desserts

Yeasted Olive Oil Plum Cake

The timing of this is really unfortunate. I’m on vacation now, but I baked this olive oil plum cake before I left. It was great. Really great. I told myself I would post about it while I was away, and obviously I am, but on vacation sometimes you’re just so busy doing nothing that you don’t have time to do much of anything.

So this cake gets short shrift because I can’t muster an honest post for it. It’s so sad, because this is a really great cake. In fact, if I could pick one thing I have baked in the past few months that I would not have wanted to give short shrift, it would be this cake.

See the recipe…

When Hope Is All You’ve Got

Those of us who work in family planning have an aphorism: Hope is not a method. That is excellent advice when it comes to birth control, and it applies pretty well to baking too. Think things through, have a plan, protect yourself from unintended consequences.

For example, one thing you might think about, if you have some yeast that’s sat in the refrigerator for a while, is to check the expiration date before blithely throwing it into some brioche dough that you plan to use for a rhubarb tart. This could go a long way towards protecting yourself from the unintended consequence of unrisen dough.

Sometimes, though, things just happen. You get caught up in the heat of the moment, in the passion and excitement and anticipation of that perfect … brioche, and your careful plan is suddenly miles from your consciousness, and before you know it … well now, wasn’t that a big “Oops!”

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Rosca de Reyes

In the western Christian tradition, Epiphany is celebrated on January 6. Although this is not a day that I personally observe, on our recent trip to Mexico I was interested to learn about the Mexican Epiphany, Día de Los Tres Reyes Magos (Three Wise Kings Day), when the Kings are said to have arrived bearing gifts for the baby Jesus. This day is the traditional day of gift exchanging, and it’s not Santa but the Three Kings who leave presents for the children in the night.

Rosca de Reyes is the sweet ring bread that is enjoyed during this time. According to custom, a small porcelain baby Jesus is baked into the bread, and whoever gets the doll in his or her piece must host a party on February 2, Candelaria Day.

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Pistachio-Anise Wafers

I’ve been making the same Christmas cookies for more than 20 years, and I figured it was time to add a little something new.

These are a different kind of cookie, actually sort of a cross between a cookie and a cracker. I like them because:

their only sugar is what’s sprinkled on top, adding color and shine
they’re leavened (a little) by yeast, and wild yeast at that
they have no butter, only olive oil

(To any members of my household who may be reading this: Don’t worry, we’ll still have Candy Cane Cookies, Peanut Butter Bonbons, and a few of the other old favorites.)
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Chocolate Panettone Baked in Folded Paper Baskets

I had three goals in making this Chocolate Panettone, a new bread for me:

To make a panettone that my daughter would like. M has an inexplicable dislike of fruit in bread, (indeed, in most baked things; this is inexplicable because she is my flesh and blood). Although fruitless chocolate panettone is not traditional, I have seen it now and then, and I thought M might give it a thumbs-up.
To bake a panettone that, unlike the wild yeast one I usually bake (and love), does not take a good 30 hours to make. While that is a delicious panttone that keeps quite a long time, and the weekend-long process is starting to feel like a necessary holiday ritual for me, sometimes you just can’t invest that kind of time, and why should that have to mean going without home-baked panettone completely?
To try my idea of making folded paper baskets to bake the bread in. You can of course buy paper panettone molds and other decorative, bake-in-to-give-away, paper “pans,” but they’re expensive (and I just like to make things).

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A Sweet Fast Track to Power and Charisma

If you want to win friends and influence people, you could read Dale Carnegie’s book and get some excellent advice. But I’ve found a faster way: bake cinnamon rolls and sticky buns.

Which is not to say that my way is at all inconsistent with Carnegie’s. Here are some of his principles:

Arouse in the other person an eager want. Simply pulling these rolls out of the oven should do the trick.
Start with questions the other person will answer yes to. “Can I interest you in a cinnamon roll? How about a sticky bun?”
Make the other person happy about doing what you suggest. “I suggest you clean the garage and then you can have one.”

See how that works? They will be putty in your hands.

You can of course tailor the recipe to your own tastes and those of your influencees. Substitute another spice, or a combination of spices, for the cinnamon. Add chopped dried fruits to the filling. Try a little citrus zest in the dough.

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