Football and Baking

(I wrote this on Saturday, but posted it today)

Yes. That's what I said. Football. and. Baking. They go together at my house. If there's a BYU football game, I'll be watching it -- either in the stadium or on TV. Well, today it's on TV.

While I watch, I bake. Yes, BAKE. The floorplan of my house allows me to watch TV from the kitchen with no problem at all. So, today the TV's on, the volume is up and my KitchenAid mixer is doing its thing. The oven is preheated and my experimental Buttermilk Cake is just minutes away from being taste-tested. I am a happy girl.

Buttermilk Cake with Berries in Ginger Syrup
For the Cake:
2 C cake flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 C unsalted butter, softened
1 C sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 C buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line bottom of a buttered 9x2 round cake pan with parchment paper. Spray PAM onto paper.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside. In a large bowl with an electric mixer, beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy (about 5-6 minutes). Beat in vanilla. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Set mixer to low speed and beat in all of the buttermilk, just until combined. Add flour mixture in three batches, mixing after each addition just until combined. Do not overbeat batter.

Spoon batter into cake pan and smooth the top. Bake until golden, about 40-45 minutes. Cool in pan on a rack for 10 minutes, then run a thin knife around edges of cake to loosen it from pan. Invert onto rack then invert back onto a cake plate.

For the syrup:
3/4 C ginger ale
3/4 C water
3/4 C sugar
2-inch piece fresh gingerroot, peeled and coarsely grated
1 1/2 C raspberries
1 C blackberries or 1/2 C blueberries

Bring ale, water, sugar and ginger to a boil, stirring occasionally. Continue cooking until mixture reduces to about 1 cup (about 15 minutes).
While syrup is simmering, place berries in a deep bowl. Pour hot syrup through a fine sieve onto the berries, then stir to combine them. Make sure the berries are covered in the syrup. Let berries stand at least 20 minutes, but no more than 2 hours before serving.

To assemble:When cake is cooled, lightly pierce the outside edge of the cake with fork tines. Drizzle just a bit of the gingered syrup along the outside edge of the cake. Next, place soaked berries in the center of the cake. Add a dollop of whipped cream on top of the berries.

Note: this cake can tend to be a little bit dry for my taste, so when I serve individual slices, I drizzle a bit more of the ginger syrup on the edge of the cake slice that doesn't have berries on it.

The End... As We Know It

Fresh fruit season has come to an end. The peaches are all gone. The apple stand I pass going to work has been closed the past two days. Sigh. Deep, deep sigh. Oh well... it gives me a reason to start looking forward to next year.

While perusing my photos I found these. I hadn't realized I'd never posted this recipe. I adore this recipe. It is delicious over sweet shortcake biscuits for a summer brunch. It is also delicious over a decadent poundcake for dessert.

Warm Berries and Peaches Compote (adapted from Morning Food)
For the fruit mixture:
2 cups blueberries
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
Pinch of salt
2 small or 1 large peach, peeled, and cut into eighths
3 cups raspberries
1 tablespoons raspberry syrup
1 tablespoon water

To prepare the fruit: Combine the blueberries, 2 tablespoons sugar, lemon juice, cornstarch, and salt in a non-aluminum saucepan. Bring to a boil and reduce the heat, simmering until the mixture thickens and a sauce forms, about 10 minutes. Stir occasionally to prevent sticking. Add the peaches and cook for 1 minute, then remove from heat, and gently fold in the raspberries, raspberry syrup and water. Set aside.

Shortcake Biscuits
2 cups flour
6 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup unsalted butter, cut into 1-teaspoon-sized pieces, and frozen
2 cups and 2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream, divided
1 egg yolk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

To prepare the biscuits: Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In a food processor, place the flour, 2 tablespoons sugar, baking powder, and salt. Blend briefly. Add the butter and pulse until the butter is the size of peas. Pour mixture into a bowl, add 1 cup of the cream, and combine with a fork until moistened. Immediately turn out onto a lightly floured board and knead about 10 times. Small lumps of butter should be visible. Roll out to a 3/4-inch thickness. Keep dough in a square shape. Cut into 6 pieces and place on an ungreased cookie sheet.

Mix the egg yolk with 2 tablespoons of cream and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla, and brush on the tops of the biscuits. Sprinkle with 2 tablespoons sugar. Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Use the final 1 cup of whipping cream to whip up (along with some powdered sugar). Slice the biscuits in half, pour some fruit compote over bottom half, add a dollop on top of the fruit mixture. Place the other half of the biscuit on top and serve.

Or, if you prefer:

Pound Cake (from Sweet Melissa)
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 C sugar
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1 3/4 C cake flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 C heavy cream, at room temperature
6 Tbsp unsalted butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly butter and flour a loaf pan.

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar and salt until smooth. In a separate bowl, whick together the flour and baking owder. In a small bowl, stir together the vanilla and heavy cream. Melt the butter and let it sit to cool slightly.

Sift one-third of the flour mixture over the egg mixture and whisk together until mostly incorporated. Pour half of the cream mixture over and whish until mostly combined. Repeat with one-third more of the flour, followed bythe remaining half of the cream mixture and the remaining flour. Do not overmix! Pour the melted butter over the batter and fold in gently until incorporated.

Pour the batter into the loaf pan. Bake for 50 minutes or until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove to a wire rack to cool for 20 minutes befure removing the cake from the pan.

Bob Marley and I...

... we be jammin.'

Now that the stress of my test is over, I'm back to reviewing all the hard work I put in at harvest time this year. We have four different flavors of jam to look forward to: raspberry, blackberry, peach and apricot.

Notice the difference between these jars of homemade jam. (Well, besides the fact that one is blackberry and the other is raspberry.) As you can see, the blackberry jam was sealed differently than the raspberry. Rather than do a hot water bath to seal the jars, I simply poured the hot jam into the jars, put the lids on and then inverted them onto the lids. They sat out overnight upside down like that. Next morning, I flipped them back over, checked that each lid sealed and tucked them away in the cold storage room downstairs.

Kind of trippy, isn't it? Seeing the headspace at the bottom of the jar instead of the top.

So, all y'all who say you can't can because you don't have a canner? Well, that excuse won't fly around these parts. You could still make jam using the "invert" method.

Blackberry Jam (thanks to Sure Jell Pectin)
6 cup blackberries
1 each package powdered pectin
8 1/2 cup sugar

Sterilize canning jars and prepare two-piece canning lids according to manufacturer's directions. To prepare fruit, sort and wash fully ripe berries; remove any stems or caps. Crush berries. If they are very seedy, put part or all of them through a sieve or food mill. To make jam, measure crushed berries into a kettle. Add pectin and stir well. Place on high heat and, stirring constantly, bring quickly to a full boil with bubbles over the entire surface. Add sugar, continue stirring, and heat again to a full bubbling boil. Boil hard for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; skim. Fill hot jam immediately into hot, sterile jars, leaving ¼ inch headspace. Wipe rims of jars with a dampened clean paper towel; adjust two-piece metal canning lids.

To process the jam, either 1) place the jars into a water bath canner with boiling water. Make sure the jars are covered by at least one inch of water. Boil for 10 minutes. Then remove the jars from the canner and set them on the kitchen counter. As they cool, you will hear the lids "pop" indicating that the jar is sealed.

Or 2) immediately after adjusting the metal canning lids, turn the jars upside down on the counter and leave them for 12 hours.

Breakfast for Dinner

Sometimes I just can't come up with a good, quick idea for dinner. I was feeling in a bit of a lazy culinary mood. Chicken wasn't floating my boat. It was too late (and still too warm) for pot roast. The pork chops weren't defrosted. And pasta? Well, let's just say Mr. Doughboy isn't exactly a pasta afficionado like I am. I decided to have my favorite meal bail me out. In case you were wondering, my favorite meal is breakfast.

Since our kitchen is still blessed with the presence of fresh peaches, I decided peach pancakes were in order. Yum! I found this recipe on Hot off the Garlic Press. (Can I just say? That's a delicious site.) She cooked hers up as waffles -- a fabulous idea -- but I didn't have time, so I did pancakes. And since it is my belief there's no such thing as too many peaches, I decided to use a peach compote along with maple syrup.


These were a big hit. As Mr. Doughboy was biting into his stack, he had a bit of a time warp and began reminiscing about early fall mornings and the peaches his mom would serve for breakfast. This recipe definitely has his stamp of approval.

The pancakes cook up so beautifully with the pieces of peach in them. I'm including a close-up shot of an unadorned pancake so you can see those tempting peach pieces just calling your name. And if you aren't into lumpy, compote type toppings, try this with peach syrup. That would be divine, I'm sure.


Sour Cream Peach Hotcakes (from Hot Off the Garlic Press)
1 1/2 cups flour
3 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 cup sour cream
3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon milk
2 extra-large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
Unsalted butter
2 peaches, peeled and diced, plus extra for serving
Maple syrup

Sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the sour cream, milk, eggs, vanilla, and lemon zest. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ones, mixing only until combined.

Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a large skillet or griddle over medium-low heat until it bubbles. Ladle the pancake batter into the pan to make 3 or 4 pancakes. Distribute a few pieces of diced peaches on each pancake. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes, until bubbles appear on top and the underside is nicely browned. Flip the pancakes and then cook for another minute until browned. Wipe out the pan with a paper towel, add more butter to the pan, and continue cooking pancakes until all the batter is used. Serve with hot peach compote/syrup, butter and maple syrup.

Peach Compote
5 large peaches, peeled and sliced
1/3 C granulated sugar
1/3 C brown sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp butter
1 C water

Combine all ingredients in a medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat. When peaches begin to release their juices, mash them into the sauce. Continue to cook until it begins to thicken.

Note: Mr. Doughboy used just the peach compote on his pancakes. I, however, drizzled just a bit of maple syrup on top of the pancakes as well. Oh baby! It was SO GOOD.

Telling Myself I'm On a Health Kick

It's still a dessert. It still has sugar and butter. But, hey, there are pieces of fresh fruit in there... and the topping tastes like granola. That counts for something, right?

Around here we love fruit cobblers and fruit crisps. Each year during peach season we help ourselves to lots of these warm desserts. I have a "go-to" recipe for peach crisp that we all enjoy. But today, I decided to try something a little different. You see, I had some Cinnamon Honey Butter still in the fridge and I wanted to use it up. So... I decided to use it instead of just regular butter when making the topping for the Peach Crisp. It definitely changed the flavor and the texture (what with the honey in it). I'm not sure Mr. Doughboy liked it. It's different and his first reaction to different is, well, doubtful. But, the more I ate it, the more I liked it.

Here are some of the differences I found: This topping comes off a bit chewy, like some honey granola bars. There isn't a lot of liquid in the fruit/sugar mixture, so the texture of the peaches is front and center along with the taste. The honey definitely makes it a different type of sweet. The pecans also give it a bit more flavor that what your brain is expecting. All in all, I like it. The granola taste gives it a breakfast-y kind of option, too. I had some this morning, at room temperature. It was yummy.

Granola Peach Crisp (enough to fill a 2-quart casserole dish)

For the filling:

4-5 ripe peaches, peeled and sliced

2 Tbsp light brown sugar

For the topping:

1/2 C all-purpose flour

1/4 C light brown sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/2 C + 2 Tbsp oatmeal

1/4 C Cinnamon Honey Butter, cut into pieces

1/4 C pecan pieces

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl, combine the filling ingredients and stir to combine. Pour into baking dish and spread evenly.

In a medium bowl, combine all the topping ingredients EXCEPT the pecans. Use your hands to mix together, incorporating the butter until the topping mixture is a bit lumpy. Crumble topping over the fruit mixture. Sprinkle the top with pecan pieces.

Bake for 40-45 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm. If you'd prefer, you can serve it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a dollop of whipped cream.

Everything's Peachy

Mr. Doughboy's sister and her husband have moved to Salt Lake City, the closest "big city" to us. They have decided to forego the whole "buying a house with a yard and commuting to work" routine this time around and have decided to have the true urbanite experience -- living in an apartment in the heart of downtown, walking to work and church, riding Trax (public rail transportation) to get anywhere that's not within walking distance. They are taking note of all the events happening within the city and planning their social calendar to try them out.

Last weekend while we visited with them in their apartment, an advertisement came on TV about downtown's annual "Dine-O'Round" event. 31 restaurants in downtown Salt Lake City will offer three-course dinners for $15 or $30 per person. Some eateries also will offer a two-course lunch for $10. Food options include Asian, Italian, Lebanese, American, Austrian and Mexican cuisines, as well seafood, steak and vegetarian fare. It sounds like a really good time. If that sounds like something you might enjoy, check out this link for a list of participating restaurants.

During our get-together, I was in charge of the dessert. Since I've got a bushel of peaches at my house, I figured a quick and easy peach dessert was in order. It was tasty. Later that night, I began to think of other things to do with it. I did a version 2.0 of the same dessert the next night by adding pecans and vanilla ice cream. Mr. Doughboy liked it so much he had seconds. Doughnut Hole #5 was also there and gave his seal of approval.

Here they are all ready to be put in the oven. Please ignore the wicked butter hiding camouflaged amongst the pecans. Trust me, when these come out of the oven and go in your mouth, you will be thrilled there was wicked butter involved.


Caramel Baked Peaches
3 large freestone peaches (peeled and cut in half)
lemon juice
3 tsp butter

2 Tbsp chopped pecans
1/4 C brown sugar
1 Tbsp cinnamon
caramel sauce or dulce de leche

vanilla ice cream

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Combine sugar and cinnamon together. Place the peeled peaches cut side up in a shallow baking dish. Drizzle a bit of lemon juice on each peach. Place 1/2 tsp butter in the center of each peach half. Top the butter with chopped pecans. Sprinkle at least 1 tsp cinnamon sugar on top of each peach. Cover the baking dish and place in oven. Bake for 15-20 minutes. Remove peaches from dish and place onto single serving plates. Drizzle dulce de leche or caramel sauce over each peach half. Place a scoop of ice cream alongside the peach. Serve warm.

Note: You can also serve with a dollop of Cinnnamon Whipped Cream or sprinkle granulated sugar on the top after baking and if you have a kitchen torch, use a creme brulee approach and burn the sugar topping just before serving.

Homegrown, Homemade, Home-Canned

I like to think of myself as hip and happenin'... however, I have a confession: I love to can my own fruits, jams, tomatoes and salsa. This year, I'm extending myself beyond what I normally do, and I'm going to be inventing some original (well, original to me anyway) vinegars, chutneys, and sauces.

I have a cold storage room in my basement with shelves in it. On those shelves, you will find the fruits of my labors (pun intended). There are peaches, rasberry and blackberry jams, and apple pie filling. By the end of next week, there will also be nectarine preserves, Amish sweet ketchup, some lusty tomato sauces, diced tomatos and salsa.

There's a fun story behind the apple pie filling. I went to buy apples from a fruit stand across the street from our town's high school. The nice man there told me his daughter-in-law had a recipe for apple pie filling that was very easy to bottle. So... thinking of a winter with apple crisps, apple bettys, apple cobblers and apple pies, I gladly accepted the recipe and bought a bushel of apples. (He's a sly one, you know... I had only stopped in for a bag of apples.)

Having the filling all ready to go makes for a quick dessert when unexpected company comes into town. Pour the bottle into a baking dish, mix up a topping for Apple Crisp and throw it in the oven. Served warm with a scoop of ice cream and a drizzle of caramel sauce... well, it's simply heaven on earth.

Apple Pie Filling (for canning)
4 cups sugar
1 cup cornstarch
1 heaping tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp salt
3 Tbsp lemon juice
3 drops yellow food coloring
enough peeled and sliced apples to fill 6 quart jars (I used a combination of Jonagold and Jonathan apples)

Mix together the sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Heat 10 cups water to boiling; add sugar mixture and stir till dissolved. Then add the lemon juice and food coloring. Heat until thickened. Pour into 6 quart jars filled with peeled and sliced apples. Process jars in a water bath canner for 20 minutes.

Note: if you use an Apple Peeler/Slicer/Corer, getting the apples in the jars is a lot quicker and easier. Time was of the essence for me, so this is the route I chose. However, the slices will be a lot thinner than normal. If you prefer thicker slices, you'll have to do it by hand. Next year, I'll budget my time better and go for the thicker slices of apple.)

I did a whole bushel's worth. I was done in about 1 1/2 hours time. I ended up with a total of 20 quarts. (I did some pint jars as well to be used with smaller serving cobblers and crisps.) Over time, the liquid separates a bit in the bottles. But that's okay. When you use the filling, simply drain off the clear liquid before you put it in the pan or pie shell. We've used this for apple cobblers, apple crisps and an apple pie. They all turned out delicious. Can't wait for another winter evening with a fire in the fireplace and the smell of apple pie in the oven.