Ask And You Shall Receive

A few posts back, I mentioned blueberry cookies and An Oklahoma Granny immediately asked for the recipe. I've been busy--caught up in other things but her request has stuck in my mind. Make that SIDETRACKED by other need-to-post issues and teaching. Wait--make that caught up in my teaching and sidetracked by other issues to blog about. There...can you tell it's Monday?!?!? And the first day of March?!??! It's our first March of the new decade and I should be celebrating...or at least excited.

Anyway I hadn't forgotten Oklahoma Granny's request--in fact it's been there giving me a nudge here and there...."Remember--you were going to post that blueberry cookie recipe for Oklahoma Granny." And the nudge became a bit of a nag..."Cathryn--when are you going to post that recipe for Granny? She's been patiently waiting..." After a bit the nag became a shrew and I really hate shrews--especially when they reside in my own brain. Shrews tend to shriek at every available opportunity and when they are least expected. I'd be in the middle of a lecture or talking to a student and the shrew would unleash its banshee voice: "CATHRYN! You are dwaddling here and there's no excuses for getting her that recipe! Get off your duff and get that recipe on your blog!"

At this point, some people would say that's my conscious bothering me...I call it the way I hear it in my head--the Shrew...The screeching, banshee, wailing shrew. It's like listening to fingers scrape across a chalkboard only worse...you can't escape it because it travels with you! Nice image for a Monday morning, huh?

I finally replenished my supply of dried blue berries and fresh blueberries. I really endeavored in  not gobbling them all up before I got to bake the next batch. You see, despite the shrewish conscious jangling of my last nerve, I really wanted to make these cookies so I could remember what I did so I could post this recipe for Granny. Besides the fact that they are simply yummy and make me break my low carbohydrate/low sugar vows for health.  I also wanted to take pictures because these cookies are stupendous. It may come down to that, you know--I can only have pictures of these wonderful cookies, instead of eating them.

So these are for you Granny...and anyone else who wants the recipe! :D

Blueberry Cookies
1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup denemara sugar (alternatively use 1/2 cup sugar +1/2 cup brown sugar)
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs, room temperature
2 1/4 cups unbleached, unenriched flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1/2 cup dried blueberries
1--6 ounce container fresh blueberries, rinsed (OPTIONAL)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. 


In a separate bowl, combine flour, salt and baking soda. Set aside. 


In the main bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and mix well. Add the eggs--minus the shells--one at a time, beating well after each egg. Gradually beat in flour mixture, scraping sides of bowl with a spatula until all is thoroughly mixed. Add dried blueberries and mix well. Gently fold in the fresh blueberries. You want to try to prevent squishing them. 

 Drop by well-rounded tablespoons on an ungreased cookie sheets. As you can see from the picture, you should have a couple of fresh blueberries sitting in each tablespoon-full. Bake on middle rack of oven for 8-12 minutes, depending on your oven. I pull them out when the bottom edges are golden brown, which is about 10 minutes.

Cool on a wire rack and store loosely covered in a container if the air is humid.

Homemade Tortillas

I think I got the foundation recipe from Rockin' Robin Cafe. Notice I said "THINK." That's because I was perusing all kinds of recipes for tortillas at the time and I can't find my original copy. So that's why I think it came from Rockin' Robin. :D

These are rather easy to make. I've tweaked the recipe to do whole wheat pastry and graham flours over time. Please keep in mind I'm not the Pioneer Woman. I'm not even the Oklahoma Granny, who also does an excellent job at photographing her yummy recipes. But I try. 

Easy Tortillas 

1 cup unenriched, unbleached white flour
1 1/2 cups of whole wheat pastry flour (OR 1 1/4 cup graham flour)
1 tsp of baking soda
1/2 tsp of kosher salt
1 to 1/14 c of almost hot water--not boiling. (I just nuke mine for about a minute)
2 tsp of oil (I use olive oil and it's not bad)
Flour for dusting

 Sift all dry ingredients into a bowl and mix well. Mix oil into hot water. Add hot water--start with a half a cup and add as needed. Mix thoroughly while adding the hot water. Dough should be sticky, not powdery with loose flour. Keep adding the hot water until you reach the consistency of well mixed but sticky, sticky dough.  

Take the dough out of the bowl and place on a flour-dusted surface. Begin to knead. As you knead the dough, keep adding flour until the dough is no longer sticky but still elastic.  

Add just a bit of flour to keep it from sticking to your hands as you knead. 

 

When the dough is elastic and firm, put back in the bowl and cover with a clean dishtowel or bread cloth for 20 minutes.

After dough had risen a little bit, pull off parts and roll into balls. The size depends on how big you want the tortillas to be. Small tortillas mean a ball of dough the size of a golf ball--larger tortillas mean bigger balls.  Rule of thumb is don't make your tortillas larger than your griddle or your tortilla keeper!
 
Place the balls on a clean plate and cover for about 10 minutes. Meanwhile heat up your griddle. I use good ole' cast iron myself because it heats up evenly and stays hot.

 

Roll out your tortillas. I use my rolling pin after I've flatten a ball of dough. Perfect circles are not necessary but if they are, you can cut the tortillas out using a knife. I usually make mine as rectangular as possible for burritos and enchiladas. It just made more sense to me. I also make mine thin, but some people (like my son) prefer them thick. 

Place tortilla flat on the hot griddle. 

Now I have problem with time because I'm not watching the clock. I use the bubble method. In other words, when the bubbles appear all over the tortilla, I flip it over, flatten it, and cook for about 15-30 more seconds. 

 

 The more tortillas I cook, the shorter it seems to need to be cooked on the back side. Do wipe out your griddle every 3rd tortilla because flour does burn and smoke. 

That's it. Easy-peezy tortillas as my sister calls them. :D