But once again, something failed me. I could have been more careful and checked when I smelled it a bit too strongly instead of just waiting for the timer to go off.

Regardless of the obvious overcooking, dryness and hard to clean baking dish – the taste was so good, just what i was craving and I really struggled to not eat it all at once.

The beauty of them is their practicality, completely useful because they can be made ahead of time. The batter can even be frozen and then baked whenever you need them. I love that so much. And they’re also pretty easy, not a lot of ingredients, not a lot of fuss. Why these are called French may be a reference to a French vanilla wafer cookie although Maida gives no explanation, no introduction.

Two things come to mind that I would change about this cookie and one I actually did. First, Maida rolls the dough to a 2 inch circle, then wraps and refrigerates so the cookies will then be cut into thin wafer circles but it felt hard to form an even diameter and I ended up with a sort of lumpy oval. It would be easier form a rectangle shape, but then perhaps that would not be similar enough to a French wafer. I don’t know.

I also thought they were a bit too crispy, but maybe that was my baking too long. Regardless, I thought they would be improved with a bit of chocolate icing on top, so i made one and, yes, I think it helped the texture and added a bit of interest.

One last thought – this recipe made 60 cookies and that is a lot of little wafers. Dividing and freezing the batter to have ready for baking would be a good idea. Definitely perfection for spur of the moment entertaining.

This chocolate sauce passed my daughter’s taste test. The allure may have been honey as sweetener instead of sugar – definitely a plus in her eyes. But I know that would not have been enough for her to actually spoon it on her ice cream. This is the evidence of its merit.

The fact that in addition to wonderful, this sauce was completely a snap to prepare, elevates it to my favorite recipe so far from this best desserts book. I hope I find others, but for now this sauce is the one I will make again and again.

And I am especially frustrated because I chose this specifically to make when my daughters were home from college just before the holidays. Both gravitate these days to less gluten, more nut flours, less sugar. The recipe met all the marks. Add to that the “small” distinction because they also were not here for long and don’t like to eat a huge amount of dessert.

I can’t classify it as a flop. One of my daughters graciously told me she liked it and even had a small piece a second night. My other daughter just said “no, I don’t like it.” I didn’t even bother offering it to my son.

With my baking shortfalls piling up faster than successes, I forge on into a new year.

Imagine the jellied cranberry sauce consistency, but with total Irish coffee flavor. I think it is brilliant and super easy to make. All this a total surprise because I had no idea what to think with “Jelly” in the title. I think conserve or even aspic would have been more apropos. Still, for a coffee and jello lover it is yummy.

In my small summer resort community, local grocery store options are limited and in winter months stocks get low. Sometimes I get excited to see certain items, like goat’s milk butter and organic salmon. This year at the end of the summer many cartons of grass-fed buttermilk appeared in the milk section and I knew that soon they would be gone and not replaced. It’s strange, I had this compulsion to buy this buttermilk and use as much as I could, but for baking not drinking.

So, I searched for recipes and this one was obvious. It took me weeks to make it, though. When I did, I was disappointed. I think I’m getting tired of making so many things with lots of the same spices and that seems strange to say, too.

When I made the cake, I finished the brown sugar I had and instead of going right out to get more to make the icing, I waited for a couple of days. The cake was actually good without it. The icing came out terribly, which I am fairly certain was because I used whipping cream that had separated. It just lay on the cake in a puddle. It hardened in the refrigerator but then the cake also got hard.

The taste was all good, but I’m feeling disheartened by my baking mishaps and wonder if I will ever be a better baker.

When I began baking from Maida’s book, I quickly realized I needed a strong supply of fine, dried bread crumbs. So far, for every cake I’ve made, the pan is prepared with butter and a dusting of bread crumbs, not flour. I wondered why and found that bread crumbs are actually better to use when a batter is thin, that they help to absorb liquid and make for more even baking. They are either absorbed into the cake or can be lightly brushed off as the cake cools.

The only time I’ve run into a problem with using bread crumb pan coating so far is my own fault. They brown if a cake is baked a bit too long or too high temperature.

For these cookies bread crumbs become a main ingredient when they with walnuts replace flour. I could not find much about using bread crumbs in baking except that it does make sense. Perhaps in times when people did not have access to flour, it was a likely substitute.

These cookies came out well, moist and rich, not too sweet. I think it would be extremely hard to guess about the bread crumbs.

I know the reason was related to my frustration. I burnt this cake and I am confused as to why. If my oven was too hot, then the thermometer that I use inside my oven to check the temperature must be broken. If it was in the oven for too long, then Maida’s time would be off because I set a timer and took it out at 55 minutes and she says bake for 55-60 minutes. I really don’t think Maida’s time is off, she’s just too perfect for that. But I am angry with myself because the smell should have told me to check on it to make sure it was not getting too brown. Maida says to remove when a tester comes out dry and I certainly could have tested to see as I smelled that it was cooking too long.

So, the cake still tasted fine, but the edges were just too dry and dark. I tried to trim them, but then the slices didn’t look right. I had just made another cookie recipe that also burned on the edges and this was over the top and frustrating. I have no one to ask and I am concerned about my oven temperature accuracy. It makes me want to stop baking for a while. Hopefully this will not last and more than that, I am praying that the oven that I love will not let me down.

I recently listened to an Dorie Greenspan interview where she disclosed secrets for baking amazing cookies. I have every reason to consider her a most reliable advise source. The first being her five James Beard Awards, one of which given for her book Dorie’s Cookies. At the top of the perfect cookie technique list was avoid over mixing. This incorporates too much air into the cookie batter which causes them to puff up in the oven and sink as they cool. Immediately it occurred to me, this is my brownie crisp.

I saw it happen. When I checked as these baked, I saw the puff. After cooling, I knew they were supposed to be crisp, but really, these are so thin they can’t even be called cookies. They’re actually see through in places. And also burnt on the edges even with my strict adherence and attention to baking times.

However, chocolatey brownie taste achieved. These crisps certainly are edible especially if you like a slightly burnt chocolate flavor. I just don’t think the brownie crisp I created resembles what Maida’s would have been. And surely Dorie Greenspan, even with all her support of home baking, would give them a thumbs down.

I am not sure right now if I want to make these again. But, my better baking goal will not be achieved if I don’t go back and correct my mistakes. As I struggle through some of Maida’s recipes I wonder if I have to get them all correct or if I can try my own techniques based on what i am learning. Or maybe I just don’t need to know how to bake brownie crisps to perfection. That feels so amateur. Stay tuned.

In her defense, in other cookbooks, she calls these Chocolate Dreams and Chocolate Whoppers. Whoppers, I think because they are supposed to be very big. I actually made them much smaller and yielded more cookies than the recipe stated.

I have to take into consideration that Maida lived in a different time and she collected recipes from all over and everywhere. So, perhaps this could explain the origin of the name. Regardless, they are amazing, addictive, and worth a name change for sure! I choose Chocolate Dreams.

I know something about Lydia Pinkham.

Lydia Pinkham lived in Massachusetts from 1819-1883. She was an herbalist, but more than that, she sold her products commercially, which was practically unheard of at that time. You can still buy her “herbal compound” today. She marketed her formula as a woman’s tonic to relieve menstrual discomfort and menopausal symptoms. She also published a few books, one of which was titled Favorite Recipes – Save Time and Money. Perhaps this is the source for this recipe. Maida does not say anything about the woman or the recipe.

While this chocolate cake resembles a rich devil’s food with lots of silky icing and was moist and chocolatey, I wonder how Maida chose to add it to her cookbook. I’m sure there are plenty of options and I also wonder why she kept Lydia’s name attached to it. I have all kinds of questions that will never be answered.

I baked these around Halloween and packed them up in two boxes to send to my daughters at college. With their extra spice additions and darker color, it seemed fit. Maybe it was just an excuse to send a care package.

Ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, black pepper and mustard powder = intensity.

I would name this ginger cake instead. If any evidence that gingerbread is much more than the crispy little figures decorated on the holidays, this surely leaves no questions.

What becomes clear as I continually read Maida’s recipe headnotes is her mastery in recipe collecting as well as baking. Her method does not seem to be scavenging cookbooks, but instead gathering directly from the source. And the source could be anyone. This recipe gleaned by her mom from a postmaster in Moosehead Lake, Maine where they vacationed once now forever in print exemplifies her brilliance at knowing when something is classic.

I didn’t think I liked gingerbread before I baked this. Now, it’s an absolute addiction.

Calling a cake a kuchen confuses me a bit as I know that kuchen equals cake in the German language. But kuchen in the English language seems to mean a coffee cake made with fruit. Based on Maida’s recipes, this appears to be her definition, as well.

Maybe because I’m not a great fan of apple anything, I was a bit disappointed here. The cake topped with walnuts and raisins, then cinnamon-tossed apples would, however, make a sweet breakfast addition if entertaining for that meal. I have a secret dream of making my one-block from the beach house a bed & breakfast some day, baking for and serving my guests on my wrap-around porch. I’ll definitely keep this on my vision list for that.

My best effort mushrooms – delicate meringue taste, meh on the mushroom shape

My total disaster mushroom shapes, but still total meringue experience

Because I believe so whole-heartedly in the infallible nature of Maida’s recipes, when something doesn’t come out right I automatically question what I may have done wrong.

I chose to make this cake for its yellow cake with chocolate icing aspect. I have been searching for this. It’s my son’s favorite. I realized, of course, the rum addition but he also likes rum cake so I thought I was good. I was not, or should I say the cake was not.

The yellow cake layers baked perfectly, which triggered some excitement in me. That may sound weird, but really, they seemed so perfect.
I sliced them so carefully, then soaked them with a light rum syrup as Maida instructed. The chocolate icing also appeared to be very much like the bakery buttercreams that my children love so much. But when we tasted the cake, my son and I agreed there was this unexpected sharpness and we thought it must be due to the rum. I tasted the rum that I used and it tasted fine, like rum.

So, what happened? I have yet to find the answer. And also, yet to find one of Maida’s cakes my son really likes.

Next she explains the cake’s name. Her daughter lived on East 62nd Street in New York City while she was baking this cake. Maida does not say if her daughter created the recipe or if it was hers, though.

Last, she writes that Craig Claiborne from New York Times fame, one of her friends, also printed the recipe in his newspaper food section. After that Maida says the cake became so popular that even Nancy Reagan and Bill Blass were loving it.

Ok, I am perplexed.

I think Maida may have left some instructions out here, which is very unlike her. It seems like this is just an average bundt cake with a little lemon zest addition to the batter.

The key to the lemonness and probably its fame must be the lemon glaze which Maida says to brush all over the hot cake. But her only instruction is to stir the lemon juice and sugar together, no further details. When I did this my sugar did not dissolve but I thought maybe it would melt into the hot cake. It did not. Instead I ended with a good cake, but very sugary on top and certainly not worthy of a First Lady or a iconic fashion designer.

I’m going to try again, but first will look for the other sources that Maida mentions to check my technique and see if I’m missing a step.

With about 30 recipes from this book of great desserts under my belt, the strangest phenomenon has occurred.

My original plan involved moving sequentially from section to section baking the recipes in order. I realized, though, that my eaters (my children) also held relevance and began to slip away from that plan to choosing recipes I thought they would like. Here’s the strangeness, I’m having a problem finding that. How in this book of ultimate desserts are there so few that my children would consider great? It could be they’re too picky or it could be today’s best desserts have changed from the 1970’s. Another problem lands on the fact that I need to find more eaters.

This vanilla cream pie has a chocolate cookie crumb crust. I thought it sounded like a cookies and cream rendition and that ranks among my son’s favorites. I told him I was baking something he would love. The reality: he liked it, not loved.

Truth be told, I don’t blame him. Something went wrong. I followed Maida’s meticulous instructions, but the vanilla cream filling came out lumpy ruining the eating esthetic. So, I chose another recipe for my next endeavor that I think he will also like. And I’m trying to muster my courage to reach out to other potential eaters.

My second child graduated from high school a few months ago and now both my daughters have moved on to a new time in their lives. Last year, the college orientation/move in went smoothly. My oldest daughter, quite independent was in charge, intense, and stoic. This year, after a summer internship in New York, she went back to college more independent than ever. When I traveled to California with my second daughter for her freshman orientation, I knew it would be different. And despite her nervous uncertainty, she has also proved her inner strength, courage, and fortitude.

Now I pray for their happiness, I call and text when ever I can (but try not too much so as not to be overbearing), and I send care packages. In her introduction to these cookies, Maida writes how she supplied them to a local health food store for years. It’s interesting to think in 1970 when this book was published, health food stores were more a counterculture, food co-op kind of thing versus the now mainstream integration of “health foods”. Regardless, these cookies definitely fit the description. With the nut abundance combined with peanut butter and oats, I knew my careful eater daughters would appreciate them.

So, I divided up the batch and mailed them off to them both. My reward was a selfie from my oldest daughter holding the box smiling her beautiful dimpled smile and a big emoji smile from my new freshman who seems to have trouble with the smiling thing getting started at school.

I’m tempted to make another batch, but I think I will try something different, maybe not so “healthy”.

It surprised me that this recipe titled Sponge Cake was lemon flavored and chocolate iced.

I love the Splendid Table podcast. I recently listened to an episode segment that discussed Boston Cream Pie. The America’s Test Kitchen chef interviewed revealed that the challenge to make a really good one is in the parts of the cake. Boston Cream Pie actually is layers of sponge cake filled with pastry cream then topped with a chocolate glaze.

I think Maida’s recipe for Sponge Cake is Boston Cream Pie minus pastry cream but plus lemon juice.

During the Splendid Table interview, the discussion centered on the difficulty of making a good sponge cake and they offered techniques for success. Maida seems to have mastered this cake without these tricks. I’m not sure mine was perfect, but it had the airy, light quality of a sponge cake. As always, she gives detailed instructions that teach as well as direct. I’m not so sure about the chocolate icing, though. I definitely had shine, but couldn’t get a smoothness. This didn’t seem to affect the taste, though.

I am not a huge fan of sponge cake for eating; although their lightness in comparison to velvety butter cakes gives them a place all their own. While Boston Cream Pie is not included in this book, I imagine Maida has a recipe somewhere to compete with the challenges and continue the chocolate covered sponge cake saga.

This summer the peaches called to me. Something about the size and color and ready ripeness, I found myself buying them from supermarkets and a farmer that sets up a table at the monthly arts fairs across the street from my house.

Fruit. Some days in summer, I want nothing but to eat fruit and drink freezing cold water. I love the heat and even humidity, but perhaps the dryness of it creates this overwhelming need. But even at these times, peaches rank low in my go-to choice. So, what to do with the bushels of peaches? Maida includes only three recipes that use peaches in her best desserts book. This summer I made all of them.

The critical part of stewed peaches is Maida’s detailed instruction on how to peel peaches. There is no question it’s a technique to store away in the archive of basic knowledge.

Fill a large pot with water about half to two-thirds full and bring to boil. Use a slotted spoon and gently lower two or three peaches into the water. Continue to boil for 30 seconds to 2 minutes depending on how ripe your peaches have become. Gently lift a peach out of the water with the slotted spoon and push the skin with your finger. If it wrinkles, its done. If not, lower the peach back into the water and test again in a couple minutes. Have a big bowl of ice water ready. When peaches are done transfer them to the iced water, again with the slotted spoon. When they have cooled, the skin will peel right off. You do it with your fingers.

I found this technique very rewarding for some reason. I think because it worked. But then stewing the peaches was even better. Ok, Maida uses a lot of sugar and maybe you don’t need to use that much. The syrup, though, could be used on it’s own and I even put some in a little container in the freezer for some future unknown use. I was surprised at the deliciousness of these stewed peaches. Stewed peaches sound sort of yucky, like if you are having trouble chewing or pottying. No. Besides just eating them alone, they would be amazing with ice-cream, blended in a smoothie, made into a topping for shortcakes or toast, mixed into yogurt or oatmeal or a cake batter. I could go on and on. While these don’t really qualify as baking, they could be the start of many future creations.

Brownies, maybe with chocolate chip cookies, rank as most loved treat.

I think of Maida as the brownie queen. Maybe because I read in one of her recipe introductions that she always carries cellophane wrapped brownies in her purse to give out as needed. Or perhaps, before I began to bake her brownie recipes, I felt like mine were always lacking.

Now I, too, can be brownie famous. This most basic walnut filled batch helped me to feel that after baking them for a group of visiting friends who absolutely devoured them.

coffee walnut loaf

cup of coffee in a cake

sliced coffee walnut loaf

I live in a summer resort town on the Jersey shore. Seven years ago, I moved here with my children into a house that was built in 1905 and that I had rented to summer vacationer families. We’ve done our best to make it our home. It took a while and some winter nights when the island wind is howling, I still feel like I have a long way to go before I’m comfortable here. But in the summer when the streets fill up with laughing beach people, I’m glad I have my sanctuary. Also, that I completely remodeled my kitchen, because I can retreat there any time I choose.

And I can bake for the sometimes endless stream of family and friend visitors. The afternoon before my favorite cousins were leaving, I thought what can I bake for them to take on their 7 hour drive home. I didn’t want to go to the crowded supermarket and I didn’t want it to be messy. It’s a good feeling to be able to bake something with limited effort and no out of the ordinary ingredients. I also think I found a perfect long drive cake because the huge amount of coffee must be a plus.

It amazes me that in this cookbook of great desserts, Maida has balanced crazy, fancy cakes with simple, delicious cookies and breads like this one.

Wish I took a photo of it all wrapped up for its ride.

cream on the side

peaches and cream rum cake

Peaches spell summer, even with their fuzzy coat. I live in a summer Jersey shore resort town that overflows with people from June to September. The quiet and aloneness transforms to visitors everywhere, every day and includes friends and family. I like it but it also feels a little overwhelming all at once unbalanced. This year, it is giving me reason to bake. A lot.

My closest cousins love it here and came for summers long before I was even born. One of my very opinionated favorites described to me on a last visit his ‘eating fruits when in season plan’. It was early July and he said it was too early for peaches. This discussion happened after I had purchased some for this cake that were locally grown and looked pretty nice. I side stepped my self-conscious maybe these peaches won’t taste good feeling and made this cake anyway. He loved it and said nothing of in season, early season, what kind of peaches are they anyway. Thank you, Maida. You are truly the queen.

gin ice cream with strawberries

no churn ice cream

creamy ice cream that needs a garnish

Maida dedicates a whole chapter to ice creams, made without an ice cream maker, all of them. She explains that they are creamy and may develop ice crystals if left in the freezer for more than one day. Obviously, making ice cream is not baking, but I believe my quest to become better at baking by working through every recipe in this book can benefit from trying the ice cream recipes. I chose this one because I am still thinking about possibilities to use alcohol based herbal extractions and the use of gin enticed me. This wasn’t hard, involved preparing custard, a totally baking relevant task and was certainly creamy. The gin seemed to impart an aftertaste (definitely lessened by the strawberry garnish which Maida recommends). I’m not sure I feel excited about trying the others, but I will eventually especially since it is summer right now. And I do think there is herbal addition potential here.

the most moist oatmeal cookies

raisin walnuts chocolate chips

The majority of Maida’s recipes call for sifted flour. This is tripping me up because I have become addicted to weighing instead of measuring dry ingredients. My dilemma is how much does a cup of sifted flour actually weigh? Even unsifted flour weights are surrounded in controversy. Sifting adds air to the flour and makes it lighter, so obviously it weighs less. I found one source, which defined a cup of sifted flour as 114g, which is what I have been using. But that’s much less than the 125-140 grams for unsifted flour and I’m always wondering if I have enough.

These cookies were delicious, but falling apart moist. Was this because there wasn’t enough flour or was it because I added too much of the raisin soaking liquid? I think I will have to make them again to find out. In the meantime, I seem to let the scale tip a bit high for flour measurements and so far, it seems to work out. But that is not exact enough for secure results so in my own recipes I have to keep perfect notes and this brings me to how to recreate if I am not being exact. I wish I had Maida to ask.

sliced chocolate cake

slightly lopsided cake

chocolate layer cake

thick and easy icing

I don’t like my birthday. I know that sounds awful and depressing and people give me a hard time about it. You are supposed to be happy and joyful on this day and have great fun.

My birthday falls in summer, which for the last seven years has meant I am alone. While I have become ok with that and even find ways to make it work to add a little specialness to the day, I wouldn’t call it a way to be fun. The other issue for me is that it’s been a long time since I felt good about another age addition. I know that is also just in my head, but nevertheless, it’s there.

This year as my children get older and they are no longer spending the summers with their dad, it turned out that my oldest daughter was going to be home for the weekend on my birthday. This was the perfect excuse to bake a cake for cake is her all time favorite food. I didn’t say this was my birthday cake, we didn’t sing happy birthday or light candles. Still, it served well for the day. And once again I am struck with how easy it is to bake cakes.

pretty garnish

baked pot de creme

candied violets

pot de creme a la vanille

I have tons of weeds in my yard, but I don’t seem to have any violets. I bought a package of candied violets a while back and was saving them for some unknown perfect use. I think I bought them in the middle of winter when I was craving sunshine and summertime. When I saw that Maida recommended garnishing these vanilla creams with them, it sealed the deal on this being my next journal trial. The obviously French name makes me think that somewhere a French influence was behind the recommendation, but Maida doesn’t say.

Common blue or sweet violets are an edible weed. It’s funny that when we see them as a garnish for salads or fancy plates, or candied or frozen into ice cubes there awe inspiring aesthetic contribution takes the mind away from the typical association of a bothersome weed. It’s also a far cry from the herbal medicine that comes in powdered capsules. This is an example of culinary herbal medicine that is also good for the soul. Gentle, yet strong; cooling, soothing, and anti-inflammatory, filled with fiber and vitamins A and C, steeped with history of traditional medicinal uses. Eating flowers may seem like a foodie, gourmet sort of thing, but not really because broccoli and cauliflower are flowers. Using candied flowers isn’t new or fancy, either. In Victorian times when flowers had a prominent place in language, their symbolism was everywhere. Because flowers are so delicate, they are best eaten the day they are picked. There is a good chance that the candy idea came from an effort to preserve them or add to their sweetness.

I’ve never made candied flowers, but it doesn’t sound hard, maybe a little tedious and requiring a steady hand. The flower petals are painted with beaten egg whites, coated with fine sugar, and then dried on parchment paper. I think the most important part is to use flowers that are free of pesticides and in our world that may also be the hardest part.

These pots de creme weren’t hard either and they were smooth creamy deliciousness. My imperfection came from a film on the top, even though I covered them exactly as Maida instructed. Enter pretty violets to cover that all up.

moist inside with raisins and walnuts

pumpkin cake

Exactly one month ago, my second daughter graduated from high school. My heart was filled by an emotion jumble, which I am sure I shared with so many other parents.

Can it really be a whole year since my oldest daughter graduated? Can it really be that now two of my children will be gone from home? Last June, I had never seen my oldest so happy. The sparkle in her eyes was ever so bright, a window to the excitement she was feeling about the future of life. This year the deep, intense brown view into my new graduate’s eyes spoke of the difficulties she has had so far and the fear that it will continue into college. I share her relief that high school is over and hope for a new beginning. She is determined and ready to move on. I pray for her and with thoughts that soon she will be far away I bake a pumpkin cake, her favorite.

seven minute frosting

coconut cake slice

coconut layer cake

My children love cake, especially my oldest daughter who is just home from her college freshman year. But, none seem to prefer chocolate cake with chocolate icing. All three consistently ask for or choose vanilla cake with buttercream.

Maida has an entire chapter on chocolate cake. Throughout the book, there are other white or vanilla cakes, but all with chocolate icing. This coconut cake had the only white icing I could find. While I knew it wasn’t buttercream, I had never made a seven- minute frosting. My other hesitancy was the mounds of coconut covering, which would not be a hit with my children either. So my one alteration was to go sparingly coconut, but use enough to get the idea of what it would be like if I used the huge amount in Maida’s recipe.

Maida recommends eating this cake the day it is made because the meringue-like icing doesn’t refrigerate well. She is absolutely right, but one family certainly can’t eat a whole cake in a day so this seems more a company cake.

Once again, I am struck with the ease of cake making and wonder why in the world cake mixes ever came to pass. It seems like our society should have been working on ways to streamline other things rather than pouring more processed convenience foods into the markets. It seems like there could have been help for people to spend more time in the kitchen instead of less, but how that would have happened I do not know. Still I am angry that I grew up in a time and place where this was the way of the food world.

My cake aficionadas finished this one in about 5 days and with no complaints even though there was mention that it wasn’t their favorite. I’m positive that if I had brought home a coconut cake from a bakery or supermarket or if they had a choice on a menu, none of my family would have eaten a bit. The power of homemade prevails.