classic vanilla pound cake

For Andy’s birthday, I made three vanilla cakes.  A classic pound cake, a vanilla birthday cake and an updated (or fluffier) pound cake.  I loved them all.  All.  Andy liked the vanilla birthday cake which I’ll write about another time.  This pound cake though is classic in its dense crumb and solid mass.  Easy to make and great really for any occasion.  Dress it up with berries and whipped cream or serve it plain.  It is sure to delight.

classic vanilla pound cake (from Rose Levy Beranbaum’s The Cake Bible):

3 tablespoons room temp milk
half of a vanilla bean
3 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups sifted cake flour (or 5.25 ounces if you have a scale)
3/4 cup sugar (or 5.25 ounces)
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt (use half if using table salt)
13 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a 8×4 loaf pan with parchment and grease.  Or us a 6 cup tube or bundt pan – make sure you grease and flour.

Heat the milk with the seeds of the vanilla bean.  Scald.  Then let cool.

Combine the milk, eggs and vanilla extract.

In the mixer with paddle attachment, combine the dry ingredients and mix for 30 seconds.

On the lowest speed, add the butter and half of the egg mixture…once the ingredients are moistened increase to medium and beat for about a minute.   Add the rest of the egg mixture in 2 batches and beat for 20 seconds after each addition.  Scrape down the bowl, and mix again.

Scoop batter into prepared pan and bake until done.  Toothpick should come out JUST clean.  This time will vary based on your pan but up to an hour – but please, as usual, check before and often.  After about 30 minutes, lay some tin foil on top of the cake to prevent a too brown cake.

It should split up the middle btw.  And if not, that is ok too!

I made a simple glaze by mixing confectioners sugar and milk and a dash of vanilla.  Yum.

 

 

orange cookies

These are Lidia Bastianich’s yummy little gems.  Simple little citrus cookies with a sweet and delightful orange glaze.  These are so pretty and perfect with coffee or tea, or crumbled up over vanilla ice cream – or simply on a cookie platter.  These are from my new favorite cookie book: One Sweet Cookie: Celebrated Chefs Share Favorite Recipes.  I just love this book.  I really do.  Each recipe collected by Tracey Zabar has a blurb about the origin of the cookie and/or how much it is loved.  It such a gift that the author was able to gather these recipes from some very famous chefs to share with us.

FYI, the dough need a little time to set up in the fridge.

orange cookies (from Lidia Bastianich via One Sweet Cookie by Tracey Zabar):

3 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt (use 1/4 if using table salt)
6 ounces (1 and a half sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup plus one tablespoon sugar
3 large eggs (room temp is best)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon grated orange zest

glaze–
2 and 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/4 cup orange juice (as needed)

Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl.

With paddle attachment (or handheld beater) cream the butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffier – about 2 minutes.  Add the eggs, one at a time beating well after each addition.

Add the vanilla, orange juice, lemon juice and orange zest.  Beat to combine.

Add the flour to the mix and on the lowest speed possible, mix until just incorporated.

Remove from mixer and fold to incorporate all of the dry ingredients.

Roll the dough into logs as shown here.

Place in fridge or freezer until firm enough to cut with out losing their shape.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line sheet pans with parchment paper.  Cut the logs into 1/2 inch round and place on sheet pans.  Bake for about 15 minutes or so – until the cookies are golden.  Cool completely.

For the glaze, whisk together the oj and confectioners’s sugar – add a dash of sea salt if you feel like it.

Once cooled, dip each cookie in the glaze (upside-down) then shake off excess and place sticky side up on parchment to set and dry.  If glaze is too thick or thin, adjust with more juice or less.

Save some batter for another day – and save for longer in the freezer.

Enjoy –

 

 

 

oatmeal raisin cookie

Oh so good.  So good!   Back in the early 90’s I worked very close to City Bakery.  I would go there and eat something super healthy and yummy for lunch (on rare occasions because I couldn’t really afford to go there) – and after, I would splurge on a crazy delicious cookies.  And even though I wouldn’t pick oatmeal raisin first, these can tempt.  Andy loves these – and so did Sylvie’s friend Grace.  Gave the rest away!  Enjoy –

city bakery’s oatmeal raisin cookies (very slightly adapted from One Sweet Cookie: Celebrated Chefs Share Favorite Recipes by Tracey Zabar and Ellen Silverman):

I should note that Maury Rubin (who created these) uses all organic ingredients.  Also that these are best if you refrigerate the dough for at least 6 hours before you bake them.

1 and 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt (use half if using table salt)
2 and 2/3 cups rolled oats
8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened at room temp
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
1/3 cup dark chocolate chips (I happen to like milk chocolate here, but many prefer dark or semi)
2/3 cup raisins

In a medium bowl, combing the flour, baking soda, salt, and oats and set aside.

With the paddle attachment of a stand mixer (or handheld beaters) cream the butter until lighter and fluffy.  Add the sugar and beat on medium speed for 2-3 minutes.  Add the brown sugar and mix.  Then the egg and mix again.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

On the lowest speed, add about half of the dry ingredients.  Then the other and mix until almost incorporated.  Add the chips and raisins and mix just a tad.

Place the dough in the fridge for 6 hours or longer.  You can place in a bowl and cover, then use a cookie scoop to scoop the batter on to the pan.

Or, like me, you can make the dough into logs – so you can slice and bake.  Click here to see instructions on this.

Remove dough from fridge and let come to room temp for 20 minutes.  Or alternatively, you can slice and bake right out of the fridge – just adjust baking time.  They will take longer to bake the colder they are.  Makes sense.

Preheat oven to 350.  Maury made these really big.  2 tablespoons or so.  You can do what you want.  Place scooped or cut dough on lined baking sheets.  Bake 9 -14 minutes (keep checking) until golden brown.

Let cool and enjoy.

 

 

 

chocolate pudding alice medrich (no eggs)

Oh, this pudding is DELICIOUS.  I absolutely LOVE it.  Really really good and quite easy to make!

It is so thoroughly chocolatey and not at all cloying like some puddings seem to be.  This one is different from the other chocolate pudding recipe on the blog in many ways, but most importantly, there are no eggs.  Yup.  So this is great if someone has an egg allergy and often can’t enjoy pudding.

chocolate pudding (from Sinfully Easy Delicious Desserts by Alice Medrich):
1/3 cup (2.33 ounces) sugar
1/3 cup (1 ounce) unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably natural and a high-end cocoa)
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 3/4 cup whole milk
1/4 cup heavy cream
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate or 3 ounces semisweet (not both)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Whisk the sugar, cocoa, cornstarch and salt together in a heavy medium saucepan.

Add about 30 tablespoons of the milk, and whisk to form a smooth paste.

Whit in the remaining milk and cream.

Over medium heat, bring to a boil, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon.  Try to get into the bottom edges of the pan especially as it almost reaches the boil.  Once it begins to thicken and bubble at the edges, cook for about 1 minute more on a simmer.  Add the chopped chocolate

and stir briskly until the chocolate is melted and the pudding is smooth.  (About 30 more seconds).  Remove from heat and add vanilla.

I made this into a pie – and you can too – or place in pretty glasses with freshly whipped cream.  Yum.  Check out an old post from April of… for a delicious crust and whipped cream topping.  Delicious.

 

 

 

holiday brownies

So my mom texted this AM, asking which brownie recipe to make for my dad because he needs to put on weight.  I immediately thought of these goodies.  Looking at the blog, I realize that I had yet to finish the write up.  And when I looked closer at my draft, I realized that my parents actually tried and like them when they were here last.  Kind of funny.

Rob said these are the BEST brownies to date.  This is an extremely compelling reason to try them because Rob is a tough crowd.  And yes, I know there is no crowd in one, but he can feel like a crowd with his chocolate thoughts and opinions.  Andy, Sylvie, my mom, my dad – whoever came by that week truly enjoyed.  These are chewy and chocolatey, and not as rich as my regular fudge brownies.  The brownies have a lovely sheen on top and yummy crisp edges.  It’s a really good brownie.  I called them holiday brownies only because I’m embarrassed to write “brownies again” 🙂  Try them!

I love this cookbook btw – it is filled with terrific, thoughtful, healthy and quick dinner recipes and a few dessert goodies at the end — this being one of them.

holiday brownies (from The Mom 100 Cookbook by Katie Workman) 

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate|
1/2 cup unsweetened dutch processed cocoa powder
2 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt (if using table salt, cut in half)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
chocolate chips (optional)
toasted nuts (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Line a 13×9 inch baking pan with foil or parchment or use butter or cooking spray.

Place the butter in a medium sauce pan and over low heat, start to melt it.  Add the unsweetened chocolate by placing on top of the butter and slowly melt the two together.  Do not burn the chocolate or cook it.  If you are too worried doing it this way,  just use a double boiler or a makeshift one (metal bowl on top of a saucepan with an inch of barely simmering water).

Stir in the cocoa powder, sugar, and salt.  Then blend in the vanilla.  Beat in the eggs, one at a time and stir quickly after each one is added.  Then beat again once all incorporated.  Fold in the flour and chocolate chips and nuts if using.  I used chocolate chips.  I always do.  I usually use a darker semi sweet or a bitter-sweet (esp for Rob).

Bake for about 24-30 minutes…check them after 20 minutes.  Bake until the edges start to pull from the sides a tad, and a toothpick comes out just clean.

Let cool and enjoy!

 

puff pastry chocolate treat

I planned to make this little treat for my New Year’s brunch, but ran out of time so Rob jumped in and made it!  He will argue that he put it together, and didn’t bake anything – but even so, it shows you how easy this is.  (No offense meant for Rob, he just doesn’t bake a lot.)  Get some puff pastry in the house and grab a delicious piece of chocolate and you are prepared.

I love the Tasty recipes/videos on Facebook and Youtube.  They are so fun and charming.  Everything look so easy and fun.  Click here to see how to make this delicious treat.

Add almonds if you like.   Rob used bittersweet chocolate and it was delicious.  Enjoy –

 

apple crisp (another one)

I loved this.  Loved the simplicity of this crisp.  Probably my favorite.  Cored and sliced apples, skin intact, simple simple streusel topping – done.  Yes, no need to peel these apples, the skin enhances the flavor of the crisp and the colors that follow are awesome.  Like Autumn in a dish.  I served this with freshly whipped cream and it was delightful.  Truly.  I made this with a variety of apples…honeycrisp, tango, fugi, and jazz.  Have fun with it – just be sure that your apples are firm and hard so they don’t break down to applesauce while they cook.  Enjoy –

Oh, this is from Ruth Reichl’s new book My Kitchen Year and it is great!

5 heirloom apples
lemon
2/3 cup flour
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
6 tablespoons unsalted butter

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Core, slice and layer the apples in a buttered pie plate or baking dish.  Toss them with the juice of one lemon.

Combine the flour, sugar, salt and cinnamon.  Cut the butter into small pieces and add to the bowl.  Using your hands, rub ingredients together until the butter is incorporated and the streusel is of even color.

Place streusel on top of the apples and bake for about 45 minutes – and up to an hour or so.  The juices should be bubbling a bit at the edges and the top should be crisp, golden and fragrant.

Serve with whipped cream, ice cream, or just drizzled cream as Ruth suggests.

white cake with raspberry filling

Scrumptious white-ish cake, glorious raspberries, delicious icing…happy birthday to me!  This was one of two cakes that I made for myself (and shared!)  Loved it.  My mom, Marco, and Andy agree.  Others wouldn’t try it because well, I made a ridiculous ice cream cake that called to them instead and I guess hard to have both (although I did!)  There is not much more to say about this – save to tell you to make it!  It is a sturdy cake and easy to handle and the filling simple.  The buttercream is a bit more work, but worth it.  Andy, who used to be a chocolate lover declared that he no longer likes chocolate cake.  BTW, I froze half of the cake and it defrosted perfectly.  Enjoy –

Rob tells me it’s not great when I just send you to another webpage…but I’m going to do it today.  The instructions are as easy to follow as my own and I can move on to the other cake I made for my birthday!  I did not use their icing…I found a great icing from Alice Medrich which I will also share soon.  And lower on this page will be the raspberry filling.

Click here for the link — Lelite’s culinary.

raspberry filling:

1 1/2 cups raspberries, fresh or thawed frozen
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

In a saucepan, combine the raspberries and sugar.  In a small bowl combine lemon juice and cornstarch.

Pour into raspberries.  Bring to a boil over medium heat stirring constantly, until thickened.

Let cool before use.

 

apple custard cake

This cake is so pretty and I love the idea of pouring heaving cream over the finished batter.  It got me all excited.  It is supposed to turn into a custard-like cake, and it did.  But I’m not sure that custard on the bottom of a dense cake and softish apples on top is for me.  Or you.  It is so pretty, and I love the concept, but I guess I can’t really rec the cake.

So, why write?  Well, lately I’ve been making a lot of flops and well, I just didn’t want you to forget about me.  So enjoy this pretty pic and hopefully I’ll be back soon –

 

yellow cake

If you have a food processor and a few pantry ingredients, 10 minutes and a cake to bake – make this!  Simple, perfect, light, flavorful and can easily transform into something else (think layer cakes and trifles) Alice Medrich developed this recipe for you.  I failed miserably on a new apple cake recipe (thought the smoke alarm would go off) but had committed to delivering a cake.  I quickly found this recipe for a vanilla cake…a “One-Bowl Vanilla Cake” which sounded super easy and quick.  It was, and it delivered a moist and delicate cake that I will make again and again.  Serve it with fresh fruit and whipped cream, top it with frosting, or fill it with a lemon curd or orange cream adding some zest to the batter (reduce vanilla if you do this) to enhance the flavor.  Double this and bake in a 9×12 pan and keep as a simple sheet cake.  Possibilites abound.

one-bowl vanilla cake (from Sinfully Easy Delicious Desserts by Alice Medrich):

3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar (6.125 ounces — if you have a scale, use it!)
1 cup (4.5 ounces) all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/3 cup heavy cream
3 tablespoons (1.5 ounces) unsalted butter, melted and hot
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Quick note – The oven takes longer to preheat than it takes to  prepare the batter.  So wait a beat and start to make the cake once the oven is almost to the desired temp.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Place oven rack in lower third of oven.  Grease and flour the sides of the cake pan and line the bottom with parchment.

Place the sugar, flour, salt and baking powder in a food processor and pulse to blend the ingredients.

Add the cream and butter and pulse quickly – 8 -10 times, until the ingredients are blended.  Add the eggs and vanilla and pulse 5-6 times.  Scrape down the sides of the the bowl and pulse another 5-6 times.

Pour into the pan and spread evenly.  Bake 27-35 minutes – until a toothpick comes out just clean.

Let the cake cool in pan on rack for 10 minutes.  Then slide a knife around the edges and invert the cake onto the rack.  Peel off the liner.

Turn the cake right side up to let cool completely.

Feel free to freeze up to 3 months.

Enjoy –