Bouquets of Freshly Sharpened Pencils

One chapter of this summer is closing.  My parents have just left after their annual visit to Alaska.  Another chapter is opening, though;  tomorrow I start rehearsals for On Golden Pond.  I always think of the first day of rehearsals like the first day of school:  anything can happen.  There is anticipation mixed with a little dread.  My evenings and Saturday afternoons will no longer be my own, there will be drama (hopefully mostly) onstage, but a little offstage as well.  It's inevitable.  The goal is that at the end we will have something wonderful.

The late, wonderful Nora Ephron wrote a great line that Tom Hanks writes to Meg Ryan in You've Got Mail.  He refers to the beginning of the school year in New York and says that if he could, "I would send you bouquets of freshly sharpened pencils."  I love that line.  It speaks of the same optimism with which I start the rehearsal process whenever I direct.

It's funny, but I never use pencils--except when I direct.  The notes I write for my actors, to be given at the end of rehearsals, are always in pencil.  The stage manager always writes notes in pencil in the script, so they can be changed at any time.  Theatre is a constantly evolving process, a living thing.

Tomorrow the cast will sit together for the first time and read through the script.  Several of them have never met, but they will spend much of the next ten weeks together. 

In honor of the occasion, I am bringing them these brownies.  They have great texture and a sweetness that I hope the twelve-year-old in the cast will love, but I made them with a combination of Ghirardelli and Guittard chocolates, which I hope the adults will appreciate.

The next time I make these, I will cut back the granulated sugar to 3/4 cup.  If you like a slightly less sweet brownie, I recommend this adaptation.

Rocky Road Brownies

Adapted from Fat Witch Brownies by Patricia Helding

6 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 oz. unsweetened chocolate (I used Ghirardelli)

1/4 semisweet chocolate chips (I used Guittard wafers, chopped)

1 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. salt

1/3 cup butterscotch chips

1 cup mini marshmallows

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and spritz a 9 by 9 baking pan with nonstick spray with flour.

In a small saucepan, melt together the butter, unsweetened chocolate and two tablespoons of the semisweet chocolate over medium heat.  As soon as all the ingredients are melted, remove the mixture from the heat and set aside.

In a medium bowl, beat together the sugar and eggs until they are light and slightly foamy.  Add the chocolate mixture and then sift in the flour and salt.  Beat the mixture again until just combined.

Spread half the batter in the pan and bake for about 12 minutes.  While this is baking, add the butterscotch chips, marshmallows and remaining semisweet chocolate to the batter and stir together.  Remove the pan from the oven and spread the remainder of the batter over the bottom layer.  Bake for about 15-18 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.  Some of the marshmallows may burst and spread goo over the brownies;  don't worry, this just makes them tastier.

Cool the brownies for an hour on a wire rack.  Makes 12 to 16, depending on size.

Start with the Basics

I've been in the casting process this week for the next play I'm directing, On Golden Pond.  Do you know the movie?  It had Katharine Hepburn and Henry Fonda as a couple in their late 70s who return to the same rural cabin in Maine every summer that they bought when they were newly married.  That's really about it for the plot, except for a subplot concerning their adult daughter and her difficult relationship with her father.

The movie came out when I was nine or ten, and I loved it.  What nine-year-old loves On Golden Pond?  I think mostly it was because I was obsessed with Katharine Hepburn.  As an aside, do you know if you type the name "Katharine" into Google, the first entry is for Katharine McPhee, who was on American Idol, and not Katharine Hepburn?  That just seems wrong.

Most people are nervous when they come audition.  The thing they don't know is that I'm nervous, too, because I really want to find the right people. 

It's a little like having the right ingredients--if the basics are solid, it's much harder to screw up the end product.

This month's Cake Slice pick didn't initially interest me--a loaf cake of frozen mousse sandwiched with chocolate wafers.  However, the mousse is simple and delicious.  I made a few adaptations to use coffee rather than espresso beans, and Kahlua rather than Frangelico because I don't think I've ever had Frangelico in the house.

We served it for the Bastille Day dinner, and it was delicious.  Better yet, I was able to make it a day ahead of time and didn't have to worry about it the day of the dinner party.

Frozen White Chocolate-Espresso Loaf Cake

Adapted from The Cake Book  by Tish Boyle

1/4 cup water

1 1/2 tsp. powdered gelatin

2 1/4 cups heavy cream

1/3 cup ground coffee

9 oz. good-quality white chocolate chips (I used Ghirardelli)

2 tsp. vanilla

1 tbsp. Kahlua liqueur

Nabisco chocolate wafers

Line a large loaf pan with plastic wrap, ensuring that the ends of the wrap hang out of the pan.

To make the mousse, pour the water in a small coffee cup and sprinkle the powdered gelatin over it.  Let it sit for five minutes.  In the interim, make a small sachet out of cheesecloth (I used an old linen tea towel) and put the ground coffee in it.  Place the sachet and 1/2 cup of the cream in a small saucepan.  Bring the cream to a boil, then remove the pan from the heat and set it aside for at least fifteen minutes.

Place the coffee cup in the bottom of another small saucepan or skillet and add water until it comes halfway up the side of the cup.  Bring the water to the boil and stir the gelatin until it is totally dissolved.  Then turn off the heat and set the pan aside.

Remove the coffee sachet from the cream, squeezing it to release excess liquid.  Put the saucepan back on the heat and let it come to a boil.  Put the chocolate in a medium bowl, then pour the hot cream and gelatin over it.  Whisk the hot liquid into the chocolate until it is completely melted, then whisk in the vanilla and Kahlua. 

Let the chocolate mixture cool.  Then pour the remainder of the cream in a medium bowl and whip it to the soft peak stage using a hand mixer on medium speed.  Fold in the white chocolate mixture in three installments.

To make the cake, pour about one and a half cups of the mousse over the bottom of the loaf pan and smooth it.  Spread one of the chocolate wafers with a dollop of the mousse and press it against the long side of the pan.  Continue placing the chocolate wafers in rows in this same manner--you may need to break wafers in half to get to the end of the pan. 

When you put the second row in, make sure the wafers are sandwiched against the first row.  Continue until you have put it as many rows as possible, then carefully pour the remaining mousse in and spread it evenly.  Cover the pan with plastic wrap, ensuring that it is touching the mousse.  Freeze for at least four hours, or overnight.

To unmold, lift the edges of the plastic wrap.  Cut into 3/4 inch slices and allow them to stand a few minutes at room temperature before serving.

Makes approximately ten slices.

Bastille Day

Thanks to everyone who entered the olive oil giveaway last week.  After searching for a random number generator, I found one on random.org--who knew there even was such a site?  The winner is Nami from the terrific blog Just One Cookbook.



Yes, we have a French flag. 
David is obsessed with flags.

My friends Scott and Kathy used to celebrate Bastille Day every year--sadly, they've deserted Alaska and moved to Kentucky, but this year David and I hosted a small Bastille Day dinner to keep the tradition strong.

Since it's been chilly and rainy here in Anchorage, David made Julia Child's beef bourguignon and ratatouille, and I whipped up a frozen white chocolate mousse dessert (coming Friday!) and some savory madeleines.

You read that right.  Savory madeleines. My mouth waters just thinking about them.

We had two couples over for dinner, so David proposed that I halve the original recipe because two madeleines per person sounded like enough.  I refused, which was the right decision.  These little suckers are good, and there wasn't a leftover madeleine to be had.

If you don't have a madeleine pan lying around, the recipe suggested a mini muffin tin--not a bad idea, though obviously not as pretty.

Make sure that your pear is really ripe--mine was not quite there, and had less flavor as a result.

Blue Cheese, Pear and Hazelnut Madeleines
Adapted from Chocolate & Zucchini by Clotilde Dusoulier

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 tbsp. baking powder

3 large eggs

1/2 tsp. sea salt

3/4 tsp. fresh-ground black pepper

2 tbsp. olive oil

1/2 cup buttermilk

3 oz. blue cheese, finely crumbled

1 ripe pear, cored and diced

1/3 hazelnuts, chopped

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Whisk together the flour and baking powder in a small bowl and set aside.  In a larger bowl, whisk together the eggs, salt and pepper, then add the buttermilk, oil and crumbled cheese.

Whisk the dry mixture into the wet one until just combined, then fold in the pear and hazelnuts.

Spritz your madeleine pan thoroughly with baking spray with flour, and then fill the molds two-thirds of the way full with batter.

Bake for about sixteen to eighteen minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into one of them comes out clean.  Cool for a few minutes on a baking rack before unmolding.

Makes twenty-four madeleines. 



Apron Anxiety

It's always interesting when food bloggers reach national  prominence.  Some of them rise to the top by just being great writers who cook appealing and approachable food, a la Orangette or Pioneer Woman, both of whom seem to be universally loved in the food blogging community.  And then there are the ones who irk most food bloggers, like Julie Powell.

I can't decide how I feel about Alyssa Shelasky, a/k/a Apron Anxiety, who has a sassy personality and a girlfriend's gift of flowing gab but who is also well-connected and sometimes feels as if she is name dropping.  A former writer for People Magazine who finagled a meeting with a Top Chefs contestant on whom she had a crush, she transplanted her life from NYC to Washington, D.C. (a place she labeled provincial) to she could live with him.

If D.C. is provincial, I can't imagine what she'd think of Alaska.

When she has too much time between freelance assignments, Alyssa teaches herself to cook.  The blog is a mishmash of fun photos (mostly not taken by her), coy storytelling in which she omits nearly everything about her personal life (as if she were saving it for the book) and the occasional recipe.  It's fun, but you wouldn't learn a lot about cooking from it.

The book gives the juicy details of her "relationchef" (relationship with a chef)--his name is Spike, and I have to confess that I don't have cable so don't have a clue who he is.  There are also more details about learning to cook, and I'm not going to lie--it's a fast, fun read, but I really wondered whether she would have received a book deal if she hadn't had her connections.  It's what I would call a good airplane read, but she's like the friend of your spouse that you're glad you only have to see once a year.  She wears out her welcome.

I will credit her blog, though, for leading me to the recipe for Fat Witch's white chocolate raspberry brownies, which are the perfect blend of fruit and chocolate.  They are sticky, and the white chocolate chips drifted to the bottom and stuck, but they are completely delicious.

Any idea how to keep chips suspended in batter as the brownies bake? 

White Chocolate-Raspberry Brownies

Adapted from Fat Witch Brownies by Patricia Helding

14 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened

1/4 cup milk chocolate, chopped or in chip form

1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp. bittersweet chocolate, chopped or in chip form

4 large eggs

1 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 cup plus 1 tbsp. all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 cup white chocolate chips

1/2 cup raspberry preserves, heated slightly to make it spreadable

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Prepare a 9 by 9 baking pan either by buttering it or thoroughly spritzing it with a baking spray with flour.

Using a double boiler or a small metal bowl over simmering water, melt the butter, milk and bittersweet chocolate.  Set aside the mixture to cool.

Whisk together the eggs, sugar and vanilla in a medium bowl, then whisk in the butter/chocolate combination.

Sift together the flour and salt into the mixing bowl, when stir thoroughly to combine.  Add the white chocolate chips and then stir again.

Pour half the batter into the pan, then do your best to spread the preserves over the batter--mine wanted to clump.  Then add the other half of the batter, smooth it so it's even and bake for about 35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Cool on a baking rack.  Makes 12 good-size brownies.

This One's For You

Friday night, David and I went to a memorial service for a friend and former colleague who died in his mid-40s of natural causes.  Darryl was a prankster, an inveterate giver of advice (I remember him giving me dating advice circa 2005), and someone who loved to eat and drink.  He would have loved people getting together to raise a glass and tell funny stories about him--it's just a shame he couldn't be there to see it.

On a less somber note, it was a weekend filled with mostly great, sunny weather and friends.  My very first boyfriend from high school came through with his family after disembarking from an Alaskan cruise and we met them for dinner.  We also went to a fun potluck at our friends Arundel and John's, to which I took these brownies.



Brownies day 1, fresh out of the oven.



I know everyone swears they have the best brownie recipe, but I submit this one for your consideration.  I call them the "World's Best Brownies," which is probably an exaggeration, but they are simple, adaptable to mix-in ingredients and utterly delicious.



On the first day, the brownies have a slightly flaky crust and a cakelike texture.  On the second day, the crust disappears and the brownies become denser and fudgier.  I made them late Friday night and by Saturday evening they were at their best. 

I used hazelnuts in this recipe, but walnuts, chocolate chips or toffee bits would also be great mix-ins.  Darryl would have scarfed about three of these.  Darryl, this one's for you.

Ultimate Chocolate-Hazelnut Brownies

Adapted from Fat Witch Brownies by Patricia Helding

14 tbsp. unsalted butter, cubed
1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp. bittersweet chocolate chunks or chips
1 heaping cup granulated sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
1/2 cup hazelnuts, coarsely chopped
Pinch of salt


Brownies, day 2--look how fudgy they are!

 Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Spray a 9 x 9 square baking pan with baking spray with flour, or butter and flour it.

Using a double boiler, melt the butter and chocolate over low heat until melted, then allow to cool.

Using a hand mixer, beat together the sugar, eggs and vanilla until just combined, then beat in the cooled chocolate.

Sift the flour and salt together in a small bowl, then add to the chocolate mixture.  Beat the mixture until well-combined, then stir in the hazelnuts.

Spread the batter in the pan and bake for 30 to 33 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Allow them to cool for an hour, if you can--David was into them at the half-hour mark and they were still great.

Makes 12 good-sized brownies.

We're Having a Heat Wave

I grew up in Nebraska, where it was not unusual for it to reach 100 degrees in the summer.  There's a song my mother used to sing:  "We're having a heat wave, a tropical heat wave."  Anyone know that song?

Flash forward twenty years, where it hit 75 degrees in Anchorage on Sunday night and the air was thick and humid in preparation for some serious rain.  Mosquitoes swirled about the yard and David and I started to complain about how hot it was.  So what did we decide to do?  Run the oven cleaner.  The temperature on the lower level of the house rose another ten degrees.  (In my defense, I'm not a total whiner.  This inability to handle heat happens to everyone who moves to Alaska.  I lived in New Orleans for four years, and I once lived in an apartment in St. Paul, Minnesota with no air conditioning and the temperature regularly hit 95-100 that summer).

So of course I decided to frost a cake.  Seriously intelligent move.  I had to move the cake out of the kitchen to prevent frosting from melting down its sides.

I'm back on schedule with the Cake Slice group this month, after having been on vacation for May's cake pick.  In the interest of full disclosure, this cake should have a layer of pudding between the two layers.  This pudding, logically enough, required heavy cream.  And here is the joy of living in Alaska:  the large, normally decently-stocked grocery store near my home had no heavy cream on Sunday afternoon.  Zip.  None.  Nada.  So I doubled the frosting and skipped the pudding.

Omitting that step saved a lot of time, and judging from the comments of some of my fellow bakers, some serious angst;  apparently it was hard to keep the layers from sliding when the pudding was sandwiched between them.

This version requires less than an hour of active time, and is seriously, deeply chocolatey, not too sweet and with just a hint of coffee.   Even though I'm not much of a chocolate person (gasp!), I loved it. 

Brooklyn Blackout Cake

Adapted from The Cake Book by Tish Boyle

For the cake:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup dark cocoa powder

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

1 3/4 cups granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1 egg yolk
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
2 tsp. vanilla
1 cup hot brewed coffee (I used a Starbucks Via packet in 8 oz. of hot water--worked like a charm)

For the frosting:
8 oz. unsweetened chocolate, roughly chopped
22(!) tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
3 cups powdered sugar
4 tsp. vanilla

Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat it to 350 degrees.  Spray two 9-inch cake pans with baking spray with flour and set aside.

Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt into the bowl of your stand mixer, if you have one, or a large bowl if you're using a hand mixer.  Whisk in the granulated sugar and set the bowl on the stand mixer.

Whisk together the eggs, egg yolk, buttermilk, melted butter and vanilla in a medium bowl.  Put the stand mixer (or hand mixer) on low speed and slowly drizzle the wet ingredients into the coca mixture.  Scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl and ensure that it is well-mixed.  Then add the coffee, mixing until just blended.

Using a spatula, fold the mixture together to ensure that the ingredients on the bottom have been thoroughly mixed in;  when they have, divide the batter between the two cake pans and bake for thirty minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Cool the cakes on a baking rack while you prepare the frosting. 

Using a double boiler, melt the unsweetened chocolate over simmering water.  When the chocolate is melted, take it off the water and let it cool.

In the interim, using a stand or electric mixer, beat the butter until pale yellow and creamy--don't overbeat.  Add the powdered sugar and beat on medium speed until it is thoroughly combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl at the end.  Then add the chocolate and vanilla, and beat again until combined.

To assemble the cake, tip the cakes out from the cake pans.  You can leave a slight dome on the layer you designate for the top, but using a serrated knife even off the layer that will be on the bottom.  Then slice each layer in two.

Place the lower half of the bottom layer on the serving plate, then cover with a thin layer of the chocolate frosting.  Repeat with the remaining layers, then frost the sides and then the top of the cake, continuing to use the offset spatula. 

Serves 10 to 12, depending on how thickly you slice it.

When Life Gives You Lemons

Have you ever woken up in the morning with a feeling of dread that something bad was going to happen that day?  That was Saturday for me...and as it turns out, I was right.  But that's too long and hard a story to tell right now.  It's Monday, after all, and we all need to think about more cheerful things.

The table looked gorgeous--I had David and a long-unused set of china to thank for that.

Last week was a whirlwind of work and appointments--we leave on vacation in less than a week, and with a cat diagnosed with bronchitis, houseguests (who we were actually terribly happy to see), work up to my ears and a to-do list as long as my arm, I didn't even touch my blog for another week.

Which means that I am behind in telling you about good events, such as the tea party I threw a week ago yesterday.  You may remember that my friend Arlitia started an event called "Tea and Strumpets," which was really an excuse for a fascinating group of women to get together, eat baked goods and drink lots of tea. 

When Arlitia held the first one, she made two varieties of scones, tea sandwiches and set out what must have been twenty teas to choose from--I lacked her tea variety, but I was determined to make what I think of as proper tea accoutrement--whipped cream, lemon curd, berry sauce plus crumpets and scones.

The crumpets discussion will have to wait, because those suckers were finicky.  Let me tell you about the absolute hit of the party.

Lemon curd.

I love lemon curd, but who knew it was so popular?  It's also ridiculously easy to make, a gorgeous color and you should never buy the stuff again.  It would make a perfect holiday gift in beribboned jars.

Lemon Curd

Adapted from Gourmet Magazine, April 2001

2 tbsp. lemon zest, finely grated

Juice of four lemons (about 1 cup)

Pinch of sea salt

1 cup granulated sugar

4 large eggs

1 3/4 sticks unsalted butter, cut into small cubes

In a small, heavy pot, combine the lemon zest and juice, sea salt, sugar and eggs and whisk together thoroughly.  Turn the stove on low and add all the butter in one batch.  Cook, whisking frequently, until all the butter melts and the curd thickens.  Do not let it boil, but when the curd is thick enough that you can see the whisking marks, remove the curd from the heat and strain it through a fine sieve or cheesecloth.

Transfer the strained curd to a small bowl and press a piece of plastic wrap against the surface.  Chill until the curd is thoroughly cooled, about 45 minutes.

Makes about 2 1/2 cups curd.

Better than Starbucks

Yesterday I flew to St. Louis to attend my parents' retirement reception from the small university where they work.  They didn't know I was coming.

I am not normally given to springing huge surprises on people--but in this case it seems to have been very effective, particularly since I walked into the party accompanied by a six foot tall purple and white griffin, presumably beet red.  Did I also mention that despite my theatrical background, I am not given to grand entrances?

Before I rushed off on the redeye Wednesday night, I finished the cake for this month's Cake Slice bakers.  Reader, I have a confession:  I didn't even eat a full slice of it.  Not because the cake was bad, but because I failed to cut a slice and tuck it into my bag, where it would have been most welcome at 3 a.m. somewhere over Canada.

Although I loathe Starbucks on general principles, I will admit to a weakness for their reduced-fat cinnamon coffee cake.  It's tender with a big cinnamon streusel stripe through the middle of it.  This cake one-ups that by adding cardamom and orange zest.  It smelled heavenly out of the oven, and my lucky husband tells me that his colleagues ate this cake in a hot second yesterday. 

Cinnamon Swirl Buttermilk Pound Cake

Adapted from The Cake Book by Tish Boyle

For the streusel:

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

3 tbsp. salted butter, melted

For the cake:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup cake flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. kosher salt

1/4 tsp. cardamom, preferably freshly ground

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 3/4 cups granulated sugar

3 large eggs

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 tbsp. orange zest

1 cup buttermilk

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  Prepare a bundt pan by spraying it liberally with baking spray.

In a small bowl, combine the dry ingredients for the streusel with a fork.  Then add the melted butter--I found it worked easiest to mix it in with my fingers until it formed small clumps.

In a medium bowl, sift together the two flours, baking powder and soda, salt and cardamom. 

Using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until it is creamy and paler in color.  Add the granulated sugar in three installments, continuously beating on medium speed until all the sugar is incorporated.  Then add the eggs one at a time, beating well between each one.  Scrape down the bowl and then add the vanilla and orange zest.  Finally, turn the mixer to low and then add the flour mixture in three installments, alternating with the buttermilk.  Beat until just incorporated.

Pour half the batter into the bundt pan, then cover with the cinnamon streusel--it doesn't matter if the streusel layer is precisely even.  Then pour the remaining batter in, smoothing the top.

Bake until a skewer poked into the cake comes out clean, about 65 minutes.  Turn the cake out onto a baker's rack and allow to cool, or in my case, snap a quick picture and then run out the door for the airport.

Makes 12-16 small slices.

Two Anniversaries

David and I celebrated our third anniversary yesterday.  We didn't make a big deal out of it, other than going to the Crow's Nest, probably the best restaurant in Anchorage, for dinner.  And here we pause for a slight rant:  why would a top-quality restaurant oversalt its food?  I like salt as much as the next person, and it definitely has its place in seasoning and finishing food, but oversalting a high-quality pepper steak AND its side of wild mushrooms is insane.

And now we return to our previously scheduled programming.

This is also the 100th post on this blog.  If I were more organized today, I'd have a giveaway or something special planned.  Watch for that in the next post.

Tomorrow at sundown, Passover starts.  Since I haven't been home much this week, I still need to quarantine any products with chametz (breads, crackers, rice, beans, cereal, etc.)--anything with leavening or that puffs when it cooks.  

Passover seders are typically held the first and second nights, but due to some guests' scheduling quirks, we are holding ours on Sunday evening.  One of our guests is vegan and five are vegetarian.  It should be a fascinating menu--stay tuned on that too.

In the interest of clearing out some of the chametz before Passover, I give you this onion focaccia.  Made with some of the time-saving shortcuts I talked about here, this takes less than fifteen minutes of active time and may have been the best focaccia yet. 

It's just the right amount of onion-y, and the onions soften and mellow during baking, making it the perfect accompaniment to pasta or a roasted meat.

Onion Focaccia

Adapted from the CIA's Italian Cooking at Home

 

1 cup 2 percent milk

1 tsp. sugar

1 envelope active dry yeast or 2 1/4 tsp. jarred active dry yeast

4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for shaping bread

3/4 cup warm water

5 tbsp. good-quality olive oil, plus more for oiling the pan

1 tsp. kosher salt

1 small yellow onion (not a sweet onion), cut into thin rings

1 1/2 tsp. coarse flaked sea salt

 

Warm the milk on the stove or in the microwave to 100 degrees.  Cool the warmed milk for a minute, then add the yeast and stir to dissolve.  Set aside for about fifteen minutes;  it should begin to foam.

 

In a stand mixer using the dough hook attachment, combine the flour, two tablespoons of olive oil, the yeast mixture, the water and the kosher salt.  Mix on medium until the dough is smooth and elastic, about five minutes.

Warm your oven to 180 degrees.  While it is warming, take the mixer bowl off the mixer, dust the top of the dough with all-purpose flour and seal tightly with plastic wrap.  Turn off the oven and place the bowl in it.  Let the dough rise until it is about doubled, about half an hour.

 

Flour a work surface and tip the dough onto it.  Using your hands, shape the dough into a rough square, then bring each of the corners to the center.  Turn the dough over and tuck the ends in so the dough is circular.  Cover loosely with plastic wrap and leave it on the counter to relax, about half an hour.

 

While it is relaxing, preheat the oven again.  Prepare your baking pan--I used a small paella pan, which worked perfectly.  Brush the pan with two tablespoons of olive oil, include the sides.  Then pat the dough into the pan using your hands.  Turn off the oven, cover the plan loosely with plastic wrap and allow the dough to rise one more time.  This should take 30-40 minutes.

 

Remove the pan from the oven and preheat to 500 degrees.  Sprinkle the remaining olive oil over it and evenly distribute the onion rings.  Let the dough sit on the counter for a few minutes to allow it to continue rising around the onion rings, as shown here.  Press fingers lightly into dough to create dimples in it and sprinkle the flake sea salt on top.



Bake for about fifteen minutes, until the edges of the bread turn light brown.  Do not overbake--the bread may look slightly underdone, but it will have great texture.  Remove from the oven, cool slightly and cut into wedges.

Makes 10 to 12 good-size focaccia wedges.

Gluten-Free and Fabulous

Thanks to everyone for their get-well wishes for my cat, Ingrid.  The good news is--how do I put this delicately on a food blog?--she is not hopping off the bed every morning at 5:30 a.m., howling pitifully and then--er--losing the contents of her stomach on the bedroom carpet.  Was that delicate enough?  We'll know more about how she's reacting to the medication in the next couple of weeks.

Rejoining the Cake Slice bakers after a month off, I have to sing the praises of these little chocolate cakes.  Admittedly, they were supposed to be molten chocolate cakes, but even with baking according to the letter of the instructions, there was no melting going on.  Rather, I would describe these as little souffle cakes with a slightly brownie-like center.  A list of their many fine qualities:

1.  They don't contain any flour.  This is the cake to make your friends who can't eat gluten.  Or for Passover, which is coming up quicker than I care to think about. 

2.  You already have all the ingredients.  A word on chocolate:  this is not the place to use your fancy, expensive chocolate.  My fellow Cake Slice bakers warned that the original all-bittersweet recipe was, well, just too bitter.  I like dark chocolate better than anyone, but I heeded the warning and used a combination of semi-sweet Baker's chocolate and part of a big Hershey bar that for reasons that pass understanding has appeared in my pantry. 

3.  You can make the batter ahead.  I made the batter and put it in the fridge for six hours before baking up the cakes.  No problem, just bring the batter to room temperature before baking.  It'll take you that long to preheat your oven anyway.

On top of that, the cakes were delicious, and not too sweet.  I served them with a side of honey gelato, the recipe for which will appear later this week.  Good vanilla ice cream would work just as well. 

This recipe can be easily doubled;  I cut it down because it was just for David and I.  We ate the leftover cake the next morning and it was more brownie-like, but equally delicious.

Individual Warm Chocolate Cakes

Adapted from The Cake Book by Tish Boyle

3 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, chopped

1.5 ounces milk chocolate, chopped

2 tbsp. unsalted butter, cubed

1/4 cup sugar

2 large eggs, separated

1/16 tsp. salt (basically just a pinch)

1/8 tsp. cream of tartar

Spray three six-ounce ramekins (or coffee cups, in my case) with baking spray with flour or butter them generously;  set aside.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Using a double boiler, melt the chocolate and butter over simmering water.  When the mixture is completely melted, remove from the heat.  Whisk in half the sugar, then the egg yolks.

In a small bowl, beat the egg whites and salt with an electric mixer.  When the whites are foamy, add the cream of tartar and beat at medium speed until the whites are at the soft-peak stage.  Then add the remaining sugar and beat the whites to stiff peaks.

Fold a third of the whites mixture into the chocolate until combined, then incorporate the rest of the whites bit by bit. 

Divide the mixture among the prepared ramekins/cups and place them on a baking sheet.  Bake for approximately 15 minutes, until the tops start to crack.  Watch closely because overbaking will mean no molten center.

Cool the cakes for a minute on the baking sheet, then run a knife around the edges to unmold.  Unmold immediately on the serving plate and garnish with powdered sugar and ice cream.

Makes three individual cakes.

Tea and Strumpets

Sunday morning dawned clear and cold, with the rare appearance of the Alaska sun.

Despite the dreaded "spring forward" time change, I leapt out of bed and ran downstairs to start baking.

The occasion?  Tea and strumpets.

Yes, you read that right.  I do not mean tea and crumpets.  My friend Arlitia was holding a small tea party for a pretty kick-ass group of women at her house that morning.  Her tea selection was startling:

I wish I could tell you I tried the red velvet chocolate variety, but I didn't.  Everyone brought tea-type food, and Arlitia made three incredible varieties of scones, and several types of tea sandwiches.

She lives in the area of Anchorage called the Hillside, which is built up into the mountains just before you leave Anchorage on the Seward Highway.  You could see the water of Turnagain Arm and higher up into the mountains.  On a clear day, it's a spectacular view.

 

It's been a chaotic couple of weeks, so it was awesome to sit down with some friends and catch up for a few hours.  I don't know if I've said that I'm midway through production on another directing project, the gorgeous but complicated play Eleemosynary.  As of last weekend, I'm also designing the sound.  More on that in the next post, but in the interim, my contribution to the tea party:

 

I'm sure most bakers have a decorative mini bundt pan, which probably never gets used.  Or, at least, mine are almost never used, because I have two:  one shaped like rosettes and one shaped like maple leaves.  I used both to make miniature tea cakes, because portion-sized desserts are the only way to go for a tea that started at 11 a.m.  You may feel guilty carving into a full-size cake at that hour, but it's no big deal to pick up a mini-cake.

This recipe also makes one full-size bundt cake, although it will require a longer baking time. 

Chocolate-Hazelnut Tea Cakes

Adapted from All Cakes Considered by Melissa Gray

3 1/2 sticks salted butter (yes, you read that right), at room temperature

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

6 large eggs

2 cups powdered sugar

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 dark unsweetened cocoa

1 cup chopped hazelnuts

Powdered sugar for garnish, if desired

Prepare two mini-bundt pans with baking spray with flour, making sure to coat all the details in the pan with spray.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Cream the butter using a hand mixer on medium speed, gradually adding the granulated sugar.  The mixture will be pale yellow and fluffy.  Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each one. 

Slowly add the powdered sugar, and beat until just blended.  Set the mixer aside and incorporate the cocoa and flour by hand using a wooden spoon.  Stir in the chopped hazelnuts.

Dollop the batter into the pans--it will be thick and sticky.  Try to smooth the batter;  you will likely end up with "crowns" on the cakes that will need to be trimmed.

Bake for approximately 40 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean.  Cool the pans on a baking rack for half an hour;  then tip the pans over to unmold.  Cool for another 20 minutes or so;  dust with powdered sugar if desired.

Makes approximately 24 tea cakes, depending on the size of your pans.



For the Love of Bread

I am toast.

In the past four days, I have criss-crossed the country for work, racking up something like 8,500 flight miles and spending about thirty hours in either the air or airports. 

Ironically, it was the shortest piece of the travels, a mere 500 miles to Fairbanks and back yesterday, that really did me in.

Business travel isn't fun, but it doesn't particularly bother me either.  I missed the Oscars and my friends' Oscar party for the first time in years, although I did manage to win the Oscar pool in absentia.

Before I left, though, David and I had dinner with my friends Sondra and Stephan, who have a new baby.  This involved our making dinner at our house, packing up a small catering operation and hauling it down the road to their house.  We wanted to leave them with enough food for another meal, since their lives are so hectic right now.

One of the dishes I made was a classic focaccia alla genovese--focaccia from Genoa.  I can't help but note that when we went to Italy last year, David was dead set against going to Genoa, which is a large port town.  It isn't as flashy or famous as a lot of Italian cities, but the museums are fantastic and we had some very good food.

To speed up the process of making this bread, I turned the oven on to its lowest temperature (170 degrees) just prior to each of the bread rising periods.  I then turned the oven off when I put the bread in to proof and rise.  It sped up the process by a good hour, and the texture of the bread was fantastic.

I was sad to have left the rest of the bread behind, because I would have loved to pack a focaccia sandwich for my travels. 

Focaccia Alla Genovese with Thyme

Adapted from the CIA's Italian Cooking at Home

1 cup 2 percent milk

1 tsp. sugar

1 envelope active dry yeast

4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for shaping bread

3/4 cup warm water

5 tbsp. good-quality olive oil

1 tsp. kosher salt

1 tbsp. thyme, chopped

1 tsp. coarse flaked sea salt

Warm the milk on the stove or in the microwave to 100 degrees--I used a candy thermometer to monitor the temperature.  Cool the warmed milk for a minute, then add the yeast and stir to dissolve.  Set aside for about fifteen minutes;  it should begin to foam.

In a stand mixer using the dough hook attachment, combine the flour, two tablespoons of olive oil, the yeast mixture, the water and the kosher salt.  Mix on medium until the dough is smooth and elastic, about five minutes.

Warm your oven.  While it is warming, take the mixer bowl off the mixer, dust the top of the dough with all-purpose flour and seal tightly with plastic wrap.  Turn off the oven and place the bowl in it.  Let the dough rise until it is about doubled, about half an hour.

Flour a work surface and tip the dough onto it.  Using your hands, shape the dough into a rough square, then bring each of the corners to the center.  Turn the dough over and tuck the ends in so the dough is circular.  Cover loosely with plastic wrap and leave it on the counter to relax, about half an hour.

While it is relaxing, preheat the oven again.  Prepare your baking pan--I used a small paella pan, which worked perfectly.  Brush the pan with two tablespoons of olive oil, include the sides.  Then pat the dough into the pan using your hands.  Turn off the oven, cover the plan loosely with plastic wrap and allow the dough to rise one more time.  This should take 30-40 minutes.

Remove the pan from the oven and preheat to 500 degrees.  Press fingers lightly into dough to create dimples in it.  Combine the remaining tablespoon of olive oil and thyme and allow to steep while the oven is heating.  Then brush the bread with the oil and sprinkle the flake sea salt on top.

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until the bread is a light golden brown.  Remove from the oven, cool slightly and cut into wedges.

Makes 10 to 12 good-size focaccia wedges.