The Comeback Cake

I bet you guys thought you’d never hear from me again. Well, I’m happy to say that this time you were sorely mistaken.  Just like every bloodthirsty supernatural villain in every horror movie ever made, I’m back for another go-round and this time I mean business (don’t worry, I’m not going to go all Freddy vs Jason on you; Julie & Julia is more my style).

I seriously considered abandoning this project all together.  I mean, I did technically fail after all.  But when I went home this past week to bid my Grandma one final farewell, I swear that I met at least half of my 239 loyal readers (oddly enough, you’re almost all related to me in one way or another–coming from a good Catholic family really has its benefits sometimes).  Now that I’ve put faces with the numbers, I can’t just give up.  I’ve been guilted into continuing my bakelogging (again, coming from a good Catholic family has its benefits).

I decided to make my grand re-entrance into the blogosphere in style–no humble drop cookie could possibly do for such a fancy occasion–I needed to bake something with style, flair, and the ability to make a dent in the 5 pound sack of carrots in the bottom of my fridge.  

Behold, loyal readers (the eight of you that are still left, anyway), my comeback cake:

The Comeback Cake

This thing is loaded up with a kajillion pecans, even more shredded carrots, two ultra-thick layers of super-moist crumbly, cinnamony cake, white-chocolate cream cheese frosting, and eight handmade (by me!!) marzipan carrot decorations (that’s right, naysayers and trash-talkers, I do have a few decorating tricks up my sleeve after all. Granted marzipan is easier to work with than play-dough, but I’m still thoroughly impressed with myself–I’ve never worked with marzipan before).

Carrots? No, but there are quite a few underneath the frosting.

Carrot Cake with White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

Cake: 

• unsalted butter for greasing
• 2 cups sugar
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 4 large eggs, room temperature
• ¾ cup vegetable oil
• 3 cups grated carrots, room temperature (honestly, everything needs to be at room temperature for this to work properly.  Set your mis en place, walk away for half an hour (coffee anyone?), and come back to ingredients that are ready and wiling to be used).
• a few handfuls of toasted chopped pecans (I think I used a cup and half total, one cup for inside the cake, and the extra half a cup for decorating)

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.  Lightly grease 2 8 inch round cake pans.  Line pans with parchment paper.  Regrease and flour.  Set aside.
2. Sift the sugar and salt into a bowl; set aside.
3. In another bowl, sift flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and baking powder together.  Set aside.
4. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the wire whisk attachment, whip the eggs on medium speed, scraping down the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed, until thick, about 3 minutes.  Increase the speed to high and continue whipping until the eggs fall in thick ribbons off the whisk, 4 minutes.  Gradually add the oil while continuing to whip until well-blended.
5. Decrease the speed to medium.  Add the sifted sugar mixture slowly to the whipped egg mixture while continuing to whip until blended.
6. Decrease  the speed to low.  Add the sifted flour mixture  slowly to the egg mixture and mix until just incorporated.  Fold in the carrots and about a cup of the pecans by hand with a rubber spatula.
7. Pour the batter evenly into the prepared pans. Bake for 35-45 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean.  Begin testing at 35 minutes.  Do not over-bake.
8. Cool cakes in pans on wire racks for a few minutes before turning out cakes onto wire racks, tops down. Cool completely before icing and slicing. 

Frosting:

• 8 oz white chocolate
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 8 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• pinch salt

1. Chop the chocolate into small pieces (if you use chips you can skip this step!). Melt the chocolate in a double boiler over barely simmering water.  Cool to room temperature.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and cream cheese together until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the bowl as needed to blend evenly.
3. Add in the cooled melted chocolate, vanilla extract, and salt; continue to mix until very smooth, 1-2 minutes.
4. Use immediately.  Alternately, transfer icing to an airtight storage container and refrigerate for up to 2 weeks.  Bring icing to room temperature, then re-whip using the paddle attachment before using.  Makes enough to fill and frost one layer cake.

Mother B’s

Frailty, thy name is woman! 

I may not be jumping out of my dead husband’s bed and into his brother’s, but deep down I’m really just as fickle and unreliable as Hamlet’s mom.  I am completely incapable of keeping promises that I make to myself or to others. I’ve been “starting school in a few months” for years now, I never keep in touch with my family although I swear up and down that I’m going to e-mail/call them at least once a week (sorry dearest relatives, I really do mean well), my house is never as clean as I pretend it is (I make piles. Huge, unwieldy piles of stupid useless junk), and I immediately fall off the bakelogging wagon as soon as I hitch a ride.

I think I need a life coach (or just a stronger resolve).

B-t-dubs, I’ve already baked Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s cookies. I just haven’t posted the recipes yet. Prepare yourself, America, for more boozilicous cookies (don’t worry, Mom, these are classy–they’re made with red wine)! 

Mother B’s

Yield: one 9 x 13 x 2 inch pan, about twenty-four  2-inch squares

• 1¾ cups all-purpose flour
• 1½ teaspoons (!!) freshly grated nutmeg
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened (cut into small chunks to speed up softening time if you’re not very good at planning ahead)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 large egg
• ½ cup buttermilk or sour milk

1. Set a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat oven to 350°F.  Butter the inside of a 9 x 13 x 2 baking pan.  Line with parchment paper, leaving a 1-inch overhang.  Butter the top of the paper (you may ask, “Is this really necessary?”  Nick Malgieri, baking god, insists upon it. Please don’t question his ways; it’s akin to blasphemy).  Set aside.
2. Sift the flour, nutmeg, baking soda, and salt together onto a sheet of parchment paper.  Set aside.
3. With an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar on medium speed until smooth, about 1 minute.  Add in the egg; beat until smooth.  Reduce mixer speed to low.  Slowly pour in half of the dry ingredients (flour mixture!) and mix until incorporated.  With the mixer running, drizzle in the buttermilk.  At this point, turn off the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula, if needed.  Turn the mixer back to low and slowly pour in the remaining dry ingredients.  
4. Remove the paddle and scrape off any remaining batter (or lick it off like you did when you were a kid).  Stir the batter vigorously with the spatula 3 or 4 times.  Pour the batter into prepared pan, being sure to distribute it evenly and smoothly.
5. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until golden brown and a toothpick (or fancy cake tester!) inserted into the middle comes out clean.  Let cool in pan on wire rack for 10 minutes.  Then, using the paper, lift the cake (I swear at the end of all this it’s a cookie) onto a separate rack to cool completely.
6. To cut into bars, transfer the cookie-cake onto a cutting board.  Remove the paper.  Using a ruler for neatness, cut into 2-inch squares using a large chef’s knife.

Adapted from Cookies Unlimited by Nick Malgieri

Coconut Macaroons

I’m visiting Andrew’s family for Easter.  We’ve been in Plainfield (what an appropriate name) since EARLY Friday morning (we were on the train by 7 am, which put us in the front door of his family home by 8:30, and at his Aunt’s to dye eggs by 9!! I usually get out of bed at noon!!!). I’m not really sure how he survived 18 years in this town. Not only is it as soul crushing as Portland, but if you drive down the wrong street you’re apt to get mugged (and there are a lot of wrong streets).  We’ve been stuck inside for what feels like a thousand years, eating dinner at 5:30 and watching reruns of Murder She Wrote (it’s really Wheel of Fortune and Law and Order, but it definitely feels like Murder She Wrote).

The only relief comes in the form of shopping trips to the local mall (I’m in New Jersey). In my distressed state, I am naturally trying to buy my happiness.  I spent a gajillion dollars on odds and ends, like a new apron, prep bowls, a pastry blender, six bargain books (all fiction, not a single cookbook!), and a Domo board game. But the purchase I am most proud of (and regret the least) is a food processor! A full-size, multi-bladed, 7 cup Cuisinart! I know most people wait until they’re married before they get one of these babies, but I really needed some instant gratification.  I can’t wait until I get home to try it out! In the meantime, here are some delicious nibbles that are perfectly suited for Passover (or just eating by the handful).

Coconut Macaroons

Yield: 24 SMALL cookies

Coconut Macaroons

• 2½ cups unsweetened flaked coconut (available at health stores or in the organic section of your supermarket)
• ¾ cup granulated sugar
• 2 egg whites
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ¼ teaspoon salt

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. In a large mixing bowl, stir all ingredients together until well combined.
3. Drop dough by rounded teaspoonfuls onto prepared baking sheets, twelve per sheet, leaving at least an 1½ inches in between each.
4. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until golden. Carefully slide the entire parchment sheet, cookies and all, onto wire racks.  Cool completely.  When cookies are cool, carefully peel from parchment.

Lemon Bars

After rereading the posts from earlier this week, I realized that I was baking only “double” desserts. Part of me wanted to continue the trend that I had inadvertently started, but I just had to use up the piles of  big beautiful lemons in my fruit basket. Even though this is a technically a two layer dessert, I didn’t put any sort of lemon flavoring into the tender crust. Therefore I can’t in good conscious call these “Double Lemon Bars.”  I’m afraid to say that the short lived double trend died on this day, but I’m happy to announce the birth of the lemon trend.  Please welcome the sweet-tart lemon dessert with open-arms.

Lemon Bars

Lemon Bars

Yield: 36 bars

Crust:

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• ½ cup powdered sugar, plus extra for dusting
• 2 tablespoons corn starch
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¾ cup butter

Filling:

• 4 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1½ cups granulated sugar
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon finely shredded lemon peel (the zest of 1 medium lemon
• ¾ cup lemon juice (fresh squeezed is best, but if you don’t want to sacrifice 4-5 lemons  bottled can be used with little difference in flavor)
• ¼ cup heavy cream (or half-half, light cream, or milk)

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour a 13 x 9 inch baking pan.
2. Make Crust:  In a large mixing bowl, stir together flour, powdered sugar, corn starch, and salt.  Cut in butter with a pastry blender (or if you’re like me and haven’t invested in one of these nifty tools, use two butter knives and literally cut the butter into the flour) until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.  Pour the entire mixture into the prepared  pan.  Firmly and evenly press the crumbs into the pan, making sure to get it into all the corners (if desired, use the bottom of a juice glass to press the crumbs into the pan).  
3. Bake crust for 18-20 minutes, or until edges are pale golden.
4. Make Filling:  In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, sugar, flour, lemon peel, and lemon juice, and heavy cream.  Pour filling over hot crust.  Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until filling is just set in the center.
5. Cool completely in pan on wire rack.  Sift with powdered sugar.  Cut into 36 bars (9 x 4).

Nancy’s Brown Butter Buttons

I got a new cookbook!!! 

It’s the most beautiful baking book I’ve seen in a very long time.  The pages are thick and glossy, the recipes mouthwatering, and it’s nominated for a James Beard Foundation Award for best cookbook in the baking category!  I have a feeling you’ll be seeing a lot of recipes inspired by/adapted from/straight up ganked from this book.  I hope to learn a lot from Ms. Braker and her fantastic collection of  recipes. 

The first recipe I tried didn’t dissapoint.  These cookies are luxuriously-crumbly-melt-in-your-mouth delicous.  They’re not the prettiest thing to look at, but you won’t care as soon as you take your first bite.

Nancy’s Brown Butter Buttons

Nancy's Brown Butter Buttons

Yield: 3½ dozen cookies

• 1 cup  (2 sticks) unsalted butter
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup granulated sugar

1. Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone liner.
2. Melt the butter in a heavy 1½ quart saucepan over medium-low heat and heat just until it begins to turn a delicate brown, about 8 minutes.  Remove from the heat and pour into a medium bowl.  Set the butter aside to cool slightly, about 15 minutes.  Meanwhile, sift together the flour and baking soda onto a piece of parchment paper; set aside.
3. Add the vanilla to the butter, and then stir in half of the sugar, blending well before adding the remaining sugar.  Add the flour mixture in two additions, blending well after each addition.  Set the mixture aside for 10 minutes to allow the flour to absorb the ingredients.
4. To shape each cookie, measure about 1½ teaspoons of the dough, or scoop up the dough with an ice cream scoop about 1¼ inches in diameter (#70).  Work the crumbly dough between your palms to form cohesive balls, and place on the prepared baking sheet, spacing about ½ inch apart.  
5. Bake the cookies until they puff up, crack a bit on top, and are golden on the bottom, 15-18 minutes.  Transfer the baking sheet to a wire rack and let the cookies cool on the pan for about 5 minutes.  Using a metal spatula, transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe adapted from Flo Braker’s Baking for All Occasions

Mini Irish Soda Breads

It’s actually St. Patrick’s day!!!  After spending all of the 8th dealing with drunk girls in green, I’m a little over it.  There will be no shamrocks in this household today!!! These biscuits are more than Irish enough for me.

Mini Irish Soda Breads

Mini Irish Soda Breads

• 1½ cups all-purpose flour
• ¾ teaspoon baking powder
• ¾ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 egg yolk
• ½ cup buttermilk
• 2 tablespoons honey

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone liner.
2. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl.  Beat in the butter with an electric mixer set on low until the mixture resembles  a coarse meal.
3. Whisk together egg yolk, buttermilk, and honey in a small bowl.  Add the egg mixture all at once to the flour mixture.  Stir just until dough comes together.  DO NOT OVERMIX!!
4. Turn out dough onto a lightly floured work-surface.  Knead once or twice to get dough to come together.  Lightly pass a rolling pin over the dough one or two times until the dough is 1/2 inch thick.  With a floured 1 1/2 inch biscuit cutter, cut out as many dough rounds as you can and place on prepared baking sheet.  Gently pat scraps together, reroll, and cut out more rounds.   
5. Cut a cross into the top of each round.  Bake for 10-13 minutes or until well-risen and golden.  Serve warm.

Vanilla Wafers

FIOS DUDE!!!

The Fios Dude made me miss my post!!!!!!!!!! All of his fiddling around with the internet caused my computer to super die (I’m not really sure what happened–ask computer-genius Andrew for the full story).  I came home from work around 2AM, more than slightly inebriated and smelling of soy sauce.   Fortunately, I’m an expert drunk baker. Unfortunately, I am not an expert drunk blogger.  I couldn’t  figure out to the new Fiosdudeway of accessing the internet.  Fios Dude is the Khan to my Captain Kirk.  I can only hope that he’ll eventually explode into a gazillion pieces without losing my very own Spock (Andrew’s eyebrows are just as epic as Leonard Nimoy’s).

Vanilla Wafers

Yield:  7 dozen cookies

• ½ cup butter, softened
• ½ cup shortening
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 2¾ cups all-purpose flour

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone liners.  Set aside.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter, shortening and sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.  Add in the vanilla extract and salt; beat well, occasionally scraping down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.  Add in the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.   Adjust the mixer to low.  Add in the flour, ¼ cup at a time, beating until thoroughly combined.
3. Drop dough by scant teaspoons onto prepared baking sheets, leaving about an inch and half in between each cookie. Roll each dough lump into a small ball, flatten with the bottom of a floured glass.  (If  you twist the glass as you flatten the cookies, you don’t even need to flour it–the cookies won’t stick!)
4. Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until cookies are just golden around the edges.  Immediately remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Brandy Crisps

These cookies are kicking my ass!!!! I’ve thrown out two batches, and I’m on to my third.  It took me an hour of experimentation to get the cookies to turn into lacy crisps instead of chewy lumps of crap.  Attempt these at your own risk.

Brandy Crisps

Brandy Crisps

Yield: ?

• ¾ cup sugar
• ¾ cups (1½ sticks) butter
• ½ cup molasses
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1½ cups sifted all-purpose flour

1. Preheat oven to 300°F. Line baking sheets with silicone liners or parchment paper.
2. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, heat sugar, butter, and molasses.  Stir constantly until melted and smooth.  Add in the ginger; remove from heat.  Whisk in the flour, a little at a time, stirring until combined.
3. Drop dough by scant teaspoonfuls onto prepared baking sheets, six at a time.  Flatten out the dough into 1/8 inch thick discs.  Bake for 12-14 minutes or until dark brown. Remove cookies with a spatula and immediately wrap around the handle of a wooden spoon or drape over teacups, bowls, or rolling pins.
4. Remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Madeleines

Proust's Madeleines

Even though I claim to be quite literary, I’m not well-versed in the work of all the great authors.  I can’t claim James Joyce or Marcel Proust as close personal aquaintances the way I can with Jack Kerouac, J.D. Salinger or Gabriel Garcia-Marquez.  I’m ashamed to say that I have a copy of Ulysses sitting untouched on my bookshelf, just waiting for the day that I crack its dusty cover. I know that Madeleines have acheived a legendary status among both bibliophiles and bakers alike, but I’ve never perused the pages of Rememberance of Things Past to find out why these delicous morsels brought a wave of childhood memories flooding back to the narrator.  Perhaps when I’ve reached the last pages of my current bedside readers (Faraway by J.B. Priestly, A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth, and Baking at Home with the Culinary Institute of America) I’ll finally introduce myself to Proust (and if I can find 3 months of uninterrupted time, perhaps I’ll even befriend Joyce!).

Madeleines

Yield: 12 traditional madeleines or 24 mini-muffin madeleines

My Madeleines

• 2 eggs
• 6 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons light brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.  Generously spray a 12 cavity madeleine pan (or two twelve cavity mini-muffin pans) with nonstick spray.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the wire whisk attachment, whisk eggs, granulated sugar, brown sugar,vanilla, and salt on medium speed until well combined, about 2 minutes.
3. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold in the flour and baking powder (a little bit at a time to prevent flour puff ups), until just incorporated.  Fold in the cooled melted butter and gently mix until smooth.
4. Using a large spoon, fill the cavities until 2/3 full (a scant tablespoon is just perfect for the mini-muffin tins).  Bake for 10-12 minutes (8-10 for the mini-muffin tins), or until madeleines are well-risen and golden.  Immediately invert pans onto wire racks to cool completely.  Serve warm if desired. 

Almond Biscotti

There would be some semi-witty analysis of my day here, but my boyfriend is enforcing mandatory non-sexual romantic snuggling time.   Sometimes I hate him a little bit.

Almond Biscotti

Yield: 32 biscotti

Almond Biscotti

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3 eggs
• ¾ cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1½ teaspoons almond extract
• 1¼ cup whole almonds

1. Preheat oven to 300°F.  Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
2. Sift flour and baking soda together. Set aside.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the wire whisk (different!!!) attachment, whip the eggs, sugar, salt, and almond extract on high speed until thick and fluffy, about 4 minutes.  Adjust the mixer to low; stir in the flour mixture until just incorporated.  Fold in the almonds, occasionally using a rubber spatula to ensure even distribution.
4. Turn out dough onto a lightly floured work surface and form into a 4 x 16 inch log.  Place dough onto prepared cookie sheet (My dough was quite sticky. I formed the log on a sheet of parchment paper, and then transferred the whole kit and caboodle onto the cookie sheet).  Bake for 30 minutes, or until a light golden brown.  Let cool for 10 minutes.
5. Reduce the oven temperature to 275°F.  Using a serrated knife, cut the log crosswise on a 45° angle into 1/2 inch thick slices.  Place the cookies onto two unlined baking sheets, and bake for 40 minutes, or until crisp and golden brown.  Transfer to wire racks to cool completely.  (If desired, dip ends of biscotti into melted chocolate.  Let cool completely before eating).