Apple Roses
Apple Roses have popped up on my Facebook feed a few times in the last couple of weeks, so I thought it was time to try them, myself.
They are just as easy as the video below states - and really, really good!
I used half apples - thanks Mike and Barbara - and half pears, and used seedless Marionberry jam with some and peach-apricot jam with the others. They all came out pretty stellar.
These really are easy to do and really impressive! They'll be great for a Thanksgiving dessert table!
Strawberry Pie
It's not often that produce makes me stop in my tracks, nowadays. In a former life, I was a specialty produce buyer for a gourmet food distributor and at 4am, you'd find me at the produce market at SFO looking for new and unique - or just stellar - produce. It was the mid-'80s and fresh produce was being rediscovered. Baby vegetables, exotic greens, kiwis flown in from New Zealand at a dollar a piece...
It was great fun and a great education. I learned so much from so many people - and ate and ate and ate. I've never been a vegetarian, never wanted to be a vegetarian, but I have a great respect for Mother Nature's Bounty. It's one of the reasons I love Europe so much - they have a totally different respect for food and the earth that we lack here in the states.
So here it is 30 years later and I'm out in 'burbia walking through the grocery store and my eyes zero in on a basket of strawberries that were some of the most perfect-looking berries I've seen since I was a wee tyke. Not only did they look perfect, they smelled perfect - like strawberries that wanted to be eaten right this moment.
The two-pound box went right into the basket.
I could have just hulled them and eaten them out-of-hand, but that wouldn't be me. My modus operandi is to take the healthiest thing I can find and add whipping cream.
It's an art. What can I say?
And add whipping cream, I did. And a bit of booze, because... well... I can.
Strawberry Pie
crust
- 1 cup walnuts, toasted
- 1 cup cookie crumbs
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup - butter, melted
filling
- 6 cups quartered hulled strawberries (about 1 1/2 lbs)
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/3 cup cornstarch
- 1/4 cup grenadine liqueur
topping
- 2 cups whipping cream
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 2 tbsp grenadine liqueur
Preheat oven to 350°F.
For crust:
Butter a deep-dish 9" pie dish. Mix walnuts, cookie crumbs, and sugar in processor and chop until finely ground. Add melted butter and mix until crumbs are evenly coated. Press crumb mixture onto bottom and up sides of prepared pie dish.
Bake crust until set, about 12 minutes. Cool completely on rack.
For filling:
Place 2 1/2 cups strawberries in medium saucepan. Mash strawberries with potato masher until chunky. Add sugar, cornstarch, and grenadine.
Stir over medium-high heat until mixture boils and thickens, about 3 minutes. Transfer mixture to bowl. Cool to room temperature. Stir in remaining 3 1/2 cups strawberries and grated orange peel. Mound filling in crust. Chill pie until cold and set, at least 2 hours and up to 6 hours.
For topping:
Whip cream with a couple tablespoons of sugar and a couple tablespoons of grenadine liqueur until stiff peaks form. Spread over filling. Top with reserved strawberries.
There's not a lot of liquid for the amount of corn starch, so it gets really, really thick. It will loosen a bit when you stir in the rest of the strawberries after it cools, but you need it really thick to hold together when you slice it.
Ooey-gooey perfection.
I used some fairly plain Italian cookies we had in the house, but you can use just about anything from vanilla wafers to graham crackers - or even mix it up and go chocolate - maybe even paint the cooled crust with melted chocolate before adding the strawberry filling.
Have fun with it. It's pie. It won't be bad no matter what you do!
Cherry Upside-Down Polenta Cake
Ah... what to do with 2 pounds of fresh cherries...
If you're a normal person, you just grab 'em and eat 'em. If you're me, you turn them into a dessert. I was actually a semi-good boy with this one. It's not nearly as over-the-top ooey and gooey as I could have gone. And not a drop of heavy cream!
The original recipe came from Bon Appetit about 10 years ago, I think. That was back when I actually still liked the magazine. They've pretty much lost me, nowadays. I stopped subscribing several years ago but had a subscription to La Cucina Italiana - another Conde Nast magazine I loved and always found recipes to make. Conde Nast ceased publication of the US version of La Cucina - it's still available in Italian - and I ended up with a subscription to Bon Appetit in its place. I should have taken the cash refund.
Oh well.
I have a folder full of recipes I've cut out of magazines over the years and if I actually stopped and made the recipes I already have, I wouldn't have time to make any others. I have slowed down on the cook book acquisitions, though. Well... except for the digital ones I keep downloading. But that's different. Sorta.
The cake is baked in a skillet, which makes for easy prep and clean-up. You will want to use a straight-sided pan - and one that can go into the oven for 45 minutes or so. It also calls for a couple teaspoons of balsamic vinegar in the cherries. I used a really nice, aged balsamic because we have lots and I figured if I'm going to pit 2 pounds of cherries, I'm going for the gold, so to speak.
Cherry Upside-Down Polenta Cake
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter, divided
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 2 tsp balsamic vinegar
- 1 1/2 pounds pitted fresh cherries
- 1 1/4 cups flour
- 1/4 cup stone-ground polenta or cornmeal
- 2 tsp baking powder
- hefty pinch salt
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 large eggs, separated
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
Preheat oven to 350°.
Mix 1/4 cup butter with brown sugar and vinegar in 10" skillet. Stir over medium heat until butter melts and sugar dissolves. Add cherries and bring to boil. Remove from heat.
Whisk flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt together. Beat remaining 1/2 cup butter in large bowl with sugar and beat until pale and fluffy. Beat in egg yolks and vanilla.
Add flour mixture alternately with milk in 2 additions mixing until just blended. Beat egg whites in another bowl with cream of tartar and beat until whites are stiff but not dry. Fold 1/4 of whites into batter to lighten slightly. Carefully fold in remaining whites. Spoon batter over cherries in skillet, then spread evenly to cover cherries.
Bake cake until top is golden brown and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Cool in skillet on rack 5 minutes. Place cake plate atop skillet and carefully flip. Leave skillet atop cake 5 minutes. Remove skillet. Rearrange any cherries that may have become dislodged. Cool at least 45 minutes.
Enjoy!
A few cherries stuck to the pan but they were easily placed back on the cake.
And it's a winner! Not too sweet and with a nice little corn crunch from the stone-ground corn. I'm thinkin' that this will be good with fresh peaches when they arrive...
I'll have to see what other fun I can have with this...
Strawberry Pie
Strawberries have been looking good. It seems to be kinda early in the season, for me, but... good berries are good berries. I don't know if the heat and drought in California are responsible, but here I am buying strawberries the first week in May.
I was hankerin' for a pie, so I thought I'd try my hand at a strawberry pie. I hadn't made one in years, but that never seems to stop me.
I just reworked the basic cherry pie I've made in the past - and seriously underestimated the amount of liquid the strawberries vs cherries would produce.
It was a bit of a runny pie.
I'm not posting a recipe because what I did really didn't come together all that well - although it did taste really good. Hell... How could it not with 2 pounds of sweet strawberries in it?!?
It's not a good picture, either, but what the hell. We ate it all!
Guinness Brownies
Guinness and Chocolate. Talk about a flavor match made in Gastronomic Heaven!
I had a recipe for a Guinness Chocolate Cake years ago that I have sadly lost, but here's something that can ease the pain a bit - Guinness Brownies!
I found a brownie recipe online quite a while ago that had potential but wasn't quite it, so I put a note in my calendar to revisit it for St Paddy's Day. I thought it would be something fun to bring into work...
It was something fun to bring into work!
Since I was baking for more than a few, I made this in an 11 x 17 half-sheet pan, but you will probably want to make it in a standard 9x13 pan...
Guinness Brownies
The Brownies
- 6 tbsp butter
- 8 oz semi-sweet or dark chocolate, chopped
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 12 oz bottle Guinness
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Caramel Topping
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 2 tbsp cane syrup (or corn syrup)
- pinch salt
- 1 can sweetened condensed milk
- 1 cup white chocolate chips
To make brownies:
Preheat oven to 350°.
Grease 9x13 pan and set aside.
In a medium bowl, slowly melt chocolate and butter over simmering water or microwave. Blend together until smooth. Add both sugars and mix until fully incorporated. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well before adding the next.
Sift together flour, chocolate, and salt. Add in three additions alternating with the Guinness.
Stir in the chocolate chips and spread evenly into pan.
Bake 25-30 minutes or until pick comes out clean.
Let cool slightly while making topping.
To make topping:
Mix butter, brown sugar, cane/corn syrup, and salt in a small saucepan until all is melted. Stir in sweetened condensed milk and heat to just below boil. Remove from g=heat and stir in white chocolate chips until melted and everything is combined.
Pour over warm brownies and allow to set for about an hour. For best results, refrigerate overnight.
**To make in a sheet pan, follow the above instructions but spread batter into pan and bake about 15 minutes.
These really did come out good. You definitely taste the Guinness, but it's a pleasing compliment to the chocolate. I see a tradition in the making...
Orange Ricotta Cookies
I brought home lots of ricotta yesterday, just in case Victor wanted to make more Zeppoles. I'm considerate, that way.
Instead, this morning, he baked off chocolate croissants, so it was my turn with the ricotta. I thought of several ideas, but, since I'm also baking bread, today, laziness took over. Ricotta Cookies was my path of least resistance.
Ricotta cookies are like little cakes. They're soft and not too sweet - until you glaze them. Perfect for Nonna and her mid-morning and afternoon treats.
I usually make them with either lemon or orange, although I think the basic is made with vanilla. They're pretty forgiving cookies, so you can play with the flavors.
Orange Ricotta Cookies
Cookies
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 8 oz ricotta
- juice and zest of 1 medium orange
- 2 cups flour
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- pinch salt
Glaze
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- juice and zest of 1 medium orange
Preheat oven to 350. Butter pans or line with parchment.
Cream butter and sugar until light. Add eggs one at a time and mix well after each addition.
Add ricotta, zest, and orange juice, then add flour, baking soda, and salt. Mix well.
Use a #70 scopp - or 1 tablespoon - and portion cookies onto prepared sheetpans.
Bake about 10 minutes. Cool, then glaze.
For glaze, place juice and zest in small bowl. Stir in enough powdered sugar to make a soft glaze.
They're start-to-finish 45 minutes - perfect cookies for a lazy day.
Zeppoles
One of the fun things about being married to an Italian is the recipes with the funny names. One of the fun things about having friends who are Italian is even more recipes with funny names - and links to websites with even more.
Our friend Judy turned us on to a site called Everybody Loves Italian and Victor has been having a blast reliving a lot of the recipes of his youth. Victor laughs and says he has the only Italian mother who didn't cook. There's a reason, though... She was number 10 of 11 kids and her older sisters did it all. The cookies and whatnot came from Aunt Tessie or Aunt Emma. You don't reinvent the wheel in an Italian family. The one who knows how to make something the best is the one who makes it. And if that something happens to be a signature dish, you really don't make it when they're around for fear of possibly showing them up. A Big Mistake.
Whether Zeppoles were in the family repertoire is questionable, but Aunt Emma, especially, used to make several different sweet and savory fritter-type items, so these could be a variation on one of her themes. Or not. it doesn't really matter, though, because he just made them and they are fantastic! They evoked a childhood memory and that's what's important. Well... that, and the fact that they're freakin' delicious. They're also easy to make, so... No excuses. Head into the kitchen and make some, now!
This recipe is adapted from Everybody Loves Italian.
Zeppoles
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup flour
- 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
- dash of salt
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 cup whole milk ricotta
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- zest and juice of 1 medium lemon
- neutral oil for frying
- powdered sugar for dusting
Heat oil 2" deep to 375° in a pan wide enough to fry several zeppole without crowding.
Mix two eggs into mixing bowl. Add all dry ingredients and follow with ricotta, vanilla, lemon juice and zest. Quickly mix until combined. Batter will be thick.
Using a 1 tbsp scoop or spoon, carefully drop into the hot oil, being careful not to let them touch. Turn them for even browning and cook about 3 minutes or until cooked through.
Drain on paper towels.
When still warm but cool enough to handle. sieve powdered sugar over them and consume!
They really did come out great. Very light and airy, not very sweet, and with a nice lemon hint. We figure there are lots of things we can do with these, from cinnamon in the batter to different liqueurs.
Methinks we shall have some fun with these!
Cake a l’Orange
Looks are ofttimes deceiving... Take that gorgeous slice of cake right there. One could look at it and imagine the beautiful cake it came from.
Or... one could imagine the mess I made when I flipped it out of its pan.
One could also imagine the words that came out of my mouth when I flipped it out of its pan and it went sliding across the island in a pile of crumbs. But that would not be a good thing, because they were not very nice words.
I baked a cake my mom made now and again - an orange cake with an orange and Cointreau glaze. Very simple and really really tasty. It's baked in a tube pan and calls for a glaze to be poured on while it's warm. I wanted to glaze it on its plate, so I took it out of the pan but it still had the bottom and the tube attached. Like an idiot, I tried flipping it, it slipped, and it went sailing. Did I mention bad words? When Nonna was retelling the story to Victor, she said "And he wouldn't tell me the words he said."
They were not nice words.
But the cake came out, in spite of my stupidity.
I semi-placed it back together and glued it with the glaze.
Parts of it were a little worse for wear, but, hell... It's cake. It's all edible even if it's not that pretty.
Cake a l'Orange
- 2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 2 sticks butter, softened
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 3 eggs, separated
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1 tbsp grated orange rind
- 1/4 cup orange juice
- 1/3 cup Cointreau or Grand Marnier
Preheat oven to 350°.
Sift flour, baking powder and baking soda. Set aside.
Beat butter, 1 cup sugar,, and egg yolks in a large bowl until; light and fluffy.
Add orange rind and mix.
Add flour mixture alternately with sour cream starting and ending with flour.
Beat egg whites in small bowl until stiff but not dry. Fold into batter and spoon into a greased 9" tube pan.
Bake about 50 minutes or until pick comes out clean.
For Glaze:
Combine orange juice and remaining 1/2 cup sugar in small saucepan and heat until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and add 1/3 cup Cointreau. Slowly pour over warm cake and let soak in.
Cool completely.
It really is good.
Christmas Jello Cake
I can't believe I bought Cool Whip! I don't think I ever have. I'm not even sure the last time I ever had it. As kids growing up, Mom usually had Dream Whip - the powdered whipping mix - or the can of whipped cream. Dream Whip could sit on a shelf and not take up valuable freezer space...
Regardless, Mom made this cake a couple of times when we were kids. I just remember I couldn't wait to have a piece. It was sweet, gooey, and all of the things I still love in a dessert. The ingredients may not be all that great, but every once in a while, nostalgia is going to trump nutritional standards. Once in a while.
Making the cake came about because we're having Ugly Christmas Sweater Day at work, today. You may ask what what a cake and an ugly sweater have in common, and if you answered "nothing," you would be correct. I just needed an excuse to make it and this seemed as good an excuse as any.
The cake is pretty straightforward. White cake mix and a couple boxes of Jello. Bake cake, pour Jello on top, frost with Cool Whip.
I thought of whipping fresh cream, but, somehow, it just didn't seem right. It probably would taste better, but... it's a Jello cake made with a cake mix. Sometimes you need to just go with it and accepot what it is.
The cake was pretty easy to put together, although I had to dip one of the pans in warm water to loosen it. Otherwise, it came together in minutes. Cool Whip is extremely easy to use as a frosting!
I'll take a picture of the inside when I cut it open at work.
Merry Christmas Memories!
Apple Cake
Ann and Julie left us with a bag of New York State apples when they were here Sunday... What a treat. All week long I've been waiting for the weekend so I could come up with something fun. Victor beat me to it!
He made his Apple Cake - with a twist. The original recipe calls for a tube pan. Victor decided to make this one in a 12" round cake pan, instead. What a treat! It came out great! The recipe below is for the tube pan - a large bundt pan works fine, as well. If you make it as a layer cake, just watch it and adjust the baking time, accordingly.
Apple Cake
- 3 cups flour
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 cup oil
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 4 tsp sugar
- 1/2 cup orange juice
- 4 eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 3 tsp baking powder
- 5 large apples
Preheat oven to 350°. Peel and cut apples into small chunks. Add 4 tsp sugar and 2 tsp cinnamon and stir together.
Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and set aside.
Beat together eggs, OJ & vanilla. Add oil, mix in flour mixture.
In a well-greased tube pan, pour alternate layers of batter and apples. Sprinkle cinnamon and sugar on top.
Bake at 350° for 1 1/2 hours or until cake tests done.
Cool before slicing.
This cake really is excellent. Not too sweet, with a great crumb, chunks of moist, delicious apples... Perfect as a coffee cake or as a fancy dessert. It's definitely our go-to apple cake recipe. And always will be!
Bahamian Rum Cake
Mom would have loved this cake!
While I was putting it together, I kept thinking of her making cakes, poking holes in them, pouring syrupy goodness over them... she had a lot of fun in the kitchen baking cakes and making desserts. It's obvious, considering her "Dessert" cook book is twice as thick as her cook book for everything else!
She baked a lot of cakes in her time and one memory will always be the missing little tiny corner of the 9x13 cakes. She had a habit if nicking a teensy corner - about a half-inch square - of the cake for herself. She would have killed one of us for doing it - but... she baked it!
I'm more of a batter-eater/beater-licker, m'self. And I don't usually go for teeny corners. I go large.
And large I went, today!
I just got a copy of David Lebovitz' book "Ready for Dessert." I am always ready for dessert, so I had to get it. David worked at Chez Panisse in Berkeley and has become my go-to for great baking ideas. I love that his recipes are good - not fussy. He uses real ingredients that most people have access to and explains what he does while also explaining that it's what he did - you can actually change things and it's okay.
I saw this particular cake and immediately thought of a Tortuga Rum Cake I made right after we got back from the Cayman Islands. That was one sad cake compared to this one. But then, that's why he baked at Chez Panisse and I baked on an aircraft carrier.
But even an old salt like myself couldn't screw up this perfect recipe.
There's a goodly amount of sugar in this but it never comes off as cloyingly sweet. Perfect crumb and a perfect sweet balance.
This is a three-part recipe. The 2nd and 3rd parts - both syrups - can be accomplished while the cake is baking
Bahamian Rum Cake
adapted from Ready for Dessert by David Lebovitz
The Cake:
- 3 cups flour, sifted
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
- 1 cup butter, room temperature
- 2 cups sugar
- 3 eggs, room temperature
- 2 egg yolks, room temperature
- 1 tbsp vanilla
- 3/4 cup good-quality canned coconut milk
Preheat your oven to 350°. Butter a 10-cup bundt pan and dust it with flour, tapping out the excess. Set aside.
n a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and nutmeg. Set aside.
In the bowl of your stand-mixer, beat together the butter and sugars, slowly increasing the speed to medium – allowing the batter to become light and fluffy (approximately 5 minutes).
In a small bowl, beat together the eggs, egg yolks and vanilla. Slowly drizzle the mixture into the creamed butter, scraping the sides as needed. Once the eggs are completely incorporated, gently stir-in one-third of the flour mixture, then about half of the coconut milk.
Mix in another third of the flour mixture, the rest of the coconut milk, and the remaining third of the flour; until just combined.
Spread the batter evenly into the prepared pan. Bake about 55 minutes or until cake is set.
While the cake is baking, make the coconut rum syrup.
Coconut Rum Syrup
- 3/4 cup coconut milk - the rest of the can you used for the cake
- 6 tbsp sugar
- 1/2 cup dark rum - like Meyers
In a medium sauce-pan , warm the remainder of the coconut milk, and the sugar , stirring until the sugar dissolves. Remove the syrup from heat and add the dark rum. Mix well and set aside until the cake comes out of the oven.
When the cake comes out of the oven - while hot - poke about 60 holes in it with a skewer. Slowly spoon about 2/3 of the syrup over the cake, letting it soak in. Cool completely in the pan.
When cool, invert onto a cake plate and brush with the remaining coconut syrup and then cover with the coconut glaze.
Coconut Glaze
- 4 tbsp butter, cut into pieces
- 6 tbsp heavy cream
- 6 tbsp brown sugar
- pinch of salt
- 1 tbsp dark rum
- 1/2 cup sweetened coconut, toasted
Toast the coconut flakes either in the oven or in a small skillet on the stove.
Combine the butter, cream, salt and sugar together in a small saucepan over high heat and bring to a boil. Stir the mixture to dissolve the sugar. Remove from the heat, whisk in the rum and toasted coconut.
Spoon the glaze over the top of the cake, letting it run down the sides.
This was one awesome cake!
I'm thinking it will make a great breakfast cake, too. I know mom would approve.
Chocolate from Modica
Okay... It's 10:50am and I just did something I never do at this time of day. I went into the kitchen and cut myself a piece of cake.
I had to. Really.
Last night I made a simple yellow cake and then made a chocolate frosting. The cake is my go-to yellow from Better Homes and Gardens. Been making it for years. The icing?!? Chocolate-with-a-twist.
I opened the cupboard to get down the cocoa powder when I saw the little chocolate discs we brought back from Sicily. An icing was born.
An O.M.G. Icing!
Yeah... this one may just be the best one I've ever made. Ridiculously good.
Rich and creamy and just screaming with intense chocolate flavor. It's flippin' awesome.
I creamed 1 stick of butter with about 5 cups of powdered sugar. I added 2 tbsp vanilla and 125 grams - a tad less than 4 1/2 ounces - melted 100% Modica chocolate. I then drizzled in maybe a quarter-cup of heavy cream to thin.
Total awesomeness.
The cake itself is no-fail and holds up to layer-splitting and any number of fillings or frostings. Today, it's the perfect vehicle for getting that frosting into my mouth.
Yellow Cake
- 3 cups cake flour
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup butter, room temperature
- 2 cups sugar
- 5 large eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 1 1/4 cups buttermilk
Preheat oven to 350°. Butter and flour two 8″ pans.
In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
Place butter in mixer bowl. Beat for 3 minutes until the butter is light and creamy.
Add the sugar, 1/4 cup at a time, beating 1 minute after each addition, scraping the bowl occasionally. Add the eggs one at a time and mix well before adding the next.
Add vanilla. Add the dry ingredients alternately with the buttermilk. Mix just until blended.
Spoon the batter into pans. Bake 45 to 50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
I know I rant and rave about the quality of foods here in the USofA all the time. We have a few really good things, but damn - the small manufacturers in Europe do such a better job of making quality foods. While we're so focused on market share and mass-production and how to make something even cheaper, they're slugging along making food that sings quality and perfection. Modica chocolate is a perfect example. Made in small batches by small companies and unsurpassed in excellence.
Search out some Chocolate of Modica, if you can. It's worth it.