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

it's only a silver moon

but it's everything to the neighborhood during the current stay home order.

so grateful for owner Juidth Norell of Silver Moon Bakery,  still open daily with her dedicated team, sharing her beloved seasonal offerings of artisanal breads, French pastries and cakes.

silver moon bakery, broadway
www.silvermoonbakery.com

Happy Passover, Happy Easter to all.
stay safe, New York! we hope to be sitting in the sun together again soon outside Silver Moon!
xx

sugarplums and such

mary's christmas, mendham...

at lafayette

'f' is for a fall fig financier on a friday...

lafayette 380, lafayette street...

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...

holiday mornings...

at silver moon bakery...

Thanksgiving

gratitude, and pie....

mendham, nj 

how the cookie crumbles....

Zaros Bakery

may flowers

linzer cookies, le pain quotidien...

dough

at dough, flatiron district...

where bread is beautiful

and love is loaves!

happy hearts for fashion week friday!

at le pain quotidien

candy crush

Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory,
Vail Village

a pretty peach galette on a purple patterned plate

P is for:

https://lasdeliciaspatisserie.com

Animal Crackers

when i went home to New Jersey on Sunday, i was surprised by the plate of cookies my mother the gourmet presented following lunch.  

the chocolate Thin Mints were not the surprise, my father has always loved them and we used to stock up on them when Girl Scout fundraising season rolled around each year. 

Animal Crackers? i asked.

yes, my mother replied, popping one into her mouth. 

really?  i asked. 

we like them. from a bag, not a box. she clarified matter of factly.

times really do change...

Sunday, Mendham NJ 

Christmas cookies

my mother is known to bake over 22 kinds of cookies for Christmas!
some are her mother's recipes, some her own and some from favorite cookbooks.

biscotti on Christmas... 

this biscotti recipe with almond and aniseed comes from the Union Square Cafe Cookbook...

http://www.unionsquarecafe.com/page/gifts/

i love these cookies any time of day but they are popular in Tuscany with Vin Santo dessert wine as the recipe points out.

merry christmas to all and to all a good night!