Friday, February 26, 2010

Gingerbread Apple Upside Down Cake





Ricky's Birthday Cake

Gingerbread Apple Upside Down Cake smittenkitchen.com/2009/11/gingerbread-apple-upside-down-...

Gingerbread Apple Upside-Down Cake
Adapted from Karen Bates at the Philo Apple Farm via the New York Times

Serves 12

Topping
4 tablespoons butter, plus extra for greasing pan
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
Pinch of salt
4 apples (about 1 3/4 pounds), peeled, cored and cut into 1/4-inch wedges

Batter
1/2 cup (1 stick or 4 ounces) butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/3 cup dark molasses
1/3 cup honey
1 cup buttermilk
2 1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Very softly whipped cream

Make the topping: Preheat the oven to 325°F. Grease a 10-inch cake pan. Melt butter in a small saucepan. Add brown sugar and simmer over moderate heat, stirring, four minutes, then swirl in salt. Remove from heat and pour into the bottom of your cake pan. Make circles of overlapping apple slices on top of the caramel. Chop any remaining slices and place them in the gaps.

Make the batter: Using a mixer, blend 1/2 cup butter and the sugar on medium-low speed. Increase the speed to high and cream until light and fluffy.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg, molasses, honey and buttermilk. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, ginger and cinnamon. Alternate mixing the flour and molasses mixtures into the butter mixture, adding the next once the last has been incorporated.

Pour the batter into the pan. Bake at least 45 to 50 minutes (thanks to commenter klp for reminding me this took a bit longer) or until a wooden tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool on a rack for 10 to 15 minutes, then turn out onto a platter (one that will catch spills, unlike what you see in the pictures above).

Serve warm or cool with very softly whipped cream.

Friday, February 12, 2010

Snow Day and Barbecue Ribs






We had a rare snow day today and I decided to make some Barbecue ribs to warm us up


Avonel’s BBQ sauce (I added the beer, onions, and garlic)

2 lbs ribs
1 ½ cups catsup
¼ cup Worcestershire sauce
1/3 cup sugar (1/4 brown sugar and fill with white sugar)
¼ cup apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp salt
½ tsp pepper
1 tbsp chili powder
½ cup beer
1 onion
2 cloves garlic

Put everything in a dutch oven, cook at 350 for 2 hrs. By then it is fall-apart delicious!

Noodles with Chicken and Thai Peanut sauce


Noodles with Chicken and Thai Peanut Sauce


Betsy’s Spicy Thai Peanut Dressing


1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/3 cup rice vinegar

2 tablespoons crunchy peanut butter

2 tablespoons soy sauce

4 medium garlic cloves, pressed

1 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes


Combine in jar, shake it up.


Cook 1/2 lb of noodles (I used shells, but anything would work)

Brown 2 lbs of chicken and 2 cups frozen broccoli in some of the peanut sauce.


Combine chicken, broccoli, noodles and most of the remaining sauce (or all of it, depending on your preference)


Chop green onions and sprinkle over the top.


This barely lasted for one night.


Snow Day

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