Happy Birthday, Nicole!

BAD NEWS BUTTERSCOTCH AND BLOOD VISIONS

This week has been nothing but bad news.

The tragedy in Haiti is devastating and I am hoping we can offer those people some relief in these awful days and in what is sure to be an excruciating road ahead. Here is a list resources in case you are looking to give.
Haiti was not the only troubling news of yesterday.
We lost a handful of folks in the musical realm.

I felt in need of some comforting when I got home last night so I made some butterscotch pudding.
Marty and I watched the news and felt sad, but thankful for each other and for our loved ones.

Rayy Sweet Gingerbread Biscuits

Our beloved Kat I. hooked me up with a cookbook I've been wanting for ages, Silk Road Cooking, A Vegetarian Journey by Najmeih Batmanglij. I've slowed down on baking after the holiday blitz, but I've made amazing borscht and also tamarind coconut soup from Silk Road and they were both a-MAZ-ing. I've avoided the Bread, Pastries, Desserts, and Candies section of the book long enough! I plan on making the sweet, spicy and crunchy Rayy Sweet Gingerbread Biscuits this week. I'll send an update when I'm done, for now here's the recipe and a photo from the book. Thanks Kat!!

Rayy Sweet Gingerbread
(Nan-e Qandi, persian gingerbread biscotti)

makes 6 10x5x1/4" loaves

1 cup warm water
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup molasses
1/4 cup honey
3-inch piece of fresh ginger, grated
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 hot red chili, chopped (or 1/2 teaspoon chili paste)
4 cups all-purpose unbleached flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup sesame seeds

Preheat the oven to 400 & line a baking sheet with a piece of parchment paper.
In a small bowl, combine the water, oil, molases, honey, ginger, sugar, and chili. Mix well.
Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon onto a piece of wax paper and transfer to a mixing bowl. Gradually blend in the molasses mixture and knead until the dough forms into a ball (about 5 minutes).
Divide the dough into 6 equal balls, cover with a dish towel and allow to rest for 20 minutes.
Roll out one ball on a floured surface to form a 10"x5"x1/4" think oval loaf.
Immediately place the rolled out dough on the baking sheet and paint the dough with water. Then run a fork down the loaf with a fork and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Repeat for the remaining dough. Bake for 7 to 10 minutes, until puffy.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

The author recommends dipping in a glass of sweet, hot tea. Cheers!

Update! Here's a photo from a batch I made to celebrate Chinese New Year:

Delicious!

HAPPY NEW YEAR DOTMC

I hope everyone received their homemade vanilla in the mail!
Please let me know if you did not!
The recipe was simple and you can do it in a larger bottle if you want or keep replenishing the one you have.
If you poke around the net there are oodles of places that sell very inexpensive vanilla beans. I had heard good things about the beans offered at Organic Vanilla Bean Company. So I got mine there. Plus they offered little beans which I knew would fit nicely into those bottles.
The 4oz bottles are from Specialty Bottle Company.

Happy New Year Homemade Vanilla Extract
4 oz Vodka (I used Gordon's but you can use Smirnoff or any such brand)
2-3 5 inch vanilla beans
amber glass bottle with cap

Make sure your bottle and cap are sterile. Run them through the dishwasher or wash in hot soapy water and dry thoroughly.
Place beans in bottles ( I used two beans per bottle) -squish down with a chopstick if necessary.
Pour in vodka leaving a half inch gap at the neck.
Cap tightly and give a nice shake now and then

DONE.
Experiment with more or less beans or maybe try Bourbon if you want to impart that flavor as well.
Let it develop for 2 months if you can help it.
I think I am going to get a big jug and put a mess of beans in it and just keep adding to it as needed.

I hope to see lots of activity on DOTMC in this new year!
I have brought back some inspiration to get me motivated after the holidays-
Behold the Spoils of The South!

Vanilla Elf

This is one of the most precious gifts ever!
Thank you for the homemade vanilla, Nicole.
Do you have any stories to tell about the making of?
Happy 2010, DOTMCers.

Chocolate and Red Chili Cookies

The cookies I made for Nicole and Molly's Cookie Party received a warm welcome... literally. There was a snow-typhoon outside, so what better to bring the heat than some spicy hot double chocolate cookies?

I searched all over for a good recipe... I had some red chilis at home, and knew I wanted them in the cookie somehow. Some recipes called for jalapenos, some for ground/dried ancho chilis... so It ended up taking Martha's recipe for Double Chocolate Chip Cookies, but making some adjustments along the way.
I also substituted her call for chocolate chips and instead used a Lindt Dark Chocolate Chili bar, broken into pieces (I also melted another one of those chocolate bars into the batter).

I used 2 whole red chilis, but de-seeded them. If you want to tweak the heat, you can keep some cayenne pepper on hand to add in as well. This recipe is really great- the heat hits you after you've started chewing...a slow rise of warmth, then boom!

Recipe below the pics...-1 cup of flour
-1/2 cup of unsweetened dutch cocoa powder
-1/2 teaspoon baking soda
-1/2 teaspoon salt
-7 ounces of good-quality chocolate ( I used 2 Lindt Chili Chocolate bars total. Each bar is 3.5 oz...so 3.5 oz. for melting & 3.5 oz. broken into chip-size bits)
-1/2 cup of butter
-1 & 1/2 cups of sugar
-2 large eggs
-3 Tablespoons (for medium spicy) of red chilis, finely chopped, de-seeded. (Or Cayenne pepper to taste)
-2 teaspoons of vanilla

1. Preheat the oven to 325'F degrees. Whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, salt; set aside. Melt 1 chocolate chili bar (coarsely chopped) with the butter in a small heat proof bowl over a pan of simmering water. Once melted, throw in the chopped chilis and incorporate well. Let cool slightly. I kept tasting this melted mix to get an idea of the heat level... it's the best way to gauge how hot a cookie (heh) you're gonna end up with.

2. Put the melted chocolate/chili mixture and the sugar, eggs, and vanilla in a big bowl and blend well. Gradually mix in the flour mixture. Fold in the other (broken into chip-size bits) chocolate chili bar.

3. Drop dough onto parchment lined baking sheets, (the dough is super sticky) spacing two inches apart. Decorative sugar is optional (I used some red sugar sprinkles). Bake until cookies are flat and surfaces crack, about 12-15 minutes (cookies will be soft).

Cinnamon or Red Hots would work well in this recipe too.

COOKIE BLIZZARD

While outside the 'Blizzard of 2009' raged, inside a storm of another kind waged a war against our will power and my waistline.
COOKIE BLIZZARD.
I have been baking every single night, ignoring my husbands pleas for dinner and missing my favorite shows damn it! I have been chained to the stove, oven mitts permanently on.
All in the name of sugar and flour and ....glory?
Luckily I have finally been able to get WFMU to come in on the kitchen radio- so it's not all bad.



I made three cookies for the 7th Annual Cookie Party

Lemon Wreaths
Honeyed Almond and Cherry Shortbread
and Cream Cheese Walnut coins!





All of the recipes are from Martha Stewart Living.
Though I could not find the first two on the site as of yet.
I made some adjustments to the first two cookie recipes. I used vanilla bean in the wreaths as everyone knows vanilla and lemon are true love BFFs.
Instead of macerating the cherries in Sherry,for the shortbread cookies, I used Rum and OJ and also replaced the sliced almonds (which I have an aversion to- they seem so unnatural) with roughly chopped almonds, which worked beautifully and added to the texture.

I think I decreased the amount of sugar in the walnut coins too, because seriously how much sugar can we consume in one month??!

These cookies were simple (and actually really fun for a dork like me) to make but honestly they were just back up singers for the showstoppers brought over by our very own Kat and Amelia. Rosemary Caramel?!? Red Chile Chocolate?!?! Whaaaaaaaaaa I am telling you those gals really BROUGHT IT.
Ladies! Would you share your recipes with the DOTMC gang???

Gingerbread Brooklyn Bridge

I made a Gingerbread Brooklyn Bridge. It is missing the cables but what can you do? Licorice rope does not grow on trees in Brooklyn.


I used this recipe from Martha with plenty left over for other cookies:


* 6 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
* 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
* 1 cup packed dark-brown sugar
* 4 teaspoons ground ginger
* 4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
* 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves
* 1 teaspoon finely ground pepper
* 1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
* 2 large eggs
* 1 cup unsulfured molasses
* Royal Icing
* Fine sanding sugar, for sprinkling

Directions

1. Sift together flour, baking soda, and baking powder into a large bowl. Set aside.
2. Put butter and brown sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; mix on medium speed until fluffy. Mix in spices and salt, then eggs and molasses. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture; mix until just combined. Divide dough into thirds; wrap each in plastic. Refrigerate until cold, about 1 hour.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Roll out dough on a lightly floured work surface to a 1/4-inch thick. Cut into shapes. Bake for 12-14 minutes.

Mexican Wedding Cookies

One of my favorite desserts! Every year around the holidays I crave Mexican Wedding Cookies. This year, I decided to by-pass the pre-made cookies and make them myself. It turns out that they are easy to make and even yummier when they have been welded with your own hands. Beware of ants... they love confectioners sugar (e.g., don't eat them in bed). Enjoy and happy holidays!

Ingredients:
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ cup confectioners’ sugar, plus more for coating baked cookies
1 teaspoon vanilla extract or almond extract
1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
1 cup pecans, cut into very small pieces, some people prefer to use almonds or a mix of almonds, pecans, and walnuts

Directions:
Cream the butter and sugar at low speed until it is smooth.
Mix in the vanilla.
At low speed gradually add the flour.
Mix in the pecans with a spatula.
With floured hands, take out about 1 tablespoon of dough and shape into a crescent or ball. Place onto prepared cookie sheets. Bake at 325 degrees for 15-20 minutes. When cool enough to handle but still warm, roll in additional confectioners' sugar or sift the confectioners’ sugar over the cooled cookies.

OH, YES I DID. FRUITCAKE

I honestly have never thought about making a fruitcake until last year. Perhaps the desire to make one does not come until you reach your mid thirties or you are ready for the challenge of attempting to make good such a reviled cake. I don't believe I have ever even had a bite of fruitcake. I have seen the dark brown and glossy specimen at supermarkets..and shuddered at what they must taste like. I have tried panettone but that is as close as I would get. However that is a yeasted cake and American fruitcake is not (though this one does get some lift from egg whites). The one I finally chose, that seemed a pleasant place to start is Eudora Welty's recipe for White Fruitcake (traditionally referred to in the South as a grooms cake). As you can see below I adjusted the fruits because there is no way a green cherry will ever pass my lips if I can help it. Also, having been raised with Italian grandparents I have a strong attachment to candied citron, which is very common in Italian pastries.
I am thinking of this as "Fruitcake Light" as there are many out there that are all kinds of serious. Hopefully next fall if I plan right, (read: never gonna happen) I will have plenty of time to start some cakes and age them properly as is the way with the fruitcake.
Alas, I cannot even report to you how this one is, as I am waiting patiently for it to ahem, mature (read: repeatedly slosh with Bourbon over time).

NOTE: This recipe is from Southern Cakes by Nancie McDermott (which by the way, paired with Mrs. Rowe's Little Book of Southern Pies by Mollie Cox Bryan would make quite the holiday gift for the dessert or Southern crazed baker in your life.



Eudora Welty's
White Fruitcake

1 1/2 cups butter
2 cups sugar
6 eggs, separated
4 cups flour, sifted before measuring
flour for fruit and nuts
2 tsp. baking powder
pinch of salt
1 pound pecan meats (halves, preferably)
1 pound crystallized cherries, half green, half red (I used orange)
1 pound crystallized pineapple, clear (I used lemon)
some citron or lemon peel if desired
1 cup bourbon
1 tsp. vanilla
nutmeg if desired

Make the cake several weeks ahead of Christmas of you can.
The recipe makes three-medium-sized cakes or one large and one small. Prepare the pans -- the sort with a chimney or tube -- by greasing them well with Crisco and then lining them carefully with three layers of waxed paper, all greased as well.
Prepare the fruit and nuts ahead. Cut the pineapple in thin slivers and the cherries in half. Break up the pecan meats, reserving a handful or so shapely halves to decorate the tops of the cakes. Put in separate bowls, dusting the fruit and nuts lightly in sifting of flour, to keep the from clustering together in the batter.
In a very large wide mixing bowl ( a salad bowl or even a dishpan will serve) cream the butter very light, then beat in the sugar until all is smooth and creamy. Sift in the flour, with the baking powder and salt added, a little at a time, alternating with the unbeaten egg yolks added one at a time. When all this is creamy, add the floured fruits and nuts, gradually, scattering the lightly into the batter, stirring all the while, and add the bourbon in alteration little by little. Lastly, whip the eggwhites into peaks and fold in.
Set the oven low, about 250. Pour the batter into the cake-pans, remembering that they will rise. Decorate the tops with nuts. Bake for three hours or more, until they spring back to the touch and a straw inserted at the center comes out clean and dry. (if the top browns too soon, lay a sheet of foil lightly over.) When done, the cake should be a warm golden color.
When they've cooled enough to handle, run a spatula around the sides of each cake, cover the pan with a big plate , turn the pan over and slip the cake out. Cover the cake with another plate and turn rightside up. When cool, the cake can be wrapped in cloth or foil and stored in a tightly fitted tin box.
From time to time before Christmas you may improve it with a little more bourbon, dribbled over the top to be absorbed ans so ripen the cake before cutting. This cake will keep for a good while, in or out of the refrigerator.

MILK PUNCH

'Tis the season for parties and punch.
You may not think to look to a book titled Screen Doors and Sweet Tea for inspiration for holiday parties, but you'd be remiss. For it contains a recipe for Milk Punch by the fabulous Martha Foose. The book is filled with many wonderful recipes actually and Martha's engaging tales. It's one of my favorites.
Back to the punch, some versions appear to be a lighter incarnation of eggnog without the eggs though some do add egg white for frothiness. In researching it's origins I found it is a popular drink in New Orleans, but enthusiasm for it is widespread.
I came across Benjamin Franklin's recipe which sounds great too, and involves soaking lemon rinds in brandy for 24 hours. (A lot of lemons!) I believe it is English in origin.

Though I plan on making real eggnog for the first time this year, and intend on trying Craig Claiborn's recipe, I'm looking forward to adding Milk Punch to the winter cocktail repertoire.

Here are some recipes:

Martha Foose's Milk Punch ( go get her book!)
Serves 1

1 ½ ounces good bourbon or brandy
2 ounces half-and-half
1 teaspoon superfine sugar
Drop of vanilla extract
Ice cubes
Freshly grated nutmeg

Combine the bourbon, half-and-half, sugar, and vanilla in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake thoroughly until the mixture is cold and frothy. Strain into a highball glass filled with ice. Top with a grating of nutmeg.

Coconut Milk Punch ( from Gourmet magazine- it's Vegan)

Make coconut milk:
Grate the meat of 1 coconut, wrap it in a damp cheesecloth, and squeeze it over a bowl to extract the milk.
Reserve the milk.
Transfer the cheesecloth-wrapped coconut to another bowl, open the cheesecloth, and pour 1/4 cup boiling water over the coconut.
When cool, squeeze the mixture through the cheesecloth into the bowl to extract all the liquid and add the reserved milk.

In a cocktail shaker combine
1/2 cup each of coconut milk and crushed ice,
3 tablespoons light rum,
1 tablespoon sugar syrup,
1/8 teaspoon vanilla and shake the liquid vigorously.
Strain the punch into an 8-ounce goblet and grate some nutmeg over it.
Makes 1 drink.

Ginger Cranberry Sauce

My relatives have come to expect this quick, spicy sauce every year during the holidays. I try to make this 24 hours in advance of serving to let the ginger mingle. Leftover sauce is rare, but goes well with cream cheese on toast! This recipe makes 3 cups.

Ingredients:

1 juice orange
1 pkg / 12 oz. fresh or frozen cranberries (I've always used fresh)
1 Tbsp fresh ginger, grated
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 1/4 C sugar
1/2 C cranberry juice

Optional:
Dash cayenne pepper
Splash of orange juice

Prep:
Rinse cranberries.
Grate 2 teaspoons zest from the orange and the lemon.
Juice the lemon.
Remove orange peel and seeds, chop orange into 1/2 inch pieces.
Peel and grate ginger root:




In a nonreactive saucepan, combine orange chunks, cranberries, grated ginger, lemon juice, sugar, and cranberry juice. At this point, I like to add orange and lemon zest, a dash of cayenne, and a little orange juice (Alternately, the zest makes a good garnish just before serving):





Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 3 to 5 minutes, stir occasionally until thickened and most of the berries have popped:



Transfer the sauce to a serving bowl to cool, stirring occasionally, then refrigerate to chill thoroughly. I never liked cranberry sauce until I made this one.

Kirsch Spirited Away

I love booze-infused desserts and food. This year I added a new spirit to my (very small) pie repertoire- using the yummy cherry brandy that is Kirsch.

Trader Joe's has been selling bags of deliciously tart Montmorency dried cherries, and I've been waiting for the right recipe to throw them in to. I knew I wanted to make an apple pie for Thanksgiving, so I figured they'd work well within the basic recipe, So I poured about 2/3 cup of the dried little cherries into a bowl, covered them with Kirsch and let them soak up all that goodness overnight.

The next morning they had nearly tripled in size, having soaked up all that booziness. The little Kirsch that was left in the bowl was now dark red, reduced down to the purest cherry essence.

I started with the pie crust. I use frozen pie shells or store bought pie dough because of an admittedly irrational fear of pastry, bread, etc dough of any kind.... but by all means, make your own pie crust if you have a standard recipe you like, because it always, always tastes better. The frozen ones are fine too, but I know nothing tastes better than homemade.

But I digress! I baked the bottom shell at 400 degrees for 10 minutes/'til the edges turn slightly golden. Then took it out to cool down while I worked on the filling:

• 2 pounds Granny Smith, Braeburn, or other tart apples (about 5-6 med. apples)
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, softened

Peel, halve, and core apples and cut into 1/4-inch slices. In a large bowl toss apples with granulated sugar, cherries (plus leftover Kirsch), lemon juice, and 2 tablespoons of flour.

In another small bowl mix together, with fingertips: brown sugar, butter, and remaining 2 tablespoons flour. Spoon apple mixture into pie crust and top with brown sugar mixture. Preheat oven to 350°F.

Weave extra pie dough strips in a lattice pattern over pie. Brush top with milk or butter and sprinkle with sugar. Bake pie in middle of oven for 1 hour , or until top is golden and the filling is bubbling. Great with fresh whipped cream or ice cream.

The other pie I made is a favorite standard- Maple Pumpkin Pie. It's so simple, easy and no-frills, and friends always love it. I tweaked this recipe a bit... I take out the brown sugar entirely and instead add about 4 more tablespoons of good maple syrup (for a whopping 10 tablespoons total), and I use fresh grated cinnamon and nutmeg in place of pre-packaged pumpkin pie spice mix. And then I gobble it all up.

Lemon cupcake surprise

I wish I could add aroma to this posting, my house smells like a lemony dream. I wanted to share another baking success story courtesy of the Babycakes cookbook, meyer lemon and bing cherry cupcakes. I put a thinner layer of batter over the cherry filling on half the batch so the cherries would peek through and glaze the top of the cake. Who needs frosting? Not my mom, who's diabetic. No sugar in this moist, delicious cake. The sweetness comes from agave nectar (and the love). Email me if you're interested in the recipe.

BUTTERNUT SQUASH CHEESECAKE

I am currently obsessed with butternut squash and I want to put it in everything! So I'm gonna. I made this today and Adrian says it's smoother in texture than a pumpkin cheesecake.


CRUST

1 1/2 to 2 cups of crushed ginger snaps
half a stick of melted butter
a graham cracker crust can be substituted just add a little powdered ginger

In a bowl combine the ginger snaps and butter press into a 9" spring form pan. Set aside. Today I didn't have a spring form pan so I sprayed a regular 9" round cake pan lined all sides with parchment paper, sprayed that and pressed the crumbs into the pan. It worked pretty well. The cheesecake came out as easy as pie, well, cheesecake.

FILLING

2 butternut squash average in size
24 ounces room temperature cream cheese
1 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla
3 eggs + 1 yolk
2 TBS flour
1 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Halve and scoop the seeds from the squash place skin side up and roast for about 30 minutes. Once ready scoop the squash out of it's skin and into a bowl. Set aside to cool. @ 15 minutes. In another bowl beat the remaining ingredients together. I usually do this in the order they are listed. Then add about 3/4 of the squash and continue to mix until everything's incorporated. (Hint: since squash varies so much in size, I would limit it to 3 cups max but no less than 2 cups)
Pour into the crust and bake for 50-60 minutes. You want it to be a little jiggly so it doesn't overcook and crack. Let it sit for about 15 minutes then cover with plastic and refrigerate for 4 hours.

So there's some leftover squash. I made whipped cream with it. Just a normal homemade whipped cream recipe with squash and powdered ginger added. Mmmm hmmm

10 Minute Maple Cookies

My goal this weekend was to make some cookies using ingredients I had in the cupboard and fridge that was as easy as possible. I adapted this recipe from one for snickerdoodles replacing the sugar with maple crystals. Without the sugar they seemed to spread a little more, but they were so yummy and satisfying I'll definitely make them again and take a pic to post.


10 Minute Maple Cookies
Ingredients

* 1/2 cup butter, softened
* 3/4 cup maple crystals
* 1 egg
* 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 teaspoon baking powder
* 1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
2. Cream together butter, maple crystals, and the eggs. Blend in the flour, baking powder and salt. Shape dough by rounded spoonfuls into balls.
3. Bake 8 to 10 minutes, or until set but not too hard. Remove immediately from baking sheets.

BUTTERMILK DOUGHNUTS IN APPLE CIDER GLAZE

Molly Schnick and I go apple picking every year but this year it just did not happen. We both really love Fall and I knew when I wanted to make doughnuts I would have to get her on board. My first inclination was of course -Apple Cider doughnuts! BUT I had a big beautiful bottle of organic buttermilk in the fridge....I was torn. Fortunately Molly suggested that as we have supped on apple cider doughnuts many a time in our past, perhaps it would be nice to try something else.



We decided on Buttermilk Doughnuts with an Apple Cider glaze!
It all went pretty swimmingly EXCEPT for when the doughnuts cooked too quickly on the outside and not enough on the inside. Which you can see evidence of here:

I have a lot to learn about maintaining the temperature of oil. At one point it was off the thermometer! So we just shut off the burner and let it drop.

We roughly followed this recipe and for the glaze I boiled down a cup of apple cider and a half cup of sugar.

Once I get myself a deep fryer, I hope to make doughnuts more often. Not the healthiest, I know but it was really fun and think of all the experimenting!
Root Beer Doughnuts anyone??

Gingersnaps!

I finally own a copy of the Babycakes NYC cookbook. The recipes all sound amazing, even exotic, like meyer lemon and bing cherry cupcakes. I started with a classic (one of my favorites), gingersnaps. Besides wanting a good chomp, my friends Julie, Caissie and I have been talking about a cookie party and I wanted to test out the dough before the extravaganza. Had to share because these are the best gingersnaps I've ever made!! Just as genius Babycakes founder, Erin McKenna, describes, "the recipe produces a fairly flat, crisp-edged cookie" and yes, she put her "chewy, health-minded signature on it." The dough rolled like a charm and as you can see, I put my elephant cookie-cutter to use. The ingredients will be easier to locate at your local health-food store but don't let that scare you. Here's the recipe (my modification in italics):

Babycakes NYC Gingersnaps
makes 36

3/4 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup applesauce (homemade or unsweetened store-bought)
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons molasses
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon fresh grated ginger (my modification)
1 1/2 cups evaporated cane juice (I used raw cane sugar)
2 cups Bob's Red Mill gluten-free all-purpose flour
1/4 cup flax meal
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons xanthan gum

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, combine the oil, applesauce, salt, molasses, grated ginger, vanilla, and evaporated cane juice. In another medium bowl, whisk together the flour, flax meal, cinnamon, ginger, baking soda, and xanthan gum. Using a rubber spatula, carefully add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture and stir until a grainy dough is formed.
Using a melon baller (or tablespoon measure), scoop the dough onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing the portions 1 inch apart. Gently press each with the heel of your hand to flatten a bit. Bake the cookies on the center rack for 15 minutes, rotating the sheets after 9 minutes. The finished cookies will be crisp on the edges and soft in the center.
Let the cookies stand on the sheets for 10 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack and cool completely. Store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.

BROOKS HEADLEY, DESSERT PSYCHO

The wildly gifted Sam McPheeters wrote a really wonderful and entertaining article on Brooks Headley! Brooks is a former (and present) radical drummer and good friend who now holds the position of head Pastry Chef at Del Posto.

The article is here. READ IT!

Rhubarb Cherry Crisp

Hi ya'll!

So I'm super excited to be joining in here right as I start pastry school-- simultaneously the best and most ridiculous decision I ever made. We have been going fast fast fast, but we made this really delicious and really simple fruit crisp in class the other day and I wanted to share it.

Truthfully I was a little embarrassed to post this here, because you know, it's a fruit crisp, and aren't I supposed to be tempering chocolate and making massive towering sugar sculptures and whatnot? Well, they won't let us in the chocolate kitchen yet, but more importantly, let's hear it for unpretentious, simple food that may be a little ugly but will blow your mind with some vanilla ice cream. Right? Right.

Rhubarb-Cherry Fruit Crisp
This was originally rhubarb-apple crisp, which makes a lot more sense given the season, but I love cherries. We used frozen fruit but the procedure is the same for fresh.

For the topping:
4 oz cold butter, diced
4 oz brown sugar
4 oz pastry flour
4 oz rolled oats (and/or chopped nuts if you like)
1/4 t salt
1/2 t nutmeg
1 t cinnamon

For the gooey delicious insides:
1 lb diced rhubarb
1 1/2 lbs cherries (or other fruit)
4 oz sugar
1/2 oz cornstarch
1/2 t cinnamon
pinch cloves

Make the topping:
Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl. Cut in the cold butter with your hands until the pieces of fat are roughly the size of walnut halves. Add the nuts or oats and set aside.



Make the innards:
Combine dry ingredients in a bowl and toss with the fruit. Arrange in gratins, ramekins, or one big pie dish. Fill them up nice and full and put the tins on a sheet pan covered with parchment. Mine bubbled up a bit (hence the parchment), but your fruit will also shrink a little as it bakes. Cover with the crisp topping.





Bake at 375 for 30-45 minutes, depending on size, until bubbly and golden on top.

NOV DOTM Chocolate Guinness Cake

So, this is a cake I make a lot because it's so easy and I usually have everything I need at home already. The beer, however, does need replenishing sometimes. I've found that even people who aren't cake people like this cake. It stays pretty moist even in the fridge and freezes well.

Ingredients:

1 cup dark cocoa powder (sifted)
1 3/4 cups flour (sifted)
2 large eggs
1 3/4 cups brown sugar
1 cup Guinness (not extra stout)
1 cup boiling water
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 cup apple sauce
1/2 cup coconut flakes

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and put water on to boil
Mix all dry ingredients then add wet ingredients one at a time adding the water last.
The batter will be very wet. It’s normal.

I use a 10” sprayed spring form pan with a pizza pan or something underneath it in case any leaks out. In my oven the cake bakes in 45 minutes. About halfway into cooking time sprinkle the top with coconut flakes. They will toast as the cake finishes baking. Do a toothpick test and if it comes out clean it’s ready. Let it rest for about 30 minutes before removing from the pan.
Any pan can be used but the cooking time will get adjusted. If you use a casserole dish to make it more like a sheet cake it’ll take about 20 minutes.

I serve it with whipped cream
1 cup heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup powdered sugar

Whisk together in a cold bowl (I put mine in the freezer) until it looks like whipped cream. You can add more powdered sugar if it’s not sweet enough for ya.