Focaccia

Another recipe that is well worth the time. There is nothing that can compare to freshly baked homemade bread. Plan ahead, it is one of those things that you fool with a little everyday and the more you do it the easier it gets. The Poolish can be made up to three days in advance, the longer you let it ferment prior to baking the more intense the flavor in the final product. I prefer to give it at least one day.

INGREDIENTS:
Poolish
2 1/2 C Unbleached bread flour
1 1/2 C Water, room temp.
1/4 tsp Instant yeast

Prep:
Stir together the flour, water and yeast in a mixing bowl until all of the flour is hydrated. The dough should be soft and sticky. Cove the bowl with plastic wrap and ferment at room temperature for at least 3-4 hours. The sponge will become bubbly and foamy. Immediately refrigerate the dough, it will keep up to 3 days.

Focaccia:
3 C Poolish
2 2/3 C Bread flour
2 tsp. Salt
1 1/2 tsp. Instant yeast
6 T Olive oil
3/4 C Water, lukewarm
Non-stick cooking spray
1/4-1/2 C Herb Olive oil or Plain Olive oil
Topping: Kosher salt, 1 1/2 T Rosemary or other Herb of choice, 1 C Caramelized onions, Cheese, use your imagination!

Prep:
One hour prior to making the dough, remove poolish from the refrigerator and allow to rest at room temperature.
In a mixing bowl, mix together, flour, salt and yeast with an electric mixer. Add the oil, poolish and the water, mix with the paddle attachment until it forms a large sticky ball. Switch to the dough hook attachment and mix on medium for 5-7 minutes, or as long as it takes to form a smooth, sticky dough. The dough should clear the sides of the bowl. You may need to add some additional flour to reach this stage.
Sprinkle a 6 inch square area of flour on work surface and transfer dough to the flour. Dust dough with additional flour and pat into a rectangle. Allow dough to rest 5 minutes and relax.
Coat your hands with flour and stretch the dough from each end to twice its size and fold it letter style and return to rectangular shape. Mist the top of the dough with non-stick spray and dust with flour again, cover with plastic wrap.
Allow dough to rest 30 minutes, then stretch and fold again, mist, dust with flour and cover. Rest 30 minutes then repeat this step again.
During the final rest, line a rimmed baking sheet (half sheet pan) with parchment. Drizzle 1/4 C of the Olive oil over the paper and spread to cover the bottom of the pan with your hands or a brush. Oil your hands and using a metal dough scraper, lift dough into the prepared pan retaining the rectangular shape. Pour the remaining oil over the top of the dough and using your finger tips only, dimple the dough spreading it to fill the pan as much as possible. You should reach a thickness of 1/2 inch. DO NOT use the heal of your hand to press the dough. Dimpling the dough to spread with your finger tips will allow gas to remain in the non dimpled sections. You do not need to reach the edge of the pan, the dough will rest an additional 15-30 minutes and will grow as it proofs.
Heat oven to 500 degrees, with the oven rack in the middle of your oven. You can sprinkle with salt at this time, other toppings will need to wait until later in the baking process. Place the pan in oven and lower the temperature to 450 degrees. Bake for 10 minutes. Rotate the pan 180 degrees and continue baking for 5-10 minutes until the dough begins to turn a light golden brown. At this point, add toppings, sprinkle over bread and bake an additional 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and immediately transfer focaccia out of the pan and onto a cooling rack. Peel parchment away if it is stuck to the bottom of the bread. Allow to cool for 20 minutes prior to cutting.

Thomas Keller's Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Don't allow the steps and number of ingredients listed in this recipe deter you, it is simple and well worth the 20 minutes or so of preparation. As a young girl, I remember my mom always making pineapple upside down cake, with those perfect canned rings and bright red cherry placed deliberately in the middle. I haven't really given the cake much thought since those days, but seeing Thomas Keller's version in Wine Spectator sparked my interest once again. I was visiting my best bud Becky in Nashville and thanks to the flood, had an extra day to spend there and do some baking. Not even Thomas escaped a few small changes, I have noted them in the ingredient list and instructions. I have made the cake twice now and although my husband commented that, "it is a little boozy," I plan on making it again! More recipes from Nashville to come, it was three solid days of rain and cooking.

INGREDIENTS:
Schmear:
8 T Butter, softened
1 1/2 T Honey, I used a very light honey
1/2 tsp. Dark Rum
1 C Brown sugar
1/4 tsp. vanilla, he suggests paste, I used liquid
Kosher salt

PREPARATION:
Mix all ingredients except salt until smooth. Spread 1/3 C in the bottom of a 9 inch silicone cake pan. Sprinkle with salt. Mr. Keller didn't say what to do with the remaining Schmear, so I used all but 2 T of it in the bottom of a spring form pan. Only use the spring form if you have a very tight seal. You can check it by filling the sealed pan with some water. The second time I used it I was with another friend and the pan leaked, you don't want that mess in your oven. I also greased and dusted the sides of the pan only, the cake pulls away beautifully.

Cake:
1 Pineapple
1 1/3 C Cake flour
2 tsp. Baking powder
8 T Butter, softened
1/2 C plus 2 T Granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. Vanilla
2 Large eggs
1 T plus 1 tsp. Milk
I also added 1/2 tsp. of the rum to the cake and a pinch of salt
PREPARATION:
Beat butter and sugar on medium speed for 3 minutes. In another bowl mix flour, baking powder and salt. Cut top and bottom ends off of the pineapple, cut away all the outer peel. Cut pineapple from end to end into quarters and trim away the core on each quarter. Slice wedges into 1/8-1/4 inch slices and arrange slices in a circle beginning at the outside of the cake pan and slightly overlapping the slices until you reach the center and the schmear is completely covered.
Scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl with butter mixture and add vanilla and the eggs one at a time, scraping again as needed. Add milk and beat in flour in 3 batches, just until combined.
Spread the batter over the pineapple and bake at 350 degrees, 15 minutes. Rotate the pan 180 degrees in the oven and bake for an additional 20-25 minutes. Test with a toothpick. Cool in the pan 20-30 minutes, if you can wait that long, we couldn't and it came out of the pan just fine. Run a knife around the pan to loosen the edges and invert onto a serving platter. The cake will store at room temperature for 2 days.

Ina's Peanut Butter & Jelly Bars

The first time I saw Ina make this on her beach volleyball episode, I fell in love with the recipe. Nothing goes together like peanut butter and jelly! The best part is you can pick your favorite flavor of jelly. We have done all the traditional flavors, strawberry, grape, cherry, but I recently used apricot and it may very well be my new favorite. One small note, not a lot of changes on this one, but in my opinion Ina's recipe makes a little bit too much peanut butter dough for the size of the pan. This can be remedied one of two ways, I use the desired amount and freeze the leftover dough for another time or use a slightly larger pan, two 8X8 pans will work. Haven't tried it yet, but I bet the dough would make great thumbprint cookies. I have tried baking it on its own as a shortbread dough, but something is lacking, it needs the fruit.
INGREDIENTS:
1/2 Pound unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 C Granulated sugar
1 tsp. Vanilla
2 Jumbo eggs, room temperature
2 C (18oz.) Creamy peanut butter, Ina uses Skippy, I use Jiff
3 C Flour
1 tsp. Baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. Kosher salt
1 1/2 C (18oz) Jam, your favorite flavor
2/3 C Salted peanuts chopped optional, I don't usually add them

Prep:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray, paper, spray your pan, Ina says to paper, grease and flour, but I don't. I hate messing with the flour coating the pan.
In you electric mixer, with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar on medium until light yellow. 2 minutes. Add the vanilla, eggs and peanut butter, mix on low until combined.
Mix dry ingredients, Ina says sift them, but I just stir in the salt and powder then add them to the peanut butter mixture. Mix on low just until combined.
Ina says spread 2/3 of the dough into the 9X13 cake pan, I spread about a half inch layer. Spread the jam evenly over dough, an offset spatula works best as does stirring the jam well prior to spreading. Pinch small bits of remaining dough and place on top of the jam. Don't worry about covering all the jam completely. Sprinkle with chopped nuts if desired and bake about 45 minutes, until golden brown.
Remove from pan, cool and cut into squares. Enjoy with a really big glass of really cold milk!

Velvety Chocolate Cake

I know I say this a lot, but I have a few variations for this cake too. You can make the basic batter, pour it into the desired baking dish or spice it up with the variations listed below. This batter mixes for 10 minutes which may seem strange to some of you bakers, but believe me the mixing does not lead to a tougher batter. The version pictured above is a mini cupcake with plain icing. The cupcakes pop out perfectly even if your pan is ungreased, just allow to cool slightly and loosen edges with a knife and lift the cupcake out gently or flip pan over and allow them to spill out, continue cooling on a wire rack. Place wire racks over sheets of parchment and scoop a small amount of warm icing over each cupcake allowing it to run over the edges. Baked in paper loaf pans this cake makes a terrific gift.

CAKE INGREDIENTS:
4 3/4 oz. Cake flour
4 oz. Bread flour
3 1/2 oz. Cocoa powder
14 oz. sugar
3/8 oz. Baking soda
1/8 oz. Baking powder
Pinch Salt
8 oz. Coffee, cooled
8 oz. Buttermilk
5/8 C Eggs
4 oz. Butter, melted
1 1/2 tsp. Vanilla

VARIATION: add 1/4 oz. cinnamon to the dry ingredients
PREP:
Place all dry ingredients in the bowl of your electric mixer, mix just to combine with the paddle attachment. In a Large measuring cup combine coffee, buttermilk and vanilla. Pour 1/4 of this mixture into the melted butter. Slowly add the coffee/buttermilk mixture to the dry ingredients, mixing on low speed. Next add the butter mixture to the mixing bowl, mix until combined. Slowly add the eggs while mixing on low speed. Mix for 2 minutes on 1st speed, then mix for 10 minutes on 2nd speed. Spray, paper, spray your desired cake pans. Bake at 350 degrees for about 50-60 minutes for a large cake pan. Loaf pans check at 40 minutes with a tester, 40-50 minutes. Cupcakes 20-30 minutes depending on mini or regular size pan. **Cupcake pans do not need to be sprayed, but I remove them quickly before they cool, loosen the edges with a sharp knife and flip pan over to dump cupcakes onto a clean surface. Lift any stubborn cupcakes with the knife. Allow cakes to cool in pan on a wire rack.


ICING INGREDIENTS:
4 oz. Butter, melted
6 T. Buttermilk
1 1/2 tsp. Vanilla
16 oz. Powdered sugar
1/2 C Cocoa powder

VARIATIONS: Add 1 1/2tsp Instant espresso powder and 1/2 tsp. Cinnamon for a Mexican Chocolate Cake. Add 1 1/2 C chopped and toasted pecans to the icing.

PREP:
Melt butter over medium heat. Add all ingredients except sugar, whisk until smooth. Remove from heat. Place the sugar in the bowl of your electric mixer and pour the cocoa mixture over the sugar. Beat until smooth with whisk attachment. Stir in pecans if desired. Pour over cakes or cupcakes quickly before the icing sets.

Braunschweiger Dip

What a classic 60's - 70's appetizer, maybe it is only classic because we are German. Does everyone enjoy Braunschweiger? I can remember my dad slicing it with cheese and crackers for a Saturday night snack. Beep still loves it sliced thin with red onion as a sandwich. This recipe is written by my Grandmother, Betty. I don't really remember her ever serving it, but nothing says 70's childhood like cheese balls and meat log appetizers. I am sure it was a hit!

Pecan Pastry

This is the same filling recipe that is listed in the Pecan Toffee cookie. I really like using it for individual pastries or as a large tart that can be cut into individual servings. Use the blitz pastry recipe, or if you are in a big hurry, use a box pastry dough, I have used it in other recipes, but I will list it individually as well.
The pastry that is pictured is cut with a square cutter approx. 2 1/2 inch for the bottom piece, the top is cut from the same size but with a 1 inch square cut to allow for the filling. To assemble, moisten the outside edges of the bottom piece of dough with a little water and place the center cut piece of dough on top and press lightly to seal the two together. Scoop a teaspoon or so of filling into the small square, I use a 70 scoop. Bake them at 350 degrees rotating once or twice during baking 25-28 minutes. I set the time every 7 minutes or so and just check them until they have puffed and are golden. You can skip all the fuss and stuff some pastry dough into a round 9 inch or so tart pan and pour all the filling in and bake until golden. Slice and serve warm with vanilla ice cream!
Add a touch of Kahlua for extra goodness. FYI: A triple batch of filling will yield approximately 70 individual tarts.

Filling:
2 eggs
1 1/2 C brown sugar
2 T melted butter
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 C finely chopped pecans
you can also add a splash of Kalua along with the vanilla flavoring
powdered sugar for dusting

Lime Curd

Nothing screams Spring, like lime or lemon curd. Tart and fresh with that hint of sweetness, curd is the perfect wake up your palate dessert. This recipe is from Gale Gand, her recipe is for Lemon Curd, but you can substitute any citrus fruit you like. I made lime curd for these tarts, so I have written the recipe with lime juice.
I love the simplicity of this recipe, top the tarts with whipped cream or meringue. Gale serves the curd as a dip with phyllo triangles that have been coated with butter and sugar.

Ingredients:
2 Eggs
1/2 C. Sugar
Zest of 1/2 a lime
1/3 C. Freshly squeezed lime juice
2 T. Cold unsalted butter cut into cubes

PREP:
In a medium saucepan (your mixing bowl should be able to sit on top of the pan) bring about an inch of water to a simmer. Meanwhile, in a metal or glass mixing bowl, whisk the eggs and sugar together until very light yellow and fluffy. Whisk in the lemon zest and juice. Rest the mixing bowl over Cook, slowly, whisking often until the mixture is thickened and custardy, 10-15 minutes. The mixture should coat the back of a spoon and hold, run your finger through the custard and the line should stay in place and not run back together. Remove the bowl from the pan and whisk in the cold butter. Transfer to an airtight container and allow to cool completely. Cover and refrigerate once cool for at least 2 hours. The curd will hold in the refrigerator up to one week.

Ginger Crinkle Cookies

Unlike the ginger stars that are also included in this blog, these ginger cookies are of the CHEWY variety. This dough comes together so easily, I absolutely love mixing it and it is also easily doubled. Like almost all my cookies this dough can be scooped, frozen then bagged and stored in the freezer for easy baking at any time. Just remove the desired amount from your freezer, preheat the oven and roll them in sugar prior to baking.

INGREDIENTS:
2 1/4 C Flour
1/4 tsp. Salt
2 tsp. Baking soda
2 tsp. Cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp. Ground ginger
1 1/2 tsp. Ground cloves
1 Large egg
1/2 C Canola oil
3 T. Butter, melted
1/4 C plus 1 1/2 T. Molasses
1 C Light brown sugar
1/2 C Granulated sugar, to coat the unbaked cookie

PREPARATION:
In a large bowl, stir together all dry ingredients, first six on the list. In mixing bowl, mix on low speed, remaining ingredients,EXCEPT GRANULATED SUGAR, scrape the sides if needed and begin incorporating the flour mixture. Once all the flour has been absorbed, stop mixing. Scoop dough with the desired size cookie scoop (a 40 scoop will make a normal size cookie) or form into 1 1/2 inch balls. Prior to baking roll each cookie in the reserved granulated sugar to coat all sides. Place two inches apart on a parchment lined baking sheet, bake at 375 for 8-10 minutes rotating the pans once during baking. Slide parchment with cookies onto a wire rack to cool.

Banana Bars

I was amazed to find that I had not posted this recipe prior to now! I make this recipe often, because my kids never eat the bananas I buy before they get too ripe. This recipe is so versatile, feel free to experiment and create your own yummy treat. The original is baked as a bar in a jelly roll or half sheet pan, but I also bake them in mini loaf pans or muffin tins of any size and they bake up perfectly, you just need to adjust the baking time accordingly. I have also developed a caramel version that is fantastic, I saturate them with flavored simple syrups, frost them with various icings, the possibilities are endless. I usually omit the nuts, but have listed them in the recipe and I add cinnamon.

Yields:
6 dozen 2X1 inch bars
24 muffins, double the amount mini muffins
3-4 small loafs

INGREDIENTS:
1 1/2 C Granulated sugar
1 C Sour cream
1/2 C Butter, softened
2 Eggs
1 1/2 C Mashed bananas (3 Large)
2 tsp. Vanilla
2 C Flour
1 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Cinnamon
1 tsp. Baking soda
1/2 C Chopped nuts
Vanilla Glaze

PREPARATION:
Heat oven to 375 degrees. Mix sugar, sour cream and eggs on low speed in a large bowl for one minute. Scrape bowl if needed. Beat in bananas and vanilla on low for 30 seconds. Mix in dry ingredients, not nuts, on medium speed for one minute, scrape bowl if needed. Stir in nuts. Spread into a greased and floured half sheet pan, 15 1/2X10 1/2X1 inch, Bake until light brown, 20-25 minutes, a toothpick will come out clean. Cool. Frost with Vanilla Glaze and cut into bars.
VANILLA GLAZE:
Mix 2 C Powdered sugar, 1/4 C softened butter, 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla and 2 T. hot water.
Stir in 1-2 tsp. additional hot water if needed until you reach a spreadable consistency.

VARIATIONS:
*Use Almond extract in place of the vanilla in the glaze.
*Bake in small paper loaf pans and brush with a rum/banana liquor simple syrup immediately after baking. Drizzle with frosting, these make great gifts.
*Caramel muffins: 1 Jar caramel sauce. Fill muffin tins 1/3 full with batter, top with 1/2 tsp. of caramel sauce then top with batter to fill muffin tins to 3/4 from the top. Muffins will take longer to bake, approximately 30-35 minutes depending on the size. Test with a toothpick for doneness.

Luella's Escalloped Pineapple

I wanted to post some hand written recipes from family members who have passed away. Seeing the words on the well worn index card in my grandmother's handwriting is a special feeling, one that makes the recipe even more valuable. Learning to create these dishes, family traditions, passed down from generation to generation, it is the literal definition of COMFORT FOOD. I take great comfort in knowing that I will have these to share with my family and friends long after the ink has faded. Luella, ( AKA, Little Grandma Newman)was my great-grandmother, the mother of my mother's father (follow that one?), I was surprised to see her name on the recipe, because this is a recipe my mom's mother made for holidays. Betty, (AKA, Big Grandma Newman, because she was taller) didn't cook very often, especially from scratch. This recipe is written by her and we serve it every Thanksgiving and Christmas as a side dish. It is sort of more like a dessert.
Ingredients:
1 Qt. Bread crumbs (hand torn)
2 C. White sugar
3 Eggs beaten
1/2 C. Butter, melted
1/2 C. Whipping cream
1 Large can crushed pineapple with the juice
Mix sugar, butter, eggs, cream and pineapple. Stir in bread crumbs. Allow to sit for a moment, bread will absorb the liquid, while you prepare a casserole dish and preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake in greased glass or ceramic dish approximately 30-45 minutes. The pineapple will be set and golden brown.