Strawberry Rhubarb Compote

What do you do when you have piles of strawberries and rhubarb leftover from jam making (because you forgot to bring the recipe to the market and therefore erred on the side of caution...)? You make strawberry rhubarb compote of course! It takes almost no time to whip up and has an outstanding flavor. You can serve it over pancakes, ice cream, crepes (pictured below) or even lemon cake (I did that for book club and the ladies went wild). Doesn't matter what you put it on--could even be a spoon--I hope you'll try it, and soon.





Look for me tomorrow over at Bob's Red Mill. I'm a guest blogger there and I developed a gluten free, casein free recipe (those crepes) in honor of Autism Awareness Month. Chances are Autism has impacted someone in your family or circle of friends. Take a moment to learn more about it.

Strawberry Rhubarb Compote
Printable Recipe

Put this on everything. That's all I'm going to say about that.

Prep time: 5 minutes
Total time: 12 minutes, plus time to cool
Yield: about 2 cups

Ingredients:

2 cups of rhubarb, sliced 1/2 inch pieces
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons water
1 pounds strawberries, hulled and quartered
1 tablespoon fresh mint leaves, thinly sliced

Preparation:

1. Place rhubarb and sugar in a medium size pot over medium heat. Bring to a simmer, reduce heat and continue to simmer for about 7 minutes, until the rhubarb is tender.

2. Gently stir in the strawberry quarters and pour into a bowl to cool the mixture slightly. Stir in the mint leaves, and drizzle over warm crepes (or refrigerate for later use).

Irish Car Bomb Cupcake

Happy Saint Patrick's Day! If you've been around this blog for any amount of time, then you know that we love to celebrate just about anything. Saint Patrick's Day is no exception--after all, who couldn't use a little luck of the Irish every now and again? And there is a wee bit of Irish blood in running through our veins too...just enough to make it official. (And I've heard somewhere that my ginger-hued hair makes me related to the Leprechauns.)

And like those crafty little Leprechauns, I've been making a little mischief myself--in the kitchen. The plan is to have corned beef and cabbage for dinner, as always, but this year I've thrown in a side of colcannon made with both kale and cabbage, and for dessert...Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes.

Have you ever had an Irish Car Bomb? I really have no idea where they originated, but they are probably a riff on the popular Sake Bomb. Basically you fill a pint glass 3/4 full with Guinness then sink a shot glass that's half Irish Whiskey and half Bailey's into the beer. Then the lucky imbiber must guzzle the entire thing, before the Bailey's curdles (which doesn't take any time at all). I've tried this once in my life--and once may be enough. The flavor is really surprisingly good, but drinking such a heavy beer so quickly is quite...the challenge.

An Irish Car Bomb tastes like dessert...almost like a Mudslide. It's thick and creamy and its flavors lend very, very well to these cupcakes. The cake batter is made with chocolate and Guinness, then after they are baked they're filled with some ganache spiked with whiskey. Finally they are topped with a butter cream frosting made with Bailey's. The resulting (adult-only) cupcake borders on being obscenely rich, but it is unbelievably delicious too. One of these Irish Car Bombs is most certainly not enough. Well, on second thought, if I want to fit into my jeans, one is most definitely enough.






Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes
Printable Recipe
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Oh my goodness. This cupcake is really the best cupcake I've ever made...and I've made a lot of cupcakes. It's so moist, in part due to the injection of whiskey-spiked ganache, and the Bailey's butter cream frosting is simply out of this world. Make these for Saint Patrick's Day--or for your birthday. Or both! The Guinness in the batter will bake off, but the alcohol is very much present in the other parts of the cupcake. If you are serving these to children you may want to omit the whiskey in the ganache and substitute regular cream for the Irish cream in the frosting. Or not.

Prep time: 1 hour
Total time: 2 hours
Yield: 2 dozen

Ingredients:

Cupcake:
1 cup butter
1 cup Guinness beer
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2/3 cup sour cream
2 extra large eggs
2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt

Ganache:
2/3 cup heavy cream
8 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1 tablespoon Irish whiskey

Frosting:
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
3-4 cups powdered sugar
4 tablespoons Bailey's Irish Cream

Preparation:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line your muffin tins with paper liners. You will need 20-24.

2. Make the cupcakes. Melt the butter in a small saucepan. When butter is just melted, remove from heat and stir in the beer and cocoa powder. Cool to room temperature. Whisk in the sour cream and eggs until smooth.

3. Mix flour, sugar, baking soda and salt in a large mixing bowl. Whisk in the chocolate/beer mixture until smooth, taking care not to over-beat the batter.

4. Fill paper muffin cups 3/4 of the way full with batter. Bake for 17-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cupcake comes out clean. Cool cupcakes in the pan for 10 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to finish cooling.

5. Meanwhile make the ganache. Heat the cream to almost simmering a small pot. Place chocolate chips in a small bowl and pour the hot cream over them. Whisk until chips have melted and the mixture is smooth. Whisk in the butter and whiskey. The ganache should be smooth and glossy. Carefully transfer the mixture to a piping bag, fitted with the long, narrow attachment.

6. Insert the piping tip into the center of each cupcake and fill slowly with ganache until you see the top of the cupcake begin to swell a bit.

7. Make the frosting. Beat the butter until smooth. Sift in 3 cups of the powdered sugar and add the Bailey's. Beat until frosting is smooth and a spreadable consistency. If necessary, add up to 1 cup more of powdered sugar.

8. Frost each cupcake sparingly, using a piping bag (or otherwise just small plops of frosting will do). These cupcakes are best eaten the same day...but will last up to one day more. Store in the refrigerator.

Sunshine Cake

If sunshine was cake, it would taste just like this. The bright flavors of lemon marry with butter and sour cream to create an amazingly tender and moist crumb. I wasn't kidding when I said that butter and lemon were made for each other--just like chocolate and peanut butter...Sonny and Cher...cat hair and black pants.

If you aren't in Southern California like me, chances are that you are very cold and it's probably also dark and dreary out, and you are spending your days slogging through constant mud, rain, snow or ice. This cake will cure you. It will remind you that warmth, and light, and the blessed sun do, in fact, exist and are coming...probably not soon enough, but coming. So run, don't walk, to your kitchen and turn on that warm oven and bake yourself some sunshine! You'll be glad you did.

And don't forget to leave a comment here for a chance to win some Fresh Sugar Lemon Bath and Shower Gel....then you can bathe with sunshine too!



Start with best quality ingredients....like lemons stolen from a neighbors tree.



Put some softened butter and sugar in your stand mixer.



Then beat the heck out of it for about 5 minutes, until it's light and fluffy.



Add your eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. And if your hands look as hideous as mine, go get yourself a manicure...or at least put on some lotion.



Use a microplane to zest your lemon. You do have a microplane, don't you? If not, stop here, run to your nearest kitchen store and get one. You'll thank me.



Add the zest, along with the juice from that lemon to the bowl and mix well.



If you are out of cake flour...or don't have any (and never did) that's okay. Add a some cornstarch (2 tablespoons of it per each cup) to the measuring cup before you measure out your flour. For this recipe you will use 3 tablespoons of cornstarch and 1 1/2 scant cups of flour. Put it in a small bowl.



Along with a pinch of salt.



And some baking soda.


Whisk it around to blend the dry ingredients completely.



Then add half the flour mixture to the wet ingredients.



Dump in some sour cream...I never said that sunshine was diet food, did I? Followed by the rest of the flour.



I forgot to add the lemon extract, so I dumped it in at this point. You don't have to use it, but it makes it taste even lemonier. Lemonyer? More lemonish. Or whatever.



Scrape the bowl clean with a rubber spatula and spread it in your loaf pan. Mine baked for almost one hour.



Test it with a toothpick to see if it's done.



Whip up the glaze....it's made from butter, sour cream, lemon juice, lemon zest and powdered sugar. Yum.



Pour over your cooled cake.



Let it pour down the sides.



Want a bite?



Lemon Loaf Cake
Printable Recipe

This cake is moist, sweet and tangy and just bursting with bright lemony flavor. If you are out of cake flour, you can make a substitute by adding 2 tablespoons of cornstarch per each cup of flour. So for this recipe, use 3 tablespoons of cornstarch and a scant 1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour.

Prep time: 15 minutes
Total time: 1 hour
Yield: 8-10 servings

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 extra large eggs
2 1/2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
1 1/2 cups cake flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt
3/4 cup sour cream

Lemon Icing:

2 tablespoons of sour cream
1 tablespoon butter, softened
1 1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray a standard loaf pan with cooking spray. Set aside.

2. Beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, about five minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, and beat until combined. Mix in lemon juice, lemon zest and extract.

3. Whisk flour, baking soda and salt in a small bowl. Add half to the batter and beat until combined. Then add the sour cream, beating gently, and finally the last portion of the flour mixture. Beat only until just combined. Scrape the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula and stir to make sure the batter is evenly mixed.

4. Bake for 45-55 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out almost clean. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool completely.

5. For icing, beat sour cream and butter together in a small mixing bowl until smooth. Gradually add powdered sugar. Beat in lemon juice and zest and drizzle over the cake. Store cake in the refrigerator.

A Dedication

As I write this, my sweet Nana is on her deathbed. What was once a lovely, vibrant and always dignified woman, is now a tiny, shrunken creature, almost not visible beneath her bedsheets. She can no longer eat or drink on her own, and her fate, and the manner in which she will achieve it, seems especially cruel considering the fact that she loved to eat good food, and cooked and served it with gusto.

She shared her passion for cooking with my mom, who in turn, shared it with me. Nana was always in the kitchen whipping up the latest cuisines for her many friends and dinner groups. Nana was the one who introduced me to fresh blueberries and real maple syrup on one of my many weekends spent with her (she is Canadian after all).

I have especially fond memories of Thanksgiving and Christmas, where Mom and Nana would bustle about together in the kitchen, taking turns chopping, stirring, peeling and tasting, creating the perfect holiday feasts again and again. Each year was better than the next, it seemed. Nana was the expert at gravy, and she taught me how to make it dark and rich--never too salty or too fatty, but perfectly smooth and glossy.

When I was 16, Nana gave me my first real cookbook for Christmas, The Fanny Farmer Cookbook by Marion Cunningham. In it, under the dedication it reads: Christmas 1991. To Alison- The happy cooker. Love, Nana.


Happy cooker, indeed! Cooking is for me, as it was for her and my mom, a creative outlet....something that makes me extraordinarily happy, especially when those with whom I share my cooking are appreciative. Though I have hundreds more cookbooks in my collection now, I still turn to this classic often, and it has all the tell-tale signs of a much-loved and much-used book as it's pages are splattered with all kinds of goo. I know Nana would appreciate it, and Marion Cunningham too.

I will always remember my Nana with fondness and will never forget her kindness, gentle touch, and extraordinary patience with her four grandchildren. It is unbearably difficult to watch someone you love struggle so in her final days and hours. I can only hope that at the end of this long and arduous journey, there is a feast waiting for her--a celebration rich with other loved ones she's lost along the way and yes, plenty of food...a leg of lamb perhaps, with some of her famous gravy and maybe some mint jelly on the side. And don't forget dessert!










Marion Cunningham's Perfect Peanut Butter Cookies
Printable Recipe

My kids and husband have eaten hundreds of these over the years. They are crunchy, peanut buttery, and have the traditional cross-hatch marks too. Dipped in milk they make the perfect after school (or late night) snack, and they travel well in a lunch bag. They are crisp on the edges and chock-full of nuts, with the slightest bit of give in the middle. Make sure to look for shortening that has no trans-fats.

Prep time: 10 minutes
Total time: 20 minutes
Yield: 4 dozen cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup shortening
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs, beaten
1 cup chunky peanut butter
2 cups AP flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking soda

Preparation:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and lightly coat cookie sheets with cooking spray.

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer (or use a large bowl with a hand mixer), beat together the shortening, vanilla extract, granulated sugar, and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs and stir until combined.

3. Mix in the peanut butter and beat until completely incorporated.

4. Place flour, salt and baking soda in a small bowl and whisk together. Slowly add flour mixture to the peanut butter mixture, beating after each addition, until evenly mixed.

5. Roll dough into walnut sized balls and place 2 inches apart on the prepared cookie sheets. Using a fork, make a cross-hatch design on the top, smooshing them so they are about 1/2 inch tall.

6. Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until lightly golden brown around the edges. Remove from oven and transfer to a rack until they are completely cooled. Store in an air-tight container.

Oh My, Cranberry Pie

We had a little chat the other day my facebook page (do you like me yet?) about whether a food processor or stand mixer gets more use. I rattled off some nonsense about how my kitchen is too small to drag out my appliances (I store them in the garage) and about how I'm too lazy to wash them anyway so I just use my knives for chopping and my hand mixer for mixing. However, since that conversation I have used my food processor about 4 times and my stand mixer zero times, so I guess my food processor wins (and I am a liar).

It's cranberry season folks, and while it's not entirely impossible to chop cranberries with a knife (have you ever tried to herd a pile of bouncy balls with a broom?), it is an exercise in frustration to be sure. Which is why my food processor comes out again and again during this time of year.

Anywho, this week on Pioneer Woman, Ree is baking pies in preparation for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday. Today she featured a Nantucket Cranberry Pie. Why on earth haven't I heard of this before? I love Nantucket. I love cranberries. I love pie. And let me tell you that after I baked this one up, I learned that Nantucket+cranberries=one fantastic pie...or cake....or cobbler or whatever. It is too easy and too good. Make it for Thanksgiving...or just make it for dessert tonight. And make the entire thing in...you guessed it...your food processor.








Nantucket Cranberry Pie

This recipe is so easy to make, and so easy to eat. The tart cranberry underbelly is spiked with walnuts then topped with a glorious almond-scented butter batter that turns golden and crunchy when baked in the oven. I've adapted it from Laurie Colwin's recipe that originally appeared in Gourmet Magazine in November of 1993.

Prep time: 15 minutes
Total time: 55 minutes
Yield: serves 6-8

Ingredients:

2 heaping cups of fresh or frozen whole cranberries
1 scant cup of walnuts or pecans
1 1/2 cups sugar, divided
Zest from one orange
1 cup flour
2 eggs, lightly beaten
3/4 cup melted butter
1 teaspoon almond extract

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a deep dish pie plate or 8 inch cake pan and set aside.

2. Place cranberries in the bowl of your food processor fitted with the steel-blade attachment, and pulse until they are chopped. Pour into the pie plate.

3. Place walnuts into your food processor and pulse until they are finely chopped (but not a paste) and pour over the cranberries.

4. Sprinkle the cranberries and walnuts with the orange zest and 1/2 cup of sugar.

5. Rinse the bowl of your food processor and return it to the base. Add the rest of the sugar, the flour, eggs, butter and almond extract. Run the food processor just until the mixture is evenly mixed.

6. Pour the batter over the cranberry and walnut mixture, and sprinkle the top with additional sugar if desired. Bake for 35-45 minutes, or until the top is golden brown. Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.