Tag: baking

Lemon Verbena Cake

I have a beautiful lemon verbena bush in a pot on the patio, and each time it blooms I think I need to do something with it.  For some reason, lemon verbena pound cake struck a cord, and over the past several days I have been looking for something that sounds good.  Nothing really did, so with a few web recipes, and some cook books, I made up a recipe.  I dragged out the big grey monster (a.k.a. the Kitchenaid Mixer), bowls, pans, and assembled myself a cake with fresh lemons from the neighbor’s tree, lemon verbena from my bush, and a bit of elbow grease.

Lemon Verbena Cake

2 sticks (l c.) sweet butter
2 c. white sugar
4 eggs
2-4 T. fresh lemon verbena leaves, rinsed and chopped fine
Lemon zest from 1 or 2 lemons
Juice of 1-2 lemons, placed in measuring cup
Half-and-half to make one cup, added to measuring cup with lemon juice
1/2 t. salt
1 t. baking powder
1 t. baking soda
3 c. King Arthur’s unbleached white flour

Method

Preheat oven to 325 F for convection oven, or 350 F for regular oven.  Place rack in middle of oven.

With about a tablespoon of soft butter and some waxed paper, thoroughly grease a 10-inch bundt pan.  Make sure to get every crevasse and nook filled up.  Dust with a generous amount of flour, and tap out remainder.  Set aside.  (I took my butter and pan outdoors to hasten the process – hot sun, melty butter!)

In mixing bowl, beat together butter and sugar until light and creamy.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating in thoroughly.  Add chopped lemon verbena leaves and lemon zest, beat some more.

In another mixing bowl, sift together flour, salt, powder, and soda.  Alternately add the half-and-half with lemon juice (it will be curdled by now) and a third of the flour.  Liquid-flour-liquid-flour-liquid-flour.  Beat very thoroughly after each addition, scraping down the sides as necessary.  Be sure to really beat the batter a lot – the more the beating, the finer the crumb.

Bake for 60 to 75 minutes (1 hour to 1 1/4 hours).  Test by inserting toothpick into cake – if it comes out dry, cake is done.  Also, check to make sure that the cake is pulling away from the pan edge a bit.

Pray to the cake-baking gods!

Cool cake on rack 5 – 10 minutes.  With small knife, gently pry away cake edges from pan; tap on pan multiple times to loosen.    I banged on the bundt pan with a wooden spoon after I took the cake out from the oven, and used a filet knife around the center tube and around the edges of the cake.  After this, I placed a plate under the cake, tapped some more, and it came out very nicely.

My cake took about 1 1/4 hrs. to bake; I let it cool 15 minutes before inverting it onto a plate.  While the cake was still warm, and I wanted to flatten the bottom a bit, I pushed on the cake with a towel until I was happy.  Also, I think my generous buttering of the pan, along with a proper cake-god dance, did the trick.  I finally just dusted the cake with a bit of powdered sugar, through a sieve, because I do not care much for glazes.

Altogether, I am rather pleased with myself!

Sandwich Rolls

I am not a fan of boughten bread, especially rolls that pass as “bread.”  More specifically “buns” – that ubiquitous, cottony fluff that seems to haunt the American hamburger.  Specialty bakeries can produce very good products, but they are not that easy to find for a reasonable cost.  Of course, cost is always relative – is it worth my time?  If yes, the cost is worth it.  But if my time is not available, boughten might be acceptable.

This past week I have not been interested in sitting inside.  Rather, the weather and light have been pulling me outdoors.  The air is bright and wintery (as wintery as it gets where I live!), clouds, new green on branches, willow buds and toadstools.  The squirrels are quite plump – “in someone’s corn” – and busy eating everything.  I’ve also been inclined to knitting and reading and fidgeting and cooking and, today, baking some rolls for tonight’s dinner.  In a week, all this will be set aside as I return to work.

So, the recipe, and the rolls.

Sandwich Rolls
1 pkg. dry yeast
1 c. hot water
1 tsp sugar
pinch sea salt
2-4 T. olive oil (I glopped it in)
3-4 c. King Arthur unbleached white flour
cornmeal

Mix together hot water (not boiling) with yeast, sugar, oil, and a cup of the flour. Stir to make a slurry. Beat awhile to mix it smooth.

Begin adding the remainder of the flour, about a cup at a time. At about 3 cups total, add it in 1/4 c. increments.

When batter is a bit stiff, turn out onto floured board and knead about 10 minutes, working in flour. Keep dough a bit soft.

When done kneading, form into ball, and then place in oiled bowl. Turn bread dough around in bowl to make sure all surfaces are covered with oil. Cover with damp cloth and set aside to rise in warm area for an hour, or until double in volume. Punch down dough, turn out onto lightly floured board, and knead for about a minute. Return to bowl to rise another hour.

Remove from bowl, cut into 6 slices, and then shape into balls and flatten. Roll in cornmeal, and place on 11×16 cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Cover with damp towel and let rest for 15 minutes. Warm the oven to 375 F, with rack in center of oven.

Remove cloth from top of rolls, brush with olive oil. Bake for 30 minutes; cool on wire rack. If rolls are not brown enough to your liking, broil lightly to brown tops.

Sandwich Anyone?

We have leftover pork tenderloin which we roasted after marinating it in olive oil, rosemary, garlic and pepper.  This will be thinly sliced and made into sandwiches with caramelized onion, mustard (optional), tomato and something green and leafy, like cilantro or arugula.  We also have some aioli, which might also be a good addition to a sandwich.

Now, out for the evening walk, to enjoy the sky filled with pink clouds!

Ahead

The holidays are coming up, and with it the usual plans.  Families.  Presents.  What to do during the two weeks off at the end of December.

I have some thoughts about what to do this weekend.  The first one that crossed my mind this morning was whether or not I should go out and see the last of the lunar eclipse.  The answer was no.  I rolled over and slept another hour or two.  I also need to write up a test for Monday’s class and print it out, grade some papers, and pack some things into the car to take in to work.  This is the tedious stuff, but luckily it doesn’t take up hours!

And what else . . . ?  Well, we got our shipment of candied citron, orange and lemon peel from King Arthur Flour in Maine yesterday.  Time to get ready for baking fruit cakes tomorrow and figuring out . . . brandy or bourbon?  Maybe some of each.  This means assessing what is in the pantry and augmenting existing supplies.  Josh wants dates and / or figs.  I like nuts.  We also have dried fruits in a number of varieties, and a goodly collection of spices.  And a recipe we have agreed on.  Did you know that it will take 3.5 hours to bake these cakes???

Today is cold and bright, with streaky clouds overhead presaging tomorrow’s rain.  Certainly a good day to take a bit of a walk with the camera.  It has crossed my mind to drive out to the beach, but the fact is, being home is nice – no people except Josh and me and Wicket (who needs a bath . . . maybe something else to consider).  Still, I do want to get outside – too pretty to stay in!  I can think of a few places to go where contact with people will be minimal.  You see, being a teacher and an introvert, is really a conflict!  Students need my focus, and I need my focus – hence the need to decelerate and regroup on the weekend.

And there is a new hat in the works, along with pulling together some brushes to photograph and describe for someone . . .

Mornings are exciting adventures in thinking about what lies ahead.  It’s like Christmas when you are a kid – mystery and potential!

A Crostata of a Different Flavor

Sunset Magazine is filled with interesting things. Recipes of all sorts may be found, and the holiday issues are some of my favorites. The Thanksgiving edition had a particularly intriguing recipe, which I made for yesterday’s family get-together. You may find the original recipe here; what makes it particularly interesting is the fact it is made with an artisan flour derived from a different wheat than is in your average flour.  It is made with

Emmer farro flour, made from whole-grain emmer wheat, gives the crostata a rustic texture and great flavor. Because it’s low in gluten, it needs to be mixed with all-purpose flour to hold the crust together

The flour is from Bluebird Grain Farms whose specialty is heirloom organic grains.  While I did not use their flour, I think I am quite likely to try it in the near future.  I’ve added a link to their site under the Farmers to Admire category.

Below is how I made the crostata.  I think that you can use this recipe as a basis for any fresh, seasonal fruit – the frangipane is a wonderful flavor!

PASTRY

  • 1 1/2 c. whole wheat white flour
  • pinch salt
  • 1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp. cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes (1 stick of butter, and 2 T more)

Use a food processor, as in the original recipe:  pulse flours and salt to mix. Add butter and whirl 3 seconds. Drizzle in 1/3 cup ice water, pulsing until mixture comes together in a shaggy ball but still has bits of butter showing. Form into a disk, wrap airtight, and chill at least 2 hours or overnight.

FRANGIPANE

  • 1/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 6 t. white sugar
  • 1/3 cup blanched almonds, finely ground
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 T flour
  • 1/4 to 1/2 tsp. almond extract
  • 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Beat together 6 T. of sugar with butter until light and fluffy.  Mix in almonds (I used ground almond meal from Trader Joe’s), egg, flour, extracts, until smoothly blended.  Set aside.

CRANBERRIES

  • 3 cups fresh or frozen cranberries (1 12-oz. package)
  • 1/4 c. white sugar
  • 1 T. water

Mix together cranberries, sugar and water.  Set aside.

ASSEMBLING CROSTATA

Roll out dough on floured surface into a 14-inch circle.  Rotate and flip pastry as you roll it out.  Trim edges, and transfer to a round pizza pan or rectangular cookie sheet.  Line either with a sheet of parchment paper.   (I used a cookie sheet, only to find it was to big for my refrigerator, so I tilted it to fit, and had no problems with any berries escaping!)

Spread frangipane over inside of dough, leaving about a 3-inch border outside your circle of frangipane.

Place sugared cranberries over the frangipane mixture, pressing them in a bit to help keep the cranberries in place.

Fold the edges of the dough up and over the cranberries – do this gently! – and create pleats or folds as you go.  Once you do this, pinch the pleats in place a bit to seal the dough.  This will prevent leakage during baking.

Place crostata in refrigerator for about 30 minutes before baking.  While you do this, preheat the oven to 375 F with the cooking rack in the middle.  I used my oven on convection, but changed nothing as far as temperature or time.

Bake crostata for 45 minutes.  I checked mine at 35 minutes, and then continued.

Cool on parchment paper and cookie sheet, then transfer crostata and parchment paper to cookie rack to finish cooling.

Serve at room temperature, or warmed in the oven.  Great with vanilla ice cream!

Lemon Shortbread Cookies

Where I live, people give me lemons.  Lots of them.  I use them in cooking, in my drinking water, and wherever else they might be needed!  Right now I have about 40 sitting around, so yesterday I put them to work.  Here is the result . . .

Lemon Shortbread Cookies
2 1/4 c. white flour
1/4 c. cornstarch
pinch of salt
1/2 c. sugar
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 T. finely grated lemon zest

Preheat oven to 300 F for a glass pan and / or a convection oven, or 325 F for a metal pan, not using convection. Place rack for cookies in lower third of oven.

Pan size: 8×12 pan, or use a 9×13 pan, and don’t spread the dough all the way to the edge of the 9×13 pan’s short side.

Whisk together cornstarch and flour in a bowl. Set aside. In another bowl, beat together the softened butter and sugar until light and creamy. Add the flour-cornstarch mixture and beat in until crumbly. Knead by hand to mix the dough until it is smooth and pliable in the bowl, about two minutes.

Using the butter wrappers, or other fat, lightly grease cookie pan. Pat (I mash!) the cookie dough into the pan. Prick the cookie dough with a fork. If you are feeling creative, you can also use a cookie sheet and parchment paper, and shape the dough into circles. You can also use pie pans for circular cookies. Just be sure, no matter what you use to bake your cookies in, to prick the dough with a fork in several places.

Bake the cookies for 30 minutes, more or less, depending on the size of pan used, and thickness of cookies.

Note
In my opinion, this is the best shortbread cookie recipe, and can be used as the basis for any shortbread you might desire. I’ve added chopped candied ginger, and espresso powder and chocolate chips, just to give you a few ideas. The cookies are light and tender, but very rich. Perfect with ice cream or coffee. We like them for breakfast, too, but shhhh! Don’t tell!