The Flexitarian Cook

A few years ago, I found a recipe for a blueberry coffee cake on Chocolate & Zucchini that I absolutely loved. For a long time, it was my son Adam’s request for his birthday, and it was always perfect. However, this is the thing about perfection: it doesn’t last forever. A little reinvention is what’s needed to keep things fresh and interesting, and my blueberry cake fling needed a little help.

Help came in the form of egg whites and sugar. Another recipe found online suggested beating egg whites and sugar to a stiff, glossy finish – exactly what you would do for a meringue – before incorporating them to the batter. The result is a light, soft, moist crumb with a lightly crispy top, not too sweet and brimming with fruit: just what the cake doctor ordered. So, when Adam asked for a blueberry cake for his birthday a few weeks ago, I knew just what to do; and he was very, very pleased.

It looks like I’ve found a new favorite; until, that is, I need a change.

Best Blueberry Cake (Yet)

2 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1.5 cup + 1 Tbsp flour
1/3 cup + 1 Tbsp milk
1 stick room temperature butter
2 tsp orange blossom water (or 1 tsp vanilla extract)
1 pint blueberries
1 tsp baking powder
2 Tbsp light brown sugar

Separate the egg yolks and whites. Beat the egg whites until soft peaks form then slowly add 1/4 cup sugar. Keep beating until the mixture forms stiff peaks and becomes glossy. Set aside.

Cream together butter and 1/2 cup sugar. Add egg yolks and blend well. Add flavoring and mix. Add 1.5 cup flour and baking powder and mix well. Beat in milk. The batter will be quite stiff, which is fine.

At this stage, it's more akin to cookie dough than cake batter.

Wash and sort blueberries. Mix in 1 Tbsp flour. Add fruit to the batter and mix well.

Incorporate egg whites carefully, making sure not to beat them in.

The egg whites right before they get mixed in...

... and right after.

Pour batter in an 8″ buttered and floured square pan. Sprinkle brown sugar on top.

Ready to go in the oven. I think it looks good enough to eat right now.

Bake in a preheated F350 oven for about 45 minutes.

45 minutes in the heat will do wonders.

As George Takei might say: Oh, my!

Tags: blueberries, cake

A quick post, for a quick, classically Italian tomato and bread salad. The inspiration came from an America’s Test Kitchen show on PBS that I caught while on vacation in Cape Cod one slow morning. I just had to make it. It captures summer perfectly, in my view.

Panzanella

Keep in mind that this salad will only be as good as the ingredients you use!

4 or 5 perfectly ripe tomatoes
a few basil leaves, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 large shallot, finely sliced
1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil (get the best one you can afford)
2 cups fresh bread cubes tossed with 2 Tbsp olive oil (to make croutons)
salt and pepper

Bake the bread cubes in a F300 oven until golden brown (about 35 min or so) and set aside.

Making your own croutons for this salad is essential.

While the croutons are on their way, peel, core, seed and cut the tomatoes in 1″ pieces. Place in a fine mesh colander over a salad bowl, toss with 1/2 tsp salt and let the tomato juices drain in the bowl for at least 30 min.

The tomato juices will be blended with the dressing for enhanced tomato flavor.

Whisk the vinegar and oil in with the tomato juice and add pepper, garlic and shallot. Mix well.

The garlic and shallots are a perfect pairing with tomatoes and red wine vinegar.

Add tomatoes and basil.

It was really hard not to eat it just like this.

10 minutes before serving, add croutons. Toss well.

Buon appetito!

Tags: bread, panzanella, salad, tomato

I’ve said before that I am not a baker. Give me any kind of soup, or savory sauce, or vegetable concoction, and I am happy and comfortable making those. Cookies and cakes, however, I find more challenging. So why is it that I’ve found myself baking tarts, cakes and cookies so often lately, when, on top of everything, the weather has been hot and I should probably leave the oven alone? Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I can’t really eat all that sweet stuff very often any more, and so I enjoy vicarious indulgences by baking (mostly for others). That, or maybe I’m just enough of a masochist; please don’t tell anyone else.

Today’s Adventures in Sugarland involve a new cookie cutter, and plenty of sticky dough.

I was itching to make this chocolate cookie recipe I found online, but at the suggestion of such, my son (a chocolate agnostic) gave me an unmistakable ‘meh’ look which had me rethinking my plans immediately. My daughter had recently made some very good lemon cookies, and while I wanted a different flavor, I thought that recipe would make a good base from which to create something else. Then, while shopping for something completely different, I happened onto this little guy, and at that moment I knew exactly what I had to do:

Linzer cookie cutter

Linzer Augen (German for Linzer Eyes) are cookies made with ingredients similar to that of Linzer Torte, a jam filled pie that is usually served during the holidays in many of the countries that used to be a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In the U.S., linzer cookies are also typically a Christmas cookie, but really, who can wait until December to start making these?

Obviously, not me.

I adapted in two ways the lemon cookie recipe my daughter had found: one, I changed the flavoring to almond, and two, I replaced some of the flour with almond meal, for flavor and texture. The result is a perfect sablé, with just the right crumbly, not-too-crunchy, not-too-soft texture, and nutty flavor. Working with it was a bit of a challenge. I recommend keeping the dough cold as you’re working, which means using only 1/3 of the dough at a time and leaving the rest in the fridge. This should keep it from sticking to your working area too much, something with which I had to deal.

After all was said and done, all I had to do was choose the right flavor for the filling, which was easy enough given the amount of homemade jam I have in the house: I settled on peach and plum; and because I needed to satisfy that need to make something chocolaty, I picked Nutella for the third and last filling.

Judging from the reception they got, I’d say people did fall in sugar love with them there eyes. I hope you will too!

Linzer Augen

Ingredients:
1 c butter
1 c sugar
1 egg
1 tsp each vanilla and almond extracts
2.5 c flour
0.5 c almond meal
2 tsp baking powder

Cream together the butter and sugar. Beat in egg and flavorings. Blend together dry ingredients and incorporate to the batter. It will be stiff and quite sticky. Refrigerate for 15 to 20 mn.

Using about 1/3 of the dough at a time and keeping the rest in the fridge while you work, roll out on a well-floured surface to about 3/8″ thickness. Cut out cookies in 2″ rounds. To make tops, cut a small round (or other shape) out of half of the cookies. Keep re-rolling and cutting leftover dough until gone. Place on an ungreased baking sheet and bake in preheated oven for 6 minutes at F400. Remove from oven and let cool 2 minutes before removing from baking sheet onto a rack.

When cool, sprinkle some confectioner’s sugar on cookie tops (the ones with the hole). Spread your choice of filling on the bottom cookie and cover with a top.

Clockwise from top: Nutella, peach, and plum

Makes about 70 2″ cookies (i.e. 3 dozen sandwiches)

It might seem like a lot, but they were gone in the blink of an ..., you know.

Tags: Augen, Christmas, cookie, dessert, linzer