Mad About Maida

  Key West Rum Cake   (S ource:  Maida Heatter's Cakes  (Andrews & McMeel Publishing, 2011 ed. , pg. 37) and  (S ource:  Maida Heatter's Book of Great American Desserts  (Alfred A. Knopf, 1982, pg. 228). Well, this did not turn out to be one  of the most attractive cakes but oh my gosh, is it good! I made it almost two weeks ago, and it is still divine, the remainder wrapped in plastic wrap. If we didn't have a hundred other desserts lying about, I'm sure it would have been long gone. It is still moist but then again, I suppose it should be with almost 1/2 cup of rum soaked into it.  The cake is also known as "Pirate's Cake". It is similar to a pound cake. After it has baked, you drench it with 2/3 cup of rum. The rum and 2 cups of pecans make the cake very heavy.  I slightly under baked the bake which probably made it even moister but it was done. It didn't slice well though and was a tad messy. A fork (or spoon!) was defin...

Petites Trianons Source:  Maida Heatter's Cookies (Andrews & McMeel Publishing, 1997 ed.) , pg. 119 . I thought this recipe sounded awfully familiar when I was making them and then a light bulb went off - Katharine Hepburn's Brownies .  I've made Katharine's brownies many times and they have always been wonderful. I compared the two recipes side by side and the only notable difference was that this recipe has 1 cup of flour while Katharine's only have 1/4 cup and one cup of nuts. When these were finished, however, they were not as good - very bland. It must be that the full cup of flour plays a big part in the overall taste and texture. These were also a bit dry and I probably baked them too long. Maida says 28 minutes exactly so I would take that with a grain of salt. Overall, I wasn't too impressed with these. On the plus side, they are very easy to make with only a few ingredients - Makes 16 squares or 12-14 bars 4 oz. unsalted butter ...

My intentions were to post this list of past recipes in time for Thanksgiving. Well, you know how that goes... So, if you are thinking about making something different for Christmas or New Year's (or whenever), here are some suggestions. There are a great number of recipes throughout Maida's books that are traditionally served at Christmas, from all over the world. And there are quite a number that I haven't attempted yet (such as Stollen, which I wanted to do this year). This weekend I plan to make the Kentucky Whiskey Cake. The following list of recipes are ones that I have made over the years and some, more than once. They are all good! Black Forest Cherry Torte - If you're in the mood to impress with a big cake, this one might be the ticket. I love Black Forest cake but I know some people don't like the kirsch flavor. This is a time-consuming cake to make so I did it in stages. Now that I think of it, I've only made this cake once, but then again, I...

Chocolate-Chip Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies Source:  Maida Heatter's Cookies (Andrews & McMeel Publishing, 1997 ed.) , pg. 33 and  Maida Heatter's Book of Great American Desserts  (Alfred A. Knopf, 1982, pg. 291). Since my last post and the near-disaster with the Irish Whiskey Cake and stove failure, we are in possession of a new range. It is much nicer than the one that just died. This one has a convection bake option which I have never used before. I love it so far and have been trying to get used to the new features.  The first Maida recipe on the new stove are these cookies which turned out good. They are extremely nutty and I even cut back on the amount of nuts called for in the recipe. I had never really noticed it before but almost all of Maida Heatter's cakes and cookies call for nuts. I don't mind that although I am not a big fan of walnuts and sometimes use pecans in their place. I went ahead and used walnuts for these. If you want these to rem...