Any American knows this saying. However, tonight division would have been my friend, had I heeded the word. My cookies fell (or failed) because I didn’t divide. Yes, that little word “divided” is very important in recipes. It means to reserve a portion of the full measure set aside for another purpose.

I made this yogurt cookie recipe tonight and missed that little word when it came to the nutmeg. Instead of putting 1 teaspoon in the cookie batter, I put 2 in.

I’ve been on a quest to find the yogurt cookie recipe my grandma made. Grandpa threw out many of her recipes in the years following her death, so that recipe was lost to us. I thought I might have found it with this one. I still wouldn’t know, though, because these turned out, shall we say, less than appetizing. Nasty, unless you’re a real nutmeg fiend.

There’s plenty of dough left over, too, because I made a double batch in anticipation of a get-together tomorrow. I stopped after making a few dozen of the things and the remainder of the dough’s headed for the garbage. It was a double disappointment since I still don’t know whether these will approach grandma’s recipe. Another time!

Here’s the recipe, only I modified it so no one else will miss the divided part!

YOGURT SUGAR COOKIES

Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup butter ( softened)
- 2 cup sugar
- 3 eggs, beaten
- 1/2 cup plain yogurt*
- 2 teaspoons ground nutmeg, >divided
- 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 tablespoon sugar

Directions:
Cream butter and 2 cups sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, yogurt, 1 teaspoon nutmeg, vanilla, salt, flour, and soda. Beat until smooth. Refrigerate dough for 1 hour. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet.

Combine 1 teaspoon nutmeg and 1 tablespoon sugar; sprinkle over each cookie. Bake at 400 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes. Cookies will look soft. Remove from cookie sheet immediately. Makes 8 dozen.

SOURCE: Southern Living Magazine, May 1974.

*I used Sonyfield Farm Plain Whole Milk Yogurt. I read you can make this recipe using fruit yogurt as long as it is a smooth yogurt like lemon with no chunks of fruit in it. I’ll likely use fat-free yogurt next time, though with so much sugar and butter, I don’t see what shaving a little fat off for the yogurt would benefit us! I will not use sugar-free if I try a flavored one, though.

Well, there’s good news! You don’t have to make that sickly sweet friendship bread out of it. There are other recipes out there. I’ve adapted one I found at Recipezaar.com for muffins. It’s included below.

Additionally, you can freeze the starter. Yes, you heard that right. Despite what the flyer people pass along with their starter claims, you can freeze it. You can also use metal bowls and utensils with it. I won’t re-invent the wheel here, so if you want to read more on that, see the excellent write-ups at My Sister’s Kitchen (be sure to read the comments!):

Amish Friendship Bread (Sharing a Delicious Recipe and Debunking a Few Myths

and Amish Friendship Bread part 2

Okay, now on to the recipe!

Healthy Oat Bran Muffins made with Amish Friendship Bread Starter

Adapted from JanuaryBride’s recipe at Recipezaar.

Oven Temp: 375 degrees
Bake Time: Approximately 30 minutes
Yield: 36 muffins, maybe a few more (standard 2 1/2″ diameter muffins)

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups Amish friendship bread starter
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk*
1 cup unsweetened applesauce**
1 cup grated carrots, packed
1/2 cup natural oat bran
1/2 cup natural wheat bran
1 cup quick oats (not instant oats)
2 teaspoons salt
3 Tablespoons brown sugar***
3 cups King Arthur Flour white whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda

Optional:

1 cup nuts, dried cranberries, raisins, etc.

Directions

Beat together wet ingredients til just mixed.

Add remaining ingredients and stir until just mixed (batter should be a little lumpy).

Fill greased muffin tins 2/3 full and bake about 30 minutes at 375 degrees, rotating muffin pan 180 degrees in oven about half way through. Cool in muffin tin on a rack for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a cooling rack.

Notes:

* Powdered buttermilk can be used. Just mix 4 Tablespoons powdered buttermilk into 1 cup water.

** You can substitue pureed carrots or bananas for the applesauce.

*** Since Amish friendship bread starter already has sugar in it and both the carrots and the applesauce are naturally sweet, you may find you don’t need as much (or any) brown sugar. Before you add it, taste the raw batter and see what you think, then decide.

You can always use a little less flour and substitute more oats. I did this one time when I accidentally didn’t put in enough flour and they still turned out very nicely. Muffins are pretty forgiving!

As for greasing the muffin tin, I love Baker’s Joy spray. It is a non-stick cooking spray that contains flour. The muffins pop right out of the tins when I use this.

So, today and this evening have been prep time. I have the brine ready for the turkey to go into and am getting as much done ahead of time as possible since we have a breakfast with friends in the morning.

Considering my track record with the bread machine and the Italian Herb Bread recipe in my Oster 5838 manual, it was with some trepidation that I began my breadmaking when Howie asked me to make that loaf for tomorrow.

So, I decided to try the recipe again, but to make it by hand this time. A friend told me the garlic might have interacted with the yeast and to try adding it later, so that’s what I did (more about that later).

Here’s ingredients again:

Italian Herb Bread
Adapted from Oster 5838 ExpressBake bread machine user manual

1 1/4 cups water
1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable or olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
3 1/2 cups bread flour
2 teaspoons sugar
1 tablespoon dried parsley
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 teaspoons dried onion flakes
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
2 teaspoons active dry yeast

I more or less followed the kneading and other instructions on a forum post I found while searching for French bread recipes.

Step 1: In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast into the warm water. Let it stand until bubbly- five minutes.

Step 2: Add 1&1/2 C of the flour, and 1 t salt, and beat it by hand for a few minutes. Slowly add in the remaining flour until a soft dough forms.

Step 3: Flour the countertop and knead the dough for about 10 minutes until it is springy and elastic.

Step 4: Place the dough into a greased bowl. Cover the bowl and let the dough rise until it doubles in size. This should take between 1 and 2 hours.

Step 5: Using the floured countertop, punch the dough down. Then roll it out to a 12″ by 6″ rectangle.

Step 6: Using the 12″ side, roll the dough up very tightly. Pinch the edges so that there are no gaps and gently roll the bread on the countertop so that it lengthens slightly and it is thicker at the center than on the sides.

Step 7: Sprinkle a cookie sheet with cornmeal. Put the loaf of bread onto the pan seam side down.
Step 8: Cover it and let it rise again until doubled in size. This will take about an hour.

Step 9: Gently slit the top of the bread loaf with a knife in three places.

Step 10: Bake the bread for 425 degrees for 20-30 minutes. The bread will be golden brown and will sound hollow if you tap it. Remove the bread from the cookie sheet and let cool slightly before serving.

I didn’t do it quite right at first. I put active dry yeast into tepid water while I measured out all the other stuff, put it all in my big bowl and stirred it with a wooden spoon until it was kind of sticking together. Then, I unceremoniously dumped the whole lot onto the lightly floured tabletop and began kneading it. I added a sprinkle of water every now and then until the dough ball began to feel more elastic and silky.

I put it in the bowl to rise, but it didn’t seem to be doing anything. I kneaded it just a little more, just for the heck of it, put it back in the bowl and covered it. I had an MRI today, so I left it rising while I was gone.

When I got home, the dough ball had done just what it was supposed to do: It had doubled in size. Yeah!

So, I punched it down as best I could figure since it was my first time doing so. Since I don’t have a rolling pin  (wish list!), I sort of smushed the dough outward using my fingers like you would with pizza dough. Just guessing there. I sprinkled the garlic flakes on the dough then and rolled it up into the loaf as instructed. Then, I  put it on my pizza stone atop some cornmeal and let it rise in the unheated oven, covered with a kitchen towel, for an hour. It’s fun seeing how the dough grows! I’m a kid at heart.

Okay, a drumroll please…Here is the finished loaf! Not bad looking for a first attempt at hand-kneading and all.

I’m glad I looked when I did, because it was getting pretty brown. It is softer-crusted than the loaves I made in the bread machine, though, even though they had the same ingredients. We won’t be eating it until tomorrow, but I think should taste good since the loaves I made in the bread machine both did…Even if they did look pretty funky!