Adventures in Baking

As little D's arrival approaches, big D and I did some baking. In our first Sunday New York Times (Magazine, 13/09) we discovered a recipe for a "Huguenot Torte," a 1965 dessert based on something called Ozark Pudding, which we had never tasted.

Since it is apple season, we thought we'd try it nonetheless, and it was VERY GOOD! I'd never had anything like it: a butter-tart-like filling of floury and sugary pecans and apples topped with a crisp meringue-type topping. But easily made in a single bowl (we used our Kitchen Aid, otherwise known as the Albatross, and I think this may have been key to the fluffy result).

Here is the recipe:

Preheat oven to 325F.
Beat 2 eggs and 1/2 tsp. salt until fluffy; gradually beat in 1 1/2 c. sugar.
Beat in 1 tsp. vanilla, 4 tbsp. flour and 2 1/2 tsp. baking powder.
Fold in 1 c. peeled and chopped tart apples along with 1 c. coarsely chopped pecans.
Pour into deep (at least 2") 9 x 9 pan; bake for 45 minutes until puffed up and then sunken.
Serve warm either plain, with whipped cream, crème fraiche or sour cream.

We think this would be divine with maple syrup instead of sugar.

A day later, P and I had an afternoon date during which we decided to make cookies. Since we'd just polished off 9 dozen (yes, we shared) chocolate chip cookies made for the hospital but finished well before we got there, we thought we'd better make something new, so chose the Spiced Ginger Mound recipe from my old Purity cookbook. It makes (I quote from my notes on the book's page) "Extremely tasty, lovely, gently-gingered cookies. EXCELLENT."

Here, then, is the recipe for what we now consider our house gingersnapchew:

Preheat oven to 325F.
Cream together 3/4 c. shortening (we use Becel), 1 c. sugar; add one egg and 1/4 c. molasses.
Add the following dry ingredients, pre-mixed: 2 c. all purpose flour, 1 tsp. baking soda, 1 tsp. cinnamon, 1 tsp. cloves, 1 tsp. ginger and 1/4 tsp. salt.
Mix well, then shape into small balls (1-2" depending on desired cookie size).
Roll balls in sugar, place on greased or non-stick baking sheets and bake for 12 minutes (chewy) to 15 minutes (snappy).
Try not to eat them all in the first 10 minutes out of the oven.