Spooky Cookies

October 31, 2009 | Posted by Lorraine as Baking at 6:56 am | Comments »

Spooky Sugar Cookies

It’s Halloween! Among other, pumpkin-related things, we’re serving up these spooky sugar cookies tonight. They may not be perfectly decorated (I need a lot of practice piping Royal Icing!), but you know what? They taste awesome. I might even dare to say that they taste better than any other sugar cookies I’ve ever had. They’re buttery, crispy-edged, soft inside, a little chewy- and, paired with the icing, possibly the best-tasting thing on my Halloween table tonight. I’m serious. Try these today:

Spooky Sugar Cookies
(from Martha Stewart’s Ideal Sugar Cookies recipe)
Makes two dozen cookies

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
1 large egg, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons milk (or use brandy for a kick)
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Whisk together flour, salt, and baking powder in a medium bowl. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar; add dry ingredients, and mix until incorporated. With mixer running, add egg, brandy (or milk), and vanilla; mix until incorporated. Transfer dough to a work surface. Shape into 2 discs, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

To bake: preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with nonstick baking mats or parchment paper; set aside. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out dough to 1/8-inch thickness. Cut into desired shapes, and transfer to prepared baking sheets, leaving an inch in between. Leftover dough can be rolled and cut once more. Bake until lightly golden, about 10 minutes; do not allow to brown. Transfer to wire racks to cool.

I used Martha’s Royal Icing recipe, tinted black (with Americolor Super Black gel) for the black cat. Left it plain white for the white cat.

Lemon Butter Cake

October 25, 2009 | Posted by Lorraine as Baking at 9:59 am | Comments »

Lemon Pound Cake

“Lemon Butter” is hands-down my favorite sauce for fish dishes- and, surprise surprise, it translates exceedingly well in a cake! From light-as-air loaves, to ones filled with poppyseed, I have a nice collection of lemon pound cake recipes. Here’s a particularly good one:

Lemon Butter Cake Recipe

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temp.
1 cup granulated white sugar, PLUS 1/3 cup
4 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice, PLUS 1/3 cup

Preheat your oven to 350F. Grease & flour (or spray and line with parchment paper!) a 6-cup loaf pan.
In a medium-sized bowl, blend flour, baking powder and salt together with a whisk.
In the bowl of your stand (or hand) mixer, cream butter. Add 1 cup sugar, and cream until light and fluffy. Turn mixer down to the lowest speed, and add eggs one at a time. Add vanilla.
Add the dry ingredients (flour, etc.) and 1/4 cup lemon juice to the mixer in alternate batches, starting and ending with the dry mixture. Mix until JUST incorporated.
Pour into pan, and bake for about 30-45 minutes.

While it’s baking, make your glaze: in a small bowl, stir together the 1/3 cup sugar and 1/3 cup lemon juice until the sugar is dissolved.

Once your cake is ready, put on a cooling rack, and begin pouring the glaze over the cake while it’s still hot. You might want to poke holes in the cake with a skewer.

Let cool completely… and enjoy.

Rocking Apple Pie Filling

October 16, 2009 | Posted by Lorraine as Baking, Pie at 3:00 pm | Comments »

apple-pie-filling

Isn’t that a pretty looking pie? Let me tell you, though, about that filling. For me, apple pie is all about the filling – and this is my favorite recipe yet. Because:

It’s not runny,
It’s not dry,
It doesn’t contain flour or cornstarch,
It tastes like apples (and not just cinnamon), and (perhaps most importantly)
it doesn’t shrink!

The secret? Pre-cooking the filling. Here’s how:

Rocking Not-Runny Apple Pie Filling

7 to 8 medium large apples. I like to use a combination of Fuji and Gala. Peeled, cored, and sliced around 1/4 inch.
3 tablespoons butter, unsalted
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons simple syrup (or you can use Calvados or rum)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground all-spice
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon salt

In a large skillet, melt the three tablespoons of butter and cook until sizzling. Add the apples, and toss so you cover them well with the butter. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover and cook until softened slightly- around 5 to 7 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a bowl, combine sugar, syrup (or alcohol), cinnamon, all-spice, nutmeg, and salt. Mix well. Add to the apples in the skillet, and increase the heat. Cook until the juices are thick- this happens quickly, so I’d say around two to three minutes.

Use in your favorite pie-crust.

Easy & Delicious American Buttercream

October 11, 2009 | Posted by Lorraine as Baking at 6:10 am | Comments »

vanilla-frosting

I’ve posted before about my favorite frosting, which is an Italian Meringue Buttercream, but today I want to talk about what is perhaps the easiest buttercream ever: sometimes called American Buttercream, it’s based on a fluffy mixture of butter and powdered sugar, and is particularly popular for cupcakes. Yeah, I said cupcakes… mmm.

The problem with most recipes of this type is that the resulting frosting is gritty or too sweet. Believe me, I’ve tried many, many of these recipes- until I found this one.

Now, American Buttercream isn’t for everyone. It’s good for sweet-tooths, a dream to pipe because it crusts, and is perfect for hot weather. The cupcakes pictured above, for example, were made for a party at an orphanage with kids of all ages- and I didn’t want to risk using raw eggs. Besides, with all those sprinkles and colored sugar- they loved them!

Vanilla Buttercream, American Style

4 oz. (about a stick) of unsalted butter
2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon whole milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract (use the good stuff- you can totally tell with this recipe!)

Cream the butter and salt until creamy (but NOT melty). Add half of the powdered sugar and all of the milk, and beat again just until combined. Scrape the bowl down with a rubber spatula. Add the rest of the powdered sugar and vanilla, and beat until combined. Scrape, scrape, scrape the bowl again- and now beat on high speed for about three minutes, or until it looks nice and fluffy.

And that’s it. Delicious, not-too-sweet Vanilla Buttercream. Color with food color gel or paste, and use in your next cake. Or make cupcakes and spread some joy.

Sweet Breakfast Muffins

September 30, 2009 | Posted by Lorraine as Baking, Breakfast Foods at 4:55 pm | (2) Comments »

Sweet Breakfast Muffins

It should be obvious by now that I’m a breakfast person through and through. Never mind that I’m never up in time for breakfast, I’ll take breakfast food over other types of food nearly every time… whatever time that might be. On lovely, lazy days, when I have a bit more time on my hands, I like to whip up a batch of these muffins for breakfast. They’re quick and easy, and you probably already have all the ingredients in your pantry. Make these, and have a beautiful morning:

Sweet Breakfast Muffins Recipe

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
1/2 cup whole or 2% milk
1/4 cup melted butter or vegetable oil

Preheat your oven to 400F, and lightly spray a muffin pan.

In a large bowl, using a large whisk, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt together until well-incorporated. Make a well in the center of the mixture. In a large measuring cup or bowl, stir the egg, milk and melted butter (or oil) together. Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture, stirring VERY lightly, just until moistened. It will be lumpy- that’s fine.

Scoop or spoon the batter into the muffin pan, filling up to 2/3rds full only. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, checking often.

Let cool, and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

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