Creamy Peach Tart with Smoky Almond Crust

Sometimes when I read other people's food blogs I feel like all they ever do is post dessert recipes and I think to myself, "How are these people not HUGE? Don't they eat anything besides sugar?"... and then I do a little self-reflection and realize that in the last month I have posted cookie, pie, bar, cake, whatever recipes and precious little in the way of anything else. Hrmmmm.

Don't think this is everything the Robber and I eat. I think there are a number of reasons why I'm more likely to post a new dessert recipe than a non-dessert recipe, most of which revolve around the Robber's preferences, my own spirit of adventure, our eating patterns at work, and our love of hummus, goat cheese, bell peppers, pita bread, and grilled meat. But excuses aside, perhaps we do eat a bit much too sugar. Even when we are sharing.

This following recipe we did not share, but we did enjoy it, even the Robber who was deeply deeply skeptical of the smoky almonds in the crust until he tasted it and realized you can't even tell and that the filling was much akin to the beloved "cheesecake pie" of his childhood. I baked this in a pie plate because I don't have a springform pan (see previous post) and if I were making this again, would 1.5 times the recipe to make more filling and just turn it into a pie. We replaced the peaches with nectarines with good results and the Robber happily ate a third of it while I was sleeping last night.

Mildly adapted from Food and Wine Magazine August 2011.

Ingredients:

2 C. vanilla wafer cookies

1/2 C. smoked almonds

6 T. sugar

5 T. unsalted butter, melted

8 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature

1/4 C. sour cream

1 egg

2-3 firm, ripe medium peaches, cut into wedges

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Using a food processor or other instrument, crush wafer cookies and almonds until fine crumbs are obtained. Combine wafer crumbs, almond crumbs, and 2T. sugar. Add melted butter and stir until the crumbs are evenly moistened.

2. Press the crumbs into the bottom and 1/2 inch up the side of a 9" springform pan. Bake for ten minutes at 350F until the crust is set.

3. While the crust is baking, combine cream cheese, sour cream, egg, and 2T. of the sugar and blend with electric mixer until smooth. Pour the cheese mixture into the crust and bake for 15 minutes, until set. 

4. Allow to cool slightly and transfer to freezer to chill, about 15 minutes. (Do not allow to freeze thoroughly.)

5. In a bowl, toss the peaches with the remaining 2T. of sugar. Arrange the peaches in 2 concentric circles over the custard. Remove the ring, cut the tart in wedges and serve. 

Salted and Browned Honey Butter

The accompaniment to the Sally Lunn bread suggested by Smitten Kitchen. Why not? It wasn't my favorite, but the Robber seemed happy to spread it around on his bread and biscuits, so I'm sure he'll continue to enjoy what is in the fridge. I, of course, wanted it to have cinnamon.

From Smitten Kitchen:

http://smittenkitchen.com/2011/03/sally-lunn-bread-honeyed-brown-butter-spread/

Ingredients:

1 stick, 8 T. of unsalted butter divided in half

1-2 T. honey (I used 1.5)

Few pinches flaky sea salt (I used salted butter and ignored this)

Directions:

1. In a small saucepan, melt half your butter over medium heat. Once melted, reduce heat to medium-low. The butter will melt, then foam, then turn clear golden and finally start to turn brown and smell nutty. Stir frequently, scraping up any bits from the bottom as you do. 

2. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature. While it is cooling, leave the other half of the butter out to soften slightly (semi-firm is fine).

3. Whip softened butter with an electric mixer until fluffy. Slowly drizzle in the room temperature browned butter, honey and salt continue whipping until combined. Chill butter in fridge until a nice spreadable consistency, or until needed.

Sally Lunn Bread

My mother used to make this bread on Sundays for dinner and it was wonderful-- light and airy and delicious and fantastic. I have wanted for years to make this bread but thought I needed an angel food cake pan (or 9" tube pan) which what she made it in, or a bundt pan at least. It is amazing to me, the more that I cook, how much of cooking is simply having the right equipment. As I said to the Robber yesterday, "You know what I want? A 9" springform pan, a bundt pan, a tart pan, a kitchen scale, a food processor, and an icecream maker." "Which of those is the most important?" he asked. (I love him so much.) "The icecream maker, of course." One has to have priorities.

I know I've been stealing a lot from Smitten Kitchen lately, but seriously how could I not when I find things like Sally Lunn-- made in a normal bread pan! Something I have! As soon as I found it, I had to make it. Most recipes I find sit around for at least 3-4 months in my recipe list before I try them out, and this I think made it only 2 weeks, thankfully, as I made it last night and it was so easy and delicious and perfect and the Robber was so happy as he loves loves a freshly baked bread. I think this may be gracing our Sunday tables again in the near future. 

Note: Can double this recipe and make it in the tube pan... if you have one.

Adapted from Maida Heatter's Cakes (possibly the same one my mother got the recipe from) by yes, Smitten Kitchen (just read her blog, ok):

http://smittenkitchen.com/2011/03/sally-lunn-bread-honeyed-brown-butter-spread/

Ingredients:

2 C. all-purpose flour

2 T. sugar

1 tsp. salt

1 1/8 tsp. active dry yeast

3/4 C. milk

4 T. unsalted butter, softened

1 large egg plus 1 large egg yolk

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, mix 3/4 cup flour, sugar, salt and dry yeast by hand or with an electric mixer.

2. In a saucepan, heat the milk and butter together until the mixture is warm (105 to 110 degrees); don’t worry if this butter isn’t completely melted. Gradually pour the warm ingredients into the dry mixture and mix with an electric mixer for 2 minutes or stir vigorously by hand with a wooden spoon for 3 minutes. 

3. Add the egg, yolk and another 1/2 cup flour and beat again for 2 minutes by machine or 3 by hand. Add the last of the flour and beat or stir until smooth.

4. Scrape down bowl and cover the top with a clean kitchen towel. Let rise for one hour or until doubled.

5. Meanwhile, butter and flour a 9×5x3-inch loaf pan. Once the dough has doubled, scrape it into the prepared pan. Cover with your kitchen towel and let rise for a total of 30 minutes. After 15 minutes, however, remove the plastic and preheat your oven to 375°F.

6. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 5 minutes then turn out to a rack to cool.

Strawberry and Cream Biscuits

I will be done with new "scone" recipes some day, I promise. Some day when I'm no longer obsessed... I promise, this one was definitely worth it. Yes! Yes is was! This produced a concoction with a lovely flaky exterior with a soft, moist interior and not too much sweetness-- definitely more biscuity than cakey. And so easy too! And better than the prior strawberry scone recipe I have posted. This now becomes my go to for strawberry scones. And maybe pear scones and everything scones... that is until I find another new recipe. Or want an oatmeal scone. Or a chocolate chip scone. Or... 

Notes: I used half whole wheat flour and loved it, no reason to do it differently next time. Although next time I might try using turbinado sugar instead of white sugar, for some extra crunch and a little interest. 

From Smitten Kitchen:

http://smittenkitchen.com/2012/06/strawberries-and-cream-biscuits/

Ingredients:

2 1/4 C. all-purpose flour (I used half whole wheat, loved it)

1 T. baking powder

1/4 C. sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

6 T. cold, unsalted butter

1 C. chopped very ripe strawberries (could add more)

1 C. heavy cream

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. In the bottom of a large, wide-ish bowl, whisk flours, baking powder, sugar and salt together. Cut butter into the flour mixture with a pastry blender, breaking it up until the mixture resembles a crumbly meal with tiny pea-sized bits of butter about. 

3. Gently stir in the strawberries, so that they are coated in dry ingredient, then stir in heavy cream. When you’ve mixed it in as best as you can with the spatula, go ahead and knead it once or twice in the bowl, to create one mass. 

4. Generously flour your counter. With as few movements as possible, transfer your dough to the counter, generously flour the top of it and with your hands or a rolling pin, gently roll or press the dough out to a 3/4-inch thickness round and cut into 8 even triangles. Carefully transfer scones to prepared baking sheet, leaving a couple inches between each.

5. Bake the scones for 12 to 15 minutes, until bronzed at the edges and the strawberry juices are trickling out of the biscuits in places. Cool in pan for a minute, then transfer to a cooling rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Mango-Coconut Clafoutis

We had left over coconut milk and left over whipping cream, so why not make a clafoutis? The real problem was that I didn't actually know what a clafoutis technically was-- should have read Wiki beforehand-- so I bought too much mango and filled up my dish and consequently it was too liquidy, but whatever! It was delicious all the same. I had some extra batter that I used to fill some ramekins with strawberries and make extra clafouti and those were even more delicious than the mango kind. Plus this was all very very easy as you just have to throw everything in the blender. Next time the Robber wants coffeecake for breakfast (we made this on a Saturday morning) I will make him a clafoutis instead (although because he is the Robber he likes coffeecake better). Oh well. What is nice about this is you can probably swap out the coconut milk for real milk or additional cream and the mangos for any old fruit you want. Voila! Clafoutis.

From the NYTimes:

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/09/11/magazine/mag-11eatpie.html?ref=magazine#Mango-Coconut_Clafoutis

Ingredients:

3/4 C. heavy whipping cream

3/4 C. coconut milk

1/2 C. sugar

3 eggs

1/3 C. flour

1/2 tsp. cinnamon (I doubled this of course)

1/2 tsp. vanilla (could try almond or coconut extract!)

1 lb. mangoes, peeled and cut into chunks

Directions:

1. Combine heavy cream, coconut milk, sugar, eggs, flour, vanilla extract and cinnamon in a blender; blend until smooth.

2. Put mangos in a buttered and floured 8- or 9-inch pan. (I used a pie pan, maybe a cake pan would have been better as it would have been deeper and thus held my extra fruit.)

3. Pour the batter over the mangos.

4. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes. Serve warm or cold. (We ate it with a little extra sweetened condensed milk sprinkled over the top. Some toasted coconut would be nice with this as well.)

Roasted Apricots with Almond Topping

This recipe I had saved from last year and kind of cobbled together between two recipes for a little summer picnic with our new friends A&C&R H. I served the desserts with whipped cream with just a touch of almond flavoring in it and found it very satisfactory. It will be hard to keep me from making these again, they are so easy and delicious hot or cold.

Note: I bought enough apricots for there to be 3 apricots per ramekin, but I ended up with way too much filling and had to bake the extra in a little pie plate. Not that that was a bad thing... and it used the extra topping up...

Melded together from Martha Shulman and Smitten Kitchen:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/25/health/nutrition/25recipehealth.html?ref=nutrition

http://smittenkitchen.com/2008/06/breakfast-apricot-crisp/

Ingredients:

8 medium-size or 12 small apricots (2-3 apricots/ramekin)

3 T. sugar

1 T. flour

1 tsp. fresh nutmeg

4 T. butter, melted

6 T. turbinado sugar

1/2 C. oatmeal

1/2 C. all-purpose (1/2 wheat ok)

Pinch salt

2 tablespoons almonds, sliced or slivered, raw or toasted

Directions:

1. Butter 4 6 oz. ramekins. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 

2. Remove apricot pits and slice into quarters, or smaller slices as desired to fit ramekins. Combine with 3 T. sugar, 1 T. flour and nutmeg. Set aside.

3. Make topping but combining melted butter and turbinado sugar. Stir in oats, then flour, salt and almonds.

4. Distribute apricots among ramekins and top with topping. 

5. Bake 20-30 minutes. You can serve warm with vanilla icecream or almond-flavored whipped cream, although this is also very tasty cooled and eaten with plain yogurt (or more icecream or whipped cream!) for breakfast. 

Approximate nutritional info per ramekin: 78 calories; 4 grams fat; 1 gram saturated fat; 5 milligrams cholesterol; 11 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams dietary fiber; 11 milligrams sodium; 2 grams protein. 

Strawberry & Lemon Curd Easy Summer Pie

So there was this time when I saw an "easy summer pie" recipe in the New York Times and I wanted it SO BADLY to be the best summer pie because not only did it have strawberries and lemons, but the crust had vanilla wafers and saltines, something I first was introduced to by SLB when she was SLO but have never tried myself. So I was so excited to try this! I was!....

But oh dear. What a disaster it was. Not all the recipe's fault, but certainly parts of it were. For starters, the crust was so salty the Robber and I couldn't even eat it, we scraped all the curd off and threw the crust away. I think it is salvageable, so I'll post the recipe here sans extra salt anyway, just in case I get bold enough to try it again in the future. Secondly, I ended up dumping almost half the curd on the kitchen floor. And then, the berries. Well. Call me boring, but I like them better just plain with sugar. Gah. But what I am posting is the original recipe sans salt in the crust so here you have it, if after all my comments, you (the future me) still want to try.

From Millicent Souris' new cookbook "How To Build A Better Pie" by way of the NYTimes:

http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/01/bookshelf-how-to-build-a-better-pie/?ref=dining

Ingredients:

For the saltine vanilla wafer cracker crust:

½ sleeve saltine crackers (16)

16 vanilla wafers

1 stick unsalted butter

¼ C. granulated sugar

1 egg white 

For the lemon curd (yield: 2 cups):

Juice & zest of 3 lemons

1 stick unsalted butter

1 C. granulated sugar

3 large eggs, lightly beaten

For the strawberry topping:

1 pint strawberries (the smaller the better)

2 T. raw sugar

Zest and juice of one lemon

½ tsp. salt

3 sprigs of tarragon, or 4 sprigs of mint, or 4 sprigs of chervil

Optional: a scraped vanilla pod

Directions:

For the crust: 

1. Melt butter in a small pan. Pull from heat before it browns and let cool. 

2. Toss the crackers and wafers in a food processor and pulse until crumbs begin to form. Gradually add the butter, sugar, salt and egg white. Turn the food processor off, and turn the mixture into the pie plate. With a level, steady hand lightly press the crust into the plate. Evenly tap the crust across the bottom of the plate and up the sides about half an inch. It should be even in thickness. 

3. Place crust in refrigerator to rest for at least 20 minutes.

4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Once the crust has rested, bake it in the preheated oven for 15 minutes. Pull and cool. While the crust is baking, make the lemon curd.

For the lemon curd:

1. Fill a medium-size sauce pot about a third way with water and heat. Use a bowl that will fit atop the pot, or nestle down a bit, without touching the water. Cut the butter into small chunks and toss in the bowl with the sugar. Place on the pot so it starts to melt as you zest the lemons, keeping the zest separate to add at the end. 

2. Whisk the melting butter and sugar together and add the lemon juice, whisking together well.

3. Lift your bowl and make sure the water is gently simmering (not boiling). Gently beat the three eggs in a separate bowl. Add the eggs to the bowl over simmering water, whisking everything together. 4. Once the mixture is combined, use a rubber spatula to continuously scrape the bowl around the sides (especially the bottom) so everything cooks evenly. The mixture will thicken in 7 to 10 minutes, and should become more cohesive as it firms up along the edges of the bowl.

5. Add the lemon zest and salt. Mix. 

6.Turn into another bowl and place cling wrap flush across the top of the curd (this prevents a “skin” from developing). Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

For the strawberry topping:

1. Hull the strawberries, then cut in half lengthwise (if they are bigger than the tip of your fingers). Toss them with the raw sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice and salt. 

2. Pick the herb of your choice and chop. Gently bruise the stems and toss the them, the herbs and vanilla pod with the fruit. Let the mixture macerate at room temperature, while everything else cools.

Putting it all together:

1. After 30 minutes, fill the crust with the curd. Refrigerate again until the curd settles and tightens.

2. Cut the pie into 8 slices, soaking the knife into hot water after each slice and wiping it clean. Plate the slices, then take a spoonful of the dressed strawberries to top the pie. Finish with a drizzle of strawberry juice and enjoy.

Old-Fashioned Meatloaf

So the Robber Man had been hankering after a meatloaf for quite some time, and the hankering only grew all the more intense after two weeks of chicken and rice in Thailand. So for our "American" celebration of our two-year anniversary, I made him a real down-home traditional American meal-- the kind any real husband back in the 50s would have had all the time. Meatloaf. Homemade rolls. Mashed potatoes. Green beans. Watermelon. Pie. And it took me ALL DAY to make, and by make I mean the meatloaf, rolls, and pie (the Robber had to make his own beans and potatoes.) Seriously. How did the women back then do it? 

I used this recipe from Epicurious because it a) said old-fashioned and b) used lots of veggies which the Robber loved. And it was good, and the Robber has gamely been trucking through two whole meatloafs (we doubled the recipe, which made three meatloafs oddly enough-- we froze the third unbaked). He enjoys eating it with mashed potatoes and on hoagie rolls as a meatloaf sandwich.

Instead of the topping it suggests, I made a modified topping which I record down below so the recipe is not entirely as original. Oddly enough, I think meatloaf for me has always been pure beef so having the pork made it different. Not bad. Just not "hit the spot" since it wasn't the meatloaf of my childhood. Oh how we are shaped and fashioned by the things that we love. 

From Gourmet April 1994 by way of Epicurious:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Old-Fashioned-Meat-Loaf-11676

Ingredients:

2 C. finely chopped onion (about one large onion)

1 T. minced garlic

1 celery rib, finely chopped

1 carrot, finely chopped

1/2 C. finely chopped scallion

2 T. unsalted butter

2 tsp. salt

1 1/2 tsp. freshly ground pepper

2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

1/3 C. ketchup plus 1/4 C. 

1 1/2 lbs. ground chuck (beef)

3/4 lbs. ground pork 

1 C. fresh bread crumbs (I used panko)

2 large eggs, beaten lightly

1/3 C. minced fresh parsley

2 T. brown sugar

1 T. apple cider vinegar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F. If using bread pan, line with parchment paper.

2. In a large heavy skillet cook onion, garlic, celery, carrot and scallion in butter over moderate heat, stirring, 5 minutes. Cook vegetables, covered, stirring occasionally, until carrot is tender, about 5 minutes more. 

3. Stir in salt, pepper, Worcestershire sauce, and 1/3 C. of ketchup. Cook, stirring 1 minute more.

4. In a large bowl, combine vegetables, meats, bread crumbs, eggs, and parsley.

5. In smaller bowl, combine additional 1/4 C. ketchup, brown sugar and vinegar to create sauce for topping.

6. In a shallow baking pan (or bread pan), form mixture into a 10x5 inch loaf and spread sauce over loaf.

7. Bake meat loaf in over 1 hour, or until a meat thermometer inserted in center registers 155F. 

Note: You can freeze a meatloaf before or after baking. If you freeze before baking, wrap formed meatloaf tightly in plastic wrap. When you go to bake it, don't thaw it first, just cook it for 1.5 - 2 times the normal cooking time.

Thai Coconut Icecream

Everyone in Thailand eats icecream. It makes sense. It is always hot and never cool and icecream and the 7-11 where the icecream is sold is your only chance for relief. About a week into our trip we came to a little local icecream shop where, in a brochure, I saw a picture of coconut icecream with peanuts and sweetened condensed milk on it and it looked like heaven in a dish to me. Subsequently the Robber and I tried the remainder of our time in Thailand to find and purchase this dessert, with little success due to either a) no peanuts, b) no coconut icecream, c) a preference for putting creamed corn (creamed corn!) instead of peanuts on coconut icecream, d) no baht. Finally I determined I would have to make this myself when I was back in the States. So make it I did. I found this recipe among many on the internet and who knows if it is the best or the most authentic-- I suppose not, as it uses cream and eggs, cream being a non-Thai ingredient, although the milk in Thailand is very very creamy. But it's flavor is excellent and it is not too sweet, a winning truth about Thai coconut icecream. The texture too is similar, and it froze beautifully overnight without an icecream maker in my freezer, a plus for any icecream recipe in my opinion. And I ate it with salted peanuts and sweetened condensed milk and was happy.

From Group Recipes by some guy named Shine:

http://www.grouprecipes.com/56004/thai-coconut-ice-cream.html

Ingredients:

2 3/4 C. coconut milk 

1 1/4 C. heavy whipping cream

3/4 C. sugar

2 large eggs

Directions:

1. In a saucepan, bring the coconut milk, cream, and sugar to a boil while stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and let it cool slightly in the pan.

2. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs well.

3. Slowly add the coconut mixture to the eggs while constantly whisking the eggs (going slowly avoids crippling the eggs.) Continue adding the coconut mixture until half of it has been added to the eggs. At that point, you can add the remaining half in directly while whisking the eggs.

4. Cool the mixture completely and chill in the refrigerator.

5. Transfer to your ice cream maker to freeze, or pour the chilled mixture into a small loaf pan, cover it with cling wrap, and remove any air between the wrap and the mixture. Freeze for about two hours until it starts to get firm throughout.

6. Remove from freezer and mix with a spoon, then place the mixture into a food processor or blender and beat until smooth (I skipped this step and it was fine.)

7. Pour back into pan and put the cling wrap back over the pain, again removing any air, and freeze for several hours. 

Note: This icecream freezes up very hard, so place it in the refrigerator to soften for a few hours prior to serving. Serve with peanuts (and sweetened condensed milk, if you want. The salted peanuts are the real key.)

Blueberry Boy Bait

So once I had made Smitten Kitchen's rhubarb snacking cake, you knew it was only a matter of time before we had to try all of the "summer everyday cakes", right? I had left over blueberries from the lemon yogurt blueberry cake and so it was perfect timing to move on to the blueberry boy bait and I made it for my Robber boy. Predictably, he loved it and was super happy to eat all of it, and weirdly I didn't love it and felt it rather boring and burdensome calorically. This could be because it was a) super hot in the Cubby and I was very very sweaty and b) I had just re-weighed myself and found that I had gained two pounds since the last time I weighed myself perhaps over a month ago and c) I'm just harder to impress these days for whatever reason and d) the blueberries didn't pop out to me so I felt they were wasted. But all the reviewers on Smitten Kitchen loved loved this recipe as do their boys and my boy so maybe there is just something wrong with me? Sadly for the Robber, I may need a little time before I move on to the raspberry buttermilk cake and strawberry summer cakes.

Notes: Due to the few (and very far between) reviewers on Smitten Kitchen who felt the cake itself was bland and too sweet, I reduced the white sugar by 1/4 C. and added 1 tsp. vanilla, about a 1/2 tsp. lemon zest, and a few generous dashes of nutmeg to the batter which probably helped and certainly didn't hurt. I also tripled the cinnamon (it's one of my basic rules of cooking.) One reviewer added cardamom which sounds intriguing as a possibility but I wasn't that bold this time. The recipe below is as it is written on Smitten Kitchen, not as above.

Originally from a 1954 Pillsbury Bake-Off, adapted by Cook's Country, and most recently by way of Smitten Kitchen:

http://smittenkitchen.com/2009/07/blueberry-boy-bait/

Ingredients:

For the cake: 

2 C. plus 1 tsp. all-purpose flour

1 T. baking powder

1 tsp. table salt

16 T. unsalted butter (2 sticks), softened

3/4 C. packed light brown sugar

1/2 C. granulated sugar

3 large eggs at room temperature

1 C. whole milk or buttermilk

1/2 C. blueberries, fresh or frozen

For the topping:

1/2 C. blueberries, fresh or frozen (do not defrost)

1/4 C. granulated sugar

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

Directions:

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 13 by 9-inch baking pan.

2. Whisk two cups flour, baking powder, and salt together in medium bowl. 

3. With electric mixer in a second large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugars on medium-high speed until fluffy, about two minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until just incorporated and scraping down bowl. 

4. Reduce speed to medium and beat in one-third of flour mixture until incorporated; beat in half of milk. Beat in half of remaining flour mixture, then remaining milk, and finally remaining flour mixture. (I don't use the mixer for this step, but rather mix it by hand.)

5. Toss blueberries with remaining one teaspoon flour. Spread 1/2 batter into prepared pan and spread evenly. Add 1/2 C. blueberries to remaining batter and gently stir in. Add remaining batter to pan and spread evenly. 

6. Scatter additional 1/2 C. blueberries over top of batter. Stir sugar and cinnamon together in small bowl and sprinkle over batter. 

7. Bake until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean, 45 to 50 minutes. 

8. Cool in pan 20 minutes, then turn out and place on serving platter (topping side up). Serve warm or at room temperature. (Cake can be stored in airtight container at room temperature up to 3 days.)

Cranberry Nut Bread

I made this bread as part of our family graduation party and the Robber liked it so much that he insisted we get the recipe. So my mom photocopied it from her recipe book and sent it to us and the Robber cannot believe his luck. . . well he won't believe it when I make it again. The recipe strongly recommends pecans but gives the ok to walnuts and advises against slicing too soon out the oven, good advice given the crumbly nature of this bread when it is hot.

From American Classics, possibly from Good Housekeeping.

Ingredients:

1 T. grated orange zest

1/3 C. fresh orange juice

2/3 C. buttermilk

6 T. unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1 large egg, beaten slightly

2 C. all-purpose flour

1 C. sugar

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1 1/2 C. cranberries (about 6 oz.), chopped coarsely

1/2 C. pecans, chopped coarsely and toasted

Directions:

1. Toast the pecans by placing a skillet over medium heat, adding chopped pecans and toasting, shaking the pan frequently until nuts are fragrant, 3 to 5 minutes.

2. Adjust the oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 375F. Grease and flour a 9x5 inch loaf pan; set aside.

3. Stir together the orange zest, orange juice, buttermilk, butter, and egg in a small bowl. 

4. Whisk together the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and baking soda in a large bowl. Stir the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients with a rubber spatula until just moistened.

5. Gently stir in the cranberries and pecans. Do not overmix.

6. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smoother the surface with a rubber spatula. Bake 20 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350F; continue to bake until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean, about 45 minutes longer.

7. Cool in the pan 10 minutes, then transfer to a wife rack and cool at least 1 hour before serving. Once cooled, the bread can be wrapped in plastic and stored at room temperature for a couple of days.

Coconut Banana Bread

After years of dreaming of this recipe, my mother finally re-found it among her archives and we made it not once, but twice! while I was there for a week last month. The coconut-banana bread of my memories was the only banana bread I really ever wanted (although I did find a thoroughly delicious commercial banana cake at the 7-11s in Thailand) and now that I have this recipe, banana bread may not be baked in my oven any other way. So happy to finally have it.

From Bernard Clayton's New Complete Book of Breads, as originally written.

Ingredients:

1 C. flaked coconut

1/4 C. butter or margarine, at room temperature

2/3 C. sugar

2 eggs, room temperature

3 T. milk

1 tsp. lemon juice

1/2 tsp. almond extract

2 C. sifted all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 C. mashed ripe bananas (about 2 medium bananas)

Directions:

1. Prepare a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan, greased or Teflon, by lining with greased wax paper cut to size.

2. Toast the coconut on a baking sheet in a moderate over (350F) until lightly browned, 15 minutes. Stir the flakes occasionally and keep a watchful eye on them so they don't burn. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool. Leave the oven on.

3. In a large mixing or mixer bowl fitted with the flat beater cream together butter and sugar. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Stir in the milk, lemon juice, and almond extract. 

4. Sift the flour again into the mixing bowl with the baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Blend thoroughly.

5. Work the bananas into the mixture and gently fold in the toasted coconut. (Reserve a large pinch of coconut to sprinkle on the top of the loaf.)

6. Pour the mixture into the loaf pan, pushing the dough into the corners and leveling the top with a rubber scraper.

7. Bake until light brown, 1 hour. A metal skewer or wooden toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf should come out clean. (If using a convection oven, reduce heat 40 degrees.)

8. Remove bread from the oven. Let the loaf cool in the pan for about 10 minutes before carefully turning it out onto a wire rack. Allow it to cool completely before serving.

S. Olsen's Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

My visiting teacher HW made these for me a few months back and gave me extra to take back to the Robber, which I did, and which he loved and I loved as they were excellent. So when I wanted to make some cookies to take on the plane to Thailand I thought of this recipe and got it from HW. I don't know S. Olsen, but that is the name that came with the recipe so there you have that. I have had quite a bad attitude about cookies in general lately and specifically my ability to make cookies and was hoping that this recipe would rescue it. However, when I was mixing the dough it was terribly dry and not nearly wet enough and I was despairing as I hadn't any milk and I was barely able to form small cookies together, not the big giant ones Heather had made. Alas! And yet-- oddly enough-- the cookies, baked, were quite soft! And the Robber ate them all over Thailand. Who knows. I think if I do make this again I will skip all the silly heaping-ness of the dry ingredients and see if that helps the too dry-ness of the dough out for me. Also, the big Guittard chocolate chips are really a must.

A gift from HW.

Ingredients:

1 C. margarine or butter

1 C. packed brown sugar

1 C. white sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

2+ cups flour (heaping the cups, for a total of 1/8 - 1/4 C. more flour)

1 heaping tsp. salt

1 heaping tsp. baking soda

3 heaping C. instant oatmeal

2 C. large milk chocolate Guittard chocolate chips (comes in the silver bag)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 

2. In medium mixing bowl, combine flour, salt, baking soda, and oatmeal. 

3. In a large bowl, cream together margarine/butter and sugars until fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla.

4. Add in dry ingredient mixture to creamed mixture 1/3rd at a time, stirring thoroughly by hand. Stir in chocolate chips.

5. Scoop on to cookie sheets in desired size. Bake for 10-12 minutes at 350F. Take the cookies out of the oven when the edges are slightly tanning and the middles don't look quite done. Let cool for a few minutes on the sheet before transferring to a wire rack for complete cooling. Will be quite soft when done. 

Rhubarb Snacking Cake

Another Smitten Kitchen recipe that I made for visiting teaching outside in the summer sun. I will admit to not knowing what a snacking cake is, but this cake was snacked on during the teaching session so I suppose it served its purpose. When I made this the bottom was a little overdone oddly enough, maybe I baked it for too long? The rhubarb is delightful, but I think I always like rhubarb when it is more of the main affair. Rhubarb pie or rhubarb crisp-- no cake to dilute the rhubarb-ness. There are other snack cakes by Smitten Kitchen and this was good enough for me to perhaps try out the others later this summer. Oh, and also I tripled the cinnamon and of course wanted even more. So it goes.

From Smitten Kitchen:

http://smittenkitchen.com/2012/05/rhubarb-snacking-cake/

Ingredients:

For the cake:

1 1/4 lbs. rhubarb, trimmed and cut into 1/2-inch lengths on the diagonal

1 1/3 C. granulated sugar, divided

1 T. lemon juice

1/2 C. unsalted butter, softened

1/2 tsp. finely grated lemon zest

2 large eggs

1 1/3 C. all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking powder

3/4 tsp. table salt

1/4 tsp. ground ginger

1/3 C. sour cream

For the crumb:

1 C. all-purpose flour

1/4 C. light brown sugar

1/8 tsp. table salt

1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

4 T. unsalted butter, melted

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350°F. Coat the bottom and sides of a 9×13-inch baking pan with butter or a nonstick cooking spray, then line the bottom with parchment paper, extending the lengths up two sides. (It will look like a sling). 

2. Stir together rhubarb, lemon juice and 2/3 cup sugar and set aside. 

3. Beat butter, remaining sugar and lemon zest with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at at time, scraping down the sides after each addition. 

4. Whisk together flour, baking powder, 3/4 teaspoon table salt and ground ginger together in a small bowl. Add one-third of this mixture to the batter, mixing until just combined. Continue, adding half the sour cream, the second third of the flour mixture, the remaining sour cream, and then the remaining flour mixture, mixing between each addition until just combined.

5. Dollop batter over prepared pan, then use a spatula — offset, if you have one, makes this easiest — to spread the cake into an even, thin layer. Pour the rhubarb mixture over the cake, spreading it into an even layer (most pieces should fit in a tight, single layer).

6. Stir together the crumb mixture, first whisking the flour, brown sugar, table salt and cinnamon together, then stirring in the melted butter with a spoon or fork (would make this before the cake.) Scatter evenly over rhubarb layer. 

7. Bake cake in preheated oven for 50 to 60 minutes. The cake is done when a tester comes out free of the wet cake batter below. It will be golden on top. Cool completely in the pan on a rack.

8. Cut the two exposed sides of the cake free of the pan, if needed, then use the parchment “sling” to remove the cake from the pan. Cut into 2-inch squares to serve. 

Note: Cake keeps at room temperature for a few days or in the fridge, covered tightly.

Lemon Yogurt Blueberry Cake

I made this recipe for some afternoon visiting teaching and everyone loved it. True to its advertisement, this cake has excellent moist texture and a wonderful lemony flavor. The blueberries were delicious also of course. And yet, except for the texture, I didn't find it particularly remarkable. Maybe I'm just feeling humdrum in general. Perhaps one of the variations suggested by Smitten Kitchen (see below link) would prove more noteworthy? Certainly good enough to make again, and perhaps a good base for poppyseed bread, if I ever decide to make that.

Adapted from Ina Garten by From Smitten Kitchen: 

http://smittenkitchen.com/2008/04/lemon-yogurt-anything-cake/

Ingredients:

1 1/2 C. + 1 T. all-purpose flour (if you’re skipping the fruit, you can also skip the last tablespoon of flour)

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1 C. plain whole-milk yogurt (I used sour cream)

1 C. plus 1 T. sugar

3 extra-large eggs (I used large eggs)

2 T. grated lemon zest (approximately 2 lemons)

1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

1/2 C. vegetable oil

1 1/2 C. blueberries, fresh or frozen, thawed and rinsed (miniature wild blueberries are great for this, and pose the least risk of sinking)

1/3 C. freshly squeezed lemon juice

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease an 8 1/2 by 4 1/4 by 2 1/2-inch loaf pan. Line the bottom with parchment paper. Grease and flour the pan.

2. Sift together 1 1/2 cups flour, baking powder, and salt into one bowl. In another bowl, whisk together the yogurt, 1 cup sugar, the eggs, lemon zest, vanilla and oil. Slowly whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. 

3. Mix the blueberries with the remaining tablespoon of flour, and fold them very gently into the batter. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 50 (+) minutes, or until a cake tester placed in the center of the loaf comes out clean.

4. Meanwhile, cook the 1/3 cup lemon juice and remaining 1 tablespoon sugar in a small pan until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is clear. Set aside.

5. When the cake is done, allow it to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before flipping out onto a cooling rack. Carefully place on a baking rack over a sheet pan. While the cake is still warm, pour the lemon-sugar mixture over the cake and allow it to soak in (a pastry brush works great for this, as does using a toothpick to make tiny holes that draw the syrup in better). Allow to cool.