Applesauce Cake

This time of year is one of my favorites -- the Jewish High Holidays. Not only is it a great opportunity to take stock, make some changes, and get a fresh start (the latter of which I am sorely in need), it's a whole menu full of amazing food.

This year, Jay's parents will be with us here in Boston for Rosh Hashana, which means it's up to me to recreate the holiday staples. For Jay, that means his mom's sweet potato pie. For both of us, it also means homemade chicken soup (on the stove now -- keep your fingers crossed it comes out well!), brisket, and apples and honey, of course. For me, without a doubt, it's applesauce cake.

You know it's gonna be a good year when you get aluminum-wrapped loaves of love from home!

My mom's honey cake may be the longest-standing sweet component of Rosh Hashana meals, but maybe 10-15 years ago, her friend Gail shared a recipe for applesauce cake (thank you Gail!). It has since become my holiday favorite, hands down. No disrespect to the honey cake, but YUM! It's a perfect little quickbread with all the spices of fall. And it's so moist!

Every year, my mom bakes up these babies and sends them off to a few friends and family across the country for the holidays. Whenever I couldn't make it home, I knew I'd get my applesauce cake in the mail. 

This year, it was up to me to whip up my own cakes, and I cannot wait to dig in. The process is so easy and smells so good. What a great way to start off a sweet new year! L'shana Tova to all who are celebrating!!

Gail's Applesauce Cake

For batter:

1 cup applesauce

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup vegetable (canola) oil

2 eggs

3 tbsp milk (or non-dairy creamer if you need them to be parve)

2 cups flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp allspice

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup chopped pecans

For topping:

1/4 cup chopped pecans

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350º. Grease 2 medium loaf pans.

Combine applesauce, sugar, oil, eggs and milk. Beat to blend well.

In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and salt. Slowly blend into applesauce mixture. Stir in 1/2 cup pecans.

Turn batter into greased loaf pans (batter will be shallow in pans). Mix topping and sprinkle on top. 

Bake at 350º for 45-50 minutes.

Cool in pans, turn out and cut into slices.

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

Since I've started this blog, a stretch of more than 7 days when the KitchenAid sits lonely and unused has led to baking withdrawal. Not mine, mind you. Rather, my husband's.

Chocolate overload

A cookie fiend and chocoholic, Jay has been spoiled by my latest obsession with this blog. So when he turned to me a few nights ago and out-and-out asked for me to make him cookies, to finally break open the bag of chocolate chips in the fridge that had been mocking him, I couldn't say no. I was his dealer and he needed a hit -- bad.

Feeling guilty, I swung for the fences and sought out a quick chocolate chocolate chip cookie recipe. This time I went to my old standby, Food Network, for help. We were not disappointed. The cookies were an intense dose of chocolate, though they were a little crispy for my taste.

But, really, all that mattered was that Jay got his fix. I think I just officially became an enabler.

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies
(adapted from Cathy Lowe's recipe on foodnetwork.com)

2 1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 sticks butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 large eggs, beaten
1 tablespoon vanilla
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
2 cups chocolate chips, 2 Hershey's chocolate bars, chopped or M&M'S (I went with standard chocolate chips)
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional -- I left them out)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a bowl stir together flour, salt, and baking soda. In another large bowl stir together butter, both sugars, eggs, vanilla and cocoa. Gradually stir flour mixture into butter mixture and mix until combined. Stir chocolate chips and walnuts, if using, and stir to distribute evenly.

For cookies: Drop dough by tablespoonfuls onto greased baking sheets and bake about 10 minutes. Cool on a baking rack.

(Recipe also has instructions for bars. Check it out here.)

Bittersweet

This blogging thing has proven harder than I thought. It's been quite a while since my last post, but as they say, life happens, and so much has been going on in the last few weeks.

In the midst of digging into my new job, and buying a new home, my grandfather passed away. It wasn't necessarily a surprise, as he had been in a nursing home for 6 years and had been declining even more rapidly over the past 6 months to a year. Nevertheless, it was a sad time. Grandpa was a wonderful guy and a very memorable character. My brother and I had a particularly special bond with him; as we were so little when he joined the family marrying our grandma, we were the first (well, second behind Grandma) that Grandpa spoiled rotten.

The quick trip to Cleveland for the funeral was indeed bittersweet. Saying goodbye to Grandpa was hard, as was remembering the other people in our lives who have passed before him. Still, remembering the good times with him, and his larger-than-life personality was so welcome after watching him slip away these many years. We even learned new things about him, like his penchance for writing the White House (and the 2 responses he got!).

Being home with my family and spending quality time with my family and close family friends was really fulfilling. And filling. When you sit shiva, there's nothing to do but welcome people to the home and eat everything they bring you. Not that I'm complaining. I got to have some of my favorite Cleveland things: rugelach from Corky & Lenny's and pizza from Geraci's. A great toast to my grandpa, a former Cleveland restauranteur, to enjoy some of the local fare. We love you Grandpa!

Banana Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Bananas are my favorite fruit. We always have them in house. Which means that on busier weeks, when we aren't around as much, we often have bananas that are just past their eating prime -- and perfect for baking.

I had some cream cheese frosting in the freezer salvaged from the Red Velvet Disaster, so my brain immediately went to banana cupcakes. I found a recipe that had only ingredients I already had in the house (lesson learned from aforementioned disaster) on MarthaStewart.com. I feel like Martha's a pretty reliable source for all things baked.

Well, loyal readers, my feelings did me right. These little beauties were delicious! They were tender like a cupcake, but had the rich flavor of a banana muffin.

I added a few of my own twists. Martha's recipe called for honey-cinnamon frosting, but I think the cream cheese was a great match. For the cupcake, I was shy on the 1 1/2 cups of mashed banana, so I filled up the small gap with some unsweetened applesauce. That, and the 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg I threw in, really added some nice flavor notes.

I can't wait to have another one of these for breakfast tomorrow!

Banana Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
(adapted from MarthaStewart.com)
Makes 12 cupcakes

For Cupcake:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted (I only had salted butter, so I omitted the above salt)
1 1/2 cups mashed bananas (about 4 ripe bananas - again I had 3 bananas and supplemented with unsweetened applesauce)
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a standard 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg.

Make a well in center of flour mixture. In well, mix together butter, mashed bananas, eggs, and vanilla. Stir to incorporate flour mixture (do not overmix). Dividing evenly, spoon batter into muffin cups.

Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of a cupcake comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Remove cupcakes from pan; cool completely on a wire rack, then frost with cream cheese frosting

For Frosting:
8 oz. Philadelphia cream cheese
1/2 stick butter, softened (I added more, and don't remember if I also added some shortening)
1/2 box plus 2 tablespoons confectioner's sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Optional garnish ideas: whole or chopped walnuts or pecans, fresh or dried banana

Red Velvet Disaster

After a week of staycation, there's nothing like a little post-dinner baking to get you back into a groove. Well, usually. Feeling a little more adventurous, I sought out to tackle red velvet cupcakes. Who doesn't like red velvet???

Apparently, when I make red velvet, no one likes it. I mean, the whole process, from start to finish, was a disaster. I MAY have set myself up for failure when I realized I didn't have 2 critical ingredients: cake flour and buttermilk. But, as any good baking blogger would do, I took to the web to find suitable substitutions.

I  already knew that you can make your own buttermilk by adding 1 tablespoon of white vinegar or lemon juice to a one-cup measure and finishing it off with regular milk and letting the mixture sit for ten minutes.

I found that you can also make your own cake flour by adding a teaspoon of cornstarch to a one-cup measure and finishing it off with AP flour. Who knew?

Baking battle

So armed with my in-the-know subs, I went to work. Actually, it looked like I went to battle. The batter was as thin and red as blood (partly thanks to the full bottle of red food coloring the recipe told me to throw in). Ew.

Even though I knew I was headed for a loss, I soldiered on and baked 'em up. Again, EW.

I won't even bother to post the recipe. I like you all too much.

Oatmeal Cranberry White Chocolate Chip Cookies

Lots of promise

I am a big fan of white chocolate. Always have been. So, when I started this big adventure, I knew I had to find a recipe that called for white chocolate chips. Way back in the day, I remembered seeing a recipe on the back of a bag of Ocean Spray Craisins, so that was where I went first.

The cookies, Oatmeal Cranberry White Chocolate Chip, just sound like they're amazing. I mean, oatmeal cookies, yay. Cranberries? Yes, please! And white chocolate, well, see above.

Before...

Even with all that potential, I was feeling a little brave and threw in some sliced almonds after the first sheetful went into the oven. I know, I know, baby steps away from the written recipe. Sadly, my ingenuity didn't amount to much; neither I nor Jay really tasted a difference. :(

After... little golden nuggets of goodness

Overall, these were tasty cookies. Still, I think the next time I make them, I'll try to jazz up the cookie part (it was a little bland), this time with a little vanilla or other yummy extract.

Oatmeal Cranberry White Chocolate Chip Cookies (from Ocean Spray)

INGREDIENTS:

2/3 cup butter or margarine, softened
2/3 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups old-fashioned oats
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 6-ounce package Ocean Spray® Craisins® Original Dried Cranberries
2/3 cup white chocolate chunks or chips
(I added about 1/2 cup sliced almonds to half of batter)
(Recommend: 1 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract)

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 375ºF.

Using an electric mixer, beat butter or margarine and sugar together in a medium mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Add eggs, mixing well. Combine oats, flour, baking soda and salt in a separate mixing bowl. Add to butter mixture in several additions, mixing well after each addition. Stir in dried cranberries and white chocolate chunks.

Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on wire rack.

Makes approximately 2 1/2 dozen cookies.

National Underpants Day!

For those of you who were unaware, today was National Underpants Day!

Jay and I celebrated by meeting my good friend Matt in Northampton, MA, where we found these in a funky store:

Underpants for your hands

Some suggestions for wear...

A few months ago, my brother Brian sent us a link to these, and we thought it was hilarious. So, go check it out and celebrate the day in style!