Mad About Maida

Chocolate Pound Cake Source:  Maida Heatter's Book of Great Desserts (Andrews & McMeel Publishing, 1999 ed.) , pg. 163. The cake is dense and not too sweet. The chocolate icing (made from 2 ingredients - semi-sweet chocolate and a ridiculous amount of butter) is and makes a nice contrast to the cake. The icing recipe made a ton of icing which ended up completely covering the cake. I don't mind that at all but if you just wanted a drizzle over the cake, I suppose you could half the icing recipe. Cake 3 cups sifted all-purpose flour 1 TBS. baking powder 1/2 tsp. salt 1/2 lb. (2 sticks) butter 1 TBS. vanilla extract 1/2 tsp. almond extract 2 TBS. plus 1 tsp. instant coffee 3 cups sugar 3 eggs  1 cup strained, powdered, unsweetened cocoa (preferably Dutch process) 1 3/4 cup milk Preheat oven to 350. Adjust rack one-third up. Butter (or spray) a 10x4-inch tube pan, line the bottom with parchment paper and coat lightly with fine bread crumbs. Sift tog...

Old-Fashioned Peanut Butter Cookies Source:  Maida Heatter's Book of Great Desserts (Andrews & McMeel Publishing, 1999 ed.) , pg. 196. These cookies are a breeze to make and they taste just like the ones you remember your mother or grandmother making. The dough is very stiff and it is very easy to form the balls. The best trick I learned for making cookies is to use a trigger-release scoop. I don't, however, have a teaspoon sized one. The one I own makes huge cookies. The dough for these is not sticky though and I just used a regular melon baller and it worked fine. This recipe makes about 48 cookies. 1 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour 3/4 tsp. baking soda 1/4 lb. (1 stick) butter 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract 1/2 cup granulated sugar 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar 1 egg 1/2 cup smooth peanut butter 3 oz. (3/4 cup) salted peanuts, chopped fine (not ground) Preheat oven to 375. Use the upper rack for baking and bake one sheet at a time. Sift toget...

Pecan-Peanut Butter-Banana Bread Source:  Maida Heatter's Cakes (Andrews & McMeel Publishing, 2011 ed.) , pg. 267. More banana bread! This time with peanut butter, which I've not tried before. This is an old recipe and said to be used by George Washington's family. It was also the specialty of Corrie Hill, a famous Montgomery, Alabama hostess who was a relative of George Washington. It seems that every recipe by Maida calls for a different sized pan. I don't know how much room she had for storage but it had to have been large! This recipe says to use 2 small loaf pans with a 4-5 cup capacity. I used a slightly larger pan and, as a result, I think the bread turned out rather thin. It was still good, however, very dense, nutty and wheaty. I could not detect the peanut butter flavor though which was disappointing. 1 cup sifted all-purpose flour 1 cup sifted whole wheat flour 1 tsp. baking soda 1/2 tsp. salt 1/4 tsp. nutmeg 3 oz. (3/4 stick) unsalted butt...

"Chocolate Street" Cookies Source:  Maida Heatter's Cookies (Andrews & McMeel Publishing, 2011 ed.) , pg. 39. These cookies are also known as "brownie drops". I made them a little larger than what the recipe called for. They are slightly crisp on the outside and deliciously moist and soft on the inside. 1/4 cup sifted all-purpose flour 1/4 tsp. baking powder Scant 1/4 tsp. cinnamon 1/8 tsp. salt 8 oz. semi-sweet chocolate 1 TBS. unsalted butter 2 eggs 3/4 cup granulated sugar 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract 2 1/2 oz. (3/4 cup) walnuts, finely chopped Preheat oven to 350. Line cookie sheets with parchment (I didn't have parchment paper so I used silicone mats). Sift together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Set aside. Melt the chocolate with the butter in the top of a small double boiler. Set aside to cool. Beat the eggs at high speed until they are light in color. Gradually add the sugar. Continue to beat for ...