Witchy Kitchen

Tag: baking

  • Amaretto Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

    Amaretto Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

    Like many I fell into the seductive trap of HBO’s Sharp Objects (2018), the miniseries adaptation of Gillian Flynn’s 2006 novel. Created by Marti Noxon (who I would follow anywhere since Buffy) and directed by Jean-Marc Vallée, the series perfectly captures a small town underbelly, mommy issues, rollerskating, addiction, and murder mysteries, and Amy Adams’s performance as Camille is painful and exquisite. 

    However, it’s Patricia Clarkson’s Adora that inspried this dish. She’s an elegant and cruel Southern Gothic anti-goddess, sipping amaretto sours and crushing souls out on the veranda. Like Adora, this Calhoun Day pineapple upside-down cake is classic and old-fashioned. It’s marinated and swirled with lovely amaretto, and dotted with luscious maraschinos – “Mama, couldn’t you just take a bite out of her?” “Like a plump, juicy cherry.” 

    Amaretto Pineapple Upside-Down Cake


    For the topping

    • 1 cup amaretto
    • 9 pineapple slices
    • 4 ounces butter, melted
    • 1/2 cup brown sugar
    • maraschino cherries
    Marinate pineapple slices in amaretto for several hours, preferably overnight. Prepare a 9×9 square pan, and spread the bottom with melted butter and brown sugar. Arrange pineapple slices evenly, with maraschinos in all the spaces. Reserve remaining amaretto/pineapple juice mixture.

    For the cake

    • 8 tablespoons butter, softened
    • 1 cup sugar
    • 7 ounces almond paste
    • 3 eggs
    • 1 teaspoon vanilla
    • 1 3/4 cup flour
    • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
    • 1 teaspoon salt
    • Reserved amaretto/pineapple mixture, cooked and reduced to a thick syrup
    Preheat oven to 350° Cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Crumble in the almond paste (try to get it as fine as possible) and mix in well. Mix in eggs, and vanilla. Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt, and add to the wet mixture with a spatula. Combine, being careful not to overmix. Gently spread the batter over the pineapples and cherries in the baking pan. Gently swirl in the amaretto/pineapple syrup (I don’t know if this made much of a difference but I was feeling like Adora and being a little extra). Bake for 30 minutes, then cover with foil and bake 15 minutes more, until a toothpick inserted in the cake comes out clean. Cool slightly, loosen with a knife, and use a large plate or tray to invert. Cool a bit more before serving.

    (I referenced several recipes that all look delicious, including this, this and this to come up with this almondy, boozy, and gorgeously caramelized mishmash).  

    Recipe for Fiction Kitchen Episode 65: Nightbooks & Sharp Objects in which Carrie and Diana discuss the JA White middle grade novel and the HBO miniseries. Spooky modern Sheherazade and midwest gothic folktale with pumpkin pie, oatmeal cookies, kousa mahshi, pineapple upside down cake, ham after ham, all washed down with vodka and amaretto sours.

  • Apple Charlotte

    Apple Charlotte

    I have always thought that there is no more fruitful source of family discontent than a housewife’s badly cooked dinners and untidy ways. -Isabella Beeton

    Though Apple Charlotte never actually got made on Downton Abbey, its absence led to poorly sighted Mrs Patmore’s raspberry meringue, which led to spoonfuls of salt in place of sugar, which led to Sir Anthony Strallan nearly choking and Lady Grantham with one of her Lady Granthamest lines ever: Bring fruit, bring cheese, bring anything to take this taste away!

    I made a recipe from Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management, an extensive guide first published in 1861 by Isabella Beeton, and the standard for all English households from the Victorian era onward. Served with a lovely Lady Grey creme anglaise; it’s like Earl Grey but it’s for ladies.

    Apple Charlotte

    Adapted from Mrs. Beeton’s Book of Household Management

    • About 6 large slices bread, crusts cut off and buttered, more if needed
    • About 2 large Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and thinly sliced, more if needed
    • 3 pinches of salt
    • zest of one lemon
    • 3 heaping tablespoons brown sugar

    Heat oven to 350°

    Butter a pie pan. Tear large pieces of bread and place in a single layer. Arrange a layer of apple slices on top, then sprinkle with a pinch of salt, a third of the lemon zest, and a heaping tablespoon of brown sugar. Repeat for the other two layers. Gently press down and cover with foil.

    Bake for 45 minutes to an hour (I checked at 45, the apples were cooked but firm, by an hour they were cooked down properly).

    Allow to cool, then overturn on a plate, sprinkle with powdered sugar, and serve with vanilla ice cream, or creme anglaise (recipe follows).

    Lady Grey Creme Anglaise

    Adapted from Biscayenne

    • 3/4 cup milk
    • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
    • 2 Lady Grey tea bags
    • 2 egg yolks
    • 1/4 cup sugar

    Bring milk, vanilla and tea bags to a simmer, then remove from heat and steep 10 minutes. Remove tea bags (after squeezing out the liquid).

    Meanwhile, whisk egg yolks and sugar until mixture is pale yellow. Pour half the milk mixture into the eggs, whisking constantly. Pour everything back into the sauce pan and reheat over medium heat, constantly stirring, until mixture has thickened. Do not boil. It is ready when it coats a spoon, and you can run your finger over the creme and the trail remains.

    Pour into a bowl placed into a larger bowl of ice and stir until the sauce is cool. Refrigerate to thicken further.

    Recipe for Fiction Kitchen Episode 8: DOWNTON ABBEY in which Diana and Carrie discuss Downton Abbey in its Edwardian glory, including Mrs. Beeton, food styling, frozen gravy, Mrs. Patmore’s dark side, and the best table scraps in Yorkshire.

    Ms Beeton Desserts Downton Abbey

    Illustration from Mrs Beeton’s

    Love apples? Try:

  • Rye Popovers with Welsh Rarebit Sauce

    Rye Popovers with Welsh Rarebit Sauce

    I adored Tim Burton’s 2016 film Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children based on the book of the same name by Ransom Riggs. I can attribute most of my love to the film’s charming and spookyl atmosphere, from the Burtonesque settings, to the paranomal abilitied children I’ve described as X-Men through an Instagram filter, to the hauntingly lovely Florence and the Machine song that plays through the credits. I can attribute the rest of my love to the luminous Eva Green as Miss Peregrine.

    Illustration by Andrew Tarusov

    Miss Peregrine’s school is located in Wales, and to my American sensibility the most iconic Welsh food is Welsh Rarebit (please comment and school me if there are more dishes I should know). As far as dishes go though, this is a good one, the sauce is simply amazing. One of my peculiar children declared “dis is yum!”

    I made the lovely rarebit creamy cheese sauce flavored with dijon, worcestershire sauce and ale (I used pumpkin beer!) but rather than on rye toast, I made some light and airy rye popovers to evoke Emma (yes in the book it’s Olive) who is lighter than air. I wonder if she’s a good cook – she’s probably great at things like popovers, soufflees, meringues, puris, foams and lattes.

    Just a note, in a rare twist I adapted nothing this time, both unaltered recipes came out really nice.

    Rye Popovers with Welsh Rarebit Sauce

    For the popovers
    Recipe from Food.com

    • 3⁄4 cup rye flour
    • 1 cup all-purpose flour
    • 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
    • 1 cup milk
    • 1 tablespoon butter, melted
    • 2 eggs, lightly beaten

    Heat over to 450° and grease a muffin tin.

    Whisk together flours and salt, then add milk, butter, and eggs. Mix well and divide between muffin cups.

    Bake for 20 minutes, then reduce heat to 350$deg; and bake for another 5 minutes. Cool on a rack. Serve with rarebit sauce, below.

    For the rarebit sauce
    Recipe from Alton Brown

    • 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
    • 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
    • 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
    • 1 teaspoon worcestershire sauce (vegetarian sauce to make vegetarian)
    • 1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
    • 1/4 teaspoon freshly cracked pepper
    • 1/4 cup beer (porter is best, I used a lighter pumpkin beer, also good)
    • 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons heavy cream
    • 3/4 cups shredded cheddar

    On low heat in a saucepan, heat butter and flour, whisking continuously for several minutes (do not let flour brown). Whisk in in dijon mustard, worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper until well combined. Whisk in beer and cream, and add cheddar. Cook, whisking constantly, for 5-7 minutes until cheese is melted completely and mixture has slightly thickened. Remove from heat and serve warm with popovers.

    Recipe for Fiction Kitchen Podcast Episode 48: MISS PEREGRINE’S HOME FOR PECULIAR CHILDREN in which Carrie and Diana discuss the 2016 Tim Burton film and the novel by Ransom Riggs that it’s based on. Giant carrots, weird little back-teeth, eyeball munching, carnival food; all very peculiar.

  • Gingerbread

    Gingerbread

    Bored now.

    If Buffy the Vampire Slayer is my one of my all time favorite TV shows (and it is; Buffy has gotten me through some dark times), then Willow Rosenberg is one of my all time favorite characters. Maybe because she’s the closest representations of myself I’ve ever seen in fiction: nerdy, quiet, sweet, smart, witchy – and more darkly: selfish, controlling, with an addictive personality. If this post seems a little me-centric, it is, and I will point out that that too is Willowesque.

    Gingerbread is not a great, or even that good, episode of Buffy, but it’s one that I remember fondly and think back to often. Maybe because it’s one of the first ones I ever saw, and one of the reasons I started watching the original run, but also because the combination of fairy tales, creepy kids, Willow character development, and a hilarious line by Cordelia about her mom confiscating all her black clothes and scented candles make it a really entertaining one, one close to my little black heart.

    Also it’s the one where Amy turns into a rat.

    Gingerbread

    Adapted from King Arthur Flour

    • 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
    • 1 teaspoon baking soda
    • 1/2 teaspoon salt
    • 1 tablespoon Witchy Autumn Spice Mix (or a mixture of spices such as cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, ginger, etc.)
    • 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
    • 3/4 cup molasses
    • 1/4 cup honey
    • 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
    • 1 egg
    • 1 cup buttermilk (or allow 1 cup milk with a 1 tablespoon lemon juice to sit for 10 minutes)
    • 1/4 cup water

    Heat oven to 350° and prepare a 9×9 baking pan.

    Whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, and spices. Pour in the melted butter, molasses, and honey (you can combine the molasses and honey in a measuring cup and heat for 20 seconds in the microwave to make it pour easily) and stir gently into the flour until moistened. Add ginger, beaten egg, buttermilk and water and stir gently until evenly combined.

    Pour into baking dish and bake for about 35 minutes (start checking around 33) until cake is pulling away from the edge of the pan.

    Cool on a rack for at least 15 minutes before serving.

    Recipe for Fiction Kitchen Episode 23: BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER in which Carrie and Diana discuss the cult TV show with various vampy concoctions – Happy Meals on legs, textured blood, yummy sushi, foamy nectar, and some really bad puns. #TeamSpike #Spiffy

  • Rosy Lemon Cakes

    Rosy Lemon Cakes

    I had a very specific image of Sansa’s favorite treat in mind as I was reading Game of Thrones, so it took a couple of tries to get them right! I had a vision of small, almost bite-sized cakes on a platter, decorated prettily. I wanted them very dense, barely leavened, so I melted the butter and cooked them at a very low temperature. There are a million lemon cake recipes floating around, so I’ve tried what I imagined as regional variations. This one is inspired by Highgarden. I used rosewater in both the lemon curd and the lemon cakes; the Tyrell’s sigil is the Rose, which I thought was fitting as Marjorie was a decent ally for awhile to Sansa.

    As a variation, I also made a Queen in the North version: Rosemary Lemon Cakes with rosemary and candied lemon.

    Rosy Lemon Cakes

    For the rosy lemon curd
    Adapted from Ina Garten

    • 16 tablespoons (2 sticks) butter
    • 1 1/2 cups sugar
    • zest of 3 lemons
    • 4 eggs
    • juice of 2 lemons
    • 2 tbsp rose water
    • 1/8 tsp salt

    Cream the butter, then beat in the sugar and lemon zest. Add the eggs one by one, then the lemon juice, rosewater, and salt.

    Pour into a saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring, until thickened (10 minutes or so, mine took longer). Remove from heat and cool completely. Can save in the fridge.

    For the lemon cakes

    • 6 tablespoons butter, melted
    • 1/3 cup honey
    • 3 egg yolks
    • 2 tablespoons lemon juice
    • 2 tablespoons rosewater
    • pinch safflower for color (optional)
    • 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour (spoon very lightly into measuring cups to measure)
    • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
    • 1/2 teaspoon salt
    • powdered sugar, rosy lemon curd, and optional rose petals to decorate

    Heat oven to 275°

    Whisk together well butter and honey, then whisk in egg yolks one at a time. Whisk in lemon juice, rosewater, and crumbled safflower.

    In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking soda and salt, then stir into wet ingredients until just combined. Spoon into greased mini muffin cups, and bake for 15-17 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.

    Cool for a few minutes in the pan, then overturn onto a plate to cool the rest of the way. Before serving, sprinkle with powdered sugar, dollop with lemon curd, and garnish with a few sprinkled rose petals.

    This is kind of an amalgam of these:
    Fine Cakes translated by Gode Cookery
    Medieval Lemon Cakes by Inn at the Crossroads
    Lemoncakes from Geeky Chef (this is my favorite presentation, I may try the ones above again with just little lemon slices in the muffin cups)

    This dish was first posted for Fiction Kitchen Episode 1: GAME OF THRONES in which Carrie and Diana discuss characters, regions and cuisines of Westeros and Essos, salt rite, food styling, and blood and boobs.

  • Rosemary Lemon Cakes

    Rosemary Lemon Cakes

    No Game of Thrones menu, especially one themed Queen in the North, is complete without the iconic lemon cakes.

    Previously I had made a southern Highgardenish version delicately flavored with rosewater, dolloped with a rosey lemon curd. Now that Sansa is back up north outside of Winterfell, presumably heading to the Wall, I started dreaming of a fragrant, piney, northern version of her favorite treat. Rosemary pairs so perfectly with lemon, and I made pretty candied lemon slices to decorate.

    These turned out delicious, and were even better over the next couple of days.

    Rosemary Lemon Cakes

    For the candied lemon slices

    • 1 cup sugar
    • 2 sprigs rosemary
    • 1 large lemon, cut into thin slices

    In a saucepan, heat sugar with 1 cup water and the sprigs of rosemary. Bring to a boil, swirling the sugar to dissolve it. Gently drop in lemon slices in a single layer and lower heat to medium low. Simmer gently, flipping occasionally, for 15 minutes, until rind softens. Remove to a wax-paper lined baking sheet, cool for an hour, then move to the fridge for an hour. When ready to use, slice the lemon slices into quarters.

    Reserve the syrup, you will use it for the lemon cakes.

    For the lemon cakes

    • 6 tablespoons butter, melted
    • 1/3 cup honey
    • 3 egg yolks
    • zest and juice of one large lemon
    • 1 tablespoon rosemary, finely chopped
    • 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour (spoon very lightly into measuring cups to measure)
    • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
    • 1/2 teaspoon salt
    • candied lemon slices (above)
    • lemon rosemary syrup (above)

    Heat oven to 275°

    Whisk together well butter and honey, then whisk in egg yolks one at a time. Whisk in lemon juice and rosemary.

    In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking soda and salt, then stir into wet ingredients until just combined. Spoon into greased mini muffin cups, and bake for 15-17 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.

    Cool for a few minutes in the pan, then overturn onto a plate. Brush liberally with the reserved lemon rosemary syrup (slighly warmed), and top with a candied lemon slice. Cool completely.

    Even better the next day!

    From Game of Thrones menu Queen in the North

  • Witchy Autumn Spice Mix

    Witchy Autumn Spice Mix

    Tis the season! I’ve decked the halls with pumpkins and cobwebs, and fall baking is in full swing. Here’s a deliciously fragrant witchy spice mix for all your fall treats, everything from gingerbread to roasted veggies to pumpkin spice lattes.

    It’s nothing revolutionary, it’s like chai masala with different levels of spice (not that you couldn’t make a lovely chai with this), and like store-bought pumpkin pie spice only so much more lovely and piquant because the spices are fresh ground. I’ve made a nice batch which I’ve stored in a little jar in my spice cabinet, but it’s going so quickly I know I’ll need to make another batch before the holiday season is over – and this time make it a double!

    Also, this wouldn’t be half as witchy without some magical correspondences, so if you’re curious:

    • Allspice: money, luck healing
    • Black pepper: protection, exorcism
    • Cardamom: lust, love (so you’ve got the sweet playful version with green cardamom and the smokey sexy one with black cardamom)
    • Cinnamon: spirituality, success, healing, power, psychic powers, lust, protection, love (so, pretty much everything)
    • Clove: protection, exorcism, love, money
    • Ginger: love, money, success, power
    • Star anise: psychic powers, luck

    All the good stuff; if you’re looking for love, money, or just need a good old-fashioned exorcism, a batch of pumpkin bread may be just the thing. Happy baking!

    Witchy Autumn Spice Mix

    • 10 green cardamom pods
    • 10 allspice berries
    • 14 cloves
    • 3 star anise
    • 3 cinnamon sticks
    • 1 tablespoon black pepper pods
    • 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg (about half a pod)
    • 1/2 teaspoon ginger powder

    Lightly toast all spices except the ground nutmeg and ginger in a dry pan. Grind all spices in a spice grinder until very fine. You may need to crack the cinnamon sticks first, and then sift the spices once and grind the larger pieces again.

    Stir in the ginger and nutmeg, and store in an airtight container. Will last indefinitely but spices will lose potency over time, so try to use within a month or two.

  • Fig and Ginger Barm Brack

    Fig and Ginger Barm Brack

    Barm brack is an Irish sweet bread studded with dried fruits and candied peel. Though traditionally made with sultanas, I changed it up with dried figs and ginger, one of my favorite combos. It’s a Halloween tradition to eat it and play a fortune-telling game for the coming year based on little trinkets wrapped in muslin cloth baked into the bread.

    A pea: no marriage for you this year
    A stick: even worse, an unhappy marriage, or continual disputes
    A cloth or rag: rotten luck, poor poor poor

    ….hmm so far not sure I want to play this game…but then!

    A coin: good fortune, riches!
    A ring: marriage! This year!

    (Thanks again my favorite academic source Wikipedia)

    I am not even going to bother linking to the recipe I worked from because the liquid to flour measurements were way off! (At least for me). I had to add almost double the flour the recipe called for before it would come together in a dough…however, through some unexplained wacky kitchen witchcraft the end result was madly marvelous!

    So because of this, apologies for the flour measurements, but if you add a little at a time you can’t go wrong. This was fantastic, so I will definitely make this again and try to close the margin a little.

    Fig and Ginger Barm Brack

    • 1 packet (.32 oz) rapid rise yeast
    • 3/4 cup warm water
    • 4 tbsp sugar, divided
    • 3-4 cups all purpose flour, plus more for kneading
    • 1 tsp salt
    • 4 tbsp (half stick) butter, melted
    • 2 eggs, lightly beaten
    • 4 oz dried figs, chopped
    • 2 oz candied ginger, chopped

    In a small bowl, combine yeast, warm water and 1 tbsp of the sugar and let stand for 10 minutes or so (after which time it should be foamy – if not, use new yeast).

    Meanwhile, whisk together 3 cups of the flour, remaining 3 tbsp sugar and the salt, then stir in butter and eggs (does not need to be homogenous). Add fruit and the yeast mixture, stirring and adding more flour little by little, just enough until a dough forms (will be a little sticky).

    Turn out onto a floured board (or your counter) and knead for 10 minutes, adding sprinkles of flour as needed as it gets too sticky to handle. Roll into a ball and place into a lightly oiled bowl and cover with a tea towel or plastic wrap. Put in a warm spot to rise for one hour.

    After an hour, lightly oil 9×5 loaf pan. Knead the dough for a few minutes and spread the dough into the loaf pan. Cover and allow to rise for 30 minutes.

    Bake at 400° for 30 minutes – near the end if it starts getting too brown on top you can cover with foil and finish baking.

    Cool in the pan.

    Have with tea, sliced, toasted, slathered with butter and sprinkled with sea salt.