Whole Lemon Poppyseed Cake

January 7, 2023 by akc

I made this for dessert on Christmas day. The original plan had been to make cupcakes, but much like deciding to make waffles instead of cinnamon rolls, I wanted to simplify. So instead I paged through Smitten Kitchen Keepers and decided to make the Whole Lemon Poppyseed Cake.

Like her Whole Lemon Bars, this recipe uses a whole lemon blitzed in the food processor. And in this case since there’s no crust to make, you can make the whole thing in either a food processor or a blender, which was fun.

Mine was cooked through in about 30 minutes but didn’t brown on the top at all. I put it back in for 5 minutes to see if it would start browning, but it did not. I think my oven wasn’t keeping the temperature well, which happens from time to time. (The pilot light is kind of finicky.) In addition to not being browned it’s a bit denser than I expected, but since mine hadn’t risen the way Deb’s did that’s not surprising.

This was good but is just a smidge more bitter than I want. I’m not sure if that was my lemon, my oven, or just the way of this cake. If I make it again I might try adding a little more sugar, or planning for it to be more of a snacking cake rather than a dessert.

A close up of a bouquet. A red anemone with a black center is open a the top. Below it are a peach ranunculus and a blooming red rose. — I neglected to take a picture of the cake, so here’s a bouquet I bought myself shortly before Christmas.

Essential Raised Waffles

December 31, 2022December 31, 2022 by akc ♥ 1 Comment

I like to have some sort of special, sweet carb at breakfast on Christmas Day. Ideally cinnamon buns, but those are finicky to make yourself. I did it last year and they turned out OK but not great. Also I did not like the part where I had to get up early for them to do the second rise. (In our very cold kitchen, where they did not rise until I tried to turn our microwave into a proofing box.)

This year, I had picked out a Deb recipe that does the second rise in the fridge and tried to set my expectation that I would enjoy a bun with my second cup of coffee. But I decided to switch to waffles at the last minute, because I wanted to relax instead of doing all the cooking past me had decided I would do on Christmas Eve and Day. We don’t make waffles often — maybe once or twice a year — so they feel a bit special.

I don’t have a recipe I’m in love with, so I decided to see if Deb had something that used ingredients I already had on hand. I settled on the Essential Raised Waffles on the Smitten Kitchen blog. Technically they aren’t a Deb recipe but since this project really doesn’t have any rules it doesn’t matter.

What I liked about this was that most of the work is done the day before, and it’s nothing particularly complicated. I was also very interested in something that would have a little more flavor than your typical waffle batter that you mix right before you make them. I opted to let ours rise in the fridge instead of the counter and was very happy with the flavor. I’m not sure the volume increased that much but I made a half batch so it’s hard to tell. Christmas morning, I was able to finish the batter while the waffle iron heated up.

Because these are so light they cooked up really fast. I have an older, non-ceramic version of the Presto FlipSide Belgian waffle maker. I got 2 and 3/4 waffles out of a half recipe, but I could have put a little more batter in the two full waffles. They were pretty much perfect at 4 minutes. We enjoyed them with a little bit of butter, some frozen blueberries I warmed up, and syrup.

Two golden-brown waffles are stacked on a white dinner plate. In the background is another plate with two lightly-fried eggs and an orange and white pottery mug. — Essential Raised Waffles from the Smitten Kitchen blog.

Cauliflower Cheese Baked Potato

December 26, 2022December 25, 2022 by akc ♥ 1 Comment

This one got on my list because Deb mentioned it when I heard her speak. I have no idea what the context was but in the moment it sounded very appealing and so here we are. I believe that was actually when I took out my phone and started a list of recipes I wanted to make and/or was wondering why I hadn’t made.

This was very straightforward, the only thing that tripped me up was that the potatoes have to roast for an hour and I was hungry. But while they’re in the oven you prep everything else, and you have plenty of time to do so. I recommend checking your potatoes when you take out the cauliflower. I could tell mine needed more time, but that they wouldn’t need the full hour. In the end they were done in about 45 minutes.

The only change I made was to chop the cauliflower into smaller florets than called for, because I wanted it in smaller bites. But I roasted it for the full time given for large florets, which got some browning on the cauliflower which I found delightful.

I made the full recipe even though I was only serving myself for dinner because I wanted the leftovers for lunches. To that end, I didn’t combine the cheese sauce with all of the potatoes the night I made it for dinner. I finished one dressed potato in the oven as directed, and everything else went in the fridge.

This is not a particularly photogenic meal, but it was a very savory and satisfying dinner for a chilly night when you are very hungry. I skipped the sour cream and didn’t miss it. It is very filling, so if you’re serving anything else with it – even just a green salad – keep that in mind. Depending on your appetite you might only want half a potato.

A shallow white bowl rests on a marbled grey counter. The bowl contains a baked potato smothered in cheddar-cheese colored sauce with spots where it was browned in the over. Lots of chives are scattered over the top. — Cauliflower Cheese Baked Potato from *Smitten Kitchen Keepers*.

Smoky Sheet Pan Chicken with(out) Cauliflower

December 20, 2022January 26, 2023 by akc

This is one of several recipies from Smitten Kitchen Every Day (also available on the Food Network) that are in our regular rotation. It is also one of several variations on the “chicken and veggies on a sheet pan” dinner, which we have at least a couple of times a month when it’s not too hot to use the oven.

Smoked paprika is the star of this one, and I also really like the pop from the olives. I’ve made this a ton of times and have found it to be very forgiving of different types of potatoes (just try to chop them all roughly the same size or width), and really you can just eyeball the amount of veggies you make. If your sheet pan is full, you’re on track. If it’s overflowing, pull out another pan and roast some of them separately. You won’t be sad to have extra veggies.

I don’t follow this to the letter. I almost always use dried thyme and add a little bit of smoked paprika when prepping the veggies. I don’t think I have ever added the finishing elements (although sometimes the veggies do need a little more salt at the table, so perhaps I should look into this).

I made a bigger change this time though, which was to use delicata squash instead of cauliflower. This came about mostly becuase our grocery delivery came with a too-small package of pre-chopped cauliflower instead of a whole head, and because I have a small stockpile of winter squash acquired over the course of the last few weeks of the farmer’s market. Delicata squash is delicous so it worked really well here, but I did miss the textural contrast of the cauliflower against the potatoes.

I should note that in my oven this cooks up faster than the recipe says. I (carefully) toss the veggies at 15 minutes in, and check the chicken and a few of the bigger pieces of potatoes at 30 minutes. More often than not the chicken is done and so are the potatoes. But the nice thing about using bone-in skin-on chicken is that it won’t dry out if you need to roast it for the full 45 minutes.

A sheet pan of cooked food is shown on top of a gas stove. The sheet pan contains roasted pieces of potato, delicata squash, red onion, green olives, and chicken thighs. The chicken thighs have an orange marinade nad there are flecks of spices on the veggies. — Smoky Sheet Pan Chicken, made with delicata squash instead of cauliflower due to the vagaries of grocery delivery, from *Smitten Kitchen Every Day*.

Apple Cider Old-Fashioned

December 16, 2022December 14, 2022 by akc

The Saturday before Thanksgiving is the last market of the season for my farmer’s market, so in addition to picking up our turkey, it’s my last chance for squash, apples, and cider from Kuhn Orchards. Since it was my last chance, I grabbed a quart of cider and justified it by saying it would be good to have to offer our guests on Thanksgiving.

We didn’t open it on Thanksgiving — I don’t think I even offered it — and it sat in the fridge for a week or so after that. As we enjoyed our leftovers and the fridge returned to something more like its normal state, I realized I needed to use the cider before it started to ferment. Seemed like the perfect time to make the Apple Cider Old-Fashioned from Smitten Kitchen Keepers (also on Deb’s Instagram Reels).

I didn’t have pie spice on hand, so I just used some ground cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg, a couple of whole cloves, and the innards of a few cardamom pods. I’m not sure how long it took to cook the cider down, but it was an easy, hands-off process. I puttered around the kitchen doing other stuff and gave things a stir every so often.

Once it started to get down to something close to the amount called for, I paid more attention so I could catch it before it cooked down too much. I strained it directly into a mason jar and let it cool, then added the bitters and bourbon straight into the jar, capped it, and gave it a shake. I chilled it in the fridge and we enjoyed it over a nice big ice cube later that night.

As you can guess this is a fairly sweet cocktail, but one that you can rebalance a bit as needed with a little more bourbon, or water down with some crushed ice. There’s something really nice about having a bottled cocktail ready to go in your home bar; it’s like your past self is showing your present self the hospitality you normally show your guests.

This has kept well in the fridge, but it doesn’t make a huge batch so I don’t think you’ll have it around for long anyway.