Lemon (Almond) Cornmeal Cake

A Few Things I Loved About Traveling in Japan

1) The free “old man” pajamas provided by the hotels

The red kimono almost made it into my suitcase. Almost.

2) Springtime is like no other

The daffodils and crocuses popping up around Boston are cute, but they’re just not the same.

3) Excellent customer service

No matter if you pull into a gas station, buy an onigiri (rice ball) from a kiosk at the train station, or ask for directions for a hotel (at the competing brand’s concierge desk), the customer service is excellent. Sometimes I wish people would just say thank you in the States more often. It does make a difference.

4) Public transportation is on time.

Without fail, the trains pull up to the station a minute ahead of departure, allow people to hop into the cars, and leave, exactly on time.

5) There’s always time for tea. And with tea, there’s cake.

Like my jet lag, I have yet to shake the habit of daily tea and sweets.

Any downtime my mom and I had, we’d pop into a cafe – at the train station, in the hotel or down a random road from temple – and order a pot or two of green tea.  With tea came sweets (“Obviously,” my mom would say), and talk of what our plans would be for the remainder of the week.

The 13 hour flight home left me exhausted. But after I climbed the stairs up to the apartment, my stomach rumbled. And it wasn’t a meal I wanted.  It was tea and cake.

Vanilla Citrus Pound Cake

Roo is on school vacation this week.

Translation: “I’m going to pout about having to go to work and try to wake you up at 6 a.m. anyways.”

Sighing heavily when the alarm sounds, stomping around the bedroom in the dark, then accidentally turning on the lights, may or may not have happened this morning.

I’m a real treat, I know.

But, for what I lack in manners, I make up for with cake.

You can totally apologize for not being a “morning person” with cake.

Accidentally throwing away your boyfriend’s $100 Xbox headset because you thought it was broken? And it totally wasn’t?

Cranberry Cardamom Bread

Whenever Roo has school vacation I feel pressured into making sure there’s food in the house so that he doesn’t go back to his old ways of living on takeout.

While there isn’t anything wrong with treating yourself once in a while, Roo’s love for Foodler, and Foodler’s love for reminding him what he used to eat as a bachelor, makes me nervous.  Cheeseburgers, chicken parm subs, and pizza, lots of pizza; meals that contribute to high cholesterol levels and make Roo’s doctor say things like “statins.”

Even though I’ll be at work this week, I’m comforted by the fact that I left soup, potstickers and noodles for Roo to have for lunch.

As for breakfast, that’s a little trickier.  Roo is not one who likes to eat anything in the morning so it usually has to be something enticing like “breakfast cake.”

“Breakfast cake” is a term Roo coined months ago, after I started making healthier cakes that lacked frosting, were only slightly sweet, and great with a cup of coffee.  It was a phrase that sounded all too perfect.  And because of that, I couldn’t stop.  I’ve been making “breakfast cake” every weekend since.

This week’s “breakfast cake” was inspired a bag of cranberries I found in the back of my fridge.  With New Year’s approaching, I’ve had a sudden urge to clean and organize everything in the apartment.  The downside is that I find things like an old bag of cranberries that I was suckered into buying because the clever labeling read, “Use One, Freeze One.”

I forgot to freeze the second one.

But, cranberry cardamom bread was made, and like most spiced goods, this cake gets better the longer it sits.

If you’ve never had cardamom before, it’s a spice that I can only describe as citrusy (sure, that’s a word).  The orange zest and cranberries in this cake only enhance cardamom’s flavor; a potpourri of mid-winter awakening.

The outside of the cake is slightly caramelized, yielding a soft, pleasant crunch as you take your first bite.  The crumb is more delicate than for example, a squash based cake, but in no way does it shrink away from the bold, tart cranberries.  The slight sweetness pairs well with the berries that burst mid-baking.

I’m already looking forward to tomorrow morning so that I can have another slice of this for breakfast.

As long as Roo doesn’t beat me to the last slice first.

Adapted from Chez Us

Makes 1 Loaf

Ingredients

1 flax seed egg (1 tablespoon of ground flax seed and 3 tablespoons of warm water mixed and set aside for at least 5 minutes)

Half cup soy milk (or any other non-dairy milk of your choice) and half teaspoon of apple cider vinegar, set aside for at least 5 minutes

Quarter cup of butter (like Earth Balance)

1 cup of sugar

2 cups of white whole wheat flour

One and a half teaspoons of baking powder

Half teaspoon of baking soda

Half teaspoon of fine sea salt

Quarter cup of unsweetened applesauce

Zest from 1 orange

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Half teaspoon cardamom (Cardamom is an intense spice.  If you’ve never used it before try a quarter teaspoon.  And if you hate cardamom – gasp! – try cinnamon.)

12 ounces of cranberries (A bag of cranberries you can find at your supermarket)

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Equipment

A stand mixer (or electric beaters and large bowl)

A medium sized mixing bowl

A whisk

A zester

A spatula

A 9″ loaf pan

Parchment paper or grease your loaf pan with either baking spray or butter and flour

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Place the oven rack to the middle position in the oven.  Preheat the oven to 350F.

Line the loaf pan with parchment paper (or grease it).

In your standing mixer (or with a electric beaters) add the butter and sugar and cream together for about 3 minutes (until well combined).  Set aside.

In a medium mixing bowl add the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Whisk the ingredients till well combined (and there are no visible lumps).  Set aside.

To the standing mixer, add the applesauce, flax seed egg, soy milk with apple cider vinegar, orange zest, vanilla extract, and cardamom.  Mix till well combined.  Be sure to scrape down the bowl, going down the sides, and back up, with your spatula.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet.  Mix till just combined, then scrape down the sides of the bowl.  Add the cranberries and fold into the cake batter with your spatula.

The batter is going to be thick, don’t worry.

Scoop the batter into your prepared loaf pan.  Bake for 50 – 60 minutes.  At the 50 minute marker, check the cake with a cake tester (a toothpick, knife, fork etc).  If it comes out from the middle of the loaf with only a bit of crumb, it’s done.  If the cake tester yielded wet batter still on it, throw the cake back in the oven and bake for another five minutes.  Continue checking every five minutes until it’s done.

Allow the cake to cool to room temperature before serving.

Marbled Banana Bread

10 Reasons Why You Should Make Your Boyfriend Marbled Banana Bread

1. The trash is always taken out

2. Even though your apartment doesn’t have a dishwasher it doesn’t matter because they miraculously get done every night

3. Feet are never left alone in a cold corner under the duvet as they are always sought out to be intertwined

4. Cold hands always have a home in another’s warm ones without complaint (except that one time when you placed your ice cold hands on his bare rib cage and he screamed like you were skinning him alive…note to self, laughing so hard that you can’t breathe wasn’t the best response)

5. Heavy grocery items are whisked away from your overburdened shoulders with ease

6. No matter what kind of <insert hysterical moment of bad body image> day you’re having, you’re always looked at like you’re the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen when you’re getting dressed

7. He always moves to stand over the bathtub and gives you the sink, even though he started brushing his teeth way before you walked by and decided it was a good idea too

8. He ignores your obvious cookbook buying/Amazon addiction

9. He said he hated brussels sprouts and tofu but now serves himself seconds

10. He will often visit you in the kitchen as you make dinner to say it “smells really good,” pop a few items into his mouth, thinking you won’t see it but you always do

(This list of course will be followed by “10 reasons why you should make yourself something great because you live with your boyfriend,” because of course no relationship is perfect.)

Bananas and chocolate!  In a loaf!  Make this for someone you love right now.  Or tonight for yourself.  I won’t tell.

Inspired by Post Punk Kitchen

Makes 1 Loaf

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Ingredients

3 large very ripe bananas, mashed

2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

Quarter cup of soy milk (or your preferred non-dairy milk) with a quarter teaspoon of apple cider vinegar, mixed and set aside for about 5 minutes

Three quarters of a cup of sugar (this yields a not too sweet cake, if you’d like a sweet banana bread, go for 1 cup)

2 flax seed eggs (2 tablespoons of ground flax seed mixed with 6 tablespoons of warm water and set aside for at least 5 minutes)

2 cups of white whole wheat flour (If you would like the crumb that you would normally find in banana bread, all purpose is the way to go; for something a bit more luxurious and velvety, I would suggest using 2 cups of cake flour. I personally love the nutty, heartiness of white whole wheat. It makes me feel like I’m eating something wholesome.)

1 teaspoon of baking soda

Three quarters of a teaspoon of baking powder

1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon

Quarter teaspoon of fine sea salt

Quarter cup of unsweetened cocoa powder

3 – 5 tablespoons of boiling water

Quarter cup of unsweetened applesauce

Quarter cup of mild tasting olive oil

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Equipment

One large mixing bowl

One medium mixing bowl

One small mixing bowl (to hold the cocoa powder and water in to be mixed)

A whisk

A spatula

A 9″ loaf pan

Parchment paper to line the loaf pan or baking spray/butter and flour the pan

A clean knife (like a dull butter knife)

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Place your oven rack to the middle position and preheat your oven to 350F.

If using parchment paper, line the loaf pan, otherwise be sure to use plenty of baking spray/butter and flour the pan.

In a large mixing bowl add the mashed bananas, soy milk with apple cider vinegar, vanilla extract, applesauce, olive oil and flax seed egg.  Mix till combined.  Set aside.

In a medium mixing bowl add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.  Whisk the ingredients together to well combined (making sure there aren’t any lumps) and set aside.

In a small mixing bowl add the cocoa powder and 3 tablespoons of boiling water.  Whisk till it becomes a smooth paste.  If it’s still lumpy, add another tablespoon of water.  Keep adding water and mixing until it’s smooth.  Set aside.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet, mixing till just combined (be sure to scrape with a spatula the sides of the bowl, going down to the bottom and back up to ensure all the ingredients are mixed).

Remove half of the batter and place in your medium mixing bowl (where your dry ingredients used to be).  Add the cocoa paste from the small mixing bowl and mix together till combined.

Start adding your cocoa and plain banana batter to the loaf pan.  I just scooped out some plain and cocoa and threw it into the pan in bit dollops.  If the batter starts to run away from you in the pan (because you greased it) it’s ok! It’s a marbled loaf, the sloppy batters aren’t going to hurt it.

When all of your batter is in the pan, take a clean knife and run it through the batter, making a couple swirling patterns.  There is no “perfect” way to do this.  Just swirl about and it’ll turn out great!  Trust yourself.

Bake the loaf for 60 – 75 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean (or with a bit of dry crumb, not wet) when inserted into the center of the loaf/the cake springs back at touch.  Check the cake at the 55 minute marker as all ovens run at different levels of hot.  My normally super hot/I love to dry out cakes asap oven took 70 minutes to fully bake this cake.  Very unusual for my sometimes nemesis, but it was probably just having an off day.

Double Ginger Lemon Cookies

If you’re anything like me, you’re probably going over to someone else’s house to eat today’s dinner.  Although I am helping my mother cook this year, I still feel pressured to bring a hostess gift.  It’s something that’s been ingrained since childhood.

These cookies are quite honestly, perfect.  They are packed with flavor; loads of lemon zest and freshly grated ginger, only to be finished off with a slight crunch from the sugar that they’re rolled in.  I also love the scalloped imprint that they have from the back of a fork.  I am a sucker for pretty cookies, and to me these are exactly that.

I hardly think anyone after a Thanksgiving feast wants to eat something super heavy around 8 at night.  My mother always made a pot of tea and had a cookie or two before getting ready for bed; a tradition that goes back to my first memorable Thanksgiving dinner.

There’s something comforting about seeing my mother go through the same motions, every year: tea towel wrapped around the kettle to keep it warm, a flowery piece of good china from the back of the cupboard, only to place a handful of cookies on, and always the same cup, because it was her favorite; tiny ivy leaves winding up the back of the handle.

While the dough needs to rest for an hour in the fridge, I’ll use that time to shower and get dressed.  Overall these cookies are quite easy and quick to make, with a baking time of about 15 minutes.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Adapted from Organic and Chic

Makes 60 – 70 cookies (For me, it made 67)

*Please note that before baking these, the dough requires at least an hour of chilling (up to 1 day).  So plan ahead!

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Ingredients

Dry

Three cups of white whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon of baking powder

Half teaspoon of baking soda

Quarter teaspoon of salt

Wet

Half cup of unsweetened applesauce (I used homemade)

Quarter cup of mild flavored olive oil (or any other mild flavored oil like canola)

2 tablespoons of ground flaxseed

1 cup of sugar

Quarter cup of freshly grated ginger (I know it seems like a lot, but it’s so worth it, especially with the amount of lemon you’re putting in. It’s a one-two punch of flavors.)

1 teaspoon of ground ginger

Grated lemon zest from 1 lemon, about a tablespoon (this is for an equal amount of lemon with ginger in flavoring, if you want the ginger to be more of a star, use half)

Juice from 1 lemon

Half teaspoon of vanilla extract

Half cup of sugar set aside, for rolling the dough balls in (optional, but really pretty!)

A handful of flour for your hands, to prevent the dough balls from sticking to your skin (I don’t mind, but some care)

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Equipment

One medium sized mixing bowl

One large sized mixing bowl

A whisk

A spatula

A cookie sheet (lined with parchment paper or greased) or two

Some plastic wrap or a tupperware container to let the dough rest and be chilled

A plate (to pour some sugar onto and roll the dough balls in)

A fork (to press into your cookies for a pretty scallop imprint, optional)

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In a medium mixing bowl add your dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Whisk the ingredients together till well combined and no lumps are visible.

In a large mixing bowl add your wet ingredients: unsweetened applesauce, oil, ground flaxseed, sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice and vanilla extract.  Stir till well combined.

Add your dry ingredients into your wet, in increments.  Stir the two mixtures together until they are well incorporated.  At first, it’s going to look like a dry, chalky mess.  Keep going, it’ll come together.

Cover the dough with plastic wrap (or put it in a sealable/coverable container) and chill for at least an hour, up to 1 day.

When the dough is ready to go…

Place your oven racks in the upper middle and lower middle position in the oven.  If you’re using just one cookie sheet, then place one oven rack in the middle position in the oven.  Preheat the oven to 350F.

In a plate, pour the sugar set aside onto it, if using.  Dust your hands with flour, if you are keen on not getting the dough stuck to your hands (I don’t care, more snack for me!).

Form the dough into about 1 inch balls (I basically rolled the dough ball to match the length from the tip of my thumb to my first knuckle…I think that’s about an inch).  Roll the dough balls in the sugar, if using.

Place the dough balls onto a lined or greased cookie sheet, about a 2 inches apart. With a back of a fork, if using, press into the cookie so that it’s imprinted.

Bake the cookies for about 15 minutes (this is how long it took in my oven) to 18 minutes, until they’re very slightly browned and firm the to touch.  These cookies will not brown much so be careful not to leave them in the oven for too long.

Let the cookies cool before eating, but honestly, I’ve eaten them warm and they were delicious.