got my Everyday Food magazine and found a recipe for flourless double-chocolate pecan cookies. Although these cookies aren't the exact version of the choc et choc cookies at Wheatfields, they do trick in New York. I also think that the Wheatfield's cookies use walnuts instead of pecans, but I actually like pecans better anyways. The great thing about these is that they are gluten-free and still delicious. The first time I made these they burned because my oven is crazy (usually 75 degrees off, but on occasion off more with out letting me know). This didn't stop people from eating them up within a day.

Here are the ingredients for Everyday Food September 2009 issue's Flourless Double-Chocolate Pecan Cookies (makes a dozen large cookies):
-3 cups confectioner's sugar
-3/4 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder, spooned and leveled
-1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
-5 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
-1 1/2 cups pecans, chopped (you can substitute other nuts or leave them out completely)
-4 large egg whites, room temperature

To begin, preheat oven to 325 degrees and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, cocoa, and salt.
Chop chocolate and pecans, then stir into flour mixture.
Add egg whites and stir just until incorporated. Don't over mix.
Drop dough by 1/4 cupfuls, 3 inches apart, onto baking sheets. Bake until cookie tops are dry and crackled, about 25 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through.
Transfer cookies onto a wire rack and allow to cool completely.
These cookies come out glossy and have a crisp edge with a chewy, meringue-like center. I am definitely going to make them again very soon.

For original recipe, click here.

Blueberry Muffins

First off, sorry for the long hiatus. I have been traveling through Kansas for my friend's wedding as well as been very busy with work. While I was in Kansas, I made sure to stay a couple nights in Lawrence so I could get my favorite treats. I had to make stops at:

-Wheatfields for my favorite hash browns, cinnamon rolls, as well as their kalamata olive loaves and chocolate chocolate cookies.
-La Parrilla for their rice bowls and margaritas
-Free State Brewing Company for their fish and chips and of course beer!

I just wish I could have made it to Rudy's and Papa Kenos...I guess I will have to make another trip.

I also stayed in this adorable bed and breakfast called Glick Mansion, and Chris the innkeeper made a blueberry blanket for breakfast one morning.

So before I left I made blueberry muffins in my dark kitchen (my flourescent light bulbs are burning out - so I apologize for the dark images). I got the recipe from Martha Stewart and they ended up coming out fine, but they were definitely lacking something. I am sharing the recipe with you today, but next time I make it I will add a couple teaspoons of grated lemon zest or even make a streusel crumble to go on top.

Here are the ingredients for Martha Stewart's Blueberry Muffins (makes 12 muffins):
-6 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for muffin tin
-3 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
-1 tablespoon baking powder
-1 teaspoon salt
-1 1/2 cups granulated sugar, plus more for sprinkling
-1 large egg
-2 large egg yolks
-1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
-1 cup milk
-1 3/4 cups blueberries

Some adaptations for next time:
Add 1 1/2 teaspoons of grated lemon zest for the batter for a little zip or make a streusel topping. For directions on how to make streusel click here. It is from the same recipe I made for Strawberry-Rhubarb Crumb Bars.

For the blueberry muffins, begin by buttering the muffin tins and preheating the oven to 375 degrees.
Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Set aside.
In another bowl beat cream the butter and sugar on medium speed with an electric mixer until fluffy. Add egg, egg yolks, and vanilla to the mixture.
Reduce speed to low and alternate mixing by adding parts of the flour mixture and parts of the milk. I ended alternating about 6 times, starting and ending with the flour mixture until everything was combined.
Gently fold in blueberries by hand.
Divide the batter among the buttered tins and sprinkle generously with sugar. I ended up using natural sugar cane because the crystals are larger.
Bake until golden for about 30 minutes. Let cool in pan for 15 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely.
Enjoy these muffins at breakfast or even freeze them in a ziplock bag and take them out whenever you need them.