TWD: Swedish Visiting Cake

Well, it's finally happened.

After years of working on my baking, trying new recipes, having massive disappointments and failures, mingled in with some mediocrity and a few really great recipes sprinkled in, it's finally time to pack away the apron.

It's been fun. I love mixing and measuring, nothing soothes me more after a long day than getting lost in a recipe. And even though things don't always turn out utterly yummy... sometimes they do and even when they dont, my friends and family still gush and coo as only friends and family can do.

But this weekend, all that changed.

It all started with Nancy of The Dogs Eat The Crumbs (who, by the way, I just LOVE. She always posts all the crazy 1/4 recipe, 1/2 recipe , 8 inch pan, 10 inch pan, etc measurements (metric, even!!!) that keep math-idiots like myself from pulling my hair out when I don't want to bake an entire recipe to take a bite of and throw away. Stupid diets). She chose a recipe for Tuesdays with Dorie that I have been DYING to try.

The name is simple: Swedish Visiting Cake. And there is a picture accompanying the recipe... that shows a very dry looking cake baked in a skillet with sliced almonds on top. Now, honestly... the picture doesn't make the recipe look all that appealing. But the story that goes along with the recipe, about how it's so quick and easy that it's said you could whip it up in no time for unexpected guests who show up on your doorstep intrigued me. Not that I ever have guests like that... (but I might now).

 So, I was very excited to be finally attempting this recipe. The fact that the timing of the recipe coincides with my busiest time of year (tax season) and also my trying to eat healthy (marathon training season) did not bode well. But I was determined to make this recipe.

Saturday, I did it. And of course... it started off bad. I was halving the recipe, and making it in two mini loaf pans. I managed to halve the recipe easily, except... I totally forget to only use HALF the zest of a lemon (I actually used an orange) and I used the whole thing. I feared a citrus overload, but I kept on plugging. Initially, when I realized my mistake, I considered just making a whole recipe... but decided that that much orange can't be a bad thing.

The moment I took the mini loaves out of the oven, I realized it. I could already tell, just by looking at the cakes that I was done with baking. For years I've been searching for the one thing.. the one baked good that knocks my socks off and with the crunchy, yet moist crust settling on the counter as they cooled, I started to think... could this be the one? This could be the one!!! It could really, finally be the one!!

I waited for them to cool for 5 minutes and then cut into one of them.

Oh.My.God.

Seriously. This is/was hands down the absolute best thing I've ever put into my mouth. It was sweet and slightly gummy and chewy and lightly crispy on top. The texture was amazing. The flavor was amazing. And the effort was amazingly easy.

Hands down, bar none, the best thing I've ever baked. And I honestly can't imagine ever making anything else so satisfying. It's comfort dessert at it's best. It's like the macaroni and cheese of desserts. It's the one, I tell you!!!! THE FREAKING ONE.

I had fantasies that night of adjusting the recipe... maybe adding cocoa for some of the flour to make a chocolate cake. Maybe throwing in some chocolate chips. The opportunities are endless and I feel like there's no reason to bake any more. I've found my baking soul-mate.

Other recipes need not apply.

Swedish Visiting Cake
Recipe by Dorie Greenspan

The easiest cake you'll ever make. I don't even know what else to say except I know that this is a recipe I'll know by heart very soon. I see myself making this many, many times throughout the year. It's simply delicious. The flavor profile is very basic... just sugary (and citrus-y if you added a shit ton of orange zest like I did), but it's the texture of the cake that sets it a part. It's light, but rich. It's moist, but chewy.

I didn't sprinkle the top with almonds, because I didn't have any, but I did use all almond extract in the recipe (simply because I'm out of vanilla extract). It seems like the type of recipe you can easily sub things in and out and still wind up with a delicious treat.
It's amazing.

Find the Recipe here on Nancy's blog, The Dogs Eat The Crumbs.

TWD: Coconut Tea Cake

The older I get, the more I appreciate spring. I never really thought much about spring as a kid. My focus was always on getting to summer and more importantly, summer break. But, now that I don't have a summer break, I realize what a beautiful time of year spring really is.

After a cold, wet winter, we're finally getting warm, bright days and the trees and flowers are starting to bud out. The landscape is changing from brown to green and you can almost feel the excitement in everyone around you that it's finally spring. We deserve it. It's been a long winter.

This weekend, I spent all of Saturday and Sunday outdoors for the first time all season. And it was spectacular. A Saturday full of running and hiking and a Sunday with running and golf. It doesn't get any better than that.

Well, actually... it does... it gets better when you know you have a Coconut Tea Cake waiting for you at home to be sliced up and devoured. And there is something spring-like about a Coconut Tea Cake, as well. The light fruitiness of the coconut, the tenderness of the crumb. A perfectly dainty, but decadent (especially if you douse your cake in a coconut glaze like I did) cake to serve on a perfect, spring-time day.

Coconut Tea Cake

Recipe by Dorie Greenspan

Chosen for Tuesdays with Dorie by Carmen of Carmen Cooks

I halved the recipe and cooked it in a regular sized bundt pan. This would have worked out fine, I think, except I let the cake cook just a tad too long, so it was a bit on the dry side, even with dousing with a coconut syrup and the powdered sugar glaze. Great flavor though. I was out of vanilla extract so I used almond extract and a touch of coconut extract. The coconut extract really enhanced the coconut scent of the cake, but I'm not sure if it enhanced the flavor.

Click here for the recipe

Sausage Pancakes

When I was a kid, I hated breakfast foods. I can recall a few mornings during my teenage years where I cracked open a can of Dinty Moore Beef Stew and had it for breakfast. Can you even imagine? Yuck. As I've grown up, though, I've started to appreciate biscuits and sausage gravy, omelettes, bacon and oatmeal.

But there is one thing that I have always loved as a kid and as an adult and that is my mom's pancakes. (Well, to be honest I've always loved any and all pancakes). I went through a phase when I was in middle school where my mom made me pancakes for breakfast 2-3 times during the week and I LOVED it. Sometimes I would even get lucky and they would contain the secret ingredient that makes her pancakes 100x more special and delicious. Her simple addition of one secret ingredient is something that I've still never seen anyone else do (although, I'm sure other people do, it's such a simple and damn tasty idea).

Here it is folks... brace yourself... Cooked, crumbled breakfast sausage.

Think about it... don't you LOVE the flavor of sweet maple syrup with the salty, sometimes spicy flavor of pork sausage? YUM. How brilliant is it to put it all inside the pancake? It's the perfect blend of sweet, salty, fluffy and tangy (if you use sour cream or buttermilk in your pancakes).

And it's so easy to do. All you do, is take your favorite pancake recipe (or, boxed mix!) and add cooked, slightly cooled, crumbled sausage to the batter (and you get even more flavor if you pour in the little bit of grease that the sausage rendered during cooking) and voila: Sausage Pancakes, or as I like to call them... the best pancakes ever!

And... another favorite pancake tip (from my aunt) is when you finish cooking your pancakes, turn the stove off or on low and pour your maple syrup into the pan that you just cooked your pancakes in (a griddle obviously wont work here) to heat it up before you pour it all over your pancakes. YUM.

Sausage Pancakes

Recipe: From my mom.

So, yeah, I basically described the method above. But will list it as an actual recipe. Mom always used boxed mixes, so you can do that or just use your favorite pancake recipe and add the sausages. I used a Nigella Lawson recipe as my base, which I will list below.

Seriously, these are the perfect mix of savory and sweet for breakfast. I realize that bacon is getting all the credit these days in the food world... but breakfast sausage has it's place, too.

Ingredients:

Breakfast Sausage (my mom is partial to Tennessee Pride, but I used All Natural Jimmy Dean. And you could use links if you wanted, but it's much better if you use the bulk sasauge that comes in the tube for slicing or crumbling or whatever).

Pancake batter

Crumble whatever amount of sausage that you want in your pancakes (personal preference) into a skillet and cook until light brown. Set onto a paper towel and let cool for a minute while you prepare your pancake batter.

Add the cool-ish sausage to your batter and proceed with your pancakes.

Nigella's American Breakfast Pancakes

Recipe adapted from Nigella Lawson from her book How to be a Domestic Goddess

I'll print the original recipe with my changes in italics.

With my changes the pancakes were good, but also not quite as tender as I'd like. Probably my fault and not the original recipe's fault. But really... is there such a thing as a bad pancake?

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour (I used White Lily AP flour)

1 tbsp baking powder

pinch of salt

1 tsp sugar (I used Splenda Brown Sugar)

2 large eggs (I separated them from the yolks and beat the egg whites till they were stiff peaks and then folded them into the batter at the end)

2 tbsp butter, melted and cooled

1 1/3 cups of milk (I used half light sour cream and half unsweetened almond milk)

1 tsp vanilla

butter for frying (I used butter flavored cooking spray)

Nigellas Directions for her ingredients:

The easiest way to make these is to put all the ingredients into a blender and blitz. But if you do mix up the batter by hand in a bowl, make a well in the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar, beat in the eggs, melted butter and milk, and transfer to a pitcher; it's much easier to pour the batter into the pan than spoon it. I like to leave the batter for 20 minutes before using it; and then you might want to add more milk to the mixture if your frying in the blini pan, so that it runs right to the edges.

When you cook the pancakes, all you need to remember is that when the upper side of the pancake is blistering and bubbling it's time to cook the second side, and this needs only about 1 minute, if that.

I get 11 blini pan sized pancakes out of this, maybe 16 silver dollar sized ones on the griddle.

Amy's directions for her ingredients.

Mix all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl or large spouted measuring cup. In a separate bowl, add your egg yolks, butter, milk, sour cream, and vanilla and mix them together, in another bowl, beat your egg whites till you get stiff peaks.

Next make a well in the center of your flour mixture and add the wet ingredients and carefully stir together. careful not to over stir. Then fold in your egg whites. Add your cooked sausage and cook in a skillet or on a griddle.

TWD: Toasted Coconut Custard Tart

I love coconut. Always have, hopefully always will. I agree it has a different type of texture... but, what doesnt? It's not like I sit around and eat coconut out of the bag or anything... but I LOVE it in things, on top of things, whatever.

But, it's one of those foods that divides people. You're either into the coconut, or you hate it. There's no "meh." As much as I love coconut, I've never really been one to eat a lot of coconut cream pie. I'm not sure why... probably because anything with a huge plume of whipped cream or meringue on top generally makes me suspicious. It's like someone's trying to hide something underneath a veil of white fluff. I'm onto you meringues. I know your game.

So, I generally get my coconut in the form of cookies, candy bars (almond joys? swoon), cakes, breads, etc.

So when Beryl of Cinemon Girl chose the Toasted Coconut Custard Tart for this week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe, I was stoked. I'd never made a coconut custard tart and was excited to try something new. (Plus, coconut recipes are kind of low-man on the totem pole in a big group of bakers).

I made a small batch and of course, despite sitting down with the recipe and trying to quarter it properly... I botched it and came out with glop instead of custard. But, the beauty of this recipe is that it was STILL delicious. Like... one taste and I was in coconut heaven. It was unlike anything I'd ever had before. Creamy, sweet and packed with coconut flavor.

I cannot wait to make this again as a full recipe and see how good an accurately measured version is. If you're a coconut fan, this will seriously blow your socks off.

Toasted Coconut Custard Tart
Recipe by Dorie Greenspan

Besides trying to quarter this recipe (which I don't suggest you do), I also made a few other changes. First of all, since I was making a mini-recipe, I made a graham cracker crust instead of a standart tart crust. Easy and delicious!

Next, I skipped the whipped cream topping. To me, meringue and whipped cream just get in the way. But, if you're sucker for toppings, by all means make the one Dorie puts with the recipes... rum in the whipped cream sounds delicious!

Also, I added vanilla to the recipe in addition to the dark rum, I thought it added a nice subtle flavor.

The bad news? I used WAYYY too much cornstarch and so my custard turned into a thick, thick, goopy mess. But... the flavor was still delicious.

Entire Recipe Here

TWD: Honey Wheat Cookies

I've talked on here before how in the early 1980s, my mom was a bit of a health food nut. I was young enough to not really be bothered by it, (although, I do recall during that time that we stopped hitting up Krystal's or Hardee's on our way home from the gym). But to this day I still hear about the experiments in the kitchen that my family didn't care for... particularly the Buckwheat Biscuits (apparently they turned out like hockey pucks).

It's funny though... I understand. I mean, you hit your late 20s and you start thinking about how you feel. When you were 18 you could eat fast food for every meal and still be able to party hard all night, get up the next morning and feel totally fine. But, as you get older, it seems like your body gets more sensitive to what you're putting in it and at some point, it just begs for healthy, whole foods. Luckily, I've gotten to the point where a couple of weeks ago, I had a burger and french fries for lunch and I literally felt like shit the rest of the day. And now... when I go to a restaurant, instead of thinking.. yum.. a burger and fries sounds good, I'm thinking... god, I don't want to feel like that again. No burgers and no fries. It's taken me a long time to get to this point, but thankfully, I'm finally there. (This is not to say that I wont ever eat a burger and fries again... because obviously, I will. It's always my post marathon meal and even some other times, you just want it, despite how it's going to make you feel).

When you read the ingredient list for these cookies, you think... hmmm.. wheat germ and honey. It must be healthy! And while, sure... wheat germ is healthier than chocolate chips and yes, honey might be slightly less toxic on your body than an equal amount of sugar (the recipe does contain sugar, as well, though). But, it still has white flour, butter, and sugar. Not entirely health food. Not even close.

That fact didn't keep me from putting away about 6 of these cookies when I got home Saturday night after going out with my friends. In my drunken stupor, I stood in my kitchen and seriously chowed down on these cookies. All the while telling myself.. it's okay. There's wheat germ in it. Out loud, even.

But that's the dangerous thing. These cookies are delicious. I dont know what it is, they are different than any other cookie you'll ever have. They are sweet from the honey and tangy from the citrus and so addictive that they should come with a warning label. And since there is wheat germ in it, you TRY to convince yourself that they're healthy. But, that's dangerous. That's just like those commercials out there for Chef Boyardee, that proclaims there's a full serving of vegetables in every can. WTF? Seriously? We are telling our kids (and ourselves) that it's okay to count one of our daily servings of veggies in the form of canned beef lasagna. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

I mean, if you want to eat Chef Boyardee. Fine, eat it! But, don't eat it and think that it's healthy. Don't think that just because it's got tomato sauce, that you don't need to eat some broccoli or spinach or something. That really pisses me off.

So, yes... make these. Enjoy them as a different kind of cookie, that probably is slightly healthier than your average other cookie, but be sure to hide them somewhere where your drunk self can't find them. That drunk self can talk you into anything... the least of which you should be worried about is food.

Honey Wheat Cookies

Recipe by Dorie Greenspan

Chosen for TWD by Michelle of Flourchild

This recipe is so good. Really. They are light and delicate in flavor. You can taste the subtle honey sweetness and the citrus zest really brightens the cookie up. The crumb is tender and kind of cake-like, which usually I don't like, but there's something about the flavor that pairs so well with the texture. Any other cookie texture wouldn't do it justice, I dont think.

I subbed orange zest for the lemon zest (what I had on hand) and think it worked out perfect, I can imagine the lemon zest would be good, too.

I might actually try to make this recipe legitimately healthy. Subbing some whole wheat flour for the white flour, some applesauce for the butter and possibly swapping the white sugar for half that amount of brown sugar. I'll let you know how they turn out.

Recipe found here.

TWD: Dorie's Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

I have given lots of second chances in my life. Second chances to friends, boys, restaurants, television shows, books, even rock bands. To me... second chances come natural. I'm not one to hold grudges and always try to remember that shit happens. And it happens to everyone once in awhile. People make mistakes, we're all human and if you can reconcile things from your past without too much effort or heartbreak... it's almost always worth the effort. Even when the second chance doesn't work out... I rarely find myself kicking myself for giving it another go. Hell, sometimes I've even given 3rd chances!

So, yeah... I'm one of those... I like to refer to it as an open-mindness, a feeling that things and people can change, but other people refer to it as a sort of naivete or stupidity. Sure, I get burned sometimes. But what's a little burn every once in awhile, right? If it's not one thing, it's something else.

One thing I just realized this week, though, is that I NEVER give recipes a second chance if they wrong me the first time. I guess it's because with the number of recipes readily available out there through cookbooks and the internet, why would you ever try the same recipe twice, if it didn't work out the first time (and if you had a multitude of other similiar recipes to try)?

Well, up until this weekend... I hadn't. Ever. You see, the first recipe I made out of Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home To Yours cookbook was this recipe, Dorie's Best Chocolate Chip Cookies. And while it certainly wasn't awful, it wasn't my favorite either. The cookies came out flat and greasy. Not my Chocolate Chip Cookie ideal (I prefer crispy edges, chewy center). So what, right? There are literally a zillion Chocolate Chip Cookie recipes out there to try. And eventually I found the perfect ones for me (I have a couple of favorites... David Lebovitz's if I'm looking to whip up a batch today and eat it and The Jacques Torres New York Times Cookie if I have bread flour on hand and time to prepare and wait on the chilled dough).

No need to revisit Dorie's Chocolate Chip Recipe again, right?

Until Kait from Kait's Plate chose the recipe for her Tuesdays with Dorie selection. I debated for awhile... Like I said, I'd never tried a recipe that I didn't like twice. But I read through the recipe again and decided that I'd go for one of the "playing around" options this time.

I added toasted pecans and toasted coconut to the recipe. I hoped that this would bulk up the recipe a bit, since I found them a bit too thin the first time around. And HOT DAMN. If these weren't delicious! They were bulky and chewy and the toasted pecans added such a depth of toasty, nutty flavor to the cookies! Success!

So, while I didn't follow the exact same recipe this time... it was still basically the same recipe and the second time around was awesome! I now have the perfect coconut pecan chocolate chip cookie recipe for my arsenal.

Just goes to show... maybe I should give more recipes a second chance...

Dorie's Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

Recipe from Dorie Greenspan

So, yeah, I added 1 1/2 cups of toasted coconut and followed the regular recipe per the pecans (I didn't add any nuts the first time around). A word about the coconut... you can't really detect it in the cookie, I mean... maybe you can get a hint of toasted coconut flavor, but my oldest brother who won't go near anything that has coconut in it with a 12 ft pole happily ate these and declared them very tasty. (Haha. Of course I didn't tell him there was coconut in it). I definitely suggest you toast both the coconut and the pecans though, it brings out such an intense flavor in the ingredients.

These are delicious cookies and super easy and straightforward to make. I couldn't keep from eating the dough or the cookies!

Recipe can be found here, on Kait's Blog.

New Orleans King Cake (The easy way)

I understand. Everyone's all wrapped up in thoughts of Valentines Day. But... don't get so wrapped up in Valentines Day that you forget what happens 2 days later. (After President's Day, that is. Jeez. Mardi Gras just can't catch a break this year. It's gotta compete with Valentines Day AND President's Day). Anyway, Fat Tuesday.

Awwww hells yes. Fat Tuesday is on Feb 16th this year. And since you'll be looking for something sweet and delicious to load up on before Lent starts the next day (I wonder how many people give up sugar/sweets/chocolate, etc for Lent?), I present you with the easiest King Cake Recipe ever. And delicious!

I actually made this King Cake for the Super Bowl. And it was declared very authentic despite the lazy woman method I employed to make it. Before we get into the recipe, let's talk a little about King Cakes.

For me, the single best thing about a King Cake is the plastic baby inside. I stopped at a cake decorating store here in town and found a package of 8 little naked plastic babies for $1.89. Awesome, right? When I got home and started to prepare the King Cake, I started thinking about whether or not these little naked plastic babies were 1. heatproof and 2. non-toxic. Now, to me... as much as I love the idea of biting into a piece of cake that is studded with a little naked plastic baby, the idea of that little naked baby melting and creating a pool of toxic chemicals that will eventually give me cancer one day was not something I was excited about.

In the end, I opted to prop the little naked plastic baby up on the top of the cake. Which, honestly... looked a little funny. But, also made me happy to look over and see the little baby hovering over the edge of the cake. Plus, this way.. the baby stayed nice and clean and fresh.

Top the cake off with some icing, some green, purple, and yellow colored sugars and some mini mardi gras beads and you've got yourself the perfect (and easy!) King Cake.

Laissez le Bon temp rouler!!

Easy Mini King Cake (for kids)

Found on Anna's Blog, Cookie Madness

So, basically you take a tube of canned biscuits, roll them out and together and then douse it with melted butter and sprinkle with cinnamon, and sugar. Roll into a tube and shape into a circle. Easy, right?

And it is easy, but my biscuits were not attaching to each other to make a complete piece of dough and once it started cooking, they kind of broke apart and formed huge gashes and crevices in the ring. At first, I freaked out, but I let it keep baking and in the end, it turned out just fine. Sure, it kinda ended up being 4 pieces shaped into a squareish circle, but once you slapped some icing and sugar on it, it looked fine. So, don't despair if your biscuits go a little rogue on you in the baking process. It'll all turn out.

Next year, I might make this in a Monkey Bread type of way, using a bundt pan. I think that would work great!

To see Anna's exact recipe, click on her blog link above. I'm giving the recipe the way I made it (just a few minor adjustments).

1 (16 oz) can of biscuits

1/4 cup melted butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
pinch of salt
Yellow, Purple, Green Sugars
1 plastic baby

Icing:
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
Milk or Heavy Cream

Preheat your oven to 325.

Lay the biscuits out 4x2 on a piece of parchment paper and press and roll them out to form one piece of dough. (I didnt use water, but I think some water might have helped the dough stick together better). With a pastry brush or a big spoon, spread the melted butter over the dough.

In a small bowl, mix your white and brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Then spread this mixture evenly over the buttered dough.

Roll the dough into a log and shape the log into a circle, careful to make sure the ends are pinched together well on a sheet pan that has been lined with a silpat or a piece of parchment paper.

Bake in the oven till the biscuits are puffed up and done (about 30 minutes or so).

Once cooled a little bit, mix your confectioners sugar with just enough milk to make an icing consistency. And spread over the top of the cake. Then add your decorative sugars.