This is Not a Muffin

I know it looks like a muffin, but it's actually an Individual Blueberry-Coconut Pound Cake. In my book, that's much better than a muffin which, in all my baking adventures, I have never made. I would blame my lack of muffin baking on my lack of interest in breakfast, but that hasn't stopped me from making coffee cake, scones, or granola. Sometimes I just can't explain myself.

Anyway, this is one of those recipes where it just makes so much sense to double it. It takes no extra effort and all you need is two muffin tins. Or even 1 regular size and one mini-size. Take the ones you aren't going to eat right away, wrap them well in foil, and put them in the freezer. Then you have a homemade dessert for the next time people drop by unexpectedly. Or for the next time you just need to pull one or two out just for you.

Individual Blueberry-Coconut Pound Cake
Gourmet Magazine
Makes 9

This is the original recipe, i.e. not doubled.

1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
2 tsp. freshly grated lime zest
2 large eggs
5 tbsp. heavy cream
1 cup flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup plus 3 tbsp. sweetened flaked coconut
1/2 cup blueberries

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and butter and flour 9 (1/2 cup) muffin cups. (DN: I sprayed mine with Pam.)

Beat together butter, sugar, and zest until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time. Beat in cream, then flour and salt, on low speed until just combined. Stir in 1/2 cup coconut and gently stir in blueberries.

Spoon batter into cups and smooth tops. Sprinkle tops with remaining 3 tbsp. coconut. Bake in middle of oven until a tester comes out clean and edges are golden brown, about 25 minutes. Invert onto a rack and cool.

(DN: If you plan to freeze some, wrap them well in foil, then place in a plastic bag - like those you find in the produce department at the grocery store.)

Crowd Pleasing Cake

There are many tastes I remember from childhood, but most of them are tastes I don't taste anymore. My mom's stuffed cabbage, her fried sole with a fresh squeeze of lemon, meatloaf eaten with lots of ketchup, barbecued chicken. All things she made regularly and made well. All things that are no longer a part of this vegetarian's diet. (Or hers for that matter. She went veg a few years after I did.)

Like me, my mom likes cooking and baking equally well and she made lots of yummy treats over the 18 years I spent in her house. This cake was a staple and probably the thing she made most frequently. As a child, I had problems with it. And truthfully, as an adult I struggle with it a bit too. You see, I like nuts. I like them alone and I like them in savory things, but I don't like them all that much in sweets. Never in ice cream, and I prefer them to be absent in cookies, brownies, cakes, what have you. I make an incredible nut tart around the holidays and the only reason I know it's incredible is because people have told me so. I have never tried it.


I make this cake because other people don't seem to share in my uncertain feelings about nuts. People LOVE this cake. Everyone from the very young to the very old feels passionately that it is the best coffeecake. Who am I to argue? For me, it does have some very redeeming qualities. There are the chocolate chips of course and lots of struesel topping. The cake part has a full cup of sour cream in it so it is very moist. It can be made a day in advance and it also can be frozen for up to a month. Most of all, it is truly a crowd pleaser and it's great to have a few of those in your cooking or baking arsenal.

What are your crowd pleasers?


Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake
Serves 10-12

Cake:

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sour cream
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup chocolate chips
1/4 cup chopped walnuts

Struesel:

1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp. unsweetened cocoa
3/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, chilled, and cut into small pieces
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
1/2-1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease a tube pan (also called an angel food cake pan). In a large bowl, beat sugar and butter at medium speed until lightened in color and well-combined. Add eggs, vanilla, and sour cream, beat until mixed well. Add flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt and mix until just combined. Mix in chocolate chips and nuts by hand. Scrape batter into pan.

For the struesel: In a medium bowl, combine flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and cocoa. Using a pastry cutter, two knives, or your fingers, cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in the nuts and chocolate chips, then sprinkle on top of the batter.

Bake for 50-60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Place on rack for 10 minutes. Carefully turn cake out on to rack upside down, then using another rack placed on the bottom of the cake, re-invert to right side up. Allow to cool completely.

Homemade Peanut Brittle

(Is it just me, or does this piece of brittle look like a reversed Minnesota?)

When I made the Peanut Brittle Caramel Crunch Ice Cream Pie the other night, I opted to make my own peanut brittle. This was partly because I feel compelled to do such things, partly because I wanted to have some left over, and partly because this recipe is so incredibly easy.

It may not be traditional, but it is fast and the results are incredible. I have no idea where I got this recipe - all I know is that I copied it out of one of my mom's recipe books after eating it at her house. All you need is a bowl, a spoon, a baking sheet, and a microwave. Oh, and an oven mitt. You'll definitely want one of those.

Peanut Brittle
Makes about 1 pound

1 1/2 cups unsalted dry roasted peanuts
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
pinch of salt
1 tbsp. butter
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/4 tsp. baking soda, measured into a small bowl

Butter or spray baking sheet. In microwave-proof bowl, combine peanuts, sugar, corn syrup, and salt. Microwave on high until mixture bubbles vigorously, about 6 minutes. Using and oven mitt, remove mixture and stir in vanilla and butter. Return to microwave for another 2 minutes. Again using oven mitt, remove bowl from microwave. Working quickly, add baking soda to candy and stir briskly - mixture will foam. Immediately pour onto prepared sheet and spread as thinly as possible with the back of the mixing spoon or a spatula. Let stand until cool, 30-45 minutes. Break into pieces.

Peanut Brittle and Caramel Crunch Ice Cream Pie

I could tell you a few things about this pie. For example, it weighed well over 6 pounds - I wouldn't know exactly how much because my kitchen scale tops out at 6 and I was too lazy to carry it upstairs to the bathroom scale. Another thing I could tell you would be that making it reminded me of making bread. Time consuming but without a lot of hands-on time - just babysitting time.

But all you really need to know is in the title of the post.


If you took a look at my "Desserts" notebook, recipes I have been cutting out of magazines for the past 16 years, you would notice a heavy bias toward chocolate. I do have those "other" recipes that jumped out at me for one reason or another and this is one of them. The crust is a basic graham cracker crust with some crushed peanuts thrown in. Then you have a layer of ice cream drizzled with peanut butter, homemade caramel sauce, and (my added touch) homemade peanut brittle. On top of that you have another layer of ice cream which is also drizzled with peanut butter, caramel sauce and peanut brittle around the edges.



This pie typifies me as a baker. After I globbed the peanut butter and caramel sauce on the top, I realized that I could done it much more artfully. I could have smoothed the peanut butter better and could have piped the caramel on top in a crisscross pattern - how lovely that would have looked! Note to self for next time. Artisitc is not my game, delicious is, and this was truly extraordinary. No one complained about the gloppy looking top.

Peanut Brittle and Caramel Crunch Ice Cream Pie
Adapted from Bon Appetit
Serves 8-10

In shopping for the ice cream, I found out that Haagen Dazs has a new line of ice creams called "Five". Each flavor only has five ingredients making the flavor more pure and actually lower in fat. I was thrilled with the vanilla - you could see the flecks from the bean throughout the ice cream.

Caramel Sauce

3/4 cup whipping cream
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
2 tbsp. (1/4 stick) unsalted butter
1/4 tsp. fine sea salt
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup water
1/4 cup light corn syrup

Pie

9 whole graham crackers
1/4 cup (packed dark brown sugar
5 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 cup roasted cocktail peanuts
3 pints premium vanilla ice cream, slightly softened
5 tbsp. natural style creamy peanut butter
1 cup coarsely chopped peanut brittle

For the caramel sauce:
Place cream in a small saucepan. Scrape in seeds from vanilla bean; add bean. Bring just to simmer. Mix in butter and sea salt; set vanilla cream aside.

Stir sugar, 1/3 cup water, and corn syrup in heavy medium saucepan over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Increase heat; boil without stirring until syrup turns deep amber, brushing down sides with wet pastry brush and swirling pan occasionally, about 12 minutes. Remove from heat. Whisk in vanilla cream (mixture will bubble). Set sauce aside.

For the pie:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line 9-inch diameter pie dish with foil. Finely grind graham crackers and brown sugar in processor. Add butter and vanilla; blend until moist crumbs form. Add nuts; blend just until finely chopped. Using plastic wrap as aid, press crumbs firmly onto bottom and up sides of foil-lined pie dish. Freeze 15 minutes.

Bake crust until brown, about 15 minutes. Freeze 1 hour. Using foil, lift crust from dish; carfully peel off foil. Return crust to pie dish. Drizzle 1/2 cup caramel sauce over bottom of crust. Freeze 30 minutes. Spoon 1 1/2 pints ice cream into crust; smooth top. Drizzle 3 tbsp. peanut butter over, then 2 tbsp. sauce. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup brittle. Freeze 1 hour. Spoon remaining 1 1/2 pints ice cream over; smooth top. Drizzle 2 tbsp. peanut butter over, then 2 tbsp. sauce. Sprinkle edge of pie with 1/2 cup brittle. Freeze 4 hours.

(Do ahead: Pie can be made 3 days ahead; tent with foil and freeze. Cover and chill remaining sauce.)

Cut pie into wedges. Rewarm sauce and pass separately.

Cookies for Michael

My brother Michael is 8 years younger than I am. I remember being kind of pissed off when my parents told me they were going to have another baby, being perplexed when they woke me in the middle of the night to tell me that this baby was coming 6 weeks ahead of schedule, and being disappointed to find out he was a boy (I already had a brother.) But as soon as I saw him, I fell in love. Being the oldest child and a baby lover, Michael became my baby.

Soon after he was born, my mom went back to school to earn her nursing degree. I did a lot of caregiving for Michael and it brought us very close together. We are similar in a lot of ways and as we have become adults, our bond remains strong. At the end of this past summer, he decided to move back to Seattle after having not lived here since high school. I am delighted to have him back. My boys adore him and I love being able to spend some quality time with him.

One of my favorite things to do with Michael is feed him. He is an incredibly enthusiastic eater. He is a hard core carnivore, but at the root of it all, he just loves good food. He is happy to eat vegetarian at my house and has even said that he could eat that way all the time if I was cooking for him. He is not a big sweets person but he absolutely LOVES cookies. The other night he and my parents came over for dinner and I realized that I had only one palmier left. Being the person I am, I can't know someone loves something and not be able to offer it to them.

So, I pulled out a special recipe. I made these about a year ago for my clients and they prompted a special note from one of them. She said they were the best cookies she had ever had. I do have to say there is something special about these. The oats make them soft and the coconut adds a new dimension of flavor - don't skip it even if you think you don't like coconut. There is no white sugar in these, only brown, so they bake up nice and golden and have that cararmel-y taste. Plus, I like oatmeal raisin cookies as much as the next person, but I would really prefer chocolate chip. I gave Michael a big bag to take home with him and yet he dipped into my cookie jar for a "few for the road". Guess they were a hit.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Adapted from The Greyston Bakery Cookbook
Makes about 2 dozen cookies

1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
2 cups old-fashioned rolled ats
3/4 cup shredded coconut (DN: I used unsweetened.)
7 oz. bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped into small chunks (DN: I used chocolate
chips.)

Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees.

In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt to blend. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer set on medium speed, cream the butter and sugar together for 3 minutes, or until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla and continue beating until well combined, scraping down the sides as necessary.

With the mixer on low speed, gradually add the flour mixture, mixing until just combined. With a wooden spoon or rubber spatula, fold in the oats, coconut, and chocolate.

Drop the batter in rounded tablespoons, 2" apart, onto baking sheets. Bake 12-15 minutes, or until the cookies are golden brown. Transfer to wire racks to cool.

Two Ingredients

I have lived in France twice for short periods of time. The first time was for three months on a bike, and the second was for a semester in Paris during my junior year of college. The first time I gained 15 pounds because I simply could not get over how delicious the pastries were (or the bread, or the cheese, or the chocolate, etc.) The second time I was much more careful and tried to stick only to the bread and a little cheese. Once in a while, I would allow myself a treat and there was never a question of what that would be.

I discovered Palmiers in a small town in Normandy about 1/3 of the way into the bike trip. I was 16, homesick, freezing and wet. The first month of our trip was spent in the Loire Valley and Normandy which, in case you are wondering, is not a good place to be biking in late March and early April. We got rained on, snowed on, and hailed on. We did not see the sun once during the entire month. We were sleeping in tents and biking all day. I only took comfort from my friend Jen, the hope of mail at the next homestay, and bakeries.

By this point in the trip, I had established my favorites in the boulangerie. Pain au chocolat was a given, brioche was always welcome when I wanted something more bread-like, a croissant when I wanted something less sweet. Seeing a Normandy is apple country in France, a whole new world of apple pastries opened up to me and I tried every one of them. One day, when I was feeling particularly homesick and wanting a cookie, I opted for a palmier. The charming butterfly shape disguised what a sophisticated treat this was. They are made from puff pastry so the layers upon layers of butter worked into the dough make each bite shatter under your teeth as you enjoy the flakiness of a croissant and the honey sweetness of lots of sugar. They became a true favorite of mine and I asked for them repeatedly during the rest of that bike trip (this contributed to the 15 pounds I gained, in spite of biking 1500 miles).



When I returned to France 3 years later, I asked for them in boulangeries all over Paris. I have gotten them for my boys here in Seattle whenever I see them. And I've made them a few times which I highly encourage you to do. You see, there are two ingredients in this recipe. Puff pastry and sugar. That's it. Of course you can make your own puff pastry but why? Why when there is DuFour out there? Yes, it's expensive (about $13 for 14 oz.), but when there are only two ingredients, you need to use the very best. I have no problem using Pepperidge Farm (about $4 for 14 oz.) when I am making something savory - when I know the flavor of the pastry is not the star. But if you are going to make these cookies, and you should, use the best. (Update: Thanks to two helpful comments, I can tell you that both Trader Joe's and Whole Foods carry all-butter puff pastry for less than the DuFour. I will be sure to look for those!)



Palmiers
Adapted from The Martha Steward Living Cookbook - The New Classics
Makes about 20

The only real change I made here is an added step of coating each side of the palmiers in more sugar. Yum!

3/4 cup sugar, plus extra for dipping
14 oz. all butter Puff Pastry

1. Sprink half the sugar on a clean work surface. Place the dough on top, and sprinkle evenly with the remaining sugar.

2. Using a rolling pin, gently roll out the dough into a 9 x 15-inch rectangle 1/8 inch thick, being careful not to press too hard around the edges. Continually coat both sides with sugar.

3. Place the dough so one of the long sides is closest to you. Using your fingers, roll the dough length-wise into a long cylinder, as tightly as possible without stretching it, as you would a roll of wrapping papers, stopping when you reach the middle. Repeat the same rolling procedure with the other long side until you have 2 tight cylinders that meet in the middle. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap; place in the refrigerator to chill at least 1 hour.

4. Unwrap the dough; using a sharp knife, cut the dough crosswise into 3/8-inch-thick slices. Dip each side of each slice into a shallow bowl of sugar. Place the palmiers on an ungreased baking sheet, and firmly flatten with the palm of your hand. Cover with platic wrap; place in the refrigerator 1 hour.

5. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Place the palmiers in the oven and bake 5 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 400 degrees; continue baking until the pastry is golden brown and well caramelized, about 10 minutes. Remove from the oven; using a thin spatula, immediately transfer the palmiers to a wire rack to cool completely. Serve shiny side up.

Ooey and Gooey

We had a kind of impromptu dinner party last night. By "impromptu" I mean I only had 24 hours notice. Usually if we are going to entertain, I like to have lots of time to mull over menus and to plan my time. I also like to have the option to make things in advance so I am not madly cooking when the guests arrive. Does this make me sound like a control freak? I'm really not. Cooking is important to me and I know our friends expect something delicious when they come to eat with us.

And besides, this wasn't really a dinner party per se - just two very good friends coming to dinner. But these guys are so awesome, they have even babysat our two boys so we could go see a movie and have offered to do it again. I knew we could do something more simple for dinner, but they are both dessert lovers and I really wanted to make a special dessert.

Because I didn't have a lot of time, I thought of nothing else but this cake. If you are a chocolate lover, you probably have the ingredients on hand. Here is the gist of it. You make a flourless chocolate cake batter. You hold 2 cups of said batter back and put them in the refrigerator, then you put the rest into a springform pan and bake it until it's just barely cooked through.


You allow the cake to cool, then you spread the uncooked batter on top.


The whole thing goes back into the fridge for at least one hour and up to 2 days, and then, when you are ready for chocolate nirvana, you put the cake in the oven for 10 minutes. What comes out is multi-textured. The bottom part is baked through but the top, oh the top!, is gooey and pudding like.

I have one quibble with this recipe. Each time I make it, I remember that the edges of the cooked part of the cake get a little black in the final baking. (Note to self: Make a note in the actual recipe!) I think dialing the temperature down a bit from 425 to 400 (with perhaps a few extra minutes for the top to bake off a bit) would fix that. Last night I just carefully cut off the offending bits and no one was the wiser.

Double-Baked Chocolate Cake
Adapted from Food and Wine
Makes one 9-inch cake (DN: Serves about 8)

1/2 pound bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
2 sticks (1/2 pound) unsalted butter
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
7 large eggs, separated
1 1/3 cups sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-inch springform pan and line the bottom with parchment paper. Butter the paper.

2. In a large saucepan, melt the chopped chocolate with the butter over moderately low heat. Add the cocoa powder and whisk until smooth.

3. In a medium bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the egg yolks with 2/3 cup of the sugar until pale and light, about 3 minutes. In a large bowl, using clean beaters, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Gradually add the remaining 2/3 cup of sugar and beat until the whites are firm and glossy.

4. Fold the chocolate into the egg yolk mixture until barely combined. Fold in the egg whites just until no white streaks remain. Spoon 2 cups of the batter into a medium bowl and refrigerate. Scrape the remaining batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top with a spatula. Bake for 25 minutes, or until the cake is puffed and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool the cake completely on a wire rack.

5. Remove the side from the springform pan and spread the reserved cake batter over the top of the cake, leaving a 1 inch border around the edge. Refrigerate the cake for at least 1 hour.

6. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Bake the cake for 10-15 minutes, or until a thin crust forms on top and the batter is soft and creamy beneath the crust. Let the cake cool for 10 minutes, then cut into wedges and serve warm.

Make ahead: The cake can be prepared through step 4 and refrigerated, covered, for up to 2 days.

Pre-Op Cupcakes

We had a weird day yesterday. My older son was recently diagnosed with a hernia and his surgery was scheduled for yesterday. He has also had a herniated belly button for two years now and the surgeon figured it would be best to fix it at the same time since it would need fixing eventually anyway.

Before they took him back to the OR, the doctor examined him one more time and was having trouble feeling the hernia. He decided that since he was going to be operating on the belly button anyway, they would send a scope in through the navel to take a look and see if there was, in fact, a hernia. When all was said and done, the surgeon said he was 99% sure there was no hernia and just fixed the belly button.

I feel relieved and also somewhat puzzled. My son has been complaining of pain and I and all the medical people involved thought a hernia made sense. Now that that is not what it is, I wonder and worry about what it is that is causing him pain. But on the bright side, the surgery is over and he was a total trooper. He is a little weepy and sleepy today but seems just fine. Watching him walk back to the OR with the anesthesiologist made me burst into tears - after he had rounded the corner of course.

Cupcakes? Oh yes, the cupcakes. Well, if you or anyone you know has had surgery, you know that you are not allowed to eat or drink after a certain time. You also don't really feel much like eating after the surgery, even if you are allowed to. I knew his last good meal for a while was going to be dinner the night before the operation and I also know that my son LOVES cupcakes. So I made him chocolate chip cupcakes with a chocolate glaze. These little beauties come from a simple little cookbook called Cupcakes! which I kind of scoffed at at first. But I have made quite a few recipes from the book and they all have been delicious. My husband said he liked these best of all. My son was too busy eating to give his opinion.

The cake part of these cupcakes has the flavor of a chocolate chip cookie but the texture of a brownie - nice and dense. I actually made these a few weeks ago, allowed them to cool completely, wrapped them well in foil, and froze them. They didn't suffer one bit from their time in the cold. When I thawed them, I made sure to lay them out so that they didn't stick together. The glaze is quite thin so I just put a little dollop on top and allowed it to harden at room temperature for an hour or so. If you follow the recipe as written, you will have more glaze than you need for the cupcakes, but you can refrigerate any extra for 2 weeks in a covered container and just reheat portions of it as needed.


Chocolate Chip Cupcakes
Adapted from Cupcakes!
Makes 18 regular cupcakes

I didn't have cupcake liners on hand so I just sprayed my muffin tins really well. They came out of the pan just fine. I think if you plan to freeze them, I would skip the liners anyway. If you plan to freeze them, do not glaze them - do it after they have thawed.

2 cups flour
2 cups packed light brown sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
1 stick cold butter, cut into pieces
1 large egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup sour cream
1/4 cup whole milk
2 cups (12 oz.) semisweet chocolate chips

Position a rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line 18 muffin tin cups with paper cupcake liners.

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on low speed, mix the flour, brown sugar, and baking soda to blend them. Add the butter and mix until the butter pieces are the size of peas, about 2 minutes. You will still seem some loose flour. Stop the mixer and scrape the sides of the bow as needed during mixing. Mix in the egg and vanilla. The batter will still look dry. Mix in the sour cream and milk until the batter looks evenly moistened; you may still seem some lumps of butter. Mix in the chocolate chips.

Fill each paper liner with a generous 1/4 cup of batter, to about 1/3 inch from the top of the liner. Bake just until the tops feel firm and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Cool the cupcakes for 10 minutes in the pans on wire racks.

Carefully turn out the cupcakes on to the wire racks and turn right side up to cool completely. Add the chocolate glaze either by drizzling with a fork or by spooning a bit on top of each cupcake. Allow to sit until glaze is firm. The cupcakes can be covered and stored at room temperature for up to 2 days.

Chocolate Glaze
Makes 2 cups

1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into 2 pieces
3 tbsp. light corn syrup
9 oz. (1 1/2 cups) semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 tsp. vanilla

In a medium saucepan, heat the cream, butter, and corn syrup over low heat until the cream is hot and the butter has melted. The mixture should form tiny bubbles - do not let it boil. Remove the pan from the heat, add the chocolate chips, cover, and let them sit for about 30 seconds to soften. Add the vanilla and whisk the sauce until it is smooth and the chocolate has melted. Allow to cool slightly.

Just Say No to Orange

Aren't tastes funny? Why is it that something which is ambrosia to me makes your skin crawl? I love cilantro, you hate it. You love okra, I can't stomach it. I have been reading lots of blogs featuring citrus desserts lately (it is January after all), and all I can think is...I hate orange.

No, I mean I really don't like orange. I actually never have. I do like those little clementines that appear around Christmas time, but other than that, orange kind of makes me cringe. Orange popsicles were always the last resort for me and I never even bothered to eat orange Jolly Ranchers. And to see all of the orange desserts going around right now...shudder.

So why on Earth did I make an orange cake, you might ask. Well, here is the thing. My brothers, sister-in-law and niece and nephew came over on Saturday and I had to make a dessert in not a lot of time. And, perhaps more importantly, this is an Ina cake and I trust her implicitly. Yet another reason is that the recipe makes not one, but two cakes so I could get this week's treat for my clients taken care of ahead of time.

The verdict? It's orange, I didn't love it. But it went over very well with the family and it was a breeze to make. It turned out just as it should which is one of the very best things about her recipes.

Orange Pound Cake
Adapted from Barefoot Contessa Family Style
Makes 2 loaves

Ina makes this cake in two 8 x 4 pans - I used one of those and three mini loaf pans so each of my clients could have their own cake. You can freeze these cakes, unglazed, for up to one month.

1/4 lb. (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 1/2 cups granulated sugar, divided
4 eggs, at room temperature
1/3 cup orange zest (about 4 large oranges)
3 cups flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. kosher salt
3/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice, divided
3/4 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
1 tsp. vanilla extract

To Glaze One Loaf (optional)
1 cup confectioner's sugar, sifted
1 1/2 tbsp. freshly squeezed orange juice

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray two 8 x 4 inch loaf pans with non-stick spray.

Cream the butter and 2 cups of the granulated sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment for about 5 minutes, or until light and fluffy. With the mixer on medium speed, beat in the eggs, one at a time, and the orange zest.

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In another bowl, combine 1/4 cup of the orange huice, the buttermilk, and vanilla. Add the flour and buttermilk mixtures alternately to the batter, beginning and ending with the flour. Divide the batter evenly between the pans, smooth the tops, and bake for 45 minutes to an hour, until a cake tester comes out clean.

While the cakes bake cook the remaining 1/2 cup of the granulated sugar with the remaining 1/2 cup orange juice in a small saucepan over low heat until the sugar dissolves. When the cakes are done, let them cool for 10 minutes. Take them out of the pans and place them on a baking rack set over a try. Spoon the orange syrup over the cakes and allow the cakes to cool completely.

To glaze, combine the confectioner's sugar and orange juice in a bowl, mixing with a wire whisk until smooth. Add a few more drops of juice, if necessary, to make it pour easily. Pour over the top of one cake and allow the cake to dry. Wrap well and store in the refrigerator for up to two days.

Fair Warning

(Note: There are some who think that one should only write about successes in a food blog. I think it humanizes us all to read about occasional failures especially if tips are given on how to succeed next time.)

If you yourself write a food blog, or if you read a fair number of them, you will have noticed that there are certain trends that bounce around the blogosphere. One is the no-knead bread that I still haven't made, another is the chocolate chip cookie recipe that appeared in the NY Times this past summer. Recently, it seems that everyone is enamored with the Baked cookbook. One of my favorite blogs, Smitten Kitchen, has been raving about this book since before it actually came out so, of course, I bought it.

It is a very cool book. Terrific photography and very interesting and different recipes. I have a lot of baking books and whenever I open a prospective purchase, something has to really catch my eye. I have lots of recipes for chocolate cakes and chocolate chip cookies and gingerbread in my 20-something baking books so I want to see something new and different. Baked has some things I never thought of (pumpkin whoopie pies anyone?) and some classics done with a twist.

I now have made three things from it and I have to say I am, um, underwhelmed. I know three recipes does not a cookbook review make, but I am feeling a little bummed by the book. The whoopie pies were great and my clients loved them, but the proportions of the recipe were totally off (for me anyway.) I also made their Chocolate Pecan Pie for Thanksgiving and was just not happy about how it turned out, although my brother Michael (a pecan pie lover) thought it was great. And now these bars.

First let me say that I LOVE lemon bars. For a chocolate and caramel lover that is saying something. My go-to recipe is actually from the Betty Crocker cookbook. It is totally no frills and for that reason it is perfect. The Baked recipe caught my eye because the bars masquerade as lemon bars but are actually much more sophisticated. The crust, instead of being more or less shortbread, is made from graham cracker crumbs, butter, sugar, and toasted coconut. The filling is a lemon and lime curd with lots of fresh juice and zest. I thought I would knock it out of the park with this one because almost everyone I know loves lemon bars.

Let me just detail out the dishes involved in making these little guys:

Food processor for grinding graham crackers
Small saucepan for melting butter
Baking sheet for toasting coconut
Reamer for juicing lemons and limes
Zester for zesting lemons and limes
Large saucepan for mixing curd
Whisk for mixing curd
Fine mesh strainer for straining curd
Knife for slicing bars
Spatula for excavating bars
Pan bars were made in

Now, I recognize that dishes are a necessary evil of cooking and especially baking. I curse them while I do them but when the end result is delicious, I forget about them. Here is what I thought about the end result here...

The first problem is that I couldn't get them out of the pan in time to bring them to my Tuesday clients. The recipe says that you need to refrigerate them at least 2 hours, which I did, but even then the filling was so mushy and the crust was firmly cemented to the pan (in spite of the fact that I buttered it well.) So I waited a fully 24 hours before I tried again to pry out a square and had to sacrifice 3 other innocent squares to get my photo candidate out. One of those, of course, had to be tasted and boy oh boy were they SWEET! Between the coconut and the graham crackers in the crust and the almost 2 cups of sugar in the curd - they made my teeth ache.

So, no thank you Baked. I am going to stick with Betty Crocker on this one. If you have the Baked cookbook and are dying to try their recipe (after the above rousing endorsement), here are some things I would suggest. Bake the crust until it is starting to brown - I may have pulled mine out too soon which resulted in it not releasing from the pan. Add a little less sugar to the curd - maybe just 1 1/2 cups. The crust is plenty sweet so if the curd is a little sour, it will balance better. And finally, refrigerate these (after they have cooled) at least 24 hours and preferably 48. The crust may get a tad soggy but you will be able to get them out of the pan. Be sure to use a very thin metal spatula to lift them out or you will lose half your crust.

Or, you can just save yourself heartache and many dishes and make the alternative recipe below.

Lemon Bars
Adapted from The Betty Crocker Cookbook
Makes 16 small bars

1 cup flour
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup powdered sugar
2 eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix flour, butter, and powdered sugar in an electric mixer until the dough starts to come together. Press into an ungreased 8 x 8 inch pan, building up an edge. Bake 20 minutes, until light brown.

Wipe out bowl. Beat remaining ingredients for 3 minutes until light and fluffy. Pour over hot crust. Bake another 25 minutes longer, or just until no imprint remains when touched lightly in center. Allow to cool completely, then sprinkle with powdered sugar and cut into squares.

Milk vs. Dark

As I have written about here, the year we lived in London, I got to take some great cooking classes. The highlight by far was the chocolate making class at Leith's. We learned how to make hand rolled truffles, how to temper chocolate, and how to make truffles using chocolate molds. We also learned a lot about chocolate itself. One of the first things we did that day was have a tasting where the instructor passed around different chocolates with all different cocoa contents and from different areas of the world. We were told to write down our tasting notes which we then shared at the end of the tasting.

One of the chocolates we tasted was clearly milk chocolate - the rest were semi or (mostly) bittersweet. To me, the milk tasted delicious and was my favorite of the bunch. As we started to share our notes, it became clear that I was, not only the only American in the room, but the only one who liked the milk chocolate. People called it "cloyingly sweet", "tongue coating" and other insulting things. I called it "what chocolate should taste like" but didn't share that with the rest of the class.

So there you have it. I have outed myself. I am a milk chocolate lover. Sometimes it feels like I am in danger of having my foodie license or my chocolate-loving license revoked if I admit that, but now it's out for the world to see. For some reason, you are supposed to like dark chocolate and the darker the better. But if I am going to eat a piece of chocolate (and because I am always watching my weight, this is rare), it is going to be milk.

Needless to say, I felt somewhat vindicated when this February's Food and Wine featured milk chocolate. Apparently there are pastry chefs out there who share my love of the light stuff. I marked every recipe as one to cut out (except the one containing gelatin - did you know gelatin is not vegetarian?) and decided to make this cake first.

Here is the thing. It was a little sweet for me. A little cloying, a little - dare I say - milky. Don't get me wrong. If I was having a chocolate attack and a slice of this cake was put in front of me, I would have no problem eating it. And this recipe has a lot going for it. It's fairly quick and easy, makes a square cake (which I think looks really cool), and would be great for a kid's birthday. But I think for me, when it comes to cake, I'm going back to the dark side.

Milk-Chocolate-Frosted-Layer Cake
Adapted from Food and Wine
Makes one 9-inch layer cake

This cake can be made 3 days ahead and refrigerated. Make sure you bring it to room temperature for about an hour before serving, otherwise the cake will taste dry and the flavor will be muted. You can also freeze it but allow the frosting to harden in the refrigerator first.

1 1/4 cup cake flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp. baking powder
2 sticks unsalted butter
1/2 cup whole milk
6 large eggs, separated
1 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 pounds milk chocolate, finely chopped

1. Preaheat the oven to 325 degrees. Butter and flour two 9-inch square baking pans.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk the cake flour, cocoa and baking powder. In a medium saucepan, melt the butter in the milk over low heat. Transfer to a large bowl and let cool slightly. Whisk in the egg yolk and 1/2 cup of the sugar. Add the dry ingredients and whisk until smooth.

3. In a clean bowl, beat the eggw hites with the slat until soft peaks form. Grahually add the remaining 1/2 cup sugar and beat at medium-high speed until the whites are stiff and glossy. Fold the beaten whites into the batter until no streaks remain. Divide the batter between the pans and bake for 25 minutes, until the cakes are springy and a toothpick inserted in the centers comes out clean. Transfer the cakes to a rack and let cool completely.

4. Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, bring the cream to a simmer. Put the chocolate in a heatproof bowl and pour the hot cream on top. Let stand for 3 minutes, then whisk until smooth. (DN: If you go to whisk it and there are still large pieces of unmelted chocolate, put the bowl over the still warm burner and let the heat melt it.) Let the frosting stand at room temperature, stirring occasionally, until thick enough to spread, about 1 hour.

5. Turn the cakes out of the pans and put one layer on a plate. Top with 1 cup of the frosting, spreading it to the edge. Top with the second layer and spread the remaining frosting over the top and sides. Let the cake stand at room temperature for about 30 minutes before cutting into squares.

Just One More...

Cookies. I know. They are everywhere and unavoidable at this time of year. Kind of like Halloween candy right around Halloween. Our local UPS store had Halloween candy this year. Yes, the UPS store.

Anyway, you may be sweeted out, or at least cookie'd out by now, but I thought I would give one more cookie recipe before we hit 2009. Ginger cookies suffer from never quite being right, at least in my book. I want them to be just the slightest bit chewy, definitely not crunchy, and I want the flavor to be very warm with lots of molasses and spices. So often they suffer from being too flat and with just a very sweet taste instead of the complexity that good spices bring.

I think Ina Garten has come pretty darn close. These cookies have lots of candied ginger in them which gives them a really nice spice and they have a good dose of molasses too. They are not for the faint of heart, but if you love ginger, these may be the ones for you.

Let's talk about ginger. Most grocery stores will have candied ginger in the baking aisle. It can be very fibrous and difficult to cut (and you want really small pieces in these cookies) so, if you can, see how soft it is and get the freshest bag possible. If you live near a Trader Joe's, by all means get your ginger there. It comes in little cubes and is much easier to cut and stores much better than the slabs.

Ultimate Ginger Cookie
Adapted from Barefoot Contessa Cooks at Home
Makes about 16 cookies

Just like for the party I catered, I rolled 1/3 of these in red sanding sugar, 1/3 in green sanding sugar, and 1/3 in vanilla sugar. You can, of course, just use regular sugar. I did follow Garten's advice of lining the sheets with parchment paper because there is no butter in the recipe.

2 1/4 cup flour
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
1 cup dark brown sugar, lightly packed
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup unsulfured molasses
1 egg, at room temperature
1 1/4 cups chopped crystallized ginger (6 ounces)
Granulated sugar, for rolling the cookies

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, ginger, and salt ad then combine the mixture with a spoon. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the brown sugar, oil, and molasses on medium speed for 5 minutes. (DN: Measure the oil first, then the molasses. That way, the molasses will just run right out of the measuring cup, because it has been greased by the oil.) Turn the mixer to low speed, add the egg, and beat for 1 minute. Scrape the bowl with a rubber spatula and beat for 1 minute more. With the mixer still on low, slowly add the dry ingredients to the bowl and mix on medium speed for 2 minutes. Add the crystallized ginger and mix until combined.

Scoop the dough with 2 spoons or a small ice cream scoop. With our hands, roll each cookie into a 2 inch ball and roll the ball in the sugar of your choice. Place them on a cookie sheet and bake them for exactly 13 minutes. The cookies will be cracked on the top and soft inside. Let the cookies cool on the sheets for a minute or two, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

Breton Apple Pie

Yesterday was my big boy's 4th birthday. We celebrated today by having a bunch of kids over and a couple of fire engines came by to take them for a ride. I wish I could tell you I made this adorable cake and then give you the recipe complete with instructions on how to make a fire made out of frosting, but the truth is, I bought it. However, I did make this...


A little history. As a child, I never liked Thanksgiving dinner. That was a little strange because I was far from a picky eater. I was taught to eat everything my mom served me and, being the rule-following oldest child, I did as I was taught. Thanksgiving was really tricky for me though because I never liked turkey - even as a very young child - and certainly didn't like gravy. To top it all off, we always had pumpkin and pecan pie for dessert - neither of which I like to this day. Suffice it to say that Thanksgiving was tough for me.

Once I became a vegetarian and it became "ok" for me to not eat turkey, things began to look up. Once I began to cook, it all changed. I started bringing side dishes that I wanted to eat and started making vegetarian gravy which totally changed the meal. I can eat mashed potatoes and stuffing endlessly if there is good gravy to pour over them. Once I started to bake, I would always bring some kind of "other" dessert so that I could enjoy dessert too. Some years I did chocolate, other years I did a Nutcracker Tart from Bon Appetit, but most years I made something apple.

About a month before Thanksgiving this year, I picked up Nick Malgieri's The Modern Baker and while paging through it, I found the recipe for Breton Apple Pie. I loved that it looked like a cake but was closer to a pie and I especially loved that he said you could make it in advance and freeze it. With so much food running through my kitchen the week of Thanksgiving, I really appreciated being able to make this and forget about it. It was, by the way, delicious.

Breton Apple Pie
Adapted from The Modern Baker
Serves about 12

There is a scary moment right before you unmold this dessert. I looked at it and thought there was no way it was coming out of the pan, but it did beautifully. You have to work quickly to get it back to right side up so it doesn't crack too much. Just lightly put another cooling rack on top of the bottom of it, and re-invert.

APPLE FILLING
3 tbsp. unsalted butter
2 1/2 pounds Golden Delicious apples, peeled, halved, cored, and each half cut into 6 wedges
1/2 cup sugar
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

BRETON DOUGH
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
4 large egg yolks
2 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
Egg wash: 1 large egg beaten with a pinch of salt

Equipment: One 10-inch wide and 2-inch deep layer pan, buttered and the bottom lined with a disk of parchment paper.

1. For the apple filling, melt the butter over medium heat in a pan that has a tight-fitting lid. Add the apples and sprinkle them with the sugar, lemon juice, and cinnamon. Cook the apples covered, checking them and stirring occasionally, until they are swimming in liquid, about 10 minutes. Uncover the pan and let the liquid evaporate, about 10 more minutes. Keep an eye on the apples while the liquid is evaporating, and stir occasionally to prevent the apples from scorching. Most of the apples will disintegrate while the filling is cooking, making it like a chunky applesauce. Allow to cool.

2. Meanwhile, set a rack on the lowest level of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees.

3. For the dough, combine the butter, sugar, and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat with the paddle on medium speed until very light, about 5 minutes. Add the egg yolks, one at a time, beating until smooth after each addition. Remove the bowl from the mixer and use a large ruber spatula to incorporate the flour.

4. Place half the dough in the bottom of the prepared pan. Using floured fingertips, press the dough evenly over the bottom of the pan and about 1 inch up the sides. Spread the cooled filling over the dough.

5. Flour remaining dough and press into a 10 inch disk on cardboard or tart pan bottom. Use a long-bladed knife or spatula to make sure the dough isn't stuck to the cardboard. Carefully slide the dough onto the filling.

6. Brush the top of the Breton with the egg wash and trace a lattice pattern on with the tines of a fork.

7. Bake the Breton until the dough is well colored and baked through, 50-55 minutes.

8. Cool on a rack in the pan for 10 minutes, then unmold and turn right side up again. Cool completely on a rack.

(Keep the Breton loosely covered with plastic wrap at room temperature on the day it is baked. Wrap and freeze for longer storage. Defrost and bring to room temperature before serving.)

Chocolate Yum

Given a choice between sweet and savory, I will always choose savory. Friends ask me how I can keep baked goods in my house and my answer is simply that I am not all that tempted by them. Of course, I would love to have a cookie or brownie now and then, but I resist because I can. If there are pretzels, popcorn, chips, or even day-old french fries around however, it's all over for me. I made mashed potatoes today to put on top of a vegetarian Shepherd's pie and I caught myself licking the bowl much as someone else would do with cookie batter.

That being said, I do love my chocolate. And I really love chocolate and caramel together. And I really love toffee. When I saw that Smitten Kitchen made these cookies - I knew I had my treat for this week. I was unable to resist these and you won't be able to either. They are barely a cookie - almost no butter or flour. They are held together by eggs and chocolate, and yumminess - much like a flourless chocolate cake. I usually think nuts in cookies are a bad thing (except in these), but the walnuts added great texture and flavor.

A long time ago, I read that it is unnecessary to butter your cookie sheets when making cookies. There is so much butter in most recipes that the dough itself acts as it's own Silpat. I always follow that advice (one less step in the prep), but in this case - because there is only half a stick of butter, I would either grease them or use parchment paper, or a Silpat.

Let's talk about melting chocolate. You will often see a double boiler in recipes. A true double boiler is two pots that are roughly the same size so one can fit inside the other. Water is put in the bottom pot and things that can burn easily, like chocolate, are put in the top. You can easily re-create the effect by placing a heat-proof bowl in a pot with just a little water. Be sure that the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water and also keep the water at a simmer instead of a boil. This will prevent too much steam from coming out of the pot and potentially ruining the chocolate. Similarly, when you remove the bowl from the pot, have a towel ready and immediately wipe the bottom of the bowl to, again, keep steam from the chocolate.

Giant Chocolate-Toffee Cookies
Adapted from Bon Appetit Magazine
Makes about 18

Instead of buying individual toffee bars, I bought an 8 oz. package of Heath baking bits. This saved a little work, but the bits are very small. If you want larger pieces of toffee in your cookies, I would buy the individual bars called for below and chop them.

1/2 cup flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 lb. bittersweet (not unsweetened) or semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1 3/4 cups (packed) light brown sugar
4 large eggs
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
5 1.4 oz. chocolate Heath or Skor bars, coarsely chopped
1 cup walnuts, toasted, chopped

Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in small bowl; whisk to blend. Stir chocolate and butter in top of a double boiler set over simmering water until melted and smooth. Remove from over water. Cool mixture to lukewarm.

Using electric mixer, beat sugar and eggs in bowl until thick, about 5 minutes. Beat in chocolate mixture and vanilla. Stir in flour mixture, then toffee and nuts. Chill batter until firm, about 45 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper. Drop batter by 1/4 cupfuls onto sheets, spacing 2 1/2 inches apart. Bake just until tops are dry and cracked but cookies are still soft to touch, about 15 minutes. Cool on sheets. (Can be made 2 days ahead. Store airtight at room temperature.)