Burnt Sugar Cookies

School's Out for Summer! School's Out Forever!

More time to bake! More treats to give away!

Ronnie, one of the loveliest ladies--pretty much the only lady--at TipTop, lends me cookbooks, with the expectation that I will make her delicious treats on a regular basis. I'm happy to oblige since I get to expand my recipe repertoire and make her smile.

At first I was skeptical of the Burnt Sugar Cookies, if only because burned cookies are never tasty. Boy-oh! Was I wrong? Burnt-sugar cookies taste like gingery caramel. Not only is this my new favorite recipe, but it was like being in chemistry lab all over again: Hooray!

2 1/4 c all-purp flour
1 1/2 teas baking soda
1 teas ground ginger
1/2 teas ground coriander
1/2 teas salt
3/4 c (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 c packed brown sugar (either light or dark)
1 teas grated lemon zest
1 large egg, room temperature
1/4 burnt sugar syrup
granulated sugar

To make the burnt-sugar syrup, place about 3/4 cup granulated sugar in a saute/frying pan, over medium-low heat. Sugar will start to melt and turn brown.

Stir occasionally. When melted, add 3/4 cup hot or boiling water. Stir gently and carefully as the mixture will bubble like a cauldron. Though I'd been warned, I was still gleefully impressed. Simmer over low-ish, for 5-10 minutes, letting some of the water boil off. Then, let cool to room temperature.

For the cookies:
*Sift together flour, baking soda, ginger, coriander, and salt. (Nota Bene: I'm too lazy to sift...and everything seems to turn out fine).
*In mixer bowl, cream together (on HIGH) butter, brown sugar, and lemon zest til light and fluffy.
*Reduce speed to MEDIUM. Beat in egg and burnt-sugar syrup, till blended.
*Reduce speed to LOW; add dry ingredients in two additions, till just blended. Cover, refrigerate for 2 hours.
*Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
*Pour 1/4 c of granulated sugar into a small bowl. Roll 1" dough-balls in sugar before placing on cookie sheet.

*Bake for 10 minutes, until crinkly on top like gingersnaps.



The flavor of these reminded me of the caramel on an apple, with a little bit of ginger and lemon to enhance the slightly bitter sweetness. Also, the texture was tops: a little chewy and a little crunchy. Yum-City!

B'nana Cake, B'nana Cake, Maker's Mark*

*now with more Beam.



To mark the end of the semester--and the completion of the MA degree that brought us together--I'm making a Banana Bourbon cake for Penny and me.

One of my favorite things about baking, maybe more so than other kinds of kitchen alchemy, is the the fact that my hands get dirty, sticky, sweet. So dirty that before I can rinse them under the faucet I have to lick my fingers. To wit, this recipe, with its mashed bananas, toasted coconut, and finely chopped pecans is a handful.



The bottle of bourbon, at the ready, speeds this along. So too, however, does the messy fun, reveling in the textures and processes that make something so tasty come to be: between your fingers the mashed bananas squish, the coconut crunches, the pecans crumble.



This recipe also demonstrates the other thing that amazes me about baking: very often, in the middle of making it, the batter/dough looks disgusting, absolutely inedible, repellent actually. Then, magically, it all comes together to make a taste explosion on your tongue. This recipe, mid-mixing, looks like vomit, but tastes like heaven.



Cake
1/2 lb butter (two sticks), softened
3 c sugar
2 c bananas (about 4-5), mashed
4 eggs, beaten
2 teas baking soda
4 c all-purpose flour
1 c buttermilk
1 teas vanilla
2+ Tables. Beam

Grease and flour 3-9" cake rounds. Set aside. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream together butter and sugar. Add 2 cups bananas and continue mixing till smooth. Add beaten eggs and beat slightly. Sift baking soda and flour together. Add to batter, alternating with buttermilk. Add vanilla and Beam. Though Beam in cake (and not in a glass) may seem like a waste, I added some extra to make a Beamier cake. Mix well. Pour into prepared pans. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on racks.

Icing
1/2 c banana (2-3), mashed
1 teas lemon juice
1/4 lb (1 stick) butter
2 lbs powdered sugar (1 big bag)
1 c toasted coconut (to toast: in pan with edges, place in 350 degree oven for 4-5 minutes, stirring to prevent over-browning)
3/4 c finely chopped pecans

Sprinkle mashed banana with lemon juice to prevent browning. In separate bowl, cream butter. Add powdered sugar and bananas. Cream on high till smooth. Add coconut and pecans. When cake has cooled, spread between layers and on top and sides of cake.



Though tasty, this cake has to be the heaviest I've ever made. I should be Swedish, named Magnus, and competing in the Strongest Man competition.

Buttermilk, Birthdays, and Black Velvet

I’m a barmaid at TipTop (432 Franklin), a neighborhood bar in Bed-Stuy. One might think I’d feel out of place. Yet, every Wednesday, I walk in feeling more and more at home. My maternal grandparents, in addition to being farmers, ran my hometown’s (town is a stretch, there were 1000 people) bowling alley. Before they sold it while I was in junior high, it was a magical place. My parents met and fell in love there; as children, we were allowed to run around—through the kitchen and the inner workings of the pin-setting machines—all the places customers couldn’t go. TipTop, replete with twinkling Christmas lights, shiny streamers, and a jukebox that plays soul-funk jams, is similarly otherworldly. TipTop’s owners—Junior and Corene—have become surrogate grandparents. Their customers my uncles: avuncular in the “sit on my lap and let me tickle you” way.

After having made a pumpkin bread for their 50th anniversary, Boss Lady asked what I was making for her birthday. Every party they throw is one of sensory over-indulgence: exuberant music, stiff drinks, and TONS of soul food. I finally decided on a Buttermilk Cookie recipe and a Citrus Pound Cake, both from the January 2008 issue of Gourmet magazine. My dad is a bricklayer/masonry contractor. Sometimes, when I bake I’m reminded of how he talks about building people’s homes and hearths, with his bare hands, as creating a space for family, love, future. Though my labors are comestible, I think of them as nourishing, loving, sweetly imbuing the devourer with tender morsels. So, for these recipes (below) I didn’t even bother with the mixer, choosing to make it all by hand.

Buttermilk Cookies
Cookies:
3 c all-purpose flour
1 teas grated lemon zest
½ teas baking soda
½ teas salt
1 ½ sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 ½ c granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teas vanilla
2/3 c well-shaken buttermilk

Glaze:
1 ½ c powdered sugar
3 Tbls well-shaken buttermilk
½ teas vanilla

Preheat oven to 350. Butter 2 large baking sheets.
*Whisk together flour, zest, baking soda, and salt


*Beat together butter and sugar in large bowl, with electric mixer, until pale and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition, then beat in vanilla. Mix in flour and buttermilk, alternating additions, ending with flour mixture.

*Drop level Tbls of dough about 1 ½” apart onto baking sheets.
*Bake 1 sheet at a time, until cookies are puffed and edges are golden, 12-15 minutes. Cool cookies on sheets 1 minute, then transfer to racks.

*For the glaze, whisk together all ingredients. Brush on top of warm cookies.

*Let stand until cookies are completely cooled and glaze is set.


Citrus Pound Cake
2 c sifted cake flour (sift before measuring)
1 teas baking powder
½ teas salt
1 c granulated sugar
1 Tbls grated orange zest
1 teas grated lemon zest
2 sticks (1/2 lb) unsalted butter, softened
4 large eggs, room temperature
2 teas fresh orange juice
1 teas fresh lemon juice
½ teas vanilla

*Preheat oven to 325. Butter a loaf pan (8 ½” x 4 ½”)
*Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt
*Mix together sugar and zests, with electric mixer set to LOW, until sugar is evenly colored.

*Add butter and beat on HIGH until pale and fluffy, about 5 minutes.

*Beat in eggs, 1 at a time, at MEDIUM, scraping bowl often. Then beat in juices and vanilla. Mix in flour mixture, on LOW, until just combined.
*Spread batter into loaf pan. Rap on counter to eliminate air bubbles.

*Bake until golden brown and a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean, 60-75 minutes. Cool in pan for 30 minutes, then run a knife around the pan’s edge. Remove from pan. Cool completely.
*Suggested garnish is a dusting of powdered sugar. I used the remaining glaze from the Buttermilk Cookie recipe and sprinkled with left-over lemon and orange zest.
Flavor is said to improve if made a day in advance.

Happy (belated) Birthday, Willie!

My best friend, Ivy, has given me Playboy-themed gifts for years. She suggested making excerpts a regular part of my blog. Starting now.

Naturally, the first post should be our favorite, from Dear Playboy Advisor: Questions from Men and Women to the Advice Column of Playboy Magazine (2006, p. 213):

Stand By Your Man
What does it mean when a woman can have the biggest orgasm of her life simply by standing next to a certain man? This has happened to me three times--the first was 10 years ago, and the most recent was last year. My girlfriend and I waited for the guy to see if it would happen again, and it did--twice. The man is Willie Nelson. Is this normal? I don't want to wreck his marriage or mine. But I would be a cheap date. --M.J., Newark, New Jersey
God works in mysterious ways.

Spring!

Easter was always one of Mom’s favorite holidays. When we were little she made us new (and matching) outfits. We were allowed to eat store-bought sweets. We got presents (our first-ever CD boombox—hooray!), instead of Easter baskets. If we didn’t drive the country road for dinner with Grandma and Grandpa, Mom would go all-out at our house; we’d wake up to the smell of baking ham, or baking bread, or baking pie and rush out to the kitchen. It was surprising then, the year that Mom decided to non-ironically make rabbit. We’d had it before. Family friends lived on a commune and raised/butchered their own. It was good—juicy, tender, not-gamey—so long as you could forget about the hoppity-hop and the cotton-tail. On Easter, however, the chocolate bunny at the center of the table made it impossible to forget. Mom is, sometimes, oblivious to things such as this; she’s also got an impish streak that defies interpretation. I’m not sure which compelled her to make rabbit but I do remember her being surprised at the amount leftover.

Because I am away from home and stricken with my own adolescent sense of humor, Penny and I are having a maple-glazed bone-in pork butt (ham) for dinner. It’s cheaper than other hams (yay!) and permits me to yell “bone-in pork butt” and “haunch” while preparing it. This makes me very happy. The menu consisted of a Lutheran's food dreams come true: ham, mashed/whipped potatoes, roasted vegetables, and lemon bars. Follow me, for fellowship, to the church basement: mmmmm, coffee and bars.

Ham-Fisted
Preparations began the night before, when we first glazed the ham with maple syrup, from a flask.

The next day, I slathered more maple syrup on all surfaces, then loaded it into a 325 degree oven where it baked, covered with foil, for 25-30 minutes for each pound.

With about 30 minutes of baking time remaining, I rubbed dark brown sugar onto the bone-in pork butt and removed the foil, so the sugar would get all crinkly on top. When I pulled it out (after 3 hours of baking time) it looked like this:


Sides
For the mashed potatoes, I peeled and boiled 3 huge potatoes til they split with a fork. After draining the water, I dumped them into the Kitchen Aid, added the whisk attachment and enough butter and milk to equal Wisco's annual GDP. Just kidding: probably 3 Tbles butter and 2 Tbles milk before whipping furiously at nearly top speed. The result was potatoes that, as Penny said, looked like meringue or whipped cream.


The co-op has been selling ginormous brussel sprouts, which have recently become a favorite food. I like to roast them with other veggies: acorn squash, sweet potato, onion, garlic, broccoli, carrots. If your sprouts are this big, cut into quarters. For this batch, I started them in the oven with the ham (at 325). Normally, I bake them (drizzled with olive oil, seasoned with red pepper flakes, salt and pepper) at 400 or so, for 30-45 minutes.



Lemony Snisket
Dad likes lemon. He says "snisket" a lot. I like the color yellow and my lemon bars tart.


For this recipe, I followed closely Smitten Kitchen's (borrowing of Ina Garten's) with the exception that I added more lemon. Like more cowbell, it just makes everything better.

Preheat oven to 350, grease a 9 x 13 x 2 pan.

Crust:
2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 c white sugar
2 c flour
pinch of salt

Cream the butter and sugar. In separate combine flour and salt. Add butter/sugar to flour and mix til just combined. The texture will resemble buttery pebbles. Press into pan; flatten into crusty-ness. The recipe advises you to "chill it," but I forgot and it turned out just fine. Bake for 15-20 minutes til lightly browned.



Lemony Goodness
6 XL eggs, room temperature
2 1/2 c white sugar
2 Tbls grated lemon zest (4-6 lemons)--I used 3 Tbls
1 c freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 c flour


Whisk eggs and sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice and flour. It'll be a little frothy. Pour over crust and bake for 30-35 minutes, just after filling is set. Cool to room temperature and dust with powdered sugar.

The bone-in pork-butt spread looked a little something like this:

and this:

BUSTy Blegens

Hiyo!

After appearing in BUST last fall with Sweet Tooth of the Tiger, a renegade bake sale project based in Brooklyn, I was asked to write a piece for the "OLD SCHOOL" feature. Because I invoked Grandma at every bake sale--using her recipes, wearing her aprons, and giggling--it was a great opportunity to celebrate someone who's given me so much.

It appears in the Apr/May 2009 issue and is pretty self-explanatory. I included the crocheted "boobs and dinks" that appear above her; she made similar crafts: flower boobquets, boxer short aprons with a surprise inside, etc (I'll post photos and explanations later).

Shout out to Lisa Butterworth and the other classy ladies at BUST: I owe you cookies!

That Smell: Dinner and Dessert

Penny and I recently suffered an odiferous onslaught every time we walked through our front door. At times it smelled like gym socks, at others fetid meat, at still others rotting cabbage; it wafted in and out, reaching a stasis that was more nuisance than gag-inducing. Baffled, we wandered around the apartment, sniffing every nook and cranny. Both tired (of smelling) and hungry, we decided our time would be better spent masking it with smells delicious to both nose and tummy: homemade lasagna and peach-blueberry pie. Yum-city!

My grandmother was an expert crust-maker; I, however, am not so good.
*Take two sticks of butter, cut them into 1/2 inch slices, place them in a bowl, then freeze them for an hour or so.
*In a medium-large bowl, place 2 1/2 c flour, pinch of salt, pinch of sugar. I used Grandma's sifter to combine them.



*Using a pastry cutter (or in my case, my hands/fingers) incorporate the frozen butter. I like fingers because it feels like you're making a mudpie, but more delicious. The texture should resemble pebbles of differing sizes.
*Add ice water, 1 Tablespoon at a time (usually between 4 and 6 total), mixing (with hands or pastry cutter) until dough holds together.
*Divide the dough in half; wrap each half in plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour.

For the filling, because my hankering would not mind the seasons, I used frozen peaches and frozen blueberries.
*In a bowl, mix 4 1/2 c peaches and 1 1/2 c blueberries with 3 T cornstarch, 2/3 c sugar, 1 1/2 teas cinnamon, and 1 T lemon juice.
*Remove dough from fridge, roll out into 12" circles. Place first round in 9"pan, pressing down to make a snug fit.
*Pour in the filling.



*Roll out the second round. Place on top.
*Trim to within 1" of the edge; fold the top crust over the bottom and pinch together.
*Brush top with milk, sprinkle with sugar, and cut 4 2-inch slits.
*Bake at 375 with foil covering the edge.
*After 40 minutes, remove the foil and bake for another 20.

When I was younger, my mom would butter the scraps of the crust, then sprinkle them with cinnamon and sugar, and bake them on a cookie sheet until brown: all so that we'd have a sweet snack while we waited for the pie.



Though some of our closest friends are vegetarians, Penny and I savor meat.

*For our lasagna, we browned 1/2 pound of bacon, 1 pound lean ground beef, an onion, and 3 cloves of garlic.
*After draining most of the fat, we added a 16oz can of tomato sauce and a 16oz can of canned tomatoes.
*We seasoned with basil, tabasco, salt, pepper, and some red pepper flakes.
*Penny made a bechamel sauce with 1/4 c butter, 1/4 flour, and 1 1/2 c milk, in a small saucepan on the stove. When it thickened, we added a small handful of asiago cheese.
*Prior to the browning and the rouxing, Penny sliced zucchini, whilst wearing a Lynyrd Skynyrd shirt (inadvertently keeping with the theme).



In the bottom of a 9X13" we placed a thin layer of the tomato sauce. Then lasagna noodles (we got some Barilla that didn't require cooking beforehand). We placed more tomato sauce, then the bechamel.



Followed by grated mozzarella, then noodles, then tomato sauce, then zucchini, then bechamel, then grated mozz, then noodles, then zucchini, and so on and so forth. Since we were drinking, it was hard to keep track of layers. We finished with a layer of zucchini, topped with grated mozz, asiago, and parmesan.



*Cover with foil, bake at 375 for 50-60 minutes.
*Remove foil and bake for another 5-10 minutes, til cheese is brown and bubbly.



For dessert:


Though the yummy smells eventually dissipated to reveal the lurking malodorous stench, Penny and I were too sated to sniff it out.