Engaging stories of love, joy, comfort and friendship with proven scrumptious, healthy recipes, we celebrate LOVE as the secret ingredient for wonderful food!

Made-in-the-Pan Chocolate Cake

October 30, 2013 by Mary Frances 20 Comments

This past weekend, I made two desserts, as I was having two dinner parties. Our friends were coming to dinner on Saturday night in the country and both boys and their girlfriends were coming to dinner on Sunday in the city. Additionally, my husband was going to visit his 94-year-old mother in Baltimore on Monday and needed to take sweets to her. It’s what she craves and I aim to please. So on Saturday I made both desserts.

One was a favorite Christmas cookie in our family that I just cut into larger squares for dessert. Our boys were saying, “Mommm, a little early don’t you think?” And then one of the girlfriends said at the dinner table, “OMG, these are so good, I could eat these until I vomit!” Now how’s that for a compliment? She said she ate two for breakfast the next morning and then wanted the recipe. That was for the Hello Dolly Squares. And then the other dessert I made was this amazing recipe from Mollie Katzen for her Made-in-the-Pan Chocolate Cake. I heard her speak a few weeks ago at a Hudson Union Society event and someone in the audience brought up this recipe, which she then talked about and read aloud.

It is so quick, easy and truly amazing that it works. It is even vegan!!! – which I personally don’t care about, but if you do, then this is for you!

The key is to mix the dry ingredients incredibly well with a whisk. Use a clear glass pan and pick it up to inspect the bottom and sides to make sure you don’t see any globs of white flour or dark cocoa still lingering around. Then when you add the liquids, slowly stir and whisk and scrape and scrape and whisk until all is combined and smooth. No lumps allowed!! Simple, delicious, and no extra bowls to clean. This is a super moist cake that tastes like a lot more work. You can pull this off with ease on any weeknight for surprise guests. Just make sure you always have cocoa around.

MADE-IN-THE-PAN CHOCOLATE CAKE – serves 9

1 1/4 cups unbleached white flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1 cup water
1/3 cup canola or vegetable oil
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. cider vinegar or white vinegar

Preheat oven to 325°F. Have ready an 8-inch-square glass baking pan. Put flour, cocoa, sugar, salt and baking soda into the pan. Mix it together thoroughly with a whisk and spatula making sure all is blended together and no white flour clumps are visible. Lift up the pan and check to make sure all is blended on the bottom and especially in the corners.

Add water, oil, vanilla extract and vinegar. Stir slowly with a whisk in small circles to blend. As it becomes a batter, mash, scrape, and stir with whisk and spatula until smooth, particularly scraping and blending from the corners of the pan.

Scrape the sides with a rubber spatula, and spread it evenly. Clean the edges, then bake for 30 minutes.

Cool completely in the pan, on a rack. Dust with some powdered sugar (there is no need for frosting) and cut into squares.

I served it with LOVE, a dollop of ice cream and a few raspberries for a really pretty and super easy dessert.

Holiday cookies

December 15, 2012 by Mary Frances 15 Comments

I am all about living in and enjoying the NOW. And now is the time to make holiday cookies. If you’ve been reading this blog from last year (thank you very much) you will know that there are five cookie recipes that I make every year.

When you do something like this, you’re making memories. Memories during the time you’re making them, to who stopped by for more or hoped some would be left at Eastertime (who are they kidding?), or notes we received after giving some as gifts. This is what life’s all about, isn’t it? Create the great times, which in turn create the memories.

This weekend we have guests, our dear friends Carl and Roger, and I’m hoping to enlist them in rolling cognac balls in sugar and helping with the Hello Dolly Squares. (I know, such a silly name!)

I hope you make some memories this weekend too!

Hello Dolly Squares

chocolate, pecan and cognac balls that are great holiday cookies

Cognac Sugarplums

Graduation time!

June 9, 2012 by Mary Frances Leave a Comment

Dean of the Music department at The City College of New York.

Dean of the Music Department – he looks a little like Mel Brooks!

Our youngest son graduated from college last week and we’re so proud, with summa cum laude and numerous other awards, he’s heading off to Yale in August for a PhD in Eastern European History. At his graduation, of course the various Deans of the different Humanities got up to speak and the Dean of the Music Department was a real character. (check out his cap!) He’s been in that position for forty years! He stated that music was the universal language of love.

Well I say that food is the universal language of LOVE. What better way to let someone know that you love them and to show your love than through cooking, serving and sharing really delicious and healthy food?

So get on with it! Start cooking! Serve the food! Share the LOVE!

Vegetarian pasta with walnuts and spinach on a white plate.

Zach’s vegetarian dish

A chocolate favorite

December 16, 2011 by Mary Frances 6 Comments

This is a great little chocolate cookie that goes well with rich brewed coffee or a final nightcap of cognac. When my kids were younger, I often had to make another batch of these between Christmas and New Year’s Eve! You can also make these with bourbon instead of the cognac if you like. The original recipe for these came from the Silver Palate Good Times Cookbook. Once again, I have altered it. I hope you love them as much as we do!

Cognac Sugarplums

COGNAC SUGARPLUMS
Makes 4 dozen

6 oz. semisweet chocolate bits
1/2 cup sugar, plus additional for coating
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1/3 cup good quality cognac (or you could use bourbon)
2 1/2 cups finely ground vanilla wafers (grind in the food processor)
1 cup finely chopped pecans (grind in the food processor)

Melt the chocolate in the microwave for 1 minute on high power, stir, then 30 seconds more. Stir until all chocolate is melted and smooth. Stir in 1/2 cup sugar, corn syrup, and Cognac. Stir in the wafer crumbs and nuts to make a paste-like mixture. Roll into 1-inch balls. Roll each ball in additional sugar. Store in an airtight container. These cookies improve with age.

Cookie time!

December 15, 2011 by Mary Frances 12 Comments

So my boys definitely think this is “the most wonderful time of the year” because I bake at least 5 different kinds of Christmas cookies. I’ve got it down pat now. It takes me two days. Three kinds in one day and then the two harder batches – the family pecan crisps and the sugar cookies – on the other day.

Most are my Mom’s recipes, this one included with a really stupid name. But the cookies are really, really good. Okay, so the recipe calls for processed things, usually a no-no for me, but at Christmas, I give in. Here goes.

HELLO DOLLY SQUARES (I told you the name was lame)
Makes 40 bars

1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups of graham cracker crumbs (about 1 1/2 packs, grind in food processor)
1 – 14 oz. can of Eagle Brand or Magnolia sweetened condensed milk
1 – 6 oz. package of semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 – 3 1/2 oz. can of flaked coconut
1 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place the stick of butter in a 13” x 9” glass Pyrex pan, and put in the oven. Watch it so that the butter just melts and doesn’t boil. Remove pan with the melted butter from oven and swirl around, up the sides of the pan 1/2 inch, and set on a level surface. Sprinkle graham cracker crumbs evenly all over the bottom surface. Pour the Eagle Brand milk evenly all over the crumbs. Top evenly with the coconut, chocolate chips and chopped nuts. Press down gently on the top surface.

Bake for 25 – 30 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool thoroughly before cutting. Store in a wax paper lined tin at room temperature.

How to deal?

December 12, 2011 by Mary Frances 5 Comments

I’ve been walking around in circles, trying to make sense of my dear friend’s so sudden passing.

It was a brain aneurism. So quick. So final. So shocking. So unbelievable.

So what does one do to try to heal the pain – for me, for her husband and for her children?

I cooked. I did 3 loads of laundry. I baked 3 different kinds of Christmas cookies.

My boys promised to help me put up the Christmas tree on Sunday. The older one arrived with a Santa hat and proceeded to make eggnog from scratch before taking a nap and then decorating the tree a little. His brother did more. Football was also a big component with everyone yelling for Tebow and then the Giants.

But the eggnog was so, so delicious!! You take heavy cream, whole milk, egg yolks, vanilla, fresh nutmeg and cinnamon and beat it all up, add the bourbon, then whip the egg whites separately and fold in.

I’m telling you, it was so light and delicious!! Unlike any goopy store-bought eggnog. This is a completely different animal. I told him I wish my father were still alive. He loved eggnog and to see him doing this! Well, he said, he could see. (He even looks like him!)

I made a 3 course meal for my family on Sunday. Baby artichokes to start with a hot mustard mayo dipping sauce. Then I made a tandoori chicken recipe from a Weber Grill cookbook, with cous cous, a cucumber onion salad and steamed buttered carrots. The whole meal was really delicious but the chicken did not taste like tandoori chicken. It tasted like an interesting, Middle Eastern spiced chicken, but that’s about it. So I’ll just have to rename it to manage expectations, if I should make it again.

Then, for dessert, I made a German chocolate cake that was divine. I used a Duncan Hines boxed cake mix. I followed the directions exactly. I used my mother’s heavy duty bundt pan (my layer cake pans are at the country house so that was out) and really, this cake was spectacular. So light and fluffy – just a beautiful texture. I’m thinking it was this pan that made it so.

However, I had to cut the thing in 2 layers to properly distribute the topping and it was so light, delicate and fresh, that it was a hard thing to do and in the end, it didn’t look so pretty. My mother would not have been proud. But it was yummy! My husband and Zach each had 2 pieces and and the older son took a big chunk home with him this morning.

So here’s the recipe from my Mom for the topping that “makes” it a German chocolate cake!

GERMAN CHOCOLATE CAKE TOPPING
Makes enough for two 8″ layer cakes or one bundt split horizontally

1 cup of evaporated milk
1 cup sugar
3 egg yolks
1/4 lb. unsalted butter
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/3 cups of coconut
1 cup chopped pecans
Sprinkling of fine sea salt on top at the very end.
1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chip pieces (optional)

German Chocolate Cake

In a saucepan, combine the evaporated milk, sugar, egg yolks, butter and vanilla. Bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer strongly over medium heat for about 12 minutes until mixture thickens. Use a whisk to stir throughout this process.

Remove from heat and add coconut, nuts and a sprinkling of fine sea salt. Beat until cool and thick enough to spread between 2 layer cakes and on the top. Do not ice the sides. After spreading the topping on the first layer, I sprinkled about 1/4 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chip pieces on top, before covering with the second layer. Just a little extra surprise touch that everyone loved!