Sourdough King Cake for Mardi Gras!

 Every year at my office, we have a Mardi Gras potluck.  One year I brought a boudin king cake; another year I made one from pre-made cinnamon roll dough. Another year I just made kingcupcakes. But I hadn't ever made one from scratch. But since I've managed to keep my sourdough starter alive for a year, I figured it was about time to try.

I found this recipe online and stayed pretty true to the recipe, but found the dough to be a bit too sticky.  I made a practice version the week before Mardi Gras--but didn't get the seams sealed well so it leaked out quite a bit, and was a bit dense.  

So for the actual Mardi Gras potluck, I decided to add about a teaspoon of active dry yeast and about 20 extra grams of bread flour. I also modified the filling: rather than mixing the butter in with the cinnamon & sugar, I spread the melted butter on the dough and then sprinkled the cinnamon sugar generously on top of that.  

I used this video to learn how to make the braid (about 15 minutes into video), since I didn't want to just do a simple roll.  

I've given up on trying to keep powdered sugar around the house. It always ends up going bad before I use the whole bag.  So I discovered I can make about 1/2 a cup in my coffee grinder, which is all I needed to make enough icing for this cake.  (You can vary the amounts of the liquids to get to your desired consistency. )

Icing:

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 tsp lemon juice

1/2 tsp vanilla 

1 tsp milk

I also made the purple, green and yellow sugar to go on top of the icing--pretty simple, just mixing a few drops of food coloring in a ziploc bag with 1/2 cup sugar per bag, then zip, and knead until color is mixed all the way through, then open the bag and spread out the sugar to let dry.

The cake turned out great, not too dense, good flavor, and no leaks!

This was probably one of our best potlucks so far!  We had red beans & rice with jalapeno cornbread, dirty rice made with collard greens & chicken andouille, shrimp boil, apples with praline dip...all the good things!

Sourdough Discard Chocolate Donuts!

I've been talking about wanting to make donuts with my sourdough for a while, so the Hubs gave me one of my Christmas gifts early: a 3-inch silicone donut mold!  I was pretty excited to try it out.  The original recipe I used was meant to make 24 donuts, so I cut it in half to make enough batter for 12... but then, when I started pouring, turns out it was just a little more than I needed to make six donuts. So either I was pouring heavy, or the original recipe was meant for a smaller diameter donut mold, or both.  I tinkered with this enough to be able to list it out as an original recipe (also, I did the conversions to grams so, you're welcome).

INGREDIENTS (makes 6-ish three-inch donuts):

• 75g AP flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 30g cocoa powder
• 1 tsp instant coffee or espresso powder
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 70g brown sugar
• 60g sourdough discard
• 120g milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 36g coconut oil, melted
• 50g mini chocolate chips (optional)

Glaze:

• 1 Tbsp powdered sugar
• splash of milk
• splash of vanilla

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 350F.  Whisk together all the dry ingredients, then add in the brown sugar, sourdough discard, milk, oil, and vanilla.  Mix until well combined with no lumps, then add in the chocolate chips (if you like).

Transfer the batter into the donut mold (I opted to put a little cooking spray in mine, even though it's silicone, as a bit of insurance) using a ziploc bag as a piping bag. Put the mold on a cookie sheet for easier handling in and out of the oven.

Bake for 16-18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.  Set the mold on a wire rack for 15 minutes, then flip and remove the donuts from the mold.  Once they've cooled for at least 30 minutes, you can make the glaze (the original poster melted chocolate chips to make a frosting, which would also be good) and add to the donuts.  Then eat!

Pre-glazing.

These had a very light, fluffy texture, less dense than cake donuts you would get from the donut shop or store. We saved back a couple to see if they would get more firm/less dense the next day. The glazed had definitely hardened them up a bit but the interior was still very fluffy.  I'm looking forward to trying out some other recipes with my donut mold! 

Next day donut.

Apple Crumb Cake with Sour Cream & Sourdough Discard

We were headed to a potluck with one of The Hubs' Homebrew Groups, and I needed something to use this week's sourdough discard in. We also had a container of sour cream that needed to get used up, and some of last year's apples from our backyard tree hanging out in the freezer.  When I searched the interwebz for a "sourdough sour cream apple cake"...I got a lot of "sourdough apple cakes" and "sour cream apple cakes"...but no crossover.  So--I found a couple different recipes I liked, mixed & matched, and this was the end result.

Note: This results in some of the measurements below being in grams, and some in dry measurements--this is because the sourdough substitution is based on weight, rather than volume--I removed 75g of flour and 75g of sour cream from the cake layer to make up for the addition of the 150g of sourdough discard.

INGREDIENTS:

Apple Layer:

• 3 cups frozen or fresh sliced apples, peeled (sliced thin or cubed)
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 Tbsp butter
• 1.5 Tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg

Cake Layer:

• 1.5 sticks unsalted butter, room temp
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 170g sour cream (about 2/3 cup)
• 3 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 150g sourdough discard
• 240g all-purpose flour (should be a little shy of 2 cups)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt

Crumb Topping:

• 1 stick unsalted butter, melted
• 3/4 cup flour
• 1/2 cup quick oats
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup white sugar 
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup pecans, crushed

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat the oven to 350F.
2. In a medium saucepan, combine the APPLE LAYER ingredients and bring to a boil.  Lower the heat and let simmer until apples are very soft, around 20 minutes.  Remove from heat--it will continue to thicken as it cools.
3. In a separate medium bowl, melt the butter for the CRUMB TOPPING, then add the remaining ingredients and mix with a fork until crumbly.  Set aside.
4. Using a large bowl and hand mixer, or a stand mixer, combine the room temp butter and sugar and beat until fluffy. Then add the eggs, sour cream, vanilla, and sourdough discard and mix until smooth.
5. Remove the bowl from the stand mixer and weigh the flour into the bowl, then add the salt, baking powder and baking soda. Place back on the mixer and blend until combined.
6. Pour CAKE LAYER into a buttered 9x13 pan and smooth out.  Then add the APPLE LAYER onto the cake batter, and use a butter knife to swirl the mixture evenly into the CAKE LAYER.
7. Add the CRUMB TOPPING layer evenly across the top of the pan, and bake for 40-45 minutes.

Cake Layer.

Apple Layer added & swirled in.

Crumb Topping added.

This works well as a dessert, or as a coffee cake for breakfast!

Sourdough Adventures #21: Discard Chocolate Coffee Cake w/ Ganache

We had a family reunion to attend, so I opted to bring a dessert made with sourdough discard. It's been a nutty month between vacation and coming back to work, coaching summer interns, etc.  So I haven't made any actual sourdough bread in a while.  

Natural light, some expert slicing by your MIL, and a brand new phone will do wonders for your food photography, just FYI.

This chocolate cake recipe from Milk & Pop looked gorgeous, so I settled on that.  And while my version ended up a touch dry (I think I overbaked it a bit), I would not let that discourage you from trying it.  I followed their recipe pretty tightly, only change was the addition of about a 1/2 Tbsp of cinnamon, so you can click the link to jump to their recipe if you're interested in trying.  If I made this again I might add some dry instant pudding mix, or up the oil content just a bit, to ensure a more moist cake.

The original baker's trick for using sugar inside the pan to ensure the cake comes out cleanly?  *chef's kiss* WILL DEFINITELY be using that again.

I DID opt for a different icing option than what Milk & Pop had shared, and instead made a simple ganache by heating 

• 1 cup heavy cream

And then stirring it into 

• 9 oz of semi-sweet chocolate

This made a gorgeous smooth glaze...and honestly, made too much.  You could probably do about half that (4-5 oz chocolate, 1/2 cup cream) and have plenty to cover this cake.  Thankfully, we had some strawberries on hand to help with the excess...

The cake was a hit at the reunion--up against some stiff competition. As with any Midwestern potluck--dessert options matched entrees and sides in a 1:1 ratio.  And you've gotta try them all...it'd be rude not to. 

Sourdough Stories #18: Discard Recipes - Orange Cranberry Quick Bread & Waffles

Mandough has been very healthy & growing rapidly, so I took advantage of the Mother's Day weekend to make a few extra things to gift (and use up extra starter & discard).

We had oranges, orange juice, and dried cranberries in the house, so this recipe for orange cranberry quick bread seemed a perfect way to use up some discard.  I made some modifications to the recipe, so sharing my version below.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 cup coconut oil
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup (113g) sourdough discard
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 cup orange juice
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1.5 cup AP flour
• 1.5 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
• zest of one small orange or clementine
• Optional glaze: 1/2 cup powdered sugar, 2-3 tsp orange juice (I didn't make this, just because we were running short on time and the bread was still warm when I wrapped it up to take to my mom.)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. In a large bowl, combine the oil, sugars, and eggs and whisk together until creamy.
3. Add the sourdough discard, nutmeg, orange juice, milk, and whisk until well blended.
4. Add the flour, salt, and baking powder, and fold until all the dry ingredients have been incorporated.
5. Fold in the zest and cranberries, then transfer into a lightly greased loaf pan.
6. Bake for 60 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
7. Transfer out of the loaf pan and allow to cool completely on a wire rack. Then add the glaze if you choose to.

I also made a giant pile of discard waffles using this recipe Rustic Family Recipes--I made no major changes to the recipe so you can just click over to their site.  They crisped up nicely--but word of warning--their recipe denotes a yield of "3-6 waffles".  That assumes that you have a large, normal size or Belgian waffle maker. if you have a cutesy little single waffle iron that makes Eggo-sized waffles, it actually makes about 15 waffles.  Perfect for keeping in the freezer or fridge and popping into the toaster. But again...you're making them one at a time.  So plan to spend about 45-60 minutes on that task.

Homebrewing: Coconut & Pecan Spent Grain Cookies

Note: this post includes a lot of links to The Home Brewery Store, which is our local brew store--like, it's literally a block from our house.  But they also sell online through their website and Amazon.  We don't receive any compensation from them, we just really like all of their products, and think they are great people.  Their kits are all fantastic and will make you a great batch of beer.

The Hubs recently made the switch to all-grain brewing instead of extract brewing. If you're not a brewer, here's the nutshell version:

You need malt to make beer.  Malt is created by pulling the starch out of grains and converting it into fermentable sugar. In extract brewing, someone has already soaked the grains to make malt, and then condensed/dehyrated it into a bag, that you can just add to water with your other ingredients.  

This method is quicker (total brew time of about 2-3 hours with sanitization and cleanup), but more expensive--because you're paying for convenience.  For example, the last extract brew we did was a replica Schlafly Pale Ale, and all the ingredients cost us about $75, for 5 gallons (roughly 50 bottles of beer, or $1.50/each, just in ingredients).  Most home brew stores sell kits that include malt extract, and the kits range from $25-$50 for 5 gallons worth of beer.

In all-grain brewing, you buy grains (cheaper), grind/crack them, and then soak them yourself to make your own malt.  This is less expensive, but your total brew time (with sanitization and cleanup) goes up to about 5-7 hours.  Since switching to all-grain, our average cost per 5 gallon batch is closer to $20, and you have a lot more freedom in customizing how you want your beer to look/taste, vs. using a kit. 

And...it also means you now have about 10-12 pounds of "spent" (used) grains to get rid of, once you've gotten all the sugars you need from them.  And you're left with this:

Note: this is a mix of barley and corn, for a light lager.

Damp, high-fiber grains with most of their natural sugars removed--but most of the protein does NOT leach out of them in the cooking process, so they do still have some nutritional value.

What do you do with it?

Well, if you have chickens, or friends who have chickens, you can put the still-damp grains into gallon freezer bags, freeze them, and thaw as you need to use as chicken feed.  You do have to keep them cold or frozen otherwise they'll go rancid.  I've been giving most of our spent grains to my coworker and she says her chickens went NUTS for it.

Or, you can spread the grains on a cookie sheet and dry them in a low-temp oven (200F) for a few hours, then put them in a blender or food processor to make spent grain flour that can be used in all kinds of recipes.  This sounds like a great idea, but because it involves multiple steps, and I'm lazy, I've not done it.

OR...you can scour the interwebs for recipes that use fresh, still-damp spent grains, no extra processing needed.  And find one.  This one.

FYI, I love these cookies SO much.  They're soft and moist and a little cakey, but with lots of flavor and texture from the coconut and pecans.  And the spent grain makes them high in natural fiber and gives them a little extra protein. (Note: recipe below has been modified slightly from the original.)

INGREDIENTS:
- 5 Tbsp butter, softened
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup molasses or Steen's Cane Syrup
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp allspice
- 1.5 cups damp spent grain
- 1 cup chopped pecans
- 1 cup coconut

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350F.

Cream together the sugars and butter, then add the egg and vanilla.  Then add in the dry ingredients. Fold in the pecans and coconut last using a spatula.

Scoop onto a lined cookie sheet (I like these silicone cooking mats, but parchment paper works just as well) and bake for 20-25 minutes.  Let cool and enjoy!  (These are great warm or room temp).  Store in an airtight container for up to 7 days.

Comfort Foods: Mom's Chocolate & Marshmallow Cake

I've been feeling rather nostalgic lately, particularly about the comfort foods I knew as a kid.

I love cooking, and I come by it honestly--I have many memories of making pies with my Grammy, or helping my grandpa make spaghetti, or eating my Meemaw Opie's famous fried chicken.  My Aunt Loyce is famous for her amazing sugar cookies, and at Christmas we would go to her house to make big batches of Christmas desserts like cookies, fudge, and divinity.

But my mom has always been a bit more of a utilitarian cook.  You can't blame her--she (still) works a full time job, did much of the housework, and at many times, worked a second job helping my dad with his business.  Food was something to sustain you.  We had a lot of freezer meals (pot pies, taquitos, pizza rolls, and the like) so that we could fend for ourselves as needed. Since we were a fishing family, fried crappie and french fries were on the menu at least once a week.  Hamburger Helper was also fairly common.  Friday nights we would go over to The Extra Point for dinner. 

When my mom did cook, it tended to be in big batches--like chili, vegetable beef stew, or her famous chicken & noodles.  Things that we could eat off of for the whole week.   For big family dinners, my mom always provided a sheet pan of no-bake cherry cheesecake (still one of my favorite desserts), and sometimes a batch of no-bake cookies (also a favorite).

And every so often, mom would get a hankering for chocolate cake.  Jiffy chocolate cake, to be exact.  You may only know them for the cornbread mix (still a staple in my kitchen pantry).  It's a smaller amount than say, a Betty Crocker box mix--perfect for an 8x8 square pan.  Once baked, Mom would cut out a still-warm square, slice it in half horizontally (like a biscuit or piece of cornbread), plop an oozy layer of marshmallow cream, and then close it back up.  And then we would devour (with forks, not our hands. We're not animals.)

Unfortunately, Jiffy no longer makes a chocolate cake mix--at least, no where that I can find, and it's not listed on their website.  They do have a recipe for chocolate cake on their website--so we're just going to assume that's about as close a replica as one can get.

Ingredients: (makes 6 servings)
1 box Jiffy yellow cake mix
3 Tbsp instant chocolate pudding mix
1/4 cup cocoa powder
2 eggs
3/4 cup milk
2 Tbsp butter, softened
1 jar marshmallow cream (no, we're not going to use the full jar....probably.)

Directions:
Heat the oven to 350F, and grease a 8x8 or 9x9 glass pan.

Combine all the dry ingredients, and then beat in the eggs, milk and softened butter for 2 minutes. Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 34-38 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.

While still warm, cut cake into 6 pieces (cut cake in half in one direction, and then in thirds in the other).  Remove a piece and then slice in half horizontally (like a biscuit).

Spoon a healthy dollop of marshmallow creme into the center of the cake, and replace the top.  Devour while warm.

Boudin King Cake - Happy Mardi Gras!

As you know, I get to travel to Louisiana about 4 times a year for work.  And I generally try to schedule the first quarter visit so that it overlaps with my favorite Mardi Gras parade--the Scott parade, which rolls past my friends Bonnie & Paul's house, so they always host a big shindig and it's a great chance to see all my old friends.  

But this year, I couldn't make it happen. I had to schedule my trip much earlier in the year, and missed Mardi Gras season altogether.  And was very, very sad.

So sad, that I convinced my coworkers to let me host a Mardi Gras potluck at our office, on Mardi Gras day!  (This really didn't take a lot of convincing.  My coworkers are generally down for anything that involves food and chit-chatting over lunch.)

My colleagues were up for the challenge. Our CFO made gumbo, the compliance team brought red beans & rice, our social media manager (whose wife's family is from Abbeville, LA) made crawfish macque choux...one of my teammates made shrimp cornbread, and a senior scientist (who also lived in Lafayette for a spell) helped me put together a shrimp boil, with jumbo skrimps fresh from the Gulf. We even had bread pudding with bourbon sauce.  Everything was AMAZING.

And me...well, I was so inspired by all the tales I heard of Twin's Bakery making boudin king cakes, I thought I'd give it a whirl.

Now, if I ever make this again, I think I'll use the sheets of crescent roll dough from the refrigerated section.  I tried using pre-made pizza dough with this version and it ended up a little doughy.  But overall, it tasted amazing.  And it was relatively easy to put together!

INGREDIENTS: (makes about 12 servings)

2 rolls of pre-made dough sheets (again, I'd recommend trying crescent roll dough)

1 package boudin (I was able to find Richard's at my local market, which hails from Church Point, LA) - 2 links, casings removed

1 egg

3 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled (you could opt for pork cracklins instead, like the Twin's original)

1/4 cup pecan halves, toasted in butter for about 5 minutes

2-3 Tbsp Steen's cane syrup

DIRECTIONS:

Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper, then roll out one of the dough sheets. Place one of the links down the center of the sheet, and then using a knife, cut slits along the sides, and then braid the slits together (over/under).  Leave the first two and last two unbraided, so you can use these to "tie" the two sides together.

Now roll out the second sheet and do the same, with the link curving toward the first braid.  Once braided, curve the two sides together until they meet (you may have to break the boudin link) and then use the unbraided ends to combine the two sides.  Mine ended up a little wonky where the two halves met, but it still baked up just fine.

Heat the oven to 350, and then bake for 30-40 minutes or until golden brown.  Remove from the oven and drizzle with the Steen's syrup, and sprinkle on the bacon and pecans.  Cut into about 12 pieces and serve while warm!

So while I didn't get to spend Mardi Gras season with my LA peeps, we still got to have a great time, eat some great food, listen to some good Louisiana music...

...and enjoy each other's company.  Because Missouri Yanks can pass a good time at work, even while the entire state of Louisiana enjoys their day off. :)  Happy Mardi Gras y'all!  

A Super Nerdy Baby Shower!

My friend J is due to have a baby in November, so I hosted a baby shower for her at our house earlier this month.  J is a chemistry professor, and I'm a geologist, and we're both giant nerds, with a bunch of nerdy friends.  J is going to be having a beautiful baby girl, but since neither of us are girly-girls, I wanted to avoid the pink-plosion and keep things more fun and less gender-specific. And thus, the Super-Nerdy-Baby-Shower was born.

Mini Reese's "pies", Nerds in test tubes, "Sucrose" Candy, and a print of this book that doesn't exist but totally should, which went home with the mom-to-be.

I wanted to encompass a wide array of nerdy themes, because we are all-inclusive nerds.  It doesn't matter your particular brand of nerd--you are welcome here.  Star Wars, Trekkies, scientists, comic book hoarders, book lovers, and gamers unite!  ...but in a relatively laid-back, low-maintenance kind of way, because I'm still in the process of moving, and planning my own son's birthday party, on top of work and all that jazz.  Life is crazy, yo.  So let's have a fun gathering and play some fun games and eat some fun food that's got a nerdy spin to it.  

DECORATIONS:
I bought a large blank banner to create a high chair decoration for Lil' Man's birthday party, and saved the rest of it for this party.  After much ponderance of the periodic table of elements, I was able to spell a word that was *mostly* composed of periodic elements (alphabetic order cheat sheet if you need it).

New element #110: Gr ..."Growinapersonium"?

Then I borrowed a few labels from my office to give the house a touch of a "laboratory" feel.

In the event my boss reads this post--yes, I returned all of the labels unharmed for use on actual projects.

FOOD:
I probably had the most fun with this element.  There were so many great ideas out there, it was really hard to whittle things down. But ultimately, I went with a lot of pre-made foods, because I knew I was going to be limited on time.  Then I added fun nerdy themes to those food trays.

Cake truffles from AmyCakes in a nod to Star Trek.

Technically, it was a 5 Leia dip, but whatevs.  Also, pita chips for "KRUNCH!", DNA pasta helixes, and Element #111: Ch (cheese).

Lemon Oreo "Coins" and Super Star suckers.  Templates for the cubes here.

The "POP" station, and some "PUNCH" (ginger ale, orange juice, Orange Crush, and pomegranate juice). Free printables for comic book word bubbles here. 

Since J is of Jewish heritage, I also decided to make hamentashen cookies.  Not inherently "nerdy", but I thought it would be cool to throw some culture up in this party, too. I was a little nervous about making this recipe, since it's not my heritage, but the mom-to-be told me they turned out great, so apparently this Gentile can cook some decent cookies (with the help of a recipe provided by the mom-to-be).  (Note: recipe at the bottom of this post.)

GAMES:
I've been to a lot of baby showers in my day.  And I've played a lot of baby shower games.  Most of which were either: 
a) gross ("Guess This Melted Candy Bar in a Diaper" or "Taste this Baby Food", for example), 
b) involved way too much physical activity ("Chug this Beverage from a Baby Bottle", "Lick This Ice Cube & Yell 'My Water Broke'", "Toilet Paper Diaper Race", etc.), or 
c) were potentially insulting to the mom-to-be (i.e. the "Guess Mom's Waist Circumference" game, which seems totally inappropriate in ANY situation, let alone around an uncomfortable, hormonal woman).  

We'll have none of that, thank you very much. Rather, how about a skill that might actually *help* the mom-to-be, and that other moms at a baby shower might have some experience with?  Like...say...

THE PRICE IS RIGHT: BABY EDITION!

I'll say right now: I totally stole this idea of Pinterest.  But come on--Price Is Right has a good ol' nostalgic feel--who hasn't stayed home sick from school and yelled "ONE DOLLAR!!!" at their TV screen?  The mom-to-be and all the other attendees get to try to assign the prices to each baby-related item.  The guest who gets the most right wins a door prize, and the mom-to-be gets...A NEW CAR!!!  Okay, no.  But she does get to keep ALL of the items on the table.  So there's that!

And of course, because J is one of my friends from our old Wednesday night trivia team (TheBomb.com), a round of baby-related trivia seems appropriate.

I also appropriated baby photos from each of the guests who attended ahead of time, and put together a "guess who's who" game.

Here's a hint---this one is me.

If you're interested in throwing a similar party, I got all of my fonts from FontSpace.com (In Particular: Star Jedi, Montalban, Trek Arrowcaps, Chemistry, BPMolecules, and Super Plumber Brothers.)

Now...I promised you a recipe, didn't I?

Hamentashen Cookies 

(makes about 2 dozen)

Ingredients:

2/3 cup margarine (or light butter)

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

2 Tbsp orange juice (no pulp)

1.25 cups white flour

1.25 cups wheat pastry flour

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp cinnamon

jam for filling (I used raspberry jam since it was the mom-to-be's favorite, but you could do just about anything)

Directions:
Combine the butter and sugar, then add the egg & orange juice and mix well.  Mix in the baking powder & cinnamon.  Now start adding in the flour, about 1/2 cup at a time, alternating between the white and wheat. 

Refrigerate for about an hour, or up to overnight.  When ready to bake, heat the oven to 350F.  Then roll out on a well floured surface and cut into 3-4 inch circles (I used a small glass).  Place the circles on a greased or silpat-ted cookie sheet.  

Place a small dollop (about a teaspoon) of jam in the middle, and then fold into a triangle, using a "pinwheel" type pattern (think of folding a box so that the flaps keep the top shut rather than having to tape it), so that one end of the flap is on top of the previous, but the other end of the flap is tucked under the next flap.  Then pinch the corners a bit so there's a good seal.  This will help keep the cookies from opening up while baking so the filling doesn't leak out.

Bake for about 15-20 minutes, so that the cookies are nice & golden, but before the filling bubbles out.