bake

Baking on Mondays with Norah

January 6, 2015

Hannah has taken on an internship this year so on Mondays it’s just Norah and I. Norah is a dynamic young lady full of creativity and a passion for cooking, baking, eating and food! She loves to work in the kitchen. She loves to host friends and family for meals and is always concocting up a new recipe. She excels in breaking me out of my “comfort zone” in the kitchen. The other day we were having a friend over for dinner and I was pressed for time and decided to make a vegetable fritatta. Norah insisted (she is a very persistent child) on making a quiche instead. I argued we didn’t have time to play around with a crust nor did I have much experience with quiche but I gave in and we ended up with one of the most delicious meals we have made in a while!

In the new year we thought it might be fun to make Mondays our baking day and to strive to make new things we have never made before. Yesterday we made a new york style cheesecake from this recipe. I have always thought cheesecake was an overly involved and tricky cake with a long list of ingredients but we found it was quite easy and simple really. We didn’t have enough graham crackers on hand so we substituted some homemade gingerbread men left over from the holidays for the crust. We also added a bit more lemon than called for. Santa brought Norah a citrus press for Christmas! It was rich, creamy and delicious with the perfect lemon zing. Norah and I were both beaming as we undid the spring form pan.

Next week…… bagels!!!

applesauce cake

February 13, 2014

we had just a smidge of our homemade applesauce left so i thought i would do it justice by turning it into cake. craft circle was this evening and i served it up with chai tea.
it’s a deliciously moist cake made with warm spices, brown sugar and pecans, tasting a bit like gingerbread. it tastes best warm out of the oven with a dollop of homemade whipped cream but is also the perfect breakfast drizzled with a little yogurt and honey.

applesauce cake

preheat oven to 350 degrees
grease and flour one (6 cup) fluted or bundt pan

1 1/2 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon round ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
1 cup applesauce
1 cup chopped pecans

sift together flour, baking soda and spices.
cream butter and sugar. add egg
alternate adding flour mixture and applesauce.
add nuts.

scrape batter in to pan and bake for 30 minutes.
cool and dust with confectioners sugar.

adapted from the joy of cooking. i added ginger to the recipe.

Lemon Bread

January 9, 2014

in the last few days i have been baking quite a bit. i think it’s my way to stay warm with these extremely cold temps we have been having.

i baked poppyseed cake and gingersnaps on monday and yesterday i baked a lemon bread for craft circle.

this recipe comes from my aunt patty and is very lemony and moist with a lemon/sugary glaze.
this bread has been made for many a shower, party and event and is perfect with tea.

i had not made it in a few years and after being gifted some lemons from a friend’s backyard tree in louisiana i immediately thought of this favorite.

aunt patty’s lemon bread

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 rind lemon
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

preheat oven to 350 degrees
cream butter and sugar together. add eggs, milk and lemon rind.
sift together dry ingredients and add to butter mixture.
add nuts.
pour in to greased and floured loaf pan and bake for 45 minutes.

while bread bakes make a glaze of 1/2 cup sugar and juice of 1 lemon.

while bread is still warm, pop out of pan and spoon glaze over.

enjoy!

Hand pies

July 7, 2013

my new favorite way to enjoy summer fruits (other than just eating them fresh from the fields) is filling hand pies with them.
i love the simplicity of this recipe and the ease of bringing them along to a picnic or party without worrying about plates and forks.
and they make the perfect breakfast. a homemade pop tart!

summer fruit hand pies
makes about 15 pies

dough
3 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup butter (room temperature)
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
4 ounces cream cheese
1 teaspoon vanilla

filling
your favorite summer fruits cut up or whole mixed with sugar and lemon zest

whisk together flour, soda and powder. with electric mixer beat butter and sugar til fluffy. add egg cream cheese and vanilla until well combined. add flour mixture and beat until smooth. form dough into ball and refrigerate for 1 hour or overnight.

pull out dough. on lightly floured board roll into 4 1/2 inch rounds and about 1/8 inch thick. transfer rounds on parchment lined baking sheet to freezer for 30 minutes.

pull out dough rounds and let stand at room temperature for a few minutes. spoon a tablespoon of filling onto one half of round and brush edges with water. fold round in half and fork around edge to seal. repeat with rest of rounds and transfer pies to freezer for 30 minutes.

preheat oven to 375 degrees. pull out pies and sprinkle evenly with sugar. bake until golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes. cool on wire rack.

serve warm or at room temperature.
enjoy!

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