Well, hello.  It’s been a while, I know, but just wait, I have some great new recipes for you.  I can hardly believe that I got married a year ago this May, but between work, teaching, and finishing up coursework for my MFA, time has been flying by.  In honor of our anniversary, I want to share one of our wedding cakes.

I have to admit that when I first suggested making our wedding cake, my husband-to-be got a sort of startled, frozen look on his face.  To be fair, he knows I’m prone to taking on too much, and I had admittedly never made a tiered cake before. But I was also in love with the idea, and soon Andy was too. We even decided that we would pass the cake out ourselves.

So I began pouring over recipes, blogs, and the indispensable Cake Bible.  I’m not fond of fondant, nor, really buttercream.  But what other frosting would hold up in the heat?  And what flavor for the cake? Almost everyone loves chocolate, but we were enamoured with the idea of lemon.  In the end, we decided on not one, but two kinds of cakes – a tiered chocolate cake covered with chocolate ganache and powdered sugar, and several lemon layer cakes with lemon curd filling and a stiffened whipped cream frosting.

And the results were just what we’d hoped for. Rather than a sea of plates covered in half-eaten cake, we had a neat stack of empty ones. In fact most people had a slice of one flavor, and then they came back to try a slice of the other. How much cake in all? We made one 12-inch tier and one 8-inch tier of chocolate (each of two 2-inch deep layers, which we then divided to make 4 layers on each tier), and three 10-inch lemon layer cakes, also with two 2-inch deep layers divided so that each cakes were 4 layers tall.  Heavenly. I was afraid we would have too little, but we served about 100 people and had about half of the 12-inch chocolate layer, and one lemon cake left over.  We declined to freeze the leftovers, and instead ate wedding cake morning, noon and night for several weeks after.

Although both cakes were delicious, the lemon cake was the almost universal favorite. The cake recipe comes from Sara Jenkins and is available online here. I doubled the recipe and baked my cakes in 10-inch cake pans. Then I cut each round in half horizontally to create 4 layers. This makes a beautiful and dramatic layer cake, but it would be equally delicious with two thicker layers, or with two thin layers. If you make four layers, as I did, you’ll probably want to double the lemon curd and whipped cream recipes.

Once the cakes are baked and cooled, divide them if desired and fill with about 1/4 inch lemon curd between each layer. Cover generously with the whipped cream and garnish with lemon zest. Store chilled until ready to serve.

Lemon Curd (makes 1 cup)

• 4 large egg yolks
• 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons sugar
• 3 ounces fresh lemon juice
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 2 teaspoons lemon zest
• pinch salt

Beat the egg yolks and sugar together in a heavy saucepan. Make sure the sugar and yolks are well combined; otherwise the yolks will curdle when the lemon juice is added. Add all other ingredients except the lemon zest and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly. Do not let the mixture reach a boil. When the curd has thickened and turned an opaque yellow color, remove from heat and pour through a strainer. Stir in the lemon zest and allow to cool. The curd will thicken as it cools. Can be stored for up to three weeks in the refrigerator.

Stabilized Whipped Cream (makes 2 cups)

• 2 tablespoons powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Chill mixing bowl. Heat sugar and cornstarch in a saucepan and gradually add 1/4 cup of the cream. Simmer for a few seconds, stirring constantly. Cool and add the vanilla. Beat the remaining cream in the chilled bowl until it begins to hold the beater marks. Add the cornstarch and sugar mixture slowly, beating constantly. Continue beating until stiff peaks begin to form. Do not overbeat. Store up to 24 hours in the refrigerator.

Sometimes life is like a bowl of sour cherries… but I’m not complaining!

Yes you heard me right, sour (tart) cherries are now ripe and ready for picking in the Leona Valley (just North of Los Angeles, CA near Palmdale).  SOUR cherries?? you’re probably thinking, why would I want those?  Because, let me tell you my friend, they are the way to true cherry pie bliss.

And cherry jam bliss…

and real Maraschino (pronounced “maraskino”) cherry bliss.

No, you don’t need any red #40 to make these, but you do need real Maraschino Liqueur.

I have to admit that two years ago I had never tried a sour cherry.  To be fair to myself though, most Californians haven’t.  It’s more of an East coast/European/Persian thing.  Why that is, I’m not really sure.  Maybe because sweet cherries grow so well here.

This all started when I discovered the Manhattan cocktail a few years back.  I loved this cocktail, but hated the garish garnish.  For some reason those noxious things people call “maraschino” cherries just freak me out.  I knew there must be something more.  What was the origin or inspiration for these cherries?.  A little googling around and I was on to something.

The first Maraschino cherries were cooked up somewhere on the Dalmatian coast near Croatia and Italy.  They were made from small, black, sour cherries that grow wild on the hillsides around those parts.  Their name was the Marasca cherry.  A sweet liqueur known as Maraschino had long since been distilled from the fruit, stones (pits), and leaves of these wild cherry trees, but until the 1800′s no one had ever tried to pickle the Marascas in their own liqueur.

Some years later American tourists discovered Maraschino cherries and brought jars home to share with their friends.  They were a big hit and news spread quickly.  Before long, they were all the rage in America’s finest saloons acting as garnish for delicious pre-prohibition cocktails like the Manhattan.  But, sad as it is, the salad days of the real Maraschino cherry in America were numbered.  Things changed when a guy from Oregon, with too many cherries (and chemicals) on his hands, developed a way to preserve them in a less than appetizing way.

How on Earth did these offensively colored new substitutes catch on?  I can only guess.  I’m sure the Temperance Movement didn’t help.  God forbid children should be tempted to sneak one of these liquor soaked cherries!

The new and improved “Maraschino Americano” was also incredibly cheap compared to the imported varieties, and you know how we Americans are when it comes to the cost of food.  The cheaper the better.

Yum…

Thus began my personal quest to re-create the original Maraschino cherry as closely as I could.  A google search for “sour cherries Los Angeles” yielded few results, but I finally found what I was looking for.  It was a place called Cherry Tyme Sour Cherries in the Leona Valley about an hour and a half North of Los Angeles.  Bingo, I thought!

But wait, it was August and all the sour cherries were long gone according to the pleasant lady on the phone.  I had just missed the season!  As you can imagine I was devastated, but the lady offered me one bit of consolation.  I could leave her my e-mail address and the next year they would let me know when the season opens.

Sure enough, the next July I received an e-mail stating it was “Cherry Tyme!”  I recruited my dad to go up there with me and help pick.  We came away with 13 pounds of fresh, sour cherries of three different varieties: Montmorency, Balaton, and Morello.  The Montmorency were large, pale, very sour, and extremely delicate.  I used them for my pies, and they left me with memories I won’t soon forget.  The Balatons were small, firm, dark skinned, and not quite as sour as the Montmorency.  I thought these seemed most like the wild Marasca cherries of the old country, and used them for my Maraschino cherries with great results.  It’s been a year since I put them up and they’re still firm and delicious!  The Morello cherries were medium sized, dark fleshed, sour, and very flavorful.  For some reason they were the most attractive to me.  They embody a perfect balance between the other two varieties, and I used them to make my preserves.

Pitting was a bit of a challenge without a proper cherry pitting tool, but we got pretty good with bamboo skewers after the first hundred or so.

The cherry massacre!

The fun starts tomorrow morning June 27th at Cherry Tyme in Leona Valley.  Their hours are from 8:30 am to 4:00 pm; open daily until all the cherries are gone.  Bring your own boxes!

Cherry Tyme Sour Cherries:

39913 107^th St West

Leona Valley, Ca 93551

(661) 270-0649

cherrytyme@email.com

Hope to see you there!  Recipes coming soon.

Yes, indeed. In Bavaria soft pretzels are often eaten for breakfast – with sausage, beer and, of course, mustard. Here, we’ve been eating them as a midnight snack (mostly because they’re irresistible right out of the oven, and I’ve been starting them way too late in the day); then eating them again for breakfast, minus the beer and sausage. If you roll them shorter and thicker, they’ll rise in the oven until most of the holes have been filled in. Then they can then be sliced in two horizontally and used as the bread for a not-too-sloppy sandwich.

The recipe comes from Local Breads, an amazing book that has been batting its eyelashes at me from the shelf for nearly a year. Sure, I’ve opened it; drooled over the recipes, learned the photographs by heart. But I never found the time to bake from it until a few weeks ago. Since then I’ve made the pretzels three times, and I now double the recipe. (You should too – eight soft pretzels is just not enough unless you’re baking for one and don’t intend to share!)

It’s been lovely, really – Andy and I, plus an assortment of friends and house guests, all chatting about life, love, and literature around the stock pot, watching the pretzels boil, sinking into a tired and contented silence as they bake, then reviving for more on love and philosophy as we tear into the soft warmth of their flesh, our talk shepherding the night toward morning. It’s romantic, I know, but it really does happen, and it could happen to you if you bake these. No promises, but I tell you, late nights and soft pretzels create a kind of unanticipated alchemy (aside from the anticipated but still magical alchemy of baking.)

Bavarian Soft Pretzels

Yields 8 pretzels. Recipe can be doubled.

Ingredients

3 1/4 cups unbleached bread flour
3 tbs unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups tepid water
1 tsp instant yeast
2 1/4 tsp sea salt
1/3 cup baking soda for boiling (note: you needn’t double this amount for a double recipe)
Kosher salt and/or sesame seeds for topping

Method

In a large bowl, mix flour and butter and work butter into the dough with your fingers until evenly distributed. Add water and mix until absorbed, then add the salt to one side of the dough and yeast to the other side and work in both. Turn the dough out onto a floured counter top and kneed for 10 to 12 minutes until firm and smooth. Round dough into a ball and allow to rise, covered, in a oiled bowl at room temperature until light and springy, about 1 hour (it won’t double in size.)

If you are doubling the recipe, divide the dough and cover one half. Proceed as for one batch, then repeat. Place the dough on a lightly floured counter top and from into a rectangle. Use a chef’s knife to cut into 8 equal pieces, form each piece into a ball, and allow to rest covered for about 5 minutes. Roll out each piece with your hands until it is about 18 inches long, tapering the ends slightly. To form the pretzels, grab hold of each end and cross the left end over the right with the looped portion nearest you. Now create a twist by crossing top piece under. Finally, lift the twisted ends and flip them over onto the loop. Press the ends down to seal.

Place the pretzels on a oiled baking sheet, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 2-24 hours.

When you are ready to make the pretzels, preheat the oven to 350 degrees and bring 4 quarts of water to a boil. Add the baking soda slowly and turn the heat down to a simmer. Place the pretzels into the boiling water one at a time, simmering on each side for 15 to 20 seconds. Remove from the water, draining well and return to the oiled baking sheet. Repeat until all pretzels are boiled.

Sprinkle pretzels with kosher salt and/or sesame seeds and bake until they are a rich brown, about 35 minutes. Enjoy warm or at room temperature with a good mustard. They are best fresh, but can be stored, well sealed for a couple of days.

I can’t tell you much about the Kona Inn, but if you’re craving some delicious banana bread I promise this recipe will bring you satisfaction.

When Stepmother left me and my sister as young adults she knew we would be left craving some of the fine baked goodies we were brought up on so she was kind enough to leave us each with a thoughtfully prepared binder of her favorite recipes. I’ve held on to my binder all of these years since then, and this banana bread recipe is one of my all time favorites. It turns out so moist and flavorful you will be tempted to eat it all before it has a chance to cool.

Kona Inn Banana Bread

Yields: Two Loaves, Prep Time: 20 minutes, Baking Time: 45-60 minutes

Ingredients:

• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 cup softened un-salted butter
• 6 ripe bananas, mashed (approximately 3 cups)
• 4 eggs, well-beaten
• 2 1/2 cups cake flower
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. With an electric beater, cream together sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Add bananas and eggs, beating until well mixed.
3. Sift together dry ingredients three times. Blend with banana mixture, but do not over mix.
4. Pour into (2) lightly greased loaf pans. Bake for 45 minutes to one hour, until firm in the centers and the edges begin to separate from pans.
5. Cool on a rack for 10 minutes before removing from pans.
6. These freeze beautifully.

It finally happened. I turned 30. And the best part is, it didn’t bother me at all. In fact, I celebrated like I’ve not celebrated a birthday in many years, with multiple nights of revelry, shameless hints about presents, and to top it all off, a formal dinner party for 15 at our house on Saturday night. Will and Mary even flew in from Long Beach for the big event. Sure, there were plenty of “what did I get myself into?” moments, mostly around how we would fit all those people into our living room and what would they sit on, but it was well worth it.

I baked this cheesecake for dessert, garnishing it with candied orange peel for an even more dramatic effect. Our stepmother, Michele, is a fabulous cook and baker and her cheesecakes really are famous among everyone who knows her, and many who do not. Less than half an hour after the five course meal, our little party of 15 wolfed down nearly the entire cake.

Michele’s Chocolate Cheesecake

My favorite birthday cake growing up, this cheesecake is just about perfect – smooth, creamy, rich, tangy, and succulent. I often make it for pot lucks, and it is always popular. Use a high quality baking chocolate for the ultimate in silky, complex, decadence. To slice cleanly and easily, wipe down the knife and heat it in a cup of hot water between each slice.

Ingredients:

For the crust

• 25 chocolate wafers, crushed
• 6 tbs unsalted butter, melted
• 1 tsp cinnamon (optional)

For the cake

• 1 1/2 lbs cream cheese, softened
• 2 cups sour cream
• 3 large eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• 8 oz semi-sweet chocolate, melted and cooled
• 2 tbs cocoa powder
• 1 tsp vanilla

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix together wafers and butter and press into a well-buttered 10 inch springform pan. Chill while you assemble the cake. In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese until smooth and fluffy. Beat in the sugar. Add eggs one at a time, beating well. Beat in melted chocolate, cocoa, and vanilla blending thoroughly. Beat in the sour cream.

Pour mixture into the pan and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour and 10 minutes. The cake might look runny, but it will firm up as it chills. Cool at room temperature, then chill in the refrigerator for at least 5 hours.

Beer bread isn’t really the first thing I might think of making. In fact, as I was mixing up a batch last night I wondered what I was doing baking bread when we had two loaves in the bread basket and 8 grocery bags of apples and pears that need preserving (please post your favorite recipes to the forum!)

But the folks over at A Year in Bread had posted a recipe a couple of weeks ago, and last night we opened Andy’s latest batch of beer. It wasn’t the best beer he’s made. A bit thin, a bit one-note, with too many molasses overtones. Certainly drinkable, but “what else can you do with beer,” Andy asked. And I knew.

I mixed together flour, salt, sugar and baking powder. Stirred in some of the beer. Added handfuls of raisins and walnuts and put it in the oven. The whole thing took less than 5 minutes, not including the baking time. And in the morning, we had this fresh, moist loaf of raisin-walnut bread. It’s perfect with a big slab of fresh butter.

Raisin-Walnut Beer Bread

• 3 cups flour (use any combination you like)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tbs baking powder
• 2 tbs brown sugar
• 1 1/2 cups beer (more as needed to achieve a thick but pourable dough)
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1/2 cup walnuts

1. Preheat oven to 375. Combine flour, salt, baking powder and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Pour in beer and stir until just combined. Fold in raisins and walnuts.

2. Pour batter into a well buttered loaf pan and bake about 45 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Let rest for 10 minutes before removing from pan.

Note: Feel free to experiment with other flavors – herbs, cheeses, nuts – this recipe is very flexible.