These pancakes are very simple to make, although they still require three bowls. The flavor is corn-centric, so it’s important to use fresh, good-quality cornmeal – my favorite is from Anson Mills. The headnote describes them as flat corn muffins, and I have to say I agree. We loved them.

I’ll admit, we didn’t eat the pancakes for breakfast. We ate them for dinner. Standing up, in the kitchen, snacking from the tray of freshly cooked bacon in between bites of pancakes. It was perfect.

As for syrup: we tried a vanilla bourbon sorghum topping and didn’t love it. Avocado honey was great. My preference is for copious amounts of salty butter.

To get the recipe and see the other entries from this week’s Baked Sunday Mornings head on over to Baked Sunday Mornings.

• Cornmeal Griddle Cakes (Baked Explorations, p. 45)

I decided on a simple appetizer of manchego cheese topped with chunks of quince paste, and some Marcona almonds. I made pasta by hand, but it can be done ahead of time – and since it’s fresh, it cooks up very quickly. The sauce for the pasta can be done ahead of time as well, leaving just a quick warm-up on the stove and tossing in the cooked pasta. Sauteed vegetables and an easy salad with a flavorful, creamy dressing pair well with the meal – the fennel in the vegetables and the tarragon in the dressing play well together.

Dinner was very good, but not spectacular. A solid performance. I decided to go dramatic for dessert, though. Souffles seem elegant and difficult, but they’re really not. It’s just some sort of a base, lightened with whipped egg whites, and baked. In this case, the base is lemon curd – use your favorite recipe, or even a high-quality prepared version will do.

The souffles can be made the same day and stored in the refrigerator for a few hours before baking. No need to make them up at the last minute. They’ll still puff up beautifully, but serve them quickly, because they deflate in no time at all!

Lemon Curd Souffle
Yield: 4 servings

Melted butter and granulated sugar, for the ramekins
1 cup prepared lemon curd, at room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
5 egg whites, at room temperature
Powdered sugar, for dusting

Use a pastry brush to lightly coat the inside of four 1-cup ramekins and dust with sugar, tapping out the excess. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place the lemon curd in a large bowl and whisk to smooth it out.

Whip the egg whites to soft peaks, then gradually add in the sugar, whisking until the whites form stiff, shiny peaks.

Gently fold a quarter of the egg whites into the lemon curd to lighten the mixture, then fold the remaining whites in, leaving no white streaks.

Gently fill the ramekins with the curd mixture, dividing it evenly between the dishes (the souffles can be stored in the refrigerator for several hours at this point). Place the ramekins on a sheet pan and then into the oven. Reduce the oven temperature to 375 degrees. Bake for approximately ten minutes, or until the souffles are puffy and golden brown on top.

Top with sifted powdered sugar and serve immediately.

• Manchego with Quince Paste
• Bucatini in a Spicy Tomato Sauce with Crisped Pancetta (Fine Cooking #60, November 2003, p. 98c)
• Sauteed Fennel & Red Onion with Arugula (Fine Cooking #62, January 2004, p. 48)
• Butter Lettuce with Poppy Seed & Tarragon Crème Fraîche Dressing (Fine Cooking #86, June 2007, p. 48)
• Lemon Curd Souffle

Wine: Copain 2007 Wetzel Vineyard (Anderson Valley, California). Great wine – we had three bottles, and drank them all!

Despite my love of all things caramel, alfajores aren’t my favorite cookie. It’s the sandwich thing. I’m not sold on the idea – I like my cookies to be a little more singular in texture, none of this crunchy creamy mixed together stuff. There are exceptions, but alfajores don’t fall in that camp.

The cookies themselves are fairly simple to make, and are mildly lemony and slightly on the bland side. That makes sense – they are just a vehicle for the dulce de leche, right? The dough was really wet but after some time in the refrigerator it was easy to roll out. They’re kind of dry by themselves.

Then there’s the dulce de leche. I love it. And to be honest, I usually just buy it at the store. It’s really good, and it’s reliable. But I decided I’d make it this time since it’s been a while since I made it from scratch.

The book gives three methods for making the dulce de leche – stovetop, microwave, oven. I like having options, but I went ahead with the stovetop method, which is as simple as dumping condensed milk into a double boiler with a bit of salt, and letting it cook down until it’s thick and caramel-y.

My dulce de leche was not done in the 1.5-2 hours suggested by the recipe – at 4 hours, it looked fairly dark and thick and I was happy with it. I’m not the only baker in the group that had this experience, and I faintly remember it taking a long time when I’ve made it in the past.

Here’s where things went wrong. It was late, so I put the dulce de leche in the refrigerator overnight. I took it out the next day and whipped it up a bit in the mixer to get the lumps out (per the recipe). It lightened up a bit, but I expected that. It looked fine, and I loaded it up into a piping bag.

It piped out beautifully onto the cookies, and I carefully topped each one and gave them some time to set up. But instead of setting up, they just kind of melted. I think the photo speaks for itself.

For the recipe and to see how the other Baked Sunday Mornings bakers fared, head over to Baked Sunday Mornings.

• Alfajores (Baked Elements, p. 68)

I decided to totally wing it. Plus I wanted Larry to experience the pleasure of a beurre blanc. Cauliflower from our CSA, tossed in olive oil, salt and pepper and roasted until the tops were brown and nutty formed the base of the dish. I steamed the fish in a sauté pan with a small amount of white wine. And then there’s the beurre blanc, the crowning glory.

If you think buerre blanc is fancy or heavy, it’s not. It’s surprisingly light for a sauce that’s essentially made of pure butter. Balance comes from a bit of acid – an even mix of white wine vinegar and white wine, reduced with shallots. The shallots can be strained out or not – but if they’re not, they need to be cut into a tiny, perfect dice because they have an impact of the final appearance of the sauce.

Beurre blanc will hold as long as it’s kept in a warm spot, but it can’t be re-heated. No matter – I like to clarify it and use it for sauteeing. And it’s a great canvas for other flavors – either flavored vinegars, or try red wine for buerre rouge, or tender herbs, such as dill or chervil.

This is about as small a batch that can be easily made – getting the reduction down to a smaller quantity is difficult.

Beurre Blanc
Yield: 1 1/2 cups
2 T finely diced shallots
1/4 cup dry white wine
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
3 sticks (12 oz.) unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon-size pieces and chilled
salt
white pepper

In a small, non-reactive, heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine the shallots, white wine and white wine vinegar. Cook over medium heat until only 1 1/2 tsp. of liquid remains (watch the pan closely once the liquid is down to a few tablespoons).

Off the heat, whisk in one or two chunks of butter. When butter forms a creamy emulsion, place pot over low heat and add the rest of the butter, a few tablespoons at a time, whisking constantly. Continue adding more butter when the previous addition is about three-quarters melted.

Once all of the butter has been added, the sauce should appear creamy and uniform. Add salt and white pepper to taste and hold in a warm spot.

• Steamed Black Cod
• Beurre Blanc
• Oven-Roasted Cauliflower

I did that with this recipe – the flavor is better the next day, anyway. And the braising liquid – it’s dark and full of umami. It’s positively lip-smacking. We loved the parsnip puree with these ribs as well – so silky smooth, and the earthiness of the roots pairs so well with the ribs.

For the recipe, check out Flavors of Northwest Iowa.

• Balsamic and Beer-Braised Short Ribs with Parsnip Purée (The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook, p. 179)

But I can be convinced to consume hazelnuts in certain forms. Once we had a cake at a friend’s birthday party – I don’t remember exactly what it was, but I know it had hazelnuts, and it was surprisingly good. My friend and culinary school classmate Stephanie sells her homemade Nutella on Zaarly. I was lucky enough to receive a jar – it’s eat-it-right-off-the-spoon delicious.

This version is also pretty nice. It’s more chocolate-y than nutty, and it’s not at all too sweet. I deviated slightly from the recipe, choosing to boil the hazelnuts with a bit of baking soda to make the de-skinning process easier (details on the method here). It works great – and I lightly toasted the nuts once the skin was off.

Once the hazelnuts are prepped, this is pretty simple to make – just give everything a whiz in a food processor. I had to add a bit more oil to get the texture right, but even with the extra oil, mine turned out fairly thick and not totally smooth. No matter – it’s still pretty good. For something made with hazelnuts.

To get the recipe and see the other entries from this week’s Baked Sunday Mornings head on over to Baked Sunday Mornings.

• Chocolate Hazelnut Spread (Baked Explorations, p. 198)

The bitters are pretty simple to make, with just a couple of periods of maintenance. After the initial extraction (various roots and barks in high-proof alcohol), the solids are strained out of the liquid and boiled for a short time with more water. The cooked solids are stored again, separate from the initial liquid. The final step is to strain out the solids and mix everything together along with a bit of sweetener before bottling.

Again, my favorite way to test out the bitters is in an Old Fashioned. A classmate of mine gave me some buttered-popcorn infused rum (it’s amazing!), so I used that plus demerara simple syrup and the root beer bitters to create a drink that tastes like the movies.

I like the pear bitters with aged rum and some apple-clove shrub. All of them are excellent in a glass of water – bubbly or still. They’re definitely not something that should be confined to alcoholic endeavors.

• Meyer Lemon Bitters (Bitters, p. 70)
• Pear Bitters (Bitters, p. 74)
• Root Beer Bitters (Bitters, p. 76)

These hearty pot pies are simple to make with whatever vegetables you have on hand. We had leftover chicken in the fridge, but rotisserie chicken or any leftover shredded meat will work fine. Or go meatless. I wouldn't mind trying these with some cooked farro in the mix.

I took over the pot pie lids. We didn't have any puff pastry, and It seems as though Trader Joe's is no longer carrying their frozen all-butter puff pastry. I refuse to buy anything that isn't all butter, so I put together a batch of the delicious quick pastry from Smitten Kitchen. It's tender and surprisingly flaky for a dough that doesn't require any folding and turning.

We love these pot pies. I'm happy to have Larry make me dinner anytime.

• Skillet Chicken Pot Pie with Butternut Squash (Bon Appetit, February 2012)

This cake doesn’t disappoint. It’s got a dense, moist crumb that has all of the qualities of a good rum – slightly sweet and aromatic, with a hint of molasses – without being overwhelmingly boozy.

The title of the cake refers to the triple-whammy of rum that it receives, and not in quantities that are faint of heart. I cringed a bit as a poured out a healthy 3/4 cup of my beloved Zacapa 23 for the batter. The second hit of rum comes after the cake is cooled, in the form of a buttery syrup that’s soaked into the upside-down cake for a few hours. Then the crowning glory is a hot buttered rum glaze.

I didn’t have any issues with the cake until I made the glaze. It seemed thin enough to drizzle, but it just sort of glopped on. I put the bowl over a low flame for a few seconds, and it thinned out just fine – the butter had started to cool and harden. I cut back on the rum in the glaze by half, and added a bit of water to get the right consistency.

For the recipe and to see how the other Baked Sunday Mornings bakers fared, head over to Baked Sunday Mornings.

• Triple Rum Black Pepper Cake (Baked Elements, p. 82)

Ironically, despite my lack of black & white experience, I’m very opinionated about what they should be. They need to be light and cakey, and the icing needs to perfectly smooth and shiny. I have it in my head that the white frosting must contain fiori di sicilia, that aromatic, floral extract of vanilla and citrus.

My previous batch of black & whites was made using Stella’s recipe, which is excellent. The only change I made to her recipe was to add a teeny bit of fiori di sicilia to the white frosting – and I made the same adjustment with the Baked recipe.

I also skipped the butter. Leaf lard works so well in these cookies – it makes them unbelievably light and tender. It’s not quite an exact one-for-one substitution with butter and leaf lard (lard is all fat, butter is fat, milk solids, and water), but for the small amount needed for these cookies I decided it was close enough (I used 7 ounces of leaf lard).

Note to anyone curious about using lard for baking – it’s leaf lard that you want. It’s made from the internal fat surrounding the internal organs and is slightly porky when uncooked, and should be pure white. Regular lard is made from pork back fat and is super porky – it’s great for savory applications, but don’t use it for baking unless you want everything to taste, well, porky.

I think the final verdict on these cookies is that while we love them, we liked Stella’s recipe just slightly more. I was curious why – so I geeked out and looked at the two recipes side-by-side (converted to baker’s percentages):

I didn’t break out the fat and moisture for the butter and the egg yolk – but Stella’s recipe has more sugar and more leavening, which makes sense – those cookies were puffier and more tender. We definitely liked her frosting better – the corn syrup helps with texture, and she used much less cocoa powder.

One thing, though – I like the addition of lemon zest in the Baked cookie. And Stella frosted the tops of her cookies, but it’s actually the bottom that should be frosted.

To get the recipe and see the other entries from this week’s Baked Sunday Mornings head on over to Baked Sunday Mornings.

• Black & White Cookies (Baked Explorations, p. 111)

I actually used turkey for these, but other than that it’s a pretty standard recipe, with egg and breadcrumbs for binder. I used Crystal hot sauce for the buffalo flavor, but other than that, there’s not a lot of seasoning in the meat.

I think it’s the cooking method that I didn’t particularly like. The meatballs are placed snugly into a baking pan, then roasted. That means that crisp, caramel-y browning that meat gets in a hot saute pan is missing, so they mostly steam. It results in a softer texture, but I felt like it was lacking something.

Find the recipe for these buffalo chicken balls at ABC Go.

• Pancetta, White Bean & Swiss Chard Pot Pies (Smitten Kitchen)

I usually make a pretty good cocktail, and that plus Emma’s company is pretty much enough to make for a fun, relaxing evening. But we were hungry, so the one decent thing I threw together were these delicious little pot pies.

The filling is pretty simple, and can be modified to whatever you have on hand. I happened to have pancetta, white beans, and chard, so that’s what I used. The sauce is a simple veloute, something I’ve now made approximately one million times in culinary school. A roux-thickened chicken broth – it’s genius and so versatile.

The pastry lids are super easy to make and are so flaky, they shatter right in your mouth. It’s hard to believe it didn’t take hours to make or that it didn’t include wrapping up a block of butter in pastry dough. The secret is a bit of sour cream or yogurt, which adds tang and richness, plus a bit of vinegar to keep the dough tender. It’s now my go-to quick pot pie dough.

• Pancetta, White Bean & Swiss Chard Pot Pies (Smitten Kitchen)

This is an interesting twist on the traditional key lime pie. I approve of the pretzel crust – it’s a little salty, and the flavor works really well with the tart lime. Pretzel is a vastly underrated crust material, if you ask me.

The filling is fairly standard – key lime juice and zest, egg yolks, sweetened condensed milk. But then! There’s tequila. And orange juice (or triple sec, but I’m a cocktail snob and would never make a margarita with triple sec). The filling is like a cross between a key lime pie and a margarita, and it’s really delicious. The whipped cream on top is lightly sweetened and has a touch of lime from some more of the key lime zest.

I had two minor issues with the recipe, but nothing that would keep me from making it again. First, the crust was a little crumbly. I weighed my pretzels and butter, but it could have benefitted from more butter. The second issue I had was yield – it’s supposed to make eight 4″ tarts, but I had just the right amount of filling for four. Each tart is definitely more than enough for one person – I’ll make smaller ones next time.

One last note – it’s important to use a good-tasting tequila in the filling, because the flavor definitely comes through. I went with Tequila Arsenal Reposado and was pretty happy with my choice.

For the recipe and to see how the other Baked Sunday Mornings bakers fared, head over to Baked Sunday Mornings.

• Sunrise Key Lime Tarts (Baked Elements, p. 43)

I wasn’t up for a huge layer cake, so I split up the batter into a dozen cupcakes plus a cute little 6×3 cake, which I split into three layers. I love how the 6″ cake looks, and it makes nice, perfectly sized slices.

Chiffon cake is one of my favorites – it’s sturdy and had a tender crumb, but is lightened with an egg foam before it’s baked. This is pretty much the same as a chiffon cake, except it uses butter instead of oil for the fat.

And then there’s the famous Baked buttercream, which never seems to fail me. It’s creamy and so easy to work with. The base is thickened and cooked with some flour, but the flour flavor doesn’t come through.

To get the recipe and see the other entries from this week’s Baked Sunday Mornings head on over to Baked Sunday Mornings.

• Aunt Sassy Cake (Baked Explorations, p. 165)

We can’t just drink our dinner (well, we can, but adulthood prevails), so it’s back to the pressure cooker again, this time with poultry. Carnitas take about a half hour in the pressure cooker, but poultry is even quicker – these thighs spend just six minutes under pressure.

Preparation of the cooking liquid is also pretty speedy, but it still takes more time than it takes to cook the chicken. Equal amounts of soy sauce and sherry, combine with the juice and rind of an orange, plus slices of ginger and some whole spices (fennel, cinnamon stick, cloves) are simmered together. The result is a spicy, warming concoction that imparts a beautiful red color to the chicken as it cooks.

• Ranglum (Kindred Cocktails)
• Chinese Red-Cooked Chicken Thighs (Miss Vickie’s Big Book of Pressure Cooker Recipes)

Larry chose this guacamole recipe. It’s a bit smokey from the bacon and roasted tomatillos (which also lend a vegetal quality). This isn’t a traditional guacamole; what we’ve eaten in Mexico in the past is usually no more than avocados, tomato, and lemon or lime juice. If you ask me, avocados are good any way they’re prepared so I don’t have a preference.

I cooked pork shoulder in the pressure cooker with achiote paste and chili powder. The pressure cooker is indispensable for turning tough cuts of meat into fork-tender, delightful morsels in no time at all. I particularly love pork shoulder cooked in the pressure cooker.

The recipe for the guacamole is posted on Epicurious.

• Pressure Cooker Pork Carnitas (Food & Wine, May 2011)
• Guacamole with Bacon, Grilled Green Onions and Roasted Tomatillos (Frontera: Margaritas, Guacamoles, and Snacks)

I’m going to classify these as a savory soufflé due to the cheese and corn, but I could easily see serving them for brunch. After the ramekins are filled, they can be stored in the refrigerator until they’re ready to be baked off – but then they need to be served immediately (to the oohs and ahhs of your guests).

This is a pretty straightforward recipe – the base starts with a béchamel, and has some spices (nutmeg – yum) and egg yolk added for body and structure. Egg whites are whipped and then folded into the base along with sharp cheddar and corn (I used Trader Joe’s frozen fire roasted corn – it’s too early for fresh corn still).

I judged a rib cook-off today, so I wasn’t exactly hungry for dinner. I modified the recipe by cutting it in half, but stuck with three full yolks, and I served the souffles in half-cup ramekins. They’re perfect for a light dinner alongside a green salad.

I think mine cooked a hair too long – I’d prefer less browning on top, but they puffed up beautifully and were really delicious.

For the recipe and to see how the other Baked Sunday Mornings bakers fared, head over to Baked Sunday Mornings.

• Cheddar Corn Souffle (Baked Elements, p. 153)

I’m glad I didn’t make more. Not because I didn’t like it, but because it tastes just like a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup, which I love, and I couldn’t stop eating it.

I love the idea of a fun dessert fondue, and this would be a great way to end a party with friends. We dipped marshmallows (not homemade, don’t judge!) and Biscoff cookies, but I’m betting people would love this with slices of bananas. I was partial to the marshmallows, and would love to make it next time I make marshmallows.

The other idea I have for this is for camping. It can be made ahead of time and will keep well. We car camp, so it’s not a problem to bring a fondue pot along. Since I always bring along gear for s’mores, we can dip graham crackers and marshmallows along with bananas into the chocolate.

To get the recipe and see the other entries from this week’s Baked Sunday Mornings head on over to Baked Sunday Mornings.

• Chocolate Peanut Butter Fondue (Baked Explorations, p. 175)

Libations change over time with a bit of dilution from ice (most of the time for the better). I find myself using big chunky blocks of ice even when a drink is supposed to be served up, no ice.

This shooter is visually striking, even though I wasn’t crazy about the flavor. Tequila isn’t my favorite spirit, and the flavor is very prominent here. The gorgeous color comes from a bit of blue curacao. The drink style is called a coral, which refers to the use of an aromatic liqueur to adhere salt to the rim of a glass. For the recipe and a peek at the book, go here.

• Uyeda’s Crystal (The Best Shots You’ve Never Tried)

I’m positive this is a great version – the Baked crust is always phenomenal, and the recipe instructions to blanch (optional, but I did it) and sugar the lemons first does a good job of reducing the bitterness. The resulting filling is a cross between lemon curd and marmalade.

I have a glut of Meyer lemons right now – we have a tree, but I have several neighbors with trees as well, and they’re all prolific producers. No one seems to know what to do with them, so I go around liberating the lemons from everyone’s trees, and in return they get lots of homemade Meyer lemon curd. Meyers are a great choice for this pie – the skins are thin and fragrant, they taste wonderful, and there are very few seeds.

I wanted very thin lemon slices – paper thin. My mandoline didn’t cooperate (I think I need to replace the blade), but I have a steady hand and a very sharp knife. My lemons ended up macerating in sugar for three days, because I didn’t get to them when I was supposed to. Thinly sliced, sugared Meyer lemons are fantastic, and I was sure this was going to be a great pie.

The instructions say to remove the lemons from the sugar, reserving the sugar for later. If you’re imagining slightly damp but fragrant sugar as the byproduct, you’re not correct. The recipe should probably say to strain the lemons, reserving the sweet liquid that drains off.

This is a very quick pie to make, once the lemons are done and the pie crust is made. The filling is thickened with egg yolks and a bit of flour and then poured on top of the lemon slices. It’s a beautiful pie and the filling bakes up really nicely.

But we still didn’t like it. It’s that bit of leftover bitterness from the whole slices of lemon that prevent us from loving lemon shaker pie. If you like this kind of pie, though, I think this particular recipe is a winner.

For the recipe and to see how the other Baked Sunday Mornings bakers fared, head over to Baked Sunday Mornings.

• Lemon Shaker Pie (Baked Elements, p. 51)

The cookies are simple to make, and have a surprise ingredient – malted milk powder. It makes them strangely good and addictive, although they’re still not my favorite cookies out of the Baked books.

I did like these enough to take them to school – culinary school. A lot of discerning palates there, so I had to be brave. They went fast, and we ate them for dessert one day with salted caramel ice cream (yum).

To get the recipe and see the other entries from this week’s Baked Sunday Mornings head on over to Baked Sunday Mornings.

• Malted Milk Sandwich Cookies (Baked Explorations, p. 106)

Making the bitters isn’t a lot of work – just time, plus sourcing some odd ingredients. The base is usually (but not always) high-proof alcohol, which is infused with aromatic herbs, bark, roots, or fruit (or all of the above). That’s pretty much it – add the roots and barks and other ingredients to the alcohol, seal it up in a mason jar, and shake it once a day for a couple of weeks.

Bottling takes a bit longer – at least for me. I’m obsessive about removing sediment, so once the infusion is done, I strain the mix through a fine strainer, then through fine cheesecloth a couple of times, and finally through a coffee filter. There’s a bit of sweetener added, too – the vanilla bitters get some blackstrap molasses after the infusion is done. I used the full amount in mine.

The result is incredibly aromatic. It doesn’t taste great on its own, but that’s why they’re called bitters – they’re bitter. Gentian root is the culprit in this recipe – I purchased mine locally but I’ve bought other ingredients online from Tenzing Momo.

Why add something bitter to a cocktail? It’s all about balance – bitter will help balance out the acid and sweetness of the other ingredients.

My favorite way to enjoy these so far is to use them in an Old Fashioned: 2 ounces of a spirit, 1/2 ounce sweetener, and bitters to taste. Bourbon and demerara simple syrup are one of my favorite combinations. Rye and maple are great too. I tend to use a liquid sweetener rather of a sugar cube because it dissolves easier. When using a sugar cube, just moisten it with a few drops of water and some bitters before muddling to get it to dissolve. Add your spirit, stir, and drink up.

• Homemade Vanilla Bitters (Imbibe)

This recipe had one thing going for it – honey. I’m crazy about honey, and I especially like to bake with it. After careful consideration, I decided to use a local avocado honey in the bread. Dark, complex, not too sweet.

My bread baked up fine, up until the point where it got that damn crater down the middle, just like a quick bread always does (right? Or is it just me that gets the crater?). The crust was getting really dark brown, and it smelled done. I stuck a skewer in a couple of spots and was convinced it was ready until I tested the crater – and came out with raw dough.

I threw caution to the wind and decided to leave the loaf in the oven until the stupid crater was fully cooked. When it was, I was sure my bread was going to be dry and crumbly. The top turned a deep brown, almost black – just on the good side of being burnt.

When we finally cut into the bread, it turned out moist and absolutely delicious. I love the honey and the poppy seeds, and I think this is my new favorite banana bread.

For the recipe and to see how the other Baked Sunday Mornings bakers fared, head over to Baked Sunday Mornings.

• Honey Banana Poppy Seed Bread (Baked Elements, p. 212)

Now that I think of it, I don’t understand why there aren’t black and whites at bakeries here in California. It’s not like there are special ingredients required that are only available in New York. Maybe we just don’t get them. They’re not exactly normal cookies – the texture is like a cross between cake and cookie, and they don’t quite taste like anything familiar. There aren’t chunks of anything, and there’s frosting. And they’re kind of huge.

I’ve been wanting to make my own black and whites, and Stella‘s post and recipe was just the catalyst I needed.

Her recipe is terrific – no surprise. They’re not too sweet, and they have a light, airy texture. I followed her recipe to the letter, including the leaf lard (do it – no regrets), but I added a bit of flora di scilia to my white frosting. Supposedly traditional in black and whites, it’s kind of floral and kind of citrus. I don’t know why I had it, but I wasn’t about to let it sit on the shelf.

The other change I’ll make the next time I make these is to pipe out smaller cookies. William Greenberg sells minis, and they’re just the perfect size.

• Black & Whites (BraveTart)

The other great thing about pudding is that it’s extraordinarily quick and easy to make. The hard part is waiting for it to set up.

I like this version, pretty layers of vanilla and milk chocolate puddings. My preference was for the milk chocolate flavor, though – and next time, I’ll probably make the entire batch milk chocolate. Both flavors start from the same base, so changing things up is pretty simple.

The step of heating up the milk separate from the eggs isn’t totally necessary. But wait, won’t the eggs curdle if you just mix it all together and then heat it up? Custards made with just milk and eggs require the milk to be heated then added slowly to the eggs in order to bring the temperature up slowly without cooking them. Then that mixture is heated again, and the eggs go to work thickening the milk as more heat is applied.

Cornstarch is the magic ingredient that prevents curdling in this instance, so I just mixed all of the ingredients together from the start and then heated it up. I could have been more aggressive with the heat and even brought the mixture to a boil and it wouldn’t have curdled. The general rule of thumb is a tablespoon of flour or two teaspoons of a pure starch such as cornstarch or arrowroot per cup of liquid provides curdling insurance (this also may compromise a dish in terms of texture and flavor which is why custard-based ice creams aren’t made with starch).

To get the recipe and see the other entries from this week’s Baked Sunday Mornings head on over to Baked Sunday Mornings.

• Vanilla Bean & Milk Chocolate Budino (Baked Explorations, p. 192)

Chateau potatoes are an old-style French preparation, not something seen in restaurants these days. I don’t know why. Potatoes, sautéed in butter never goes out of style, if you ask me.

I turned my potatoes, because I’m working on knife skills and I like torture. My turned potatoes leave a lot to be desired – that’s why I need practice. They should look like little footballs. It makes a lot of potato scraps, but they don’t go to waste – they’re great in a soup.

Once the potatoes are cut to your desire – turned, or cut into a large dice (or even sliced), sauté them in a good amount of clarified butter. Regular butter will work, but clarified butter can take higher heat and won’t burn as easily (commercially available ghee is a perfectly acceptable substitute). Don’t worry about wasting the clarified butter – the leftover is fine to save for another use. Once they’re cooked through and golden, season them with salt and gobble them up.

I love these potatoes because they’re wonderfully crisp on the outside, and even though they’re cooked in a lot of butter, they’re light and not greasy at all.

We didn’t just eat potatoes for dinner – we also enjoyed wonderfully juicy pork chops with a shatteringly crisp crust (the secret ingredient is cornflakes). The recipe for the pork chops is at Mise en Place.

• Crispy Pan-Fried Pork Chops (The Science of Good Cooking, p. 157)
• Chateau Potatoes

They were calling to me when I woke up yesterday morning. I convinced Larry to run out for graham crackers and had the whiskey caramel sauce made and the panty cake ingredients all prepped by the time he returned – that’s how quick and easy it is to make these.

The whiskey sauce isn’t too boozy, but it definitely doesn’t taste innocent. The recipe says to use a good whiskey. I’ll clarify and say that you should use a decent whiskey, but don’t use your best stuff. There was no way I was going to sacrifice my Black Maple Hill bourbon for this sauce, but Gentleman Jack worked perfectly. Imagine a caramel sauce, but made with brown sugar. And booze. It’s drinkable good.

The Panty Cakes have some whiskey in them too. They’re really just graham cracker pancakes, with a bit of a lacy pattern that forms on the outside when they cook. We loved the crunch of the graham cracker crumbs in the batter. They’re not too sweet, which makes them a great vehicle for the whiskey sauce.

For the recipe and to see how the other Baked Sunday Morning bakers fared, head over to Baked Sunday Mornings.

• Lacy Panty Cakes with Whiskey Sauce (Baked Elements, p. 168)

I think the secret to great tomato soup is canned tomatoes – even in the summer, at the height of tomato season. Canned tomatoes have the right amount of acidity and intensity to make a soup that’s just the right flavor.

Larry made this version for us. It’s incredibly simple – just five main ingredients, but it’s really terrific. It’s proof that making soup at home is barely more work than opening a canned version, and it’s infinitely better.

We topped our version off with some simple homemade croutons – just some old bread, torn into chunks, tossed in olive oil, salt, and pepper, and baked off in the oven until they’re crispy.

• Barbara Lynch’s Spicy Tomato Soup (Food52)

Cayenne pepper and brown sugar. That’s it. Practically the world’s simplest recipe. I finally made it myself, and it’s just so good.

I do have one change to the recipe, though. It says to cook the bacon in the oven at 425°. I always cook my bacon in the oven, but I’ve stopped doing it at high heat because I’m sick of the smoke alarms going off every time I make it. The addition of brown sugar to the bacon in this case makes the smoke even worse, so I cooked it at 375 instead. Still a bit smoky, but not as bad. It will take a little longer for the bacon to get crisp. It’s worth the wait.

For the recipe, take a peek here.

• Firecracker Bacon (The New England Table , p. 17)

This really didn’t take a lot of effort, and the dough is really nice to work with. There’s a bit of rising time, but I was still able to make it on a weeknight.

It’s delicious, with herbs and cheese and caramelized onions and some spinach. All of the toppings work really well together, but it’s the bread itself that really shines.

You’d think with all that stuff on top that the focaccia would only be good right after it’s made. But few minutes in the toaster oven, and it’s as good as it was the night I made it. The bread is so light, too. I can’t stop eating it.

For the recipe and to see how the other Baked Sunday Morning bakers fared, head over to Baked Sunday Mornings.

• Cheesy Focaccia with Caramelized Onions & Sautéed Spinach (Baked Elements, p. 168)