MangiaMore: APPLESAUCE cake

RER 10.6.14

And it happened again. Sometimes I can't help it. I find myself scrolling endlessly through pretty baking blogs and the Martha Stewart website drooling after the delicious baked goods and beautiful layer cakes. A variety of flavors and shapes, sizes and textures, levels of difficulty and technique. There are fluffy cakes with egg whites folded in, or dense bread like cakes studded with nuts. That's nothing. There's buttercreams in a rainbow of colors; cooked frostings, boiling on the stovetop; and glazes, sweet and dripping.

RER 10.5.14

RER 10.5.14

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RER 10.5.14

And then it happens. I haaaave to make something. This time I desperately needed to make a layer cake. Despite searching the World Wide Web, I found the cake recipe in our tattered Betty Crocker’s New Cookbook (1996). The Applesauce Cake was easy enough to be fun and it wasn't laden with butter like some of my favorite bookmarked cakes (I will come to those more buttery, more difficult cakes later...Cupcake Wars). But as usual, we had to adjust, just a tad, subbing pumpkin pie spice for our own measured mix of spices.

This cake is practically a one-bowl wonder. It gets texture from applesauce and its fall feeling from the warm mix of spices. In our book, Betty recommends either a cream cheese frosting or a maple buttercream. Embracing the cooler weather and the crisper air we opted for the delicious maple frosting.

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Applesauce Cake

adapted from Betty Crocker's New Cookbook

2 ½ C all purpose flour

1 ½ C unsweetened applesauce

1 ¼ C sugar

½ C water

1 ½ teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

¼ teaspoon ground ginger

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

1 teaspoon salt

¾ teaspoon baking powder

2 eggs

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour bottom and sides of pan.

Beat all ingredients in a large bowl with mixture on low scraping constantly. Then beat on high for three minutes and scrape occasionally.

Bake in rectangle pan for 45-50 minutes or two 8 inch round pans for 40-45 minutes.

Cool and frost with Maple Buttercream or your favorite frosting!

Maple Buttercream

3 cups powdered sugar

1/3 cup of butter

½ cup maple syrup

Mix powdered sugar and butter in a medium bowl.

Stir in maple syrup.

Beat until smooth and to preferred consistency. Add more syrup or powdered sugar if necessary to achieve spreadable texture.

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AJR 10.5.14

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The cake was spicy sweet dense and redolent of fall evenings and cozy moments. Each note of subtle heat brought comfort and struck a strong chord with the sweet earthiness of the maple in the buttercream. It was moist and spongy, and kinda great. Can’t wait for my next slice.

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10.5.14

RER 10.6.14

MangiaMore: Rice Krispie Treats

RER 9.26.14

Rice Krispie Treats are delicious childhood memories that pop and crackle, stick to your teeth and bring a dose of marshmallowy comfort.Chewy, gooey, goodness.

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So when I found myself a little glum, I decided to go back in time and whip up some extra tasty Rice Krispie Treats. Once again, I turned to Cookies and Cups and used this perfect proportions recipe. Addictive and so so yummy.

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10.1.14

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west coast snacks: SWEETS

RER 8.29.14

Of course we had to have snacks during our West Coast sojourn as we hit different destinations and took a little road trip. Check out the sweet thangs we devoured up and down the coast!

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Minamoto Kitchoan, San Francisco

I love Japanese sweets. Love. We walked passed Minamoto Kitchoan on Market Street on our way to the Ferry Building, so we stopped in on our way back. I got the yummy tsuya pancake—bready, sweet, and filled with red bean; a kusamochi rice cake—gummy and goey, filled with the textured ultra sweet red bean; a stunning crispy waffle cookie filled with tasty sweet custard; and finally a yummy mochi ball studded with red beans and filled with the famous red bean filling. I was in heaven with every bite I took. Obvi need to restock.

RER 8.25.14

Carmel Bakery and Coffee Co., Carmel

After a less than satisfying lunch, we needed something sweet for the beautiful ride down the Californian coast. Enter Carmel Bakery and Coffee Co. and their cinnamon pretzel pastries and giant macaroons. The pretzel was huge, flaky and delicious, though it made a mess of the rental car. The eggy macaroon was definitely a favorite, dense with coconut and almost custardy.

RER 8.29.14

RER 8.29.14

DK’s Donuts, Santa Monica

So, these doughnuts blew my mind. There is no other way to put it. I’m deffo still dreaming about these doughnuts. DK’s Donuts was our last stop in LA, right before getting on the plane back to Jersey. We got the beautifully purple ube bacon flavor, which was salty, sweet, crunchy and earthy; the Boston cream—soft and sensual, creamy, chewy with just the right amount of chocolate; the red velvet— cakey with a tiny hint of chocolate and tang from the sour cream cheese frosting; and the apple fritter, which had just the right amount of sticky deliciousness and tart apple bits. Like I want to go back ten minutes ago.

Stay tuned for the savory stuff! Those treats were just as delicious!

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8.29.14

RER 8.29.14

MangiaMore: a tale of TWO cookies

RER 6.25.14

When my sister said she wanted cookies, I had to deliver (plus I enjoy cookies). We make the most cookies around Christmas with sporadic batches all year round. But as much as I love cookies, mine are never as perfect as I hope they would be. They end up misshapen, over-cooked, under-cooked, too this and not enough that, never the consummate cookie that I would eagerly overindulge in.

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RER 6.25.14

My sister, with her excellent taste and desire for fun sweet thangs, picked out these Salty Ritz Cracker Oatmeal Cookies (!!!) from Cookies and Cups. There was no way I could not make them. I ran into these Hi Hat Chocolate Cookies on the sweets blog and was totally crushing on the chocolate chocolate chip cookies underneath the seductive buttercream and chocolate shell. So I decided to make both. Boom!

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And it was awesome. Not only did they look like beautiful perfect cookies, they tasted like the bomb.com. Like so awesome that I had to eat one of each every time, because there was no possible way to decide which I preferred. What I really would have preferred was every single one of them in my belly, but I did share (kinda). 

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The Ritz Cracker Oatmeal cookies were buttery and moist, sweet and salty. The balance was impeccable with a melody of textures—chewy oats and creamy white chocolate chips. Crunchy salt crystals, cracker bits with one of those insanely sweet chips made for the perfect bite. My mouth is watering for these magic goodies.

RER 6.26.14

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And the chocolate cookies were just as divine, maybe my best-baked batch of cookies like ever. I used 2/3 cup white chocolate chip and the remaining third was regular chocolate chips as I don’t like too too much chocolate. Just enough sweet to counter the bitter cocoa while keeping the luxury. I really want some of these right about now too.

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There is no way to choose which I loved more because they were so different. Other than being absolutely delicious, the only thing these two cookies had in common was their affinity for milk.

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6.25.14

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