Butter makes it better
Winter means staying inside and being cozy, so braising is the perfect wintertime cooking method. If you’re not familiar with braising, it’s a cooking method where you lightly fry the food and then let it cook, low and slow, in a bit of liquid. Braising …
I love butternut squash, but sometimes plain butternut squash gets a little boring. Let’s jazz it up with this sweet n spicy butternut squash! It’s gorgeous and crispy, with a little kick of heat and a sweet finish. If you like sweet potato fries, you’ll …
Have you ever wondered what a rose tastes like? I have. Roses are one of my favorite smells, no matter how old-ladyish my husband thinks they smell. As for the taste, it is exquisite. And this fragrant rose cake is the perfect introduction.
Rose doesn’t taste quite how I imagined. It almost tastes like lemon poppyseed cake without the lemon. I can see how it would be overpowering, but the amount of rose in this cake is very delicate and subtle. I’m glad I tried it, and I’m looking forward to make another rose cake with this scrumptious recipe.
This cake recipe is special because it takes all of my very favorite delicate flavors (rose, vanilla, and honey) and combines them perfectly. You can still taste each flavor on its own, but together they make something very special.
You can make this cake in a normal cake pan (two 8″ inch round cake pans or one 9″x13″ dish), but I am just extra enough that I wanted to use the GORGEOUS rose-shaped cake pan that Cam got me for my birthday. You can buy your own here if you like. (It’s not an ad, I just really like this pan.)
As for the rose water, it’s important to buy food-grade rose water (since you’ll be ingesting it). I got my rose water on Amazon, and it’s lovely.
For the cake:
For the simple syrup:
First, preheat the oven to 350 F, and grease your cake pan(s) with either butter or Crisco.
Next, cream together the butter and sugar until creamy. Add the vegetable oil and honey, and mix until well-combined. Mix in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each one. Stir in the vanilla and rose water.
In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Gently mix the flour mixture and buttermilk into the butter mixture until just combined.
Pour your cake batter into your chosen pan(s), and bake at 350 F for 30-35 minutes or until the cake is done. Allow the cake to cool for 10 minutes in the pan before taking it out.
While the cake is cooling, start making the simple syrup by mixing the water and sugar in a saucepan. Heat the ingredients until they dissolve. Stir in the rose water and remove the pan from the heat. Allow the simple syrup to steep until cool.
Remove the cake from its pan and being soaking it with your rose simple syrup until saturated, but not dripping. (I find either a pastry brush or a small spoon to be helpful.) Enjoy your fragrant rose cake!
For as long as I can remember, my mom has made this breakfast casserole every Christmas morning. It’s perfect because you can make it the night before, pop it in the oven right before the kids come downstairs, and then it will be ready by …
Sorry for the lack of blog posts lately! I adore the holidays, but they are a terribly busy time. So busy, in fact, that you might desperately need this recipe for chocolate peanut butter pie. You can whip it up in about an hour for …
Happy Hanukkah! I personally don’t celebrate Hanukkah, but I will take any excuse I can get to eat latkes. Especially these crisp, golden butternut latkes.
Latkes are pancakes traditionally made from potatoes, but you can make them from zucchini, squash, and pretty much any hard and tasty vegetable. These are especially gorgeous with some spiced homemade applesauce, but really, you can put pretty much anything on latkes and they’ll taste good. The best part about this recipe is that rather than frying each one by one, you can batch bake these in the oven. I always prefer not to burn myself, and baking these latkes means I’ll be willing to make these much more often. Enjoy!
Begin by preheating your oven to 450 F and placing a sheet pan inside to heat. Then, mix your grated squash and onion. Squeeze out as much moisture as you can, either by using a potato ricer or a cloth that will hide bright orange stains. Continue until you’ve squeezed out as much moisture as you can.
Next, mix all ingredients in a large bowl until well combined. Remove your baking sheet from the oven, and coat with a healthy dose of cooking spray. Place dollops of the squash mixture on the sheet pan, and spread into 2-3 inch circles with a spoon. Bake for 8 minutes, spray the sheet pan again with a healthy dose of cooking spray, and flip your latkes. Return the pan to the oven and bake for 10 more minutes, or until your butternut latkes are pleasantly crispy. Serve with applesauce or with sour cream and chives for happy stomachs.
I am not great at making Chinese or Japanese food, but I would like to be. (Mainly because Chinese food is a favorite of my husband and my sister.) This Asian meatball soup is one of those recipes that makes me feel like I am …
I love macaroni and cheese. I would eat the normal Kraft macaroni and cheese as a meal regularly, but I feel that’s frowned upon. So with that, I bring you my mom’s full-meal macaroni and cheese. With this dish comes the concept of making a …
After making pie dough, you need something to put in it! Continuing with our pre-Thanksgiving pie theme, let’s talk about this classic apple pie.
Not every apple pie is created equal. This classic apple pie is simple, but lovely in its simplicity. The crust is flaky and rich, but it doesn’t overwhelm the filling. The filling is dense and spiced, but it’s freshened up with a touch of lemon. This version of classic apple pie is easy to add variations to, but it’s beautiful by itself. As my brother-in-law said, “Most apple pies need ice cream to eat them with, but this one is good enough to eat by himself.” Trust me, that’s high praise from him.
A few notes. These quantities make enough to fill one apple pie, but you can easily double it. As for what apples to use, you can use any firm apple. Honeycrisps are my gold standard, so I used them for this recipe, but you can also use Granny Smith, Golden Delicious, Pink Lady, etc. There are many possibilities, and your local store is sure to have at least one of them.
Please also note that I’m not going into the intricacies of making pie dough in this post; but I did in the previous post, which you can find at this link. Good luck!
For the pie crust:
For the apple pie filling
Place your cored and sliced apples in a large pot. Add 1/2 cup sugar, the lemon juice, and 1/2 cup water, and cook for about 20 minutes. Add the salt, cornstarch, nutmeg, cinnamon, lemon zest, and 1/2 cup sugar, and stir. Cook until the mixture thickens.
While the filling is cooking, make and roll out your crust. Place one crust in the bottom of a 9-inch pie pan, and pour in your fresh apple filling. Roll out the top crust and place it on your pie, cutting off the excess and crimping the edges. Brush your pie with milk and sprinkle lightly with sugar. Make decorative cuts in the top to help vent the pie. Bake your pie at 450 degrees F for 15-20 minutes, then at 350 degrees F until brown (usually not longer than the 20 minutes). Enjoy!
