December Culinary Faves and Fails #virtualteaparty2020

On December 17, 2020December 17, 2020 By Widow BadassIn Adventures in Food, COVID-1953 Comments

My 2020 ornament. Slightly doctored by moi to make it more diverse than its original all-white format…including a 3-eyed alien. Because, why not?

Well, it wouldn’t be 2020 if I wasn’t having some tasty yet spectacular fails in the kitchen, now would it?

First up – my attempt to make a dupe for Claxton Fruit Cake. Gluten-free, no less. I kinda mashed together the best bits of 2 copycat recipes I found on Ye Olde Interwebs, and was generous with some Kraken.

One of two rather goopy, gooey, supersweet loaves.

This no-bake fruitcake tastes very similar to what I remember of Claxton fruitcakes, but is very sticky and goopy, and super sweet. I blame the sweetened condensed milk. It was definitely NOT THE RUM I GENEROUSLY EMBELLISHED THE RECIPE WITH. Next year I will use less of the milk and keep the rum…maybe even add more rum. So there.

I tried to use up all the fruitcake mistake as best as I could. Created a trifle out of the damned thing and foisted it upon my “bubble”. It was well received.

Other fails from this month include repeated attempts to make rustic, gluten-free loaves of bread, with yeast. Otherwise known as “doorstops”. No picture can capture the true extent of the denseness of these bread fails. The black holes of baking.

Moving on.

One of my successes was rum balls (requested by my daughter). Except I couldn’t get the chocolate hail to stick to the balls as I was rolling them in the hail. But you know what solved that problem? MORE KRAKEN. Hehehe!

TA DA! Holly generously provided by the bush growing beside my balcony.

And then there was my attempt to make gluten-free boterkoek (Dutch butter cake). I just subbed GF flour for regular – the rest of the recipe stayed the same.

At least it didn’t fall apart like my almond cake.

A little drier than if made with wheat flour, but still very tasty. And at least it stuck together.

And then there was an old standby (and much needed by this point): Homemade Irish Cream Liqueur. AKA Bailey’s. My only change to this recipe was to use an espresso shot instead of instant coffee. Because I has the technology!

I’m done baking for now. Until just before Christmas, when I promised to make a black forest trifle for the day itself. A recipe I haven’t attempted since I was newly married (the FIRST time) and ~~didn’t know any better~~ had the time and energy to create it entirely from scratch. Even the custard.

Pray for me.

Thank you for joining me in this month’s Virtual Tea Party – hosted by Del and Su.

Rock on,

The WB

A Most Delicious Fail #virtualteaparty2020

On November 15, 2020 By Widow BadassIn Adventures in Food68 Comments

Finished cake in silicone pan. Recipe called for a springform pan, which I don’t have (yet!).

I’ve long wanted to make to make a lemon and almond flour cake like this. When a friend posted a link to a recipe for just such a delight on her Facebook page, I was all over it like white on rice. The recipe is called Nonna’s Limoncello and Ricotta Almond Cake, and is gluten-free. I drew up a shopping list on my To-Do app, and I was off to the races!

My first hurdle was not being able to source a spring-form pan at the Superstore. I was so convinced I’d be able to find one there – I even had it in my mind that I had seen said pan there – yet there were none to be found. So I had to come up with a work-around and decided I would use my recently purchased silicone cake pan, instead. Which worked perfectly well, even though it was a bit of a process getting the cake transferred from the pan to a pretty plate.

I excitedly put the kettle on. I poured myself a delicious cup of English Breakfast, and remembered to take another photo before digging into my Instagram-worthy beauty of a cake.

And then, this happened.

I know exactly what I did wrong (well, I’m pretty sure I know) so that my cake would not hold together. It was thoroughly baked. I even added an extra 10 minutes of baking time (because my oven be that way) and when I took it from the oven it was already starting to pull away from the edges of the pan.

What I did was this: add extra liquid to the batter in the form of lemon juice. The recipe called for limoncello and lemon zest only. But I had read some of the comments – where at least one person remarked that it wasn’t lemony enough – and I was going to make damned sure this cake was lemoned up for the gods! So not only did I zest that lemon…I extracted its juice and threw it in the mixing bowl along with everything else.

Next version of this cake will still have the additional lemon juice added in – you can count on that. But I may omit the limoncello. Or add a bit of gluten-free flour, to balance the additional liquid.

There is definitely going to be another version of this cake. It will probably become a go-to recipe as it ticks all the boxes for a delicious dessert IMHO, and especially because it reminds me of my favourite Dutch almond filling for baked goods.

Thank you for joining me in this month’s Virtual Tea Party – hosted by Del and Su. It turned out to be a most delicious fail, and a fun one at that.

Rock on,

The WB

Joining the Blogosphere’s Virtual Tea Party

On April 16, 2020April 17, 2020 By Widow BadassIn Adventures in Food, COVID-19, Move to Vancouver Island53 Comments

Apricot Oatmeal muffins with Earl Grey tea. Last cup with my good china, as it has since been packed up for my move to Vancouver Island.

I’m joining Su and Del, in participating in this month’s virtual tea party. My first attempt at this party is an oldie but goodie – Apricot Oatmeal muffins, from my much beloved recipe book: Muffin Mania, by Cathy Prange and Joan Pauli (who I believe are sisters, and were – are still? – local to my area. Don’t quote me.) I haven’t made this recipe in years. The last time I made it I could easily source apricot baby food (required ingredient) but I can’t seem to find it any more in my local grocery stores. Only mixtures of fruits these days, it seems…

So what’s a gal to do? I had to get creative and figure out how to make a puree from dried apricots. Behold:

Cooking the dried apricots to make the puree. In water, with a little added honey and sugar, and orange zest.

Fresh out of my beloved Nutribullet blender: finished apricot puree! Worked like a charm in the recipe, and the leftovers were delicious stirred into plain yogurt or oatmeal.

My homemade apricot “baby food” worked wonderfully, and now my freezer is stocked with these delicious beauties. These muffins taste more like dessert than anything else. Perfect for Tea Time!

Much beloved muffin cookbook with (most of) the finished product.

The Muffin Mania cookbook came out in the 1980s and was an immediate success, selling out and going into reprint after reprint. My copy is the 7th printing, from 1982. I just did a cursory search on the Interwebs and it doesn’t appear to be in print any longer.

Yes, this cookbook and the recipes within have seen a lot of use and better days! I made sure to rate this recipe as “the best!” so I’d remember which one was my favourite. Handy, now that I am in my dotage. 😉

What is your favourite tea time treat recipe? Is it an oldie yet a goodie, as well? Feel free to join in the tea time festivities, as we enjoy a cuppa and a treat, alone yet together!

Rock on,

The WB