Category Archives: Recipes (Sweet)

Penance for a Food Product Snub

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Forgive me, kefir, for I have sinned.

For years, I never tried you, never cared to, never even thought about it.

What can I say? There was just something about your name that turned me off.

I love your distant cousin, yogurt, whose name I’ve grown accustomed to saying effortlessly and joyously.

But you, kefir, every time I heard your name, I just turned the other way.

The tragedy.

I hope you can find it in your cultured, fermented heart to forgive me now, because thanks to the good folks at Lifeway, who cajoled and persisted with samples, I finally tried you.

And now — dare I say it — I ADORE you.

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Three Cheers for Cherries

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At this time of year, who can’t get enough of those glorious little sweet orbs that crunch and squirt fuchsia-hued juice everywhere when you bite into them?

Luckily for me, I have CJ Olson Cherries in my hood. The charming fruit stand in Sunnyvale is a testament to times past, when the shopping center now surrounding it was instead lush cherry orchards. Those trees may be gone now, but the stand, which has been family-run there since 1899, remains the place to buy cherries.

When I stopped by a week ago, there were close to half a dozen varieties to choose from, including those lovely rosy-yellow Rainiers. But which to bake with? That was the question on my mind. The helpful clerk suggested the classic Bing, because it’s what Olson’s uses in its famous cherry pies that are so flaky, buttery and bursting with fruit that you simply can’t say “no” to a slice or two or three.

The Bing, he advised, has a quite crisp exterior, which helps it keep its shape better when baked. It also has a more complex flavor with almost a wine-y quality, which will give any baked good a lot more depth and nuance.

I toted home my bag of deep burgundy-colored cherries and set to work with my handy-dandy pitter.

They were destined for a special treat — “Cherry Focaccia with Rosemary.”

I took an original recipe for “Red Grape Focaccia”  from the October 2006 issue of Cuisine at Home magazine, only I swapped out the grapes for cherries instead.

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My May-December Romance

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Don’t start blushing and getting worked up into a state of shock.

This is no confession about any affair with a much younger or older man.

Instead, it’s my declaration of my unabashed May-December relationship with fresh cranberries.

The winter holidays come and go in a flash, and with them, those lovely, jewel-like sweet-tart berries that we gorge on in sauce, chutney, breads, scones and cakes only at that time of year.

But months later, even as the days grew sunnier and warmer, I end up missing them, even longing desperately for them.

So I do what the food editors of Sunset magazine do. Because of their crazy far-in-advance deadlines, they often find themselves having to test cranberry recipes in the summer. So, they got to stashing bags of fresh cranberries in the freezer for months on end. I decided to do the same and haven’t looked back since.

The beauty of this is that my lode of cranberries I put in the freezer in December can be pulled out later in May to enjoy in such treats as this “Cranberry Coffee Cake” from the December 2009 issue of Cuisine at Home magazine.

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Intoxicated by Buddha’s Hand

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Forgive me if I’m a little tipsy as I tipe, er, type.

Remember that gnarly looking fruit that my friend Damian grew? That yellow citrus fruit that’s a dead-ringer for a sea amenomee, uh, anenome…um, you know what I mean? Yes, that Buddha’s hand that he gave me in January? Surely, you remember my post on that unusual gift.

You can probably guess what I made from it, after seeing the photo above with the bottle of Everclear lurking dangerously in the background. Yup, Buddha-cello. A version of the classic Italian liqueur, limoncello, but with Buddha’s hand rather then lemons.

After heeding some useful advice about making limoncello from Lisa at Learning To Eat and Hedonia — (I think it was them. I dunno any more. My mind isn’t so good now.) — I set off for BevMo to buy my first bottle of Everclear.

My husband says he remembers stirring up punch with this stuff at college frat parties. I wonder how he’s still walking now, let alone how he managed to graduate.

To say this stuff is strong is an understatement.  It’s P-O-T-E-N-T! It’s natural grain alcohol that’s 151 proof or 75.5 percent alcohol. Cough, cough. Good gawd.

Limoncello afficionados swear it makes a far superior product than mere vodka, because it has a more neutral taste and can therefore better absorb the flavor of the citrus that’s being infused.

Nothing but the best for my Buddha’s hand, I say. So I toted home a 750ml bottle, hoping it wouldn’t spontaneously combust  in my car on the ride home. Hey, ya never know.

In my kitchen, I set about taking apart my Buddha’s hand, which is definitely more work than just zesting a lemon. You have to cut off the individual fingers, then zest each one separately.

Into a sterilized glass jar went the zest, the entire bottle of Everclear, and the seeds from half a vanilla bean pod. Once the lid was secured, I set the jar on a back counter and waited.

It didn’t take long. In only about two days’ time, the once clear alcohol had taken on a deep yellow color.

After six weeks, I whipped up some simple syrup by heating 1/3 cup water with 1/4 cup sugar. Once the simple syrup cooled, I added it to the jar, along with 2 cups of vodka to help mellow the mixture. Then I set the jar back on the counter and waited again.

Two weeks later, I strained the mixture, then decanted it into bottles, which I stuck into the freezer so they would reach the optimal frosty temperature to enjoy my Buddha-cello.

Then, I poured a little into a shot glass and took a sip.

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Not So Itty-Bitty, Teenie-Weenie Polka-Dot Cake

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Leopard print may be so Victoria’s Secret.

And camouflage so divisive and boldly statement-oriented.

But polka dots? Who doesn’t love the whimsy of big, bright, carefree circles covering anything and everything?

Especially when it’s crowning the top of this clever cake.

“Essence of Orange-Chocolate Wafer Cake” is from Coffee Cakes: Simple, Sweet and Savory” (Chronicle Books) by Palo Alto food writer, Lou Seibert Pappas.

It’s a super moist and dense, but tender, cake strewn with bittersweet chocolate wafers to create a fun polka-dot pattern.

I used the new TCHOPro Organic Baking Drops (66 Percent Cacao), which I recently got a sample of. The chocolate discs with the deep, pronounced flavor are $8.99 for an 8-ounce bag. E. Guittard also makes great chocolate wafers.

Besides its look, the other unusual thing about this cake? It includes one whole orange. Yup, rind, flesh, pith and all — just minus the seeds. It also includes golden raisins, but you’d never know they were there.

That’s because the orange and the raisins get pulverized in the food processor until finely ground. This sticky paste is what gives the cake its moistness. The mixture is combined with butter, sugar, eggs, flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and plain yogurt or buttermilk.

Chocolate discs are stirred into the batter before being poured into the cake pan. Then, more chocolate discs are laid over the top.

My cake took a little longer than the specified 40 minutes to bake (but I have a gas oven, too). If yours cake does, too, and it starts to brown too much, just tent it with foil to allow it to continue baking a few minutes more.

If you like candied orange rinds dipped in dark chocolate, you’ll love this cake. It tastes just like that, with a very gutsy orange flavor.

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