Like Strawberry Wine...

Every once in a while, I read a recipe and want whatever it is immediately.  Well, ok, that actually happens a lot but I usually hold off and just create a stash of recipes that I refer to when I’m at a loss of what to make.  I found this cake recipe the other day though and read the ingredients – I had everything at home already, so I was making this cake…

Most people opt for chocolate cake or vanilla cake or even red velvet or carrot.  I have always had an affinity for strawberry cake.  More times than not, it’s what I had for my birthday every year as a kid.  And yes, I’m even talking about that bright pink boxed version – deeelish.

This recipe sounded great, it includes yogurt which gives a nice background tang and keeps it moist (ewww, hate that word), and requires you to roast the berries…I’d never heard of doing that, but I think it worked as the berry flavor really came through.  This is like the adult version of that boxed cake – I think I’m officially ready to move on.

Ingredients

Recipe adapted from www.brighteyedbaker.com

3 cups halved strawberries

1 ½ Tbsp granulated sugar (I omitted)

3 cups AP Flour, spooned and swept (I used 2 cups AP and 1 cup white whole wheat)

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

½ tsp baking soda

10 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened

¾ cup packed light brown sugar

¾ cup granulated sugar

2 extra large eggs, plus 1 yolk

½ cup plain yogurt (I used nonfat Greek yogurt)

1 tsp vanilla extract

¼ tsp red food coloring (I omitted)

Topping

1 cup white chocolate chips

¼ cup heavy cream

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375º.  Place the strawberries in a large baking dish and sprinkle with the 1 ½ Tbsp sugar. (I left this sugar out, just didn’t seem necessary since there is so much in the cake).  Roast for about 10-15 min, then remove from oven and set aside to cool for about 15 min.

Reduce the oven temperature to 325º.  Grease a 12-cup bundt pan.

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda. 

In a large mixing bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugars until even in color and texture and the mixture has lightened in color slightly.  Add the eggs one at a time, then add the yolk, vanilla extract and food coloring, beating just until well mixed.

In a blender, puree the strawberries and yogurt then add to the sugar mixture and beat on low speed or stir to combine.  Sift and slowly add the flour mixture just until combined.  Do not overmix.

Pour the batter into the greased pan making sure to evenly distribute.  Tap the pan on the counter a couple times to eliminate any air bubbles.  Bake in a preheated oven for 50-55 min or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  I started checking the cake after about 45 minutes and checked every 4-5 minutes thereafter.  When done, let cool in the pan for about 15 min, then careful tap the pan over a cooling rack to release and cool completely.

After about 20 minutes, make the white chocolate ganache by slowly melting the chips into the heavy cream. (I did this in 25 second increments in the microwave)  Let cool enough for the mixture to thicken slightly then pour over the cake.  Let set before serving.

*NOTES*  I only had frozen fruit and on top of that, I only had 2 cups of strawberries so I added 1 cup of blueberries.  It took a little longer to roast the fruit since it was frozen, but it worked just fine.  Blueberries are a dominant flavor and color, hence my cake being more gray-purple than pink, but the taste was amazing.  I’ll definitely make this again with only strawberries though.  Also, I think other toppings would work well on this cake – perhaps a simple vanilla or lemon powdered sugar glaze, or even a cream cheese glaze.  I’m starting to crave this again just by talking about it.  Experiment and enjoy! 

For the first Baking GALS round of 2013, I wanted to make something different.  New year, no repeats (let’s hope I stick to that!).  I asked some friends for ideas and the suggestion was made to make something orange-flavored.  Well, two things immediately came to mind, both of which my mom made when I was growing up – orange cardamom bread and orange coffee cake.  I haven’t had the orange coffee cake in years and I’ve never actually made it myself so I knew that was the one.

A quick email and call home and I had the recipe and tips I needed.  I also learned that this is actually my grandma’s recipe and one of my dad’s favorites.  My mom has been making it for our family since the 70’s.  I think this is one of the few, if not the only, TRUE family recipes I’ve posted on this blog so I’m a little nostalgic about it.  If anyone makes this and doesn’t like it – spare me please and just keep your comments to yourself!

I noticed that there is melted shortening in the recipe – ewww, what??  I know shortening is just a vegetable product but it still just has a bad stigma in my head…even though one of my favorite jobs in the kitchen as a kid was to get a glob on a paper towel and grease the pans for whatever my mom was baking.  I distinctly remember sticking my hand in that big blue can…  So when I asked her if I could substitute butter, the immediate response was “Well that isn’t what they used when grandma was making this Steph - people used Crisco, just use Crisco.”  Ok fine, in honor of grandma, here goes:

Batter: 

2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup sugar
2 beaten eggs

1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup melted shortening
1 tsp grated orange rind
3/4 cup orange juice

Topping:  In a separate bowl combine with a fork: 2 Tbsp grated orange rind, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 tsp cinnamon, and 1 Tbsp butter (soft enough to mush into the other ingredients).

Sift flour, salt, baking powder and sugar.  Add eggs, vanilla, rind, juice, and then add shortening.  Stir only until dry ingredients are moistened.  Pour into 8" square greased pan.  Per my mother when I asked about using a mixer, “No no!  It’s a very delicate batter, definitely mix it by hand.”  Done and done.

Sprinkle topping over batter.  

Bake in 400° oven for 30 minutes, though start checking it after 25.   Obviously I made muffins rather than a cake – for regular size muffins, bake for about 11-13 min; for mini muffins, bake for about 10 min.  

This is good warm, but the orange flavor really comes out as it cools a little.  Enjoy!

If you’re anything like me, at the beginning of a new year all you want to do is try to stop eating.  By this point you have gorged yourself at a whole slew of holiday gatherings beginning way back in November and now you need to reign that shit in!

I love chicken salad, and the way I make it, it’s really not that bad for you.  I generally mix low-fat mayo with nonfat greek yogurt and always useless boneless skinless chicken breast that I cook with no additional fat (no butter, no oil).  In my holiday laziness a couple weeks ago I was watching Food Network and saw this version of chicken salad that I’d never had before.  I was intrigued.  Even though the person making it was  -gasp!, Trisha Yearwood – seriously.  I never thought I’d be taking cooking tips from a country singer.  At any rate, assuming you like each individual component of this salad, I think you’ll really like it – great combination of savory and sweet, crunchy and soft, and to be quite honest, I think it’s the prettiest chicken salad I’ve ever made – so colorful!  To compensate for the fact that I went all mayo this time (still low-fat), I’ll be eating it over a bed of arugula, rather than between two slices of bread.  You do what you gotta do though….

Ingredients

I’m afraid I don’t really measure anything when I make chicken salad.  I’ll indicate amounts where I remember what I used, but otherwise, it really is a matter of personal taste.

3 boneless skinless chicken breasts, poached in chicken broth and seasonings

5 stalks celery, small dice

scallions, finely chopped – maybe 5-8?

Seedless red grapes, halved – I probably used about 1-2 cups

½ cup slivered almonds – recipe doesn’t call for it, but I dry-toasted these first

Fresh dill, chopped – about 2 tbsp

2 tbsp poppy seeds

Mayo – maybe about a cup?

Salt & Pepper to taste

Chop cooked chicken to the size dice you prefer, add all other ingredients, mix well with mayo, season with salt & pepper.  Enjoy!

Ahhh, a new year.  You know what that means….a new scone recipe, obviously.  It’s been quite a while since I made a new flavor so you had to know I was due.  I went on my first big shopping trip tonight since before the holidays, and before heading out to restock the cupboards, I did some inventory of what I needed to get rid of.  Figs!  I had totally forgotten about the couple bags of dried figs I had from when I made challah a few months back.  Well the beauty of dried fruit is that it lasts for-freaking-ever (if you store it properly), but it was definitely time to use them up.

You see where I’m going with this.  I got this recipe from the same blog where I found the challah – she too likes figs it seems.  This is a super simple recipe, though let me warn you – it is stiiiiccckky!  I thought I’d make my scones cute and truly single-portion sized by using a round biscuit cutter rather than just shaping and cutting the dough.  Well, the dough wasn’t stiff enough to stay in the biscuit cutter cut-outs, so I had to roll/pat them into shape.  I kind of ended up with what looks like large cookies, except they are still that amazing flaky scone consistency.  Regardless of their looks, they taste SO GOOD.  I really don’t think you can go wrong with figs and honey.  Give them a try.

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup all-purpose flour
½ cup old-fashioned rolled oats (not quick-cooking oats)
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 egg
¼ cup canola or vegetable oil
¼ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup honey
2 tablespoons heavy cream
1 cup diced figs (fresh or dried)

NOTES: Since I can’t ever leave a recipe as is – I added ½ tsp vanilla extract to the wet ingredients.  Pretty much every sweet baked good needs vanilla.  Also, I substituted fat-free half and half for the heavy cream because that is what I had.  It worked fine and it can’t hurt to eliminate that extra fat.  Finally, I only used about 1 ½ tablespoons of granulated sugar.  Figs are pretty sweet, they don’t need much sugar.

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, oats, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.

3. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg and canola oil together. Add the honey and mix until combined. Pour the liquid mixture into the dry ingredients and fold together with a rubber spatula to combine. Add the cream and mix together (the dough will be a little wet). Cover the diced figs with the sugar and gently fold into the dough.

4. On a well-floured surface, and dusting the top of the dough with more flour, pat the dough out into a 7-inch circle. Cut into 8 triangles. Place on the prepared baking sheet.

5. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until lightly golden brown. Serve warm or at room temperature. Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container, but they are best the same day they are made.

Recipe adapted from www.browneyedbaker.com