We make these at Christmas in mimicry of the cookies in a Festus and Mercury story about Christmas. (Festus and Mercury are characters in children's books by the Swedish author Sven Nordqvist, although some translations keep their Swedish names, Pettson and Findus.)
The recipe is adapted from one for "coconut rounds" in a back issue of Good Housekeeping.
2 c AP flour
1 c butter, softened
1/2 c sugar
2 t vanilla extract
1/2 t salt
2 T milk
desiccated coconut; colorful nonpareils
Preheat oven to 350 F. Mix dries and wets separately and combine. Use a 100 or 70 scoop to shape into 3/4 inch balls. Roll the balls in desiccated coconut or colorful nonpareils. Place 2" apart on cookie sheet and bake ~15 minutes, until golden. Cool.
Saturday, December 14, 2019
Friday, December 6, 2019
Sharon's Canapes
All the food at my Friendsgiving this year was delicious, but most unexpectedly wonderful were Sharon's canapes. Just that week, at my family's Thanksgiving meal, I made a jesting motif out of my dislike of radishes (and my use of cute watermelon radishes in my salad to spite that). So when I saw the canapes, each topped with a single slice of red radish, I thought "huh, some people like radish enough to plop them on a canape. What a world." And then... they were really good.
So you take slices of those really slender baguettes-- you know, the kind you make large croutons out of, as for French onion soup.
And then you make crouts out of them by oiling them, salting & peppering them, and baking them until crisp and delicious.
Generously spread garlic Boursin cheese on them.
Then you top them with a slice of radish.
So you take slices of those really slender baguettes-- you know, the kind you make large croutons out of, as for French onion soup.
And then you make crouts out of them by oiling them, salting & peppering them, and baking them until crisp and delicious.
Generously spread garlic Boursin cheese on them.
Then you top them with a slice of radish.
Tuesday, June 18, 2019
Chile Peanut Rice
This recipe from Bon Appetit and Priya Singh is kind of a fancier version of the Yotam Ottolenghi side rice on this site.
3 c day-old leftover cooked basmati rice (from ~1 c dry rice)
Juice of 1 lime
1 t salt
1/2 c ghee, divided
1 T mustard seeds, yellow or black
10 fresh curry leaves
1 c roasted, unsalted peanuts
1 med onion, sliced thin
2 small Indian green chiles or serrano chiles, scored open (no need to stem)
2 T chopped cilantro leaves/stems, optional (as is everything, when it comes right down to it)
Squeeze the juice from the lime into the rice. Salt to taste; gently toss.
Heat 1/4 c ghee in a shallow medium pan over medium heat. You want the ghee to be hot and shimmery enough that a mustard seed will start popping and dancing within seconds; wait for that, and then add the mustard seeds. As soon as they are all dancing and popping remove the pan from heat, and add the curry leaves. Be careful! There may be a lot of sputtering and flying fat! Make sure the curry leaves get all coated with ghee. The leaves should crisp up.
Return the pan to medium-low heat and add the peanuts. Cook, stirring, until the peanuts are fragrant and a medium shade of brown (5-8 minutes). Pour peanut mixture over rice mixture; toss gently.
Heat remaining 1/4 c ghee in same pan over medium. Once ghee is hot, add onions and chiles, spreading in an even layer, and cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is lightly caramelized. (I went quite a bit further than the recommended 5-7 minutes). Stir onion mix into rice. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and lime juice, if you like. Garnish with cilantro if you like.
3 c day-old leftover cooked basmati rice (from ~1 c dry rice)
Juice of 1 lime
1 t salt
1/2 c ghee, divided
1 T mustard seeds, yellow or black
10 fresh curry leaves
1 c roasted, unsalted peanuts
1 med onion, sliced thin
2 small Indian green chiles or serrano chiles, scored open (no need to stem)
2 T chopped cilantro leaves/stems, optional (as is everything, when it comes right down to it)
Squeeze the juice from the lime into the rice. Salt to taste; gently toss.
Heat 1/4 c ghee in a shallow medium pan over medium heat. You want the ghee to be hot and shimmery enough that a mustard seed will start popping and dancing within seconds; wait for that, and then add the mustard seeds. As soon as they are all dancing and popping remove the pan from heat, and add the curry leaves. Be careful! There may be a lot of sputtering and flying fat! Make sure the curry leaves get all coated with ghee. The leaves should crisp up.
Return the pan to medium-low heat and add the peanuts. Cook, stirring, until the peanuts are fragrant and a medium shade of brown (5-8 minutes). Pour peanut mixture over rice mixture; toss gently.
Heat remaining 1/4 c ghee in same pan over medium. Once ghee is hot, add onions and chiles, spreading in an even layer, and cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is lightly caramelized. (I went quite a bit further than the recommended 5-7 minutes). Stir onion mix into rice. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and lime juice, if you like. Garnish with cilantro if you like.
Saturday, June 8, 2019
Posset
Has there ever been a recipe more exactly calibrated to yours truly, Reb, eater of worlds? The food category I find the most comforting of all is puddings (in the American sense of the word). I'd rather have a good pudding than ice cream. And I'm a lemon-above-chocolate person, which is praise indeed considering my appetite for chocolate. The only problem with pudding-category foods is that they can sometimes be too eggy-- I'm not a fan of the obvious flavor of eggs in desserts. (I appreciate what they provide structurally, texturally, etc.) I'm also something of a food history hobbyist, so I've been meaning to make posset for a while, and Melissa Clark publishing a recipe for it in the NYTimes spurred me on.
I am delighted to report that I love it, and that the most pleasing thing about it (besides it being a joy to eat) is its utter elegance of ratios and exaltation of simple chemistry. 1 c heavy cream, a lemon, and 1/3 c sugar. That's it. Melissa Clark's recipe is for a pint of cream, but I assume that with the right little pot it could be successfully downsized to a single lemon and a single cup (or with the right larger pot, upsized). Do take care to use a big enough pot that you needn't stress about anything boiling over.
2 c heavy cream
2/3 c granulated sugar
2 t finely grated lemon zest (I say just zest 2 lemons, but without being persnickity about it at all)
salt
1/3 c fresh lemon juice (from 2-3 lemons)-- I say just juice 2 really nicely juicy lemons
In a medium saucepan, combine cream, sugar, lemon zest, and salt over medium high heat. Bring to simmer, stirring frequently to dissolve sugar. Simmer vigorously until mixture thickens slightly and reduces to 2 c, about 8-10 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in lemon juice. ***I actually put in the lemon juice from the beginning-- even simpler!-- and I am happy to report that it worked just fine.*** Let sit until mixture has cooled slightly and a skin forms on top, about 20 minutes. Stir, and strain, if you'd like. Pour mixture into 6 ramekins. Refrigerate, uncovered, until set, at least 3 hours. (Many NYTimes readers commented that they only got "4 small portions," not 6. I think you should use as tiny of aliquots as you can. First off, it will help it set better. Second, this is eating sugared pure heavy cream. I do not make moderation advice based off of health concerns, but off of culinary concerns; a few small spoonfuls really IS enough for a serving, and will act as lip balm besides with all that butterfat.)
In conclusion, I will note, rather unappetizingly, that I once won a baby shower game because I knew that 'posset' is also a Britishism for baby spit-up. Biochemically, it makes sense. But don't let that put you off your lemon posset. It really is delicious, and not at all curdley... in that way.
I am delighted to report that I love it, and that the most pleasing thing about it (besides it being a joy to eat) is its utter elegance of ratios and exaltation of simple chemistry. 1 c heavy cream, a lemon, and 1/3 c sugar. That's it. Melissa Clark's recipe is for a pint of cream, but I assume that with the right little pot it could be successfully downsized to a single lemon and a single cup (or with the right larger pot, upsized). Do take care to use a big enough pot that you needn't stress about anything boiling over.
2 c heavy cream
2/3 c granulated sugar
2 t finely grated lemon zest (I say just zest 2 lemons, but without being persnickity about it at all)
salt
1/3 c fresh lemon juice (from 2-3 lemons)-- I say just juice 2 really nicely juicy lemons
In a medium saucepan, combine cream, sugar, lemon zest, and salt over medium high heat. Bring to simmer, stirring frequently to dissolve sugar. Simmer vigorously until mixture thickens slightly and reduces to 2 c, about 8-10 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in lemon juice. ***I actually put in the lemon juice from the beginning-- even simpler!-- and I am happy to report that it worked just fine.*** Let sit until mixture has cooled slightly and a skin forms on top, about 20 minutes. Stir, and strain, if you'd like. Pour mixture into 6 ramekins. Refrigerate, uncovered, until set, at least 3 hours. (Many NYTimes readers commented that they only got "4 small portions," not 6. I think you should use as tiny of aliquots as you can. First off, it will help it set better. Second, this is eating sugared pure heavy cream. I do not make moderation advice based off of health concerns, but off of culinary concerns; a few small spoonfuls really IS enough for a serving, and will act as lip balm besides with all that butterfat.)
In conclusion, I will note, rather unappetizingly, that I once won a baby shower game because I knew that 'posset' is also a Britishism for baby spit-up. Biochemically, it makes sense. But don't let that put you off your lemon posset. It really is delicious, and not at all curdley... in that way.
Meatless Tachin
Youtube is a catacombs with endless corners, some inky, some dim, some reasonably well-lit. How does anybody find a particular alley that seems to hold "their people"? And yet, people do find Bon Appetit's channel, and it's pretty great.
This is Andy Baraghani's "Crunchy Baked Saffron Rice," (https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/crunchy-baked-saffron-rice-with-barberries) and I had everything except barberries on hand so I decided to go for it. It was very easy and very delicious and turned out looking just like Andy's. But! As a commenter on the Bon Appetit website noted, it was too much filling for a normal, shallow-ish pie plate. In fact, I filled two as full as I had any desire to. Little bits of rice stuck to the foil, so really-- this made two full cakes.
I browned the butter with dried tart cherries and rose water, and used it all for just one of my cakes (so I guess it got twice as much butter!). For my second cake, I browned a new 2 T butter, chopped up some dried apricots and pistachios, and used a splash of orange blossom water. I liked both alright, but in both cases the fruit got in the way of what I REALLY loved-- the saffron rice. I think I'd like to try it with barberries (which I've had before in rice dishes, and quite liked), but I won't make it with cherries or apricots again. Maybe the pistachios or slivered almonds, though-- and yes to all that browned butter, and yes to the rose water. (Which smells a treat splashed in brown butter.)
*the recipe calls for kosher salt, but I used table salt. YES I KNOW that using table salt in the same volumes as kosher salt results in a higher mass of salt, but I did it in anyway because I like salt, and sure, yeah, maybe it's on the edge of too salty for me, so maybe cut the quantities a bit if you're using table salt.
2 c basmati rice
2 T butter
1/2 c dried barberries, including or plus slivered almonds or pistachios
1 t rose water (optional)
1 t saffron threads, ground to a fine powder in a mortar and pestle with 2t (kosher) salt; bloomed with 2 T hot water for 10 minutes
3 large egg yolks
1 c plain whole milk yogurt (not Greek)
1/2 c vegetable oil, plus more to grease dish(es)
Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add 1/2 c (kosher) salt. While you are waiting for the water to boil, place rice in a strainer and rinse, swishing rice around, until water runs clear. Add rice to boiling water and stir it a bit so it doesn't stick. Cook until rice begins to rise to the top and is tender but still has a bite to it, 6-8 minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water.
Meanwhile, brown butter gently in a medium skillet over medium-low heat. Cook barberries, stirring often, until plumped slightly and warmed through, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in rose water. **If you're like me, you'll do this step twice for 2 pie platesworth.**
Place rack in lower third of oven; preheat to 400 F. Combine saffron/salt/water slurry, egg yolks, yogurt, and oil. Scatter rice over this mix and gently fold to ensure every grain is coated. Be gentle-- you don't want to break the grains.
Coat a glass pie plate with oil. (You, like me, might fill two). Add some rice mixture and use the palms of your hands to gently pack and compact it into the dish. Scatter half of the fruit/butter over it; add more rice mix. Press down again, this time more firmly (this helps with unmolding, we are told).
Cover dish TIGHTLY with foil and bake on the low rack until rice on the bottom and around edges is a deep golden brown, 65-80 minutes. (My oven runs cold, I think, and I used the whole 80 minutes). Remove foil and cool on a rack 10 minutes. Loosen the rice around the edges using the point of a knife. (Mine didn't stick at all). Place a large plate on top and invert rice onto the plate like a cake. Scatter remaining barberries over top.
This is Andy Baraghani's "Crunchy Baked Saffron Rice," (https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/crunchy-baked-saffron-rice-with-barberries) and I had everything except barberries on hand so I decided to go for it. It was very easy and very delicious and turned out looking just like Andy's. But! As a commenter on the Bon Appetit website noted, it was too much filling for a normal, shallow-ish pie plate. In fact, I filled two as full as I had any desire to. Little bits of rice stuck to the foil, so really-- this made two full cakes.
I browned the butter with dried tart cherries and rose water, and used it all for just one of my cakes (so I guess it got twice as much butter!). For my second cake, I browned a new 2 T butter, chopped up some dried apricots and pistachios, and used a splash of orange blossom water. I liked both alright, but in both cases the fruit got in the way of what I REALLY loved-- the saffron rice. I think I'd like to try it with barberries (which I've had before in rice dishes, and quite liked), but I won't make it with cherries or apricots again. Maybe the pistachios or slivered almonds, though-- and yes to all that browned butter, and yes to the rose water. (Which smells a treat splashed in brown butter.)
*the recipe calls for kosher salt, but I used table salt. YES I KNOW that using table salt in the same volumes as kosher salt results in a higher mass of salt, but I did it in anyway because I like salt, and sure, yeah, maybe it's on the edge of too salty for me, so maybe cut the quantities a bit if you're using table salt.
2 c basmati rice
2 T butter
1/2 c dried barberries, including or plus slivered almonds or pistachios
1 t rose water (optional)
1 t saffron threads, ground to a fine powder in a mortar and pestle with 2t (kosher) salt; bloomed with 2 T hot water for 10 minutes
3 large egg yolks
1 c plain whole milk yogurt (not Greek)
1/2 c vegetable oil, plus more to grease dish(es)
Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add 1/2 c (kosher) salt. While you are waiting for the water to boil, place rice in a strainer and rinse, swishing rice around, until water runs clear. Add rice to boiling water and stir it a bit so it doesn't stick. Cook until rice begins to rise to the top and is tender but still has a bite to it, 6-8 minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water.
Meanwhile, brown butter gently in a medium skillet over medium-low heat. Cook barberries, stirring often, until plumped slightly and warmed through, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in rose water. **If you're like me, you'll do this step twice for 2 pie platesworth.**
Place rack in lower third of oven; preheat to 400 F. Combine saffron/salt/water slurry, egg yolks, yogurt, and oil. Scatter rice over this mix and gently fold to ensure every grain is coated. Be gentle-- you don't want to break the grains.
Coat a glass pie plate with oil. (You, like me, might fill two). Add some rice mixture and use the palms of your hands to gently pack and compact it into the dish. Scatter half of the fruit/butter over it; add more rice mix. Press down again, this time more firmly (this helps with unmolding, we are told).
Cover dish TIGHTLY with foil and bake on the low rack until rice on the bottom and around edges is a deep golden brown, 65-80 minutes. (My oven runs cold, I think, and I used the whole 80 minutes). Remove foil and cool on a rack 10 minutes. Loosen the rice around the edges using the point of a knife. (Mine didn't stick at all). Place a large plate on top and invert rice onto the plate like a cake. Scatter remaining barberries over top.
Sunday, March 3, 2019
Welsh Lamb and Mint Pie
Another bake-along-with-GBBO success! I think that I am through to the finals, so to speak. Biscuit week was dodgy, but my cookies were good, just not as special as I wanted them to be-- and it was, after all, early.
S01E05 was pastry, and the signature bake was savory pies. I happen to love meat pies, and when I visited Wales the summer before last, I sampled several. I had some middling ones and at least one bad one (at the nicest restaurant of our visit)-- it was stringy, soupy, sour, tomatoey, and the little puff pastry lid was difficult to eat and not very satisfying. But in Hay-on-Wye we stopped in a tiny little bakery and I got a lamb and meat hand pie ("oggie"), then carried it around in my bag the rest of the day before eating it for dinner that evening. It was perfect, and I made special note of its attributes and have been brainstorming a re-creation ever since.
It had big chunks of lamb, and little chunks of potato-- but really, mostly lamb. There were leeks, but no peas or tomatoes. It was entirely savory. I've found a few recipes that call for mint jelly, but this one did not use mint jelly. I noted that the use of mint was almost like spinach-- it was used abundantly, as a leafy green. I don't even like mint in sweets, but I found it really worked in this savory pie.
So for my signature bake, I did some research and pulled together a recipe. I think it made a very good pie, and one that almost matches my sense memory. It's delicious hot but too stodgy cold, and it turns out it's hard in a practical sense to replicate "room temperature" in a full pie rather than a hand pie. I'll try hand pies next time, maybe!
Happy St. David's Day!
**Over the two additions, somewhat more than 1 1/2 0.75 oz clamshells of fresh mint, and I think it's just about right. Although it could probably absorb the full 2 clamshells.
S01E05 was pastry, and the signature bake was savory pies. I happen to love meat pies, and when I visited Wales the summer before last, I sampled several. I had some middling ones and at least one bad one (at the nicest restaurant of our visit)-- it was stringy, soupy, sour, tomatoey, and the little puff pastry lid was difficult to eat and not very satisfying. But in Hay-on-Wye we stopped in a tiny little bakery and I got a lamb and meat hand pie ("oggie"), then carried it around in my bag the rest of the day before eating it for dinner that evening. It was perfect, and I made special note of its attributes and have been brainstorming a re-creation ever since.
It had big chunks of lamb, and little chunks of potato-- but really, mostly lamb. There were leeks, but no peas or tomatoes. It was entirely savory. I've found a few recipes that call for mint jelly, but this one did not use mint jelly. I noted that the use of mint was almost like spinach-- it was used abundantly, as a leafy green. I don't even like mint in sweets, but I found it really worked in this savory pie.
So for my signature bake, I did some research and pulled together a recipe. I think it made a very good pie, and one that almost matches my sense memory. It's delicious hot but too stodgy cold, and it turns out it's hard in a practical sense to replicate "room temperature" in a full pie rather than a hand pie. I'll try hand pies next time, maybe!
Happy St. David's Day!
2 lb lamb, trimmed, 2.5 cm pieces-- toss with ¼ c AP flour; brown in batches (4-5 min) in olive oil over high heat-- set aside.
In butter over med high—2 garlic cloves, crushed, 3 fat leeks, chopped, fresh thyme, salt, pepper.--> Cook, stirring, till soft.
Return lamb to pan and stir in 1/2 oz fresh mint leaves, chopped, 3 sprigs rosemary, 1.5c beef stock, and 1 huge or 2 normal russet potatoes (peeled & cubed). Bring to the boil and reduce to med-low. Simmer 35-50 min till lamb is tender. (Thicken with flour if needed-- I threw in a bit near the end.)
Remove rosemary; season to taste. Stir in another 1/2- 1 oz fresh mint,* chopped. Bake in pastry case, sealed/glazed with egg, topped with pepper.
**Over the two additions, somewhat more than 1 1/2 0.75 oz clamshells of fresh mint, and I think it's just about right. Although it could probably absorb the full 2 clamshells.
Miso Walnut Bread
For GBBO series 1 biscuit week, I made the almond cookies (elsewhere on this site) by the pastry-blender method, and prepared them as icebox cookies. I put in orange zest and dried cherries. They were good, but they were not an improvement on the original. I didn't expect them to be an improvement-- I think almond cookies are perfect already-- but I was disappointed nevertheless. They were just too sugary. I'd like to try it again, perhaps with just the orange zest and sliced thinner to crisp up. Or maybe with toasted coconut and dark chocolate? Chopped almonds or pistachios?
The third week was bread week, and the inspriation that came to my brain was "miso walnut." I based my recipe off of a FloFab recipe with Julia Thiel's advice for miso incorporation. And this time, I was satisfied-- the bread smells and taste parmesany and nutty. Yum!
2 1/2 c chopped walnuts, toasted, cooled.
2 t (7 g or 1 packet) active dry yeast
2 t salt (I actually don't remember. Did I do a T?)
2 T miso (I used yellow)
3 T (45 ml) maple syrup (I used grade B)
2 T (60 ml) sesame oil
extra veg oil for later
2 c (250 g) whole wheat flour
3 c (375 g) bread flour
Coarse cornmeal, for dusting baking sheet
Yeast in large mixing bowl. Mix salt and miso into 2 c lukewarm water. Stir into yeast. Stir in maple syrup and 2 T oil.
Measure 1 c of the toasted walnuts. Process with 2 T of whole wheat flour until finely ground. Add to bowl along with remaining whole-wheat flour. Stir.
Add bread flour ½ c at a time until dough forms and leaves the sides of the bowl. (You can mix w your hands now). Turn dough out onto a floured work surface. Continue adding bread flour, kneading as you go, until you have a dough that’s a bit on the soft side, only slightly sticky, and easy to handle.
Clean out your bowl, coat it with 1 T oil, and place dough back into the bowl, turning it so it’s oiled all over. Cover w a cloth and set aside for a leisurely proof.
Punch down, add remaining toasted walnuts, and lightly knead them into the dough. Dust baking sheets w cornmeal. Divide the dough in half, shape into 2 balls and place on the baking sheet. Cover loosely and let rise for an hour.
Place the oven rack in the lowest position and heat to 375-400-425. Slash the tops of breads with a razor. Don’t be tentative! Slash ½ inch deep.
Place in oven. Throw a handful of ice cubes on the floor of the oven to create steam. Bake 20 min. By this time the breads should be a nice honey-brown. Brush them with remaining 1 T oil, reduce heat to 350, add more ice cubes and bake about 30-35 min longer, until well browned and hollow sounding.
Sunday, February 3, 2019
Epiphany Drizzle Cake
The morning of Epiphany, I had a vivid dream about a cake-- a lemon drizzle cake with bitters. In the dream, I called it "M----- Drizzle Cake" (my surname). After watching the very first episode of GBBO (Series 1, episode 1!) with my sister T, I finally made the cake as my "signature bake."
I was first introduced to bitters over a decade ago on a visit to Palo Alto to visit my sister R. We went with some friends to a little restaurant with an even smaller bar up front, and I ordered a "nonalcoholic juicy blend" from the cute bartender. He got really excited and explained that he himself didn't drink, and felt like his best creative efforts were the nonalcoholic drinks he invented for himself. And friends-- the juicy blend was delicious. I asked him what the secret was, and he said it was a splash of bitters-- it rounded out the other flavors, polished the sweet and tart edges, and added floral complexity.
It's easy to keep a little bottle of Angostura bitters around-- just like a bottle of vanilla extract-- and I quite like a splash in lemonade. It's recently become somewhat hip to use bitters as a flavoring in a variety of fruity things, like pies. So when I had my dream, I figured that someone online would have certainly combined the idea of Angostura lemonade with lemon drizzle cake.
I was surprised to find only one recipe-- and amused that it was from Ayesha Curry (Steph Curry's wife). Of course, I could have just found a reliable lemon drizzle cake recipe and added Angostura to the drizzle, but I wanted guidance on proportion, and I was pleased that the Curry recipe also included it in the cake. I adapted it only slightly, using sour cream instead of whole milk plain Greek yogurt (which the rather lowbrow store I went to for supplies didn't have), light brown sugar for dark (I was worried about overwhelming the other flavors), and almond extract for the amaretto.
I had a slice while it was almost-- but not really-- cooled, and it was good, but too novel to really comfort. But after I let it cool overnight, the flavors had become friendly with one another and now I think it is just wonderful. I might try the idea with one of Maida Heatter's lemon cake recipes but I really quite love my cake as it is.
1 1/2 c AP flour
2 t baking powder
1 t salt
1 c light brown sugar
3 large eggs, slightly beaten
1 c sour cream
1/2 c oil
1/3-1/2 c lemon juice
1 t almond extract
1 1/2 t vanilla
1 t Angostura bitters (maybe I did 1 1/2?)
2 T lemon zest
Heat oven to 350; prep an 8 inch springform pan. Whisk the dries. Whisk the wets. Gently fold dries into wets. Bake 60 minutes. Cool in pan 10 minutes; then on rack. When just somewhat warm, set the rack over a sheet and poke the cake all over with a toothpick. Pour a glaze of whisked:
1 c powdered sugar
3 T lemon juice
3/4 t Angostura bitters
Try to get it in the edges on the sides and down the holes, but some quantity (several tablespoons?) will run off onto the tray-- that's fine and as it should be, I think.
I was first introduced to bitters over a decade ago on a visit to Palo Alto to visit my sister R. We went with some friends to a little restaurant with an even smaller bar up front, and I ordered a "nonalcoholic juicy blend" from the cute bartender. He got really excited and explained that he himself didn't drink, and felt like his best creative efforts were the nonalcoholic drinks he invented for himself. And friends-- the juicy blend was delicious. I asked him what the secret was, and he said it was a splash of bitters-- it rounded out the other flavors, polished the sweet and tart edges, and added floral complexity.
It's easy to keep a little bottle of Angostura bitters around-- just like a bottle of vanilla extract-- and I quite like a splash in lemonade. It's recently become somewhat hip to use bitters as a flavoring in a variety of fruity things, like pies. So when I had my dream, I figured that someone online would have certainly combined the idea of Angostura lemonade with lemon drizzle cake.
I was surprised to find only one recipe-- and amused that it was from Ayesha Curry (Steph Curry's wife). Of course, I could have just found a reliable lemon drizzle cake recipe and added Angostura to the drizzle, but I wanted guidance on proportion, and I was pleased that the Curry recipe also included it in the cake. I adapted it only slightly, using sour cream instead of whole milk plain Greek yogurt (which the rather lowbrow store I went to for supplies didn't have), light brown sugar for dark (I was worried about overwhelming the other flavors), and almond extract for the amaretto.
I had a slice while it was almost-- but not really-- cooled, and it was good, but too novel to really comfort. But after I let it cool overnight, the flavors had become friendly with one another and now I think it is just wonderful. I might try the idea with one of Maida Heatter's lemon cake recipes but I really quite love my cake as it is.
1 1/2 c AP flour
2 t baking powder
1 t salt
1 c light brown sugar
3 large eggs, slightly beaten
1 c sour cream
1/2 c oil
1/3-1/2 c lemon juice
1 t almond extract
1 1/2 t vanilla
1 t Angostura bitters (maybe I did 1 1/2?)
2 T lemon zest
Heat oven to 350; prep an 8 inch springform pan. Whisk the dries. Whisk the wets. Gently fold dries into wets. Bake 60 minutes. Cool in pan 10 minutes; then on rack. When just somewhat warm, set the rack over a sheet and poke the cake all over with a toothpick. Pour a glaze of whisked:
1 c powdered sugar
3 T lemon juice
3/4 t Angostura bitters
Try to get it in the edges on the sides and down the holes, but some quantity (several tablespoons?) will run off onto the tray-- that's fine and as it should be, I think.
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