Red Velvet Cupcakes

Nothing vegetable about this-- the only cupcake left of two dozen (in two days.)

Craving cupcakes (and needing to bake for the medical school talent show bake sale), I turned to the New York Times (via The Confetti Cakes Cookbook by Elisa Strauss) for this delectable recipe:

Red Velvet Cake

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/14/dining/141vrex.html

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon unsalted butter
3½ cups cake flour
½ cup unsweetened cocoa (not Dutch process)
1½ teaspoons salt
2 cups canola oil
2¼ cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs
6 tablespoons (3 ounces) red food coloring
1½ teaspoons vanilla
1¼ cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons baking soda
2½ teaspoons white vinegar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place teaspoon of butter in each of 3 round 9-inch layer cake pans and place pans in oven for a few minutes until butter melts. Remove pans from oven, brush interior bottom and sides of each with butter and line bottoms with parchment.

2. Whisk cake flour, cocoa and salt in a bowl.

3. Place oil and sugar in bowl of an electric mixer and beat at medium speed until well-blended. Beat in eggs one at a time. With machine on low, very slowly add red food coloring. (Take care: it may splash.) Add vanilla. Add flour mixture alternately with buttermilk in two batches. Scrape down bowl and beat just long enough to combine.

4. Place baking soda in a small dish, stir in vinegar and add to batter with machine running. Beat for 10 seconds.

5. Divide batter among pans, place in oven and bake until a cake tester comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes (or about 30 minutes for cupcakes). Let cool in pans 20 minutes. Then remove from pans, flip layers over and peel off parchment. Cool completely before frosting.

Yield: 3 cake layers (or about 30 generous cupcakes.)

and...

Red Velvet Cake Icing

(NYTimes via The Waldorf-Astoria Cookbook by John Doherty with John Harrison)

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/14/dining/142vrex.html

Ingredients:

2 cups heavy cream, cold

12 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature

12 ounces mascarpone (I used 15 ounces of "Farmer's Cheese" which was soft and came in a tub)

½ teaspoon vanilla

1½ cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted.

Directions:

1. Softly whip cream by hand, in electric mixer or in food processor. Cover in bowl and refrigerate.

2. Blend cream cheese and mascarpone in food processor or electric mixer until smooth. Add vanilla, pulse briefly, and add confectioners’ sugar. Blend well.

3. Transfer cream cheese mixture to bowl; fold in whipped cream. Refrigerate until needed.

Yield: Icing for top and sides of 3-layer cake (or bucket loads of cupcakes, piled to overflowing).

(Don't forget the sprinkles. Amazing.)

Maple-Walnut Pie

From The New Moosewood Cookbook. Mollie Katzen says, "Delicious-- and very easy!"

Ingredients:

4 large eggs
3/4 cup real maple syrup (I used 1/2 syrup and 1/4 cup honey)
2 Tbs. lemon juice
1/4 to 1/2 tsp. cinnamon (to taste)
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. salt
2 cups chopped walnuts
1 unbaked 9-inch pie crust
Optional: whipped cream, for the top

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 375 F.

2) Beat together all ingredient, except walnuts and pie crust, until light and frothy.

3) Spread the walnuts into the unbaked crust. Pout in the batter.

4) Bake for 30 minutes or until solid in the center. Remove from oven and allow to cool for at least 30 minutes before serving.

5) Serve warm, at room temperature, or cold, with or without whipped cream.

Yield: About 6 servings.


I doubled this recipe and made two pies at once. I used my mom's pie crust recipe (see Apple Pie) and baked the pie crust by itself for 10 minutes at 450 prior to adding the filling and baking the whole pie as directed. This made for a less soggy crust.

I served this pie in two places, both times with Cool Whip. First in PBL, where 2/3 of the people ate it and probably 1/2 liked it. Second at dinner with the missionaries where I also served bacon, avocado, and tomato (BAT) sandwiches on toasted English muffins, macaroni salad, and halved grapefruits. It was better received at dinner, but then missionaries can't really complain.

I wasn't in love with this pie, but I might make it again for a Thanksgiving if I was looking to make a variety different pies, or as an alternative to pecan pie which is richer. It also makes a good winter pie, since it doesn't require any fruit and syrup and nuts can be purchased during any season. The pie is also very easy and very quick relative to other pies, so while it might not win any awards, it might put dessert on the table in a pinch.

Russian Beet Borscht

Another loose adaptation of a recipe from a book, my borscht is hopelessly bright pink and perhaps not like Sokolov's at all. How will we ever know if Sokolov is worth his ego is I never make his recipes straight? Perhaps we will never know. First the borscht recipe from Sokolov, then how I adapted it to suit my moment at hand. Unlike Sokolov, I ate my borscht warm (cold beets = gross), used the beets stalks but not the leaves, and added the flavoring directly.

I served this borscht at Mormon Med Student Dinner, and no one really ate it except T., who lived for a summer in Russia and knows her borscht. I'm stuck with the leftovers, but I'm loving it. Nothing is cheerier for the soul than inhaling bright red beets during Valentine's week in the middle of winter.

SOKOLOV

Ingredients:

2 dozen medium beets with their greens
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
Sour Cream
Snipped dill leaves

Directions:

1. Cut off the beet greens and wash thoroughly. Chop into 2-inch lengths. Peel and slice the beets.

2. Bring 6 cups of water to a boil. Add the beets and greens. Stir in the lemon juice, salt to taste, add the sugar. Simmer for 20 minutes or until the beets are tender but not mushy.

3. Remove the greens and reserve for use as a vegetable. Let the soup cool completely, and then chill.

4. Serve well chilled. Pass the sour cream and dill separately.

Serves 10


ME

Ingredients:

4 large beets with their beet stalks and greens
1 onion, diced
4 green onion stems, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
2-3 tablespoons lemon juice
Salt
Pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
Nutmeg
Mace
Cinnamon
1/2 cup half and half
1/4 cup sour cream

Directions:

1. Cut off the beet greens and discard. Cut off the beet stalks at the base and cut into 2-inch pieces lengthwise. Peel and slice the beets.

2. Add 8 cups of water to a large pot and boil. While waiting to boil, saute 1 diced onion and beet stalks in olive oil.

3. When water is at a boil, add beets, beet stalks, and onions. Simmer for 20 minutes or until the beets are tender but not mushy. Add the green onions and stir in.

4. Pour contents of pot into a blender and blend on high long enough to produce a mostly (but not entirely) pureed soup.

5. Pour blended soup back into pot, add lemon juice, sugar, salt, and generous dashes of the remaining spices. Go easy on the pepper. Add the half and half and immediately stir in to avoid curdling. Stir in sour cream.

6. Serve warm.

Should serve 8-10.

(Like all my vegetables, my borscht has some flavor from the spicing. Sokolov seems to favor a less interesting palette with his vegetables, so if you don't like spices you may want to try Sokolov's version, or mine minus the mace, nutmeg, etc. The cream gives the borscht a feeling of comfort and luxury most likely absent from the traditional Russian borscht, which is a peasant staple.)