Apple Slab Pie and wintery dessert dreams

December 12, 20133 Comments

Yes, I’m starting off with a gratuitous Dynamo Donuts shot. Go ahead. Be jealous. The lineup on a recent Saturday morning included pumpkin chocolate chip, meyer lemon-huckleberry (the pink one), an apple fritter, and the much-talked-about bacon-maple-apple.

But back to the topic at hand. My company’s bakesale is next week and there are serious things to consider. Really. Serious. Things. I spent maybe an hour (hours) a few weeks ago drooling over recipes at the National Baking Society blog, which I linked to as a follower of Matt Lewis of Baked in Brooklyn, NY. His cakes make my heart soar.

So the question is, do I make these…or this. A bundt cake that is a genuine hallmark of the ’80s, or a crispy dessert bar that is the holy trinity of sweet flavors — caramel, chocolate, peanut butter. I know, life is hard when the biggest dilemma is what treat to make next. I blame Lady Holiday for turning my head, so all I want to do is bake cookies, make mulled wine, and dive into a series of crafty projects, but it seems I can hardly find time to stop and smell the pine trees — this little guy in particular.

While that decision is set to simmer, I’m also going to revisit the apple slab pie I made for Thanksgiving this year. A creation looking like a giant pop tart (if we’re being honest), but the spices added to the filling are right on in my book — a little heavy on the cinnamon, which I love. And while the dough is difficult to roll out in such large scale, it’s worth the effort and satisfying to have LOTS of leftover pie to go around. Because who doesn’t want leftover pie? Right?

If you look closely, you’ll see I had to patch/mend the bottom corner of the crust as my rolling technique was not spot on. If this happens to you too, not to worry — all looks and tastes fine in the end.

Iced up and ready to serve!

And, a photo of me holding the behemoth:

Many thanks to Smitten Kitchen for her slab pie inspirations, and a few more Thanksgiving photos below.

You guys, I baked!

September 2, 20134 Comments

Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread

So, summer is over? So . . . summer is over. Quick as ever, like one deep breath and the blink of an eye, it’s fall again here in Oakland. With leaves changing color, a penetrating evening sunshine, and a breeze in the air, we’ve turned the corner to a new season. I suppose it makes sense then that I’ve got baking on the brain, finally. I spent most of my summer outdoors — as it should be, when all is right with the world — which was not conducive to tinkering near the stove. But I have been blessed all summer with beautiful vegetables from my mom’s garden, including squash and zucchini in sizes you’ve never seen before.

And a labor day bbq yesterday called for a round of chocolate chip zucchini bread. Without two loaf pans the same size, I baked this in my bundt pan. I realize it looks like all I ever do anymore is bake bundt cakes . . . That is, more or less, the case.

I sliced the cake up for easy grabbing at the barbecue, which also created a pretty plating effect — completely by accident. I also made a yummy green salad, which I don’t have a photo of. See this post here and my modified recipe, below. How Sweet It Is recommends serving the salad with chips, but I tweaked the recipe to be more of a traditional salad and eliminated the chicken and bacon for my friendly vegetarians. I fully plan to make the salad again, with bacon.

Blueberry and tomato salad with grilled corn and feta

2-3 cups lettuce of your choice, I used a mix of baby greens
1 cup grape tomatoes, quartered
1 ear grilled corn, cut off the cob
2/3-cup blueberries
1 avocado, chopped
1/3 cup crumbled feta
½-teaspoon salt
½-teaspoon pepper
½ lime and ½ lemon, juiced
½ cup green onions
1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
2 teaspoons olive oil

Do y’all really need instructions for what to do with these ingredients? Chop it all up, toss, serve. I would recommend waiting until your grilled corn has cooled a bit before mixing it in.

Happy New Year, and a hazelnut ganache tart

January 15, 2013June 24, 20151 Comment

Well, the holidays have come and gone and left me without a creative impulse in my body. I blame the cold weather for the absolute lack of motivation I feel. I’m not crafting, not drawing, hardly cooking. Not printing, not writing. What the beejesus is that gal doing then? Ok, I’m watching plenty of I Love Lucy episodes, staying cozy, seeing movies, trying new pubs, dancing on Friday nights. The only thing I can really share is the Hazelnut Ganache Tart I made just before Christmas for a coworker’s birthday.

Snatched from the pages of Real Simple years ago, it’s incredibly easy with something like five ingredients. Every place I take this tart, people melt, they ask for the recipe, they’re beside themselves. It looks deeply rich, yet the surprising thing is how light it is for being nothing but chocolate and heavy cream. Find the recipe here.

I’m hoping that this January haze leaves me soon. I welcome 2013 with great heart and vigor…but, for now, I’ll be here, quietly keeping warm. Cheers to you and yours, and some photos from the start of this new year.

: Gold leaves, lavender shoes

: Royal Teeth, Rickshaw Stop

One year ago: Photos from the week: 01.15.12 and A finished book, a reading booked, and a craft date with dears.

Glazed triple-chocolate pound cake with toasted hazelnut

November 24, 20125 Comments

By the time Thanksgiving rolled around this year, I was completely off pie. It’s my own fault—I overdid it with the Thanksgiving preview pie, and instead of flaky pie crust and fruit fillings all I could think of was chocolate and more chocolate…which led me to this recipe for a chocolate pound cake.

This was the goal:

This was the result:

The only tweak I made to the recipe was toasting hazelnuts, chopping them, and sprinkling them on top just after I poured the glaze over the cake.

Lesson learned: burning chocolate only takes a second…I was melting chocolate on the stovetop to mix into the batter, turned away to grab my camera, and when I came back the chocolate had solidified into an ugly burnt mess. (Note to self: duh, this is why folks usually melt chocolate in a double-boiler) Also learned: use a bundt pan that is the specified size. I borrowed my mom’s bundt cake pan that was smaller than the 14-cup size called for, which meant my cake took about an hour and a half to bake and came out of the oven overflowing the pan, looking like a giant muffin.

Being inexperienced with chocolate cakes, I was expecting this recipe to make a more dense cake. But instead, it was very spongy and light. My mom, having read and baked a few more chocolate cake recipes than me, was not at all surprised.

Here are my favorite shots from Thanksgiving day, spent in San Jose with my family. Happy holidays to all—amazing that Christmas is right around the corner.

Pumpkin Risotto with Prosciutto

November 5, 20122 Comments

Just when I was going around town saying I hadn’t carved a pumpkin for Halloween this year…

A sugar pie pumpkin was included in my last farm box, a real small sweetheart of a gourd that nearly fits in the palm of my hand. Farm Fresh to You was also kind enough to also include two recipe ideas for cooking the pumpkin—Pumpkin Pasta and Pumpkin Risotto with Prosciutto.

I opted for the pumpkin risotto, recipe courtesy of Cooking Light, which calls for only 2 cups of steamed pumpkin, leaving me with half of the sugar pie pumpkin remaining. The rest of it I’ll have to bake into bread, add to soup, or roast for a veggie sauté later this week. The delightful snack that will also come from the pumpkin: toasted pumpkin seeds.

I followed the recipe closely; the only measurement I altered was using 4 cups of broth instead of 3 cups.

One year ago: Turkey Pesto Panini with Artichoke Hearts, Peppers, and Spinach

Banana bread experiment

October 15, 2012Leave a comment

Question: How old can bananas be when baking banana bread?
Answer: Pretty dang old.

Question: Can you bake banana bread in something other than a standard-sized loaf pan?
Answer: Yes. Yes, you can.

There are not many hard-and-fast rules I abide by in the kitchen. I attribute this to the fact that I am not afraid to fail or ruin a meal. With baking, I do reign myself in some as baking measurements are precise for good reason. Some kitchen rules of my own design? 1. Cook with music. 2. A glass of beer or wine often helps things run quite smoothly in the kitchen. 3. Cook for people you love, or just because you love it.

I haven’t baked banana bread in a long time. For some reason I had a memory of it being very difficult. I can’t imagine now what recipe I used that would make baking banana bread seem like a hard task—the food network recipe I used today couldn’t have been simpler. Mix some dry ingredients, mash bananas with milk and cinnamon, cream butter, sugar, and egg, add the dry to wet ingredients, and you’re done.

I don’t have a loaf pan in my house at the moment, so I used a shallow roasting dish and cut the recipe amounts by half. Serving with honey, as the recipe suggests, is delicious.

I am curious about just how ripe/overripe the bananas should be. The peels of my bananas were completely blackened—the older the banana, the sweeter the bread? Thoughts?

Town Bakes

Tag: recipes