The possibilities are endless – you can present yourself as a superhero or a world leader, a puppy or a princess, a vampire or a bunny rabbit.Halloween treats are everywhere, free when you call out “Trick or Treat” at the home of a friendly neighbor.Thoughts of Halloween disguises and Halloween treats got me to wondering. Could I disguise an often overlooked and sometimes disparaged vegetable, rich in vitamins and minerals and low in calories, in a Halloween treat?

I was thinking about parsnips. To be honest, I have never been a parsnip fan; I’ve cooked them, served them and composted them, generally in that order. My past attempts have been dry, woody, insipid or simply uninspiring.

Time to let my imagination run wild, time to dress up a parsnip as a sweet treat. Grated parsnip, combined with nuts, dried fruit, and sugar, held together with flour and egg, fluffed up with baking powder and oil, disguised in a silver fluted skirt – Say Boo! The costumed parsnip was on its way to the Halloween party. Here’s how I did it:

Parsnip Muffins

I began by preheating the oven to 350 F/175 C and placing foil liners in 18 muffin cups.

I used the largest holes on a box grater to grate two large parsnips to make 2 cups/180 g and one large apple to make 1 cup/100 g. I whisked together 2 cups/200 g of flour, 3/4 cup/100 g of sugar, three-quarters of a teaspoon of baking soda, one and a half teaspoons of baking powder, half a teaspoon of salt, one teaspoon of dry ginger, and half a teaspoon ground nutmeg in a mixing bowl.

I whisked together two eggs, 3/4 cup/180 ml of oil, 1/2 cup/120 ml of milk and a teaspoon of vanilla in a separate bowl. I combined the egg mixture and the flour mixture, added 1 cup/100 g of chopped almonds, 1/2 cup/100 g of chopped dried peaches, the parsnip and apple.

The batter was divided among the muffin cups and baked for 25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin came out clean. Removed from the pan, the muffins cooled on a wire rack.

With a basket of muffins in hand and a paper asking, “What’s disguised in these muffins?” I set off for a gathering or friends who were putting the church garden to bed for the winter.Fifteen friends sampled the muffins. Their guesses included: coconut, orange, banana, carrots, lemon zest, zucchini, guava, cauliflower, pistachio and my favorite – ground-up donuts. No one guessed parsnips – a perfect disguise!

Perhaps this is the beginning of a new Halloween tradition – Masquerading Vegetables on Parade.

With newfound respect for parsnips I’m looking for other ways to use them. Any thoughts?

Say Boo! A perfect Halloween book, written by my friend Lynda Graham-Barber, along with the parsnips from her garden were the inspiration for is post. Lynda lives in the Northeast Kingdom where she writes, gardens and cooks.

Click here to download and print an ingredients list and recipe.

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When the sweet aroma of apples cooking to make applesauce and jelly as inspiration and a chance meeting with an overloaded apple tree,  Charles gathered loads of apples. Here’s how I made a batch of apple butter:

Apple Butter

I washed the apples and Charles disengaged the peeling blade on our old fashioned, hand powered, red enamel apple peeler, and cored and sliced the apples. I filled a four-cup microwave safe bowl with apples, covered it, zapped the apples in the microwave for five minutes and put the partially cooked apples into a slow cooker set to cook on low for ten hours. We continued coring and zapping apples. When the slow cooker was filled to the brim, I set it to cook on low for eight hours, put the lid on and went to bed. In the morning, I removed the lid, added a cup and a half of granulated sugar, one and a half teaspoons of ground cinnamon, half a teaspoon of ground cloves and a teaspoon of ground ginger and used an immersion blender to puree the fragrant, red-brown apple butter. I cooked the uncovered apple butter for another hour to thicken it. We processed the apple butter according the instructions that came with the jars.

Apple butter is the most inexact recipe I can think of, the quantity of apples depends on the size of your cooking vessel, the quantity of sugar and spice depends on your palate and the length of cooking time depends on how you define “thick enough”. You can make apple butter by roasting, prepared apples in a covered ovenproof container at 225º ‘until it is thick enough’.

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Trillium and Bloodroot Kathy Fiske

Tea Art by Barbara Bartlett

Our group is Art Wise Women and you can see more by clicking on this link or by going to www.ArtWiseWomen.blogspot.com.

After we have caught up with tales of travel, news of children and grandchildren, wild animal sightings and gardens, we talk about new projects, successes and failures in our studios and upcoming shows;  we move on to more philosophical topics like ‘dealing with isolation as an artist’, ‘where to find inspiration’, ‘what does it mean to be an artist’.

At our last meeting, I realized that one of my favorite creative activities takes place in my kitchen rather than in my studio. Baking a cake for a dinner party is filled with artistic decisions: What will it look like? What will it taste like? How will I decorate it? The process ends with a plate, empty except for a few sweet crumbs and the anticipation of the next gathering when I will happily offer to bring dessert.

Recently, I wanted to make a cake that would welcome our friends who had returned to Vermont after spending five months in Australia. A hummingbird cake sounded just right. I assumed that since there were lots of hummingbirds in Australia that a hummingbird cake had to be Australian. My research quickly revealed three facts:

• There are no recorded sightings of hummingbirds in Australia;
• Hummingbird cakes are a specialty of the American south; and,
• It’s called a hummingbird cake because each bite makes one hum with delight.

Undaunted by these facts, I made my version of a Vermont hummingbird cake for the party. Here’s how I did it:

Hummingbird Cake

I preheated the oven to 350º, buttered two nine-inch round cake pans, lined the bottoms of the pans with waxed paper, buttered the paper and dusted the pans with flour. I tapped out the excess flour and set the pans aside.

I sifted together three cups of all-purpose flour, one teaspoon of baking soda, one teaspoon of ground cinnamon, one teaspoon of ground ginger and half a teaspoon of kosher salt into a medium bowl. I used a stand mixer to combine one cup of canola oil, two teaspoons of vanilla extract and two cups of sugar. After beating the oil/sugar mixture for two minutes, I added three eggs, one at a time, beating between each addition and then beat the mixture at medium speed until it was pale and fluffy. It took about three minutes.

I used a wooden spoon to combine three cups of mashed banana, an eight-ounce can of crushed pineapple, drained, one cup of chopped pecans and one cup of unsweetened, shredded coconut and then stirred the fruit/nut mixture it into the oil/sugar/egg mixture and then stirred in the flour/ spice mixture. I divided the cake batter between the two prepared pans and baked the cakes until they were golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake came out clean. It took about forty minutes in my oven. I cooled the cakes in the pans, on a rack for fifteen minutes and then used a knife to loosen the edges of the cakes them before I tipped them out onto racks to cool completely. While the cakes cooled, I made creamy, cream-cheese frosting.

Creamy Cream Cheese Frosting

I used an electric mixer to combine eight-ounces of room-temperature cream cheese, two tablespoons of light brown sugar and one teaspoon of vanilla extract. When the cream cheese mixture was fluffy, I added one pint of heavy cream and continued beating until the mixture formed stiff peaks.

I put one layer of the cake on my favorite party-cake platter and used a spatula to spread a quarter inch layer of frosting on to the cake. I topped the frosting with the second layer and frosted the sides and top of the cake with the remaining frosting. I used white woodruff blossoms and purple violas to decorate the frosted cake.

When I presented the cake to our friends as “Flowers in the Snow, Proof that Spring and Friends Do Return,” I didn’t share what I had learned about Australia and humming birds – but now they know. Since that party, I have found recipes for kangaroo cakes, opera house cakes and platypus cakes. I wonder if any of them will be as yummy as the hummingbird cake?

Download and print Hummingbird Cake recipe with an ingredients list here. 

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I suggested that they play for the vendors at Cappuccio’s fish stall on Saturday. Angelo Cappuccio, a Sicilian with a warm smile, a cigarette in his mouth and a huge cleaver in his hand, loves music. I promised David a bowl of Italian donuts if he played at the market. He said, “Sure. Why not?” We agreed to meet in the market at noon for a Vermont Violin Concert.

Angelo Cappuccio in yellow apron enjoys Violin Duets

David and Marcia were splendid, Angelo beamed, the crowd applauded and cheered. It was a perfect time at the market and there were zeppole to follow.

Ricotta, egg and orange rind ready to mixed together to make zeppole.

Here’s how I made sweet, puffy, ricotta based, deep-fried Italian donuts for the after the concert treat:

Zeppole

I used a fork to combine one cup of fresh ricotta with one egg and a teaspoon of orange zest. When the mixture was smooth, I added one cup of all-purpose flour, one teaspoon of baking powder, one teaspoon of granulated sugar and a quarter of a teaspoon of salt and stirred until it formed a sticky batter.

I heated three inches of vegetable oil in a saucepan. I didn’t have a thermometer so I tested the temperature of the oil by dropping a small blob of dough into the hot oil. I pushed it with a fork and when it began to float and small bubbles formed on the dough, I knew that the oil was hot enough.

I used one teaspoon to scoop out a ball of dough and a second teaspoon to push the dough into the hot oil. Zeppole automatically turn over when the bottom is cooked. I cooked them in batches of five and when they were golden, I drained them on brown paper, rolled them in cinnamon sugar.

I delivered the first batch to David with a tiny curtsey. He graciously shared them with his mother, father, brother Peter and Jim. Depending on appetites, this recipe will satisfy four or five hungry musicians.

On Sunday morning, long before sunrise, our new friends headed back to Vermont. We look forward to more music, more conversations and more zeppole when the warm weather arrives and we are back in Vermont.

Download and print cookie recipe with an ingredients list here.

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Cinnamon reminds me of Saturday’s spent in a neighbor’s kitchen when I was ten. Ruby and her husband Russ lived next door and their home was my Saturday haven. Their house was identical to mine but, since they had no children, the second bedroom was the violet room. The two tables in front of the window were covered with pots of African violets. Ruby showed me how to water them without getting the leaves wet and how to create a new plant with a single leaf. She made pies from scratch, mostly apple, and when she finished making the pie she would gather the extra bits of dough into a ball and put it into the fridge to chill while we took care of the violets. When we returned to the kitchen, she would tie an apron around my waist, so that I could make cinnamon treats that we would share as a mid-afternoon treat. Here’s how I made them:

Cinnamon Treats

I sprinkled flour onto a wooden board, flattened the disc of chilled dough and sprinkled a bit of flour on to it and then rolled the dough and when it was about an eighth of an inch thick Ruby would say, “Stop.” Then, I’d spread a layer of soft butter on to the dough and top the butter with a generous sprinkle of cinnamon sugar from a tin sugar shaker. Cutting the dough was the most fun. I used a pastry wheel that made zigzag edges just like the ric rac sewn around the pocket on my apron. Ruby didn’t mind that each treat was a different shape and size. She moved them from the cutting board to a baking sheet, put them into bake next to the pie and knew when to take them out of the oven.

The memory of sitting at the table with cinnamon treats, a cup of cocoa with TWO marshmallows floating on top and chatting with Ruby is sweeter and more tender than any cinnamon treats could possibly be.

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The promise of a twist of dough, a disc of dough or an iconic donut shaped piece of dough, fried and filled or dusted was tempting enough to pull twenty-five people from their cozy warm beds to an early morning meeting. Last Saturday was the second breakfast meeting at our church for slow conversations to talk about how we engage with one another and the wider community.

We arrived early to help get breakfast ready so that the meeting could begin at eight. Charles suggested that the tables be put together to form a square donut.  Perhaps it was the bowl of donut dough we had brought that had inspired the table arrangement. We covered the tables with an assortment of table cloths including a couple that had been embroidered by my Nana and then went to work on the promised donuts.

I had put the donut dough together the night before so that the yeast would have enough time to grow and make the donuts rise. Here’s how I did it:

Yeast Raised Donuts

I used a stand mixer and a dough hook to make the dough. I began by combining one package of active dry yeast, (about two and a half teaspoons), one teaspoon of sugar and two tablespoons of warm water, about 110º, in a small bowl.  When the sugar and yeast had dissolved, I covered the bowl and let it stand for about five minutes until the mixture became foamy – proof that the yeast was alive and willing to work.

I zapped one cup of whole milk in a large measuring cup for thirty seconds to warm it up and then added half a stick of unsalted butter, two large eggs and the yeast mixture. I put three and a half cups of all-purpose flour, one and a half teaspoons of kosher salt, two tablespoons of sugar and the yeast-milk mixture into the mixer bowl. After beating for about four minutes at low speed, a very soft dough had formed. I increased the mixer speed to medium and beat the dough for three more minutes.  The dough was much softer and stickier than bread dough. I used a stiff spatula to scrape the dough into a large ceramic bowl, lightly dusted the dough with flour, covered the bowl with a kitchen towel and put it into the fridge to rise over night.

In the morning, while others were putting out yogurt, dried fruits, nuts, jams, toast, tea and coffee, I began to work on the donuts. I dusted two large cutting boards with flour, divided the dough in half, dusted the dough with more flour and rolled the dough until it was about half an inch thick. Charles improvised with a two inch biscuit cutter to make discs of dough and a piece of one inch diameter copper tubing to cut the donut holes.

When Joanna, an expert on children’s literature, came into the kitchen, she showed us how Almanzo’s mother in Laura Ingalls Wilder’s book Farmer Boy made donuts.  Joanna rolled the dough into thin ‘snakes’, about a quarter of an inch in diameter and four inches long, folded the dough in half, twisted each strip like a corkscrew and pinched the ends together. Charles continued cutting, Joanna rolled and twisted and Kathy arranged the still raw donuts on boards and covered them with kitchen towels so that the dough could rise a second time.

After rising for twenty minutes, in the warm kitchen, the donuts were ready to be fried in three inches of canola oil in a medium sized, heavy bottomed saucepan. I clipped a deep frying thermometer on the pan and kept the oil at 350º. I fried the donuts in small batches and used a wire mesh skimmer to turn and transfer them from the hot oil onto paper towels to drain after they had cooked for about two minutes and become golden brown.

Kathy, a painter who uses color rather than quantity, had brought a bag of cinnamon sugar she had made by “combining four scoops of sugar and enough cinnamon to make it brown.”  I had combined a cup of confectioners’ sugar with a couple of teaspoons of milk to make a sugary glaze. Charles was in charge of the finishing touches and decided which topping was best for each donut.  The finished donuts, donut holes and twists were mindfully, kindly and generously passed around and around the donut shaped table and disappeared quickly. Kathy and I have decided to make a double batch for next Saturday’s meeting, the last in the series.

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The first time I tasted cardamom, it was the spice that scented sweet breakfast bread that a friend had baked. I was twenty-four, living in a fourth floor walk-up apartment on Connecticut Avenue in Washington, D.C. My nearest neighbor and close friend Char and her husband, Rob, lived  next-door. Our kitchens opened onto the same fire escape.

Char had a way with spices. She brought whole cloves, allspice and cardamom across the fire escape and into my kitchen. When my apartment was filled with the smell of burned popcorn, Char suggested that I simmer a tablespoon of mixed pickling spices in a saucepan of water to get rid of the smell. She served hot tea with lime slices that were dotted with whole cloves. Slow cooked, steel cut oats topped with heavy cream and brown sugar tasted even better when she sprinkled freshly ground allspice on top. I have whole cloves, allspice and mixed pickling spices in my pantry and use them all, but it was the scent and flavor of cardamom that made me remember Char when I made a batch of cardamom buns last weekend. Here’s how I did it:

Cardamom Buns

I sprinkled four teaspoons of active dry yeast and a pinch of granulated sugar into one cup of whole milk that I had zapped in the microwave for fifteen seconds, until it was about 100º. I stirred the mixture to dissolve the yeast and sugar and let it stand for five minutes.

When the milk was foamy, I poured it into the bowl of my stand mixer and added three quarters of a cup of granulated sugar, one tablespoon of molasses, one large egg, half a cup of melted unsalted butter, half a teaspoon of kosher salt and one tablespoon of freshly ground cardamom.

When the mixture was smooth, I added four cups of all-purpose flour, one cup at a time, and one cup of raisins to the bowl. After six minutes of kneading, the dough was smooth and elastic. I used a dough hook to knead the dough but it can also be kneaded by hand on a lightly floured board.

I transferred the dough to a lightly buttered bowl, covered it with a cloth napkin and let it rise in a warm place. After an hour, the dough had doubled in size and was ready to be formed into buns.

I deflated the dough, cut it in half and formed each piece into a ball. I used a rolling pin to roll one ball into a ten by sixteen inch rectangle.

I combined half a cup of brown sugar, one teaspoon of ground ginger and three-quarters of a cup of chopped walnuts for the filling. I spread four tablespoons of softened, unsalted butter onto the dough and then sprinkled half of the sugar/walnut mixture evenly across the butter. I rolled the dough up tightly, to create a sixteen-inch log, and then used a serrated knife to cut the log into ten slices. I arranged the slices in a greased, nine inch round cake pan about half an inch apart. I repeated this process with the other ball of dough, four more tablespoons of softened butter and the remaining filling.

I covered the buns with cloth napkins and put them to rise in a warm spot. In about an hour, the buns had doubled in size. I painted the tops of the buns with an egg wash made by beating together one egg and two teaspoons of water before I put them in a 400º oven to bake. In eighteen minutes, the edges were beginning to brown and the buns were baked. I didn’t bake them until they were golden brown because I didn’t want them to be dry.

Charles and I each enjoyed a warm cardamom bun with a cup of tea scented and flavored with clove-studded lime slices. I put the rest of the buns in the freezer.

Each morning since, I have zapped a bun in the microwave for 35 seconds and been transported back to that fire escape and fond memories of cooking and laughing with Char. It has been even better than connecting on Facebook!

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Vanilla begins as the seedpod of an orchid native to Mexico. Conquistador was my sister’s favorite word, and I remember when she told me that it was a conquistador, Hernan Cortes, who brought both chocolate and vanilla to Europe in the sixteenth century after observing Montezuma drink a mixture made with cocoa beans, vanilla and honey.

Vanilla grows as a vine with white flowers. The Melipona bee, the only insect that pollinates vanilla, is native to Central America, and so when grown in the tropics anywhere else in the world, vanilla must be pollinated by hand. Vanilla flowers last only one day and growers inspect their plantations every day for open flowers. The beans, actually seedpods formed by the pollinated flowers, are harvested by hand and then cured in a four-step process. The first step, wilting the vanilla beans, is done either by a quick dip in hot water, by freezing, or by heating in an oven or in the sun. Step two, sweating, consists of wrapping the beans in woolen blankets and baking them in the tropical sun. The beans are then dried to prevent rotting and to lock in the aroma. The final step, conditioning, is achieved by storing the beans in closed boxes for a few months. The intensity of labor required to grow and cure vanilla makes it the second most expensive flavoring after saffron.Vanilla sugar brings flavor and aroma to coffee and hot chocolate, is delicious when used to sweetened oatmeal, can be sprinkled on fresh berries or on fruit before it is baked. It’s an easy way to add flavor to meringues, marshmallows or custard and is a gift that makes both cooks and non-cooks happy. The six jars I made will be ready by Christmas. Here’s how I did it:

Vanilla Sugar

I put one vanilla bean, split lengthwise, in each one-pint jars, covered the bean with granulated sugar, put lid on the jar and gave it a shake. That’s it! I put the jars on a shelf in the pantry near the tea so I will be reminded to shake them occasionally. In a couple of weeks, the vanilla will have flavored the sugar and I will be wrap the jars and deliver them to friends. I made a label for the vanilla sugar that lists some of its uses, and suggests that, if the jar is refilled with granulated sugar when half of the sugar has been used and then left to steep for a few days, the vanilla bean will continue to flavor sugar until next Christmas. You can download and print the label HERE.Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it.

Invented in 1948, it uses nitrous oxide as a propellant for a mixture of cream, sweeteners and stabilizers and was a definite step up from its predecessor, a cream substitute made with vegetable oil, called Sta-Whip.

The chocolate whipped-cream cake I chose from an upscale bakery for my seventh birthday was my cream epiphany. It was covered with real whipped cream, without nitrous oxide, corn syrup, artificial flavor, monoglycerides, or carrageen. I’m not implying that at seven I was an informed foodie, however, even then I knew that heavy cream, beaten until stiff with was sublime.

Since that birthday, if a chocolate cake isn’t frosted with real whipped cream, I don’t think it deserves to be called a birthday cake. As a young cook, the birthday cakes I made began as a cake mix, but as a young mother I decided that my sons deserved birthday cakes made from scratch. Our family’s traditional birthday cake is a rum infused, dark chocolate cake, slathered with whipped cream. The cream is still whipped by hand, but now I use a wire whisk instead of the hand-cranked mixer I used as a child.

Sunday will be my younger son’s birthday. If Matthew were living on this side of the Atlantic Ocean, I would make his birthday cake rather than sending this to his wife.

Dear Alison,

Here’s the recipe for Matthew’s birthday cake:

Chocolate Cake

Preheat the oven to 325º. Smear the inside of two nine inch cake pans with softened butter and line the bottom of each pan with a circle of waxed paper. Smear the waxed paper with more butter, dust the inside of each pan with a tablespoon of unsweetened cocoa powder and tip over the pan and tap out the excess cocoa.

Sift together two cups of all-purpose flour, one teaspoon of baking soda, half a teaspoon of cayenne and a quarter of a teaspoon of kosher salt and set it aside.

Melt five ounces of dark chocolate, (my favorite chocolate is  dark also called semi-sweet Callebaut),  in a double boiler.  stir until smooth and remove from the heat. Put one quarter of a cup of instant espresso or instant coffee in a two-cup glass measure, add two tablespoons of boiling water. Stir until dissolved before adding enough cold water to fill the cup to the one and half cup mark. Add half a cup of dark rum to make a total of two cups of liquid.

Use an electric mixer to combine one cup of room temperature, unsalted butter with one and a half cups of granulated sugar and half a cup of brown sugar. Add one teaspoon of vanilla and mix until well blended and smooth. Add three eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition.

Scrape down the bowl and beater before beating in the slightly cooled, melted chocolate. Use a spatula to alternately stir in a third of the flour mixture, then one cup of the coffee rum mixture, another third of the flour, the rest of the liquid and finally the remainder of the flour. Don’t worry if the batter looks curdled.

Pour the batter into the prepared pans. Bake until the tops of the cakes are springy, and a toothpick stuck into the center comes out clean. (It takes about thirty-five to forty minutes in my oven.) Cool the cake in the pan on a wire rack for fifteen minute before tipping it out to cool completely. It’s best to remove the wax paper while the cake is still warm.

Whipped Cream

I prefer organic, heavy cream, from a local dairy. I don’t like the cooked taste of ultra-pasteurized cream and don’t use it unless regular pasteurized cream is unavailable. Other than one birthday cake I made in Singapore, I have always been able to find pasteurized cream that has not been given the ultimate treatment. Make sure that the cream, the whisk and bowl, preferable a deep metal one, are very cold. (I put everything into the freezer for ten minutes.)

Put the bowl in the kitchen sink, with a damp tea towel under it so that it is stable, add the cream to the bowl, put on your favorite music and whip like mad until the cream is stiff. Stop before it turns to butter.

To assemble the cake, put one layer in the center of a cake plate, drizzle one tablespoon of rum or coffee liquor onto the cake. Top with half of the cream, put on second cake, add another tablespoon of coffee liquor or rum and finish with the rest of the cream. Add as many candles as necessary.

If you are having guests who would rather have a cake without liquor, you can substitute sweetened, cold coffee for the liquor in the batter and use apricot jam to moisten the cake.

We look forward to a belated birthday celebration of cappuccino and cannoli with you both at the Café Minerva in Sicily.

Love, C.

Download and print cake recipe with an ingredients list here.

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