Texas Sheet Cake

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Since this is one of those recipes that my mother gave to me, probably about thirty-five years ago, you can imagine my disgust when a famous cowboy-cookbook-authoress put it in one of her cookbooks and claimed it as her own.  I don’t even think she was born when this started making the rounds.

In an article in Texas Monthly, Courteney Bond writes that “Texans clearly have a proprietary interest in the enormous rectangle of thin, flat chocolate cake slathered in deliciously sugary, pecan-studded chocolate icing. But what exactly makes it a “Texas” sheet cake? Some say it’s simply because the cake is huge. Others maintain it’s because it’s flamboyantly rich. Still others point to the addition of Texas-y ingredients like buttermilk and pecans, or to the fact that the recipe is similar to one submitted to the Dallas Morning News in 1957 that subsequently swept the country.”  You can trace the timeline of this treat here, or have a look at the full range of the Food Timeline, tracing more treats.

The proportions may vary slightly.  Some use walnuts instead of pecans (it doesn’t really matter to my way of thinking), but all recipes include buttermilk and cocoa.  Yield: 1 half-sheet-cake pan (about 15″ by 10″), in less time than it takes to drive to the big box store and pick up a cake.

Here you can see the difference between the Dutch-process cocoa and regular cocoa powder. I think the taste difference is dramatic (think more chocolatey and rich).

Grease a half-sheet-cake pan: 15 1/2″ by 10 1/2″ by 1″  This is also known as a “rimmed cookie sheet.” [Note: some say to flour it too, but I never have.]

Sift into bowl:
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon soda
2 cups sugar

Bring to boil:
2 stick butter or margarine
4 Tablespoons cocoa (I like using Dutch-processed cocoa the best)
1 cup water

Pour boiling liquids over dry ingredients and stir.

Add:
2 eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk

Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

After cake comes out of oven, bring to boil:
1 stick butter
4 Tablespoons cocoa

Mix in: 6 Tablespoons buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 -1/2 cups chopped nuts, pecan or walnuts

Combine and pour on slightly-cooled cake, spreading to cover evenly.

Cheesecake Diamonds – or – Squares

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Mom used to make these long ago, and recently I had cause to resurrect them from the recipe graveyard.  Yes, they are really 1980-ish, but yes, they are really good.  I’ve updated the recipe to our more modern methods.

Cheesecake Diamonds, 9 x 13 pan (quantity can be halved)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a food processor place:
2/3 cup brown sugar
2 cups flour
1/2 cup walnuts
Process until walnuts are small bits, but still recognizable.  Melt 10 Tablespoons butter, then, with food processor running, pour melted butter into flour mixture, letting it mix about 20 seconds.  Don’t overmix–you want it to remain kind of loose.  Pour this out into a 9 x 13 inch pan.

Scoop out 1 full cup of this topping and reserve.  Press the remainder down firmly and evenly into pan.  Bake for 12-15 minutes in hot oven.  [NOTE: if using a glass pan, set oven temperature to 325.]

In a separate bowl, mix together:
2 softened 8-ounce packages cream cheese (I use Trader Joe’s), and 1 cup granulated sugar until creamy.

Add:
2 eggs
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
1/4 cup milk (4 Tablespoons)
1 teaspoon vanilla
Beat well. Spread over baked bottom crust (crust doesn’t need to cool).

To reserved topping, add 1/4 cup chopped walnuts, mix.  Sprinkle over the filling.  Return to the oven and bake 25 minutes more.  Cool, then cut into diamonds or squares. Keep refridgerated.

To cut into diamonds, make parallel cuts the length of the pan.  Then cut across them at a 45 degree angle, forming diamonds.  There will be odd-shaped pieces in the corners: Cook’s taste!

Store in refridgerator.

(You know how to cut into squares.)

Christmas Eve Bolognese Sauce

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For several years in a row, our children came home for Christmas and every Christmas Eve we’d make a batch of home-made pasta.  Of course good pasta needs a good sauce, so here’s my recipe.

I make this is two parts: one is the “Bolognese” part, made with a carrot, a celery stalk and the leanest ground beef you can find, then simmered slowly.  The other part is made from high-quality canned tomatoes, simmered with minced garlic with added basil and olive oil.  If you have a vegan, like we did one year, then this second sauce will work for them.

I combine the two sauces as we like our Bolognese sauce to resemble the one we ate in Bologna in 2012, at the Eataly store (shown above with a tagliatelle noodle).

This recipe serves about 8-10; half it if desired.

Part I–Bolognese Meat Sauce (adapted from Phaidon’s Silver Spoon cookbook)
6 Tablespoons real butter
1/4 cup olive oil
2 medium-sized onions, chopped
3 carrots, chopped
2 stalks of celery, chopped
1 to 1-1/2 pounds of ground steak, or lean hamburger in the 90% lean category
3 tablespoons concentrated tomato paste
water
salt and pepper

Melt the butter in a large flat pan, add olive oil.  Add the vegetables and the meat and season with salt and pepper.  Mix well and cook over low heat for a few minutes until the vegetables have softened and the meat begins to brown.  Dilute the tomato paste with a little bit of water, and add to the pan, stirring well to distribute.

Cover and cook over a very low heat for 1-1/2 hours, adding a little water if the sauce appears to be drying out.

Part II–Tomato Sauce
2 cans high-quality Italian Peeled Tomatoes.  I use both of the above, but Cento is preferred.
5-6 garlic cloves, smashed, peeled, then minced
1/2 teaspoon sugar

Put the tomatoes with can juice in a pan and add the minced garlic, the sugar and a sprinkling of salt (shown above).  Cover and cook over a very low heat for thirty minutes without stirring.

Using a potato masher, crush the tomatoes, stir and let cook another fifteen minutes.

If you are using only the Tomato Sauce, at the end of cooking, swirl in about 2-3 Tablespoons high quality olive oil and 15 fresh basil leaves, torn.  You can omit this if you are proceeding to step III.

Part III–Combine

Combine the Bolognese Sauce and the Tomato Sauce and use.

I find it best to make this a day ahead to let the flavors blend.

Combined Sauces

Gingerbread Cookies

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I was visiting Matthew’s house at Christmastime, when we decided to rustle up a batch of Gingerbread Cookies, for eating and for sharing.  I found this recipe online at the King Arthur Flour website, and they all turned out so well I wanted to put it up here (I own the King Arthur cookbook).  We made a few modifications for ease in preparation, which I’ve incorporated into the recipe below.

Ingredients
3/4 cup unsalted butter
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
3/4 cup molasses
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon allspice or cloves
1 large egg
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3 1/2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

Instructions
In a large mixing bowl, place the brown sugar, molasses, salt, and spices.  Melt the butter in a microwave, and add to the sugar/molasses mixture.  Beat in the egg.

Whisk the baking powder, soda and flour together, then to the molasses mixture about a quarter at a time.

Place the dough in a gallon-sized quart bag, shape it into a flat disk, zip closed, and refrigerate for 1 hour or longer. The dough may be sticky and hard to roll if not thoroughly chilled, so make sure it’s cold before continuing.

Preheat your oven to 350°F. Get out several baking sheets; line with parchment parchment paper.

Once the dough has chilled, take one-half of the dough out of the refrigerator.  I always use a floured pastry cloth and a stockinette on the rolling pin, but if you don’t have this, work on a well-floured surface, and roll the dough 1/8″ to 1/4″ thick; the thinner you roll the dough, the crispier the cookies will be.

Cut out shapes with a cookie cutter, cutting them as close to one another as possible to minimize waste.  Roll scraps into a ball, and re-roll and cut out again.

Transfer the cookies to prepared cookie sheets. Bake the cookies just until they’re slightly brown around the edges 8 to 10 minutes, or until they feel firm. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for several minutes, or until they’re set. Transfer them to a rack to cool completely. Repeat with the remaining dough.

Cook’s Note: We doubled this with no troubles at all, but worked with only 1/4 of the dough at a time, keeping the rest refrigerated.

Orange-Cranberry-Pistachio Biscotti

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I had to make a batch of cookies to take to a holiday event, and decided to revamp my traditional biscotti recipe, adding pistachios, orange zest and dried cranberries (Craisins) to the recipe.  The original, Anise-Almost Biscotti, are great biscotti, but I omitted the almonds and the anise and added the above treats.  They were a hit.

Preparation: Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350°F. Line1 baking sheet with parchment paper.

Ingredients
1 and 1/4 cups sugar
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
3 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/3 teaspoon salt
zest from two medium oranges (about 1 Tablespoon)
1/2 cup dried sweetened cranberries (Craisins)
1/2 cup coarsely chopped pistachios (unsalted, unroasted preferred, but it’s okay if you don’t have them that way.  I buy mine at Trader Joe’s).

In mixer, mix sugar, melted butter, 3 eggs, vanilla extract, and orange rind. In another bowl, sift (or stir together) flour, baking powder and salt.  Add flour mixture to egg mixture and stir on low speed, scraping when needed until well blended.  Add dried cranberries and pistachios.

 

Glop half of the dough onto the parchment-lined cookie sheet. Dough is kind of gooey–so I used my spatula to shape each dough half into 13 1/2-inch-long, 2 1/2-inch-wide log. Mine got a little wide, so the final biscotti were a little flat. Remember that, when you shape them. Space the logs 2-3 inches apart.  (What you see here is a doubled batch.)

Bake logs until golden brown (logs will spread), about 35 minutes (a little longer than the usual biscotti). They should be firm to the touch. Don’t turn off the oven! 

(traditional biscotti shown here)

Cool logs completely on sheet on rack, about 20 minutes.  I dragged mine over onto a baking rack by using the edge of the parchment paper, and tilting the cookie sheet a little bit.

Transfer logs to work surface; discard parchment paper. Using serrated knife, cut logs on diagonal into 1/2-inch-wide slices. Stand them on edge, as shown in the first photo.  If you do it this way, you don’t have to turn them over, and you can get it all on one baking sheet.  Bake 15-20 minutes.  You want to make sure there are no doughy spots, and they are good and crunchy.

Transfer to rack and cool. These can be prepared 1 week ahead of your Big Party. Store in airtight container at room temperature.  These have a melt in your mouth crispness that are typical of homemade biscotti, but unlike store-bought, they won’t break your jaw.

One-pot Spaghetti

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I had just read about this recipe in the New York Times that morning, and at noon, out of the blue, three relatives called to say they were coming by at lunchtime…from Utah…but don’t go to any trouble.  We had just returned from a trip abroad, no food was in the house, the jet-lag was flaring badly, but here was this gift of a recipe, and with a few modifications I had it ready to go in no time.  Make it.  It’s delicious and quick.

Ingredients:
1 pound angel hair spaghetti
3-4 pints cherry tomatoes, separated (cut about half of the tomatoes in half, and leave the rest whole–save about 1/2 cup of the halved tomatoes to sprinkle on top for garnish at the end.  Truth: I forgot to cut them before I threw them in with the spaghetti and they were fine.)
zest of two lemons
1/3 cup olive oil
2 teaspoons salt
1 bunch kale or spinach (wash, cut out the stems and discard, and chop the rest)
Salt and Pepper to taste
Parmesan or other hard grated cheese, for serving  (we use Pecorino-Romano)

Measure out 1 quart of water, and bring to a boil.

In a separate pan, large in enough to hold the dry spaghetti laying flat (I cheated and broke off 2 inches off the ends), place the dry spaghetti, most of the tomatoes, lemon zest, oil and salt.

Add the boiling water to the pan with the spaghetti.  Cover the pan and bring to a boil.  Remove the lid and simmer for about six minutes. Occasionally use tongs to lift and separate the spaghetti so it doesn’t stick.

Add kale (or spinach) and continue cooking until liquid has been reduced to a sauce, the pasta is cooked through, and the kale is tender (but not overdone).

Correct seasonings, top with cheese and remaining 1/2 cup sliced tomatoes.  Serve.

Cooks’ Notes: Some have suggested adding a pinch of hot pepper flakes to the simmering concoction for a bit of a kick.

Cheezy (Funeral) Potatoes, my version

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Everybody has this recipe and has made it for millenia, but I made my first batch of these this year, and wanted to put the recipe on this blog for future reference.  I joke that instead of crushed cornflakes on top, we should put crushed statins, but then maybe you have to be of a certain age to get the reference.  Let’s just say, I’ll try not to make these unless I’m going to share them.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Saute ¾ cup diced onion in 3 Tablespoons of real butter, until the onion is transluscent.
Add 2 cloves garlic, minced, and then cook for another minute or two, but don’t let the vegetables brown.

In a large bowl, place:
1 (30 ounce) bag of frozen, shredded has brown potatoes — if frozen (mine were), poke at it with a sturdy spoon to break it up a little
1 (10.5 ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup–fish out the big pieces of chicken meat
1 cup LITE sour cream
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground pepper
1-1/2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded

Add onion mixture to the above and stir well until mixed.  Keep stirring, keep stirring.

Melt 3 Tablespoons real butter, and add to 1½ cup crushed cornflake crumbs, about one-half of a small box.  Stir to mix.

Place potato mixture into a 9 x 13″ pan, pressing firmly into place.  Sprinkle 1/2 cup cheddar cheese over the surface, then spread the conflake crumbs over the top of that.

Bake for 90 minutes or until cooked throughout and bubbly.

Here’s a couple of photos of what was going on:

Mixing up the potato ingredients

Layers of topping: cheese, then cornflakes

Blueberry Crumble Bars

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I first ate these at Quilt Night, an evening where a lot of quilters gather to stitch, trade tales and have a treat.  And what a treat this was: Laurel outdid herself. She called them “Blueberry Oat Bars” but we have since renamed them, since they remind us of eating blueberry crumble. I’ve since made them for my husband and I, a daughter and her family, a couple moving out of the area, a son and his family, and it gets rave reviews from everyone.

To begin, heat oven to 350 F; grease 9 x 13 baking pan.

Topping

1 ¾ cup old-fashioned Quaker oats, uncooked
1 ½ cup all-purpose flour
¾ cup brown sugar, firmly packed
½ cup chopped walnuts
½ t. baking soda
½ t. salt
¾ cup butter, melted

Combine oats, flour, brown sugar, nuts, baking soda and salt. Add butter, mixing until crumbly. Reserve ¾ cup mixture; press remaining mixture onto bottom of prepared dish.  Bake this bottom layer for 10 minutes.

Filling

2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
½ cup granulated sugar
3 T. water, divided
2 T. cornstarch
2 t. lemon juice

While bottom layer bakes, combine blueberries, granulated sugar and 2 T. water in medium saucepan.

Bring to a boil, simmer 2 minutes, uncovered, stirring occasionally. Combine remaining 1 T. water, cornstarch, and lemon juice; mix well. Gradually stir into blueberry mixture; cook and stir about 30 seconds or until thickened.

Spread over partially baked base to within ¼ inch of edge; sprinkle with reserved oat mixture.

Press topping down into blueberries slightly.

Bake 18 to 20 minutes or until topping is golden brown.  Cool on wire rack; cut into bars. Store tightly covered, or freeze.

NOTE: I doubled this, and used a rimmed baker’s half-sheet to bake it in.  All times are the same; ingredients are doubled.

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Orange and Ginger Chicken

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This is the real deal–tender chicken coated with a rich-tasting orange glaze.  This recipe can be prepared in 45 minutes or less, depending on your quantities.

4 boneless chicken breast halves  (If using the giant chicken breasts from the Big Box store, slice them into smaller pieces, as in *this* recipe)
salt and pepper
all-purpose flour
1/4 stick of butter
1 Tablespoon olive oil
4 teaspoons minced peeled fresh ginger
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 Tablespoon Dijon mustard
1-1/2 cups freshly squeezed orange juice
2 teaspoons grated orange peel
[OPT: 1/2 cup thinly sliced green onions]

Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper; dust with flour.  Melt butter with oil in large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add chicken; saute until brown, about three minutes per side.  Transfer chicken to plate.

Add ginger to skillet; stir 1 minute.  Add brown sugar and mustard and stir to blend into drippings.  Add orange juice and orange peel.  Simmer until sauce is slightly reduced, stirring occasionally, about 8 minutes.  Return chicken, and any accumulated juices, to pan.  Simmer 3 minutes.  Turn chicken over and add green onions.  Simmer until chicken is cooked through and sauce is thick enough to coat spoon, about 3-5 minutes longer.  Season sauce with salt and pepper.  Transfer chicken and sauce to platter; serve with sticky rice.

Scones

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Best made with sultanas (or golden raisins) and served with double (aka clotted cream), these scones are a real treat.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Mix together the dry ingredients:

2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
sprinkle of salt
2 Tablespoons granulated sugar

Cut in 2 Tablespoons of butter, until pebbly.

(If adding in sultanas, use about 1/3 cup, and add them in now.)

Add 2/3 cup milk, stirring until dough holds together. Turn out onto floured board and knead five times.

Form dough into ball, flattening it slightly with rolling pin, but keeping it about 1″ to 1-1/2″ thick.  Cut into fourths.

Brush with milk and sprinkle with a little bit of sugar.

Bake at 425 degrees for 10-12 minutes.