Pear Spice Cake with Walnut Praline Topping

Posted by: Maggie

This cake would be delightful for Christmas morning brunch.

Or, for Christmas Eve dessert.

Or perhaps as a snack for Santa in lieu of cookies?

It doesn't matter what your reason is for making this delicious, moist, lightly spiced cake. Just make it soon, and enjoy it fresh from the oven with a hot cup of coffee or cocoa.

I promise you won't regret it.

Here's what you'll need:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons ground allspice
1 1/2 teaspoons grated nutmeg
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs, separated
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup buttermilk
1 1/4 cup peeled, cored, and diced pear (I used about 2 pears to get this amount, but it will depend on the size of your fruit)
1 cup walnuts, toasted, cooled, and finely chopped

Move the oven rack to the middle position, and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a bundt pan.

In a small bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In a large bowl, use an electric mixer on medium-high to combine butter, sugar, cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg until fluffy, about 4 minutes. Add egg yolks 1 at a time and beat well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Reduce mixer speed to low, and add in flour mixture and buttermilk alternately in batches, and beat well after each addition. Gently fold in pears and walnuts.

Clean the mixer beaters. In a separate bowl, beat egg whites until they just hold stiff peaks. Fold whites into the batter gently, but thoroughly.

Transfer batter into the prepared pan, and smooth the top. Bake for 40-50 minutes, or until a wooden skewer comes out clean. Cool in pan, on a rack for 10 minutes, and then invert onto rack.

I topped my cake with the praline topping while it was still warm to help the glaze spread easily, but if you prefer, you can wait for the cake to cool completely.

To make the glaze:

3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup whipping cream
1 cup walnuts, roughly chopped, toasted

Stir brown sugar, cream, and butter in a heavy, medium-sized saucepan over medium-high heat until smooth. Boil for 3 minutes, stirring often. Stir in the walnuts, and carefully pour over the warm cake.

P.S. Here's a photo of (almost) the whole cake. I didn't get a nice pic of the uncut cake because Jeff and I cut into it at night, and by the time I had daylight for photographing it the next day it wasn't so pretty :)

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Source: Adapted from Joy the Baker, originally from Gourmet Magazine

Soft Gingersnap Cookies with White Chocolate Chunks

Posted by: Maggie

(Please read the following as if a Gingersnap Cookie is speaking in the first person. A Gingersnap Cookie with the smooth voice of Isaiah Mustafa. Yup. I promise not to post again while exhausted and/or after spending too much time on the You Tubes.) 

Hello Readers.

Look at your cookie. Now back to me.
Now back at your cookie. Now back to me.
Sadly, it isn't me.
But if you go to the grocery store and buy some molasses and white chocolate it could taste like it's me.

Look down, back up, where are you?
You're in your kitchen,
making the cookies your cookies could taste like.

What's in your hand? Back at me.
I am, I'm a warm, soft, cookie with those two Christmas flavors that you love.
Look again, the Christmas flavors are now melting in your mouth.
Anything is possible when your cookie tastes like molasses and white chocolate, and not high fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated oils.
I'm on a diabetic horse.

What you'll need:

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar, plus extra for coating cookie dough balls
1/2 cup molasses
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 teaspoons cinnamon
1 1/4 teaspoons ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground ginger
2 large eggs
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

Using an electric mixer, cream together butter and sugar until creamy. Add in the molasses, canola oil, vanilla extract, baking soda, salt, and spices, and beat until well combined. Add in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. With the mixer on low, gradually add in the flour. Do not overmix. Stir in the white chocolate chips.

Using a cookie scoop, form the dough into balls and coat in the extra granulated sugar. Place on the prepared cookie sheet, two inches apart. Bake for 7-9 minutes. Remove from the oven, and allow cookies to cool for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. Repeat with remaining dough. Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

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Adapted from: Two Peas & Their Pod

Beef and Bean Chili

Posted by: Maggie

I was browsing through our recipe index recently, and realized that Annie and I have been complete failures in providing recipes in certain food categories. There are recipes for cookies, cupcakes, and vegetarian food galore, but only FOUR beef recipes in our entire 2-year history of blogging. 

As an ex-vegetarian who now loves bacon and juicy medium-rare steaks (especially if the latter is wrapped in the former,) this realization was simply unacceptable to me. I decided that a giant, meaty pot of chili was a necessity in my life, along with a batch of my favorite cornbread recipe.

I know I've mentioned on here before that I'm not crazy about most leftovers, and this is absolutely an exception. I sent Jeff home with a large portion of leftover chili, and still had enough to eat leftovers over rice, over pasta, over a baked potato, and over Fritos. Not all in one night of course. Eating that much chili in one night would be a bad decision for even the strongest of stomachs.

Here's what you'll need for about 3 quarts of chili:

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 medium onions, chopped fine
1 red bell pepper, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
2 tablespoons minced garlic (about 6 cloves)
1/4 cup chili powder
1 tablespoon ground cumin
2 teaspoons ground coriander
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 pounds 85-percent lean ground beef
2 (15-ounce) cans red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes, with juice
1 (28-ounce) can tomato puree
Salt
Toppings: limes, cilantro, sliced jalapenos, diced avocado, shredded cheese, diced red onions, and sour cream or greek yogurt are all good choices!

In a large pot, heat the oil over medium until shimmering. Add the onions, red pepper, garlic, and spices (except salt) and cook, stirring occasionally until the veggies are soft and the spices are fragrant (about 7-10 minutes.) If the veggies and spices start to stick to the bottom of the pan add a small splash of water. Increase the heat to medium-high and add half of the ground beef, breaking up with a wooden spoon and cook until no longer pink (about 3-4 minutes.) Add the remaining beef, breaking up with a wooden spoon, and cook until no longer pink.

Add beans, tomatoes, tomato puree, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat to low. Simmer with the lid on for 1 hour, stirring occasionally. Remove the lid, and simmer for 1 more hour, stirring occasionally. I actually ended up simmering my chili for about 3.5 hours total since I was waiting for my dinner guest to arrive. If chili starts sticking to the bottom of the pot you can add in a bit of water and continue to simmer, but you probably won't need it. My pot isn't fancy - it's a thin, stainless steel pot from Target and I had no sticking problems.

Adjust seasonings to taste, and serve!

Side note: The chili is super duper thick on the first day you make it, and will thicken more as leftovers. In the interest of full disclosure, I wanted to note that the photograph above was taken on day 3 of my chili's life.

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Source: slightly adapted from Cooks Illustrated