Treats from the Tipsy Turtle

Every morning when I check my email, I skim through my numerous cooking subscriptions. On food52.com, this caught my eye: "The cake Alice Waters can't live without." I had to check it out. The cake is originally of Swedish origin; Chef  Niloufer Ichaporia King received the recipe from a friend and tweaked it for her cookbook. It's wonderfully simple. Here's today's cast (the butter was hanging out in the little pot). I lined the bottom of a springform pan with parchment paper, then generously buttered the entire pan. I sprinkled two tablespoons of sugar into the pan and then swirled it around so the sugar coated the bottom and sides. There was a fair amount of sugar hanging around the bottom when I was done.  Sliced almonds came next. I haven't used my mortar and pestle since we moved back home. It was nice to see it! Cardamom pods were smashed open to remove their booty. I needed a tablespoon of the seeds. Once they were loose and I had removed any pod fr...

It's Chris's 29th birthday and what better way to celebrate than with a mess of food from our favorite neighborhood Chinese restaurant, Tasty Chop Suey, and apple pie? The credit for finding this recipe actually goes to Tom; in 2012 the DOE was furloughing the teachers one day a week so I used the time to do some cooking with the boys. This was a huge hit--not only is it delicious, the crust is very forgiving. So for this recipe, at least, my pastry nemesis is conquered! Here's the cast. The crust has a couple of unusual ingredients--the first is baking powder. I whisked it into the flour and salt. I cut the shortening into cubes and added it to the flour mixture. Shortening gets to the crumb stage a lot faster than butter does! The second unusual ingredient is egg yolks--four of them! Got some ice water ready. A couple of tablespoons of lemon juice was added to the yolks. I know some people add vinegar to pie crust to prevent it from being overworked. I assume the acid of ...

This recipe has been on my radar for more than half a year now. Even though I have most of the ingredients on hand all the time, every time I thought about baking it, I was somehow missing something and I didn't feel like going and getting it. I had fully intended to mix up a batch of the substitute Everything Bagel topping but then, my former student Liz, sent me a care package. And a bottle of Trader Joe's Everything Bagel seasoning was included in it (Thanks, Liz!). So no excuses! The recipe is split into three sections: the bread, the filling and the topping. This is the bread's cast. Sugar and yeast are combined in a mixing bowl.   Warm, not hot, milk is added.  I covered the mixture with a kitchen towel so the yeast could do its thing. In privacy. After about five minutes, everything was nice and frothy! I added the softened butter, egg, flour and salt--I put the salt on top of the flour even though the yeast had already been activated. The egg is in there, I promise....