Poppyseed Angel Food Cake with Grapefruit Curd

September 4, 2012 in Cakes and Tea Cakes | 2 comments

Poppyseed Angel Food Cake

When I first mentioned to a few baking friends that I was going to attempt to make an angel food cake from scratch at nearly 6,000 feet above sea level, the response was not terribly encouraging. I was told to expect all sorts of scary outcomes—mostly that I wouldn’t be able to produce a light, fluffy cake in high altitude. So, needless to say, I was a little scared.

But I’m happy and proud to say that I succeeded—twice!

grapefruit curd

Here’s why: I first made this cake in April of 2011. I was still working with my then three-year-old sous chef, Jaime, who was excited to help me separate 12 eggs. Trying to balance her enthusiasm and my desperate attempt to keep any little speck of yolk out of the egg whites (necessary for maximum angel food success) was a challenge. But we figured out and ended up with a beautiful cake. When I took it to work, our resident angel food cake expert, Emily, could only mutter, “Sweet Jesus.” I knew it was a winner. Unfortunately, I have yet to find the pictures I took of that first cake, and we all know you can’t blog without pictures. When I mentioned that I’d have to make it again, Emily thought her birthday would be a fine occasion to make it again. I agreed.

And so last Wednesday, at 5:00 am, I was up and separating a dozen eggs. Chris, who knows I’d only get up at this ungodly hour if the house was on fire, said, “Wow, you must really like Emily.”

“Yes,” I responded, ” I do really like Emily. She’s a peach.”

And so once again, I created the seemingly impossible: a beautiful angel food cake at altitude. And here’s the best part: do you know how you cool an angel food cake? Upside down on a wine bottle. Thankfully, I always have a few close at hand:

how to cool an angel food cake

And those 12 egg yolks? Well, mix them up with a little superfine sugar, grapefruit juice and a cup of butter, simmer over a double boiler, and you have grapefruit curd. I didn’t quite cook it long enough for fear of ending up with grapefruit-flavored scrambled eggs, so it wasn’t quite as thick as it was supposed to be. But no one seemed to mind. I even had a few requests for the recipe.

And so, a hit—twice. That makes this one doubly satisfying.

Caramelized Banana Tart with a Lime Linzer Crust and a Warm Caramel Sauce

August 27, 2012 in Pies and Tarts | 2 comments

Caramelized Banana TartSo…when we last heard from Mabel—back in October 2011—she mentioned on Facebook that she was “making a very interesting dessert that involves caramel and bananas….” Well, she actually did make it…she just didn’t blog about it. (Actually, I’ve made a handful of recipes in the past several months; just haven’t had the energy to blog. So we’ll get back in the groove by catching up.)

After spending way too much time searching for the pictures (my digital pictures are out of control), here we are.

Ms. Daley says this dessert is a “tropical variation of the original Linzer tart.” Since I had no idea what a Linzer tart was, this description meant nothing to me. So, like all serious researchers, I headed straight for Wikipedia: “The Linzer Torte (or Linzertorte) is an Austrian torte with a lattice design on top of the pastry. It is named after the city of Linz, Austria.” And apparently, this recipe is one of the oldest recorded, dating to 1696. Or so says Wikipedia. Kinda interesting.

Here’s the picture that ran along side the definition:

Linzer TorteI know…this one looks so much like mine it’s hard to tell the two apart. But back to mine.

Now, bananas caramelized in brown sugar, lime juice and rum turned out to be quite tasty, but then I had to pipe the strange, thick dough—which included ground pecans, nutmeg and lime zest—over the top of them to make a “crosshatch pattern.” I didn’t have a pastry bag, but I did have a nifty Pampered Chef cookie press, a gift from my lovely sister-in-law, and it seemed like that would work. Alas, it did not.

The dough was too thick and it took forever to press it onto the tart…hence, the squiggly, imperfect crosshatches. But…well, it’s the taste that’s most important, right?

Mabel Learns to BakeIt tasted like lime-and-caramel-laced banana bread. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but this was a lot more work. And, you know what happens to bananas after they’ve sat out a day. Needless to say, you really need to eat this one the day it’s made.

So, not the best in the book. But then, they can’t all be.

 

All Work and No Bake is Making Mabel a Dull Girl

August 19, 2012 in Other Posts | 4 comments

apple pieSo…Mabel’s last post was October 22, 2011. Ten months ago. Ten months. If that’s not tragic, I don’t know what is.

In an effort to be really good at her new day job (which is not so new anymore), Mabel has been working nonstop, and so the baking/blogging thing was put aside for a while. “Just till things are under control,” she kept saying.

Needless to say, it has become immensely clear that things will never be under control. That’s just the nature of magazine production—deadlines always loom.

apple pieBut yesterday, inspiration hit. While doing a little yard work, our neighbors walked over and introduced themselves and asked if we’d like some apples from their very productive trees. Oh, yes, please. Visions of apple pie danced in my head.

After thanking them profusely, I ditched the yard work and ran in the house to make pie crust. And while it was chilling and I cored, peeled and sliced 15 apples (they were little), it occurred to me how stupid I’ve been for pushing this little baking project aside. I miss it so.

apple pieAnd so, it’s time to get back to this pastime, this fun, this passion–because, really, don’t we always find time to do the things that are important to us? And I miss you, my supporters, my taste testers, my friends.

And so stay tuned, as I shall bake again soon—deadlines be damned! At least for a few hours, even if it’s in the middle of the night.

Sugar Cookies with Rock Sugar Borders

October 22, 2011 in Cookies and Bars | No comments

Sugar Cookies with Rock Sugar BordersI thought I had already burned through all the super-easy recipes, but somehow I missed these good ole sugar cookies…yummy, buttery, sugary (sinful even, as described by one of my office taste testers)—all with three ingredients. Can you guess them?

That’s right, sugar, butter and flour. That’s it. Well, that and the rock sugar for the edges. Which is where we hit a glitch. Just a little one, but a glitch nonetheless. Because what’s a Mabel dessert without a glitch?

Sugar Cookies with Rock Sugar BordersSo, here it is: When I saw Rock Sugar, of course I first wondered what rock sugar was, then wondered how I would find it. Lucky for me, my dear and thoughtful friend Eliza gave me a gift certificate to King Arthur Flour, a very cool company that sells all kinds of interesting gadgets and ingredients for bakers—including rock sugar. In other words, I ordered this special ingredient specifically for this recipe.

The deal was, I’d shape the cookie dough into logs, chill them, then roll them in the rock sugar before slicing and baking them. Simple, right? Except that this rock sugar was way too big. I tried crushing it a bit, but it still wasn’t working the way I knew it should. Upon closer inspection, the ingredient list actually called for raw or crystal sugar, which is an entirely different thing; and something you can buy at any grocery store for about a quarter of the price. Sheesh.

Sugar cookies with Rock Sugar BordersIn the end, these cookies were very tasty, easy to make, and are absolute perfection with a cup of hot chocolate. With these, I was just happy nobody broke a tooth on the giant rock sugar borders.

A little side note: When I first started this project, I planned to finish the cookbook in one year. Well, that year came and went in August. I fretted about this little failure for a few moments, but then I remembered: this is just for fun, and my daytime, non-baking life is completely dictated by deadlines. So I’m going to let this one go, and I’ll finish when I finish. But I will finish…you can count on me.

Almond Apricot Pound Cake with Amaretto

October 7, 2011 in Cakes and Tea Cakes | 2 comments

Almond Apricot Pound Cake with AmarettoQuestion: How many almond-flavored ingredients does it take to make an almond pound cake?

Answer: Four (apparently)

I know, right? That’s a lot of almond-flavored stuff in one recipe. I was worried that we’d be on some serious almond overload, but this was really, really good. Which was a very nice thing after the whole raspberry pie fiasco.

So the four ingredients—blanched almonds, almond extract, marzipan (a new discovery for me) and Amaretto—were fairly easy to find, although it did involve three different stores. If there’s one thing I miss about Kansas City, it’s the liquor in the grocery stores. None of that in Denver. But I digress.

Almond Apricot Pound Cake with AmarettoThis is a big, giant pound cake (with a total of 15 ingredients). Fortunately, it’s also one of the few recipes that lasts more than a few hours. We were still nibbling on it a week later, and that’s after I took half of it to work. I said it was big.

It’s also dense and super-sweet, (chunks of dried apricot helped with that) so you can’t eat a big, giant piece. Well, you can; I mean, I did, but…you probably shouldn’t.

Another positive: it’s great for breakfast, especially warmed up just a bit, with a cup of coffee. Or after lunch, warmed up a bit with a cup of coffee. Ditto for after dinner. I don’t really know if it’s good with fruit—I just added it to get a little color in the pictures.

So, another winner. Doubly satisfying after the loser.

Double-Crust Deep Red Raspberry Pie

October 2, 2011 in Pies and Tarts | 9 comments

Double-Crust Deep Red Raspberry PieIt looks really good, right? Yes, I thought so, too—and I don’t even like raspberries. I mean, they’re okay…a few sprinkled around a chocolate torte, something like that, but I wasn’t all that keen on an entire pie made of them. Seven cups—that’s $12 worth—of raspberries.

Since I was confident that I wouldn’t feel the need to devour this particular pie, I decided to make it for Chris’ first company picnic with his new job. I would take this beautiful pie and everyone would ooh and aah and I’d make a fabulous first impression with the coworkers. I mean, look at that crust! I was so proud of that crust.

So with the pie still warm from the oven, we headed to the picnic. As the pie jostled in the car, I got a bad, bad feeling as the juice started coming up through the crust.

“I don’t think the pie is right,” I said, wanting to cry.

“I’m sure it’s fine,” said Chris.

As we pulled into the parking lot of the park, I felt that I should just leave the pie in the car. What about my fabulous first impression? It was disappearing before my eyes. But Chris assured me all would be well. And so I took the pie to the dessert table.

Long story short, all was not well. One person took a piece; or, attempted to take a piece. But there was no piece to be taken—the filling had not set up. Instead of raspberry pie, I had made raspberry soup en croute. It was so humiliating. Here’s the picture of the pie in the cookbook:

Regan Daley's Raspberry PieAnd here’s mine:

Mabel's Raspberry PieAfter we brought this sad little rejected thing home, we broke off pieces of that beautiful crust and dipped it in the raspberry soup. At least all was not lost.

Tragic, yes? No, not really. After all, it’s just pie. Raspberry pie.

Roasted Cinnamon Ice Cream

September 5, 2011 in Ice Creams and Other Frozen Desserts, Other Recipes | 2 comments

Apple Pie Roasted Cinnamon Ice Cream
Several weeks ago (July 24th, to be exact) I was inspired to make this recipe by my friend and magazine cohort, Elaine St. Louis. Elaine was on a mission to win a blue ribbon at the first-ever Denver County Fair, so she was bringing apple pie into the office for some taste testing. And she was serious about wanting feedback: you couldn’t have a piece unless you agreed to give honest and useful criticism.

Roasted Cinnamon Ice Cream
I thought cinnamon ice cream would be the perfect accompaniment to apple pie, and so brought it into the office; you know, just to enhance the whole pie-tasting experience. It was easy to make—only six ingredients—and even though I don’t love super-creamy ice cream, I know most people do (and you know I only care about other people’s happiness), so I used the required heavy cream.

To get roasted cinnamon, I was asked to actually toast it in a saute pan. It was sort of strange, toasting ground cinnamon, and I don’t think it made much difference in the flavor. But that’s what Regan wanted me to do, and her wish is my command.

It was quite tasty (as is pretty much anything that involves cinnamon), especially with apple pie. Of course, it would really go well with any fruit pie.

Apple Pie Cinnamon Ice Cream
In the end, Elaine won not one, but TWO blue ribbons. I am so jealous. I covet them, lust after them, want them. Elaine won’t even let me touch one.

So maybe I should work on my pie making and try to win one of my own next year. Or maybe I’ll work on my cake making. I don’t think I want to compete against Elaine.

To get Elaine’s award-winning pie recipes, click here.

White Chocolate and Summer Berry Tart

August 17, 2011 in Pies and Tarts | 4 comments

White Chocolate and Summer Berry Tart
So, I made this tart for the Fourth of July, which was a very nice and relaxing day spent with family. I really wanted to make S’mores Roulade, because that seemed just so perfect for the Fourth of July, but it calls for graham flour, which I cannot find, and it has like 87 steps, which I really wasn’t in the mood to work through. As a side note, I’m getting to the place in the cookbook where I’m running out of easy recipes with easy-to-find ingredients.


But this was one that was easy and I had all the ingredients. Except for red currant jelly, which was easily substituted with strawberry jelly. And it called for blackberries and raspberries, but I don’t really love raspberries, and strawberries were on sale, and strawberries and blueberries just work so well with the whole Fourth of July color scheme. So there you go.

White Chocolate and Summer Berry Tart
This tart went together very easily—I am now so, so brilliant at making tarts—and even though white chocolate is not my favorite, the addition of raspberry liqueur made it quite tasty. And fresh berries piled on top? Yum. And I love that my sister-in-law, Stacy, had wonderfully coordinating paper plates. Because it’s important that your dessert match your plate.

Chocolate-Glazed Bacon Brownies

July 23, 2011 in Other Recipes | 4 comments

Chocolate-Glazed Bacon Brownies
As difficult as it may be to believe, Mabel has once again been distracted by a non-Sweet Kitchen recipe. And once again, the culprit is none other than my dear friend and cookbook aficionado, Eliza Cross. (She did this once before when she sent me a recipe for the most amazing Espresso Gelato.)

101 Things to do with BaconEliza has just written a delightful little cookbook called 101 Things To Do With Bacon (Gibbs Smith), which beyond yummy dishes such as Asiago Bacon Mini Frittatas and Twice-Baked Sweet Potatoes with Candied Bacon includes a chapter of bacon-laden desserts.

Now, bacon and chocolate have always been two of my favorite foods, but I never imagined that they could be consumed at the same time. Really, it just seemed too good to be true. But recently this odd pairing has gained a certain notoriety and when I saw this recipe, I knew I had to try it.

So Thursday night, as Chris watched in total disbelief, I fried up some bacon and then sprinkled it in and on top of chocolate brownies. I even (because the recipe said to) put the bacon fat in the brownie batter! Good heavens, does it get any better?

We were supposed to wait for the brownies to cool before cutting them, but that’s just silly, so with just a little trepidation we dove in. Sweet, salty, smoky and incredibly rich; the perfect bedtime snack.

I took some to the office Friday and they were a huge hit. “Oh, dear god,” was the best response. And besides being super-yummy, these have to be the best conversation-starting treats around. Make them for your next party (or better yet, brunch) and see what happens!

Eliza has graciously allowed me to share the recipe, so here’s what you need to do: make these brownies, eat the whole pan of them (it’s a small pan), go to Eliza’s book signing and bacon tasting—August 11, 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm at Tony’s Market, 950 Broadway, Denver—and buy the book; it’s only $9.99! That, my friends, is a steal. After all, can you really put a price on 101 bacon recipes?

Chocolate-Glazed Bacon Brownies

1/2 pound bacon, diced
1/4 – 1/3 cup butter or margarine, melted
2 (1-ounce) squares unsweetened chocolate
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
pinch of salt
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325 degrees and grease an 8 x 8-inch baking pan.

Cook bacon in a frying pan over medium heat and drain, reserving bacon drippings. Pour bacon drippings into a measuring cup and add melted butter to make 1/2 cup; reserve.

Melt unsweetened chocolate in a saucepan over medium heat and add butter mixture. Remove from heat and stir in sugar until combined. Add the eggs, vanilla, and salt and beat well. Fold in flour and mix just until smooth. Spread half the brownie batter into the prepared baking pan. Sprinkle with half the bacon, and spoon the rest of the batter evenly over top. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Heat cream in a small pan over medium heat until simmering. Immediately remove from heat and add chocolate chips, whisking until melted and smooth. Drizzle the mixture on the brownies and sprinkle with the remaining bacon. Cool and cut into squares; store in refrigerator. Makes 16 brownies.

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Shortcake Cups

July 10, 2011 in Cookies and Bars | 1 comment

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Shortcake Cups
So, as I recall (I made these in March), I was super-excited about this recipe; I love me some Reese’s peanut butter cups, and these little cookies/cupcakes appeared to be the inside-out version: peanut butter on the outside and gooey, melty chocolate on the inside. But they didn’t quite turn out the way I’d hoped.

With my trusty sidekick, three-year-old Jaime Grace, by my side, we whipped up the peanut butter shortcake batter. It started with crunchy peanut butter, not my favorite, but that was what the recipe called for, and I’m a rule follower, so that’s what we used.

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Shortcake Cups
The batter mixed up just fine; no strange ingredients or complicated instructions. Then we got a little assembly-line thing going: I scooped teaspoons of the batter into mini-muffin pans and Jaime put chocolate chips into the center of each cake. She kept wanting to stuff about ten chips into each one, but the recipe called for just two or three, and these desserts have always been so decadent, and I’m a rule follower, so Jaime and I worked on our counting—One, two, three! One, two, three!—and we worked out an excellent system where she got three chips in the cakes and the remaining seven in her mouth.

peanut butter and chocolate shortcake cups
Then I placed a bit more batter over the top to cover the chips (yes, a bit labor-intensive), and popped the pans into the oven.

We dove into them just as soon as they were cool enough to eat and realized immediately that although they were pretty good, Jaime was right—they needed about triple the amount of chocolate chips.

The moral to this story: When it comes to chocolate, always trust a three-year-old.

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