Bake or Break

During my time at King Arthur Flour’s Blog & Bake™, I found a new love. Now, don’t worry. Quinn is not going anywhere. I found a new baking love – white whole wheat flour.

Sure, I’d seen it before, but I always kind of discounted it and went with traditional wheat flour when needed. But, I found out that white whole wheat flour has all the benefits of whole wheat flour, but it produces lighter-colored baked goods with a milder flavor. There’s red wheat, where we get whole wheat flour, and then there’s white spring wheat, which gives us white whole wheat flour.
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As that collection of recipes last Friday hopefully conveyed, I love baking with berries. I love all kinds of berries, but if I have to pick a favorite berry, I would likely choose blueberries. And, one of my favorite uses for blueberries is muffins.

Just to make these blueberry muffins even better, I used one of my favorite baking ingredients – sour cream. I love the texture and flavor that it adds. These little muffins are everything you’d want in a blueberry muffin. They are seriously dangerous, though, because you’ll be tempted to eat one right after another.
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As I was making that lovely Raspberry Almond Crumb Tart earlier this week, I began thinking about some of my favorite baking recipes that use berries. These days, berries are available pretty much year-round, but there’s just something about fresh local berries that is extra exciting. As we head into berry season, it seems like a good time to start thinking about what to bake with all the berries that will soon be on their way.
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As a child, I disliked the texture of berries. I loved the flavors, but the texture was just weird to me. I’m happy to say I’ve gotten over that. I still don’t like to bite into a big strawberry, but cut those up and I’m good. No idea what that’s all about.

In any case, I now happily embrace berries and love to use them in baking. For my taste, I prefer to use them in a way that lets the flavor of the berries come through. They’re plenty sweet on their own without adding much to them. This tart is a lovely way to revel in berry deliciousness.
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My baking habits and tastes have changed over the years, but longtime favorites still endure. Chocolate, pecans, and shortbread are always winners for me. When I find a recipe that combines all three, how can I not make it?

I happened upon the recipe for these brownies when browsing through Fat Witch Brownies. Fat Witch is a delicious little brownie shop in New York’s Chelsea Market. When we lived in Manhattan, we lived just a few blocks away and visited the market frequently. We often ate dinner at one of the restaurants there, did a little shopping, and then hit up Fat Witch for our brownie fix.

Now that we live in Brooklyn, I don’t get to visit Fat Witch as often. But, with their cookbook, I can recreate some of that deliciousness at home. I can’t remember seeing these brownies in the shop, but I couldn’t resist baking them.
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