Lake Lure Cottage Kitchen

I wonder how many girls began their love of baking with Hasbro’s Easy Bake Oven.  They have been around since 1963 and make it easy and safe for young people to experiment in the kitchen.  There are even myriads of recipes on the internet if you run out of the mixes that come with the oven.

Rachel’s cousin Keenan got an Easy Bake Oven from her Aunt Kristen this year and because we were all snowed in, they spent some time making cookies together.

I predict that it will not be long until she is making cakes like this in the real oven.  This Italian Cream Cake was both beautiful to look at and delicious to eat.  The top was sprinkled with coconut and studded with pecans.  Keenan’s Grandmother, Becky, brought the cake to our Christmas dinner and was kind enough to share the recipe with me.  She is a great cook.  I remember one year she brought the most beautiful salad in the shape of a wreath.  The greens were sprinkled with cherry tomatoes and other edible decorations that made it very festive.

You had to be quick with your camera to get a picture of this cake.  Slices kept disappearing in a blink of an eye.  Because it is a three layer cake, it looks impressive.  The cream cheese frosting is easy to spread and I think even I, the reluctant baker, could make a cake like this.  Thank you for the recipe Becky.

ITALIAN CREAM CAKE

1 stick of margarine (or butter)
2 cups sugar
2 cups self-rising flour
1 cup buttermilk
1 small can of coconut
5 egg whites, stiffly beaten
1/2 cup crisco shortening
5 egg yolks
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup chopped nuts

Cream butter, crisco and sugar.  Beat until mixture is smooth.  Add egg yolks and beat well.  Combine flour and baking soda and add alternately with buttermilk.  Stir in vanilla.  Add coconut and nuts.  Fold in egg whites.  Bake in 3 (8 inch) greased and floured cake pans in 350 degree F. oven until done.

Frosting:
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/2 stick butter, softened
1 box of powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
shredded coconut for top
pecan halves for top

Beat cream cheese and butter until smooth.  Add sugar and vanilla and beat until well combined.  You may have to add a little milk to make the right consistancy to spread.  Assemble and frost cake.  Decorate top with coconut and pecan halves.

Printable recipe

These are small.  They are just a taste of croissant, chocolate and raspberry goodness.  I did spend a lot of time actually making my own puff pastry at one time.  See this post.  But you know what?  The frozen puff pastry works very well.  I have been looking for a small pastry addition for my Christmas breakfast and I have decided that these easy turnovers are just the thing.  I would serve them with a breakfast casserole and a beautiful fruit tray.

The turnovers are filled with raspberry jam and chocolate.  I would recommend you buy a good quality jam because that will be the dominate flavor.  The milk chocolate is best if it is finely chopped so that it doesn’t make bumps in the pastry.  The recipe was in an old issue of Gourmet magazine which is still one of my favorite “go to” sources for all things delicious.

I love these!  Once the puff pastry is thawed it is a labor of love to cut and fill them.  Take your time and enjoy the morning.  The coffee is brewing and a crispy turnover awaits you.

CHOCOLATE RASPBERRY TURNOVERS

1 (17 1/4 oz.) package frozen puff pastry sheets, thawed
1 large egg
1/3 cup raspberry jam
3 1/2 oz fine-quality mild chocolate, finely chopped

Put oven rack in upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.  Roll out 1 puff pastry sheet into a 12 inch square on a lightly floured surface with a floured rolling pin, then brush off excess flour from both sides.  Cut into 16 squares.

Whisk together egg and a pinch of salt.  Place 1/2 teaspoon jam and 1 teaspoon chocolate in center of each square, then brush edges of squares with some of the beaten egg.  Fold each square in half to form a triangle, pressing edges to seal.  Brush tops of pastries with some of remaining egg and transfer to a lined baking sheet.  Chill on sheet while making 16 more pastries in same manner, transferring to second baking sheet.

Bake pastries, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, until golden and cooked through, about 20 minutes.  Cool on sheets on racks 5 minutes.  Serve warm.

Printable recipe

I have been baking cookies this week.  It is not one of my favorite pursuits, but Christmas seems to dictate the practice and I have done it every year for as long as I can remember.  When my Son was young, the baking was always Christmas cutout cookies and decorative icing.  Now, when I bake cookies it is usually on a whim.  The only constants are Scandanavian Tea Cookies ( shortbread crust cookie topped with chocolate and pecans) and the best chocolate chip cookie recipe that I know from Cooks Illustrated.

But these two cookie recipes are new to me and I enjoyed trying them.  The confectioners’s sugar covered snowball cookies are different than the standard pecan flavored wedding cookies.  These are flavored with lemon and coconut.  The recipe was in a Southern Living book that my DIL gave me for Christmas last year.  The Pistachio Cranberry Icebox Cookies were in an old issure of Gourmet magazine.  I like them because they can be prepared ahead of time and the dough logs kept in the refrigerator until you are ready to slice and bake.  I did have trouble with them though.  The dough was very crumbly and they were not easy to slice.  Add a little water to your mixture when you are forming your logs and this should help them stick together.

LEMON-COCONUT SNOWBALLS

1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp. coconut extract
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2Tbsp. grated lemon rind
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup sweetened flaked coconut, lightly toasted

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Beat butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy; gradually add 1/2 cup powdered sugar and extracts, beating well.  Add flour, lemon rind, and salt, beating until combined.  Stir in coconut.  Cover and chill dough 30 minutes.

Shape dough into generous 1″ balls; place 1″ apart on parchment paper-lined baking sheets.  Bake at 350 degrees F. for 15 to 20 minutes or until goldern on bottom, but pale on top.  Transfer cookies to wire racks to cool 5 minutes.

Place 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar in a bowl, and roll warm cookies in powdered sugar, coating well.  Cool cookies completely on wire racks.  Roll cooled cookies in powdered sugar again, coating well.  Yield: 2 dozen.

PISTACHIO CRANBERRY ICEBOX COOKIES

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon finely grated fresh orange zest
1/2 cup shelled pistachios (not dyed)
1/3 cup dried cranberries

1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/4 cup decorative sugar (preferably coarse)

Stir together flour, cinnamon, and salt in a bowl.

Beat together butter, granulated sugar and zest in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes.  Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture in 3 batches, mixing until dough just comes together in clumps, then mix in pistachios and cranberries.  Gather and press dough together, then divide into 2 equal pieces.  Using a sheet of plastic wrap or wax paper as an aid, form each piece of dough into a log about 1 1/2 inches in diameter.  Square off long sides of each log to form a bar, then chill, wrapped in plastic wrap, until very firm, at least 2 hours.

Put oven racks in upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.  Brush egg over all 4 long sides of bars (but not ends).  Sprinkle decorative sugar on a separate sheet of parchment or wax paper and press bars into sugar, coating well.  Cut each bar crosswise into 1/4 inch thick slices, rotating bar after cutting each slice to help keep square shape. (If dough gets too soft to slice, freeze bars briefly until firm.)  Arrange cookies about 1/2 inch apart on lined baking sheets.  Bake cookies, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, until edges are pale golden, 15 to 18 minutes total.  Transfer cookies from parchment to racks using a slotted spatula and cool completely.
 
Printable recipe Lemon-Coconut Snowballs

Printable recipe Pistachio Cranberry Icebox Cookies
  

Just toss chopped apples and cranberries together in a deep dish pie plate.  Add sugar and flour and then a topping of oatmeal, brown sugar, flour, nuts and butter and bake it until the top is crispy and the fruit is bubbling.  It couldn’t be simpler.

To digress a moment – It would have been easier to present these Thanksgiving recipes in order; ie, Appetizers, Soup, Entree, Vegetables, Salad and Desserts but there is a reason for my haphazard postings.  We are leaving for Florida in less than a week and I am trying to use up what I have in the pantry and fridge.  I used part of a bag of cranberries for the previous recipe and needed to finish it up, plus I had apples and oatmeal that were just enough for this crisp.  As another aside, are you ever surprised by the number of condiments that you collect in the door shelves of your refrigerator?   I sometimes buy things like tahini or anchovy paste and then forget all about them.  Note to self:  Keep better track of what you have.

Cold weather has descended on us and we have had the gas logs burning in the living room.  This weekend we will build a fire in the kitchen fireplace and enjoy warm bowls of this comfy crisp.

CRANBERRY-APPLE CRISP

3 cups apples, peeled and cut into bite size pieces (About 2 large)
2 cups whole fresh cranberries, rinsed and picked over
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons flour
1/1/2 cups oatmeal
1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1/3 cup flour
1/2 cup walnut pieces
1 stick butter, melted

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.  In a large bowl place apples, cranberries, sugar and 2 tablespoons flour and mix together well.  Place in a deep dish 9″ pie plate.  In a medium bowl mix brown sugar, oats, flour, walnuts and melted butter.  Mix to combine.  Put topping on top of apple mixture.  Bake uncovered until bubbly and lightly browned, about 1 hour.  Serve warm with ice cream.  8 to 10 servings.

I am not a great cake baker.  There is something in my nature that rebels against following a recipe to a tee.  I am too haphazard in my approach to baking.  It makes me nervous to level flour and fill teaspoons just so. So when faced with baking a cake for David’s birthday,  I was a bit trepidatious.  We had some wonderful apple crisp type apples and the allure of cinnamon and other spices were calling me so I made a cake combining several recipes that included these ingredients.  The only frosting that would work this time of year was a caramel frosting to mirror the idea of taffy apples.

We also had company this past weekend and I decided, because of my klutzy ways with cake decorating,  I wanted no one present when I attempted to frost the cake.  The kids, their friends and all of the children went for a hike on Chimney Rock.  Of course David was here and had to suffer through my expletives over “his special cake”.  I’m sure by the time I was finished he was wishing that he had never had a birthday.

The cake had turned out moist and beautiful just as the recipe had promised.  I had made it two days ahead of time and put the layers in the fridge.  The frosting was another story and it was all my fault.  For some reason, I decided that it was too runny in the pan after following the exact directions so I dumped in more confectioner’s sugar.  Big mistake.  The frosting seized up and became very dry, so spreading it was “an expletive deleted” nightmare.  But the cute pumpkin candies covered up my mistakes.  So if you decide to make this cake, please follow the directions.  Happy Birthday David.  Actually the cake was delicious in spite of myself.

HARVEST APPLE CAKE WITH CARAMEL FROSTING

1 1/2 cups oil
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamnon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp. cloves
2 1/2 cups flour
3 cups grated apples

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Put oil, sugar and eggs into the bowl of a mixer.  Beat until creamy on low speed.  Sift flour and other dry ingredients together.  With mixer on low speed, add dry ingredients in three additions and blending until incoporated each time.  Remove bowl from mixer and fold in the grated apples.

Grease and flour 2 8″ or 9″ inch cake pans.  Pour batter in the pans.  Bake for about 45 minutes or until knife inserted in center of cake comes out clean.  Cool in pans for about 10 minutes and then invert onto rack to cool.  Wrap layers and cool in fridge if not ready to frost.

CARAMEL FROSTING

1/2 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup milk
1 box confectioners’ sugar

Cook butter and sugar together until well blended.  Add 1/4 cup milk and 1 box confectioners’ sugar.  Mix and add just enough milk to spread.