Spicy Bean Bake

I'm in the process of re-doing my family cookbook. It's fun! One of the things I did early on in the renovation was to change the font size to make it smaller. Originally I had it larger for my Mom, but this time around I'm looking at this as a resource for the next generation...and, perhaps, beyond, so I think they can handle a smaller type face.

As a result there is more room for extra recipes. In a kind of serendipity, I also found some recipe cards that had been missing, including some in my Mom's handwriting. One of the recipes was for a baked bean concoction that became popular with the family after I left home and moved to the West coast, so I had to ask Mom for the recipe and now it's in the cookbook. It's called Spicy Bean Bake, but it's not really that spicy. I suspect that my hot sauce loving siblings may add extra heat via sauces that contain things like habanero chilis after it's served. My Mom didn't really care for extra spicy things. You could also make this vegan by leaving out the ham or other meat and the bacon and adding a cup of cooked corn. 

What this recipe does have is a lot of flavor! It's also easy to make and makes a lot. The leftovers were even better than the original dish. Score!

I only made half the recipe, but Sweetie liked it so much that next time I'll make the full amount.,

Spicy Bean Bake

Serves 8-12 

One can 40-oz., baked beans
One can 1-pound, red kidney beans
2 large apples, chopped
1/2 cup raisins
1 1/2 cups chopped onion
1 cup chopped bell pepper
3 cups chopped cooked leftover ham, pork or beef
4 slices crumbled crisp bacon
1 cup catsup
1/2 cup pickle relish
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 cup molasses

Mix all ingredients in a 3-quart casserole. Cover and bake in a 250 degrees F. oven about 1 1/2 hours.

Morning Glory

It's fun to know that you can have a muffin and a flower with the same name...morning glory. At this time of year, the morning glories in my garden are going a little wild, having made their upward climb, some are twining on themselves for support so they can keep going, other are swooping down to attach lower down so they can climb again. I love the flowers...trumpets of pink, magenta, deep purple, pale blue and more. The truth is that they self-seed if not constantly dead-headed and become a weed sometimes, but I love them anyway.

The morning glory muffins are also prolific. One recipe makes a full two dozen muffins...that's a lot! They are filled with all sorts of deliciousness...apples, carrots, pecans, crushed pineapple, coconut, raisins and dried cherries as well as vanilla and spice. The wet ingredients includes apple butter but I found a jar of pumpkin apple butter and decided to use that to welcome in fall now that school is back in session. Since I did that, I also used a bit of pumpkin pie spice along with the cinnamon the recipe calls for. Since my supply of dried cherries was running low, I used some dried currants in their place and that worked well. Seems to me the recipe as written is a takeoff on Hummingbird Cake. 

Between the large quantities (you need two cups shredded carrots and a cup of shredded apple for example) and long list of ingredients, the prep takes a bit of time, but you end up with fragrant, delicious, moist and fairly healthy muffins...and lots of them. Do yourself a favor and make sure you set each and every ingredient on the counter before you start making these because it's easy to miss an ingredient. Better yet, prep and measure everything in advance. That way it will all go together quickly and you'll get the best rise out of the baking soda that is the only rising agent used. 

I removed these from the muffin tins in about 3 minutes after taking them out of the oven and I did have to run a butter knife around the edges on some of them to loosen them. If you stand them on their sides in the muffin cup to finish cooling it saves space and they are sturdy enough to hold their shape, too. 

Do try these delightful muffins. They are great for breakfast but also good for afternoon tea and would be a treat in a school lunch. The recipe came from my family but I suspect that it's been around for a long time. 

Morning Glory Muffins
Makes 2 dozen

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup brown sugar, packed
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups shredded carrot
1 cup shredded apple
3/4 cups raisins
1/2 cup dried cherries
1/3 cup chopped pecans
1/4 cup flaked coconut (sweet)
one 8-oz. can crushed pineapple, in juice, drained
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup apple butter
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 large eggs
2 large egg whites

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Coat 24 (2 dozen) muffin cups with cooking spray or vegetable oil.

Combine flour, brown sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt in a large mixing bowl.

Stir in carrot, apple, raisins, cherries, pecans, coconut and pineapple and make a well in the center of the mixture when combined.

In another bowl combine the oil, apple butter, vanilla, eggs and egg whites. Stir with a whisk. 

Add oil mixture to flour mixture, stirring with a wooden spoon or silicon spatula until just moist/barely combined.

Spoon the batter evenly in prepared pans, filling about 2/3 full.

Bake at 350 degrees F. for 25 minutes or until muffins spring back when touched lightly in center.

Remove from pan at once and cool on a wire rack. Yields 2 dozen.

NOTE: Can be stored, airtight, in freezer for 1  month. Wrap in foil and reheat at 300 degrees F.

Return To Baking

When last we 'spoke', the power had been shut off and I was planning on camping at home. Wrong...before I knew it I was evacuating from my home at 4 in the morning with Sweetie and Pi dog and our dear friend from Healdsburg who had evacuated to us the previous night. Off we drove to San Francisco to stay with Sweetie's sister and brother-in-law. Power was still off, but a public safety neighbor who had to stay in the area kept the generator for the fridge going at intervals while we were gone, so no food lost, just sleep.

Waking up to smoke apparently sets me off. I wasn't a good camper and felt very stressed even though the likelihood of the fire making it to our home was slim. Our time in San Francisco was as lovely as possible with good food and company. Pi was a very good dog and even seemed to like the trip. We returned home as soon as the evacuation was lifted even though we were still without power except for what the generator provided. Back to camping.

Before the power was back on I took off to Portland for a planned vacation where I would meet up with three other women, including my daughter, and we would celebrate Halloween together, get dressed up, and hand out a ton of candy to little kids. It was just the kind of fun I needed to bring back my sense of humor. Fortunately the power had been restored before I returned home, so all I had to do once home was put away all the Kincade wildfire supplies and get on with life.

Of course that 'getting on with' included baking. Yesterday I made some chocolate chip pumpkin bread for a meeting that was scheduled for this morning (and had been canceled last week due to the fire) and then I made cookies. When in doubt, make cookies!

This recipe was given to me years ago by my friend Jeanne. She died last year and her birthday was during the evacuation, so it seems fitting to bake these in her memory. She was the best baker I ever met...anything she baked was always perfect and baking seemed to be almost effortless on her part. These cookies are pretty easy, full of spices and raisins and nuts, with the deep undertone of good coffee. The glaze on the top no only makes them pretty, but it adds to the coffee flavor.

These are fairly thin cookie bars, but moist. The batter is usually curdled once you add the coffee to the butter mixture, but it turns out just fine once the other ingredients are added. Once these are baked, cooled and glazed, I cut the bake into quarters and remove the quarters from the pan to cut the bars on a cutting board. You can also cut them in the pan and then use an offset spatula to remove them from the pan. Here they are baked but not yet glazed.

x

Leaving Saturday to fly to Portland again, this time to help a friend who has had eye surgery (different friend than Halloween). I feel lucky to have so many Portland and Oregon friends since it is a lovely city and state. Sweetie will again be home with our dog and keeping the household going. He has lots of projects to get things ship shape for the rain, which we hope will be coming soon.

Frosted Coffee Bars
From Jeanne Nahmens
½ cup butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
½ cup strong coffee, cooled
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon salt
½ cup raisins
¼ cup chopped nuts (I used walnuts)
2 tablespoons half and half
2 tablespoons brewed coffee, cooled
enough confectioners to make a glaze, about 1 cup

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Blend together the butter, brown sugar and egg. Add the coffee and mix to incorporate.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Add to butter mixture and blend.

Add the raisins and nuts and stir to combine.

Turn batter into a greased and floured 9” x 13” pan.

Bake in the preheated oven for 15 – 20 minutes or until bars start pulling away from the side and are golden brown.

Let cool and then frost with a glaze made by combining the half and half, coffee, and powdered sugar.

Cut into bars to serve.

Makes 18 long bars or 36 smaller squares

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.

Sweetly Fragrant Sturdy Cinnamon Raisin Struan Bread

Sometimes doing a end of year clear out of the bookcases brings a surprise. That's what happened to me. I found a small paperback by Peter Reinhart mixed in with the mysteries. In it I found what I think is the perfect March bread for gathering round our Bread Baking Babes kitchen table. Since I'm Kitchen of the Month, I'm inviting you, dear reader, to bake it too.

Peter Reinhart has been encouraging bread baking for a long time, especially slow food bread baking where the dough is given plenty of time to develop its flavor. When Struan bread was available commercially at the market in the 90s, I often bought it for making sandwiches. I loved the complex flavors and the substantial body of the bread, still rare at a time when most sandwich bread was soft and squishy. 

I have a copy of a book he wrote in 1994 called Sacramental Magic in a Small-Town Cafe - Recipes and Stories from Brother Juniper's Cafe'. In it he gives the recipe for his (at the time) all time favorite bread - Cinnamon Raisin Struan, which is a variation of Struan bread.

This is supposed to be a complex bread, consisting of lots of grains and ingredients. Brother Peter says, "Struan, incidentally, aside from being the name of a Scottish clan, also means "the convergence of two or more streams" which he feels is quite appropriate considering all the different convergences of ingredients. You will need to cook some brown rice ahead of time and allow it to cool to room temperature and be prepared to knead longer than usual. You might have to make a trip to the store for polenta, wheat bran and/or buttermilk, but most of the ingredients are probably already in your pantry.

This recipe makes a lot of bread - three 1 1/2 pound loaves. As long as you keep the ingredients in proportion, you can reduce the amounts of ingredients to make less.

In keeping with my no-dairy regime, I substituted a combination of soy milk and plain yogurt (which doesn't seem to bother me, probably because of being fermented) for the buttermilk. I also forgot all about doing oil and cinnamon sugar on the top of the loaf (probably because I was baking these well after dinner time and my brain turns off, mostly, after about 7 pm). I also divided the recipe in half and still made two smaller loaves. This bread is fragrant with the cinnamon...a full tablespoon per loaf!...and has a nice sturdy crumb and thin but delicious crust. One loaf received only cinnamon...I forgot all about the sugar...and the other loaf received some melted butter and brown sugar along with the cinnamon. Both were delicious in different ways.

Come on, become a Buddy! Bake this bread and then email me at plachman at sonic dot net, along with a photo of your bread and a short description of your baking experience. Get it to me by March 29th to be included in the round-up. Don't be surprised if this bread is gone in a flash. While it is baking in the oven the kitchen begins to smell like those cinnamon rolls at the mall and soon everyone wants a taste. Just let it cool a bit or you might get a burnt tongue from the hot sugar!

Be sure to visit the blogs of the other Bread Baking Babes, too, to see what they have done with the recipe. I'll do a post tomorrow with links if you don't have them already.

Cinnamon Raisin Struan Bread

makes three 1 1/2 pound loaves

from Sacramental Magic in a Small-Town Cafe by Br Peter Reinhart

7 cups high-gluten bread flour

1/2 cup uncooked polenta (coarse ground cornmeal)

1/2 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup wheat bran

4 teaspoons salt

3 tablespoons active dry yeast activated in 4 tablespoons lukewarm water

(alternately, use 2 tablespoons plus one teaspoon instant yeast, mixed with the dry ingredients)

1/2 cup cooked brown rice

1/4 cup honey

3/4 cup buttermilk

About 1 1/2 cups water (be prepared to add more if needed)

3 cups raisins

1/2 cup cinnamon sugar (1 part cinnamon to 2 parts granulated sugar)

4 tablespoons melted butter, margarine, or vegetable oil

In a large bowl, combine all the dry ingredients, including the salt and yeast (unless you are using active dry yeast, which should be activated in warm water and added with the wet ingredients.)

Add the cooked rice, honey, and buttermilk and mix together. Then add 1 cup of water, reserving the rest to add as needed. With your hands, squeeze the ingredient together until they make a ball. Sprinkle some flour on the counter and turn the ball out of the bowl and begin kneading. Add small quantities of water as needed.

Because Struan has so many whole grains, it takes longer to knead than most breads. Allow at least 15 minutes, but be prepared to knead for 20. The dough will change before your eyes, lightening in color, becoming gradually more elastic and evenly grained. The finished dough should be tacky, not sticky, lightly golden, stretchy and elastic, rather than porridge-like. When you push the heels of your hands into the dough it should give way but not tear. If it flakes or crumbles, add a little more water.

When the dough seems ready, add the raisins and knead for 2 more minutes, until the raisins are evenly distributed. (I kneaded my raisins in after the first rise.)

Wash out the mixing bowl and dry it thoroughly. Put in the dough and cover with a damp towel or plastic wrap, or place the bowl inside a plastic bag. Allow the dough to rise in a warm place for about 1 hour, until it has roughly doubled in size. (Mine took longer...closer to two hours. Once I kneaded in the raisins, I put it in the fridge overnight for more flavor.)

Cut the dough into 3 equal pieces (or more if you want to make smaller loaves). With a rolling pin, roll out each piece into a rectangle. Sprinkle about 1 tablespoon of cinnamon sugar over the surface, spreading it evenly (used brown sugar and some melted butter on one loaf at this stage). From the bottom of the long side, roll up the dough into tight loaves, tucking and pinching the seams into one line on the bottom. Put the loaves, seam side down, in greased bread pans (for full-sized loaves your pan should be around 9 x 4 1/3 x 3 inches). Cover and allow the loaves to rise until doubled in size.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. When the loaves have risen, cresting over the tops of the pans, place on the center shelf and bake for about 45 minutes. The loaves should be nicely domed and dark gold. The bottom and sides should be a uniform light gold and there should be an audible, hollow  thwack when you tap the bottom of the loaf. If the loaves are not ready, remove them from the pans and place them back in the oven until done. They will bake quickly when removed from the pans.

When done, brush a little butter, margarine, or oil over the tops, then sprinkle with the remaining cinnamon sugar, coating each loaf with a layer of cinnamon crust. (Didn't do this part.)

Allow the breads to cool on wire racks for at least 40 minutes before slicing. This bread makes exceptional breakfast toast and French toast!

Pumpkin Cookies

Time to take a short break from the travel journal. After all, life continues to flow on in the here and now.

Election Day in the U.S.A. has come and gone. I'm happy that our local libraries will likely receive more money and that Sweetie will likely continue to be a director of our local fire board. I say 'likely' because there are still something like 20,000 absentee ballots to count. The day after the election there were about 50,000 so I'm hoping that it is down to 20,000 by now. It's a lot of work making elections work.

Not at all happy about the presidential election, but California continued to support diversity in our choices of at least some of the people we are sending to Congress, including a local senator-elect Kamala Harris. Wednesday was a mixed bag.

One of the great things that happened is that on Wednesday my attention was turned to the challenge of making three dozen cookies that were dairy-free, gluten-free and egg-free. I was determined to also make them as delicious as any cookie that has dairy, gluten and eggs. The owner of my gym, DeDe Cool of Cool Fitness and Training, had invited Dr. Kate Tenney, N.D., Integrative Medicine, Clear Center of Health, Inc. to speak at the gym, after hours today, on ways to deal with Lyme Disease. It was a fund raiser for H.O.P.E. for Healing Institute. Dr. Kate asked that the refreshments be those 'free' cookies and the local bakeries either don't make that kind of cookie or wanted $2 per cookie (Whole Foods). I received a 'what should I do?' message from DeDe and I knew just what to do...make them myself.

As you can see, the cookies I came up with were bite worthy...and they were a big hit.

After a short time looking at my favorite cookbooks, plus a copy of one from the library by Alice Medrich (whom I met when she had a fab bakery in Berkeley eons ago), I cobbled together a recipe for Pumpkin Rocks Which Are Gluten-free, Dairy-free And Egg-free.

It's the season for pumpkin! These are yummy, soft, spicy drop cookies with raisins and walnuts and pumpkin. They smell like fall and taste so good that I almost didn't have enough for the event since Sweetie really liked them. The 'Rocks' in their name is because they are bumpy like rocks, not that you should bake them until they are hard as rocks...think soft!

I used Bob's Red Mill gluten free baking mix, but the recipe also has a flour mixture you can mix yourself, if you prefer. I used Ener*G egg substitute and water to replace the egg.

I used dairy-free margarine instead of butter. I used canned solid-pack pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix), but you could substitute fresh pumpkin that you bake, de-seed, and process in a blender or food processor to a puree. If you use fresh pumpkin, you may need to add a bit more flour mixture. When you scoop the cookies onto the parchment paper or foil, the drops should sit up in a mound, not flatten out. If they flatten out, add more flour mixture until they sit in mounds.

They, of course, can be made with regular gluten containing flour and with butter and with an egg, but they are just right without any of those. People with Lymes Disease often have to eliminate gluten, dairy and egg (and sometimes other things) from their diet in order to maintain maximum health and well-being. Since I have to do without dairy now, I know what a difference it can make. Still, with a little bit of effort, you can still have delicious things to eat. These cookies are one of them. Enjoy!

Large, thick, soft, spicy and old-fashioned cookies

Gluten, Dairy and Egg-Free Pumpkin Rocks
Based on a recipe in Maida Heatter's Book of Great Cookies and
a recipe in Alice Medrich's book Chewy, Gooey, Crispy, Crunchy

2 1/2 cups gluten-free flour mixture (Or use the Gluten Free Baking Mixture below)
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon powdered ginger
1/4 teaspoon powdered cloves
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/4 lb (1 stick or 4 oz.) non-dairy margarine, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed
egg substitute for 2 eggs (I used the powder and water mixture amounts on the box to make two eggs)
1 pound (about 1 3/4 cups) canned pumpkin...not pumpkin pie filling
1 cup (5 oz. ) raisins
2 cups (7 oz.) chopped walnuts - medium sized pieces

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Cut aluminum foil to fit your cookie sheets. (I used parchment paper because I wasn't doing the glaze.)

Sift together the flour mixture (see below for how to make flour mixture or use a one-to-one gluten free flour mixture-Bob's Red Mill and King Arthur Flour both have good ones), baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves and allspice and set aside.

Cream the margarine in the large bowl of an electric mixer. Beat in both sugars. Add the egg replacer and water and beat to combine. Beat in the pumpkin.

On low speed gradually add the sifted dry ingredients, beating only until thoroughly mixed. Stir in the raisins and walnuts with a flexible spatula or wooden spoon

.

Use a rounded tablespoonful of the dough for each cookie, and place them 2 inches apart on the cut aluminum foil. Slide cookie sheets under the foil or parchment.

Bake the cookies for about 18 minutes, reversing position of the sheets if necessary for even browning.

Cookies are done when lightly browned and spring back if gently pressed with a fingertip.

Cool on racks if not glazing.

Optional Glaze:

2 tablespoons softened non-dairy margarine
1 1/2 cups gluten free confectioners' sugar
Pinch of salt
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon soy, almond or rice milk

Place all the glaze ingredients in the small bowl of an electric mixer and beat until completely smooth. The mixture should have the consistency of soft whipped cream. It might be necessary to add more liquid (either lemon juice or nut milk) or more sugar. Cover the glaze airtight when you are not using it to keep a hard skin from forming on top.

If glazing cookies, after you remove the baked cookies for the oven, slide the foil off the cookie sheet and immediately, while the cookies are very hot, brush the glaze generously over the tops. It should be a heavy coating, which should run unevenly down the sides.

With a wide metal spatula transfer the cookies to racks to cool The glaze will dry completely.

Gluten Free Baking Mix For These Cookies

1 cup and 3 tablespoons oat flour
1 cup brown rice flour
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons potato starch
3/4 teaspoon xanthan gum

Apples and Raisins Liven Bread Pudding

I love a good bread pudding. There is something comforting about the combination of sweet custard and old bread, cooked so the custard infuses and surrounds the bread with creamy delight while the top browns to a nice crisp crunchy crustiness. My traditional recipe marries the custard with lemon and adds a bit of fruit to the mix with raisins. The recipe was given to me in ancient days (1971) by a friend who used dark cherries as the fruit of choice. She said her bread pudding was always the first thing to go at church suppers.

Since it is wonderful autumn and since apples are seasonal right now, I decided to use up some stale French bread by making Apple Raisin Cinnamon Bread Pudding, based on that old recipe. I kept the lemon zest in the custard mixture and I think that made it even better. A good dose of Penzey's cinnamon and a grating of fresh nutmeg kept the fall theme going. I used Golden Delicious apples, which keep their shape and are mellow in flavor. I didn't peel them, but you could if you prefer. For milk I used whole milk because I had enough, but I often use nonfat evaporated milk and it is delicious and a bit healthier.

Sweetie served us extra large portions for dessert and then I had a much smaller portion for lunch today.  I think it may have been even better than last night. Of course that may have been because I had just finished painting the new laundry room wall with the drywall primer, so I was eating over an hour later than usual.

If you try this without the lemon could you let me know how you like it that way? Do try this. It is easy, delicious, and a great way to pretend that you are a thrifty French housewife, using up the stale bread. Bon apetit!

Bread Pudding with Apples and Raisins and Cinnamon      

A recipe from 1971, from a Fredricksburg, Maryland friend, Gale 

4 cups dry bread cubes          1/4 teaspoon salt           

3 cups milk, scalded               1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1 tablespoon butter                1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

4 slightly beaten eggs            1 teaspoon vanilla

3/4 cup sugar                         1 cup fresh apple, cut into small chunks (peel or not - I didn't)

½ teaspoon lemon zest          1/4 cup raisins                        

                       

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2) Melt the butter in the milk. Add a little of the milk to the beaten eggs, then add eggs to rest of milk. Stir in the sugar, lemon zest, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon and vanilla.

3) Put the bread cubes in a large bowl. Pour the egg/milk mixture over, stir gently, and let sit 15 minutes.

4) Butter a large baking pan. A deep one will give a softer center, a shallower one will give more crispy crust. Gently stir apples and raisins into bread mixture and pour into baking pan.

5) Bake in a pan of hot water until firm, about 1 hour. Serve warm.

California Blondes

I was working at a drugstore in the cosmetics department when a hair coloring company found the model Cheryl Tiegs and had her be the image of the California Blonde for their ad campaign. She was immediately the 'it' girl for young women. The company sold a lot of blonde hair color kits. The song "California Girls" was in that same era, and the Summer of Love wasn't far behind. Everyone wanted that sunny California look, or to live in California. Of course the older generation saw all of the sex, drugs and rock 'n roll as a sign that California was the hotbed of degeneracy and a land of fruits (gays) and nuts. Having lived in California most of my adult life, they may have a point, but there are just as many ordinary folks here as anywhere else...the wild ones and ones that seem different just get more media attention. Being someone who often felt different while I was growing up, I like the feeling of' being accepted for who I am' that is a California hallmark, at least in much of the state.

Today's cookie celebrates the fruits and nuts, as well as the sunny because it's a blondie, the sister of a brownie because it's like a brownie without chocolate. I added fruits and nuts and used plenty of vanilla. It makes a moist, rich, delicious bar cookie, a bit on the sweet side like a young California girl. Hope you enjoy your California Blondes.

California  Blondes

A variation of a recipe by Jill O’Connor in Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey, Desserts for the Serious Sweet Tooth.

1 cup (2 sticks) butter

2 cups firmly packed dark brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar

4 large eggs

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

¾ teaspoon baking powder

MIX-IN INGREDIENTS:
2  cups mixed nuts – I used half and half of pecans and walnut pieces

1 cup mixed dried fruits - I used regular and golden raisins and dried cranberries

1 cup white chocolate chips

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Position oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Use cooking spray to lightly coat a 9 x 13 inch baking pan.

Melt the butter and sugars together in a large heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring constantly, until the butter and sugars are blended and completely melted and starting to bubble gently. Remove the pan from heat and let the mixture cool slightly.

In a bowl, whisk together the eggs, vanilla and salt. Slowly whisk the cooled butter and sugar mixture into the eggs just until combined. Whisk in the flour and baking powder to form a loose batter. (Make sure the batter is cool before stirring in the remaining ingredients, otherwise the chocolate will start to melt before the bars are baked.)

Stir the chopped  nuts, dried fruits, and white and dark chocolate chips into the cooled batter. (I mixed all of the "mix-in" ingredients together in a very large measuring cup before adding to the batter. That way I knew that there wouldn’t be a clump of nuts here and a clump of white chocolate there, but rather a nice mix of all the goodies.) Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top with a spatula.

Bake until the top is shiny and slightly crackled and feels firm to the touch, 30 – 35 minutes. A wooden skewer inserting into the batter should come out with moist crumbs clinging to it. Let cool on a wire rack to room temperature, then cut into bars and serve.

Makes 16 large or 32 small bars.

Yuletide Treat

When my Mom was a child the family would gather at one of the aunt's homes and the dessert highlight at Christmas was plum pudding with hard sauce. When I was little we always had lots of cookies, but the highlight of Christmas dinner was the Lane Cake. Lane Cake is a layer cake with a plain white cake for the layers and a rich, fruity, bourbon-laced filling and frosting between the layers and on the top and sides.

We used to start making the Lane Cake the day after Thanksgiving to give the concoction time for the bourbon to mellow and mingle with all those dried and candied fruits. Coconut was fresh and grated by hand. The raisins were put through the meat grinder and came out in long black snakes. The candied cherries were bright red and green and had to be cut up by hand...a sticky business. Pecans were chopped, too. It was a good thing that we had lots of willing hands to help out with all the prep. Mom baked the cake layers and I think Dad assigned us the different prep tasks. The most difficult part was getting the filling just right. Cook it for too short a time and it would slide down the sides and cook it for too long and it turned grainy. You served it in thin slices since it was so rich.

When I had children of my own I made Lane Cake once to carry on the tradition, but found that I was the only one who enjoyed it, so it really wasn't worth all the work. I found that gingerbread, both as cookies and as houses, was what my family wanted for Christmas...and cookies, too.

Last spring when I was working on the Classic Comfort Foods Cookbook I found out that my niece Mandy had become the family Lane Cake maker and that she had changed the recipe a bit, especially by using dried natural cherries instead of the candied ones. The family had also discovered that the cake was fine if you only made it a week ahead of Christmas and also that you could just put the filling between the layers and on the top (but not the sides) which made the consistency of the filling less of an issue.

This year we were thrilled to have Mandy's sister T with us for Christmas. I was thrilled that she made and brought a Lane Cake. I even had the pleasure of being consulted by phone on baking tips the day she made it. It was perfect...moist and flavorful and just a bit boozy. Gorgeous to look at, too, like T herself. We took our portion home and had it with some hot cocoa. It brought back sweet childhood memories for me. Thank you T!  Maybe next year we can bake the cake together?

XO Elle

Lane Cake
from Classic Comfort Foods


Prepare 4 cake pans by greasing them and lining them with waxed paper. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Ingredients
1 cup butter at room temperature
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
3¼ cups flour, sifted
3½ teaspoons baking powder
¾ teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
8 egg whites

Cream butter; add sugar and vanilla. Sift together dry ingredients. Alternately add dry ingredients and milk to butter mixture. In separate bowl, beat egg whites to soft, glossy points, but not dry. Fold egg whites into batter until incorporated. Divide into the 4 prepared pans. Bake 2 pans to each rack, for 15-20 minutes in preheated oven. Cool 3-5 minutes, loosen edges, and turn out to cool. Remove waxed paper and turn right side up carefully. Set aside while preparing the filling/frosting.

Filling/Frosting
1½ cups seedless raisins
12 egg yolks
1¾ cups sugar
½ teaspoon salt
¾ cup butter
½ cup bourbon whisky
½ cup pecans, coarsely chopped
½ cup red and green candied cherries, quartered - or try modern version (Mandy’s) below
1½ cups coconut, shredded (fresh or frozen)

Cover raisins with hot water, let stand to plump. Drain and dry. Chop or grind (Note: Dad used to grind the raisins in a meat grinder, but they can be chopped with a knife, too.) Put egg yolks in top of double boiler; beat slightly. Add sugar, salt and butter. Put over simmering water. Cook, stirring constantly, until sugar is dissolved, butter melts, and mixture thickens. Do not overcook. Mixture should be almost translucent and should mound when small amount is dropped on waxed paper. Remove from heat; add bourbon. Beat 1 minute with a beater. At this point, mixture can be transferred to a bowl. Fold in nuts, cherries, coconut and raisins. Cool. Spread between layers and on top of cake. (Sides optional) Wrap cake in plastic wrap and mellow one month (or less, about one week, for less stale cake). Serve in thin slices. Serves 20-24.

Niece Mandy’s Modern Lane Cake: “I made the cake the same as the recipe directs; I just did the cakes in 2 batches of 2 pans. 8” this year and 9” last year.

For the filling/frosting, I did a few things differently:

Rather than using 1½ cups raisins and ½ cup candied cherries, I did about 1 ¼ cups dried Traverse City cherries (I’m biased) and ¾ cup other dried fruits (this year was just raisins, but last year I also used currents). I also soak all of these in a combination of freshly-boiled water and a few splashes of bourbon. Just enough liquid to cover the fruit. I then ground about half the fruit and very coarsely chopped the rest, leaving a few whole.

When at the step of combining the eggs, sugar, salt, and butter on top of the double boiler (or bowl over boiling water, like what I used), note that it will take about 30-45 minutes to thicken.”

September Zipped By

Some months seem to drag...like August does for me. Some just fly by. September did that this year. Between being careful of the arm, doing the InDesign class and homework,  and having a couple of weeks at the end which were full of social occasions, it just blew through, with not enough time to blog much. I noticed that there was nothing posted this month in the way of sweets, so let's end with an update on an old cookie.

Saucepan Fruit Bars has been a family favorite for many, many years. It is easy, mixed in a saucepan, uses buttermilk, has dried fruit, a dense crumb, and a zingy lemon glaze to wake up the fairly plain cookie.

Spicy Updated Saucepan Fruit Bars keeps all of the above but subs out some all-purpose flour for whole wheat flour, adds finely chopped walnuts and a dose of chocolate chips and increases the spice a bit. The texture is still dense and a bit dry and it still needs the lemon glaze but it is much more complex in flavor and quite delicious with a cup of tea or coffee.

Remember this one when you need a quick pan of bar cookies, need to ship cookies to servicemen or students or your favorite friend who lives far away. These cookies are speedy to put together and travel well, too. I think they are really yummy, too, so you just might want to invite a neaby friend or neighbor over for an afternoon cuppa and these cookies.

Spicy Updated Saucepan Fruit Bars

1 cup butter, melted

3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
1 cup whole wheat flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon each nutmeg, cinnamon, and cloves
¼ cup buttermilk
½ cup golden or brown raisins
½ cup dried currants
½ cup finely chopped walnuts
½ cup chocolate chips

Melt butter in saucepan. Add sugars and stir to combine. Cool mixture, then add the eggs; beat well. Add sifted dry ingredients, spices, and buttermilk and mix well. Stir in fruit, walnuts and chocolate chips. Spread in greased 15” x 1O” x 1” pan. Bake in a 350 degree F. oven for 25 minutes. Brush with glaze (see below) while hot; cool in pan. Cut into 2” x 1” bars. Makes 45 cookies.

Glaze: Mix 1 cup confectioners sugar and 4 teaspoons fresh lemon juice.

A Vegan Cake for Christmas

I'm not a vegan, although I probably should be. If you know how to combine your foods to make a complete protein it's a very healthy way to eat. The good news is that there are absolutley delicious recipes I make that happen to be vegan, too.

Wishing each of you, dear readers, a happy holiday season and joy and prosperity in the New Year.

Counting my blessings this year takes some time because I've been very blessed. Loving friends and family are some of the biggest blessings one can have.

The day after Christmas we'll have a gathering of friends and family, with food and drink and conversation. One of the things being served will be this vegan spice cake, a variation on a Spanish Bar Cake I used to enjoy when I was a girl. It's based on a recipe in the Joy of Cooking but there are so many recipes in that cookbook that you may not have run across this one. Even though there will also be handmade cookies and Costco mousse cake as desserts, this one may be finished up first, it is so good. And yes Lynn, I did make some changes. But of course.

The texture is light for a fruit cake and the flavors are deep, dark and spicy due to the cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg and lots of raisins. Let it cool before slicing it. Sweetie couldn't wait and so it crumbled on him a bit.

Do try this at home. It contains no eggs, butter, or milk but you do need a non-dairy butter substitute or butter flavored shortening. It's not diet food, but is also less rich than a lot of the desserts that will be served this holiday season.

Vegan Spice Cake with Citron, Candied Orange Peel and Dates
Based on Eggless Milkless Spice Cake in the Joy of Cooking

1 1/2 cups water
3 cups raisins
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup (one stick) non-dairy margarine or butter-flavored shortening, melted
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon allspice
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, freshly grated if possible
3 cups cake flour, sifted
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 cup chopped almonds
1/2 cup chopped dates
1/4 cup chopped candied citron
1/4 cup chopped candied orange peel

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease well and flour a 9 - 10 cup Bundt pan. Set aside.

In a medium saucepan stir together the water, raisins, brown sugar, margarine/shortening, cinnamon, allspice, salt and nutmeg. Bring to a boil and boil for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Sift together the cake flour, baking powder and baking soda. Stir gradually into the boiled ingredients until the batter is smooth (I transferred the boiled ingredients into a stand mixer bowl and used the mixer to mix in the dry ingredients.

Stir in the almonds, dates, citron and orange peel to distribute evenly in the batter.

Transfer the batter, which will be somewhat thick, into the prepared pan and even the top. Tap the pan a few times on the worktop to settle the batter. Bake in the preheated oven for an hour. Check to see if it is done by pushing a toothpick into the middle of the baked batter. If it comes out clean or with a few crumbs sticking to the toothpick it's done.

Remove from the oven and cool for 10 minutes on a rack. Turn out onto a serving plate and cool completely before serving. Can be decorated with a drizzle of melted white chocolate or with a drift of confectioner's sugar put through a fine screened strainer.

Serves about 16

Rum and Raisins Love Bananas

Sometimes there are ingredients hanging around the kitchen that need to be used up and my feeling is along the lines of mending a hem before it unravels more or picking the flowering tops off the basil to keep them growing...a task that is undoubtedly worthy but not particularly inspiring. Turning left over salad into soup falls into this area in my opinion.

Other times the ingredients are the kind you hope for...left over bread that will eventually be turned into stuffing or bread pudding, the end of a chunk of Parmesan that gives a great flavor to some soup, or one of my favorites...ripe bananas. A really ripe banana has golden yellow skin with dark brown spots. If all the skin is brown you may have gone too far, but it will still make some great banana bread.

That's what I did last week...made banana bread. The three medium bananas I used looked a bit like giraffes necks...the blotches of brown were pretty big but the skin was still golden, too. I used a recipe from one of my favorite baking books, Marion Cunningham's The Fannie Farmer Baking Book. This one is almost scone-like in texture and is less sweet than some but it has the benefit of raisins soaked in rum...the perfect complement to bananas.

About the only thing to know about this recipe is that the pan sizes are on the small size so plan accordingly. You can find the dimensions right under the recipe title. It also helps to remember that this kind of quick bread does best with minimal mixing of the batter once the dry ingredients are added.

Do give this bread a try when you find yourself with an overabundance of bananas...and some rum and raisins in the pantry.



Rum-Raisin Banana Bread
Makes two 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 2 1/2 inch loaves

1 cup raisins
6 tablespoons rum
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick or 1/2 cup) butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1/3 cup milk
1 cup ripe banana (about 2 large or 3 medium bananas)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Note: I used 1/2 cup regular raisins and 1/2 cup golden raisins.

Stir the raisins and rum together and let stand for at least 30 minutes or up to several hours, stirring occasionally. You can soak the raisins in the rum the night before and they will be plump and moist.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour two loaf pans.

Stir and toss together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir together the butter, sugar, eggs, milk, mashed banana, walnuts, and the raisins and their rum. Add the mixed dry ingredients and stir just until the batter is thoroughly blended. Over mixing causes the bread to become dry and tough.

Spread the batter evenly in the prepared pans. Bake for 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean. Remove from the oven, let cool in the pans for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a rack to cool completely. I find it hard to wait until the loaves are completely cool. Slightly warm banana bread is hard to beat.

Cake Slice Bakes Last Cake from Cake Keepers

The Cake Slice Bakers have been baking for a while from Lauren Chattman's Cake Keeper Cakes cookbook, mostly with good to great results. Now we are getting to the end of this cookbook and thinking about the next one.

The August recipe that was chosen by the group is Hungarian Coffee Cake, a type of Monkey Bread. Balls of muffin-like dough are rolled in cinnamon-sugar and put into a Bundt cake pan, interlaced with walnuts, raisins, (and in my case shredded Gravenstein apples). August is Gravenstein apple time, and the apple flavor goes so well with cinnamon and raisins and walnuts that it seemed like a match made in gustatory heaven.

As I often do, I made some changes to the recipe. My raisins were a bit dry so I soaked them in 1/4 cup warm rum for 15 minutes. I saved the rum I drained off the raisins and added it to the butter/brown sugar mixture...why waste good rum? The cake batter seemed bland so I added 2 tablespoons of sugar, about 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg and I added a beaten egg to the buttermilk. I also used my food processor to make the cake dough, which worked well since the butter was totally frozen. I had planned to make this cake earlier in the week and had left the butter in the freezer, already cut into small pieces.

The resulting cake was delicious! Everyone wanted seconds. I loved the way the topping shone and it was a sweet counterpoint to the less sweet cake. Because of the added egg, the cake was moist and similar to a muffin instead of being like a scone. I loved the flavor combo of walnuts/apple/rum-raisin/cinnamon, like a hint of autumn in summer.

If I make this again I'll probably bake it in two loaf pans instead of the Bundt pan. That way I can freeze on loaf for later enjoyment.

Do visit the other Cake Slice Bakers to see their versions of this cake that makes your home smell like cinnamon buns. The recipe below includes the changes I made. Come back at this time next month for a surprise!

XO Elle


Hungarian Coffee Cake
(a variation of a recipe from Cake Keeper Cakes by Lauren Chattman)

Topping:
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted and cooled (unsalted is called for but I used salted and it was great)
3/4 cup light brown sugar
rum drained from raisins (see below)

Whisk together the melted butter, light brown sugar and rum. Set aside.

Cake:
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup rum
9 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled
1/2 cup granulated sugar, plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar, divided
1 tsp ground cinnamon
3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 cup buttermilk
1 egg, slightly beaten
1/4 cup walnuts, chopped
1/4 cup shredded tart apple

Combine raisins and rum in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave at full power 15 seconds. Set aside for 15 minutes, then drain, reserving the liquid to add to the topping mixture (see above).

In a zip-lock bag combine the 1/2 cup granulated sugar and the cinnamon. Set aside.

Cut the 9 tablespoons (1 stick plus 1 tablespoon) into small pieces and put into a bowl, then into the freezer while doing the next steps of the recipe.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a nonstick 12 cup Bundt pan and set aside.

Place the flour, the 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar still left, the baking powder, baking soda, salt and nutmeg in the bowl of a large food processor or electric mixer. Use knife blade in food processor or whisk attachment in electric mixer to combine the dry ingredients.

Add the chilled butter pieces to the dry ingredients. In the food processor pulse to cut the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture resembles coarse meal. In the electric mixer mix on low speed until the mixture resembles coarse meal. For both, add the buttermilk and the egg.

In the food processor pulse to blend the liquid and dry ingredients into a dough, stopping when dough comes together. In the electric mixer bowl, stir the liquid into the dry ingredients until a dough forms.

Scoop up small balls of dough (I used my fingers and sort of pinched off pieces the size of a walnut). Place the dough balls into the bag with the cinnamon sugar mixture and shake the bag to coat the balls.

Placed the coated balls into the prepared pan, sprinkling the walnuts, raisins and apple shreds over them as you go. Once all the dough balls, nuts, raisins, apple shreds and any leftover cinnamon-sugar mixture have gone into the pan, pour the melted butter mixture over it all. Rotate the pan briskly to settle the topping.

Bake until the cake is firm and well risen and the caramel is melted, about 35 - 40 minutes. Let the cake cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Invert onto a serving platter and serve immediately. Store uneaten cake (if any) in a cake keeper or wrap in plastic and store at room temperature for 1 day.

Transitions

We have reached the time of transition between winter and spring, and not a day too soon. When we first moved here spring was generally something that started up in February and really got going in March with the apple blossoms finishing things up in early April.

The last four or five years it seems like the rainy season last longer and the warming up takes place much closer to the timetable I remember as a child on the East Coast. The fruit trees still seem to follow the old schedule, so we have finished seeing the almond blossoms in February, plums in March and we are now seeing the pear, quince and apple blossoms.

Everything else, like the tulips and other bulbs have been much slower so they are just now hitting their peak. As you might have guessed from my gushing on about the garden and growing things, my attention has turned to those topics, too. Now that it isn't raining everyday I've been able to do some weeding, some soil preparation, and a bit of pruning.

Indoors I've gotten the seedlings going with hopes to plant them out in mid-April.

Food is still making its way to the table of course, but being creative in the kitchen has taken a back seat to other pursuits.

I did make up some festive 'brownies-in-a-jar" for a fundraiser which was fun. If you want to do the same...perhaps for and adult's Easter basket or for a hostess gift? the URL for how to make the jar of ingredients and also the recipe for baking up the brownies is HERE. There are lots of variations, too. Love mint and chocolate? Just add some chopped up peppermint patties instead of all or part of the chocolate chips. That's just an example...lots more are at the referenced post.

The other recent creative flight of fancy was taking my favorite bread pudding recipe and making a rum-raisin and bannana version. Here is where the transition part comes in because bread pudding is a cosy, winter type of dish and the additions are also easily found in winter most places...but the flavors speak of palm trees and balmy breezes and wicked drinks with paper parasols, the sort of place that almost shouts 'spring break'. This is not the most photogenic of dishes but you get a moist pudding soaked bread, soft and mellow bannanas, raisins spiked with rum, some walnuts for crunch, and nicly browned bready crust on top, too.

Banana Bread Pudding with Rum Raisins

Variation on a recipe from 1971, from a Fredicksburg, Maryland friend

4 cups dry bread cubes
1/4 cup rum
1/4 cup raisins
3 cups milk, scalded
1 tablespoon butter
4 slightly beaten eggs
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 sliced ripe, peeled bananas
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)


1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2) Place the rum and raisins in a microwave safe dish. Cook in the microwave 1 minute at high power. Set aside until cool.
2) Melt the butter in the milk. Add a little of the milk to the beaten eggs, then add eggs to rest of milk. Stir in the brown sugar, salt, and vanilla. Mix to combine.
3) Put the bread cubes in a large bowl. Pour the egg/sugar/milk mixture over, stir gently, and let sit 15 minutes.
4) Butter a large baking pan. A deep one will give a softer center, a shallower one will give more crispy crust. Gently stir banana slices, rum/raisin mixture and chopped walnuts into bread mixture and pour into baking pan.
5) Bake in a pan of hot water until firm, about 1 hour. Serve warm.

Thank you Jeanne! Spice Bar Cookies

I love fancy cookies like linzer tarts and shortbread dipped in chocolate and crescents coated in powdered sugar, but I also like simpler cookies like classic chocolate chip and oatmeal cookies and gingersnaps.

My friend Jeanne recently gave me a recipe for a homey but delicious bar cookie, so simple, that combines spices like cinnamon and nutmeg with lots of raisins and nuts. The surprise ingredient is brewed coffee. To carry the flavor further, I also added coffee to some half and half which I mixed with confectioners sugar to make the glaze.

These cookies are not very tall but they are soft, moist, not too sweet, have just enough spice to highlight the raisins and nuts and that touch of coffee ties the flavors together. They go really well with a cup of coffee...just perfect for a pick me up.


Frosted Coffee Bars
From Jeanne Nahmens

½ cup butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
½ cup strong coffee, cooled
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon salt
½ cup raisins
¼ cup chopped nuts (I used walnuts)
2 tablespoons half and half
2 tablespoons brewed coffee, cooled
enough confectioners to make a glaze, about 1 cup

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Blend together the butter, brown sugar and egg. Add the coffee and mix to incorporate.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Add to butter mixture and blend.

Add the raisins and nuts and stir to combine.

Turn batter into a greased and floured 9” x 13” pan.

Bake in the preheated oven for 15 – 20 minutes or until bars start pulling away from the side and are golden brown.

Let cool and then frost with a glaze made by combining the half and half, coffee, and powdered sugar.

Cut into bars to serve.

Makes 18 long bars or 36 smaller squares