0 Plum, Fig and Walnut Kuchen

As prune plums and figs make their appearance at local farmers’ markets and produce stands, I know that summer is coming to an end and autumn is around the corner. It was my intention to use plums and figs with the summer fruit torte recipe, but I found this wonderful kuchen recipe from local baking expert Flo Braker in the SF Chronicle. Kuchen, the German word for cake, usually refers to different pastries and cakes. Some yeasted and some with fruit and nuts. This kuchen is not yeasted, but it is bursting with sweet, juicy fruit and crunchy walnuts.

I made a couple of very minor changes to the original recipe. I halved my plums instead of cutting them into quarters (although quarters would definitely work better) and I omitted the ground cloves from the topping.



Plum, Fig & Walnut Kuchen
(from SF Chronicle Food Section)
makes one 9-inch cake

Fruit:
7 small prune plums, halved and pitted
5 small Black Mission figs, stems snipped and quartered

Cake:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
4 oz (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temp.
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup light brown sugar
1 large egg
2 large egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 oz (approximately 2/3 cup) walnuts, chopped

Topping:
1 tbsp granulated sugar
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter a 9 x 2-inch round baking pan and insert a round of parchment paper in the bottom and butter the parchment. The parchment will help you get the kuchen out of the pan. Set prepared pan aside.

Sift flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside dry ingredients.

Cream butter and both sugars until light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Mix in egg, egg yolks and vanilla extract. Add dry ingredients and mix until flour is incorporated. Spread batter in pan, and sprinkle chopped walnuts over the batter.

Arrange the plum halves, flesh side up, in a circle around the perimeter. Arrange the fig quarters, flesh side up, in a circle in the center of the kuchen. If you have any fruit left, fit them in where you can.

To top the kuchen, combine the sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle it over the fruit.

Bake for 55 to 60 minutes until the edges are slightly puffy and golden brown and the center is set. Cool on wire rack for 1 hour before removing from pan.


autumn is coming!

Prune plums are high in anti-oxidants. Remember, the brighter the ARF food, the better it is for you! Go visit Cate at Sweetnicks and see this week's ARF roundup.

0 Summer Fruit Torte

During the dog days of summer, simplicity reigns supreme. And this fruit torte is as simple as it gets. Every year I always seem to forget about this recipe until August rolls around. This buttery, yellow cake is slightly dense, but very tender and moist due to the addition of summer fruits like peaches, nectarines, apricots, plums and blueberries. I used pluots and apriums today. Both are plum-apricot crosses. The former is more plum than apricot and the latter more apricot than plum.

The fruit can be halved, sliced, or chopped. Peeled or left with the skin on. I prefer to use plums and apricots unpeeled, but I usually peel peaches and nectarines. And even though it’s called a summer fruit torte, I’ve made this during the other seasons with apples, pears, cranberries, and even frozen berries. The next combination I plan on trying is Italian prune plums with figs.

Summer Fruit Torte
(adapted from Marion Burros’ Plum Torte)
makes one 9-inch single-layer cake

4 oz (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temp.
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
pinch salt
1 large plum (or pluot), pitted and chopped
2 apricots (or apriums), pitted and chopped
1 or 2 tbsp granulated sugar for sprinkling (optional)

Preheat oven 350 F. Butter and flour a 9-inch round cake pan.

Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

Cream the butter and sugar until light. Mix in vanilla. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Add dry ingredients and mix just until the flour is incorporated. Batter will be a bit stiff.

Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly. Scatter fruit over the batter. Sprinkle with sugar if using.

Bake cake until golden brown or until the tester comes out clean, about 45 minutes.

0 Five Things

Inspired by the 2004 BBC poll "50 Things to Eat Before You Die", Melissa at The Traveler’s Lunchbox has started a food blogger joint project (aka meme) called "5 Things to Eat Before You Die". Julia at Tasting Life tagged me and I wasn’t sure if I would participate because although I’m a passionate foodie, I’m definitely not a well-travelled one. But I live in one of the most diverse food areas in the country so I thought, heck, why not?

My 5 things to eat…

Spicy Angel Wings
Marnee Thai Restaurant, Sunset District, San Francisco
Chicken wings that are deep fried and slathered in a sticky, sweet, spicy, garlicky glaze and topped with fried Thai basil. I’m drooling just thinking about it.

Coffee Crunch Cake
Eastern Bakery, Chinatown, San Francisco
I call it the mother of all Chinatown (style) cakes. Sponge cake layers filled and frosted with coffee whipped cream and covered with a coffee brittle. It’s my favorite cake from childhood and still one of my favorites today. I have never found anything else close in taste or price (currently $11 for an 8 inch cake).

Super Carnitas Burrito (with extra hot sauce)
Gordo’s Taqueria, Ninth Avenue or Clement Street, San Francisco
I love the crispy, salty edge pieces of the carnitas. The super burrito is almost too big to eat all by myself. Almost.

Dad’s Fried Chicken
My dad learned how to make fried chicken from my uncle who learned from a kind Southern gentleman.

Anything and Everything
French Laundry, Yountville, California
I know it’s a total cop-out but I couldn’t pick just one item from the menu. Our entire meal was absolutely amazing.

And I’m tagging all of you. So feel free to play along and send your five things to Melissa. By the way, I’ve tried 41 of the 50 things on the BBC list . How many have you tried?

0 Espresso Praline Muffin

My husband and I like dining at this casual little American café in the West Portal neighborhood of San Francisco. We’ve been going there for years, even before we moved to the western side of the city. During weekend brunch service, they grace each table with a plate of freshly baked muffins and homemade jam. My favorite of these muffins is the coffee praline muffin. Maybe I’ve lived a sheltered life as far as muffins are concerned, but I had never seen or heard of such a muffin. And I certainly have never tasted one like it. Hooked at first bite, I was dying to get my hands on the recipe and make them home. I finally got the recipe from them about 4 years ago. But it wasn’t until recently that I finally tried the recipe for the first time. I know, I know, but I’ve had a huge backlog of recipes to try.

I made a few minor modifications to the original recipe based on what I had in the kitchen. Baking a breakfast muffin shouldn’t require making a special trip to the grocery store. I used half and half instead of milk and espresso powder in place of the instant coffee called for in the original recipe. And so the coffee praline muffin became the espresso praline muffin. The muffin itself is not very sweet. The predominant flavor is espresso/coffee. Most of the sweetness will come from the "praline" topping.



Espresso Praline Muffin
(makes 8 muffins)

Muffin ingredients:
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup light brown sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1/3 cup finely chopped pecans
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup whole milk or half & half
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 tbsp espresso powder
4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled

Praline topping ingredients:
2 tbsp granulated sugar
1 tbsp light brown sugar
5 tbsp chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 375F. Butter and flour muffin pan or line with paper cupcake liners.

Make praline topping by combining the sugars and pecans. Set praline topping aside.

In a large bowl, combine flour, brown sugar, baking powder, pecans and salt. In a small bowl, combine milk, egg, vanilla and espresso powder. Whisk until espresso powder is dissolved.

Add the espresso mixture and the melted butter to the dry ingredients. Mix just until flour is incorporated. Do not over mix the batter.

Set your muffin pan on a rimmed baking sheet. The sheet will catch any topping that might fall off the muffins as they rise in the oven. Fill (to the top) 8 cups of the prepared muffin pan. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of praline on top of each muffin and lightly press the praline into the muffin.

Bake at 375F for 16-18 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes in pan and then remove muffins to cooling rack.

P.S. The word praline can be used to describe different confections. Praline can be almonds or hazelnuts in caramelized sugar or it can be pecans mixed with caramel cream. It can be a shard-like brittle (as in peanut brittle but in this case it would be almonds, hazelnuts or pecans) or a pulverized powder and/or paste. It can also be a Belgian chocolate candy. Praline can even be a homologous sequence alignment tool, but that praline is really the acronym PRALINE and this is just my dorky science self encroaching on my food blogging self. See how confusing it can be?

0 Amaretti

I’m keeping it short and sweet today. A big thank you to Ivonne for sharing her mother’s amaretti recipe and to Sam for posting a photo which had my almond-loving friend craving them so much that she immediately asked me if I could make amaretti. I was more than happy to oblige. I had the dough ready for the oven in 10 minutes (which is how long it took to preheat the oven). Super easy and super delicious!



Amaretti
(makes 16 cookies)

6 ounces almond meal
scant ½ cup granulated sugar
1 tsp cocoa powder
1 large egg
½ tsp almond extract
additional sugar for rolling (optional)

Adjust one oven rack to the lowest position and one oven rack to the middle position. Preheat oven to 350F.

Mix almond meal, sugar and cocoa in a mixing bowl. Mix in egg and almond extract.

Form 1-inch balls of dough. Roll in sugar (if using). Place onto a parchment lined baking sheet. The amaretti do not spread during baking so you can fit as many as you like onto your baking sheet.

Bake on lowest rack for 10 minutes. Move amaretti to middle rack and bake for 7 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes on baking sheet. Transfer amaretti to cooling rack.

0 Nutella Cookies

I first heard about Nutella 10 years ago when I working in a lab with two Swiss scientists. Both would tout the merits of something called Nutella and how it was superior to American peanut butter. Their comments never bothered me because everyone is entitled to their own opinion and they usually took the extreme view just for the sake of argument. Sure, they preferred Nutella to peanut butter, but everyone has preferences. Later, one scientist mentioned to me that peanut butter wasn’t entirely gross. Coming from him, "wasn't entirely gross" is pretty much the equivalent of a compliment. So I secretly declared victory for peanut butter.

I don’t know how a chocolate hazelnut spread like Nutella can even be compared to peanut butter. They are completely different. It’s like comparing apples and oranges. They both have their place in the kitchen. But it wasn’t until recently that they co-existed in my kitchen.

I bought my very first jar of Nutella a few months ago. A recipe for self-frosting Nutella cupcakes was floating around the food blogosphere so I had to try it. Fast forward 3 months later and I still had that same jar sitting around in my cupboard. So I was determined to finally use it up. Taking inspiration from various chocolate cookie recipes I’ve baked over the years, this Nutella cookie was born. I was so pleased with the results that I actually bought a Costco sized jar of Nutella yesterday.

Nutella Cookies
(makes 30 cookies)

1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
7 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temp.
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup light brown sugar
2/3 cup Nutella (chocolate hazelnut spread)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup toasted & skinned hazelnuts, coarsely chopped

Preheat oven to 350F.

Sift together flour, cocoa, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside dry ingredients.

Cream together butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in Nutella and vanilla extract. Mix in egg.

Add flour mixture and mix until just incorporated. Add chocolate chips and hazelnuts.

Drop tablespoons of dough 2 inches apart onto parchment lined baking sheets. Bake for about 11 minutes until the edges look set. Cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes then carefully remove to cooling racks.

Extra tidbits...

I had some leftover dough from my peanut butter and jelly bars. I probably used too little of the dough for the bottom layer and therefore I was left with too much for the top layer. Instead of making my bars "top heavy", I saved the extra dough and made peanut butter cookies.



My tiny garden is bursting with dahlias right now. Did you know that the dahlia is the official flower of San Francisco?

0 Peanut Butter and Jelly Bars

I have been obsessed with these peanut butter and jelly bars ever since I saw Ina G make them on the Barefoot Contessa. So I finally got around to making them and, boy, are they good! When my husband got home that evening he could tell right away that I was baking with peanut butter and jelly. The fragrance had permeated the whole house.

A base layer of peanut butter cookie dough is slathered with jam or jelly and then topped with crumbles of some more cookie dough and chopped peanuts. I was concerned about the exposed jam along the edges since it appeared slightly burnt, but was relieved that it tasted like candy. Some people liked the candied edges while others preferred a middle piece where the jam was uniformly, for lack of a better description, jelly like throughout. The bottom crust had a sandy, melt-in-your-mouth texture but was sturdy enough to hold a clean cut without falling apart.



Peanut Butter and Jelly Bars

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 lb (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temp.
1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 cups creamy peanut butter
2 large eggs, at room temp.
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cup jam or jelly (I used seedless raspberry jam)
2/3 cup peanuts, coarsely chopped (I used unsalted but Ina uses salted)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9x13x2 inch cake pan with parchment and then butter and flour the parchment and pan.

Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside dry ingredients.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar on medium speed for about 2 minutes. Add the peanut butter and mix for another minute. Mix in the eggs and vanilla.

On low speed, add the flour mixture and mix until flour is just incorporated.

Spread 2/3 of the dough into the prepared pan. Spread the jam evenly over the dough. Drop small pieces of the remaining dough over the jam making sure to leave some of the jam exposed. Sprinkle with chopped peanuts.

Bake for 45 minutes, until golden brown. Cool completely before cutting and serving.

0 Oatmeal Toffee Cookies

I own quite a few cookbooks and have accumulated years worth of cooking magazines, but I don’t always use them when I’m in the mood for baking. Epicurious has provided me with numerous recipes that I use over and over again, but I have another source. A source so dark and secret that I hesitate to share it with you.

My latest recipe was found on the back of a bag. I’m slightly embarrassed to admit that some of my most popular recipes actually come from the back of a bag, box or canister. Of course my embarrassment is completely unjustified. Many of the recipes are very similar to ones found in cookbooks. Heck, one of America’s most beloved cookie recipes is found on the back of a bag. Although Phoebe’s grandmother might lead you to believe that it’s an old family recipe from France.

Oh, but back to this cookie…

The toffee melts just a little which transforms a basic drop cookie into a chewy, caramel-ly confection. The oatmeal provides a nutty counterpoint to the sweetness of the toffee. I’m not going to tell you that this is the best cookie I’ve ever made. That would be unfair to all the other equally deserving cookies. But I can tell you that 4 dozen cookies were devoured in less than 2 hours. We only have 20 people in our office. I’m no math whiz but oatmeal + toffee = delicious.

Oatmeal Toffee Cookies
(about 4 dozen)

8 oz (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temp.
2 cups light brown sugar
2 large eggs, at room temp.
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
3 cups quick-cooking oats
1 1/3 cups (8 oz bag) Heath Bits 'O Brickle Toffee Bits

Preheat oven 375°F.

Sift together flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Set aside.

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix in vanilla extract.

Add flour mixture and mix until flour is just incorporated. Mix in oats and toffee bits.

Drop dough by rounded teaspoons about 2 inches apart onto a parchment line cookie sheet. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Allow to cool for 2 minutes on cookie sheet then transfer to cooling rack.