From Barb Eastman’s comment on 1/19/10 red velvet cake blog – “Here is another wonderful recipe for you to try, Di. I got it from my brother Pat’s mother-in-law, Colleen Moening.  Uses a 10″ springform pan and it’s outstanding.”

Polish Apple Raisin Cake

3 sticks butter (2 for the cake; one for the topping)
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
2 cups flour
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. baking soda
3 cups apples, grated (2-3 apples, depending on size)
1-1/2 cups raisins (half for the cake and half for the topping)
1-1/2 cups chopped walnuts (half for the cake and half for the topping – and I like them toasted)
1/2 cup brown sugar (all for the topping—none in the cake)
For the cake

Grease and flour a large spring form pan.

Cream 2 sticks butter with 2 cups sugar, until light and pale.

Add the eggs, one at a time and mix until incorporated.

Add flour, cinnamon and baking soda and beat for about 3 minutes.

Fold in 2 cups apples, 3/4 cup raisins and 3/4 cup walnuts.

Bake in prepared springform pan at 350F for 1 to 1 hour and 15 minutes (toothpick should come out clean).

Cool cake completely before doing topping.
For the topping

Melt remaining stick of butter with 1/2 cup brown sugar.

Bring to a boil and then add the remaining raisins, 1 cup grated apple and remaining walnuts.

Turn down the heat and cook slowly until the raisins plump and the sauce begins to thicken.

With a wooden skewer, wooden knitting needle or the tines of a large fork, pierce the cake and then pour the sauce over the cake.

Allow to cool completely. As the sauce cools it begins to set up.

Serve with whipped cream (whipping cream, sugar to taste, and about 1 tsp. vanilla).

This is an amazing cake – it makes easily enough for a dozen servings!  The first time I made this cake I accidentally put all the grated apples into the batter and had to grate more apples for the topping – did not matter, amazing cake!  The second time I made this cake I added about half a bag of these Kraft caramel bits – OMG!!!! – so good, but have not been able to find these at my local markets again!

Don’t have time or it’s too hot to bake?  Check out the pies and cakes and cookies at Walter Knoll Florist!

WWarren, a senior designer (and friend) at work

gave me four homegrown lemons this week!

Check out his tree!

 

I dug out a favorite lemon bar recipe and doubled it so that I have lots of lemon bars to take to Warren tomorrow!  This is a mildly tart lemon bar – if you like it extra tart, add another lemon’s worth of zest and juice.

Lemon Bars

adapted recipe from Baking Illustrated

Makes two 9″ square pans

Crust
2-1/2 cups (6 1/4 oz) all-purpose flour
1 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened & cut into 1-inch pieces

Filling
14 large egg yolks, plus 4 large eggs
2 cup plus 4 tablespoons granulated sugar
1-1/3 to 1-1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 cup lemon zest
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces

To make the crust: lightly pray two 9-inch square baking pans with cooking spray.

Line the pan with aluminum foil or parchment, leaving an overhang on opposite sides to lift the bars out after they’ve baked.

Spray the parchment or foil lightly with cooking spray.

Add the flour, confectioners’ sugar and salt to the bowl of your food processor.

Pulse a few times to combine.  Add the butter and process to blend, about 8-10 seconds.

Pulse just a few more times, until the mixture is pale yellow and resembles coarse meal.

Divide and dump the mixture into the prepared baking pans;

use the tips of your fingers to press it into an even layer over the bottom of the pan.

Refrigerate the crust for 30 minutes (or freeze for 15 minutes).

While the crust is chilling, preheat the oven to 350 F.

Grate the zest from approximately 4 lemons (about 1/2 cup)

Squeeze the lemon juice by hand or with your handy electric juicer!

After chilling, bake the crusts for about 20 minutes, or until light golden brown -

turn the pans once about half way thru.

While the crust bakes, make the filling:

In a large saucepan, whisk the egg yolks and eggs together until combined.

Combine the sugar and lemon zest in a small bowl and use your fingertips

to rub the zest into the sugar until the sugar is moist and fragrant.

Add the sugar to the egg mixture and whisk to combine.

Finally, add the lemon juice and salt and whisk until all ingredients are blended.

Place the pot of filling over medium-low heat and add the butter.

Stirring continuously, cook until the curd thickens slightly and registers 170 F  thermometer.

Pour the curd through a strainer into a large bowl.

 

Pour the filling over the warm crust (this is important – you don’t want to let the crust cool before adding the filling).

Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until the the center jiggles just slightly when shaken.

Remove the pan to a wire rack and cool completely.

Use the foil to lift the bars out of the pan and cut into squares.

 

Dust with confectioners’ sugar if desired.

 

Yellow Lemon, Yellow Spring Flowers – Daffodils are blooming at Walter Knoll Florist -

stop into one of our stores for our wholesale bunch special – 10 stem daffodil bunches for $10

Visit us at wkf.com for specials on daffodil bouquets delivered

Mini Chocolate Whoopie Pies adapted from King Arthur Flour recipe

CAKES

1/2 cup butter

1 cup brown sugar, packed

1 teaspoon espresso powder

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 large egg

1/2 cup Dutch-process cocoa

2-1/3 cups unbleached all purpose flour

1 cup milk

FILLING

½ cup powdered sugar

1 7-oz container Solo Toasted Marshmallow Creme

Preheat the oven to 350°F.  Lightly grease (or line with parchment or Silpats) two baking sheets.

To make the cakes: In a large mixing bowl, beat together the butter, sugar, espresso powder,

baking powder, baking soda, salt, and vanilla till smooth.

Add the egg, again beating till smooth.

Add the cocoa, stirring to combine.

Add the flour to the batter alternately with the milk, beating till smooth.

Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl, and beat again briefly

to soften and combine any chunky scrapings.

Drop the dough by heaping tablespoonful onto the prepared baking sheets,

leaving plenty of room between the cakes;

they’ll spread. A tiny scoop works well here.

Bake the cakes for 8 to 10 minutes, till they’re set and firm to the touch.

Remove them from the oven, and let cool a few minutes on the pans

then allow to cool completely on wire racks.

To make the filling: Beat together marshmallow and powdered sugar.

(this is messy and it doesn’t mix in completely)

Spread the flat side of half the cakes with the filling.

Top with the remaining cakes, flat side towards the filling.

Wrap individually, in waxed paper and store in airtight container.

The filling will dissolve within a few days so these do not keep long,

but no matter – they don’t last long either!

Oh you know my co-workers need a treat this week before Valentine’s Day

. . . so I got busy with some very fun cookies -

It was all in the decorating and everyone had a great laugh.

You would not believe how long it took each person to pick out a cookie to eat!

Hello, they all TASTE the same!

LEMON SUGAR COOKIES

(adapted from a Good Housekeeping recipe)

1 lemon

3 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1-1/4 cup(s) sugar

1 cup unsalted room temperature butter

1 large egg

1 teaspoon each of lemon and vanilla extracts

Grate 1 to 2 tablespoons lemon peel and squeeze 1 tablespoon juice. Set peel and juice aside.

On waxed paper, combine flour, baking powder, and salt with a whisk. In a large bowl, with mixer on low speed, beat sugar and butter until blended. Increase speed to medium-high and beat for approx. 3 minutes or until light and creamy – frequently scraping the bowl. Reduce speed to low; beat in egg, lemon & vanilla extracts and lemon peel and juice until combined. Beat in flour mixture, just until mixed, occasionally scraping bowl. Divide dough into 4 equal pieces; flatten each into disk. Wrap each disk in plastic wrap and refrigerate 1 hour or overnight, until firm enough to roll.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. On lightly floured surface, with floured rolling pin,

roll 1 disk of dough to 1/4-inch thickness. With floured heart shaped cookie cutters,

cut dough into as many cookies as possible –

cut off the pointy end of each heart shape; wrap and refrigerate trimmings to re-roll later.

Place cookies, about 1 inch apart, on ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned.

Transfer cookies to wire racks to cool, about 10 minutes.

Repeat with remaining dough and trimmings.

Decorate with Royal Icing (see recipe below) made with lemon juice.

Allow frosting to dry completely before adding a second color, about 1 hour.

Store in tightly sealed container (with waxed paper between layers)

at room temperature up to 2 weeks or in freezer up to 3 months.

ROYAL ICING

(adapted from a Martha Stewart recipe)

Makes 2-1/3 cups

1 box confectioners’ sugar (1 pound)

5 tablespoons meringue (egg white) powder, or 2 large egg whites

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine sugar and meringue powder. Mixing on low speed, add a scant 1/2 cup lemon juice. For a thinner consistency, usually used for flooding, add more water. A thicker consistency is generally used for outlining and adding details. Mix until icing holds a ribbon-like trail on the surface of the mixture for 5 seconds when you raise the paddle.

Now you won’t find these cookies for sale at any WKF location, not even on our amazing web site – but we do have some wonderful chocolate covered strawberries to send with your roses this year -

decorated with dark, milk and white chocolate and packaged with red confetti and a white doily in a corsage box – made to order by our friends at the Blue Owl in Kimswick, MO – you’re gonna love them!  Available on our web site or in our stores – BY THE WAY we’ve got better prices on cash n carry roses than you’ll find at your local grocer – and our roses are FLORIST quality – we may arrange for strawberries on Valentine’s day – but we’re not stocking milk and eggs!

I’m a fan and subscriber to the King Arthur Flour newsletter -

every recipe I have ever tried has been wonderful.

Lately a ginger snap recipe came thru and since I had some around,

I finely diced some candied ginger and added it to the batter.

Then I poked a dark chocolate covered ginger candy into each one – voila, delish!

So, anyway,  here’s my take on their recipe

Gingersnaps – makes about sixty cookies

For the cookie dough

3/4 cup vegetable shortening*

1 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 large egg

1/3 cup molasses

2 1/3 cups unbleached all purpose flour

1 to 2 teaspoons ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

3/4 cup finely diced crystallized ginger

about 60 small pieces of dark chocolate covered candied ginger

For the coating

1/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Beat together the shortening, sugar, salt, and baking soda.

Beat in the egg, then the molasses.

Add the flour and spices, beating to make a smooth, fairly stiff dough.

Stir in the finely diced candied ginger

To make the coating, combine the sugar and cinnamon, and place in a shallow pan or dish.

Drop the dough in 1″ balls into the cinnamon-sugar mixture.

Roll the balls in the sugar to coat, then transfer them to the prepared baking sheets,

leaving at least 1-1/2″ between them.

Poke a chocolate covered candy into each cookie.

Bake the cookies for 11 minutes, for cookies that are crisp around the edges, and “bendy” in the center.

Bake for 13 minutes, for cookies that are crisp/crunchy all the way through.

(I baked for 8 minutes then rotated the pan and baked for 7 more minutes.)

Remove the cookies from the oven, and cool right on the pan, or on a rack.

Cool completely, then store tightly wrapped, at room temperature.

I only baked 24 and rolled and stuffed the remaining batter and put the balls on waxed paper on a cookie sheet in the freezer and will bag them when they are hard.  I’ll have to get back to you on how the chocolate holds up!

Here is a photo of one of this summer’s moonflowers -(remember the seed pods in the basket above?  Nothing works better to pretty up a chain link fence! And the hummingbirds love the flowers.  But, then again, it was a lot of work today to cut those vines away.  I think I’ll plan on something else next year, maybe something I find in the spring at the Walter Knoll Florist garden center!

Got your holiday shopping started?  We’ve got our holiday features up!  Gifts from Walter Knoll are great for corporate gift giving! Check out our poinsettias – better than anything you’ll get at the big box hardware stores!  We also have any size gourmet gift basket you could want!

I have connected with my cousin Lynette on Facebook and she asked me lately if I had Grandma’s angel food cake with strawberry glaze recipe.  Every birthday growing up my Grandma Boerschig would make whatever cake we requested  for our birthday.  Often I went for the pineapple upside down cake make in an iron skillet, but more often I went for her Angel Food Cake with a hardened strawberry glaze.  Sometimes she made a homemade Angel Food Cake and sometimes she used a box mix.  You could tell if  she used a box by the colored speckles in the cake!  I remember her teaching me how to make the glaze once, with a tin of frozen sliced strawberries, but for the life of me I am not sure if she used egg white or egg yolk.  This cake I made with a yolk, and except for it it being made with fresh berries and not hardening because I put it on so thick, I think this glaze is dang good!

Angel Food Cake Recipe adapted from www.epicurious.com

1-1/2 cups egg whites (11 to 12 large eggs) room temperature (save 1 yolk for glaze)

1-1/2 cups sifted powdered sugar

1 cup sifted cake flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1-1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar

1 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

a 10-inch tube pan (about 4 inches deep) with a removable bottom

Macerated Strawberries and Glaze

4 cups thinly sliced ripe strawberries

½ cup granulated sugar

Combine above strawberries and sugar and refrigerate overnight.

1 egg yolk

½ cup powdered sugar

For the Cake

Set oven rack in lower third of oven and preheat oven to 350°F.

Sift together powdered sugar, flour, and salt onto a sheet of wax paper.  Beat whites in mixer until frothy.

Add cream of tartar and beat at medium speed until they form soft peaks.  Add granulated sugar gradually, beating, and continue beating just until whites are thickened and form soft, droopy peaks. Beat in vanilla.

Sprinkle one fourth of sifted dry ingredients over whites and fold in with a rubber spatula gently but thoroughly. Fold in remaining dry ingredients, one third at a time. Gently pour batter evenly into ungreased tube pan and bake until top is light golden, cake retracts a bit from pan and springs back when touched lightly, and a tester comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes.

Invert pan and cool cake completely. Place cake small end up on an over-sized plate.

Divide cake into 3 even-ish layers with serrated knife.   Arrange 1/3 of the macerated strawberries on the two inside layers of the cake. Sprinkle a bit of the juice on as well.

For the Glaze

Strain the remaining strawberries and mash with a fork or wooden spoon –

Beat the egg yolk with about 2 tablespoons of the strawberry juice and stir gently into the mashed berries – try not to make a lot of bubbles. Gradually and gently stir in sifted powdered sugar until consistency of lumpy gravy. Drizzle over cake. Top with any remaining strawberries.

I think I went a bit heavy on the drizzle and the glaze will probably not harden up – perhaps 2 tbl of the strawberry juice is too much also.  It’s delicious whether it hardens or not!

Last fall Robin Knoll gave me a copy of an old typed recipe from a great aunt. “Will you make it for me?” Finally got around to making it, strange recipe, no butter in the cake and granulated sugar and flour in the icing! It was delicious though I thought it kinda skimpy in size and volume of icing so below is my revamped version of Robin’s great aunt’s
Waldorf Red Cake

¾ c shortening
2-1/4 c granulated sugar
3 eggs
1-1/2 oz red food coloring
1-1/2 t vanilla
2 t cocoa
½ 2 salt
1-1/2 cup buttermilk
1-1/2 t baking soda
1-1/2 T vinegar
3-1/2 cups cake flour (sifted)

Grease two 9” cake pans, line bottoms with greased parchment paper. Preheat oven to 350F.

Sift together the flour and salt on a piece of waxed paper.

Make a loose paste of the food coloring, vanilla and cocoa.

In standing mixer, cream shortening and sugar until fluffy, add eggs all at once, beating to combine.
Add cocoa mixture. Alternately add buttermilk and sifted flour mixture (1/3 of the milk, then a 1/3 of the flour and so on, ending with flour)
Add baking soda to vinegar in separate bowl (it will foam up). Gently stir into cake batter.

Divide batter evenly into the two prepared pans.
Bake at 350 for approx 30 minutes (rotating pans at 15 minutes) or until toothpick comes out clean – be careful not to overbake – check at 25 minutes.

Allow to cool in pans on rack. Make cooked part of frosting while cakes are baking and set aside to cool or refrigerate)

FROSTING
4-1/2 T all purpose flour
1-1/2 c milk
1-1/2 c granulated sugar
1-1/2 c whipped butter (not stick butter) at room temp.
1-1/2 t vanilla

Cook flour and milk until thick, whisking constantly. This will only take a minute.

It will be the consistency of that gravy you get with biscuits. Remove to bowl and set aside to cool and then refrigerate.

Press plastic wrap on top of flour/milk mixture to avoid a skin on it.
Cream butter and sugar until very fluffy and sugar has dissolved – about 5 minutes.
Add vanilla and blend well.

Add cold cooked mixture and beat again until the icing is the consistency of whipped cream.

Carefully split the each cake into 2 even layers, ice between each layer and the top.

I think next time I make this cake I’ll cut off the mounds on top for even layers – those mounds will be good snacking!
Happy Birthday Robin!

Want to send a zero calorie birthday cake? Walter Knoll Florist has just the cake for you!

Oh my neighbor kids and parents all have the swine flu, croup and/or ear infections! Poor mama! Yesterday while I baked off cookies for the holidays I thru together some chicken soup for them.

I gathered together celery, onions, carrots, garlic and ginger in the food processor and chopped it all pretty fine in case there is any throwing up going on!

Then I sauted the veggies until pretty soft add a couple cartons of chicken stock and a can of petite diced tomatoes a bit of salt & pepper and marjoram. Since I had ginger in there I also added a bit of soy sauce and Mirin.

I think little kids have got to have noodles in their soup so I broke up about a cup of hollow macaroni sticks into 1/2 to 1 inch pieces. I cooked the macaroni in a separate pot then added it to the soup. Took the whole pot over and plopped it on their stove. Feel better soon!

especially with Grammy’s Chocolate Waffies!
Makes about 60.

2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup Dutch process cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon instant espresso powder
2-1/2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Preheat Oven 350
Whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter, 2 cups sugar, and eggs on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add vanilla, and mix to combine. Gradually add dry ingredients, and combine with mixer on low speed. Form dough into tablespoon sized balls – inch and a half apart on silpats or parchment paper bake 8 minutes – turning at 4 minutes, just until shine just starts to go away – cool on sheet a few minutes before transferring to cooling racks –

I made my dough a week ahead and refrigerated it in a bowl with plastic wrap pressed to the dough and a lid on the bowl – worked great to let it sit on the counter to soften a bit while I prepared the veggies for the soup!

Speaking of cookies . . . I just love this Merry Memories arrangement we are featuring this year – the container could be a great cookie jar kinda gift container next year! So a great gift for that baker friend of yours!

Speaking of cookies . . . Our Italian Cookies offering from our baker friends on the hill are selling like hotcakes this year! We also have their pies! The Cherry Pie is as good as my own!

I love my little kitchen torch – but had never used it for anything but creme brulee and you know creme brulee is not something you should eat a lot of . . .

I made these little lemon cookies one day and thought, hmm, why not decorate them with a bit of carmelized sugar!

Lemon Crème Brulee Cookies

1 cup sugar
3/4 cup butter
3 ounces cream cheese
1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cups flour
2 tablespoons freshly minced thyme leaves (optional)

Place the sugar in the bowl of a food processor, and process until it’s very finely ground, about 1 minute. Add 3/4 cup butter and cream cheese, and pulse until just blended.
Add the lemon zest, lemon juice, vanilla, and salt and pulse briefly. Add the flour (and thyme if you are using) and pulse until just blended. Roll dough into two logs about 1-2 inches in diameter, wrap in waxed paper, then stuff into an old paper towel tube and chill until firm.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut 1/4″ slices from the log of dough and place them on a cookie sheet.

Bake 8 to 10 minutes, until browning slightly around the edges. Remove cookies to rack to cool.

When cookies have cooled, put them all back onto the sheet pan and sprinkle each cookie with about ½ tsp of sugar – get your handy torch out and fire away –

You can also freeze your log of dough, refrigerate until firm, remove from paper towel tube and wrap in plastic wrap. You don’t even have to thaw the log before you slice and bake!

This little trick of using a ruler or any flat edged piece of something firm is great for forming a smooth even log – and the paper towel tube keeps the log round while it hardens up in the fridge.

Although you won’t find these cookies for sale at WKF – we do have lots of sweet offerings – always welcome for any occasion!

But, unfortunately my dyslexia took over – Rick is obviously not a day over 46!

Rick by the way was our host this past weekend for the Acardia Valley Bluegrass Music Festival down in Ironton, MO. See the Walter Knoll Florist Director’s Chair! That was a Christmas gift company-wide last year. Comes in very handy!

And finally, I wanted to share a family recipe I received from our customer and my blog pen-pal Sheri Vandermolen in India – another use for cherry pie filling that I can’t wait to try.

DENVER CRUNCH

CRUST
2 c. flour
1 c. pecan pieces
1 c. butter
1/2 c. light brown sugar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Soften butter slightly, letting it warm up some (I usually just set my wrapped sticks on the stovetop for a couple of minutes), and then use a mixer to combine it with the brown sugar and flour until crumbly. (It won’t be as smooth as cookie batter, since there are no eggs.) After it is blended, stir in pecans by hand. Press mixture into an ungreased 9X13-inch pan and bake approximately 15+ minutes, until light golden brown. Remove from oven and set aside to cool for a few minutes, and then crumble the dough with a fork, setting aside about 1 c. to use as topping. Press the rest into an 8X8-inch Tupperware container, to form the crust (a 9-inch round casserole dish or a combination of smaller dishes works too).

If using the same mixing bowl for the crust and filling preparation, wash it thoroughly in between, so the residue doesn’t interfere with the rising action of the Dream Whip.

FILLING
8 oz. cream cheese
1 c. powdered sugar
2 pkgs. prepared Dream Whip (+ milk and vanilla, see package)
1 can sweet cherry pie filling (or any sweet filling of your choice)

Prepare the Dream Whip according to the directions on the packages (using 2 packets Dream Whip + milk and vanilla), beating it with a mixer for several minutes, until fluffy After finishing the Dream Whip, add the powdered sugar and cream cheese to it (in chunks/spoonfuls) and mix until relatively smooth.

After pressing the crust into the desired container, spread half of the cream-cheese mixture over the crust. Then spoon all of the pie filling over that. Spread the remaining cream-cheese mixture over the cherries. With your hand, finely crumble the cup of pecan crust held in reserve and sprinkle it on as a topping. (Layers = crust / cream-cheese mix / pie filling / cream-cheese mix / crumb topping)

Cover and chill immediately. It tends to taste best after it’s been in the refrigerator at least overnight (so I’ve been told).

Thanks Sheri!

So, as easy as Sheri’s Denver Crunch sounds, if you just don’t have the time or inclination and need something sweet for a celebration or hostess gift – might I suggest something from Mimi’s family’s bakery on the Hill like Italian Cookies, Peach, Apple or Cherry Pie, or our fresh baked cookies or chocolate covered fruits – or perhaps a fancy cake or cheesecake!