2024 Holiday Cookie Box

  

I know I've done a crap job of updating my blog in the past several months but I would be remiss if I ended the year without posting my 2024 Holiday Cookie Box.  I think it's a nice variety that caters to many different tastes.  Hopefully the people who receive it will agree.

Stella Parks Gingerbread Cookies

Pierre Hermé Viennois (Raspberry Jam Filled or Chocolate Dipped Fingers)

Ginger Molasses

Walnut Snowballs

Lemon Gooey Butter Cookies

Clotted Cream Shortbread 

 

Bakery Boxes

 

 

Lemon Curd Gooey Butter Cookies

 

Pardon the extended hiatus from my blog but I was enjoying a long overdue sabbatical for most of the summer.  I missed my kitchen and baking to be sure, but I kept myself busy with traveling and relaxing...a perfect way to recharge. Now that I'm home I'm easing back into the swing of things.

First up are these Lemon Curd Gooey Butter Cookies, which I'd seen pop up on my Instagram feed from Butternut Bakery.  I've made gooey butter cookies before on this blog, but I loved the idea of combining lemon curd with the chewy, citrus cookie.  Propitiously I had all the ingredients I needed, including homemade meyer lemon curd, and the cookies came together easily.  My only other enhancement was to add a few tablespoons of poppy seeds to the cookie dough.  

One bite of the finished cookie and I was a goner; the perfect marriage of tart, sweet and chewy.

Lemon Pudding Cakes

 

I recently had a friend over for lunch and for dessert I made these individual Lemon Pudding Cakes.  As a lemon lover I will gravitate towards citrus flavors any day over something like chocolate.   The recipe comes from America's Test Kitchen and while it's very simple to make, it packs so much delicious flavor.  

Miraculously, when the batter bakes you end up with a thick pudding on the bottom of the ramekin and a light, fluffy cake on the top.  Don't ask me about the science of how that works because I have no clue.  All I know is that it's divine!  Will definitely be keeping this recipe on hand.

Recipe

Clementine Cake

 

I'm not one to make any resolutions when a new year is upon us, but this year I decided to make an intention.  Who knows if intentions are that much different to resolutions, but I tell myself they are...hahaha.  My intention for 2022 is to be less wasteful, particularly when it comes to food.  Before the pandemic I was always binning food that had expired or was spoiled.  Often times it was because I'd forgotten about it or was just too lazy to cook or bake.    

Out of necessity, especially in the early part of the pandemic in 2020, I was forced to change this behavior.  When we were essentially in lock down I wasn't frequenting the stores as I normally would.  Plus, certain ingredients were out of stock so I had to make do with what I already had.  Pre-planning and creativity, I think, are key to this strategy.

With that mindset I made this Clementine Cake.  I'd been staring at the same bowl of clementines since the holidays that were close to their last legs.  The fruits were too dry to eat on their own so I had to think of a way to use them up.  Guilt prevented me from tossing them in the compost bin.  Initially I'd considered making marmalade, but upon realizing how much time (and sugar) went into the process I quickly changed my mind.  I vaguely remembered watching an episode of Nigella Lawson where she made a clementine cake using every bit of the fruit, skin and all.  Sounded perfect to me! 

The recipe can be easily found on the internet and I had all the ingredients (clementines, almond flour, sugar, eggs and baking powder) on hand.  The only changes I made to Nigella's recipe were to  microwave the fruit for five minutes, instead of boiling it on the stove for 2 hours!, and also adding kosher salt and sliced almonds.  

 

There was definitely some skepticism on my part about how good this cake would taste given how simple it was to make, but one bite and I was a convert.  Nigella claimed this cake would be super moist and taste as if it had been soaked in syrup.  She wasn't lying.  You wouldn't believe the texture; not  mushy at all and it had a custard-like texture.  It actually reminded me of the cakes you would find at a breakfast buffet in an Italian hotel or bed & breakfast.   It needs no embellishment other than a light dusting of powdered sugar.  So delicious!

Lemon Posset and Lemon Cupcakes

 

For the Lemon Lovers Table that I recently created I included some citrus-infused treats.  At each place setting there was a decorated sugar cookie to welcome my guests.  Other desserts included the cutest  lemon petit-fours from Trader Joe's and homemade Lemon Posset and Lemon Cupcakes.

I had my first taste of lemon posset at ad hoc restaurant and I was immediately hooked on the creamy, tangy dessert.  It was so refreshing, especially after having ad hoc's famous buttermilk fried chicken!  Luckily I found a recipe from Cook's Illustrated that couldn't be simpler to make using only three ingredients: heavy cream, sugar and lemons.

For the lemon cupcakes I used a vanilla cake recipe from The Cupcake Project.  It was the winner of a recent taste test from The Kitchen.  While the cupcakes were really tasty, I actually prefer a cake that has a tighter crumb to it.  I frosted the cupcakes with Swiss meringue buttercream that was mixed with pre-made lemon curd. To pipe the buttercream swirls I used a large petal tip (Ateco #126).  I confess it was a decorating technique I pinched from Violet bakery in London. 

Lemon Lovers Table

 

I couldn't wait to put together this Lemon Lovers Table and I absolutely adore how it turned out.  It all began with the most fabulous citrus-themed linens (tablecloth, placemats and napkins) from Mrs. Alice, the tablescape brand.  If you've never heard of Mrs. Alice I urge you to check out their website because they sell so many gorgeous things.   I could easily blow my paycheck on their products!

Lemons always remind me of Capri, the small island off the Amalfi Coast in Italy that I visited a few years ago with friends.  We had the best time there!  Everywhere you turned in Capri there were lemons present, whether it was the actual fruit growing on trees, the scent perfuming the air or as an ingredient in the food.   I long to return there once the pandemic subsides.

 

The linens paired beautifully with Aerin x Williams-Sonoma tableware I already owned.  I found these darling woven straw fruit napkin rings on etsy.  To complete the table I made a few lemon treats such as decorated sugar cookies, cupcakes and lemon posset.  Talk about a citrus explosion, but I love it!

 

Resources

 

Tablecloth, Placemats, Napkins: Mrs. Alice

Woven Straw Fruit Napkin Rings: etsy 

Plates, Drinking Glass with Raffia collar: Aerin x Williams-Sonoma 

Wine Glass: Amazon

Bamboo Flatware: Pottery Barn 

Blueberry Lemon Babka

 

Never had I heard of babka before until I watched that infamous Seinfeld episode where Jerry and Elaine were desperately searching for a chocolate one to take to their friend's dinner party.  Unfortunately for them the bakery they went to only had cinnamon ones left.  Had they only known about Bluberry Lemon Babka they would have forgotten all about chocolate.

 

The recipe for this enriched dough beauty comes from blogger Cinnamon Shtick and it is an absolute winner.   Lemon is infused throughout the bread and the citrus flavor pairs beautifully with the homemade blueberry jam filling.   The addition of a struesel crumb topping takes this bread to the next level.  So good!

 

 

If you've never made bread with an enriched dough before, i.e., a yeasted dough with eggs and butter, then I highly recommend giving this recipe a try.  The dough is a dream to work with and is quite forgiving.     I don't think you can mess it up, but even if things go awry I'm sure it will still taste delicious.

Lemon Bundt Cake

Spring is in full swing in the Bay Area and I am here for it.  After the marathon baking I did in preparation for Easter I was looking for something delicious, yet simple to make and this Lemon Bundt Cake fits the bill.  I've made quite a few lemon cakes for this blog but surprisingly this recipe from Cook's Illustrated was one that I hadn't made before.   The cakes I've made previously had sour cream or cream cheese as an ingredient but this one has buttermilk which helps to create a tender texture. 

As is the case with any bundt cake,  a key to its success is ensuring the baked cake releases nicely from the pan.  I made sure to grease my fleur de lis pan really well with shortening and then coat it generously with a dusting of flour.  My cake released beautifully and you could really see the beautiful design too. 

This cake is really delicious and really doesn't want for anything.  The crumb was light and tender and there was plenty of lemon flavor.   I am definitely going to be making this again.

Small Batch Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

 

I've noticed there's been a trend lately in small batch baking.  I, for one, definitely welcome this because as someone who lives by myself I just don't need a dozen of this or that.  Normally I would just give my bakes away to family and friends, and I'll still do that, but with small batch bakes I don't have to!

This recipe for Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins from Hummingbird High caught my attention because of their exceptionally tall tops, just like ones you'd find at a bakery à la Levain.  Remember that Seinfeld episode where Elaine was obsessed with just the muffin tops?  That's what these muffins reminded me of!  You can bet that Elaine would be coveting these beauties.

You get four very generously sized muffins with this recipe which was the perfect amount for me to test and also enjoy.   One thing I noticed right off the bat was the intense, but not overpowering, lemon flavor in the muffin.  This comes from rubbing the fresh lemon zest with the granulated sugar, as well as the addition of fresh lemon juice and lemon oil.  The key to getting that beautiful rise on the muffins is to make sure your ingredients are at room temperature so that the batter is well mixed.  

As soon as the muffins came out of the oven I had to have a taste and I was definitely not disappointed.  They were delicious, moist, fluffy and above all, not too sweet!  I highly recommend giving this recipe a try.

Blueberry Crumb Bars

People sometimes ask where my baking inspirations come from and I wish I had a deeply profound or creative answer, but in truth often it's something as simple as timing.   That was exactly the naissance of why I made these Blueberry Crumb Bars.  Recently I was scrolling through Instagram and saw the bars posted on Smitten Kitchen's feed.   Fortuitously I had some blueberries in my fridge that were on their last leg.  See, it's all about the timing!

Although I only had enough blueberries to make half the recipe I didn't have any issues downsizing it into an 8-inch square pan.   It's also a win when you don't need any equipment to make the bars, just a bowl.  The recipe came together in no time at all.

For ease in cutting later on make sure you chill the bars in the fridge.  After photographing the bars for this blog I couldn't help myself and had to have a taste.  The first thing I noticed was the fresh burst of blueberry flavor, which actually made me think of pie but with a lot less work.  Anything with streusel is a win in my book and I like how the bars overall aren't too sweet. 

Lemon Gooey Butter Cookies

San Francisco has no shortage of excellent bakeries and I love sampling as many of them as possible.  Recently Jane The Bakery was awarded the 2018 winner of best croissant and pain au chocolat in the city by French Morning website.  This accolade pretty much guaranteed a visit to the bakery from the likes of me.  While Jane's viennoiserie were delicious and deserving of the title what actually caught my attention were the Lemon Gooey Butter Cookies.  I'm a sucker for citrus flavored desserts so I put my detective hat on to see if I could replicate these cookies myself

I was first introduced to these cake-like cookies many years ago by my friend Jill's family friend Patti.  Patti was known for her Patti Cakes which were cookies made using boxed cake mix.  It was love at first sight when I tried them back then, but the thought never crossed my mind to make them from scratch.  Tasting Jane The Bakery's cookies motivated me to give it a try.  

A Google search resulted in quite a few recipes and I ended up trying this one from West via Midwest.   The results turned out fantastic and tasted just like the ones from Jane's.  Score!

Olive Oil Cake

Did you know August is National Olive Oil Month?  I certainly didn't until recently.  So I thought it was very fitting to make an Olive Oil Cake before the month came to an end.  I have an online subscription to Cook's Illustrated magazine and on the website there's a section called "Trending With Our Members" which lists recipes that are currently popular with subscribers.  Their version of olive oil cake was at the top of the list so I knew it was going to be good.  

I'm surprised I'd never made this cake before but I probably deemed it too boring in its simplicity.  How wrong I was!  I couldn't believe how delicious the cake was with such a moist and tender crumb.  No need to worry about a strong olive oil taste because it's not really there.  What really shines through is citrus notes coming from the lemon zest.  The cake is gorgeous on its own but you can certainly embellish it with some fresh strawberries and whipped cream if you're so inclined.

Lemon Streusel Cream Cheese Pound Cake

This was me the other day:  standing in front of the fridge and eyeing a big bag of lemons and a package of cream cheese.  What to do with them?  First thing that came to mind was a lemon cream cheese pound cake.  A) it's relatively easy to pull together and B) could feed the crowd at the office.  Done! To gild the lily a little further I decided to add a streusel topping.  Streusel qualifies the cake as a breakfast food, right?     

Be forewarned that while the batter comes together pretty quickly, the cake does take a while to bake in the oven.  I had to check for doneness three times when I made this one for the blog and even then it wasn't 100% to my satisfaction.  Seasoned bakers will notice that the inside top part of the cake could have taken another ten minutes.  Impatience on my part was to blame! It's long baking duration was most likely attributed to starting the oven at 325 degrees which was too low.  Next time I'll get the oven to 350 and then bake.  Oh well, still tastes pretty dang good!

Maida Heatter's East 62nd Street Lemon Cake

Call it strange but in all my years of baking I'm pretty sure this is the first recipe I've ever made from Maida Heatter.  Who is Maida Heatter?  She's sometimes referred to as the "Queen of Desserts" and is the author of countless baking and dessert cookbooks.  This specific recipe, one of her most famous, caught my attention recently when it was published in the New York Times.  

It was the cake's name that really intrigued me.  It was Maida's daughter who had originally found the recipe and sent it to her mother.  In homage, Maida named the cake after the Upper East Side street where her daughter lived.  Kind of cool, huh?

What I love about this recipe is that it calls for some really basic ingredients that everyone has in their kitchen at any given time.  No fuss, no muss.  The finished cake is really delicious with a tender and moist crumb.

If you're going to use an intricate bundt pan I highly recommend greasing it liberally to ensure the cake releases completely.  I tend to use a lot of butter-flavored Crisco followed by a list dusting of flour.   My cake came out of the pan like a dream with the beautiful pattern completely intact.

 

Savoy Cake

Are you a fan of Netflix's The Crown as much as I am?  To say that I'm an enthusiast is a huge understatement.  More like a complete groupie, bar none.  I loved Season 1 and was so excited when Season 2 was released just last month.  Can you say binge-watching...and repeat?  

The further exploration of Queen Elizabeth II's relationship with Prince Philip and Princess Margaret's life were absolutely riveting and I thought the latest ten episodes were outstanding.   Maybe it's because we have no royalty to speak of in America that I'm so fascinated?  And please, Z-list "celebrities" like the Kardashians don't count as royalty!

 

I'm a self-confessed Anglophile and anything with a hit of British or English royalty will undoubtedly capture my fancy.   When Victorian Savoy cakes were featured as the showstopper challenge on the Season 8 quarterfinals of The Great British Bake Off (another favorite Brit show) I knew I had to make it.  What really intrigued me were the cakes' gorgeously intricate details and sugar crust. 

Those who are unfamiliar with Savoy cakes have probably already eaten them.  How? Well, if you've tasted a ladyfinger, then you've had a Savoy.  That's all they really are - a fatless sponge cake.  Because there is no leavener like baking powder or baking soda used in the cake's recipe it's vital that you get lots of volume in to the batter from the whipped egg whites and yolks.  I can't tell you how invaluable a stand mixer is for this job.  I cringe at the thought of having to make a Savoy by hand back in Queen Victoria's day.

For the Savoy's design I turned to my ever growing collection of Nordic Ware Bundt pans.  The pan I chose could not have been more perfect and fittingly named,  The Crown Bundt Pan.  A critical step to success is taking the additional time required to prepare the pan for baking.  A quick spray of Pam will not be sufficient here, people! You have to grease every single nook and cranny of the mold with butter and then generously coat the entire pan in sugar to ensure your baked cake un-molds with that beautiful crust.  Trust me, it's so worth the extra effort!

So as I anxiously await Season 3 of this beloved series (crossing my fingers it will be in Dec'18) I will have to make do with my own makeshift "Crown."  God Save the Queen!

Aloha Bundt Cake

If ever there was a thing called baking bad luck, this Aloha Bundt was its poster child.  Why?  Because for some crazy reason this particular pan seems to incite power outages.  Read on and you'll see what I mean.

Proof #1: I found this fantastic Nordic Ware pineapple bundt pan on sale at Sur La Table in Palo Alto.  Anyone who knows me knows I'm crazy about pineapples, they're my favorite fruit of all time.  Just as I was about to pay all the power in the store (and mall) went out.   No till, no purchase.  Argh!  Luckily the electricity was restored half an hour later and I was able to complete the transaction and take my pan home.  But you can be sure I was worried I'd have to leave it behind in the shop.

Proof #2: Got up early this past Sunday to make my favorite lemon poppy seed sour cream bundt cake using the new pan.  I was supposed to meet up with some friends for brunch later that morning and wanted to make sure the cake was done beforehand.  Forty five minutes in to baking and suddenly all the power in my flat went out.  Nothing.  Nada.  Zip.  Rien.  No worries I thought, I've got a gas range.  Not so fast.  Little did I know that while the oven was fueled by gas, electricity kept it running.  Suffice it to say 3 hours later and the power came back on.  Luckily I was able to finish baking the cake without any issues but it was definitely a close call. 

Lemon Tea Cookies

My work had a team meeting at the Hyatt Regency in San Francisco recently.  It's an annual conference that's also one of the most anticipated events on my office calendar.  I always look forward to it because it's a chance to connect face to face with global colleagues who are based in North America, Europe and Asia. 

The catering at the hotel over the course of the three days was your typical fare, good but not spectacular.  However, the one thing I and many others absolutely loved were the lemon tea cookies the Hyatt served during a coffee break.  As soon as I took a bite of the soft, tender cookie topped with a thin layer of lemon glaze I knew I had to replicate it at home.  

 

Success all came down to getting the actual cookie, without the glaze, right.  The cookie itself reminded me a lot of a black and white in that it's texture was more cake-like.   I tried googling "Hyatt lemon tea cookie" in the hopes that someone may have posted the hotel's recipe online, but alas, no such luck and I was left to my own devices.

I ended up tweaking Cook's Country's Black and White Cookie and the results were fantastic.  By adding more flour to the recipe I got the thicker cookies I was looking for.  I also substituted lemon juice for the vanilla extract, but next time I think I'll use some lemon extract along with grated lemon peel to give it a real citrus punch.  The glaze couldn't be simpler, powdered sugar mixed with freshly squeezed lemon juice.   I don't think I'm bragging when I say I have a legitimate replica...eat your heart out Hyatt!

Happy Pi Day

To all the math afficionados out there, Happy Pi Day! 

In celebration of 3.14, I baked a trifecta of yummy pies from America's Test Kitchen, clockwise from top: French Silk Chocolate Pie, Blueberry Pie and North Carolina Lemon Pie  These beauties will be coming with me to the office for my colleagues to enjoy.

Lemon Poppy Seed Sour Cream Bundt Cake

Could I think of a more superfluous name for this cake - Lemon Poppy Seed Sour Cream Bundt.  I admit it doesn't roll off the tongue so easily but I couldn't help myself, the name says it all.  The naissance of this beauty came from my desire to clear out my fridge of sour cream and lemons.  A rather inauspicious beginning I admit but at least it was a noble cause! 

Luckily for me the recipe is very straight forward and comes together in no time at all.   This is the second bundt cake I've made in a week.  While I love how simple and nostalgic they are, I do confess it's the cake pan that I'm a bit more obsessed with.   My favorite is this one by Nordic Ware...a true gem in any baker's kitchen.

I will pay this cake the ultimate compliment by saying it's as if it came from the box.  What?@!  Yes, you read correctly and it's no joke!  What I mean is that the texture is amazingly moist and tender, not dense and heavy like you find most bundt cakes to be.   My only critique is that I want MORE lemon flavor so next time I think I'll brush on a lemon infused simple syrup while the cake is still warm but before it cools and is glazed.