from Kris B.
Feeling blue may be a little strong for my feelings this week, but ithe title worked well with the week’s recipes. LOL. For me, feeling a little out of sorts may be more appropriate. I started back to work full time this week and I did not make the transition from the freedom of my summer schedule to the structure of the academic schedule very gracefully. Simply stated, I failed grandly at time management; that’s why Food Friday is Food Saturday this week. I am glad to be back at school because I really do love teaching. Meeting our new students and catching up with those that are returning is always such a pleasure. I teach the final three semesters of a four semester sequence of courses. By the time those students and I have been together that long, we know each other quite well. On the first day of classes this semester, three of my students who completed the sequence last spring were sitting in the room with this semester’s fourth semester class. Responding to my somewhat befuddled look, they said, “We are going to miss your class this semester so we thought we’d just come visit.” It is hard to feel too blue about going back to school when the school year begins like that.
On to this week's recipe...
When it comes to talking about what can be added to cookies, or muffins, or cakes at my house, blueberries are one of the few things on which my husband and I agree. You heard about our raisin and chocolate chip dilemma a few weeks ago. But blueberries? Blueberries are always acceptable! And pound cake is right up there with angel food cake as one of my favorites. In case you haven’t noticed already, my tastes are fairly simple. You just can"t go wrong with pound cake. Because its ingredients are so basic, it can be made just about any time you have a craving!
The dry and ingredients are flour, sugar, salt and baking powder, pantry staples.
***As an aside…Tracey and I have realized that we promised you guys stories of friendship and photography, as well as food, here. We are going to try to do a little better job of writing about those things as well. I’m going to start by sharing a story that comes from shooting the photos for this post. As I said, I did not plan my week well, so I was trying to get all of this done, cooking, processing phots, and writing, on Friday. That meant that I needed everything to go smoothly and as I planned. I had given Tracey a heads up that it would probably be late when I got it all done and that I would be the one to hold up the post for this week. I got started with the cooking. Everything is going along well. Then I took a few photos of the mixer doing its thing. I glanced at the preview of the photos on my camera. I then sent the following message to Tracey:
Note to self: Get yourself a glass bowl for your Kitchen Aid mixer because you look like **** reflected in the metal bowl!
Her response, “LMAO.”This is why we have so much fun working together! Now back to the important stuff.
Combine tthe dry ingredients with some wet ingredients - eggs, butter, and vanilla -
If I don’t photograph the butter then the calories from the fat don’t count, right?
I think that I have mentioned before that I make my own vanilla extract. All it takes is a few vanilla beans taking up residence in a mason jar of vodka for a few weeks.
Add some blueberries…
Mix them all together,
and you get pure goodness!
Okay, it’s not quite that simple. There are a few important steps in this recipe that do make the difference between success and…not success with this cake.
INGREDIENTS
1 Cup unsalted butter plus 1 TBS
2 Cups sugar plus 3 TBS
3 Cups all-purpose flour, divided
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp kosher salt
4 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 Cups fresh blueberries
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Coat a tube pan with 1 TBS butter and then sprinkle in and coat with 3 TBS sugar. Set aside.
In a bowl, combine 2 cups of the flour, salt, and baking powder. Set aside.
Cream together the remaining butter and sugar. Use a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, not the whisk. Beat on medium speed for 5 minutes. Yes, 5 minutes! Then, add the eggs one at a time, followed by the vanilla. Continue to beat the mixture for another 3 minutes.
Place the blueberries and the remaining cup of flour in a plastic zipper bag and toss. Coating the blueberries with flour keeps them from all "sinking" in the cake. Fold the berries into the batter by hand.
Bake for an hour and 15 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let the cake cool for a few minutes before turning out of the pan and continuing to cool on a wire rack.
*** A bit of lemon zest and/or lemon extract is a nice addition to this recipe.
Happy Labor Day, everyone!
Have a fun a safe holiday weekend.
by Tracey G.
As
Kris and I were getting ready for this "Friday's" post, everything
seemed to just go downhill in my camp, lol. I ended up having to take Harry to
the after-hours clinic at our doctor's office due to ear pain on Thursday
evening after a miserable Wednesday night, and come to find out he's got an
ugly ear infection. So, the past few nights since, oh, Wednesday, have involved
very little sleep, and every time I get something on a roll after he's asleep,
he's awake and my work gets put on hold, lol. I am hoping that a couple full
days on the antibiotic will start to see some improvement! Poor kid is
miserable and the first day of school is Tuesday. What a way to start the year,
the doctor wanted to see him back next Friday, so the first week of school he's
either going to be late on that day or absent depending on the efficiency at
the doctor's office, lol.
So,
that's my reason why Food Friday became Food Saturday for me as well!! ;-)
Labor
Day weekend reminds me of a special dessert my mom would make, not that she
made it, every Labor Day weekend, because I couldn't even tell you if she ever
made it on a Labor Day weekend, lol - but simply because it did. Her birthday
was just August 22, so I guess she's been on my mind a lot. But anyway, the
dessert would be the Stern Reunion Blueberry Torte, my mom was a Stern so was
from her side of the family. I didn't call it that because to me, and one of my
best friends who I think loved it more than me (if that was possible!), it was
simply known as my Mom's Blueberry Torte, lol. The funny thing is, I've
never made it. My friend requested it as a wedding gift, lol, a pan of it all
for her that she didn't have share - she
may have shared with her new husband, lol, I'll have to ask her one of
these days, but she's made it through the years, and I can't believe I never
have. It's not like I didn't have the recipe, lol. I couldn't even tell you the
last time I'd even had it... So I knew it was time to make it.
As I
was making it, I had to laugh - mom only made it for special occasions,
holidays and whatnot, so I always thought it was labor intensive so therefore,
saved for certain occasions - like the pecan tarts she'd make every Christmas,
they were special because that was the only time of year we had them, lol. But
the torte was REALLY simple to put together and fast, lol. I was reminded of the old Rice Krispies Treat commercial where the mom dusted herself with
flour before she took the treats, wearily, out to the family as if it had been
one of the most difficult things to produce, yet she and we knew it was one of
the easiest. ;-) I knew mom more as a
"cooker" instead of dessert maker/baker kind of person, so whatever
she did make as a dessert, I guess would be her signature items, lol, like
Blueberry Torte or Pecan Tarts. This truly was one of the things I grew up on,
she'd made it ever since I was a kid, and eating it was a total blast from the
past - and in such a good and yummy way!
These
are the crust ingredients - bottom then clockwise: chopped walnuts, brown
sugar, flour, vegetable shortening and butter. That's it.
Mix
all of the ingredients together and press into the bottom of a 9x13" pan.
Then bake at 400° F for 15 minutes or until lightly browned. While that's
cooling start getting your filling ingredients ready...
The
filling ingredients are pretty simple too - the filling part is made up of: vanilla,
powdered sugar, cream cheese and Dream Whip prepared per package directions.
The "topping" is a can of blueberry pie filling. It's about 2 cups -
so if you wanted to make your own with fresh blueberries sugar, water and
cornstarch kind of thing that's the least amount you'd need. I do have a note
in my recipe book to use 1-2 cans of filling, so the amount is another one of
those things that can be played with to suit your taste ;-) Next time I make
it, I am going to use more, likely 2 cans or make my own blueberry
filling/sauce. Oh heck, for that matter, you could use whatever pie filling
captures your fancy, I would like to try lemon and also make my own fresh peach
filling to try on top...or even a raspberry....I guess I could keep going, lol.
But you all get the idea. ;-)
With
a mixer (either hand held or stationary) combine the powdered sugar, cream
cheese and vanilla until smooth. Then, prepare the Dream Whip according to the
package directions. If you have the space, you can make the whipped topping
ahead of time and refrigerate it until you're ready to use it.
Fold
the whipped topping gently into the cream cheese mixture until thoroughly
combined...
...then
spread the cream cheese filling, evenly, over the cooled crust. Now, at this
point, had I read my little notes on the recipe, I would have read the
suggestion from Mom that you can refrigerate the torte at this point for awhile
- it would have made the pie filling easier to spread over the top. I battled
the cream part wanting to be pulled into the pretty pie filling, lol, and that
could have been avoided. ;-)
I
put the pie filling on in even lines/spoonfuls so that it can then be spread a
little easier to cover the top. After you do that, all that's left is to
refrigerate at least 2 hours before you serve. Now, again, here's a note on
that - one that's not in my book but that I discovered while eating this the
same day it's made - the crust is rather hard, lol. But, the next day, it was
perfect, easy to cut and easy to eat. Next time I'll remember that - and it
even just tasted better, lol. ;-)
Mom's Blueberry Torte (a.k.a The Stern Reunion Blueberry Torte)
Crust:
2 c
flour
1/2
c brown sugar, firmly packed
1/2
c vegetable shortening
1/2
c butter, softened
1 c
chopped walnuts
Mix
together the ingredients. Press into the bottom of a 9x13" baking pan and
bake at 400° F for 15 minutes or until lightly browned.
Filling
and Topping:
2
pkg Dream Whip whipped topping mix
1 8
oz. pkg cream cheese, softened
1 c
powdered sugar
1
tsp vanilla
1-2
cans blueberry pie filling
Mix
together the cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla until well blended and
smooth. Prepare the Dream Whip packages according to package directions. Fold
into cream cheese mixture until well blended. Spread over top of cooled crust.
Top with pie filling. Refrigerate at least 2 hours before serving.
(you can refrigerate
the crust/cream cheese mixture layer before spreading on the pie filling, makes
it easier to spread!)
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