Mad About Maida

Apricot Tart Source:  Maida Heatter's Pies & Tarts (Andrews & McMeel Publishing, 1997 ed.), pg. 91. Okay, so I had major difficulties with the crust portion of this recipe (Rich Flan Pastry) and ended up abandoning it altogether and used my go-to crust recipe which is NOT a Maida Heatter recipe. Confessions aside, this is delicious! The recipe covers 4 1/2 pages in the book and is a bit daunting. However, a lot of it involves the typical details of a Maida Heatter recipe (being very specific about how to do everything), so after you have done many of these tasks a few times, it becomes old hat. The filling, divine enough to eat as a breakfast treat, can be made days ahead and refrigerated. I made this three days before baking the tart and stored it in the refrigerator. Filling 12 ounces dried apricots 2 cups water 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar 1/2 tsp vanilla extract 1/4 tsp almond extract Optional: 1 TBS. rum, cognac or kirsch ( I used kirsch ) Optio...

Pumpkin Rocks Source:  Maida Heatter's Cookies (Andrews & McMeel Publishing, 1997 ed.) , pg. 86 . It is the season for pumpkin flavored desserts. In the past, I had tried Pumpkin Cake , Pumpkin Gingerbread , and Joan's Pumpkin Loaf . All of them are wonderful. I think this is the first time I have tried pumpkin cookies.  Pumpkin Rocks, despite the name, are soft, chewy cookies (the name comes from the fact that they resemble rocks). They are not too sweet. The pumpkin flavor is delicate. The lemon glaze is optional (the cookies are great on their own) but the tartness of the lemon helps enhance them. If using the glaze, be sure to have it ready as soon as the cookies come out of the oven. This recipes makes about 48 cookies. 2 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour 1/2 tsp baking soda 2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp salt 1 tsp cinnamon 3/4 tsp nutmeg 1/2 tsp powdered ginger 1/4 tsp ground cloves 1/4 tsp allspice 4 oz. (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened 1 cu...