More Cookies!

The orange cookies in the previous post were delicious and the recipe is a new one from King Arthur Baking, but sometimes I find recipes in old magazines or in cookbooks that have sat on the shelf for a while. Today's cookies are from just such a book, butter, sugar, flour eggs by Gale Gand from 1999.  I love bar cookies because they usually go together quickly and don't require a lot of fussy decorating. This one is fun because you make the shortbread style dough, freeze it, and then grate it to create the bottom and top crusts. In the middle is a layer of raspberry jam, although I suspect that you could use any flavor and it would still be wonderful. I tried to grate the dough on a box grater, but found that using the large hole disc on my food processor worked just as well and went far more quickly. Frozen dough requires a lot of muscle power to grate on a manual grater!

I used the plain version of this dough, but you can also sub in some cocoa powder for some of the flour to have a chocolate-raspberry combo. Do try this one...so easy and so delicious! You probably have all of the ingredients on hand already.

Austrian Raspberry Shortbread Cookies
From butter sugar flour eggs, by Gale Gand, Rick Tramonto and Julia Moskin, 1999

This rich, ladylike cookie goes well with tea, particularly a flowery tea like rose hip.

1 pound (4 sticks) unsalted butter, slightly softened
4 egg yolks
2 cups granulated sugar
4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup raspberry jam, at room temperature
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar

Cream the butter in a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or using a hand mixer) until soft and fluffy. Add the egg yolks and mix well.

Mix the granulated sugar, flour, baking powder, and salt together. Add to the butter/egg yolk mixture and mix just until incorporated and the dough starts to come together. Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface and form into two balls.

Wrap each ball in plastic wrap and freeze at least two (2) hours or overnight (or as long as a month for later baking).

Heat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Remove one ball of dough from the freezer and coarsely grate it by hand or with the grating disk in a food processor into the bottom of a 9 x 13-inch baking pan or a 10-inch tart pan with a removable bottom. Make sure the surface is covered evenly with shreds of dough.

With the back of a spoon, or a flexible spatula, spread the jam over the surface, to within 1/2-inch of the edge all the way around.

Remove the remaining dough from the freezer and coarsely grate it over the entire surface. (If using the food processor, grate the first ball of frozen dough and spread that over the bottom, spread the jam,  then grate the second ball of frozen dough and spread that shredded dough evenly over the jam, all the way to the pan edges.)

Bake until light golden brown, 30 to 40 minutes. As soon as the shortbread comes out of the oven, dust with the confectioners' sugar.

Cool in the pan on a wire rack, then cut into bars with a serrated knife.

I lined the pan with parchment, leaving an overhang on two ends to help removed the baked and cooled cookies from the pan, then used a long, serrated bread knife to cut the cookies into squares.

NOTE:
To make this a chocolate shortbread cookie, substitute 1 cup cocoa for 1 cup of the flour.

Almost Mary Berry Bakewell Delight

There is something about the combination of flavors and textures of a Bakewell Tart that I just love. There is the custardy almond filling juxtaposed with the raspberry jam and a nice crust, too. It smells heavenly of raspberry and almond, too.

The Bakewell Tart is a British favorite. Recently I borrowed a Mary Berry book from the library. She was the female of the two judges on the first six episodes or so of the Great British Baking Show and she has a nice, easy way with recipes. The Bakewell Tart was in her Fast Cakes - Everyday Cakes  book.

As I do, I messed with the recipe right off the bat. I had a nice round sheet of ready made pie pastry in the fridge which I wanted to use up, so instead of the given tart crust, I used that. I also put it into a deep dish pie plate instead of into a fluted tart pan. Because of my dairy allergy, I used room temperature non-dairy butter for the filling.You'll notice that if you use weights for your ingredients that the butter, sugar and almond flour are all very similar weights...4 oz... and the jam is half that. Proportions are such an important of baking!

 Beyond swapping out the pastry for the tart dough and using margarine instead of real butter, I pretty much stuck to the recipe until right before I put it into the oven, when I folded over the excess pastry from the sides of the pan, folding it over the almond filling as you would a crostata. I also topped the filling, just inside that folded pastry, with halved fresh raspberries...just a few for decoration, really.

This pastry is sublime, especially if you like raspberry jam, which I do. The pastry is flaky and golden, the filling is soft and delectable, and the jam ties the almond flavors to the fruit flavor. Do try it!

For those who follow this blog to know a bit about what is happening in our life, Sweetie is in the midst of another project. This time it is a door replacement on the farmhouse. As usual he is doing a super job. This will be a fairly utilitarian door, so I probably won't even post photos. It allow safety access from the bedrooms to the east side of the property in case of fire or another disaster. It's entirely possible that it will be used rarely, but it's still good to know that, once ready to use, I can stop worrying about people getting stuck in a bedroom in a disaster.

On the creative front, I'm making some more tea cups on painted table legs for going in the garden. They are meant for decoration, but do also hold water or seed for birds. I'll post some photos once they are finished.

Almond Bakewell Pastry
based on a recipe by Mary Berry
Serves 8

1 round ReadyCrust pie pastry or pie dough for 1 crust
1/2 cup (4 oz, 114g, 1 stick) butter, softened (I used non-dairy margarine)
1/2 cup (4 oz, 100g) sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon (4 oz, 100g) almond flour
1 teaspoon almond extract
4 tablespoons (1/4 cup) raspberry jam
a few sliced or slivered almonds (or raspberries in my case)

Line a 9" pie plate with the pie crust dough, rolled out thinly. Prick the bottom all over and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F/Convection 350 degrees F (I used 375 degrees F) and put a baking sheet in the oven on the shelf just above the center. (Putting the filled pie tin on this preheated metal sheet helps crisp up the bottom crust.)

For the filling, put the butter and sugar into a mixer or food processor and mix until fluffy and light. Add the eggs, one at a time, and mix again until thoroughly incorporated. Add the almond flour and the almond extract and mix one last time until thoroughly mixed.

Spread the base of the pie dough with the jam evenly, then pour the filling over the top. Fold down any pastry dough that is above the filling, overlapping as necessary, and then scatter almonds or place halved fresh raspberries over the filling randomly or in a nice pattern.

Bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes (because I used a higher heat, mine took a little less than 20 minutes with Convection), or until the pastry is pale golden brown at the edges and the filling is set.

Leave to cool in the pie plate. Serve cut into wedges.

Perfect Party

I am a most fortunate woman! My loving and lovely daughter just planned and pulled off a magnificent birthday party for me at a local restaurant with 21 guests, a delicious lunch with choices of entree and side dish and salad, a champagne toast, coffee service and a beautiful themed decor. She did have help from Sweetie, of course, and a little help from me with ironing the linens (labeled cotton but clearly poly!), but most of it was her doing. A surprise guest, NoHandle, was the best part of all, especially because he is doing well after some major health issues.

My part in the event, other than compiling a guest list and showing up ready to party, was to create a two tiered birthday cake. Truly, I did try to find one that I could purchase, but most places don't do fully dairy-free cakes that taste good and the one I did find wanted $100. It helps that I love baking and took it as a challenge to create a major-event worthy cake with no dairy.

First I baked a 'practice' 9" cake because I had combined a few recipes to make the chocolate cake and I wanted to make sure that it would work. The cake needed to be firm enough that I could put two layers on top but still moist and delicious. For the filling I wanted to use raspberry jam and vanilla 'buttercream' because I love chocolate and raspberry together and the vanilla 'buttercream' would be a nice contrast to the intense chocolate. I use the marks around 'buttercream' because no actual butter was used. Instead I used a non-dairy margarine.

For the frosting I used a ganache that was nothing more than high-quality semi-sweet chocolate and Silk brand soy creamer. The key thing with ganache is to make it many hours ahead of using it because you want it to cool. Once it's cool it is spreadable and doesn't run off the cake. Too warm and it just blobs or runs, as I found out the hard way.

The practice cake was a big hit, probably because I split both 9" layers and so there were three ribbons of jam and vanilla 'buttercream' instead of one. The later, larger cake would have been better that way, too, but cutting and moving thin layers of split 12' diameter cake was more than I could manage. Remember, I've never made a 12" cake before, much less a tiered cake!

I baked all the cake layers the day before the party. Then I tried to make the 'buttercream'. It failed. It never was anything more solid than soup. Discouraging. Then I made the ganache so that it could cool overnight.

The next morning I tried again with the 'buttercream' and this time it worked! Everything went together really well, but by the time I had finished frosting the top tier, I was out of buttercream and ganache. I tried making a small batch of ganache to see if I could use it for decorating the area where the two tiers join, but it never thickened up enough. I added confectioners sugar and it seemed to be O.K., but when I piped some on, it started to run. We had some gorgeous magenta roses, still closed in buds, to use as cake toppers, so I used them to hide the blobby ganache instead. It looked like I had meant to do that...really made the cake look spectacular!

At the top is the photo of the decorated table, with the finished cake as the centerpiece. It did taste great and there was plenty left over to give to our local firemen, neighbors and family after the party.

Although it was a bit stressful here and there, I'm glad I made the cake and now know that I can create a tiered cake that is delicious, pretty, and dairy-free so that I can eat it. Give this a try yourself if you want a challenge and a great cake at the end of it!

Thank you Sweetie and Kate! Well done.

Special Chocolate Party Cake - Non-Dairy

my recipe

14 servings (For 42 servings [or more] if you make this amount as two 9" cakes and then make the recipe twice to fill a 12" diameter cake pan twice, then tier it. Will go into making it tiered this way at the end.)

Please use a kitchen scale for the chocolate and cocoa powder

1 oz. unsweetened or semisweet chocolate, chopped finely

1/4 teaspoon espresso powder

2.2 oz. unsweetened (alkalized) cocoa powder - I used Hershey's

1 cup boiling water

1 cup cake flour

1 1/4 cup bleached all-purpose flour (bleached gives more stability to the structure if making tiered cake, but you can use unbleached if only making the 9" cake)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 oz - 1/4 cup - soy milk or almond milk yogurt

2 large egg

2 egg yolks from large eggs

1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 sticks (12 tablespoons) butter at room temperature (70 degrees F)

Prepare two 9" x 2" cake pans: grease the bottom and sides with shortening, then line bottom with parchment paper and grease the bottom again. Set aside.

In a medium bowl whisk the chocolate, espresso and cocoa powder. Add the boiling water and whisk until smooth. Cover with plastic wrap and cool to room temperature. (About 1 hour.)

When chocolate mixture is cool, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a medium bowl, whisk eggs, yolks, yogurt and vanilla until just combined. Set aside.

In a stand mixer bowl use a flat beater to cake flour, bleached all-purpose flour, sugars, salt, baking powder and baking soda of low speed 30 seconds.

Add the butter, cut into roughly one-tablespoon pieces. Mix on low until dry ingredients are crumbly.

Add egg mixture and beat on medium speed for 1 1/2 minutes until light and well incorporated. Scrape the bowl and beater.

On low speed gradually add the cool chocolate mixture. Scrape any left in chocolate bowl into batter. Mix a few seconds, then scrape bowl and beater well. Beat at medium speed for 30 seconds. Batter will be slightly fluffy.

Divide batter between the pans. Smooth the top. Pans will be about half full.

Bake in preheated oven for 25 - 30 minutes. Toothpick inserted in center will come out clean.

Cool 10 minutes in the pans on a wire rack, then run a thin knife around the sides of the pans and turn each cake out and cool on wire racks sprayed with cooking spray (which will help cakes release from the wire racks). In general, cool with bottoms up. Remove parchment paper if it sticks to the bottoms. Once cool, trim tops, if necessary, using a serrated knife longer than the width of the cake. Layered cakes do best if the top and bottom both are flat. If you used cake strips on the outsides of the pans you may already have tops that are flat enough.

If only making a 9" layer cake, split each layer in half using that serrated knife. Place the first layer over a dab of icing/ganache/buttercream that you have put on the cake plate or cake cardboard. This little dab hold it in place. Use a fork to stir appropriate jam to break it up. Apply thin layer of raspberry, strawberry, or apricot jam, if desired, then a layer of buttercream. (I piped mine, then spread it together using a small offset spatula.) Place cut side down of next layer and repeat jam and buttercream. Place bottom of next layer, more jam and buttercream, then cut side down of final layer. Frost sides and top with buttercream or ganache. Decorate as desired. Chill at least an hour before serving. If chilled longer than an hour, let sit at room temperature for at least an hour before serving.

For a two tiered cake, make the 9" layers as described above. If you like, skip the splitting of the cakes, just doing the jam and buttercream between the two 9" cakes, then frosting them with buttercream or ganache. Then prepare a 12" pan with the shortening, parchment paper and shortening over the bottom as described for the 9" pan. Set aside. Have another parchment circle ready for the final layer.

Make a full batch of the batter used for the 9" cake. That is just the right amount for one 12" layer. If at all possible, use cake strips around the outside of the 12" pan...it helps the outer part from becoming dry and helps the top be mostly level. Bake for 45-55 minutes in 350 degree F preheated oven. Use same test for doneness as above.

While the first 12" pan is baking, prepare the batter for the second 12" layer, but wait to mix the egg mixture and chocolate mixture into the dry ingredients until you remove the first 12" layer from the oven. Once the cake has cooled 20 minutes, carefully remove it from the pan to a wire rack coated with cooking spray and remove the used parchment paper from the bottom.

Clean the 12" pan, dry, and prepare it as you did the first time. Now continue with the batter, adding the egg mixture, scraping, adding the chocolate mixture, scraping, and incorporating the scraped portions for the final batter. Place in 12" pan, (make sure cake strips are moist and attached) and smooth top. Bake for 45-55 minutes and treat baked second layer as you did the first layer.

Place the bottom of one 12" layer on a dab of frosting or ganache on a cake cardboard. Apply jam and buttercream (recipe below) to the top (trimming to make the top of the layer flat first if necessary) then put on the second layer, top side down (again trimming first if top isn't flat). Frost with buttercream or ganache (ganache recipe below - if using buttercream, you will need to make more than one batch of the recipe below).

Use the 9" cake pan to use a toothpick to draw a thin circle in the frosting or ganache where the outside edges of the 9" layer will be placed on top of the 12" layer.

Get 9 plastic straws. Push one down in the middle of that circle and mark where the top of the cake is on the straw. Remove the straw and trim it to that mark, then use that as a template to mark the other 8 straws. Replace the center straw, then space the other eight roughly equally far apart around the drawn circle, but in about an inch. This will be the way the top layer is stabilized.

With your hand under the edges of the cake cardboard holding the 9" layer, carefully place the layer and cardboard on the 12" cake where the circle is drawn. Use extra buttercream or ganache to pipe stars all around where the cardboard meets the lower layer (or use any other decorative piping you choose as long as it covers any cardboard showing.

Decorate cake as desired.

Cake can sit at cool room temperature up to 24 hours. Once it is cut, refrigerate any leftovers.

Vanilla Swiss Buttercream
4 lg. egg whites, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 ½ cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, slightly firm (I used the same amount of non-dairy margarine)
1 tsp. vanilla

Place the egg whites in a large bowl of a electric mixer and beat with the whisk attachment until the whites are foamy and they begin to thicken (just before the soft peak stage). Set the bowl over a saucepan filled with about 2 inches of simmering water, making sure the bowl is not touching the water. Then, whisk in the sugar by adding 1-2 tablespoon of sugar at a time over a minutes time. Continue beating 2-3 minutes or until the whites are warm (about 120 degrees) and the sugar is dissolved. The mixture should look thick and like whipped marshmallows.
Remove from pan and with either the paddle or whisk attachment, beat the egg whites and sugar on med-high until its a thick, cool meringue – about 5-7 minutes. *Do not overbeat*. Set aside.

Place the butter in a separate clean mixing bowl and, using the paddle attachment, cream the butter at medium speed for 40-60 seconds, or until smooth and creamy. *Do not overbeat or the butter will become toooooo soft.*

On med-low speed, blend the meringue into the butter, about 1-2 Tbsp. at a time, over 1 minute. Add the liqueur and vanilla and mix for 30-45 seconds longer, until thick and creamy.

Refrigerate 10-15 minutes before using.

Wait! My buttercream won’t come together!  Reheat the buttercream briefly over simmering water for about 5 seconds, stirring with a wooden spoon. Be careful and do not overbeat. The mixture will look broken with some liquid at the bottom of the bowl. Return the bowl to the mixer and whip on medium speed just until the cream comes back together.

Wait! My buttercream is too soft! Chill the buttercream in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes and rewhip. If that doesn’t work, cream an additional 2-4 Tbsp. of butter in a small bowl– making sure the butter is not as soft as the original amount, so make sure is cool and smooth. On low speed, quickly add the creamed butter to the buttercream, 1 Tbsp. at a time.

Refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 5 days, or can be frozen for up to 6 months. If freezing, store in 2 16-oz. plastic containers and thaw in the refrigerator overnight or at room temperature for several hours.

Ganache

8 oz. semi-sweet chocolate, chopped fine (which you can do easily in a food processor, breaking into chunks before putting the chocolate into the processor)

8 oz. (1 cup) soy creamer (not soy milk - the creamer is thicker) plus 1 tablespoon

Put the chopped chocolate in a heat-proof bowl. Heat the soy creamer in a small pot until almost to a boil...there will be tiny bubbles just at the sides of the pot. Remove from the heat and pour over the chopped chocolate. Let sit one minute. Stir gently with a silicone spatula until smooth. Place a piece of plastic wrap directly over the chocolate mixture and then let sit until cool, about 4-5 hours. If necessary, use the spatula to stir the ganache a bit just before using it to frost the cakes. 

You will need a double recipe of this to do the two tiered cake. Do each recipe by itself and then let cool. Use one recipe for the bottom, one for the top and decorations.

Special thanks to Rose Levy Bernanbaum, author of Rose's Heavenly Cakes and the Cake Bible which were both helpful in this enterprise, and to Dorie Greenspan, author of Baking:from my home to yours which was also helpful.

Sweet Cookie Fingers with Raspberry Jam and Meyer Lemon Glaze

Christmas cookies never happened this year and I had two appointments that prevented me from baking cookies for the funeral of a friend on Friday. Thought we might bake cookies when my daughter came on Friday, but I was too tired. Finally felt up to it late this afternoon.

It was good to be baking again. These sweet cookie fingers have a butter base and some raspberry jam sweetness, plus a little crunch from the almond slices and the tang of Meyer lemon (or any lemon, really) in the glaze. The dough was crisper than I had expected, but that might have been because I forgot to add the 2 tablespoons of milk that went in before the flour mixture. I also only made a half recipe because even though I was wanting to eat some cookies, I really don't want to eat 40 of them. You can easily double the recipe if you do want to make 40. That's how the recipe was actually written.

On the good news front, my nephew in Colorado and his wife are the proud parents of a beautiful baby boy. Congrats to grandpa NoName!

Raspberry Ribbons
from The Fannie Farmer Baking Book
makes about 20 slices

5 tablespoons (about 1/3 cup) butter, softened
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg yolk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
about 1/2 cup raspberry jam
1/4 cup sliced almonds
Lemon Glaze (see below)

Combine the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl, and beat until well blended. Add the egg yolk and the vanilla and almond extracts. Beat until light in color.

Combine the flour, baking powder and salt (I used a sheet of waxed paper and a whisk), then add to the butter mixture. Beat well until mixed. Mixture will be firm. Divide into two pieces as close to the same size as possible. Wrap each and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. (I chilled them for about an hour and a half and that was still fine.)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a large cookie sheet. (I used a half sheet pan.)

Work with one piece of dough at a time, keeping the other refrigerated.

On a lightly floured work surface, roll one of the pieces of dough into a rectangle about 11 x 3 inches.
Transfer the dough to the cookie sheet...you may need to use a spatula, but I didn't.

Using your fingers, press a 1-inch wide trench down the center of the rectangle. Spoon about 1/4 cup raspberry jam in the trench, smoothing with a wet finger.

Repeat with the second piece of dough. The cookie sheet should hold both rectangles of dough.

Bake for about 10 minutes or until the edges just start to take on color. Scatter half of the almonds on each rectangle, sprinkling them over the hot jam. Return to the oven and bake another 1-2 minutes, or until the edges are light golden brown.

Remove the pan from the oven and brush or drizzle the Lemon Glaze over the rectangles. Slice each rectangle into about 10 slices.

Store in an airtight container with waxed paper between the layers, or carefully place in a plastic bag, tie snugly, and freeze.

Lemon Glaze
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice (I used Meyer lemons)
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest (Meyer lemon here, too)
1/3 cup sifted confectioners' sugar

Mix the lemon juice and zest. Put the sugar in a small bowl. Add the juice mixture and stir or use a small whisk to combine until smooth and well blended.

A Special Birthday Girl

You probably know someone like her. She always thinks of others first. She has a huge heart, a love of family and community, makes sure that her neighbors are OK, works hard, and is a stellar friend. She is the kind of woman who doesn't expect thanks or recognition. She has a wicked sense of humor and a ready laugh. She uses her talents to enrich the lives of those she cares for.

I've been blessed with her friendship and she introduced me to the women's scholarship group I enjoy so much, P.E.O. We were soccer Moms before that and share a love of working with our hands and a skill for working with paperwork that drives others slightly mad.

Today I joined another mutual friend and Pam for a birthday lunch. We had delicious sandwiches and salad...and birthday cake of course.

I made the Perfect Party Cake, although I used whole eggs instead of egg whites, reducing the buttermilk by 2 tablespoons to keep the liquid proportions about right. I wanted a small cake since there were only three of us, so I used a metal cookie tin as the cake pan. Worked like a charm! The rest of the batter I baked up in a loaf pan for another use.

For the icing I used my favorite buttercream recipe, replacing the rum and mocha with some strawberry syrup I had on hand. With a few drops of red food color added, it was pretty and pink.

Since it was a small cake I cut it in half to make two layers...three layers would have been too much. The bottom cut side was given a nice thin layer of raspberry jam. Then I used a pastry bag to squirt buttercream over the jam, added the top layer of cake and frosted the whole thing with buttercream. Using the star tip, I added decorative edging and a few frosting stars on top for securing fresh raspberries. A final sprinkle of white, pink and red heart decors and the cake was ready to go.

 At the party I added some birthday candles (but have no photos since I left my camera at home by mistake).

Pam was delighted! She had no idea that I was baking her a cake. There was even a piece left over for Sweetie, who had been hard at work at home on the entry project.

So, if you have a friend like Pam, surprise her with this cute cake. It doesn't even have to be her birthday. You'll be glad you did... she will know that she is as cared for as those she takes care of.

More Spring Bread

When my friends and I met and I showed them what they could do with thawed frozen bread dough, the most popular bread was a beautiful Almond Raspberry braid with almond paste and raspberry jam filling and a topping of sliced almonds and sparkling sugar. It looks complicated, but is actually pretty easy. The most difficult part was spreading out the bread dough. I guess when they make frozen bread dough they make a dough that isn't very elastic so that it retains the loaf shape its frozen in.

The key to spreading the dough out far enough to be able to do this kind of braid is to be patient. You can roll it or just use your hands to spread it out on a lightly floured board, then let it sit five minutes and spread it a bit further, then again after another five or ten minutes. Be persistent and you will succeed!

I made this braid in advance of our Bread Baking day and then again on the day. For the first trial run I cut the dough with a pizza cutter. On the second baking day I used a sharp knife. Each worked about as well as the other, so choose the cutter that works for you.

Here are some photos showing the dough spread out and layered with almond paste and jam, then cut, then braided, and then how it looked baked. Isn't it beautiful?

Rolling the almond paste out on a board dusted with confectioners sugar seems to work really well. You want the almond paste to be thin enough that when you are eating the pastry that the filling doesn't ooze out too much. I like using seedless jam but seeded jam will work, too. If you prefer another flavor over raspberry, by all means use apricot, strawberry, blueberry or any other favorite jam. Just make sure that it isn't too watery (for the same reason that you want the thin almond paste layer).

This gorgeous pastry looks like you spent hours and hours in the kitchen but in fact it is quick for a yeast dough treat. One of my friends tried it within a few days of seeing me make it and she was thrilled with her braid...and her family ate it up very, very quickly! This is a great recipe to make for Easter or a fancy brunch. Just be ready for rave reviews.

Raspberry Almond Braid

Thaw 1 lb. frozen bread dough, flatten it on a lightly flour board. Working gently, stretch dough to 10 x 12" rectangle.

Take a package of almond paste and divide it in half. Reserve half for another use. Roll one half into a rectangle 11 inches long by 3 inches wide on a board sprinkled with powdered sugar. Take this rectangle and place in the center of the dough rectangle.

Spread 3-4 tablespoons raspberry jam over the almond paste rectangle. Using a sharp knife or pizza cutter, make diagonal slices along the two long sized of the rectangle, cutting almost to the almond paste. The cuts should be about an inch apart.

Fold up the ends about an inch over the almond paste and jam. Then take each of the dough pieces, first from one side, then from the other, and stretch them across the filling. Continue to braid the dough up to the end, then tuck ends under.

Place on parchment or silicone mat lined pan, cover with oiled plastic wrap and a tea towel and let sit until doubled in bulk, about an hour. Brush top of braid with egg wash (1 egg whisked with 1 teaspoon water) and sprinkle with sliced almonds and sparkling sugar. Bake in preheated 375 degree oven until golden brown, about 30-45 minutes. Let cool. If desired drizzle with a glaze of orange juice mixed with confectioners sugar. Slice with serrated knife to serve.

Personal Party Cake

A few years ago the Daring Bakers made Dorie Greenspan's Perfect Party Cake, a wonderful lemon flavored confection with raspberry jam and lemon buttercream. A few days ago I was wondering what kind of cake to make for my birthday. Since I love to bake and have few occasions when I can bake cakes these days, naturally I wanted to make my own cake for the occasion.

My usual cake obsession is with chocolate cake but this year for some reason I was drawn to lemon as a flavor. I thought I'd make a repeat of that Perfect Party Cake, but instead I took another Dorie recipe called Dressy Chocolate Loaf Cake and turned it into the lemon cake of my dreams. In true Dorie fashion I rubbed the lemon zest from a whole lemon into the sugar before adding it to the creamed butter. To increase the lemon factor without using lemon extract, I also added the juice of that same lemon to the sour cream before adding it to the batter. Since I took out the cocoa powder that would have made it chocolate, I replaced it with all-purpose flour and added a couple extra tablespoons to offset the additional liquid of the lemon juice.

As you can see this became another cake altogether, a personal party cake. I did split it into three layers and raspberry jam, slightly thinned and then warmed, was spread on the two cut layers. Instead of ganache or chocolate buttercream, I used whipped cream to frost the loaf and placed row upon row of fresh, enormous raspberries on the top. Sorry I forgot to take a photo of the candle (at my age one candle is plenty to represent all the other years) but I can tell you that it was a wonderful cake. The cake itself was firm with a nice tight texture, just as a pound cake type cake should be. The lemon flavor had just the right amount of assertiveness. The whipped cream was a nice textural contrast with the cake because it was creamy and soft. A bite which had some cake, some whipped cream and one of those glorious red, fully flavored raspberries was a bite of heaven! Happy Birthday to me.

A key tip for making this cake is to be sure to be patient and beat the ingredients for a long time if the recipe calls for it...no short cuts or you'll be sorry. Everything should be at room temperature. I did end up tenting the cake with foil for the last 15 minutes, so do check it at that point. Make sure your berries are dry and that you whip the cream enough for it to hold its shape, but not so long it turns to butter. Just keep a close watch on it as it whips and you'll be fine.


Lemon and Raspberry Personal Party Cake
inspired by a cake in Dorie Greenspan's Baking, From My Home to Yours

2 cups + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 sticks (8 oz.) unsalted butter at room temperature
1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
Zest of 1 lemon, colored part only
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup sour cream at room temperature
juice of 1 lemon
1/2 cup best-quality raspberry am
1 teaspoon water
8 oz. heavy whipping cream, chilled
1 teaspoon sugar
6 oz. fresh raspberries, washed and dried gently

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F, with a rack in the center of the oven space.
Butter a 9 1/2 x 5-inch loaf pan, dust with flour, and tap out the extra flour. Set aside.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

Using a stand mixer, beat the butter in a large bowl. While the butter is creaming, rub the lemon zest into the sugar in another bowl. Add the sugar to the butter and continue beating at medium speed for 3 minutes, until very light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition for about a minute. Reduce mixer speed to low and add the sour cream and the lemon juice. Mix for a minute to fully combine. With the mixer still on low speed, add the dry ingredients and continue mixing only until most of the dry ingredients have been incorporated into the batter. Use a spatula to scrape down the sides and beater and to finish blending any remaining dry ingredients into the batter. Use the spatula to put the batter into the prepared pan and spread it evenly.

Bake for about 60 minutes, checking at 45 minutes to see if the top is getting too brown. If it is, tent with foil loosely. When cake is done a knife inserted into the center will come out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool on a rack for 5 minutes, then turn out of the pan onto the rack. Cool to room temperature.

Heat the jam and water over low heat or in the microwave just until boiling, stirring to combine. Let cool.

Slice the cake into three layers. Place the bottom layer on a rectangular cake or board and spread half the jam mixture over the layer (1/4 cup). Top with the next layer and repeat with the rest of the jam. Top with the final layer. Chill in the 'fridge while whipping the cream.

Whip the cream at high speed in a chilled bowl with chilled beaters, adding the sugar after the cream has started to thicken (I drape a tea towel over the mixer at the beginning to stop spattering, then remove it when the cream starts to thicken). When the cream is thick enough to hold its shape use an offset spatula to frost the sides and then the top of the cake, swirling if you like. Take the prepared raspberries and decorate the top of the cake. Chill finished cake for at least an hour to firm everything up.

To serve, cut with serrated knife. Makes 12 servings.

Plum Lucky

When we moved here over 22 years ago, I wasn't so sure that it had been a good idea. I had been a full time office manager of a doctor's office, my kids were used to being in school or pre-school or at day camp, and Sweetie worked less than 10 minutes from home. Now I found myself out in the country, no longer able to just walk to town, with a houseful of boxes and no routines for any of us. It took a while for the kids to get used to me being at home all the time and it took me a lot longer.

On the plus side, my son had friends his own age just down the road and my daughter soon made friends with a girl on the other side of the road. Our home was fairly recently built, compared to the old one which had been built after the 1906 earthquake. Best of all there was lots of room for a garden and we had lots of fruit trees and walnut trees. Instead of walking to town, I walked down my drive to the garden and fruit trees. All in all, we were pretty lucky to end up here is such a beautiful place!

When we had lived in Berkeley we were near a park and, as they are wont to do, the blackberries took over parts of the park. We all enjoyed the blackberries, but my son really loved them. On our new property we found that we had early berries and then true blackberries, so that part was familiar and a delight and my son could pick blackberries to his hearts content.

One of the fruit trees was a Santa Rosa plum. It has red skin and sweet, juicy red flesh. When the plum is ripe the skin has a sort of bluish haze over the dark red skin. The skin is just a bit tart.

That tree is still bearing. Last year I missed when the fruit ripened (blame the new job) and so only had the last of the fruit. This year I've kept an eye out. It has been really warm, so all the fruit ripened almost at once. I feel lucky to have such delicious fruit just for the picking. So far I've made two things from the plums. There are still some to play with, so it's likely that the next few posts will be plummy.

The first recipe is a very simple one. All it takes is puff pastry, jam, walnuts and plums, a little butter and sugar, plus a hot oven.

I didn't keep close enough watch as it baked (I was typing up the recipe...lol...and got distracted), so the pastry was pretty brown, although not burnt. The sweetness of the plum flesh and the tartness of the plum skin made a great combination with the buttery pastry. The crunch of the walnuts offset the softness of all the fruit. Sweetie isn't fond of plums, but he ate two helping of this creation.

The recipe is based on one in Mitchell Davis's book Kitchen Sense.

Summer Plum Tart

You can make this with pie dough, tart dough or puff pastry. I chose puff pastry for ease. Variations for using the other doughs are given at the end of the recipe.

I sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed
¼ cup jam (I used raspberry, but apricot would be good and so would marmalade- one that is just a bit tart is good.)
¼ cup finely chopped walnuts
About 8 small to medium ripe red plums, washed (this would be good with almost any variety of plum)
½ stick butter melted
2 tablespoons sugar (I also used a teaspoon of crystal sugar)

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Have a large sheet pan ready, lined with parchment or silicone mat.

Roll the thawed puff pastry out on a lightly flour surface to a rectangle about 10 by 8 inches or so, making the pastry ¼ inch thick. Transfer the rectangle to the prepared pan. If you want it to be fancy, trim the edges with a sharp knife to make them straight, being careful not to cut the silicone mat or parchment paper.

Spread the jam over the rectangle, leaving about an inch all around the edges with no jam. Sprinkle the walnuts evenly over the jam.

Slice each plum into eight slices. Leave the skin on for a nice sweet-tart taste. Arrange the plum slices on top of the jam area, completely covering the jam.

Brush the top of the fruit lightly with the melted butter , using a pastry brush, then sprinkle with the sugar.

Bake in the preheated oven for about 20 -25 minutes, turning the sheet around half way through the baking. Watch to make sure it doesn’t burn.

Cool in the pan on a wire rack for at least five minutes. Be careful of the jam because it gets very hot.

Use a wide spatula to loosen the pastry, then carefully transfer to a cutting board or serving platter.

Cut into rectangles to serve. Serves 6-8 people. Leftovers can be kept, tightly wrapped, for a few days, but you may want to warm the tart briefly in a hot oven to crisp the puff pastry a bit.





Variations: If you are using pie dough, make enough dough for one crust, roll it in a 13 inch circle and place it on a 12 inch pizza pan, letting the dough hang over the sides. Spread the jam in an 11 inch circle, sprinkle on the walnuts, arrange the plum slices starting at the outer edge of jam, moving into the center, covering the jam completely. Fold in the dough beyond the jam, making folds. Moisten behind the folds with a little water and press to seal. Brush the butter over the fruit and folds of dough and sprinkle the sugar over all. Bake at 375 degrees F instead of 425 degrees F. until dough is golden and fruit is bubbly.

If using tart dough, line a tart pan with it, spread the jam over the bottom and follow the directions for the puff pastry version, watching to make sure that the tart pastry doesn't burn.