CURRIED CASHEWS

adapted from M Cafe de Chaya

• 1 pound whole raw cashews
• 2 Tbsp maple syrup, preferably grade B
• 2 Tbsp curry powder
• Pinch salt

Heat the oven to 350 degrees.

1. Place the cashews on a baking sheet and roast for 5 minutes.
2. While the cashews are roasting, combine maple syrup, curry powder, salt, and pepper, in a medium bowl.
3. Toss the cashews with the spiced syrup, and spread again on the sheet. Return to the oven.
4. Toast the cashews for 15 more minutes, tossing every 5 minutes, until toasted and aromatic.
5. Remove from oven and cool well.

Cashews can be stored at room temperature in an airtight container.

POPPY SEED CAKE

This is kind of an old-fashioned recipe. It's wonderful just served plain, with coffee or tea. It's great if you macerate some berries and serve over cake slices with whipped cream. Most recently, I cooked some blueberries with confectioners' sugar and a little lemon juice for about 20 minutes, and served it as above with the blueberries substituting for uncooked berries. Delicious!

• 4 eggs, separated
• 1½ c sugar
• 1 c butter
• ½ c poppy seed
• 1 c sour cream
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 c sifted cake flour

Have all ingredients at room temperature. Adjust a rack one-third up from the bottom of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Butter and breadcrumb a Bundt pan.

Beat egg whites until almost stiff, and then gradually beat in ½ c of the sugar, until stiff peaks form. Set aside.

Cream the butter and remaining sugar until light and fluffy. Add yolks one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in poppy seed.

Combine soda and sour cream. Add to the butter mixture alternately with flour (1/4 of flour 1/3 of sour cream; mix until just smooth after each addition. Gently fold in egg whites. (You might need to do this by hand).

Turn the batter into the Bundt pan, smoothing level. Bake for 45-50 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool in the pan on a rack for awhile, then turn the cake onto the rack to cool completely.

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash1/hs742.ash1/163435_1576615815442_1236995646_31327324_4999518_n.jpg

The "Best Damn Lemon Cake"

As you can probably tell, Maida Heatter is a demigoddess to me. I've never found a single recipe of hers that I didn't love, at least. This is the one that I have been making longest, and which people talk about most, and the title says it all.


THE “BEST DAMN LEMON CAKE”
from Maida Heatter’s New Book of Great Desserts

½ c blanched almonds
1½ c sifted all-purpose flour
1 tsp double-acting baking powder
¾ tsp salt
4 oz unsalted butter
1 c granulated sugar
2 eggs (graded large)
½ cup milk
1 oz (2 Tbsp) lemon extract
Finely grated rind of 2 extra-large or 3 medium lemons (juice will be used for glaze)

Adjust a rack one-third up from the bottom of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter an 8½” x 4½” loaf pan. Dust it with fine, dry bread crumbs, invert over a piece of paper, and tap firmly to shake out excess. Set the pan aside.

• In a food processor, grind the almond very fine. Set aside.
• Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
• In a small, heavy saucepan over low heat (or in the microwave) melt the butter.
• Transfer butter to the large bowl of an electric mixer. Add the sugar and beat a bit to mix.
• On low speed, beat in the eggs one at a time, beating only to mix well.
• Add the dry ingredients in three additions, alternating with the milk in two additions, scraping the bowl with a rubber spatula and beating until mixed after each addition.
• Stir in the lemon extract.
• Stir in the ground almonds.
• Remove from the mixer. Stir in the grated rind.

It will be a rather thin mixture. Turn it into the prepared pan.

Bake for 65 to 75 minutes, until a cake tester carefully inserted into the center of the cake -- all the way to the bottom -- comes out just barely clean and dry. (If the pan is long and narrow the cake will bake in less time than if it is short and wide.) During baking, the cake will form a large crack or two on the top; the crack, or cracks, will remain light in color – that’s OK.

Two or 3 minutes before the cake is done, prepare the glaze.

GLAZE

1/3 c fresh lemon juice
1/3 c +2 Tbsp granulated sugar

Stir the sugar and juice in a small, heavy saucepan over moderate heat only until the sugar is just dissolved; do not boil the mixture.

When the cake is removed from the oven, let it stand for 2 or 3 minutes. Then, with a brush, brush the hot glaze very gradually over the hot cake; the glaze should not be applied quickly -- it should take about 5 minutes to apply it all.

Let cake stand in the pan until tepid, not quite completely cool. Then, gently invert it onto a rack. (If the cake sticks in the pan, cover it loosely with foil or wax paper, turn it upside down onto your right hand, tap the bottom of the pan with your left hand, and the cake will slide out.) Turn the cake right side up. When it is completely cool, wrap it in plastic wrap or foil and let stand for 12 to 24 hours before serving. If you want to serve it sooner, place the wrapped cake in the freezer for about 2 hours or in the refrigerator for about 4 hours before serving.

NOTE: For this cake, do not use a nonstick, or a black. metal, or a glass pan; it should be aluminum, preferably heavy weight. And do not double the recipe and bake it in one larger pan, unless it's a longer loaf pan: it iss better to make two or more cakes in the specified loaf pan.

Ben’s Butter Scones

5 c flour
2 Tbsp + 2 tsp baking powder
5 Tbsp sugar
1 ½ tsp salt
1 lb unsalted butter, softened
1 c currants or raisins
5 eggs
2 c heavy cream

1 additional egg, and sugar for sprinkling on top

1. On low speed in a large mixing bowl, mix all dry ingredients.
   
2. Add butter, and mix until it forms a crumbly coarse pea-size crumbly mixture.
3. Stir in currants.
4. Whisk together the eggs and 1 cup of cream, and, in thirds, mix into the flour. If the dough is too dry, add more cream.
5. Spoon out, whatever size you wish, onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Leave room for the dough to double in size. Brush each with a whisked egg, and top with a sprinkling of sugar.
6. Bake for 15-18 minutes at 350 degrees. Cool on the sheet for a few minutes, then move parchment to cooling rack until ready to serve.

Revised 2/14/2010

Red Velvet Cake

RED VELVET CAKE

• 2 Tbsp cocoa powder
• 2 oz red food coloring

• 1 c buttermilk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• 2 ½ c flour, sifted
• 1 ½ tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt

• 1 c cooking oil
• 2 c sugar

• 2 eggs

• 1 tsp white vinegar

1. Grease and flour two 9 inch round pans, then line them with waxed paper.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
3. Make a paste of cocoa and food coloring. Set aside.
4. Combine the buttermilk and vanilla. Set aside.
5. Sift together flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
6. In a large bowl, beat together the oil and sugar until light and fluffy.
7. Beat in the eggs one at a time.
8. Stir in the cocoa mixture.
9. Starting with the flour, alternately stir in the flour and buttermilk, mixing just until incorporated.
10. Stir in the vinegar.
11. Pour batter into prepared pans.
12. Bake for 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool in pans on a rack for 15 minutes or so, then turn out and allow to cool completely before frosting.

FROSTING

• 1 c milk
• 5 Tbsp all-purpose flour
• 1 c butter
• 1 c sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

1. In a small heavy saucepan, combine the milk and flour. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens. Set aside to cool completely.
2. Cream together butter, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy, then stir in the cooled milk and flour mixture, beating until frosting reaches spreading consistency.

revised 2/14/2010

Three cranberry recipes

CRANBERRY ORANGE RELISH

12 oz (1 bag) cranberries
½ c sugar
1 navel orange (or some other variety, with seeds removed)

Put all ingredients in a food processor. Process until everything is finely chopped. Taste for sweetness and add sugar as needed. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
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MAMA STAMBERG'S CRANBERRY RELISH
(a variation thereon)

In a food processor, process until very smooth:
1 ½ c low-fat cottage cheese*

Set aside, and wash out and wipe the processor bowl dry. Then, in the food processor, chop until coarse:

12 oz (1 bag) cranberries
1 small onion

Add:

1 c sugar
Stir I the cottage cheese, and then stir in:
4 Tbsp horseradish

Freeze until a couple of hours before you're ready to serve it -- Best to freeze at least overnight.

*The original recipe calls for sour cream here, in which case there's no need to use the food processor on this step.
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FRESH CRANBERRY SAUCE

This recipe is straight off the Ocean Spray bag, but I’m not messing with perfection!

1 cup sugar
1 cup water
12 oz (1 bag) cranberries

Combine sugar and water in a medium saucepan. Bring to boil; add cranberries, return to boil. Reduce heat and boil gently for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until berries split and pop. Cover and cool completely at room temperature. Refrigerate until serving time.

Pavlova

This is, according to more than one source, the 'national dessert' of both Australia and New Zealand. No matter: it's dramatic, relatively easy, and delicious. I always go for the freshest fruit I can find, so it's usually a summer dessert, but I've seen recipes that called for cooked fruit, too.

PAVLOVA SHELL

• 8 egg whites, at room temperature
• Pinch of salt
• 1 ½ cups superfine sugar
• 4 Tbsp cornstarch
• 2 tsp white vinegar
• 1 tsp vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350°. Draw an 8” circle on a sheet of parchment paper and line a baking sheet with it.

In a stand mixer fitted with a whisk, beat the egg whites and salt on medium-high speed until peaks form, about 3 minutes.

On medium speed, whisk in the sugar a little at a time. Turn the mixer to high to fully incorporate.

Add the cornstarch, and whisk until blended. Add the vinegar, then the vanilla. Use a spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Beat at high speed for several minutes until the mixture is very stiff.

Pile* the meringue onto the parchment, using a spatula to spread it around the circle, and piling the sides slightly higher than the middle. Place in the oven and immediately reduce the temperature to 300°.

Bake the meringue for 1 ½ hours, then turn the oven off and prop open the door. Let the meringue cool completely. It can be stored uncovered for several hours.

*If the meringue can’t hold its shape, scrape it back into the bowl and beat for another couple of minutes. It should stand still when you pile it on the paper.

FOR A SMALLER MERINGUE (serving 6-8): halve all the ingredients, and the baking time. Leave the temperature at 350°, rather than turning it down. Follow all other instructions.

(From the Los Angeles Times, May 23, 2007)

FOR THE PAVLOVA
• 2-3 c heavy cream
• fresh berries and/or other fruit, cut up – as much as you like.
When ready to serve, whip cream until stiff, adding a little Grand Marnier if desired. Fill the shell with the cream, then top with fruit.

FOR A SMALLER PAVLOVA, use 1-2 c heavy cream.