By LAURA GROSS-HIGGINS
When I think of the holidays, from Thanksgiving to New Year’s Day, I can’t help but remember some of the desserts my stepmother made year after year. I think that kind of reflection is probably true of most families. And because the holidays are as much about being with our loved ones, certain recipes can be touchstones for remembering them. Just like Proust with his madeleines.
My stepmother was a wonderful cook, but she always said that when she first got married, she could barely boil water. However, by the time she married my widowed father (her second marriage), she had gotten her culinary skills to a much higher level. She had a subscription to Gourmet, which she loved. She loved it so much that we kids were not allowed to touch the issues. Her attitude toward cooking has certainly influenced me. And for many years, I had a subscription to Gourmet, too.
Two of my favorite holiday desserts of hers were an applesauce cake, which she always said was a recipe that was supposed to be former New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey’s favorite, and her apple cream pie. (For this article, I decided to see if that attribution about the cake was true. And it is.) The cake is very moist and fragrant with fall spices. As for the pie, the tart, slightly sweet sour cream is offset by the sweetness of the apple pie filling and the crunchy, buttery sweetness of the graham cracker crust.
But as I developed my own culinary repertoire, I have come across new recipes (to me) and blended them into the tapestry of my culinary “quilt.” So I want to include a recipe I saved from a Gourmet article (2007) by Melissa Roberts. It’s for cranberry bars, which are delightful, pairing a shortbread crust with a tart/sweet filling.
I believe that recipes should be shared. So, this is an early holiday gift. You might find yourself adding them to your family traditions, too.
Mum’s Applesauce Cake
(adapted from original)
1 cup butter or shortening
2 cups sugar (I use part brown sugar)
2 eggs
3 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking soda
1½ teaspoons ground nutmeg
1 tablespoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cloves
2½ cups applesauce
2 tablespoons corn syrup or honey
1 cup raisins (you can substitute candied citron)
1 cup chopped walnuts
Grease and flour a 10-inch tube pan.
Preheat oven to 300° F.
Cream butter and sugar; add eggs one at a time. Sift together flour, soda, spices and salt. Take ¼ cup of this mixture and combine it with the raisins or candied citron and nuts. Put aside.
Add the flour mixture alternately with the applesauce (to which you have added the corn syrup). Fold in the raisins and nuts. Pour into the tube pan. Bake in a slow oven for about 1¼ hours. Check at one hour to see if it is done. This is a moist cake.
You could make a hard sauce to serve with it or whipped cream.
Apple Cream Pie
1 pint sour cream
1 can prepared apple pie filling (Comstock or One Pie)
½ teaspoon vanilla
3 tablespoons or more confectioner’s sugar
1 prepared graham cracker crust
9½-inch pie pan
Preheat oven to 350° F.
Make the graham cracker crust. Pre-bake it 10 minutes. Cool.
Put the pint of sour cream in a medium bowl. Add in vanilla and the confectioner’s sugar (to taste). It should be slightly sweet. Fold in the can of apple pie filling (this is equally good with blueberries or peach filling, too). Fill the cooled graham cracker crust.
Bake 25 to 35 minutes, until the filling sets and you can see the beginning of slight cracks on the surface of the pie.
Refrigerate!
Cranberry Bars
(adapted from the Gourmet recipe)
Makes 12 or 16 bars
1½ sticks unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch cubes
2 cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup, plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar, divided
3 cups fresh or frozen cranberries (not thawed, if frozen: ¾ pound)
¼ cup water
1 tablespoon or less Cointreau (my tweak, and optional)
Confectioners sugar for dusting
Preheat oven to 350° F, with the rack in middle of the oven.
Line a 9-inch square pan with aluminum foil. Criss-cross with two strips, with a 2-inch overhang, so you can lift them out. Butter the foil.
In a food processor, combine flour, ½ cup of the sugar, salt and butter until the mixture starts to clump. Press the mixture into the pan, covering the bottom. Bake until the crust is pale golden and the sides begin to pull away from the foil, about 25 minutes.
While the crust is baking, cook cranberries, the remaining cup of sugar and water in a two-quart heavy saucepan over medium heat until the cranberries burst, about 6 to 8 minutes (maybe more).
After the crust comes out of the oven, pour the cranberry mixture over the crust. Smooth to an evenly spread mixture. Then back into the oven for another 25 minutes (I shake it to make sure it is mostly set at this point.) Sift confectioner’s sugar over the top, and let the pan cool completely.
Using the foil sling, lift the bars out of the pan; cut into 12 or 16 bars. Sift more confectioner’s sugar on top.
Serve.