Union Street Bakery (9781101619292) (37 page)

UNION STREET BAKERY RECIPES

Sugar Cookies

Whenever I taste the flavor of this sugar cookie, its buttery softness with the hint of lemon transports me back to that day Renee and I sat on the patio at Union Street Bakery. I can feel the warmth of the sun on my face, and I can smell the honeysuckle. I remember feeling happy and content in one moment and then in the next so terrified and alone.

For many years, I couldn't bring myself to eat the cookie. Too many memories blended with the buttery white batter. A few Christmases ago, however, I asked Mom for the recipe. She reduced the portion from twenty dozen to two dozen.

I've baked the recipe as my mother taught me in the bakery kitchens, but I've yet to eat the cookies I've baked. Instead I'd pass the little confections out at the office or give them to neighbors. I enjoyed the look of pleasure on their faces when I presented others with these little wonders. The trick, I tell anyone who will listen, is ingredients that are the purest and highest quality.

I'm hoping one day to once again sit and eat the cookie and not have any memories attached to it. For now, I am satisfied that they make others happy.

1
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cups sugar

²
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cup butter (Mom uses pure Irish butter)

2 eggs

2 tablespoons whole milk

1 teaspoon lemon extract

3
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cups all-purpose flour

2
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teaspoons baking powder

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teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350F.

Cream together the sugar and butter until fluffy. Add the eggs, milk, and lemon extract. Mix well. Into another bowl sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Slowly incorporate the flour into the butter mixture. Spoon evenly sized dollops of batter onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes, until golden.

Rachel's Carrot Cake Cupcakes

Rachel came up with this recipe when she was in high school. She'd been on a vegetarian kick about that time and had started working vegetables into as many confections as she could. There'd been a lot of recipes that had just been too healthy for our customers. “When the customers come through the front door, they have sin in their hearts,” Dad used to say. “Not vegetables.”

But this little confection/vegetable hybrid had passed muster and been added to the menu. From day one it had been one of my favorites.

Rachel insists that the cook always hand-shred the carrots. She concedes it takes a bit longer to shred the carrots by hand but the carrots retain more moisture when they aren't chopped in a food processor.

These can be dusted with powdered sugar but that was just never decadent enough for me. This cream cheese icing is the perfect topping.

Makes 12 cupcakes.

CUPCAKE BASE

3 cups shredded carrots

2 eggs

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cup sugar

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cup brown sugar

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cup vegetable oil

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

CREAM CHEESE ICING

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cup cream cheese

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups powdered sugar

1–2 tablespoons milk

Preheat oven to 350F.

Combine eggs, sugars, vegetable oil, carrots, and vanilla and mix well. Sift together flour, salt, cinnamon, baking powder, and baking soda. Add to carrot mixture and gently mix, just until combined. Divide batter evenly between muffin cups. Bake at 350 for 20 to 25 minutes until golden, and a tester inserted in middle of cupcake comes out clean. Cool cupcakes completely.

To make cream cheese icing:
Cream all ingredients together until fluffy. Frost cooled cupcakes.

Hennie's Freedom Biscuits

Making biscuits with Mama is a trial. I have no interest in the flour, how it blends with the fat and water, or how long the dough must cook in the oven. But these biscuits, Mama says, are gonna buy our freedom. I don't see how. I'm starting to fear that the mistress is willing to sell me or Mama to anyone but ourselves. Fact, I think she'd sell us at a loss just to see us go separate ways. Mama doesn't say much to my words and fears. She just keeps baking.

3 teacups flour (Mama uses the cup with the pink roses and the chipped handle to measure.)

1 cup water

1 pinch salt

Mix the flour, water, and salt in a large bowl and knead until smooth. Roll out so that the dough is as thick as your index finger (1 inch) and cut into squares the length of your pinky finger (2 inches). With a fork, poke holes in the dough and bake in a gentle oven (250 degrees) for 1 hour. Turn crackers over and bake for another hour. Good for dunking in coffee and soups. Keeps for months.

Mike's Chocolate Espresso Torte

This cake is not a Union Street Bakery classic. It was brought to the bakery when Rachel married Mike Evans, a Paris-trained pastry chef. Rachel will tell anyone who asks that she fell in love with Mike's cake before she fell in love with him. Its blend of bitter and sweet is fitting for Rachel and Mike's life together. For almost a year after Mike's death, she refused to make the cake at all. But in the last couple of months, she has started to make the recipe once in a while.

CHOCOLATE ESPRESSO TORTE

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pound butter

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cup sugar

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cup strong coffee

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pound semisweet chocolate chopped up

6 eggs

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Melt the butter and chocolate together in a double boiler. Mix the eggs and sugar thoroughly but not to the point that they are frothy. Slowly mix the chocolate/butter mixture into the egg/sugar mixture and add the coffee and stir well. Pour this into a greased 8-inch spring-form pan coated with cooking spray. If you don't have a springform pan any 8-inch pan will do as long as the sides are 2–3 inches high. Bake the torte at 350 degrees for 15 minutes then turn the oven down to 300 and bake for one hour.

There is no way to tell if the torte is done by looking at it or sticking a knife into it. Just take it out of the oven after an hour. It will be high, like a soufflé at first but will sink down in a few minutes. Let it sit until it thoroughly cools and then put it in the refrigerator overnight. Once it is solid take it out of the pan. If using a springform pan this will be simple. If not using a springform pan dip the pan into boiling water for about 15 seconds then dump the torte out onto a plate. This takes a little practice. If the torte breaks, it molds back together like clay.

Once you have it out of the pan pour the ganache over the top.

GANACHE

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pound of butter

1 cup milk

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cup cream

1
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pound semisweet baking chocolate

Melt the butter and add the milk and cream. Do this in a double boiler because this mixture scorches easily. Once the liquid is very hot, but not boiling, add it to the chocolate and stir until the chocolate is thoroughly melted. Pour it into a container and let it cool for several minutes before pouring over torte.