Creamy Dessert

Walking in the door from a long trip with a guest coming for dinner (and to spend the night) I wanted  a menu of make ahead, no fuss dishes so I could get dinner ready and still get in a little time to rest before serving. With peposo (the peppery Italian slow cooked beef in red wine) occupying the oven (for 6 hours) I decided on a stove top old fashioned dessert -- butterscotch pudding (based on a recipe by David Lebovitz). Besides, pudding is fairly easy to make in small batches so we wouldn't have too much hanging around after dinner.
First I melted 2 TB of butter and stirred in 1/2 cup brown sugar until well moistened and removed the pan from heat. In a separate bowl I mixed 1/4 cup of milk with 1 1/2 TB cornstarch until it was smooth and then mixed in one egg. Then I added both 1 cup milk and the cornstarch mixture into the brown sugar, returned the pan to heat, and while whisking constantly, brought the mixture just to a boil. After the pudding bubbled I turned the heat to a low simmer and cooked for a minute more until the pudding was thick (like hot fudge Lebovitz says). Off the heat I stirred in 1/2 tsp vanilla extract and 1 heavy tsp bourbon (okay not quite scotch but I tend to cook with bourbon and there is always a bottle by the stove). Poured into mason jars these sweet little puddings waited in the fridge (firming up over four hours) until I topped them with whipped cream and -- my new favorite edible garnish, spiced figs.
The perfect make ahead dessert.

A Diet Treat

Don't tell anyone how easy this is. Frozen bananas, whirled in the food processor take on the creamy texture of soft serve ice cream.
Freeze your bananas in 1-2 inch chunks. Pile them in the food processor with any flavorings you like -- I used a touch of vanilla and  a little bit of honey but I am planning on a honey and peanut butter version. Process. You'll have to scrape down the sides and keep moving the bananas to avoid them being stuck below the processor's blade but in about 5 minutes you'll have a fruity treat ready to store in the freezer until it's time for dessert. I topped ours with unsweetened coconut flakes and chopped cashews. Perfect for summertime.

A Good Excuse For Cake

 James' friend Alex U (and his wife) has started making homemade vanilla extracts and sugars. We were the lucky recipients. These beautiful little bottles are a perfect excuse to start baking.
Though it's probably not the best test of new vanilla, I decided on a version of pastry chef and sweet blogger (and cook book author) supreme David Leibovitz's persimmon cake. We have plenty of frozen pulp that I put away from our trees this year. I have cream cheese for the frosting. I have a bag of currants from another recipe I could use up. Beside Lebovitz's recipe is flavored with not just vanilla but bourbon. A wining combo. A combo I think our friends at Vanilla Nouveau also like.
When most cooks say bourbon vanilla they are referring to beans from the island of Madacascar known for a pure clean vanilla taste. VN has produced what all we bakers (especially ones like me with a fondness for Southern style desserts) have been wishing for, a bourbon vanilla infused with actual bourbon. You certainly get a whiff of whisky when you open the bottle and that infusion added a layer of tasty intrigue to my cake -- especially to the uncooked cream cheese frosting where the vanilla really shown through, tempering the tang with a rich mellow undertone of sophisticated flavor.

Next up I am planning a rich vanilla custard, perhaps a creme brulee. A dish where the vanilla flavor will have less competition from other flavors and really have to step out as the star of the dish.
Thanks so much Vanilla Nouveau for your flavored vanilla and for another excuse to bake. Sweet!

Sweets From The Garden

I guess somewhere I had heard of green tomato cake before but I certainly have never made one, though it makes perfect sense. I know people make pies using green tomatoes instead of apples so why not a cinnamon and nutmeg scented pound cake with chunks of the tart tomatoes inside.
It just so happens I pulled our tomato plants the other day and have a ready supply of green tomatoes. Normally I would invite friends over for fried tomato sandwiches or salads featuring the southern specialty. But, since James is not a tomato fan, and -- as always -- I'm trying to stay away from fried and delicious, I decided to try this easy cake to share with our neighbors who have been under the weather and missed their Thanksgiving feast.
Talk about things I never thought I would do. After an internet search for a recipe I felt good about, I decided on a recipe from Paula Dean. Now I must admit, I NEVER even look at her recipes except as an example of what I don't want to do and I find her completely unwatchable. But I've been in the mood for a bundt cake and I actually liked the idea of this caramelly brown butter glaze (mine came out more like candy than glaze but still sweet and tasty) so I forged right in. I mean I guess I could do worse when looking for a Southern style recipe.
The result was a spice perfumed dense pound cake style bundt with raisins and walnuts kept moist by the 2 1/2 cups of chopped green tomatoes.
"Pound cake," James scoffed as he toted the my handy locking tupperware cake carrier to our neighbors. "More like 3 pound cake." he declared.

Old Fashioned Comfort Dessert

I felt like making something comforting, old fashioned. Something that would use up the milk in the fridge and feel like dessert. Pudding. I searched online and saw recipes with loads of eggs and heavy cream, but what I wanted was an old fashioned not overly rich. simple weeknight dessert.
Amidst the pastry chef specials and decadent custards one lone recipe seemed to crop up over and over again. A simple stove top pudding recipe from Scharffenberger chocolate.
Another thing I like about pudding. For three dinner guests (including James -- I have to stay clear of dessert) I was able to make 3 portions in 3 little glasses. No leftovers to call our name in the middle of the night. Just a quick treat and done.
My 3 portion pudding started with 2 TB of cornstarch and 4 TB of sugar in the top of a double boiler with a pinch of salt. I whisked in 1 1/2 cups of milk and cooked the mixture over gently simmering water for about 15 minutes -- scraping the sides and stirring occasionally. I added 3 ounces chopped chocolate (I used Scharffenberger bittersweet -- one of my favorites) and cooked for another 2 minutes.
I stirred in a scant teaspoon of bourbon -- instead of vanilla extract, that's become my cooking secret weapon lately, and poured my silky pudding into serving glasses to chill in the fridge.
Normally I'd have stirred up a fluffy cinnamon or even bourbon whipped cream but with just three glasses I cheated and went with a dollop of creme fraiche. A modern topping for an old fashion taste.

Apple Brownies

Apples are still in season around here. So I'm still trolling the internet for ways to use them up. I've canned, I've jellied, I've rolled out pies. Today for a simple dessert I happened upon a recipe from Martha Stewart for apple brownies. Not chocolate but simple and quick and really delicious. I creamed 1 sick of melted butter with 1 cup of sugar and 1 egg under pale yellow. I stirred in 2 apple chopped into 1/2" pieces and 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts. Lastly I stirred in 1 cup of flour, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp baking soda blended together. I scraped the batter into a oblong pyrex dish ( I think it was 7" x 13") and baked for about 40 minutes at 350º. Simple.
For dinner I "frosted" the top with spicy apple butter and dusted with powdered sugar but these are just as good right out of the pan.

Alfajores

This simple little cookie is an Argentine obsession. Generally two shortbread cookies sandwiched with creamy dulce de leche (a thick milk custard served one everything from ice cream to breakfast pastries) -- although other flavors exist. They come covered with chocolate or meringue, packed in boxes or as single servings. The most famous brand is from the chain of Havanna stores but every cafe offers a version and finds plenty of takers. I brought a box home for James.

Welcome Home Honey

Every now and then James decides he is going to juice. And he does . . . for a bit. But then I am invariably left with giant bags of carrots or apples filling up our very small fridge. Today I decided to use up some of those apples and welcome James home at the same time with this maple walnut apple upside down cake.

Upside down cakes are on of my favorite easy desserts. For this maple version (starting from an old Food and Wine Magazine recipe) I boiled down a cup of maple syrup to make a thick toping. I poured the reduced syrup into a 10" buttered and floured cake pan and topped the syrup with thinly sliced apples and chopped walnuts. To cover the fruit I poured a batter of 1 1/2 sticks butter creamed with 1 1/3 cup sugar I mixed together 2 cups flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp baking soda, and a tsp of salt in one bowl. In another bowl I mixed almost 3/4 cup of milk with a dash of vinegar (about 2 tsp -- no buttermilk in the house), 3 eggs and about 1 TB of bourbon. I added the dry and wet ingredients (alternating) to the creamed butter and then spread the batter over the waiting fruit and syrup. The cake baked for 1 1/2 hours at 350º and then cooled for 45 minutes in the pan before I unmolded the sticky, apple dessert.

Maybe a little wintery for a chilly April day but it's nice to have the room in the fridge (and James back too).

A Slightly Sweet Dessert

"What's for dessert, Honey?" James called to me a couple hours after dinner last night. I felt a lump in my throat. I didn't have much to offer. Today I had to set that situation right and whipped up an easy olive oil cake. It's not a particularly elaborate sweet. No layers, no fluffy icing, but it seemed a good compromise in my kitchen where I can barely turn around much less have two mixers going. And, much to my dismay I am still trying to figure out this oven and so anything too delicate seems like asking for trouble.

This is a recipe I grabbed from Michael Chiarello's stint on Top Chef Masters. Despite his questionable performance the "Napa style" chef's version of a maybe French maybe Italian dessert cake is easy, tasty, and not too sweet. For the batter I mixed 3 eggs with 2 1/2 cups of sugar. Then I added in 1 1/2 cups each of milk and olive oil and the zest of 3 oranges. To the smooth liquid I stirred in 2 cups of flour, 1/2 tsp each of baking powder and soda, an a pinch of salt. I poured the batter into a 12 inch pan and baked the dessert at 350º for about an hour.

"When is that cake going to be ready, honey?"

One Last Dessert

A quick pound cake as an excuse to use up those last cranberries in the freezer. Working from a recipe a magazine reported to be Jacques Pépin's favorite (I am a sucker for him) creamed 2 1/2 sticks of butter with a tsp of vanilla extract, 1/4 tsp of salt and 1 1/4 cup sugar then added in 6 eggs two at a time. I finished up the wet ingredients with 1/4 cup of milk mixed into the batter. I sifted 2 1/2 cups of cake flour over the batter and folded it in along with a handful of candied Buddha's hand citrus I found at the farmer's market. The recipe called for no baking powder or soda. Even now after eating the cake -- which is dense and flavorful I'm not sure if that was a mistake.

For the topping I simmered cranberries, brown sugar, a bit of honey, segments of blood orange (along with the juice), a cinnamon stick and a bit more of the candied chopped Buddha's hand into a thick sauce I served topping the cake with a dollop of whole milk yogurt.

An Old Favorite For Christmas Eve

I finally made it home today. And so, coming so close to the holiday I wanted something simple and still special for James' dinner. We love crabs. It's crab season. Christmas and crabs.

I marinated halved and cracked crabs in a paste made from toasted fennel seeds, parsley, crushed red peppers, garlic, thyme and olive oil. After a couple hours in the fridge I popped the crabs in a 400º oven for 15 minutes. For a holiday twist after five minutes in the oven I added in a handful of fresh clams to pop open in the oven and share the flavorful marinade.
For dessert, still waiting for James is a simple apple (from our tree), raisin, and cranberry crisp. Just waiting for a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

James Still Isn't Having Dinner

Pastries, pastries everywhere. All French, all Hungarian.

Dinner With Eric and Shari

We started dinner with another great appetizer courtesy of Nancy Silverton. Her caprese with roasted tomatoes is always a hit around here. The September issue of Bon Appetit featured Silverton's recipe for home made ricotta with oven baked peperonata. We have a yard full of peppers and though I have made ricotta many times the goal of dinner was to use up ingredients in the fridge and freezer so I spread the pre-made ricotta on garlic rubbed crostini and topped with the pepper stew. I added a little olive oil to the mix and sprinkled the crostini with chopped basil for rave reviews.
Mini potatoes from our garden doused in olive oil and roasted in a hot oven (450º) with rosemary sprigs until they were crisp outside and tender inside. A perfect way to use those tiny potatoes. The steaks were the last of our store from Hearst Ranch. I marinated them in garlic, olive oil and lemon and gave them a turn on the grill.
Oven roasted green beans and grilled squash. I'd never tried roasting the beans before and I will certainly do that again. Tossed in olive oil and salt, after 15 minutes at 425º these were a real treat.
Simple ice cream sundaes for dessert. A couple days ago I put aside a bowl of plums, nectarines and grapes that were a bit past their prime. Today I cut the fruit into small pieces, mixed it with sugar and delicious, flowery Navarro vineyards Gewurztraminer grape juice and bubbled it down to a loose jam to use as a syrup with pistachio gelato and marsala whipped cream. I served cornmeal thyme cookies on the side.

Taste Of LA

A Labor Day weekend tasting fest on the Paramount studios backlot. My friend Monette had an extra ticket for this event called Street Eats which translated into a lot of offerings on toast. It didn't seem like such an enormous selection of restaurants but even I couldn't taste it all.A purely forgettable lamb flatbread and a griddle corn cake with black pepper horchata from Firefly in Studio City. The standout of their plates was the blackberry salsa, almost dessert almost savory blackberries and chilis. Not a great match for the corncake but it'd be great on game meats or even with ice cream. That salsa showed promise at least.

A cheerful heirloom tomato pizza from Pitfire Artisan Pizza. Pretty good, but I was pretty stuffed by the time this pie came around.

One of the many, grilled cheese offerings at the event. This duo offered by Justin vineyards with assurance it would be the best grilled cheese we ever ate. It's wasn't, but the pumpernickel fontina combo wasn't bad.

More grilled cheese. This time from The Grilled Cheese truck. Brioche slices stuffed with macaroni and cheese and melted American. Mush.

Ice cream truck sensation Coolhaus offered a variety of unique cookie flavors (pistachio black truffle cookies?) and ice creams (pineapple serrano chili sorbet). These are the Double chocolate Black Pepper and Red Velvet cookies with Marker's Mark ice cream. Honestly I don't see what the fuss is about. The cookies could have just as easily been from the Costco bakery and the Marker's Mark flavor was way too strong. Nice texture on the ice cream though.

A sweet display of cupcakes from Cake Mamas. I really liked the idea of the peanut butter and jelly cupcake, an airy white cake with a drizzle of jelly and peanut butter frosting. Good idea, so-so execution. The frosting was like biting into a jar of Jif -- way too overpowering for the cake.

The most fun exhibitor of the event, Chef Eric Greenspan of The Foundry and the recently opened Roof on Wilshire. Chef Greenspan is a former winner of the Grilled Cheese Invitational and brought his award wining sandwich and trophy (a hint of what's to come at his soon to open grilled cheese restaurant) to Taste of LA.

The best savory dish of the event. Eric Greenspan's grilled cheese featured raisin bread, pungent taleggio cheese and an intoxicating apricot caper marmalade.

Some chefs brought the thunder and others barely showed up. TiroVino Wine Bar offered this unhappy sausage sandwich. They should stick to wine.

A food sensation on the LA scene, Susan Fenniger's Kaya Toast has foodies running to her restaurant. Street, and has inspired a T shirt for fans. Kaya toast is a popular street food in Singapore that combines a silky sweet coconut jam with dark soy sauce eaten with brioche. Fenniger made waves on Top Chef Master's when she presented a version on the show. I'm glad I tried it. It's interesting. I'm not sure that I'll be running back for more.

Another sad little plate from TiroVino. Brisket rolled around a cabbage that Monette declared a combination of Passover and St Patrick's Day.

Chicken mole tamales from LA Oaxacan standby Guelaguetza.

Caramelized bacon trail mix from cast Iron Foods, like a Trader Joe's package with bacon added.

Another chicken dish. Chicken Itza brought these fried corn tortillas, black beans, and chicken. Not bad, but the best part was the super, super hot sauce served on the side. My lips were tingling.

Tingling lips were a great excuse for a quick bite of creme caramel from, where else -- Creme Caramel LA, a small business selling out of farmer's markets and online orders. This little bite was creamy and delicious and exactly what creme caramel should be. It would have been the best bite of the event if not for . . .

Caramelized bacon bread pudding, also from Creme Caramel LA. Outrageous! Probably doesn't qualify as street food but it was by far the best bite of Taste LA.

Spicy Dinner With Friends

It all started with a pork shoulder. I had one in the freezer from our poultry CSA and it was too big for just James so I needed friends to help us eat it -- time to call K&D. I decided to stew the meat, New Mexico style with chili powder for a crock pot batch of carne adovado, a staple in the Land of Enchantment but little known elsewhere.

Once I had started on that path I naturally came to beans. Although the occasional bowl of posole fits the bill it's kind of hard to imagine spicy food without beans and so I went from New Mexico to old Mexico with a pot of drunken beans, pintos cooked with bacon, onion, oregano, garlic, jalapenos, and beer. You saute the aromatics first (can bacon be considered and aromatic, I wonder) add in the beans, peppers, and beer, water and bring to a boil The beans bake in the over (300º) for about an hour and a half leaving the stovetop free for other dishes.
One of our favorite salads isn't a salad at all, really. It's a cuban style platter of avocado and red onion dressed with red wine vinegar and olive oil. A perfect cooling side dish.
Pork, chili powder, crock pot . . . main dish for company.
Cilantro rice, based on a recipe from Rick Bayless (he's my go to guy for Mexican). I heated chili peppers (Rick called for poblanos but I have these darling peroncicni in the garden and tossed 3 -- seeded and stemmed -- in) in chicken broth (3 1/2 cups) along with a handful of cilantro -- stems and all. I brought the liquid up to a boil and let it simmer, covered for 10 minutes. When the peppers were softened I transferred the liquid to the blend and pureed it all until smooth. Next I sauteed rice (2 cups) and chopped onion (1/2 medium) in olive oil until the rice was chalky and the onions starting to soften. I added the liquid from the blender and the rice from the pan to my rice cooker. With company coming it's nice to have a dish, or two, that doesn't need last minute attention from the cook. When the rice was finished I gave it a fluff with a fork and let it stay in the cooker staying warm until dinner was served. Because my peppers were a bit more red than green my rice didn't have the vibrant color this celebratory dish is famous for but the flavor --and the aroma -- were all there.
I could call this cake cuatro leches I suppose. The super sweet, creamy Latin favorite is basically a spongy light cake soaked in 3 kinds of milk -- condensed, evaporated, and heavy cream. Following a recipe from Saveur magazine I added a topping of dulce de leche -- a caramelized milk topping popular pretty much throughout the Spanish speaking world. I had a jar I brought home from Uruguay a while back. I love that this recipe offers the airiness of beaten egg whites but only uses one beater and one bowl to get ready. I topped our cakes with a dollop of fresh whipped cream. Dreamy texture, sweet topping, the perfect dessert.

Low Country Boil

In the Southeast they know a thing or two about hot summers and entertaining friends. Folks in the Carolinas (South to be exact) make a delicious combination of potatoes, corn, smoked sausage, and shrimp once called Frogmore Stew or, more commonly these days, Low Country Boil. It's a one pot feast, the best kind of summer BBQ, great for a crowd and easy on the cook. I start by bringing a big pot of water (enough to cover all the ingredients) and a bottle of beer to a boil with a good sized scoop of Old Bay seasoning (you could use a Carolina crab boil but I love Old Bay). Then I add in small red potatoes and a peeled onion cut into quarters and let them bubble away for about 10 minutes. Next I add in links of smoked sausage cut n to 2 inch lengths (even though it's not traditional I use a Cajun style andouille for a bit of spicy flavor) and let the covered pot bubble on for 10 minutes more. Ears of corn broken in 3 or 4 rounds go into the pot for another 10 minutes and finally big handfuls of shrimp in the shell steam right on top for just 3 minutes until they are pink and tender.

We bring our boil to the table covered in newspaper alongside a pan of cornbread, melted butter, and -- because we like it not because it's traditional -- cocktail sauce. Part of the fun is reaching in with your hands and sharing the mess with friends like K & D.
I'm not sure what to call this cake. I made up this recipe from the memory of what my grandmother's chocolate cake tasted like. It's almost Devil's Food, it's almost chocolate but has a hint of coffee. One thing I know my grandmother didn't do was use brown sugar in her cake but I love that molasses flavor and combine 1 cup of white and 1 cup of brown sugar when I cream the stick of butter. When the butter is creamed I add in 2 eggs (one at a time), 2 tsp vanilla (tonight I ran out and used scotch instead and really liked the results) 3 TB and 1 tsp vegetable oil and 1/2 cup of hot coffee and beat well.

In a separate bowl I mixed together 2 cups of all purpose flour, 2/3 cup cocoa, a pinch of salt, 1 tsp baking powder and 2 tsp baking soda ( I usually use 2 tsp of cinnamon but I forgot and didn't even miss it). I beat in half the flour mixture followed by 1/2 cup of buttermilk. Then the rest of the flour followed again by 1/2 cup of buttermilk. The batter is smooth and a rich brown color. I baked two 9" layers for 25 minutes at 350º.

I usually top this cake with a coffee buttercream frosting but since I started out tonight to make a red velvet (generally a house specialty) and failed twice with a recipe I have used for at least 10 years ( yes I am embarrassed to admit it) I had a batch of smooth, tangy, delicious, cream cheese frosting at the ready. It turned out to be the perfect foil for the deeply flavored cake.

A Southern style dinner with friends. Lots of leftovers (we missed you Denny) and a great summer night's fun.

Lasagna With Friends

A couple weeks back, after a disturbing kitchen event I'd rather not detail, I went through and cleaned all our cabinets and shelves. I wiped all the surfaces and put all of our not canned or jarred edibles (flour, sugar, pasta, cereal, popcorn -- everything) in air tight heavy duty storage containers.

Though I generally can make just about any square peg fit my choice of round hole, I simply could not find a container to fit an oversized box of lasagna noodles -- our favorite brand Rustichella D'Abruzzo -- so I pooped them in the freezer for safe keeping.

Now, freezer space is always at a premium in my kitchen so this offending box seemed like a perfect excuse to invite friends for lasagna.

Not content to simply serve up an oven baked pan of hearty noodles like a wayward college dinner party, and eyeing my yard full or fresh produce I set up a tray of appetizers. The tomatoes have finally come in full stop -- we are getting arm fulls of red ripe fruits every other day. I took the last couple days produce, cut them in half drizzled them with plenty of olive oil, springs of thyme and unpeeled garlic cloves. I set the tomatoes in a 325º over for 45 minutes and them peeled off the handily puckered skins. The tomatoes cooked for another two hours until they were roasted to a deep rich almost tomato paste flavor. I slipped the now roasted garlic from its skins and put the tomatoes, thyme, garlic in a jar and covered them with more olive oil. Oven dried tomatoes perfect on crostini as appetizers, on a mozzarella salad, in a sandwich filling or as a quick pasta sauce. These are a new house staple.

To round out our appetizer tray I took the one precious melon we have managed to grow this year, wrapped the slices in thin slivers of prosciutto, and drizzled the savory snack with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Olives, delicious delice de bourgogne cheese (topped with home canned candied kumquats) and a bit of our sauce of the summer, arugula hazelnut pesto finished our selection of nibbles.
I rarely make a starter but somehow I couldn't walk by the mussels at the fish counter, and besides I still had more tomatoes to use up. I sautéed 1 chopped onion and 6 minced cloves of garlic in olive oil until translucent. Next I added in crushed red peppers, dried thyme, chopped parsley, 4 chopped tomatoes, a splash of red wine and a knob of better and simmered the ingredients for about 25 minutes for a nice sauce. I brought the ingredients up to a boil, added in freshly scrubbed mussels and covered the pan. After about 5 minutes at high heat all of the mussels had opened and were just the right starter with loaves of crusty bread to soak up the flavorful broth.
The lasagna was supposed to be the star but I have to admit my layered creation of white sauce, parmesan cheese, and sautéed mix mushrooms --though it got good reviews -- was overshadowed by the seafood first course.
A sweet creamy ending, and a proven winner. Basil flavored panna cotta topped with candied kumquats and served with pinenut rosemary cookies and ear grey shortbreads.

Not a bad dinner for what started as an excuse to clean the freezer.

A Favorite Ending

Rosemary Pinenut and Earl Grey cookies.

Details on the dinner tomorrow.

Eat Dessert First

Sometimes it's nice to post dessert first.

This is one of my favorite cakes to make. I call it California Upside Down Cake. I start by melting 4 TBS of butter in a heavy duty baking pan (mine is a 10 inch), then I sprinkle on 3/4 cup of brown sugar, followed by (off heat) concentric circles of stone fruits. Tonight was a mixture of green plums, nectarines, and a peach. The fruit is covered with a batter of 1 cup each butter and sugar creamed together then moistened with 2 egg yolks. Into the wet ingredients I add in a mixture of 1 cup flour, 1/2 cup almond flour, 2 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp salt alternating with 1 cup of milk. In a separate bowl I beat the two egg whites to soft peaks and fold them into the assembled batter to lighten the cake. Once the batter is in the pan the cake bakes for 55 minutes at 350º.

The flavor of our state in an easy delicious cake.

Peach Season

From flowers to fruit. Our backyard tree is finally covered with ripe, fragrant, soft peaches. I am so greedy with every one we manage to save from the marauding squirrels I even gathered up the bruised fruit from the ground for a fallen fruit cobbler.

The filling is just fresh blueberries (from the market -- our little young bushes don't produce even enough for tartlet just yet) and peeled chopped white peaches mixed with about 1 cup of brown sugar (I ran out of white) and almost 1/4 cup of flour. I covered the fruit with my go-to cobbler batter: 2 cups flour, 1 cup milk, 2 cup sugar, 1 TB Baking Powder, 1 tsp salt, 1 cup milk, 1 stick butter (melted) and a pinch of nutmeg -- mix wet into dry and stir until just combined. Spread the batter over the fruit making sure to cover completely and sprinkle the top with 1 TB sugar and another pinch of nutmeg.

After an hour at 350º we had a warm, comforting, nearly homegrown dessert.