Orange Sables

Another recipe lifted in its entirety from my friend Miranda Levenstein's excellent recipe blog -- http://insweettreatment.blogspot.com. (Doesn't she present the recipes beautifully??) I think these will be a lovely teacher gift packaged with the Lemon Poppy Seed cookies below. Sometimes you need a break from chocolate!

(Note: I used 3 egg yolks because my eggs were on the small side.)

Ignorance Is Bliss Orange Sables
Adapted from Baking: From My Home to Yours, Dorie Greenspan 2006
Printer Friendly Version
Ingredients
2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter (preferably high-fat, European style), softened at room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
Zest of one orange
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted before measuring
1/2 teaspoon salt, preferably sea salt
2 large egg yolks, preferably at room temperature
2 cups all-purpose flour.

For the decoration (optional):
1 egg yolk
Crystal or dazzle sugar.

Directions
In a small bowl combine granulated sugar and orange zest. Rub zest and sugar together with your fingers to incorporate.
Working in a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter at medium speed until it is smooth and very creamy. Add the sugars and salt and continue to beat until smooth and velvety, not fluffy and airy, about 1 minute. Reduce the mixer speed to low and beat in 2 egg yolks, again beating until well blended.
Turn off the mixer, pour in the flour, drape a kitchen towel over the mixer and pulse the mixer about 5 times at low speed for 1 or 2 seconds each time. Take a peek; if there is still a lot of flour on the surface of the dough, pulse a couple of more times; if not, remove the towel. Continuing at low speed, stir for about 30 seconds more, just until the flour disappears into the dough and the dough looks uniformly moist. If you still have some flour on the bottom of the bowl, stop mixing and use a rubber spatula to work the rest of it into the dough. (The dough will not come together in a ball -- and it shouldn't. You want to work the dough as little as possible. What you're aiming for is a soft, moist, clumpy dough. When pinched, it should feel a little like Play-Doh.)
Scrape the dough onto a work surface, gather it into a ball and divide it in half. Shape each piece into a smooth log about 9 inches long (it's easiest to work on a piece of plastic wrap and use the plastic to help form the log). Wrap the logs well and chill them for at least 2 hours. The dough may be kept in the refrigerator for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 2 months.
Hint: To prevent your logs from flattening on one side, cut the empty cardboard tubes from two rolls of paper towels down the middle. Then rest your dough inside the cardboard cradle and put them in the fridge.
When ready to bake, center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper and keep it at the ready.

To decorate the edges of the sables, whisk the egg yolk until smooth. Place one log of chilled dough on a piece of waxed paper and brush it with yolk (the glue), and then sprinkle the entire surface of the log with sugar. Trim the ends of the roll if they are ragged and slice the log into 1/3-inch-thick cookies.


Place the rounds on the baking sheet, leaving an inch of space between each cookie, and bake for 17 to 20 minutes, rotating the baking sheet at the halfway point. When properly baked, the cookies will be light brown on the bottom, lightly golden around the edges and pale on top. Let the cookies rest 1 or 2 minutes before carefully lifting them onto a cooling rack with a wide metal spatula. Repeat with the remaining log of dough. (Make sure the sheet is cool before baking each batch.)

Yield: 48-50 cookies

Lemon Poppy Cookies

When you're tired of chocolate, nuts and cherries, these make a refreshing palate cleansing biscuit!

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons lemon zest

1 1/4 cups granulated sugar

1 1/2 sticks butter

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

1 to 2 tablespoons poppy seeds

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350*. Whisk together dry ingredients, set aside.

2. Beat lemon zest and sugar. Add butter, cream until light and fluffy. Mix in lemon juice, add flour.

3. Roll into equal-sized balls, press tops into poppy seeds, flattening cookies slightly when placing on cookie sheet.

4. Bake 10 - 12 minutes.

(Can also try making refrigerator cookies with this dough -- roll into a log, wrap in Saran wrap and refrigerate until ready to slice cookies. Sprinkle with poppy seeds if using this method.)

Mountain Dew Apple Dumplings

Mountain Dew Apple Dumplings

Ingredients

2 cans crescent rolls
3-4 tart apples
1 c. sugar
1/2 c. butter
1 tsp cinnamon
1 can Mountain Dew soda

Directions

Spray a 13 x 9 baking dish or pan.
Peel and slice apples into 16 pieces. Roll each apple slice in 1 section of crescent roll.
Place rolled slices in pan in two rows, put extra along side.
Melt butter, add sugar and cinnamon and pour over apples.
Pour can of Mountain Dew over all.
Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.
Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

Awesome Peach-Apricot Cobbler

Why do I always use a new recipe for everything? I want to be one of those cooks that has signature dishes -- a well-loved pasta salad, a favorite chicken casserole, blah blah blah. But yet I always look for a new recipe and try that. Perhaps it gives me the freedom to fail -- "Oh, I've never tried this recipe before . . ." Perhaps I think that a perfect recipe resides in the ether and someday I'll chance upon it, just as long as I keep looking.

I make lots of cobblers, crisps and crumbles. Partly because I find pie crusts a bother and partly because I always curse too much when I try to fit them into the pie plate. But most of all, I make them because my 9 year old doesn't eat fresh fruit, only cooked. So even though it's drowning in sugar, at least I can assuage my guilt with the thought that at least he's eating fruit. So you'd think I'd have a go to cobbler/crumble/crisp recipe, right? Well, you'd be wrong. Well, up until the recipe below. I found it today on the internets and it was supremely yummy and easy. I can't recommend it highly enough and imagine that just about any traditional pie fruit would work well, just adjust the spices to suit your palate. Enjoy!

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups fresh peaches, chopped (about 5-6 medium size peaches)
• 1/2 cup apricots, chopped (about 3)
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon powdered ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup milk
• 4 tablespoons butter, softened

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Meanwhile, in a medium sauce pan over a medium-high heat, toss in peaches, apricots, 1/2 cup white sugar, salt, cinnamon, vanilla extract, and ginger. Once it begins to boil, keep boiling for 10 minutes (occasionally stirring).

2. While the peaches are boiling, prepare the cobbler batter. Mix one cup flour with baking powder and brown sugar. Knead in 4 tablespoons butter, then add milk and mix until combined (it will be lumpy, but thats okay, it should be the consistency of pancake batter).

3. Grease 8×8 baking pan. Pour in cobbler batter, then spoon peach-apricot over batter (the fruit will settle to the bottom during baking). In a small bowl, mix 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon, 3 tablespoons oatmeal, and 3 tablespoons brown sugar together, then sprinkle evenly over the top. Bake for 35-40 minutes.

Blueberry-Rhubarb Crumble

I went back to my old food co-op on a one-off basis this week -- they needed a fill-in person and said they were getting rhubarb. That stuff is so hard to find and I love it so! I can't even find out how you grow it, it seems like it would be an easy and early addition to the garden. (Of course, I haven't looked terribly hard.) Below is a recipe I found on Cooks.com, and significantly added to. I used frozen blueberries and fresh rhubarb. Mmmmm . . .

BLUEBERRY - RHUBARB CRUMBLE
For filling: 3 c. fresh or frozen blueberries 2 c. fresh rhubarb, cut into 1 inch pieces or 2 c. frozen cut rhubarb 1/2 cup sugar 1/4 cup all purpose flour 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 2 tablespoons orange juice For topping: 1 1/2 c. regular rolled oats 2/3 c. brown sugar, packed 1/2 c. all-purpose flour 1/2 c. butter 1/2 c. sugar 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour Whipped cream 1. Thaw fruit, if frozen. Do not drain. 2. Mix sugar, flour and cinnamon together. Pour mixture over rhubarb and blueberries. Add orange juice. Stir until fruit is well coated 3. For the topping, in a large mixing bowl combine the oats, brown sugar and the 1/2 cup flour. With a pastry cutter or fork, cut butter into oat mixture until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Reserve 2/3 cup crumb mixture for topping. Pat remaining crumb mixture into the bottom of a greased 9 x 9 inch baking pan. 4. Bake in a 350 degree oven 10 to 15 minutes or until light brown.

Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

Like that raw food thing was going to last . . .

I'm making these for my last graduate workshop of the semester -- can't make them for the kiddies because of the evil, dreaded peanut butter, but I figure adults can handle it.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature

3/4 cup dark brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 12oz. package small peanut butter cups, coarsely chopped

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

2. Whisk flour, baking soda and salt

3. Beat butter and sugar together. When creamy, add egg and vanilla and mix to combine.

4. Gradually add in the flour mixture, beating until just incorporated.

5. Fold in chopped peanut butter cups.

6. Drop by tablespoon about 2" apart on a lined baking sheet

7. Bake for 12 - 15 minutes.

Peep Sushi

Okay, we must have way too much time on our hands a) to troll the internet long enough to FIND something like and b) to take the time to MAKE this, but I guess we do.

We (well, really John) made these to give as favors for William's birthday party. (We'd outsourced the whole party to Sportstime, so I guess we felt guilty and had to go all out for the goodie bags.)

There's really not much in the way of a recipe here:

Ingredients:

Rice Krispy Cereal

1 bag of marshmallows

3 tbsp. butter

Peeps

Fruit Roll-ups

Fruit by the Foot

Rainbow Twizzlers

(It is useful to get a sushi mat -- you can find these in the Asian food section of just about any grocery store.)

Method:

1. Make the Rice Krispy treats using the recipe on the box (3 tbsp. butter, 1 bag marshmallows, 6 cups Rice Krispies) but leave half of the mixture in the warm pot. Press the other half in an 8" x 8" pan.

2. Unwrap a Fruit Roll-up and put it on the sushi mat. (It helps if you refrigerate them for about 15 minutes before starting, otherwise they stick and rip and make you yell at your cat.)

3. Coat your hands in cooking spray, then take a good handful of the warm mixture and spread it out on the lower third of the sushi mat. Place two Twizzlers horizontally along the middle of mixture and then roll it up in the mat. Slice into 4 pieces and set aside. Make as many rolls as you can until you use up all the mixture.

4. Turn to the Rice Krispy mixture you pressed into the pan. Cut into rectangular pieces about 1" x 2". Take a Peep and slice it in half, laying it on top of the Rice Krispy piece. You can also vary the look by wrapping some Fruit by the Foot around the middle.

5. Package them in sushi trays (that you can buy from your friendly sushi restaurant for about .10 cents each).

Sour Cream Coffee Cake

This is from the March 2010 issue of Cooking Light. It's a little fiddly what with the toasting of oats and walnuts -- I don't usually like any recipes with too many steps, but it is worth it. I made this for a meeting with the School Board President when she came to my house to discuss an email I'd sent her. How many elected officials take the time to respond personally like that? Vote Yes for the budget!

I've noticed that I'm using a lot of sour cream lately. What can it mean?

Ingredients:

Cooking spray

3/4 cup old fashioned rolled oats

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup whole wheat flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar, divided

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 (8 oz) carton reduced fat sour cream

2 tbsp finely chopped walnuts, toasted

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 tbsp chilled butter, cut into small pieces

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 35o degrees.

2. Spread oats in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake for 6 minutes or until oats are barely fragrant and a light brown.

3. Coat a 9" springform pan with cooking spray and set aside.

4. Reserve 1/4 cup toasted oats and set aside. Whiz remaining oats in blender until finely ground.

5. Combine whizzed oats, flours, baking soda & powder and salt; stir with a whisk.

6. Put granulated sugar, 1/4 cup brown sugar and 1/3 cup butter in a large bowl. Beat until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Add flour mixture, alternating with with sour cream. Batter will be slightly lumpy, so do not overbeat unless you like a tough cake. Spoon batter into pan.

7. For topping, combine remaining oats, brown sugar, nuts and cinnamon in a bowl. Cut in 1 tbsp of butter until well blended. Sprinkle over the top of the batter.

8. Bake for 40 minutes. Cool cake in pan for 10 minutes.

Lemon-Blueberry Bundt Cake

This is a five-year old recipe from Cooking Light. I'm always inspired to make it when the lemony forsythia bushes start to bloom.

Ingredients:

Cooking spray

2 tbsp granulated sugar

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 3/4 cups granulated sugar

1/4 butter, softened

1 tbsp grated lemon rind

4 large eggs*

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

16 oz reduced fat sour cream*

2 cups fresh blueberries*

Glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar

3 tbsp fresh lemon juice

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Coat 12 cup Bundt pan with cooking spray and dust with 2 tbsp granulated sugar. Set aside.

3. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda & salt in a small bowl. Stir gently with a whisk.

4. Put 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar, butter and lemon rind in mixing bowl and beat until well-blended. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla and sour cream

5. Add flour mixture and beat just until incorporated. Fold in blueberries.

6. Spoon into prepared Bundt pan and bake for at least 1 hour. Cool completely before glazing.

7. Drizzle glaze over cooled cake.

Makes 16 servings.

Today's full disclosure includes the fact that I used 5 eggs instead of 4, didn't have enough sour cream so used about 10 oz of Turkish yogurt plus 6 oz of sour cream and used frozen instead of fresh blueberries. (That last substitution required that the cake bake for an extra 1/2 hour.)

Salted Caramels

I have stolen this recipe in its entirety from my high school classmate, Miranda Levenstein. I simply ripped it straight off her website (as you can tell, because I never take pictures of the making, only the made.) Check out her blog: InSweetTreatment.com

Don't Be Scared Salted Chocolate Caramels
Gourmet, December 2006
Ingredients
2 cups heavy cream
10 1/2 oz fine-quality dark chocolate (no more than 60% cacao if marked), finely chopped
1 3/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup water
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon pieces
2 teaspoons flaky sea salt such as Maldon
Vegetable oil for greasing

Directions
Line bottom and sides of an 8-inch straight-sided square metal baking pan with 2 long sheets of crisscrossed parchment.
Bring cream just to a boil in a 1- to 1 1/2-quart heavy saucepan over moderately high heat, then reduce heat to low and add chocolate. Let stand 1 minute, then stir until chocolate is completely melted. Remove from heat.
Bring sugar, corn syrup, water, and salt to a boil in a 5- to 6-quart heavy pot over moderate heat, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Boil, uncovered, without stirring but gently swirling pan occasionally, until sugar is deep golden, about 10 minutes.
Tilt pan and carefully pour in chocolate mixture (mixture will bubble and steam vigorously). Continue to boil over moderate heat, stirring frequently, until mixture registers 255°F on thermometer, about 15 minutes.
Add butter, stirring until completely melted, then immediately pour into lined baking pan (do not scrape any caramel clinging to bottom or side of saucepan).

Let caramel stand 10 minutes, then sprinkle evenly with sea salt. Cool completely in pan on a rack, about 2 hours.
Carefully invert caramel onto a clean, dry cutting board, then peel off parchment. Turn caramel salt side up.
Lightly oil blade of a large heavy knife and cut into 1-inch squares.
Yield: 64 caramels
More notes: Additional sea salt can be pressed onto caramels after cutting.
Caramels keep, layered between sheets of parchment or wax paper, in an airtight container at cool room temperature 2 weeks or they can be wrapped in 4-inch squares of wax paper; twist ends to close.

Chocolate Walnut Cake

I'm always looking for desserts to bring to potlucks or dinner parties that are not decadent and fat-laden. I don't know, maybe I've been watching too much "Food, Inc." or "Super Size Me" lately, but I'm kind of obsessed with how rotten the American diet has become. And I don't exclude myself from that statement -- I can snack all day and never eat a proper meal. So, when I'm asked to contribute something to a meal, I want to make it healthy and tasty. (God, I sound like Nancy Drew or something!)

Here's a recipe I adapted from a Weight Watcher's recipe of the same name. It has only FOUR ingredients!

Ingredients:

9 large eggs, separated

1 cup sugar, divided

5 oz bittersweet chocolate, melted (I used 4 oz semi-sweet and 1 oz unsweetened just because that's what I had in the house!)

1 cup walnuts, ground to a powder (just use your food processor or blender)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2. Beat eggs yolks and 1/2 cup sugar in a small bowl. Pour in warm chocolate (not hot or you'll cook the eggs) and 1/2 of ground nuts. Mix well.

3. In a large bowl, beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Add 1/2 cup sugar. Beat some more until egg whites are glossy and hold their shape.

4. Mix a heaping cup of egg whites into the chocolate mixture. Then, fold chocolate mixture into egg whites (do NOT use the blender, do this by hand with a spatula.)

5. Spoon batter into an angel food pan and bake for about 75 minutes. (Test with a toothpick)

6. Remove from oven invert cake pan on rack to cool (if your angel food pan doesn't have feet, invert over a bottle.) Cool thoroughly before loosening with a knife to remove cake from pan. (If you do this before the cake is completely cool, it will break apart!)

7. You might want to serve this with a drizzle of chocolate syrup, or a scoop of ice cream or whipped cream.

However, without any toppings, this makes sixteen teeny tiny pieces at 4 Weight Watchers points per piece.

Absurdly Easy chocolate Fudge

This recipe is lifted in its entirety from the March 2, 2010 Dining section of the New York Times. It IS absurdly easy -- I made this to give out as favors for Sean's birthday tomorrow.

Ingredients:

1 lb. semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate (I used semi, but think bittersweet would be divine!)

1 14oz can sweetened condensed milk

4 tbsp butter

1/8 tsp salt (I forgot this)

1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Method:

1. Line an 8" x 8" squre baking pan with wax paper, allowing paper to overlap the edges of the pan. Coat with cooking spray.

2. Combine all ingredients, except walnuts, in a microwave-proof bowl. Heat on low for 10 - 15 seconds, then stir, and keep going until melted. We did this 8 times in 10 second bursts.)

3. Mix in walnuts if using and pour into pan.

4. Chill until set, about 4 hours or overnight. Lift fudge out of pan on paper and use a large knife to cut into 2" squares. Makes about 16.

Thoughts:

I can't help but think of all the great mix-ins you could use here -- almond extract, dried cherries, pecans, white chocolate chips, marshmallows . . .

Chocolate Cherry Cake

This is just fantastic. I'm going to make this into cupcakes and bring them into school for Sean's birthday.

Ingredients:

For Cake:

1 package chocolate cake mix

2 eggs

1 teaspoon almond extract

1 can cherry pie filling

For frosting:

1 cup sugar

1/3 cup milk

1/3 cup butter

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees; grease a 15" x 10" baking pan.

2. In a mixer, combine cake mix, eggs and almond extract. Add pie filling and mix in by hand.

3. Pour into pan and bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

4. For frosting -- combine sugar, milk and butter. Cook, stirring gently, until sugar is dissolved and butter is completely melted. Remove from heat and stir in chocolate chips. Pour over warm cake, spreading evenly. Cool completely before cutting.

Makes 32 servings (OH MY GOD, IF THAT'S TRUE I HAVE EATEN WAY TOO MUCH OF THIS CAKE!)

Snowday Gingersnaps

So named just because we made them on one of the many snowdays we had in 2010.

Ingredients:
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon ground ginger
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup shortening
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup dark molasses
1/3 cup candied ginger, cut into tiny chunks (optional)
1/3 cup cinnamon sugar

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
2. Sift the flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt into a mixing bowl. Stir the mixture to blend evenly, and sift a second time into another bowl.
3. Place the shortening into a mixing bowl and beat until creamy. Gradually beat in the white sugar. Beat in the egg, and dark molasses. Sift 1/3 of the flour mixture into the shortening mixture; stir to thoroughly blend. Sift in the remaining flour mixture, and mix together until a soft dough forms.
4. Pinch off small amounts of dough and roll into 1 inch diameter balls between your hands. Roll each ball in cinnamon sugar, and place 2 inches apart on an ungreased baking sheet.
5. Bake in preheated oven until the tops are rounded and slightly cracked, about 10 minutes. Cool cookies on a wire rack. Store in an air tight container.

Nutritional Information
Amount Per Serving Calories: 121 | Total Fat: 5.4g | Cholesterol: 7mg

Zucchini cupcakes revisited -- now with chocolate chip streusel!

• Ingredients:
• 3 eggs
• 2 cups white sugar
• 1 cup safflower oil

2 tbsp. ground flax meal

• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups grated zucchini
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom

Chocolate Chip Streusel:

1 1/4 cups brown sugar
3 TBSP melted butter
3 TBSP flour
1 cup chocolate chips

Mix first three ingredients together, then add chocolate chips. Top each cupcake with around 1 TBSP of streusel mix before putting in oven.


Method:

• Preheat oven to 350*.
• 
  
• 1. In a large bowl beat the eggs. Beat in the sugar and oil. Add the cocoa, vanilla, zucchini and stir well.
• 2. Stir in the flour, flax meal, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and cardamom. Mix until just moist.
• 3. Pour batter into lightly greased loaf pans, Bundt pan or muffin tins (filling these last 2/3 of the way full.) Bake at 350* for 20 to 25 minutes. Check doneness by sticking a toothpick in the middle.
• 4. Remove from pan and let cool on a wire rack. Store loosely covered.

I like to drizzle a glaze on the Bundt cake or even spread store-bought icing on the cupcakes. My kids love this and I figure it's a good way to use up the zucchini bounty of summer!

NOTE: This makes 2 loaves and about 30 cupcakes. One Bundt cake, of course.

ANOTHER NOTE: Sometimes I even make this in my breadmaker and it couldn't be simpler -- just throw all the ingredients in the pan at once. I think this might be the preferred method because it breaks the grated zucchini up so much that it's not noticeable at all! Plus, it is super easy.

LAST NOTE, I PROMISE: This freezes VERY well, no matter which form you choose to bake.

Blood Orange Cake

Blood Orange Olive Oil Cake

by Melissa Clark
Published in the NY Times, March 13, 2009

A cake with the words "blood" and "oil" in the title wouldn't usually attract my attention.  But there's something about a blood orange that always intrigues me.  And olive oil cakes tend to have an interesting texture and flavor, so . . .  It's another Wednesday for my sons of hot dogs for dinner and an elaborate dessert that they probably won't like.   But I will!

Time 1 hour 20 minutes plus cooling

Ingredients:

Butter for greasing pan
3 blood oranges
1 cup sugar
Buttermilk or plain yogurt
3 large eggs
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
Honey-blood orange compote, for serving, optional (see note)
Whipped cream, for serving, optional.

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan. Grate zest from 2 oranges and place in a bowl with sugar. Using your fingers, rub ingredients together until orange zest is evenly distributed in sugar.

2. Supreme an orange: Cut off bottom and top so fruit is exposed and orange can stand upright on a cutting board. Cut away peel and pith, following curve of fruit with your knife. Cut orange segments out of their connective membranes and let them fall into a bowl. Repeat with another orange. Break up segments with your fingers to about 1/4-inch pieces.

3. Halve remaining orange and squeeze juice into a measuring cup. You will have about 1/4 cup or so. Add buttermilk or yogurt to juice until you have 2/3 cup liquid altogether. Pour mixture into bowl with sugar and whisk well. Whisk in eggs.

4. In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Gently whisk dry ingredients into wet ones. Switch to a spatula and fold in oil a little at a time. Fold in pieces of orange segments. Scrape batter into pan and smooth top.

5. Bake cake for about 55 minutes, or until it is golden and a knife inserted into center comes out clean. Cool on a rack for 5 minutes, then unmold and cool to room temperature right-side up. Serve with whipped cream and honey-blood orange compote, if desired.

Yield: 8 to 10 servings.

Note: To make a honey-blood orange compote, supreme 3 more blood oranges according to directions in Step 2. Drizzle in 1 to 2 teaspoons honey. Let sit for 5 minutes, then stir gently.

Sugared Puffs

This was from The NYT Sunday Magazine, 3/15/2009

Awesome!!!!!

By David Lebovitz, the author of “Room for Dessert” and “The Great Book of Chocolate.” His latest book, “The Sweet Life in Paris,” will be published in May. His blog is davidlebovitz.com.

For the puffs:
Softened unsalted butter, for greasing the pan
2 tablespoons butter, melted
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1 cup flour
For the sugar coating:
2/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 tablespoons butter, melted.
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Liberally grease a nonstick popover pan, or a muffin pan with 1/2-cup indentations, with softened butter.
2. For the puffs, put the 2 tablespoons melted butter, eggs, milk, salt and sugar in a blender and whiz for a few seconds.
3. Add the flour and whiz for 5 to 8 seconds, just until smooth.
4. Divide the batter among 9 greased molds, filling each 1/2 to 2/3 full.
5. Bake for 35 minutes, until the puffs are deep brown.
6. Remove from the oven, wait a few minutes until cool enough to handle, then remove the puffs from the pans. You may need a small knife to help pry them out.
7. Mix the sugar and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Thoroughly brush each puff all over with melted butter, then dredge in sugar and cinnamon mixture to coat completely. Let cool on a baking rack. Makes 9 puffs.

Hamentaschen

It's Lent and I've given up sweets. Well, at least chocolate. But I'll celebrate any holiday that involves baking and Purim usually falls sometime in March. I still can't quite understand the whole history of the holiday, but know that Haman was bad, he wanted to kill the Jews and he died on the scaffolding he built to kill them with. So, the holiday is a celebration that Haman died and the taschen are the cute sweets.

You don't have to be Jewish to love Purim!



Dough:

2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into chunks
2/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1 egg white
1/2 orange, zest grated

Filling:

Buy it from the store. Prune, poppy and apricot are traditional.

Method:

1. Combine first 4 ingredients in food processor. Process until crumbly.
2. Mix remaining ingredients together in a separate bowl.
3. Pour liquid into food processor, mix until dough holds together.
4. Pat dough into two disks, wrap in plastic wrap, chill for 30 minutes.
5. Preheat oven to 350*. Roll dough onto floured board, no thinner than 1/4". Using a 3" circular cutter, cut dough circles. You can re-roll the scraps several times.
6. Place one teaspoon of filling in the center of each circle. Pinch three corners of dough circle to make a triangular pastry. Make sure you pinch the corners well, otherwise the shape won't hold!
7. Bake for 10 - 15 minutes, until lightly browned. Wait until cool to eat -- the fruit filling gets tongue-burningly hot!

Cherry Green Tea Muffins

Full disclosure -- I lifted this recipe in its entirety from the September 2008 issue of MORE Magazine. The best part about it is that Sean actually likes them as an after school snack.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

1 1/4 cups all-purpose white flour

1/2 cup sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

Green tea leaves from 1 tea bag

2 large eggs

1 1/4 cups buttermilk

1/8 cup canola oil

6 tablespoons ground flax meal

1 tablespoon lemon juice

2 teaspoons lemon zest

1 1/2 cups dried cherries

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 400*. Put muffin cups in a 12-cup tin

2. Combine all dry ingredients in a large bowl.

3. Combine all wet ingredients plus cherries in a small bowl.

4. Pour wet ingredients into dry; mix just until combined. (Overmixing will make the muffins tough.)

5. Spoon batter into muffin cups, bake for approximately 17 - 20 minutes.

NOTE: I used a combination of dried cherries and raisins because I didn't have a cup and a half of cherries laying around. Also, I used orange juice and orange zest because I didn't have any lemons. Both substitutions worked out just fine!

Cranberry Nut Bread

I just adore cranberry bread and this recipe is my particular favorite. I've discovered that it can be made in a bread maker with no discernible loss of flavor or texture, so it couldn't be simpler. Just throw everything in the breadmaker, set it to "Cake" or "Loaf" and away you go. (Note: I've found it works best if you pour in the liquids first and throw the dry ingredients on top.)


CLASSIC CRANBERRY NUT BREAD
(possibly lifted from the Ocean Spray website, but I'm no longer sure.)

3/4 cup orange juice
1 egg, well beaten
2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon grated orange peel (please, use organic oranges! You can't imagine the wax and pesticides you'll be ingesting otherwise.)
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons ground flax meal (optional)
1 1/2 cups frozen cranberries, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

DIRECTIONS (for the breadmaker):

1. Pour orange juice and beaten egg into breadmaker

2. Add the rest of the ingredients. I like to chop my cranberries so coarsely that there are still whole cranberries amongst the choppy bits. (I use a manual food chopper for this.)

3. Start the breadmaker.

4. Sit back and make a whiskey sour using the de-zested organic orange. Give half of the slices to your child to assuage any guilt you might have.

PER SERVING (1 slice): Cal. 211, Fat Cal. 54, Protein 3grams, Carb. 37grams, Fat 6grams, Chol. 18mg., Sodium 313mg


NOTE: If you don't use a breadmaker, this will make one 9 x 5 inch loaf. Bake it for approximately 55 minutes at 350*.