Mad About Maida

Southern Chocolate Peanut Cookies Source:  Maida Heatter's Brand-New Book of Great Cookies  (Random House, 1995 ed.) , pg. 142. These cookies taste like a peanut-butter cookie with the addition of chocolate and peanuts. They have a sandy texture with the perfect combination of salted nuts and chocolate (although I thought the nuts were a little on the heavy side, friends who tried them didn't agree with me). Maida Heatter says you can use honey-roasted or dry-roasted nuts. They do need to be salted nuts.  I used chocolate chips but you can use any type of chocolate as long as it is broken up. Makes 30-35 cookies 6 oz. milk chocolate (broken up bars, or chocolate morsels) 1/4 cup sifted unbleached flour 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably Dutch process) 1 teaspoon baking soda 4 oz. (1 stick) unsalted butter 1/2 cup smooth or chunky peanut butter 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 cup light brown sugar (firmly packed) 1 large egg 8 oz. (1 1/2 cups) salted peanuts Prehe...

September 7th Cake (Source:  Maida Heatter's Book of Great Chocolate Desserts   (Andrews & McMeel Publishing, 2006 ed.), pg. 25.   This cake has been on the radar for quite some time and I finally made it.  It is the cake that Maida created for her own birthday. I'm happy to hear that she is not the only person who makes their own birthday cake. My birthday was this past weekend, so I decided to finally tackle it and I'm glad I did. It is heavenly! I was apprehensive about making it, especially after reading about experiences from other bakers. To alleviate some of the stress, I made the cake layers a week in advance and froze them. Another reason I did this was because a reader (Amy) wrote to me about the cake and recommended freezing it first because the layers are so thin that spreading the filling is difficult. Thank you for that tip Amy! A few more observations: The trickiest part is the icing. It cannot be overbeat or it will be too heavy and have a curdled...

Penuche Pecan Bars Source:  Maida Heatter's Brand-New Book of Great Cookies  (Random House, 1995 ed.) , pg. 64. "Penuche" is the name of a brown sugar fudge. These bars are wonderfully chewy, although they contain no butter or oil. Makes 32 bars. 4 large eggs 1 lb. (2 1/2 packed cups) light brown sugar 1 3/4 cups sifted unbleached flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 lb. (4 1/2 cups) pecan halves 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract Preheat the oven to 350. Use the center rack. Line a 9 x 13 x 2 inch pan with foil. Butter the pan by placing a small dot of butter on the foil, place in a warm oven for a few minutes, remove and brush the butter over the foil (you can also use a piece of crumpled plastic wrap). Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside. In the top part of a double boiler, slightly beat the eggs. Stir in the sugar with a rubber spatula (press with the spatula if there are lumps). Place over hot water (in the bottom part of the double...