Stratford Hall Ginger Cookies

    Many different ginger cookies have come out of my oven, but this recipe is one that I keep coming back to. It's a chewy ginger cookie rather than a snap, and it partners as perfectly with a nice cold glass of milk as it does with a cup of hot tea or spiced cider. We like these spicy treats year round at my house, but when fall rolls around it just seems wrong not to have them in the cookie jar.

     The recipe hails from a local landmark, Stratford Hall Plantation. Stratford is the ancestral home of four generations of the Lee family of Virginia (including two signers of The Declaration of Independence), and Birthplace of General Robert E. Lee. The cookies are a tradition at their Candlelight tour at Christmas time, and many folks look forward to sampling their gingery goodness.

    
     We prefer the cookies on the chewy side, but if you'd rather have more of a hard ginger snap perfect for dunking, just forget leave the cookies in the oven for a bit longer. Either way, they'll be grand! :)

Stratford Hall Ginger Cookies
printable recipe available here
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups butter, melted (3 sticks)
1/2 cup molasses
2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
4 cups all purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon ground cloves
granulated sugar (for coating balls of dough)

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Sift or whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves. Set aside.
• In a large mixing bowl, beat together melted butter, molasses and sugar.
• Add eggs and mix until combined.
• Add flour mixture to butter mixture and stir until all flour is incorporated.
• Refrigerate until firm, about 1-2 hours.
• Roll walnut-sized balls of dough in granulated sugar.
• Place on parchment covered baking sheet and bake 8-10 minutes, or until set and lightly browned. If you want a crispier cookie like a ginger snap, just let them stay in the oven a bit longer. If you want a softer cookie, bake until just set.
• Cool on the cookie sheet a couple of minutes before removing to a cooling rack.
• Yield: about 5 dozen

Lemon Glazed Persimmon Date Bars

 

 The persimmons I remember from my childhood were small fruits that grew wild in the woods. If you dared to eat one before it was mushy ripe (and that usually didn't happen until after a hard frost) you'd better have been prepared to have your mouth turned inside out. 

I remember my dad singing:

"Possum up the 'simmon tree,

raccoon on the ground,

Raccoon says to the possum,

won't you throw me some 'simmons down."

The persimmons I used in these bars, however, are not the persimmons of my childhood. A sweet friend gifted me with a bag of these lovely Japanese Fuyu persimmons that she grew herself.

Confession: I was afraid to eat these the first week I had them. I was waiting for them to get soft and mushy like the wild ones. I was soon set straight- these can be enjoyed while still firm, like an apple! They were so sweet and delicious that we ate most of them just as they were. The last three though, I made into these lovely bars to add to Thanksgiving dinner. 

You could just call these "Fall in a Cookie," but they'd feel at home on a tray of Christmas cookies as well. They're spicy, chewy, and the lemon glaze on top is the perfect complement to the delicate sweetness of the bars. They're keepers, for sure... now I just need more persimmons!

Lemon Glazed Persimmon Date Bars
Recipe from Saveur

Bar Ingredients
1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. freshly ground nutmeg
1 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1 cup pureed persimmon pulp
1 1/2 tsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. baking soda
1 cup sugar
1 cup finely chopped dates (I used a food processor to chop these. I chopped them with a tablespoon of the flour included in the recipe to keep them from sticking together.)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
Glaze ingredients:
1 cup confectioners sugar
2 Tblsp. lemon juice

Directions: 

• Heat oven to 350F. Grease and flour 10x15x1 inch jelly roll pan.
• Whisk together flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and cloves. Set aside.
• Whisk together persimmon pulp, 1 1/2 tsp. lemon juice and baking soda. Set aside.
• In a large bowl, mix together sugar, dates, oil and egg. Add dry ingredients and persimmon mixture. (Don't be alarmed if the persimmon mixture appears to gel.) Stir until just combined. Spread with spatula into prepared pan. 
• Bake until lightly browned, about 25 minutes.
• Remove from oven, let cool 5 minutes and then spread with glaze.
• Glaze: Stir together 1 cup confectioners sugar and 2 Tblsp. Lemon juice.
• Cool to harden glaze, then cut into finger size bars.

The Best Carrot Cake

     Carrots are good for you, right? And pineapple, coconut and walnuts? The stuff dreams are made of. This cake is full of 'em. Topped right out of the oven with a dreamy hot buttermilk glaze (that's really more of a butterscotch caramel glaze) and then with a layer of cream cheese frosting, this is a cake I look forward to making again.

     I made this for Easter dinner at my Mom's house. It was good the first day, and even better the next. I recommend making this when there are people to help you eat it. Trust me, no one will complain.  Next time I'll make layers- I needed this one to travel so I opted for a sheet cake. More layers = more frosting per bite. That can't be a bad thing, can it? I followed the recipe as written, and wouldn't change a thing. You can find the recipe- from Southern Living-  here.
   

Happy Earth Day!

Lego Cookies for a Special Birthday!

As the mother and grandmother of boys, I know Legos. I can identify them in the dark, especially if I'm barefoot. (If you've ever had Legos in your house, you probably know exactly what I mean!) I am a Lego enabler (I wonder if there's a support group for this), and love to add to the already overflowing Lego bins that include bits and pieces of all of the random Lego sets my boys collected over the years.

So when my grandson wanted a Lego birthday party for his seventh year, I was more than happy to help his mom make him some cookies.

And some happy little cakes.

Seven already? No way!

These Legos, inspired by Callye's Easy Lego Cookies at The Sweet Adventures of Sugarbelle, were made with this Iced Spice Cookie recipe. It's a ginger cookie with royal frosting, and my favorite for cut-outs. The cakes were sculpted from sheet cakes and mini-cupcakes, and frosted with buttercream. The Lego head cookies were cut using a template that my daughter in law drew. (Well chilled dough made this easier.) The bricks were simply cut with a knife into squares and rectangles. I used Sugarbelle's Twenty Second Icing to fill the cookies, and frosting that was just a little bit thicker to add the face features and dots on the bricks.

The birthday boy would only eat the brick cookies- the little Lego heads were pronounced "Too cute to eat!" I don't think it stopped anyone else though. :) 

The Runaway Mummy

 
      How many of you grew up with Margaret Wise Brown's classics, Goodnight Moon and The Runaway Bunny? And  have read them over and over to your own children? And grandchildren maybe?  If you, like me, can recite them with your eyes closed while you're half asleep with a child snuggled on your lap begging you to "Read it again, pleeeeease?" then you might just appreciate these two "Petrifying Parodies," Goodnight Goon and The Runaway Mummy, from Michael Rex.

    
     We had fun in my class this week comparing these two books with the originals. It was obvious that Michael Rex, the author, had an appreciation of both Margaret Wise Brown's stories  and Clement Hurd's illustrations. My own kids grew up with these classics and have fond memories of them.

     These little mummy cookies are just cute spooky enough to go with either of these books. No special decorating skills are needed for these little guys. Just make up some gingerbread men, (or would you call them gingerdead men?) "glue" on candy eyes and pipe on the frosting. I used a small Wilton basketweave tip, but a ziploc baggie with the corner cut off would work just as well. These were made from my favorite Iced Spice Cookie recipe, but any gingerbread (or even chocolate) cut out cookie would work.

And if you find that your gingerbread mummies are too scared to be alone on Halloween, you could always make them some skeletons to keep them company. :)

 

Iced Spice Cookies (Printable recipe here.) 

Iced Spice Cookies recipe adapted from Patti Paige, Creative Ideas for Living Jan/Feb '89 2/3 cup shortening (I use butter) 1/2 cup packed brown sugar 2 teaspoons ground ginger 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves 1 and 1/2 teaspoons salt (I only use 1) 1 large egg (from a happy hen if you can find one-mine aren't laying right now) 3/4 cup molasses 3 cups all purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon baking powder Directions: Cream together the first six ingredients. Add the egg and mix thoroughly. Add the molasses and mix again. Set aside. Sift together the flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Add to molasses mixture and mix until dough forms. Divide the dough into two balls (flattened), wrap in plastic wrap and chill at least three hours. (I chilled it overnight) This dough is hard to work with unless it's chilled. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Roll out one ball of dough to a thickness of 1/8 to 1/4 inch. The original recipe calls for rolling the dough out between two sheets of lightly floured wax paper or a floured pastry cloth. I didn't have those so I just checked my dough frequently to make sure it wasn't sticking to my surface. (Flour is your friend, here.) Cut out desired shapes. Gather scraps into a ball and put in the freezer while you repeat with the rest of your dough. Transfer cookies to parchment covered (or greased) baking sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes, making sure edges don't burn. Cool completely on a rack before frosting. (recipe below) For me this recipe made about 4 dozen small cookies. Royal Icing In a large bowl, mix together 1 pound of confectioners sugar, 3 tablespoons meringue powder (I used Wilton) and a scant 1/2 cup water. (Reserve several spoonfuls of the water-wait and see if you need it. Royal frosting is kind of tricky in that it depends on the humidity as to exactly how much water you'll need.) Mix until soft peaks form. (I did mine about 8 minutes.) Put some frosting in a piping bag fitted with a small basketweave tip and pipe on the mummy wrappings. You could also use a ziploc baggie with the corner cut off!

"Wormy" Cider Spiced Apple Pie Bars

     Nobody loves me, everybody hates me, guess I'll go eat worms. Do you remember that song? It came to mind as I scattered the topping over these wormy apple pie bars. Well not real worms anyway. I have an aversion to the real ones. What you see here is just a batch of squiggly cinnamon sugar covered wrigglers decking out a tender apple filling with an apple cider spiced cookie crust underneath. Throw a couple of cute little gummy worms on top and you've got a spook-tacular Halloween treat that's just gruesome enough. (But not too gruesome.)

     I spiced mine up with some instant cider mix, but plain cinnamon and sugar would work just as well. I know some people have issues with the ready made refrigerated pie crusts, but they really work here. (And I have issues with making pie crust.) Make your own crust if you wish, but the rolled dough makes it really easy to produce many worms in short order. And those wormy things on top? They bake up nice and crispy and add a cinnamon-sugar crunch to each bite. And trust me, it's the only way I'll be eating worms. :)


Wormy Cider Spiced Apple Pie Bars (Printable recipe here)
adapted from this Betty Crocker Recipe

Ingredients:
Cookie Crust
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 packet instant apple cider or 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
Filling
7-8 medium apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
1/2 cup light brown sugar (or to taste, depending on the sweetness of your apples)
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 packet instant apple cider (optional)
pinch of salt
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
Wormy Topping
1 box refrigerated rolled pie crusts (or your favorite homemade pie crust)
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 packet instant apple cider

Instructions:

• Heat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. (400 for dark or nonstick pan) 
• Cream together 1/2 cup softened butter and 1/3 cup brown sugar. Stir in 1 1/4 cups flour and packet of cider mix or cinnamon until mixed. 
• Press mixture into the bottom of an ungreased 9x13 baking pan. 
• Mix together all filling ingredients and pour into the crust. Bake for 10 minutes. While this bakes, prepare the wormy topping.
• Mix together 1/3 cup of granulated sugar, cinnamon and apple cider mix. Cut one cold pie crust (still rolled) lengthwise in half, and then into thin (1/4 inch or less) slices. 
• Separate the pieces and toss to coat in the cinnamon sugar mixture. Repeat with the remaining pie crust.
• Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar coated "worms" over the partially baked filling and bake 18-22 minutes more until crust is golden brown. Cool completely before cutting into bars. For a spookier effect, try using colored sugar (red for earthworms?) for the topping.

Will You Be My Valentine?

   
     When you're in second grade, Valentine's Day is wondrous. In the days leading up to it, you  thoughtfully decorate your mailbox with hearts and stickers, all the time anticipating what it might hold when the magical day arrives. Red and pink scraps of paper litter the classroom floor, evidence of hastily cut, glued, glittered and lettered missives of friendship that will be surreptitiously slipped into your classmates' expectant receptacles.

     In second grade everybody's your friend. You don't have to worry about girlfriends or boyfriends or dating or any of those drama inducing love triangles that will come all too soon and fill your Valentine's Day with more angst than should be allowed.

     In second grade, instead of worrying about who's sending you flowers or candy, you can tell jokes. Corny jokes. And riddles that you ask your friends over and over and they will always laugh. When you're in second grade, jokes are always funny. Classics like:

What did the boy bird say to the girl bird?  "Let me call you Tweet Heart."

What did the boy bat say to the girl bat? "Let's hang around together."

What did the boy cat say to the girl cat? "We're purrrfect for each other."

     The long awaited fourteenth  arrives, and all day long eyes are glued to the bulging bags on the classroom counter.  Not soon enough, little fingers are busy unearthing and poring over the hidden treasures within; little envelopes with colorful cards and maybe a piece of candy or two. Affirmations of friendships. And hopefully, cookies.

     These Iced Spice Cookies have been the "go-to" cookie in my household for years. Simpler to decorate than the last Valentine cookies I posted, they were a breeze to make. I used Sweet Sugarbelle's "Twenty Second" royal icing since the cookies were smallish. I loved that I only had to make two different colors of frosting, but you could make yours as colorful as you like. The hearts on the cookies were made by immediately piping dots of frosting onto each freshly frosted cookie, and then drawing a toothpick through the dots from top to bottom. Do this immediately, before the frosting crusts, and be sure to wipe off the toothpick after every pass to keep your hearts neat!

     Make some of these for someone you love. And if you know any second graders, ask them to tell you their favorite joke. Be prepared to listen to their peals of laughter while you secretly groan inside. :)

Iced Spice Cookies
(printable page)

recipe adapted from Patti Paige, Creative Ideas for Living Jan/Feb '89
2/3 cup shortening (I use butter)
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 and 1/2 teaspoons salt (I only use 1)
1 large egg (from a happy hen if you can find one-mine aren't laying right now)
3/4 cup molasses
3 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
Directions:

• Cream together the first six ingredients. Add the egg and mix thoroughly. Add the molasses and mix again. Set aside.
• Sift together the flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Add to molasses mixture and mix until dough forms.
• Divide the dough into two balls (flattened), wrap in plastic wrap and chill at least three hours. (I chilled it overnight) This dough is hard to work with unless it's chilled.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
• Roll out one ball of dough to a thickness of 1/8 to 1/4 inch. The original recipe calls for rolling the dough out between two sheets of lightly floured wax paper or a floured pastry cloth. I didn't have those so I just checked my dough frequently to make sure it wasn't sticking to my surface.
  
• Cut out desired shapes. Gather scraps into a ball and put in the freezer while you repeat with the rest of your dough.
• Transfer cookies to parchment covered (or greased) baking sheet.
  
• Bake for 8-10 minutes, making sure edges don't burn. Cool completely on a rack before frosting. For me this recipe made about 4 dozen small cookies.

Gingerbread Bundt Cake

     Happy National Bundt Day! This Gingerbread Bundt Cake, made with stout beer and fresh ginger, is a great way to kick off your holiday baking season. The smell of molasses and ginger always makes me feel all warm and cozy, especially when the air is crisp and cool outside. Wouldn't this beautiful bundt would be a lovely addition to your Thanksgiving table? It's spicy, moist with the complex flavors of molasses and stout, and covered with a gingery glaze made with my favorite ginger ale of all time.

     Bottled in the Northern Neck since 1926,  Northern Neck Ginger Ale is a taste of home for me. I appreciate its crisp, peppery bite that sets it apart from others. It's only sold in cans and plastic bottles now, but I remember the signature green glass bottles with the bubbles on the front!

     And if a gingerbread bundt doesn't suit your fancy, head over to The Food Librarian. For the past three years, Mary has celebrated National Bundt Day by baking thirty bundts for each of the thirty days leading up to it! You can find her bevy of beautiful bundts here, and I bet you can find one that you'll want to bake. It's O.K. to celebrate the occasion a little late, especially if it involves eating  cake. :)


Stout Gingerbread Bundt Cake
from All-Time Best Holiday Recipes,  America's Test Kitchen
Ingredients
2 1/2 cups (12 1/2 oz.) all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
16 Tablespoons unsalted butter
2 Tablespoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
4 large eggs, room temperature
1 1/2 cups (10 1/2 oz.) sugar
4 teaspoons grated or minced fresh ginger
3/4 cup robust or dark molasses
3/4 cup stout beer (I used Guinness)
Glaze
1 3/4 cups (7 oz.) confectioners sugar
3 tablespoons ginger ale
1 teaspoon ground ginger

Cake Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease and flour 12-cup Bundt pan.
•  Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl.
• Melt butter in saucepan over medium heat. Stir in ground spices and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Remove from heat.
• Whisk eggs, sugar, and fresh ginger in large bowl until light and frothy. Stir in melted butter mixture, molasses, and stout until incorporated. Whisk flour mixture into egg mixture until no lumps remain.
• Pour batter into prepared pan and gently tap pan on counter to release any air bubbles. Bake until skewer inserted into center comes out clean, about 45 minutes.Let cake cool in pan for 20 minutes, then turn out onto wire rack; let cool completely.
• Prepare glaze: Whisk all ingredients in bowl until smooth. Pour glaze over cooled cake.
• Enjoy! 

Apple-Almond Streusel Pie

     Sweet almond paste sandwiched snugly between layers of flaky crust... Tender apples spiced with warm cinnamon ... Crunchy bits of toasted almond streusel ... So many reasons to love this pie!

     The quintessential fall fruit teams up with almonds here to create a treat worthy of any occasion. It's delicious warm or cold, and I say this with authority having made it twice already in the past week. I first saw this pie in the new Pampered Chef catalog, and it sweetly called my name. Hope it calls yours too!


Apple-Almond Streusel Pie
Recipe from Pampered Chef  featured in Simply Sweet with my changes noted
You'll need:
For the crust:
two pie crusts (enough for a double crust pie) your favorite homemade or refrigerated
1  8oz. can of almond paste (or 7oz. tube)
1 tsp. cornstarch
2 egg whites, divided (One of these is just for moistening the edges of the pie crusts to keep them together, so I used the white of an extra large egg and saved back a teaspoon of it to brush on the crusts.)
For the filling:
3 to 3 1/2 lbs Granny Smith Apples, peeled (8 cups sliced)
1 Tablespoon lemon juice (I used 2 Tablespoons)
1/2 cup packed brown sugar (I used a bit less than this)
1 teaspoon Cinnamon Spice Blend (Pampered Chef has its own blend. I didn't have any so I used my own spice blend, recipe here.)
2 Tablespoons butter
For the Streusel topping:
1/3 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 Tablespoons butter, melted
1/3 cup sliced almonds (I used more than this)

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 370F or 190C.
• Place almond paste, one egg white and cornstarch in the bowl of a food processor. Process until smooth.
• Roll each of the pie crusts into a 12 inch circle. Spread almond paste onto one pie crust to within 1/2 inch of edge. Lightly beat the reserved egg white and brush over the edge of the crust not covered by the almond paste.
• Carefully place the second pie crust on top of the first. Pat together gently and press edges together with fingertips. Using a pastry cutter, trim 1/8 inch edge off of the crust to create a decorative border.
• Place crust into a deep dish pie pan, pressing dough into bottom and up sides. Prick bottom and sides. Bake for about 30-35 minutes, or until edges are light golden brown. (I had to cover the edges to keep them from browning too quickly.) While the crust is baking, prepare the filling.
• Filling: Pour lemon juice into a large bowl. Peel, core and slice apples into the lemon juice. Add brown sugar and spices; toss to coat.
• Melt butter in a skillet. Pour apple mixture into the skillet and cook, covered, over medium high heat until apples are tender. (6-8 minutes)
• Strain cooked apples over a bowl, reserving the liquid. Return the liquid to to the skillet and cook 2-3 minutes on medium-high heat until thickened and amber in color. Toss with apples and pour into crust.
• Combine flour, sugar and melted butter; stir until crumbly. Add almonds; toss to combine. Sprinkle topping over pie. Bake 20-25 minutes or until topping is light golden brown.
• Serve warm

This post is linked to:

Johnny Appleseed Squares

"Oh, The Lord's been good to me

And so I thank the Lord

For giving me the things I need,

The sun and the rain and the apple seed,

The Lord's been good to me."

(Johnny Appleseed Hymn)

      Most school-age children in the United States have heard of Johnny Appleseed, the legendary American frontiersman who planted apple trees over large parts of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois from seeds recovered from cider mills. From all accounts he was quite an individual! So, while browsing through a copy of Maida Heatter's Book of Great American Desserts, the recipe for these Johnny Appleseed Squares caught my eye. An apple for the teacher? Works for me.

     These bars were sweet, spicy, chewy and chunky and tasted like fall, if that's possible, and the thinly sliced apples sandwiched between the layers of spicy, chewy, chunky oatmeal made them wonderfully moist. The cake-like squares were delicious all by themselves, but I can just imagine how they'd taste topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and gooey caramel drizzled over the top.

     Maida says that she first tasted these bar type cookies at a "gift shop somewhere along the spectacular Skyline Drive in Virginia" and immediately requested the recipe. Skyline Drive, in the Blue Ridge Mountains, has been a fall destination for our family ever since I can remember. The colorful panoramas are breathtaking, and apples are plentiful. Jugs of sweet cider and jars of rich apple butter abound at orchard stands along the route. We haven't made our annual apple pilgrimage yet - we usually time it to coincide with the "peak" leaf color- but cool nights and crisp mornings tell me that I won't have too much longer to wait!


Johnny Appleseed Squares
from Maida Heatter's Book of Great American Desserts
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
Scant 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg or mace
1 1/2 cups quick-cooking rolled oats
2/3 cup dark or light brown sugar, firmly packed (I used dark.)
1 stick unsalted butter, melted
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 to 3 firm cooking apples (I used 2 large apples.)
1/2 cup toasted pecans, cut or broken into small/medium size pieces (optional)

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a 9 inch square baking pan with foil, making sure the edges extend over the edges of the pan for easy removal. Butter foil then place the prepared pan in the freezer. (This makes it easier to spread a thin layer of dough in the pan.)
• Sift together flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg or mace. Stir in the oats and sugar. In a small bowl, stir together the butter, egg, and vanilla and mix into the oat mixture.
• Press half of the dough (1 cup) into the prepared pan. Set aside.
• Place the remaining dough between two 12 inch lengths of wax paper and roll out into a 9-inch square. (It will be very thin.) Slide a flat cookie sheet under the dough and wax paper and transfer it to the freezer for a few minutes.
• Meanwhile, peel, quarter and core the apples and cut each quarter lengthwise into 5 or 6 slices. (Not too thick.) Place the apple slices in rows, each slice slightly overlapping another, to cover the bottom layer of dough. Sprinkle with the nuts.
• Remove the rolled-out square of dough from the freezer, peel off the top piece of paper, turn the dough over the apples. Remove the remaining paper and press down on the edges of the dough. 
• Bake for 25 to 30 minutes. About 10 minutes before the cake is done, if the top has not started to brown, raise the rack to a higher position.
• Cool in the pan.  Lift cake out using the edges of the foil, and cut into squares or bars. (Maida says that chilling the cake makes it easier to cut neatly. She also adds that they freeze well.)

Bavarian Peach Torte

     Sigh. Bandwidth issues have been my nemesis for the last couple of weeks. It seems that we exceeded our maximum bandwidth allowance and our internet connection speed got slowed down to a c.r.a.w.l. until the bandwidth police decided we had been without it for a sufficient amount of time.

     As I was wondering whether or not I should make a trip into town to find some free WiFi so I could share this luscious torte with you,  I got the best birthday surprise ever! My son, daughter in law and grandson drove all the way from Texas to surprise me for my birthday! (Insert tears and an extremely happy Mimi here.) And since they've been here, I have to admit that I haven't missed my computer a bit. We've been spending time together and having loads of fun. I mean, who could miss their internet when they've got Sherlock Jones to hang out with? Seriously.

 

      My little baking assistant and I have been spending time in the kitchen though. We made this luscious torte not once, but twice. Why? Cinnamon and sugar coated peaches nestled in a dreamy cream cheese filling, all wrapped up in a nut filled crust, that's why!  This recipe comes from my friend/neighbor/colleague Kathy, who got it from her Aunt Betty, and it's been a birthday favorite in her family for years. It's good the first day, and even better the second. I can't attest to how it is after that, because it never lasted any longer!

      My bandwidth has finally been restored so I'll be cautiously catching up with everybody soon. I'm anxious to find out what everyone has been up to!

Bavarian Peach Torte
recipe from Kathy (and her Aunt Betty)

Ingredients for crust:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup flour
1/4 tsp. vanilla
2/3 cup pecans or walnuts, chopped very finely (I bet almonds would be good too!) 

Ingredients for filling:
8 oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened (I used Neufchatel)
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tsp. cinnamon
20 oz. can of sliced peaches, drained


Instructions for crust:
In large bowl, beat butter, 1/3 c. sugar, and 1/4 teaspoon vanilla until well blended. Gradually add flour until well mixed. Stir in nuts. With lightly floured hands, press mixture into bottom and 1" up sides of 10" springform pan.


Instructions for filling:

• In small bowl, beat cream cheese and 1/4 cup sugar until smooth. 
• Beat in egg and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla until just blended. Pour into crust. 
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. 
• In large bowl, combine 1 tsp sugar and cinnamon. Add peach slices and toss gently. 
• Arrange peach slices on top of cream cheese mixture. 
• Bake 35 minutes, or until cream cheese mixture is set. 
• Cool torte in pan 20 min, then carefully remove sides. Serve warm or refrigerate to serve cold. 

I'm linking this post to Sweets for a Saturday at Sweet as Sugar Cookies.

Hermits- Cookies that Definitely Should Not Keep to Themselves

  Betty Crocker says that Hermits were a favorite cookie back in 1900, and after making these I've decided that it was not without reason. They're soft, spicy, chewy, and loaded with candied ginger and raisin puree. Browned butter makes them soft and cakey, just right for a hearty, satisfying snack. These Hermits are a new twist on an old favorite, and they'd be at home either clutched in a little fist and enjoyed with a cold glass of milk or served on an elegant party tray with a steaming cup of spiced apple cider.

If you haven't started your holiday baking, you should definitely put this recipe on your list. It's from the Holiday Cookies from America's Test Kitchens Holiday 2010 issue. (Yep, it's the one from my giveaway.) You didn't think I could resist buying one for myself too, did you?

Hermit Cookies- Printable recipe here
slightly adapted from Holiday Cookies from America's Test Kitchens (Holiday 2010)
Makes about 2 dozen large cookies
Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour (plus extra if needed for forming rolls of dough)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup raisins
2 Tablespoons crystallized ginger, chopped fine
1 stick unsalted butter (8 Tablespoons)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup molasses
2 large eggs
1 and 1/2 Tablespoons orange juice
3/4 cup confectioners sugar

• Combine flour, baking soda and salt in a bowl.
• Process raisins and ginger together in food processor or blender. My raisins were very dry and wouldn't process, so I splashed in about a Tablespoon of coffee to soften them. Orange juice or water would work well too, if you have the same problem.
• Heat butter in saucepan over medium low heat, swirling occasionally, until nutty brown in color. (about 10 minutes- Watch it carefully. Once it starts to brown, it browns quickly.) Add spices to the butter, and cook until fragrant. (about 15 seconds)
• Add the butter mixture to the raisin mixture. Mix together and then cool completely.
• Add brown sugar, molasses, and eggs to the raisin/butter mixture. Stir until completely incorporated. 
• Fold in flour mixture and refrigerate, covered, until firm. (at least 1 1/2 hours- I did mine overnight.)
• When you are ready to bake, preheat oven to 350°F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. Divide dough into four equal parts. Roll each part into a 10 inch log on a floured surface, then place on prepared baking sheet. My dough was very sticky, so I used flour liberally to make my four rolls. (I'm sure this was because I added extra liquid to soften my raisins.) Put two logs on each cookie sheet, leaving about 3 inches between the rolls. (They will spread.)
• Bake until edges are set but center is still soft, 15 to 20 minutes. Cool on sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer parchment to wire rack to cool completely.
• Repeat for second two cookie rolls. 
• Make glaze. Whisk together orange juice and confectioners sugar. Drizzle mixture over cooled logs. Let set until glaze hardens. Cut logs into bars. The original recipe called for making them 2 inches wide, but I made mine a bit smaller.
• Variation: Use a maple glaze in place of the orange.  Mix together 3/4 cup of confectioners sugar, 1 1/2 Tablespoons of milk or water and a bit of maple flavoring to taste.

Uncle Will's Molasses Cookies

 Uncle Will's Molasses Cookies

  Who doesn't love the scent of spicy molasses cookies wafting from the kitchen? They are definitely my favorites, especially at this time of year. There's nothing like a molasses cookie warm from the oven to make you feel all happy and content inside! There are several different versions (here and here) that I like to make, but I'm always open for trying a new recipe. I found these cookies on The Cooking Photographer's blog, and the story she wrote about their background was so compelling they went right to the top of my "must make" list!

 In a nutshell, these cookies are from a recipe passed down through family members from a 1930's baker (Uncle Will) in the Rosebush, Michigan area. The recipe has been modified slightly to adjust for modern ingredients, but otherwise is pretty close to the original. I loved this cookie for not only its warm subtle spices, but for its soft, chewy texture. It's a perfect, old fashioned "cookie jar" cookie that tempts you to reach in for one every time you pass by. Thankfully, some things never go out of style!

 

Uncle Will's Molasses Cookies

Recipe slightly adapted from The Cooking Photographer

Ingredients

1 lb. seedless raisins (about 3 cups) * (see note)

3 cups granulated sugar

1 and 1/2 cups butter (3 sticks), softened (original recipe called for lard)

1/2 cup molasses

3 eggs

1 Tablespoon cinnamon

1 Tablespoon allspice

1 Tablespoon ground cloves

1 Tablespoon salt

1 Tablespoon baking soda

6 cups all purpose flour

Directions

• Finely chop, puree or grind raisins to a paste.* Set aside.
• In a large mixing bowl cream together butter and sugar.
• Add raisin puree and molasses. Mix well.
• Add eggs, mixing after each addition.
• Stir in cinnamon, allspice, cloves, salt and baking soda. Mix well.
• Add half of flour. Mix well
• Add rest of flour. Mix just until everything is combined.
• Divide the dough into 4 or 5 portions. Flatten each and refrigerate at least a couple of hours, but preferably overnight for flavors to develop.

When you're ready to bake:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Generously flour the surface you are using.
• Roll one portion of dough out to about 1/4 inch. (The dough tends to be sticky, so make sure you flour your surface, the surface of the dough, and your rolling pin.)
• Cut with round cookie cutter, place rounds about an inch apart on parchment covered baking sheets, and bake for about 12 minutes.
• Allow cookies to cool on the cookie sheet for a few minutes; remove to rack to cool completely.
• This recipe makes LOTS. Once baked, the cookies freeze well in an airtight bag. You can also place the well-wrapped portions of unbaked dough in your freezer. ( Let these sit out and thaw a bit before rolling out.)

Alternately: Scoop tablespoonfuls of dough onto parchment covered baking sheet. Flatten with a glass dipped in sugar. Bake as directed above.

*The original recipe instructs you to soak your raisins in boiling water before pureeing them. My mom told me that when she was a girl back in the 30's, raisins were much harder (drier) and seedier than they are now, and soaking was necessary when using them in recipes such as this one. Since my raisins were fairly fresh, I skipped the soak that was called for in the original recipe.

 This post has been added to the Hearth and Soul Blog Hop.

Cushaw Squash Pie

Looks like pumpkin pie, smells like pumpkin pie, but it's NOT your average, run of the mill pumpkin pie. What is it?

It's a Cushaw Squash Pie! The Cushaw (or Kershaw) Squash, sometimes called a Tennessee Sweet Potato, is an heirloom winter squash grown mostly in the southern United States. It's hardy, heat tolerant and resistant to squash borers, which makes it easier to grow without pesticides. If you're careful about where you grow it, the seeds can be saved from one year to the next, ensuring a steady supply of this versatile squash that can be used for both sweet and savory dishes.

Many southern cooks prefer the sweet yellow flesh of the Cushaw for making pumpkin pies. After tasting this pie that I made from a recipe found  on Chickens in the Road  I'm not surprised. The squash pie had  the same warm spices as pumpkin pie, but had a milder taste and silky texture. Actually, you can use Cushaw squash in any recipe that calls for pumpkin. Next up for me? Probably Cushaw Butter, which I've heard is a family tradition in parts of Tennessee. 

I really hope you're able to find one of these heirloom treasures at your local farmer's market. I'm saving the seeds from mine so I'll be sure to have more next year!

Prepare the Squash:

Preparing the squash is easy. Wash it, cut it in half, remove the seeds and stringy part, and bake it cut side down on a lightly greased baking sheet. (350 degrees for about an hour and fifteen minutes or until tender when pierced with a fork) After scooping out the baked flesh, mash it well or put through a Foley food mill. Proceed as you would with any other pumpkin recipe.  (The seeds can be roasted like you would roast pumpkin seeds.)

Spiced Cushaw Pie

recipe adapted from Chickens in the Road

You'll need:

Your favorite pastry for a nine inch pie 

2 cups prepared squash (or pumpkin)

2/3 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

3 large eggs, beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla

12 oz. can evaporated milk

1 Tablespoon melted butter

Directions:

In a small bowl, mix together beaten eggs, evaporated milk and vanilla. In a large bowl, combine squash, melted butter, sugar, cinnamon, ginger, salt, nutmeg and cloves. Add milk mixture to squash mixture and mix until well combined. Pour into pie pan (9 inch) lined with an uncooked pastry shell . (Use your favorite pie crust recipe.) Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit (lower half of oven) for an hour, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. (Mine took a bit longer.) Chill and serve. Keep refrigerated.

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Cushaw Squash

Fresh Apple Cake

 I've been a bad blogger. AWOL. These last two weeks have been a bit crazy and something had to go. So blogging got shoved to the back burner until I got all of my school stuff under control. And all the other "stuff" too. Well maybe not all of it, but enough of it to be able to sit down and maybe think  about what's been going on in my kitchen. And to dust off my poor neglected camera.

 Thanks to my brother, I've been blessed with several baskets of "just a little bit less than perfect" honey crisp apples. With this wonderful bounty, I've been making applesauce, apple butter and this lovely little apple cake. This is another recipe from my mom, that she got many years ago from someone at church. (There are some really good cooks at our little church. Homecomings with dinner on the grounds are always an occasion to eat way too much good food!)  This cake has just the right combination of spices and will fill your kitchen with scents of apple and cinnamon goodness. The apples (and raisins if you choose to add them) make the cake incredibly moist. You could add a caramel glaze if you like, but I found that it didn't really need another thing. And if by chance you have any of this lovely cake left over, it's even better the next day.


Fresh Apple Cake

Ingredients:
3 cups apples, peeled cored and chopped (I chopped mine pretty small)
1/2 cup golden raisins (optional)
1 cup nuts, chopped
2 eggs, beaten
3/4 cup oil (I used canola)
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:

• Grease and flour tube or bundt pan. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
• In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs and oil. 
• Add sugars and vanilla and mix well.
• Sift together flour, salt, spices and baking powder. Stir flour mixture into sugar mixture. 
• Stir in apples, nuts and raisins. 
• Put apple mixture into prepared pan and bake for 55 to 60 minutes. 
• Cool for 5 minutes in pan and then invert onto wire rack to finish cooling.

Dinosaur Cookies

At the end of July, my son and his wife moved to Texas. I know, I know...kids do that. But they took my grandson with them! My only grandchild, who has never lived more than a few minutes away these last 4 years. It has definitely been an adjustment for me.

 

When he called and asked, "Mimi, would you please send me some dinosaur cookies?" I did what any sensible  doting grandma would do. I baked.

 I used my favorite cookie recipe to make these. This is the recipe that I always make when I need cut-outs.  (As evidenced here, here and here!) It's an old-fashioned flavor of cookie that just makes me feel all good inside. I got the recipe in a Creative Ideas for Living magazine back in 1989, and it's been my go-to recipe ever since. It reminds me of the soft fat ginger cookies with pink frosting that used to be in the big jar on the counter of our little country store when I was young.

Grandson loves them too. If he were here, he'd have been helping for sure! He'll have them soon enough- they went in the mail today, and they're supposed to arrive by Monday. I bet he'll eat the red T-Rex first.

                        All boxed up and Texas bound!                                 

Iced Spice Cookies
(printable page)

recipe adapted from Patti Paige, Creative Ideas for Living Jan/Feb '89
2/3 cup shortening (I use butter)
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 and 1/2 teaspoons salt (I only use 1)
1 large egg (from a happy hen if you can find one-mine aren't laying right now)
3/4 cup molasses
3 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
Directions:

• Cream together the first six ingredients. Add the egg and mix thoroughly. Add the molasses and mix again. Set aside.
• Sift together the flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Add to molasses mixture and mix until dough forms.
• Divide the dough into two balls (flattened), wrap in plastic wrap and chill at least three hours. (I chilled it overnight) This dough is hard to work with unless it's chilled.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
• Roll out one ball of dough to a thickness of 1/8 to 1/4 inch. The original recipe calls for rolling the dough out between two sheets of lightly floured wax paper or a floured pastry cloth. I didn't have those so I just checked my dough frequently to make sure it wasn't sticking to my surface.
  
• Cut out desired shapes. Gather scraps into a ball and put in the freezer while you repeat with the rest of your dough.
• Transfer cookies to parchment covered (or greased) baking sheet.
  
• Bake for 8-10 minutes, making sure edges don't burn. Cool completely on a rack before frosting. (recipe below) For me this recipe made about 4 dozen small cookies.

Royal Icing
In a large bowl, mix together 1 pound of confectioners sugar, 3 tablespoons meringue powder and about 1/2 cup water. (Reserve a couple of spoonfuls of the water-wait and see if you need it. Royal frosting is kind of tricky in that it depends on the humidity as to exactly how much water you'll need.) Mix until soft peaks form. (I did mine about 8 minutes.) Use this "stiffer" frosting to outline your shapes in whatever colors you want. (I colored my frosting with gel food color and used a Wilton #3 tip to pipe the frosting around the edges.)

After the edges are set, thin the remaining frosting (a few drops of water at a time) to a pouring consistency. Use this thinner frosting to fill in your outline. You can put this thinned frosting in a freezer baggie with the corner cut off to drizzle onto the outlined cookie. Your set edges will keep the frosting where it should be. For the dinosaurs, I filled in the base color first. While the frosting was still wet I piped on the designs and details with contrasting colors. The thinned frosting sort of "melts" into the background color. Let your frosted cookies dry overnight.

I'm posting this to Foodie Friday, on Designs by Gollum.