Apple Cake

I LoVe Apple Cake.

It's an Autumn treat I look forward to every year. 

I used the same recipe from last year 
with GaLa apples.

The Gala apples really held up well 

and absorbed the Spices wonderfully.

I'm also a BIG fan of The Bundt Pan 

so the Apple Cake is always cooked in a bundt. 

Friday is a great day for Apple Cake because

Friday is ruled by Venus,

and apples are the perfect offering for Her.

I actually only used 4 of these {small/medium}apples 

and still had about 1/2 cup extra, which I used. 

The Delightful Daughter has great fun

sifting the flour with 
my Grandmother's old crank sifter. 

  

Cream Sugar, Butter, add Eggs...

Fold in 1/3 Flour mixture,

add half the buttermilk and fold,

1/3 Flour mixture,

second half of buttermilk,

last of the Flour mixture,
Apples, & Walnuts.

 

  

Bake at *350 for approx. 45 minutes.

Check with wooden chopstick 

(or skewer or toothpick}

to see if the inside is done.

You may have to do 10 minute cook~ments.

Watch for burnage.

Until a deep dark golden brown

I let my cake cool completely before removing.

Slice and serve.

I like mine with coffee,

The Delightful Daughter likes her's with whipped cream,

The Big and Little DuDes like their's as is,

walking around, 

leaving crumb trails....

recipe here:

http://theholidayhohoqueen.blogspot.com/2009/11/apple-cake.html

The Persimmons are here, The Persimmons are here....

 yes indeed.

Favor given.

Favor will be returned.

I was just whining yesterday that I wasn't going to get any

because my dear neighbor has moved.

{rumor has it, they might be moving back! Yeah!}

Oldest Womb Fruit says: What's that?

and viola!

My bag of Persimmons,

hanging on the door.

Now,

the Ripening.

Cherry Clafoutis

Cherry Clafoutis is the Cherry BomB!

A few years ago, 
I made a Cherry Clafoutis to bring to a dinner party.
The recipe just sounded Divine to me,
Custard and Cherries baked together...
um, yummm.

Since our condo had a full kitchen, 
I knew this would be the perfect time to bake it again.

After looking at many recipes, 
I stumbled upon someone using Julia Child's recipe.  

Unbeknownst to Me, 
it has become very popular since the movie came out. 
Oh well, I like Julia Child 

The recipe sounded really good 
with no diet or low anything in it.
It helped that the Cherries I were really great too!

The recipe says 
to bake a thin layer  of custard
then add the Cherries, 
and rest of the batter. 
I didn't. 
And it came out Fantabulous!





I also DID NOT PIT the CHERRIES.
The Pits are supposed to add a subtle Almond flavor,
so I left them in.
and No One broke a tooth!
Forewarned is Forearmed...

About the Baking Dish!
I used a 9 x 13 baking dish.
If you like thicker custards, use a smaller dish.
Or you may double the batch, so adjust your dish accordingly.

 









Cherry Clafoutis the Julia Child's Way
**************************
1 1/4 cups Milk
1/3 cup Sugar
3 Eggs
1 Tbls Vanilla
1/8 Tsp Salt
1/2 cup Flour
3 cups Cherries {I DID NOT PIT MINE}
1/3 cup Sugar

BuTTer 

 Preheat oven to *350
 Butter well! a 9 x 13 baking dish.
Place Cherries in the baking dish 
and sprinkle 1/3 cup Sugar over them.

In a blender, 
blend the Milk, other Sugar, Eggs, Vanilla, Salt, and Flour.
Pour over the Cherries, slowly, so you don't go knocking them about.

Bake for about 45 minutes
{depending on your oven}
until the Clafouti is puffed and golden brown;
and a knife, wooden stick, comes out clean when tested.
I tend to like my custards like this, more on the "dry" side.


It really is best warm.
Ours was rOOm temperature and was just a good.
You may want to serve it sprinkled with powdered sugar.


There were no leftovers.

7/12/10

FuLL mOOn ~ June ~ Strawberry mOOn

  the Stars are aligned again like a UFO landing pad!

FuLL mOOn

June

StrawBeRRy

Louisiana

Saturday

its Synchronicity!

its Sci~fi`tastic!

June's Full mOOn is called Strawberry mOOn.

This name was Universal to every Algonquin tribe. 

 The relatively short season for harvesting strawberries,
takes place during June.

In Europe, it was called the Rose mOOn.  

This is a good time to take stock of the year, at this mid~way point.

A good time to review what you've accomplished and also what is still left to do

{that would be ME!} 

Things to do:

*grab the kids, 
  some strawberry moon pies 

  and go do some star gazing

*grab The Loved one, share some 

  fresh strawberries with
  chocolate cool whip
  under the mOon

*take a pink rose petal bath while
  listening to
  Strawberry Alarm Clock.

What ever You decide to do, enjoy Your Saturday and Your Night.

 

 Louisiana Saturday Night ~ Robert Mizzell { I like his play~version of the song}

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysLtn-c87t4

Our Famous Strawberry Festival

http://www.lastrawberryfestival.com/

Beaded mOOn
http://www.bead-arts.com/bead-journal-projectjunes-strawberry-moon/


Synchronicity ~ {wikipedia}
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synchronicity

Algonquin Indians
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algonquin

Farmer's Almanac
http://www.farmersalmanac.com/full-moon-names/

additional mOOn information

http://www.spellsofmagic.com/read_post.html?post=160249

Apple Cake

This is the recipe for the Apple Cake that I cooked Thanksgiving.
It is from the Essentials of Baking from Williams~Sonoma, a gift from The Turkish Mother.
I am being Extremely Lazy here, and scanning the recipe. Click on it and it will open into a screen size page.
And on top of that, I missed a lot of step~shots.
Including, as per the Standard Clause of Hecticness, the Finished~shot. {sigh}
But~ not to despair! It got Raves.



This bOOk has loads of great looking recipes. 
Considering how well this Apple Cake ended up, first try at that, I'd say its a go~go for future recipes.









{best Price is Right model arm sweep}
And here,
We have the recipe for that Apple Cake.
What is your bid?
$1 DOLLAR BOB!!!




I did get Starter~shots...








and I got a SemiFinished~shot....







I did not use the optional Maple frosting. 
With the extra diced Apples I had, I baked an Apple Crisp.
 

It really is a Delightful cake, ....try to sneak a piece when its still slightly warm! 
 

Fruit Stand

 

 

The Fruit Stand.

I look forward to it every time I have to go.

All the big piles of fresh fruit and vegetables,

The local Jams and Jellies, Dairy and Honey,

The open air market.

The Womb Fruits love it too.

So We trek on over there to load up on all the goOds.

I completely went nuts for the fresh squash. 

Big, yellow and happy. 

The squash, not Me.

 

Time to go Home, and heat up the oven.
Mamma's cookin!

Pumpkin Puree

 

We had one pumpkin left so here was My chance to try my hand at Pumpkin Puree. I followed the basic instructions which I found online. 



After cutting the Pumpkin in half, and cleaning it,
{saving the seeds to plant next year} 

I put the PumPkin halves in pots, poured in some water, and then baked in the oven.  
For a Really Really Long time! 
 I started around *375 ~ *425, and then just cranked it up to *500 to speed it along. 
I lost track of time. 
It was more than an hour! or two!





By the time it felt soft enough the outside had darkened quite a bit. 

I then proceeded to cut the pulp from the skin and puree it in my food processor. I got quite a bit. It went in the freezer, after cooling, so that I can try my hand at Scratch PumPkin Pie later.

After cleaning the seeds from the PumPkin, I just filled the bowl with water 

{which helps TREMENDOUSLY when trying to separate the seeds}

and then let dry on a cookie sheet.

This is one of the sites that I used when trying to determine what way to cook my pumpkin.

http://dessert-recipes.suite101.com/article.cfm/the_best_real_pumpkin_pie

This was also one of the sites I used as a reference, but for some reason,
the section won't display. I am posting anyway!

http://www.pickyourown.org/pumpkinpie.php

Tangerine Bath Salts

The Man, LOVES! his Tangerines, Satsumas, and Oranges.
I bought these really lovely Tangerines for him from the grocery store,
and
They smelled absoulutely delicious when he was peeling them, so I had a Thought! (yes, yes indeed)
Tangerine Bath Salts.
When I buy Citrus, I really try to save the rinds to dry and use in My Incense recipes
or Bath recipes.

I turned the oven on to 225* to preheat before I began cutting the peel.

I took the Tangerine peel and sliced into about 1/4 inch thin slices and those in smaller pieces if they were
too long.

I tend to like them kind of square and short strips.
Lay them on a cookie sheet and put in over for about, mmm, 20 minutes.
WATCH CAREFULLY!
They can turn and burn quickly.
You can see when they are just right, with a deep golden brown tone to them.
After they cooled I put them in a jar with the Coarse Sea Salt and shook it up.

I like to let my Bath Salts set up about a week, shaking firly to mix it all up, twice a day.

Oh, it smells verra Lovely.
Its like an Orange LoLLiPoP without all the Stickiness!

Persimmon and Walnut Bread

This is the recipe that I used for my Persimmons.

Type of Persimmon ~ Hachiya (it looks like a tomato, and looks like an overripe tomato when it is ready, slice open and spOOn pulp out.)

Eat as is, or freeze like I did. Then defrosted the morning I made the bread.

I doubled my recipe and made two loaves. And it was VERY nice. Lots of compliments. I had made the second loaf for the Neighbor across the street who brought me the Persimmons. You Give, You Get! ") .
He's already told me that He will bring me more next year when He brought my dish back today.

I used two glass loaf dishes, (9x5x3), cOOked in gas oven. I did cook them longer than the 45mins, probably closer to an Hour or even an Hour and Ten minutes. The outside was getting dark, especially around the edges, so I was worried about burnage. So I turned it down to 300 degress for the extra time after 45 mins. Just watch your outside and use your wooden pick to check the inside.

It turned out not to be burnt, and EXTREMELY moist on the inside. Dense and YummY. I put the flavor in the same category as Banana Bread or a subtle Carrot Cake Bread. It was definitely worth the whole process from Persimmon to Homemade Cake/Bread!

Here's the recipe (I doubled this for my two loaves):
************************************************************************
PERSIMMON AND WALNUT BREAD

2 c. flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1 c. persimmon pulp
1 c. sugar
1/2 c. milk
2 eggs
1/4 c. softened butter
1 c. chopped nuts (I used walnut halves and then broke them into chunks)

Sift the first 6 ingredients together. Mix the persimmons, sugar, eggs and milk. Add the dry ingredients and butter. Mix until well blended. Stir in nuts. Spread in a well-greased loaf pan, 9x5x3 inch. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until done. This bread freezes well.
*************************************************************************

I found this online while looking for other recipes.
For those looking for a healthier version (I have not tried this recipe; just sharing)
chefinyou.com/2008/12/per...read-recipe/

PeRSiMMoNs

PersiMMons.

Now that I understand the Persimmon, lol,...........





I'm not sure how many of You have ever actually tried a Persimmon, but I tried one for the first time today.

What a Wonderful Surprise!

It has this warm, subtle spicy, Vanilla taste.

My Vietnamese neighbor across the strEEt, brings them to Me
(he's always bringing us fruits and vegatables that He grows Him Self,
as weLL as the pLants to grow)

The Persimmon fruits that He brings are of the Hachiya variety.

They are VERY astringent, and I can testify from personal experience that yes, biting into an unripe Hachiya is, as I read somewhere, like drinking a cup of tea made with six bags!

Talk about instant dry mouth!
Blech!

But, then this wonderful, amazing thing haPPens, .............it Ripens!
It gets all squishy, like an over ripe tomato, (they haPPen to look like a tomato too)

I'm not sure if you can see how the Persimmons on the left are darker than the right (pic at top)
but those are the ripe ones.

And You think, No way!
Yes Way!
You split the skin and can scOOp the inside out with a spOOn and eat it, just like that.
YummY.

What I did was set them out on a plate, on Their tops, as They ripened I would move Them to another plate with a bowl on top (to keep those nasty fruit flies off). They all ripened pretty quickly and mostly together.

Look at that Beautiful pattern on the inside.

(Sigh) I'm a sucker for Natural Beauty in Things............

When I had a plate full of ripened ready PeRSiMMoNs,
I cut Them in half, ScOOped Them out,

and put them in a tupperware to store in the frEEzer.
That way I have plenty of PuLP to use in any recipe.

I'm for sure going to make a PuDDing, and there was a Persimmon Walnut bread I want to try.

Here's to New Things.
ChEErs!