Mr. Tumnus Sour Cream Coffee Cake

 Do you want your tea to be just like Lucy's first visit into the wardrobe?   This was my take on an appropriate cake for a girl and a faun sharing a pot of tea.  

 

 

Grease a 13 x 9 pan, preheat oven to 350  

In mixer bowl stir together:

3 cups flour

2 cups sugar

4 tsp baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 tsp salt

freshly grated nutmeg

dash of mace

 

then mix in:

2 cups sour cream

4 eggs

 

Pour into 13 x 9 pan, then  use mixer and beater:

swirl:

cream together 

3/4 cup (1.5 sticks) butter, softened

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 Tablespoons cinnamon (I like to use some each of cassia and ceylon if you have two types on hand)

1 teaspoon cardamom 

(any other warming spices you'd like)

put well creamed soft mixture into a zip-top bag, snip tiny corner of bag and swirl over the top of the cake.   It will sink in during baking.   

Bake ~40 minutes, until tester comes out clean.

If desired make a glaze: 

2 cups powdered sugar

3 T milk

(dash of vanilla extract, almond extract or orange oil)

Whisk well until liquid, then I use the whisk to drizzle lightly over warm cake.  

 

Butterscotch Oatmeal Cookies - the ugliest cookie you'll ever love

 

First prep 12 oz of Buttersworth original hard candies.    Unwrap, put them in a gallon ziploc bag, put bag into an old pillowcase or fold into a dishcloth, and pound with a mallet or the bottom of a heavy sauce pan:   

 

 Preheat oven to 350 degrees

 Cream together:

 2 sticks butter, at room temperature 

1 cup brown sugar

Then add: 

2 eggs

1 T vanilla

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

When well combined add in:

2 cups flour

1 cup rolled oats

Then add: 

12 ounces hard butterscotch candies (prepared as described)

Drop by the tablespoon onto parchment lined sheet pans, 3" apart.    Small balls, socially distanced.   These cookies seriously spread, y'all.      

Bake ~10 minutes.   If your oven is uneven, turn the pans halfway.   

Let the cookies cool on their tray, undisturbed.      Then store cooled cookies between layers of parchment.    

Deepest Darkest Chocolate Pudding

 When only the chocolatiest will do ..


First prep 12 ounces of dark chocolate - break into small pieces or coarsely chop.    I used 85% dark from Aldi.  



Lightly whisk together in a large pot (I use my 7 qt dutch oven):

3 cups white sugar
1 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup corn starch



Mix in:

12 egg yolks
1/2 gallon (8 cups) whole milk


Slowly heat on stove, stirring almost constantly until it starts to thicken.   This will take 12-15 minutes.     When it starts to thicken turn off the heat, still stirring.      

Add: 

2 Tablespoons vanilla
prepared 12 ounces of dark chocolate

Mix chocolate into pudding mixture and let it sit a minute, then whisk until combined.   

Add in:

1 stick butter, cut into 8-10 pieces.     Whisk until smooth and shiny.  

Scoop pudding into cups - I ended up with 38 servings.    This also works well as a pie filling for chocolate pie.   

Serve garnished with whipped cream and a raspberry if you wanna get fancy!

Brown Butter Half Sheet Blondies

 Grease or spray a half sheet pan.     Preheat oven to 350.


1 stick butter, browned

2 sticks butter, melted



Mix together dry ingredients in an extra large bowl:

3 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt



Combine browned and melted butter, stir in:

3 cups brown sugar

then: 
2 Tablespoons vanilla extract
4 eggs

Gently mix wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, then stir in:

1 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped  (I accomplish this by putting nuts into a gallon ziploc bag and taking out my frustration with the bottom of a heavy saucepan!)

Spread on prepared half-sheet pan.    Bake approximately 25 minutes until lightly golden brown.  

Royal Icing

A wonderful icing for gingerbread cookies or cutout cookies. Left to dry overnight it will completely harden. Perfect as the "glue" for a gingerbread house or to attach decorations and sprinkles to cookies. I would NOT attempt this if my mixer was broken.

1/4 cup of pasteurized egg white (buy in the carton in the egg section at the grocery store)

1 pound powdered sugar

1 Tablespoon of lemon juice

1 Tablespoon of vanilla

water, if necessary

food coloring (paste type), if desired

Mix the powdered sugar into the egg white, vanilla and lemon juice about a cup at a time. Once somewhat combined, turn mixer to a high setting (using whisk attachment) and beat until stiff peaks stage.

Once you reach this stage you can use in a few different ways:

1. Spread the thick mixture directly onto cookies.

2. Use as "glue" in cookie house construction)

3. Scoop out approximately a third of this recipe into a smaller bowl. Combine with about a tablespoon of water and food coloring of your choice. Spoon into a sandwich size zip-top bag. Cut a VERY small hole in one corner, and use to squeeze onto cookies. (Do the same thing omitting the color to decorate with white)

Christmas Cookies: Gingerbread (gingerbread men, gingerbread starts, gingerbread trees ....)

Ingredients:



1 cup unsalted butter, slightly softened

1 cup sugar

2 tablespoons ground ginger (for a spicy cookie - use less if you like)

2 tablespoons ground cinnamon (again, for a spicy cookie)

1.5 tsp ground cloves

pinch of salt

pinch of ground allspice, just because it there in the spice drawer

2 teaspoons baking soda dissolved in 2 tablespoons water

1 cup molasses (I used blackstrap, but regular will be fine too)

5 cups all purpose flour



In electric mixer beat together butter and sugar until creamy. Add spices and salt and mix well. Add the baking soda mixture and molasses - beat for a while until thoroughly combined or until you reach the commercial break of the holiday special you are watching. Add the flour one cup at a time, then beat for two more minutes until well mixed. Let the dough stand while you go eat dinner or some other activity of your choice for about an hour.



Place a piece of wax paper or parchment paper on the counter. Put about a third of the dough in the middle of the sheet, then rip another piece off of equal length to make a parchment-dough-parchment sandwich. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough out. Make sure to flip over your "sandwich" every minute or so. If the paper on either side starts to crinkle into cracks of the dough, carefully peel off the paper and lay it out flat and roll away. (Deep cracks will result in cracked cookies when baked). I think you are supposed to be getting the dough no greater than a quarter of an inch thick. If you ever figure out how to accomplish this, please let me know. Mine are probably 1/2 inch thick.



Place the dough sandwich on a cookie tray in your refrigerator overnight, or lay it on top of the ice cream containers (or any items the same height) in your freezer for 20-30 minutes. Repeat with the remaning thirds of dough.



Preheat oven to 350. Grease baking sheets. Remove a dough sandwich, which should now be cold and firm, from the fridge or freezer. Peel off the top layer of parchment, carefully flip it over so its is still sitting on parchment, and peel off the bottom layer. Now use whatever cookie cutters you like, and arrange cut cookies on a baking tray, no closer than 1.5 inches apart. If you like you can add the hard cinnamon candies for gingerbread men buttons or raisins before baking. Reroll and refrigerate the scraps from between the cookie cutters. Because you are not rolling on flour, the chance of a tough and overworked dough from the scraps is much reduced.



If you actually managed 1/4 inch thickness for your dough, then try baking for seven minutes. Mine were taking 10-12 per tray, depending on the size of the cookie. Remove to wire racks for cooling.



I decorate mine with royal icing:

Pistachio Wedding Cakes

New Christmas season, same recipe as last year: Pistachio Wedding Cakes. If it ain't broke ...

Christmas Cookies: Maple Glazed Cookies

Preheat oven to 350.

Cream together until light and fluffy:

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 cup Sugar

Mix in:

2 egg yolks

1/2 cup maple syrup

Mix in gently (on low setting if using mixer):

3 cups flour

1 tsp salt

Drop batter by rounded tablespoons onto baking tray, spacing 3" apart. Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until golden on the edges. Transfer to wire racks to cool.

For glaze: reduce 1/2 cup maple syrup by half. Drizzle over cookies, then sprinkle LIGHTLY with coarse salt. Allow glaze to harden overnight. Store in airtight containers.

Walnut Rum Blondies

Any recipe that includes butter, brown sugar and rum is bound to be a winner ....

2 sticks butter, melted
2 cups brown sugar
2 egg
2 teaspoon vanilla

2 tablespoons dark rum
Pinch salt
2 cup flour

2 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped

Butter a 13 x 9 pan.

Pour melted butter into mixer, and add brown sugar. Cream until well mixed. Mix in eggs, vanilla, salt and rum. Add flour and beat until just combined. Add walnuts and mix until stirred in.

Scrape batter into pan and spread with spatula until about evenly covering pan. Bake 25-30 minutes, or until done (like brownies be careful not to overbake - they'll set up a bit more as they cool). Cool completely before cutting, if you can wait.

Homemade Cinnamon buns

These are SOOOO good, and they make your house smell like a Cinnabon while they are baking. (Cinnabon is, I'm quite certain, a registered trademark. I am not claiming these are the Cinnabon recipe. But two different people told me they were better)

In the bread machine, run these ingredients on the dough setting (the second time I made these, I actually set the dough cycle to run right before going to bed, and didn't die because there was milk in the recipe. On the other hand, we keep our house in the mid 50's overnight during the winter nights, so take that into consideration if you try it in the African heat):

1 cup warm milk
2 eggs, room temperature
1/3 cup butter, melted
4 1/2 cups bread flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sugar
1 packed (2 1/2 tsp) yeast

When finished, punch dough down and transfer to board:

Very lightly flour, and roll/stretch out, then brush w/ 1/4 cup butter, melted (or spread if you thought ahead enough to have some very spreadable):

Combine 1 cup brown sugar with 1 Tablespoon cinnamon. (GOOD cinnamon. Not been in your cabinet since Reagan was president cinnamon) If the smell isn't incredible when you open the container, don't bother making this recipe)

Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar mixture on all but the far edge (make sure to cover all the way to the edge of the other three sides):

Roll it up. To do this, start by turning the closest edge over once, then run your hands down to finish that "crease", stretching the dough to the sides a bit as you go, and keep rolling. Sprinkle a bit of water on the very edge to help the dough seal to dough to close the roll.

Cut into 12 pieces. I do this by cutting in half, then the half in half, then each quarter into three:

Place in a 13 x 9 pan, which you already greased. Turn the oven to 400 degrees. Cover the buns with a cloth just dampened with warm water, and allow them to rise, about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, in another part of the kitchen, put 1/2 brick of cream cheese (4 oz) with half a stick of butter into the merry go round with 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar and some vanilla (I actually used vanilla paste):

Give'm a whirl!

Bake the buns for about 20 minutes - until they are light brown on top:

Immediately after removing from the oven, spread with the frosting, so it gets ooey gooey melty on top:

By the way - did you know sticky buns, a regional favorite in Philadelphia are made almost the same way, but omitting the cream cheese frosting? You would just put a brown sugar (1 cup)/butter (half stick)/pecan (1 cup, chopped) or raisins mixture on the BOTTOM of the pan before allowing the buns to rise. They come out of the oven, you immediately flip them out of the pan so the gooey mixture on the bottom becomes the topping. If I was making sticky buns I would have used two 9" cake pans instead of one 13x9, for easier flipping.

Freezer Berry Crisp

A quick dessert from ingredients on hand - and a VERY flexible recipe to boot. Any combination of berries (actually almost any soft fruit) will mix well. Just adjust the sugar added to the tartness of the fruit.

Berries, from your freezer. I used blueberries:















Cranberries, and some mixed berries - about 8 cups in total:















I added about a cup and a half of sugar (less if it hadn't included all those tart cranberries) and a splash of vanilla:

















Meanwhile in another part of the kitchen:

Butter was melted:

Leftover, stale storebought cookies were tried and sentenced to execution by spatula:

Then mixed with about three cups of oats and the butter. (I didn't sweeten because of the cookies. If you're using all oats, add a bit of brown sugar)

Pour the berries into a 13 x 9 pan, followed by the topping. Bake at 375, 35-45 minutes.

Serve with whipped cream or ice cream!

Peanut Butter Frosting

My grandmother had a birthday this week, and my grandmother adores peanut butter, so I decided to attempt a peanut butter frosting. "THIS IS SO GOOD" is one reaction I received from a coworker (I brought the extras into work), so I decided to share the recipe:

Prepare chocolate cake from a box, or cupcakes, or even just a spoon. Then make your frosting:

1 stick of butter, softened

1 cup of peanut butter (I like Jif)

2-3 cups powdered sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla

~ 1/2 cup of milk

Use your mixer to blend the butter and peanut butter until light and fluffy. Add the powdered sugar, about 1/2 cup at a time. Add the vanilla. Then add milk until the icing is somewhat spreadable. It will still be very thick. You could also roll it out like a fondant and lay thick slices over the cake.

I decorated mine with pink M&Ms and white Reeses Pieces. Decorate yours as you see fit.

Pistachio Mexican Wedding Cookies / Russian Tea Cakes

I never got around to posting my cookie recipes before Christmas. But who says cookies are only for Christmas?

These are a twist on the Mexican Wedding Cake / Russian Tea Cakes. They are seasoned with orange and almond, and feature pistachios instead of walnuts. These are amazing!

2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 cups powdered sugar

1 cup shelled, unsalted roasted pistachios, minced

2 teaspoons freshly grated orange zest (or reconstitute dry - I get mine from Penzeys)

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon almond extract

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

Heat oven to 350°F and lightly grease baking sheets.

Beat together butter and 1/2 cup of the powdered sugar. (If you have a stand mixer, use it) Beat on medium high until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add pistachios, orange zest, salt, vanilla extract, and almond extract and continue mixing until ingredients are well incorporated. Add flour and mix just until incorporated, about 30 seconds (do not overmix).

Shape dough into tablespoon-size balls. Place 1 inch apart on the prepared baking sheets. Bake until bottoms begin to brown, about 20 - 25 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool slightly on the baking sheets, about 10 minutes.

Pour remaining 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar into a medium bowl. Working with 5 or 6 at a time, place warm cookies in powdered sugar, turning gently to thickly coat (you should see very little of the cookie underneath). Let cool and recoat in powdered sugar if a thicker coat is desired. (I skipped the second coating) Repeat with remaining cookies.

Bread Pudding

Bread pudding is one of those old fashioned desserts that is also suprisingly good. Excellent for a showy dinner party, or for a Thanksgiving weekend brunch.

8 cups "good" bread - this was a mixture of old baguettes (I throw the ends in the freezer), and some leftover bread from take-out, which is a whole wheat bread:



5 eggs:

whisked:

Add four cups of milk or some mixture of milk and cream (I used three cups milk, 1 cup cream), and 1 cup of brown sugar:

Add some grated nutmeg, 2 teaspoons cinnamon, and a splash of vanilla:

Stir the liquid into the bread:

Pour into a 13 x 9 pan, and bake at 350 for about 45 minutes:

The top will be all puffed when you take it out:

Make a homemade cream anglaise sauce. WAIT who took this picture? Someone is daring to suggest I used melted french vanilla ice cream instead of cream anglaise sauce? Ok, so I did. I went and watched a movie while the bread pudding baked. Melted ice cream, if you look at the side, is often a custard. So melted ice cream is a very good fake for cream anglaise sauce. Don't tell anyone!!

Serve a square of bread pudding in a pool of cream anglaise, and with a dollop of whipped cream on top. (sorry for the dark picture - all the pictures with flash completely washed out the sauce)

How to make a sticky bun LESS healthy

Just in case you are feeling guilty about all the steamed vegetables you ate this week, here's a way to atone for the damage: