Lemon Chiffon Pie (and Soup)

There are so many ways to tell this story.
1) What do you do when life gives you a bowl of lemons and a perfect pie crust?  Why make lemon pie, of course.   About a week ago, a major women's magazine descended on my house to photograph some baked goods from my blog.  The story will appear in March.  Meantime, they brought some additional items prepared not by me, but by a professional food stylist in case of emergency.  There were a few of those, but when all the magazine folks departed, I was left with a number of goodies, including a pie crust and a bowl of lemons.  So I made a pie.

2) What do you do when you're invited to a fabulous penthouse apartment party in Manhattan and you're asked to bring dessert?  Most people would bring a tried and true pastry, but not me.  I decided to make said lemon pie and bring it.  Only, on the car ride from Brooklyn to upper Manhattan, my pie transformed from the gorgeous dessert that left my kitchen into quite a mess. Pie soup, if you will.

Having said that, I would like to note that despite it's rather very runny consistency, the pie was devoured by the guests, for its flavor was terrific.

I'm posting the recipe (which I changed only by adding some lemon zest), and will get to work in the kitchen perfecting it.  Lemon chiffon pie has legs, and I vow to make them stronger.

Production notes:
Lemon chiffon pie is basically lemon curd with Italian meringue (heavy cream whipped with some sugar) folded in.   I forgot the add the butter (which is the entire reason I chose this recipe over several others, but whatever).  My fatal error, I *think* is that I didn't cook the lemon curd mixture long enough.

A Wedding [Cake] at the Seaport

When I purchased this card at the Seaport Museum New York a few months ago, it was with great sadness, for mismanagement had caused the museum to close nearly all programs, save the gift shop.

Bowne and Co., the museum's historic letterpress print shop which created this card, was shuttered.  The historic fleet of ships was neglected.  Galleries were empty and education programs had ceased.

These things rarely end well, but remarkably this one did.  The Museum of the City of New York has taken over the seaport museum (and reinstated its original name, the South Street Seaport Museum), and is forging ahead to return the museum to its former glory.  Cheers to Peter Stanford, founder of SSSM; Susan Henshaw Jones, president of the MCNY, and all the folks at Save Our Seaport and Friends of Bowne.

This definitely has all the ingredients for a  marriage made in heaven.

For those who want recipes, here are links to two from The South Street Seaport Museum's cookbook pamphlet, printed in 1972, just a few years after the museum was founded to preserve the history of New York's port (which is more important in understanding the city's -- and nation's history -- than one might think).

Mocha and Spice Chest 3 Layer Cake:
http://www.acakebakesinbrooklyn.com/2010/01/birthday-cake.html
Canada War Cake:
http://www.acakebakesinbrooklyn.com/2010/01/canada-war-cake.html

Pumpkin Pie Squares

I'm a pumpkin pie purist, but there's real appeal in these over-the-top Pumpkin Pie Squares.
For one, you needn't mess with a pie crust and for less work, you can serve a lot more hungry family members at Thanksgiving.  The recipe says this makes 12 portions, but you can easily feed 20 folks, it's so rich and sweet.  The three-layer dessert has a flour, butter and oatmeal crust; a pumpkin custard in the center, all covered with a praline-like topping. (That's the over-the-top part.)

I found this recipe in a large collection from Missouri -- I suspect it dates from the 1950s or so. Back when a can of pumpkin puree was 16 ounces.  Nowadays, most cans contain just 15 ounces.  So while the "supersize me" movement continues in fast food, the "shrink me and hope the consumer won't notice" movement is happening at the grocery store.  But don't worry, because at least in this case, 15 ounces of pumpkin is fine in this recipe.

Prepare the crust first -- I used a food processor to cut the butter (oleo, called for in the recipe, is short for oleomargarine, but I wouldn't use margarine in this) into the dry ingredients.  Press the crust into the pan (I lined it with foil for ease of clean-up -- thanks, Mom!), using your fingers.

While the crust is baking, prepare the pumpkin custard.

You can create mosaics with the sugar and spices (before dumping them in the liquid), if you feel that creative urge take over.

I baked the center about five minutes longer than called for in the recipe, removed the pan from the oven and then sprinkled the topping over the custard.  Don't cut when it's fresh from the oven.  Let it sit awhile.  And then, dig in.  Delish!

Cocoa Apple Cake

What a perfect, yet unusual, combination -- fresh apples, cocoa and chocolate.  And autumn is the perfect time to make this delicious cake, for apples are in season and chocolate always is.

Fresh apple cakes have been popular for decades -- I have about a dozen hand-written recipes in my collection, dating from about 1900 onward.  There are also a lot of applesauce cakes, a genre invented, I suppose, as a way to use the canned surplus from the apple harvest (and only recently co-opted as a way to bake with less fat, as in replace the butter with applesauce).

Out of all my recipes, I chose this one just out of curiosity: would this odd combo work?  The verdict: yes, and very well.  And even better the second day.

Let's get started.  Chop the apples into a small dice; don't worry if the the pieces aren't uniform.

This is a beautiful, smooth batter, until . . .

The chopped apples, nuts and chocolate chips are added.

The recipe, below, is unusual too.  In some ways, it's quite detailed (ingredient amounts, method) but then it fails to mention which cake pan to use (I used a 10" tube pan) or a baking time estimate (I baked it about 45 minutes).
Enjoy!

Biscuit Amnesia

You know you bake a lot when you can't recall making the exact same recipe for the same guests just a few months apart.

On Saturday, we had a last minute impromptu family (and children's friends) dinner, and I was delighted to come across a hand-typed recipe card for baking powder biscuits thinking I could whip these up for dinner (and later, my blog).

DD, left, and DS, right, enjoy some biscuits with DS's friend Ben (who just got into medical school -- congrats Ben!)

So I snapped a couple of pictures before these were gobbled up, but when I sat down to write the post I realized I had made these for DD and her boyfriend, the "evacuees" we sheltered during Hurricane Irene in August.   I called them Drizzle Biscuits, because the storm in Brooklyn was just that.

But since these are quite good biscuits and can be made while entertaining a kitchen full of guests, wine glass in hand, I thought I'd post them again. I have a dozen or so recipes for biscuits, but I guess this one keeps calling my name because it has the highest fat content (and that's a good thing).  Too bad it doesn't make them unforgettable!

Check out the vintage handmade biscuit cozy (top picture) I purchased at a stoop sale a while back.  What a clever and ingenious way to showcase biscuits (and keep them warm at the same time).

Grandmother's Ice Cream Cookies

I wish these were as marvelous as they sound.  But instead of being "lovely for afternoon tea" as described in the recipe, the cookies tasted like, well, a cow pasture.  And I know the culprit -- farm fresh butter that turned out to be a *bit* too assertive for the recipe.

I love butter to the point that in Paris, for example, I spend as much time in fromageries buying butter as in museums looking at art.

But this particular butter (purchased at the wonderful Saxelby's in the Essex Market) while delicious on bread, did not work in these shortbread-like cookies where butter is the star. I wanted to taste sunshine and cream; instead the flavor was of damp meadow grass.

Ironically, this is probably exactly what these cookies tasted like to Grandmother, who surely used farm fresh butter in baking.

The recipe is from Mrs. Osborn's Cakes of Quality, published in 1919.   Those who want to try this, using a mild but good butter (Plugra, for example), will find that the dough is too soft to knead.  I just formed it into a circle and placed between waxed paper in the fridge for a few minutes, before fitting it into a 9-inch cake pan and baking. Next, invite the grandchildren over for some cookies and ice cream.

Mom's Devils Food Cake with Chocolate Mocha Icing

After my last chocolate cake disaster, I decided to get right back on the horse. Plus, I was visiting my mother and wanted to make her something sweet.  And very chocolate-y.

Because I was in Akron, with no bodega nearby for last minute supplies, I ended up combining two recipes (found in the cookbook below):  Mom's Chocolate Cake and Devil's Food Cake, taking the best of each (based, of course, on what was in the pantry).   Both were easy -- and very, very good.  As an added bonus, there wasn't a "cake slide," i.e., the cake stayed put on the plate.

 

Even though the cake batter at first will seem too crumbly, it will smooth out after the liquid is added. (When adding liquid and dry ingredients alternately, always start and finish with the dry ingredients.)

This is a very thick cake batter, and once you spoon it into the pan, you'll need to spread it using a knife or offset spatula until the batter covers the bottom of the pan.  Don't worry if it's not perfect -- the heat of the oven will smooth it out.

The frosting is so old-fashioned as to have a raw egg yolk as an ingredient.  Be not afraid.  Use the yolk, as it adds a certain richness that can't be achieved any other way.  I only use organic eggs, from chickens that are named on the carton (only kidding about that last one, but do buy local eggs laid by non-caged birds, for both safety and taste reasons).  I made the frosting as directed, and left the cake unrefrigerated for a few days; no one felt any ill effects, other than pants fitting a bit too snugly.

The best thing about baking a cake is sharing it with friends and family.  Below, from left, Aunt Toots, Cousin Debbie, Mother Bee and Debbie's Friend Jay.

Mom's Devils Food Cake
1/2 c. butter
2 c. flour
1 1/4 c. sugar
2 eggs
1/2 c. cocoa powder
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 c. milk
1 tsp. vanilla

Cream butter and sugar.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition.  Sift together cocoa, flour, salt and baking soda; add alternately with milk to creamed mixture.  Add vanilla extract.
Pour into 2 greased and floured eight or nine inch pans.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes.  Cool and remove from pans.

Chocolate Icing
1 box powdered sugar
2 sq. bitter (unsweetened) chocolate
1/3 stick butter
1 egg yolk
1 tsp. vanilla
cold coffee

Melt chocolate and butter together.  Add to all other ingredients.  Add coffee until desired thickness.