Spice Layer Cake for the Autumn

Finally we were able to reschedule the missed dinner with our Healdsburg friends. The yogurt cake was long gone, but I found a recipe in a King Arthur Baking email that was perfect for dessert.

The cake is a pumpkin spice cake. Now, don't groan about the way the pumpkin spice has taken over the season. This cake was more a spice cake with a tiny bit of pumpkin flavor. The original recipe was for a fairly thin cake with a cream cheese frosting and it was sized to serve a crowd...like four dozen folks!

I decided that we didn't need that much cake for four people, so I halved the recipe (and replaced the oil with melted butter because I like that better) and baked it in a 9-inch by 13-inch pan. That still made a fairly thin layer, so I decided to divide it by three. I stacked two of the three layers, with my own version of cream cheese frosting in the middle and on top. The remaining third and the rest of the frosting will be used later for a dessert for another friend or friends.

My frosting recipe is their recipe with the addition of two tablespoons sour cream. It gives the frosting a nice tang that helps offset the super sweetness of the confectioners sugar.

Do try this cake. It's moist and mildly spicy, with the cake not very sweet and the frosting sweet but tangy. It's an indulgence, but you can have small pieces as I did and still have a satisfying dessert.

Pumpkin Spice Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Makes 1 - 9-inch by 6-inch layer cake, plus a single 9-inch by 6-inch cake layer

Ingredients

·      Pumpkin cake:

·      ½ cup melted butter, cooled

·      ½ cup brown sugar

·      ½ cup granulated sugar

·      2 large eggs

·      ½ cup pumpkin purée

·      ½ teaspoon baking soda

·      ½ teaspoon baking powder

·      1/4 teaspoon salt

·      ½ tablespoon pumpkin pie spice

·      1 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

·      ½ cup chopped toasted walnuts 

·      ½ cup golden raisins

 

·      For the frosting:

·      8 ounces cream cheese

·      4 tablespoons softened butter

2      2 tablespoons sour cream

·      2  tablespoons maple syrup

·      2 ½ cups confectioners’ sugar

·      ⅛ teaspoon salt

·      

·      Procedure

·      This cake is moist and delicious, similar to carrot cake but with a fall flavor. The rich cream cheese frosting will also remind you of carrot cake—which isn’t a bad thing! Do toast the walnuts before using them; toasting brings out their nutty essence.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease and flour a 9-inch by 13-inch cake pan; or line the pan with greased parchment.

Beat the cooled melted butter and the sugars together until well blended.

Beat in the eggs, then the pumpkin purée.

·            Stir the baking soda, baking powder, salt, and spice into the wet ingredients, then stir in the flour, beating gently to combine.

      Stir in the nuts and raisins.

      Pour the batter into the prepared pan, and bake for approximately 15 to 20 minutes, or until a cake tester or toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.

      Cool the cake in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn it onto a rack to finish cooling; or leave it right in the pan, if you’ve lined the pan with parchment.

      When ready to assemble, remove the cake from the pan if not already done, turn cake right side up, and use a sharp knife to divide the cake into three 6-inch x 9-inch pieces. Reserve one of the pieces for another use.

      Place one of the pieces of cake on a serving plate or platter. Spread frosting over the whole layer and smooth. Place the second layer over the first. Spread more frosting over the top, swirling a bit once spread. If desired decorate with fall colored decorations or with toasted, chopped walnuts. Serve in 2-inch by 2-inch pieces (approximately).

 

To make the frosting: Beat the cream cheese, butter  and sour cream together.

Beat in the maple syrup, then mix in the confectioners’ sugar and salt. Adjust the consistency of the frosting with additional maple syrup or confectioners’ sugar, if necessary; it should be nicely spreadable.

Frost the cake. Once the frosting has set somewhat, cut into squares and serve.

Butternut Squash For Fall - Zucchini For Summer

By now we have usually taken in our front porch wicker furniture because of rain, but this year we continue to have weather more like June than October...including some fog, which I love. No rain.

This recipe reflects the two seasons in a way. I'm just beginning my use of winter squash...in this case butternut and have almost finished using the zucchini from my garden because we are not getting very much any more and mostly little ones at that. This recipe has both, plus some mushrooms and two kinds of rice, plus pecans and orange juice and zest. What ties it together is olive oil and balsamic vinegar, plus a bit of maple syrup on the roast veggies.

I saw a recipe on my phone for something similar to this a week or so ago, but couldn't find it when it was time to make this dish, so I sort of put things together that sounded right in proportions that seemed right and it worked out pretty well. Sweetie raved and had two servings.

 Although I often peel, de-seed and cut up fresh butternut squash, today I used a container from the grocery store that had already prepared chunks in it. I did cut a few of the larger chunks in half, but other wise just threw them into the mixing bag. The zucchini were small so I used two, cutting off the ends and cutting them in half, then slicing them. The mushrooms were already cleaned and sliced. You can use any kind of mushroom you like...these are plain white ones but cremini or one of the fancy ones would be delicious, too.

Do use a fresh orange for this. The zest and fresh juice are a background note, but make a big difference and that won't happen without the fresh oils in the zest and the unmistakable taste of fresh OJ.

I used a rice cooker for the rice but just prepare it in your favorite way. You can skip the wild rice if you want this to be less costly and it will still take great, but the wild rice really adds to the taste. This would make a great stuffing for duck if the butternut squash were chopped in smaller cubes. The flavors would be excellent with duck...or turkey. We had it with grilled chicken thighs and it was lovely.

Need to prep ahead? You can roast the veggie mixture in advance, keep in fridge, then warm in the microwave before mixing into the rice mixture. Both kinds of rice can be made ahead and rewarmed with about a teaspoon of water in the microwave with waxed paper over the container to keep the moisture in. Do mix up the 'dressing' at the time you are going to serve because fresh orange juice will taste fresher that way...and it matters. Pecans can be toasted ahead and kept in a airtight container.

Two Kinds of Rice with Butternut Squash and Maple
Serves 4-6

3-4 cups butternut squash, peeled, de-seeded, and cut into cubes of about an inch
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons maple syrup
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1/4 teaspoon dry thyme
1/8 teaspoon (or more if you like it spicier) cayenne pepper, ground
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon fresh orange zest
1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
2 small or 1 medium-large zucchini, ends trimmed, halved lengthwise and sliced in1/4-inch thick slices
1/4 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup cooked wild rice
1 1/2 cups cooked brown rice
1/4 cup toasted pecans, broken in large pieces
1 tablespoon parsley, minced

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

Place the butternut squash, olive oil, maple syrup, balsamic vinegar, thyme, cayenne pepper, ground black pepper, and orange zest into a large plastic bag (I use a clean produce bag) and shake vigorously to coat the squash in the other ingredients. Line a sheet pan with heavy duty foil and spray with spray oil (I used spray olive oil). Pour the squash mixture onto the prepared sheet pan. Let as much of the mixture as you can drip from the bag. Use the outside of the bag to pat the squash into a single layer, with the cubes separated from each other. Roast in the preheated oven for 10 minutes.

Add the sliced mushrooms and sliced zucchini to the sheet pan and use tongs or a wooden spatula to carefully mix them into the squash mixture while also turning the squash to another side. Try not to tear the foil since the coating mixture is sticky and could burn if it leaks underneath. Make sure that the mushrooms and zucchini are laying on a flat side on the surface of the sheet pan foil, then return the pan to the oven and roast another 10-15 minutes, or until butternut squash is tender.

While the squash is roasting, in a small bowl mix together the chicken broth, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper.

In a large bowl place the two kinds of rice, warmed, the roasted veggies and any sauce, and the fresh orange juice dressing. Gently stir to combine. Add the toasted pecans and the minced parsley and gently stir to combine. Serve at once for warm dish, or serve at room temperature later.

Best Oatmeal Cookies

I have a very thoughtful daughter. She knows that I love to bake. For my birthday she gave me the Zingerman's Bakehouse Cookbook and it is a treasure. The book combines great recipes, both sweet and savory, excellent baking tips and instructions, and an overview of their company both the people and the philosophy.

Finally had some time today to try a recipe from the cookbook. I chose to start with their oatmeal cookies, which they call the Big O Cookies. I'm past the time when a big-o should mean anything other than the best oatmeal cookie ever...and these really are. They are a generous size (although I was baking mine in my countertop oven, so I made them smaller than the recipe called for. They have chewy old-fashioned oats, a nice mixture of brown sugar and maple for sweetness, plus lots of raisins. There is just enough cinnamon and nutmeg and they are almost the right thickness.

I made half the recipe and couldn't figure out a way to halve an egg, so I added a little more flour...about 2 tablespoons...to make up for the added liquid. Turns out I should have only added 1 tablespoon or maybe none since they were slightly more cakey that I had been expecting. However, even with that they were the best oatmeal cookies that Sweetie has ever had (according to him) and I just loved them, too. I did stray from the recipe a tiny bit...I used a bit more cinnamon and used golden raisins instead of flame variety, plus I used less raisins. Of course also I used non-dairy margarine instead of butter.

Thank you K for this great book and thank you to my dear sister G and niece T for letting me know about Zingerman's...an Ann Arbor, MI institution.

Big O Cookies
From Zingerman's Bakehouse Cookbook, slightly revised by me

Notes: There are both cup measures and weights here. I used the weights as much as possible because bakers find that this works better. If you have a scale, please use the weights...you will be glad. Smaller amounts don't have weights. Brown sugar is always packed if measured.

margarine, room temperature          1 cup + 2 tablespoons        250 g
brown sugar                                     3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons     154 g
maple syrup                                     1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon       172 g
large egg                                           1
vanilla extract                                  1 teaspoon
all-purpose flour                              1 3/4 cups + 1 tablespoon  255 g
baking soda                                      1 1/8 teaspoon
sea salt                                              1 1/8 teaspoon
ground cinnamon                             1 1/8 teaspoon
ground nutmeg                                 1/4 teaspoon
old-fashioned rolled oats                  3 cups                                 300 g
flame raisins (I used golden)            2 3/4 cups                           390 g

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180C).

Prepare a couple of cookie sheets by lining with parchment paper. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl use a wooden spoon or stand mixer on medium speed to cream the margarine (or use unsalted butter which will be even better) and sugar until light and fluffy. Add maple syrup in thirds to keep batter from curdling permanently. Add maple syrup slowly to blend it in easily.

Add the egg and vanilla extract and mix until thoroughly incorporated.

In another bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg...I used a whisk to mix it all together. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixer. Stir with wooden spoon or with electric mixer on low speed until evenly combined. Add the oats and raisins and mix to distribute evenly.

Scoop about 3 tablespoons of dough, or use a 1 1/2 oz.(48 ml) scoop (disher) onto the prepared cookie sheets, spacing far apart to allow for spreading. Press down so that dough rounds are about 1/2-inch thick.

Bake cookies for 15 -17 minutes, until golden brown around the edges and just set in the middle. Cool on a rack to room temperature.

Tip: Dough can be refrigerated uncooked and kept a week. Bake cookies right from the fridge. Expect to bake for and additional 2-3 minutes since they are cold.

Squash and Maple Syrup - A Match Made for Roasting

Went to a wonderful birthday party yesterday. The birthday girl combines kindness, consideration, imagination, artistic talent, literary talent, high intelligence, beauty inside and out, with gratitude, love and grace in amounts unusual in an 18 year old. She is a winner in so many ways.

A nice aspect of the party was that Sweetie and I got to meet her neighbors and friends and adults who have been a wonderful part of her journey to adulthood. Thank you Natasha. Lots of fun discussions took place, including one about this blog. I mentioned a recipe I first made a few years ago, which has become a favorite. It includes Delicata squash, olive oil, spices and maple syrup. Often I make it with those and some yams. Today I used butternut squash, so it was very squashy and good. I like using Moroccan spices with it but today used Zatar, which includes sumac, thyme, white sesame seed and salt. It was delicious with the squash.

The seeds are easily removed from the halved squash with a melon ball tool.

Sometimes I leave the skin on the delicata squash as I did today, but that is usually when I grew it myself as I did this one. When I get it from the market, or just want all the squash to be soft (because the skin does get chewy and a bit crackly), I peel the thin skin off with a paring tool. I used that tool for peeling the butternut squash, which works very well.

This is a sweet/savory dish and is great when the weather starts to cool off enough to roast things in the oven. We served it with grilled chicken and a tomato/cucumber salad with a red wine vinaigrette.
The squash is soft and delicious, with bits that are browned and a little chewy and totally wonderful. Give it a try. You might become a squash convert.

Delicata and Butternut Squash with Olive Oil and Maple
Serve 4-6

2-3 cups peeled, cubed butternut squash, seeds, if any, removed
1 Delicata squash, seeds removed, peel removed if desired, cut in half and sliced
3 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
3 tablespoons real maple syrup
1/4 teaspoon zatar spice mix, or your favorite mix of spices that are warm (cardamom, curry, coriander, etc)

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.

In a large plastic bag (I used clean produce bags from the market), combine the squash, olive oil, salt and pepper, maple syrup and zatar spices. Close bag tightly and shake to completely coat the squash with the wet ingredients and spices.

Pour coated mixture on the parchment lined sheet pan and use the bag to spread the squash out in the pan into a single layer.

Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes. Use a spatula to turn the squash pieces over, then roast an additional 10 - 15 minutes until edges are browned and squash is softened.

Serve while hot.

Fruits and Nut Braid

For a number of reasons I needed a vacation, so Sweetie and I took one last week and visited some grand and natural wonders in southern Utah and northern Arizona.

You would be hard pressed to find more spectacular scenery, especially if you like rocks. We were able to squeeze in Las Vegas (well the airport anyway),

Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks.

and the North Rim of the Grand Canyon

as well as a number of National Forests. We even took an unplanned trip past the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument by heading in the opposite direction to where we wanted to go on our last day in Utah.

If you ever find yourself in the area, I can highly recommend two B&Bs. In St. George which is about 1 1/2 hours north of Las Vegas, we stayed in the Green Gate Village Inns,

which is a collection of buildings from the late 1800s which have been renovated beautifully. The accommodations were excellent and the breakfasts were lovely.

At the Purple Sage Inn in Kanab, further east near to Zion, Bryce and the Grand Canyon north rim, it was almost like staying in your own restored Victorian. The details were exceptional from unusual and beautiful bath and sink fittings to gorgeous wallpaper to lovely light fixtures to fine china on the table for breakfast. I fell in love with the kitchen and can imagine how great it would be to cook in a kitchen that is so well laid out and planned.

The front parlor is welcoming and we found that it was cool enough for a fire in the fireplace. The innkeeper, a native of Kanab, is hospitable, friendly and enjoyable to talk with...plus she is a great cook. Even though we had interesting conversations with other guests at the St. George B&B, at the Purple Sage it was somehow more like sitting around your own table and talking with new friends.

In the evening conversation was lively in the living room around the fireplace, too, although there are plenty of places to just hang out and read or spend some quiet time if that is what you prefer.

Now that we are home, the sourdough starters were fed and I decided to make a braid similar to one I made last year. Somehow the combination of golden raisins, cranberries and pecans seems right in the fall. This time I used some sourdough starter instead of dry yeast and I substituted maple syrup for the brown sugar. After all, maple syrup is a fall/winter kind of ingredient.

The braid baked up beautifully and is delicious with a cup of tea, toasted. We also enjoyed it as sandwich bread today as part of a turkey sandwich. Since it isn't very sweet it worked quite well.

I'm sending this over to Susan at Wild Yeast for the weekly Yeastspotting event...a wonderland of bread recipes...I highly recommend following the link if you love bread and other yeasted delights.

Festive Braid with Raisins, Cranberries, Pecans, Maple and Orange

1 cup sourdough starter
2 ¼ - 3 cups unbleached bread flour
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon grated orange zest (colored part only)
¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons golden raisins
¼ cup dried cranberries
½ cup chopped toasted pecans
¼ cup maple syrup
1/3 cup warm milk (105 – 115 degrees F)
1 egg, slightly beaten
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

egg wash- 1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water
sanding sugar

Place sourdough starter in bottom of stand mixer bowl. Add the maple syrup, warm milk, and egg and mix to blend. Set aside.

Combine 1 ½ cups of the flour, salt, orange zest, raisins, dried cranberries and toasted chopped pecans in large measuring cup or bowl. Mix thoroughly.

Add the dry ingredients and the butter to the yeast mixture. Mix thoroughly.

Add enough remaining flour to make a soft dough. Knead using the stand mixer and the dough hook or knead on lightly floured surface until smooth, about 10 minutes.

Place in greased bowl, turning to coat top. Cover and let rise in warm place until double in bulk – about 1 hour.

Punch down dough. Divide the dough into thirds. Make three ropes. Braid on a greased, parchment covered, or silicon mat covered baking sheet.

Cover and let rise in a warm place until double – about 30 -45 minutes. Brush with egg glaze and sprinkle with sanding sugar right before putting in the oven.
Bake in a preheated 400 degree F oven for 30 - 40 minutes. Check at 20 minutes. If crust is getting too brown, tent with aluminum foil. Interior temperature should be about 210 degrees F.

Cool on a wire rack.

Optional: Make the Confectioners’ Icing, then drizzle it over the cool loaf. Sprinkle with the additional pecans and some candied cherries to decorate. Let the icing dry before serving.

Confectioners Sugar icing: Mix together 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla, 1/4 teaspoon grated orange zest and 1-2 tablespoons milk.

It Must Be Spring and Pecan Tart Still Sounds Fine

It must be spring...everyone around here is talking about the weather. The other seasons have plenty of fluctuations in temperature and storms, but somehow spring is the most erratic. I'm mentally all set to switch to short sleeves and sweaters but next week looks like it will be back to rain gear and fleece.

My seedlings are big enough to go outside, too, but it may be May 15 before things warm up enough to plant them in the ground. The chill and rain doesn't seem to bother the apple blossoms. It was warm enough yesterday to open the car windows and take in the elusive and sweet fragrance that has such a short season.

After a crazy busy work day it's pretty nice to find a baking recipe that is also short and sweet. I'll be bringing this to a dinner party tonight, so I took a little extra time and arranged the nuts so they would look nice...all facing up. Given a choice of gingerbread, or maple and nuts, Sweetie chose the later. I'm glad he did!

A quick and easy tart with the delectable flavors of maple and pecans. No need for a mixer here…just use a whisk or fork to make the filling. I mixed the crumb mixture with a silicon spatula right in the pot I melted the butter in. Although this tart is fine just as it is, you can guild the lily with a drift of softly whipped cream or vanilla ice cream spooned next to each slice as you serve.



Maple –Pecan Tart with Graham-Gingersnap Crust
based on recipe in Instant Gratification by Lauren Chattman

½ cup (1 stick) butter, divided
1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar, divided
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
½ cup gingersnap crumbs (about 8 cookies)
¼ cup dark corn syrup
2 large eggs
¼ cup pure maple syrup
1 ½ cups pecan halves

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Melt 5 tablespoons of the butter in a saucepan. Once butter has cooled a little bit (2-3 minutes), stir in the 2 tablespoons of sugar, the graham cracker crumbs and the gingersnap crumbs. Stir well to combine. The mixture will look like damp sand. Press the mixture evenly across the bottom and all the way up the sides of a 9 inch tart pan with removable bottom. Pack the mixture tightly with your fingertips so it is even and compacted.
(Reminds me of making sand cakes in the sandbox and sand castles at the beach.) Place the pan in the freezer until ready to use. (You may want to put a tray under the tart so that the removable bottom doesn’t move and disturb the nice crust you’ve made.)

Melt the remaining 3 tablespoons of butter. In a medium bowl whisk together the melted butter, the remaining 1/3 cup sugar, the dark corn syrup, eggs, and maple syrup.

Remove tart pan from freezer. Scatter the pecans evenly across the bottom of the tart shell. (I like to turn them all so the top of the nut half faces up…look prettier to me…although it is more work and takes time.)Slowly pour the filling over the nuts.

Bake in the preheated oven until the filling is just set, 15 to 20 minutes. (I placed my tart pan on a Silpat lined baking sheet in case any gooey filling overflowed the tart pan.) Let cool completely on a cake rack before removing the sides of the pan and serving.

Serves 6-8

Something Sweet

Hard to believe that we are well into 2010 and that January is flying by. I'm very grateful that we have been having rainy weather since the water table needs the help and most of our year's drinking water comes with winter rains. That said, the last couple of days have been rougher weather than I like. Thunder and hail made work interesting yesterday. Today there was flooding down the street and all around the area from what I hear. Fortunately I was able to stay home and have fun in the kitchen. Tried a couple of new recipes (coming soon to this blog) and shut down the computer when the winds sounded too fierce. We often have power outages in the winter, but so far are still electrified :)

Found an excellent deal on an Epson all-in-one printer combo a few weeks ago. My old printer...and it is really old folks...finally died before Christmas, so I truly needed a new one. Never being one to do things in a simple way, I used the new toy as a carrot in order to get myself to clean up my office area. It was like archeology...first the things from this winter and fall, then last spring, a pile from last Christmas with a few catalogs and some Christmas cards (quickly thrown in the trash...so much easier for a pack rat like me to throw out when it's a year old), then into three years ago and all the way back to some Zip drives full of projects from classes taken in 2003. Found lots of good stuff along the way :) Threw out bags and bags of old stuff, too. Still finding homes for a few things, but my work space is so much nicer and easier to work in. Good thing the printer died. Do you find sorting and keeping up with organization as daunting as I do?

One of the things that took some time but will really be a joy later was organizing my photo CDs. I have dozens of them, including some with full resolution photos for some of my blog photos, and now I know where to lay my hands of specific images. Woot! January weather that keeps me indoors is good for this kind of long overdue sorting.

Looking over January's posts it looks like I have given up on sweets. Never. My sweet tooth is alive and well. It's just that the sweet bounty of the holidays has continued to provide for the sweet tooth, so nothing new was needed. The recent arrival of a killer chocolate cherry brandy bread from Second Sister Down and family, plus Michigan chocolate covered dried cherries added to the delightful sweets on hand and lack of need to bake myself.

Finally we are down to the last of the Christmas goodies. Also I have baked some great multi-grain bread. One loaf went into the freezer and, once thawed, yielded thick delicious slices perfect for French toast. To top the French toast I made some Maple Cinnamon Apples. Their sweet spiciness was perfect with the warm eggy French toast. Didn't have any bacon, but it would have been a great addition for a wonderful breakfast. Sure brightened a gray January morning for me.

French Toast

6 thick slices bread - use home baked bread if you have it
1 egg, beaten lightly
1 cup of milk (non-fat, low fat and full fat are all ok...and so is unsweetened evaporated milk)
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
butter for the pan

If the bread is very fresh, dry it a bit in a low oven (200 degrees F) for 5 minutes. Otherwise, just set aside.

In a shallow bowl (I use a pie plate) mix together the egg, milk, sugar and cinnamon. Set aside.

Heat a non-stick or seasoned cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. As the skillet heats, soak a piece or two (if both will fit flat in the shallow bowl or pan) in the egg milk mixture, turning to soak the other side after 2 minutes. After second side has soaked two additional minutes, remove the soaked slices to the heated pan with a slotted spatula. Replace the removed slices of bread with more slices, again soaking each side for two minutes. Keep soaking the slices as you remove the soaked one to the pan until all bread slices have been soaked.

Cook the bread slices until golden brown on one side, then turn to cook to golden brown on the other side. Remove as cooked and keep warm in a low oven on an oven safe plate.

Once all slices of toast have been cooked, serve, topped with Maple Cinnamon Apples, additional maple syrup if desired, or a topping of your choice.

photo taken on a sunnier day

Maple Cinnamon Apples

1 tablespoon butter
2 large apples (Fuji, Gala and Braeburn are my favorites, but use the apple you like best), washed, cored, and sliced thinly
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon (or more if you really like cinnamon)

In a skillet, over medium-low heat, melt the butter.

Add the apple slices, maple syrup and cinnamon. Stir to thoroughly coat the apples with the syrup and spice. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until the apples soften, about 4 minutes. Uncover and turn heat to high. Cook, stirring often, until syrup thickens slightly, about 4 minutes. Take care. Syrup is very hot.

Serve over the French Toast. Also good over cooked oatmeal or vanilla ice cream.

A Very Tasty Yogurt Cake for Fall

Mea culpa! In the spring, before my trip to Ireland, the lovely Kristina at Stonyfield Farms sent me some coupons for their organic Greek style yogurt, called Oikos. I had every intention of getting some and using it for recipes and blogging about it because I love yogurt, but somehow the coupons stayed in my old purse and everything else, just about, went into the new one for the trip, so they were never with me when I was at a store that carried the yogurt.

It has taken waaaaay too long, but finally I found the coupons, carried them with me, used them, and made a very tasty yogurt cake using the rich, creamy, tangy plain Oikos yogurt and the recipe in Dorie Greenspan's Baking, pg 224. Although this isn't the best photo, you can see how rich and creamy the texture of this yogurt is.

Because we have fresh Gravenstein apples and because it really feels like fall is coming (we even had rain this weekend) it seemed like a good idea to make a fall themed cake.

Apples and maple syrup are two flavors that remind me of crisp fall days and rich fall colors. The caramel for the apples is made with maple syrup, butter and some cream. When I was cooking some sliced apples one night this week to go with dinner, I started by sauteing them in a little butter, then pouring on some maple syrup and letting them simmer while I cooked other things. By the time I paid attention to the apples, the syrup had caramelized and I could spin caramel threads with a fork dipped in the syrup. The problem was that I didn't know how long that had taken.

Ever the explorer, when it was time to make the filling and topping for the cake, I tried to re-enact caramelizing the maple syrup. First I steamed the apple slices a bit so that I wouldn't over cook the syrup while trying to cook the apples. Using a slotted spoon I transferred the partially cooked apples to a frying pan full of melted butter. After sauteing the apples for a couple of minutes, I poured on a cup of maple syrup, stirred it all together, then let it simmer for about 3 minutes. Later I decided that it should have been longer since I ended up with a pretty soupy sauce. Again using a slotted spoon, I removed the apples and then 1/4 cup of whipping cream was whisked in. After more simmering I decided that it wasn't really going to thicken up, so the apples went back into the sauce, were coated with it, and then half the apple slices were removed...again....with a slotted spoon and placed on the bottom half of the yogurt cake (which I had sliced in half earlier). Because I wanted the maple flavor to sink into the cake, I drizzled a little of the sauce over those apples. I put the top cake layer over them, wrapped the whole thing in plastic wrap and let it sit overnight. The rest of the syrup and apples were stored in the fridge.

The next evening I carefully removed apple slices (the slotted spoon was getting a workout) from the sauce and arranged them on the top of the unwrapped cake. The cake had been set on a rimmed plate. Once the caramelized apple slices were in position on top of the cake, I spooned the rest of the sauce over them and over the top of the cake. Lots of sauce spilled down the sides and collected at the plate rim. A gooey, but very, very tasty mess.

I took the cake to a dinner party, but left the camera at home, so the plated cake photo was taken almost a day later and without benefit of the ice cream garnish we had at night.

The Oikos yogurt gives this cake a wonderful tang, very much appreciated as a foil for the very sweet maple-apple sauce. The cake is moist from the yogurt and from the syrup and apple juices, but holds together very nicely for slicing. It really does taste like fall to me. The last slice was even better this afternoon with a cup of tea.

This yogurt cake is super easy to make and goes together quickly. If not dolled up with maple-caramel-apple sauce, it would also taste great plain with a fruit compote and I suspect it would make a great base for strawberry shortcake, too. Go ahead, make a yogurt cake yourself and see. If you can find Stonyfield Farm organic Oikos yogurt in your store, by all means use that for the cake's yogurt. Plain generic yogurt just doesn't have the texture or tang that Oikos has, but if that is what you have available, go for it because this cake is worth making.

Need the recipe? E-mail me and I'll send it to you.

The Start of Apple Season

Although the true days of fall are still far off, in this area we start apple season in August with the Gravenstein apple. It is an old variety and doesn't store at all. A few days, maybe a week, then they begin to turn to mush.

The good news is that they are tart, delicious, and make wonderful baked apple dished since they get nice and almost gooey when they are cooked. Apple pies made with them are wonderful. Apple sauce is superb. For a very quick treat, an apple crisp made with Gravensteins can't be beat.

Although you certainly can make this dish with peeled apples, I left on the peel for ease of preparation (my focus was on the trim in the dining room that I was giving a fresh coat of paint, so time was at a premium), and because it keeps a lot of the nutrients in the dish. The maple syrup added sweetness in a mellow way, and the crisp benefited from the old fashioned rolled oats that I used. That kind seem to get crisper when baked than the quick cooking kind of oatmeal. Butter, raw brown sugar, flour and some cinnamon and allspice are the easy ingredients that combine with the oats for the topping. Try it topped with some vanilla ice cream or frozen yogurt. It's a late summer delight. Glad that apple season has begun.

Gravenstein Apple Crisp

serves 4-6

4 cups sliced apple - Gravensteins preferred, but any tart cooking apple will work

1/4 cup pure maple syrup

1 teaspoon cinnamon, divided

1/2 stick (4 tablespoons) butter, cold

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/3 cup raw brown sugar, or light brown sugar

1/2 cup old fashioned rolled oats

1/8 teaspoon allspice

In a shallow cast iron skilled or shallow baking pan, mix the apples, syrup and 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon. Spread the fruit out in the pan.

In a medium bowl, place the butter, cut into tablespoon sized pieces, the flour, brown sugar, and oats. Sprinkle the remaining cinnamon and the allspice over all. Using a pastry cutter or two knives, cut the butter into the remaining ingredients until well mixed. If you prefer, you can use you hands, although the results will be clumpier.

Distribute the crisp mixture over the fruit and bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 20-20 minutes or until the fruit is cooked and juices bubble and the topping is golden brown and crisp.

Serve warm or cold. This dish is great with the addition of a scoop of ice cream, or frozen yogurt.

Amazing Breakfast Waffles

One of the things that often keeps me from making anything more complicated for breakfast than a bowl of oatmeal is the time it takes to put together a batter and then cook it and then clean up from it.

The advantage of this recipe is that you start the batter the night before and only need to add the egg and melted butter in the morning. Now, it's true, there is still some cleaning up to do and waffles do take a while to bake in the waffle iron, but the amazing ease of putting the batter together, plus the fact that they taste great, makes it worthwhile. An added bonus is that the house smells like freshly baked bread...hard to beat on a chilly spring morning. This is what the bowl of batter looked like first thing in the morning...all the yeasties had been having a party overnight, so it's all foamy.

We added fresh strawberries on topof the finished waffles, too. A sure sign of spring, these came from Watsonville, just south of San Francisco. No butter was needed. Pure maple syrup filled up some of those depressions very nicely.

The ingredients for this are so simple that most people will have them handy in the pantry. That makes it so easy to whisk the first part together one evening, cover it, let the little yeasties do their thing overnight, then finish it off and enjoy the next morning. We had a couple of cooked waffles left over (I know, hard to believe, but we did try our best to demolish them all...and failed) and they went into the freezer and then a couple of days later the toaster oven...and were still delish.

Amazing Overnight Waffles
from Mollie Katzen's Sunlight Cafe' Cookbook

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
½ teaspoon salt
2 cups milk
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 large egg (I used ¼ cup egg substitute)
Nonstick spray
Butter for the waffle iron
Sliced strawberries – optionsl, but nice
Pure maple syrup – hard to resist on waffles

Combine the flour, yeast, sugar, and salt in a medium bowl Add the milk and whisk until blende. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and let stand overnight at room temperature (or put in the fridge if room temp. is over 70 degrees F.)

The next morning, preheat the waffle iron. Melt the 6 tablespoons butter and let cool a bit. Beat the egg is a small bowl (unnecessary if using egg substitute) then beat it into the batter along with the melted butter. The batter may be a bit thin.

Lightly spray the hot waffle iron with non stick spray, top and bottom plates, and then butter a piece of bread and use that to rub some butter on top and bottom plates.

Add just enough batter to cover the cooking surface…this varies by waffle iron…about 2/3 cup. Lower the top and cook until golden brown…it’s OK to check now and then. It takes about 2-3 minutes. You want it golden brown, but not dark brown.
Serve hot, right away, with strawberries and maple syrup, or toppings of your choice.

Note; If you have too many waffles for the number of people you are feeding, bake the leftover batter a little less than the ones you are eating, let cool on a baking rack, then freeze and store in the freezer tightly wrapped. Re-heat in the toaster.

If you get a chance to check out this cookbook, do. It has wonderful recipes for anything you might want to eat for breakfast...and a few surprises, too.