and now for something a little different: ding-dang good ice box fruit cake

This has to be attributed to my friend Paige La Grone Babcock, self-described “Homegrrrl Deluxxe: writing, raising, ratatouille“.  We live in the Southern US, so fair warning as calorie count.  Therefore, in Paige’s own words, here is the recipe and history (my changes are in bold):
It has become a yearly tradition that I make this [...]

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black cake

this cake is a traditional Jamaican cake served on Christmas eve. it is deliciously dark and rich and unlike any other fruit cake you will run across. i got the recipe from one of my favorite authors, Laurie Colwin, whose untimely death was a blow to the culinary word. her two food [...]

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Jaffa Cake

Monika found this recipe on the NineMSN website, and they got it from the April 2006 issue of Australian Table Magazine.
Some tips from my own experience making this cake here, including how to make table sugar into caster sugar.
Jaffa Cake
By Suzanne Gibbs
Serving size: Serves 10 or more
Cooking time: More than 1 hour
INGREDIENTS
6 eggs, separated
1½ cups [...]

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Meyer Lemon Posset

Regina Schramblings originally published this in the Los Angeles Times on Feb. 14 in a “Dinner for Two” recipe. The LA Times republished it as one of the best recipes of 2007, and I quite agree. Who knew science could turn three ingredients into such a fabulous dish?
Meyer Lemon Posset
1 cup heavy cream
One-third cup superfine [...]

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Frozen Yogurt

Vanilla Frozen Yogurt Recipe
It’s important to use good-quality whole-milk yogurt. You can  skip  the vanilla, opting for straight, bright white yogurt with the sweetness playing off the tang of the yogurt. I also used slightly less sugar than called for here, more like 2/3 cup – but you can go either way depending on what [...]

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Hot Buttered Rum

1 Quart French Vanilla ice cream, slightly thawed. (Use the best you can afford. And if you are going to use no-fat frozen yogurt, skip this recipe. It just doesn’t taste the same. I have a name for the drink made with no-fat frozen yogurt–”Why Bother?”)
1 pound butter, softened. (No margarine, please.)
1 pound brown sugar.
1 [...]

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Stawberries and Dream Cream

This works best if you use ripe, fresh, wonderful strawberries. They don’t have to be big, just juicy.
For dessert, use about 6 strawberries per person.
8-oz mascarpone
Cointreau or Triple Sec (Cointreau is better).
Take about one-quarter of the mascarpone in a bowl and whisk in 1/4 cup Cointreau. Mix it in slowly, stirring constantly.  If you pour [...]

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Apple Pie

Apple Pie
6 cups apples1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons flour
½ – 1 tablespoon cinnamon
dash nutmeg
1 tablespoon butter
2 pie crusts
Preheat oven to 375 F. Peel, core and thinly slice the apples. Combine sugar, flour, cinnamon, and nutmeg, add to apples, toss to coat the fruit. Fill a pastry crust, dot the apples with butter. Add top crust, seal [...]

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Apple or Pear Souffle

APPLE OR PEAR SOUFFLE
Makes Two
2 not too tart apples
2 eggs separated
1C water
1C white wine
1/2C plus 2T sugar
2T butter
Preheat oven to 375F.
Rub the butter all around the inside and sides of two ramekins. Add the 2T sugar to one, then, holding this over the other ramekin, roll the sugar around to coat the bottom and sides [...]

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Simple Egg Custard

When my great-grandmother Bengta came to America from Sweden in the 1890’s she brought with her this simple custard recipe, which she passed to my grand-mother and so on. I have no photos of Bengta, nor any written documents from her. All I know of her are the stories my grandmother and [...]

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