Cookies for class

I decided to bake some oatmeal cookies for my class tomorrow. And I totally forgot to take some pictures early in the prep, so we go from dough to tin for this blog entry.

I did the basic Quaker Oats recipe - and have included the recipe at the end.

Once the batter was out of the bowl, Jake obliged me by pre-washing the bowl.

Almost done, but not quite.

Cooling off.

Ready for class tomorrow afternoon.

Vanishing Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

1 stick + 6T butter, softened
3/4 C brown sugar (packed)
1/2 C white sugar
2 eggs
1 t vanilla
1 1/2 C flour
1 t baking soda
1 t cinnamon
3 C Quaker oats
1 C raisins (I used craisins)

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla; beat till fluffy. Sift flour, soda and cinnamon together. Stir into batter. Stir in oats and raisins.

Drop by rounded tablespoons onto ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes. Cool for 1 minute before removing from cookie sheet. Cool completely on wire racks. Store tightly covered.

Time to get serious

Once in my life I made pumpkin pie from a pumpkin. I never saw the need to do it again because Libby's makes it simple dimple. All I have to remember to do is make half the recipe on the label.

Pumpkin pie and mince are done and ready for desert on Thursday!

I let a cookie cutter help me with the mince pie decorative top.

Getting the cloth pressed off now is as good as tomorrow when we'll set up the tables.

And thanks to our neighbor Jane, I was surprised with a delivery of the best cranberry chutney ever. She's sweet enough to make plenty to share, but keeps the recipe secret.

Penzey's!

After a morning full of meetings that lasted into the middle of the afternoon, I got off campus and went to Penzey's Spices in Careytown, a Richmond neighborhood. If you are familiar with Penzey's you know I was in one of the best places to get premium herbs and spices at affordable prices. I meant to take pictures of the store and some of their displays, but I totally forgot. I did remember to get the cinnamon I wanted and some shallots for a recipe I want to try as well as a present for my brother (which purposely I left in the bag and kept out of the photo) when I got back to the M&M B&B.

Tomato Soup Cake and Cream Cheese Icing

Yes, you read that right - and I baked one early this evening for my mother's birthday tomorrow. She has loved it since childhood and as long as anyone in the family can remember its been her birthday cake. When people go "Whaaaaat?" I usually describe it as a depression era spice cake - I wasn't around in the depression and technically my parents were born at the end of the Great Depression, but its what I remember her mother saying one time and it just works for me. It is a good cake, but after today's performance in a Wilton cake pan, I suggest you stick with a 9x12" pan and don't try and get fancy.

Tomato Soup Cake

3/4 C Crisco
1 1/2 C sugar
1 C tomato soup (canned, condensed, classically Campbell's)
3/4 C water
1 tsp. soda
3 C flour
3/4 tsp salt
3 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. cloves
1 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1 1/2 C raisens
1 1/2 C chopped walnuts (not usually in the b-day cake)

Blend Crisco and sugar. Combine tomato soup with water and soda. Add to Crisco mixture alternately with all the sifted dry ingredients. Stir in raisins and nuts. Pour into 9" greased tube pan or 9x12" cake pan. Bake in moderate oven of 350 for 45 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean. (yes, there is no egg in the recipe, it always fakes me out)

Cream Cheese Icing

Blend 2 8 oz. packages cream cheese with 1 egg yolk and 3 C confectioner's sugar. Add 1/8 tsp. salt and 1 tsp. vanilla.

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Pies for Mother's Day!

Key Lime Pie with Meringue

4 eggs, separated
zest from 2 limes, chopped fine
1 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
2/3 C key lime juice
1 9 inch graham cracker crust

I prebake my prepared graham cracker crusts by brushing with egg white and baking for 5 minutes at 375.
Beat egg yolks and lime zest at high speed till fluffy. Gradually add condensed milk, beating till thick and fluffy. Add lime juice, mix till combined. Pour into pie shell. Top with meringue. Bake in 350 oven for 10 minutes.

Lemon Meringue

1 C sugar
1/3 C cornstarch
1 1/2 C hot water
3 eggs, separated
4-5 T fresh lemon juice
1 1/3 T finely grated lemon zest
3 T butter
1 baked 9" pie shell

Combine sugar and cornstarch in 4 C glass measuring cup. Stir in hot water. Microwave on HIGH for 1 minute at a time for a total of 3-4 minutes or until thick. Stir well at end of each minute.
Beat egg yolks and slowly stir in a few spoonfuls of the hot pudding mixture (this prevents the eggs from cooking). Then beat egg yolks into hot pudding mixture and add lemon juice and zest.
Microwave on HIGH for a minute at a time for 2-3 minutes or till thick. Add butter and stir till melted. Pour hot mixture into pie shell. Top with meringue and bake at 350 for 15 minutes.

Meringue:

Beat egg whites at room temperature in spotlessly clean (free of any and all fats/oil/grease) instruments that are cold (I usually put mine in the freezer for about 15 minutes before needing them) Beat at high speeds. When it begins to turn white, add sugar gradually to mixture. I normally add 1-2 tablespoons of granulated sugar for each egg white. Beat till stiff peaks. If you have pastry bag and wish to use to use a pattern to add meringue.

An extra fun ingredient is to make with your niece who wants to have the two pies color coordinated with icing spray and sugar granules.

Applesauce Cake

Goopy batter

Baked Cake

Finished favor for my mother and her pals who
sit at the polls tomorrow for NJ school budgets.
If you vote in NJ, make an intelligent and informed vote for your district.

Applesauce Cake

Combine 1 1/2 C applesauce w 1 1/2 tsp. baking soda and set aside.

Measure into a large mixing bowl:
2 1/2 C sifted flour
2 C sugar
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp. all spice
1/2 C liquid shortening
1/2 C cold water
2 eggs
3/4 C chopped nuts - optional
3/4 C raisens - optional

Mix all the ingredients in list together. Pour in applesauce mixture and stir together till blended and well combined.
Pour into well greased tube pan.
Bake at 350 for one hour and ten minutes

Sprinkle with powdered sugar.

One big babka

When you grow up in New Jersey, ethnic foods are a staple - even the foods that are not a part of your family's heritage. I know how to make a lasagna that's molto bene because of Mrs. Gallo. I can make a decent spanakopita (Greek spinach) because Mary Gosnell taught me how. I have a trusted recipe for charoset (served during a Seder meal) because Mrs. Weingartner offered me one when she hired me to serve Seder meals during college. I even have several authentic Asian stir fry recipes from Mrs. Lee, the mother of my brother's best childhood friend. And today I made a Polish babka for the last night of the Charles Wesley hymn study because - well - because my mother asked me to since we had a few packages of yeast left over from the hot cross buns last week. She has fond childhood memories of her mother (w/o a single drop of Eastern Europe in her) getting it at a local bakery plus she has a recipe from an acquaintance that was handed down from her great-great grandmother. Though my family is not Polish, I have had plenty of neighbors and friends over the years that are, and babka is the traditional sweet bread served at Easter. It's good. Mine is not swirled with cinnamon or chocolate as made famous in a Seinfeld episode. But it is big - bigger than this German/Danish/Welsh/Irish/English all American girl expected it to be - and I like the serendipitous tie-in it has with tonight's hymn, "Christ the Lord is Risen Today". The line, "Raise your joys and triumphs high" might be an obvious give away to the 11" high bread I have cooling on the counter, but the sixth verse contains the words "Thee to know, thy power to prove" refers to the work of the yeast that is proved in a risen loaf of bread that is supposed to be similar to the action of God's love and grace in the life of a Christian: it's evidence is unmistakable. May the light and love of the Risen Christ be evident to you this Easter season.

Great-Great-Grandma's Babka (from Jennifer Bober)

2 pkg. yeast
1/4 C. warm water
1 1/4 C milk
1/2 C sugar
1/2 C butter
5 C flour
1 tsp. salt
4 eggs
1 C raisins (preferably golden)
1 Tbsp. grated orange peel

Dissolve yeast in warm water. Scald milk. Pour over sugar and butter; let cool to lukewarm. Add yeast. Add 1/2 the four. Beat well. Add salt to eggs and beat until thick. Add to flour mixture. Mix well. Add remaining flour, raisins and orange peel. Knead for 15 minutes. Cover; let rise till doubled in bulk. Punch down lightly. Place in a well buttered tube pan. Let rise till doubled. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes.

Birthday cupcakes!

Last week, as I prepared to make scones for the Lenten study snack, my mother asked several times, "What will you make for next week's study?" I figured she was angling for hot cross buns, which is true, but I want to wait till Holy Week (next week) to make them. I really had no idea what I wanted to make at all for this week's study. Then, yesterday, at church, the situation resolved itself when I discovered it today is the birthday of one of the regular attendees of the Monday evening study. Thanks to my Wilton cake decorating skills, a little extra heavy cream in the fridge, and the Cake Doctor Cookbook, I whipped up a batch of lemon cupcakes frosted with whip cream icing decked out for spring to celebrate Pat's birthday.

The birthday girl! She's a real blessing to us all.

Irish Soda Scones?

I was inspired by a comment my cousin Sandy made to me on Saturday to use my scone pan for traditional Irish soda bread. I think the scones will be easier to handle at the Lenten study I lead at church than a slab cut from a round loaf. I consulted my scone recipes, halved the recipe, changed the baking time and didn't bother brushing with egg yolk. Quite satisfied with the result so far - hope they will be a hit this evening as well.

Irish Soda Bread
4 C flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 C sugar
1 1/2 sticks butter
1 C raisins
1 Tb. caraway seeds (optional)
1 1/2 C buttermilk
1 egg yolk, beaten

Mix dry ingredients, cut in butter. Add raisins and caraway seeds. Make a well in center of mixture and add buttermilk. Stir lightly till thoroughly blended. Knead for one minute on lightly floured surface. Shape into two circular loaves, put on greased cookie sheets or prepared pans. Cut a cross on top of both loaves. Brush with egg yolk. Bake at 350 for one hour. Loaf sounds hollow when tapped.

For scones:

Halve the ingredients. Follow instructions to shaping the loaf. Cut into eight wedges. Bake at 425 for 20 minutes or till golden brown. If using scone pan (like me dear sister-in-law gave me once upon a time years and years ago) just drop into pan wedges prior to kneading. Bake at 425 for 20 minutes and golden brown. Enjoy.