Mad About Maida

Boston Cream Pie Source:   Maida Heatter's Cakes (Andrews & McMeel Publishing, 2011 ed.) , pg. 95 and  (S ource:  Maida Heatter's Book of Great American Desserts  (Alfred A. Knopf, 1982, pg. 70). My birthday was last week and Michael always makes me my favorite cake, the Boston Cream Pie. He doesn't do a lot of baking although he is an excellent cook. He usually uses a box mix but this year he asked me if Maida Heatter had a recipe. Of course she did! I helped him and we made the cake in installments, first baking the cake and freezing it. The filling was made a few days before my birthday and refrigerated. Then, on the last day, the cake was assembled and the frosting made. I have had many Boston Cream Pies and I can easily say that this was the best one ever! The filling was outstanding and Michael thinks it would make an excellent filling for a coconut cream pie. No one (including Ms. Heatter) seems to know why this is called a "pie" instead of a ...

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies Source:  Maida Heatter's Cookies (Andrews & McMeel Publishing, 2011 ed.) , pg. 28 and  Maida Heatter's Book of Great American Desserts  (Alfred A. Knopf, 1982, pg. 289). I'm sure my love of chocolate comes from my mother, who loves it as much as I do. I always try and take a dessert to her house  every week when I visit. Over the weekend, I whipped up these cookies. They are easy to make and delicious. They are just like plain peanut butter cookies but with a hint of chocolate. They burn easily on the bottom so be sure and start checking them about 10 minutes after they go in the oven. 2 ounces unsweetened chocolate  1 ounce semisweet chocolate 1 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour  3/4 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter, softened  1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/2 cup packed dark or light brown sugar 1/2 cup granulated sugar 1/2 cup smooth peanut butter  ...

The Orient Express Chocolate Torte Source:  Maida Heatter's Book of Great Chocolate Desserts (Andrews & McMeel Publishing, 2006 ed.) , pg. 37. This is a small, dense, flourless cake (only 5 ingredients in the cake!) that is a bit unusual. The cake is very nutty as it is mostly composed of ground almonds. The chocolate buttercream icing is divine. I had a few problems with this cake. I made the cake first and kept in the freezer over a week before I made the frosting and assembled it. The cake itself is very, very thin and quite fragile. At first I thought I had used too large of a pan but I went back and checked and my springform pan was 9 x 3 so it was correct. After the cake has baked, it is sliced into 2 pieces. It is best to freeze it first before cutting. Still, even after freezing, the cake was trying to come apart. The recipe says that the cake is fragile and she is not kidding! I also had issues with the frosting. Maida says to beat the frosting quite a bit a...

Positively-the-Absolute-Best-Chocolate-Chip-Cookies Source: Maida Heatter's Book of Great Chocolate Desserts (Andrews & McMeel Publishing, 2006 ed. , pg. 109.   A later, slightly modified version appears in   Maida Heatter's Brand-New Book of Great Cookies (Random House, 1995 ed.) , pg. 151. This is Maida Heatter's version of the world famous Toll House Chocolate Chip cookie recipe. In her original chocolate book, the only difference I see is that Maida suggests using 1 teaspoon of hot water to dissolve the baking soda (which, she says, is the way Ruth Wakefield did it) and she adds an additional cup of nuts. Later, she reprints the recipe again in Maida Heatter's Brand-New Book of Great Cookies and says that she now uses 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract instead of one and 16 oz. of chocolate instead of 12. And, instead of using morsels, she uses semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate bars, cut into pieces. I have added the additions in parenthesis after the l...