Recipe: Lemon Bundt Cake 22 April 2010 2:54 pm
Posted by Tracy in : America's Test Kitchen,baking,cooking,dessert,friends,kitchen gear,recipes , 1 comment so farI think this cake might be the very first one I ever made from a Cook’s Illustrated recipe (it’s either that or the fabulous huevos rancheros also in this issue, January & February 2006). In any case, I am not much of a baker or even a huge cake fan, but for whatever reason this recipe captured my imagination and I had to try it. Maybe it was the buttermilk? I don’t know, but I’m pretty darn sure that does not hurt the deliciousness of this one bit. Anyway. I dedicate this post to Ansley, who has been awesome at reminding me that she really, really wants to know how to make this delicious dessert.
Notes
This recipe is super-wordy because I am not a baker and lots of instructions are helpful to me, but I have cut it down to size on Twitter, like so:
Lemon bundt cake! 9oz butter, 2c sugar, 3 eggs+1 yolk, 3 lemons’ juice+zest, 3/4c buttermilk, 3c APF, 1 tsp powder, 1/2tsp soda, 60min 350F.
7:23 PM Sep 7th, 2009 via web
That’s a little misleading on the lemon juice, but otherwise right on. Also, it leaves out 1 tsp vanilla (oops).
The only other really important thing to know is that in addition to these ingredients you’ll need an extra tablespoon of buttermilk and 2 cups (8 ounces) of confectioner’s sugar, to make a light glaze of super-deliciousness. Armed with that information, experienced bakers can probably feel fine to ignore all my directions.
Last thoughts: the last time I made this recipe I used demerara sugar (Sugar In the Raw, to be exact) and the cake turned out a little crumblier than usual, but still delicious. I think this cake is even more delicious when it’s a day or two old; like many other baked goods, it gets denser and crumblier with time, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. (more…)
Another edible experiment. 18 February 2009 11:48 pm
Posted by Tracy in : America's Test Kitchen,cooking,pasta,pictures,vegetarian , 1 comment so farI couldn’t get these uploaded in time to post them on Tuesday night, but here’s some pictures of that day’s other edible experiment:
Or maybe you’d like that in EXTREME CLOSE-UP? (more…)
Recipe: Party Hummus 23 September 2008 11:13 pm
Posted by Tracy in : advice,America's Test Kitchen,cooking,events,recipes,school,vegan,vegetarian , 2 commentsThere was a fantastic recipe titled “Best Hummus” in the May-June 2008 issue of Cook’s Illustrated, and I’ve been using it as a guide to improvise delicious chickpea-based dips for parties this summer, with great success. I had sort of been brushing aside the resultant compliments until I was thoroughly underwhelmed by the hummus offered at a few NYU orientation events (sorry, NYU catering!) Turns out I’d forgotten how mediocre hummus can be. On top of that, I realized that I could submit my post about hummus to the third round of My Legume Love Affair, a blog event created by Susan of The Well-Seasoned Cook and hosted this month by Lucy at Nourish Me. I mean, really, it’s about darn time I jumped on that particular bandwagon of beany goodness. But back to hummus. The following hints should help prevent disappointment in homemade concoctions.
First, everybody’s taste in hummus is slightly different, but when in doubt, I vote for a texture with more light fluffiness and less pastiness, and this recipe achieves that goal. If you’d rather have something suitable for home decorating projects (caulk, spackle, you get the idea), by all means leave out some oil and water. That said, it is possible to omit ingredients and still get delicious results. Just before our going-away party in Eugene, I discovered that our tahini had grown mold, and threw it out. The hummus turned out fine anyway; I used a little extra olive oil to make sure it got a nice creamy consistency even without the sesame goodness. At our housewarming party here at the Moon Monkey Bar, Grille, and Cocktail Lounge, I forgot the lemon juice and substituted a few extra cloves of garlic for pungenty goodness. If you do this variation, I highly recommend finishing the hummus the same day it’s made, because the raw garlic will get stronger with time and try to destroy you, even if you aren’t a vampire.
And now, on with the recipe. (more…)
Recipe: Cheddar-Scallion Drop Biscuits 22 July 2008 8:11 am
Posted by Tracy in : America's Test Kitchen,baking,cheese,friends,recipes,vegetarian , 5 commentsFun fact! Scallions are green onions; it’s just another one of those East Coast-West Coast dialect differences, or that’s what I learned from this nifty guide to the allium family on Culinate. Drop biscuits are a fun and easy variation on classic buttermilk biscuits, which I have only fairly recently learned to appreciate. This post is for Mom and Dad Boothe, who gave me the subscription to Cook’s Illustrated which brought me the recipe that produced the biscuits that were so delicious last Monday (as well as a different recipe, which convinced me that biscuits were worth eating at all). Here’s hoping good recipe-sharing karma spills over into our apartment-hunting these next few days! (This post was written early Tuesday morning and scheduled for automatic posting some time during our flights to NYC; I hope it worked.) (more…)
Another America’s Test Kitchen liveblogging. 26 April 2008 2:26 pm
Posted by Tracy in : America's Test Kitchen,cooking,geekery , add a commentHey, if I’m gonna watch it, I might as well write about it.
2 PM: Skillet chicken and potatoes, with a microwave trick; kitchen thermometers, parmesan-crusted chicken cutlets with Sandra? Who’s Sandra? Excitement!
2:01 PM: I doubt I’ll ever cook any of these things, but the thermometer thing could be useful.
2:01 PM: Chris gives an intro: roast chicken and potatoes takes an hour and a half, how do we do it in half an hour?
2:02 PM: Go Julia! And they’re working with chicken breasts, not a whole chicken… poo, although obviously that’ll speed things up considerably. (more…)
