ANGEL FOOD CAKE WITH ROASTED STRAWBERRY SAUCE

ANGEL FOOD CAKE WITH ROASTED STRAWBERRY SAUCE
We really liked.  So much better than store bought or boxed.  Loved strawberry sauce - would be good on ice cream.

Angel Food Cake
• 1 1/4 cups (125 grams) sifted cake flour
• 1 1/2 cups (300 grams) granulated white sugar
• 1 1/2 cups (360 ml) egg whites, at room temperature (from about 12 large eggs)
• 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon McCormick® pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon McCormick® pure almond extract

Roasted Strawberry Sauce
• 2 cups (250g) sliced fresh strawberries
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup
• 1/4 teaspoon McCormick® ground cinnamon
• 10 ounces of strawberry spread (or jam, jelly preserves)
• Cool Whip (optional)

Angel Food Cake
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F and locate your angel food cake pan. Do not butter or spray or grease pan in any way.
2. In a large bowl sift together 3/4 cup (150 grams) granulated white sugar and the sifted cake flour. (this is half of the sugar and all of the flour)
3. In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites until foamy, about 2 minutes.
4. Add the cream of tartar, lemon juice, vanilla and almond extract, and salt and continue to beat until soft peaks form, roughly 2-3 minutes.
5. Gradually beat in the remaining 3/4 cup (150 grams) granulated white sugar, a tablespoon at a time, until glossy stiff peaks form.
6. You may need to scrape down the sides of the bowl.
7. Remove bowl from stand mixer.
8. Sift the flour mixture (1/4 cup at a time) over the egg whites and using a rubber spatula, gently fold (do not stir) the flour into the egg whites.
9. Pour the batter into the pan and run a metal spatula or knife through the batter to get rid of any air pockets. Smooth the top and bake in the preheated oven for about 40 - 45 minutes. The cake is done when the cake springs back when gently pressed or there are cracks over the top.
10. Immediately upon removing from the oven invert the pan and allow the cake to cool for about 1 1/2 hours.
11. When completely cool, run an offset spatula or knife around the sides and center tube of the pan to loosen the cake and then remove the cake from the pan.
12. Next, use the offest spatula (or knife) along the bottom and remove.
13. Set cake on cake stand.

Roasted Strawberry Sauce
1. Place sliced strawberries in a single layer on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
2. Drizzle evenly with syrup and sprinkle cinnamon on top.
3. Roast strawberries at 400F 10-12 minutes or until berries are tender and have begun to release their juices.
4. Place strawberry spread into a medium bowl. Dump roasted strawberries on top of spread and mix together with a fork.
5. If mixture seems too thick can add up to 1/2 cup warm water.
6. When ready to serve, pour some sauce (not all) over cake. Cut cake using either a very (very) sharp knife or a serrated knife. Use a 'saw' motion and try not to press the cake down as you cut. Place piece on a plate and drop a dollop of whipped cream on top. Cover with more strawberry sauce.
7. Repeat.

JAM/JELLY TIPS

At a class (8/29/13) at Carla Sorter's house by Tina Johnson she made pear jams.  They were all so good.  I put the recipes she gave us in the Made from Scratch folder.  Some tips I learned:

*She likes to cook the fruit down with a little bit of sugar.  Chop up fruit (don't peel) then using a potato masher.  Mash and stir, mash and stir while it cooks on the stove.  Then run it through the food mill (thing you turn).  For berries she heats up again and then run through a flour shifter to get rid of all the seeds (doing this you don't need to use a cheese cloth).  Then you have your juice.  Doing it this way you keep most of the nutrients.

*She boils down her pears and then from that mixture she makes either jam, sauce or butters.  After you make this mixture you can refrigerate and use within 4 days.

*Use stainless steel when canning.

*Adding 1 tsp butter keeps the foam off.

POP TARTS

HOMEMADE POP TARTS

These were good and so easy.  The kids enjoyed helping.  Would be fun to have with guests or at a party and have different kinds of jams and let people choose their own.  Didn't have sparkling sugar but would be fun to try (wonder if WinCo has it in bulk).  I just used the boxed pie crust.  Made 1/2 of the glaze - could have made even less that half.

UPDATE: We really like these with any kind of jelly.  Could also use pie filling.  Have done peanut butter with jelly...that is good too.  I like egg wash on top the best.  Also have sprinkled turbinado (brown) sugar on top.  Really liked.  Have used homemade pie crust...see below. Last time I made them I wrapped them up kinda like a present.

Ingredients:

• Pie crust, refrigerated or homemade 
• Jam or Preserves
• Glaze or Egg Wash
• Sparkling Sugar 

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Unroll one of the pie crusts and square the edges (I didn't do this I just cut 3 across each way - worked fine being rounded). Cut into rectangles. Place 1 tsp of jam in the center of a rectangle and top with another piece of crust. Crimp all four edges. Repeat until all of the pie crust is used. 

Bake the pop-tarts for about 7 – 8 minutes or until slightly brown. Once cool, pour glaze over and decorate with sugar. If you don’t want to add extra sugar with the glaze, you can use an egg wash on the tops  with some white sugar.

To Make the Glaze:

• 1 cup powder sugar
• milk to thin

Place powdered sugar in bowl. Pour milk slowly until it has a consistency of really thick syrup.

NEVER FAIL PIE CRUST

Danae Winder gave this recipe at a Made from Scratch.  The website justgetoffyourbuttandbake had same recipe but different method to make it (see blog post on homemade pie crust).  My family loves this crust.

4 Cups Sifted Flour
1 3/4 Cups shortening
1 Tablespoon sugar
2 Teaspoons salt
1 Tablespoon vinegar
1 egg

1/2 Cup ice cold water

In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, salt and sugar.  Mix well, then cut in shortening until mixture resembles coarse meal.

In a small bowl, combine egg, vinegar and water.  Whisk together then add gradually to flour mixture, stirring with a fork.  Mix until dough forms a ball.

Allow dough to rest in refrigerator 10 minutes before rolling out.

MIXED BERRY PIE

HEALTHIFIED MIXED BERRY PIE WITH LEMON CREAM
Was very good. Roy Gray said I could bring it anytime I wanted.

Nonstick cooking spray

1 1/3

cups finely crushed zwieback or graham crackers

2

tablespoons packed brown sugar

1

egg white, lightly beaten

2

tablespoons butter, melted

3/4

cup Cascadian Farm® strawberry fruit spread (used homemade blueberry/blackberry jam)

2

containers (6 oz) Yoplait® honey vanilla Greek yogurt

6

cups fresh raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, and/or halved strawberries

Fresh mint sprigs and/or Lemon Cream* (optional) (didn't do, but would be good)

• 1Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat a 9-inch pie plate with nonstick cooking spray. In a medium bowl, combine finely crushed zwieback and brown sugar. Add egg white and melted butter; stir until well mixed. Press mixture evenly onto bottom and up side of prepared pie plate. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until edge is browned. Cool completely on a wire rack.
• 2Meanwhile, for glaze, in a small saucepan, melt fruit spread over medium-low heat. Transfer to a large bowl; cool slightly.
• 3Spread yogurt into crust-lined pie plate. In a large bowl, gently toss berries and fruit spread. Spoon over yogurt. Cover and chill for 3 to 6 hours before serving. If desired, garnish with fresh mint and/or serve with Lemon Cream.
  *Lemon Cream: In a small bowl, combine 1 1/2 cups frozen light whipped dessert topping, thawed, and 3/4 tsp finely shredded lemon peel.

RASPBERRY APPLE DANISH SPREAD

RASPBERRY APPLE DANISH SPREAD

I got this from the box of Ritz brown sugar & cinnamon. I took it to the 5th ward luncheon at the park. I really liked it and everyone else seemed to like it as well. I saw someone putting it on a piece of bread, which I thought was a good idea too. You could use any kind of jam or crackers.

1 8 oz 1/3 less fat cream cheese, softened

1 apple, chopped

2 T seedless raspberry jam

1/3 cup granola

RITZ brown sugar cinnamon crackers

Heat oven to 350. Spread cream cheese onto bottom of 9" pie plate or 1 qt. casserole.

Combine apples and jam and spread over cream cheese. Top with granola.

Bake 20 minutes or until heated through. Serve with crackers.

BLACKBERRY-BLUEBERRY JAM

Jackie Hall (Lisa’s friend) sent me this recipe. Her family loves it.

http://littlehouseinthesuburbs.com/2008/07/blackberry-blueberry-jam-low-sugar.html

Blackberry-Blueberry Jam

4 quarts (16 cups) mixed berries (blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, etc.)

4 tart apples, peeled, cored, and chopped

1 cup honey, more if your berries are particularly tart

2/3 cup sugar

1/2 package pectin (Sure-Jell, Certo, or the like, about 2 1/2 T.)

Clean and sterilize jars, lids, and rings.

Put clean, stemmed berries into a large heavy-bottomed saucepan. Pare and chop apples. I used Granny Smith, but any tart cooking apple will do.

Mix together sugar and pectin and add to berries along with the honey and cook over medium heat. Bring slowly to the boil and boil gently for at least thirty minutes or until it looks like jam and tastes like jam. Mine took about 45-60 minutes. Use your best judgment.

Take a bit out on a spoon and put it on a cold plate. Are the juices watery-looking? Keep cooking until you when you put a little dab on a plate it has a more syrupy consistency. Let the dab cool a bit. It should begin to set up a little. It doesn’t have to be terribly thick or gelatinous (you want to be able to spread it on your toast without undue effort). If you have much foam, skim it off with a spoon. At this point, turn off the heat and ladle the jam into the jars.

I don’t have a jar gripper, so I take a tea towel and wrap it around the empty jar like a scarf as a heat-proof handle.

Then I fill them up within 1/2 inch of the top, add lids and loosely screw down the rings.

Lastly they go into the canner for a 5 minute process and they are done. Let them cool. Tighten lids up a bit. Over the next hour or so, the lids will seal with a pop. After they seal, if you press a finger on the top of the lid, the lid will be pressed in and will not pop back and forth. That’s a good seal.

This recipe makes 5 pints (I got 6 plus 2 small ones and plenty to eat).

RASPBERRY SHORTBREAD

RASPBERRY SHORTBREAD

This is so delish! I think any jam would taste good.

Best of the Best from Oregon pg. 222

3/4 c butter (no substitute)

1/2 c sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 c flour

Cream butter and sugar. Add vanilla, then flour. Press in greased 9" square pan. Bake at 325 for 40 minutes. Remove.

TOPPING:

1 c raspberry jam

1 tsp almond extract

1/2 c chopped almonds

Mix jam with almond extract and smooth over shortbread; sprinkle with almonds. Bake another 15 minutes. Cool and cut.