an experiment

Well, I got a late start this morning because I was out late busting out my old-school MJ moves on the dance floor (sadly, I have not yet mastered Thriller) in memoriam. But...I had ALL kinds of ideas bopping around in my head this morning for baked treats. I cut my Central Park tanning session short to pick up some cherries and try the least labor-intensive of the recipes I thought up...

I am a huge fan of beer bread. I usually make this recipe with Brooklyn Lager, and throw some coarse sea salt on top for texture and taste. On a side note, this also comes out great with sage and onion chopped in.

Thus: I decided to try making a sweet beer bread instead of savory. I moved from lager to porter to find something sweeter (Smuttynose Robust Porter, which has some great smooth chocolaty notes) which would go better with fruit and sugar. I started out creaming together a bit of butter and sour cream with dark brown sugar; I was hoping the sour cream and the molasses in the sugar would complement flavors in the beer. I also tossed in an egg. The original beer bread recipe only uses beer and flour, but I wanted a slightly cakier texture. From there, I tossed in the beer - using only half a bottle because the new recipe has more wet ingredients than the base recipe - and some flour and a bit of baking powder to ensure everything rose properly. I just got a new cherry pitter (there should be pie appearing here sometime soon), so I tossed in about a dozen cherries to sweeten things up and take down the beer flavor.

Here's the end product:


The result is very tasty, but is more in the "sweet-savory-dense breakfast fruit bread" universe than the "cake" one. I think I could have used a bit more sugar. On the whole, though, the beer and cherry flavors were pretty well balanced and everything came together nicely. Here're the amounts I used, if anyone wants to try this and make edits! :-)

1/2 stick butter
1/2 c. sour cream
3/4 c. dark brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 bottle stout porter
4 - 5 c. flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 lb. Bing cherries

molasses bars

I found this recipe in my mom's copy of the Silver Palate and made this it for the first time when I was in high school. In the ten years since I first tried it, I've whipped it out time and again for bake sales, parties, and rainy days, and have had it greeted every time with the same enthusiasm. The Silver Palate recipe is actually for cookies, but I prefer to put the batter in a single cookie pan and make bars. They come out just a little thicker and moister that way, and the cookies are so buttery that they always run together anyway. Enjoy!

Molasses Spice Bars

1 1/2 sticks butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup molasses
1 egg
1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Melt butter in a medium saucepan, add sugar and molasses. Mix thoroughly. Lightly beat egg and add to butter mixture; blend well.

Sift flour with spices, salt and baking soda, and add to mixture in saucepan. Blend well. Batter will be wet.

(Note here: This recipe, like most, calls for salt. I almost never use salt in my baking and I've never had any complaints)

Line a 10x15 cookie sheet with aluminum foil and spread the batter across. It might be hard to get it completely spread out, but try to get it within a couple of inches of the sides. Bake for about 10 minutes till the edges turn darker brown.

The finished product will turn out something like this:

grandma's fruit cake

My grandmother always made the moistest, most delicious fruit cake. I was delighted to find, when I got my hands on the recipe, that it's incredibly simple. I don't believe in keeping great family recipes under lock and key, so here it is:

1/2 c. sugar
1 stick unsalted butter
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla (or other liquor)
1 c. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
Cinnamon sugar
Berries, apples, pears, or stone fruit

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Cream together the butter and sugar and then add the eggs and vanilla (I often use other booze - the version pictured below has Grand Marnier in it). Toss in the flour and baking powder and blend well. The batter should be pretty thick.

Spread it into a buttered or sprayed pan; 8x8 works, as does a 9" pie plate. This recipe is also good for 12 cupcakes or 24 mini-cupcakes. The batter will probably be spread pretty thin, but don't worry - it rises a lot. Press fruit into the top so the pan is pretty much covers the cake's surface, then sprinkle the top with cinnamon sugar.

Bake 35 - 40 minutes for a pan, 15 - 20 for cupcakes. Don't bother with a toothpick test - the fruit keeps the cake too moist for this to work.

Below: Half-strawberries pressed into mini-cupcakes made from this recipe.

after-work dinner/simultaneous lunch prep

I'm not going to bother adding a picture because this recipe, while tasty, is not much to look at. After the pizza party documented below I was left with a bunch of eggplant, pasta sauce, and mozzarella. So, I created the following lazy, but healthy and flavorful "eggplant parmesan rice casserole."

1 small (1 1/4 lb) eggplant, chopped into 1-inch cubes
1/3 c. short grain brown rice
1/3 c. basil tomato sauce
1 oz. mozzarella (I've been using vegan mozzie and it's pretty good)
Red pepper flakes to taste

Toss the rice in a rice cooker for 1 round till the button pops (about 15 minutes). Brown rice takes a while, so I like to get it cooked al dente before I add the other ingredients.

When the rice is mostly cooked but still a bit chewy, place the eggplant in the rice cooker. Add a couple of tablespoons of h2o at this point if the rice is starting to stick; the eggplant has plenty of moisture (don't drain it!) so it'll keep the rice from drying out once it starts steaming.

Open the cooker every few minutes to toss the rice and eggplant. When the eggplant starts to soften add the tomato sauce. Cook until the eggplant is soft but not disintegrating. Dump the whole thing in a bowl, toss with mozzie and pepper, and enjoy!

The best part of this is that the rice cooker method gives you plenty of down time. I use these moments to clear up my kitchen, to bake, and (most often) to prepare ingredients for my next day's lunch. Lately I've been broiling tofu (I cut a block into 32 slices - about 3/4" x 1 1/2" x 1/4" each) and tossing it in a salad with mixed greens, papaya, lime juice, and cumin. It's low calorie, full of protein, and it travels well to work. Suggestions for variations welcome!

Big Apple BBQ

Checked out the Big Apple BBQ Fest for lunch today. I didn't have room for more than one stand's "platter" but I was wowed by what I did try: Salt Lick's brisket, sausage, and slaw.

The brisket was fatty and tender, and the sausage was juicy, smoky, and savory with the slightest hint of spice. Yummm. I might have to try making this slaw: it was plain green cabbage with sesame seeds. An unusual twist!

pizza party!

I threw my first dinner party in a while last night. Given my studenthood and not-real employment (summer internship) I was looking for something which could feed a crowd cheaply. So...pizza! Given that I had to throw everything together in a few hours after work I decided to the a no-rise homemade thin crust pizza from The Kitchn. It worked pretty well but, as one of my guests pointed out, it had a kind of pretzely quality. The crust was crunchy and great straight out of the oven, but when it cooled a bit it got kind of gummy. I'll definitely keep this recipe on hand for a pinch, but the quest for The Home-Baked Perfect Crust continues...

The real highlight of the evening was the toppings...

Exhibit A: Bartlett pears, caramelized onions, and lots of Stilton. Props go to this talented lady for the idea. :-)

Exhibit B: Caponata Pizza - plain basil-garlic tomato sauce with capers, eggplant, and a few red pepper flakes. This version was made vegan, but it was great with real mozzie too!

Exhibit C: (The biggest hit) Mushrooms sauteed with a bit of garlic and rosemary, topped with smoked cheddar

For dessert I went for "Summer Tiramisu" - really just trifle done horizontal since I didn't have a big enough glass bowl...Based generally on a recipe from Epicurious but with a LOT more booze (Grand Marnier in the syrup and drizzled over the cake layer).

And a side view with thumbs-up from a satisfied diner. Plus wine. Cake is on the bottom, topped by blueberry sauce, lemon curd and finished by whipped cream cheese topping.

despite my better instincts...

...I've decided to try my hand at blogging. Food and crafts only. Please call me out if I start soapboxing or waxing poetic about feelings.

On an inaugural note I shall thus post the only food pic I have hanging round: my Obama Inauguration Red, White, and Blue Velvet Cake.


Just regular red velvet (the Sylvia's recipe) with cream cheese frosting. The kicker: the top layer (out of 2) was done with blue coloring instead of red. Patriotic!