Plum Berry Upside-Down Cake

This recipe is taken from David Lebovitz's book Room for Dessert. Elizabeth made it last summer and we thought it delicious. Lebovitz calls for huckleberries, but we substituted blackberries. Any berries but strawberries may be used.

Plum Berry Upside-Down Cake (1 9"round cake or 1 10"square cake)
Preheat oven to 350 deg. with rack in the middle.
The dessert is best served warm.

Topping:
3 Tbls. butter
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1 cup berries (blueberries can be used, also)
6-8 medium plums, about 1#

Melt butter in a cake pan, directly on the stove top over low heat. Add the brown sugar and stir until sugar is thoroughly moistened. Remove from heat and cool briefly.
Sprinkle half the berries evenly over the moistened brown sugar. Cut the plums in half, remove the pits and cut the plum halves into 1/2" slices. Arrange the slices over the berries in a concentric, overlapping circle. You may also scatter them evenly. Strew the rest of the berries over the plum slices.

Cake:
1 stick butter at room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
1 1/2 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup milk at room temperature

Beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes in a stand mixer. Stop the mixer once and scarpe down the sides of the bowl to make sure the butter is completely incorporated. Add the vanilla.
Beat in eggs, one at a time, until completely incorporated.
In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, bkaing powder and salt. Mix half of the flour mixture into the batter. Stir the milk into the batter, add the remaining dry ingredients and stir just until smooth; do not overmix. The batter will be quite thick.
Carefully spead the batter over the fruit in the cake pan, smoothing with a spatula. Bake the upside-cake for about 1 hour, until the top is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Let the cake stand at least 20 minutes before unmolding. Run a knife around the edge of the cake to loosen it from the pan. Invert a serving plate over the cake and carefully flip over both cake and plate simultaneously. Lift off the cake pan and scrape any fruit that may have stuck to the pan back onto the cake.

Serve with whipped cream or ice cream.

Mom's Lemon Meringue Pie

I like a tart lemon pie.. no sweet lemon stuff in my home!

Bake a 9" pie crust and set aside to completely cool.
Separate three eggs; put the whites into a non-plastic bowl with 1/2 tsp of vanilla and set aside. Next to the bowl place 6 Tbls. of sugar and also 1/4 tsp. cream of tartar. Set up the electric mixer to beat the meringue.
Wash three good sized lemons. Zest the lemons & place in a bowl with 2 Tbls. softened butter.
Cut the lemons in half and juice them, removing any seeds, until you have 1/2 cup of juice. Use the pulp.

Lemon filling ~
1-1/2 cups white sugar
3 Tbls. flour
3 Tbls. cornstarch
Mix this together in an 8 qt. sauce pan; gradually stir in 1-1/3 cup hot water with a wooden spoon. Cook and stir over medium/high heat until bubbly and thickened. Reduce heat and cook for two more minutes.
Remove from heat.

Place the three egg yolks into a bowl; beat them lightly with a fork. Gradually stir in about 1 cup of hot filling into the yolks. Stir well and quickly so the eggs don't cook. Pour this mixture into the sauce pan and stir, bringing the mixture to a slow boil again. Cook and stir 2 more minutes.

Stir butter and lemon zest into the hot mixture.
Gradually stir in the 1/2 cup lemon juice, beating well to combine.
Cover the mixture with saran wrap or wax paper to keep piping hot. (Or you can reheat in the pan, stirring, for a minute before adding the meringue.)
Set aside.

Quickly make the meringue.
Add the cream of tartar to the meringue and beat with an electric mixer on medium speed until soft peaks form. The tips will curl over when the beaters are removed.
Gradually add sugar, beating on high speed for a few minutes, or until the meringue is glossy with stiff peaks, and the sugar is dissolved.

Pour the hot filling into the pie crust, and quickly add the meringue. Seal the meringue to the pie crust, making a design on the pie.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 12 minutes or until the meringue is golden.
Let cool for about three hours before cutting.

*The trick to this pie is keeping the filling very hot; when the meringue touches the filling, the egg whites will cook from the heat. Otherwise the whites will be runny until the meringue topping*

The Best Banana Bread

This is from Cook's Illustated, and it is indeed, the *best* banana bread. The ingredients keep it lighter tasting. I generally need to cook the bread longer than the recipe states. The trick is to mix only until blended so that the bread rises nicely. The recipe doubles easily.

Makes one 9-inch loaf. Published March 1, 1998.

Greasing and flouring only the bottom of a regular loaf pan causes the bread to cling to the sides and rise higher. If using a nonstick loaf pan, on which the sides are very slick, grease and flour sides as well as the bottom.

Ingredients
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1 1/4 cups toasted pecans, chopped coarse (about 1 cup)
3 very ripe bananas, soft, darkly speckled, mashed well (about 1 1/2 cups)
1/4 cup plain yogurt
2 large eggs , beaten lightly
6 tablespoons unsalted butter , melted and cooled
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions
1. Adjust oven rack to lower middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bottom only of regular loaf pan, or grease and flour bottom and sides of nonstick 9-by-5-by-3-inch loaf pan; set aside. Combine first five ingredients together in large bowl; set aside.

2. Mix mashed bananas, yogurt, eggs, butter, and vanilla with wooden spoon in medium bowl. Lightly fold banana mixture into dry ingredients with rubber spatula until just combined and batter looks thick and chunky. Scrape batter into prepared loaf pan; bake until loaf is golden brown and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, about 55 minutes. Cool in pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Pie Crust

This is a simple, but flaky pie crust. To make a two crust pie, simply double the recipe.

9" Pie Crust

1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/3 vegetable oil + 1Tbls.
2 Tbls. cold water

Stir the first two ingredients together. Stir in the oil with a fork. Add cold water. If the dough seems a bit dry, add a Tbl. more oil.
Mix with a fork until blended.
Roll out on a damp surface between two pieces of wax paper. (Saran wrap will work, also.)

To place the crust into the 9" pan (I recommend a glass pie plate), carefully peel the top wax paper off the dough. Holding the bottom wax paper, flip the dough onto the pie pan, and peel off the wax paper. Place the dough so that fills the pie pan by lifting, NOT stretching the dough. Stretching will cause the crust to shrink as it bakes. Prick the dough several times with a fork. If the crust balloons up while baking, prick and flatten it with a fork.

Bake at 425 for 12 minutes or until lightly golden in the center.

Baking Powder Biscuits

Baking Powder Biscuits (makes about 16) 425 degree oven

2 cups of all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tbls. baking powder
1 tbls. sugar
1/4 cup Crisco (can substitute butter)
3/4 cup milk
*Mix and handle the dough as little as possible for light biscuits.

Mix dry ingredients; cut in Crisco with pastry cutter or two dinner knives until the Crisco is the size of small peas. Make a well in the dough, and pour in the cold milk. Mix with a fork until just barely holding together. Place onto a lightly floured bread board, and about knead 16 times. Roll out with a rolling pin about 1/2" or more thick. (I use a 2.25" biscuit cutter.) The dough may also be cut with a sharp knife into 2" squares. Place on cookie sheet; bake for 12 minutes or until lightly brown.
Wrap in a cotton dishtowel to keep hot; serve immediately.

Pizza

I love this pizza. The crust is thick and chewy and holds up pretty well. The trick to good pizza crust is to heat its cooking area piping hot before adding the pizza. If you have a good, heavy pizza stone, place it in the oven to heat before preparing the pizza. I roll the dough out to the size I want, and then place it onto parchment paper over a pizza pan. After adding the fixins', place the pan near the hot hot hot pizza stone. Carefully pull the parchment paper, with the pizza, onto the stone. This will cook the bottom crust nicely. This makes two good sized pizzas.


Proof 1 Tbl. dry yeast in 1/4 cup warm water with 1 Tbl. of sugar
Combine 1/4 cup of olive oil, 1 tsp. salt and 1 cup warm water.
Add 1 cup of flour to the water mix and combine. Add yeast, and mix well. Add three cups more of flour and mix to make a stiff dough. Knead well until elastic and smooth.
Place into an oiled bowl, and cover. Let dough rise until double, about an hour or more.
Punch down, divide in two, and roll out the dough into the pans. Be careful not to tear holes into the dough. If you do, pull a little dough off the edge and patch the hole.
While dough is rising, prepare your toppings ~
1/2 pound of shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 pound of mild Italian sausage, cooked and drained well (or Canadian Bacon, diced)
1 can of black olives, sliced
1 brown onion, sliced thinly
1 green bell pepper, diced
Several mushrooms, sliced

Scatter the cheese onto the dough first, then add your toppings. I generally use a can of tomato sauce, which I liberally sprinkle over the toppings before I bake the pizza. If you'd rather, you can dice the onion with minced garlic and combine that with the tomato sauce. Or use no sauce at all, but instead have sliced paste tomatoes with the toppings.
Sprinkle Italian seasonings over the pizza, and place carefully into the oven. Bake in a hot oven, about 450 for about 10-13 minutes until the crust is nicely browned.

To reheat pizza, place in a hot non-stick frying pan. This keeps the pizza crisp.

Coconut-Cranberry Chews

These are wonderful Christmas cookies. They hold their shape well in traveling or packing in boxes to give to friends. The tart cranberries give a fresh taste.
NOTE: Do NOT use Cranraisins. Those things are horrible. If you cannot find dried tart cranberries, substitute dried tart cherries. Both can be found at Trader Joe's.

Coconut-Cranberry Chews from Challenge Butter co.
The mixture may look dry until it comes together as a dough. If it's too crumbly to form into balls, mix longer. It should be smooth and homogeneous. This makes about 6 dozen cookies.

In a large bowl, beat 1&1/2 cups butter, at room temperature to beat with 2 cups sugar, 1 Tabl. grated orange peel, and 2 tsps. vanilla until smooth. Beat in 1 egg until well blended.
In a medium bowl, stir together 3&1/4 cups all purpose flour, 1 tsp. baking powder, 1/4 tsp. salt.
Add to the butter mixture and stir to mix. Beat on low speed until dough comes together, about 5 minutes or so. Mix in the 1&1/2 cups dried tart cranberries and 1&1/2 cups sweetened, dried flaked coconut.

Shape dough into 1" balls, and place about 2" apart on a buttered 12 x 15" baking sheets. (I use parchment paper instead of buttering the sheet.)
Bake at 350 until cookie edges just begin to brown, about 11-13 minutes. Let cool on sheet for 5 minutes, then carefully transfer to a rack to cool completely.