According to the San Francisco Chronicle, a buckle is a one layer cake, very moist, with a streusel topping that buckles as it cooks. Recently they featured a glossary of fruit desserts, along with several recipes. I snipped the article, intending to bake a buckle, waiting for the right time. Well, that time came! Someone at work had a birthday and I thought this would be a nice treat to bring in and share. As you can see, it did not last long!

Yesterday I took the required three, plus Apple/Cranberry with French Crumble Topping, and a Fuyu Crunchy Persimmon Pie. Both were well received. The Crispy Persimmon Pie (forefront of photo above) was one my Mom had cut out from Sunset Magazine in November 1981, but I am not certain she ever tried it. It was on the same page as a Custard Persimmon Pe and Spaghetti Squash with Orange-Filbert Butter. Funny how times have changed. Filberts are now called Hazelnuts, which oddly sound more exotic.

Fortunately, around the same time I received a copy of the Green Market Baking Book, by Laura Martin, for review. This book provides 100 recipes for sweet and savory treats, and includes additional details on how to incorporate natural sweeteners into your own home cooking. The books also includes detailed information on local and seasonal produce, and provides an interesting chapter on substitutions.

The book is divided into seasons, a great help when eating what is currently ripe and ready, and has a brief section on preserving the harvest, with tips for freezing, canning and drying your favorites.

This summer, I tried the Peach and Nectarine Upside-Down Cake (page 82), and while it was very juicy, the cake received good reviews. Not the most attractive dessert, but with maple syrup and brown syrup as the sweeteners, it was refreshingly devoid of refined sugar.

The illustrations in the book are beautiful; it makes a good evening read. And each season has a highlight of what is good and fresh for that period, along with simple botanical drawings of the fruit and vegetables.

Many chefs have contributed to the book, but the author has managed to keep the recipes and voice similar throughout. Many recipes are also highlighted as dairy-free, low-fat, vegan and gluten-free.

My one gripe with the book is that it seems as though some of the chef-created recipes included in the book have been modified from the original recipe to include a natural sweetener, without the testing necessary to ensure a good quality product. There are many included recipes which are clearly tested and provided by the chefs with the natural sweeteners, but every once in a while a recipe will appear that has been included in the book, but not necessarily created using natural sweeteners. Since many of these sweeteners are liquid (maple syrup, brown rice syrup, honey), I think this leaves the end product open to less success.

Some recipes in the book don’t use any sweeteners, so they are included because of the seasonal produce in the recipe, that is ok. But several recipes have also been included as pure product recommendations (Pesto Pizza with Goat Cheese and Figs, page 100), and a couple from Eden Natural Foods, Bob’s Red Mill, the National Honey Council and U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council. It is nice to show breadth of recipes, but eventually it starts to feel a little commercial.

I also see a few recipes that could be more specific in their details, for example, Persimmon Bread (page 142) which does not specify Hachiya or Fuyu persimmons (big difference). And realistically, many of these recipes are quite a bit more expensive than their refined counterparts (to be expected). I made the Green Market Baking Book Chocolate Chip Cookies (page 31) and priced them out to be about $18 a batch, as opposed to the Traditional Chocolate Chip Cookies (page 30) which are closer to $6 a batch and don’t require additional trips to the grocery store.

On the plus side, there are a few recipes which have been really vetted with natural sweeteners, including Pumpkin Pie and Custard (page 130) and a few recipes which are no brainers for natural sweeteners, such as Applesauce (page 148) and Honey Strawberry Jam (page 68). It is good to build awareness about what is natural and not in baking, and this book helps that cause.

Would I buy the book? Probably. I like all the recipes with honey, and I think the illustrations are great. I also like the layout of the book, reinforcing the eating seasonal objective I share with my family. It would make a nice gift this holiday season for someone looking to reduce/eliminate refined sugars in their diet. This book provides a good starting point and enough information you point you in the right direction.

And just in time for apple season, here is the Apple Cake recipe from the Green Market Baking Book:

We had a pile of pears left over last week and I needed a quick recipe to use the stash before our next box from Happy Child CSA ripened. Fortunately, there was a great recipe included in the weekly newsletter, Becky’s Pear Cake. It was easy to make, and I modified slightly with the addition of Ginger People ginger chips, which gave the cake a little more ginger-oompf. Kids and adults alike enjoyed the cake, and it was very suitable for one of the new holiday stencils I picked up at Michael’s.

Pear Cake

Fast forward 4 years and we are all still here safe and sound. And my life is so much richer for choosing to optimize for my family. I am grateful I have the opportunity to make this choice.

And then I hear about friends I know, like Jennie Perillo, who was living her life the way she wanted and then her husband Mikey died. And she voiced regrets about not finding the time to make his favorite pie.

Today, if you are reading around the food blogs, like Jen’s, Alanna’s and Helene’s, or check out the Facebook page, you will see that we are making pie together.

I am going to make Jennie’e Creamy Peanut Butter Pie, and I am going to make DeLuxe Chocolate Pie, a pie I talk about making all the time for my family and I never get around too. This is a pie that everyone will love, even the child who only eats pumpkin and the husband who does not love cooked fruit. This is the pie for them.

Today we made pudding. Bittersweet chocolate pudding. A favorite from when I was first living on my own. The recipe comes from Puddings Custards and Flans by Linda Zimmerman, and the original recipe calls for white chocolate chunks, but we are not fans of white chocolate, so we left that out. Otherwise, the recipe is easy to make and Kid Chef was surprised the recipe went so fast.

So, I did what any good fan of Bobby Flay does. I issued a smack-down. We would both make “our” version of brownies and then have a third-party judge the results. We were fortunate to have two judges and you will never believe what happened. That’s right. A tie. Imagine that.

But wait, it gets better. Two friends commented on Facebook that they had the best recipe – Erika sent me hers and Marsha dropped the ingredients off for her favorite. The next day, we made both of those recipes. And voted. And had another tie. Sort of. In the end we decided each brownie had its place in our recipe box:

• Best cakey brownie – Erika’s grandmother’s recipe made in the Edges Brownie Pan – best for crispy top crust and cakey interior
• Best chewy chocolatey brownie – Marsha’s recipe from the back of the Sweetened Ghirardelli Chocolate canister – great chewy texture and nice chocolate taste
• Best with extra chips – Hershey’s back-of-package recipe – the kid chef likes this recipe, although he would rank the two above higher on his scale
• Easiest – One bowl brownies from my Grandmother with nuts – quick and easy, chocolate taste improved when Scharffenberger 99% Cacao bar was used

One thing I learned from the process is that the other chef, the kid chef, has no idea how to do dishes. It was funny, I think he just ran them under the water and put them in the drying rack. No soap. No sponge. Lots of food stuck to the outside of the bowl. Kinda gross. I will have to remedy that before he leaves for college.

The cookbook is divided into cakes and fillings, with a bazillion options to integrate the two. I chose a very standard, traditional Whoopie – the Chocolate Marshmallow Whoopie Pie. Because of the season, however, I was also tempted by the Pumpkin Whoopies with cream cheese filling. There was even a savory Jalapeno Cornbread model. Something for everyone.

I like the down-to-earth and funny descriptions and instructions, especially when the authors suggest that measuring your ingredients carefully is a great idea, just not one that they always follow. This is definitely the book for me.

And then a funny thing happened when I went through my stack of recipes to try (you know, the stack you have on your counter of all the recipes you rip out of the newspaper and magazines and keep meaning to try, but never get around too?) and found that the San Francisco Chronicle had done an article on Whoopie Pies back in June, and they included recipes for Chocolate Whoopie Pies with classic Marshmallow Filling. For your enjoyment, I present:

During our visit in Paris last month, only one class was offered for “food enthusiasts” – Les Croustillants Sucrés, or Crispy Desserts. The three-hour class promised us almost nothing, the description being decidedly not descriptive. Nevertheless we were thrilled to sign up, at 90€ a pop, for the chance to be in the actual building where Julia Child made her culinary breakthroughs.

Classroom at CB

Upon arrival, we were whisked upstairs to a working classroom and met our instructor for the day, Chef Patrick Caals. His translator, Chef Ben Preston, was also on hand to ensure our understanding of the technique and instruction. Our class was made up of other Americans, a woman from Japan and a college student studying in Paris for the year. Unfortunately, because we were moving so quickly, I did not get a chance to chit-chat much with the others, except the college student, who said she takes classes at the Cordon Bleu whenever she can.

Chefs

Our dessert for the day was an Apricot and Almond Cream in a Crisp Pastry. The crisp pastry turned out to be phyllo dough, something I have worked with before. I was hoping (although not realistically, given the short class time) that we would learn how to make puff pastry. Oh well.

After washing our hands, we prepared the apricots for roasting in the oven. This mostly involved putting them in a pan, brushing copious amounts of melted vanilla-enhanced butter over the top, and roasting in the oven. We did not actually put anything in the oven, but we were able to watch the cooking assistants do that.

The phyllo dough was into 4″x6″ rectangles (approximately) which we then laid out, piece by piece, each one brushed with butter and stacked upon the pile, to create a sort of large squarish-type layered mass of phyllo. Then the phyllo dough was draped into the pastry rings, and more butter was brushed over. Did I tell you the nickname for Le Cordon Bleu is Le Cordon Buerre?

Phyllo dough in molds

Almond Cream was next, made very easily with equal amounts butter, sugar and ground almonds and one egg. We piped it into the bottom of the pastry rings and arranged the apricots neatly atop. More butter. More sugar. Then fold the edges over and in the oven you go.

Filled pastries

While waiting around for our pastries to bake, Chef Caals whipped together a little rum and orange drink, which was more than my darling stomach could handle. Champagne would have been nice, next time I will sneak in a bottle.

Baking

The class was over and done with in two hours, an hour short of the scheduled time, and at some points, a little too fast. The entire experience was memorable, and while I was sort of nervous at the beginning, I really enjoyed myself toward the end. The class did not teach me anything new, but I really enjoyed being in the classroom, in the Cordon Bleu and learning more about French food and culture.

Finished pastry

Amy also provided the two recipes she used, which are great basic cakes to have in your repertoire. The cake she made above used 2 batches of chocolate cake and 2 batches of yellow cake – two batches for the “big pan” and two batches split into the small and medium pans.

Brown-bottom Cupcakes
Makes excellent chocolate cake without the filling ingredients

Filling:
8 oz cream cheese
1 egg
1/3 cup sugar
12 oz chocolate chips

Cupcake:
3 cups flour
2 cups sugar
½ cup cocoa
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups water
2/3 cup oil
1 egg
2 Tablespoons white vinegar
2 teaspoons vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350° F.

Make the filling in a medium bowl by mixing together the cream cheese, egg and sugar until creamy. Add chocolate chips, and set aside.

Make the cupcakes: Sift together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Add 2 cups water, oil, egg, vanilla and vinegar.

Fill cupcake papers about ½ full with batter. Drop 1 teaspoon filling on top.

Bake 15 minutes.

Great also as mini cupcakes (but use less filling per cupcake).

Yellow cake
These make great cupcakes

Recent realization/recommendation: Cream butter and sugar together. Then add the rest of the ingredients except the water. Add the water SLOWLY (or it splashes and makes an incredible mess!) This is a fun recipe for playing with food coloring too.

3 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
¾ cups butter or margarine, softened
4 eggs
3 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350° F.

Grease and flour 3 9-inch baking pans, or a 9×13 pan.

Into large bowl, measure all ingredients, and 1 ¼ cup water. With mixer at low speed, beat until well mixed, constantly scraping bowl with rubber spatula. Beat at high speed 4 minutes, occasionally scraping bowl.

Pour batter into pans and bake 25-30 minutes until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Cool completely on wire racks before frosting.

I generally use Hachiya for breads and cookies, and enjoy Fuyu in salads. The trick with Hachiyas is to make sure you let them ripen completely, until very soft and gelatin-like, otherwise, they are too astringent. And the Fuyus are meant to be eaten crisp – I like to peel mine, and slice into thin pieces.

Here are many more of my family’s favorite persimmon recipes:

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Fuyu Persimmons

Persimmons in Salad

Originally from Joe Carcione’s The Greengrocer

Peel a Fuyu (the squat, crisp persimmon) and slice in small sections. Add to a bowl of salad greens and thin sliced red onions. Add a light vinegrette of lemon juice and olive oil for a refreshing seasonal salad.

Persimmon Cake

• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups sugar
• 3 Tablespoons butter, softened
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 cup milk
• 2 cups persimmon pulp
• 1 cup bread crumbs
• 2 cups chopped dates
• 2 cup chopped nuts

Preheat oven to 350F.

Sift together flour, soda, powder and salt. Mix sugar, butter, vanilla, milk, and persimmon pulp, and add in flour mixture. Mix in bread crumbs, dates and nuts.

Pour into two (2) greased loaf pans and bake 65 minutes. Cool.

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Hachiya Persimmons

Persimmon Oatmeal Drop Cookies

• 3/4 cup butter
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup persimmon pulp
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon cloves
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 1/2 cup quick rolled oats
• 1/2 cup coconut
• 1/2 cup chopped nuts

Preheat oven to 375F.

Cream together butter and sugar. Beat in eggs.

Stir soda into persimmon pulp and add to creamed mixture. Add vanilla and sifted dry ingredients. Mix well. Stir in rolled oats, coconut, and nuts.

Using your cookie scoop, drop balls of dough onto greased or parchment-lined cookie sheets. Bake 12 minutes. Makes 6 dozen.

Persimmon Cookies

• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups persimmon pulp
• 2 teaspoons baking soda (dissolved in persimmon pulp)
• 4 cups flour
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 cups raisins
• 1 cup chopped nuts

Preheat oven to 350F.

Pour boiling water over raisins and let stand while mixing other ingredients.

Cream sugars and butter well. Add eggs and beat well. Add persimmon pulp and mix well. Sift dry ingredients and add. Mix in vanilla, nuts and raisins.

Using your cookie scoop, drop balls of dough onto greased or parchment-lined cookie sheets. Bake 20 minutes, until light brown. Do not overbake.

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Hachiya (pointy and tall) and Fuyu (short and squat)

Persimmon Refrigerator Roll

• 1 cup persimmon pulp
• 1 cup graham cracker crumbs
• 1/2 cup chopped nuts
• 10 dates, chopped fine
• 10 marshmallows, chopped fine

Mix all ingredients together, then turn onto waxed paper spread with more graham cracker crumbs. Form into a roll about 2″ diameter, coating well with crumbs.

Wrap in waxed paper and chill for at least 2 hours. Slice and serve with whipped cream.

Frozen Persimmon Mousse

• 1 1/2 cups persimmon pulp
• 1/4 cup diced orange
• 1/2 cup diced canned pineapple
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 pint whipped evaporated milk
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 Tablespoon lemon juice

Combine pulp, orange, pineapple, sugar, salt and lemon juice. Blend gently, and fold in whipped milk. Pour into freezer unit of ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer’s instructions.

Indiana Persimmon Bread
originally from Recipe Source

• 1 cup raisins
• 1/2 cup brandy
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 cups brown sugar, firmly packed
• 2 cups persimmon pulp
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 4 eggs
• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 cup walnuts, chopped

Preheat oven to 350F.

Soak raisins in brandy, set aside.

Combine sugars, persimmon pulp and oil. Add eggs, one at a time, beat well after each addition. Sift together dry ingredients into medium bowl. Add to egg mixture and stir in brandied raisins and nuts.

Pour into greased 9×5″ loaf pans (two) or 8×4″ loaf pans (three) and bake 1 hour. The larger pans make take a little longer. Use cake tester to ensure bread is done.

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This week, in preparation for my pie baking marathon Thanksgiving week, I roasted up a Musquee de Provence pumpkin. This variety of pumpkin is huge – the small ones are over 15 pounds apiece! In two batches, I roasted pumpkin pieces, then pureed them in my food processor, strained them through a small-holed strainer, and packaged up for the freezer.

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Step by Step Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 375F
• Cut pumpkin in half, or quarters if very large. The pumpkin above was cut into 9 pieces
• Rub cut side of pumpkin with olive or canola oil. Place cut-side down on a cookie sheet. A Silpat lined cookie sheet makes cleanup easy
• Roast 45 – 90 minutes, until you can poke it with a fork and the rind is soft. Thick skinned pumpkins will take longer to roast
• Remove from oven and allow to cool
• Puree in a food processor
• If your pumpkin contains a good deal of liquid, strain through a small-holed sieve, or a colander lined with cheese cloth
• Freeze puree in 1-cup increments for easy pie making later in the season
• Use as you would canned pumpkin puree, satisfied in the knowledge that you are making a pumpkin pie truly from scratch!

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Pumpkin Pie

Pumpkin Pie
adapted from How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman

• 1 Pie Crust, unbaked
• 3 eggs
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg (freshly grated is best)
• 1/2 teaspoon ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon allspice
• 1/4 teaspoon cloves
• Pinch salt
• 2 cups fresh pumpkin puree
• 2 cups half-and-half, light cream or whole milk (I use 1 cup skim milk + 1 cup heavy cream)

Prebake the pie crust, and start the filling while the crust is in the oven. When the crust is done, turn the oven to 375F.

Beat the eggs and sugar together; add spices and salt. Stir in pumpkin puree then the cream/milk. Warm this mixture in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until it is hot to the touch. Do not boil.

Put the prebaked pie crust in its pie plate on a baking sheet. Pour pumpkin mixture into still-hot crust and bake 30-40 minutes, until the pie shakes like Jell-O. Cool on a rack.

Note: When using my own pumpkin puree, I like to make sure the seasonings are correct, which sometimes means adding a little more spice than the recipe suggests. Be sure to test as you go to ensure the pie is properly flavorful.