Author: Amy

Sugar Cut-Outs

 

 

 

 

 

Several Thanksgivings ago, I delighted my family with an array of pumpkins, acorns, and what my cousins Barb and Robb called anatomically correct turkeys.  In truth, the turkeys weren’t quite anatomically correct, but rather decked out with sprinkles and colored sugar to make them look as festive as real toms do.

Since St. Patrick’s Day is this Saturday, and I’m baking up a storm for Mike’s Masonic lodge meeting tomorrow night, I decided to do some shamrock cut-outs.  You could easily sprinkle these with green sugar, but I iced them with the almond-vanilla frosting recipe that was passed down to me by my grandmother, Zella.  For the icing recipe, check out Zella’s Icing.

Ingredients

  • ½ cup butter, softened
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 2 cups flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla

Preparation

Stir together flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl; set aside.

Cream together butter and sugar until fluffy.

Add egg and beat well.

Add vanilla and about half the flour mixture, beating until combined; beat in remaining flour.

Note: if your dough is too crumbly, you can add just a bit of water or another ¼ teaspoon of vanilla.

Divide dough in half and knead each just slightly until dough sticks together.  Form each half into a disc and wrap in plastic.

Refrigerate until just barely firm, about 20-30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Roll dough to 1/8 inch thickness and cut into desired shapes.

Bake for 8-10 minutes, until just golden.

Cool on a wire rack.

Zella’s Icing

 

 

 

 

 

This icing frosted my childhood.  My grandmother, Gizella Bodnar Kozusko, used it on each birthday cake and sugar cut-out; it was her frosting of choice for nearly every treat that required, or could simply benefit from, an icing.

Zella was born in Budapest and came to the United States when she was about seven years old; she and my grandpap, Andy, lived conveniently five doors down from my childhood home.  Much of what I learned about baking, I learned from Zella; she was the primary baker in our family, the one who made the birthday cakes, the holiday treats, the desserts for every day.  No visit to their house was complete without a cupcake, cookie, Rice Krispie treat, slice of nut roll, or other confection from her many recipe boxes.

This recipe can be very easily doubled or tripled, when necessary.  It is a sturdy frosting that holds up well for decorating cakes.

Ingredients

  • 1 egg white
  • 3 tablespoons shortening
  • 2 cups powdered sugar
  • Dash of salt
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon almond extract
  • 1-2 teaspoons water

Preparation

Combine egg white, shortening, salt, and one cup powdered sugar in a mixing bowl.  Beat on low speed until combined, then increase speed to medium, then high, and beat for one minute.

Add additional cup powdered sugar and beat on low speed until combined, then on high speed for one minute.

Add vanilla and almond extracts.  Beat on high speed for one or two minutes, until very well combined.

Check the frosting’s texture; it should be like very, very soft peanut butter and very easily spreadable.  If necessary, add one to two teaspoons of water to thin the frosting and beat well to combine.

Note: when doubling or tripling the recipe, it’s very important to beat the mixture well after each addition of powdered sugar, then for a few minutes after the additions of extract and water.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Home.  Comfort.  Family.  Love.  The chocolate chip cookie embodies these concepts unlike any other baked good.  Let’s thank Ruth Graves Wakefield, proprietor of the Toll House Inn, for the invention of this iconic treat, a staple in the baking repertoires of moms, grandmas, aunts, godmothers, kind neighbor ladies, and bloggers.

I could bake chocolate chip cookies in my sleep.  They’re Mike’s favorites from my arsenal, always his answer when I ask what I should bake.  The recipe below is based on the Toll House recipe, with a few very minor tweaks.

Ingredients

  • 2 ¼ cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup butter, softened
  • ¾ cup brown sugar (very generously packed)
  • ¾ cup white sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 2-3 teaspoons vanilla extract*
  • 1 12-ounce bag milk chocolate chips

*I like a lot of vanilla in my cookies, but you could stick to the standard 1 1/4 teaspoons that the original recipe calls for if you like.

Preparation

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

In a mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugars until fluffy.

Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Add vanilla, beating well.

Add half the flour mixture and beat; add remaining flour and beat until well-combined.

Stir in chocolate chips.

Using a two-inch cookie scoop, place on cookie sheets about two inches apart; I bake six cookies at a time on each baking sheet.

Bake for 11-12 minutes, until nicely browned.

Cool on a wire rack.

Challah

 

 

 

 

 

Shabbat Shalom, my friends!  Let’s continue our adventures in interfaith baking with challah, the traditional braided bread of Shabbat.

This recipe is a labor-intensive, yet rewarding pursuit that yields two challot.  It requires a commitment to several minutes of kneading, then a few hours of patience as the dough rises, rests, and rises again.

Mike is a Reform Jew, and we do not follow kashrut, or dietary laws, which include never mixing meat and dairy in the same meal.  I am no kashrut expert, but those following kashrut would not serve bread made with milk and butter with a meat meal; I have read that this recipe can be converted to pareve, or neutral, by using water and pareve margarine.

Ingredients

  • 4 ½ to 5 cups flour
  • 1 package active dry yeast
  • 1 1/3 cups milk
  • 3 tablespoons butter
  • 3 tablespoons sugar
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 egg yolk, well-beaten, for brushing on loaves

Preparation

Lightly grease a large bowl; set aside.

In a mixing bowl, combine yeast with two cups flour.

In a medium saucepan, combine milk, butter, sugar, and salt.  Heat until just warm, and butter is almost melted.

Pour milk mixture into flour mixture, then add eggs.

Beat on medium speed for 30 seconds, then scrape the sides of the bowl and beat on high speed for three minutes.

Remove mixing bowl from mixer stand; add two additional cups of flour, one cup at a time, and stir with a wooden spoon until well-combined.

Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and measure out 1 additional cup of flour to incorporate as you knead the dough.  You may need as little as an additional half-cup, or as much as the whole cup, depending on the texture of your dough.

Knead for 6-8 minutes, until dough is smooth and elastic.

Place dough in greased bowl and turn over to coat both sides.  Let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.

Punch dough down and turn out onto a lightly floured surface.  Divide into six even portions and let rest for 10 minutes.

Roll each portion of dough into an 18-inch rope and place individual ropes on a baking sheet.  Braid two sets of three ropes together to form two separate loaves; be sure to tuck in the ends so they don’t come apart.  Cover and let rise for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Brush loaves with egg yolk.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, until the loaves sound hollow when tapped.

Cool on a wire rack.

Cocoa Meringues

 

 

 

 

 

What does one do with leftover egg whites from yesterday’s yolk-only hamantaschen?  She makes meringues!

Meringues are simple ingredient-wise, but they definitely take patience.  Whipping egg whites to stiff peaks can take upwards of 10 minutes, depending on your mixer, so this isn’t a recipe you can rush.  The result, though, is a light, airy, fluffy cookie that is definitely worth the time.

Ingredients

  • 2 egg whites
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
  • 2/3 cup sugar
  • 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

Preparation

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a small bowl, combine sugar and cocoa powder; set aside.

In a mixing bowl, beat together egg whites, vanilla, and cream of tartar until soft peaks form.

With the mixer running on medium speed, add sugar/cocoa mix, one tablespoon at a time, until combined, gently scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary.

Continue beating at high speed until stiff peaks form.

Drop by rounded teaspoons, spacing about two inches apart.

Bake for 20-22 minutes, until bottoms are very light brown.

Cool completely on the baking sheet.

Hamantashen (Poppy Seed)

 

 

 

 

 

It’s almost Purim!  Time to celebrate the triumph of the Jews over Haman’s plot with some tasty cookies.  In case you’re not familiar with story of Purim, visit http://www.aish.com/h/pur/b/48970736.html.

Anyway…as I’ve mentioned, Mike and I are an interfaith Jewish-Catholic couple, so we have a lot to celebrate.  This was my first experience making hamantashen, and I must say I was thoroughly humbled by the process.  Folding circles of quick-to-tear dough into pinwheels/triangles is much, much more difficult than one may imagine.  Next time, I’ll try a different recipe, but if I were to make these again, I wouldn’t chill the dough for nearly as long so that it would remain as pliable as possible.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup butter, cut into small pieces, softened
  • 2 egg yolks
  • Zest of 1 large orange
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 2 ¼ cups flour
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 1 10-ounce jar poppy seed filling

Preparation

Combine butter, egg yolks, orange zest, flour, and salt in a food processor.

Pulse until dough forms.

Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead very gently, just until the dough comes together.  Chill briefly, about 20 minutes, until dough is easy to handle.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Roll out dough to ¼ inch thickness and cut with a round, 2 ½ inch cookie cutter or drinking glass.  Gently press the circles between your palms to make them more pliable if necessary.

Place circles on your cookie sheet, and using the tip of your finger, lightly brush the edge of each circle with water.

Place about 1 teaspoon of filling in the center of each circle.

Fold dough to form a pinwheel/triangle shape; begin with the left side and fold inward, then fold the right side inward, leaving some of the filling exposed.  Fold up the bottom, tucking the right bottom edge under the right side of the triangle, and folding the left bottom edge over the left side of the triangle.

Bake for 15 minutes, until light golden brown.

Cool on a wire rack.

Lemon Tea Cookies

Have I mentioned how much I love lemons?  Yes, I believe I have.  I also love tea, and nothing accompanies a good cup of tea as well as a good tea cookie.  These cookies are a delightful companion to your favorite tea, light and cakey, with a tangy lemon glaze.  You can make your glaze as thick or as thin as you like; mine is about the consistency of corn syrup.

Ingredients

  • ½ cup butter, slightly softened
  • ¾ cup sugar
  • 1 teaspoon lemon zest
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • ¼ teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 egg
  • 2 teaspoons lemon juice
  • 1/3 cup milk
  • 1 ¾ cups flour

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a mixing bowl, beat butter on low speed for 30 seconds.

Add sugar, lemon zest, baking powder, and baking soda and beat until well-combined, scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary.

Add egg, lemon juice, and milk; beat until combined.

Beat in flour until well-combined.

Drop by rounded teaspoons onto foil-lined baking sheets.

Bake for 12-16 minutes, until tops are firm and cookies are just golden.

Cool completely on a wire rack.

Drizzle with lemon glaze.

Lemon Glaze

Ingredients

  • 2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
  • Juice of 1 1/2 lemons

Combine powdered sugar and 2 tablespoons lemon juice.  Continue adding lemon juice, 1 tablespoon at a time, until you reach your desired consistency.  For thinner glaze, you can add water in addition to the juice.

Spoon over cookies, allowing the excess to drip down the sides.

Peanut Butter Cupcakes with Fudge Frosting

My mom gave me the Better Homes & Gardens New Cook Book in 1999, just a few months before Mike and I got married.  It’s the most useful cookbook I own, complete with fun tips about ingredient substitutions, how to enhance cake batter, and the benefits of baking with butter versus margarine.

This peanut butter cupcake recipe came from the “All Time Favorites” section of the BHG New Cook Book and was originally published in 1953.  It pairs very well with my favorite fudge frosting, which has been featured previously on this blog, but these could easily be frosted with peanut butter or dusted with powdered sugar.

Peanut Butter Cupcakes

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup peanut butter
  • 1/3 cup shortening
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 cups flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 3/4 cup milk

Preparation

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Line 24 muffin cups with paper liners.

Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl; set aside.

In a mixing bowl, beat peanut butter, shortening, and vanilla on medium speed until combined.

Add brown sugar and beat until fluffy, scraping the sides of the bowl several times.

Add eggs, one at a time, and beat until combined.

Add flour mixture and milk alternatively, beating until combined.  The batter will be thick and fluffy.

Spoon batter into muffin cups, filling halfway full.

Bake for 20-22 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Cool completely before frosting.

 

 

 

 

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Yesterday was Mike’s birthday, and he requested a carrot cake (with raisins and walnuts) for his birthday cake.  I don’t really believe in mixing vegetables with dessert, but who am I to refuse my husband’s cake wishes on his birthday?

Cream cheese frosting is incredibly rich and sweet, so I chose to frost only the top of this cake.  Carrot cake isn’t complete without something indicating that it is, in fact, carrot cake, so I’ve chosen simplicity and gone with one single frosting-piped carrot in the center.

Carrot Cake

Ingredients

  • 2 cups flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 1/2 cups canola oil
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 2 cups peeled raw carrots, shredded
  • 1/2 cup raisins
  • 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preparation

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Grease and flour a 9 x 13 pan.

Peel and grate carrots; set aside.

Sift together flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in a medium bowl; set aside.

In a mixing bowl, beat sugar and eggs together until light and fluffy.

Add canola oil and vanilla, beating well.

Add flour mixture and beat until combined.

Stir in grated carrot, raisins, and walnuts.

Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean and the top of the cake is firm.

Cool completely before frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients

  • 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
  • 1/2 cup butter, softened
  • 4 cups powdered sugar
  • 2 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • Orange and green food coloring, if carrot decorations will be included

In a mixing bowl, cream together cream cheese and butter.

Add powdered sugar, one cup at a time, beating after each addition.

Add vanilla and beat well.

Frost top of cake, adding carrot decorations if desired.

Store cake in refrigerator to be on the safe side.  We are talking about cream cheese, after all.

 

Bundt Cake with Lemon Vanilla Glaze

I wanted to bake a King Cake yesterday in preparation for Mardi Gras, but I didn’t have the patience to make brioche.  Since bundt cakes are similar in shape to King Cakes, I decided to bake this one and decorate it with a lemon vanilla glaze and some fun green, yellow, and purple colored sugar.

This was a very quick and easy recipe, yielding a rich, dense, almost pound cake-like texture that goes well with coffee or tea.  Though the recipe calls for lemon juice, the lemon flavor bakes out; for a true lemon bundt, I’d look for a recipe with lemon extract or lemon pudding mix in the batter.

Bundt Cake

Ingredients

  • 1 cup butter, slightly softened
  • ½ cup sugar
  • 1/3 cup lemon juice
  • 5 eggs
  • 3 cups flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 2/3 cup milk

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Generously grease and flour your bundt pan.  I use Wondra flour, which is a superfine flour used for gravies and sauces; it coats grooved pans much better than all-purpose flour.

Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl; set aside.

Cream together butter and sugar until fluffy.

Add lemon juice and beat until combined.

Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each.

Add flour mixture and milk alternatively, beating until combined.

Pour into a greased and floured bundt pan.

Bake for 50 minutes.

Lemon Vanilla Glaze

Ingredients

  • 3 cups powdered sugar
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 2-4 tablespoons water

Preparation

Combine powdered sugar, lemon juice, vanilla, and 2 tablespoons water in a large, 4-cup glass measuring cup.  Continue adding water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until you reach the desired consistency; glaze should be drizzly, but not too thin.  If you make the glaze too thin, just add a few tablespoons of powdered sugar to thicken it.  Pour over cake, allowing glaze to drip down the sides.

Sprinkle with green yellow, and purple sugars if desired.