Little rhubarb cakes

I modified this from Samantha Seneviratne's recipe in the NYTimes for "Rhubarb Quick Bread." Mostly I halved it and made some tiny tweaks from reader comments. I made it in my twinkie-shaped little cakes pan. I filled 5 twinkie molds, but should have used six more sparingly. Original recipe here

4 T melted butter

100g sugar

1.5 t freshly grated orange zest

2.5 T sour cream

1 egg

1/2 t vanilla

112g all-purpose flour

1/2 t baking powder

1/4 t baking soda

pinch of salt

1 c rhubarb (about 4 oz), cut into 1/4 inch cubes; I used a slightly heaping cup

turbinado sugar

Oven to 350; grease & flour your pan (or use baking spray). 

Whisk butter, sugar, zest, and sour cream, then whisk in eggs. Separately, mix the dry ingredients. Mix rhubarb into dries and then fold dries into wets. Smooth into pan. Sprinkle with turbinado sugar. Bake until skewer comes out clean with moist crumbs attached. (25-30 min? I'm not sure I checked the time). Cool in pan 10 minutes, then turn out.

Quiche for a 6-inch pie plate

Modified and cut down from NYTimes recipes for quiche lorraine, including one by Gabrielle Hamilton and one by Craig Claiborne. I found this a successful way to make a smaller amount of quiche, and the leftovers are nice. Trader Joe's sells 4 oz packages of cubed pancetta, which is convenient.

Form and blind bake (with foil and weights) a pastry crust in a 6" pie plate. When it is nearly done, remove the weights and foil, brush with egg white, and bake 5 more minutes. Leave to cool.

Keep the oven on at 375.

Brown 4 oz cubed pancetta in 1 T fat; drain on paper towels. (I used bacon fat)

Then cook down 1/2 onion, diced, in 1 T fat. Set to drain with pancetta and let them both cool.

Grate about 70g gruyere.

When everything is cool, put pancetta, onion, and cheese in crust.

Combine 2 eggs and 1 yolk (I used jumbo) with 1 c heavy cream in a glass liquid measure. (Or, for large eggs, 2 eggs and 2 yolks and an extra splash of cream)

Season the dairy with a pinch of nutmeg, heaping 1/4 t salt and tabasco (if desired, I didn't this time). Beat until generally homogenous. Strain over the yummy stuff in the crust.

Set it on a baking sheet in case of spills or overrun (mine stayed nicely contained) and bake for approximately 35 minutes. Let set 10 minutes.