Author: ds83473@gmail.com

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Sprinkle cake

Adapted from Molly Yeh  – this recipe appears in her cookbook, Molly on the Range. Even when I was young I was never as cute as Molly, but I have overcome my initial envy, and come to love her!

For the cake:

  • 2 1/2 cups flour (I used unbleached, but I bet cake flour would produce a softer cake)
  • 1/4 cup cornstarch
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder (upped a bit from Molly’s)
  • 1 cup – 2 sticks – unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 4 egg whites, also room temperature
  • 1 tablespoon clear vanilla
  • 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
  • 3/4 cup whole milk
  • 1/2 cup rainbow sprinkles, and as Molly says, artificially colored cylinders that you’ll find in the baking aisle at any grocery store; don’t use nonpareils, colored sugar, or anything naturally colored!

For the frosting:

I did not use Molly’s recipe here – it seemed to have way too much butter in proportion to powered sugar

  • 12 tablespoons, 1 1/2 sticks salted or unsalted butter, softened
  • 4 cups of confectioners sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • pinch of salt (omit if you use salted butter)
  • 1/4 cup milk, half & half, or cream

Makes a 3-layer 8-inch cake or 24 cupcakes.

Heat the oven to 350° Grease three 8-in. cake pans, and line the bottoms with wax paper or parchment rounds, OR line two 12-cup muffins tins with paper liners. If you only have one muffin tin, you can store the extra half of the batter in the fridge while the first half bakes.

Make the cake: Combine the flour, cornstarch, salt, and baking powder in a medium bowl –  a whisk works well for this. Cut the butter into chunks and drop it into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle, and beat for a few minutes. Add the sugar and beat until fluffy, 2-3 minutes. (you can do this with a handheld mixer or by hand, but you’ll need a good mixer and strong arms!) Add the egg whites one at a time (or as close to one at a time as possible – I was pouring the whites in from a plastic container where they’d been saved, and had to guess, but it worked OK!) and beat well after each addition. Measure the milk in a spouted measuring cup, and add the extracts, then, with the mixer running, add the flour and milk to the egg mixture in 2-3 alternating  addition. Finally fold in the sprinkles, and divide the batter into your cake pans or muffin tins.

Bake for 25-30 mins, until a toothpick stabbed into the center comes out clean – start checking at 20 minutes.

Cool in the pans for about 10 minutes then invert onto wire racks to cool completely.

Make the frosting: Cut the butter into chunks and drop it into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle, and beat for a few minutes. Add the sugar, vanilla, salt (if using) and the milk. Cover the mixer with a dish towel, hold on, and beat until the sugar is moistened – you’ll know because the sound will change. Remove the towel, scrape the sides of the bowl, and add more milk or water carefully – by teaspoons – until you have a good spreadable consistency. Beat on high speed for 2-3 minutes to get it really nice and fluffy. Frost the cake or cupcakes and decorate the tops with more sprinkles. Set in the fridge to set the icing, but tastes best if you let it come back to room temperature before eating.

Made for a part zoom, part in the flesh, baby shower for a mom-to-be of twins, Spring 2021

zoom portion of the shower
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Banana Streusel Muffins

We had instant summer here in Wisconsin this week, and that meant I bought the bananas too ripe to last. We really only had one day when it got up close to 80° and today it’s chilly and rainy, but still, on Thursday morning there were 7 getting-almost-too-ripe bananas in the  fruit bowl, so I made these muffins.

For the streusel:

  • 1/2 cup flour
  • 1/4 cup light brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup rolled oats
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 4 tablespoons butter (half a stick)

For the muffins:

  • 1 cup mashed bananas (about 3 small)
  • grated zest of 1/2 a lemon
  • 1/4 cup sour cream
  • 1 egg
  • 1/3 cup melted butter
  • 1 1/2 cups flour (I used unbleached white but some whole wheat would probably be good)
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon fine grain salt, or a nice pinch of kosher salt
  • 1/2 cup sugar

To make the streusel, combine the flour, brown sugar, oats, and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Slice in the butter and use a pastry blender or your fingers to cut in the butter until you have large crumbs.

Heat the oven to 375° and grease or line a 12-well muffin tin with papers.

Mash the bananas, and transfer them to a 2-cup spouted measuring cup. Add the lemon zest, and the sour cream, egg, and melted butter, and mix.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Make a well in the center, and add the banana, sour cream, butter mixture. Mix just until all the flour is moistened – a few lumps are OK.

Divide the batter into the muffin tin (I got 9 large muffins, but YMMV), and top each muffin with about 2 tablespoons of the streusel.

Bake for about 25-30 minutes until firm and brown.

Based on a 1997 State Fair Baking Contest recipe in the NYT; Originally posted April 2021

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Yet another coleslaw

Coleslaw is the first recipe in the long messy list at Deb’s Lunch Classic, and I’ve recorded a few variants there, but thought this version, created on a cold Friday in February 2021, deserved its own page.

Spicy coleslaw

  • About 6 cups of cabbage, thinly sliced or grated
  • 2/3 to a scant cup of grated carrot
  • one medium shallot, grated
  • 1/3 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 fat pinches of kosher salt
  • 1/3 cup lime juice or lemon & lime, mixed
  • 1/4 tsp. ground cumin
  • 1/3 cup mayonnaise
  • a few dashes of cholula
  • half a small bunch of cilantro, chopped (about 1/4 cup)
  • fresh ground pepper and more salt, if necessary

Combine the cabbage, carrots, shallot, sugar, and salt in the large bowl (preferably one that fits your colander). Toss everything together, massaging in the salt and sugar with your hands. Transfer the salted & sugared vegetables to a colander – you probably want to do this in the sink to avoid a mess on your counter. Place the colander over a bowl – same bowl, rinsed out, works well – and allow to wilt for at least 2 hours and up to 4. Drain the liquid and clean out the bowl. Put the vegetable mixture back into the bowl, and add the lime juice, cumin, mayonnaise, cilantro, and grind in a generous amount of black pepper. Stir with a fork, taste, and add more salt or anything else if necessary, and chill for as long as you have until you want to serve.

Originally posted February 2021

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Cowboy Cookies for pandemic (small batch)

  • 1 stick (8 ounces) butter, at room temperature
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • generous pinch salt
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
  • 1/2 cup chocolate chips
  • 1/2 cup Heath bar chips
  • 2/3 cup coconut, sweetened or unsweetened is OK
  • 2/3 cup chopped nuts, pecans or walnuts or almonds (My favorite way to chop the nuts is to put them in a plastic bag and bash them with a rolling pin. The bags Costco baking nuts come in are perfect, so I now have a collection of heavy plastic bags that I wash & re-use for this purpose)
Directions:

Cream the butter and sugars together in a stand mixer if you have one, or by hand. Add the egg and mix well. Add the vanilla, spices, leavening, and salt and mix lightly, then add the flour and oats, and finally the chips, coconut, and nuts. Mix. I think the chocolate chips & nuts kind of hold the flour down while you mix up the dough, and keep it from flying out of the mixer.

Line a baking sheet with parchment and scoop the dough out with a 2-tablespoon scoop if you have one or other device if you do not. Cover the baking sheet and chill till you’re ready to bake. At this point the dough balls can be frozen for months. Freeze them on the sheet and then once frozen transfer to a plastic bag or other container. You can take them out and bake as many cookies as you want at any given time.

When you’re ready to bake, heat the oven to 375°. Divide the cookies up, about one dozen to a sheet with plenty of room, because they’ll spread. Bake for 8-10 minutes, when they’ll still be a bit squishy in the middle, and cool on the sheets to firm up. Makes 27 large cookies.

Here’s the original recipe, from the Washington Post
  • 3 cups flour
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1 tablespoon baking soda
  • 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 3 sticks (12 ounces) butter, at room temperature
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 3 cups semisweet chocolate chips
  • 3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
  • 2 cups sweetened flaked coconut
  • 2 cups chopped pecans
Directions

Position oven racks in the upper and lower thirds and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.

Using a stand mixer on medium speed, beat butter until smooth and creamy, about 1 minute. Gradually add sugars and beat to combine, about 2 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each one, and the vanilla extract. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture gradually until just combined. Add the chocolate chips, oats, coconut and pecans, mixing until just combined.

For large cookies, drop a hefty 1/4 cup of dough onto the baking sheets for each cookie, spacing 3 inches apart. Bake for 8 to 9 minutes, then rotate sheets top to bottom and front to back. Bake for an additional 8 to 9 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Let cookies cool on baking sheet for about 5 minutes, then transfer to rack to cool completely. For smaller cookies, use 2 tablespoons dough per cookie and bake for 15 to 18 minutes total, rotating the baking sheets midway through. Store in airtight containers at room temperature for several days. May be frozen.

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Fancy Schmancy Cherry Muffins

In September of 2020, we took a pandemic-style trip to Door County – stayed in an AirBnb with a private entrance & no shared spaces, ate all our meals carryout, did nothing indoors – and we never had cherry pancakes for breakfast while we were there. So the first Sunday we were back, we had cherry pancakes at home. Which left me with about a cup of thawed-out pie cherries, and these muffins are the result. Not a replacement for my Better-Than-Stella’s-Cherry-Muffins, simply an alternative.

Makes about 13 muffins

2 1/2 cups unbleached flour (feel free to sub in other types, gluten free, etc.)
1/2 cup grated almond paste
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/3 cup sour cream
5 tablespoons coconut oil (again, feel free to sub in other types, melted butter, vegetable oil, etc.)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 cup King Arthur cherry jammy bits, or dried cherries
1 scant cup tart cherries, thawed and well-drained if frozen, well-drained if jarred

sliced almonds and granulated sugar for sprinkling on top

Heat the oven to 375°, and line the wells of a 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners, or grease them. You may need a custard cup or other container to make muffin #13,

Place the flour in a large mixing bowl. Add the grated almond paste, and toss, and then add the baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar, and toss again. Make a well in the center, and add the eggs, milk, sour cream, and extracts. Mix, but only until all the dry ingredients are moistened – the batter will still be quite lumpy – then fold in the bits or dried cherries, and tart cherries.

Portion the batter into the pan(s) – a muffin scoop is helpful here – and sprinkle the almonds and sugar on top. Bake for about 20-25 minutes until raised and firm.

orginally posted October 2020

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Sourdough focaccia

In the midst of the pandemic, while everyone is playing around with sourdough, I tried this focaccia. It’s based on I am a Food Blog, small batch sourdough focaccia, but I couldn’t figure out her grams measurements, so I used:

  • one cup fed starter (mine was fed 3 days)
  • 1/2 cup lukewarm water
  • big pinch of kosher salt (a little less if it’s Morton, the extra salty kosher salt!)
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • about 2 1/2 cups flour (unbleached white, whole wheat, etc. )
  • Another tablespoon or two of olive oil, flaky salt, chopped fresh rosemary

Combine everything except the flour in the bowl of a stand mixer, or any big bowl if you don’t have a stand mixer. Add 2 cups of the flour, and mix. Add enough additional flour to make a soft dough. Beat/knead at medium speed for 4 minutes, until the dough is nicely elastic. Or mix in those first 2 cups of flour till you have a shaggy dough ball, then turn it out onto a floured surface, and knead by hand for 6-8 minutes, working in up to about another 1/2 cup flour, until you have a smooth elastic dough.

You can follow Stephanie’s directions from here, or:

Transfer the dough to a bowl (or leave it in the mixer bowl), and fold it every 30 minutes, 4 times, for about 2 hours.  Line an 8- or 9-in cake pan with parchment, transfer the dough ball to the pan, cover and refrigerate overnight. Remove from the fridge about 3 hours before you want to bake, and leave at room temperature. About 30 minutes before the dough is risen, heat the oven to 450°. Drizzle the extra tablespoons of olive oil over the dough, and dimple it with your fingers – it’s important here to oil the dough first – it’s very sticky and will stick to you if you skip the oil. Sprinkle with the flaky salt, and rosemary, and put the pan in the oven. Reduce the heat to 425º, and bake for 15 minutes, then check to see how it’s doing, rotate the pan, and bake about 10-15 minutes. Remove from the pan as soon as possible so the bottom doesn’t get soggy.

Originally posted June 2020

 

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Buttermilk-whole-wheat-cinnamon-fig-filled-scones

Mark says they should be called Deb’s fig newton scones. Well, maybe.

Raw scones

Ingredients:

Scones:
2 cups unbleached white flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup granulated or brown sugar (light or dark)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
one large egg
about 3/4 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup fig preserves (I used Italian fig bar filling (no nuts or brandy in mine), made from figs, honey, dates, and cinnamon)

Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon buttermilk

Method:
Measure the flours, baking powder and soda, cinnamon, and salt into the bowl of a food processor or a large mixing bowl. Slice the butter over the top and either pulse in the food processor, or use a pastry blender or your fingers to cut the butter into the dry ingredients, until you have a sandy mixture.

Crack the egg into a spouted 1-cup measure, and beat lightly, then add the buttermilk to the 1-cup line, and add the vanilla. If you’ve been using a food processor, empty the contents into a bowl, make a well in the center, and pour in the liquid. If your dry mixture is in the bowl, no need to transfer. Mix with a fork until a soft dough forms. Knead the dough together in the bowl, and add a little more buttermilk if necessary to help it hold together.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface, gather it into a ball and divide it in half. Form each half into a ball, and working with one at a time, cut the ball in half and pat each half into a 6-7 inch circle. Spread one circle with half the fig preserves, and top with the second circle. Pat together lightly, then cut the into 6 wedges and arrange on an ungreased baking sheet. Repeat with the second ball of dough and the rest of the fig filling.

Bake at 375° for about 20-25 minutes until puffed, firm, and lightly browned.

While the scones are baking mix the glaze ingredients, adding a bit of water to get a pourable consistency.  Drizzle the glaze over the scones while they are still warm.

Makes 1 dozen scones.

Originally posted February 2020

Baked and glazed scones
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From-scratch green bean casserole

Mushroom Sauce (based on Ovens of Brittany Cookbook):

  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 2 cups mushrooms, washed and sliced – about 1 pound
  • ½ cup finely chopped onions
  • 1 large or 2 smaller cloves of garlic, minced or put through a press (about 2 teaspoons)
  • 3 tablespoons butter
  • ¼ cup flour
  • 2 ½ cups milk
  • 2 tablespoons dried onion or vegetable soup mix (optional)
  • ½ cup peeled, seeded, and chopped tomatoes, fresh or canned (optional)
  • ½ cup sour cream
  • A few grates of fresh nutmeg
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Crispy shallots

  • 1 cup thinly sliced shallots – about 2 large
  • ½ cup oil – olive or other
  • Salt

Beans

  • 1 ½ to 2 pounds green beans

Make the sauce: Melt the two tablespoons of butter in a wide skillet, and sauté the mushrooms, onions, and garlic until they’re tender, 5-10 minutes, seasoning with salt & pepper. Set aside. Melt the three tablespoons of butter in a saucepan, add the flour and stir well until you have a smooth paste (roux). Heat the milk in the microwave or stove stop, and add the soup mix if using, then pour slowly into the roux, whisking. Season with salt and pepper and nutmeg. Stir until the it’s smooth and thickened, then fold in the mushrooms and the tomatoes if using, and simmer for about 10 minutes. Stir in the sour cream and remove from the heat.

Make the crispy shallots: Combine the shallots and the oil in a heavy bottomed pan and place on a burner on medium heat. When the mixture begins to bubble, reduce the heat, and fry the shallots stirring occasionally, for 15-18 minutes. Watch carefully, since once they begin to brown, they can burn quickly. Scoop the shallots out and drain on paper towel or drain in a strainer set over a bowl. Reserve the oil for salad dressings or sautéed vegetables.

Prepare the green beans: rinse and trim the beans – remove the stem ends; blossom end optional. Cut the beans into bite size length – about 1 ½- 2 inches. Place the beans in the basket of a steamer and steam until they’re tender but still bright green.

Assemble the dish: Place the beans in a shallow casserole, and cover with the sauce. Cover with foil and bake in a 350° oven for about 30 minutes until heated through and starting to bubble. Remove the foil, top with the shallots, and cook another 15 minutes.

Originally posted November 2019; for Orange Tree Imports Cooking Class

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Julia Child’s Tian de Courgettes au Riz (Zucchini Tian)


This recipe is for that time in the summer, when you are drowning in zucchini – it uses A LOT! It’s all over the Internet; find it on Food52, Smitten Kitchen has a version, and other places online. I am lucky enough to have it my mother’s original Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol. 2, published in 1970 (although my mother’s says seventh printing, 1973 – I was 18). I’ve updated the directions and made them a little more straightforward (IMHO), although I did leave out some of Julia’s edicts to taste, carefully, or critically, another of her favorite adverbs.

2 to 2 1/2 pounds zucchini
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 cup white rice
3 to 4 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup minced onions
2 large cloves garlic, mashed or put through a press
2 tablespoons flour
2 1/2 cups warm liquid: zucchini juices plus milk
2/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
about 2 additional tablespoons olive oil

Grate the zucchini and place it in a colander set over a bowl. Toss with the kosher salt and set aside to drain for about 30 minutes.

Fill a saucepan that holds at least two quarts about 2/3 full with water, and bring to a boil. Drop the rice in, let it come back to a boil, and boil for 5 minutes. Drain and set aside.

Heat the 3-4 tablespoons olive oil in a wide skillet, add the onions and garlic and cook gently over medium heat until translucent and soft but not brown, about 10 minutes, then raise the heat for a few minutes and lightly brown.

Heat the oven to 425°.

Squeeze the juices out of the zucchini with your hands, reserving the liquid in the bowl under the colander, and transfer the zucchini to a clean dish towel. Wrap the towel around the zucchini and twist to squeeze more juice out, into the colander/bowl. Dump the zucchini into the skillet and stir to combine with onions and garlic. Sprinkle in the flour, and stir to combine well.

Measure the zucchini liquid and add milk to make 2 ½ cups. Heat the liquid in the microwave, and pour slowly into the skillet. Stir well, bring to a boil, and stir until slightly thickened.

Remove the skillet from the heat and stir in all but 2 tablespoons of the Parmesan cheese and the rice. Transfer the mixture to a well buttered, 2-quart, shallow, baking dish. Sprinkle with the remaining Parmesan cheese, drizzle with olive oil, and bake in the 425 oven until nicely browned, bubbling, and the rice has absorbed all the liquid – about  20-30 minutes. If you bake it a little too long it gets a brown crust on the bottom that is delicious.

For Orange Tree Imports, Farmers’ Market to Table class, August 2019

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Late summer fruit crumble

Based on a Smitten Kitchen recipe, (https://smittenkitchen.com/2007/05/crumbling-crisp-convictions/) but that one is a strawberry-rhubarb crumble, for spring, and I’m recommending summer fruit – blueberries, peaches, plums, cherries. I did a few things differently in the method, too.

The original says 6 to 8 servings; you might get more than that, with ice cream.

For the topping:
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons light brown sugar
A few grates of nutmeg
About 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest lemon
1/4 pound (1 stick or 4 ounces) unsalted butter, melted
pinch of salt – or use salted butter

For the filling:
4 to 4 ½ cups pitted and sliced fruit – peeled if you use peaches* (cherry-peach or peach and plum are especially nice)
2-3 tablespoons lemon juice from the lemon you zested for the topping

8-10 TBLS sugar, depending on the sweetness of the fruit
3 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons flour
Pinch of salt

Heat oven to 375°F. Make topping: Combine the flour, baking powder, sugars and lemon zest in a bowl. Stir in the melted butter with a fork until you have formed small and large clumps. Refrigerate or set in the freezer while you make the filling.

Make the filling: Toss the fruit, lemon juice juice, sugar, cornstarch, flour, and salt together in a bowl. Scrape the filling into a shallow baking dish that holds about at least a quart. Bake the filling until it is bubbling around the edges – about 20 minutes. Remove the baking dish from the oven and get the topping from fridge or freezer, and crumble it over the fruit with your hands, so get all sizes of crumbs. Put the dish back in the oven and bake until crumble topping is golden brown and fruit is bubbling underneath, about 20 – 25 minutes.

Eat with ice cream.

*To peel peaches, place them in a medium pot that will hold all of them comfortably. Cover them with cold water, then remove the peaches from the water, place the pot on the stove, and bring to a full boil. Drop the peaches in and count to 30 slowly. Pour the hot water out in the sink, and flood the pot with cold water. As soon as you can handle them, pull the skins off the peaches (they should come off easily). As you skin the peaches, slice them into the bowl you’ll use to mix up the filling.

For Orange Tree Imports, Farmers’ Market to Table class, August 2019

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