L asked me to make Smitten Kitchen’s Pistachio Petit-Four Cake for her sweet 16. I’ve never made a cake this complicated (actually, strike that, I probably have) that uses so many different ingredients and requires such an exacting touch. I can’t believe I finished it, marzipan roses and all. L makes the prettiest roses with fondant. I hope she likes these!

We’ll need to have very small pieces of this cake. It is incredibly rich and sweet. Can’t wait to taste it tonight after the song has been sung, the wishes have been wished, and the candles are blown out. I can’t believe she’s 16 already. Sniff, sniff.

I’m not a big Valentine’s Day celebrant. You should definitely treat every day as one to express your love, I think. Still, the food on Valentine’s Day is great and I’m never one to ignor a chance to bake something special. I made these mini strawberry eclairs today for staff appreciation day at L’s school. Parents bring in treats for the staff at her school on Valentine’s Day every year. A great tradition.

These are not gluten free, but could easily have been if I had made a GF choux pastry (like in the post I just did) and used a corn starch based pastry cream. With these, I just made a typical choux pastry (1 cup water, 1 stick unsalted butter, pinch salt, 1 cup flour, 5 eggs), piped it in 3-inch (or so) lines using a 1/2-inch pastry tip onto a parchment covered pan, and baked it at 400 degrees for 20-ish minutes. That simple recipe made a LOT of little eclair shells (45+). Then I made a pastry cream and lightened it with whipped cream. Chopped up some strawberries. Put it all together and VOILA. Actually, it was a lot of steps and took a while, but it was pretty easy and fun. I used white cupcake papers to make the eclairs easier to keep separate and easier to grab, and it looked kind of professional that way.

They taste like little, light strawberry shortcakes. Scrumptious.

Now, what do I make for the family? Something chocolate, I would imagine. I wonder if my old standby hot chocolate cake recipe would work with GF Flour? Hmmmmm. {YES it worked perfectly! I actually made 1/2 the recipe, since there are only 4 of us – I even wasted, which I hate doing, 1 egg white and half an egg yolk so that I could put in 1/2 an egg yolk. Girls were so surprised and very, very pleased. We love this cake.}

I’ve been trying my hand at lots of gluten free baked goods using regular recipes with a gluten free flour mix. Many have been very successful. Today, I made a chou paste – using a very traditional ratio (I actually halved the usual recipe – so I used 1/2 stick butter, 1/2 cup water, 1/2 cup gf flour mix and 3 eggs) . It needed slightly more egg than I thought it would – a full 3 large eggs, versus 2 1/2 that I think I would have used if using regular flour). 400 degrees for 23 minutes or so. Delicious.

J is soooo happy.

Since J is now gluten-free, I have not been baking as much. That is with the exception of helping L with her big bake sale at school, and making gluten-free cake and cupcakes (from a very delicious, homemade-tasting King Arthur Mix for Gluten Free Chocolate Cake) for various gatherings so the J can be included in dessert….O.K., I guess I’ve still been baking. Nonetheless, I have not fully accepted the gluten-free baking challenge.

Then, I had an abundance of Meyer lemons because I joined a CSA and we got several Meyers as part of our weekly box, two weeks in a row. Citrus is something that we have a ton of at our house, but I don’t feel compelled to use it all up because I pick oranges and lemons and limequats as needed from the trees right outside my kitchen. The CSA Meyer lemons, however, were calling to me and once off the tree, this variety spoils fairly quickly. They are delicate.

I decided to make a Gluten Free Meyer Lemon Tart, using recipes from a bunch of different places. I’m not sure I could even re-create it, but I’d want to try, because it was pretty delicious.

Here is what I did. I made the tart shell from Dorie Greenspan’s book “Baking”, but instead of flour I used an equivalent amount of the Gluten Free flour mix from the blog “The Art of Gluten Free Baking”, which was recommended to me by my friend, Laura, who writes the blog “Tiramisu”. The tart crust came out very well, though it had a little grittiness, which is typical of some gluten free baked goods, I’ve found. I guess that has to do with how fine the rice flour is ground. The flavor, however, was perfect – and I suspected the texture would be offset by the lemon filling and the meringue, which it was.

Next up, I didn’t want the ultra-richness of a lemon curd, but also didn’t want the almost gelatin-like corn-starchy thickness of some lemon meringue pies. I settled on making 3/5-2/3 of the lemon filling (using 3/5 or 2/3 of the ingredients – depending on what the amounts were) in the recipe for lemon meringue pie in Fine Cooking. I also added quite significantly more Meyer lemon rind and juice – about 1 1/2 Tbsp. rind and 1/3+ cup of Meyer lemon juice (in other words, I used the full amounts of those ingredients). The additional juice added flavor and made the texture a little thinner, but it still cut beautifully. This lemon curd was the right amount for spreading in the tart, but would have been too little for a pie. The filling needed to set, so I let it sit for a few hours. Obviously, I didn’t use the gingersnap crumbs that are called for in the Fine Cooking recipe. They weren’t allowed for a gluten free tart and also weren’t necessary since I used a more cookie-like crust.

Finally, I made a traditional Swiss meringue as indicated in the Fine Cooking recipe, but I again reduced the amount: 3 egg whites (from the 3 yolks I used in the lemon filling), 1/2 cup regular granulated sugar, 1/4 tsp. cream of tartar and 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract. It wasn’t a generous amount on the tart, but that meant it wasn’t overwhelmingly sweet, either – a good thing!

All-in-all, a very successful first attempt and, most importantly, J loved it and nobody felt like they were eating a strange concoction.

L made these beauties, with a little help from Mom, for a bake sale that she is running to raise money for a community service project that she is doing in Costa Rica this summer. She will be adding a new classroom onto an existing school in a rural town.

We collaberated on this recipe together to try and minimize the work to make chocolate covered marshmallows. L used the delicious marshmallow recipe from Epicurious, and added melted dark chocolate that we mixed with a little corn syrup. L had wanted to make chocolate dipped marshmallows, but that would have been incredibly time consuming. By folding in the chocolate just before putting the mixture in the pan, she got its intensity of flavor with the mellow marshmallow, without the fuss, AND is selling an amazing looking, unique treat. They are gluten-free. They taste fabulous.

Hope they sell! She also made mini chocolate cupcakes, chocolate chip cookies, world peace cookies and snickerdoodles. A friend is making brownies. The whole school will be on a sugar high, but for a very good cause.

This week, we only have 4 nights at home. And, S will be away for 2 of them.

Here is the plan:

Monday: frittata with sausage, potatoes, onions and tomatoes; salad
Tuesday: Steak, spinach, asparagus, potatoes, salad
Wednesday: Pasta TBD
Thursday: Leftover delight (we had a roast chicken on Sunday and there are sure to be other leftovers)

One of the keys that I’ve recently found in making cookie squares/bars is to line the baking dish with foil and then spray the foil with non-stick spray. I didn’t do this in the past and always had a few squares that were sacrificed in the cutting and removing from the dish. Actually, that wasn’t a problem, since the ugly ones taste the same as the pretty ones. However, it really is easier and we bought a big mandoline a few years ago for chopping and it makes the perfect tool for cutting cookie bars. The squares come out quite beautifully.

Best Ever Lemon Squares

makes 24

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour, sifted
1/2 cup granulated sugar
14 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted (1 stick plus 6 Tbsp.)

4 eggs
2 cups granulated sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 cup flour
3/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2 Tbsp. lemon zest

Confectioner’s sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9 X 13″ metal pan with foil – length-wise and width-wise. Spray lined pan with non-stick cooking spray, or butter the foil.

In a medium bowl, stir together the 2 1/4 cups flour and the 1/2 cup granulated sugar. Add the melted butter and stir in, until well mixed. Sprinkle the mixture evenly into the prepared pan, then pat it down to form the crust. Using the bottom of a glass to pat it into the pan works well. Bake in the preheated oven for about 22-25 minutes, until the crust is a golden brown. Make sure that the crust looks cooked – you don’t want it to be under-done.

While the crust is cooking, make the lemon filling. In a large bowl, beat the eggs with an electric beater until light in color. In a small bowl, whisk together the sugar, baking powder and 1/4 cup of flour until there are no flour lumps. Stir the sugar mixture into the eggs. Stir the lemon juice into the egg/sugar mixture. Then stir in the lemon zest. Pour over the crust when it comes out of the oven and is still warm.

Return the pan to the oven for an additional 40 minues, or until the bars are set. Cool completely

To cut the lemon squares, lift the foil from the pan and place onto a cutting board. Remove the foil from the edges of the lemon squares before you cut – if for some reason the foil has stuck to the bars (likely), slice very close to the edge of the bars (this actually gives you a very nice edge all around). Then, slice the bars into 24 pieces (6 on the long side, 4 on the short side), using a long, thin knife (dipped in water, if necessary, to prevent sticking).

Sift confectioner’s sugar over the tops of the bars just before serving.

It seems that I’ve been baking a lot lately. And, I’m not just baking. Really, I’m cooking too. Taking some pictures, not enough. I made Bahn Mi on Monday night using this recipe, but I replaced the pork with boneless, skinless chicken thighs, and we use avocado instead of pate (I’m not a liver lover). I also broiled the chicken, in the same way that I broil the chicken for Teriyaki. I also made the version of Shrimp Saganaki that I posted about last year, for L’s birthday. I made Zuni Chicken with Bread Salad last week, and I used a pasture raised chicken that I bought at the Farmer’s Market. The oven needed to be cleaned after that dish, but we did enjoy the chicken and salad immensely.

A couple of weeks ago, I made a brisket using beer and barbeque sauce instead of wine and tomatoes. It was delicious! I took no photos and didn’t write down what I did for replication, but this is approximately what I did: 5 lb. brisket (seasond with salt, pepper, garlic powder overnight), 1 bottle of Anchor Steam, 1/2 of an 18 oz. bottle of TJ’s Barbeque Sauce, sear meat, add beer and barbeque sauce, bake, covered, at 300 for 4 hours, rest meat, slice, add back to pot with more sauce. Reheat, uncovered, at 350 for 1/2 hour. Served with corn, potato salad and steamed/buttered carrots. A big hit. Grandma and WG had leftovers to take home for a couple of nights of dinner. So easy.

And, even farther back, I made a wonderful pork shoulder roast with Asian spices. I used this recipe from Fine Cooking, but substituted, loosely, the Chinese Five Spice Rub also from Fine Cooking (for some reason I can’t copy the link). Oh, boy. A seriously rich and delicious preparation.

Nonetheless, the baking is what is fun for me right now. And, I’ve been a little bit obsessed with bundt cakes. Don’t ask me why. I have no idea. Maybe it is because we watched “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” (and strangely enough, I had made a chocolate bundt cake that day not knowing we’d see the move). Or, maybe it is because I’m looking for easy cake recipes that don’t call for creaming butter and sugar. We’ve enjoyed applesauce cake with caramel glaze, as well as a great chocolate bundt cake where I used the recipe for the glaze from here and the recipe for the cake from here. Actually, the recipe for the cake is from my old standby “Hershey’s Make It Chocolate!” cookbook, but the recipe isn’t on the Hershey’s site. Additionally, I tried a delicious recipe from a kids’ cookbook that I took out of J’s school library called “Baking Kids Love” by Cindy Mushet. There are some great looking baked goods in this cookbook – all very accessible. Being pumpkin bread AND gingerbread lovers, the recipe for Pumpkin Gingerbread practically sang out of the book to me. I had to make it immediately – which I did. First time, I forgot to add the water. So before the cake was out of the oven, I had put together a second batch (but I used about 3/4 cup pumpkin and 1/4 cup applesauce because that is what I had left of the can of pumpkin from the first try). The second cake came out perfectly. But, truth be told, the first one was pretty good! And, I put on a maple glaze (powdered sugar mixed with maple syrup). Winner!

Finally, since we have a lot of lemons on our tree right now, I decided to make a lemon bundt cake. It was not easy to find the right recipe that combined ease of preparation (no creaming of butter and sugar) without using a cake mix. I finally did a search on “lemon bundt cake oil” and found a slew of recipes that called for olive oil. Since the cake baking has really been for the benefit of Grandma, who has a serious sweet tooth, but does not like olive oil, I decided that I could substitute corn oil. Good color, mild flavor. I upped the lemon rind to 2 lemons worth to make sure that the cake was lemony enough. The recipe I chose was from here and I added a simple glaze made with about 1 cup powdered sugar combined with some lemon juice (I just kept adding juice until I got the right consistency). I found that there was too much batter for my bundt pan, so I made four cupcakes with the extra batter (great for “poison testing”). This recipe is light, sweet, tender and delicious. The lemon flavor is more than delicate, but not tart and not assertive like in a cake that has been brushed with lemon syrup. The only concession that I made to ease of preparation is that the eggs are separated in this cake – the whipped whites are folded in at the end. No big deal. I think Grandma will really like it.

What next?!

I made an “Italian Almond Cake” for a dinner this week that was a total flop. I grabbed it off the web because it looked like it was quick and easy and a friend that I hadn’t seen in a long time was coming over for dinner at the spur of the moment. The cake was pretty, and flavorful, but very dense….and, I will admit, a little undercooked in the center. Yuck.

Of course, this inspired me to try my own spin on the cake. Yesterday, also pressed for time, I experimented and today, I tried again. The batter lies somewhere between a madeleine, a genoise and a sponge cake. I looked it all up after I finished. Whatever it is, it is tasty. Nice with a cup of coffee or tea. And, it is very, very quick and easy to make.

Quick Almond Raspberry Baby Cakes

makes 24 baby cakes

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
3 extra large eggs, room temperature (to do this quickly, put eggs in hot tap water for a few minutes)
1 cup granulated sugar, plus about 2 tsp. for sprinkling
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp. pure almond extract
1 1/4 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
Sliced almonds
fresh or frozen raspberries

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 2 cupcake (24) tins with baking spray (I use one that has flour in it).

2) In a large bowl, beat together the eggs and the sugar on high speed until light and frothy – about 1-2 minutes. Stir in the extracts.

3) Sift together the flour and baking powder. Sprinkle over the egg/sugar mixture and fold in until there are no lumps. Pour in the melted butter and fold that in until there are no streaks of butter.

4) Distribute the batter in the tins – about 1 heaping tablespoonful per cake. Put a raspberry in the center of each cake. Sprinkle with slivered almonds. Sprinkle with a little bit of granulated sugar.

5) Bake for about 12 minutes at 350 degrees, until pale golden on the edges and the top. Remove pans from the oven and cool the cakes in the pan for 10 minutes before removing them and placing them on a cooling rack to cool completely. They also taste pretty good a little warm!

Monday: Spaghetti and Meatballs
Tuesday: Lentil Soup with Kielbasa, bread or rolls
Wednesday: Petrale Sole Meuniere, Israeli couscous, green beans, salad
Thursday: Quiche, salad
Friday: out
Saturday: out (girls will fix themselves something)
Sunday: BBQ chicken (oven), salad, veggies (TBD), cornbread, special dessert (TBD)