Rose Red Velvet Cake

So I've been watching the Olympics.

A lot of the Winter Games are based on actual activities in the day to day lives of cold weather dwelling humans...

"Hey Sven?"

"Ja, What is it Bjorn?"

"See that dead elk down dere? I just killed it with my spear."

"Ayup, good shot."

"Ah, tanks. Wanna race down to it?"

"Sure, last one there is a rotten herring."

Thus was born downhill skiing.

Or how about modern biathlon? Cross-country skiing and shooting? In Minnesota we called that going out for groceries.

The one I don't get is curling. Sliding rocks on the ice. Back and forth. Back and forth. I couldn't for the life of me figure out how this was a pivotal survival activity. Then it stuck me...

Curling isn't a survival activity, it's deck games on the great ship Iceberg. Folks, curling is Eskimo shuffleboard. Inuit!!! When good old Grampa He-Who-Has-Constant-Polar-Bear-Breath needs to take some time off, he hopes onto the local canoe cruise lines and plays a little curling; maybe even hooks up with a She-Who-Wears-Seal-Skins-In-A-Provocative-Manner. It's all so obvious now; L'amour, survival of the species.

Which very quickly brings me to today's recipe, Red Velvet Cake. SSSal whipped up this dessert for Valentines Day, as you can see the colors are pretty intense, tasted pretty good too. In order to keep CC2 happy she had to compromise on the frosting, in the future I would suggest only frosting the sides; either way it still beats the heck out of sliding frozen rocks. Enjoy...

Rose Red Velvet Cake

from Rose's Heavenly Cakes by Rose Levy Beranbaum

3 large egg whites

2 TBSP red food coloring

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups cake flour

1 cup superfine sugar

3 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup canola or safflower oil at room temperature

4 TBSP unsalted butter

1/2 cup low-fat buttermilk

Special Equipment: (2) 9x 2 inch heart-shaped cake pans (or a 9" round)

Set up a baking rack in the lower third of your oven and preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Cut a piece of parchment paper to the shapes of the cake pans and spray with flour infused baking spray. Set aside.

Coat the bottom of the cake pans with shortening, then place the parchment cutouts atop the shortening, floured side up.

Mix together the wet ingredients in a medium sized bowl combining. Whisk together the egg whites, red food color and vanilla. CAUTION: Mix carefully, the red food coloring stains tremendously well.

In another bowl combine the dry ingredients. Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, cocoa and salt.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a flat beater, mix the oil and butter on medium speed for 1 minute. It will not be completely smooth.

Turn the speed to low and slowly add the flour mixture and the buttermilk. Mix until the dry ingredients are moistened then increase speed to medium and beat for 1 1/2 minutes. Stop the mixer and scrape own the sides.

Starting at medium-low speed, gradually add the egg mixture to the batter in two parts, beating on medium speed for 30 seconds after each addition. Turn off the mixer and scrape the batter into the prepared pans, smoothing the top.

Bake for 25 - 35 minutes or until a knife blade inserted in to the center of the cake comes out clean.

Run a small metal spatula along the edge of the cake pans, then invert and place the cakes onto a wire rack for cooling.

SSSal Frosting

½ stick unsalted butter (4 TBSP) – room temp

4 oz. mascarpone cheese

2 Cups powdered sugar

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

¼ teaspoon almond extract

Blend together the butter and cheese with the electric mixer. Gradually mix in the sugar. Add flavorings and mix to combine. Frost cake.

Now you see why I don't bake. Way too many steps, way too much precision. Well crablings I'm off to find a local bonspiel, until next time, remember you can do it, you can cook.

Chocolate Orange Cupcakes

Hot dogs and sauerkraut. Cold beer, hot pizza. Some matches are classics not to be tampered with.

Yet most people just can't leave well enough alone. Hot dogs have to be all-beef from free ranging cows who roamed the foothills of the Rockies nibbling on Edelweiss while listening to "The Sound of Music" soundtrack. Sauerkraut has to be made from Amish-grown organic shredded cabbage immersed in a brine of French sea salt dredged and dried from the tidal flats of Normandy.

Some recipes drive me nuts. The requests are so precise that it's virtually impossible to find all the right ingredients. Of course when it turns out lousy the natural reaction is to blame yourself for using all-purpose flour instead of tracking down that Peruvian stone ground lotus root flour recommended in the recipe. That's why I always loved Giada DeLaurentiis' recipes. She makes liberal use of easily findable ingredients. The resulting meals are always flavorful and amazingly easy to recreate.

Until today.

Chocolate Orange Cupcakes. Sounds like the perfect combo. Sounds like a winning dessert. Well all I know is that there was a lot of cursing coming out of the kitchen, primarily directed at the candied orange peel ingredient. SSSal went "store bought" and I can attest from eating the final product that this was a mistake. Gummy, flavorless. I spent more time tearing apart the cupcakes removing the orange rind than I spent eating the final product.

So this recipe is like a television movie, it's "Based on actual events". That's true if by "based of actual events" you mean that the title and some of the main ingredients are the same. After that, any resemblance to recipes living or dead is purely coincidental. Here's SSSal's highly adjusted and doctored recipe, enjoy...

Chocolate Orange Cupcakes

by SSSal and inspired by Giada DeLaurentiis' recipe

1 box chocolate cake mix (preferably Duncan Hines Devil's Food)

Orange Juice (replacing the water in the cake mix)

1 cup chocolate chips (mix of semi-sweet and milk chocolate)

1 teaspoon all purpose flour

1 cup diced candied orange peel (DON'T use the store bought stuff - leave it out otherwise)

Frosting

1 teaspoon each of orange and vanilla extracts

1 pound (1 box) powdered sugar

8 TBSP butter, (1 stick), softened to room temperature

2 TBSP freshly squeezed lemon juice OR 1 TBSP 1/2 and 1/2

2 teaspoons orange juice

Zest of 1 orange

Equipment

Cupcake liners

2 muffin pans

For the Cupcakes:

Prepare the chocolate cake mix according to the package instructions, substituting the orange juice for the water.

Toss the chocolate chips with the flour.

Fold the chocolate chips and candied orange peel into the chocolate mixture (if you haven't made your own candied orange peel - and who hasn't - it is better to skip this ingredient rather than use the vile stuff you can buy at the supermarket).

Line the muffin pans with the cupcake liners. Fill each liner and bake the cupcakes according to the package instructions.

Allow the cupcakes to cool for at least 1 hour on a cooling rack prior to frosting.

For the Frosting:

Combine all the ingredients into a medium bowl. Using a hand mixer, beat until smooth, about 2 minutes. Using the a small spatula, place about a tablespoon of frosting atop each cupcake.

Serve.

OK. It's a baking recipe so I have no particular insights into why you do certain things a certain way. Next time I'll be back cooking things; until then, remember you can do it, you can cook.

What is A Cake?

Let's face it, I'm a bomb thrower. I like to rile things up. I like to poke the bear just to see how long it takes before he swats me. If you need rabble roused I'm your Crab.

Last weekend there was an edible book contest at a local stationary/kitchen store. It was part of an annual book festival and the rules said that entries should consist of cakes depicting the baker's favorite book. Well, after the Crabby-Q-Sauce debacle, Crabby doesn't roll with contests. But of course SSSal wanted to give it a try.

So early in the week SSSal and ConnecticutJane got together to brainstorm ideas. CTJane wanted to go for a classic approach while SSSal wanted to think of something a bit more contemporary. It was decided that they would have two entries. The first was a stack of three cookbooks topped by the Joy of Cooking in white cake and white icing.

Now this is a great idea until you suddenly realize that you have to recreate an 1100 page book using nothing but eggs, sugar, butter and flour. Enter technology. There is a local baking shop that has the ability to spray paint food coloring onto fondant. For those of you who don't bake or don't watch Cake Boss, fondant is a rollable, pliable icing that can be colored, molded and draped over cakes. It's that sickly layer of pure sugar that bakers use to form animals, leaves, brides and grooms and just about anything else they can think of.

So with the drawing of the cover solved it became an easy task to bake the cake and then drape the fondant cover over it. The contemporary cake however, was proving to be more of a challenge. SSSal struggled to come up with a creative idea. She knew she couldn't compete with the artistic bakers, so she needed a cake that caught the eye and the mind. She needed something "edgy". Enter CrabCake2.

In the space of a few seconds CC2 had the idea to end all bookstore-sponsored-edible-book-based-cake-contest ideas.

"Why not make a cake that looks like an Amazon Kindle?"

Huh? That's brilliant! It's futuristic. It's technologically savvy. It's controversial. It's edgy with a capital "E"!

OK, the Kindle it is, but what book on the screen? We turned to CC2 in unison, he paused, why Fahrenheit 451 of course. A book about burning books on a piece of technology that's eliminating the need for books. God, sometimes your kids make you so proud!

Batter, icing, food coloring sprayed fondant, black and gray candy tombstone buttons, a few hours work and SSSal was ready. The creation was entered with the title "What is A Book?".

Ann Arbor is a very liberal town; it's sometimes referred to as The People's Republic of Ann Arbor, but even liberals have their limits. Apparently taking a cake fashioned after an e-reader that threatens to put bookstores out of business is a bit of a faux pas. Well, if you ask me art is supposed to make people feel a little uncomfortable.

As we sat there in the background, we overheard a variety of comments. Mostly people fell into two categories, those that didn't know what a Kindle was and those who really liked the concept. SSSal didn't win any awards but as we were carrying her entry away a number of people came up and congratulated her on the idea.

The winner? Oddly enough the winner wasn't even a cake. It was a booklet with pages stained using fruit and vegetable juices on hand made paper produced by an employee of the store. Yeah, that's right, hand made paper from a store employee. Who would have guessed?

It doesn't matter. SSSal and CC2 made their cultural statement and we're just now finishing up the cake. As far as I'm concerned that's a win-win situation.

Back to cooking on the next post, until then remember, you can do it, you can cook.

P.S. Those of you interested in buying an Amazon Kindle please type Kindle into the Amazon search box on the left hand side of this page and hit Go. Crabby will receive a meager commission on your purchase and you'll be getting the latest and greatest in reading technology.

Banana Ice Cream

When in doubt, add machinery.

I have three different gizmos to mow the lawn. The trimmer mower for everything that's hard to get to. The weed whipper/edger for all the weeds that need whipping and for the edging. I also have a riding mower, a leftover from the days when we lived in Minnesota.

All these things are supposed to make the process of lawn care easier and faster. For the most part they do, unless I include all the time it takes to fill, clean and generally maintain the various moving parts. If you throw in the time it takes to clean and repair myself from the various bits of sticks, leaves and weed whipper strings that come flying off, well I'm not so sure I've made any real time gains.

That's a lesson I should have remembered before I actually bought the ice cream maker attachment for the KitchenAid mixer. OK, in truth I was buying the pasta roller-cutter attachment and they threw in the ice cream stuff for something like $10. Never pass up machinery when it's on sale.

I'm suspecting the main reason the attachment was on special is because the dang thing doesn't actually stay attached to anything. Sure, the bowl cools down to something approaching absolute zero - it's so cold I swear you could entomb a herd of wooly mammoth for a few centuries in this thing.

The bowl is not the problem. The problem is the worthless paddle attachment that connects the mixer motor to the paddle and therefore mixes the ice cream. Everything was fine, at first, however, once the batter started to thicken it was popping off every 30 seconds. The instructions said to churn the batter for 10 - 15 minutes; I gave up after 5 minutes and 6 detachments. No wonder they threw it in for $10.

Well if you have an ice cream maker that works, either electric or hand crank, here's a quick and tasty recipe. I'll warn you though, don't let the bananas thaw too much or they completely liquify and become impossible to work with. Otherwise, please enjoy...

Banana Ice Cream

adapted from Alton Brown

1 Ice Cream Maker

6 - 8 ripe bananas (about 2 - 2 1/2 pounds)

1 TBSP freshly squeezed lemon juice

3/4 cup light corn syrup

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 1/2 cup heavy cream

Place the bananas in the freezer overnight.

Thaw the bananas for no more than 45 minutes.

Peel the bananas and put the flesh into a food processor. Add the lemon juice and process for 15 - 30 seconds.

Add the corn syrup and vanilla extract. Process until well combined.

With the processor running, slowly add the heavy cream. Process until smooth.

Chill the batter in the refrigerator until it drops to about 40 degrees, 30 - 45 minutes.

Transfer the mixture to your ice cream maker and process according to the manufacturer's instructions, with my mixer attachment this took about 7 - 10 minutes.

Place the mixture in an air tight re-sealable container. I cover the mixture with a sheet of plastic wrap and then seal the container, squeezing out as much air as possible.

Freeze for 3 to 6 hours prior to serving.

Serving suggestions: toasted almonds, caramel sauce, whipped cream, any of the usual stuff you put on ice cream.

OK crablings, I'm done with the ice cream experiment at least until I forget how aggravated I was by this one. The sad thing is that the ice cream came out great, ah well, maybe next time...

Until next time, remember, you can do it , you can cook.

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Red Sox - Yankees.

Hutu - Tutsi.

Michigan - Ohio State.

Jew - Muslim.

Shaken - Stirred.

The world is full of conflict. No matter where you turn, someone hates someone else, because...?

Well, just because.

Why can't we all just get along?

Of course, I'm no better. I have my biases, my prejudices. For me it's vegan - real person, eggplant - good vegetable, tofu - flavor. Most of the time I can overlook the failings of the other side and simply chalk up their bad decisions to a presumed abusive childhood. But there is one argument that just seems insurmountable. I speak of course of, chewy - crunchy. 

Cookies, my friends. Cookies are only cookies if they are crunchy. If they aren't crunchy, then they are mushy.  If they are mushy, then they are cake. If they are cake, then they are not cookies. Quod Erat Demonstrandum, Cogito Ergo Sum, Moe Larry Curly. The logic is flawless.

Alas, not everyone can see the oatmeal raisin on their own face. I've been repeatedly assaulted by those of you who think the only good cookie is a chewy cookie. The worst thing about this argument is that it exists in my own kitchen. The wolf is clearly in the hen house!

Shockingly, I am the only resident of Chez Crabby who likes his cookies crunchy. I am surrounded by Philistines. Like all intractable problems, we needed a mediator. We needed an envoy, an all-purpose Albright, a Kookie Kissinger. 

Enter SSSal. She has taken the Alton Brown Chewy cookie recipe and crunched it up a bit. Dark brown sugar made the cookies too crunchy, light brown made them just crunchy enough. Besides, if I stash a few and let them stale slightly, I'm happy. Peace in the Land! Huzzah! Huzzah! So please enjoy...

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

by Alton Brown saved by SSSal

Makes 36

4 sticks unsalted butter

4 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2 teaspoons kosher salt

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 cup sugar

1 pound light brown sugar 

2 eggs

2 egg yolks

4 TBSP milk

3 teaspoons vanilla extract

4 cups chocolate chips (use a mix of various chips - milk, white, semisweet, bittersweet)

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees (or 360 degrees if convection).

Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over low heat. 

Sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda. Set aside.

Pour the melted butter into a heavy duty mixing bowl. 

Add the sugars.

Cream the butter and sugar on medium speed.

Stir together the eggs, yolks, milk and vanilla extract and add to the butter/sugar mix. Blend until well combined.

Slowly add the the flour mixture until thoroughly combined.

Stir in the chocolate chips. 

Chill the dough. I repeat, chill the dough at least 30 minutes.

Using an ice cream scooper, portion out 9 cookies per baking sheet. These are giant cookies! Bake for 14 minutes (12 minutes if using a convection oven) or until golden brown (start checking cookies after 10 minutes of baking).

NOTES: Since you melt the butter instead of softening it, this is an easy recipe to assemble. Chilling the dough for an hour or two is best. Any shorter and the dough is still warm while any longer makes it really difficult to scoop out the cookies. The amounts shows are a double recipe - these cookies freeze easily and keep the CrabCakes happy at all hours of the night and day. 

OK crablings, that was pretty easy.  This recipe results in a chewy, slightly crunchy cookie.  For a slightly crispier, (i.e., better), cookie use dark brown sugar. In truth I like these cookies straight out of the freezer, no thawing, no nuking. Warning: Overly aggressive chomping of a frozen cookie could result in a trip to the dentist. Take your time, savor the moment.

Remember, you can do it, you can cook.

Orange Cake

Sometimes, massively important news stories get buried under the weight of more mainstream articles.   In all the mishegass of Tax Day, I believe one such huge story did get lost. Last Wednesday, United Airlines announced a new pricing policy specifically aimed at excessively obese fliers.  

It seems that UAL has buckled to the, admittedly muffled, cries of fliers who are forced to sit next to the morbidly obese.  You know the ones, those passengers who reserve the middle seat and then spread out, Jabba-the-Hut-Like, to engulf half of the seats on either side of them. 

Well out of chaos comes opportunity.  Yours truly has decided to start a new business.  The Frequent Airline Travelers Seating Organization, FATSO, is now available to service the needs of the plus sized traveler.  

At FATSO Flyers we will have a fleet of appropriate sized aircraft, specifically designed for your comfort and convenience.  A series of military grade hoists will whisk you to your seats. Once there you'll be greeted by our specially trained in-flight staff, who will assist you in closing our custom designed heavy-duty nylon and burlap seat belt extenders.  In flight, you'll be served a delicious meal along with appropriate entertainment, all free from the complaints and gasping for air you find on a typical commercial flight.

Of course, if we're kicking off a new venture then we need an appropriate recipe.  What better than a little bit of cake?  This recipe is for a single loaf appropriate for serving 8 people, not to worry, on FATSO Air we won't be serving something so meager. But for all you skinny types out there, please enjoy...

Orange Cake

from Olive Magazine, March 2009

2 medium-large oranges

1 lemon

1/3 cup water

6 ounces sugar

6 ounces unsalted butter, softened, plus additional for greasing the baking pan

6 ounces flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

3 eggs

4 ounces powdered sugar

Peel the rind from the oranges using a potato peeler.  Cut the strips into thin shreds.

Finely grate the rind of the lemon and set aside.

Juice the lemon and oranges together into a medium bowl, removing any seeds.

Reserve 1 tablespoon of the combined juices and set aside.  Transfer the remaining juice along with the orange zest shreds to a small pan. Add 1/3 cup of water to the mixture and bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat to a steady simmer and cook for 30 minutes or until well softened.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

After 30 minutes, add 2 ounces of the sugar to the liquid and boil for an additional 5 minutes. Reduce until about 2 TBSP remain and the liquid is syrupy.

Scoop out about 1/3 of the orange shreds and reserve.

Transfer the remaining syrup and shreds to a small bowl and allow to cool. 

Spray a loaf pan with Pam or butter well.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the remaining sugar, butter, flour, eggs, baking powder, and lemon zest.  Mix until well combined.  Fold in the orange syrup mixture.

Transfer the batter to the prepared baking pan and bake for 35 minutes or until well risen and golden brown.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the pan for 5 minute, then remove from the pan and allow to completely cool on a rack. 

While the cake cools, prepare the icing.  Blend the remaining citrus juice (1 TBSP) with the powdered sugar until smooth.  Add more sugar if needed so that the glaze is pourable but not too thin. Put a piece of waxed paper under the rack and drizzle the cake with the icing. Scatter the reserved orange rind across the top of the loaf and dust with additional powdered sugar.

Ta Da!  OK, you're right, like all desserts, it's an involved pain in the rear-end. But it's a tasty pain.  I will admit to hating rind, candied or otherwise, in cakes.  If I would change anything in this recipe it would be to grate instead of peel the orange ring.  But SSSal tells me that that would complicate the "candying" process.  I just think she doesn't want to do it.

Alright crablings I'm off to find funding for my new airline.  I dream of the day when you'll all look up to see a massive airplane blotting out the sun, thinking, "Look at the size of that FATSO".  Until then, just remember, you can do it, you can cook.

 

Chocolate Mousse

I'm keeping today's post short and sweet. Easter is staring at us through the windshield and we/you have to get to work.

I love Sunday dinner. Throw in a holiday and you can count on Crabby to kick it into overdrive, (I refuse to say: "kick it up a notch"). That doesn't have to mean exotic ingredients cooked with flaming torches, it can mean just taking something simple and making it ludicrously complex and delicious.

Today's recipe is just such a variation on a theme. Just a week ago I presented homemade chocolate pudding, today I'm (well really SSSal), taking it to the next step by making homemade chocolate mousse. I'm warning you now, lots of bowls, lots of mixing, lots of little ingredients, topped off with lots of oohs and aahs. So enjoy...


Chocolate Mousse
from The Joy of Cooking by Irma Rombauer, Marion Rombauer Becker & Ethan Becker

6 ounces semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped or chips
3 TBSP unsalted butter
2 TBSP Liqueur (I used Amaretto) or water, or a combination
1 teaspoon vanilla

3 large egg yolks
3 TBSP coffee (I used instant espresso)
3 TBSP sugar

3 large egg whites, at room temperature
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup cold heavy whipping cream

Whipped Cream & Dutch Cocoa powder, for serving



Heat 1 inch of water in a large skillet over low heat until bubbles form along the bottom of the pan, adjust heat to maintain the water at this temperature.

In a large bowl combine the 6 ounces of chocolate along with the butter, liqueur and vanilla.

Set the bowl in the water bath and stir until the chocolate has melted.

In another bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, coffee and sugar. Set the bowl into the water bath and, whisking constantly, heat the mixture until it it thick and puffy, approximately 10 minutes.

Remove from the water bath and whisk thoroughly into the melted chocolate. Allow to cool to room temperature.

In yet another bowl, using a hand mixer, beat the egg whites until foamy. Add the cream of tartar and continue beating until soft peaks form.

Gradually beat in the granulated sugar.

Increase the speed to high and beat this mixture until the peaks become glossy and stiff.

Using a rubber spatula, stir one quarter of the egg white mixture into the chocolate mixture. Once fully incorporated, gently fold in the remaining egg whites into the chocolate.

In another bowl, using your hand mixer, beat the 1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream on medium high speed until soft peaks form.

Gently, but thoroughly, fold the cream into the combined chocolate mixture, and transfer the mousse to (6) 6 - 8 ounce ramekins (or more). Use an ice cream scooper to get equal servings that mound beautifully in the ramekin. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours or up to 24 hours.

Serve with a dollop of whipped cream and a sprinkling of cocoa powder.


Man! The one instruction I left out was: Hire someone to come in and wash all the bowls you've made a mess of because you're going to be too tired to clean them yourself. Of course, here at Crabby Central, the main mixing bowl with be cleaned by the collective snouts of King Crab and CrabCake2.

Alrighty crablings, have a nice holiday dinner. This recipe wasn't really hard, just a lot of steps. Next time I promise something really easy. Until then, remember, you can do it, you can cook.

Homemade Chocolate Pudding

I just love that there live Thee-a-ter.

This past weekend CrabCake2 was involved in his high school's production of Fiddler on The Roof. CC2 was one of the pit musicians and played the Reed 1/Flute 1 position; a spot filled with numerous solos.

The "pit" is often overlooked in these productions even though the musicians and musical director put in hours and hours of work. They are there for the entirety of the final week of rehearsals. For CrabCake2 this meant 3 to 5 hours a day of playing and rehearsing after school.

The results were sensational. Fiddler is a classic play filled with funny jokes, dancing, touching moments and a seemingly endless list of songs you can hum after you've left the theater (unlike modern musicals, e.g. Rent).

What was great about Fiddler is that it's the same play that Crabby himself was Stage Manager for back when he was in high school. Decades later, the Crabby family has come full circle theatrically speaking.

Great shows never die, they just fall out of fashion. Eventually someone comes to his or her senses and brings a classic back to life. That's my plan for today's recipe. Chocolate pudding made from scratch.

Hey, hey, hey, I can hear you groaning out there. This is not a hard recipe. Yes, there is a fair amount of stirring, but trust me it's well worth it. You have the ability to control how thick the pudding is and you get to see exactly everything that goes into the production. So take a risk on an old standby and enjoy...



Homemade Chocolate Pudding
from The Joy of Cooking by Irma Rombauer, Marion Rombauer Becker & Ethan Becker
1997 Edition

1 3-cup bowl or 5 ramekins (four to five ounces)

1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup plus 1 TBSP unsweetened cocoa powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup warm water
2 cups half-and-half, divided (OK to substitute whole milk)
3 TBSP cornstarch
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
Whipped Cream for serving


In a heavy saucepan, mix together the sugar, cocoa powder and salt. Gradually stir in the warm water to form a smooth, runny paste.

While stirring constantly, bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat. Remove from the heat.

Stir in 1 3/4 cups half-and-half.

In a small measuring cup, mix the cornstarch and remaining 1/4 cup half-and-half. Thoroughly incorporate the cornstarch slurry into the chocolate mixture.

Cook, while constantly stirring, over medium heat until the mixture begins to thicken. Reduce the heat to low; stirring briskly, bring to a simmer and cook for an additional minute.

Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla

Pour the pudding into the bowl or ramekins and press plastic wrap directly onto the pudding surface to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to 2 days. Serve with whipped cream.

You know, it's hard to beat chocolate pudding. Yes, there's a lot of stirring, but after you've tried this version, you'll never settle for that boxed instant crap again.

Well crablings, I'm off, until next time, remember, you can do it, you can cook.

"If I were a rich man, budda, budda, biddy, biddy, bum..."

Chocolate Raspberry Clafoutis

Crabby Cook: Trying Recipes so you don't have to.

I'll admit, as a slogan it's not much.

In the last year SSSal and I have prepped over 100 different recipes. That involves finding recipes, reading recipes, trying to decide if the recipe makes sense and after all that, preparing, presenting and photographing the dish.

It's not always pretty. What you see here are the ones that made it. There are more than a few who never see the light of day. Yes, you can do it, you can cook, but you have to be ready for the occasional stumble.

I tend to avoid complicated recipes. Not because they're hard, but because every additional step is another opportunity for something to go wrong. I try and avoid recipes with lots of ingredients added in small amounts; I mean really, can 1/8 of a teaspoon of anything really make that much difference?

With that in mind, I present a new feature, "Fix the Crab". From time to time I'm going to post recipes that just didn't work and I'm going to challenge you, my little crablings, to try the recipe and tell me where we screwed up. Today's it's a dessert.

Outside of the name, everything about this dessert said it should be great. A short, but highly complimentary list of ingredients combined with minimal actual baking work. How could it possibly go wrong? Not only that, the result photographed beautifully, (you'd be surprised how many meals are surprisingly un-photogenic). So let's get started, please try and show me how to enjoy...


Chocolate Raspberry Clafoutis
Gourmet magazine, March 2009

12 ounces fresh raspberries (2 3/4 cups)
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 cup whole milk
1/2 stick unsalted butter, melted
3 large eggs
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 to 3 1/2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped, (or use chips)


Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Butter a 1 1/2 quart baking dish.

Toss the berries with granulated sugar and let stand for 15 minutes.

Blend the milk, butter, eggs, brown sugar, flour, cocoa powder and salt in a blender until smooth.

Evenly scatter the berries with their juices into the baking dish. Pour the batter on top.

Bake until slightly puffed and firm to the touch, about 35 minutes. Remove from the oven and immediately sprinkle with the chopped chocolate (or chips).

Allow to cool for 20 minutes. Serve at room temperature.


OK. Is that hard. No, in fact it seems virtually impossible to mess this recipe up. But the result was a mealy, mushy, spongy cake that felt woefully underdone. If it had been left in the oven any longer though, the edges would have turned to a (very) crunchy cookie texture.

It's at times like this you want to blame the oven.

"Maybe the temperature is off. You think we should try it on convection bake?"

The oven is working fine for every other meal. Nope, it's not the technology. It's either the input or the operator. So here's your challenge crablings. Make this recipe and tell me if it turns out great for you. I've taught you well, so I know you can do it, you can cook.

Raspberry Cream Cupcakes, Uh, Oh, It's Valentine's Day!

Doset Daram.

Te Amo.

Mahal Kita.

Je T'aime.

"Ah, mon petit chou, it is love at first sight, is it not, no?"

Ah yes, love is in the air, Valentine's Day is this Saturday and men all over America are cursing. A contrived day designed to increase flower, candy, greeting card and restaurant sales. Wanton commercialism wrapped in wanton lust. It's a travesty I say.

But let's face it, left to their own devices, men would rarely, if ever put forth the romantic effort. At least with Valentine's Day they get clear cut signals on what to do: Nice smelling stuff - Flowers, check. Feed Me - Restaurant reservation, check. Have someone else tell me you love me - Valentine's Day card, check.

See, it's all laid out for you.

So who am I to stand in the way of love? Today I give you a recipe that's sure to please the most jaded of hearts. This is a recipe from my some-day-to-be paramour, Giada DeLaurentiis. It's ludicrously simple, so simple even a man could do it, though in truth I leave all the baking to SSSal. So fire up the candles, put on he romantic music and enjoy...


Raspberry Cream Cupcakes
by Giada DeLaurentiis

1 (18.25 oz) box white cake mix (preferrably Duncan Hines)
1 1/3 cups water
3 large egg whites
2 TBSP unsalted butter, melted
2 teaspoons almond extract
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 (6 oz.) containers, fresh raspberries (or 6 oz strawberries chopped)
1 cup whipping cream
1/3 cup powdered sugar, plus additional for dusting

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

Line 18 muffin cups with muffin papaer.

Using an electric mixer, beat the cake mix, water ,egg whites, melted butter, almond extract and vanilla extract in a large bowl for 2 minutes or until batter is well blended.

Using about 1/3 cup of batter for each cupcake, scoop batter into muffin cups.

Bake cupcakes until the are pale golden on top, about 15 minutes.

Cool cupcakes completely on a cooling rack.

Using a fork, coarsely mash 1 1/2 containers of raspberreis in a medium bowl.

Whip the cream and 1/3 cup powdered sugar in a large bowl until form peaks firm. Fold the mashed raspberries, gently, into the whipped cream.

Remove the muffin papers from each cupcake. and cut the top (horizontally) off of each cupcake. Place a spoon on the raspberry whipped cream atop the cupcake bottoms. Return the cupcake tops to the cupcakes, forming a raspberry cream sandwich.

Dust the cupcakes with the remaining powdered sugar. Garnish with remaining berries and serve.


Using a box cake mix makes this recipe ridiculously easy; even a crab could do it. SSSal has made this dessert several times and it never fails to impress.

So crablings, that's your little something for Valentine's Day. A loaf of bread, a jug of wine, a plate of cupcakes and a bowl of extra raspberry whipped cream; I'd go into more details about what happens next, but this isn't that kind of web site. Until next time, remember, you can do it, you can cook.


Crabby Quiz: I opened this post with "I love you" written in four different languages, name each.

Extra Credit: After the four "I love yous", there is a quote in italics, name the speaker.

Meyer Lemon Buttermilk Pudding Cake & Disaster

"It's been a rough day. I got up this morning, put on a shirt and a button fell off. Then I picked up my briefcase and the handle fell off. I'm telling you, I'm afraid to go to the bathroom."


Brilliant.

Right after posting Sauerkraut Soup, disaster struck. Truth is I could sense it coming, but like everyone else I just chose hope over evidence.

Crash. Bang. Boom.

Right after getting confirmation of the last upload, my up-til-now-trusty computer died. Blue screen fading to black. Tried rebooting, but it's always a bad sign when your machine's death rattle is a snicker.

Last words? I swear I heard it whisper, "I told you to back up more often".

After six years the Dell is a goner. I'd been backing up more often, but I'm pretty sure I've lost a number of as yet unpublished photos. Ah well, I'll just have to make the recipes again. Put's a little pressure on me to create some inventory, but no sacrifice is too great for Crab Nation.

It's been a little shocking to live without my own computer. You just don't realize how attached you are to the possibility of communicating with the world. I've taken to borrowing SSSal's and CrabCake2's machines, but it's not the same. I feel like a technology stalker...unwashed, vaguely feral, desperate for a few moments of connectedness; Gollum Jonesing for a laptop.

Well what are you going to do, cry in your scalded milk? No. Life gives you lemons, you might as well try to make lemonade. But that's a recipe for another day. Today let's go for dessert. Early last summer, SSSal and I received a Meyer Lemon Tree as a gift from JeanneBean. It's taken about 9 months for the fruit to actually ripen but I'm not complaining. It's great to look at ripening citrus in the middle of winter. So without further downtime, please enjoy...


Meyer Lemon Buttermilk Pudding Cake with Fresh Berries
from Bon Appetit, January 2005

1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1 cup sugar, divided
4 large egg yolks
1/3 cup Meyer lemon juice (about 2 lemons)
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unslated butter, melted
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 large egg whites

whipping cream
fresh berries (blue- and or rasp-)


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Butter an 8x8x2 inch glass baking dish.

Blend buttermilk, 1/2 cup sugar, egg yolks, lemon juice, flour, butter and salt in a blender until smooth.

Using an electric mixer, beat egg whites in a large bowl until sift peaks form. Gradually add remaining 1/2 cup sugar, beating until stiff but not dry.

In 3 additions, gently pour buttermilk mixture into the beaten egg whites. Note: Batter will be runny.

Pour batter into prepared baking dish. Place dish into a roasting pan and then into the oven. Pour enough hot water into the roasting pan to come halfway up the baking dish. DO NOT GET ANY WATER INTO THE BATTER. (This is safer to do with the pan already in the oven.)

Bake until the entire top is evenly browned and the cake moves very slightly in the center, but still feels springy to the touch, about 45 minutes.

When done, remove baking dish from roasting pan and allow to cool on a rack. When cooled, refrigerate for at least 3 hours and up to 6 hours.

Spoon pudding cake into shallow bowls. Pour whipping cream around cake and top with berries.

Serve.


There you go. It sounds a bit fussy but it's truly very easy. Of course we had a cookng tragedy the last time we made this, but that's a story for another day.

Well crablings, I'm off to stand by the front door, longingly listening for the downshift of a UPS truck. Computer should be here soon. Until next time, remember you can do it, you can cook.


Crabby Quiz: Name the opening joke's owner.

Mocha Semifreddo, "You Broke My Heart Fredo."

I've reached an age where I say things like, "I love old movies". Of course "old" now means anything from the '70s or '80s. Oddly when you watch the oldies, very few of them actually hold up all that well. The Godfathers, I and II, are exceptions. Every time I watch either film I'm amazed at how perfectly done they are.

They say there is a scene or phrase from those movies that's appropriate for any event in your life. That thought crossed my mind the other day as I watched SSSal struggle with a new dessert.

There's a small but spectacular scene in Godfather II where Michael, (Al Pacino), realizes that he has been betrayed by his older brother Fredo, (John Cazale). Recovering from a botched assassination attempt, facing a threat to the very existence of his empire, Michael grabs Fredo, kisses him and says. "I know it was you Fredo. You broke my heart. You broke my heart". Without giving too much away, suffice it to say that the kiss is "the kiss of death".

It's like that with cooking some times, you're chugging along, everything appears to be going well and then, BOOM! From out of the blue something inexplicable takes place that can't be fully recovered from.

We are big Giada DeLaurentiis fans in this house. Most everything we have prepared from her recipes has been fantastic. SSSal offered to make a dessert for a dinner party and she settled on Giada's Mocha Semifreddo. Semifreddo translates to semi-frozen. It's a custard dessert that involves cooking and then judicious freezing.

Everything was done to plan. Every rule was followed. Yet when the the dessert came out of the freezer, (after two days), it was far more "semi" than "freddo". It tasted great, but it spent a lot of time oozing it's way across the plate. All you could do is look at it and say, "You broke my heart semifreddo. You broke my heart".

SSSal has made a citrus semifreddo that turned out as advertised, but not this mocha version. So I encourage you to try this dessert. Maybe you can tell us where we went wrong. Please enjoy...


Mocha Semifreddo
by Giada DeLaurentiis

Nonstick Cooking Spray
4 ounces amaretti cookies, crushed
3 TBSP unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup sugar, plus 1/4 cup
8 large egg yolks
1/3 cup espresso or strong coffee
2 TBSP Dry Marsala or Dry Sercial Madiera
Pinch Salt
1 cup whipping cream

Spray a 9x5x3 inch metal loaf pan with nonstick spray.

Line the pan with plastic wrap, allowing excess to hang over the sides and edges by 3 inches apiece.

In a medium bowl combine the crushed amaretti cookies and the melted butter. Put into the lined pan and press down firmly to form a crust.

Fill a large bowl with ice cubes and water and set aside.

Whisk 1/2 cup sugar, egg yolks, lemon juice, lime juice, dry marsala, and salt in a large metal mixing bowl. Set the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, do not let the bottom of the mixing bowl touch the simmering water, (you've just created a home-made double boiler).

Whisk the egg mixture until it is thick and creamy, and until a thermometer inserted in to the mixture reads 160 degrees F, (about 5 minutes). NOTE: If the water is boiling, or the mixing bowl touches the water, invite the family into the kitchen for scrambled eggs, because that's what you're going to get.

Set the bowl of custard into the ice water bath, being careful not to get any water into the custard. Allow to cool completely.

Gently stir in the lemon and lime zest.

In another large bowl, using an electric mixture, beat the whipping cream and remaining 1/4 cup of sugar until firm peaks form.

Using a large rubber spatula, gently fold the whipped cream into the custard. Spoon the mixture onto the prepared crust.

Fold the overhanging plastic wrap over the custard and freeze at least 8 hours or up to 3 days.

Unfold the plastic wrap. Invert the semifreddo onto a platter and carefully peel off the wrap.

Cut the semifreddo into 1 inch slices and serve with additional crushed amaretti cookies as a garnish.


OK, I admit there's a lot of little steps, but hey, it's a dessert, what did you expect? The result though is a lush, if in our particular case, soupy, dessert. It borders on frozen chocolate mouse with amaretti cookies.

I'll be back in a few days. I'm not sure what's going to be on the menu, but until then, just remember, you can do it, you can cook.

P.S. Rent "The Godfather" and "The Godfather II", movies just don't get any better.

P.P.S. Avoid "The Godfather III" like the plague, movies don't get much worse.

Quick Apple Tart & Your New Job

Back in the good old days, before everybody went "green", before the housing crisis, the credit crisis and the oil crisis, September and October meant the harvest. It meant a chance to get out in the orchards and pick apples. Sadly, today "U-Pick" is sounding less like a food buying choice and more like your new job description.

As a kid, I remember the entire family travelling to the rolling hills of central Massachusetts to ride on tractors, run among the trees and pick bushels of Cortlands, Northern Spies and Baldwins. The tradition continued when SSSal, WWBob and I would have our own apple picking picnics complete with vichyssoise, country pate and a bottle or 3 of wine. When CrabCakes 1 & 2 arrived on the scene, we showed them the simple joys of cider mills, hot apple donuts, and warm breezes all under a ridiculously blue Minnesota sky.

As Minnesotan, Robert ZImmerman once eloquently sang, "for the times they are a-changin'", they always have and thankfully, they always will. With all the angst and fear out there, now might be a good time to take a deep breath, relax and remember that life, so far, still beats the alternative.

So let's put down the sharp objects, come in off the ledge and do a little cooking. Here's a recipe for a dessert that ConnecticutJane brought to a recent dinner party. It's ludicrously simple and spectacularly flavorful. Breathe deeply and enjoy...

Quick Apple Tart
Bon Apetit, March 2004 with tweaking by ConnecticutJane













1 sheet frozen puff pastry (half of 17 oz package), thawed
3 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
2 TBSP (1/4 stick) unsalted butter, melted
2 TBSP cinnamon sugar (2 TBSP sugar mixed with scant 1/2 tsp cinnamon)
1/4 cup apricot jam, melted

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Unfold pastry onto parchment paper.


Using the tines of a fork, pierce a 1/2 in border around the edge of the pastry, then pierce the center. Arrange apples atop the pastry in 3 or 4 rows, overlapping the apples slightly, while leaving the 1/2" border clear (the border puffs up to become a nice edge around the apples).

Brush apples with melted butter; sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.

Bake 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, brush melted jam over apples. Bake tart until golden, about 6 - 8 additional minutes.

Serve warm or at room temperature with vanilla ice cream and (optional) slivered almonds.


See, everything is going to be OK. A simple, inexpensive and tasty dessert. What could be better?

See you in a few days, until then remember, you can do it you can cook.

Carrot Cake in a Time of Downsizing.

Let's face it, times are tough. Thanks to that adjustable rate mortgage, your dream house just put you into the poor house. You really want to send your kids to college, but that gets further and further away every time you have to fill up your Hummer Consumpto SUV. To top it all off, your nest egg, filled by the golden goose, just got scrambled by some guy at Lehman Brothers.

No, it's not a good time to own anything. This looming hangover from owing "too much" from having bought "too many" reminds me of a recipe story.

Many years ago, I attended business school in the Northeast. What's interesting about this is, while the business school was very good, the overall college had a great reputation for carrot cake.

That's right, carrot cake. People begged for the recipe, alumni would request it for weddings; as great as the academic experience was, everyone remembered the carrot cake.

After graduation I went to work for a large, three-initialed computer company. One of my colleagues graduated from the same business school. As fate would have it, this co-worker's father was the head baker for the college in question.

His father held the keys to the vault. His father not only had the recipe for this carrot cake but also oversaw its production. His father sat, swami-like, at the top of Carrot Cake Mountain.

I pleaded, wheedled, cajoled, coaxed and inveigled. I had to and finally got, the recipe.

Ingredients: 50 lbs of flour....

Nooooo! I held Nirvana in my hands yet had no way to unlock the kitchen door. The recipe called for "pounds of eggs", who ever heard of using eggs by the pound? All I wanted was a recipe for a single, two-layer carrot cake. Curses, foiled again.

I never made the recipe. SeaShellSal and I have spent years trying out other recipes that were similar, but nothing has ever been exactly the same. Maybe someday I'll rent space in an industrial kitchen and give it a whirl. Carrot cake for 2,000.

Until then, here's SSSal's favorite version; CrabCake 2 always requests this as his birthday cake, (as you can see from the pictures). A food processor makes short work of the preparation. The cream cheese frosting is so good it should be against the law. Enjoy.


Carrot Cake
by SSSal

3/4 lbs (about 6 medium) peeled carrots cut into pieces to fit in the processor
1 piece lemon rind (approx 3" x 3/4 ")
2 cups sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1" pieces
4 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup walnuts
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp mace

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a 9" bundt pan or two 8" round cake pans for a layer cake.

Shred carrots in food processor and set aside.

Process lemon peel and sugar in the food processor. Add butter, eggs and vanilla. Process until smooth.

Add walnuts and pulse to chop and distribute.

In a large measuring cup, stir together flour, baking power, baking soda, mace, salt and cinnamon. Add to the food processor, pulsing until the flour has disappeared.

Add carrots 1/3 at a time, pulsing after each addition until fully incorporated.

Pour batter into floured pan and spread evenly with a spatula. Run spatula vertically through batter to release any air bubbles that may have formed.

Bake bundt for 55 - 60 minutes or 45 minutes for the layer cake, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Cool slightly and then remove from pan and cool completely on a wire rack.

Cream Cheese Frosting
by SSSal

1 stick of butter,(4 ozs) at room temperature
8 ozs. cream cheese (the real stuff) at room temperature
2 tsp vanilla
4 cups confectioners (powdered) sugar - the whole box
1 TBSP grated lemon zest

Using a mixer, combine all the ingredients and process until the frosting forms a creamy consistency. You may have to refrigerate it for 1/2 an hour or so to make sure it is not too soft.

Spread on cake. Refrigerate to set the frosting if you have time. Bring out to room temp for 1/2 an hour before serving.


This recipe can easily be doubled, and why wouldn't you? Spread it on cookies, on bagels, the family pet; this frosting is ridiculously good.

Well that's all for today. Time to replenish the retirement account, I'll be the one with the metal detector walking the beach looking for loose change. Until next time, remember, you can do it, you can cook.

Baby Lava Cakes; Time Just Keeps Oozing On

Time doesn't so much march on as it seems to just ooze by.

Once we had kids, time wasn't measured by our birthdays, but by the landmarks of our children and their friends.

The first day of school. Little League games. Birthday parties. The last day of school. All these events seemed to just sneak up on us and before you knew it, another year had passed. It's not that our milestones were less important, it's that their events seemed so much more immediate.

Last week we got a "Save the Date" notice. The eldest of friends from Chicago, the 8-year old little girl we met 14 years ago, is getting married.

Old enough to get married! When did that happen?

If she's old enough to get married that means that CrabCake #1 can't be far behind. How can that be possible? If that's true, then that means CrabCake #2 will be leaving for college in a few years!

No, no, no! Something's wrong, I'm sure I was paying attention; how did this get by me?

Days, weeks, years, decades, time oozes on.

Well in a tribute to WheatonJen, here's a dessert recipe that she found and we've fallen in love with. It's one of those slightly decadent, warm, oozing chocolate lava cakes. The slow, unctuous creep of the chocolate emanating from the cake is always a hit at a dinner party. Come to think of it, its sweet sensuous flow would be great on a honeymoon night; but I digress. So without further delay...


Baby Lave Cakes
by WheatonJen and tweaked by SSSal

Filling
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 TBSP whipping cream

Combine chocolate and cream in a medium saucepan. Stirring constantly, cook over low heat until chocolate is completely melted. Remove from heat and allow to cool. When cool, refrigerate for 45 minutes until mixture becomes firm.

Shape chocolate into 6 equal sized balls. (This is a messy job but the kids love doing it.) Set aside.


Cake

3/4 cup butter
6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
3 eggs
3 egg yolks (yeah, yeah I know, but you only live once, so die happy)
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup flour
3 TBSP unsweetened cocoa powder



Butter and flour (6) 3/4 cup ramekins. In a medium saucepan, stir butter and chocolate over medium heat until fully melted. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

In a large bowl, beat eggs, egg yolks, sugar and vanilla until lemon colored, (about 5 minutes).

Beat in the butter/chocolate mixture.

Sift flour and cocoa powder together and add to "wet" mixture.

Fill each ramekin 1/3 full with batter, drop a chocolate ball on top and then fill with remaining 2/3s cake batter. (If you put the ramekins on a cookie sheet it is easier to move them around, but you have to have enough room in your fridge to handle the next step.)

Refrigerate at least 30 minutes.

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees while ramekins are chilling.

Remove ramekins from refrigerator and bake for 13 - 15 minutes.

Allow cakes to cool for 10 minutes prior to serving.

Quickly invert cakes onto serving plates. Garnish with whipped cream, ice cream and/or fruit coulis (recipe on another day).

Cut into cakes with a spoon and listen to your dinner companions ooh and aah.

Bask in your culinary glory.

Well crablings, that's it. Like all desserts, this one has a lot of fussy steps, but the result is pretty cool. And remember, if WheatonJen can come up with this recipe at the ripe old age of 19, then you can do it, you can cook.

Lemon Curd with Fresh Berries, a Taste of Bittersweet

SSSal and I have made our share of moves. Over the years we've lived five different states, all in the north and except for Minnesota, all east of the Mississippi. No, we're not part of the Federal Witness Protection Program; all the moves have been work related.

Before Crab Cakes 1 & 2 showed up the moves seemed easy enough. Sure, it's tough to leave friends, but you always assume that you'll stay in touch. Besides, there's something adventurous about pulling up stakes and heading someplace unknown. Your windshield is your future, the rear view mirror your memories.

We've made good friends everywhere we've been. While the internet has made it easier, there's still only 1 or 2 couples that we stay in touch with from any given locale. The excitement of moving is still there but it gets harder as the list of friends your leaving gets longer. Bittersweet is the silence inside a car as you back out of a driveway for the last time.

Bittersweet. Today's recipe fits the bill. Like seemingly all desserts, it's a bit involved. It requires the maceration of fresh berries. Maceration, besides being a word that teenagers and immature CrabbyCooks snicker over, is the process of marinating fruit in sugar and sometimes alcohol. The goal is to get the sugars to gently break down the fruit so that it starts to gives up its juice while retaining some of its shape. Neat trick, huh?

Lemon Curd with Macerated Berries served in hand made goblets. CaryHillCutie, a friend from Minnesota, made the pictured goblets in her pottery class. They don't change the way dessert tastes, but they do bring back memories of spectacular dinners past. Enjoy.


Lemon Curd with Fresh Berries
inspired by Baking with Julia, Dorie Greenspan (with help from SSSal)

4 large eggs
1 cup sugar (super fine if available)
2/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
Grated zest of 1 lemon
1/2 stick (2 oz) room temperature, unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
1 cup whipped cream

Put the eggs and sugar into a mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Whip at high speed until light and fluffy. While the machine is still whisking, add the lemon juice and grated zest.

NOTE WELL: The curd is prepared using a double-boiler. If you don't own a double-boiler take a medium sized saucepan and add 2" - 3 " of water and bring to a simmer. Then use a stainless steel mixing bowl placed on top of the saucepan making sure that the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water below.

Transfer the mixture to the top half of the double-boiler.

You must continuously whisk the mixture while it's cooking!!! This step requires time and effort. The mixture will become smooth, thick and custardlike. Estimated cooking time: 3 - 7 minutes.

Once the custard has set up, remove from the heat and whisk in the butter pieces one at a time until fully incorporated.

Scrape the mixture into another bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Important Hint: Push the plastic wrap down onto the surface of the custard and press out any air bubbles. This will prevent the top from getting "rubbery".

Refrigerate until completely chilled and set.

When curd has set. Incorporate the cup of whipped cream into the curd. Scoop into individual servings and spoon on a dollop or two of macerated berries.


Macerated Berries

2 cups of your favorite berries (rasp-, straw-, blue- and blackberries all work well)
1/2 cup sugar
1 TBSP lemon juice
1 TBSP Grand Marnier Orange Flavored Liqueur (optional)

Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl, stirring gently. Refrigerate at least 2 hours, preferably overnight. Gently mix just prior to serving.


OK crablings, I know what your thinking, "double-boilers, mixers, constant whisking", this is just way too much work. Well I concede that the work is intense, especially when you're whisking over the double boiler, but the results are worth it. Besides, those of you who've been coming here for the last six months are ready to step up your game.

Life and cooking can be bittersweet, but remember, you can do it, you can cook.

Blueberry Buckle & The Ann Arbor Art Fair

There are various signposts in the course of a year; New Year's Day, the first day of spring, Fourth of July. Around here one of those signposts is the Ann Arbor Art Fair. Purported to be the largest art fair in America, it draws local, national and international artisans whose booths take over most of the downtown streets.

The fair is actually a combination of three fairs that draws roughly 500,000 people annually to the city of Ann Arbor. For four days the streets are cordoned off and booths are set up selling everything from sculptures to jewelry, from glass works to clothing; a shopping orgy of everything from paintings to macrame, sold by artists you'd actively ignore if their works were in a gallery.

It runs for four days in the middle of July during what is invariably the hottest week of the summer. I hate it. I hate it for a number of reasons, even though I take an evil glee in keeping track of the daily number of visitors taken to the hospital for heat stress. I hate it because it's impossible to go downtown. After having ceded the city to the student population for much of the year, we lose it again to this roving band of Amish, retired, "natural", hey-haven't-you-heard?-the-60's-are-way-over, "craftsmen" who set up shop on the city streets. Parking disappears, forget about going to a restaurant.

The second reason I hate it is that SSSal loves it and I'm always recruited to be the shuttle bus for her and her friends. Every year I'm destined to be making at least one drop-off and pick-up run, (more if they start to buy big items). SSSal tends to only buy small, glass based items. Many of the designer plates you see in my photos are art fair purchases. Thankfully she has the patience and interest to troll the booths for these finds, I don't.

There is one reason I enjoy the Art Fair. It is also the signal of the halfway point of summer. In a very few weeks, the real bounty of the growing season will be coming in. Sweet corn, cucumbers, raspberries, peaches, tomatoes and blueberries. As a kid, blueberries always meant the end of summer vacation. As an adult, blueberries are the harbinger of fall. Soon the heat will break, the students will return and football (the American kind) will be back on TV.

Tomatoes are a celebration of summer, blueberries are a portend of winter. So here's a preemptive recipe. A treat to prepare as the blueberries come to market in your area. Oddly enough, SSSal says this recipe works better if you've frozen the berries. Blueberry Buckle, a morning coffee cake, made better with the use of the Baker's Edge Baking Pan. Enjoy, there's still a long way to go this summer, but fall's acomin'.


Blueberry Buckle
by SeaShellSal (handed down from iMogene)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and spray a glass baking dish with Pam, preferably the kind with a bit of flour, especially for baking. Or use the Baker's Edge pan for improved "corners".

Mix together in a medium bowl with a wooden spoon:

3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup softened shortening (Crisco - do not substitute butter)
1 egg
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1/2 cup milk (no fat is acceptable)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups drained blueberries (Note: Freeze blueberries overnight. Toss with 2 TBSP flour before adding to the mix. DO NOT THAW)

The batter will be gooey. Spread it in the bottom of your pan. Don't worry about getting it smooth as the cracks and crevices are good to hold the crumble topping.

For the Crumble Topping, stir together:

1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup sifted all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Mix in with a fork
1/4 cup softened butter (not melted)

Sprinkle the topping over the batter and pop in the oven.

The buckle will take 40 - 45 minutes on regular bake in a glass baking dish. In the Baker's Edge pan, with convection bake, the cooking time will be dramatically shorter (approx 30 minutes). The buckle is done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean; I would suggest checking every 5 minutes after the first 25 minutes of baking. You want a nice brown crunchy top.



There you go. I think I'll go downtown for lunch. Until next time, remember, you can do it you can cook.