Ingredients

Cake Batter:

• 2 3/4 Cups flour
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. salt
• 3/4 Cup butter, softened
• 1 Cup sugar
• 3 Eggs
• 16 oz. sour cream
• 2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Streusel:

• 3/4 Cup brown sugar
• 3/4 Cup chopped walnuts
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 2 Cups blueberries, rinsed and drained

Preparation

Preheat oven to 375°. Grease and flour a 10 inch tube pan or bundt pan. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. Set aside. In a separate bowl with an electric mixer cream the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time beating well after each addition. Add the flour mixture alternately with the sour cream and vanilla. Mix until blended well. Combine the streusel ingredients except for the blueberries and reserve 1/2 cup. Toss the rest of the streusel with the blueberries. Spread 1/3 of the batter in the pan, top with 1/2 of the berry mixture, another third of the batter, the rest of the berries, and finally the remaining batter. Sprinkle on the reserved 1/2 cup streusel topping. Bake 60-65 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes on a wire rack. Carefully turn the pan over onto a serving plate or cake stand and remove from pan. When completely cooled (2 hours or so) sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Penzey’s Spices

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 cups flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1 cup milk
• 5 tbsp cinnamon sugar (or 1 tbsp cinnamon mixed with 4 tbsp sugar)

Preparation

Preheat oven to 300° F. Grease a tube pan or loaf pan. Cream the butter. Add the eggs, sugar, and vanilla extract. Mix well. In a separate bowl, combine the flour and baking powder. Add half the flour to the butter mixture. Mix to combine. Add the milk to the butter mixture. Mix to combine. Add the remaining flour to the butter mixture. Mix to combine. Sprinkle 1/3 of the cinnamon sugar on the bottom of the loaf pan. Add half of the batter to the loaf pan. Sprinkle 1/3 of the cinnamon sugar on top of the batter in the loaf pan. Add the remaining batter to the loaf pan. Sprinkle the remaining cinnamon sugar on the top of the batter. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes.

Penzey’s Spices

Ingredients

• 1 Cup all purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 5 TB. butter
• 6 TB. cocoa powder
• 1 Cup sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 extra large eggs
• 1 Cup finely chopped nuts (optional)
• 1/2 Cup powdered sugar (for rolling cookies in)

Preparation

In a medium bowl, sift flour, baking powder and salt, set aside. In a small heavy saucepan, melt butter over low heat, add cocoa powder, blend well with a fork or a small whisk until smooth. Remove pan from heat, stir in sugar until combined (it will be dark brown at this point). Transfer to a large mixing bowl, add vanilla extract, then eggs one at a time, stirring well with a wooden spoon or hand mixer after each addition. Add flour mixture and nuts if desired (skip the nuts if baking for children, as most don’t seem to enjoy them), mix well. Cover the dough with plastic wrap, refrigerate until chilled (at least 2 hours). The dough never gets really stiff, but it won’t roll into nice balls if it’s warm. Preheat oven to 400°. Grab a handful of dough, enough for a cookie sheet, leaving the rest in the fridge. Roll each hunk of dough into a 3/4" ball, then roll in powdered sugar. It is easier to roll the dough into balls if you coat your hands with powdered sugar (kids love doing this). Place the sugar coated balls onto a greased cookie sheet, 2" apart. Bake cookies for 8 minutes at 400°, let cool a minute, then remove from pan. Store in an airtight container to maintain the soft and chewy texture of these cookies. If you’d like a crisper cookie, cook a minute longer (be careful not to burn the bottoms).

Penzey’s Spices

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/4 cup finely chopped shallots
• 2 cups finely chopped fennel, fronds chopped and reserved
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon yellow mustard seeds
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 3 cups corn kernels (from about 6 ears)

Preparation

1. Pour the olive oil into a large skillet and place over medium-high heat. When hot, add the shallots and fennel. Season with cumin, mustard seeds and a pinch of salt and pepper and cook until softened, about 4 minutes. Add the corn and sauté until tender, about 4 minutes more. Add 1 1/4 cups water and bring to a boil. Simmer for 8 minutes. Remove from the heat.

2. Transfer 1 1/2 cups of the corn mixture and liquid to a blender and purée. Strain the pure,é pressing the solids; discard the solids. Pour the corn purée back into the skillet and simmer to a ragu consistency, about 8 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Garnish with fennel fronds and serve with the gently smoked salmon.

New York Times Magazine

Ingredients

• 2 pounds cabrito, cut into 2-inch cubes
• 1 pound pork butt, cut into 2-inch cubes
• 1 tablespoon, plus 1 teaspoon, kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon, plus 1 teaspoon, medium ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for greasing loaf pan
• 3 shallots, diced
• 5 cloves garlic, chopped
• 5 sage leaves, chopped
• ¾ cup red wine
• 2 teaspoons whole coriander seed
• 2 teaspoons whole fennel seed
• 1 tablespoon, plus
• 1 teaspoon, paprika
• ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 4 strips of bacon

Preparation

1. Season the cabrito and pork with the salt and pepper and refrigerate. In a skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat, add the shallots and garlic and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the sage and cook for a minute. Add the red wine and simmer until reduced by one-third. Transfer to a small bowl and chill until very cold.

2. Toast the coriander, fennel, paprika and pepper flakes in a dry skillet until fragrant, 2 minutes. Grind the spices and add them to the meat. Stir in the shallot-wine mixture. Freeze the mixture for 15 minutes.

3. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Using a coarse attachment on a meat grinder, grind the meat into a mixing bowl. Using the paddle attachment on an electric mixer, whip the meat at medium speed until the meat pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Lightly oil an 8-by-4-inch loaf pan. Pat the meat into the pan, then bang the pan on the counter to remove air pockets. Top the paté with the bacon, tucking in the ends.

4. Place the pan in a larger baking dish and add hot (not boiling) water, enough to come halfway up the pan. Bake until the paté reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees, about 1 hour; begin checking after 45 minutes, since cooking times may vary. Cool the paté for an hour, wrap in plastic and refrigerate overnight. Serves 12. Adapted from Lou Lambert, chef and owner of Lambert’s Downtown Barbecue.

New York Times

Ingredients

Crust:

• 1 2/3 c. all purpose flour
• 1 c. powdered sugar
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 6 tbsp. (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, diced, room temperature
• 2 lg. egg yolks
• 1 lg. egg

Filling:

• 10 oz. bittersweet (70%) chocolate, finely chopped
• 2 c. heavy whipping cream
• 1/4 c. honey
• 1/4 c. pine nuts, toasted
• whipping cream

Preparation

Blend flour, powdered sugar, and salt in processor 5 seconds. Add butter, yolks, and egg. Blend until moist clumps form. Knead dough into ball and flatten into disk. Wrap and chill at least 30 minutes and up to 1 day.

Roll out dough on lightly floured surface to 14-inch round. Transfer to 10-inch diameter tart pan with removable bottom. Cut off all but 1/2-inch overhang. Fold overhang in, pressing to form double-thick sides that extend 1/4-inch above rim. Chill crust 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375F. Bake crust 5 minutes. Using back of fork, press up sides of crust if slipping. Bake until golden, pressing up sides and piercing with fork if crust bubbles, about 25 minutes longer. Cool crust completely.

Place chocolate in medium bowl. Bring cream to simmer in saucepan. Pour cream over chocolate; whisk until smooth. Whisk in honey. Pour filling into crust. Chill until set, at least 2 hours and up to 1 day.

Sprinkle tar with pine nuts. Serve with whipped cream.

Ingredients

• 1 Cup butter
• 3 Cups sugar
• 6 eggs
• 2 Cups peeled, chopped peaches (4 medium)
• 2 TB. vanilla sugar
• 3 Cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. cinnamon

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°, have all ingredients at room temperature. Grease and flour tube pan. Peel and chop peaches, mix with VANILLA SUGAR in a small bowl, set aside. Sift together flour, baking soda, salt, and CINNAMON, set aside. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until well blended, light and fluffy. Add eggs 2 at a time, blending well after each addition. This is the most important part, as the cake will rise much higher if the sugar and butter are well beaten and the eggs are gradually added and well beaten. Starting and ending with dry ingredients, gently blend in flour mixture and peaches, one third at a time. Use a large spoon or blend on lowest speed to just combine these ingredients. Pour into the pan. Make sure not to get batter on the upper part of the tube, which will prevent the cake from sliding out of the pan. Place on middle rack in oven, bake about 70-75 minutes, until cake is browned and springy to the touch, or a thin skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Remove from oven, let cool 5-10 minutes, run a butter knife between the cake and the outside wall of the pan, turn pan over onto a rack and let the cake slide out. Turn the cake over at this point if you so desire, and let cool completely. Place the cake on a serving plate. The cake is easiest to cut when cool. That is also the time to sprinkle with powdered sugar if you’d like-though serving the slices warm with a thin pat of butter is quite tasty too.

Penzey’s Spices

Ingredients

• 1/2 C shortening (no substitutes)
• 1 egg
• 1/2 C sugar
• 1/4 C molasses
• 1 3/4 C unsifted flour
• 1 1/2 tsp Cinnamon
• 3/4 tsp Powdered Ginger
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 C seedless raisins
• 1/2 C chopped walnuts
• 1 egg white (optional)
• 2 T Vanilla Sugar or sugar (optional)

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.

2. In a medium bowl, cream together the shortening, egg and the sugar. Gradually add the molasses and continue beating until fluffy.

3. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, Cinnamon, Ginger, baking soda and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture, beating just until blended. Fold in the raisins and walnuts.

4. Divide the dough into two equal portions. Place on a cookie sheet and form each half into a 12x2" rectangle, leaving 3" between the halves.

5. Bake 13-15 minutes. The dough should be slightly soft in the center.

6. In a small bowl, lightly beat the remaining egg. Remove the dough from the oven; brush each half with egg white and sprinkle with Vanilla Sugar if desired (if you are concerned about using raw egg, use pasteurized eggs or simply omit). While still warm, cut diagonally. Cool on a wire rack.

Penzey’s Spices

Ingredients

Cake:

• 1/2 Cup shortening
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 1/2 Cups brown sugar, packed
• 1 egg
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 Cup buttermilk
• 2 Cups flour, sifted
• 1 1/2 Cups pears, peeled and diced into 1/4-1/2 inch cubes

Topping:

• 1/4 Cup cinnamon sugar
• 2 TB. crystallized ginger, finely chopped

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°. Grease a 9x13 glass pan and set aside. Stir the baking soda into the buttermilk and set aside. Cream the shortening, salt, and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla; mix well. Alternately add the buttermilk mixture and flour to the mixing bowl, beating well after each addition. Fold in the pears and pour into the greased pan. Mix together the cinnamon sugar and chopped crystallized ginger. Sprinkle evenly over the top of the cake. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Penzey’s Spices

Ingredients

• 1/2 Cup butter, soft (1 stick)
• 1 Cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2/3 Cup canned pumpkin
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 Cup flour
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg

Brown Butter Icing:

• 1/2 Cup butter (1 stick)
• 3 Cups powdered sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 TB milk

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°. Cream the butter. Add the brown sugar, eggs, pumpkin, and VANILLA and mix well. In a separate bowl, sift all of the dry ingredients together. Gradually add to the wet mixture and mix well. Pour into a greased 9x13 inch pan and bake at 350° for about 15-20 minutes. Let cool and top with Brown Butter Icing.

Brown Butter Icing

In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, heat the butter over low heat until it is a light brown. Remove from heat and add the powdered sugar, VANILLA, and milk. Whisk until smooth and well blended.

Penzey’s Spices