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Howard Johnson’s Coconut Loaf Cake

07.08.2015 by J. Doe // 1 Comment

It is one of the enduring ironies of my life that although my initial experience with the stock market – choosing Howard Johnson for a school assignment in a year when the stock sank and the company was sold – was negative, I eventually found my way into a reasonably successful career working in the industry.

That said, I work with people who choose stocks, and don’t actually choose them myself.

The only reason I recognized the Howard Johnson company name at all was that my mother and I ate there, exactly once, when she took me there for a very big treat. The ice cream!

I’m not sure I ever saw one of Howard Johnson’s famous bright orange roofs, since the one we went to was in the ground floor of a Manhattan building. The restaurant seemed a bit beat-up, and the waitress was not friendly like the waitress at the VFW fish fry in Wisconsin, who was also the school crossing guard and admired my pigtails while I played tic-tac-toe with my grandfather, who never seemed to win no matter how hard he tried or how many hints I gave him.  My mother and I sat in a booth and ate our meals, and then had ice cream, which was probably okay but not special enough that I remember it. I liked the ice cream from the Baskin-Robbins near where we lived; one flavor had pieces of frozen bubble gum in it, and at Halloween, they had licorice-flavored black ice cream that tasted awful but disgusted my mother so much that I looked forward to ordering it every autumn.

If it were not for my fifth-grade school project, I don’t think I’d remember Howard Johnson at all, but as it happens, I remember it well: An inauspicious beginning to my future career. It makes me smile, and so it was that when a recipe for the original Coconut Loaf Cake sold at Howard Johnson appeared on the King Arthur Flour blog, well, I had some coconut and some free time and plenty of nostalgia, so I made it.

It was superb: A buttery loaf cake, dense but not heavy,  with a hint of coconut. I didn’t include any additional coconut flavoring, so the flavor is there, but only from the coconut – not overpowering at all. The frosting is just divine with a bit of tang to it, and should not be omitted – there isn’t enough coconut without it. Cool the cake completely before frosting it (I mean it!) and then press in as much shredded coconut as the frosting will hold. Use all the frosting, and be generous with the coconut. Plan to be sticky. Lick fingers thoroughly when done.

The Child was less impressed than I was, explaining to me that she would like it, if she liked coconut. I thought she did like coconut; at least, I can’t come up with another reason why Kate Smith’s Coconut Squares are her most-frequently requested cookie. Apparently, that was a few years ago and I need to keep up.

It was because of her that I discovered one of the nicest features of this cake: It refrigerates really well. This should be surprising, since the original was apparently sold frozen, then thawed and served at home. The cake kept really well in the fridge and tasted divine served cold. It’s an ideal summer cake in this regard – a sweet, cold treat for a hot summer day.

Howard Johnson Coconut Cake

Howard Johnson's Coconut Loaf Cake
 
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Author: adapted from the King Arthur Flour website
Ingredients
Cake
  • ¾ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 1¼ cups sugar
  • 5 large eggs
  • 1¼ teaspoons salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 cups All-Purpose Flour
  • ½ cup heavy cream
  • ⅔ cup sweetened flaked coconut
Frosting
  • ½ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 1 cup cream cheese, at room temperature
  • 2 cups confectioners’ sugar
  • ¾ to 1 cup sweetened flaked coconut
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9" x 5" loaf pan.
  2. Make the cake: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter at medium speed for about 10 seconds, then gradually add the sugar. Beat for 2 to 3 minutes, stopping once to scrape down the sides of the bowl, until the mixture is fluffy.
  3. Add the eggs one at a time, beating each in completely before adding the next. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl, and beat briefly, just until combined, then add the salt, baking powder, and vanilla.
  4. Add the flour to the bowl in three portions, alternating with the cream. Beat at low speed, just to combine, after each addition.
  5. Stir in the flaked coconut, and scoop the batter into the prepared loaf pan.
  6. Bake the cake for about 70 to 75 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center/top of the loaf comes out clean. Tent it gently with aluminum foil if it appears to be getting too brown.
  7. Remove the cake from the oven, let it cool in the pan for a couple of minutes, then turn it out onto a rack. Cool completely.
  8. Make the frosting: Mix the butter and cream cheese at low speed, until thoroughly combined, then beat in the sugar and salt until smooth.
  9. Place the cake on a large piece of waxed paper. Spread the frosting all over the cake. Pat the flaked coconut onto the frosting. Plan to get sticky, or use a piece of wax paper. Be generous with the coconut.
  10. Cake keeps well in the refrigerator, and may be frozen.
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Categories // The Joy of Cooking Tags // baking, coconut, vintage recipes

Blueberry Focaccia

05.23.2015 by J. Doe // Leave a Comment

The Child was on a school trip this week, leaving me on my own. Although it feels like I should have taken the opportunity to go on a trip somewhere myself, the truth of the matter is, there isn’t anywhere in particular I want to go. Or at least, there isn’t anywhere in particular I want to go that I can get to and from in between the times I need to deliver her at and retrieve her from the airport.

But having one’s house to oneself is a sort of vacation, especially when one suddenly has more time, fewer schedules. For example, there’s no one to drive to school in the morning, so I can wake up a little later – or I could have, had The Child not forgotten there was a time difference and called at 5am, urgently needing a document emailed to her.

I should have minded, but it was nice to be needed, just for a moment: A moment isn’t the same as all the time.

The rest of the time was my own; I came and went on my own schedule, and ate and cooked as I pleased.

Left to my own devices, with no one to please but myself, I cooked a couple of meals, a stir-fried dinner of sausage and vegetables, and a lunch salad of leftover chicken, grilled bread, and fresh spinach that was pretty tasty. But mostly, I didn’t feel like cooking, and preferred a big hunk of crusty bread with lots of butter, and a side of fresh berries. Simple, satisfying.

One of the leftovers I had was this lovely focaccia bread that I made before The Child left. It’s from Samantha Seneviratne’s upcoming cookbook, The New Sugar and Spice, which is available in the UK, while the US edition will be available this fall and can be pre-ordered on Amazon. I was lucky to receive an advance copy for review purposes, and it’s one of the nicer baking books I’ve seen recently: Recipes are organized by type of spice used in the recipes (Cinnamon, Cardamom), with each section introduced with an essay that is a little bit of personal reminiscence,  and a lot more history of the spice, how it is used, its origins.

The recipe is in the cinnamon section, but since I love the combination on blueberries with lemon, I swapped out the cinnamon for some grated lemon zest. It’s a very simple, forgiving recipe – you can use any kind of berry, or use the cinnamon, or maybe some vanilla sugar – whatever you want to top it with would probably work. I got a little impatient during the last rise, so I probably didn’t let it rise enough, but it was still light and tasty – and definitely bread, not cake, which is just as well, because it doesn’t need any more sweetness with all the  juicy berries and sweet, crunchy sugar crust on top.

It’s a lovely way to start the day, especially a warm, lazy day, when you have no particular place you need to be except right where you are.

 

blueberry focaccia

Blueberry Focaccia
 
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Author: adapted from Samantha Seneviratne, Sugar and Spice
Ingredients
  • ½ cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled, divided
  • 2 cups bread flour
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • ½ cup sugar, divided
  • 2½ tsp active dry yeast
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1½ cups warm (not hot) water
  • 2 cups fresh blueberries
  • ¾ tsp grated lemon zest
Instructions
  1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the flours, ¼ cup of the sugar, the yeast, and the salt.
  2. In a small bowl, combine the warm water, ¼ cup of the melted butter, and the egg.
  3. Turn mixer on low speed, add the water mixture, and mix until a dough starts to form. Switch to the dough hook, and use it to knead the dough about five minutes, until smooth and elastic. The dough should still be somewhat sticky; this is fine.
  4. Butter a large bowl. Form the dough into a ball and place it into the bowl, covered with plastic wrap. Set the bowl in a warm place until it doubles in size.
  5. Remove the dough from the bowl onto a buttered work surface, and knead it several times, then put it back in the bowl until it has doubled again.
  6. Spread two tablespoons of the remaining melted butter in the bottom of a jelly-roll pan. Tip the dough into the pan, then use your fingers to stretch it out to fill the pan. Set the dough aside to rise (yes, again), until it is higher than the pan sides.
  7. In a small bowl, combine the remaining ¼ cup of sugar with the lemon zest.
  8. When the dough has finished rising, heat over to 450 degrees. While you wait for the oven to heat, use your fingers to poke small dimples all over the dough surface. Then, spread the remaining melted butter all over the top. Sprinkle half the lemon-sugar mixture on top of the butter, then scatter the berries over the sugar. Sprinkle the remaining sugar mixture on top of the berries.
  9. Bake until it's a delightful shade of brown and completely set, even under the berries, about 25 minutes. Let cool slightly in the pan, then move to a cutting board, cut into pieces, and enjoy while still warm.
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Categories // The Joy of Cooking Tags // baking, blueberries, bread, breakfast

Macrina Bakery’s Rocket Muffins

03.05.2015 by J. Doe // Leave a Comment

For the past few summers, The Child and I have been tormented by unwanted guests. Not the rats that occasionally move into the crawl space, silent and unseen. Not the moles, which are visually destructive, but silent, and at least provide some marginal comic relief, in the form of neighbors doing Bill Murray In Caddyshack impressions.

The bees, on the other hand, we can hear, and they’re loud: They buzz aggressively on the other side of my office wall, and The Child’s bedroom wall.

Last summer, I hired a bee guy, who couldn’t locate them easily, but based on an inspection of the outside of the house, informed me that my noisy neighbors were “probably” mud daubers. They are tiny and harmless wasps, he said. Probably coming in through the vent screens. I suggest you wait until winter, when they go dormant, and replace the screens.

He took my check and was on his way.

With winter almost over – at least in Seattle – my thoughts turned to Spring, and I called my handyman, who stopped by and inspected the crawl space next to my office, and the one next to The Child’s room, and then the attic area; he found nothing. He moved his ladder outside, and climbed onto the garage roof, and inspected the wall. Eventually he climbed down, and said he’d found two warped siding boards: The gaps are how the bees were getting in, he said. Your screens are fine.

Then he handed me his phone, to show me the pictures he’d taken of the furnace vent, specifically, the holes that had rusted out of it. He went into the attic again, and came back with more pictures: more rusty holes. I stare at the pictures like the inadequately knowledgeable homeowner I am.

Those holes will vent carbon monoxide into your attic, he tells me.

I listened to the sound of the mud dauber wasps in my wall all summer, several years in a row, and they frightened me, but could never have hurt me. It would seem I owe them a debt of gratitude, since they led to the discovery of a very real danger that I could have neither seen nor heard. I am grateful to the wasps, as I stand on a ladder, trying to help the handyman loosen rusted pieces of vent pipe. I am grateful to the wasps as I make a note on the grocery list to replace the batteries in the smoke detectors, including the one that kept going off, with no obvious cause, a year or so ago.

I am grateful to the wasps as the handyman nails down the siding, closing off their entrance to my wall.

When the handyman leaves, I lock the back gate after him, and notice that my rhubarb is coming in, and not just a little. I’m absurdly happy: The sun is shining, The Child and I aren’t going to die in our sleep, and there will be rhubarb, soon. Spring is coming; it’s almost here.

There isn’t much in the way of in-season produce that I actually want to eat at the stores, but late last summer I received a small bag of Oregon hazelnuts as a gift, and thought that now would be a good time to use them. I wanted cookies and cakes but since I also had yet another mushy banana to use up – just one this time – I chose a recipe from the Macrina Bakery & Cafe Cookbook that included hazelnuts, a ripe banana, and other things I already had on hand: carrots, molasses. The ingredient list sounded like a healthy way to start a day, and the name – Rocket Muffins – suggested they’d kick-start me with energy.

One thing I didn’t have on hand was whole wheat flour, and since I was feeling kind of lazy, and thus in need of a muffin to kick-start my energy level, I swapped in some dark rye flour to see what would happen. The original recipe also calls for adding a dollop of jam to the top of each muffin during baking, which I skipped entirely, figuring I’d rather add whatever flavor jam I felt like eating at the time I ate each muffin.

I don’t know how these are supposed to taste, and to be honest, when they first came out of the oven, they reminded me of the supposedly healthy “bread” that was the bane of my 1970s school lunches. A liberal dose of melting salted butter did not help matters much.

I set the muffins aside, but vowed I would finish them – all of them – no matter how much jam it took.

The next morning, I was running late, so I grabbed one of the muffins, and ate it at my desk as I began work: No jam, no butter.

It was stupendous.

It’s hard to appreciate a muffin that isn’t sweet, when muffins, for the most part these days, are simply small cakes pretending to be muffins. But when you stop expecting something to be sweet, and when there is no sweetness to overwhelm the flavors, well, you can really taste them. The delicious crunchy, nutty hazelnut was shown off superbly by the earthy rye and molasses; the buttermilk probably accounts for the muffins’ ethereal lightness.

They don’t need jam or butter or to be toasted or anything, except to be eaten.

And the best part: The Child doesn’t like them, so I get them all to myself.

Rocket Muffin

Macrina Bakery's Rocket Muffins
 
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Author: adapted from Leslie Mackie, Macrina Bakery Cookbook
Ingredients
  • ¾ cup hazelnuts, toasted, chopped
  • ¾ cup all purpose flour
  • ¾ cup dark rye flour
  • 2 tbsp light brown sugar
  • 1 tbsp baking powder
  • 2½ tsp baking soda
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • 1½ cup rolled oats
  • 3 medium carrots, grated
  • 1 small, ripe banana, mashed or pureed
  • 2 eggs
  • ½ cup vegetable oil
  • ½ cup molasses
  • ½ cup buttermilk
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350F. Spread hazelnuts out on a baking sheet and roast until they're golden brown and fragrant (about 15 minutes). Cool slightly and remove the skins by rubbing nuts together in a clean dish towel. Chop coarsely and set aside.
  2. Whisk the flours, brown sugar, baking powder and soda, and salt together in a large bowl. Add the oats, nuts, and carrots; toss together with a spoon or your hands until the carrots are well coated with flour.
  3. In a medium bowl, beat the eggs. Whisk in the banana, oil, molasses, and buttermilk until thoroughly combined.
  4. Add the liquid mixture to the dry mixture, stirring with a fork until the batter just starts to come together.
  5. Spoon the batter into a paper liners in a muffin tin, filling the cups to the top. Bake until the muffins are deep brown and spring back when pressed lightly with a finger, 15-20 minutes. Cool on racks.
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Categories // The Joy of Cooking Tags // baking, bananas, buttermilk, carrots, hazelnuts, muffins, rye

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