Cooking With Hanzipan

From the book Cupcakes!  by Elinor Klivans

Ingredients:

Swirl and Topping:

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Cupcakes:

• 1 cup grated peeled apple (1 large apple)
• 2 tablespoons cinnamon sugar (from above)
• 1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup canola or corn oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 12 muffin tin cups with paper cupcake liners.

Make the swirl and topping. In a small bowl, stir the sugar and cinnamon together.

Make the cupcakes. In a small bowl, mix the grated apple and the 2 tablespoons cinnamon sugar together; set aside. In a large bowl, stir the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt together. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and add the eggs, oil, and vanilla, stirring until the ingredients are smoothly blended. Stir in the reserved apple mixture, with any juice that has been released.

Spoon about 2 tablespoons of batter into each paper liner. Sprinkle 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon sugar over the batter in each liner. Spoon the remaining batter over the cinnamon sugar, using a scant 2 tablespoons of batter for each cupcake. Use a pastry brush to dab the top of the batter with the melted butter. Sprinkle the remaining cinnamon sugar over the top.

Bake just until the tops are light brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Cool the cupcakes for 10 minutes in the pan on a wire rack. Remove the cupcakes from the pan to the wire rack to cool completely. 

They may be covered and stored at room temperature for up to 3 days.

This recipe is from the book Cupcakes! by Elinor Klivans.

Filling

• 1  8 ounce package cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 large egg, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Topping

• 1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Cupcakes

• 1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup canola or corn oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup sour cream

Position a rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Line 12 extra-large muffin tin cups with paper cupcake liners. Spray the inside of each liner with nonstick cooking spray.

Make the filling. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on low speed, beat the cream cheese and sugar until smoothly blended. Beat in the egg. Mix in the lemon zest, lemon juice, and vanilla. Set aside.

Make the topping. In a medium bowl, using a large spoon, stir the flour, brown sugar, and salt together. Add the melted butter and continue stirring until crumbs form.

Make the cupcakes. Sift the flour, baking soda, and salt into a medium bowl and set aside. In a large bowl using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the egg and yolk and sugar until thickened and lightened to a cream color, about 2 minutes. Stop the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl as needed during mixing. On low speed, mix in the oil and vanilla until blended. Mix in the sour cream until no white streaks remain. Mix in the flour mixture until it is incorporated and the batter is smooth. 

Spoon 3 tablespoons of the batter into each cupcake liner. Spoon 1 1/2 tablespoons of cream cheese filling into the center of each; the soft filling will spread slightly over the batter. Sprinkle a generous tablespoon of crumb topping over each. the paper liners will be filled to about 1/2 inch from the top. 

Bake until the edges brown lightly and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 25 minutes. The cupcakes will rise to the top of the paper liners. Cool the cupcakes for 20 minutes in the pan on a wire rack. Remove the cupcakes from the pan and allow to cool completely on a wire rack.

Dust the cooled cupcakes lightly with powdered sugar before serving. The cupcakes can be covered and stored at room temperature for up to 2 days.

Here’s the deal: I make the best cookies. They’re freaking perfect. They are the cookies from the inside of the lid of one of those round cardboard boxes of Quaker Oats. The recipe goes like this(I have it memorized I’ve made it so many times):

• 1 cup of butter (2 sticks) at room temperature, or softened in the microwave(not melted)
• 1 cup of brown sugar (I prefer dark brown)
• 1/2 cup of white sugar (I prefer a fine raw sugar. The Olympia Food Co-op sells this in bulk)

Cream that stuff together. It’ll take up to a couple minutes, but be patient. When butter and sugar are “creamed” it means they look like one creamy substance instead of sugar with butter chunks in it.

Then add in

• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix those in nicely.

When that is all one delicious concoction, dump in 

• 1 1/2 cups of flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Mix it in well. Then add:

• 3 cups oats
• 1 - 2 cups milk chocolate chips (sometimes I just do a cup, sometimes whatever’s left in an open bag, sometimes the whole 12 oz bag, which equals about 2 cups)

Stir all of this with a wooden spoon, then put it on a baking sheet and bake for about 10 minutes at 350 degrees. They will be soft and mushy when they first come out of the oven but the bottoms should look toasty. Give them a few minutes and they will firm up nicely. Then transfer to a wire rack or a plate or your mouth.

Nom Nom!

My birthday fell on a Monday this year which meant that any sort of special food/things were pushed to Thursday. We had some friends over and I made a casserole, an artichoke dip and an amazing chocolate cake… busy busy busy! I’d promised myself that I’d make a cake and, while it wasn’t the one I was planning on originally, I did wind up making a really good Chocolate Stout Cake from Smitten Kitchen. I used really strong liquid coffee instead of instant and it worked really well. This cake keeps getting better the longer it sits around in the kitchen too! Oh man, I’m going to have to go have a piece now…

Chocolate Stout Cake

This recipe was originally intended to make a layer cake of 3 8-inch rounds. Upon many reviewers’ suggestions, I halved it and it fit perfectly in a bundt pan. The halved amount is below, and the icing replaced with a simple ganache.

1 cup stout (such as Guinness)
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably Dutch-process)
2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
2/3 cup sour cream*
6 ounces good semisweet chocolate chips
6 tablespoons heavy cream
3/4 teaspoon instant coffee granules

Cake prep:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter or spray a bundt pan well; make sure you get in all of the nooks and crannies. (Some people even go so far as to brush the inside of their bundt pans with melted butter–you cannot be too careful!). Bring 1 cup stout and 1 cup butter to simmer in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add cocoa powder and whisk until mixture is smooth. Cool slightly.

Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda, and 3/4 teaspoon salt in large bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat eggs and sour cream in another large bowl to blend. Add stout-chocolate mixture to egg mixture and beat just to combine. Add flour mixture and beat briefly on slow speed. Using rubber spatula, fold batter until completely combined. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake cake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 35 minutes. Transfer cake to rack; cool completely in the pan, then turn cake out onto rack for drizzling ganache.**

Ganache:
For the ganache, melt the chocolate, heavy cream, and coffee in the top of a double boiler over simmering water until smooth and warm, stirring occasionally. Drizzle over the top of cooled cake.

101 Cookbook’s mushroom casserole is so very tasty! I like to substitute wild rice for half of the brown rice the recipe wants. Here’s the recipe taken from 101 cookbooks, make sure you visit her site to see what other tasty things she has:

Mushroom Casserole Recipe

Use any cooked grain you like. Feel free to use low-fat cottage cheese or sour cream if you prefer.

1/2 pound (8 ounces) brown mushrooms, cleaned and chopped
1 large onion, well chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3 cups cooked brown rice, room temperature
2 large eggs
1 cup cottage cheese
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
a bit of fresh tarragon, chopped

Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Rub a medium-large baking dish with a bit of olive oil or butter and set aside. The pan I use is slightly smaller than a classic 9×13 baking dish - just grab for something in this ballpark.

In a large skillet over medium-high heat saute the mushrooms in a glug of olive oil sprinkled with a couple pinches of salt. Stir every minute or so until the mushrooms have released their liquid and have browned a bit. Add the onions and cook for another 4 or 5 minutes or until they are translucent. Stir in the garlic, cook for another minute and remove from heat. Add the rice to the skillet and stir until combined.

In a medium bowl whisk together the eggs, cottage cheese, sour cream, and salt.

Combine the rice mixture and cottage cheese mixture in a large bowl, stir until well combined and then turn out into your prepared baking dish. Sprinkle with 2/3 of the Parmesan cheese, cover with foil and place in oven for 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake for another 20 or 30 minutes more or hot throughout and golden along the edges. Sprinkle with the chopped tarragon, and the remaining Parmesan and enjoy.

Serves about 6.

I also used 101 cookbooks’ baked artichoke dip recipe. I feel like there was something missing from it… something earthy to balance all of that artichoke, but it did wind up being pretty darn good, fresh from the oven. I think next time I’ll use the Quattro Formaggio cheese blend from Trader Joes instead of Parmesan, press the artichokes to get some of that extra moisture out and use a little less yogurt. This recipe was also taken directly from 101 cookbooks:

Baked Artichoke Dip Recipe

Sometimes silken tofu can be hard to find. No worries, I’ve had success using medium firm regular tofu as well - just stay clear of the firm and extra-firm varieties. For some added nutritional punch and color quickly saute a couple handfuls of spinach in a bit of olive oil - toss it in the food processor with the artichokes, tofu, and garlic.

2 (14-ounce) cans water-packed artichokes, well drained
4 ounces organic silken tofu
3 large cloves garlic
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
2/3 cup plain (or Greek) yogurt
1/4 teaspoon fine grain sea salt, or more to taste
pinch of cayenne pepper

more Parmesan to sprinkle on top

Preheat oven to 350F degrees. In a blender or food processor puree the artichokes, tofu, and garlic. In a separate medium bowl whisk together the parmesan cheese, yogurt, salt, and cayenne. Stir in the artichoke puree and pour mixture into a medium-sized baking dish (or multiple smaller dishes). Sprinkle the top with more Parmesan. Bake uncovered until heated through and the cheese on the top starts to brown, about 45 minutes.

Makes 2-3 cups of artichoke dip.

My granny, Valerie Ann McCourt had a recipe box that mom and I took when she died. It was full of handwritten notecards(some of them even from her mother, Sylvia) and cut out recipes from magazines and such. One of them is a recipe that my mamarama has been making since I was wee. I don’t know where the original recipe came from but here is what my mom produced from memory, since the original notecard is too faded to read now.

• Cook about 3 to 4 cups dry macaroni ( not the cheap stuff)in a pot of boiling salted water about 7 minutes
• Cube plenty of sharp cheese,(at least 14 oz) much better with sharp (I use Tillamook)
• Grease with butter a 2-4 qt casserole dish, and lid
• Put in one layer of mostly,or partially cooked macaroni
• Dot it with cubes of butter, salt and pepper well
• Add a layer of cubed cheese to cover
• REPEAT!
• Beat one egg with one cup of milk, mix with 2 cups, 14-16oz. of stewed tomatoes,( mexican or italian can be good if low on spices) . season with salt, pepper, garlic(powder ok), and basil
• Pour tomato mixture over the macaroni casserole and punch the tomatoes down into it,
  add any left macaroni, butter, cheese

• Sprinkle lavishly with paprika (Hungarian is best)
• Cover and Bake , about 350 for about 35 minutes.

I make the brownie recipe from The Joy of Cooking. I add a cup of milk chocolate chip in place of the pecans. Enjoy!

Brownies Cockaigne

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a baking pan lined with foil. Melt in a small saucepan:

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
• 4 ounces unsweetened chocolate

Let cool. If you don’t, your brownies will be heavy and dry. Beat until light in color and foamy in texture.

• 4 large eggs
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Gradually add and continue beating until thick:

• 2 cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

With a few swift strokes, stir in the cooled chocolate mixture just until combined. Even if you are using an electric mixer, switch to a wooden spoon for this. Stir in just until combined:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour

Gently stir in, if desired:

• (1 cup chopped pecans)

Scrape batter into the prepared pan. Bake about 25 minutes. Cool completely in the pan on a rack.

I woke up before the ‘rents this morning so I decided to try to sneak some cinnamon roles into the oven before they got up. Last week I’d spotted a very pretty recipe and I’d just been waiting for the perfect moment to try it out. This was such a moment!

And thus the cimaninny roles were born. I didn’t have any cream cheese on hand (as usual, I don’t have some ingredient or another so there was a bit of scrambling at the end), instead I made a frosting from an allrecipe recipe. The frosting was essentially: 3 tablespoons melted butter, vanilla, and 3 tablespoons milk plus a good deal of confectioner’s sugar (1.5-2 cups). So very tastey. I think next time I’ll make them the night before so they’ll be ready to pop in the oven in the morning.

Today Ben and I made French Toast. We tried to wing it but ended up having to check the Joy. Here’s what we ended up with:

Ingredients:

• 3 eggs
• approximately a half cup of milk(I just poured until it looked right)
• some cinnamon sprinkled in there
• some brown sugar sprinkled in there
• 4 pieces of sourdough french bread from Blue Heron Bakery
• a bunch o’ butter

Directions:

Whisk the eggs and milk together(don’t scramble, you don’t want them to be fluffy). Put some cinnamon and brown sugar in as you wish. Place pieces of bread in the mixture, then eventually turn them over to coat the other side. 

Meantime, heat a cast-iron skillet up with some butter in it. Don’t have it too hot, you don’t want the butter to be sizzling and turning brown necessarily. Then place the bread slices in the skillet and cook them until each side is browned and just barely crispish, however makes you happy when you’ve ordered it at a restaurant.

Transfer to plates and sprinkle with powdered sugar and drizzle with maple syrup. French Toast!!!