Thursday, September 22, 2011

Brown Sugar Apple Pie


I don't stray too far from traditional recipes when it comes to apple pie. The only thing a little bit different about this one is that instead of a top crust, it has a thin layer of toasted brown sugar. It is not a streusel topping, which stays crumbly (and which I adore), but this topping melts a bit so that only a thin layer of brown sugar clings to the top. It is juicy and very fresh tasting, and begs for a scoop of good vanilla ice cream on top. Simply omit the topping and replace it with a top crust for an excellent regular apple pie.



 
Brown Sugar Apple Pie:
 
1 recipe Flaky Pie Crust
6 Cups mixed baking apples, sliced thin
 (it is good to use more than one apple variety)
1/2 Cup Brown Sugar
1 Tablespoon Cornstarch
1 tsp Cinnamon (half ceylon, half spicy if possible)
1 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
dash cloves

Topping:
2 Tablespoons Brown sugar
2 Tablespoons flour
2 Tablespoons butter

Roll the crust and lay the bottom crust in the pie pan, crimping the edges. Put the pie crust in the freezer for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, put the apples, cornstarch, sugar and spices into a bowl and let it macerate for at least 20 minutes. Take the crust out of the freezer and dust the bottom with a little flour. Spoon the apples into the crust, making sure to fill in the whole crust, not leaving big gaps of air.

Mix topping together in a small bowl, then sprinkle over the top. Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes, then reduce the oven temp to 375 and bake an additional 30-35 minutes. Let the pie sit for at least two hours to let it "set up." Depending on the juiciness of the apples, the pie may be a little runny. But letting it sit for two or more hours will help this.

 

Friday, September 16, 2011

Baking with Bourbon

This week is the Kentucky Bourbon Festival. While I don't like to drink Bourbon, I love to use it in Baking! Two great recipes that contain Bourbon are especially good in the Fall and Winter: Get ready to put Bourbon Pecan Pie on your Thanksgiving dessert table, or make Bourbon Balls for your Christmas party. Both of these recipes add the bourbon at the end, so it does not cook off and you really taste it. The bourbon is a surprising zing when you first take a bite, then after a moment it mellows and warms your tastebuds. See the recipe section to try these out, or send me your own ideas!

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Mayan Chocolate Cake


I LOVE the flavor combination of bittersweet chocolate with cinnamon and a touch of chili pepper. Although it is gaining popularity in recent years, this taste is actually not new at all. When the Mayans and the Aztecs made chocolate into a drink, it was spicy, not sweet.

I have seen spicy dark chocolate in the form of chocolate bars and fudge, and even ice cream. That got me thinking, Could it work as a cake? So I took my favorite chocolate layer cake recipe and tinkered a bit. Fair warning: this is not a cake for your typical chocolate lover (as my husband pointed out), this is for people who like to spice things up. The spices are noticable but not overwhelming, so adjust them to your own taste.

Cake:
1 3/4 Cups All-purpose Flour
3/4 Cup Cocoa Powder (if the special dark cocoa powder is available in your area, use that)
1 Cup Sugar
2/3 Cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons Baking Powder
1 1/2 teaspoons Baking Soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons Cinnamon (I use Penzey's Vietnamese Cinnamon, which is strong. If using a grocery store brand, use 2 teaspoons)
dash of Cayenne pepper (or freshly ground black pepper will work, with a slightly different taste)
1 Cup Milk
2 teaspoons Vanilla extract
2 Eggs
1 Cup of very strong, hot, freshly brewed coffee
2 oz chopped chocolate, the darker the better (go for a bar that is at least 60% cocoa or more)
1/2 Cup Vegetable Oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease two 9" round pans and use parchment circles on the bottom of the pans. Put the chopped chocolate into the hot coffee and stir, letting it melt. Combine Milk and eggs in a small bowl with vanilla and beat lightly. Now in your mixer, combine the flour, sugars, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices and mix on low speed until well-combined. Add the oil, mixing for about 30 seconds. Then add the milk/egg mixture and mix on low speed until moistened. Add the coffee/chocolate mixture on low speed beating just until it makes a consistent batter (it will be a little thin).
Bake for about 35-40 minutes, testing with a toothpick to make sure it is done in the middle.

Frosting:
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, softened
3 oz chopped extra dark chocolate
1 Tablespoon dark corn syrup
3 Cups confectioner's sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 to 1 teaspoon cinnamon (depending on your taste)
dash of freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 Tablespoons fresh coffee

Melt the dark chocolate in the microwave (heat it in 20 second intervals, stirring in between, so you don't burn it). In a mixing bowl, beat the butter, cocoa powder, sugar, and spices until well mixed. Add the melted chocolate, corn syrup, vanilla, and coffee. Beat on medium low until fluffy, adding more coffee or powdered sugar to get the consistency you desire.

Monday, August 15, 2011

Authentic Key Lime Pie




I love key lime pie, and the best thing about it is that it is one of the easiest pies to make. My friends in south Florida tell me that a truly authentic Key Lime Pie consists of three elements:

1) A Graham Cracker crust
2) Filling made only of egg yolks, Sweetened Condensed Milk, and Key Lime Juice
3) Fresh Whipped cream as a topping

I am sure that there is a great Key Lime Pie debate raging somewhere amongst the Floridians about meringue vs. whipped cream or whatever. But since I live in New England, I am just going to have to take my friends' word for it that this is the real thing. The fantastic recipe below comes from the Nellie & Joe's company, and it is super easy to make. When people ask me for the recipe, I tell them to just buy a bottle of Nellie & Joe's Key Lime Juice and follow the recipe on the bottle - it's the best recipe I've found. Bottled key lime juice is usually found in the juice aisle, the baking aisle, or sometimes even the drink mix section of your store. If you can't find it, check specialty stores. You really cannot get the same taste from regular limes, so it pays to look around and find the real thing. Sometimes you can find key limes in the store, and if you feel like squeezing them, more power to you!

Crust:
1 recipe Easy Cracker Crumb Crust, using Graham Crackers (I use the max amount of sugar for this pie because the filling is so tart)

Filling:
3 Egg Yolks
1 can Sweetened Condensed Milk (I prefer Carnation brand - some others can be slightly chalky)
1/2 Cup Key Lime Juice

Topping:
1 pint Heavy Cream
Extra sugar for sweetening the whipped cream (I usually use 2 Tablespoons)

Prepare the graham cracker crust and bake it at 350 for 10 minutes. Allow the pie shell to cool to room temp (but leave the oven on).

Beat the egg yolks, Key Lime juice, and sweetened condensed milk together until well blended. Pour into the pie shell and bake for 15 minutes more. Allow to cool to room temp and then refrigerate. Before serving, top it with homemade whipped cream (see below). If you have limes on hand, adding a little lime zest or lime twists as a garnish is nice.

To make whipped cream: Chill your cream along with the mixing bowl and whisk in the freezer for at least 25 minutes before you start. Pour the cream into the bowl and whip the cream with a balloon whisk until slightly thickened. Add desired amount of sugar, then whip some more until it is a forms thick peaks, being careful not to overwhip until it becomes clotty.

American Buttercream


This simple recipe is the frosting that most Americans remember from their childhood - it is one of the most common frostings our grandmothers used to make.

Pastry chefs generally disdain this frosting, sometimes calling it "faux buttercream" because it is not cooked like European buttercreams. BUT for all of their disdain, the pull of nostalgia can be strong indeed, since many Americans seem to prefer this to the others. Look at famous bakeries like Magnolia and Sprinkles, that have made a name for themselves using variations of this simple retro butter frosting. They have lines around the block for their cupcakes!

My own grandmother made the frosting recipe on the back of the Domino Sugar box, which called for 1 pound of confectioner's sugar to 1 stick of butter, but the modern consensus seems to be that increasing the butter to sugar ratio makes it tastier. Another change I made for my own recipe is that I like to beat mine in my mixer for several minutes (up to ten minutes sometimes), which makes it very fluffy. This frosting is also infinitely changeable - you can add chocolate, instant coffee powder, or various extracts to get different flavored frosting, so feel free to experiment!


4 Cups Confectioner's sugar (1 lb.)
1 Cup good quality Butter (I use salted butter for this since I like a little bit of salt)
2 tsp Vanilla extract
1 Tablespoon milk or heavy cream (use slightly more for a softer consistency)

Place the butter and sugar in a mixer and beat on low speed until combined. (If using a KitchenAid mixer, use the paddle attachment, not the whisk). Add vanilla and milk, then beat on low speed until it looks very fluffy. Be patient - I let this go in the mixer for 6-8 minutes. Mixing it for several minutes helps to make it fluffy and minimze the "grittiness" of the powdered sugar. If needed, add additional milk one teaspoon at a time until you get the consistency you want - thicker is better for piping swirls onto cupcakes; softer is better for frosting cakes.

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Traditional Cream Scones


These are traditional old-fashioned tea scones, not the new-fangled giant things that are so laden with flavors and chunks that you can barely taste the biscuit part. The bonus is that they are SO easy to make. I prefer them with no raisins or other fruit, because I like a plain scone slathered with jam. If you have access to imported Devon cream, use that in place of butter on these. This recipe comes from one of my all-time favorite books, The Breakfast Book by Marion Cunningham.

2 Cups all-purpose flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/4 cup heavy cream
Optional: 1/2 cup dried fruit (raisins, currants, cranberries, chopped apricots)

Glaze:
3 Tablespoons butter, melted
2 Tablespoons sugar

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Use an ungreased cookie sheet.

Combine dry ingredients in a bowl and mix well with a fork. Add dried fruit if using. With your fork, stir in the cream and mix until the dough holds together in a sticky mass.



Lightly flour a board and transfer the dough to it. Knead the dough eight or nine times. Pat it into a circle about ten inches round (you want the dough to be kind of thick). For the glaze, spread the butter over the top of the dough then sprinkle sugar on top. Cut the circle into 12 wedges (I prefer circles, so I use a biscuit cutter or a 3" circle cookie cutter with fluted edge).




Place on the cookie sheet an inch apart, and bake for about 15 minutes until golden brown. These are best served shortly after baking, or at least the same day. These are not something you want to make a day ahead.

Serve with butter (or Devon Cream) and strawberry jam. For a "proper pot of tea" to go with them, see the recipe section.

Monday, July 25, 2011

Blueberry Custard Pie


This isn't a true custard pie (It does not contain eggs), but it has a layer of blueberries mixed with a dense layer of lightly sweetened cooked cream. It is not really creamy enough to be called a cream pie, hence the name. If you like blueberry pie but want to try something a little different, this might be just your thing.  It is very easy to make, but you have to use good fresh blueberries; frozen will not work well for this pie.

I want to give credit to the book that this recipe is adapted from, but I gave it away and cannot find the title on the internet. If anyone knows the name of the book let me know so I can give credit where credit is due (I think the title had "Dinner Parties" in it and it was an obscure book by a female chef/author).

1 recipe Pat-in-Pan pie crust
(You could also use a baked graham cracker or vanilla wafer crust for this)
3 cups fresh blueberries
2/3 Cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
pinch of salt
1/3 Cup milk
2/3 Cup heavy cream

Preheat Oven to 400.F

Wash and pick over the blueberries, removing stems and any mushy berries. Spread on a paper towel to dry, then pour them into the pie shell.

In a medium bowl, combine sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt. Add the milk and cream, whisking until smooth. Pour the mixture over the berries.



Bake 40-45 minutes or until set in the center. (You may want to check the pie after 25 minutes or so to see if the crust edge needs to be covered with foil).

Let cool on a wire rack until room temperature, then refrigerate for two hours or until well chilled.

Serve with whipped cream on top.


Double Berry Pancakes


These pancakes are so easy and so delicious! The name "Double Berry" comes from the fact that they are blueberry pancakes with homemade berry syrup. The syrup can be made ahead and stored in the fridge, just warm it slightly before serving.

1 recipe of batter for Homemade Pancakes
1 1/2 cups Blueberries
1/2 cup raspberries
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup sugar

Set aside 1/2 cup of blueberries to use in the pancakes. Put the other 1 cup of blueberries, the raspberries, water and sugar in a small saucepan. Simmer over low heat until the fruit breaks down and the mixture turns syrupy, about 15 minutes. Put the mixture through a strainer to get rid of seeds and large berry clumps. Set aside.

Heat a cast iron griddle over medium heat until a drop of water sizzles on the surface. Pour batter onto the griddle, spacing pancakes about an inch apart. Drop about five blueberries onto each pancake. When you see bubbles AND the edges are drying slightly, it is time to flip. Serve hot with a dusting of powdered sugar and the berry syrup on the side.

Pat-in-Pan crust

This pie crust is a real time-saver! It only works for single-crust pies; ones that will have a topping on them instead of a top crust. It is sturdy and less flaky, so it is ideal for pies that need a sturdier crust, such as apple or berry crumb pie.

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup canola oil
3 1/2 Tablespoons milk

In a 9-inch pie pan, combine all ingredients and stir with a fork until well blended. Then use your fingers to pat the dough into the pan firmly, working until you have covered the bottom and sides of the pan. Use your fingers to press it smooth and make an even rim along the edge. With a fork, prick the bottom of the crust to prevent bubbling. Bake as directed according to the recipe for whichever filling you are using.

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Butter vs. Shortening - The Great Pie Crust Debate

If you look at a lot of cookbooks like I do, you'll see that cooking, like anything else, is all about trends. In my adult life I have been surprised to realize that even things you would never think of as "trendy" DO in fact follow waves of what is "in" or "out." Politics, parenting styles, and yes, Cooking.

And so we come to the trends of Pie Crust. Lard used to be the chief ingredient in American pie crusts, (those recipes now exchange lard for shortening in most cases). Then somewhere along the way we decided that the French way of making pie crust was superior - all butter crust (i.e. Pate Brise).

Nowadays there is a great debate among bakers, pastry chefs, and pie lovers about what makes the best crust. All-butter, shortening, or a combination of both? Lately the trend is definitely leaning in the direction of all-butter crusts. Pastry chefs and home bakers alike will proudly proclaim that their pies are made with nothing but butter in the crust. When did shortening get a bad rap? Was it Martha Stewart, with her 1985 book Pies & Tarts (to which I often refer for recipe ideas) that made people want to go all-butter, all the time? Was it even earlier? Or is it due to the recent findings that shortening, which contains trans-fat, is actually unhealthier than butter?

I don't know what has made the pendulum swing so far in favor of butter, but I'll make a confession: I like a shortening crust better. I know, I know, I am probably in the minority here. But although I have tasted many a delicious pie with an all-butter crust, my personal preference is for the lighter, flakier shortening crusts. I can hear the pastry chefs wailing that butter crust can be flaky when it is done right. True. But light? Not as far as I have tasted. Butter crusts are usually denser and richer in flavor, which to most people is a good thing. But not to me. I also find that butter crusts usually shrink more in cooking than shortening crusts do (but of course that can be helped by chilling the pie before baking).

Actually, my own flaky crust recipe calls for both, and the ratio is about 2 parts shortening to 1 part butter. It is deliciously light and flaky. The flavor, which butter lovers may consider a little bit bland, does not overshadow whatever filling I put in it. My husband, who always used to leave the ends of his crust abandoned on the plate, enjoys every crumb of this crust. And I always get a ton of compliments on the crust when I bring a pie to an event: Flaky Pie Crust

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Homemade Ice Cream Cake


Homemade Ice cream cake is pretty easy to make. Take your favorite cake recipe(I used Sour Cream Yellow cake for this) and make a 6" or 9" round layer of it. You can use the leftover batter to make a few cupcakes, or make two layers and freeze one of them for later use. Line another round pan of the same size with plastic wrap. Take your favorite Ice cream flavor (Store-bought or homemade) and let it soften a bit. Then scoop it into the pan lined with plastic wrap, making sure to push the ice cream well into the corners. Put the pan into the freezer for a couple of hours to freeze again. Then unmold the ice cream, set it on top of the cooled cake layer, and re-cover the whole thing with plastic wrap. Let it sit in the freezer until you are ready to frost and decorate it. I used lightly sweetened homemade whipped cream to decorate this one, because the ice cream is so sweet that you don't need a heavy sweet frosting on top.  

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Icebox Cakes - cool summertime desserts

Well, this blog is called "Baking Outside the Box," so I am torn about posting recipes for Icebox "cakes". They are not baking, and they are not really from scratch, (or "outside the box") as this blog is supposed to be about. But they are SOOO good, and a nice alternative when you want to make a dessert but don't want to turn on your oven.

Although I had heard of Icebox cakes and pies, I had never made one. But my sister-in-law recently turned me on to this retro craze with her fantastic Eclair Cake, which was the simplest, yet most popular, dessert brought to a recent potluck party at my house. Yes, that cherry pie that took me hours to make? It was totally trumped by pudding and graham crackers! Ya gotta laugh.

Icebox "cakes" are usually made from some kind of cookie or cracker (i.e. graham crackers, Nilla wafers or chocolate wafers) layered with whipped cream, pudding, or both and then refrigerated overnight. The cream and the crackers meld together, turning the crackers soft and cake-like. Viola! A cool summer dessert with no baking required!

The most famous of these recipes is Nabisco's Chocolate Refrigerator Roll, with its iconic picture on the box of chocolate wafers (found in the cookie section of your local store). And if my sister-in-law agrees to let me post her Eclair Cake recipe here, you will find it in the recipe section.

Monday, July 4, 2011

Fourth of July Cherry Pie

I cannot tell a lie. I was forced to use canned, not fresh, cherries for this pie. Not pie filling, but canned-in-water sour cherries. Because I could not find fresh or even frozen sour cherries anywhere in my area. So rather than use fresh sweet cherries (which I know from experience don't make a great pie), I used Oregon brand canned sour cherries, which still allowed me to make my own filling. It came out great! You can find the recipe in the recipe section.

Monday, June 27, 2011

Summer Strawberry Shortcake


When strawberries are in season and they can be had at local farmers' markets or pick-your-own farms, they are nothing short of amazing. These smaller, sweeter fruits almost bare no resemblance to their out-of-season grocery store counterparts. THIS is the time to make strawberry shortcake, and those beautiful berries demand that you don't skimp on the other ingredients - use REAL whipped cream and homemade cake (or a sweet biscuit, if you prefer) and LOAD IT UP! It took a quart of strawberries to make this cake, but boy, was it worth it. If you want to make this cake, here is the recipe:  Summer Strawberry Shortcake  It comes from my favorite cake book, Sky High by Alisa Huntsman. If you love baking cakes, you've got to get your hands on this book!

Summer Strawberry Shortcake



June means that Strawberries are in season! And there is nothing better than farm-fresh strawberries for this recipe. So if you can, buy them from your local farmer's market rather than the grocery store. It takes an entire quart of strawberries but it is SO worth it. Everything is made from scratch here, and it makes such a difference. This fantastic recipe comes from the book Sky High - Irresistable Triple-Layer Cakes by Alisa Huntsman.

For cake:
5 TB unsalted butter at room temperature
3/4 c sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 1/2 c cake flour
2 1/2 tsp of baking powder
1/4 tsp of salt
2/3 c buttermilk


For Strawberry Filling
2 pints strawberries (save a few whole ones for garnish)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 c sugar
For the whipped cream:
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
2 Tbsp granulated sugar
Wash, hull and cut up the strawberries. Put them in a bowl with the sugar and vanilla. Let them macerate in the fridge for at least one hour, stirring occcasionally.
In the meantime, make the cake: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease the bottoms and sides of three 6-inch round cake pans. (Line the bottom of each with a round of parchment for best results).
In a large mixer bowl, cream the butter, 3/4 c of sugar, and the vanilla with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition.
Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add these dry ingredients to the batter, alternating with the buttermilk. (Start with the dry ingredients and end with the dry ingredients). Divide the batter amoung the three prepared pans/put in the pan.
Bake the cake layers for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Allow to cool in the pan for ten minutes before inverting onto wire racks. Let the cake cool completely.
While the cake is cooling, place a mixing bowl and beater or wire whisk in the freezer. After they have chilled for a little while, take them out and whip the cream until it is thick enough to spread.
Assemble the layers like this: Cake, strawberries with juice, whipped cream. Repeat. Garnish with a few whole strawberries.

Friday, June 24, 2011

Fourth of July Desserts

There is nothing more fun than a Fourth of July cookout. For me, the hardest part is deciding which desserts to make! A red velvet cake? A flakey pie filled with locally-grown summer berries? A cool and summery icebox pie? A batch of patriotic sugar cookies? It's so hard to decide! Here are some ideas that can be made a day or more ahead. I will post recipes in the recipe section if you'd like to try them out. If you're having a potluck party like I am, maybe the best idea is to choose one dessert, and ask others to make something else.

PIES



Berry and cherry pie can be made with locally grown fruits this time of year, so they are the best choice. Because it is "All-American," Apple pie is always a favorite for July 4th, but since apples are not in season, you'd be forced to use imported (and likely bland) fruit.  Resist the urge!


COOKIES

Cookies are festive and a great choice to make ahead. The best thing about them is that they are so portable - guests don't need a plate and a fork to eat them, leaving the other hand free to hold a beer, or play horseshoes. 


 CAKES


 There is something about a cake that shouts "celebration!" To quote a line from a kids' song I recently heard, "How can it be a party when there isn't a cake?!" A red velvet cake is perfect for July Fourth. I love the idea of using fresh strawberries and blueberries to add red and blue color. A perennial favorite of cake decorators is a sheet cake made to look like a flag, with blueberries as the stars and strawberries as the stripes.



Royal Icing

Royal Icing was traditionally made with egg whites, but many people are fearful of salmonella nowadays. I don't worry as much about salmonella as I do about the raw egg whites spoiling when left at room temperature for long periods of time. So I use Meringue Powder royal icing.
Royal icing is a common icing for sugar cookies because it dries hard and can be thinned to have a smooth consistency. It isn't necessarily the best tasting icing, but for decorating it is the most versatile. It also dries quickly, which is a plus if you need to stack them.

5 Tablespoons Meringue Powder
3/4 Cup warm water
1 tsp cream of tartar
2 lbs Confectioner's Sugar, sifted

In a mixing bowl, combine the water and meringue powder together. Whisk by hand for 30 seconds until frothy. Add the cream of tartar and whisk again for 10 seconds, then add the sugar and attach the paddle attachment of your electric mixer. At medium-low speed (I use #2 on the KitchenAid) beat for TEN minutes until thick, creamy, and it forms stiff peaks. This stiff icing is the ideal consistency for constructing Gingerbread Houses. You can thin it by adding small amounts of water to achieve a flow consistency for cookies and such. Flow consistency should be when you drag a knife through the frosting and it takes a few seconds for the icing to smooth out and the knife mark to disappear.

Basic Blue



Blueberry pie is one of the easiest to make, since you don't have to slice, dice and pit the fruit. During the summer, going to a local blueberry farm to pick your own berries will give you the best berries and is often cheaper than buying them in the store. You can use frozen berries in the off season with a pretty good result. My husband likes a no-frills basic blueberry pie, with no added flavors that distract from the berries, so here it is:

1 recipe Flaky Pie Crust
4 Cups fresh Blueberries
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup Minute Tapioca
1 Tablespoon butter, cut into small pieces
Optional: for very sweet berries, add up to 1 Tbsp lemon juice to increase tartness
Rinse the blueberries and pick them over to remove stems. Put the berries, sugar and tapioca in a large bowl. Stir the berries roughly - you actually want to break some up and release the juices. (Blueberries have an outer skin which prevents them from making their own juice in the sugar unless some of them are broken. They will create juice when cooking, but when you are using tapioca as a thickener, you need some juice for the tapioca to absorb before cooking).

Spoon berries into the pie shell and dot with butter. Cover with top crust and cut a few slits in the top to vent. Bake at 400 degrees for 40-50 minutes.

Cherry Pie

1 recipe for Flakey pie crust
6 Cups Cherries, washed and pitted (see note at bottom about cherries)
3 Tablespoons Minute tapioca
2 Tablespoons Cornstarch
1 to 1-1/2 cups sugar, depending on the tartness of the cherries
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon butter, cut into little pieces

Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl. Allow to mascerate for 20 minutes.  Spoon the cherries and juice into the pie crust, dot the cherries with the butter, then cover with the top crust or a lattice crust. Bake at 400 degrees for 40-50 minutes.

A note about cherries:
When I first started making homemade cherry pies, I did not know there was a difference between cherries. I bought Bing cherries in the grocery store and wondered why my pies, while tasty, didn't have that tartness that a cherry pie should. Then I realized it was because I had not been using sour cherries a.k.a. "tart cherries." Why hadn't I seen them in the stores like the other cherries? Well, they can be very hard to find. These elusive cherries are only available for a short time in the summer, and you rarely see them at your local grocery store. (In fact, I read in Martha Stewart's pie book that she grows her own cherry trees just for this reason.) Look at Farmer's Markets or specialty stores like Whole Foods. If you still can't find them, you have two choices: You can look for frozen sour cherries, or use Oregon brand canned sour cherries in water. It is not a pie filling, just the cherries, so you still make your own filling. The last option is to use fresh sweet cherries and realize that your pie will be sweet, lacking that tart "true cherry pie" flavor.You can always try adding a bit of lemon juice to add tartness if you'd like.

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Real Strawberry Cake




This amazing Strawberry Scratch cake is from the book Sky High by Alisa Huntsman. This recipe adds strawberry puree to butter cake to give it a subtle berry flavor and pale pink color. I like to use a touch of pink decorator's coloring to highlight the color a bit, but it's up to you. The original recipe calls for a Strawberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream, but everyone raves about my Fresh Strawberry Buttercream so that is what I use. This would be wonderful for a pretty princess birthday cake, but equally as lovely for an adult occasion.

Real Strawberry Cake

4 1/2 cups cake flour
3 cups sugar
5 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 sticks (12 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups pureed frozen strawberries*
8 egg whites
2/3 cup milk
Optional - 1 to 2 drops red food dye, if using (to make the pink color pop more)

1. Preheat the oven to 350»F. Butter three 9-inch round or 8-inch square cake pans. Line with parchment or waxed paper and butter the paper.

2. Put the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large mixer bowl. With the electric mixer on low speed, blend for 30 seconds. Add the butter and strawberry puree and mix to blend the ingredients. Raise the speed to medium and beat until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes; the batter will resemble strawberry ice cream at this point.

3. In another large bowl, whisk together the egg whites, milk and red food dye, if using, to blend. Add the whites to the batter in two or three additions, scraping down the sides of the bowl well and mixing only to incorporate after each addition. Divide the batter among the three prepared pans.

4. Bake the cakes for 30 to 34 minutes, or until a cake tester or wooden toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow the layers to cool in the pans for 10 to 15 minutes. Invert and turn out onto wire racks and peel off the paper liners. Let stand until completely cooled before assembling the cake, at least an hour

*When fresh strawberries are truly in season, by all means use them instead of frozen.


Monday, June 13, 2011

Cake Trends: Back to Buttercream?

As a cake decorator, I love to see elaborate cakes decorated with fondant, gum paste, royal icing stringwork, and sculpted adornments. But as a baker, I have to say that there is something lost when one puts all their energy into making a visual piece of art - it often tastes more like art than food. I always used to take it as a compliment when someone would say my cookies were "too pretty to eat," but now I'm not so sure. When I see elaborate cakes on shows like "Cake Boss" and "Ace of Cakes" I am stunned by their appearance, but more often than not, I wouldn't want to eat them. The simple fact is that in order to build a cake that looks like a sculpture, you have to sacrifice some of the elements that make it tasty. The cake is heavy and dense; there is a lot of non-edible support inside; some of the decorations are often made from rice krispy treats (edible, yes, but let's face it - it's not cake). Finally, the cake is covered with fondant. Personally, I think fondant tastes fine when it is homemade. But more and more, I am hearing people say that they love the look but hate the taste of fondant. I often see it scraped off slices of cake and left sitting on the plate while the rest is eaten. Some people are asking for cakes decorated with buttercream instead. Is this the beginning of a new cake trend - forsaking fondant and getting back to buttercream? I don't know, but I guess I'd better brush up my piping skills!

Wedding Cake with Buttercream
(Birds, twigs etc are non-edible craft items)

Birthday cake covered with fondant
(Mushrooms are rice krispies covered in fondant)

Friday, May 20, 2011

Red Velvet Cake


Some people think that Red Velvet Cake is just chocolate cake with red food coloring, but that isn't quite true. It is a tangy buttermilk cake with just enough cocoa to give it a mildly chocolate flavor. This southern favorite seems mysterious, but really it is just as easy to make as any other scratch cake. The stunning red color and interesting flavor make this a very popular cake. It looks lovely on the Fourth of July when garnished with blueberries and strawberries.

2 cups sifted cake flour
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk
1 tsp (or more) of professional concentrated red food coloring (or use 1 Tbsp of regular food color)
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
2 large eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Use the "reverse creaming" method: Mix flour, cocoa, salt, sugar, baking powder, and baking soda in a kitchenaid mixer on low for about 30 seconds. Add butter and mix for about 30 seconds on low, then turn on medium and mix for about a minute to aerate. Scrape the bowl down. In a separate bowl, mix the buttermilk, food color, vinegar, vanilla, and eggs until well blended. Add to the flour/butter mixture in 3 segments, mixing for about 20 seconds after each addition. Scrape the bowl down.
Pour batter into two 9" pans and bake about 30 minutes. When cool, frost with American Buttercream or Cream Cheese Frosting.

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Margarita Pie


This pie is a fantastic choice for Cinco de Mayo. It is a chiffon pie, which means it is light and airy, kind of like a mousse. The flavor is lime with a dash of tequila, so it really does taste like a Margarita! A sweet graham cracker crust evens out the tartness. To make a lime chiffon pie with no alcohol, just omit the alcohol in this recipe - the filling will be slightly thicker without the added liquid, but that's fine.

1 homemade Graham Cracker Crust (add a little extra sugar since this filling is tart)
1 Packet of unflavored gelatin
1/2 Cup Lime juice
1/4 Cup Tequila
1/4 Cup Triple Sec
1 Pint Heavy Cream
1 Cup Confectioner's Sugar
a few drops of green food color

Sprinkle gelatin over lime juice and dissolve it over hot water. When gelatin is thoroughly dissolved, add tequila and Triple Sec. Refrigerate. Meanwhile, Whip the cream in a chilled mixer bowl until it thickens a bit. Add the sugar, and continue beating until soft peaks form. Refrigerate. When gelatin mixture begins to thicken and take on a syrupy quality, fold it into the cream while adding the food coloring. Spoon the mixture into the pie shell and garnish with lime slices. Chill the pie in the refrigerator for another hour before serving. The filling will "set up" more as it chills.

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Perfect Pancakes




You will never make pancakes from a box again after you've tried this easy and delicious recipe - it is SO good! The recipe comes from one of my favorite cookbooks, The Breakfast Book by Marion Cunningham. They come out fluffy and soft, and are especially good when cooked on a cast iron griddle.

2 Eggs
5 Tablespoons butter
1 Cup Milk
1 1/4 Cups All-Purpose Flour
1 Tablespoon Sugar
4 teaspoon Baking Powder
3/4 teaspoon salt

Beat the eggs in a mixing bowl until blended. Put the butter and milk in a large microwave-safe measuring cup or a glass bowl, and microwave until butter is melted. Set aside the milk/butter mixture and allow it to cool a little. Gradually add the milk mixture into the eggs, adding just a tiny amount at first (this is to temper the eggs, so if the liquid is still too hot, it does not cook the eggs). 

In a separate bowl, stir the flour, sugar, salt and baking powder together until well mixed. Pour the egg mixture into the flour mixture and stir only until the dry ingredients are moistened. Don't overmix (If you've been using a KitchenAid mixer for the first part of this, STOP now and mix this last part by hand).

Heat Griddle until a few drops of water "dance" on it (I really prefer a cast iron griddle for pancakes). Lightly grease the surface with a touch of oil. Drop about 1/4 cup batter onto the griddle for each pancake. Cook until bubbles break the surface and the pancakes are just starting to turn dry at the edges. If bubbles form immediately, your griddle is probably too hot.  Turn pancakes and cook about 30 seconds more on the second side.

For Blueberry Pancakes (or other fruit): Have the fruit cleaned and ready next to the griddle. After putting batter on the griddle, add pieces of fruit onto each pancake before turning it. (Fruit that is mixed into the batter often gets smashed up).

Topping Ideas:
I love to mix it up by serving different toppings with my pancakes. Here are some ideas:
 
  • Real Maple Syrup
  • Flavored Fruit Syrups (use real fruit syrups for best taste)
  • Powdered Sugar dusted on top
  • Fresh Fruit (bananas and berries are great)
  • Caramelized apples or bananas (Slice fruit and place in a skillet with 1 Tablespoon of butter and 1 Tablespoon of brown sugar per 2 Cups of fruit. Cook until caramelized).
  • Flavored Butters (mix 1 Tablespoon honey, real maple syrup, or fruit preserves to 1/4 cup softened butter and stir well)

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Shaker Lemon Pie


Shaker Lemon Pie is unusual as lemon pies go. Lemon Meringue Pie, Lemon Tart, and Lemon Chiffon pie all call for just the juice or the juice and zest to be made into a curd or a fluffy filling. Then the filling is topped with meringue, whipped cream, or nothing at all. But Shaker Lemon pie is actual slices of lemon baked with egg so it forms a kind of a custard, and topped with a pastry crust. Interesting. I found two recipes for this and the one I prefer is from the Joy of Cooking (Sorry, Martha Stewart, I tried yours and liked this other one better). IMPORTANT: The lemons have to macerate in the sugar for several hours, so plan ahead.

This will make an 8 or 9 inch pie. For larger pies or for deep dish, double the recipe:

1 dough recipe for a two-crust pie (see recipe section)
2 large Lemons
2 Cups Sugar
1 tsp salt
4 well-beaten eggs

Grate the zest from the lemons. With a very sharp knife, cut the white inner peel from the lemons and then slice them into paper-thin slices. Don't worry if the slices fall apart a bit - they won't stay in neat slices when mixed with the eggs anyhow. Remove all seeds. Combine the lemon slices with the sugar and let stand 2-24 hours (the longer the better).  After letting the lemons sit several hours (or overnight) Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Line a pie pan with the bottom crust of the dough. Add the beaten eggs to the lemons and stir well. Pour it into the pie crust. Cover with top crust and crimp the edges. Brush the top crust with milk and sprinkle a little sugar on top. Bake at 425 for ten minutes, then reduce heat to 325 and bake 45 minutes longer. (Cover the edges with tin foil if they start browning too much). Cool pie completely before slicing.

Monday, April 18, 2011

1922 Devil's Food Cake

This was one of my Great-Grandmother's recipes. When I came across it, there was something so intriguing about trying a cake recipe from 1922. The original recipe calls for lard, as you can see here, but I use shortening instead. Before you bake this, see my notes below on other possible adjustments that you might choose to make.

2 C Brown Sugar
1 C Lard (you can use shortening instead)
2 Eggs
1/2 Cup sour milk (instructions below)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 C fresh hot coffee
2 C flour
1/2 C cocoa
1/2 tsp baking soda

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two round 9" pans or one 9x13" pan.

For sour milk: Put 1-1/2 tsp white vinegar in a measuring cup then add milk to equal 1/2 cup. Let sit for five minutes.

Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, and baking powder in a large bowl and set aside. In a mixing bowl, cream the crisco and sugar together, then add eggs and mix well. Dissolve the baking soda in the sour milk and beat until frothy. Add the sour milk mixture to the sugar/egg mixture and beat to combine. Add the hot coffee a little at a time with mixer running on low. Gradually add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients in three shifts, mixing well after each addition of flour.

Note: I wanted to print this recipe as my great-grandmother made it, since I am a fan of retro recipes and I believe in preserving family recipes in their original form. However, while I love the flavor of this cake, I find it slightly dry, so I make a couple of minor adjustments to the recipe when I bake it: I use 3 eggs instead of two, and I increase the coffee to 3/4 Cup (instead of the 1/2 cup listed).

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Guinness Cake



After tinkering with a few different recipes for chocolate stout cake, this is what I came up with. It is delicious and versatile. You can leave off the icing and it will taste like a rich chocolate pound cake. Or bake it as a small layer cake instead of the bundt, frosting it with chocolate or vanilla buttercream. For a different flavor, I have substituted Coffee or Coca-Cola for the Guinness. Whenever I need a dense chocolate cake, this is my go-to recipe. It is actually better the day after you bake it, when the Guinness flavor has had time to mellow.

Cake
1 cup Guinness
1 cup (2 sticks) butter
3/4 cup Cocoa powder
2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 teaspoons salt
2  eggs
3/4 cup sour cream
1/2 tsp vanilla

Icing
2 Cups confectioner's sugar
2 Tbsp butter, melted
2 Tbsp cup cocoa powder
2 Tbsp Guinness


Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a bundt pan with baking spray.

Bring Guinness and butter to simmer in a pan over medium heat. When the butter is melted, take off heat and add cocoa powder. Whisk until mixture is smooth. Cool slightly.

Sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt in large bowl to blend. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, beat the eggs then stir in the sour cream to blend. Add the chocolate mixture to the egg mixture gradually and beat just to combine. Add flour mixture, stirring just until there are no large lumps of flour left. Pour into bundt pan. Bake cake until tester inserted into center of cakes comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Let it cool 10 minutes, then turn the cake out onto a rack to cool completely.

For icing, combine the sugar, cocoa, melted butter and Guinness and stir well until it is nice and smooth. Put into a microwave safe bowl and heat the icing for about 10 seconds to get it to a nice pouring consistency. Place the cooled cake on a rack and spoon the icing over the bundt cake. You can use as much or little as your taste desires.

Sugar 'N' Spice Muffins



These muffins are easy to make and so nice on a cold winter morning. They are a great item to bring to a potluck brunch party.

1/3 Cup Shortening
1/2 Cup Sugar
1 Egg
1 1/2 Cups All-Purpose Flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg (freshly ground if possible)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
dash of cloves
1/2 Cup Milk

Topping:
1 stick butter, melted
1/2 Cup sugar combined with 1 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350. Grease the muffin tins.
Beat the shortening, sugar, and egg in a mixing bowl. Mix together the flour, baking powder, salt, and spices, then add to the shortening mixture. Pour in the milk and beat until blended and smooth. Fill the muffin tins about 2/3 full. I usually only get 10 out of this recipe, but you can fill the cups less for a full dozen if you wish. Bake about 20 minutes, until slightly browned.

For the topping, have the butter melted in a bowl and the cinnamon sugar in a separate bowl. When the muffins have cooled enough to remove them from the tins, dip the tops of each muffin in the butter then the cinnamon sugar. Place on a rack to dry. These are best served fresh, but they will still be okay the next day (though slightly drier).

Easy Cracker-Crumb Crust




Store-bought Graham Cracker Crust is so awful, and making a real cracker crumb crust is so easy. Try different varieties of crackers and cookies to make your pie interesting. Graham cracker crusts are always a favorite, but for some very sweet pies (i.e. Butterscotch) you may want a Ritz cracker crust to give it a touch of saltiness. You can also match the flavor of the crust to the pie (i.e. chocolate cookie crust for chocolate cream pie, vanilla wafer crust for vanilla cream pie). I have also used gingersnaps, almond wafers, and crunchy Lemon cookies.

1 1/2 Cups Cracker or cookie crumbs (use a food processor to get the finest crumb)
*optional: 1/4 to 1/2 Cup confectioner's sugar (see note below)
6 tablespoons melted butter

Stir ingredients together until well blended. Pat into the pie pan gently at first, to position the crumbs as evenly as possible. Then go over it, pressing more firmly to really set the crumbs in place. If you prefer, you can put a sheet of plastic wrap over the top to make it easier to press firmly without the crumbs sticking to your hands. Another method: If you have a second pie pan of the same size, you can rest it inside the crust and press firmly.

 
 
Crumb crusts can either be chilled (as for cream pies) or baked (for any kind of filling that will need to go back in the oven, like something with meringue topping). If you are chilling the crust to set it, just make sure you give it at least an hour in the fridge. For baking, bake at 350 for about ten minutes, then allow it to cool before filling.

About adding sugar to the crust:
For Graham Cracker Crust I usually add 1/4 Cup confectioner's sugar, more when making a crust from Ritz Crackers, and no sugar at all when using cookie crumbs for the crust.

Flaky Pie Crust

 
Some people prefer an all-butter crust for pies, but I find crusts made with a Crisco/Butter mixture to be lighter and flakier, as well as shrinking less in the baking process. My husband, who usually leaves the ends of his crust on the plate, eats ALL of the crust when it is this recipe, because it is lighter and flakier than other pie crusts. This pie crust recipe is two parts shortening to one part butter, so you get the tenderness of a shortening crust with some butter flavor. It is very versatile pie crust and easy to work with. If you are new to making crust from scratch, check out my Foolproof Pie Crust Tips.

The recipe makes a two-crust 9" pie:

2 Cups sifted All-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 Cup chilled shortening
4 Tbsp chilled butter
4 Tbsp Ice Water

Sift together Flour and Salt. Cut half of the shortening into the flour with a pastry blender, until it looks like the texture of cornmeal. Cut in the remaining shortening and butter until the dough is in pea-sized crumbs. Sprinkle on the water and blend in lightly with a fork. If needed to hold the dough together, you can add more water a scant teaspoon at a time. When you can gather up the dough in a ball, stop working it. Pie Crust should be worked lightly, not kneaded like bread. Divide the dough in half, press circles between two sheets of waxed paper to make a disc. This makes chilling the dough faster and rolling it will be easier later. Put the dough in the fridge to chill for an hour or so before rolling. If not using it right away, put the dough in a large Ziploc bag and freeze it.

Then I just go ahead and roll my dough between the two pieces of waxed paper. You need to keep lifting and repositioning the paper when you do this, but it means that you add little or no extra flour to the dough.  It also makes transferring it from the board to the pie tin easier.



Peel back one side of the waxed paper and put that side down into the pie pan. Then gently peel back the top sheet of waxed paper:

 
Gently push the dough into the corners of the pan:
 
 
If any part of the edges breaks, you can patch it with dough from an area that has too much:
 
 
 
If you are making a single-crust pie, proceed below. If you are making a double-crust pie, fill
the pie and then place the top crust over the filling. Then proceed with crimping directions below.
 
 
Fold over the edges and pinch them together like this:
 

 Crimp edges in a fluted pattern (see below) or press them with the tines of a fork.
 


Friday, April 15, 2011

Spring is here!


These Easter/Spring cookies will be wrapped (with about four dozen others) and donated to our local library to be sold at their April fundraiser. The cookies are a standard rolled Butter Cookie with Royal Icing.

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Crazy for Butterscotch

Butterscotch Bars

Butterscotch Pie with cracker-crumb crust


I LOVE butterscotch desserts. The rich flavor of brown sugar and butter together is heavenly, but for some reason this retro flavor just isn't around much anymore. I have several recipes for great Butterscotch desserts, which I will post in the recipe section. Butterscotch Bars are a variation on shortbread bars - they are crumbly and addictive, yet sooo easy to make! Butterscotch Pie is a rich, creamy pie that is dense with butterscotch flavor, and the slightly salty cracker crust is a perfect foil for its over-the-top sweetness.

Simple Shortbread

This recipe comes from The Joy of Cooking. It is so simple to make and deliciously buttery.  It is also very versatile - you can spread raspberry jam and crumb topping on top to make raspberry bars, or add lemon zest to the dough then drizzle a lemon glaze on top for lemon bars.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Bars:
1 Cup Butter (at room temperature)
2 Cups sifted all-purpose Flour
1/2 Cup Powdered Sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt

Cream the butter until soft. Sift together the Flour, Sugar, Salt. Add the flour mixture to the butter just until well combined. It will be crumbly. Pat into a 9x9 pan and press down. Pierce with a fork through the dough in several places. Bake 25-30 minutes. Cut into squares while warm.

Brown Sugar Shortbread


These shortbread bars are rich with the flavors of brown sugar and butter. And the best part is they are quick and easy to make!

Bars:
1 Cup Butter (at room temperature)
2 Cups sifted all-purpose Flour
1/2 Cup Light Brown Sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon Vanilla

Crumb topping:
2 Tablespoons Flour
2 Tablespoons butter
5 Tablespoons brown sugar

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Cream the butter and vanilla just until soft. Sift together the Flour, Sugar, Salt. Add the flour mixture to the butter just until well combined. It will be crumbly. Pat into a 9x9 pan and press down. Pierce with a fork through the dough in several places. Sprinkle with crumb topping (use as little or as much topping as you'd like). Bake 25-30 minutes. Cut into squares while warm.