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Eating

Birthdays and heartache

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Many, many years ago, on one very hot July day, my stepsiblings and I decided to do something very out of character. Normally such a long, hot, boring day would find us scheming to torment one another. The day in question, though, should have been one to go down in history. We cooperated. That would have been amazing enough in itself. Consider the project at hand, though, and you’ll agree that our cooperation was nothing short of miraculous.

We decided to throw a surprise birthday party for my little brother.

Perry Mason was turning 6 or 7 or 8 that summer. He was the youngest of our little crowd, which meant that he bore the brunt of most of the tormenting. I still don’t know what got into us, what made us decide to be nice to him that day. But we pulled out all the stops. My stepbrother, Wayne, covertly invited a few other kids from the neighborhood and then conspired to keep little Perry Mason busy while my stepsister Kristy and I gathered supplies and made the cake. I believe we went so far as to ride our bikes to the corner store for candy, decorations and water balloons.

The three of us were so proud of ourselves. We lit the candles and carried the cake out to the porch, singing “Happy birthday to you.” And as we approached Perry Mason, his eyes welled up. He leapt to his feet and ran way as fast as he could. He wailed and screamed and refused to join us. He thought it was a conspiracy. That we’d baked worms into the cake or something. We couldn’t convince him that there were no evil intentions behind the party.

I can’t remember how the day ended. In all likelihood, we hunted Perry Mason down and pelted him with water balloons until he cried for mercy. I do know that was the last time I tried to make a birthday cake him.

Until this year.

Happy birthday, little brother. I promise there are no worms in your cake.

Chocolate Blackout Cake
for the pudding
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups half-and-half
1 cup whole milk
6 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Whisk sugar, cornstarch, half-and-half, and milk in a large saucepan. Set pan over medium heat. Add chocolate and whisk constantly until chocolate melts and mixture begins to bubble, 2 to 4 minutes. Stir in vanilla, and transfer pudding to a large bowl. Place plastic wrap directly on surface of pudding and refrigerate until cold, at least 4 hours or up to 1 day.

for the cake layers
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing pans
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting pans
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup Dutch-processed cocoa
1 cup brewed coffee
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees. Butter and flour two 8-inch cake pans. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl.

Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Stir in cocoa and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Off heat, whisk in coffee, buttermilk and sugars until dissolved. Whisk in eggs and vanilla, then slowly whisk in flour mixture.

Divide batter evenly between the prepared pans and bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes. Cool layers in pans 15 minutes, then invert onto wire rack. Cool to room temperature, at least 1 hour.

Assembling the cake
Cut each cake in half horizontally. Crumble one cake layer into medium crumbs and set aside. Place one cake layer on serving platter or cardboard round. Spread 1 cup pudding over cake layer and top with another layer. Repeat with 1 cup pudding and last cake layer. Spread remaining pudding evenly over top and sides of cake. Sprinkle cake crumbs evenly over top and sides of cake, pressing lightly to adhere crumbs. Serve. (Cake can be refrigerated for up to 2 days.)
from Cook’s Country magazine.

Eating

Feeling blue

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Q. What’s the difference between a blueberry and an elephant?
A. They’re both blue! Except for the elephant.

We went a little overboard last week when we found cheap, fresh blueberries at the grocery store. One of my favorite breakfasts is a bowl of bran flakes with fresh blueberries, and I’ve been enjoying them every morning since we got home from my dad’s house. But I haven’t made it through the first carton yet, and we bought two.

I didn’t want to see the lovely blues go bad, so I made some blueberry muffins, using a Cook’s Illustrated recipe that I’ve had filed away for awhile. As advertised, these muffins are “rich, moist and dainty.”

Cinnamon-Sugar-Dipped Blueberry Muffins
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1 large egg
1 cup granulated sugar
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
1 1/4 cups sour cream (10 ounces)
1 1/2 cups frozen blueberries, preferably wild
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 tablespoons unsalted butter

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray standard muffin tin with nonstick vegetable cooking spray.

Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt in medium bowl until combined. Whisk egg in second medium bowl until well-combined and light-colored, about 20 seconds. Add sugar and whisk vigorously until thick and homogenous, about 30 seconds; add melted butter in 2 or 3 steps, whisking to combine after each addition. Add sour cream in 2 steps, whisking just to combine.

Add frozen berries to dry ingredients and gently toss to combine. Add sour cream mixture and fold with rubber spatula until batter comes together and berries are evenly distributed, 25 to 30 seconds (small spots of flour may remain and batter will be thick). Do not overmix.

Use ice cream scoop or large spoon to drop batter into greased muffin tin. Bake until light golden brown and toothpick or skewer inserted into center of muffin comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes, rotating pan from front to back halfway through baking time. Invert muffins onto wire rack, stand muffins upright, and cool 5 minutes.

While muffins are cooling, mix sugar and ground cinnamon in small bowl and melt butter in small saucepan. After baked muffins have cooled five minutes, working one at a time, dip tops of muffins in melted butter and then cinnamon-sugar. Set muffins upright on wire rack; serve.

The recipe calls for frozen berries. I ignored that, and my fresh berries sort of exploded in the muffins. That doesn’t bother me one bit, but unexploded berries would be more aesthetically pleasing, I suppose.

I also had a hard time getting the wet and dry ingredients thoroughly blended, because I was afraid of mashing the fresh berries. The magazine’s notes say, “There should be no large pockets of flour in the finished batter, but small occasional sprays may remain.” It also says, “Do not overmix the batter.” So I made do with largish pockets of flour, and the muffins came out perfectly delicious anyway.

The cinnamon-sugar glaze is tasty, but it’s very sweet. I think the muffins would be fine — and more suitable to breakfast — without it. The muffins were still too hot to handle five minutes out of the oven, so I sort of basted them with a pastry brush.

Overall, this one’s a keeper.

Eating

There's never a bad time for pie


Lemon Meringue Pie and ice cream might not seem like a natural match, at first. But then the weather gets steamy, you spend all day chasing a toddler on the lawn and popping in and out of the pool and you end your day with a hefty slice of Bon Appetit’s Lemon Meringue Ice Cream Pie. And everything good about summer is right there on your plate.

(Yeah, I really like this pie.)

Lemon Meringue Ice Cream Pie
Lemon curd
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
6 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons finely grated lemon peel
Pinch of salt

Crust
1 1/2 cups finely chopped pecans
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, melted

3 cups vanilla ice cream, slightly softened, divided

Meringue
4 large egg whites, room temperature
Pinch of cream of tartar
6 tablespoons sugar

For lemon curd:
Whisk eggs and egg yolks in medium bowl. Melt butter in medium metal bowl set over large saucepan of simmering water. Whisk in sugar, lemon juice, lemon peel, and salt; gradually whisk in egg mixture. Whisk until thick and thermometer inserted into curd registers 178°F to 180°F, about 8 minutes. Transfer to small bowl. Press plastic wrap on top of curd; chill 4 hours. DO AHEAD Can be made 2 days ahead. Keep chilled.

for crust: Preheat oven to 400°F. Mix pecans, sugar, and butter in medium bowl until moistened. Press pecan mixture onto bottom and up sides of 9-inch-diameter glass pie dish (mixture will be crumbly). Bake until crust is lightly toasted, about 12 minutes (crust will slip down sides of dish). Use back of spoon to press crust back into place. Cool crust on rack. Freeze crust 30 minutes.

Dollop 1 1/2 cups ice cream over crust; spread into even layer. Spread lemon curd over ice cream; freeze until firm, about 2 hours. Dollop 1 1/2 cups softened ice cream over lemon curd; spread into even layer. Cover and freeze until firm, about 2 hours.

For meringue:
Using electric mixer, beat egg whites in medium bowl until frothy. Beat in cream of tartar. With mixer running, gradually add sugar. Beat until stiff peaks form. Spoon meringue over pie, spreading to seal at edges and swirling decoratively. DO AHEAD Can be made 1 day ahead. Freeze pie. Using kitchen butane torch, toast meringue until golden in spots or place pie in a preheated 500°F oven until meringue is golden in spots, watching to prevent burning, about 3 minutes. Cut pie into wedges; serve immediately.

Bon Appétit, April 2007