Happy Birthday Baking Pure & Simple!!!

Happy Birthday Baking Pure & Simple.  One year ago today after 4 and a half years of baking, testing, writing and rewriting, editing and proof reading, *sigh*... Baking Pure & Simple became a real book.

It has been an amazing year, learning about self-publishing, hearing from people who love the book, getting cookies, scones and linzertorte from my own recipes given back to me as gifts and finally overcoming my fear of marketing.  Yes, fear of marketing.  I am pretty sure it is a real thing.  But I am over it now and yesterday I had my first opportunity to talk about the book in public followed by a book signing where I sold out!  Many thanks to everyone who made it happen and participated.  Many thanks also to everyone who has put a review out on Amazon.  BP&S currently has 5 stars and 7 reviews.  A few of them almost made me cry!  Amazon seems to also be celebrating Baking Pure & Simple's Birthday by offering it on sale. Thanks Amazon!!!

So, to celebrate here is a recipe from the Holiday Cookie Assortment/Marathon section of the book.  A creative favorite which is even naturally gluten-free.  A woman named Vino gave me this recipe back when I was working at Weber's Inn in 1987.  It is an alternative to regular Coconut Macaroons, which are just about my all time favorite thing.  You can see the Orange Almond Macaroons tucked under the Corn Flake Wreaths and the brown Basler Brunsli cookies, and across from the Almond Cookies, another one of my favorites.

Orange Almond Macaroons

5 egg whites
2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
2¾ cups ground almonds
3 cups unsweetened coconut
¼ cup orange zest (zest of 2 oranges)
2 tablespoons orange liqueur

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate, melted

Preheat oven to 350°F. Whip whites, adding powdered sugar slowly. Once whites are stiff, gently fold in nuts, coconut, orange zest and orange liqueur.  Drop by rounded tablespoons onto non-stick trays. Bake for 9 to 10 minutes.

When cool, dip the bottom half of each cookie in melted chocolate and place on a tray lined with parchment paper. Drizzle the tops with melted chocolate to finish. Allow the chocolate to harden before serving or storing. Makes 4 to 5 dozen.

Thanks again to everyone who has purchased, given or shared info about the book.  I am so happy and grateful that these recipes are out there, getting crazy in your kitchens!  Happy Birthday Baby!

Not Your Mom's Apple Pie...

I love to make these apples at Thanksgiving.  One year my sisters were over and I was in a particularly silly mood while finishing them up.  I started imitating Julia Child, explaining each step along the way in a loud, high-pitched voice.  I always remember that moment when I bake them.  They are best if served with French vanilla ice cream.

These actually taste as good as they look.  Get in your kitchen and get crazy making these on "Baking Wednesday". They hold up perfectly in the refrigerator.  Make the caramel sauce the same day you serve them.

I hope you have a happy, safe Thanksgiving and that fabulous things are happening all around you!

Baked Apples with Caramel Sauce

1 recipe Pâte Brisée (below)
6 small Granny Smith apples, peeled and cored
18 pecan halves
1 teaspoon cinnamon and ½ cup each sugar and brown sugar, mixed
¼ cup raisins
¼ cup pecans, chopped
12 ½-inch chunks of unsalted butter, about ¼ cup
juice of 1 lemon
1 egg, beaten
1 recipe Caramel Sauce (below)

Preheat oven to 425°F. Dip the apples in lemon juice as they are peeled and cored. Combine sugar mixture with raisins and chopped pecans. Roll each apple in the sugar mixture. Then place one chunk of butter inside the bottom of the cored apple. Place some of the sugar mixture with the raisins and chopped pecans inside the apple and top with another butter chunk.

Roll out one of the six Pâte Brisée disks and place the prepared apple in the center of the pastry. Pull up all the sides to enclose the apple at the other end of the core. Wet the edges to seal and pinch to close. Invert the apple so that the sealed edge is down on the baking pan and curve the excess pastry around the sides of the apple, smoothing it gently and tucking any excess underneath. Continue with the remaining apples and Pâte Brisée until all have been wrapped. Cut a small X in the pastry at the top of each apple with a sharp knife. Brush the pastry with beaten egg on the top and sides and bake at 425°F for 10 minutes or until pastry begins to brown. Turn the oven down to 350°F and bake for an additional 20 to 25 minutes until the apples seem to soften. Check them with a sharp knife. While still warm remove the apples to serving platters or plates. Top each with 3 pecan halves and Caramel Sauce just before serving. Serves 6.

Half Size Baked Apples:  If you can only find large Granny Smith apples it is a good idea to cut them in half. Follow the instructions, filling where the core would have been with the sugar nut mixture and placing a smaller chunk of butter on each end. Place the apple cut side down on the rolled out pastry dough and wet the edge of the dough all around the perimeter before bringing the edges up to form three sides which meet in the center. Pinch the edges together all the way to make a point at the center top. Fold over the edges and then as you place the apple on the baking sheet fold the edges of the three points of pastry underneath the apple. Brush with the egg as noted. Prick the pastry with a fork on all three sides before baking as directed.

Note: These apples hold up very well in the refrigerator for a few days. Reheat them before serving for about 20 minutes at 350°F.

Pâte Brisée

2 cups flour
½ teaspoon sugar
½ teaspoon salt
7 ounces unsalted butter, chilled (1 cup less 2 tablespoons)
1 egg
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon milk

Mix flour, sugar and salt together. Using your hands, cut in butter until mixture is crumbly; small chunks of butter may still be visible. Whisk eggs and milk together in a separate bowl. Add into the flour mixture all at once and mix just until combined. Use your hands to press the mixture together until it is mostly holding its shape with just a few loose areas. Place on a floured board and fold and flatten 4 times. The dough should now be mostly uniform with a few flecks of butter here and there. Press the dough into 6 round disks. Wrap each disk individually in plastic wrap. Chill for at least an hour. Remove from the refrigerator about an hour before using. Makes enough for 6 baked apples.

Caramel Sauce

6 tablespoons unsalted butter
11/3 cups brown sugar
11/3 cups heavy cream, divided

Combine butter, brown sugar and 1 cup of the cream in a sauce pan, reserving remaining cream. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly with a whisk and keeping the whisk in contact with the bottom of the saucepan. Continue cooking for about 5 to 10 minutes until the mixture thickens and browns to a caramel color. Use caution since the mixture will bubble and steam. Continue stirring until the mixture is the desired consistency, adding the remaining cream if necessary. Makes 2 cups.

Note: The sauce may be refrigerated for about a week. To reheat, return to boiling, adding small amounts of cream, until desired thickness is reached.

Did you know Baking Pure & Simple is available on Amazon...  

and you can peek inside.

Back to Baking

The other day I brought some Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies into work.  A friend happened by and remarked - "Hey, who made the cookies?"  I chimed in that I had and she said, "Oh, so you're baking again....?" and I answered  "Well, yes... I guess I am."

Sometimes we get away from ourselves.  We get caught up in all the things we need to do and think about.  We get caught up in the day to day traffic of our lives.  We become removed from our basic passion for the things that make us feel the most alive and the most connected to who we are.  It's okay.  It happens.  There is probably a very good reason or maybe several reasons, why I did not bake for a while - learning to ski..., changes at my day job..., Mercury in retrograde - take your pick!  Any number of things can cause us to turn away temporarily from our source of inner satisfaction and peace.  That said, it is good to be back to baking.

For me baking is both an indicator that I am in my sweet spot (could not resist the pun) and also a remedy when I am out of sorts.  Waking up this 4th of July morning without a big plan, I found myself drawn to make a Linzertorte which I had picked up the ingredients for several days ago.  Now, if you have a copy of the book then you know that Linzertorte is a recipe from my Grandma Lisl.  It is a traditional German nut pastry layered with raspberry jam.  I learned to make it when I was about 13 years old.  It is my father's favorite thing, though it is my grandmother on my mother's side who used to make it.  So, I usually bake one for my dad as a birthday present.  I am a little late on that, but catching up now.

Since the recipe makes two full Linzertortes I decided to make half the regular way and half with gluten-free baking mix and maple syrup.  Not only was I in the mood to bake, I was in the mood to experiment.  Ooh la la!!! 

The jury is still out on the experimental version...  I will be working in my laboratory (uh, I mean kitchen) to perfect that item for all you beloved gluten-free friends and I promise to have it for you soon.  Something to look forward to!

Meantime, here it is.  Grandma Lisl's Linzertorte recipe.  Thanks grandma, for helping me find my bliss and reminding me to be myself.

Linzertorte

3 cups flour
1 cup unsalted butter
1½ cups sugar
2 1/3 cups ground pecans
2 tablespoons cocoa
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
½ teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons whiskey
1 egg, slightly beaten

12 ounces raspberry jam

1 egg slightly beaten for egg wash


Using your hands, cut the butter into the flour until the mixture is crumbly. Add the sugar, nuts, cocoa and spices. Continue to mix with your hands. Add the whiskey and the egg. Mix together and work into ball. Divide the dough into 6 balls and shape each one into flat disks. Chill overnight.

Remove the disks of dough from the refrigerator about a hour before beginning to prepare the torte. Preheat oven to 300°F. Roll out one disk to about ¼-inch thickness and place it in a 10-inch tart pan with a removable bottom, pressing together any cracks and pressing up the sides of the pan. Watch that the corners do not become too thick. Spread ¼ cup of the raspberry jam thinly to within a ¼-inch of the edge of the pan. Roll out the second layer of dough and cover the layer of jam. Spread with another ¼ cup of the jam. Roll out the last layer. Cut into strips and make a lattice design with them over the top or cut into heart (or maybe star) shapes and arrange in a pattern over the jam. This dough is very fragile, but if you push it together, it heals while baking. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes. Cool slightly then add more jam in the open spaces between the strips or hearts while the torte is still warm.

When the torte is completely cool remove the outer ring of the tart pan. My grandmother always said it was best if stored in the freezer for a few months before serving, but I find that it is okay to serve after a day or two of refrigeration. Be sure to wrap it well in plastic wrap and freezer bags during storage.

Makes 2 10-inch Linzertortes, serving 8 each.

Happy Remember to be Independent Day

Purchase Baking Pure and Simple on Createspace

Decisions, Decisions...

Too many recipes, not enough time.  Or in my case, too many post holiday sales on boots and not enough hours in the day to find the right pair.  Alas, that is another story....don't worry, it has more than one happy ending.

By now some of you have the book.  So, the question is: What are you going to do with it?  Maybe you are going to read all the little quips about why this or that recipe is special.  Maybe you are going to sit with your kids and look at the pictures, playing the game "That Looks Good."  Maybe you are going to go through the index looking for the "gluten free goodies" section.  Maybe (and I really hope this is what you are doing) you are going to look through the book and find that one recipe that says, "Bake me... bake me right now!"

Maybe you are overwhelmed by the choices, like me with the boots, (by the way, please don't mention my name to the people in the shoe department of Von Maur, I am pretty sure that I am banished for life for trying on every pair in the store... and of course none of them are now residing in my closet.)  My point is that if you are having trouble choosing - I understand!  But here is the really great part.  You don't have to choose only one recipe to make.  That's right!  You just have to get started with one.  See how easy it is?  Yes, so maybe still you are perplexed and thinking, but the trifle has so many parts to it and Santa did not bring me the French bread pans I asked for.  Don't worry.  Start small.  Focus on just one section, like Cookies, Bars and Truffles (or just shop for black boots that narrows it down, opps, there I go again.)

Once you are in the section that draws you in, take a deep breath and find the one recipe that you keep coming back to.  You know there is one that caught your eye.  Pencil, paper, shopping list.  GO!

Now comes the fun part.  Get in the kitchen and get baking.  And when all is said and done and the cookies have gone from the cooling rack to the cookie jar to the crumbs on the counter; I want to hear about it.  Tell me what you made.  Or, if you have not had time to bake yet, tell me what you want to make.  Nothing in the world (not even the moment when I actually did find the perfect pair of black boots) makes me happier than when I hear someone say "I made your recipe."  It happened just yesterday; it caught me completely off guard and inspired me to get back to the blog.   I promised that I would blog before the end of the weekend with a new recipe and so, now that I have finished boot shopping for the moment, here is my recipe choice from the book for you.  Hopefully, it will not only satisfy your desire to bake, but also help you use up any leftover ingredients from your holiday.

January Cookies

Soft Molasses Cookies with Crystallized Ginger,
Peanut Butter Cookies and January Cookies

1 cup unsalted butter, melted

2 cups brown sugar

2 eggs

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon soda

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

2 cups oatmeal

1 cup corn flakes

1 to 1½ cups raisins or dates

1 to 1½ cups chopped walnuts

1 to 1½ cups shredded coconut

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Add melted butter to sugar, add eggs and mix.  Sift flour, soda, salt and nutmeg together and add to the mixture.  Add oatmeal, corn flakes (crush slightly before adding), raisins or chopped dates, nuts and coconut.  Mix together.  Roll into 1½-inch balls and flatten before placing on non-stick cookie sheets.  Bake for 12 to 15 minutes.  Makes 3 dozen.

This recipe originally comes from my grandma Gert.  I added the walnuts and coconut to it just to use stuff up one year after the holiday cookie marathon.  That is why I renamed them January Cookies.  I will make them this weekend.  If you make them too it will almost be like we are in the kitchen together.  

Happy New Year, Happy Baking and Happy Boot Shopping to All!

You can purchase Baking Pure & Simple on createspace.