These are everything I want in a chocolate sugar cookie: they’re really chocolaty, not too sweet, ever-so-slightly salty, and a bit chewy. And, they have that beautiful crackle on top that, for me, is the sign of a perfect rise-and-fall cookie. A rise-and-fall cookie refers to one that rises in the oven and then falls when you take it out. The rise-and-fall process is a result of the baking soda reacting with the cocoa powder and brown sugar before the cookie is set. When the cookies are removed from the oven, they fall, giving them that crackle top. How quickly the cookie rises before it sets up is the key to achieving that finish. For these cookies, to ensure they rise quickly, I don’t refrigerate the dough before baking, which causes the cookies to rise more quickly than if the dough were cold. I use Valrhona cocoa powder to make these, which in my opinion is the best there is, but if you can’t find Valrhona, the cookies will be delicious with whatever cocoa powder you use. And I make them with dark brown sugar in place of the more typical granulated sugar, which gives a depth of flavor to an otherwise straightforward cookie.
Makes 16 to 18 (2-inch) cookies
You will need:
All-purpose flour 2 cups (240 grams)
Cocoa powder (preferably Valrhona) 1⁄2 cup (43 grams)
Dark brown sugar 11⁄2 cups (lightly packed) (300 grams)
1 Large egg (50 grams)
Pure vanilla extract 1 teaspoon (5 grams)
Granulated sugar 1⁄2 cup for rolling (100 grams)
Get Prepared:
Arrange the oven racks so one is in the center position.
Preheat the oven to 350 F.
Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Make the Dough:
Put the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl and whisk to combine the ingredients. Set aside.
Put the butter and brown sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer. Fit the mixer with the paddle attachment and beat on medium speed for 2 to 3 minutes, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula once or twice, until the mixture is light and fluffy.
Turn off the mixer, add the egg and vanilla, and beat until the egg is thoroughly incorporated, 1 to 2 minutes, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl once during that time.
Add the dry ingredients and mix on low speed until no flour is visible, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl once during the process.
Form and Bake the Cookies:
Pour the granulated sugar into a small bowl. Scoop a 2-tablespoon (50-gram) portion of dough and roll it between the palms of your hands into a ball.
Roll the ball in the bowl with the sugar to coat it all over. Place the ball on one of the prepared baking sheets.
Continue scooping and rolling the dough, leaving about 2 inches between each ball.
When you have filled one baking sheet, place it on the center rack of the oven and bake for 12 to 14 minutes, until the cookies have puffed up and have cracked as they’ve fallen back down, rotating the baking sheet from front to back midway through the baking time.
Remove the baking sheet from the oven and let the cookies cool to room temperature for about 2 minutes. Use a metal spatula to transfer them to a cooling rack to cool completely.
While the cookies are baking, roll 6 more balls and place them on the second baking sheet.
While the first batch is cooling, put the second batch of cookies in the oven and bake them as you did the first batch. Repeat with the third batch of cookies.
Store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week or freeze for up to 3 months.
From THE DON’T PANIC PANTRY COOKBOOK by Noah Galuten
This is just another way of showing off great stock, by seasoning it with little more than fresh ginger, scallion, and tamari. It is meant to be a brothy, comforting soup that—once you have the chicken stock made—comes together in about 15 minutes. The green vegetables are intended to just barely wilt and remain bright, and the rice noodles make for a perfect accompaniment to soak up the broth and catch the mushrooms and greens on your chopsticks.
Note: If you have any leftover chicken, whether from another recipe in this book or even a grocery store rotisserie chicken, this is a great way to use some last remaining scraps. But if you don't have that, you can simply buy a chicken breast from the store and poach it gently in a pot of water (or even the heated chicken stock) until just cooked. After that, you can remove the chicken, set it aside to cool, and then tear it into pieces for the soup.
Serves 4
1 (3 1/2-ounce) package bunashimeji (beech) mushrooms or 3 ounces or so of other mushrooms, such as white button, cremini, shiitake, or oyster
4 cups chicken stock
3 tablespoons tamari
3 scallions, thinly sliced, dark green tops kept separate
3-inch knob fresh ginger, grated or finely diced (about 2 ½ tablespoons)
4 ounces cooked chicken, torn into bite-size pieces
6 ounces rice noodles, such as mai fun, pad Thai, or vermicelli
Salt
2 small heads baby bok choy, very roughly chopped, or about 6 ounces spinach leaves, roughly chopped
Cilantro leaves, for garnish
White sesame seeds, freshly roasted or purchased already toasted
Equipment
Pot large enough to boil noodles and a 4-quart or so saucepan or soup pot
Prepare the mushrooms: For bunashimeji, cut off the dirty root end and discard it, then separate the mushrooms into individual pieces. For cremini or white button, brush off any dirt and thinly slice them. For shiitake or oyster, remove the stems then simply tear the caps into bite-size pieces.
Bring a pot of water to a boil for the rice noodles.
Meanwhile, in a 4-quart saucepan, bring the stock and tamari to a gentle simmer. Add the white and light green parts of the scallion, the ginger, chicken, and mushrooms. Bring the broth back to a simmer and then reduce the heat, cover, and keep at a bare simmer for about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat.
Add the noodles to the boiling water and cook according to the package directions. Drain the noodles and divide them among four bowls. Taste the soup for seasoning and add salt if it is need—it’s okay if it just on the brink of too salty, since there are still noodles and vegetables to go with it.
Add the bok choy or spinach to the pot of soup and stir them in so that they are submerged in broth. Cover the pot again and let the vegetables wilt for about 30 seconds (you want the boy choy stems to be crunchy, or the spinach to keep from going totally limp).
Divide the soup among the bowls, trying to distribute all of the components as evenly as possible. Garnish the bowls with cilantro leaves, the reserved scallion greens, and a light dusting of sesame seeds. Eat right away.
If I could have one bite of cake before I die, this, which is my spin on a “whole orange cake,” would be that cake. It differs from other citrus cakes in that it doesn’t call for the zest and juice, but for the whole orange. You boil the oranges to soften and cook the rinds, and then you put them in a blender and puree them, which makes the cake very moist, and also offers a unique flavor component and richness. It is the quintessential me cake; it has so many layers of flavor that all work together really well. Plus, it’s gluten free. It is also Passover-friendly in that it is nonleavened and contains no wheat flour.
Note You will need a 9-inch springform pan to make this.
Navel oranges 2 medium
Nonstick cooking spray
Almond flour (made from skinless almonds) 3 cups, 300 grams
Place the oranges in a medium saucepan and add enough water to cover them completely. Place a small heavy plate or saucepan on top of the oranges to weigh them down and keep them submerged. Bring the water to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to maintain a steady simmer and cook the oranges for 2 hours, replenishing the water with more boiling water to keep the oranges submerged. Turn off the heat, remove the plate, and use a slotted spoon to remove the oranges from the water and place them aside to cool to room temperature; discard the cooking water. (To cool the oranges more quickly, cut them into quarters when they come out of the cooking water.) When the oranges have cooled completely, put them in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade and puree. Measure 1 1/2 cups (365 grams) of the orange puree and stir the rest into a bowl of plain yogurt or a smoothie—along with a spoonful of honey, as the orange rind makes the puree slightly bitter. (You can make the puree up to 2 days in advance; transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate until you’re ready to use it.)
Get Prepared
Arrange the oven racks so one is in the center position. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Spray the bottom and sides of a 9-inch springform pan with nonstick cooking spray. Cut a piece of parchment paper to fit on the bottom of the pan and place it in the pan. Spray the parchment with nonstick spray and set the pan aside.
Make the batter
Combine the almond flour, coconut, poppy seeds, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl and whisk them together.
Combine the eggs and the sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer. Fit the mixer with the paddle attachment and beat on medium speed for 2 to 3 minutes, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula once or twice, until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add the orange puree and beat on medium speed until it is mixed in. Add the dry ingredients and beat on low speed until no dry ingredients are visible, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Remove the bowl from the mixer and use a rubber spatula to finish mixing the batter, making sure to scrape the very bottom of the bowl.
Bake and glaze the cake
Scoop the cake batter into the prepared pan and use a small offset spatula to even out the top. Sprinkle the almonds over the cake.
Place the cake on the center rack of the oven and bake for 50 minutes. Lower the oven temperature to 325°F and bake for an additional 15 to 30 minutes, until the cake is golden brown and the center springs back when touched. Remove the cake from the oven and set it on a cooling rack to cool for about 10 minutes in the pan. Run a small sharp knife around the edges of the pan to loosen the cake from the pan. Unclasp and remove the ring from the side of the pan and let the cake cool completely.
Meanwhile, place the jam and water in a small saucepan and heat over medium heat, whisking frequently, until the jam has melted. Pass the mixture through a fine-mesh strainer to remove the solids; discard the solids. Brush the glaze on the top of the warm or cooled cake.
I recently found out that a friend of mine hates popcorn. And it’s funny, because, whereas most people’s food dislikes generally seem harmless but mildly understandable— tomatoes, eggs, broccoli rabe, fish (ahem)—who doesn’t like popcorn? Popcorn?
I harassed her for a while about this. She talked about hating how the shell- like kernels scratched her mouth, about the taste of the fake- buttery slick of the packaged stuff and the steaminess that comes out of the bag when it’s opened, and how nightmarish movie theaters are for people like her. She said she’d fallen in the past for powdery “cheddar”-dusted popcorn, and caramel popcorn mixed with nuts, but she knew you could also cover cardboard with that stuff and it would taste good. She insisted that nobody liked popcorn plain—you either admitted that it smelled funky or you were lying—that they just liked the stuff you put on it, and that stuff was like a chemistry set. She went on and on. I was impressed by how much thought she’d put into it.
Still, I decided we couldn’t be friends after that. Um, just kidding! No, I decided that the only thing I could possibly love more than buttered popcorn would be to take that buttered popcorn and put it into a cookie. It follows basic snack math, which is that two forms of junk food together always exceed the greatness of them separately, especially when you mix the salty and the sweet. It’s like chocolate-covered pretzels, salted chocolate caramel sauce, or potato chips crushed inside a peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich (don’t look at me like that; those kids at the second-grade lunch table were geniuses).
Popcorn inside a cookie, however, it’s different. In some bites it provides a little extra buttery crunch, and in others, a soft cloud to break up the crispness of the cookie. It’s spectacular against a brown-sugar-and-vanilla base, and downright pretty in the puddle of a toasted buttery cookie.
You will need:
2 tablespoons (30 ml) vegetable oil
1/4 cup (45 grams) popcorn kernels
1/4 teaspoon table salt
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1/2 cup (115 grams or 1 stick) butter, softened
1/2 cup (95 grams) packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup (65 grams) granulated sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups (155 grams) all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
Make Popcorn
1. Pour the oil over the bottom of a large saucepan that has a lid, and add the popcorn kernels, shimmying the pan around so the kernels land in one layer.
2. Cover the pot, heat it over medium- high heat, and, once the kernels begin to pop, keep the saucepan moving until all of the kernels have popped, about 5 to 7 minutes total.
3. Toss the table salt and then the melted butter over the popcorn, then transfer it to a bowl so that you can fish out any unpopped kernels. You should have about 4 cups popcorn. Let cool.
Mix Dough
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
1. In a large bowl, cream together the softened butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, egg, and vanilla until smooth.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk the flour and baking soda together. Stir the combined dry ingredients into the butter-sugar mixture.
3. Fold in the cooled popcorn so that it is evenly distributed through the batter, which will seem like a ridiculous instruction because there is so much popcorn and so little cookie batter, but it works. Don’t worry if the popcorn breaks up a bit. The mixed-size pieces are part of the cookie’s charm.
Bake Cookies
1. Scoop heaping-tablespoon-sized mounds 2 inches apart onto a parchment- lined baking sheet.
2. Bake the cookies for 10 to 12 minutes, until the edges are light brown. Let them sit on the hot baking sheet for a few minutes to firm up before transferring them to a rack to cool.
From JOE BEEF: SURVIVING THE APOCALYPSE by Frederic Morin, David McMillan and Meredith Erickson
Driving back from the campground, the cottage, or the coast of Maine, it’s a tradition for most to stop at a favorite casse-croûtefor a late lunch. For many, the pit stop is Orange Julep, Montreal’s most delicious sphere for a smoked meat sandwich, poutine, and whipped orange drinks.
The grosse orange, as it’s called here, attracts everyone from muscle car aficionados to George St-Pierre, the greatest of all time G.O.A.T. This dish, done right, brings a tougher cut of beef to utter deliciousness.
Makes 1 ½ quarts
You will need:
1 onion, finely diced
1 garlic clove, finely diced
1 carrot, finely diced
1 celery stalk, finely diced
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound (454 g) lean ground beef
1 pound (454 g) Montreal smoked meat, medium-lean, ground in the food processor
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
One 14.5-ounce (428-ml) can whole, peeled tomatoes, puréed
Salt and pepper
1. Preheat the oven to 275˚F (135˚C). In a medium Dutch oven over medium-high heat, sweat the onion, garlic, carrot, celery, and tomato paste in the oil until translucent.
2. Add the beef and smoked meat, stir, and add the pepper and tomato purée. Fill the tomato can halfway up with water, swirl the water around, and add to the pot. Cover and place in the oven.
3. Bake for 2 hours, stirring occasionally. Season to taste, with salt and pepper.
That’s me at seven years old, holding strawberries that my mother and I had picked at the local pick-your-own patch in upstate South Carolina back in the seventies. About three decades later, I was carrying home a similar flat of strawberries from the Santa Monica Farmers Market when I decided to make jam for the first time. My first attempt was not a success, but this is the recipe I’ve arrived at since. It’s nothing revolutionary—a broadly similar recipe can be found in the 1824 cookbook The Virginia Housewife by Thomas Jefferson’s second cousin Mary Randolph. Still, I’ve tweaked the basic technique in little ways and adjusted ingredients to balance sweet and tart flavors.
To get started, go shopping at a farmers’ market or roadside farmstand if at all possible, and seek out the smallest, reddest berries. Fragrance is a good indicator of quality, but tasting is better still. The giant strawberries favored by supermarket produce managers are not a good choice. I call them “Pamela Anderson fruit,” artificially enhanced and tasteless.
The sugar content in this recipe is lower than in many traditional farmhouse recipes, but there’s still enough for a soft-set consistency and to ensure a reasonably long shelf life once opened.
Do not double the quantities, at least not initially. A small batch is cheaper, faster, more manageable, and better suited to the size of standard household equipment. If you want more jars, make two small batches. I can assure you from personal experience that you’ll be happier with the outcome. In fact, the more experienced I get, the more I’m inclined to do three or four jars at a time—a nice little job to knock off in an hour, rather than a labor that wrings the fun out of the afternoon.
Yields 2 pints
You will need:
2 pounds ripe strawberries
Choose small, fragrant berries that are just-ripe. If possible, use the fruit the same day you bring it home, or as soon as you can afterward. Misshapen “ugly” berries are fine if they are prime quality. Discard any fruit that is bruised and mushy, or that has an overripe taste of fermentation.
2½ cups sugar
White granulated sugar has a neutral flavor that won’t overwhelm the delicate berry taste. It is fine to replace some or all of the white sugar with unrefined organic sugar, but the stronger flavor that comes from its pale-brown molasses residue may be noticeable in the finished jam. You could also replace a portion of the sugar with half as much honey (by volume), but be aware that honey is a moderately strong flavoring agent that will impart its taste.
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
Always use freshly squeezed juice for its bright, floral flavor. The acidity of lemon juice balances the sugar’s sweetness and also helps the strawberry’s natural pectin to gel.
Optional: a few scrapings of lemon zest
The best tool for zesting citrus is the Microplane grater. The tiny curls it produces will hardly be visible, but they add a more noticeable lemon note than does the juice. By “a few scrapings,” I mean you should add a little bit, taste the results, and add a little bit more if you’d like. Or skip the zest altogether—it’s optional.
1. Before you start, wash your jars and lids in hot, soapy water. Rinse and drain them well, and place the jars in a 200-degree oven so they will be warm when you need them. Bring a small pan of water to a boil, remove it from the heat, and submerge the lids in the hot water. The rings can simply be washed. Also, put a couple of saucers and metal spoons in the freezer. You’ll need them later, to test for a gel set. Briefly rinse the berries and remove their caps. To avoid water logging the berries, fill a basin with cool water, dunk the berries, agitate for a few moments, and immediately lift them out to drain in a colander. If the berries are very gritty, dunk them a second time in fresh water, but do not allow them to soak. Combine with the sugar, lemon juice, and zest in a large bowl, and crush with a potato masher (or your hands).
Crushing the berries has two obvious effects: to break down the fruit’s structure and to release juices. Crushed fruit will cook more quickly and produce a more consistent—although still-chunky—texture. Don’t use a food processor, a blender, or an immersion blender. Your aim is not to liquefy the fruit, simply to break it apart. If you don’t have a potato masher (or even if you do), the perfect implement for this task would be your two hands—crush the berries between your fingers.
2. Turn the fruit-sugar mash into a preserving pan, and bring to a boil over high heat, stirring regularly. Choose a preserving pan wide enough to accommodate the fruit-sugar mixture at a depth of about 1 inch. Use your strongest heating element, and turn it up to full capacity. The goal is to bring the fruit-sugar mixture to a boil as quickly as possible. Watch the pot closely, and stir at least every 30 seconds. Reduce at a full rolling boil, stirring all the while . . . A full rolling boil is a boil you cannot stir down. When the fruit-sugar mixture first comes to a boil, it will foam, but the foam will eventually subside with stirring. Don’t worry about skimming the pan yet—that comes later. It is crucial to note that the high cooking heat requires that you stir the pan ceaselessly. Do not step away from the stove! If the phone rings, let it ring. Jam will scorch if left unattended, especially in the last minute or two of cooking. If you absolutely must step away from the stove, turn off the heat, and resume cooking when you return. . . . to the gel point, 8 to 10 minutes, depending on the size of your pan and the strength of the heat source. The fruit-sugar mixture will pass through four stages in the preserving pan: raw, cooked, reduced, and gel set.
Raw:
The fruit-sugar mixture is cold when it goes into the pan, and will continue to look like what it is—raw fruit in a granular syrup—as it heats.
Cooked:
After the boil, the berries will be hot all the way through and will take on the translucent, slumped look of cooked fruit.
Reduced:
As the mixture continues to boil and more water evaporates from the pan, the liquid will reduce until it is visibly thicker, coating the edge of the pan and showing some “body” as it pours off the lip of a spoon. (Toward the end of this stage, you may want to moderate the heat to prevent scorching.)
Gel Set:
This is the stage at which the hot jam is fully reduced and ready to jar. Glossy and thick, it will cling to the side of the preserving pan, coat the back of a cold spoon, and fall from the spoon in a “sheet” or clump.The temperature at which the gel set occurs is 8 degrees above the boiling point of water at your elevation (water boils at 212 degrees at sea level or 203 degrees in mile-high Denver). To verify the gel set, use a digital thermometer, or go by the traditional “cold- saucer test.”
Before you do a cold-saucer test, first turn off the flame beneath the preserving pan. Place a teaspoon of hot jam on a chilled saucer and leave it in the freezer for one minute, then push your fingertip through the puddle. If the chilled jam has formed a light skin that wrinkles as you push it, or if a dab of jam between your fingertip and thumb forms a thread as you open a gap, then you have a gel set. Otherwise, put the preserving pan back on the heat, reduce the contents for another minute, then check the gel set again.If you’re still unsure of whether you have a gel set, take the preserving pan off the heat and stir it for 60 seconds.
As it cools slightly, study it: Does it stick to the edges of the pan? Can you draw a line in the bottom of the pan with your spoon? Does it mound in a spoon? Does the hot product look like jam? If so, you probably have a gel set. Or, on the other hand: Is there still excess liquid “in the corners” of the pan—that is, around the edges? Does the hot mixture splash rather than slosh if you slap it against the edge of the pan? Does the liquid dribble quickly off the edge of a spoon? Does the hot mixture look like cooked fruit in thickened syrup? Does the liquid look shiny, like water, rather than lustrous, like jam? If so, you probably do not yet have a gel set.
3. Once a gel set has been achieved, skim if necessary . . . If at this point there is any unsightly scum on the jam, skim it off and discard. I like to stir the hot jam vigorously for 60 seconds off the heat to improve consistency and evaporate a bit more water. . . . and ladle the hot jam into four prepared ½-pint jars, leaving ¼ inch headspace. You want to get the hot jam into jars promptly. Don’t fill the jar to the rim, but leave a headspace for the jam to expand during the boiling-water bath. Seal, and process in a boiling-water bath for 10 minutes.
NOTE: The yield can vary, depending on a number of factors: the water content of your fruit, whether you use less or more sugar, and how much you reduce the hot jam to achieve the desired consistency.
My friend Julie grew up in Paris, and when I met her (a funny story involving a friend’s bringing her to a party but ditching her for someone/something better, to the opposite effect: we lost him and kept her) I was deep, deep in my French-cooking-by-way-of-Julia-Child phase.
When we went away for a weekend to a friend’s house on the Chesapeake Bay and found some great strawberries along the way, I talked Julie into making tarts with me, the kind with the buttery cookie-like shell, vanilla-bean-flecked pastry cream, and fresh berries on top. I pulled out three cookbooks. She grabbed a pot and eyeballed everything, pinching and tasting as she went. I measured quarter-teaspoons of salt and got flummoxed over whether 8 or 9 tablespoons would be the right amount of flour. She dumped her strawberries on top and piled them high. I painstakingly arranged mine in thin slices in a floral pattern. She laughed at how complicated I made everything. I was awed that a person could make crème pâtissière and pâte sucrée without a recipe.
Our friends liked her tart better. I liked her tart better, and all of my previous cooking goals became redirected to this: to become the sort of cook who could throw together a fresh strawberry tart in a strange kitchen for friends, au pif.
Ten years and two cookbooks later, I’m still a recipe cook and she’s the kind of person who can reel it off over Skype from Germany, where she now lives, but I went back and made it her way, and it’s as perfect as I remember. Please, don’t be intimidated by the fancy French words, though. The crust is basically a cookie, the custard a pudding, and the fruit . . . Well, the messier you make it, the more laid-back and cool everyone will know you are.
Makes a 9 1/2-inch tart, serving 8
You will need:
For the crust:
11/3 cups (175 grams) all-purpose flour
1/3 cup (40 grams) confectioners’ sugar
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/2 cup (4 ounces or 115 grams) unsalted butter, cubed, chilled
1 large egg yolk
2 tablespoons (30 ml) cold water
For the custard:
2/3 cup (135 grams) granulated sugar
1/3 cup (45 grams) all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
4 large egg yolks
21/3 cups (560 ml) milk
1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
1 tablespoon (15 ml) kirsch, Cognac, or brandy
1 pound (455 grams) strawberries, the tinier the better, trimmed (for larger berries, you may need up to an extra 1⁄2 pound)
To make the crust in a food processor:
1. Pulse the flour, sugar, and salt until combined. Add the butter, and pulse in the machine until it is in pea-sized bits. Add the egg yolk and water, and run the machine until the dough clumps a little.
If you don’t have a food processor:
1. Combine the flour, sugar, and salt together in a large bowl. Add the butter, and, using your fingertips or a pastry blender, work it in until it almost disappears and the mixture resembles cornmeal.
2. Combine the yolk and water in a small dish, and pour this over the top; stir the mixture together with a spoon, then knead gently, as little as possible, with your hands until it forms large clumps.
Bake the crust:
1. Butter a standard pie dish or 9-inch removable-bottom tart pan. Scatter clumps of dough all over the bottom, and press them across the bottom and up the sides. Poke holes all over with a fork.
2. Place the pan in the freezer for 15 to 25 minutes, until fully solid.
3. Meanwhile, heat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter a large piece of foil, and press it tightly against the frozen inside surface of the crust. Bake for 25 minutes, then carefully remove the foil. Return to the oven and bake for 5 to 10 minutes more, until the crust is golden. Let cool completely.
Make your custard:
1. Whisk the sugar, flour, salt, and egg yolks together in the bottom of a large saucepan.
2. Drizzle in the milk, whisking the whole time so that no lumps form. Add the 1/2 vanilla bean.
3. Place over medium heat on the stove and bring up to a simmer, stir- ring constantly until the custard thickens, 4 to 7 minutes. Remove from the heat, discard the vanilla bean, and whisk in the kirsch.
4. Let the custard cool completely in the fridge, or you can hasten this along by placing the bowl in a larger bowl of ice water.
To finish and serve:
1. Spread the cooled pastry cream in the cooled crust. Pile your berries on top. Cut the tart into wedges, and make plans to repeat tomorrow.
To most people homemade bread means a slightly sweet loaf made with milk and some shortening, quite light and rather fine in texture and much enjoyed when fresh with a generous spreading of butter and preserves. It is also popular for sandwiches and toast. Here is such a loaf, which I call “home-style” to distinguish it from my other basic white bread.
Makes 2 loaves
You will need:
1 package active dry yeast
2 cups warm milk (100° to 115°, approximately)
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
¼ cup melted butter
1 tablespoon salt
5 to 6 cups all-purpose flour
1 egg white, lightly beaten (optional)
1. Add the yeast to ½ cup of the warm milk, along with the 2 tablespoons sugar, and stir well until the yeast is completely dissolved. Allow the yeast to proof.
2. Place the remaining milk, the melted butter, and the salt in a bowl. Stir in the flour, 1 cup at a time, with a wooden spoon. After the third cup, add the yeast mixture. Continue stirring in flour until the mixture is rather firm, which should take about 4 to 5 cups.
3. Remove the dough to a floured board or a marble slab, and knead, adding more flour as necessary if it gets sticky, until it is supple, satiny, and no longer sticky.
4. Butter a bowl and place the dough in it, turning to coat all sides with the fat. Cover and allow to rise in a warm, draft-free spot until doubled in bulk, about 1½ to 2 hours.
5. Deflate the dough by punching it firmly two or three times, return to the floured board, and knead 4 to 5 minutes more. Divide into two equal parts and shape into loaves.
6. Place in well-buttered 9 × 5 × 3-inch loaf tins, cover, and let rise again until doubled in bulk.
7. Slash the loaves with a sharp knife and brush with lightly beaten egg white or water. Bake in a 400° oven for 40 to 45 minutes or until the bread sounds hollow when tapped with the knuckles. Remove the loaves from the pans and put them in oven a few minutes longer to become crisped.
