Feeling French

"Here, this is how the French eat strawberries," my mom said to me one day when I was in high school. As she said it, she set down a bowl of whole strawberries, a small cup of sour cream and another small cup of brown sugar. I looked at her incredulously, "Really? Sour cream?" I hated sour cream growing up. If we went to a Mexican restaurant I always completed my order to the waiter like this: "I'll have the (insert dish) without sour cream." It didn't matter if what I was ordering didn't even come with sour cream. I still said it. I could not risk having a glop of it on my food. (If only I knew that I was missing out on lovely Mexican crema, something that I enjoy today.)

Why my aversion to sour cream? I really don't know. I've never been a very picky eater. All I can think is that sour cream is not sweet, and for someone with a sweet tooth, well, sour cream just never made sense to me. That is until my mom had me dip a whole strawberry in the sour cream and then dunk it into the brown sugar, little clumps of sugar sticking to the cream like sand. How could such a simple and strange (to me) combination taste so good?  From then on I decided to give sour cream another chance, and today I love it in both savory and sweet preparations.

You don't need a recipe for this, but here are the basic ratios you can use for two people.

Strawberries with Sour Cream and Brown Sugar

1 pint fresh strawberries (in season and the best you can find)
1/4 cup sour cream (don't be tempted to get light)
1/4 cup brown sugar

Place each ingredient in a separate bowl, and dip the whole strawberries into the sour cream and then the brown sugar.

Continuing on my French theme, I've just finished reading David Lebovitz's book The Sweet Life in Paris. You may remember that I mentioned him when I made his chocolate macaroons last year. Anyway, I gobbled up this book and I can't wait to try all the recipes. 

Speaking of French recipes, I recently received a copy of Jacques Pepin's book Essential Pepin. I also cannot wait to try all the recipes in that book - though wait I must, there are 700 recipes in the book!

I started my journey into that thick book with an easy and classic French dish on the same night we ate the strawberries. Here is Jacques' recipe for quick ratatouille. Basically you can cook most of the vegetables at the same time instead of doing individual batches for each vegetable as is the classic method. It was garlicky and juicy and we happily enjoyed it with a few pieces of fresh baguette on the side. 

Quick Ratatouille

1/4 cup olive oil
3 white or yellow onions, cut into 1 inch cubes
1 green bell pepper, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 eggplant (about 1 pound), unpeeled cut into 1 inch cubes
4 small zucchini, cut into 1 inch cubes
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
6 garlic cloves, sliced
4 tomatoes (about 1 1/2 pounds), cut into 1 inch cubes
1 cup chopped fresh basil
Freshly ground black pepper

Heat oil in large saute pan or dutch oven over high heat. Add the eggplant, bell pepper, onions, zucchini, red pepper flakes, and salt and cook for 5 minutes. Reduce heat to medium, cover and cook for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add tomatoes and garlic and cook for an additional 5 minutes. Add black pepper to taste. Transfer to bowl and let cool to room temperature. Stir in half the basil. Sprinkle remaining basil over individual bowls when ready to serve.

Serves 6 as a side dish or fewer people as a main course. 

Note: I used a mixture of summer squash and zucchini because that's what I had on hand and it worked well. 

Another Birthday Cake

Roy requests lemon chiffon cake and blueberry ice cream every year for his birthday. This weekend we celebrated his birthday, so I made the usual. I also made him a dinner of the best fried chicken (seriously, check it out), mashed potatoes and green beans. You may have noticed that I like to show people that I love them by cooking or baking them things. As you can see, I love my husband very much. We both happily devoured this meal and dessert at about 9:00 p.m., which is a little late to eat, but we actually got to eat slowly and peacefully since Miles was in bed.

Happy Birthday Roy!

Here are the recipes for the Lemon Chiffon Cake (adapted from Williams Sonoma Baking) and my Blueberry Ice Cream. The combo of these two is like summer on a plate. I certainly don't mind making it every year.

Lemon Chiffon Cake

Cake:
1/2 cup lemon juice (from 3-4 lemons)
2 tablespoons grated lemon zest
2 1/4 cups cake flour
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup canola or vegetable oil
1/4 cup water
6 large eggs separated, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

Glaze:
2 cups confectioners' sugar, plus extra if needed
2 tablespoons lemon juice, plus extra if needed
1 tablespoon heavy cream

Position rack in middle of oven and preheat to 325 degrees. Have an ungreased tube pan ready.

Sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt into medium bowl. In a large bowl whisk the oil, water, egg yolks, lemon juice, and lemon zest together until well combined. Using a rubber spatula gently fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.

In another bowl, combine the egg whites and cream of tartar. Using a stand or hand mixer fitted with the whip attachment, beat on medium-high speed until soft peaks form.

Using a whisk, gently fold in 1/3 of the egg whites into the batter. Then use a spatula to fold in the remaining egg whites until just combined. The batter will be foamy. Pour the batter into the tube pan.

Bake until a toothpick inserted come out clean, about 45-50 minutes. Remove from the oven and invert pan into wire rack. Let cake cool upside down in pan for 45 minutes.

Then loosen the cake from the pan by rotating a tapping the sides of the pan against a towel on the counter top until the cake disengages from the sides of the pan. Using the center tube pull the cake out of the pan. Spray the wire rack with nonstick spray. Invert the cake onto the rack and use your fingers to gently remove the cake from the bottom of the pan. Pull the pan bottom and tube out of the cake. Set the cake right side up and let cool completely.

Glaze: mix together the sugar, lemon juice and cream until smooth. Add a few extra drops of lemon juice if the mixture is too thick or more sugar if it's too thin. Place a piece of parchment under the rack to catch the glaze. Drizzle the glaze over the cake. Allow the glaze to set for one hour.

Serves 10-12

Note: The cake is best served the day it is baked. After that enjoy leftovers for a couple more days by storing in an air-tight container at room temperature. Also, a word about using a tube pan. It is left ungreased so that when the egg whites cause the cake to rise the batter clings to the side and is able to climb as high as it can. This makes for a nice light cake. Also, the cake is cooled upside down in the pan so that it doesn't compress as it cools and stays nice and fluffy. Don't worry, it won't fall out of the pan. 

Blueberry Ice Cream

2 1/2 cups (about 12 ounces) frozen blueberries
1/2 cup water
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
pinch of salt
2 cups heavy cream

Bring all ingredients except heavy cream to a boil in medium saucepan, stirring occasionally to dissolve sugar. Once it has come to a boil, turn off heat and allow to cool 15 minutes. Then transfer to a blender and blend until it is as smooth as possible (remove the center of the blender lid for heat to escape). Strain into a large bowl and refrigerate for at least 3 hours or up to overnight.

Stir in heavy cream. Process in ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions. Freeze in an air-tight container for about 3 hours before serving. Can also be made up to 3 days ahead. Keep stored in an air-tight container.

Makes about 1 1/2 quarts.

Note: I like to get wild organic frozen blueberries. They are easy to find year round may be more affordable then fresh blueberries. Of course feel free to use fresh blueberries if you have some nice ones on hand. 

Birthday Cake

Newborns cry a lot. Miles cried a lot when he was little, so Roy made up a song for him a few days after he was born. "Little baby Miles, keeping happy all the while, with your little baby smiles, you're so happy all the while..." And, this simple little song about being happy seemed to make Miles happy. The song became something you could hear regularly in our house. We are constantly singing variations of it even though Miles really doesn't cry that much anymore. Over the past year it has become ingrained in our heads.

This year has gone by quickly. Miles turned one this week, and a few days before his birthday I started singing "Little baby Miles" and then I stopped and thought, no he's big boy Miles now. And I suddenly felt sad. Where had my little baby gone? Although I'm loving Miles at age one, that first year seemed too pass much to quickly. I had an irrational mommy moment thinking "Oh my gosh, before I know it he's going to have a license and drive away from the house!"

Luckily my craziness was reigned in by making a cake for him. We had a few people come over to celebrate this birthday. The poor little guy has some eczema that is aggravated by dairy and eggs, so I had to make a vegan cake for him. The cake turned out cute and he liked digging into it. I got the cake topper on Etsy (love that site).  I won't share the recipe here though as it wasn't very tasty. Vegan butter = weird aftertaste.

Luckily everyone else got cupcakes. Chocolate with vanilla frosting, yellow cake with chocolate frosting, and chocolate with Nutella frosting. I'll share the recipe for the Nutella frosting in a future post, as it was so good that I'm sure I will be making it again.

Instead the recipe I will share today is Texas Sheet Cake from America's Test Kitchen. About a week earlier we celebrated Miles birthday with our Bible study, and I made this cake then. One of my favorite cakes that my mom would sometimes make for my birthday is Art Smith's Auntie's Chocolate Cake. The two cakes are similar - chocolate cake and warm chocolate pecan icing poured over the hot cake. But, dare I say it, I think I like this Texas Sheet Cake better. I think the main difference is that this icing has less confectioner's sugar than the Auntie's cake. And that means more chocolate flavor. So, I guess we basically celebrated Miles' birthday with my favorite cake. That's okay though because before I know it I'm sure he will be requesting whichever cake ends up being his favorite. And then driving off with his license.

Happy Birthday Sweet Boy!

Texas Sheet Cake

Cake
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs plus 2 yolks
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 sour cream
8 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
3/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup dutch-processed cocoa powder
Cooking spray

Icing
1 stick unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup dutch-processed cocoa powder
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
3 cups confectioners' sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 cup toasted chopped pecans

Cake: Adjust rack to middle of oven and heat to 350 degrees. Grease 18 x 13 inch rimmed baking sheet with cooking spray. Whisk together flour, sugar, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Whisk together eggs and yolks, vanilla, and sour cream in another bowl until smooth. Heat chocolate, butter, oil, water, and cocoa in large saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally until smooth. Whisk chocolate mixture into flour mixture until incorporated. Whisk egg mixture into batter just until smooth. Pour into prepared pan. Bake until toothpick inserted comes out clean with a few moist crumbs attached, about 18 -20 minutes. Transfer to wire rack and immediately begin making icing.

Icing: Heat butter, cream, cocoa and corn syrup in large saucepan over medium heat until smooth. Remove from heat and whisk in confectioners' sugar and vanilla. Spread warm icing over hot cake and sprinkle with pecans. Let cake cool on wire rack for one hour. Then refrigerate for one more hour. (At this point you can cover the cake tightly with foil or plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 2 days.) Bring to room temperature before serving. Cut into 3 inch squares and serve.

Serves 24.

Scones

Scones are nice any time of the year, but I think they are especially good on a warm, sunny morning or afternoon. Since the weather has been nice I decided to make scones last week. Today I will share the basic and easy recipe that I usually use to make scones. This dough is nice and buttery and flaky. You can use any fruit and/or nut combination that you like. If you have a food processor, then you can make these in a few minutes. Even if you don't, they are still easy to make. Simply put the dry ingredients into a large bowl, cut in the butter with two knives, then stir in the cream, almonds and cherries until combined.  

This recipe is adapted from the Williams-Sonoma Baking cookbook. 

Cherry Almond Scones

Dough:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 granulated sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into half inch pieces
1/2 cup dried cherries, roughly chopped
1/4 cup sliced almonds, toasted and cooled
3/4 cup heavy cream

Topping:
2 tablespoons heavy cream
1 tablespoon granulated or turbinado sugar

Position rack in middle of oven and heat to 425 degrees. Line sheet pan with parchment paper.

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and lemon zest in food processor and pulse 3 times to mix. Add the butter and pulse 7 or 8 times until the mixture forms crumbs the size of peas. Scatter the cherries and almonds over the dough. Pour in the heavy cream and pulse just until moistened.

Turn dough onto lightly floured surface and press together gently until the dough clings together. Press dough into a 7 inch round. Cut round into 6 wedges and place on prepared pan. To make the topping, brush the top of each scone with cream and sprinkle with sugar.

Bake until golden brown, 13 to 17 minute. Transfer to wire rack and cool slightly. Serve warm or at room temperature either plain or with your favorite jam.

Makes 6 scones.

Note: Can be made 2 days ahead and stored at room temperature in an airtight container.

A little scone thief!

Feliz Cinco de Mayo

Yesterday we celebrated Miles' cousin Kate's 2nd birthday, and because it was Cinco de Mayo there was a Mexican theme. Becca, my cousin-in-law, made a ton of yummy Mexican food - spicy chicken and beef fillings for tacos, beans, salsas, chips, corn salad, fruit, and a guacamole that I helped smash containing about 20 avocados. Let's just say that I should work out because my arm was sore after all that mashing.

Miles had a good time playing with his cousins, crawling to try to keep up with them as they ran around. The party took place near their pool, and Miles was dying to get in the water. Time to sign up for swim classes this summer! Later, after all the playing and present opening, there were cupcakes and churros for dessert.

Becca asked me to make horchata - a Mexican cinnamon rice drink. If you live in a place with a lot of Mexican food then I'm sure you've had it. If you've never tried it, think about it next time you have Mexican food. It's milky sweetness is a perfect contrast to the spice found in many Mexican dishes.

I referred to my trusty Paletas cookbook by Fany Gerson and I adapted the horchata recipe that I found in there. This book is great if you want to make a variety of Mexican style frozen treats and she also includes a section on aguas frescas, hence the horchata recipe. This recipe is the basic way to make horchata - rice, cinnamon, sugar, but some recipes also call for almonds.

Horchata

1 1/3 cup medium or long grain rice
6 cups warm water
2 two-inch cinnamon sticks
6 cups whole milk
1 1/2 cups sugar
Ground cinnamon

Pulverize rice in batches in coffee or spice grinder until the texture is like sand. Whisk the rice powder and cinnamon sticks with the water in a large bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for at least 8 hours or overnight.

Place entire mixture in blender (including cinnamon sticks) and blend until as smooth as possible. This may take a few minutes. Pour through a fine mesh strainer or cheesecloth set over colander into a large bowl or pitcher. Press on the solids with the back of a spoon to extract as much liquid as possible. Whisk in milk and sugar. Adjust according to your taste adding more sugar if you like it sweeter, more milk if you like it thicker or more water if you want to thin it out. Keep cold until ready to serve. Serve over lots of ice with a sprinkling of ground cinnamon.

Makes 3 quarts.

The Perfect Match

Coconut and chocolate were made to go together. This is a fact.

Perhaps my first dabble into this perfect pairing was in 3rd grade. That was the year I started making my own lunch for school. I know that seems young, but I was really independent and wanted to control what I was eating each day. My mom said that I had to make sure to pack a piece of fruit each day along with my PB&J, but she didn't give any other specific instructions. If you've read my other posts you know that we were a pretty health conscious family. There were no Ding Dongs to pack into my lunch. We did always bake though, so sweetened shredded coconut and chocolate chips were often in the house. I would place a handful of each inside a small, blue container - you know the thick kind you used in the 80s that they really don't make anymore - and take it in my lunch box.

So, there I would sit at the school lunch table. My friends with their Twinkies and me dipping into the shreds of sweet coconut and chocolate chips with my little spoon. They said it was weird, but perhaps they were secretly jealous.

When I saw a recipe for a coconut cake with chocolate chunks in it a few years ago in Bon Appetit I had to try it right away. I was not disappointed. This cake is very moist and it is just the right amount of coconut and chocolate. Don't be put off by the orange zest. It enhances the flavor of both the coconut and the chocolate.

Coconut Cake with Dark Chocolate Chunks

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 teaspoons (scant) finely grated orange zest
2 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract, divided
1 14 oz can unsweetened coconut milk, divided
6 oz bittersweet chocolate (such as Ghirardelli), roughly chopped into 1/2 inch pieces, divided
1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut
3/4 cup powdered sugar, sifted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a 9 inch cake pan with 2 inch high sides. Sift flour, baking powder and salt into bowl. Stir in unsweetened coconut and set aside. Open the can of coconut milk and pour into a bowl. Whisk the mixture to recombine the liquid and the solids that may have separated. Measure out one cup and set aside. Beat the butter, granulated sugar and orange zest in a hand or stand mixer on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, and beat well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Add the flour mixture in 3 additions alternately with the 1 cup of coconut milk in 2 additions, beating until just blended after each addition. Fold in half of the chocolate pieces. Pour the batter into prepared pan. Top with remaining chocolate pieces and sweetened coconut.

Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 50 to 60 minutes. Loosely tent with foil if the coconut browns to quickly. Transfer to wire rack to cool in pan for 45 minutes.

Meanwhile, whisk the powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons of coconut milk and remaining 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract together in a medium bowl. Add additional coconut milk in 1/2 teaspoon increments until mixture is thin enough to drizzle over the cake. Reserve remaining coconut milk for another use.

Once the cake has cooled 45 minutes, run a knife around the side of the pan to loosen, place the rack on top of the cake and flip cake out on to rack. Then place platter on cake and flip over again so cake is right side up. Drizzle with glaze and allow to cool completely.

Note: This cake is best the day it is made, but you can make it one day ahead if you would like. Cover and keep at room temperature. 

Lemons!

We've lived in our house for four months now, and the backyard is still mostly dead grass. Let's see - work on backyard - okay added to the never ending list of things to do. The good news about the backyard is that there is a huge and abundant lemon tree! The tree looks like it's 50 years old. Our house is 70 years old so this is possible, though I know nothing about the lifespan lemon trees. I've always wanted a lemon tree and now I have one that is currently producing more fruit than I can possibly use. In an attempt to use up some lemons, I made a lemon loaf cake from my Barefoot Contessa At Home cookbook. I make this cake a few times a year because it's really easy and really good. Now I'll be tempted to make it all the time. 

Please leave a comment and tell me your favorite way to use lemons if you're so inclined. I would love some new ideas!

Lemon Loaf Cake

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup plain whole-milk yogurt

1 1/3 cups sugar, divided

3 eggs

1 tablespoon grated lemon zest

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice, divided

1 cup confectioners' sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 8 1/2 x 4 1/4 x 2 1/2 inch loaf pan with cooking spray. 

Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt into small bowl. 

In another bowl, whisk together the yogurt, 1 cup sugar, eggs, zest and vanilla. Whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. With a rubber spatula, fold the vegetable oil into the batter until it is fully incorporated. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 45-50 minutes. 

Place pan on wire rack and allow to cool for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, cook 1/3 cup lemon juice and remaining 1/3 cup sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat until sugar dissolves and mixture is clear, about 5 minutes. 

Once the cake has cooled 10 minutes, carefully remove it from the pan and place on rack over a sheet pan. Slowly pour the lemon-sugar mixture over the warm cake and allow it to soak in. Cool cake completely. 

For the glaze, whisk together the confectioners' sugar and remaining 2 tablespoons lemon juice. Pour over cake. 

Serves 6-8. 

Ringing in the New Year, Korean Style

Last night we celebrated New Year's Eve with my closest friend. She is Korean and so we made some Korean dishes that are traditional to New Year's: rice cake soup and dumplings. 

We also made spicy cucumber salad, one of my all time favorite dishes. I just love the crisp, cold cucumbers and the salty, spicy, sweet dressing. It is really easy to make too. This blog gives an idea of how to do it if you want to try it at home.

I love Korean food. Thank you L for introducing it to me, and for sharing so many wonderful dishes (both Korean and non-Korean) with me over the years. I think this should be our annual New Year's Eve tradition.

Happy New Year everyone!

Holiday Baking

I love holiday baking. I think the thing I look forward to most at Christmas time is baking cookies. In fact, between my mom and me, we usually have made so many cookies that our Christmas dessert always ends up being a cookie buffet. Even as a kid and later a teenager, my mom, sisters and I would set aside a whole day just to bake cookies before Christmas. We always listened to Nate King Cole and Frank Sinatra Christmas albums (along with a cheesy 80s Christmas album that is thankfully no longer in the music rotation) while we baked. Those were always my favorite days; no worrying about cleaning the house for guests or getting ready to go anywhere, just baking and listening to music while wearing sweat pants.

Recently I made my triple chocolate cranberry oatmeal cookies again to have the dough on hand in the freezer. Those are always a favorite of mine. Also, today I'm sharing recipe for two more family favorites. I think the original recipes were from Gourmet magazine, but we've been making these for so many years, I'm not 100% sure where the recipes came from anymore. Well, at any rate they are both good, and I hope you will want to give them a try this year. Enjoy!


Chocolate Caramel Treasures

1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
1 large egg yolk
2 tablespoons whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 large egg white
1 cup finely chopped toasted pecans
10 plain soft caramels (1 inch by 1/2 inch each)
2 tablespoons heavy cream
2/3 cup semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips

Cream butter and sugar together in a mixer until light and fluffy. Add egg yolk, milk and vanilla and beat to incorporate. Sift together flour, cocoa powder and salt, and beat into butter mixture until incorporated. Gather the dough into a ball and wrap in plastic wrap. Place in the refrigerator to chill until firm enough to roll into balls, at least 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silpats. Place egg white in a shallow bowl and beat lightly with a fork. Place pecans in a separate shallow bowl.

Using a sharp knife or bench scraper divide the dough into 30 equal pieces. (I like to divide it into 3 pieces and then divide each of those pieces into 10 pieces). Roll each piece of dough between your palms to form a ball. Roll the ball in the egg white and then the pecans. Place on baking sheet.   Repeat with remaining dough. You should have 15 cookies on each baking sheet. Press the center of each ball of dough with your thumb to make a depression. Bake until cookies are puffed slightly, but still look a little soft in the center, about 10-12 minutes. Remove from the oven and immediately press the centers of the cookies again with the back of a wooden spoon. Transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

Make the filling: Heat the caramels and cream in a small saucepan over low heat until melted and smooth. Spoon into centers of cookies and cool completely.

Make chocolate drizzle: Place chocolate chips heatproof bowl and microwave at 30 second intervals (stirring between each interval) until smooth. Pour chocolate into heavy duty Ziploc bag. Snip off corner to form a small hole. Drizzle chocolate over cookies and let stand until set.  (To speed this up you can place them in the refrigerator until set).

Makes 2 1/2 dozen cookies.

Notes: Can be made 2 days ahead. Store in airtight container at room temperature with waxed paper between each layer of cookies. The caramels can usually be found on the candy aisle of the grocery store. Be sure to buy soft, not hard caramels. 

Cherry Streusel Bars

Crust:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cups granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons unsalted cold butter, cut into 1/2 inch peices
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 tablespoons 2% or whole milk
Nonstick cooking spray

Filling:
7 ounces cherry jam
1/2 cup dried cherries

Streusel:
1 cup shredded sweetened coconut
3/4 cup sliced almonds

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place a piece of foil in a 9 x 13 inch pan so that it hangs over the long slides of the pan (to create a sling to help you remove the bars later). Spray the pan and foil.

Place all crust ingredients in food processor and pulse until combined and clumping together. Set aside 1 cup for streusel topping. Place remaining mixture into prepared pan and press into pan to form a smooth layer. Bake until pale golden, about 20 minutes. Cool 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, wipe the food processor with a paper towel (no need to completely wash it). Place the cherry jam and dried cherries in processor and process until almost smooth. Spread filling on crust.

Add coconut and almonds to the 1 cup of crust mixture that was set aside to make the streusel. Sprinkle streusel on top of cherry filling. Bake for another 30 minutes until lightly golden. Cool in pan. When ready to cut and serve, use the foil sling to remove the bars. Place on cutting board, slip off of foil, and cut into bars.

Makes 12-16 bars. 

Note: Can be made one day ahead. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.  

Christmas Morning

I love Christmas morning. As a kid I would often get up at 4:00 or 5:00 in the morning, knock on my parents door, and ask to open presents. The answer was of course "no" and I was told to go back to bed. I would lay in bed wide awake, waiting as the minutes slowly passed. Finally at 6:00 my mom would let me get up. I would then go wake my sisters screaming, "It's Christmas!" We would all file downstairs in our PJs and open our stockings. While we looked into the stockings my mom would start breakfast. Often she made this raspberry coffee cake.

Although I love big breakfasts, I am not a fan of spending too much time making breakfast. It is the morning after all and I'm usually hungry. This coffee cake is really easy to make though. My mom would whip it up as we unloaded our stockings, and then she would pop it in the oven to bake while she sat and watched us open the rest of our gifts. The cake is really, really good warm. She would let it cool just enough so that we could eat it, and while it cooled she would whip up a batch of scrambled eggs or other breakfast items.

Even though it's not Christmas yet, I found myself wanting this coffee cake the other day. So, I share the recipe with you now. Perhaps you will want to make it on Christmas morning, or some other day; it is really good any day of the year.

Miles loves looking at the lights on our tree. I can't wait for him to celebrate his first Christmas. I'm so excited that I'll probably wake up at 5:00 am that day.

Raspberry Coffee Cake

8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup whole or 2% milk
1/2 cup raspberry preserves
Powdered sugar, for dusting the cake

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter or spray a 9 x 13 inch glass baking pan.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In a large mixer, beat the cream cheese, butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix to incorporate. On low speed add half the flour mixture, the milk and then the remaining flour mixture. Mix until just incorporated.

Spread the batter in prepared pan. Spoon the preserves in 12 dollops onto of the batter. Using a knife, swirl the preserves into the batter to form a marbled effect.

Bake for 30-35 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool for 10-15 minutes on wire rack. Sift powdered sugar over. Serve warm.

Serves 8-10

Notes: Although this is best eaten warm, it is still very good at room temperature.