Empire Cookies

I stumbled across a blog called The Canadian Baker and after one glance my heart started to thump and drool puddled in my mouth. Empire Cookies. What was this??? Raspberry jam sandwiched between two crisp sugar cookies and topped with almond glaze and candied cherries. Yummm….


I immediately revised my mental "Baking To Do" list and placed Empire Cookies in the number one slot. How had this delightful little cookie escaped my notice all these years? I couldn't wait for the weekend so I could bake up a batch and see if they tasted as good as they looked (oh please, please, please……).

Well they DID!!!! (Taste as good as it looked, that is.)

The dough was a breeze to mix up, and the rolling and cutting went fine. I did have to add a little more flour to keep the dough from sticking to the rolling pin (stupid New Orleans humidity), but the added flour didn't affect the overall taste at all. Baking was a snap too. 10 minutes exactly. The cookies didn't spread, so you can pile a bunch on your cookie tray. Less oven time, less clean-up time, and more cookie munching time.

To ice the cookies I borrowed a tip from a reviewer on RecipeZaar and thinned the icing more that the recipe directs. Then just dip the cookie into the icing rather than spreading it. Dip, swirl, next, dip, swirl, next. Assembly line quick and it gives you a super smooth finish to the dried icing.


To finish off the cookie, the recipe (and British tradition) calls for a candied cherry to be placed on top. I was all out of candied cherries (ha, ha, ha), so I put the kid's gummy fruit on top. Is that tacky? I'm sure The Queen would not approve. I guess I'll have to call them Trailer Park Cookies rather than Empire Cookies.

The Great Scratch Off - June 2009 - Yellow Cake

One of my favorite web sites CAKE CENTRAL is having "The Great Scratch-Off" baking event. Every month a different category of scratch cake is chosen and several recipes are selected for testing. Each participant bakes one or more of the entries and then submits their results/opinions/ratings. At the end of the month the results are tabulated and a winner is announced.

The June 2009 Cake Central Scratch-Off Category is (ta da) YELLOW CAKE .

Not very exciting I know, but where would the world be without Yellow Cake?

14 different yellow cake recipes were submitted for testing. The contenders are:

Great American Cakes by Barbara Kafka
Lita's Yellow Cake Recipe
Sylvia Weinstock's Classic Yellow Cake Recipe
Not So Lemon Lemon Cake from Magnolia Bakery
Paula Deen's 1234 cake
Whimsical Bakehouse Gold Cake
All-Purpose Buttery Yellow Cake from America's Test Kitchen
Vanilla Buttermilk Recipe from Sky High
White on White Buttermilk Cake
The All-Occasion Downy Yellow Cake
Cakeman Raven's Modified Red Velvet
Doubleday White Wedding Cake
Serious Cakes' Yellow Cake
Toba Garett's Ultimate Yellow Cake


To see all the recipes click here. The recipes are on the 9th post of page 3.

Each cake is to be critiqued on texture, moistness, and flavor.

My first test was Serious Cakes' Yellow Cake.

Texture: The cake had a fine crumb. It was tender but not crumbly. The mouth feel was dense, almost velvety. It held together nicely when cut, so it would probably be a good cake to carve.



Moistness: Very moist, but not wet or gooey tasting. Top and bottom of the freshly baked cakes were sticky, but the sides were crunchy. The cake was cut on the second day after baking. On the third day I brought the leftovers (individual slices that had been stored under a cake dome) to work and everyone commented positively on the moistness and flavor of the cake.


Flavor: A little lacking in depth, but I paired it with chocolate frosting which made the cake perfect. I think the cake needs more vanilla and also some butter extract (especially since it uses shortening instead of butter).

Ease of preparation: Medium. Creaming of fats, and whipping of egg whites.

Cost: Average. I used supermarket brands of flour, vanilla and shortening.

Other comments: The top domed during baking and then sank to near flat after removing from the oven. I over baked it (oops) to the point where the sides pulled away from the pan and no crumbs came out on the toothpick. I removed the cakes from the pans after three minutes of cooling and after an hour I wrapped in plastic wrap for overnight storage on the counter. I frosted the next morning and served the cake late in the afternoon. Everyone thought the cake tasted great, but a few cake aficionados remarked that most of the flavor excitement came from the frosting.


Overall Rating: 8 out of 10. I liked the cake and plan to bake it again, but next time I'll add more vanilla and include butter extract.


At the end of the month, I will post the results of The Great Scratch-Off June 2009 - Yellow Cakes. Till then here is another look at the cake....

Chocolate Soufflé with Crème Anglaise (low carb)

This weekend I was trying to stick with my low crab diet (I put on a few pounds in the last two weeks and my jeans are starting to get snug). But just because I’m low carbing it doesn’t mean I can’t bake! I had a recipe for Chocolate Soufflé with Creme Anglaise that I thought would work well with Splenda and sugar free chocolate. So I gave it a try…

Here is the end product. What do you think?


I know, I know, too many nuts, but I looove nuts. I had never made soufflé before, but based on pictures I thought it would puff up more. Maybe it was the Splenda. It was also dense, more like flourless chocolate cake than my idea of a soufflé. But I didn’t mind… it still tasted good. Especially when I soaked it in the Crème Anglaise. Yummmm....


Here is the recipe…

Chocolate Soufflé with Crème Anglaise (Low Carb version)

Makes 4 mini souffles

1/2 cup nuts, finely chopped

5 tablespoons pourable Splenda (the kind in the box that measures like regular sugar)

1 – 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more for brushing

4 oz sugar free Dark Chocolate

2 large egg yolks

3 large egg whites

Pinch of salt

Vanilla Crème Anglaise (recipe to follow, make this first and allow to set in refrigerator)

• Pre heat oven to 400 degrees.

• In a bowl mix the chopped nuts and 1 tablespoon of Splenda.

• Brush four 4-ounce ramekins with butter and coat with the nut mixture (reserve some of the nut mixture to top the batter before baking).

• Place the ramekins in a 9 x 9 inch brownie pan and place in the refrigerator .

• In the microwave melt (at 30 sec interval) the chocolate and 1 - 1/2 tablespoons of butter. Stir until smooth. Set aside and allow to cool completely.

• In a medium bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the egg yolks with 3 tablespoons of Splenda until pale and thickened (about 4 minutes).

• Gradually beat in the cooled chocolate. IMPORTANT: if the chocolate is too hot it will cook the egg yolks.

• In another bowl, and using clean beaters, beat the egg whites and salt until soft peaks form. Beat in the remaining 1 tablespoon of Splenda.

• Beat 1/4 of the eggs whites into the chocolate mix, and then gently fold in the rest of the egg whites into the chocolate mix using a rubber spatula.

• Spoon the batter into the ramekins and sprinkles remaining nut mixture over the batter.

• Rub your thumb along the inside rim of the ramekin to remove any stray batter.

• Half fill the brownie pan with water and place the pan in the center of the oven.

• Bake for 15 minutes or until the edges are set but the center is still soft.

• Set ramekins on heat proof plates and immediately sever with chilled Crème Anglaise.

Vanilla Crème Anglaise

1 cup whipping cream

1/4 cup pourable Splenda

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 large egg yolks

• Prepare an ice bath the will hold a small sauce pan.

• Wisk egg yolks with 1 tablespoon of Splenda.

• In a small sauce pan combine all ingredients (whipping cream, remaining Splenda, vanilla, and egg yolk mixture). Stir until combined.

• Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until the sauce is thick enough to coat the back of the spoon (about 6 minutes). Note: the “coat” test will not work on a metal spoon or rubber spatula.

• Once cooked, submerge the bottom of the sauce pan into the ice bath and continue to stir. This will immediately halt the cooking process and prevent the cream from curdling.

• Store in refrigerator and allow to set before serving atop hot soufflé.

What's Blooming? Knock-Out Roses

What's blooming in my garden today - Knock-Out roses.

Eary Grey Tea Shortbread Cookies

"Coffee?"
"No thank you, but I would like some hot tea. Earl Grey or
Blackcurrant if you have it."

I'm a tea drinker, there I've admitted it. I don't like coffee, cappuccino, or even chocolate covered espresso beans. I just don't like it taste or even the smell. I think it all goes back to one memorable Mardi Gras (that year the gang was dressed as Commodes of the Rich and Famous) when I was guzzling coffee and eating bananas in the hopes of sobering up. I did sober up but it had more to do with… well no need to go there.

So here I am 20+ years later and I stumble upon a recipe for Earl Grey Shortbread Cookies on the Food Network website. Be still my anti-coffee heart. I didn't have any Earl Grey on hand, so I used my second favorite tea, Twinings Blackcurrant (Twinings Vanilla is my favorite). Boy did they turn out good. Crisp on the edges, slightly soft in the middle, and oh so buttery and smooth. Yummm…

The blackcurrant tea also gave the cookies a faint berry taste/aroma that was elusive as well as addictive. My guest devoured all 2 dozen cookies in 10 minutes flat and still couldn't pinpoint what gave the cookies their unique taste. In the words of one guest, "They're bloody good."

I used the Food Networks version of Earl Grey Shortbread Cookies, (take a moment to read the comments associated with the recipe. There are angry accusations of recipe theft, plagiarism and a rehash of Cindy McCain's cookie recipe debacle. What a hoot!)

But Martha Stewart's has a version

As well as several on RecipeZaar

Whichever recipe you use, I'm sure you will enjoy them.

Strawberry Pie

I never realized how many strawberries are in a “flat”. I bought a flat a few days ago, and after making strawberry cupcakes, strawberry cookies, and strawberry shortcake I still had 6 of the 12 pints remaining. So what is a girl to do??

What else, Make Strawberry Pie…

Here is the cooking…

The pouring…

The final product…

Don’t you just love strawberries!

Strawberry Shortcake

I bought a flat of strawberries from a local vendor and decided to make this a Strawberry Memorial Day Weekend.

My favorite strawberry dessert is Strawberry Shortcake (with sweet biscuits not sponge cake), and my favorite recipe is Strawberry Shortcake a la Treebeard’s. I think it is the brown sugar in the mix that makes it so special tasting.



If you like a lots of strawberry filling on your shortcake, double the volume of filling called for in the Treebeard’s recipe or cut the shortcake recipe in half. Also, taste the filling before adding the entire 1/3 cup of sugar. The added sugar needs to be adjusted depending on the natural sweetness of the berries.

Enjoy your Memorial Day…

Strawberry Filled Cupcakes

My second adventure on Strawberry Memorial Day Weekend was Strawberry Filled Cupcakes.

Pretty…


The cupcake "cake" is my third attempt at duplicating the famous White Almond Wedding Cake from Swiss Confectionery in New Orleans. Cake version #3 was good, but still not Swiss (too dense). I’ll try again some other day, but the real purpose of the cupcake was to try different “filling” methods.

The Cone Method – I used a knife and cup a cone shape out of the top of the cupcake and then cut the “cone” off of the cupcake plug leaving only a cap.



Next I just spooned the strawberry jam into the cavity and covered with the cupcake cap.


I frosted using a standard buttercream recipe, then cut the cupcake in half to see the guts. Here is what the inside looks like using the Cone Method.



The next method I tried was the “Piping Method”. I made two perpendicular cuts in the top of the cupcake using a regular paring knife, and then squeezed the strawberry jam into the opening using Wilton Star Tip 21.


Don’t pipe too much or it will overflow.


Here is the inside of the “Piped” filling method. The piped method was quicker but I think I like the neat look of the “Cone” filling method. I guess it is just a matter of preference because they both tasted the same.



Here is the finished cupcake again. Don’t you just love the sparkly fruit? The recipe called for sanding sugar but I just had regular granulated sugar on hand. The sanding sugar would have look much more sparkly, but you have to work with what ya got. I also forgot to “sugar” the mint leaves. I’m such a scatterbrain sometime.

Strawberry Shortcake Cookies

I don’t know if you are supposed to publish your failures (or non-tasty results) on a blog, but disappointment is a big part of baking so here goes…. I found a Martha Stewart recipe for Strawberry Shortcake Cookies that looked good and sounded delicious.



Here is the strawberry shortcake cookie dough all mixed up. Looking good at this point.



Here they are about to go into the oven. The recipe said to use parchment paper, but I used a silicon baking mat instead. The recipe also said to sprinkle sugar on top of the cookies. I should have known better. From my many scone baking adventures I have found that any sugar that lands on the pan instead of the cookies will burn to a crisp.



Just out of the oven at this point. The still look good. The edges are turning brown and the centers are still pale and soft looking. Yummm…



I thought I had a winner at this point. But then I turned a cookie over and noticed the bottoms. YUCK…. Granted I do have a hot spot in my oven and I have to rotate the tray once or twice, but even with that a few of the cookies ended up a little too toasty. Also notice the areas of the cookies where the sugared strawberries came in direct contact with the pan. Cinders!!



Here are the best of the bunch. The finished cookie looked nice, but unfortunately the taste was downright bland and definitely not worth the calories. If they had tasted better I might have experimented with protecting the bottom, but they were not worth a second try.

Crawfish Boil

Every year on the weekend before Memorial Day my brother, David, has a big crawfish boil. Here is a batch jut coming out of the pot and in the background is the second batch of live crawfish waiting for their turn in the sauna (poor things).
















This year my brother bought a big "pirouge" serving boat. He was so proud of that thing.


















And here is a scoop of crawfish waiting to be eaten by me. Traditional accompani-
ments to the crawfish are corn on the cob, potatoes, sausage, garlic and mushrooms. And BUTTER, lots and lots of butter squirted on the corn and potatoes.




My contribution to the party was of course the desserts. Pralines, brownies, red velvet sandwich cookies, and burger cupcakes. I also made deviled eggs, not a dessert but still damn good.


Here are the pralines. Yum....
I use a typical praline recipe: white sugar, brown sugar, butter, milk, pecan, etc. The real "art" of praline cooking is temperature. Too low and the pralines are gritty, too high and the pralines are brittle. Like Goldilocks, the temperature needs to be just right.







The brownies... Actually brownie - chocolate chip cookie combo with chocolate icing...



The Red Velvet Sandwich Cookies... this is a Paul Deen recipe that has become a family favorite. I make it without the pecans because one of my brothers is allergic to nuts. PS: the Paula Dean recipe makes waaaaayyyy too much icing. I cut the icing recipe in half and still have leftovers.



The burger cupcakes and sugar cookie French fries... A favorite with the kids.





The deviled eggs... Made with olives - a family recipe.