Bing cherry attack

My friend Chris stopped by to say hi and deliver a Santa-sized sack of bing cherries. Gotta love friends who bear gifts of the edible kind.

After washing, stemming, drying and freezing two gallon bags of cherries, I was still left with tray fulls. So  made cherry almond muffins and froze two dozen. Then I tried a new recipe for cherry compote that is amazing and so easy to make.

Syrup

Cherry Compote

1. Boil 1/2 cup of sugar and 1/2 cup of water until the syrup becomes light tan in color.

2. Add 4 cups of pitted, whole cherries. (Watch out because the mixture bubbles up and can splatter.)

Cooking cherries with balsamic vinegar

3. Cook the cherries until they are soft and the mixture thickens.

4. Add 2-3 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar and cook a few minutes longer.

5. Serve the warm compote over vanilla bean ice cream and chocolate-ginger brownies if you feel like baking.

6. Store the compote in the refrigerator and warm before serving.

Bakery Bar

The well-designed sign outside of Bakery Bar on Glisan and 30th says, “Eat cake.” OK, no problem. But wait, there is a problem because not only must you eat cake there, you must eat scones, muffins, breakfast sandwiches on homemade English muffins, brownies, and more. Then you can eat cake.

Bakery Bar is my new favorite place to hang out, read, work, drink a latte and listen to the great mix of music that they play. They’ve also expanded their menu to include breakfast and lunch.

Good design, good music and good food converge all in one spot.

Cookie Fest 2008

For the last 5 years or so I’ve baked 5 different kinds of cookies for the holidays. It has always been therapeutic sprinkled with fleeting moments of stress.

This year I didn’t have time for a baking extravaganza, so I chose the simple yet divine chocolate chip cookie as the headliner. I used the trusted recipe from Jacques Torres that appeared in the New York Times months ago. The secret is lightly dipping the dough balls in sea salt or fleur de sel for a sweet and salty touch. Holiday cookies don’t have to be red or green, they just have to be delicious.

Raisin Fennel Bread

Bread can be a boring vehicle for sauces, meat, cheese, jam, or it can be fabulous on its own. I found one such amazing loaf—raisin fennel bread—at Petite Provence Bakery on Division and SE 48th. It seems to be a dense pain au levain base packed with sweet raisins and licoricey fennel. It makes perfect toast with a thin layer of butter and tart jam.

The bread’s sourdough base reminds me of my favorite bread in Columbus: La Chatelaine’s au levain loaf.

Fudgy Brownies

Whenever I need a chocolate fix, I turn to my favorite brownie recipe by John Scharffenberger and Robert Steinberg. I usually have all of the ingredients on hand—the key is to stock up on Scharffenberger chocolate baking bars. When you have good chocolate on hand, you are ready for anything.

Robert’s Fudgy Brownies

Introduction

In order to achieve the crackled top and fudgy texture of classic brownies, this batter must be beaten by hand until it pulls from the sides of the bowl. This sounds like a task, but it’s not; there’s something homey and satisfying about stirring this thick, glossy batter yourself.

Ingredients

6 Tbsp. (3 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into cubes, plus more for the pan
8 oz. 70-percent bittersweet chocolate
¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
¼ tsp. salt
2 large eggs
⅓ cup all-purpose flour
½ cup toasted walnut halves (optional)

Steps

1. Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
2. Cut an 8-by-16-inch piece of parchment paper. Lightly butter an 8-by-8-by-2-inch pan and line it with the parchment, allowing it to extend evenly over the opposite sides. Butter the parchment, including the paper on the sides of the pan.
3. Place the chocolate and butter in a large heatproof bowl set over a pot of gently simmering water and stir occasionally until melted and smooth. Remove from the heat.
4. With a large rubber spatula or wooden spoon, beat the sugar and salt into the chocolate mixture. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Add the flour and mix vigorously until the batter is very glossy and pulls away from the sides of the bowl.
5. Break the nuts, if using, into large pieces over the batter and fold them in.
6. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and tap the pan bottom on the countertop to level the batter. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out moist but clean.
7. Let cool in the pan on a cooling rack for 10 minutes. Remove the brownies from the pan using the parchment “handles,” and cool completely on the rack before cutting into 2-inch squares.


This recipe is from the book The Essence of Chocolate by John Scharffenberger and Robert Steinberg.

Morning Glory Muffins (left) and Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins (right)

I bussed tables, cooked, cleaned, chopped, took orders and managed shop at Judy’s Cafe during summers from my sophomore year in high school through college. It was there that I became addicted to the Glorious Morning Muffin, a baked good packed with carrots, raisins and nuts. It was basically carrot cake made in breakfast form.

After searching for the recipe for my favorite muffins, I found one that closest resembles the one I devoured at Judy’s. Whole Foods has managed to make it somewhat healthy; the recipe is here.

I went muffin-crazy for Thanksgiving and made Morning Glory Muffins along with Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins. It’s best to make a few dozen and then freeze them for future muffin attacks.

Yellow cupcakes (from a mix) with ganache

Duncan Hines and Betty Crocker are not my friends. I tend to snub them since I take pride in baking from scratch and not from a box. But one exception I will make is…yellow cake. For some reason, yellow cake from a box is light, spongy and has that tangy flavor that I remember from my childhood.

So to jazz up the cake mix, I add chocolate chips to the batter and homemade ganache.

Ganache

1 part heavy cream or half ‘n half
3 parts bittersweet chocolate in small bits

Heat the cream almost to a boil. Pour it over the chocolate and whisk until smooth. Let it sit a bit until thick.

Huckleberry Pancakes

Why people use Bisquick…I will never understand. All you need for good pancake batter is ingredients that are most likely already in your pantry and refrigerator. Like most baking mixes, all Biquick is a box of flour, baking powder, salt, etc. And by the etc. I mean that there’s probably some sort of strange filler ingredients and/or preservatives.

So do yourself a favor and make pancakes from scratch. I found what I deem the best pancake recipe ever online—they’re called simply Good Old Fashioned Pancakes. You can add blueberries, huckleberries, nuts, and other accoutrements to the batter while it’s in the pan (just drop the ingredients on the pancake, push them down a bit, and then flip).

The pancakes turn out light and fluffy just like they should be.