Mulattoes

Mulattoes
Source: Maida Heatter's Book of Great Desserts (Andrews & McMeel Publishing, 1999 ed.), pg. 199.

Of the hundreds of Maida Heatter cookie recipes, this may be the most famous. These are chunky but soft, extremely chocolaty,  full of nuts and chocolate chips. Sinfully delicious!

They are easy to make. The trickiest part may be the baking time. After making them numerous times, I have learned to only bake them 10 or 11 minutes at the most, then remove them and allow them to sit on the hot baking pan for about 5 minutes. They will be extremely soft to the touch but eventually they firm up nicely. 

I just use my hand mixer for these. Although the recipe states that it makes 18 large cookies, I find that the yield is slightly higher, even when making them fairly large. I use a tablespoon scoop to form the cookies.


2 oz. unsweetened chocolate
6 oz. semi-sweet chocolate
3 oz. (3/4 stick) butter
1/4 cup sifted all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/8 tsp. salt
2 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
2 tsp. instant coffee or espresso
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract 
6 oz. (1 cup) semi-sweet chocolate chips
8 oz. (1 cup) walnuts or pecans, broken into medium pieces

Preheat oven to 350. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Melt the first three ingredients (chocolates and butter) over moderate heat
 in a double boiler. Set aside.

Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

Beat the eggs, sugar, coffee and vanilla on high speed for 1-2 minutes. 

Mix in the chocolate mixture (lower your speed to avoid a mess) 

Add the dry ingredients.. 

Add the chocolate chips...

And stir in the nuts. 

Drop by heaping tablespoons on the lined sheets, spacing about 2 inches apart. Bake 10-12 minutes. Tops will by dry. Centers should remain moist and chewy. Do not overbake. Let stand on cookie sheets until firm enough to move to a cooling rack.

Yum Yum

Cranberry Pumpkin Cake

Cranberry Pumpkin Cake

Source: Maida Heatter's Best Dessert Book Ever (Andrews & McMeel Publishing, 1997 ed.), pg. 125.

Maida Heatter has several recipes that are good for the holidays and I have made several of them already. I plan to post a list of all of the holiday desserts I have made and will do that soon.

Here is another good one that is so easy. This is a dark and dense cake that is very moist (don't overbake it). Confession - I get so paranoid about overbaking cakes that I always start checking before the allowed time and sometimes take them out a little early. The cake will always continue to bake especially when left in the pan for a while. Of course, this depends on the type of cake but after you have done a lot of baking, your instinct will kick in. 

I used bagged cranberries that had not been frozen. The cranberries are tart and provide a kick when paired with the delicate and spicy flavors of the cake. The nuts and the berries do not sink.

I froze half of this cake and plan to take it to a meeting this weekend. 

6 oz. (1 1/2 cups) walnuts
12 oz. (2 cups) fresh or frozen cranberries
3 cups sifted unbleached flour
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. baking powder
3 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ginger
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1/4 tsp. cloves
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. allspice
2 cups pumpkin
2 cups granulated sugar
1 1/4 cups vegetable oil (or canola, safflower, corn)
4 large eggs

Preheat oven to 350. Butter a 10x4 1/4 inch tube pan with an 8 cup capacity (I used a Bundt pan for this). Dust with chocolate bread crumbs (bread crumbs with cocoa powder mixed in).

Place the walnuts in a large pan and bake for 10 minutes. Allow them to cool and break into small pieces.

If using fresh cranberries. wash and dry them.

Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, ginger, pepper, cloves, nutmeg and allspice. 

Beat the pumpkin, sugar and oil to mix. Add the eggs, one at a time, until mixed. Lower the speed of the mixer and gradually add the sifted dry ingredients. Beat only until smooth and fold in the nuts and the cranberries.

Turn into pan and smooth the top. Bake for 55 minutes to 1 hour and 10 minutes (if the cranberries are frozen, it may take longer). The cake is done when a tester comes out clean from the deepest part of the cake. 

Cool in the pan for 15-20 minutes and turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.