Linzer Torte

By Kathryn Washburn Breighner

Linzer torte is the Christmas dessert at our house.  This torte originated in Linz, Austria and is a golden brown torte filled with raspberry preserves and topped with a woven crust. It's very easy to make, so easy that I am not sure why this is a once-a-year treat! I cut this recipe out of a (now deceased) Gourmet magazine in 1979.

The crust is a simple one of egg, sugars, baking powder, flour and crushed toasted almonds. The almonds give this dessert its distinctive flavor.

To start, toast some almonds in a 350 degree F oven then grind in a food processor. 2/3 c of ground almonds is needed.

In a mixing bowl, cream until light:
1 stick softened butter
1/2 c packed light brown sugar
1/4 c white sugar

Add:
1 egg and the ground almonds

Then add and combine well:
1 1/2 c flour
1/4 t salt
1/2 t cinnamon
3/4 t baking powder

In a 8 x 8" greased baking pan, press 2/3 of the dough. If the dough is sticky, grease a spatula to help spread the dough. Place the remaining dough between wax paper and roll with a rolling pin to a shape about the size of the baking pan.  The dough will be very thin. Put the dough in the freezer for about 5 minutes.

While the dough is chilling, mix 3/4 c of raspberry preserves with 1 t grated lemon peel and spread on the dough in the pan. Remove the chilled dough and cut into 10 strips and place them on top of the dough.  Bake at 350 degrees F for 25-30 minutes. Cool and top with sifted powder sugar.

Peach Sorbet

By Kathryn Washburn Breighner

We've been on a peach kick the last few weeks because our peach tree is abundant with delicious fruit. And we've been making lots of sorbet this summer from various fresh fruits like strawberry, blueberry and now peach.

This is an easy dessert to make but takes some planning ahead time as well as freezing time depending on the ice cream maker that you have. Our ice cream maker requires freezing the canister for 24 hours ahead of time so I always keep it in the freezer just in case I want to make a frozen dessert.

First, I went outside and picked a bunch of peaches!  Then I boiled some water and dropped the peaches in for about one minute to make it easy to remove the skins. I didn't need a knife; I just peeled the skins away with my fingers.

Into a blender, I put:
6 c peaches

The peaches were blended until creamy. Then I added:
1 c sugar
4 1/2 t lemon juice
4 1/2 t vodka

No, the vodka does not affect the flavor but it does help the sorbet freeze more smoothly and without crystals forming.

The mix was blended for just 10-15 seconds, just until well mixed, and then chilled for 3-4 hours. This is a one container recipe--I blended all the ingredients in the blender and chilled it in the same container.

The peach mix was poured into the ice cream maker and 25 minutes later, a thick peach sorbet was ready. We couldn't wait: we ate some of the soft peach sorbet and then froze the remainder in a plastic container for later use.  I will be making more of this to freeze for later--I can just imagine a January night eating this sorbet and thinking of summer!

Grilled Peaches

By Kathryn Washburn Breighner

This is such a simple dessert and perfect this time of year when our peach tree is loaded.  I have grilled the fruit both outside on the grill and inside in a grill pan. Both are easy. Don't have a grill? No Problem, get out the grill pan and cook the fruit inside.

Plan on 2-3 peaches per person depending on their size--our's our small. Baste the fruit with balsamic vinegar and sprinkle lightly with brown sugar or honey. Grill the peaches 3-4 minutes with the skin side down and then turn over and grill with the fruit side up for another 3-4 minutes.

While the fruit is grilling, get out the ice cream and yogurt!

Almond Float

By Kathryn Washburn Breighner

Years ago when we were newly married, I took a Chinese cooking class in Lansing, Michigan. Some of the things I learned in that class have stayed with me to this day. And one of them is this wondefully simple and unusual dessert--almond float.

Basically, almond float is white almond flavored gelatin topped with almond flavored sugar water and mandarin oranges. This dessert is so much fun to serve because guests are completely taken back by white jello! I really love this dessert and have a hard time not opening the fridge and stealing chunks of the gelatin to munch on.

What makes it white? Milk! Yes, milk, and if you tell your guests this jello is made with milk versus fruit juice, expect some hesitation!! 

In a 9 x 9" cake pan, mix and let stand for 5 minutes:
2 envelopes unflavored gelatin
2/3 c cold water

Add in and stir until gelatin dissolves:
1 1/4 c boiling water
2/3 c sugar

Stir in and mix well:
2 T almond extract---real almond only--no fake stuff!
3/4 c milk

Refrigerate the gelatin for several hours until firm. While it is chilling, mix together:
1/4 c sugar
2 C water
1/4 t almond extract

To serve, cut the gelatin into squares (and just try not to eat a few squares while you do this!) and place in a bowl. Top with 1/3 c almond water and 3T chilled mandarin oranges.
Delightful!

Cranberry Pie

By Kathryn Washburn Breighner

This time of year, cranberry season, this recipe comes out of the recipe box. I cut it out of Redbook magazine years ago and still have it glued to a recipe card. This is an unusual "pie". It's made in a pie plate and has a crust on top but no bottom crust. The introduction that appears on my recipe card says "An out-of-the-ordinary pie, this easy, tasty, nut and berry dessert has a cakelike crust."

Do you ever see a recipe that looks a bit unusual and you make it and not only are surprised at the taste but surprised you were captivated by it because it is a bit different? Growing up with a traditional pie baker in the house, I don't know what drew me to this but I'm glad I found it.

This is an interesting dessert: the cranberries are bright in color and tart while the thin crust is crisp on the top and sweet. Interesting blend of textures and flavors. This is really easy to make, about 5 minutes of preparation time!

3 cups fresh or frozen cranberries
3.4 c chopped walnuts
3/4 c sugar
1 large egg
1/2 c flour
1/3 c melted butter

Grease a 9 inch pie plate or fluted quiche dish. Add cranberries and sprinkle with nuts and 1/3 sugar. Beat the egg with the remaining 1/4 c sugar and then add the flour and butter and beat until no lumps remain. Pour the batter over the berry mixture and bake 45 min at 325 degrees F until the crust is a light golden brown.

The recipe says to serve with a spoon. Once this completely cools, it can be cut into pie shaped slices. But it usually doesn't last long enough to cool!

Custard bites

By Perry Washburn

Dilemma: Company coming for dinner. Accomplished cooks, each bringing a dish. Southern food on the menu. I am making "smothered chicken," a Southern-inspired dish that I made up on the fly. Others are bring cheesey grits, collards, black-eyed pea salad, corn bread. But no one has chosen dessert.

I am WHIPPED. Out of time. Bread pudding? No. I have a great original recipe for Buttermilk Praline Pie. Some friends call this "Slice of Heaven." :) But it takes about 3 hours to make.

What to do?

What if I made small custard bites? I love the custard and custard pies my grandmothers' generation used to make. Part of my "Heaven" is essentially a custard layer. And to make them "light" after a heavy meal, I'll make them in my silicone mini-muffin pan.

So, here's what I did, after consulting my custard layer recipe and comparing with an old custard pie recipe in a 1940s cookbook Kath gave to Carolyn recently.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees

3 eggs
1/2 cup brown sugar
dash of salt
2 Tbs of buttermilk powder
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp vanilla
4 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup milk
2 Tbs flour
Pecans
Brown sugar to sprinkle

(I always have buttermilk powder around. It would probably work fine to omit the powder and ad a dash more flour, or substitute real buttermilk for the powder and the milk.)

Beat the eggs, and beat in the remaining ingredients except pecans and remaining brown sugar.
Spray the muffin pan (mine has 24 mini muffins in the sheet). Place a pecan half in each mini muffin cup. Fill 2/3 full with custard; the pecan will float. Sprinkle with a little brown sugar. It will sink, but it's ok.

Bake for 3 minutes at 450. Turn down to 325, and bake a few minutes more, until the custard is puffy and browning. Cool on a rack. I then threw my whole sheet in the fridge for about 2 hours.

After dinner I popped them out of the pan (silicone is great, because you can run a knife easily around the edge). Put them on the plate, act like this is an old family recipe from the Deep South. Yum!

Makes 24.