Sour Cherry Seed Cake

1 tablespoon butter, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
salt to taste
3/4 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon caraway seed
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
Lemon zest from 1 lemon.

Sour Cherries (pitted)

Preheat oven to 350° F.

Grease and flour the bottom and sides of an 8-inch square cake pan with softened butter. I actually just used the butter wrapper paper.

Sift together flour, salt, and baking powder. Add lemon zest.

Cream 1/2 cup butter and sugar together. Mix in caraway seeds and egg. Add flour mixture and milk, beating well.  Stir in sour cherries. Spoon batter into prepared cake pan. It’s pretty thick and gloopy, but it works.

Bake for about 45 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool.

This is a zingy cake what with lots of lemony flavor from the zest and the pucker power of sour cherries. But somehow it’s just perfect.

Advertisement

Dutch Baby with Pear Sauce and Yogurt

Leave 3 eggs out overnight so they are room temperature when you make this.

Preheat oven to 450° F.

Heat cast iron skillet on stove top. Add 3 TBSP of butter and melt until bubbling, but not browning.

Meanwhile, beat 3 eggs (room temperature) for about a minute, just to get some air in them.

Add 3/4 cups of milk.

Add 1 TBSP sugar

Add 3/4 cups of flour

Add 1/2 tsp of salt.

Mix together and pour into the melted, bubbling butter.

Put in the oven and bake for 15 minutes, turn the oven off and let sit for another 5 minutes.

While it’s baking, melt a TBSP of butter, peel and dice one pear, add to the butter and cook until tender. Add 1 TBSP of brown sugar and let it melt into the butter, coating the pears.

Cut your Dutch Baby into quarters, put a fourth of your pear sauce on top, with a spoonful of plain yogurt.

This is simply delicious, fast and easy. It’s a recipe that is easy to keep in your head, too. Think of the 3s, 3 eggs, 3/4 cups of flour and milk, 3 TBSP of butter. It’s also not too sweet, the yogurt adds a nice tang that balances any sweetness from the sauce.

 

Blue Cornmeal Applesauce Breakfast Bars

• 2½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1½ cup blue cornmeal
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 Tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 tsp cardamom (optional)
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/2 stick butter, chilled and cut into small pieces
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 cup applesauce
• 1/2 cup sliced almonds (optional)
• 1 cup dried figs (optional)
• sugar and cinnamon for dusting

Heat oven to 400 degrees Mix dry ingredients in mixing bowl. Cut in pieces of butter using a pastry blender. Add applesauce and sour cream and mix. The batter will be more solid than cake batter, but not stiff and dry like scone batter. Add optional nuts and dried fruit. You can experiment with different nuts and fruits, including currants, raisins, pecans, walnuts, or pepitas.

Roll into a log using parchment paper or wax paper. Then slice into  12 pieces and layer on parchment paper on a cookie sheet.

Bake 15 minutes at 400, remove for a moment, shake some mixed cinnamon and sugar over the top and return to oven, lowering temperature to 300 for 15 more minutes.

These are a nice moist, breakfast/dessert bars. They are toothsome, hearty, and slightly sweet. Goes well with coffee or tea. A good afternoon snack. They’re not as sweet as dessert bread, but not as “healthy” as corn muffins.

Lemon Seed Bread

Preheat oven to 325° F.

Grease a bread pan, I just used the wrapper off the butter I used in the recipe.

Cream together butter and sugar.

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• Zest from one lemon

Add

• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup milk

Mix together:

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tablespoon caraway seed

Add to the liquid ingredients. This is a thick batter, almost like a cookie batter.

Put in the bread pan and bake for 30 – 40 minutes, until knife comes out dry.

Very tart and tasty. I love caraway seeds. This is a lovely old-fashioned pastry.

 

Lemon Krumkake

My family sent my late sister’s krumkake irons to me. One is the traditional old-fashioned iron for use on a wood or gas stove. It’s from Nordicware, like the one Mom had, I used to have, and everyone I know has ever had.  The other was a Bethany electric krumkake baker. Bethany is the maker of my lefse griddle, so familiar to me. I was excited to try the electric baker because I am anxious about using the old-fashioned iron on an electric oven. It worked pretty well, though it does not press the krumkake as thinly as the stovetop iron.

So here’s the recipe.  I mixed the dry ingredients first. Then I mixed the liquid ingredients and added to the dry. I heated the iron, brushed it lightly with vegetable oil just for the first cookie, and then started baking the cookies. Each cookie takes about 1 TBSP of batter. This made about 3 dozen cookies.

You can stuff with whipped cream, lingonberries or use with sorbet, but for me, I prefer them plain.

• 1 1/ 2 cups flour
• 1 cup sugar
• Zest from 2 lemons

• 2 eggs
• 1/ 2 cup butter, melted
• 1 cup of milk

 

Pear, Brie, and Hazelnut Yufka

This was the fruit and cheese course in the six course Christmas dinner yesterday, a collaboration between my best friend and me. We had a lot of pears so it made sense to use them. I remembered this extraordinary Brie she had at Thanksgiving which I thought would make a great accompaniment. Googling for pear and brie recipes brought up lots of for a tart of crostini. With everything else, it made sense to go for something lighter, with less bread, a naan or pita, perhaps. Then I remembered a recipe in the fabulous Soframiz cookbook I reviewed earlier this year for Yufka, a flatbread that is a tiny bit richer than pita, light and delicate, but not a pastry.  It really worked perfectly.

Yufka Dough:

• 1 2/3 cup of flour
• 1 tsp of kosher salt
• 2/3 cup warm water
• 2 TBSP olive oil

Mix the salt and flour in a bowl, make a well and add the water and olive oil. Mix with your fingers until well blended. Then knead for a good three minutes. I counted to 180 kneading. Lightly brush with olive oil, wrap in plastic wrap and let rest 4 hours or more. I let it rest overnight.

When you’re ready to cook, divide into 2 oz portions. I used a scale. I expected it to come out to 6 pieces, but it came out to 7. Bonus! Roll it out as thin as you can, use plenty of flour to keep it from sticking. It should be thinner than a tortilla and about 8 inches round.

Heat a skillet or griddle to medium high. Do not grease. Cook on one side until it bubbles, then flip and cook on the other. About 2 minutes each side. These are partially cooked yufka that finish cooking whenever you do what you do with them.

The Pear, Brie, and Hazelnut Yufka

• Pears
• Brie
• Olive oil
• Dried Thyme
• Toasted Hazelnuts

Preheat oven to 400°. Slice three pears and 12 oz of brie. Lay the yufka on a baking sheet, lay down the layer of pears, add the brie, drizzle with a bit of olive oil and sprinkle dried thyme over it. Put it in the oven to bake, just until the cheese browns very lightly.

Meanwhile, toast a cup of chopped hazelnuts in a dry pan.

Place each yufka on a plate, sprinkle with the hazelnuts and serve warm.

This was so delicious, rich and flavorful without being overly rich. Makes 6.

 

Pear Quick Bread with Buckwheat Honey, Apricots & Pecans

I had three pears that were so ripe that eating them would have been a mess, so I peeled and mashed them with a fork and decided to try making a pear-based quick bread. I decided the molasses that I usually use for quick bread would overpower the pears and decided to use buckwheat honey instead. I also thought dried cranberries would not work well and opted for dried apricots, a milder flavor.  This takes no special equipment other than a bread pan.

• 1/2 cup of butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup mashed pears
• 1/4 cup buckwheat honey
• 2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp powdered ginger
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cardamom
• 1/2 cup dried apricots (chopped small)
• 1.3 cup chopped pecan

Preheat to 300°

First cream 1/2 cup of butter with 1 cup of sugar. I use a whisk, but if you have a mixer, use it. I used room temperature butter, but you can take cold butter, cut it into pieces and then cream it with the whisk. Once the sugar and butter is light and creamy, fluffy even if you have the energy, add the eggs, one at a time, whisking them into the batter.

In a bowl, mix the mashed pears and buckwheat honey together. If you don’t have buckwheat honey, use regular honey, but use a little less. Buckwheat honey is not as sweet tasting.

In another bowl, mix the flour and spices.

Add the pear mixture and the flour mixture about 1/3 at a time, so you blend thoroughly, first the pears, then the flour, pears, flour, pears, and flour.

Finally gently fold in the pecans and the dried apricots.

Pour the batter in the greased bread pan and bake for about 90 minutes. Test with a knife after an hour or so and see if it comes out dry. My bread pan is one of those very thick insulated ones, so I need 90 minutes, but a thin bread pan will cook faster.

Fry Bread with Apples and Yogurt

I made these last month when it was too hot to turn on the oven, but wanted to make an apple dessert. I decided to make some fry bread with apples and yogurt.

To make the fry bread. Heat vegetable oil in a deep pan. Use plenty of oil (1 or 2 cups), you can strain it through a cheese cloth and use it again.

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/3 cup water

Mix together and form into four rounds. Drop into the oil, one or two at a time, depending on the size of your pan. You want plenty of space. When one side is done, flip it over and fry on the other side. Remove and rest on paper towels to drain, sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar.

So, these are slightly savory apples. I put 1/2 TBSP of butter in a pan with some sliced red onions and a few rosemary leaves. I added two apples, peeled and sectioned, and cooked until tender but not mushy, adding a TBSP of sugar at the end to sweeten the onions a little bit more.

I served  half the apples with two fry bread and a spoonful of yogurt. This made two servings.

Tangy Banana Tostada

I had an overripe banana and absolute no desire to turn the oven on for muffins or bread. It was in a bowl right next to the package of  pre-made tostadas and I got this wild idea that it just might work. It did.

I crushed the banana with a fork and spread it on the tostada. Then I sprinkled some Tajín on it, though you could just use some chile powder and salt. Then I chopped up about two inches from a green onion and sprinkled on top.

I liked the flavor mix the tart and sweet and salty, but I do think the banana might be even better spread on two tostadas. A bit more salt and crunch ratio would make it a bit more tasty. Next time I have overripe bananas, I will try it again. It was a nice breakfast and would make a good snack.

 

Plum Tostada

I got about 5 pounds of fresh plums from Oregon Food Bank’s Harvest Share a few weeks back. I have been waiting for them to ripen, but decided to just try cooking one to see what happened. I was really not sure what I wanted to make. Well, I wanted to make a cake but I don’t have a mixer or blender and it’s hot and I didn’t want to turn on the oven, so I stood in front of the fridge hoping something would leap out at me. I saw some fresh rosemary a friend gave me from her garden and wondered how plums would taste sautéed in a bit of butter with some onions and rosemary. I have some tostadas from WinCo, so decided to try something crazy.

So, I melted

• 1 tsp of butter in a small sauce pan and added about
• 1 tbsp of finely chopped onions. I tossed in about
• 1 inch long piece of fresh rosemary. I cut up
• 1 large plum into about 8 segments and then chopped them in half. I added them when the onions were tender. I sautéed for about 8 minutes on a low heat. I added about
• 2 teaspoons of vanilla sugar (I have a vanilla bean in my tea sugar and used it instead of my cooking sugar.) I added about
• 1/2 tsp of cinnamon. Stirring everything, I thought about adding lemon, but thought the unripe plum was so tart on its own, I didn’t really need the lemon.

I spread it on the tostada, added some sour cream and lightly toasted pecans.

This was so good, I washed out the pan and made myself a second one. Who knew rosemary and plums were divine? That is a flavor combination I am going to try again. Perhaps in a cake when it’s not so dang hot.

Makes one serving, darn it.