Flashback Friday: Mock Angel Food

Flashback Friday: Revisiting a recipe from long ago

While paging through an old cookbook a recipe for Mock Angel Food caught my attention.  Boiling water is poured over a flour and sugar mixture which then sits overnight.  The remaining ingredients are added in the morning and baked in a pan that has been rinsed in cold water but not dried.  All of this sounded a little odd to me so I decided to give it a go.  Well, except for the part about starting "about 5 o'clock' in the afternoon."   Because in my book 5 o'clock isn't afternoon, it's evening (but somehow 4:59 is still afternoon?).

 Anyway, I stirred up the flour/sugar/water mixture in the morning before work and baked  the cake later in the evening when I got home.  I believe the idea is to let the mixture cool to room temperature.  As for egg whites, you'll only need 4 instead of a dozen.  I interpreted, "beaten not too dry" to mean beaten to stiff peak stage.  But let's just skip the details and get to the cake.  Sound okay?

Random Recipe Wednesday: Lemon-Fennel Cottage Bread

While the Internet is a great recipe resource I've more recently found myself lost in the pages of a good cookbook or magazine.  Not everything can be found online.  Lately I've been testing an awful lot of recipes straight out of cookbooks.  I'm not quite sure how the copyright aspect works so I haven't been posting them here.  Sometimes I think I can only tell you about recipes I've changed and developed, but that's silly, like a musician only playing songs he wrote himself.

I'm currently loving The Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book.  As in I'm actually reading it page by page, not just flipping through to glance at recipes.  There's just so much practical information on bread baking.  I get this dorky, excited sparkle in my eye as I digest the wealth of knowledge in every chapter, as if someone were sharing a vast secret with me.  A thorough understanding of the hows and whys is the key that unlocks, well everything.  Okay, maybe not everything, but it gives you the power to create and fix and improve to your heart's content.  Plus, everything about making bread just feels so...right.

Since I can't post the copyrighted recipe here, I'll just tell you about this loaf. (For the recipe and fail-proof instructions check out The Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book from your library, renew several times, then finally give in and buy yourself a copy.)  I've been planning all along to post a recipe for a yeast bread made with cottage cheese.  When I got to the chapter on dairy products and read the recipe for a lemon-flavored loaf utilizing cottage cheese, I just couldn't resist any longer.  Later I saw a lemon-fennel loaf and knew I had to try the flavor combination.  The cottage cheese, which completely disappears, gives extra rising power while boosting the protein and calcium in each slice.

Mindful Monday: Choosing Thanks

Mindful Monday: On Monday's I'm going to share what's been on my mind. I by no means have any of this figured out, I'm just thinking out loud here.

To be honest I'm not in a very thankful mood right now.  Hopefully by the time I finish this list my attitude will  have changed for the better.

fresh air
sunshine
new books
a neighborhood with a trail to walk on
decreased humidity
pleasant conversation
thoughtfulness of a neighbor
the fragrance of peonies wafting though the air
my dad (Happy Father's Day again)
reconnecting with friends
a new mixer
kneading bread dough by hand
freshly baked bread
pink and purple tinted clouds
the outline of the moon
learning opportunities
color
quiet morning space
potential change
patience
grace
hope

Food for Thought: "When you are grateful, fear disappears and abundance appears." -Anthony Robbins 

Flashback Friday: Mrs. Alton's Brown Sugar Cookies

Flashback Friday: Revisiting a recipe from long ago

Going through my great-grandma's recipe notebook is going to be a little more time consuming than I first anticipated.  I decided to start off with a recipe she'd copied down twice- Mrs. Alton's Brown Sugar Cookies.  I haven't figured out who Mrs. Alton is yet, but my great-grandma must have liked her cookie recipe.  Though it appears in two separate places, neither recipe gives instructions or lists a measurement for flour. Great-grandma either knew it by heart, or couldn't quite figure out Mrs. Alton's secret.

I can only guess at what Mrs. Alton or my great-grandma might have done. What I wouldn't give to have just a picture or description of the original cookie! Was it a drop cookie or a cut-out cookie?  Do I add enough flour to make a spoonable dough or a rollable dough? (at least in these pfeffernusse cookies she noted to add enough flour to roll the dough like a rope).  There are more possibilities than I have time to test, so I'll just tell you about the assumptions I made.

Random Recipe Wednesday: Chocolate Overdose

I had every intention of sharing a slice of homemade bread with you today.  I've also been waiting to tell you about a pie crust, a few rhubarb recipes and several red cabbage recipes I've been playing with.

Instead you get chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate.  Plus a hefty dose of peanut butter.  Because after making 10 pies and 7 cheesecakes at work, that's what I'm giving you too.  If you're looking for an ultra rich dessert this Deep Dark Chocolate Cheesecake is just the thing. The cheesecake is rich enough on it's own, not to mention the chocolate cookie crust and melt-in-your-mouth chocolate ganache poured over the top.  This recipe also scales up well, just in case you were wondering what to do with that extra 14 pounds of cream cheese in your fridge.

If you don't feel like using 14 pounds of cream cheese in 7 cheesecakes, then perhaps you'll fall for this Black-Bottom Peanut Butter Mousse Pie.  Graham cracker crust, a layer of silky chocolate and light peanut butter mousse make one rich forkful after another.  As if we don't have enough reasons to love chocolate and peanut butter.  But I'll leave the rest of the swooning to you, I've had more than my fair share of chocolate for the day.

Food for Thought: "An anxious heart weighs a man down, but a kind word cheers him up." -Proverbs 12:25