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Hello (again), world!

I’ve been saying I’m going to do this project for more than a year now, but I recently read a couple of books in a row that reminded me exactly why I wanted to start this project. For the past few years, I’ve been reading a lot more fiction. The world has been stressful (to say the least), and I found comfort in the imaginary worlds of books, specifically in the genres of science fiction/fantasy (SFF) and young adult (YA) fiction.

And one thing I’ve found in reading those books is that any time an author writes about a food item really well I’ve wanted to make the item or imagine a way that it could be made if the details are lacking in exactly how it comes together. I spent nearly a decade writing about food for newspapers, and I kept it up for a while after leaving journalism, so you could say I’m a bit of a foodie. I also got my “start” in writing as a critic—from writing music reviews that only my dad read to my first published reviews in college—and I’ve missed thinking about why I like what I like and why it works for me. 

Then, I thought, why not combine those two things? Read books, review them, and come up with a recipe from something in the text. 

So, welcome to “Cooking the Books,” where on some TBD schedule I’ll release a review of a book I read and a recipe tied to the book, (mostly) using a specific quote from said book. My hope is to release every two weeks, and I have built a bit of a backlog … but the world is not any less stressful, I’m not getting any younger, and I’ve definitely had reading slumps and book hangovers that left me incapable of reading (or instead re-reading the same books for comfort). 

Given the backlog I have already built, I’ll plan to intersperse some of the older books with some of the newer books I read this year (and beyond), though not all are/were new releases when I read them. While I do tend to read newer releases, it’s by no means my entire reading diet, and I’ll consider anything I read/re-read that has a foodie element (or even something else worth discussion!) as fair game in writing. This is my food blog, and I’ll do what I want to. 

I’ll return (hopefully) in two weeks with my first actual foodie post! 

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Foolish Morsels: Fruity Pebbles Bread

Inspired by my favorite food blogger Dennis Lee at Food is Stupid and his amazing no-knead Gatorade bread and resulting post, I was inspired to try my own ridiculous bread. 

I once spent a year making bread every week, and it was almost as good as my year of pie, so I’m not a terrible baker but it’s also been some time since I’ve made bread on any regular basis. Count me among those who did not get into nursing a sourdough starter during the (ongoing) pandemic. 

But when the idea of making bread using my favorite childhood cereal of Fruity Pebbles came to me, I couldn’t let it go. I was going to bake it, and I was going to blog about it, dammit*. 

Credit: https://www.linaortega.com/ from Giphy

Building off of another favorite (a lot of favorites today!) of Gourmet‘s sweet dough recipe and accompanying orange and mint bread, I tried to make this bread as Fruity Pebbles-infused as possible. This of course started with Fruity Pebbles in place of orange zest and in place of mint-infused milk, and then I replaced the Cointreau with Three Olives’ Loopy vodka. Sure, it’s more Froot Loops, but it’s the best I could do. Also, there’s nothing quite like “infusing” warm milk with cereal known for getting mushy in cold milk. 

Though I could have been better about shaping my loaves, I was as pleasantly surprised as Dennis was at his own creation at how well my stupid bread turned out. I’ve loved every slice I’ve had so far. I may be biased as a huge Fruity Pebbles fan, but even my sweetie has been enjoying it.

Either way, though, I’ll definitely be making and enjoying this bread again, and not just to enjoy the leftover Loopy vodka. 

Fruity Pebbles bread loaf

Here’s what I did: 

Ingredients

  • 1 c. + 2 T. whole milk
  • 2 c. Fruity Pebbles, divided, plus more for topping
  • 1 lb. 2 oz. (~3 ¾ c.) bread flour, plus more for dusting
  • 1 pkg. (2 ½ t.) active dry yeast
  • ½ stick (4 T.) butter, softened, plus more for greasing
  • 3 T. sugar
  • 2 t. salt 
  • 3 large eggs, divided
  • 4 T. Loopy vodka, divided

Directions

Bring the milk and 1 c. of Fruity Pebbles to a simmer. Let sit for 10 minutes or until the milk cools to 120º to 130ºF. 

Meanwhile, stir together the yeast and the flour. Rub in the butter. Add the sugar and salt and stir. When the milk mixture has cooled, add it and 2 eggs to the flour mixture. Fold in, rotating the bowl as you incorporate. The mixture will be stickier than a typical bread dough, and that’s OK. 

“Knead” the sticky dough without adding flour by stretching and folding the mixture until it is cohesive and less sticky, about 8 minutes. You’ll notice the mixture either doesn’t stick to the bowl or your hands as much when it’s getting close to well kneaded. 

Form the dough into a ball and set in a lightly floured bowl or on a flat surface. Cover with a towel (not terry cloth). Let rise for about 1 hour. 

After the first rise, press down on the mixture and form a flat surface. Top the dough with 1 c. Fruity Pebbles and then 3 T. of Loopy vodka. Fold the dough and then knead using the previous stretching and folding method until the alcohol and cereal are well incorporated. Again, form the dough into a ball and set in a lightly floured bowl or on a flat surface. Cover with a towel (not terry cloth). Let rise for about 1 hour. 

After the second rise, divide the dough in half and shape into 2 rounds. Place the loaves on a lightly buttered sheet pan. Mix together the last egg and the last 1 T. of Loopy vodka. Brush the mixture on top of the two loaves (reserve the remainder, chilled, for a second coating). Once the egg mixture has dried, cover with the (not terry cloth) towel or with coated Saran wrap. Let rise for about 1 ½ hours. 

When ready to bake, heat oven to 425º. Brush the loaves with another coating of egg mixture and top each loaf with a handful of Fruity Pebbles. Place the loaves in the oven and immediately reduce the oven temperature to 400º. 

Bake the mixture for 20 to 30 minutes until the loaves are dark golden brown. Transfer to a rack to cool, about 1 hour, and enjoy. Perhaps with some Loopy vodka if you’re feeling, well, loopy. 

[*For the five of you who care, I hit a wall about 11 months into the pandemic and had a really hectic and mostly rough 2021, so blogging about food was something I could let go to reduce my stress. Though we still live in tough times, I’m hoping to get back to food blogging again, albeit in a slightly different manner. I’m looking at retooling my site and making some changes in the coming months, but I make no promise as I hesitate to guess what’s in store for the future.]

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Queso syrah syrah

Well, if you’re following along, we’ve made it to the end of the year. Good riddance to 2020, and I’m sending it off with one final dip. 

For some small frivolity in this downer of a year, my sweetie and I were bantering about who knows what when I stumbled onto the phrase “queso syrah.” As a regular crossword puzzler, I am shocked I’d not thought of it sooner. 

Queso syrah ingredients.

But as soon as I spoke the phrase, I realized this could just be an adaptation of port wine cheese spread. I found several recipes for port wine cheese, and ultimately decided to mash up the pounded cheddar with port sauce from Amy Thielen with a more typical port wine spread from Rachel Ray.

The port syrup is a very simple addition of brown sugar to port to make a little syrup-y wine. Since I used the less sweet syrah than port, I thought this especially a good addition and added a little more sugar than called for, but your mileage may vary on how sweet you want your cheese spread. 

I also think I overdid it a little on the garlic. Rarely, for me, has doubling the recipe’s amount of garlic gone wrong, but in this case, it tended to overwhelm the gentler flavors of wine and cheese. Still, it tasted good for garlic lovers, so again, YMMV. 

Other than that, I used my small skillet to make the sauce and also to serve the dip rather than rolling it into a ball, like the traditional recipe. So, I got double use and still a nice serving platter (even if it was just me and my sweetie enjoying it). 

Here’s hoping for a better 2021 and thanks for reading!

Pretty and tasty.

Here’s what I did: 

Ingredients

  • ½ c. syrah 
  • 1–2 T. brown sugar
  • 2 c. sharp white cheddar, shredded
  • 4 T. butter, softened
  • 4 oz. cream cheese, softened
  • 2 t. Dijon mustard 
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • Pepper
  • Pinch of cayenne, optional
  • ½ c. chopped walnuts, optional
  • 3 T. fresh parsley, chopped, optional
  • Crackers or bread, for serving

Directions

Combine syrah and brown sugar in a small skillet or small saucepan. Bring to a boil and simmer, uncovered, for about 3 minutes, until the mixture slightly thickens and all the sugar has dissolved. Pour into a large bowl and let cool. 

Once the wine syrup is cooled, add in the cheddar, butter, cream cheese, mustard, garlic, and peppers. Stir with a fork or spatula until all ingredients are well combined. 

In a cleaned small skillet, spread the cheese mixture. Press to create an even layer. Add the walnuts and parsley on top, if using. 

Chill for at least an hour, or overnight, for the mixture’s flavors to combine, and enjoy! 

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Simple dinner sans skewers

Given how close we are to year’s end, I have the rest of this small skillet year planned at this point, and I know that next week’s recipe is going to be time-consuming. So, I went with something simple this week. 

I realized after the fact that though it was called “skewerless stovetop kabobs” from Taste of Home that it’s basically just fajitas with a few more vegetables. But, you know what, it’s been a long year and it’s fine. 

Skewerless kabobs ingredients.

This was in the vein of some of my favorite simple recipes, in that it uses fewer ingredients by including salad dressing. Easy flavor works for me. 

I did change the recipe in one notable way: it called for pork tenderloin as the meat but that seemed like an expensive and fancy cut for something that was ultimately going to be smothered in Italian dressing. So, I just went with chicken, making it even more like a fajita. I also left off mushrooms, and added a little more vegetables. 

While it wasn’t the most exciting of dinners, it did the job. It fed us, it was healthy enough, and it was quick and easy to pull together. 

Simple and scrumptious.

Here’s what I did: 

Ingredients

  • 1 lb. chicken breast, cut into ¾ in. cubes
  • ½ c. Italian dressing, divided
  • 1 large green pepper, chopped
  • 1 medium zucchini, chopped
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 1 c. cherry tomatoes, halved
  • Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

In a medium skillet, 8- to 9-in., cook the chicken over medium-high heat in half the dressing until cooked through. Remove from pan. 

In the same skillet, cook the vegetables in the remaining half of the salad dressing until the vegetables are tender. Return the chicken to the skillet, heat through, and enjoy!

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Orange you glad to have a well-stocked pantry?

I wasn’t on my A-game when my sweetie did his weekly grocery shopping this past week, so I completely forgot to get any ingredients to make something in my small skillet. If this weren’t a pandemic with worrying signs in Iowa, I would have said “no worries” and made a special trip. 

However, with everything *gestures at Iowa’s mess*, I thought it best to forgo an extra trip and see if I couldn’t find something to make with what we had on hand.

Chocolate-orange shortbread ingredients.

Thankfully, we have a well-stocked pantry and a copy of my favorite cookbook “5 Ingredients” by Jamie Oliver. I managed to find three official recipes that would fit in a small skillet not including ones I’ve made before or ones that’d fit some other piece of equipment. We also had a few other things in the freezer where I could fake some sort of filo dough pot pie and enough eggs I could have managed a quiche. 

However, I liked the idea of the 5 Ingredients, because it was guaranteed to be easy. After a short debate on pros and cons of any item, my sweetie and I thought the chocolate-orange shortbread sounded ideal. 

I had to do slight alterations, using two mandarins instead of one navel orange and a mix of semi-sweet chocolate chips and a milk chocolate Hershey’s bar instead of dark chocolate. But all in all, with just five ingredients, it was pretty easy to have them all on hand, especially as someone who likes to bake and whose sweetie eats a lot of fruit. 

And boy, for so few ingredients and so little work, it was a perfectly delightful dessert. Maybe I’ll have to wing it more often. 

So tasty, so little left.

Here’s what I did:

Ingredients 

  • 150 g. butter, at room temperature (about 1 ½ sticks), plus more for greasing
  • 200 g. all-purpose flour (about 1 ¼ c.)
  • 50 g. granulated sugar (about ¼ c.), plus more for topping
  • Zest from 1 navel orange or 2 mandarins (divided)
  • 50 g. dark chocolate, chips or chunks (or however you can get chocolate for melting!) 

Directions

Heat oven to 375 degrees. 

Grease a 9-inch skillet with butter. Line with parchment paper, and grease that as well.

Mix together the flour, sugar, and zest from ½ the orange (or 1 mandarin). Use your fingers to mush in the butter, without kneading; the texture should resemble a pie crust that just barely holds together. Press the mixture into the prepared skillet until it’s in an even and cohesive layer. Pierce with a fork throughout. 

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until lightly golden. Sprinkle with a couple pinches of sugar on top while still warm. Then, remove to a wire rack to let cool completely. Meanwhile, melt the chocolate on a double broiler with water underneath, or a microwave like I did, though it is unlikely to spread in a pretty manner if you do it my way. Spread the melted chocolate on top of the cool shortbread. Grate the remaining zest (or 2nd mandarin) on top, and enjoy with orange slices! 

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Beans, beans, they’re good for the heart

I have had a number of solo or near-solo Thanksgivings, so this year’s forced isolation wasn’t so bad for me. While I know it’s not the same for everyone, I do truly appreciate all those who decided to stay home for the safety of everyone. 

However, just because it was just the two of us this Turkey Day didn’t mean I didn’t go all out with my usual meal prep. I’m a sucker for traditional sides, if not traditional main meats. A turkey is too much for two people. 

So, after a busy day of cooking, it’s nice to be able to have something super simple to make.

 

Bean and more dip ingredients.

I must confess that I found yet another dip recipe from Better Homes & Gardens, and I couldn’t resist making just one more. They’ve all been so good and delightfully simple, and I wanted to make just one more before the year was out. 

This one is billed as a bean dip, and while there are both pinto beans and black beans, there’s enough else in there that it doesn’t seem right to focus on the beans. There’s chorizo (I used fake!), chipotle, cheese, and that’s just other food items that start with C. 

OK, there’s not too many more beyond that and the beans, but still there’s a lot going on, and it’s simple and a total delight. Just what’s needed after stress-cooking and/or a stressful year. 

So much cheese, chorizo, and chipotle (and beans!). Nom noms.

Here’s what I did: 

Ingredients

  • 10 oz. ground chorizo (fake OK – but add a little oil if cooking with fake meat)
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 (15 oz) can black beans, rinsed and drained 
  • 1 (15 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained
  • ¼ c. fresh cilantro, chopped
  • 1-2 t. chipotle in adobo sauce, chopped
  • 1 (15 oz) can pinto beans, rinsed and drained (since these end up smashed, I think you could buy refried beans, but I did follow the recipe and it worked out well)
  • 1 c. jalapeno jack cheese, shredded
  • Lime wedges, for serving
  • Tortilla chips, for serving

Directions

Heat oven to 450 degrees. 

In a 9-inch ovenproof skillet, cook sausage, onion, and garlic over medium-high heat until the sausage is brown, and using a wooden spoon to break up as it cooks (if using real meat). Remove mixture from skillet and drain on paper towels. 

In a medium bowl, combine black beans, tomatoes, cilantro, chipotle peppers, and sausage mixture. In a small bowl, mash the pinto beans (if you didn’t use refried beans). Spread the pinto bean paste into the skillet. Top with the chorizo mixture. Add cheese on top. 

Bake about 15 minutes until cheese is golden and mixture is bubbling. Serve with lime wedges and tortilla chips and enjoy!

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Herby quinoa makes for quick, tasty dinner

This week’s recipe, I regret to say, sat unused for years in my binder full of recipes. I feel extra bad about that, though I have several unmade recipes ripped from magazines in the binder, because this one came hand-written from my mother. 

Even in the era of the Internet where she has shared several recipes with me via email, this one came to me hand-written. I’m not even sure when I got it or why (other than that it’s tasty), or why I never made it. 

However, my sweetie recently purchased quinoa for a vegetarian stuffed pepper recipe I mentioned recently, and so we had some extra sitting around, ready to be used. Enter my mom’s herby quinoa recipe. 

Herby quinoa ingredients.

Her recipe called to be made in a saucepan, but it was a small enough meal, enough for four servings, that it fit easily in my 9-inch Le Creuset. 

It was incredibly simple, and incredibly tasty, and I feel incredibly stupid for waiting so long to make it. 

While it does have bacon in it, it’s otherwise pretty healthy. Welcome after last week’s indulgence. The grain, herbs, some toasted almonds, with some bacon, and voila, a tasty weeknight meal is made. 

So tasty, so simple.

Here’s what I did, following Mom’s recipe … though she forgot to specify the amount of broth so I had to wing that part and it took slightly longer to cook than her recipe said: 

Ingredients

  • ½ c. slivered almonds
  • 1 t. vegetable oil
  • 4 slices of bacon (her recipe called for two thick pieces, I had thin stuff so I doubled it), ¼ in. dice
  • 1 small shallot, diced
  • 1 c. quinoa, rinsed
  • 2 c. vegetable or chicken broth
  • 2 sage sprigs (hers called for 1, but I am a sucker for herbs)
  • 1 T. minced chives
  • 1 T. chopped parsley
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spread almonds in pie plate and toast in the oven until golden brown. Let cool. 

In a 9- to 10-inch skillet, heat oil, add bacon, and cook until fat has rendered, about 2 minutes. Add the shallot and cook stirring a few times, until the shallot has softened but not browned. Add the quinoa, stock, and sage, and bring to a boil. 

Cover and cook over low heat until the stock has been absorbed, 20 to 25 minutes. 

Remove from heat and let stand, covered, for 5 minutes. Discard the sage stems, fluff the quinoa with a fork. Stir in the chives, parsley, and toasted almonds. Season with salt and pepper, and enjoy!

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Savoring creamy salmon piccata

The first time I tasted chicken piccata was pretty much life-altering. I can’t say definitively that it was *the* recipe that made me want to up my cooking game, but it was pretty close. 

I was living in rural North Dakota — before the oil boom — and there weren’t a lot of restaurant options; plus, I didn’t have a lot of money to eat out all the time (still don’t, in fact!). At the same time, there are only so many times you can cycle through the same handful of items you know how to make before you start looking for something, anything new. 

Salmon piccata ingredients.

At some point along that journey, I discovered the magical combination of flavors that make up a piccata: tart lemons, salty bursts of capers, a slight creaminess from butter, and the savoriness from a simple sauce mostly made of broth and wine. The plain-ish chicken breasts are just the perfect vehicle to enjoy the rest of the tastes on your tongue. 

I like this classic dish so much, I made it into a trashy casserole that I like enough to have made multiple times. 

So, as soon as I saw a recipe for a salmon piccata, my interest was piqued. 

Unfortunately, the first two, yes TWO, recipes I came across for it had no exact measurements. Now, I’m not a super stickler for precision when I’m making dinner and not, say, a bread, but it helps to know a rough amount to ensure you end up with a sauce and not a soup. 

I started Googling and found what turned out to be quite a few salmon piccata recipes. I found one that mostly suited my needs from a blog felicitously named Grateful that seemed similar to a handful of others I found, if not exact, so I mixed and matched a couple other ideas from other blogs to come up with what worked for me. 

And well, since it met my tastes, I loved it. I served it with a side of orzo but any grain or pasta would make a great bed for this delicious — and extra creamy — sauce. 

Creamyyyyyyyyy.

Here’s what I did: 

Ingredients 

  • 2 T. olive oil
  • 12 to 16 oz. skinless salmon filets
  • ½ to 1 c. flour for dredging
  • Salt and pepper, to taste
  • 1 T. garlic, minced
  • ¾ c. plus 2 T. vegetable or chicken broth, divided
  • ½ c. dry white wine
  • 2 t. cornstarch 
  • ½ c. heavy cream
  • Juice from half a lemon, plus slices for serving
  • 1 T. butter
  • 2 T. minced fresh dill
  • 2 ½ T. capers, rinsed
  • 2 T. minced fresh parsley

Directions

Heat a 9- to 10-inch skillet nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add 1 T. olive oil. 

Dab the salmon dry with paper towels. Dredge through the flour, seasoned with salt and pepper, and then place in skillet. Sear until bottom is golden brown, about 4 minutes. Carefully flip the fillets and then continue to cook until cooked through, about 2 to 3 minutes longer. 

Transfer the salmon to a plate and cover with foil to keep warm.

Add the remaining olive oil and add garlic, sauteing until just brown, about 20 seconds. Pour in the broth, minus the 2 T., and wine and let simmer until broth is reduced by half, about 4 to 5 minutes. 

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, mix the cornstarch with the 2 T. remaining broth, and then pour mixture into the reduced broth mixture and cook until thickened, stirring often, about 1 minute.

Stir in the cream, lemon juice, butter, and dill. Remove from heat and return salmon to the skillet. Spoon the sauce over the salmon fillets, and then sprinkle with capers and parsley. Serve with a small pasta, such as orzo, maybe some white wine, and enjoy!

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Peaches and bourbon, that’s my jam

Apparently I didn’t have enough of using booze to make food after last week. 

This week’s excuse is only that I have been wanting to make this peach and bourbon jam recipe for years and for some reason didn’t think about the fact that although it called for a saucepan that it would almost certainly fit in my little Le Creuset. 

Peach and bourbon jam ingredients.

Plus, I really like bourbon and peaches. Especially as I both mourn the end of summer and welcome the first hints of autumn. 

This wonderful peach bourbon jam offers a good balance of both summer’s sweetness and cooling fall flavors. 

I love bourbon pretty much any time of year, but with the cool comes the welcome sensation of a good whiskey burning through my insides. Peaches, of course, are peaking, and I can’t get enough of one of my favorite summer fruits while they’re in season. 

The only thing I forgot about is my anxiety when it comes to getting things to an exact temperature. 

From the first time I tried to make salt water taffy as a tween to my first personal blog on peanut brittle, I have a long habit of mostly screwing up this type of thing. 

While the end result worked great (whew!), it was supposed to get to temperature in 6 minutes … but the recipe also warned to adjust the temp as needed. Me, I read that as turning things down, but I was disappointed when after 10 minutes, I was still about 15 degrees shy of the goal. I turned things back up and voila, I could literally see the change in texture to something that actually resembled a jam. 

So, I did cook things down a little bit more than the 2 cup yield, but I got a peachy vanilla-y jam, and that’s just peachy keen for me. 

All that’s missing is the peanut butter.

Here’s what I did, following an Epicurious recipe I’ve had saved for years: 

Ingredients 

  • ½ vanilla bean
  • 1 lb. ripe but firm yellow peaches, pitted and cut into ½-inch pieces
  • 1 c. sugar
  • ½ c. peeled and grated Granny Smith apple
  • 1 c. bourbon 
  • 1 T. bottled lemon juice (the recipe specified the bottled for the preservative qualities)

Directions 

Place two small plates in the freezer to chill (for testing thickness later). 

Cut vanilla bean in half lengthwise, and scrape out seeds into a 9-inch coated cast-iron skillet. Add the rest of the vanilla bean, and then stir in the peaches, sugar, apple, bourbon, and lemon juice. Mix together, cover, and let sit for 20 minutes. 

Turn on stovetop to medium-high heat, and bring the mixture to a boil, stirring often. Once sugar is dissolved, reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the peaches are softened, about 10 to 15 minutes. 

Remove from heat, and crush the fruit with a potato masher until mostly smooth. 

Return mixture to the stovetop, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring often and adjusting heat if necessary, until the mixture reaches 217 to 220 degrees, about 6 to 10 minutes.

To test consistency, place a teaspoon of the jam on the chilled plate, and freeze for 2 minutes. Then, drag your finger through the jam; if your finger leaves a distinct trail, it is ready, but if it’s still runny, continue to simmer the jam for another 1 to 3 minutes, and test again. 

Meanwhile, place two 1-cup mason jars, or large mason jar under hot running water until heated through, 1 to 2 minutes, and shake dry. Use a funnel and ladle to portion out the hot jam into the hot jars. Let cool to room temperature, cover, and refrigerate until the jam is set, about 12 to 24 hours later. (Jam can be refrigerated for up to 2 months.) Enjoy with some toast, or use it to make a tasty PB&J sammy.

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Cake and amaretto, let’s go!

The general state of the US, the Republican National Convention, and bars closing down again in Ames has got me thinking about booze. A lot. 

Of course, now that I’m an old and immunocompromised, I haven’t seen the inside of a bar since I can’t remember when, but well enough before the pandemic hit Iowa that I can’t be sure of my last stop in my preferred ye olde saloon. The GOP, OTOH, is lately a constant source of making me think about the drink. (I thought about linking to separate articles for everything, but I don’t need the higher blood pressure or swollen liver.)

But I’m a baker at heart, and I have a blog to do, so I turned to my old favorite cookbook of “Booze Cakes” to find the perfect recipe for this week. 

Amaretto cake ingredients.

Though there are many wonderful recipes, few work in a little 9-inch skillet, and I’ve already made one this year. 

I’ll admit to some initial skepticism about the amaretto cake. It was simple but not necessarily my idea of a great cake. I’ve never been happier to concede I was wrong. 

I loved it. I loved it a lot. 

I had an inkling it might be good when the mixture yielded a wonderfully spongy batter; I was a little more concerned when to cook it through the top was rather darkened. By the time I used my silicone spatula to loosen the cake from my Le Creuset and turn it onto a large plate, I was sold. 

The topping of a boozy glaze (amaretto simmered with apricot jam!) and some toasted almond slices only made it better. 

It also had the benefit of being a simple boozy cake. Just one layer. Mixed in a stand mixer. A simple glaze. Simmered for just a few minutes (a little longer for me because I was convinced the apricot pieces were just jelly that hadn’t broken down rather than the obvious pieces of fruit that they were). 

All in all, a pretty great way to spend a bit of time away from news and in the comfort of a kitchen. 

Pretty, tasty, pretty tasty.

Here’s what I did, sticking to the recipe: 

Ingredients 

For the cake:

  • ¾ c. (1 ½ stick) unsalted butter
  • ¾ c. sugar
  • 1 (7 oz.) tube almond paste
  • Zest of 1 lemon
  • Zest of 1 orange
  • ¼ c. amaretto liqueur 
  • 1 t. vanilla extract
  • 3 eggs
  • ½ c. all-purpose flour
  • 1 t. baking powder

For the amaretto glaze: 

  • 2 T. apricot jam
  • ¼ c. amaretto liqueur

For finishing: 

  • ¼ to ½ c. sliced almonds, toasted
  • Confectioners’ sugar, to desired level

Directions 

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9-inch coated skillet (or springform cake pan if you’re traditional). 

For the cake, in a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar 3 to 5 minutes, or until light and fluffy. Mix in almond paste, orange and lemon zests, amaretto, and vanilla. Beat in eggs, flour, and baking powder. Pour into prepared pan, and bake for 45 minutes, or until knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool. 

For the glaze, in a saucepan over low heat, stir jam and amaretto together until smooth. 

To finish, Unmold the cake onto a large plate or serving dish, pour glaze over the top. Sprinkle with toasted almonds and a dusting of confectioners’ sugar. Enjoy, perhaps even with an amaretto sour!