Category: Desserts

Faye’s Oatmeal Cake

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We worked with Faye for many years, and she is a great cook and wonderful person.

1 1/2 cup boiling water
1 cup oatmeal (I use McCann’s quick cooking.)

Mix and let sit a while.

1/2 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs

Cream butter and sugar together in a big bowl, and add eggs and oatmeal. Stir well.

1 1/2 cup flour
3 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

1 cup pecans

Blend all but pecans in a bowl, and fold into butter mixture. Turn out into a 9 x 13 pan. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes. Spread topping over while it’s still warm, and sprinkle with 1 cup pecans.  Set under the broiler for 2-3 minutes.

Topping:

1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 white sugar
6 Tbsp butter
1 cup coconut
1/4 cup cream
1 tsp vanilla

Cook sugars and butter in a pan for a few minutes until sugar is dissolved. Add coconut and cream and cook a couple more minutes. Remove from heat and add vanilla.

Apple Pan Dowdy

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Okay, so I found this recipe and had to make it because I have always loved the song “Shoe-Fly Pie” (and Apple Pan Dowdy, make your eyes light up, your tummy say howdy!)  Here’s a link to Dinah Shore singing it.

But it turns out that it’s really good, and even better with ice cream on top!

4 1/2 cups peeled, cored and sliced apples, placed in a 9 x 12 baking dish

1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup apple cider (or water)

Mix in a saucepan and cook for a few minutes until it’s thickened a bit. Remove from heat and add:

1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp vanilla
1 Tbsp butter
Sprinkle of cinnamon and nutmeg

Pour over apples.

1 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
3 Tbsp baking powder
3 Tbsp butter
1/2 cup milk

Blend dry ingredients, cut in butter until crumbly. Add milk and gently blend. Drop by the spoonful onto apples. Smooth it out a bit so it’s more evenly distributed.

Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

Sunburst Peach Tart

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This is such a pretty dish. I first served it at a National T.T.T. Society Holiday Tea at my house in 2002. Maya was about 3 and greeted each guest at the door with a curtsy. I have no idea why – but everyone loved it. She said she thinks

6 oz. butter (1 1/2 sticks)
1 1/4 cup sugar
6 eggs
2 1/4 cups flour
Juice of half a lemon
1/8 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
large can sliced peaches, drained
4 oz chopped pecans or hazelnuts

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time. Add everything else, except nuts, folding gently. Pour into a large springform pan, and arrange peach slices in a sunburst pattern. Sprinkle with chopped nuts, and bake at 350 for 45-55 minutes. Serve with pouring custard. (With Strawberry Trifle recipe.)

Thai Sticky Rice

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We met Tao because her son Benson was a really good friend of Samir. She is a great cook and shared her Thai Sticky Rice recipe with me. Super easy and super delish!

2 cups sticky rice (it’s a sweeter rice but you could probably make it with jasmine rice, too or even regular long grain rice if you don’t have an asian market close by.)
water
1 1/2 cups coconut milk (not coconut cream)
1/2 cup plus a little more sugar
1/4 tsp salt

Soak rice in a glass dish in plenty of water for 30 minutes. Drain until there’s just a little water left. Cover and microwave on high for 4 minutes.

Remove from microwave. Stir coconut milk, sugar and salt in a bowl and blend gently into the rice. You can add a drop of food coloring to the sticky rice if you like.

Put the cover back on and microwave for 5-10 minutes until the rice is done. Fluff gently with a fork and serve.

Apple Cake

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This makes a simple, yet really lovely cake.  It’s moist, spicy and very apple-y.  (Not sure that’s a word.)  It also comes out of the oven with a crunchy, spicy top.  

1 cup sugar
1/4 cup softened butter
1 egg
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cloves
2 cups apples, cored and chopped

Preheat oven to 325.

Blend sugar, butter and egg in a medium bowl until smooth and creamy. Mix dry ingredients in a small bowl and add to sugar, butter and egg mix. Stir gently until fairly smooth.  Add apples and toss gently with the dough (it’s quite thick and sticky.)  Turn out into an 8×8 baking dish and bake for 35 minutes.

 

 

Strawberry Trifle

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Trifle, which is a dish somewhat unfamiliar to most Americans, is a dangerous, dangerous dessert.

It starts off all pretty and shiny in a clear glass trifle dish, with bits of cake and strawberries creating a lovely layered display and a rich yellow custard and white fluffy whipped cream on top.  Soon though, it’s served and forms a rather untidy, gloppy serving of sheer heaven.  You have it once and think, I don’t have a trifle problem. Me? No – I can take it or leave it.  But then you see some strawberries with whipped cream nearby and suddenly you can taste the custard and cake, too.  There’s no getting away from it.

I’ve made trifle for years and it’s one of the most often requested birthday “cakes” from my family.  My recipe is a little different, but it’s what we like and what I find easiest to make.  You can substitute different fruits or liqueurs, and it is still wonderful. The most delightful part is the Rich Custard, but if you really must you can substitute vanilla pudding. Just add a bit more vanilla extract.

Ingredients:

Angel Food Cake, cut into 1″ thick slices
2 pints of fresh or frozen strawberries, halved and tumbled with 1/4 cup sugar for 15 minutes. (Or 1 large container of strawberries in syrup, thawed.)
Generous splash of brandy or sherry – say 2 Tbsp?  I’ve used Cognac in a pinch, too.
Whipped Cream, if home made, sweeten to taste  or just used prepared
Slivered almonds, toasted in an oven for a few minutes.
Rich Custard (recipe below)

In a large, clear glass bowl, line bottom and sides with angel food cake slices.

Mix the brandy and sugar with the strawberries, and place the strawberries on the sides and on the bottom of the dish. You want the strawberries to provide a pop of red color. Pour any remaining liquid evenly over the bottom.

Pour cooled rich custard over the cake and strawberries, and top with whipped cream and slivered almonds. Serve immediately. If you have to wait to serve, refrigerate it and just hold off on the whipped cream and almonds until right before serving.

Rich Custard:

1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup cornstarch
5 cups whole milk
4 eggs, well beaten in a medium sized bowl
1 1/2 Tbsp vanilla

Blend sugar, salt, cornstarch and whole milk in a large saucepan on medium heat. Bring to a gentle boil stirring constantly. Once the custard reaches the boil, remove from heat and add 1 cup to the eggs in the bowl, stirring vigorously so the eggs don’t cook. Add another cup of milk mix to the eggs, and continue stirring.

Return the whole thing to the saucepan and put back on medium/low heat. Heat for 1-2 minutes until the custard is just starting to bubble a little. Don’t leave it for a second at this point or it will curdle. Remove from heat and add in vanilla. Let cool before adding to trifle dish.  It will thicken as it cools

This recipe also makes a lovely pouring custard. Just add another cup of milk. We don’t eat pouring custard much in the US, but it’s delicious dessert sauce. Just a bowl of fresh fruit with pouring custard poured over – it’s simple and wonderful.

For a party, use nice clear wide plastic glasses and build the trifle in them. Just before serving add the whipped cream and almonds – it’s so easy and looks really pretty

There are so many wonderful kinds of trifle.  Here are a couple of my favorites.

Mango Cardamom Trifle

Variation:  Chocolate Raspberry Trifle

Make chocolate custard:  skip the Vanilla, add a generous 1/3 cup cocoa to the sugar and cornstarch, and pour in a little of the milk. Stir well until the cocoa is completely mixed in.  We didn’t increase the sugar and it tasted fine.

Use slices of unfrosted chocolate cake and fresh or frozen raspberries, and top with whipped cream and a sprinkling of mini chocolate chips.

I’ve made both of these for a large graduation party – see my tips here:

A TALE OF TWO TRIFLES FOR A GRADUATION PARTY

Bread Pudding

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I made this for Kumy’s 45th Birthday, but the ones who really loved it were my son Ali and me!

3 cups french bread, cut in chunks
3 cups milk
3 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1/8 cup butter
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
dusting of fresh nutmeg

Put bread cubes in a casserole dish. Heat milk and butter just until bubbles come up the side of the pan. Mix eggs and the rest in a bowl and add warm milk. Stir and pour over bread. Use a fork to press the bread cubes into the custard mixture. Put the casserole in a larger pan with about an inch of water. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes, or until a bread knife comes out clean.

You can add a cup of blueberries, or other fresh fruit diced up, or a cup of raisins or currants. You can even add a cup of chocolate chips. It’s delicious warm or cold.

Update: to make this dessert for a large group, simply double the recipe and bake it in a 1/2 catering tray. Serve with Warm Bourbon Sauce, or Peach Sauce.

Up-Update:  Cranberry Walnut Version.  Using part of a stale loaf of Cranberry Walnut bread from a great french bakery in town that we love, I thought, why not make a Cranberry Walnut Bread Pudding.?

Used the same recipe as above, but added a handful of Craisins and a handful of chopped walnuts.  It was lovely – tangy and sweet with the added crunch of the walnuts now and then.