friday flatware

at the Whitby Hotel...

 

make a wish!

happy birthday, dear bob!

we love you (and mary) so very much,

more than vanilla spritz cookies;

or a chocolate ganache bakery cake;

or even your favorite lemon meringue pie! 

mary and bob

89 expeditions around the sun, so fun!!

make a wish!!

xxx 

mapping it out

at levain, lafayette street, noho

 

ginger

thank you, mom, for the ginger cookies! 

at home in new york

 

and, dear readers, here is the recipe! 

from cookies installment, mary cooks.....

mary cooks continued: Easter egg cake and frosting recipes

hi again, fellow quarantinistas!

so, i found a great photo of my mother's mini egg cakes and also haver her reply to the questions posed in my pre Easter blog post asking her for the recipe and frosting details.

https://fashion-is-love-nyc.blogspot.com/2020/04/mary-had-little-lamb.html

she writes from isolation with my father in New Jersey:

Hi,

The cake is a Dromedary pound cake (sadly extinct!) (she uses Betty Crocker now) 

The cookies are in the book--Veronica's Xmas cookies!  (referring to the cookies i asked about) 

The icing recipe is as follows: 

1 cup granulated sugar.

1/4 cup  unsalted margarine

1/4 cup shortening (I use Crisco)

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 cup milk

3 cups confectioner's sugar

1 1/4 t. almond extract

Food coloring

Combine first five ingredients in saucepan.   Bring to a boil over moderate heat, stirring  constantly.  

boil vigorously 1 minute.   Remove from heat.   Beat in XXX sugar  and  almond  flavoring until smooth.

Tint with food coloring as desired.  Cool 2 or 3 minutes or until icing is a good consistency to use.

Using fork to hold cakes, cover top and sides with icing.  If icing gets too thick to pour over cake, reheat a fews seconds in microwave!  

If Decorating tops of cakes with rosettes, use buttercream icing!     

For chocolate glaze I use Shirley's glaze :  

XOXX Mom

Mary's mini egg cakes, Easter, 2017

here as well is the recipe for Shirley's chocolate glaze: 

1 pkg. (4 ounces) sweet chocolate (German's) or

3/4 cup chocolate chips

1 Tbsp. butter

3 Tbsp. water

1 cup powdered sugar

dash of salt

1 tsp. vanilla

Break chocolate and melt with butter and water. Remove from heat. 

Beat in sugar and salt til smooth . Stir in vanilla.

and the buttercream icing is:

3 cups XXX sugar
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1t. vanilla
1-2 TBSP heavy cream (or milk)

Cream together butter and sugar. add vanilla then gradually add milk to desired consistency.

p.s. she adds, if you are doing icing for fewer eggs (i made 55 last time) you can probably half the recipe. or use leftover to ice cupcakes when you make them. (it can be frozen).



and while we are at it, Veronica's Christmas Cookies recipe follows as per below.
if you cannot read it clearly, let me know and i can always type it out for you! it is obviously adaptable to Easter, Valentine's Day, or any holiday or occasion for which you have a favorite cookie cutter!

butter cookies recipe
mary, with her granddaughters abby and charlotte and my sister eleanor

really. mom?  55 mini egg cakes?!  extraordinary!
xx

sugarplums and such

mary's christmas, mendham...

sunny day at cafe leon dore

sometimes, i am so happy to stumble upon parts still unknown, right here in my own city.... 

cafe leon dore on mulberry street...
https://hypebeast.com/2019/2/aime-leon-dore-new-york-cafe

bake sale

i thought that i went for the food but quickly realized that we were all there for the politics.

last Sunday's third annual bake sale organized by Cafe Altro Paradiso raised almost $100k to be donated to New York City's Planned Parenthood. 

baking is always a community crowd pleaser and sometimes, too, especially in light of recent events in the world, the sweetest revenge...

cafe altro paradiso hosted its 3rd annual bake sale to benefit ny planned parenthood!

click the links below for past and present stories on acclaimed pastry chef natasha and her fundraising initiative: 

https://www.bonappetit.com/story/bake-sale-ideas-natasha-pickowicz
https://heritageradionetwork.org/podcast/natasha-pickowicz-the-passionate-pastry-chef/
https://eye-swoon.com/cafe-altro-paradiso-bake-sale-planned-parenthood/

spring is so sweet!

william greenberg desserts...

so sweet

The Whitby Hotel

linzer love

Yura on Madison 

holiday mornings...

at silver moon bakery...

cozy up

Holidays at The Whitby -- color, confection, and chic cheer, even with one or two uncooperative blooms around the Christmas cookie tree!

The Whitby Hotel