Apple Scones... Mmm...

Plum Crazy

I'm doing all sorts of wonderful things with the bounty of Italian Plums off our tree in the backyard. The preserves I did last night are the most gorgeous color and they are delicious!! As the plums cook, the beautiful purple of the skins burst into the orange-ish yellow fruit pulp and mix into this pretty and vibrant red. At one point in the cooking, it looks like foamy raspberry and orange sherbet punch! I canned Plum Marmalade with Rum a couple years ago, and it's wonderful. Everyone that I shared it with loved it. It's amazing on crepes, vanilla, ice cream, waffles, or even toast.
Plum Marmalade With Rum (modified from Anne Gardon's recipe in Preserving For All Seasons)

2 pounds of Italian plums (pitted and coarsely chopped)
2 large organic oranges, sliced thin on a mandolin (use your guard!)
1 cup water
3 cups sugar
1 Tbs. vanilla
1/2 cup rum (or 3 tsp. rum extract)

Soak sliced oranges in the water overnight, then dump into pot the next day. Add sugar and plums and bring to a boil. Then, stir occasionally and cook over moderate heat until mixture thickens up. Remove from heat and add vanilla and rum. Seal in hot, sterilized canning jars and store in a cool, dark place. For best results wait at least one month before using.
"End of Summer Custard Pie" (strawberries, plums - from our yard, and blackberries - from our hike), and Plum Upside-Down Cake (3 Tbs butter, 1/4 c. brown sugar melted and poured into the bottom of a greased 9x9 cake pan; add halved plums in rows to fill bottom on pan then pour Jiffy yellow cake mix on top - with cinnamon and vanilla added. Easy. Delish).

Plum-a-licious!

Our plum's are ready! I only felt slightly crazy as I was picking a bag full by flashlight last night (hey, the whole family was with me, so I'm not the only crazy one right?).

Anyway, what better inaugural dish than Jerrie's Rhubarb Custard Pie recipe, as Plum Custard Pie! I used nine plums in the pie (about 2 cups chopped), so technically I could make a lot more of these pies... I'd have to give them away though because I'm seriously addicted to this recipe!

Super Z!

Zyg's cake - Super Z - I used two different cake mixes; Devil's Food and Orange Supreme. One layer of each, with chocolate mousse filling and butter cream from this recipe on Bakerella's site (also use her "recipe" for better cake mix cakes all the time now).

Gutes Brot

Delicious. Homemade pretzel bread. If you've had the pretzels from the German bakery in Tacoma, or the pretzel bread from Whole Foods... you'll know what I mean. Will post the recipe after I tweak it a bit...

Lickin' Good

So, I don't have a pic of the fab Caesar salad I made last night because we ate it too fast. The recipe is from my friend Amanda's husband, and it is excellent. And even I licked my bowl clean. Happily, it was accompanied by my all time fave beer (aside from Guinness, of course)—Buffalo Bill's Brewery Pumpkin Ale. It's already at QFC, so I snapped some up pronto.

My daughter is clever and knows me so well, "Mama, can we make Gruffalo Crumble?" (If you've not read The Gruffalo, check it out at the library!) Anyway, I had to make that "recipe" up. I used fresh apricots that we had (he has orange eyes) and purple blackberries (purple spikes on his back) and one tart apple (he was supposedly surly, right?). I used the crisp recipe from the original Moosewood Cookbook as a base, and it turned out wonderfully.

And, this morning, I made the Cappuccino Hazelnut Scones recipe from The Baker's Apprentice (sequel to Bread Alone, by Judith Ryan Hendricks, both of which are great and recommended to me by Jerrie), although I altered it for the non-coffee guy in our house, and made Maple Pecan Scones. They are hands down the BEST scones I've ever had. This recipe will be a keeper. There are indeed 6 Tbs of butter in it and 3/4 c. cream, but you divide it into either 8 or 16 servings, so it's really not that big a deal. I've got another recipe for scones that uses 12 Tbs. of butter and cream and buttermilk, and they don't come close to the texture and excellence of this recipe, and they're "lighter" relatively speaking!

So, the recipes:

Godwin Garlicky Caesar Salad Dressing

4 (or more to taste) cloves of freshly pressed (or chopped) garlic
3/4 cup light mayo (olive oil mayo is great)
2 Tbs. grated parmesan cheese
2 Tbs. lemon juice
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. Dijon mustard

Mix and serve with romaine leaves, grated parmesan, crouton and chicken if you like. Makes 6-8 servings.
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Gruffalo Crumble (adapted from Moosewood's Fruit Crisp)

Five chopped fresh apricots
2 pints fresh blackberries
1 peeled and chopped tart apple
1/3 cup sugar

Topping:
1 c rolled oats
1 c flour
3 Tbs. brown sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
dash of nutmeg and allspice or cardamom
1/4 tsp. salt
5 Tbs. melted butter

Preheat oven to 375. Mix fruit and sugar in 8x8 pan. Mix topping ingredients and pat down firmly on top of fruit. Bake 35 mins or until fruit is bubbling up around the edges and topping is browned.

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Maple Pecan Scones (adapted from Cappuccino Hazelnut Scones from The Baker's Apprentice)

2 c. unbleached flour
1/3 c. sugar
1 Tbs. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
6 Tbs. unsalted butter cut into small cubes (very cold)
3/4 c. toasted and coarsely chopped pecans (or hazelnuts if doing original recipe)
1 1/2 Tbs. Maple extract (or 2 Tbs. instant espresso powder if making CappHaze Scones)
3/4 c. cream
1 large egg, beaten
Cream and sugar for glaze

Line a heavy baking sheet with parchment paper, and preheat oven to 400-degrees F. Toast chopped nuts (in a loaf pan) while you are chopping fridged butter, then put butter in small bowl and put in freezer while you whisk the dry ingredients together. Next, cut the butter into the dry stuff with a pastry blender, two knives or your fingers until the largest pieces are the size of peas. Then in a small bowl, beat the egg, and add the cream and maple (or espresso powder) and mix. Add the cream mixture to the butter mixture and mix with a fork until nearly combined, then gather into a moist shaggy ball and put on prepared pan and flatten into a circle that's 1- to 1 1/2-inches thick. Score the circle into eight wedges with a very sharp knife. Brush with cream and sprinkle with a little sugar, then bake for about 20 mins. (deep golden color and toothpick in center should remove clean). Remove from oven, cool for five mins, cut along score lines, then brush with a little more cream (mixed with a little sugar) - about 2 Tbs. of cream and 1 tsp. sugar only. Let cool an additional 5 minutes then serve. (Can be frozen and then baked without thawing; just allow 5-10 extra minutes of baking time.)

Pete's Beets

Thanks to Pete for these gorgeous beets from his garden, and to Jamie & John who delivered them. I gave them a wash, a peel, and mandolined them up (I always use the guard now... learned my lesson), and Erik HAD to "help" I also sliced his apple with the mandolin. He was a safe little apprentice too. We shook the beets in a Ziploc with olive oil and S&P, then roasted at 425-degrees F for about 20-ish minutes... or maybe less. The time it took to put the baked macaroni and cheese together and get it in the oven for about 10 mins, and sautee the shrimp in a little butter and a lot of garlic. Delish. And fitting since today felt very Autumnal.

Tempura Squash Blossoms

Just Tempura batter mix from the grocery, and assorted pumpkin, zucchini and other squash blossoms from our garden. They were delicious. I didn't stuff them, just dipped and fried in some peanut and canola oil. They were surprisingly sweet and very tasty. Erik declared them "dee-li-sus!"

Pink. Really, really pink.

Well, she did ask for a "pink castle cake" now didn't she?

Four high tower turrets, two guard towers with turrets (that's 14 ice cream cones and a lot of white and pink chocolate), two Ding Dongs, two 9x13 funfetti cakes, strawberry filling, one 9x9 chocolate coconut cake, one Windmill cookie, two Dove chocolates, Tink talking with a dragon, a horse and three knights in armor (with flags!), one catapult, a lot of sprinkles, strawberry Whoppers and M&Ms. And a lot of very pink butter cream frosting (I forgot how little food color paste you need to tint frosting).

Oh, and three smiley-star candles!

Happy 3rd Birthday to our very fickle, clever, lovable and surly little "threenager" (yes, I made that word up, but I swear three is like the prequel to adolescence)! We love you more than your cake was pink. And boy, was it pink. Really, really pink!

Mad's Birthday Madeleines

Birthday prep has begun... and, as Lora says, it's great that at our house you can quite often eat fresh-baked cookies at 1:00 am (or some other vaguely inappropriate hour when most folks are asleep)!!

Banna Madd-ees (AKA Banana Madeleines)

Summer Gold

Dark Chocolate Mmm... Madeleines

At Long Last!

Ever since Madeline was born I've thought "I should get some Madeleine tins and learn to bake Madeleines." And today, I finally did. Luckily I waited long enough to discover Tartelette's blog filled with glorious desserts and many amazing French ones (she being French and all). Anyway, she has several great Madeleine recipes, and I chose to start with the Lemon recipe that was an adaptation of her grandmothers. I adapted it further by using two lemons worth of zest and more juice in the icing (not all Madeleines are iced, but these are). They are amazing. Lemony and delicious, moist and light. Yum. Luckily, I bought smaller-than-typical Madeleine pans because I ate four. Three cookies is a serving in our house, but Joel had four too (he may be eating more as I write this...) Erik inhaled two, and would've eaten more if I hadn't intervened. Mad ate one (she was engrossed in Mulan).

I'll have to try out the chocolate recipe next, and the cinnamon one too... we'll (of course) be serving Madeleines at Madeline's birthday party as well.

Lemon Madeleines (Adapted slightly from Tartelette's recipe):

Makes 16 (or 24 if you've got the smaller-sized tins)

2 eggs
80 gr all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
80 gr granulated sugar
80 gr unsalted butter, melted and cooled
pinch of salt
3 Tb lemon juice
zest of one lemon (I did two lemons worth of zest)
1/2 lemon (for squirting after they are baked)

Glaze:
2 cups powdered sugar
3Tb lemon juice (I added 4 Tbs.)
1 tsp lemon zest

Preheat your oven to 400F. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, sugar, pinch of salt. Separate the egg whites from the yolks, and whisk in the yolk to the flour mixture. The mixture will appear quite thick, do not feel like you have to whisk in all in thoroughly. In a separate bowl whisk the egg whites until foamy, and add a small amount first them to the egg yolk/flour mixture and whisk vigourously with a whisk to break the flour/yolk lumpy mass. Fold in the rest of the whites with a spatula. Add the lemon juice, zest, and butter. Whisk the batter until everything is incorporated and smooth. Drop one tablespoon or so into the madeleine molds, depending on their size. Do not fill them to the rim though.

Bake for 8 minutes or until golden brown. As soon as they come out of the oven, squirt the half lemon over the madeleines and let cool completely before proceeding with the glaze.
For the glaze: mix the powdered sugar, lemon juice and zest together until you get semi thick consistency. Add more lemon juice if needed. Dip each madeleine in the glaze and set them on a wire rack over a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Pizza! Pizza!

The only sort of pizza that Madeline likes... I suspect that someday she'll be a real pizza fan though.

Cardboard Pizza

3 empty cereal boxes worth of cardboard, opened flat
1 salad plate for tracing circles
1 Sharpie for tracing with
1 pair of scissors to cut out circles
5 or more crayons and/or markers for toppings or peeled crayon wrappers for "pepperonis" as Mad decided would make the best pizza

Should amuse most toddlers for anywhere from 15-45 minutes, or until it gets really sunny outside and they need to go play in the wading pool and make mud cakes!