Everyday Baking - Old Farmer`s Almanac

Everyday Baking:
A Guarantee of Goodness Every Day!
118 scrumptious goodies
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BAKING
From celebrated baker Ken Haedrich
Ken Haedrich
Throughout North America, people are baking more than ever!
Now’s the perfect time for Everyday Baking, the newest
offering in The Old Farmer’s Almanac cookbook collection.
The Ed
itors of
The
Old Farm
er’s Alm
anac
Everyday Baking features recipes, seasoned baking tips,
helpful advice, and beautiful color photos.
Everyday Baking goes on
sale in September 2012 for $9.99,
wherever cookbooks and
magazines are sold and at
Almanac.com/Store.
Here’s a coffee cake in the tradition of Moravian sugar cake, the yeast-raised cake made from potato dough
and covered with a buttery sugar topping. Our version uses pumpkin instead of potato and has an orange
hue that’s quite pretty. It makes a big, impressive, and rather unique cake if you need to feed a whole gang.
DOUGH:
1
⁄4 cup lukewarm water (105° to 115°f)
1 packet (21⁄4 teaspoons) active dry yeast
3
⁄4 cup mashed or canned pumpkin
1
⁄2 cup milk, slightly warmer than body
temperature
1
⁄3 cup sugar
1
⁄4 cup vegetable oil
1 large egg plus 1 yolk, at room
temperature
11⁄2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
tOPPING:
3
⁄4 cup packed light-brown sugar
3
⁄4 cup chopped walnuts
1 teaspoon cinnamon
7 tablespoons unsalted butter
pies
For topping: While the dough rests, put the brown sugar, walnuts, and
cinnamon into a food processor and pulse until the nuts are very finely
chopped. Set aside.
After 1½ hours have passed, preheat the oven to 350°F. Remove the
plastic and cover the dough evenly with the brown sugar topping. Using a fingertip, make 12 deep indentations in the dough (three evenly
spaced rows of four holes). Melt the 7 tablespoons of butter and spoon
evenly over the top, letting some of it drip into the holes. Bake on the
center oven rack for 35 minutes. The top will be a rich golden brown,
but the best indicator of doneness is total baking time. Cool in the pan
on a rack for 10 minutes before slicing and serving. Makes 12 to 15 servings.
Pumpkin Sugar Cake
(recipe at right)
Visit Almanac.com for hundreds more recipes.
cookies&bars
FiLLiNG:
½cuppuremaplesyrup
½cuppackedlight-brownsugar
1
⁄3cupheavycream
3tablespoonsunsaltedbutter
1teaspoonvanillaextract
1
⁄8teaspoonsalt
2cupscoarselychoppedpecans
Chocolate Mud Bars
“Mud” because of the moist, dark chocolate filling. It’s the best mud you’ll ever eat!
crUsT:
1¼cupsgrahamcrackercrumbs
3tablespoonspackedlight-brownsugar
¼teaspooncinnamon
pinchofsalt
5tablespoonsunsaltedbutter,melted
FiLLiNG:
½cup(1stick)unsaltedbutter
6ouncessemisweetchocolate,coarsely
chopped
¾cupsugar
2largeeggs,atroomtemperature
½teaspoonvanillaextract
¼cupcakeflour
1cupcoarselychoppedwalnuts
Butter an 8-inch square baking pan and set aside.
For crust: Combine the graham cracker crumbs, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt in a medium bowl. Mix well with your hands. Add the
melted butter, stir well with a fork, then rub the ingredients together
with your fingers until thoroughly mixed. Press the mixture evenly in
the prepared pan to form a level layer on the bottom with a lip extending about ¼ inch up the sides of the pan. (Do not prebake the crust.)
For filling: Combine the butter and chocolate in the top of a double
boiler over not-quite-simmering water. When melted, whisk to smooth,
then remove the pan from the heat. Scrape the chocolate into a medium bowl and cool to lukewarm. Preheat the oven to 325°F. Whisk the
sugar, eggs, and vanilla into the lukewarm chocolate. Stir in the cake
flour, mixing until smooth. Stir in the walnuts. Scrape the batter over
the crust and smooth with a spoon. Bake on the center oven rack for
35 minutes only—no longer. Cool on a rack. Refrigerate an hour or so
before slicing. Serve at room temperature. Makes16bars.
The Old Farmer’s Almanac Everyday Baking
Maple Syrup Savvy
Butter a 13x9-inch baking pan and set aside.
For crust: Combine the oats, sugar, and salt in a food processor and
pulse eight to ten times to chop the oats well. Add the flour and pulse
several times to mix. Scatter the butter pieces over the dry mixture.
Pulse until the mixture resembles a fine meal. Sprinkle the water over
the mixture and pulse again, just until the ingredients start to form
coarse, clumpy crumbs. (The crumbs should pack easily when pressed
between your fingers.) Spread the mixture evenly in the prepared pan,
pressing it with your fingertips to form a level layer on the bottom with
a lip extending about ¼ inch up the sides of the pan. Refrigerate the
crust for 15 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Bake the crust on the center oven rack
for 20 minutes. Cool on a rack.
For filling: While the crust cools, make the filling. Combine the maple
syrup, brown sugar, cream, and butter in a medium saucepan. Bring
to a full boil and boil for 30 seconds. Remove the pan from the heat
and stir in the vanilla, salt, and pecans. Pour the filling over the cooled
crust, spreading it evenly with a spoon. Bake on the center oven rack
for 15 minutes. The filling should boil as it bakes. Transfer the pan to a
rack and cool completely. Cover and refrigerate for a couple of hours,
or overnight, before slicing. Slice cold, in small portions (these are
sweet and rich), and serve at room temperature. Makes24to35bars.
nBuymaplesyrupby
thegallon;it’smore
economical.
nRefrigerateorfreeze
syrupforlong-term
storage.Use1-quart
masonjarsandleave
atleast1inchof
headspace,iffreezing.
nLiquefycrystallized
maplesyrupbyplacing
thecontainerinapan
ofveryhotwater.
Visit Almanac.com for hundreds more recipes.
Double-Crust Cherry Berry Pie
The next time you find half a bag of frozen cranberries in your freezer, reach for this recipe. The cranberries
hit a pleasing tart note in an otherwise sweet pie.
FiLLiNG:
2cupshalvedandpittedsweetred
cherries
2cups(1pint)freshblueberries
1cupwholecranberries,atroom
2
temperature
⁄3cupplus2tablespoonssugar,divided,
plusextraforsprinkling
1tablespoonlemonjuice
gratedzestof1⁄2orange
3tablespoonscornstarch
milk,forglaze
For crust: I recommend using a double batch of Flakiest Pie Pastry (page
64) or Dad’s Pie Pastry (page 65), but any other double batch of pastry in
this collection will do. Roll one batch of the pastry into a 13-inch circle
and line a 9½-inch deep-dish pie plate with it, letting the excess dough
drape over the edge. Refrigerate the pie shell while making the filling.
For filling: Combine the cherries, blueberries, cranberries, 2 ⁄ 3 cup of
sugar, lemon juice, and grated orange zest in a large bowl. Mix well.
Set aside for 15 minutes, stirring several times. Mix the 2 tablespoons
of sugar and the cornstarch in a small bowl. Add to the fruit and mix
well. Set aside.
Preheat the oven to 400°F. Roll the remaining chilled pastry into an
11-inch circle. Scrape the filling into the bottom pie shell and smooth
with a spoon. Lightly moisten the rim of the pie shell. Place the rolled
dough over the top of the filling and press the top and bottom shells
together at the edge. Trim the dough flush with the edge of the pan.
Press on the rim with the tines of a fork to make a crimped edge. With
the fork, poke the top of the piecrust several times to make steam vents.
Brush the top of the pie lightly with milk and sprinkle with sugar. Bake
on the center oven rack for 30 minutes. Reduce the heat to 375°F and
rotate the pie 180 degrees. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes more, until any
visible juices bubble thickly. Transfer the pie to a rack and cool at least
2 hours before serving. Makes8servings.
A Vote for Frozen Fruit
nInthedeadofwinter,whenyou’recravinga
reminderofsummer,usebaggedfrozenfruit.
Ofcourse,itdoesn’thavethatjust-picked,ripe
flavor,buthere’showtofixthat.Measurethe
fruit,letitcometoroomtemperature,then
sugaritlightlyandletitjuice.Thiswillhelpto
bringouttheflavor.
72
The Old Farmer’s Almanac Everyday Baking
17
Maple Pecan Gooey Bars
crUsT:
½cupold-fashionedrolledoats
1
⁄3cupsugar
½teaspoonsalt
1¾cupsall-purposeflour
¾cup(1½sticks)cold,unsaltedbutter,
cutinto1⁄4-inchpieces
1tablespooncoldwater
54
For dough: Pour the water into a small bowl and sprinkle with yeast. Stir
to blend, then set aside for 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, combine the pumpkin, milk, sugar, oil, egg and yolk,
salt, and vanilla in a large bowl. Stir in the dissolved yeast. Whisk well.
Add 2 cups of the flour and beat well with a wooden spoon for 2 minutes. Stir in the remaining 1 cup of flour, 1⁄3 cup at a time, beating well
with the spoon for 1 minute after each addition. Do not skimp on the
time: This hand beating eliminates the need to knead. Set the dough
aside long enough to butter a 13x9-inch baking pan. Scrape the dough
out of the bowl and into the middle of the baking pan. Set aside for 5
minutes.
Tear off a sheet of plastic wrap a little larger than your pan and oil it
or coat it with nonstick spray; the oil will ensure that the plastic doesn’t
stick to the dough. Place the plastic on top of the dough with the oiled
side toward the dough, center the plastic, and press the dough out
evenly in the pan. Take your time to make it reasonably level. Remove
the plastic and cover the pan with a fresh sheet of plastic wrap. Set aside
at room temperature for 1½ hours to rest (it won’t seem to rise very
much).
Double-CrustCherryBerryPie
(recipe at left)
55
cookies&bars
Ken Haedrich, winner of the Julia
Child Cookbook Award, developed
and personally tested every recipe
in Everyday Baking. He is the
author of 11 cookbooks, including
Pie, which was named one of the
best baking books of the past 25
years by Cooking Light magazine.
Pumpkin Sugar Cake
breakfast treats
Recipe categories include:
• Breakfast Treats
• Quick Breads
• Cookies & Bars
• Pies
• Crisps, Cobblers, & Crunches
• Cakes for Every Occasion