Walnut Jam Cake

This is a delicious cake with perfectly balanced flavors of butteriness, nuttiness, tartness and sweetness (which is to say, barely sweet, just how I like my snacks!). I've made it a few times over the years from this recipe but I have never made it with the whipped cream. It is really delightful with just the jam, and frankly, the cake would be tasty enough on it's own. It's that good. I had a handful of  fresh cranberries leftover from Thanksgiving so I boiled them with a little sugar and lemon juice and it made the perfect quick jam for this cake.

Cake:
1 1/4 cup walnuts, toasted for 10 minutes in a 350 degree oven, and cooled
2/3 cup sugar
1 stick unsalted butter, cut into pieces
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Topping:
1/2 cup jam (use whatever you've got!)
1 teaspoon lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350. Butter and flour a round cake pan (Deb says 8", I used a 9" pan and it was fine).

Pulse cooled walnuts and sugar in a food processor until finely chopped. Add butter and process until combined, then add eggs and vanilla and process till combined. Add flour, baking powder, and salt and pulse till just incorporated. Spread batter in pan.

Bake until wooden pick inserted into cake comes out clean. For me, in the 9" pan: I cooked it for 20 minutes, turned off the oven and let the cake sit in the oven for an extra 5 minutes and it was done.

Cool in pan for 15 minutes, then turn out onto a rack to cool completely. Spoon jam over cake.

Chocolate Banana Muffins

Since I posted my tried-and-true chocolate chip banana bread bread recipe a few weeks ago, in the spirit of trying new things I sought out a new banana-based treat for this week's snack. I'm so glad I did because this recipe is destined to be in my regular rotation now. Added bonus is that my toddler thinks she is eating chocolate cake when really these muffins are (relatively) healthy.  I found the recipe here but made a few tweaks of my own. In the future I might even dial back the sugar even more than I did because they are very flavorful and delicious and need not be overly sweet. Still moist and fresh-tasting on day 3! I liked having the walnuts in this recipe but it goes without saying that they could be made more decadent if you used 1 cup of chocolate chips and skipped the nuts.

3 ripe bananas
1/3 cup coconut oil
1 egg
3/4 cup sugar (could probably do 1/2 cup for equally delicious results)
1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 cup cocoa
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350.

Combine bananas, oil, and egg in mixer.

In a separate bowl, combine dry ingredients. Add to banana mixture.

Stir in chips and nuts until just combined.

Spoon into greased or lined muffin tins. This yielded 15 muffins for me.

Bake for 20 minutes.

Tasty!

THANKSGIVING EDITION - Apple Cake and Cranberry Pecan Pie

This was our first year of hosting Thanksgiving at our house, and we killed it! Thanks to Martha Stewart and Deb at Smitten Kitchen for having awesome recipes to work from (we made a turkey we bought from our CSA, garlic and sour cream mashed potatoes, this gravy, these brussels, this corn pudding, and this stuffing). A friend offered to bring a sweet potato pie, and since I think every successful Thanksgiving should have at least three desserts, I decided to make this apple cake and this cranberry pie because I am a HUGE fan of tart, fresh cranberries. Everything was delicious!

I served both desserts with Graeter's vanilla bean and salted caramel ice creams.


Apple Cake 

5 apples
1 tablespoon cinnamon
5 tablespoons sugar

2 3/4 cups flour, sifted
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups sugar
1/4 cup OJ
2 1/2 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a bundt pan. Peel, core and chop apples into small chunks. Toss with cinnamon and sugar and set aside.

Stir together flour, baking powder and salt in a large mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together oil, orange juice, sugar and vanilla. Mix wet ingredients into dry ones, then add eggs, one at a time. Scrape down bowl to incorporate everything well.

Pour half of the batter into prepared pan. Spread half of the apples over it. Pour remaining batter over the apples and rearrange the remaining apples on top. Bake for about 1 1/2 hours or until a tester comes out clean. Cool completely before running a knife between cake and pan, and unmold onto a large serving tray.

Sooo moist and tasty; picture does not do it justice!

Cranberry Pecan Pie 

Crust
1 1/4 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 table salt (I only had coarse so I used closer to 1/4 tsp)
1 stick cold unsalted butter, cut into chunks
1/4 cup very cold water

Filling
4 1/2 cups fresh cranberries
1 cup sugar
Orange zest (Deb says "a few gratings" but I used probably 2 tablespoons worth)
Pinch of salt
1 tablespoon cornstarch

Streusel
2/3 rolled oats
1/2 cup flour
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup light brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp coarse salt
3/4 cup pecans, toasted
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled

For dough: In the work bowl of a food processor, combine flour, salt and sugar. Add butter and pulse until mixture resembles a coarse meal and the largest bits of butter are the size of tiny peas. Turn mixture out into a mixing bowl. Add 1/4 cup cold water and stir with a spoon until large clumps form. Use hands to knead dough together in the bottom of the bowl.  Wrap dough in plastic. Refrigerate 1 hour or up to 48 hours.

Form the crust: On a floured counter, roll the dough out into a 12-13 inch circle. Transfer to a 9-inch pie plate. Trim overhang to about 1/2 an inch. Crimp. Refrigerate until ready to fill.

Heat oven to 375.

Make filling: Combine all filling ingredients in a medium saucepan over medium heat. After about 5 minutes, berries will leak juices. Cook 5 minutes more until filling is loose. Transfer to a bowl and letter cool slightly.

Make topping: If using whole oats, grind them to a powder in a food processor. Add pecans and grind too. Add remaining ingredients except the butter, pulsing a few times to combine. Add butter until crumbles form. Sprinkle over cranberry topping.

Bake pie: For 45-50 minutes until juices are slightly bubbling. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Sooo tart and crumbly! A perfect pie and a bad pic

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

You know a recipe is a favorite when the page on your recipe book is splattered with cooking stains. Well this is one of those instances! A cousin of mine organized a cookbook for her son's school when she was a PTA member, and since she was the organizer, she included a lot of family recipes in the book. This is great for me as I have a little sampling of family recipes from various cousins all in one place. One of her submissions was this bread which I make often. It's easy and delicious and comes out perfect every time.

1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
3 ripe bananas
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla
generous 1/2 cup chocolate chips

Heat oven to 350.

In a food processor, beat oil and sugar together. Add eggs and bananas and beat well. Add flour, baking powder, soda and salt and beat just till incorporated. Add vanilla. Stir in chips. Bake in a greased loaf pan for 50-60 min until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool on rack.

Lemon Crunch Blueberry Muffins

photo courtesy of gimme some oven because I forgot to take a
 photo of my batch...these look prettier anyway

A longtime favorite My mom used to make these all the time when I was growing up and they remind me of weekend mornings lingering over breakfast with mom. I'm copying her recipe below, but I made some substitutions (which didn't quite work out). Next time I'll try this version to see if it's any better. I used 2 cups pastry flour, omitted the wheat germ (didn't have any on hand) and used 1/4 cup of coconut oil but the muffins were dense and overcooked (the latter mistake could actually be blamed on the pan I used because I never have luck cooking things properly in that pan).

1/3 cup wheat germ 
1/3 cup sugar 
3 tsp. baking powder 
1/2 tsp salt 
1 cup milk 
1/4 cup canola oil 
1 egg 
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries 
2 tsp lemon zest 
Combine wet ingredients and beat well. 
Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients; stir to moisten 
Fold in blueberries. 
Fill muffin cups (paper-lined or greased) 2/3 full 
Combine the sugar and zest; sprinkle on top of each muffin

1 3/4 cups flour 
2 tbsp sugar 

Combine dry ingredients. Stir to blend. 

Bake at 425 for 20 minutes

Chocolate Espresso Shortbread Cookies

Wanted to make cookies. These sounded yummy and I had all of the ingredients for them. Used this recipe and didn't change a thing, except my batch did not make 42 cookies (more like 32). And I didn't dust them with additional confectioner's sugar. Subtle coffee and chocolate flavor - next time might double the coffee and increase chocolate amount a bit. A tasty shortbread!


1 tablespoon instant espresso powder
1 tablespoon boiling water
2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temp
2/3 cup confectioner's sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup chocolate chips, chopped (or left whole if mini chips)

Dissolve the espresso in boiling water, set aside to cool.

In a stand mixer with paddle attachment, beat the butter and confectioner's sugar together on medium speed for about 3 minutes, until the mixture is very smooth. Beat in the vanilla and the espresso. Reduce speed to low and add flour, mixing only until it disappears into the dough. Fold in the chopped chocolate.

Transfer the dough into a gallon size zipper-lock plastic bag. Leaving top open, put bag on flat surface and roll the dough into a 9 x 10 1/2 inch rectangle that's 1/4" thick. When correct size and thickness is achieved, seal the bag and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Heat oven to 325. Line two baking sheets with parchment.

Slit open the plastic bag, on a cutting board. Discard the bag and cut the dough into 1 1/2" squares. Transfer the squares to a baking sheet.

Bake for 20 minutes, rotating sheets from top to bottom and front to back at the midway point. The cookies will be very pale. Transfer cookies to a rack to cool.

My award-winning food photography

Cinnamon-Sugar Ribbon Bread

Coming off last week's recipe for PB&J muffins, I had a few cups of buttermilk left over and was searching for ways to use it up. So I went back to the Averie Cooks website and found this solution. I followed the recipe exactly. Elena enjoyed helping to sprinkle the cinnamon-sugar on top. As Averie suggests, it makes a tasty toast, especially when cut thick and slathered with butter, a decadent but quick breakfast on a rushy Monday morning. If I make this again I might use 1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg instead of the pre-ground stuff.

1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 egg
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup canola or vegetable oil
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon nutmeg
3/4 teaspoon baking soda


Preheat oven to 350.

In a small bowl, combine the granulated sugar and cinnamon, set aside.

In a large microwave-safe bowl, melt the butter. Let cool momentarily. Add egg, brown sugar, oil and vanilla and whisk to combine. Add buttermilk and stir just till blended.

Add flour, nutmeg, and soda and stir just to combine. Batter will be thick and lumpy.

Pour half of the batter into a loaf pan, smoothing it lightly with a spatula. sprinkle 3/4 of the cinnamon-sugar mixture on top, then top with the remaining batter, smoothing again with the spatula. Top with remaining cinnamon-sugar.

Bake for 50 minutes, when toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 15 minutes, then invert bread onto a rack to completely cool.

It's hard to photograph bread attractively

Peanut Butter and Jelly Muffins

A work colleague recently brought in some peanut butter and jelly cupcakes to share. They were vanilla cupcakes with sweet strawberry jam - the gluey fake kind that is often used at bakeries - with fluffy peanut butter icing. Another work friend and I split one, skeptical about how they would taste. While they were not terrible, they were way too sugary for my taste. I thought the recipe could be better executed as a muffin so decided it would be my next baking project. I found this on Averie Cooks. I made a slight alteration to her recipe, and also used a mini muffin tin so I was able to yield 24 mini muffins and 6 regular-sized muffins. Though there's only 1/2  cup of peanut butter the PB flavor came through really nicely and the muffins were not too sweet. Will make them again!

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 light brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 heaping cup peanut butter
1/3 cup canola or vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 cup jam, any flavor (I used this)

Preheat oven to 350. I lined my mini muffin tin with liners, and left my regular sized muffins liner-less (didn't need to grease the tin because I used a non-stick).

In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients (everything but the jam)

Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients and fold to incorporate until just combined.

Fill muffin cups so the bottom of the cup is filled with batter (about a 1/3 of the way full). Next, add spoonfuls of jam (I used about 1/2 teaspoon of jam for the mini muffins, and 1 teaspoon of jam for the regular-sized muffins). Top each muffin with the remaining batter.

Bake for 20-25 minutes until tops are golden and springy to the touch. Enjoy! 

 

Chocolate Stout Cake

My aunt and uncle came to our house for dinner on Sunday night and I was craving something chocolate for dessert. This proved to be a crowd-pleaser. In spite of the fact that there are 2 cups of sugar in the cake, it is not very sweet at all. I upped the coffee measurement in the ganache (the original recipe called for 3/4 teaspoon) so it resulted in a barely sweet, delightfully bitter dark chocolate flavor. Since the recipe only calls for 6 tablespoons of cream, I used the remainder in the carton to make a homemade whipped cream that paired nicely with the cake. 

Lightly tweaked from Smitten Kitchen

1 cup stout (such as Guinness)

2 sticks of butter 

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (Smitten Kitchen recommends Dutch-process but I used this from Trader Joes and it worked well)

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
2 large eggs
2/3 cup plain 2% Greek yogurt 

6 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips or baking chocolate (I used a mix of both)

6 tablespoons heavy cream
2 teaspoons instant coffee granules

Prepare cake:

Preheat oven to 350. Butter a bundt pan thoroughly, making sure to get into all the nooks and crannies. Bring 1 cup stout and the 2 sticks of butter to simmer in a heavy saucepan over medium heat. Add cocoa powder and whisk until mixture is smooth. Cool slightly. 

Whisk flour, baking soda and salt in a large bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat eggs and yogurt in another large bowl to blend. Add stout-chocolate mixture to egg mixture and beat to combine. Add flour mixture and beat briefly on low speed. Using a spatula, fold batter until completely combined. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake cake about 35 minutes, when tester inserted into center comes out clean. Transfer cake to a rack and cool completely in pan, then turn cake onto rack and drizzle the ganache. 

Ganache: 

Melt the chocolate, heavy cream and coffee in the top of a double boiler over simmering water until smooth. Drizzle over top of cooled cake. 

Decorate with rainbow-colored non-pareils and serve with homemade whipped cream.

Famous Oatmeal Cookies

I have been making these cookies for years; in fact, they were the first baked good that I made when I was learning how to cook as a teenager. They are easy and delicious and you can customize them to your taste. I  had to do a bit of additional customization with this batch since I did not have shortening. As a substitute, I used two bananas (about 1 1/2 cups worth). The banana flavor is  nice and made for a chewy - and healthier! - cookie. If I do a banana substitution again I will significantly dial back the sugar content; maybe leaving out the granulated sugar entirely. I left out the water in this batch too which was a good idea, since the extra banana made the batter pretty moist. I also used pastry flour instead of all-purpose flour based on this handy substitution guide.  Finally, I added about 1/4 cup of butterscotch morsels and 1/2 cup of mini chocolate chips. As usual, this recipe produced a satisfying cookie!

Makes about 3 dozen cookies (the tin claims batter will make 5 dozen cookies but I have been using this recipe for about 20 years and I can't remember ever getting that many cookies out of it)

3/4 vegetable shortening
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar (I use light or dark)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups oats, uncooked
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspooon salt (optional)
1/2 teaspoon soda

Preheat oven to 350. Beat together shortening, sugars, egg and vanilla. Add combined dry ingredients and mix well. Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto greased or parchment-lined cookie sheet. Add-in ideas: chopped nuts, wheat germ, coconut, any kind of chip (chocolate, peanut butter, butterscotch, white chocolate, etc), raisins, dried cranberries or cherries, chia or flax seeds, etc. The possibilities are endless. Bake for 12-15 minutes depending if you prefer a chewy or a crispy cookie.

Sunken Apple and Honey Cake

The CSA provided a bag of teeny tiny apples last week which coincided with Smitten Kitchen's post of this cake which called for the use of teeny tiny apples! I didn't do any alterations to the recipe, but I decided not to include the honey glaze since I planned to take slices to work during the week and didn't want to deal with stickiness. As Deb describes it is a delicious cake and not too sweet. I am not a skilled apple corer (or food photographer) so my apples didn't come out as uniform as Deb's and my photo does not look very appetizing, but I would definitely make this again, next time trying it with the glaze to compare the difference. 

Apple Fruit Leather, Cheddar Apple Scones and Chocolate Pear Scones

We went apple picking last weekend and I've tried to use up our bounty of apples in a few ways. First, I made an applesauce flavored with a dash of cinnamon and a glug of rosewater - yum! And true to her contrary toddler self, Elena refused to eat any of it even though she normally loves applesauce. So it languished in the fridge for a few days until I stumbled upon a ridiculously easy fruit leather recipe from Karen Solomon's book, "Jam It, Pickle It, Cure It." Elena is currently enamored with fruit leather (we call them "flat raisins" at home) so I figured the way to get her to eat the applesauce would be to turn it into fruit leather. I was right!


This recipe requires minimal effort but it takes a long time to cook. But it's worth it.

Apple Fruit Leather
-Take 3 cups of applesauce or apple butter (we only had 2 cups of applesauce left and it created a very thin fruit leather. Three cups would definitely be preferable in the future)
-Spread evenly on a rimmed, parchment-lined baking sheet

-According to Solomon's directions, the apples should cook at 150 F for 5-7 hours. Since our oven does not go that low, I set it to 170 F and propped the oven door open by inserting a wooden spoon handle into the door.
-After about 5 hours,  or when the fruit leather is sticky (but not wet), carefully peel up the edges, flip it, and cook for another 30 minutes

-Slice into strips with a pair of kitchen scissors and enjoy. 

Since we still had an abundance of apples left over, as well as a bag of tiny pears from the CSA, I turned to one of my favorite scone recipes from Smitten Kitchen to use up some more produce. I used the recipe below, and simply swapped out apples for pears and then cheese for semi-sweet mini chocolate chips (which I preferred over Deb's suggestion of using chocolate chunks) to make the pear scones. I was planning to freeze the dough and then bake as-needed when I wanted a snack, but instead I cooked up both batches and brought the scones to a playdate at the park with Elena's friends from school and their parents. They were the perfect accompaniment to a gorgeous fall morning, with a cup of coffee in hand.

Apple and Cheddar Scones
Lightly tweaked from Smitten Kitchen (ditto for the Pear and Chocolate scones)

Makes 10 scones

2-3 firm tart apples (about 1 pound)
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar plus 1 1/2 tablespoons for sprinkling
1/2 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt, plus additional for egg wash
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
Heaping 1/2 cup sharp cheddar, shredded
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 large eggs

Preheat oven to 375 °F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.

Peel and core apples, then cut them into small bite-sized pieces. Place them in a single layer on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake them until they take on a little color and feel dry to the touch, about 20 minutes. They will be about half-baked. Let them cool completely. 

Sift or whisk flour, sugar, baking powder and salt together. Set aside. Place butter in the bowl of an electric mixer with a paddle attachment, along with cooled apple chunks, cheese, cream and one egg. Sprinkle flour mixture over the top and mix on low speed until the dough just comes together. Do not overmix.

Generously flour your counter top and place the scone dough on top of it. Sprinkle with flour. With your hands, shape the dough into a 1 1/4-inch thick, 6-inch circle. Cut circle into 10 wedges. Transfer them to a baking sheet that has been lined with a fresh sheet of parchment paper. 

Beat remaining egg in a small bowl with a pinch of salt. Brush the scones with egg wash and sprinkle them with remaining tablespoon of sugar. Bake until firm and golden, about 30 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

As Deb at Smitten Kitchen advises: Scones are best the day they are baked. However, they can be made ahead of time and stored unbaked in the freezer until you need them. Simply brush them with the egg wash and sprinkle them with sugar, and bake them still frozen for just a couple extra minutes. This way they are always freshly baked when you want them. These scones were passable on day two and terrible on day three.

Clearly, I need to work on my food photography. 

Cape Gooseberry Coffee Cake

Our CSA provides many wonderful fruits and vegetables throughout the year and sometimes we receive something unusual that stumps me. In last week's box, that "something" was a pint of cape gooseberries (aka ground cherries). They had appeared in a few boxes last fall and I tried making muffins and a chutney with them, to little success. This time around I stumbled on a coffee cake recipe featuring gooseberries and thought it was worth a try. The result? It was delicious! I altered the recipe found here. 

I made this cake on Sunday night and it is still fresh-tasting three days later. This is a great snack that will last through the work week and if we receive any more gooseberry pints I will definitely make it again.

Cape Gooseberry Coffee Cake

Yields: 1 - 9" Cake

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
10 tablespoons room temperature unsalted butter, cubed
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¾ cup buttermilk (or regular milk soured with lemon juice or vinegar)
1 large egg
2 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups (or 1 pint) cape gooseberries, husks removed
1 cup chopped nuts (I used a mix of sliced almonds and roasted pistachios, but pecans or walnuts would also be tasty)
½ cup packed brown sugar (light or dark)
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Butter and flour a 9" cake pan. Set aside.

In a large bowl whisk together flour, sugar and salt. Cut in butter with two table knives until butter is combined with flour and is the size of small peas. Remove 1 cup of flour & butter mixture into a second bowl and set aside (you'll use it for your topping later).

Add in baking powder and soda to base flour mixture and whisk gently (or sift before hand). Add buttermilk, egg and vanilla and stir until mixture is combined.

Pour flour mixture into prepared pan. Scatter gooseberries over the top. Next, add nuts, brown sugar and cinnamon to your small bowl of flour that is set aside. Stir and sprinkle over the top. 

Bake for 50-60 minutes until a toothpick comes out crumby, but clean.