Chocolate Chip Date Cookies

I'd never actually eaten a date straight until I opened the can for this recipe. I'd had some kind of totally unfounded bias against dates, much as with prunes, as something I didn't want to eat. But when I went to England last year, and tasted the heaven that is Sticky Toffee Pudding, I decided if dates are good enough for that, they're good enough for me. (I have a couple of Sticky Toffee Pudding recipes on file and will eventually make one.)
So I bought them and opened the can and started to chop for these cookies. I picked up a piece and popped it in my mouth. Chewy, yes, sweet, yes, just as one would expect of dried fruit. Waiting for the flavor, waiting. And then it came. Very, very mild. Almost like a raisin but much less raisin flavor. In fact, I realized dates are PERFECT for baking because they are soft, sweet, and chewy and have very little flavor of their own. Especially when surrounded by chocolate, as they are in these cookies. Yay for dates! Let me just see what else I can make with them...

Chocolate Chip Date Cookies

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed

1/2 cup milk

2 tsp baking soda

1 egg

1 1/2 cup flour

2/3 cup cocoa powder

1 1/2 cup dates, coarsely chopped

1/2 cup chopped nuts (pecans or walnuts)

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

1. Preheat oven to 375. In a large bowl, cream butter and brown sugar. Mix milk with baking soda; add to butter mixture. Add egg and beat to blend thoroughly. Mix in flour and cocoa; blend thoroughly.

2. Stir in dates, nuts and chocolate chips. Drop by heaping teaspoonfuls, 2 inches apart, on parchment-lined cookie sheets. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until springy to the touch. Remove to a wire rack to cool. Dust with confectioners' sugar. Makes about 3 dozen.

Recipe from Fairfax County Chocolate Lover's Festival Cookbook

Triple-Decker Strawberry Cake with Strawberry Buttercream Frosting

(I know, I know. "That's not Strawberry Frosting," you say. I can't fool you people for one second. Just read on and everything will be explained.)

Berry season is coming up, and there's nothing like fresh strawberries. But honestly I can get pretty good ones year-round at the grocery store so it's always a good time of year to make this cake. But don't substitute frozen - they get too mushy and juicy. I think it's important to have at least one big pink cake in your repertoire; you never know when it will come in handy, especially in a house like mine, full of girls.

This cake is supposed to be frosted with Strawberry Buttercream Frosting (recipe follows.) But for my daughter's birthday this year she wanted a strawberry cake with chocolate frosting, and in our house the birthday girl gets what the birthday girl wants, at least when it comes to cake. It was still really good with the chocolate, but I think it would be out-of-this-world with strawberry frosting, or even simple vanilla.

Triple-Decker Strawberry Cake (print recipe)

1 pkg (18.25 oz.) plain white cake mix

1 pkg (3 oz.) strawberry gelatin

4 T all-purpose flour

1 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup whole milk

4 large eggs

1/2 cup finely chopped fresh strawberries and juice

1. Preheat oven to 350. Spray three 9-inch round cake pans with nonstick cooking spray, then line the bottoms with rounds of wax or parchment paper, also sprayed. Set pans aside.

2. Place all cake ingredients (cake mix through strawberries with juice) in a large mixing bowl and blend on low speed for 1 minute. Stop machine and scrape down sides. Increase mixer speed to medium and beat for 2 minutes more. Divide the batter among the prepared pans and place in oven on center rack. (If your oven is not large enough, place two pans on the center rack and place the third pan in the center of the highest rack.)

3. Bake cakes until they spring back when lightly pressed with your fingers and just start to pull away from the sides of the pans, 33 to 35 minutes. Remove from oven and cool on wire racks for 10 minutes. Run a knife around the edges, invert each onto a rack, remove wax or parchment paper from bottom, and invert again onto a wire rack to cool completely (so the cakes are right side up.) Allow to cool completely, 30 minutes more.

4. Prepare the frosting and assemble the cake.
Since we had strawberry cake with chocolate frosting for her family-party, I made chocolate cupcakes with strawberry frosting for my daughter's friends-party. I pretty much just wanted that frosting! It makes plenty so I had lots leftover to make graham cracker sandwich treats, which I love with any flavor frosting, but they are especially great with this fresh fruity spread.

Strawberry Buttercream Frosting

8 T (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

4 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted, or more if needed

1/2 cup finely chopped fresh strawberries and juice, or more if needed

1 cup halved fresh strawberries, optional, for garnish

1. Place butter in large mixing bowl and blend on low until fluffy, 20 seconds. Stop the machine and add 4 cups powdered sugar and 1/2 cup strawberries with juice. Blend on low speed until the frosting is creamy and of a spreadable consistency. If it is too thin, add more sugar; too thick, add more chopped strawberries.

2. To assemble cake, stack layers right side up with frosting between each. You can do 1/3 of the frosting between each layer and on top and leave the sides unfrosted, torte style, with strawberry halves to garnish the top. Or you can do a little less between each layer and finish it by frosting the top and sides. Either way is fabulicious.

Recipe adapted from:

Chocolate Chip Muffins

I am still working my way through that Williams-Sonoma Muffins cookbook. This is probably one of the simplest recipes in there, but simple is so welcome sometimes. You know it will be good. You know it will be easy. You know people will like it. And yet it's a new recipe, so it's still a bit of an adventure, not the same thing you always make.

Muffins are always best fresh or eaten within a day. Some lend themselves to a season but these are just as good with hot cocoa as they are with lemonade, so just keep them in your back pocket for that time when you want to whip something up from scratch without having to go shopping. Mmm, I could go for one right now...

Chocolate Chip Muffins

1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted

3/4 cup buttermilk

2 large eggs

1 T vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 350. Grease 12 standard muffin cups with butter or nonstick cooking spray or line with paper liners.

2. In a bowl, whisk together the melted butter, buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla until smooth.

3. In another bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Make a well in the center and add the buttermilk mixture. Beat until smooth and well-mixed, about 1 to 2 minutes. Using a large rubber spatula, fold in teh chocolate chips just until evenly distributed. Do not over mix.

4. Spoon the batter into each muffin cup, filling it level with the rim of the cup.

5. Bake until golden, dry and springy to the touch, 20 to 25 minutes. A toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean. Transfer pan to wire rack to cool for 5 minutes, then unmold muffins and let cool completely. Serve at room temperature.

Recipe from:

5-Minute Mug Cake

It's not pretty. It's not elegant. It's not delicate. It's not "the best cake I've ever had." But it's pretty good. And it's hot. And it's fast. And it's chocolate. And it might be just what you needed this afternoon.Of course the biggest problem with baking is that it takes so much time. Other problems are that it takes so many ingredients, it makes so many servings (and my family won't eat it all so I either have to wait for company, eat it myself, or throw it away.) Too often if I need "just a little something" I go for something store-bought and not that good, like an Oreo or a Tootsie Roll. Ho-hum.

But. This little mug cake changes that. It was super quick to make; I didn't time it but from starting to pull the ingredients out to putting it in the microwave was probably 5 minutes or less. And then it cooks for about 3 minutes. And then you have a fresh, hot, slightly pudding-y chocolate cake ready to be spooned out and nearly-burn-your-tongue-on. If you've got ice cream, throw on a scoop. In fact, you could probably whip one of these up during a commercial break, put it in the microwave, and then run back to get it when it beeps or at the next break (if you ever actually get to sit down and watch TV. I remember those days.) So cozy. So needed.5-Minute Mug Cake
4 T cake flour or all-purpose flour
4 T sugar
2 T unsweetened cocoa powder
1 egg
3 T milk
3 T oil
3 T chocolate chips
Splash of vanilla extract
1 medium-to-large mug

1. Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well. Add the egg and mix thoroughly. Pour in the milk and oil and mix well. Add the chocolate chips and vanilla, and mix again. Make sure there's nothing dry at the bottom.

2. Place mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes (at 1000 watts.) The cake will rise over the top of the mug, then sink when it's taken out. Allow to cool a little, and tip some out onto a plate or eat from the mug. Serves 1 to 2.Recipe from Fairfax Chocolate Lovers Festival Cookbook, 2009

Lemon Layer Cake with Lemon Cream Frosting

One of my fluffier pleasure reads lately was a novel called Eat Cake by Jeanne Ray. It was kind of enjoyable, not particularly inspiring or redeeming. In fact, it made me even more nervous than I already am to enter middle age. Not really what I needed right now. Our heroine is at the center of a family fraught with changes - kids, husband, parents all going through things, needing help from her in different ways. Losing herself in serving everyone else, and only escaping when she can make a cake, which she eventually *SPOILER* tries to turn into a business. Naturally, cake recipes abound at the end of the book so at least I took those away with me before returning it to the library. Several are boozey - not my piece of cake - but a couple looked really good including this lemony tower.

The cake is very good, with a nice crumb, though I might add some lemon extract next time. But the star of the show is the cream frosting, which is simply whipped cream folded in with homemade lemon curd. I salivate just thinking of it. It's easy to make, not too different from lemon pie filling, and so awesome turned into a cake topping. Be sure to refrigerate it, though, if there's any left after serving. Whipped cream does not do so well sitting out at room temperature.Lemon Layer Cake with Lemon Cream Frosting

Cake

2 cups sifted cake flour (not self-rising; sift before measuring)

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup whole milk

2 1/2 T fresh lemon juice

1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1. Preheat oven to 375. Butter two 8-inch round cake pans and line bottoms of each with rounds of wax or parchment paper. Butter paper and dust pans with flour, knocking out excess.

2. To make cake, sift together flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir together milk and lemon juice (mixture will curdle and that's a good thing.)

3. Beat butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer until creamy. Gradually add sugar, beating until pale and fluffy. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Alternately add flour mixture and milk mixture in batches, beginning and ending with flour, mixing at low speed until just combined.

4. Divide batter between pans, smoothing tops. Bake in middle of oven until a tester comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Cool in pans on racks 10 minutes, then invert onto racks, remove paper, and cool completely.

*(This batter can be baked in 16 muffin cups for about 15 minutes; or in a 9x13 pan about 25 minutes. Halve cake crosswise to form two 9x6.5-inch rectangles and layer in same manner as described below.)

Lemon Cream Frosting
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
Lemon curd (recipe follows), chilled

1. Beat cream and confectioners' sugar with clean whisk beaters until it just holds stiff peaks. Fold one third of whipped cream into chilled lemon curd to lighten, then fold in remaining whipped cream.

2. To assemble cake, put 1 cake layer, rounded side up, on a cake plate and spread with one fourth of frosting. Top with second layer, rounded side up, and spread top and sides with remaining frosting.

Lemon Curd (for frosting)

1/2 cup fresh lemon juice

2 tsp finely grated fresh lemon zest

1/2 cup sugar

3 large eggs

3/4 stick (6 T) unsalted butter, cut into bits

1. Whisk together juice, zest, sugar and eggs in a 2-quart saucepan. Stir in butter and cook over moderately low heat, whisking frequently, until curd is thick enough to hold marks of whisk and first bubble appears on surface, about 6 minutes.

2. Transfer lemon curd to a bowl and chill, its surface covered with plastic wrap, until cold, at least 1 hour. Makes about 1 1/3 cups

Recipe from Gourmet Magazine, January 2001 via:

Buttermilk Bread

Aah...here is simplicity itself, in a loaf of bread. No fancy ingredients, add-ins, chunks, glazes, double-boilers, chopping, grating, shaping, scooping, timing, layering, filling. Just a warm, homey, buttery loaf to go with - or BE - your meal. Serve it with chicken. Make a sandwich. Toast it for breakfast. Whatever. Just enjoy what buttermilk can bring to a recipe that doesn't need anything else.

Buttermilk Bread

1/2 cup plus 2 T warm water

1/2 cup warm buttermilk (70 to 80 degrees)

1 tsp lemon juice

2 T butter

3 cups bread flour

2 T brown sugar

1 tsp salt

2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast (1 packet)

Add ingredients to your bread machine in the order indicated by manufacturer (mine calls for wet ingredients first, then flour, then other dry ingredients and yeast last.) Choose crust color and press START. Makes one 1.5 lb loaf.

Recipe from Taste of Home Quick Cooking, May/June 2003

Everyone's Favorite Chocolate Sticky Buns

The first time I flipped through Deep Dark Chocolate: Decadent Recipes for the Serious Chocolate Lover by Sara Perry and Jane Zwinger, I knew I was going to be making these.  It was just a matter of time.  That time came Easter weekend, which gave us a Sunday on which we could enjoy a leisurely morning.  I made the buns the night before and left them for a slow rise in the fridge overnight.  In the morning, about 8 hours later, they were perfectly oven-ready.

These were almost too decadent, if that is possible.  Don't worry, we managed.  The whole point of these is to mimic the sticky goodness of brown sugar caramel buns but with chocolate.  Next time I would like them just as well without the topping; I mean, they're still chocolate cinnamon buns!  And super, super yummy either way.

Everyone's Favorite Chocolate Sticky Buns

Buns

2 1/4 tsp (1 package) active dry yeast

1/3 cup warm water (110-115 degrees)

3/4 cup milk

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp salt

3 1/2 to 4 cups all-purpose or bread flour, divided

1 large egg, at room temperature

Topping

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, plus more for the pan

1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1/4 cup light corn syrup

3 T premium unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 cup chopped pecans

Filling

2/3 cup granulated sugar

4 tsp premium unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

2 T unsalted butter, melted

2 1/2 ounces premium dark chocolate, chopped

To Make the Buns: In a small bowl, sprinkle the yeast over the warm water and stir to combine. In a small saucepan over medium heat, warm the milk and add the butter, sugar, and salt, stirring until the butter melts. Transfer to the large bowl of a stand mixer and let cool to lukewarm.

Add 3/4 cup of the flour to the milk mixture and mix on low speed until blended, about 1 minute. Add the egg and beat on medium speed until well combined, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl as necessary. Beat in the yeast mixture until well blended. Gradually stir in enough of the remaining flour, a little at a time, to make a soft dough that pulls away from the sides of the bowl.

Using the dough hook on your mixer, knead until smooth, satiny and no longer sticky, 5 to 10 minutes. Transfer the dough to a lightly greased, large bowl and rotate the dough to grease the top. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour. Once the dough has doubled, press down, replace the plastic wrap, and let it rest for 10 minutes.

To Make the Topping: Lightly grease a 9x13 metal baking pan with butter or cooking spray. In a saucepan over medium heat, melt the 1/2 cup butter. Stir in the brown sugar, corn syrup, and cocoa powder. Bring to a boil and cook for 1 minute. Pour the syrup into the prepared pan and tilt the pan so the topping evenly coats the bottom. Sprinkle the pecans over the brown-sugar sauce.

To Make the Filling: In a small bowl, mix the sugar, cocoa and cinnamon until blended. Using a rolling pin, shape the dough into a 12x8-inch rectangle, with a long side closest to you. Brush the dough with the melted butter. Sprinkle the filling over the buttered dough, leaving a 1/2-inch border at the far edge. Sprinkle the buttered filling with the chopped chocolate. (Drooling yet?) Roll up the dough lengthwise, beginning with the long edge closest to you. Moisten the border with water and pinch the ends to form secure seams. Cut the roll into 12 slices and place each slice, cut side down, into the prepared pan. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm, draft-free spot until doubled, about 40 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350. Bake until the buns are golden, about 27 minutes. Turn out of the pan immediately onto a large serving platter. Let cool for about 5 minutes before serving. The buns are best eaten warm or at room temperature within hours of baking.

Recipe from:

Baked Cake Donuts

I am the SUPER DUPER PROUD new owner of two Wilton Doughnut pans. I've had them on my wishlist for ages and finally took the plunge. I've tried my hand at homemade fried doughnuts, with high frustration and marginal results. It's really hard to control the oil temperature on my stove, plus it's messy and of course fattening although that doesn't usually stop me. But with these new pans I feel like a new world of possibilities has opened up. I've started basic, with a vanilla and a chocolate, just to try things out. Yum. And yum. According to Family Circle, from whence these recipes hail, one of these saves 12 g fat over a store-bought doughnut. A frosted vanilla or chocolate donut has approximately 220 calories, 4g fat, 5g protein and 1g fiber.
Not that I'm knocking regular doughnuts, or even saying these are better. But they are easier to make at home - as simple as cupcakes or muffins. And they do cut some of the bad-for-you stuff. Now that I've tried these, and know they work, I'm excited to try other possibilities, like a favorite muffin batter - does it transfer? Or a doughnut recipe that is usually fried - can I just pipe it in a pan and bake it? Or can I make something super healthy, like a bran muffin, bake it in doughnut shape and put sprinkles on it and my kids will eat it? Will I eat it? All in good time; we shall see.Vanilla Cake Donuts
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup low-fat buttermilk

1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar

1 egg

4 tsp unsalted butter, melted

1 tsp vanilla extract

Chocolate Cake Donuts

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup low-fat buttermilk

1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar

1 egg

4 tsp unsalted butter, melted

1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Heat oven to 325. Coat a 6-indentation donut pan with nonstick cooking spray.

2. In a large bowl, whisk flour, (cocoa powder if making chocolate), baking soda, and salt. In a small bowl whisk buttermilk, sugar, egg, melted butter and vanilla until smooth. Add milk mixture to flour mixture; whisk until smooth.

3. Spoon batter into a large resealable plastic bag (make sure it doesn't have a pleated bottom - what a mess!) Cut off a corner and squeeze/pipe batter into prepared indents, about 2/3 full. Smooth tops. Bake at 325 for 13 minutes, until donuts spring back when lightly pressed. Cool in pan on rack 3 minutes, then carefully turn out onto rack to cool. Each recipe makes 6 donuts.

Toppings

• For powdered donuts, place 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar in a sifter and gently sift over cooled vanilla donuts. Flip and cover the other side with sugar.
• For cinnamon sugar donuts, toss still-warm vanilla donuts in cinnamon-sugar to coat.
• For white-frosted donuts, in a small bowl combine 1 cup confectioners' sugar and 1 T of milk. (I also add vanilla extract but that will make it beige. You could flavor it with orange, lemon, coconut, peppermint, maple extract or anything your heart desires. Even food coloring for a holiday or for fun.) Add a little more milk if it's too thick to stir. Dip cooled donuts into bowl and allow excess frosting to drip back into bowl. Transfer to rack. Top with sprinkles, coconut, or mini chocolate chips.
• For chocolate-frosted donuts, combine 1 cup confectioners' sugar, 1 T unsweetened cocoa powder and about 2 T milk. Stir until smooth. Dip cooled donuts into bowl and allow excess frosting to drip back into bowl. Transfer to rack. Top with sprinkles, coconut or mini chocolate chips.

Recipe from Family Circle, April 2010

Perfect Party Cake

This recipe is super long so I'll keep my comments short. It's a little intense, but it's totally worth making (for a special occasion.) Slightly lemony white cake, four layers, meringue buttercream and raspberry jam in between, a little coconut on the outside. Really outstanding.

I worried because the cake and buttercream weren't very sweet, but since the jam is, the final product is perfecto. I am still kind of blown away by the meringue buttercream. I'd never made anything like it; I was suspicious. But Little Miss Famous Baker Dorie Greenspan really came through and I am a believer. However, I DO NOT know how her photographer got perfect pictures in the cookbook because after slicing through four layers, it's going to be smeary. They probably used styrofoam and glue, but MY pictures are real!

Perfect Party Cake

Cake:

2 1/4 cups cake flour

1 T baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/4 cups buttermilk (or whole milk)

4 large egg whites

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 tsp grated lemon zest (about 2 lemons; reserve for juicing)

1 stick (8 T) unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 tsp pure lemon extract

Buttercream:

1 cup sugar

4 large egg whites

3 sticks (I know!) unsalted butter, room temperature

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (from 2 large lemons)

1 tsp vanilla

Finishing:

2/3 cup seedless raspberry preserves, stirred vigorously or warmed gently until spreadable

About 1 1/2 cups sweetened shredded coconut

1. Preheat oven to 350. Center rack. Butter two 9-inch round cake pans and line bottom of each with a round of buttered parchment or wax paper. Put the pans on a baking sheet (mine wouldn't fit so I didn't.)

2. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Whisk together the milk and egg whites in a medium bowl.

3. Put the sugar and lemon zest in a mixer bowl and rub together with fingers until sugar is moist and fragrant. Add the butter and, working with the paddle or whisk attachment, beat at medium speed for a full 3 minutes, until the butter and sugar are very light. Beat in the extract, then add one third of the flour mixture, still beating on medium speed. Beat in half of the milk-egg mixture, then beat in half of the remaining dry ingredients until incorporated. Add the rest of the milk and eggs, beating until batter is homogeneous, then add the last of the dry ingredients. Finally, give the batter a good 2-minute beating to ensure that it is thoroughly mixed and well aerated. Divide the batter between the two pans and smooth the tops with a rubber spatula.

4. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until cakes are well risen and springy to the touch. Transfer to cooling racks and cool for 5 minutes, then run a knife around the sides of the cakes, unmold them and peel off the paper liners. Invert and cool to room temperature right side up. (The cooled cake layers can be wrapped airtight and stored at room temperature overnight or frozen for up to 2 months.)

5. To make the buttercream, put the sugar and egg whites in a mixer bowl or other large heatproof bowl, fit the bowl over a pan of simmering water and whisk constantly, keeping the mixture over the heat, until it feels hot to the touch, about 3 minutes. The sugar should be dissolved, and the mixture will look like shiny marshmallow cream. Remove the bowl from the heat.

6. Working with the whisk attachment, beat the meringue on medium speed until it is cool, about 5 minutes. Switch to the paddle attachment if you have one, and add the butter a stick at a time, beating until smooth. Once all the butter is in, beat the buttercream on medium-high speed until it is thick and very smooth, 6 to 10 minutes. During this time, the buttercream may curdle or separate - just keep beating and it will come together again. On medium speed, gradually beat in the lemon juice, waiting until each addition is absorbed before adding more, and then the vanilla. You should have a shiny, smooth, velvety, pristine white buttercream. Press a piece of plastic against the surface an set aside briefly.

7. To assemble the cake - using a sharp serrated knife and a gently sawing motion, slice each layer horizontally in half. Put one layer cut side up on a cardboard cake round or cake plate protected by strips of wax paper. Spread it with one third of preserves. Cover the jam evenly with (just less than) one quarter of the buttercream. Top with another layer, spread with preserves and buttercream and then do the same with the third layer (you will have used all the preserves but still have buttercream.) Place the last layer cut side down on top of the cake and use the remaining buttercream to frost the sides and top. Press the coconut into the frosting, patting it gently all over the sides and top. Voila!!!

Recipe from :

Cat Head Biscuits

It was a Friday night. Dinner, a casserole, was in the oven. I was taking a few minutes to put my feet up and flip through my new Cook's Country magazine. I turned the page and was accosted by an enormous photo of a mile-high mountain of flaky heaven. The title read, "Cat Head Biscuits." I read on:

"I've eaten my way through more than a few biscuit baskets, but I did a double take not long ago (not to mention a U-turn) when I spied 'cat head biscuits' on a highway billboard advertising a country cafe near Greensboro, NC. Say what?! 'They're a big ol' biscuit,' the waiter told me when I reached the place. 'Big as a cat's head.' A few minutes later, the biscuits arrived warm from the oven - huge; as advertised, and as soft and fluffy as a dinner roll. The pull-apart sides were like pillows, the tops golden brown and craggy, the insides tender and moist. The only problem? I'd had to travel nearly 1,000 miles to get them. Well, maybe not." - Cali Rich

Drool. I skimmed the rest of the article. My tummy grumbled. I quick-checked the ingredient list - oh my gosh, I have all that! - and the directions to make sure there was nothing time-consuming or tricky - oh my gosh, are they that easy? A quick check of the clock told me I had time - I could have these biscuits TONIGHT! So we did. And just as the author claimed, they were craggy, pillowy, moist, golden clouds. Heaven. Heaven I tell you!

Cat Head Biscuits

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups cake flour

1 T baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt
8 T (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces and softened
4 T vegetable shortening, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 1/4 cups buttermilk

1. Preheat oven to 425. Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position. Grease 9-inch round cake pan. Combine flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Rub butter and shortening into flour mixture until it resembles coarse meal. (I use my hands at first, and then switch to a pastry cutter to achieve the right texture.) Stir in buttermilk until combined.

2. Use a greased 1/2-cup measure (that's what I used) or large spring-loaded ice cream scoop (I gotta get me one of those - perfect for muffins and biscuits!) to transfer 6 heaping portions of dough into prepared pan. One goes in the middle, five around the perimeter.

3. Bake until puffed and golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes. Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then transfer to wire rack. Serve.

Makes 6 big ol' biscuits. They can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days.

Recipe from Cook's Country, April/May 2010

Whopper Cake with Chocolate Pan Frosting

So sorry for the misnomer if you happened to think this had to do with Whoppers candies. I don't like malted milk balls so that's kind of out. No, the reason this is called a Whopper Cake is because it is from a totally charming children's book of the same name.

It's Grandmother's birthday and Granddad loves her so much he wants to make her a Whopper Cake! So he sends her away for the day, dons a big apron, and gets out the recipe. He soon decides this recipe is just too limiting and begins to make it up as he goes along, throwing in bags of flour, boxes of cocoa, dozens of eggs. Soon it becomes too big for the bowl so he moves it to the pick-up bed. And so on. The illustrations are as charming as the rhyming story and Granddad himself. It's especially fun for a baking family like ours. We gave it to my Mom for her birthday this year.

At the end of the book, Granddad provides a real recipe for Whopper Cake, one that will actually fit in a 9x13 pan. We've been meaning to try the recipe for awhile, so when Hazel requested chocolate cake for dessert for a recent Family Home Evening she was in charge of, well, Whopper Cake seemed just the thing to make.

When I took my first bite, the first word to come to mind was, velvet. The second was fudge. If that doesn't recommend it, I don't know what will.

Whopper Cake
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup butter
1 cup very hot water
1 cup buttermilk
2 eggs
1 T vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups white sugar
3 cups cake flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon, optional (in the spirit of Granddad, I just added it in for a little something extra)

1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour a 9x13 pan, or else, Granddad says, "the cake will stick to it like a bear's nose to honey!"

2. Mix cocoa powder, butter and hot water until all the lumps are gone. I sifted my cocoa powder to avoid those hard lumps it sometimes gets. Next add the buttermilk, eggs and vanilla and stir until light and creamy.

3. Sift all dry ingredients together, then add to batter and mix for at least 2 minutes. Pour batter into prepared pan.

4. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool, then frost with your favorite frosting. Serve "piled high with heaps of fresh vanilla ice cream!"

Chocolate Pan Frosting
Granddad didn't provide a frosting recipe, so I used one of my favorites that I don't think I've posted before.
8 T butter
4 T unsweetened cocoa powder
1/3 cup whole milk
4 cups confectioners' sugar

1. Place butter in a medium saucepan and melt over low heat, 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in the cocoa powder and milk. Let the mixture come just to a boil, stirring, and then remove the pan from the heat. Stir in the confectioners' sugar until the frosting is thickened and smooth.

2. Pour the warm frosting over the top of a cooled cake, spreading it with a spatula so that it reaches all sides of the cake. Work quickly because this frosting goes on best while still warm. Makes 4 cups, enough to frost a 2 or 3 layer cake.Cake recipe from:
Frosting recipe from The Cake Mix Doctor by Anne Byrn

Bird's Nest Cookies

I've been holding onto this recipe for over a year, waiting for Easter to come around again. In my opinion, it is the perfect treat for this time of year - pastel-y, springy, but still nice and chocolatey. Plus it's the only time of year you can get those heavenly creations, Cadbury mini eggs.

These cookies seem a bit labor intensive but the steps can easily be broken down. I made the dough one afternoon and let it chill over dinner time. Then after dinner I made the cookies and ganache and sealed them up overnight. The next afternoon I toasted the coconut and put them all together. Actually quite simple. And the result, with crispy chocolate cookies, creamy ganache, toasty coconut and the chocolate eggs on top, is even better than it looks!

Bird's Nest Cookies

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 cup plus 2 T sugar

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling out dough

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder (I get mine at Penzeys)

6 oz. semisweet chocolate, chopped

1 cup heavy cream

1 tsp instant espresso powder, optional (I left out but used chili-spiced chocolate, for fun)

2 cups sweetened shredded coconut

About 108 candy-coated chocolate eggs

Gel-paste food coloring, optional

1. Heat oven to 350. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with paddle attachment, combine butter and sugar.

2. In a large bowl, combine flour, salt, and cocoa powder. Add flour mixture to butter mixture; mix on low speed just until a stiff dough forms, about 2 minutes. Transfer dough to a piece of plastic wrap. Form into two disks; stack, wrap tightly and chill until firm, at least 30 minutes.

3. To make ganache, place chocolate, heavy cream and espresso powder in a medium heatproof bowl. Place the bowl over a pan of gently simmering water, stirring occasionally, until chocolate has melted. Remove bowl from heat, and set the chocolate ganache aside to cool, stirring occasionally. (I put it in the fridge overnight to set up nice and stiff.)

4. When oven is heated, scatter coconut on an ungreased cookie sheet and place in oven. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes at a time, stirring in between, until about half the coconut is golden and toasty. Watch closely. In my oven it takes about 6 to 7 minutes total. Remove and set aside to cool. (If you want to make colored coconut, combine a few drops food coloring with 3 T water in a medium bowl. Stir in coconut; mix until evenly colored. Spread on an ungreased cookie sheet; bake just until dry, about 12 minutes, being careful not to brown. Let coconut cool; transfer to a small bowl.)

5. On a lightly floured surface, roll out chilled dough to a 1/4-inch thickness. Using a 2 1/4-inch round cookie cutter, cut out 24 cookies; place them on lined baking sheets. Chill cookies until firm, about 20 minutes.

6. Bake cookies until set, about 14 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

7. When the ganache has cooled to room temperature, whisk until it becomes stiff enough to pipe. Transfer ganache to a pastry bag fitted with a 3/8-inch round tip (whatever - I put it in a small Ziploc and cut one corner off), and pipe around perimeters of cookies. Make sure the piping is nice and thick, not flat. Dip each cookie, ganache-side down, into plain, toasted or colored coconut. (Instead of dipping, I found I could get more coconut to stick if I held the cookie over the bowl, took a handful of coconut, and dumped/sprinkled it onto the cookie and ganache. Then I gently pressed it in and tipped the cookie for extra to fall back into the bowl.) Fill "nests" with candy-coated chocolate eggs, 2 or 3 eggs per nest. Store cookies in an airtight container, refrigerated, up to 3 days. Makes 2 1/2 to 3 dozen

Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart Living

Little Lemon Souffles

These little lovelies are a bit labor-intensive, and slightly painful if you have a small cut on your hand and don't wear gloves while hollowing them out. But they are so good and so pretty and smell and taste sooo good. They are fresh and minimal and sure to impress. If you don't want a big heavy dessert, or are looking for a fancy palate cleanser between courses, these are for you.

I looked at Trader Joe's for Meyer lemons - sometimes they have them- but they didn't this time so I went with regular lemons. Be sure to only trim the tip off so it sits flat; do not cut all the way through the rind or else you won't have a cup for your souffle once it's hollowed (and a grapefruit spoon is almost a must for that task.) Also, Martha thinks she's so clever saying to serve these immediately, but that's totally impractical if you're having company. If you were to serve them immediately you would have spent the previous hour or so in the kitchen instead of eating dinner with your friends. It is flexible - if you served them within an hour or so they would be fine.Little Lemon Souffles
8 large lemons, preferably Meyer

3 large eggs, separated

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 T all-purpose flour

Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

1. Preheat oven to 350. Line a baking sheet with parchment. Trim tip end from a lemon (just barely) so fruit sits level. Cut stem end one-third of the way down, making cut parallel with bottom; reserve top. Repeat with remaining lemons.

2. Hold a lemon above a sieve set over a bowl, and scoop out the pulp. A grapefruit spoon works great for this. Squeeze the juice from the pulp, and reserve. Repeat with all lemons. Place shells on prepared baking sheet.

3. Combine egg yolks, 1/4 cup granulated sugar, 1/4 cup reserved lemon juice, and flour in a heat-proof bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat mixture on medium speed until pale yellow, about 3 minutes. Place bowl over pan of simmering water; whisk constantly until very thick about 6 minutes. Remove bowl from heat, and return to mixer. Beat on medium speed until cool, scraping down sides several times, about 8 minutes. Transfer to a medium bowl; set aside. Wash mixer bowl.

4. Combine egg whites and remaining 1/4 cup granulated sugar in clean mixer bowl. Place the bowl over the pan of simmering water, and stir until sugar has dissolved and mixture is warm to the touch. Remove bowl from heat, and return to mixer; beat on low speed until frothy. Gradually increase speed until meringue is shiny and holds soft peaks, 2 to 3 minutes, being careful not to overbeat.

5. Whisk 1/3 of the meringue into the yolk mixture. Gently fold in the remaining meringue. Carefully fill the prepared lemon shells to just below the rims.

6. Transfer baking sheet to oven, and bake until meringue is slightly golden and rises about 1 inch above the shell, about 14 minutes. Remove from oven, and transfer to serving plates. Garnish with the reserved lemon tops and dust with confectioners' sugar. Serve immediately (or within an hour.) Serves 8Recipe from Martha Stewart Living