The Academy Awards - What a production

Tomorrow marks the night of the 83rd Academy Awards. I have always been interested in this annual event, thanks to my mother - the ultimate queen of movie stars and their gossip. Years ago, my mother and her best friend Kate, took me and my friend Katie to London. While there, we stumbled across the Bristish Academy Awards aka The BAFTAS. Somehow, Kate and my mom scored tickets to the red carpet and we set front row in the grand stands while all of the celebrities made their grand entrance. We were the only (obnoxious) Americans there, so we scored a ton of autographs and photos:

The night ended with my mom and Kate somehow making it into the BAFTA's after party and scoring a bunch of gift bags and a chocolate centerpiece...don't ask.

In addition to the festivities in California, tomorrow also marks the annual Oscar's celebration held by Kate and her husband.It is a fantastic party where guests come in optional costume, dine on amazing food, drink fantastic beverages (naturally), and mock/cheer/jeer the celebrities and their movies.

I wanted to make a dessert fit for an Academy, so I chose Mary's Prize Chocolate Cake and Rich Chocolate Frosting. Like the making of a movie, this culinary feat was a production!

I started off by making the cake:

Prize Chocolate Cake:
(written by Mary on lined recipe card)

2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs, beaten
3 squares chocolate
1 cup sour milk (1 cup milk & 1 tbsp vinegar)
2 cups sifted flour
1 tsp soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
Cream butter and sugar. Add beaten egg, melted chocolate and vanilla. Beat Thoroughly. Add sour milk. Sift soda, salt, and flour. Add to wet mixture. Beat thoroughly. Place batter into two 9 inch buttered and floured cake pans. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes.

My original idea was to make chocolate Oscar statues (using a fantastic Oscar cookie cutter given to me by my mom's dear friend Sue) and decorate them with a gold colored frosting. I found a recipe for salted caramel frosting - PERFECT....Not. The frosting tasted like a caramel-y/salty stick of butter. Plan B - Mary's Rich Chocolate Frosting

Rich Chocolate Frosting
(recipe cut out of magazine and taped onto recipe card)

4 oz (squares) unsweetened chocolate
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup strong coffee
Melt chocolate and butter together. Place in mixing bowl and add powdered sugar. Mix well. Add coffee and continue to mix (I let the stand mixer mix this up for @ 2 minutes). Add additional powdered sugar if needed. This frosting will be more of a ganache consistency, but it will harden up.

I started in on other projects around the apartment, letting the cakes cool a little too long. By the time I took them out of the pan, only one came out in its entirety. Crap! I decided to change my plans again - Plan C: Round 9" cake with Oscar Statue. I cut out a statue from the crappy cake, decorated it with chocolate frosting and gold/silver non-nonpareils and placed it on top of the 9" cake. I give all of those bakers on the cake shows a lot of credit. This was not easy, but I finally had a finished product that I was content with

Matt and I just got back from seeing The King's Speech. What an absolutely amazing movie! It MUST win best picture, Colin Firth MUST win best actor, and Geoffrey Rush MUST win best supporting actor!

A little history lesson

In trying to decide what to make today I read a list of recipes aloud to Matt, with the final decision being Cornbread (his choice). This particular recipe for Durgin Park Cornbread comes with a history lesson:

Durgin-Park is a centuries-old restaurant at 340 at Faneuil Hill Marketplace in downtown Boston. The Greater Boston Convention and Visitors Bureau states that it has been a "landmark since 1827", and it continues to be a popular tourist destination within Quincy Market. The restaurant has entrances on both of its facades (Faneuil Hall and Clinton Street).

 In keeping with its long history, the concept of Durgin-Park maintains the tradition of communal seating at long tables. The menu is designed to offer traditional New England-style fare with a concentration on seafoods, chowders, broiled meats, and broiled dinners. The service is also a partial hold-over from the time of its founding as the waitstaff have been encouraged to adopt a "surly" attitude and "backtalk" the clientele. Another sign of it heritage, is that it has only changed head chefs a handful of times in its history. ~ Wikipedia

I have never been to this restaurant, but I could see how Mary would be a fan since she was never one to pass up seafood, chowder, or broiled dinners!

Durgin Park Cornbread
(written by my aunt Kathy - excellent handwriting - on lined recipe card)
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
3/4 tsp salt
2 cups flour
1 cup cornmeal (grandulated)
3 tsp Baking Powder
1 tbsp melted butter
1 1/2 cups milk

Mix sugar with beaten eggs. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together. Add cornmeal, melted butter & milk. Beat up quickly and bake in buttered pan. Use very hot oven

So besides the history of the restaurant that I had to look up, I also had to research the oven temp and cooking time of this recipe. Some recipes called for a 450 degree oven, but this cooked the bottom to quickly and left the middle uncooked. Other recipes called for a 375 degree oven for 35-40 minutes. I concluded that baking the cornbread in an oven between 375 degrees for @ 25-30 minutes was perfect!

Mine browned  on the top because I was experimenting with the different temps/times, but it still came out delicious! I cooked mine in a 8X8 pan, but you could also do a 9X9 and reduce the cooking by a little.

If you can't beat 'em, might as well join 'em

I actually had a full week of school! It was tiring...I was starting to get used to having short weeks.

Valentine's Day is on Monday. V-Day is one of the holidays that I appreciated when I was little for the school art projects, friend valentine cards, and gifts from my parents. It lost its muster in my teens and early 20s. This is the first year, however, that I am back in the cupid spirit. I owe this in part to my wonderful students and their excitement for EVERY holiday. I had one last week who was celebrating his favorite holiday, Groundhog's day! We have a school dance on Monday, which is always a wonderful time and the students are very excited to decorate and give their friends and parents gifts, so rather than fight it, I have decided to get in the spirit. If you can't beat 'em, might as well join 'em.

and might as well make Valentine's Day cookies. I found the PERFECT recipe in Mary's recipe box...

Heartthrob Cookie Dough

 (newspaper recipe taped onto recipe card)

• 1  cup  shortening
• 1  cup  granulated sugar
• 1/2  teaspoon  baking powder
• 1/8  teaspoon  salt
• 1   egg
• 1  teaspoon  vanilla
• 1/4  teaspoon  peppermint extract
• 2  cups  all-purpose flour

Beat shortening in a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add granulated sugar, baking powder, and salt; beat until combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally. Beat in egg, vanilla, and peppermint extract until combined. Beat in as much flour as you can with the mixer. Stir in remaining flour with a wooden spoon. Roll dough on floured surface and cut into heart shapes. Place cutouts 1 inch apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake in a 375 degree F oven for 8 to 10 minutes or until golden. Transfer to wire racks and cool. Makes 30 cookies. 

I used one of Mary's cookie cutters to make the hearts...

 ...you can tell that it has been used with love for many years!

I decorated the cookies with drizzles of pink royal icing (1 cup sifted powder sugar, 1 tsp milk, 1/4 tsp vanilla, and red food coloring). HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

ANOTHER SNOW DAY! Are you kidding me?!

Another day off from school = another day added to the summer :( UGH! I am definitely ready for spring!

I decided to take another stab at Mary's Oatmeal Molasses Bread. I thought that the kneading would help get out some of my snow day frustration! This time around, I had success with the bread. Yeast breads make me nervous, so I made sure to follow this one very carefully.


Oatmeal Molasses Bread
Makes 2 Loves
(recipe cut out of the paper and glued onto recipe card)

1 cup milk
1 cup water
3 tablespoons butter
1 cup quick-cooking oats

1 package active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water (105 -115 degrees)
1/2 cup molasses
1 tsp salt
5 1/2 to 6 cups unbleached all purpose flour

Grease large bowl and two 9X5 inch loaf pans. Combine milk, water, and butter in medium saucepan and bring to boil. Transfer to bowl; stir in oats. Cool to lukewarm

Dissolve yeast in warm water. Stir yeast into oatmeal mixture. Add molasses and salt and mix well. Stir in flour one cup at a time until mixture no longer sticks to bowl.

Turn dough out onto floured surface and knead for 8-10 minutes, adding small amounts of flour as necessary. Transfer to greased bowl, turning to coat all surfaces. Cover with plastic wrap and towel. Let stand in warm draft free area until doubled in bulk, about 1 1/2 hours.

Divide dough in half. Transfer to loaf pans. Let dough stand in warm draft-free area until doubled in bulk.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake loaves until tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 40-50 minutes. Remove from pans and let cool on racks.

 Second times a charm!

Snow day...again?!

     This winter is really starting to bug me. Another snow day today which means another snow day tacked on to the end of the year...and it is only January!

     The only positive from this storm is the mark it will leave on the ski mountains! After the snow stops, I am heading off to a girls' ski weekend! YIPEE!
     For the event, I baked up a batch of Dipped Shortbread Logs. I don't remember this recipe, but my cousin Alison was asking if I had it so Mary made them at some point in time. I think that by the time I was old enough to participate in baking with Mary she had her set repertoire of cookies and breads (Chocolate Chip, Hermits, Shredded Wheat Bread, etc etc). I have heard that she was more of an "experimental" baker and cook before my time.


Dipped Shortbread Logs
(written on a chicken, yes chicken, recipe card...This isn't her recipe because once again, the handwriting is far to nice!)

2 cups flour
1 cup butter or oleo, softened
1/2 cup sifted confectioners sugar
1 tsp vanilla
Combine flour, butter, sugar, and vanilla in large bowl. Mix until thoroughly blended (will be crumbly). Shape into 2 inch logs. Bake @ 350 for 10 minutes. Cool Completely

Melt 6oz of chocolate bits and 1 tbsp solid white shortening. Add more, if needed to make dipping consistent. Roll in chopped nuts (I did not do this). Makes about 60.

I am not a fan of shortbread, but these were really good. Perhaps it was the 2 sticks of butter that turned the corner for me!

Not my forte

Snow Day=Baking
I started the morning by baking up one of Mary's bread recipes, but it was another failure. I am blaming it on the yeast this time. I bought it refrigerated, but kept it in the pantry, so I am thinking that I should have kept it cold. I am not even going to post the recipe until I try it again! 

Once my rocks came out of the oven, I changed my game plan and baked up some bars... I think cookies are more my forte.

This recipe was obviously not Mary's because the writing on it was way to nice to be hers, but I do remember her making these.

Congo bars
(written on plain lined recipe card)

3/4 shortening
1 package brown sugar
3 eggs, beaten
1 tsp vanilla
2 3/4 cup flour, sifted
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup walnuts, optional
Melt the shortning and add to brown sugar. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together. Add eggs to brown sugar mixture, followed by vanilla. Stir in flour mixture and combine. Add in chocolate chips and walnuts.
Place in greased 13X9 pan and bake for 30 minutes. Cool complete before cutting into thin bars.

These were very chewy and chocolaty! I don't like nuts in my cookies, so I substituted coconut! YUM!

Back to reality...

There wasn't anytime for baking last weekend as the entire family was attending my cousin Nicholas' New Year's Eve wedding. The entire Wilson clan packed up and traveled up to Brunswick to celebrate the event. Here are some pics from the weekend:

 The bride and groom!

 Typical family...getting into trouble

 

All of the Cousins

 

Henry, the ring bearer

Congrats again, Nick & Lindsay

Now vacation is over and it is back to reality :( 

This weekend is filled with progress notes, lesson planning, and report writing so there isn't too much time to bake. When I browsed the recipes this morning, I was looking for something quick and easy...Brownies.

Brownies - Very Best Recipe

(written on white recipe card in green ink)

2 squares chocolate

1/4 cup shortening

1 cup sugar

2 eggs, beathen

1/2 cup sifted flour

1/8 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup chopped nuts

Melt chocolate and shortening together. Add sugar and mix well. Add eggs. Sift flour and salt together. Add to chocolate mixture. Add vanilla and nuts and mix well. Pour into greased 8in pan and baked for 35 minutes at 325.  Cut when cool

 

I had a semi-fail with this recipe. I had never made brownies this way. I have always used cocoa powder, so I was a little nervous when preparing and baking them:

• I didn't add nuts. I am not a fan of nuts in dessert. 
• I only baked them for 30 minutes because some of the past recipes have cooked for less time and they were very fudgy
• Also, they weren't very chocolaty.

My husband, who will eat anything, ate an entire row stating, "They taste fat free. Maybe Mary liked them that way."

So, when making these again, I would add more chocolate (perhaps another ounce) and definitely cook them for 35 minutes. If any of the family can remember Mary making these, perhaps you can comment about what could have been tweaked...