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Ice Box Cake
My mother made this for my birthday (mid-July). She’d make bigger cakes than the one in this recipe and yet I don’t recall them serving anywhere near 12 people. Usually the leftovers were gone by the next day (just in time for my sister’s birthday). Our appetites are now under better control.
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Wedding Cake
The afternoon we returned from our elopement/wedding, Bob decided to bake a wedding cake. We do everything backwards, don’t we? Evan volunteers on Tuesday mornings, so he took the cake next day, shared it with his fellow volunteers and brought a piece back for Bob to eat afterwards. We’ll make another one and maybe we…
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Farm Wife’s Fresh Pear Tart
Rustic and simple to make, this cake is an incredibly delicious treat in fall and winter. it has become one of our seasonal favorites.
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Chocolate Cake of My Dreams
I had a dream that involved a chocolate cake. The next day I felt compelled to make one. You can mix this cake faster than your oven will heat up.
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Colonial Poppy Seed Cake
Combine ½ cup poppy seeds (2-ounce jar) ¾ cup milk Let stand at room temperature three or four hours or overnight in the refrigerator. Let remaining ingredients warm to room temperature. Place all ingredients in bowl of electric mixer, including poppy seed-milk mixture 3 eggs ¾ cup softened unsalted butter (should be very soft) 1¼…
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Blueberry Sauce
This recipe makes a good topping for cheese Blintzes. See the recipe for Cheese Filling for Blintzes. In a 2-quart saucepan, combine 2 cups blueberries (frozen are fine) 1 TBL butter 2 TBL lemon juice ½ tsp cornstarch pinch of salt and cook over a medium-low heat, stirring as it comes to a gentle boil.…
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Roasted Banana Ice Cream
This started its life as a recipe for a delicious vegan ice cream that called for an ingredient that I was having trouble locating. Not being a vegan, I decided to rework the recipe. And just to be perfectly clear, the bananas are roasted, not the ice cream.
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Peach-Sweet Tea Sherbet
The book Hello, My Name is Ice Cream is an outstanding source of information and recipe ideas for ice cream. I found the amount of almond flavor overwhelming and suggest a smaller amount here. Peel 3 large fresh peaches If using frozen peaches make sure they are peeled. Cut the peaches into chunks and heat in a…
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Mango Lassi Frozen Yogurt
The recipe in Hello, My Name is Ice Cream is a much more nuanced description of how to make this frozen yogurt, giving you a number of options for thickeners (“texture agents”) and it has a more subtle mango flavor. I pushed up the mango puree volume substantially. I encourage you to track down the…
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Fresh Cherry Crostata
This recipe is incredibly reliable and makes a delicious rustic fruit pie with a buttery crust. I have switched out the fruit for other stone fruits. I made it without a food processor. I even made it without the benefit of a rolling pin once, making do with a glass tumbler to form the dough.…
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Pâte Sucrée
This is a sweet tart dough. Makes 2 tart shells. Use one, freeze one to use later. Sift 16 ounces (about 1⅝ cups) all purpose flour and set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream 8 ounces (2 sticks) butter 5.5 ounces granulated sugar on high speed until…
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Fig and Hazelnut Tart
In an 8- to 10-inch tart pan, make ½ recipe for Pâte Sucrée (Sweet Tart Dough), blind baked and cooled Preheat the oven to 375° F. Adjust oven rack to middle position. In a food processor, combine 1 cup blanched hazelnuts, toasted ⅓+ cup granulated sugar scant TBL light brown sugar ½ tsp kosher salt…
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Flourless Orange and Almond Cake
No butter, no oil, no flour: a delicious, moist cake with the flavor of almonds and orange. Served with a marmalade sauce.
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Almond Polenta Pound Cake
Preheat oven to 350° F. Grease and flour a Bundt or 10-inch tube pan. Separate 6 eggs Reserve egg yolks. With electric mixer beat egg whites with ¼ cup sugar until soft peaks form. In an electric mixer, cream together ¾ cup (1½ sticks) unsalted butter ½ cup almond paste 1 cup sugar 1 teaspoon…
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Dried Fruit Fruitcake
My mother found the basis for this recipe in Family Circle or Good Housekeeping magazine around 1970 and made it several times. Before eating this, I thought fruitcake was awful, but this is a real delight!
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Creamy Coffee Pops
When making this recipe, choose strong coffee. I used decaf to accommodate our friends. If you have already got ready-made coffee, you need about 1½ cups of coffee. Or starting from the basics, in a French press, brew ¾ cup ground coffee (I used decaf espresso to accommodate our friends) 2 cups boiling water In…
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Key Lime Pie Pops
This is an incredibly refreshing treat on a summer’s day. If you don’t have key limes available, use Persian limes instead. You can also purchase key lime juice in a bottle, but you’ll still need some lime zest to make them.
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Old Jew Cake
We served these at a large party. Over the next few days we received several requests for this recipe, and all the callers had two things in common: they were over 45 and Jewish. We renamed the recipe shortly thereafter. But what age is “old” these days, anyway?
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Lemon Rice Cake
This cake has an unusual texture, almost creamy like a cheesecake, and a delicious lemon flavor.
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Lemon Bars
For Paul Chazan, who can’t get enough of them. Makes one 9- by 13-inch pan, or 36 bars 1 cup unsalted butter 2½ cups sifted powdered sugar 2¼ cups sifted flour 4 eggs 2 cups sugar 1 teaspoon baking powder ¼ cup lemon juice 3 tablespoons grated lemon peel There is an alternate crust recipe…
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Hot Fudge Sauce
Chop into small pieces 6 ounces of chocolate Martha recommended semisweet chocolate, however I used dark chocolate (70%) from Trader Joe’s and the result was not too sweet. In a medium saucepan over a medium high setting, heat until boiling ½ cup heavy cream ¼ cup clear corn syrup Reduce the heat and add all…
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Rhubarb Crumble
Basic fruit crumble is a simple dish: fruit, sugar, butter flour and — in our case — oats and nuts are transformed into a sublime end to a meal. This one works well with other tart fruits, such as sour cherries, shown here. Note that we like our crumble to be tart, so if you…
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Coconut Mango Pudding
Make a simple syrup using ½ cup water ½ cup sugar When it comes to a boil, stir and verify the sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat to cool a bit. Warm just enough to liquify ¾ cup coconut oil In a blender, combine 8 ounces silken tofu along with the syrup. Process briefly. Add…
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Dairy-Free Chocolate Pudding
Rich and delicious, with a thick, creamy consistency.
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Green Tea Pudding
In the jar of a blender combine 16 ounces silken tofu (soft tofu should work, but I haven’t tried with this variation) 8 ounces white chocolate or 1⅓ cups Nestle’s white morsels, melted 4 tsp green tea powder Blend until mixed thoroughly. You will probably have to scrape the jar edge down once. It should…
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Black Cake
Black Cake is made on many Caribbean islands around Christmas and New Year’s. I’d been wanting to make one since I first read about it in Laurie Colwin’s wonderful collection of essays,
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Classic Cheesecake
We think this has the ideal consistency and tangy flavor. Makes one 9- or 10-inch cheesecake, about 16 servings 1¼ cups flour 1 teaspoon nonfat dry milk ½ cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter 4 large eggs 1 large egg yolk 4 teaspoons vanilla 3 8-ounce packages cream cheese 1½ cups sugar 3 tablespoons fresh…