Happy Birthday, John!

Rachel here: This past weekend my beloved partner in crime (and our beloved illustrator) heralded the end of another year and the start of his next. He and I have a deliciously wonderful birthday tradition of baking each other specially requested birthday cakes. In the past, John has made me a cake in the shape of a Life car (like, from the board game...my favorite childhood board game because we didn't own it), tiered chocolate cake, flourless chocolate cake (ok, clearly a theme is emerging around what I usually ask for for my birthday)...the list goes on. Anyway, I, in turn, have dutifully made John a vanilla cake with vanilla frosting every year because, though he's anything BUT vanilla as a person, this is what he asks for. And so, this year I tried to up the ante a little bit, figuring I've been getting off pretty easy with this whole vanilla-vanilla thing year in and year out, and I endeavored to make his cake look like something...

a double chocolate stuffed golden oreo cookie (his latest obsession).

It didn't work.

First, I didn't have an exacto knife (as I was so sure we did) and so the stencil I tried to make had to be completely revamped at the last minute. Then, though absolutely freaking fantastic, the frosting that I made wasn't thick enough to function visually as whatever the "stuff" in oreos is and kept oozing down the sides of the cake.

And yet, the cake is totally totally good. The cake part itself is a little dense, but it's not too sweet which is nice for a cake and allowed for the chocolate, powdered sugar and whipped cream to shine through. Though I was a little disappointed not to have achieved my initial goal from the outset of my cake-baking endeavor, I was quite pleased with the end result (and I think the birthday man was, too). And, of course, I was delighted to celebrate another year in the life of my fantastic partner and best friend. To many more years, John, and many more cakes.

Rich and Tender Yellow Cake
from "The Best Recipe" by Cook's llustrated

Ingredients
4 large eggs, room temperature
1/2 c. whole milk, room temperature
2 tspn. vanilla extract
2 1/4 c. sifted cake flour
1 1/2 c. sugar
2 tspn. baking powder
3/4 tspn. salt
1/2 lb. (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened and cut into 16 pieces

Method
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and prepare two 9x1 1/2 inch cake pans with vegetable shortening. Line the bottoms of each pan with parchment paper and grease as well. Dust cake pans with flour, tapping out excess. In a small bowl, beat together the eggs, milk and vanilla. Measure out 1 c. of this liquid mixture and set aside. In your mixer, combine the dry ingredients, blending well. With the mixer running at its lowest speed, add the butter in one piece at a time, mixing until the flour and butter look sandy. Add the 1 c. of egg mixture and mix at the lowest speed until it's incorporated. Increase your mixer's speed to medium-high and beat everything until light and fluffy. Add the remaining egg mixture in a slow and steady stream. Scrape down the sides of your bowl and beat batter on medium-high until it looks slightly curdled. Divide batter evenly between your cake pans and smooth with a rubber spatula. Bake until golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean, roughly 25 minutes. Remove and cool in pans for 10 minutes on a wire rack before removing and letting cool completely before icing.

Chocolate Cream Frosting
from "The Best Recipe" by Cook's llustrated

Ingredients
1 1/2 c. heavy cream
16 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped fine
1/3 c. corn syrup
1 tspn. vanilla extract

Method
Bring cream to a boil. Pour over chocolate and add corn syrup. Let rest for 3 minutes. Whisk gently until smooth. Add vanilla. Refrigerate, stirring periodically, until desired consistency is reached. Try really hard not to eat (this stuff is seriously good).

Once everything was cooled, I assembled my two cakes with a layer of frosting between them. I cut out letters and hearts and whatnot and placed them on the top and sifted powdered sugar over to create the design. When I served the cake, I drizzled more of the frosting over it and added a dollop of whipped cream. I took a few pictures of the cake in this state, but they all came out blurry and, well, it was time to eat. It sure was pretty, though. Anyway, what do you like on your birthday?



Janet here: Regular readers know that I don't "do" cakes. (And by "do," I mean bake. Certainly I've been known to eat them.) Instead, we all get the homemade ice cream cake of our desire (click here for recipe). That said, I have nothing but admiration for Rachel and John's birthday cake baking plan and think it is quite a lovely family tradition all of their own creation. I can't wait to see the cakes they make their little bun in the oven.

Blogs That Make Us Hungry: Not Derby Pie

Rachel here: This week we're bringing back the blogs to Tuesdays (we've been featuring books for the past few weeks) and excited to do so with Not Derby Pie, a blog that my dear friend Jessica directed my attention towards. In the name of full disclosure, Jessica is friends with Rivka, the lady at the helm in the Not Derby Pie kitchen. This, however, is not why she steered me towards Rivka's site. No, she steered me towards Rivka's blog because it's AWESOME.

First of all, the girl can cook. I mean, I haven't tasted anything actually, but there is no way that with the breadth and variety that she embarks upon in her kitchen that she can't. Plus, her photographs are gorgeous, her recipes are clear and her general attitude towards cooking (you know, that it's fun and that normal people do it) is entertaining and endearing. She seems adventurous and excited about her culinary undertakings, a feeling I can totally relate to and appreciate. Anyway, I highly recommend clicking over to Rivka's blog and giving her some love. I'm confident you'll be glad that you did and a little hungrier for having perused her photographs and recipes as well.

Janet here: And I fell in love, love, love with her photos. Frankly, just about everybody who's doing a food blog has us beat in that category, but until we move up a notch technologically, I'm just going to have to have food photo envy. Rivka's post on Caesar Salad yesterday made me want to jump into the bowl. Seriously!

What's for Breakfast?

Rachel here: Ok, so I'm back. Get excited. For my first post this week I made waffles. To be honest, though, I really made waffles three times. I only photographed them the last time, though, when I made them for John's birthday breakfast (along with eggs scrambled with cheddar cheese and slices of apple). The first two times I made them were for myself last week. Those times I used leftover pancake batter (things with which one can eat maple syrup have become umm...important to me as of late...like, really important) figuring they would yield slightly lesser waffles, but delicious ones (and ones with maple syrup on them) all the same.

I was wrong.

The waffles I made last week using pancake batter were totally better than the ones I made for John's birthday breakfast (sorry, sweetheart). While the waffles I made for John (and which are photographed above...clearly they were still edible) were adequate, they grew tough quickly as they cooled (not the case with my pancake batter waffles). And so, though I have a few leftover and I will absolutely dutifully eat them, below I am going to post the waffle batter recipe from The Best Recipe by Cook's Illustrated in addition to the pancake batter recipe I adapted which, to my taste, worked out much better.

Also, I should confess that part of my waffle making frenzy was the result of a desire to make some and freeze them for down the road. And yet, three batters later, there are still no frozen waffles in my house. Oops!

Oh! One more thing. If savory's more your schtick, check out my ma's egg casserole down below. She didn't have a photo, but it sounds absolutely fantastic (as in, I want it for dinner). Enjoy!

Waffles
makes 4-8 depending on size of waffle iron

Ingredients
2 c. all-purpose flour
2 T. cornmeal (optional...I opted...it was only sort of noticeable)
1 tspn. salt
1/2 tspn. baking soda
2 eggs, separated
1 3/4 c. buttermilk
4 T. butter, melted

Method
First, get your waffle iron going. In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. In a small bowl, combine the egg yolks and buttermilk. Beat the egg whites until they form stiff 2-inch peaks. Add the yolk/buttermilk mixture to the dries in a steady stream while mixing gently with a rubber spatula. Do not over mix. Towards the end, add the egg whites, folding them in until just incorporated. Batter should be lumpy and thick. Scoop batter into waffle iron and cook to desired crispness. Serve immediately and enjoy!

Pancakes Batter That Works for Waffles

Ingredients
1 c. all-purpose flour
2 tspn. sugar
1/2 tspn. salt
1/2 tspn. baking powder
1/4 tspn. baking soda
3/4 c. buttermilk
1/4 c. milk
1 large egg
2 T. unsalted butter, melted

Method
Turn waffle iron on. Whisk dry ingredients in a medium bowl. In a 2-cup measuring cup, combine buttermilk, milk, egg and butter, mixing well (don't add butter when it's super hot or it will cook your egg). Pour into dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Pour into waffle iron (or onto a skillet to make pancakes--just oil the surface first!) and cook to your desired crispness and color. Enjoy!


Janet here: This casserole will feed an army, so it is perfect for brunches or, as in the debut of this particular casserole, for a baby shower or some other kind of brunchy event. I have made it with sausage, bacon, grilled veggies and lox — all to rave reviews. Oh, yes, and it's simple.

Susan's Egg Casserole
serves 12-14

Ingredients
12 eggs
9 slices of white bread, crust cut off, and cut into 1/2" pieces
3 cups milk
6 scallions, diced
1/4 cup chopped, drained pimentos
2 lbs. sausage, cut up (or bacon or smoked salmon; your choice of meat goodies. I've done all of them at various points.)
2 cups grated cheddar cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Method
The trickiest part is just remembering you have to do this the night before cooking. Toss it all into a bowl. Mix. Put into a 9" X 13" casserole pan. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

The next day pop it into a 300-degree oven for 60 minutes and get ready to listen to the oohs and ahhs.

Salty or Sweet? Or Both?

Janet here: People tend to either fall into the salty or sweet category for their food fixes. My son, G, has been a salt freak almost since he started eating solid food, for instance. A bag of Doritos is not safe in our house if he's at home. I, on the other hand, am definitely a sweets freak, in particular chocolate. On the other hand, the piece de resistance in a hot fudge sundae is definitely the salty peanuts. That combination of salty and sweet is just perfect. Why do you think Reese's peanut butter cups are so divine?

One of my new cookbooks, called Salty Sweets by Christie Matheson, is devoted to this idea. She is a firm believer that just about any dessert can be improved by adding salt. These fabulous brownies are just one of the many fine examples in her cookbook that I recommend you check out ASAP. I've made two killer recipes from this book already (click here for post on great chocolate cupcakes) and I just know there are more to come.

What's your pick? Salty or sweet? And how do you satisfy it?

Butterscotch Brownies

Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons fine sea salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups dark brown sugar, packed
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 cup chopped toasted pecans

Method
Heat the oven to 325 degrees. Butter and lour a 9X13-inch glass or ceramic baking pan.

Combine the flour, 3/4 teaspoon of the slat, the baking powder and the baking soda in a medium-size bowl.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment whisk together the brown sugar and the remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt so the salt is evenly distributed. Pour in the melted butter and whisk until well-blended. (I don't have this kind of mixer so I just mixed it with a fork in a bowl and it was fine.) Whisk in the eggs and the vanilla.

Add the lour mixture to the bowl, whisking until it's just incorporated. Fold in the pecans.

Spread the batter into the baking pan, distributing evenly all the way to the edges. (You can add 3/4 cup chocolate chips, either sprinkling on top or mixing into the batter. Also add a dusting of grinder seat salt on top to enhance the chocolate flavor (this is the Salty Sweets cookbook after all. This is an optional step that I did and it was delicious.)

Bake 30-35 minutes until the batter is completely set and the edges are starting to brown. Let cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Then chill the pan in the fridge for 30 minutes to one hour to help set the inside before cutting. The brownies will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days or up to one month in the freezer.

Food for Thought Thursdays: The Emptying Nest

Janet here: There's an irony to starting up this food blog with Rachel this year after talking and thinking about it for at least two years: I soon will have only one person to cook for.

Rachel has been out of the house for six years now, but middle son, G, is graduating from college this May and likely (hopefully) leaving for parts and adventures unknown rather than taking up a spot on the family room couch, and youngest son, S, is graduating from high school, which means his days at the kitchen table in any regular way are numbered. So I find myself exploring the world of food and cooking and nurturing in an ever-expanding way just at the very moment that the people I'll be cooking for are evaporating. Seems just a tad ironic, don't you think?

It's been 25 years since I made a meal for two and I wonder if I'll remember how to do it. Sure, we can use the leftovers for busy nights and yes, I do cook for one of the most appreciative audiences in America (my husband, Peter, eats anything and everything and openly and loudly voices his praise, and has done so for almost 30 years), but somehow it is still a little sad. Our family is shifting; I imagine that Peter and I will be spending more time sitting at our children's tables as they gradually begin their own families, and that the times of cooking for the clan, moments I've loved and cherished and, yes, sometimes was sick of doing, are going to be come more rare. It's the natural course of things and many moments of fun with family will still be shared, but I'm slowly becoming second in command rather than the general, and the reality is that just feels a little strange.

Nutty for Nuts

Janet here: Our family has kind of a nut thing going, specifically with Aunt Ruby's peanuts. I know it may sound like hyperbole, but these are the best peanuts in. the. world. Seriously, once you've had an Aunt Ruby's peanut, you will never ever eat another peanut in your life again that's not made by this North Carolina family company and think it's actually a real peanut. These peanuts are that good.

It was brave of me, then, to even try introducing another kind of nut into the Reynolds' house given Aunt Ruby's mythic presence in our home and that my husband, Peter, is practically on Aunt Ruby's Christmas card list because he's ordered so many cases of these nuts over the years. I mean he doesn't let the case — yes I wrote case, not can — get down to fewer than two cans before he's reordering. The man is that addicted.

But I decided to persevere after finding this recipe from — yes, it's true — Ellie Krieger's cookbook, The Food You Crave. Ellie didn't let me down. The nuts were gone within the week. Watch out Aunt Ruby; Ellie is on the way.


Ingredients
1/2 cup raw pecans
1/3 cup shelled raw pistachios
1/3 cup raw cashews
1/3 shelled raw pumpkin seeds
1 tablespoon pure maple syrup
1/2 teaspoon curry powder
1/8 teaspoon cayeen pepper, or to taste
1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
1/4 teaspoon salt
cooking spray

Method
Heat oven to 325 degrees. Combine the nuts and seeds in a medium bowl. Add the maple syrup, spices, rosemary and salt. Toss to combine.

Coat a baking sheet with cooking spray. Then transfer the coated nuts to the sheet and spread evenly in a single layer. Bake, stirring once, until the nuts are fragrant and lightly toasted 15-20 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool. The nuts will keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

Books That Make Us Hungry: Comfort Me with Apples

Janet here: As Rachel mentioned last week, we thought we'd occasionally offer up our thoughts on our favorite food-related books on Tuesdays, and there is no better place for me to start than with Ruth Reichl.

The last editor of Gourmet magazine before it was sadly killed last year, Reichl was, prior to that and in no special order, a restaurant critic for the New York Times, food editor and restaurant critic for the LA Times, and the author of the bestselling Tender at the Bone. I haven't read that memoir yet, although I did read her book on her mother, Not Becoming My Mother (great title and wonderful book). I found Comfort Me with Apples while cleaning out my mother-in-law's house and grabbed it immediately. I am so glad I did.

Reichl holds nothing back in this book, which takes up presumably where Tender left off with her first gig as a freelance food writer for a now-defunct California magazine. She lived in a commune in Berkeley with her long-time boyfriend, eventual husband, Doug, an artist. It's not long into her gig that she begins an affair with another serious foodie, her editor (never a good idea in general to get involved with your boss). She doesn't stay with him, but she learns a great deal from him as he exposes her to all kinds of food, especially during a memorable trip to Paris. By the time they part, she has evolved — as a woman and as a food writer/critic.

Reichl's writing about the food is so clear and descriptive you feel as if you're at the table with her. While I personally wouldn't want to eat all the foods she describes — I prefer my brains in my head for instance — I felt as if I could understand their wonder thanks to her beautiful prose.

Added bonus? The book is interspersed with recipes. I can't wait to try her crab cakes. She cooks them right after the first of many awkward phone calls with Doug as their relationship dissolved. That turning to the familiarity of cooking while under duress is a place I've been many times and is just one of the many many honest moments she shares in this book.