A Good Dish

making food simpler

When Autumn Gives You Apples, Make Applesauce!

Homemade applesauce in a Maiolica bowl
by Stanley Mace Andersen

Fall is apple season and right now bins of fresh crisp red, green and yellow apples are ours to buy – the markets are full of them. When you have more than you can eat out of hand, cooking apples is a way to intensify and diversify their flavor. Making applesauce is the simplest means by which to transform apples to another level and doing so will generate wonderfully sweet aromas in your kitchen. Homemade applesauce tastes great served with pork, chicken, potato pancakes, with walnuts, pumpkin and chia seeds or on its own. It can be tailored to your own preferences for spice and consistency and is much more flavorful than the generally bland jarred varieties. You can substitute some applesauce for part of the butter in a muffin or cake recipe and it supplies a healthy amount of fiber, always a positive. I make it because I love to eat it and it is one of the easiest things I know how to cook.

A potful of cut apples with cinnamon ready to be cooked

There is almost nothing to it except cutting up the apples. We like to eat applesauce made with the skins (which also adds lovely color) but if you don’t, all you have to do is put it through a food mill after cooking or peel the apples before cutting (although the peels add color and flavor). I usually buy the 2 bags for $5 of sometimes bruised and sometimes perfect apples that one of the farmers at our market offers but any variety you like will work. Just cut up an assortment of apples (composting the cores), add 1/2 cup of water to get things cooking, toss in a cinnamon stick, sprinkle liberally with cinnamon, cover and simmer until mushy (about 20-30 minutes), stirring occasionally. Really – that is it!

Mason jars of applesauce can stay in your refrigerator for weeks

If you like ginger or cardamom or nutmeg, add some. If you like the consistency thinner, add more water or a little apple juice or cider. If you have a ripe pear, plum or a handful of cranberries or raspberries, toss them in to cook along with the apples. Apples and cinnamon together are sweet enough that I never add sugar of any kind. The finished applesauce keeps for weeks in a covered glass jar in the refrigerator or you can process it in a water bath like jam and keep it on a shelf until summer. If you make it now, I’ll bet it will be gone long before we even get to winter!

Homemade applesauce in a maiolica bowl by Stanley Mace Andersen

This Easy Celebratory Recipe is a Piece of (Ice Cream) Cake

3 layer ice-cream cake
Plate by Cristina Salusti

Our son was never much of a cake eater growing up. Now, of course, he eats it occasionally but for a long time, his favorite sweets were ice cream and cookies. Thus, when birthdays rolled around, I had to be creative. For years I made elaborate iced cookies or stacks of colorful Rice Krispie treats. When he was in high school, I started making layered ice cream “cakes” and they have become his birthday desert of choice. I don’t make a lot of sugary deserts anymore but birthdays still seem to demand something sweet. I could be satisfied with a big bowl of berries but this wasn’t for me.

Ice cream cake is a bit of a misnomer. This desert is essential layers of different flavors of ice cream on top of a crust of crumbled cookies with some sprinkles or chocolate chips on top. It’s almost too easy to even call it a recipe. You could use any kind of cookie (I imagine ginger would be delicious) and if you don’t want to crumble them, simply lay them in the bottom of the cake pan – the ice cream will soften them. The only essential item is a spring form pan. I bought my big rectangular spring form at a restaurant supply store but got the smaller square one at Home Goods for almost nothing. You could make this “cake” in a regular pan but it would be hard to get out. You would have to serve it more like pie, which might not be so bad!

Ice Cream “Cake”

Place one container of ice cream in the refrigerator for a couple of hours to soften. The flavors of ice cream are up to you – chocolate, coffee and mint chocolate chip is the favorite combo in our home but fruit flavors layered with vanilla could be good or go wild and experiment – if you would like them in a bowl together, you will like them in cake form. The amounts you use depend on the size of your pan. For an 8″ round pan, I would probably use pints. For half sheet size, go for half gallons. In between, I’d use quarts.

Pulse cookies in a food processor to make crumbs
Spread cookie crumbs in the bottom of a springform pan

Make cookie crumbs by pulsing your chosen cookie in a food processor. I used half a box of Oreos (actually the Trader Joe version) but almost any cookie should work. (In past years, I’ve used a bag of Tate’s chocolate chip cookies with good results). Lay the crumbs in an even layer in the bottom of a springform pan. If you like, sprinkle with chocolate chips or pieces. When the ice cream is soft, pour it on the crumbs and spread as evenly as you can with a spatula without disturbing the crumbs. Place the whole pan in the freezer and put another quart of ice cream in the fridge.

Spread softened ice cream over crumbs to form the first layer

When the ice cream you spread in the pan is firm (about 2 hours), take the spring form out of the freezer and spread another layer of softened ice cream over the first. Continue in this way until there are 3 or 4 layers or your pan is full. You can add chocolate chips, crushed peppermints, nuts or whatever you prefer in between layers, ending with a layer of ice cream. Top with sprinkles, chocolate chips, melted chocolate or more crumbled cookies.. If you don’t want more chocolate or sugar, you could top with berries when unmolded. Keep in the freezer until ready to use.

You could put berries or greens around the base of the bare springform to decorate

Just before serving, take the cake out of the freezer, dip a knife in hot water and run it around the inside of the pan before releasing the springform. Dip the knife in hot water to make cutting slices easier. If you want to gild the lily, you can dollop some whipped cream on each slice and top with chopped nuts. Whichever way you choose, the cake will disappear rapidly!

4 layer ice-cream cake with chocolate chips
Plate by Cristina Salusti

Is it Worth Waiting in Line for a Cookie?

Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookie from Levain Bakery
Glazed Tile by Bruce Winn

There is often a line to get into the Levain Bakery on west 74th Street (near Amsterdam Avenue). And not just a couple of people – a long line – one that oddly rivals the line outside our local soup kitchen! It is so long, in fact, that they have a “cookie line-cam” on their website so you can see how long it is at any moment. Although they sell, among other items, a good sourdough boule, tasty walnut raisin loaves, rustic ciabatta and a decent cup of coffee, Levain is known for their fist sized cookies. They sell 4 varieties – chocolate walnut chip, oatmeal raisin, dark chocolate chocolate chip and dark chocolate peanut butter chip. So when I passed by and there was no line, I stopped in to see if their famous $4 cookie could be worth it.

Levain Bakery on West 74th Street

The chocolate walnut chip, which won a throw down with Bobby Flay, by the way, was developed to satisfy the appetites of the 2 female owners of the bakery when they were training for an Ironman competition. This is a big, dense mountain of a cookie but slightly wet inside and very sweet. If you like eating raw cookie dough, you will probably like this cookie. My husband, who prefers dark chocolate and drinks his coffee black, stopped eating after 2 bites, declaring it to be cloyingly sweet. I agreed but somehow managed to finish mine. I thought it was dense and flavorful but too sweet even for my taste. I don’t buy cookies much anymore or even eat much sugar so I may be out of practice. And I pay more than $4 for plenty of things so, although it seems like a lot, it is a huge cookie and price is relative. If you have a very sweet tooth, this is the cookie for you, except it would be best shared. According to myfitnesspal.com, each cookie is a whopping 563 calories. And, of course, taste is personal – there are gazillions of people who love this cookie so much they are willing to wait on line for it or pay to have it shipped.

6 oz. scoops of cookies waiting to be baked
Whole wheat raisin walnut roll
Levain Bakery’s uptown location

I wouldn’t necessarily buy the chocolate chip walnut again, or the dark chocolate chip, which although darker chocolate tasting, is still super sweet. But I will patronize the bakery both because they bake good bread, are a local business and they donate whatever doesn’t sell each day to City Harvest to feed the hungry, a mission we can all appreciate and support. I might, however, choose to shop at their location on Frederick Douglas Boulevard and 116th Street, as there was no line whatsoever when we walked by last weekend. Levain isn’t revealing its secret method anytime soon but if you love their cookie and search online, there are plenty of copycat recipes out there. And those whole wheat walnut raisin rolls toasted – yum!

Dark Chocolate Chocolate Chip cookie from Levain Bakery
Glazed tile by Bruce Winn

A Quick and Festive New Year’s Breakfast – Cranberry Torte

Slice of warm cranberry torte Earthenware plate by Lisa Orr
Slice of warm cranberry torte
Earthenware plate by Lisa Orr

Holidays are a time of indulgence and baking a cranberry torte is an easy way to put out a festive breakfast on New Years morning. Alongside a bowl of hard-boiled eggs or a frittata, yogurt, fruit and granola, there will be something for all to help themselves to eat as they stumble into the kitchen. This is a very easy recipe and saves you from being a short order cook.

 We first ate this torte at a lodge in Sedona. The innkeeper generously shared the recipe, although I had to divide it by 5 since it was meant to feed 50 guests. It is delicious both warm and room temperature, freezes well and can sit out on the counter for a couple of hours since it is quite moist. I imagine it would be good made with blueberries or raspberries, either fresh or frozen, or chocolate chips, if you want to try it a different way. We can deal with resolutions after breakfast….

Cranberry Torte cooling
Cranberry Torte cooling

BRIAR PATCH INN CRANBERRY TORTE

 Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

  • 3/4 cup (1 1/2 stocks) butter, melted
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 cup flour
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 cup chopped nuts
  • 1 cup fresh cranberries or 3/4 cup dried cranberries, plumped in water (fresh will be tarter and dried will be sweeter)

Mix butter and sugar and then beat in eggs completely.

Add flour and nuts and cranberries and mix until just combined.

Scrape batter into a greased 8″ round or square cake pan.

If you want your cake glittery and a bit sweeter, sprinkle it with a little sugar before baking.

Bake about 1 hour or until golden brown.

Cool slightly and cut into wedges or squares.

The Easiest and Quickest Cookie to Bake – Coconut Haystacks

Lemon Coconut Haystacks Earthenware flower plate by Holly Walker
Lemon Coconut Haystacks
Earthenware flower plate by Holly Walker

I love to bake although I don’t do it much anymore. However, around the holidays I always find myself in the mood. I’ve been known to bake 8 kinds of cookies just to compose holiday gifts. My mother had a friend who used to bring us a tin with a variety of the most beautiful, delicious and buttery cookies every December; I think I’ve been trying to recreate something as special ever since. My cookies are never quite as delicate or complicated but I make an effort to make sure they taste good.

The simplest cookie recipe I know is a coconut haystack or macaroon. It is flourless and can be made with finely shredded coconut or a combination of fine and broad shreds as long as they are unsweetened. You could easily double or halve the recipe and you can swap out the traditional vanilla for almond or lemon extract with some lemon zest added for more flavor. Once cooled, the haystacks can be stored in an airtight container for a few days and, if you like them warm, can be reheated on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. They freeze well but must be in a single layer so as not to stick together.

haystacks on parchment ready to bake
Haystacks on parchment ready to bake

Some recipes call for sweetened condensed milk. You can add a 14 oz can in place of the sugar if you want your cookies moister and richer. You can also drizzle or dip them in melted chocolate for a fancier cookie. Any version you choose will be delicious with a cup of coffee or tea – just right for a bright moment on the shortest day of the year. Happy winter!!

Chocolate dipped coconut haystacks Earthenware flower plate by Holly Walker
Chocolate dipped coconut haystacks
Earthenware flower plate by Holly Walker

COCONUT HAYSTACKS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

  • Beat together until well combined:
  • 2 egg whites
  • 2/3 cup sugar
  • 1tsp vanilla or lemon extract (if using lemon, add zest of 1 lemon)
  • Pinch salt
  • Mix in:
  • 2 generous cups shredded unsweetened coconut

 Spoon up by heaping tablespoonfuls and form into haystacks by compressing with your fingers (wet fingers in water to keep from sticking).

Arrange on a parchment paper covered cookie sheet about 1″ apart.

Bake 20-25 minutes until starting to brown. Check often in last 5 minutes so they don’t burn.

Cool completely on wire racks and store for up to 3 days or freeze in a single layer.

If you like, dip in melted chocolate and place on waxed paper to set up.

Makes 20-24 cookies, depending on size.