Something Sweet: February 2006 Archives
I was all up in arms because of a bad experience I just had with the baby at the Time Warner Center (apparently, Time Warner Center does not want your stinky little children grubbing up their pristine environment). Then I came home and comforted myself with some chocolate shortbread he and I made yesterday and realized there's benefits and drawbacks to my new life with August. I may not be welcome at a few of the places I used to frequent, but I now have an eager baking partner who loves to smear whatever we're making all over his already sweet little face.
The chocolate shortbread turned out a bit more crumbly than I think it was supposed to, which I'm sure was a result of less-than-accurate flour measuring. But this was sooo easy. And I'm thinking that most shortbread recipes (although not this one) would be good to bake with a baby who likes to taste the batter because they're eggless. August's desire to taste at every stage of the process makes me think I should try to track down pasteurized eggs rather than try to keep him away at the end of the process.
We creamed a stick of room-temperature butter with 1/2 cup sugar, 3/4 cup cocoa and 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Then we added an egg yolk and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla. Mix in 1 cup flour, then pat into a greased 9-inch round springform pan and bake in a 350 degree oven 25 minutes. Let cool, then cut into wedges. These weren't very sweet, but deeply chocolately and kind of salty. We didn't add the glaze because that'd make them kind of messy.
These might be a chocolate overdose with fondue, but I think regular shortbread (or biscotti or, my favorite, macaroons) would make a decadent fondue.
August and I made a gingerbread cake yesterday, ostesibly from The New American Cooking, and I think I need to call it my miracle cake. This is what happens when you don't gather all your ingredients ahead of time. I'm not going to record the actual recipe because I'm sure the results aren't reproducable.
First I had August measure out the flour. He's just over 1 year old, so really I had him hold the cup while I poured flour in, then he dumped it into the bowl, or rather in the general vicinity of the bowl. So (1) the flour wasn't measured accurately. Then I discovered I had no ground ginger for my GINGERbread cake, so I (2) subbed pumpkin pie spice for all the spices called for. Added the other dry ingredients, which August then mixed together with his hands and then spread all over the front of his shirt.
Then the wet ingredients. I found I only had 1/2 cup white sugar, so I (3) substituted brown for the rest. Only had 1/3 cup molasses when the recipe called for 1 cup, so (4) that's all I used. Mixed everything together, put it in a pan and then into the oven. I turned on the oven light and August and I watched, fully expecting the whole thing to explode or cave into a goey mess. I thought we were going to get something when bubbles started forming at the top. I thought at least the cake would have a metallic taste because there wasn't enough molasses to react with the baking soda.
I felt sure I must've made the baking gods mad, breaking all the rules about using the right ratios and following baking recipes exactly. But they must have a thing for little kids covered in flour, because the cake was pretty good, if a little bland. Definitely edible, and not the kitchen disaster I was expecting. Nice warm topped with vanilla ice cream and sprinkled with freshly grated nutmeg.
August and I made a gingerbread cake yesterday, ostesibly from The New American Cooking, and I think I need to call it my miracle cake. This is what happens when you don't gather all your ingredients ahead of time. I'm not going to record the actual recipe because I'm sure the results aren't reproducable.
First I had August measure out the flour. He's just over 1 year old, so really I had him hold the cup while I poured flour in, then he dumped it into the bowl, or rather in the general vicinity of the bowl. So (1) the flour wasn't measured accurately. Then I discovered I had no ground ginger for my GINGERbread cake, so I (2) subbed pumpkin pie spice for all the spices called for. Added the other dry ingredients, which August then mixed together with his hands and then spread all over the front of his shirt.
Then the wet ingredients. I found I only had 1/2 cup white sugar, so I (3) substituted brown for the rest. Only had 1/3 cup molasses when the recipe called for 1 cup, so (4) that's all I used. Mixed everything together, put it in a pan and then into the oven. I turned on the oven light and August and I watched, fully expecting the whole thing to explode or cave into a goey mess. I thought we were going to get something when bubbles started forming at the top. I thought at least the cake would have a metallic taste because there wasn't enough molasses to react with the baking soda.
I felt sure I must've made the baking gods mad, breaking all the rules about using the right ratios and following baking recipes exactly. But they must have a thing for little kids covered in flour, because the cake was pretty good, if a little bland. Definitely edible, and not the kitchen disaster I was expecting. Nice warm topped with vanilla ice cream and sprinkled with freshly grated nutmeg.
