When I got married back in the dark ages it was a well kept secret (by me) that I could not cook. I could make bread, brownies, and spagetti. My mom was of the school that felt the less time I spent in the kitchen the less mess she had to deal with. My 6′6″ husband came with no operating instructions but a HUGE appetite. I was amazed at the amount of food he could put down…He ate more in a meal than I ate in several days and I am not exaggerating. As you can see this was not a promising combination. I would wait for him to go to the base (we were military) and I would begin supper. Sometimes I had to cook a recipe several times (and throw out the result) before the finished product was edible and I became adept at turning a failure into something edible by calling it something else. It turns out that this was one of the best cooking lessons I would ever learn. I put it to good use the other day when I made an angel food cake and got distracted (who me? ) as I was folding the flour into the beaten egg whites. The angelfood cake was edible but a little tough and not at all like what I wanted. I tore it into pieces and sprinkled them with left over coffee while I quickly created an almond custard in my microwave. I poured the custard over the cake and then with a flash of inspiration made a praline sauce to swirl on top. I finished it by sprinkling with almonds. Voila! Angel food Pudding. You can substitute a bought angel food cake for the homemade but since the texture of hte cake doesn’t matter much in this why not use this as an excuse to practice making the perfect angel food cake?

Basic Angel Food Cake

1 c sifted cake flour
1 1/4 c sugar
1 c egg whites
1 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp mexican vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
1. sift the flour and 1/4 c of the sugar together.
2. beat the egg whites, cream of tartar, and salt until frothy.
3. Add remaining sugar a little at a time until stiff peaks are formed but the egg white is not dry.
4.Add flavorings
5. Sift 1/4 of the flour at a time over the mixture and fold in gently.
6 Pour in a large ungreased tube pan and bake at 350 45-60 minuntes.
7 invert pan and let cake hang until cool (if cake rises over the top you can invert the pan over a glass bottle.

When cake is cool, cut or tear into bite sized pieces and sprinkle with 1 c coffee.or enough to moisten cake. set aside

Custard:
2 egg yolks
1/4 c flour
1 c sugar
3 c milk, half and half or cream
pinch salt
1/4 c unsalted butter
1 tsp mexican vanilla
1 tsp almond extract
1. whisk together until frothy
2.microwave for 6-8 minutes, or until thickened, whisking smooth every minute.
3.remove from microwave and add butter and extracts.
4. stir until butter melts and is incorporated into custard
5. Pour over cake pieces.

Praline Sauce
1/4 c unsalted butter
1/4 c dark brown sugar
melt together in nonstick sauce pan over medium heat, whisking until there is no more graininess. Pour in a swirl over the custard. Top with 1/2 cup almonds. Chill. Serves 8..

Post from: Baking Delights

These were made by Aisa and was part of our Christmas cookie lineup. I started making this cookie in 1994 when Aisa was just 3 — 12 years later she’s making it herself and doing a darn good job of it if I may say so myself. The recipe is from the Gourmet December 1994 issue. Thought Epicurious.com would have it on their website but no.

The German Drei Augen and the Swiss Spitzbuebe are very similar, except that recipes for Drei Augen — meaning three eyes — call for three little holes to be punched on the top cookie. Spitzbuebe — meaning bad boys — can be made with any shape hole on top. However, the Gourmet recipe for Spitzbuebe, which we include here, instructs you to make the three holes, so for years I had thought that spitzbuebe = drei augen. They’re similar, but not exactly the same.

DREI AUGEN / SPITZBUEBE (Jam-Filled Shortbread Sandwich Cookies)

2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup confectioners’ sugar plus additional for dusting cookies
2 large egg yolks
2 1/3 cups bleached all-purpose flour
2/3 cup seedless raspberry jam

In a bowl with an electric mixer beat butter until light and fluffy. Add sugar, beating until combined well. Add yolks, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Sift flour over butter mixture and fold in thoroughly.

Wrap dough in plastic wrap and press into a 10-inch square, about 1/2 inch thick. Chill dough until firm, about 2 hours. Dough may be made 4 days ahead and chilled.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper or foil.

Divide dough into 4 pieces. Keeping remaining dough chilled, lightly flour 1 piece of dough and on a lightly floured surface gently pound with a rolling pin to soften. Roll out dough into an 8-inch square, about 3/16 inch thick. With 1 1 3/4- to 2-inch round cutter cut out cookies, chilling scraps, and arrange about 1 inch apart on prepared baking sheets. make more cookies in same manner with remaining 3 pieces of dough and with scraps, pressed together. With a 3/8-inch plain pastry tip cut out 3 small holes in half of cookies (these will be tops), leaving remaining half of cookies whole (these will be bottoms).

Put cookies in oven and immediately reduce temperature to 325 degrees F. Bake cookies, switching positions of sheets in oven halfway through baking, 20 minutes, or until pale golden and firm, and cool on sheets on racks. Lightly dust cookie tops with additional sugar and arrange cookie bottoms upside down on a work surface.

In a small saucepan heat jam over low heat until thickened slightly, 1 to 2 minutes. Spread about 1/4 teaspoon jam onto each cookie bottom and arrange a cookie top over it to form a sandwich. Transfer remaining jam to a small resealable plastic bag and snip a small hole in one corner. Squeeze a drop of jam into each opening in cookie tops and let stand until dry. Keep cookies frozen between layers of wax paper or parchment paper in an airtight container up to 2 weeks. Makes about 36 cookies.

from Gourmet Magazine, December 1994

Post from: Baking Delights