Hey friends! Today is the first official day of my posts as a guest blogger on Tablespoon.com. First post — apricot hazelnut bread.

Doesn’t that look tasty? (And it’s darn good for you, too.)

Keep checking in on Girl Versus Dough this month for links to my original recipe posts on Tablespoon.com. Happy baking!

Hello friend!

I must apologize most sincerely for my recent absence on this technological channel of conversation through which we’ve been keeping in touch. But I promise you I haven’t been sitting on my hands these past few days, oh no (except for that one day, when the husband and I watched “Ben Hur” and “Whip It” in the same morning/afternoon, totaling seven hours of movie-watching… but that’s another story).

I’ve actually been cheating on you — OK, that’s a lie. I’ve been preparing a wonderful surprise for you (there, doesn’t that sound better?).

For the month of May, I will temporarily be vacating my home on Girl Versus Dough and moving into the role of “Guest Blogger” on Tablespoon.com. What is this, you ask (Gasp!) (Oh, get it together!)? It’s a nifty little Web site that features recipes from other lovely food bloggers like Sarah’s Cucina Bella and Good Life {Eats}, and sites like Pillsbury and Gold Medal. And now, it’ll feature my very own… drumroll, please… Original. Recipes.

Please contain your excitement to avoid embarrassment. Unless you don’t care, in which case feel free to share in my excitement! That’s right, recipes conjured up from my very own noggin. I’m not going to lie, my recipes, like most, are inspired by compilations of recipes I’ve seen and made over my experience as a bread baker, but nonetheless, I am finally venturing into the foray of “Original Recipe” Land. Hip hip, hooray.

So for now, dear reader, be on the lookout for my posts over at Tablespoon.com in the “Blog” tab, starting this Friday, May 7, and each Friday in May thereafter. This is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Dear Ina Garten,

If ever you feel the need to invite a big fan of yours to your lovely abode in the Hamptons and fill her up with fine cheeses and wine, I wouldn’t be opposed to accepting your invitation. Just saying.

Sincerely,

Stephanie

P.S. Tell Jeffrey I said hello. Though I truly love the Midwest and wouldn’t want to live anywhere else for the rest of my existence, I sometimes get wanderlust to places like Greece, or Australia, or even the Hamptons. Kelly Ripa talks about it all the time; I’m pretty sure there’s some version of “Real Housewives” set there; and I wouldn’t complain about wearing the obligatory over-sized floppy hat. And, of course, Ina Garten lives there (I think — I haven’t stalked her enough yet to know for sure, but wherever she lives is magical). Plus, if I lived in the Hamptons, I would get to eat fancy-schmancy crackers like these all day long, complete with a glass of wine (which I hear, in the Hamptons, is perfectly acceptable to drink at 11 o’ clock in the morning).

But for now, I’m stuck here, with a cornfield instead of a coastline. But at least I can still have the crackers.

I don’t know what inspired me to bake crackers this time. Maybe it was the wall of cheese at the co-op that fascinates me so (What a bounty of cheese! Such variety!). Maybe it was the practicality of making crackers as opposed to stollen or lebkuchen. Whatever the reason, the result has left me and my husband happily full in the hours between meals.

And, as my friends well know, a full Steph is a happy Steph.

Debrief: These crackers are very versatile. If you don’t like the strength of blue cheese, try cheddar and chives. Or parmesan and thyme. Or rosemary and… manchego, perhaps?

Blue Cheese and Walnut Crackers Adapted from Food Network

Yields: 30 crackers

Ingredients: 1 stick unsalted butter at room temperature 5-8 oz. blue cheese, crumbled (Ina recommends Stilton, but Maytag worked just fine for me), at room temperature 1 cup whole wheat flour 1/2 cup all-purpose flour 2 tsp salt 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper 1 large egg beaten with 1 tbsp water for egg wash 1/2 cup roughly chopped walnuts

Directions: In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and blue cheese together for 1 minute, or until smooth. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour, salt and pepper and mix until it’s in large crumbles, about 1 minute. Add 1 tablespoon of water and mix until combined.

Dump the dough onto a floured board, press it into a ball, and roll into a 12-inch long log. Brush the log completely with the egg wash. Spread the walnuts in a square on a cutting board and roll the log back and forth in the walnuts, pressing lightly, and distributing them evenly on the outside of the log. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or for up to 4 days.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Cut the log 3/8ths-inch thick with a small, sharp knife and place the crackers on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Bake for 22 minutes until very lightly browned. Rotate the pan once during baking. Cool and serve at room temperature.

Extra punches: I’d suggest chopping the walnuts really well before coating the crackers. As you can see with mine, the pieces were a little big and had trouble sticking to the sides of the crackers. They still basically stuck, but I think a coating of finely-chopping walnuts would not only look prettier, but would also save you the headache of trying to keep them stuck to the edges.

When I’m old and cranky and wear house shoes and smell a bit like mothballs, I hope that if I can’t muster the strength to bake anything else, I still bake these muffins. They are delicious, and versatile enough to withstand the test of time. To be completely honest with you, I hadn’t eaten rhubarb before until about a year ago, when Elliott’s wonderful grandmother, Marlyn, made a rhubarb pie. Even then, as good as the crust of the pie looked, the red celery-like chunks of rhubarb made me think it would taste just like that — a pie with celery chunks. But I decided to be brave (and polite) and gave it a go, and the last thing I remember after that was that only a quarter of the pie was left standing in the pie tin. I am now rhubarb enlightened, and I do not regret it.

Being that rhubarb is in season, and being that I had some leftover buttermilk from a previous recipe and a good ol’ hankering for fruit muffins, I used my knowledge of first grade math and put two and two together, which equals rhubarb muffins. Really, this recipe could work for any fruit — blueberries, strawberries, bananas, oranges, heck, even kiwi, if you want to get adventurous (I’m not sure how this would turn out, but if you want to try it and let me know, be my guest). But with the sweet, tart taste of rhubarb, along with the crunchy, gooey brown sugar topping, I’d say any other fruit would have to pick a fight with rhubarb if it thinks it would taste better.

I doubt it. Debrief: If you want to make these more of a breakfast muffin rather than a dessert muffin, I’d suggest omitting the brown sugar topping. The muffins lose about a third of their calories and fat, and still taste just delightful. You can also split the 2 cups of chopped fruit between rhubarb and something else, like strawberries. Yum. Be-bop-a-rhubarb, a-rhubarb-pie. Rhubarb Muffins

Yields 15-18 muffins Ingredients: 2 cups King Arthur Bread Flour 1 tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp salt 1 1/4 cups light brown sugar, packed 1/2 cup vegetable oil 1 egg 1 cup buttermilk 1 tsp pure vanilla extract 2 cups chopped rhubarb

For the topping (optional): 1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed 1 tbsp butter, melted 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl, combine flour, salt and baking soda. In a separate medium bowl, combine sugar with oil. Add egg, buttermilk and vanilla, and stir ingredients together well. Stir wet ingredients into dry ingredients along with chopped rhubarb. Spoon batter into greased muffin tins about 3/4 full (or almost all the way like I did). Mix together ingredients for the topping, and sprinkle over each muffin. Bake for 20-25 minutes until toothpick comes out clean. Let cool 10 minutes before removing from tins. Extra punches: This batter can also be used to make two rhubarb loaves instead of muffins. Just divide the batter between two greased 8×4-inch loaf pans and bake them for 40-45 minutes.

Well, hello you. This is my face. Nice to meet you.

I consider updating my “About” section to be part of my bread baking gear. Why? Because you wouldn’t trust me if you didn’t know me better. And if you didn’t trust me you wouldn’t be baking what I bake. So, now that you do, you should get to making bread.

But seriously, I was encouraged by a few other blogs I often read to make a more extensive, more personal mini-bio of myself and how I got here. It’s like a handshake through a computer screen (someday that will be REAL).

So enjoy. And glad tidings to you, dear reader.

After mourning the loss of my old kitchen and all it’s brightly-lit wonders (and pretty counter tops), I decided to come to terms with my new kitchen, its electric stove/oven and dim, grim non-windowness. (I’ve also taken to making up my own words.) And in order to come to terms with my new kitchen, I had to make it smell nice. And put it to the test. Can it deliver a tasty quick bread?

Oh yes. Yes, it can.

I’ve been drooling over the tasty delights of Joy The Baker and finally thought it good timing to make one of her creations. And I do not regret it one bite — er, bit. My place, which once smelled a little like old Indian food and body odor (apartment life, I tell you), is now a heavenly abyss of scents of swirly cinnamon, tart apples and crunchy walnuts. And it was so simple, too! After a hectic first week on the job (as an A&E reporter for the local paper, schwing!), the last thing I wanted to do was deal with yeast. A note to yeast: I love you, but sometimes our relationship just does not work out. I only have so much patience. Love, Me. But back to the bread — with the combination of flax seeds, walnuts, grated AND chopped apples, sprinkled throughout a mixture of wheat and all-purpose flours, topped with cinnamon and cane sugar… you get the idea. It’s so good. And my oven did most of the work for me. I guess that makes up for the vampiric conditions of my poorly-lit kitchen. That, and I have a shoddy camera right now (but a fantastic photographing husband!), so the bread only looks a quarter as good as it tastes. Sorry. Make it now, and you’ll know what I mean (especially if your own abode has funky smells too, which I’m SURE aren’t coming from you, oh of course not…). Happy baking!

Debrief: You are free to omit the flax seeds if they freak you out or you just don’t want to get up off the couch and go buy some (because who honestly has flax seeds just lying around, anyway?). But they actually come in handy in a multitude of other foods (hot cereals, muffins, other breads), so maybe go wild and give them a try.

Apple Walnut Flax Seed Bread Courtesy of Joy The Baker

Yields: One 9×5-inch loaf

Ingredients: 1 cup all-purpose flour 3/4 cup whole wheat flour 3/4 cup brown sugar, packed 2 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon generous pinch freshly ground nutmeg 2/3 cup buttermilk 1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 2 large eggs, lightly beaten 1 cup grated apples 1/2 cup coarsely chopped apples 1 tablespoon flax seeds 3/4 cup coarsely chopped walnuts, divided cinnamon and sugar for sprinkling

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 9×5×3-inch loaf pan and set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together flours, sugar, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg. In a small bowl, whisk together buttermilk, eggs, melted butter and vanilla extract. Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Add the grated apples, chopped apples flax seeds and half of the chopped walnuts. Fold to incorporate thoroughly. Spoon batter into prepared pan and top with granulated sugar, cinnamon and the rest of the walnuts. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean. Let cool in the pan for 15 minutes then invert onto a cooling rack to cool before wrapping.

Extra punches: As you can see from the pictures, my bread sort of fell apart when trying to cut it, even after letting it cool completely. I suggest freezing the bread and slicing off individual pieces while it’s frozen, and either warming up the individual slices or letting them sit out on the counter until they reach room temperature. Or, you can enjoy the imperfection of the crumbliness and eat it that way.