A Visiting Cake!

This cake is called a 'Swedish Visiting Cake'.  And, yes, I made it almost exclusively for the name. 

Well, that and the fact that the Bicoastal Chef from the East Coast paid me a visit out here in the West.

This cake is very simple: the flavor base is lemon, vanilla, and almonds.  Unlike far too many dry cakes I make, this cake is delightfully moist.  And topped with a nice layer of crunchy almonds.

And, did I mention you can make it with one bowl and mix it together in approximately 5 minutes.  Yes, it is a wonder cake.  Thank you, Dorie Greenspan.

Start by rubbing the sugar together and lemon zest.
 
Next, add in the eggs.  Then add the salt, vanilla extract, and almond extract.

Then, stir in the flour. 

And, last stir in the melted butter (yup, melted, so you don't have to allow for time for it to come to room temp).

Pour the batter into a buttered (and floured) 9 inch pan (cake pan, cast-iron skillet, pie plate... whatever you have).

Scatter some sliced almonds of top.
 
Pop it in the oven and 30 minutes later you have a wonderful little cake on your hands.

The cake may be a bit hard to get out of the pan, so don't be afraid to serve it straight from the pan.

And, enjoy this lovely way to let your visitors know how delighted you are that they have come to see you!

Swedish Visiting Cake (from Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours)
Ingredients:
1 cup sugar, plus a little more for sprinkling
Grated zest of 1 lemon
2 large eggs
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp pure vanilla extract (optional)
1/2 tsp pure almond extract (optional)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 stick (8 tablespoons) melted butter
About 1/4 cup sliced almonds [next time, I will up it to 1/3-1/2 cup, I loved this part]

Directions:
Center a rack in the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Butter a seasoned 9-inch cast iron skillet or 9-inch round cake pan or pie pan.

Pour the sugar into a medium bowl.  Add the lemon zest and blend the zest into the sugar with your fingers until the sugar is moist and aromatic.  Whisk in the eggs one at a time.  Whisk in the salt and the extracts, if you're using them [which you should!].  Switch to a rubber spatula and stir in the flour.  Finally, fold in the melted butter.

Scrape the batter into the skillet/pan and smooth the top with a rubber spatula.  Scatter the sliced almonds over the top and sprinkle with a little sugar.  If you're using a cake pan or pie pan, place the pan on a baking sheet.

Bake the cake for 25-30 minutes, or until it is golden and a little crisp on the outside; the inside will remain moist.  Remove the skillet from the oven and let it cool for 5 minutes, then run a thin knife around the sides and bottom of the cake to loosen it.  You can serve the cake, warm or cooled, directly from the skillet or turn out onto a serving place.

Serves 8-10

Perfect for Spring and Summer: Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

I love when you make something for the first time, and you realize you have a 'classic' on your hands: something you will make again and again.

These lemon-poppy seed muffins are just like that.
The flavor is perfect: not too sweet, but oh so lemony. And the texture... dry muffins are the bane of my muffin existence, so when I find muffins, like these(!), that come out perfectly moist, I get rather excited. The poppy seeds also add a nice hint of crunch.

They are, of course, a cinch to make. Start by melting some butter, and setting it aside to cool. (Since you don't have to wait for the butter to come to room temperature, these are something you can make 'on the fly').
Get your sugar and lemon zest together.
Now... for a brilliant part: rub the zest and sugar together with your fingers, until aromatic.
Brilliant, Dorie Greenspan!
Add the other dry ingredients to the lemon-sugar concoction.
In a measuring cup, whisk together the butter, lemon juice, vanilla, eggs, and (the key to the moisture) sour cream.
Make a well, and pour the dry ingredients into the wet.
Stir until almost just combined,
and add in the poppy seeds.
Stir until just combined. Its okay if there are lumps.
Scoop the batter into your muffin tins.
Bake 18-20 minutes.
Remove to a rack to cool.
At this point, you have two options:
a) Make a glaze (powdered sugar and lemon)
It looks pretty and gives it a nice zing.
b) Gobble them up as is.
(I think, on the whole, b) is my preference, but a) makes them a little fancier).

Whatever you do... enjoy!

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins (from Baking: From My Home to Your by Dorie Greenspan)
Ingredients: 2/3 cup sugar
Grates zest and juice of 1 lemon
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup sour cream
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 tablespoons poppy seeds

For the icing:
1 cup confectioner's sugar
2-3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Directions: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Butter or spray 12 molds in a regular-size muffin tin or fit the molds with paper muffin cups. Place the muffin pan on a baking sheet.*

In a large bowl, rub the sugar and lemon zest together with your fingertips until the sugar is moist and the fragrance of the lemon is strong. Whisk in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a large glass measuring cup, whisk the sour cream, eggs, vanilla, lemon juice, and melted butter together until well blended. Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients and, with the whisk or a rubber spatula, gently but quickly stir to blend. Don't worry about being through-- a few lumps are better than overmixing the batter. Stir in the poppy seeds. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups.

Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until the tops are golden and a thin knife inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for 5 minutes before carefully removing each muffin from its mold. Cool the muffins completely on the rack before icing them.

To make the icing: Put the confectioner's sugar in a small bowl and add about 1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice. Stir with a spoon to moisten the sugar, then add enough additional lemon juice, a dribble at a time, to get an icing that is thin enough to drizzle from the tip of the spoon. You can then drizzle lines of icing over the tops of the muffins entirely, the better to get an extra zap of lemon.
*Don't forget this part! I nearly did. It helps the muffins not get overly brown.

A triumph of a double-crust lemon pie

Over a year ago, my father suggested I make a double-crust lemon pie for the holidays. You might think this was a simply request.

You would be wrong.

Turns out that recipes for double-crust lemon pies aren't exactly abounding. The most popular option is the 'Shaker Lemon Pie', which has you thinly slice lemons, macerate them over night, and use that as the filling. I made this pie. And, then I made it again. Each time it was just shy of inedible. The rind, in spite of the maceration time, was bitter (which, I hear, there are ways around), and the texture also was off. There was none of that wonderful smooth lemon pie filling, just lumpy, grainy, lemon slices. A failure, to be sure.

So... gasp!... I had to come up with my own recipe. At least, kind of. I decided to take a recipe for lemon pie filling, adjust the quantities, and put it between two crusts. Finding the right quantity has taken some doing. But... like I said, this story ends in my triumphing over the double-crust lemon pie! Hooray!

The filling is perfect: not to tart, like lemon curd, but not too sweet either. You, of course, start with a bunch of lemons, 4-5.
Grate 'em
Juice 'em
Then, get everything else together in your mis en place.
Whisk everything, except the butter, together in a bowl.
Then, add the butter, and in a somewhat large sauce pan, slowly bringing it to a simmer. Be sure to whisk constantly, so nothing scalds.
Once it has come to a simmer, whisk for 30 seconds more, and remove it from the heat. It will be a lovely pale yellow color, and it will be thick, like pudding.
Then, using a spatula, press the filling through a sieve.
This will help you leave this sort of thing behind.
And, here you have it: wonderful lemon pie filling!
Cover it with wax paper, let it come to room temperature, then put it in the refrigerator to cool.
P.s. You can also just eat this filling with a spoon, like pudding. It will make you very happy.

But, if you are going the pie route... when you are ready to assemble your pie, roll out the bottom crust. Fill the pie with that gorgeous filling.
Put on the top crust, crimp the sides, use a knife to poke some breathing holes in the top, and pop it in the oven.
Just under an hour later, you have a lemon pie!
Like I said, a triumph!

Double-Crust Lemon Pie (adapted from Joy of Cooking and my trials and tribulations)
Lemon Filling Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup sugar
4 Tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
Grated zest of 1 lemon
1 cup water
1/2 cup strained fresh lemon juice
2 large eggs plus 2 large egg yolks
2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Directions:
Whisk together all the ingredients, except the butter, in a large saucepan. Then, add the butter. Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly and scraping the bottom and the corners of the pan to prevent scorching, until the mixture comes to a simmer and thickens. Then continue to cook, whisking briskly, for about 30 seconds.

Using a spatula, scrape and strain the filling into a medium-mesh sieve set over a bowl. Cover the surface of the filling with a piece of wax or parchment paper, cool, then refrigerate to thicken. Stir gently if necessary before using; do not beat. This keeps, refrigerated, for up to 2 days.

For the crust:
Pâte Brisée recipe, or whatever recipe for pie crust you like

For the pie:
Preheat oven to 425.

Roll out the bottom crust so that it is about 12-inches, and place in a 9-inch pie pan. Trim the dough, so there is a 3/4 inch overhang. Pour the filling into the bottom crust, and level with the back of a spoon. Brush the overhanging edge with cold water. Roll out the top crust, and cover the pie. Firmly pinch the edges of both crusts together with your fingers to seal. Trim the double edge overhang to 3/4 inch, then tuck the overhang underneath so that the folded edge is flush with the rim of the pie pan. Crimp or flute the edge. Prick the crust with a fork or using a sharp knife, make three or four 2-inch vents.

Bake for 30 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 350 and bake 20-30 minutes more. Let cool completely on rack.

Blueberry Muffins, aka Why Canola Oil is the Bane of My Baking Existence

My obsession with blueberries this summer knows no limits.
But, just look at that gorgeous berry, bursting with goodness? How could I resist?

While this story ended happily with these delicious blueberry muffins,
there was darkness before there was light.

And the villain? Canola oil.

I will not mince words here: I think canola oil ruins baked goods. There, I said it. But, I can back it up. I made two batches of these blueberry muffins. The first ones were with canola oil and as soon as I bit into one, I had this gross vegetably taste in my mouth. And, as I was spitting the muffin out, I flashed back to another bad muffin I once made that had an equally vegetably taste: pumpkin muffins too gross to blog about. I rushed to compare recipes, and I soon discovered the culprit, with its insidious vegetably-muffin-ruining-flavor: canola oil.

To test my theory that canola oil is the devil, I made a second batch of these blueberry muffins, swapping out canola oil for safflower oil. And the second batch was delightful. Everything you want a blueberry muffin to be.

The scientific conclusion from this test:
Okay, now that I have ranted, time to tell you about this gorgeous blueberry muffins. They are really lovely little muffins: not too sweet, and with a slightly cake-y texture. But the lemon, oh the lemon, makes them perfect.
(Just looking at them you know they are best friends)

These muffins are a cinch to make. You don't even need two bowls: just one bowl and a liquid measuring come. How great is that? To start, combine your dry ingredients with the zest of one lemon.
Next, in a large measuring cup, mix together your not-canola oil (I used safflower), buttermilk, vanilla, and egg. Set aside.
Now, add those wonderful blueberries to the dry ingredients.
And fold them in lightly.
Then, make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and pour in your liquid ingredients. The well helps you make sure all the dry ingredients, even the pesky ones on the bottom, get incorporated.
Fold everything until just incorporated. As ever, no overmixing unless you like tough muffins.
Now, bust out your muffin tin's best friend: the ice cream scoop.
Scoop the batter into the muffin tins, so each tin is full.
Pop them in the oven for 20 minutes.
And!
Get ready to love what you just made!

Buttermilk Blueberry Muffins (from joyofbaking.com)
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup granulated white sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
Zest of one lemon or orange
1 egg, lightly beaten
3/4 cup buttermilk
2/3 cup safflower oil (not canola oil)
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries*

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375.** Position rack in center of oven. Butter or spray a muffin tin. Set aside.

In a large measuring cup, whisk together the egg, buttermilk, oil, and vanilla. Set aside.

In another large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and lemon zest. Gently fold in the berries. Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients. With a rubber spatula fold in the wet ingredients and stir only until the ingredients are combined.

Fill each muffin cup almost full of batter, using two spoons or an ice cream scoop. Place in oven and bake until toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clear, about 20 minutes.*** Transfer to a wire rack and let cool for about 5 minutes before removing from pan.

*Raspberries, strawberries, or blackberries would also do.
**Since I have a non-stick muffin tin, I lowered the temperature to 350 on the first batch. But, this was a bad idea, as the muffins didn't get very golden on top. So, for the second batch, I had it at 375, and they turned out much better.
***If you are using frozen berries, it might take a little longer.