Coffee Cake - 1973 Pillsbury Bake Off Winner

Hi There.

Forgive the sideways photo. I have no idea why it has decided to do that, but editing the picture to make it go the other way turns it wonky. I promise the photo being sideways does not affect the flavor of the coffee cake.

The Chief Commentator has often mentioned to me his love of coffee cake. There are few things that make him as happy as the idea of having a delicious slice of heavenly cake with his morning cup of joe. Lucky for him, it appears that both my grandmothers also have a thing for breakfast cakes and breads to be enjoyed with their sanka. This recipe is no exception.

This one comes from my grandma melusines cook book - it's a cut out from a Pillsbury flour bag. It is titled "one-step tropical coffee cake" and under it it says $5,000 flour winner in Pillsbury's 1973 Bake-Off"

So the recipe won $5k for someone several years before I was even born... $5k is a lot of money, especially in 1973... so this must be good right?

Oven @ 350 degrees and you are going to need a 8 or 9 inch coffee cake pan.

Using solid shortening, grease the square pan.

1 1/2 cups flour (Pillsbury of course!)

1 cup sugar

2 teaspoons Baking Powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

8 oz plain yogurt or sour cream (I used yogurt)

1/2 cup cooking oil

2 eggs

Lightly spoon flour into measuring cup, level off.

combine all ingredients in large bowl

stir 70-80 strokes until well blended (ugh! my arms!)

pour into greased pan

set batter aside

topping

1 cup coconut or chopped nuts (I used almonds)

1/3 cup sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

combine in small bowl, and sprinkle over batter

bake at 350 for 35-45 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

tip: 3/4 cup well drained crushed or chunk pineapple, fruit cocktail or mandarin oranges maybe spooned over the batter before sprinkling with streusel mixture. Bake 10-15 minutes longer.

High altitude - 5200 feet, bake basic recipe at 375 for 35-45 minutes. if adding fruit, bake 45 to 55 minutes.

Ok, so I didn't "go there" with the fruit cocktail, oranges or pineapple. It just didn't seem right (although it does seem very early 1970's)

Chief commentator liked how the cake wasn't very sweet. He said it stood up well with his coffee, although he would have liked a little butter drizzled into the topping to make it stick better.

Coffee cake isn't my forte, but I did like it, and I think in part, I liked it because it wasn't overly sweet.

Softball Cake

This recipe was not in my original cook books, nor was it in any of my Grandmother's however the time and effort it took me to make this cake, makes it worthy of a post on my blog, with some of the photos of what I went through, getting from point A (an empty pan) to point B the cake you see before you. Also, I realize that Martha Stewart can make a cake, but I'm still giving this recipe the most difficult of ratings, because it's not for the faint of heart, but can be done, if you are a good instruction follower and have heaps of patience.

My original inspiration for the cake. The Chief Commentator's daughter plays softball and loves everything softball... so for her 10th (double digits!) birthday, we decided to do a softball themed cake to celebrate.

I am so proud of myself, I read all the instructions on the cake pan, before starting (i.e. cover pan in shortening, and then flour but NEVER butter then flour before adding batter...) etc etc etc. The instructions also said to use dense cake like a pound cake for the recipe.

Since the kiddo loves lemon, I chose the Barefoot Contessa Lemon Pound Cake by Ina Garten as my base, and then "kidded" it up a bit by adding a cupful of confetti candy to the mix.

Recipe:

(makes 2 8" loaves)

1/2 pound unsalted butter at room temperature

2 1/2 cups granulated sugar

4 extra-large eggs at room temperature

1/3 cup grated lemon zest (6 to 8 large lemons)

3 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon kosher salt

3/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

3/4 cup buttermilk, at room temperature

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Method (note this is the method per Ina Garten with my changes due to pans in (parenthesis)

preheat oven to 350 (325) grease two 8 1/2 x 4 1/2x 2 1/2 loaf pans (grease pan with shortening and then 2 teaspoons flour rolled around until all surfaces are covered)

Cream the butter and 2 cups granulated sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, for about 5 minutes, or until ight and fluffy. With the mixer on medium speed, add the eggs, one at a time, and the lemon zest

**note - if you can find an easier way to zest 8 lemons, by all means go for it. My hands hurt so much after the zesting, I took a 10 minute break and had to stretch them. I used a microplane to zest, but by all means, if you can find a quicker method go for it.

Sift together the flour, baking power, baking soda, and salt into a bowl. In another bowl, combine 1/4 cup lemon juice, the butterminlk, and vanilla. Add the flour and buttermilk mixtures alternately to the batter, beginning and ending with the flour. Divide the batter evently between the pans, smooth the tops and bake for 45 minutes to an hour until cake tester comes out clean.

(This is where I folded the confetti candy into the mix, to make it more 'kid friendly'.

** I don't normally believe in keeping everything separate and then slowly mixing them in steps, but out of pure fear and supersticion that the cake would come out poorly, I followed along exactly. Also, I followed the baking instructions at 325 per the pan, which is more than an hour, it's more like, a hell of a long time.. I think closer to an hour and a half or so.

I skipped this next step completely, because I was going to frost the cakes, but here you go if you want to know how to finish off the recipe. Combine 1/2 cup granulated sugar with 1/2 cup lemon juice in a small sauce pan, and cook over low heat until the sugar dissolves and makes a syrup. When the cakes are done, let them cook for 10 minutes, then invert them onto a rack set over a tray, and spoon the lemon syrup over the cakes. Allow the cakes to cool completely.

While the cake was baking, I decided I needed something for the softball to sit in, and because I wasn't about to self teach how to make a fondant or gum paste glove, I opted to make the ball sit in some grass. Now what is edible and looks like grass? coconut. Mixing a cup of coconut in a sandwhich baggie with about a teaspoon or so of green food coloring yields a nice looking grass effect. But it's sticky at this point and needs to be dried a little, so I spread it out on some parchment paper and stuck that in the oven (when the cake finally came out) watching it toast slowly. Which means, sitting infront of the oven because the difference between dry, and scorched is about 47 seconds. To make my cake, I used aprox 2 cups of coconut. Granted I did it 3 times before it came out correctly.. but the final product was 2 cups.

Now it's time for the cake to sit and rest. But before it's cooled (consulting my instructions again) I have to trim off the tops of both of the cakes and then flip them onto the racks to cool completely. (this translates to me, as 'done for the day' start again tomorrow with the rest of the project.

Before going to the frosting phase I have to trim one of the cakes, so that it sits flat. I don't want my finshed product rolling all over the table now do I?

So now it's time to make a whole bunch of frosting. In the interest of not having to make a second batch if I ran out and worrying about matching colors, I made a double batch of buttercream frosting (wiltons - basic buttercream) however for this size cake, one batch would have been pleanty with enough to spare the recipe said 1 batch, but erring on the side of caution and trying to skip the "I told you so's"

I pulled out a small amount to turn red, and then made the rest of it "neon nuclear green" then after I got the correct color, I pulled out 3/4 of it, and thinned the remaining 1/4 for smoothing icing (i.e. mix corn syrup into frosting until thinned)

First you flip the bottom half, and smooth it all with flat smoothing icing, then you start to decorate it. Prior to flipping it, I decided I wanted to make sure that the frosting was hard enough incase I touched it, so I shoved it in the fridge for about 10 minutes.

At this point I could have filled the center, and thought about doing a lemon filling, however I was a little worried about it staying together, so instead I used a big glop of the regular butter cream and put the top on, frosting the entire rest of the outside in the smooth frosting.

Next I finished dotting the entire cake with the #16 tip (just like the instructions said!) and whipped up the red (it looks a little pink in the photo, but trust me it's red in person) and attached the #3 tip and went on to making the stitches.

Then I stuck the entire cake back in the fridge to harden again.

finally I added the green coconut around the base of the cake to make it look like grass.

There will be comments (hopefully tomorrow) on what the cake actually tasted like, but the little chunks I cut off the top when leveling were pretty darn tasty.

Here is the finished cake:

and here is the cake sitting in the middle of the set Dinner table for Daughter's "Japanese Themed" party. She requested Sushi, and all the fixin's.

The cake was certainly a learning experience, and now that I've done it, I'm sure I could recreate it faster next time. I was panicked about the cake consistency turning out the way I was hoping it to, and also learned (from reading the directions!) that it's important when frosting a cake like this with so many strange shapes and having to hold it together, that you use a dense cake (packaged cake mix doesn't work well unless you cut the oil down)

French Burger

This one comes out of Better Homes and Gardens, January 1998.

The article is titled Burgers Go Multicultural an the idea is to start with a Basic Burger recipe and then dress it up differently. The choices are: Middle East Burger, Korean Kimchee Burger, French Burger, and Greek Burger.

I made the French Burger tonight

Here is the Basic Burger Recipe:

1 beaten eg

3.4 cup soft bread crumbs

1 lb lean ground beef

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper

Combine all ingredients and shape into four 3/4 inche thick patties. Broil 3 -4 inches from heat for 12-14 minutes.

Now here is the French upgrade:

add 1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese

2 tablespoons drained capers

snipped fresh tarragon

Top with more blue chees if desired, serve on a toasted sour dough bread.

I ended up topping them with a blue cheese chive spread I whipped up and served with sweet potatoe fries with a curry lime dipping sauce.

Chief Commentator: Fantastic. He would skip extra cheese spread on the bread, because (and maybe it was the kind I used) blue cheese in side was strong enough and carried through nicely.

"definately one of the better burgers I've had in a long time, and it's not your ordinary burger" The capers also alleviated the need for pickle, with the tang and salt.

Celery Root Rémoulade

Growing up in Napa, getting deli made salad’s from Vallergas Market was always a special treat to me. I was in love with their celery ‘roulle salad, that I recall once getting my hands on the recipe for when it came in one of their mailers, but I must not have stuck it in my cookbook, as it’s no where to be found. I also clipped along the way, the following recipe it was from a magazine, although I have no idea which one.


Celery Root Rémoulade
(from The Art of Simple Food, by Alice Waters)
1 medium celery root (about 1 lb)
1 tsp white wine vinegar
2 Tbsp crème fraîche
2 tsp Dijon mustard
juice of 1/2 lemon
2 tsp extra-virgin olive oil
salt
pepper

Cut away all the brown skin and small roots from the celery root. Rinse. With a sharp knife or mandoline, cut the celery root into 1/8-inch thick slices. Cut the slices into thin matchstick-size pieces. (This is called a julienne of celery root.) Toss with salt and white wine vinegar.Mix remaining ingredients together in a small bowl. Stir well. Pour over the celery root and toss to coat. Taste for salt and acid. The salad can be served right away or refrigerated for up to a day.

Variations
Add other raw julienned root vegetables, such as rutabaga, carrot, or radish, to the salad.
Sprinkle with chopped parsley, chervil, or mint.
Toss together with a rocket salad.
For the crème fraîche, substitute 1 egg yolk and whisk in 3 tablespoons olive oil.

To note – I made one of the variations, instead of the crème fraîche, I did the substitution of yolk and oil.

Chief Commentator said: He liked it, it would go great with fried chicken or fish and chips as a lighter side, and was reminiscent of coleslaw in that aspect to him. He enjoyed the lightness and was easy to eat with a fantastic crunch, although he seems to think most people wouldn’t really like it, because it does have a ‘root veggie’ taste to it.

I have to add, if you are going to make a lot of celery root dishes, buy a mandolin and use that. I love celery root, and I would make it much more often if I had one, because cutting the root up by hand is a royal pain.

Chicken Lime Soup

This one came into my cookbook by way of my co-worker Matt. He brought it for a pot luck, and I love love loved it!!!! He brought me the recipe, and it has sat in my cookbook for at least 3-4 years, never once being made. Until now, when today we had some cool fall weather, and I was looking for something warming, and easy. Well, the soup part is easy, I am giving this recipe a mixed difficulty of easy and medium, because although the soup is easy, the frying of the tortilla strips for topping may be challenging for others who are leery of pans of splattering oil.

Chicken Lime Soup

8 corn tortillas
½ cup vegetable oil
course sea salt
4 chicken breasts
10 cups chicken broth
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
6 pepper corns
2 teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon dried oregano
2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and finely chopped
2 large tomatoes , peeled and chopped
5 limes, juiced
½ cup fresh cilantro leaves

Directions

Cut the tortillas into ¼ inch strips. Heat the oil in a medium skillet and when very hot, fry the tortilla strips, in small batches, until lightly golden and crisp. 30 seconds to 1 minute. Transfer to paper towel lined plate to drain. Season with sea salt to taste. Repeat until all tortilla strips have been fried. Set fried strips aside.

Add the chicken, broth, onion, garlic, pepper corns, salt, oregano, jalapenos and tomatoes into a large sauce pan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a slow simmer and cook until the chicken is just cooked through, 20-25 minutes. Remove chicken from the soup and set aside until cool enough to handle. Allow coup to continue simmering.

When the chicken has cooled a bit, shred into bite size pieces and return to the pot along with the lime juice and cilantro leaves. cook for 10 minutes, or until the chicken is heated through and the soup is piping hot. Ladle the soup into wide soup bowls, with a handful of tortilla strips added to each bowl. If desired garnish with additional fresh cilantro and serve immediately.

Before I get to the comments, let me tell you what I did change and what I’d do differently next time, cause there definitely will be a next time.

I skipped the 2 teaspoons of salt, because I figured my broth had enough sodium in it already (and it was the reduced sodium at that) and I think that was a good call. Plus I prefer to sprinkle a little salt on the top when I eat it anyway.

Also – going forward, because the chief commentator loves dark meat rather than breasts, I think I’ll make the recipe with thigh meat, and or a whole chicken.

and finally, I like a little more heat, so I would prolly double or triple the number of jalapeno’s in the recipe.

Comments: Chief commentator said he is going to request this once a week in the winter. He loved the tang of the lime with the chicken and the broth. He specifically loved how un-salty the broth is! (good call on my part to leave out the extra salt)

I love this recipe too. I like how healthy (if you keep the tortillas out of it) that it can be. I love the zip of the lime juice, and the hearty comfort quality of the broth.

Definitely a new favorite.

Tomato Vinaigrette

Tomato Vinaigrette

I made this one because I have so many tomatoes at this point of the garden, and I needed a creative way to use some up. I made a triple batch, (3 tomatoes) just to use some up.

I have no idea where the initial recipe came from. Its scrawled in my pre-teen handwriting on a page of a book. Knowing me, it prolly came from a newscast I saw on TV or the green grocer or something like that.

Tomato Vinaigrette

1 plum tomato,
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar,
3 tablespoons olive oil,
½ tablespoon fresh tarragon,
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper

Puree Tomato and vinegar, add oil, tarragon, salt and pepper.

Toss with greens.

The Chief commentator liked it a lot. So did the kid who loves tomatoes. Very Fresh, light, and covered the greens well. I liked it too, fresh. I didn’t like it the next day when I used the rest of it up, because there seemed like too much acid from the tomatoes, so this is not a recipe you want to leave sitting around.

Nora Ephron's Mustard Vinegarette from the book Heartburn

Last night was a "grab a pizza and feed the kids fast" kinda night. So with take out pizza in hand, and feeling guilty that there were not veggies associated with it, I decided I better make a quick salad to serve along side the pizza.

Now if you know me, you know there isn't EVER bottled dressing in the fridge (not even ranch for dipping your pizza crust) I am just not a bottle dressing kinda girl, and well, honestly, I wouldn't have room to stick bottled dressing in the fridge, cause I have too many jars of pickles, and other things that take up nearly all the door space.

Before I get to the recipe, let me give you all a time saver. Every few days, I wash several heads of lettuce, spin them dry, and chop them, I add chopped cabbage to the lettuce and then I make up gallon sized baggies, and toss in a paper towel or two to help reduce moisture, seal it up and stuff it in the fridge. Then when it comes to dinner time, I cut a fresh tomatoe, and a cucumber and top the pre-made salad in less than 5 minutes. My own version of Salad-in-a-bag.

I grabbed for the nearest cook book and flipped quickly looking for a dressing, instead of doing one of my usual creations, ala flax seed oil and raspberry vinegar or olive oil, lemon juice and (my secret weapon) Cavendar's greek seasoning. One of the first recipes in the front of the book scribbled out in my early teen handwriting, copied from Nora Ephron's book Heartburn was her recipe for Mustard Vinegarette.

Sidebar - Heartburn is a GREAT book. The movie is also awesome (Meryl Streep and Jack Nicholson) In the book the heroine Rachel is a cookbook author, and along the way of her story, you get fantastic recipes, as a teen chef, I thought this was fantastic, and painstakenly wrote them all down and carefully glued them in my book, never to actually make them. Until of course, now.

and with that, I give you:

Nora Ephron's Mustard Vinegarette from the book Heartburn:

2 Tablespoons Grey Poupon mustard

2 Tablespoons good red wine vinegar

whisking constantly with a fork, slowly add 6 tablespoons olive oil, until the vinaigrette is thick and creamy.

This makes a very strong vinaigrette that’s perfect for salad greens like arugula and watercress and endive.

Strong. Indeed it was, but it was a good strong. I let the chief commentator taste it and he liked it too, although he reminded me that 2 out of the 3 kids may not be that big on the whole dijon thing... quickly thinking, I split the recipe in half, and into half of it, I whisked a tablespoon of Honey - Now we had Honey Mustard - which all 3 kids LOVED, and tonight, asked for again ontop of their salad.

Chief Commentator thought the original, was a perfect dressing for all the lettuce's listed above and loved the tangy taste and the consistency was beautiful. I liked it also, although personally, I would have wanted a little more tang.

We both loved the dressing with the addition of the honey, and will be adding this as a regular dressing into our rotation!