Bird's Nest Bites

A Cook & Garden, Together In The Pacific Northwest

Creme Sherry Bundt Cake with Warm Salted Butterscotch Sauce

 

I received a text from my pretend daughter Allie, asking if I had ever made a Cream Sherry Bundt Cake.  Not only had I never made one, I’d never heard of such a thing.  She went on to explain that it was one of her grandmother’s favorite holiday desserts, and she’d love to bake one.  The problem was that grandma’s recipe, as well as anything Allie could find on the internet, required a boxed cake mix and an instant pudding mix.  Allie figured a baked from scratch recipe would be even better than the one she remembered.  She described the cake as one that was super moist and when it baked, filled the house with the scent of nutmeg and warm spices.  This sounded like it might be fun so I asked if she would like me to try and create grandma’s recipe from scratch, which she thought was a fine idea.

Um…. this turned out to be quite the challenge because as far as I could see nobody had ever attempted to make a ‘pudding cake’ from scratch before, so we were in murky and uncharted territory.  In addition to all that, waving a baking magic wand and turning boxed mixes into something homemade required utilization of my often-ridiculed lack of mathematical prowess, but we were on a mission and charged forward.  Allie was assigned to taste and critique each effort, and after a few tries, I think we might finally be there.  Grandma’s recipe called either for Crème Sherry (which is wine fortified with Brandy) or Brandy.  I’ve tried it both ways and personally prefer the Brandy version, but Crème Sherry is also good for a more subdued boozy flavor).This cake is delicious on its own, but a few extra easy minutes of effort will reward you with a warm and gooey butterscotch sauce that takes this whole thing right over the top.  If you opt out of the sauce idea, your cake can be dusted with powdered sugar, vanilla sugar, or cinnamon sugar before serving.

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Mac and Cheese

Life takes an unhappy turn sometimes, and during those situations I find it helpful to find peace and joy in comfort food.  I haven’t posted anything on the Blog for a couple of months because my mom, otherwise known as Neeners, suffered a pretty big stroke the first of November.  The good news is that she is physically as strong as an ox and eats like a horse.  The more challenging part of the picture is that her vision is fairly limited now, and short-term memory is a struggle.  These issues seem to be improving, but it has resulted in my sister, brother, husband, aunt, and I to adopt an ‘all hands on deck’ approach to making sure she gets the care she needs.  I am so thankful for them all, and thankful Neeners is recovering well and has been a pretty good little trooper through the whole thing.  She retains her signature warped sense of humor about the whole thing, and relishes kicking me – hard – when we do our leg strengthening exercises together.

Back to comfort food then…..I’ve been making this mac and cheese since my college days, when my roommate shared her mother’s recipe.  I’d never hear of such a thing!!!  Mac and cheese that didn’t come out of a box??!! Holy cow!!!   I’ve been hooked ever since and hope you find this recipe helpful in times of need, or any other time you feel like a big bowl of creamy comfort.  To tell the truth, I ALWAYS double this recipe, so if you are so inclined, please feel free.  It’s a nice thing to share if you can’t polish off the whole thing yourself and is just right for whenever a crowd appears, seemingly out of nowhere.

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Grandma’s Dinner Rolls

 These yeasty rolls are my attempt at coming close to the delicious rolls my grandma Liz used to make.  As a young aspiring baker, I’d watch her assemble dozens of at a time, tossing an armload of dough around like it weighed nothing, and tearing off perfectly shaped rolls that she would let rise by her wood stove.  She never measured anything, mixing and baking by feel alone – and they were perfect.  I have fond memories of eating as many as I possibly could every Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve – or as many as I could get my hands on.  Grandma had seven children and hordes of grandchildren, and when everybody got together it was like a small city which means you had to move fast before my seemingly huge uncles with even huger appetites beat me in line. 

 Grandma did not have a recipe as you may have guessed, so I spent years trying to get as close as I could to what she did so effortlessly.  I finally got to where I think she might be proud, and I owe it all to Julia Child because this is pretty much her recipe. If you have a bread machine laying around, haul it out and use the dough cycle for this recipe – that’s how I handle it. These rolls can be made grandma’s way, with just your two hands and a sturdy wooden spoon. There isn’t much better on the planet than biting into one of these babies.  Slathered with butter, of course.  Recipe adapted from ‘Baking with Julia’. 

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Roasted Sweet Onions Stuffed with Savory Mushroom Bread Pudding

This recipe originated from one I tried several years ago on some unsuspecting out of town guests.  During that effort, whole onions were stuffed with breadcrumbs and some cheese and ended up being pretty dry and lacking in the flavor department.  Our guests were polite about the whole thing, but I noticed much of this item being pushed around on the plate without being actually eaten.  Back to the drawing board to tackle the problem areas, and I think we now have a winner.  Whole onions are roasted (super easy but a little time consuming), then cooled, hollowed out and filled with a savory bread pudding that is creamy and cheesy and full of mushrooms, roasted onion and tons of herbs.  And because we can never have too much bread pudding, the stuffed onions sit on a nice bed of the bread pudding to boot.  This makes an awesome side dish, and one you might want to think about over the holidays.  It does take some time and probably needs to be done over two days, but the pieces come together pretty quickly.  However…. if you’d rather skip the whole onion stuffing idea, the bread pudding is delicious on its own. The completed dish can be done in advance a day or two before dinner, so all that’s left is to pop it in the oven and serve.

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Halloween Candy Peanut Butter & Oatmeal Cookies

 

Do you ever have the fortunate problem of leftover Halloween candy due to a lower than expected trick-or-treater turnout?  Since we live up in the woods with no neighbors in sight, we have not had that particular dilemma in over 25 years.  However, it does not stop me from buying Halloween candy just in case we are suddenly overtaken by a large band of rouge candy hunters.  So, there I was, looking at my stash of candy, which happened to include a big bag of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and decided that they might make a good cookie as well as a snack.  Here is the result, and you will see the whole pantry is pretty much thrown in to this one.  These big cookies that are chewy and moist on the inside, brimming with peanut butter, oatmeal, coconut, salted & roasted peanuts, and of course, big pieces of peanut butter cups.  Use any favorite leftover candy and you’ll be a happy camper.  The result is a little new, a little familiar, and a whole lot addictive.  Trick or treat!! …

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Italian Wedding Soup

 

We have now officially entered the ‘comfort food and soup eating’ phase of Fall weather.  I had heard about Italian Wedding Soup but never tasted it, so thought this might be a nice route to take.  In my recipe snooping research phase, I learned that this soup is not served at Italian weddings, despite its name.  The term ‘wedding’ comes from the combining of the meatballs, greens, and pasta.  So now you know and with that knowledge in hand, we can get on with making this big bowl of comfort.  First there’s a rich and flavorful chicken broth that has onion, yellow peppers, carrots and celery added.  Simmer that for a while and then add meatballs (I use turkey but if you have a favorite recipe, feel free to substitute), and acini pasta.  Acini pasta are those teensy little round shapes, that fit perfectly on a spoon. It’s always nice to add your favorite cheese and some nice crusty bread to complete the picture.  A nice big glass of wine wouldn’t hurt either.  After all, this is comfort food so let’s get comfortable.

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Pumpkin & Cranberry Bread with Pumpkin Seed Brittle and Cranberry Compote

 

I’ve adjusted my seasonal frame of mind to Fall mode, which translates to being all-in on my Fall baking routine.  On an expedition to the pantry, I grabbed a can of pumpkin and a package of dried cranberries which seemed like a good start, and the result was this Pumpkin & Cranberry Bread.  This recipe makes two generous loaves, is moist and rich with plenty of pumpkin and warm spices, and then gets a just-right little boost of sweet and tart with dried cranberries.  You can stop right there if you want, but there’s also a Cranberry Compote to spoon over your bread that is loaded with both fresh and dried cranberries.  And for the crunch factor, there’s a Salted Pumpkin Seed Brittle that is sweet and crunchy with an added welcome salty finish for balance.  All delicious on their own, but the three together makes for an exceptionally happy Fall memory.  Put a log on the fire, grab a good book and a hot beverage, and for Pete’s sake, don’t skimp on the Pumpkin Cranberry Bread.  Colder weather requires we keep our strength up.

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Skillet Cornbread with Honey Butter

When I was a kid, one of my favorite suppers was when Neeners would make cornbread and scrambled eggs for supper.  Need I tell you that I drenched the warm cornbread in Log Cabin Syrup after adding plenty of butter?  And yes, the syrup always made its way onto the scrambled eggs too.  Money was tight in those days, but when cornbread arrived, we felt like we were eating like royalty.  In fond remembrance of those days, here’s my own favorite cornbread recipe.  Butter is melted in a cast iron skillet, and the batter is poured in right before popping it into the oven.  Serve this warm with honey butter and you’ll see what I’m talking about.  But if you’d rather drench it in butter and syrup, I won’t blame you one bit.  This recipe is so easy; you won’t ever want to open a box of corn muffin mix again.  Plus, it’s made with lots of real butter – that’s pretty much all I need to hear.

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Roasted Pear Muffins with Pear Chips

Fall is in the air, which gets me thinking favorite about Fall foods (big shock).  As part of this mental excursion, I got to wondering about the fact that I had never seen a recipe for pear muffins before so did some recipe snooping and found such recipes exist, but not very many.  I think this might be because pears, all by themselves, are not really what you would call ‘flavor bombs’, and to my mind require roasting and some cinnamon to get the ball rolling.  Always up for a challenge, I set out to make a pear muffin that would be all about the pear and capitalize on that roasted pear taste that is irresistible.  First, we’ll roast up some diced pears in cinnamon sugar, then add them to a batter that has lots of brown sugar to enhance that roasted concept. When all was said and done, the experiment resulted in a super moist muffin that smacks you right in the face with nice little pieces of roasted pear.  If you want to get really crazy, you can make some pear chips to decorate the tops.  Not at all required, but kinda fun.

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Mexican Spoonbread with Poblano Chilis & Corn with Fresh Tomato Salsa

Do you ever have one of those recipes in your head you’ve heard about and that sounded droolingly delicious, but you’d never even tasted it before?  Such is the case with yours truly and Spoonbread.  Just the sound of the name made me think of something creamy and most likely irresistible.   Spoonbread is a classic dish in the South and is usually made by cooking some cornmeal and milk on the stove top, then adding some eggs and maybe some cheese and baking it into a soft, creamy side dish.  I started upon my quest by looking at several recipes, made my own tweaks and came up with this one. It’s my own spin on this Southern classic, with some amped up flavor from the Poblano Chilis and Corn.  I also snuck in plenty of jack cheddar cheese to ensure the gooey factor in the equation.  And since there are still good tomatoes to be found, stirred together this quick fresh salsa with some jalapeno, lime, and cilantro to top things off.  Bake your Spoonbread until it’s just set and prepare yourself…. this one will knock your socks off.

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