Midsummer’s Night Eve and Irish Soda Bread

I love Irish Soda Bread. Of course, it tends to get a lot of press at St. Patrick’s Day, but why not make it or eat it any time? Need an excuse? June 20 marks the eve of summer solstice, or longest day of the year for the northern hemisphere, where lots of festivals, fairs and concerts occur in Ireland (leftover from Pagan days) and Europe, for that matter. The dates change yearly, but is usually around June 20-22.

The recipe I make at home turns out all rustic looking, which is very different from a lot of Asian baked goods I’ve had. At the bakery the Chinese baked buns (bao or pao) and Filipino buns are typically these beautiful golden brown, rounded hills lined up on a tray.

from centurycafe.com

But, I love me a rustic bread anytime… the displays at Corner Bakery and Panera Bread are enough to make me want to carbo-load.

Irish Soda Bread recipe

• 2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 tbsp sugar
• 1/2 c melted butter
• 3/4 c milk with 3 tbsp of apple cider vinegar (let this mixture sit for a few minutes) OR 3/4 c buttermilk
• 1/2 c raisins or currants

Preheat oven to 425. Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and sugar in a large bowl. Make a well in the middle and add the wet ingredients. Mix until ingredients are just combined; don’t overmix. It’s okay to look lumpy. Fold in the raisins or currants. Transfer dough to baking sheet. Dough should hold its shape, but you can form your bread loaf how you want. Bake at 425 for 15 minutes, turn down to 375 for 20-25 minutes (or until toothpick inserted at center comes out clean). Remove and cool completely.

My daughter told me it tasted store-bought. I guess that meant she liked it! Maybe next year, I can make a corresponding craft? Anyone out there make or bake anything to celebrate summer?

Happy Father’s Day to all tomorrow! I’ll be back next week with crafty tales!

Tags: baking, cooking, Irish, Irish Soda Bread, recipe

Lemon-Ricotta Cheese Cookies

Since we don’t typically eat or cook ricotta cheese in our home, and we had some ricotta cheese left in the refrigerator after our dinner party last weekend, I looked up a friend’s recipe for ricotta cheese cookies.

I just don’t like wasting food, you know? Here’s my twist on it… taken from the lemon-ricotta cheese blinis we made for our dinner party, I added lemon to the cookie recipe. And, it was lemon-y delicious!

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 15 oz. ricotta cheese
• zest of three lemons
• 6 tsp. fresh lemon juice (juice taken from the lemons – save the extra juice)
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 4 cups all-purpose flour

Glaze: 1 cup powdered sugar, extra lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cream butter, sugar and cheese. Add zest and 6 teaspoons of lemon juice to butter and sugar mixture, blend well. In separate bowl, mix salt, baking soda and flour. Incorporate the flour mixture into the butter-sugar mixture. Dough will be very sticky. Using a small teaspoon scoop (or just two teaspoons), drop dough onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 13-15 minutes or until bottoms turn golden brown. After removing from oven, cool for 1 minute, then transfer to cooling racks.

Make glaze by slowly adding juice to the powdered sugar. Thin consistency will probably only need a couple of tablespoons of juice. Spread over cooled cookies.

Yields about 84

Tags: baking, cookies, lemon, recipe, ricotta cheese

Oatmeal cookie vs. oatmeal cookie

Smitten Kitchen versus Martha Stewart. Can’t go wrong really. Just depends on what you’re looking for. I like a hearty, chewy oatmeal cookie where the oatmeal is the star. My husband likes a thin oatmeal cookie – not sure if he likes crispy or chewy. In either recipe I needed to omit any nuts for the little guy and myself. We didn’t really miss it.

What I enjoyed about the Smitten Kitchen recipe: good chew, good body and texture. I chilled the batter, as recommended, for about one hour before baking (much easier to handle). I did need to substitute dried cranberries for raisins since I didn’t have any raisins on hand in the pantry.

As for the Martha Stewart oatmeal toffee cookie, the toffee makes the cookie. The “nut (toffee) free” version has no depth of flavor to me. We did not need to chill the batter prior to baking, but I’m wondering how that might change the recipe, if at all. We didn’t roll the dough into logs and cut as written because we were lazy. We just used our little cookie/ice cream scoop. This may be why our cookie looks nothing like the picture on Martha’s website. Pretty sure all our ingredients were fresh and measured correctly, too, but I found the cookie to be a little too dry and crumbly for my taste.

Regardless, the kids enjoyed taste testing… Ollie said, “MOM! Can I take a picture, too?” Sure, buddy.

Tags: baking, cookie, eating, martha stewart, recipe

Celebrating with Fruit Cocktail Cake

A few ornaments to put away

“And now let us welcome the New Year
Full of things that have never been.” – Rainer Maria Rilke

What better way to start the new year than with family and friends? It’s a Filipino tradition to celebrate the life of a loved one on the 40th day after his or her passing. So, my dad’s youngest sister and her family hosted a memorial service and reception in honor of my aunt and uncle who recently passed away (They were my dad’s siblings. Big family, gets confusing, I know: my dad is 1 of 14). It was so heartwarming to have so many friends and extended family come out the day after the New Year; so many I haven’t seen in a long while, so many new babies. My Auntie Tess and Uncle Fred would’ve loved the party so much.

Auntie Con and Uncle Wilmer are fantastic hosts who had more than enough food to feed the 50-60 people who attended, but I like help out, so from our home we brought my husband’s signature crab dip and my fruit cocktail cake. Normally, I’d bake it in a 13×9 pan, but for Christmas, I got the “Big Top Cupcake” in our cousin gift exchange. Yeah, “As Seen on TV” bakeware!

We could not stop laughing, and yet, it’s proved to be useful. I’ve never baked with silicone molds before. It was so easy to get the cake out, and washing was a breeze. The only thing that didn’t work as well was the “insert mold”, that little bowl shape piece on the right in the picture. I placed it on the bottom mold, just like a lid and it snapped on just fine. Seemed secure, but in the middle of baking it came off as the cake rose. It wasn’t a big deal though. I just kept pushing it down when I checked on the cake. Baking time increased just a little bit, too. I was surprised when the “cupcake top” wasn’t done when the bottom part was – I just had to add a few more minutes. I didn’t get all crazy with decorating the cake. There was no time, and I had no butter left in my house. But, all is good with a little dusting of powdered sugar and a gumdrop.

Fruit Cocktail Cake with Vanilla Pudding

Cake
1 pkg. yellow or lemon cake mix (with pudding)
16 oz. can fruit cocktail including syrup
1 cup flaked coconut
4 eggs
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts (optional)
Whipped topping (optional)

Butter Glaze:
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup evaporated milk
1-1/3 c. flaked coconut

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Blend cake mix, fruit cocktail, coconut, eggs and oil in large bowl. Beat at medium speed until smooth. Pour into 13×9 pan. Sprinkle brown sugar (and nuts). Bake for 45 min. or until toothpick comes clean from center. Spoon glaze over warm cake, approx. 15 min. after removing from oven. Serve warm or cold with whipped topping.

Butter glaze: Heat butter, sugar and evaporated milk in a saucepan until it reaches a low boil. Cook for 2 min. Remove from heat and stir in coconut.

Tags: baking, cooking, recipe