Homemade Pizza

Gingerbread Men, with dried cranberries

Xmas Eve!

Reading a Recipe

When picking out a recipe online, via friends and family, or in any soon-to-be-extinct hard copy cookbook, make sure you trust your intuition. If something looks off in the recipe, it probably is. Further, as a professional book proofreader/copy editor, I'd have to say it's possible there might even be a typo within.

For example, my neighbor recently made a variety of Christmas cookies, and the walnut ones (of which she cracked each Turkish walnut individually!), had so little flour in the recipe that when she pulled the melon-ball sized treats from the oven, turned out they'd all melted together into one pan-size cookie!

We reviewed the recipe, and seemed clear that 3/4 cup flour for 50 cookies was just not going to fly. She was not deterred however, and played with adding more flour, water, and sugar (something I probably wouldn't have done), and in the end, the results were excellent.

Do not not fully grease the sides of your pan!

This cake was doomed from the start. I guess I didn't have enough butter on the sides of the pan, and voila the results.

Do not put too much batter in your cake pan!

For example, this particular mini cake had way too much batter in it -- I knew it, and kept going. Long story short: it got cut off at the top of the oven when I pulled it out.

"Bubbe's Potato Latkes"

Who knew there would be so many Bubbe's Potato Latkes recipes online, and all of them different!?

I use the following, which I got off a Blue Mountain card I'd once received. There's always too much egg left over at the bottom of the bowl with this recipe -- I notice the other recipes call for the same amount of egg, but many more potatoes -- but nevertheless, I'm sticking with these tried and true.

*

2 cups grated raw potatoes, drained
2 beaten eggs
a little salt, maybe a teaspoon
big Tablespoon flour or matzo meal
pinch of baking powder
small onion, grated

Combine all ingredients and mix well. Heat a generous amount of vegetable oil (I use olive oil, which is traditional, according to NY1 News, and hannukah.org), maybe a 1/4 inch, maybe more...Drop mixture by the heaping Tablespoon into the oil. If you like thin, crisp pancakes, flatten with the back of a spoon. Fry on both sides until brown. Serve nice and hot with sour cream or applesauce. Serves 4 to 6...

Actually serves 2 to 3 at my house.

P.S. on the Panettone

Still have not made it! Oy!

However, Happy Hanukkah, and incoming Winter Solstice. Also plan on appreciating the longer sunlight days ahead...

Latke recipe to follow. For homemade applesauce condiment, check out http://jennysbakingtips.blogspot.com/2011/11/applesauce.html, from the Easy Recipe labels on this blog.

Random, Burns

Must have: a small bottle of lavender essential oil in your cupboard. This is your go-to burn antidote.

If you happen to burn yourself, big or small (but still within home remedy bounds), immediately put the lavender oil on the burn -- no water, no ice, no butter -- and wait til the miracle occurs. The spot may still burn a bit at first (not from the lavender), but ultimately, the oil will heal the burn, and they'll be zero blistering, and barely even a red mark. Have experienced this first-hand many, many times.

HB!

It's my birthday today!

Think I might have to go to the 5 o'clock sitting at Lady Mendl's Tea Salon, Irving Place, Manhattan, for their 100-layer crepe and pastry cream slice of birthday heaven.

http://www.innatirving.com/default.aspx?pg=dining-mendls

Embarrassment!

It's almost a week later, and still have not made the Panettone. But I did buy the baking molds, which were not easy to find, though ultimately uncovered them on 22nd Street and 6th Avenue, Manhattan. And I opted for dried cranberries overall, as opposed to the "fine quality candied citron," of which I could not discern what that was, and neither could any number of Brooklyn salespersons. Anyway, I figure it will look festive, via the cranberry color. Also, will not use sweet Marsala wine to soak the golden raisins in, but instead, will try a cranberry or cranberry apple juice.

Improvising over here! Hope to get to it asap! Embarrassment!

Must bake something for tonight -- a former babysitter's final MFA art show opening, tomorrow -- final playwriting class before the holidays, and Friday -- my bday!

Weekend agenda...

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Panettone-236704

Must come up with the proper equipment though, and since I don't have any 10-15 ounce coffee cans lying around, I'll head over to A Cook's Companion on Atlantic Avenue near Court Street, Brooklyn, to see if they have any Panettone vessels. I've seen them at N.Y. Cake & Baking Distributor, 22nd Street just east of 6th Avenue, Manhattan, but I can't walk to that one. There's also a surprisingly great supply shop in Chelsea Market, and a hole-in-the-wall one on 17th Street, just east of Broadway.

p.s. You can buy bakery boxes at A Cook's Companion for only 50 cents, which is much less than half the price of buying them at the above. Party City, on 14th Street, Manhattan, also sells flimsy cake boxes, which are cheaper than the above stores, but still more than at my new local shop.

Upside-down Pear Chocolate Cake Recipe Link, for CK in DC

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Upside-Down-Pear-Chocolate-Cake-354975

Funny, 'cause I got my recipe out of the Rustic Fruit Desserts cookbook, but here it is via epicurious.com.

Note 1: Typo! Omission! In the online recipe, for the Fruit Topping, they forgot to include the amount of water to add to the sugar to make your caramel: 1/4 cup water.

Note 2: The recipe gives you measurements in both weight and cups, and turns out, for the cocoa powder, 1/3 cup does NOT equal 1 ounce, as called for. In this case, I went for the 1 ounce measurement weight, which was a Tablespoon or 2 less than 1/3 cup. Always go for the moister sounding option; the powder is dry!

Note 3: Making the caramel: They don't describe in detail how it works, which is when you take off the lid after having boiled for 2 minutes, as described, it then takes at least 10 or more minutes for the sugar water to go amber colored. I kept waiting, and waiting, but it finally happened.

Note 4: When they tell you to carefully pour the caramel into the prepared pan and let it harden, this takes about 30 seconds. So make sure you gently pour the caramel all the way around to the edges of the pan because once it hardens, you can't spread it out.

Note 5: They also tell you to "pour" the batter into the pan, but actually the batter was more like a mousse, and I had to spoon it out and then spread it flat with an offset spatula.

Note 6: Worth it.

Close up

Chocolate Pear Upside-down Cake

Homemade Chai, though I'm not at liberty to divulge the recipe...

But I will say that ingredients include fresh ginger, cardamon pods, whole cloves, cinnamon sticks, and bay leaf. Also, wonderful black tea leaves.

OMG, is amazing! Thanks neighbor Courtney!

Also does not hurt at all to have the loaner of a real Turkish copper heating pot.

New Tip, should probably be obvious...

...but if you're not feeling well with a little bit of a virus or something, don't cook/bake for others, 'cause you don't want to get anyone sick!

However, you can prepare in your mind the next day's baking, and make up your shopping list. For example, tomorrow I'm making another Sour Cream Apple Pie, and also trying an Upside-down Pear Chocolate Cake...! Ergo, I need apples, pears, some nice dark chocolate, and unsweeteened Dutch-processed cocoa powder. Now if I could just get my sous baker to shop for me. Not!

p.s. on the CC

A note about making your layers flat: Before putting in oven, take an offset spatula and literally flatten out the batter.

However, if you pull out your cake from the oven and it's domed at the top, either keep that layer for the very top of your cake, or use a knife to slice off the dome to make flat. This is a good way to taste-test your cake!

Thirdly, if you do not have 3 cake pans, put 2/3 of your batter in one pan, 1/3 in the other, and then when they're out of the pan and ready for frosting, you can slice your larger layer horizontally to create two layers. Tricky, but definitely doable. Also, don't forget to monitor the different baking time that this version will then require.

And finally, when you take your cakes out of the pan here, make sure you lay them to rest and cool on parchment paper, otherwise you won't be able to pull them cleanly off the plate or cooling rack.

Another view of the 3-Layer CC

Note the cardboard round insert, which I've layered the cake on. This works better than a plate, which is not fully flat, and also is best for transporting.

That's a 10" round insert, for a 9" cake, which goes in a 10" box. Always buy the same size insert as box, so there's no chance of the cake sliding around, hitting the sides, and becoming wounded!

Recipe for 3-Layer Carrot Cake...

...though I use a different frosting recipe...(always good to mix and match recipes!)

Also, someone once ordered this with no raisins, and ever since then, I make the cake sans raisins.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Triple-Layer-Carrot-Cake-with-Cream-Cheese-Frosting-799

Thanks CK in DC for the request.

3 ways to look baking cool...

1. Use bakery boxes for delivering baked goods to friends' houses. Looks very professional. Try to find at your local baking or restaurant supply store. Don't forget to buy the cardboard round insert that makes the box sturdy. And tie it all up with a string!
2. Carry around a very small offset spatula! Amazing what you can do with this little tool, including fixing any frosting mess that may occur while transporting your boxed baked treats. Again, seriously professional looking.
3. Frost only the tops of the layers of your cake, and keep the sides looking clean and sleek by leaving as is. Very elegant, and much less fattening!
   

3-Layer Carrot Cake, with Cream Cheese Frosting