2 Great Butter-Free Cakes

Before you get all excited, thinking that the term "Butter-Free" in the title suggests there's something healthy on this page, just stop it. Stop it right there.

There are such cakes. They rely on an extravagance of egg whites and patience. They are low in fat, impossibly airy, and perfect sprinkled with some fresh berries on a hot summer day. In fact, given the relentless heat in our un-air conditioned apartment, that kind of cake would probably have hit the spot.

No, these cakes have plenty of fat, but in liquid form. This gives them two advantages: (1) they're just a tad easier to throw together--no creaming or streaming here*; and (2) they are perfect refrigerator cakes. Meaning, if you want a delicious pudding, mousse, whipped cream, custard or other fancy layer in your cake creation, you will have to store it in the fridge. Meaning, you want it to be texturally perfect when it is eaten cold. Meaning, you want a cake with little-to-no butter, which hardens up when chilled.

Enter Mr. Chocolate and Ms. Vanilla. Each of the following recipes will make one 8- or 9-inch cake. Chocolate made its debut as the sis's delicious 30th birthday cake. Vanilla, as this year's Fourth of July flag cake.

*P.S. if you are still using boxed cake mixes because "they're just so convenient," try these recipes. They're just as easy and chemical-free!

One-Bowl Chocolate Cake

1 cup flour

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup cocoa

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 cup buttermilk

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 tsp vanilla

1 egg

1. Preheat oven to 350º. Grease and line your cake pan with parchment paper cut to fit (this is important!).
2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, cocoa, soda, powder, and salt. Add buttermilk, oil, and vanilla. Beat 2 minutes. Add egg and beat 2 more minutes. Pour into prepared pan and bake for 30-35 minutes, until tester inserted near center comes out clean.

Easy Vanilla Cake

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 1/4 cups flour

1/2 cup buttermilk

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 350º. Grease and line your cake pan with parchment paper cut to fit (this is important!).
2. Beat eggs and sugar with electric mixer until slightly thickened, about a minute. Add flour, buttermilk, oil, powder, and vanilla. Beat for one more minute, until well incorporated. Pour into the pan. Bake 25-30 minutes, until tester inserted in center comes out clean.

Cornmeal Ricotta Cake

One day last fall, my sister-in-law--in a conversation she probably doesn't even remember--mentioned in passing a favorite treat from her local bakery. It's only taken me like four months to finally get this thing out of my head, where it has been rattling in the ensuing time, and into my belly, where it is now sitting comfortably. As with so many other foods that I am just now discovering at the ripe old age of 27, I am left wondering: why haven't I been eating this cake all my life? It's like an Italian miracle.

What makes this thing so good? Crunchy cornmeal. Sweet and slightly tangy ricotta. It's like your favorite cornbread made little dessert babies with a cheesecake. LORD this is yummy. But it also loses freshness fast. Make it on the day you plan to serve--ahem, scarf--it, wrap leftovers tightly and store at room temperature.

As you can see, we served it with hand-whipped cream (that's right--hand whipped, thank you David) and a little bit of jam we heated in the micro.

Cornmeal Ricotta Cake

Serves 4 easily; ready just over an hour; based on this recipe from the LA Times, which includes orange zest and fresh cranberries--yum!--but not what I was going for...

2/3 cup flour

1/3 cup stone-ground cornmeal (aka polenta)

1 tsp baking powder

1 egg

2 Tbsp maple syrup

2 Tbsp vegetable oil

1/2 tsp vanilla

5 Tbsp butter, soft

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 tsp salt

2/3 cup ricotta cheese

1. Preheat oven to 350º. In one bowl, whisk together flour, cornmeal, and powder. In another, whisk together egg, syrup, oil, and vanilla. Set aside.
2. With electric mixer, beat butter with sugar and salt until thoroughly combined. Add half of flour mixture and beat again, just until mixed. Now, switch to a spatula because you DON'T want to overmix. Gently stir in ricotta and rest of flour mixture. Again, DON'T over mix here. Just until combined.
3. Pour into greased 4-inch square or 5-inch round pan. Spread to cover. Bake 35-40 minutes, until tester inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool at least 20 minutes.

the CHOCOLATIEST cookies in existence

These are brownies masquerading in cookie form. They are ri-di-cu-lous (slow, emphatic syllables necessary), but be forewarned: the batter is a little strange. It comes together pretty runny, then must sit for 20 minutes -- during which time its microscopic magical chocolate bits unite into a fudgy mass. It continues to harden as it sits, so go ahead and dole out all the cookies at one time. You can keep the pre-formed cookies in the fridge if you don't want to bake them all, but don't wait to scoop; you'll end up with a rock of dough (which I may or may not have hacked at with a sharp knife, then eaten without baking).

Super Fudge Cookies

adapted from Cook's Illustrated; makes about 10 cookies; takes about 45 minutes

1/2 cup flour

2 Tbsp cocoa

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

4 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla

2 1/2 Tbsp butter, softened

1/3 cup brown sugar

2 Tbsp white sugar

1/2 cup chocolate chips

1/2 cup pecan pieces (optional)

1. First, whisk together flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt. Then, in a small bowl, melt the chocolate in the microwave, working in 20 second increments until you can stir it smooth. (Alternately, melt over very low heat on the stovetop.) In a third bowl, whisk the egg and vanilla together.
2. In a medium bowl (yes, a fourth one, sorry), beat butter with sugars until well incorporated and smooth, 30 seconds. Add egg mixture and mix for another 30 seconds. Now the melted chocolate, another 30 seconds. Stir in dry ingredients as well as chips and pecans until incorporated; batter will be thin. Cover with plastic wrap and walk away for 20 minutes.
3. Return to discover your dough has undergone a mysterious yet wonderful transformation. Preheat your oven to 350º and scoop out about 2 Tbsp pieces of dough onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. When oven is ready, bake 11-12 minutes. Cookie should seem under done, but it will continue to cook as it cools. Don't overbake! You want this baby to be gooey!

Texas Sheet Cake

Ah, Texas sheet cake: chocolatey buttermilk cake, fudgy pecan icing. Where does your name come from?

Some say it's because your dense, delicious slices are so rich, one only needs a small sliver to feel satisfied (hence, the ability to feed a Texas-sized crowd on a single cake). Maybe your fudgy explosiveness could only come from such a sizable state. Maybe that super-chocolatey flavor is as big as Texas.

Either way, this cake is ri-i-ich, almost brownie like, its accompanying icing quite sweet and studded with pecans. Buttermilk gives it a softness and a slight tang, the perfect foil to such a chocolate overload.

Texas Sheet Cake

serves up to 4; ready in 45 minutes; c/o BH&G

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 tsp baking soda

pinch salt

4 Tbsp (1/2 stick) butter

1 1/2 Tbsp cocoa powder

1/4 cup water

1/2 beaten egg -or- 2 Tbsp egg substitute

2 Tbsp buttermilk

1/2 tsp vanilla

Chocolate-Buttermilk Frosting (recipe follows)

1. Grease a 5x5-inch (or equivalent) pan. Preheat oven to 350º. Stir together flour, sugar, soda, and salt into a medium bowl. Set aside.
2. In a microwave-safe bowl, melt butter, cocoa powder, and water together, until you can stir it smooth. Use 30 second intervals, taking it out and checking it each time.
3. Pour chocolate mixture into flour mixture and beat with an electric mixer until thoroughly combined (this can be done by hand, with some effort). Add eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla, beating for an additional minute. Batter will be thin. Pour into prepared pan.
4. Bake 30ish minutes, until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Top with warm Chocolate-Buttermilk Frosting and allow both to cool.

Chocolate-Buttermilk Frosting

2 Tbsp butter

1 1/2 Tbsp cocoa powder

1 1/2 Tbsp buttermilk

1 cup powdered sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/3 cup chopped, toasted (optional) pecans

Throw butter, cocoa and buttermilk into a bowl and microwave on high until butter is melted and you can stir them all smooth (use 20 second intervals). Add powdered sugar and vanilla and beat until smooth (you might need a mixer for this one). Stir in pecans.

Chocolate-Peanut Butter Cookies

What a surprise! I have made dessert! And it combines peanut butter with chocolate! I swear I make other things sometimes. Sometimes.

Chocolate-Peanut Butter Cookies

makes 6 cookies; takes about 30 minutes with optional chill time; 15 without

1/4 cup flour

2 Tbsp cocoa powder

1/8 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

pinch salt

2 Tbsp butter, melted

1/4 cup sugar

1 egg yolk

1/2 tsp vanilla

3 Tbsp peanut butter (preferably crunchy; if not, add chopped peanuts)

1/4 cup chocolate chips

Coarse salt (optional)

1. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa, soda, powder and salt. Set aside.
2. Stir melted butter with sugar until sugar is nice and wet. Add yolk and vanilla, mix well, then add peanut butter. Mix until smooth. Stir in flour mixture, then chocolate chips (and optional chopped peanuts). Form into 6 balls, place them on a plate and press down to flatten slightly. Sprinkle tops with a little bit of coarse salt. Stash in the freezer for 15 minutes. (Or go ahead and bake if you must, you impatient fool.)
3. Preheat oven to 350º. Bake for 10 minutes and remove to cool slightly before enjoying.

What's up with the salt? Well, I'll tell you. Do you know why you love chocolate chip cookies so much? It's because the dough is nice and salty while the chips are nice and sweet. Your mouth really loves the play of those two tastes together. So up the ante a little by sprinkling coarse sea or kosher salt on top of your cookies right before baking. If you're skeptical, just sprinkle one or two and do a taste test with the non-salted ones. Betcha you'll be doing it a lot more from now on.

Buttermilk Cinnamon Rolls: 2 Ways

Cinnamon Rolls and I have a complicated relationship.

There was once a time when I believed their origins to be exclusively bound up with a puffy white spokes-thing emblazoned on a blue can, a blue can that you had to press (in great fear and anxiety) with the back of a spoon to get to pop open. Oh, the delicious Sunday mornings that can and I shared together.

Then I learned cinnamon rolls could be got in other ways, namely at restaurant drive-thrus before the clock struck a bitter 10:30 a.m. Equally sweet. Equally tooth-decaying. Equally delicious.

About 5 years ago, Southern Living told me you could buy a bag of frozen biscuits, thaw them out, pat them together, cover them in cinnamon sugar, and achieve a "homemade" result (long before Sandra Lee earned television time to teach me similar stultifying tricks). I felt empowered. I felt confused. Is this what cinnamon rolls are supposed to be?

Then somewhere along the line, I stumbled into scratch baking, which meant I had no one but a recipe writer to help me achieve can- or drive-thru-transcendence. It was then that I discovered the true essence of the cinnamon roll: the soft, bready roll, the gooey brown sugar center, the cream cheese blessing to be showered over top.

This was also about the time that I discovered 27-year-olds cannot get away with eating the things 17-year-olds do. And though I often crave (and I mean reeeally crave) the gooey goodness of a cinnamon roll first thing on a lazy weekend morning, I just can't bring myself to eat that for breakfast anymore. But dessert? That's another story.

So cinnamon rolls it is! Four of them, to be exact, adapted from ... well ... from an unidentified recipe that has been in my cookbook for several years now. Because the pumpkin train keeps rolling these days, I also did an alternate version of these rolls using the orangey goodness. Both are divine.

Part 1: Plain Buttermilk Cinnamon Rolls

makes 4 rolls; can be ready in about 30 minutes

Filling:

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 Tbsp white sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

pinch salt

dash nutmeg

1/2 Tbsp melted butter

Dough:

1 1/4 cup flour

1 Tbsp sugar

1/8 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup buttermilk

3 Tbsp melted butter

Icing:

1 Tbsp cream cheese, softened

1 Tbsp buttermilk

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1. Preheat oven to 425º. Combine filling ingredients in a small bowl and stir together until mixture resembles wet sand. Set aside.
2. For dough, whisk together dry ingredients in medium bowl. Add buttermilk and butter, and stir until you get a shaggy dough. Turn out onto a well-floured surface and knead a time or two. Pat into a 6 x 9 inch rectangle, then sprinkle all of filling evenly over top. Roll from one 6-inch side to the other, pinching dough shut when rolling is complete. Cut into 4 rolls.
3. Transfer rolls, pinwheel side up, to a small, greased pan (a 5 x 5 size was perfect for me), and smush them down just a little, until they touch. (NOTE: If you have a choice between a pan that is too small and one that is too big, air on the large side. You want these rolls to spread out, not up.) Bake in preheated oven for 20-23 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, combine icing ingredients, whisking until smooth. Spoon over top and serve warm!

Part 2: Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls (alterations marked in bold)

Filling:

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 Tbsp white sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

pinch salt

dash nutmeg

1/2 Tbsp melted butter

1/4 cup chopped walnuts

Dough:

1 1/4 cup flour

2 Tbsp sugar

1/8 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ginger

dash nutmeg

1/2 cup pumpkin puree

1/4 cup buttermilk

3 Tbsp melted butter

Icing:

1 Tbsp cream cheese, softened

1 Tbsp buttermilk

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1/4 tsp cinnamon

• Follow instructions for Buttermilk Cinnamon rolls, whisking spices into dry ingredients for dough and adding pumpkin with the buttermilk and butter (you could even decrease the butter if you wanted, since the pumpkin will provide plenty of moisture). Everything else is the same.

Pumpkin Brownies

It's PUMPKIN TIME! Finally! All these fresh vegetables, bountiful crops, and dizzying varieties during the summer--at last, we can settle down on one thing. And eat it all winter long.

Fall has several meanings for me: 1. Pumpkins, 2. Apples, 3. Cranberries, 4. Halloween Candy. And seasons changing and all that other crap too, of course, but mostly I really look forward to the foods that go with autumn. They're crisp and spicy-sweet and warm and mushy. (Think baked apples and soft roasted winter squashes and pie galore.) They also have come to mean infiltrating all otherwise normal dishes somehow with pumpkin. Enter Libby.

I saw her on the shelf and couldn't walk by. Look at that beast! Think of how many Downsliced creations she could make! Cookies, muffins, brownies, pie, pastas, soups, sauces....my head almost exploded right there on the carpeted floor (not kidding) of my local Foodmaster. 100% Calabaza Pura. I made her mine and took her home.

As usual, I wanted chocolate, but I also wanted pumpkin. Most of the recipes Google gave me had dreadful terms like "healthy" and "low calorie" in the title. Worse, they were actually promoted using phrases like, "Can't even taste the pumpkin!" or "Your kids won't know its there!" What blasphemy is this? A pumpkin brownie with no traceable elements of pumpkininity? What has our world come to?

My pointer finger went spasmodic; I think I actually made it to page three of Google's search results before Food and Wine magazine saved me. A delicious chocolate brownie with an intentionally discernible pumpkin swirl marbled throughout. Phew. The living room ceased to spin around me. I calmly clicked 'Print.' The world was as it should be.

Pumpkin Brownies

adapted from Food & Wine,* serves 4ish; takes about 40 minutes

For the Pumpkin batter

2 tsp butter, room temp

2 Tbsp cream cheese, room temp

1/4 cup sugar

1 egg yolk

2 Tbsp pumpkin

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp each cinnamon and ginger

1 Tbsp flour

For the Brownie

1 1/2 oz chocolate

2 Tbsp butter

1 egg

1/3 cup sugar

1/4 tsp vanilla

pinch salt

1/3 cup flour

(1/4 cup walnuts, optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350º. Whisk together cream cheese and butter in a small bowl until creamy and uniform. Add sugar and whisk to incorporate. Add yolk, pumpkin, vanilla and spices then whisk again until smooth. Stir in flour. Set aside
2. Now, melt chocolate and butter together in microwave or gently over the stove. Set aside to cool slightly. In a medium bowl, beat egg, sugar, vanilla and salt until your arm gives out, or until the egg is frothy and the sugar is almost dissolved, whichever comes first (feel free to use electric beaters for this). Gradually add melted chocolate mixture, whisking all the while so it doesn't cook your eggs. Once chocolate is in, fold in flour and nuts (if using).
3. Take a well-greased 4-5 inch square pan and pour the brownie batter in. Slop heaping spoonfulls of pumpkin batter all over the top, then swirl with a knife (not too much! you still want separate entities). Bake 20-28 minutes, depending on your gooeyness preference. Tastes really good cold.

*Special note: I actually made two versions of this brownie; the first, I felt, did not have all the pumpkin-packed power I was craving. On the second round I actually doubled the amount of pumpkin swirl it called for and found it perfect.

My Favorite Chocolate Cake

Everyone needs a good, solid, foolproof, go-to chocolate cake. This is mine. It is impossibly moist, good at room temperature or in the fridge, and stands up to many types of icing. Plus: one bowl, no mixer. TADOW!

The full recipe, from the charming Sky High: Irresistible Triple-Layer Cakes, can be found at the equally charming blog Smitten Kitchen. It should be used indiscriminately for as many occasions as you find for a full-sized cake. [This is the famous 27th Birthday Cake, for those of you who partook.]

But maybe you don't need the temptation of a triple-layer cake on your kitchen counter. Maybe you just want a slice or two. Shouldn't you be able to have that?

I say yes.

So when I am in need of a classic chocolate-layer-cake-with-chocolate-icing fix, this is what I do. You can either bake it in two 5-inch cake pans and make layers that way (what I did), or do a single layer in a 8- or 9-inch cake pan and just chop it in half and layer those (what I have done before). That way, at least, you only end up with half a cake.

My Favorite Chocolate Cake

makes 1 5-in cake or 1/2 full-size cake; takes about an hour

1/2 cup flour

2/3 cup sugar

3 Tbsp cocoa

1/2 tsp soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup sour cream

1/3 cup water

1/2 Tbsp white vinegar

1/4 tsp vanilla

1/2 beaten egg

1. Preheat oven to 350º. Line your cake pan(s) with parchment. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, cocoa, soda, and salt. Make a well in the middle an add oil and sour cream. Mix to combine--it will be very thick. Gradually add the water, then the vinegar and vanilla. Whisk to incorporate. Lastly, whisk in the egg.
2. Divide between two prepared pans or scrape into one. Bake 25-30 minutes, until sides pull away from edges and cake springs back when lightly pressed with your finger (in the middle). Cool on a rack and then transfer to the fridge. Because this cake is so deliciously moist, it is easier to work with when cold.

Go-To Chocolate Icing

will ice small cake; low fat to boot!

2 Tbsp butter

1/2 oz semisweet chocolate

pinch salt

1/3 cup cocoa

1 1/2 cup powdered sugar

1/3 cup milk (skim is fine)

1. Melt butter and chocolate in a small bowl in a microwave or small saucepan over low heat. In a large bowl whisk together salt, cocoa, and powdered sugar. Pour warm chocolate mixture into sugar mixture and mix with a spatula to moisten.
2. Now, get out your beaters and mix on low speed to continue moistening. Add milk in several additions, beating well after every one. Feel free to tweak a little as needed: more p.sugar if your icing doesn't feel like it will hold its shape; more milk if its too thick.

Blueberry Cheesecake

Oh. My. Heavens.

Did you ever see that Friends where Rachel and Chandler discover a mail-order cheesecake in their building and accidentally eat it all and then order another and drop it on the ground and end up forking it straight off the floor because it is just that good? Did you, like me, pass the rest of the episode in a haze because you were distractedly wondering how amazing that cheesecake tasted? I mean, how unbelievable must a cake be to achieve eat-off-a-NYC-floor (however fictional) deliciousness?

Well say hello to your answer. This mini cheesecake is worth throwing your friends and family to the ground should they stand between you and it. Toss a few elbows. Wield your fork. It's pillowy soft and disappears on your tongue, except for that impossible richness that makes it cream cheese's best effort to date.

It requires a mini springform pan, which is not really part of everyone's kitchen arsenal, so if presentation is not essential to your enjoyment, you could just make it in a cake pan (with very tall sides), and dig it out one piece at a time. The blueberry topping was my addition, and could be replaced with many other fruits (just follow the same proportions) or maybe even some chocolate. Because this cheesecake is almost as tall as Rachel and Chandler's apartment building, I have a hunch that this downsized recipe could be halved to make an equally satisfying cake at a reduced height (just be sure to shorten the baking time).

Mini Blueberry Cheesecake

c/o Epicurious; makes one 6-in cake; active time about 15 minutes, plus baking and cooling

For Crust:

1 cup graham cracker crumbs

4 Tbsp melted butter

2 Tbsp sugar

For Filling:

16 oz cream cheese; room temp (do NOT try to go low fat here)

3/4 cup sugar

2 Tbsp flour

2 eggs

8 oz sour cream

2 Tbsp milk

2 tsp vanilla

For Topping:

2 cups blueberries

2-3 Tbsp sugar

1. Preheat oven to 375º. Wrap outside of 6-in springform pan with foil. Mix crust ingredients together in a processor or by hand and press into bottom and 2-inches up sides of prepared pan. Bake about 8 minutes, then take out and set aside to cool. Maintain oven temp.
2. Meanwhile, beat cream cheese and sugar with an electric mixer until smooth and sugar is dissolved. Add flour and blend, then egg and blend, then sour cream-milk-vanilla and blend. Pour into crust. Place springform into a larger pan and add water to said pan--enough to come 1 inch up sides. Bake until center is just set, edges begin to puff and turn a golden brown, about 50 minutes. Turn off oven and let cake sit undisturbed for another hour. Transfer springform to fridge and chill overnight. (I know it's hard, but believe me, it will be so much better if you wait it out.)
3. For topping, add berries and sugar to a saucepan over medium heat. Berries will warm and the sugar will cause berries to create juices. Stir periodically until thickened. Spread over top of cake and let dribble down the sides a little. People like that.

Mini Peach Pies + Honey-Sweet Corn Ice Cream

Pie for one. Bleeping genius. It was here, then it was here, and then I knew it must go here (points to belly).

This recipe is for pies, tiny adorable pies in single-serving size. It needs no introduction, explanation, or justification, except to say that the fruit you use is completely up to you. Go crazy (go local!). Just go make these now.

If you are of the hallowed school that feels pie needs ice cream to make a complete food group, consider the recipe I included below for sweet corn (also in season) ice cream sweetened with honey.

Mini Peach "Cup Pies"

makes 2 pies; takes about 1+ hour (includes chilling time for dough)

For the crust:

1/2 cup flour

1/2 tsp sugar

pinch salt

4 Tbsp butter

1-2 Tbsp water (OR! 1 Tbsp vodka + 1 Tbsp water)*

For the filling:

1 large or 2 medium peaches

2 Tbsp brown sugar

dash lemon juice

1. First, make the crust by stirring together flour, sugar, and salt. Work the butter into the flour mixture using a food processor or, as I did, just your hands, grabbing and squeezing until all the flour is coated in fat (yeah, that's what it is) and you've got pea-ish sized clumps. Stir in the water (or vodka + water) a little bit at a time, mixing well after each addition until you can just form a cohesive dough. Divide into three sections, one slightly larger than the other two, wrap in plastic and stash in the freezer for 10-15 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, cut the peach(es) into large chunks--no need to peel--and toss with the brown sugar and lemon juice. Let sit while you work on everything else.
   
   
3. Take out dough and, working with the small guys first, roll into circles at least 4 1/2 inches in diameter. Gently lower and press down into 2 well-greased muffing cups. Divide fruit between two cups, lifting peaches out of the liquid they have now created and mounding into dough. Roll final dough into a large oval and cut out two rounds of dough about 3 inches in diameter. Lay over the top of each cup and press down with the tines of of a fork, smooshing the top dough to the bottom dough. Trim off excess dough around sides and cut four slits in the top with a sharp knife.
4. If you want, brush with egg or milk and sprinkle with sugar. Bake in a 425º oven for 10 minutes, then lower heat to 375º and cook 15 minutes more. Top should be browning and bubbly.
5. After cooling for about 10 minutes, pies should lift right out of their cups. Cool rest of the way on a cooling rack.

*About the vodka: Once upon a time, the geniuses at Cook's Illustrated discovered that, by using vodka as part of the liquid in a pie dough, you get the desired effect of 60% liquid evaporation (that would be the alcohol) during baking. This means that you can have a nice, squishy dough to roll out, but one that doesn't suffer the pastry-toughening effects water usually has on pie dough.

Post Script: Honey - Sweet Corn Ice Cream

makes plenty, ready in 4ish hours; shamelessly stolen from Not Eating Out in New York

3 cups light cream or half-and-half

1/3 cup honey

1/4 cup sugar

3 egg yolks

kernels from 1 ear fresh corn

1. Throw cream and corn kernels in a small saucepan and heat over medium until just about to boil, stirring occasionally, then turn off heat. While you're waiting, beat yolks and sugar until lemon colored and fluffy.
2. Using just a little at a time, add some of hot cream to egg yolk mixture, stirring stirring stirring all the while. This is called tempering. Once you've gotten the egg mixture nice and warm without cooking the eggs, return to the saucepan and whisk it all together. Cook until mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, but don't boil.
3. Off heat, stir in honey, transfer to a container, and refrigerate until cold. At this point, either throw it in your ice cream maker or transfer container to the freezer, taking ice cream out every 30 minutes or so and stirring real good.

The Cutest Little Zucchini Cake You've Ever Seen

What's that, you need more things to do with your ever multiplying summer squashes? Well here I come to the rescue, again. This time with dessert.

Actually, Rose Levy Beranbaum comes to our collective rescue with a wonderfully light, moist, and not-too-sweet cake from one of her many miracles of culinary literature, the Cake Bible. It's a a recipe for zucchini cupcakes that translates easily into cake form, and I particularly like the use of brown sugar instead of white.

The cake itself needs nothing more than a dash of powdered sugar, but if you're feeling extravagant, the thinnest layer of cream cheese icing (spiked with cinnamon) will take it over the top.

Zucchini Cake with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Icing

makes 5-in round (or equivalent) cake; ready in a little over an hour

For Cake:

3/4 cup flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp ginger

1/8 tsp salt

1/3 cup chopped, toasted walnuts or pecans

1 egg

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 cup grated zucchini (about 1 medium, with skin)

1. Preheat oven to 350º. Grease and flour a 5-inch (or equivalent) cake pan. Stir together flour, soda, spices, and nuts. Set aside.
2. Beat egg with sugar and oil until sugar is dissolved and mixture is smooth. This can be done with a whisk and some perseverance, but beaters or a mixer are preferable. Mix in zucchini, then dry ingredients. Pour into prepared pan and bake 30-40 minutes (depending on your baking dish), until a tester inserted in center comes out clean.
3. Cool 10 minutes in pan, then loosen edges and invert onto a cooling rack. Let cool completely.

For Icing:

2 Tbsp butter, room temperature

2 oz. cream cheese, room temperature

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 cup powdered sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1. Beat butter and cream cheese with electric mixer for 2 minutes, until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and beat well. Add sugar 1/4 cup at a time, adding cinnamon in one batch and beating well after each addition. When it's all in, beat 1 extra minute for a nice, smooth texture. Spread a verrrrrrry thin layer over top and sides.

Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

Since I am physically unable to skip dessert after almost every meal (with breakfast being the occasional exception), sometimes I find myself trying to sneak some nutrition into my sweets. Does it make a difference? Probably not. No amount of fiber is going to cancel out butter and chocolate. BUT, while we eat these whole wheat cookies, we can glare from beneath our whole grain highbrows, scoffing at the philistines and their refined white flour. Ha! Eat your inferior sweets with their deliciousness and their moisture and their irreplicably delicate textures. We will all live longer and laugh at you after you are dead.

Meanwhile, here's what you should know about baked goods with whole grain flours, as gleaned from a masterpiece of nutritional experimentation, King Arthur Flour's Whole Grain Baking: in many, many cases, whole grain flours can be used in place of white flour in (specially designed) recipes. But the secret to achieving a palatable texture is often to let your dough, or your baked creation, sit at least overnight. This gives the denser flours time to absorb some liquid from the batter and soften up a bit, resulting in a more delicate chewing experience.

All this having been said, this cookie is good, but you can definitely taste the whole wheat. More precisely, I should say, you can feel the whole wheat lingering on your tongue. The ungodly proportion of chocolate chips to dough in this recipe goes a long way toward disguising the texture, but if you're a purist, you may be disappointed.

Let me also say, I was not disappointed. I really liked these cookies and will be making them again. If you make them, be sure to allow a FULL 24-hours' chill time for the dough.

Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

makes 9 small cookies; adapted from KA's Whole Grain Baking (see above); start to finish 1 day + 20 minutes

3 Tbsp butter

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/8 tsp salt

1/8 tsp baking soda

1/16 tsp (yes, just use half of your 1/8th) baking powder

1 Tbsp + 1 tsp agave nectar or corn syrup

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

1/2 beaten egg (eat the rest for breakfast tomorrow)

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

3/4 cup chocolate chips

1. In a small saucepan or microwave-safe bowl, melt butter and then stir in brown sugar. Cook until beginning to bubble (only took about 30 seconds in my microwave--work in small increments). Stash in the freezer 10 minutes to cool to lukewarm.
2. Stir in vanilla, salt, soda, powder, agave/syrup, and vinegar; mix well. Add egg and stir until combined. Next, add flour and chips and mix until nice and blended. Cover and stash in the fridge until tomorrow. Batter will be very runny.
3. On day 2, your batter will have magically become more of a dough. At this point, heat your oven to 375º and drop dough by rounded tablespoons onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake 8 minutes. Because they are whole wheat, the cookies will already be a little dark, so don't rely solely on color for determining doneness; give them a little poke with your finger. They shouldn't be raw but they shouldn't be too firm either. They'll continue to cook a bit out of the oven.

Blueberry Molasses Cake

It's been a while since I've poached a recipe from 101 Cookbooks, the superstar natural foods blog. If you like thoughtful, health-conscious, whole foods, you will love what's going on there. Read up.

Recently ran across a recipe there for Old-Fashioned Blueberry Cake, itself lifted from a vintage issue of Gourmet, circa 1974 I believe? I loved that the cake contains no sugar, only molasses as a sweetener, as well as a healthy dose of frozen blueberries. The natural sweetness of this cake is so satisfying and so simple. It's a great bite at the end of a meal or alongside afternoon tea. The molasses gives it a gingerbready flavor, so be prepared to taste a little autumn. Granny here is looking out for ya.

Blueberry Molasses Cake

c/o 101 Cookbooks, c/o Gourmet; takes about 45 minutes total

1/2 cup flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

pinch salt

1/4 tsp cider vinegar

2 1/2 Tbsp milk, divided

1/4 cup unsulphered molasses

1 egg

1 1/2 Tbsp butter, barely melted

2/3 cup frozen blueberries, tossed in a dash of flour

1. Preheat oven to 350º. Grease a 5-inch round cake pan, or equivalent. Mix together flour, soda, powder and salt in a large bowl. Set aside.
2. In a small bowl, mix cider vinegar + 1 Tbsp milk. In another bowl, whisk together remaining 1 1/2 Tbsp milk and molasses. Add vinegar-milk to molasses-milk and mix well. Add egg. Pour wet over dry and stir to combine. Stir in butter, then blueberries. Pour into prepared pan.
3. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Top with powdered sugar or enjoy as is.

Peanut Butter Cheesecake Brownies

Because Bon Appetit wishes to taunt me with its glossy pages and its delicious recipes and its close-ups of towering slices of cake--with glistening frosting and nothing but a lonely fork beside them, just begging begging to be picked up--I immediately fainted when I received the January issue this year. A whole spread on Peanut Butter Desserts, the cover advertised? I still haven't read the rest of the issue. Mostly I've just focused on pages 64-71.

What I love about the desserts in this particular article is that they all use natural peanut butter, not the processed peanut-flavored product endowed with shelf-immortality. Don't get me wrong, Skippy has its place. But if you're a peanut butter nut (yeah, it's a pun, get over it) like me, as close to the peanut is where it's at.

So yester-evening, as the temperatures started to sag in Boston, I fired up the oven and baked a downsized batch of their Peanut Butter and Chocolate Swirl Cheesecake Brownies. I know, you just fainted too, right? Because I wasn't sure how big of a pan to use, I just meted out the ingredients into a cupcake tin and it worked perfectly. Unfortunately, I don't like brownie end pieces (I'm a gooey-from-the-middle kind of gal), which is basically what you get from the tin. If you hate this, use a muffin cup liner or simply do what I did and eat out the middle!

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Swirl Cheesecake Brownies

makes 4; total time about 40 minutes, but I think they taste best cold, so if you can have patience, stash them in the fridge for an hour before eating

For the brownie layer:

2 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped

2 Tbsp butter

2 Tbsp sugar

1/2 egg, lightly beaten *(beat full egg and save other half for the topping)

1/4 tsp vanilla

2 Tbsp flour

pinch salt

For the cheesecake layer:

2 oz cream cheese, soft

1 heaping Tbsp natural peanut butter

1/4 tsp vanilla

2 Tbsp sugar

1/2 egg

1/2 Tbsp cream or half-and-half

1/2 Tbsp flour

1/2 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped

1. Preheat oven to 325º and spray 4 muffin cups with nonstick spray.
2. First, the brownie layer: melt the chocolate and butter together in a small saucepan or in a microwave (slowly--only 20 or so seconds at a time!). Set aside. Meanwhile, beat sugar, 1/2 egg and vanilla with electric beaters--or your indefatigable arm strength--until fluffy, 2-3 minutes. Gradually add chocolate mixture then stir in flour and salt. Divide among 4 cupcake cups.
3. Next, the cheesecake: Beat cream cheese, peanut butter and vanilla together until smooth. Add sugar gradually, beating until fluffy. Add remaining 1/2 of beaten egg and mix well, then cream, then flour.
4. In a small bowl, place chopped chocolate and microwave at 15 second intervals until melty. Stir smooth. (You want to be extra special careful because chocolate on its own, i.e. no butter, oil, etc., will burn very easily. Go slow and check often.) When nice and melted, stir in 1 Tbsp of cream cheese mixture and mix well. Divide remaining cream cheese mixture between 4 cups and spread over top, then ladle chocolate-cream cheese mixture into the center of each. Using a toothpick, swirl chocolate and plain cream cheese mixtures together.
5. Bake 15 minutes, then start checking. You want the edges to be slightly puffed and the center is set. I overbaked. Don't make the same mistake.
6. Let cool slightly, then extract from tin. Chill in the freezer or fridge until ready to eat.

Choco-Peanut Butter S'mores!

Got a few homemade marshmallows leftover? Only a few days before they start tasting like store-bought? Well now is the time to toast them! But you're all Hersheys-and-Honeymaided out. I know, I know. So I got to thinking: instead of smearing chocolate on a cracker, why not start with a chocolate cracker? Kill two birds, eh? Besides, somewhere down the line, my palette stopped craving milk chocolate, preferring instead its darker, sexier cousin.

Let's make a thin, dark chocolate cookie then, shall we? We'll spread just a layer of melted chocolate over it, and maybe a little peanut butter too--for good measure. Our mallows will never know what hit 'em.

Here's what's great about this dough, what's great about any cookie dough, really--SECRET ALERT--anything butter based does beautifully in the fridge and/or freezer. So make this already downsized recipe, roll it up in plastic, throw it in the icebox, and just slice off a little as needed. You can play this game with almost any cookie recipe.

Thin Chocolate Cookies

(c/o Bon Appetit, Dec '07; makes 10-15 super thin cookies; start-to-finish, about 3 hours: must chill!)

1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp flour

1 Tbsp cocoa powder

1/8 tsp each baking powder, soda, and salt

1 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped

4 Tbsp butter, soft

1/4 cup + 1 Tbsp sugar

1 Tbsp beaten egg (or egg sub)

1/8 tsp vanilla

1. Stir together dry ingredients and set aside. Slowly melt chopped chocolate, either in the microwave or on the stovetop. Go slow and be gentle with the chocolate, it can burn easily.
2. Next, beat butter in a medium bowl until creamy, about a minute. Add sugar and beat until pale and fluffy, 1-2 min more. Add egg and beat again. What next? Vanilla and chocolate (beat). Then dry mix, beat on low--just until combined.
3. Press the dough into a cube as best you can (this makes for good cracker slicing later) and wrap tightly with plastic. You may want to let it sit in the fridge for a bit, then press again into cube shape--it will hold better chilled. Stick it in the fridge for at least 2 hours, or the freezer for 1.
4. When ready to cook, preheat oven to 350º. You have two options here: either roll thin and cut into squares, or take a big knife and slice off very thin (1/8 inch) cookies. Place them on a parchment- or silpat-lined baking sheet. Cook about 7-8 minutes.
5. If you want to get fancy, melt a little more dark chocolate with a touch of butter, shortening, or corn syrup in a small bowl. Brush undersides of warm cookies with a thin layer of chocolate and let cool together.

To eat some s'mores:

Get out those marshmallows and toast them up. Slather a layer of peanut butter (preferably natural) on your cooled cookies. Squeeze perfectly browned mallow between.

Thanks to Max for hand modeling!

Fruity Crumb Cake

Whoa. I really don't have anything to say about this crumb cake, but whoa. I snagged the recipe from Smitten Kitchen, a truly entertaining and deeply enjoyable blog. Follow it. Read it. Great pictures.

Could have probably gone even smaller with this downslice, but we had a friend over for dinner and I was feeling magnanimous. Plus David has started complaining that I am getting too good with the math, leaving us with approximately no leftovers. So it served three, healthily, with one slice to spare.

Deb at the Smitten Kitchen uses rhubarb in her crumb cake, which looks absolutely divine. I think tart fruits (rhubarb, blueberries, raspberries, etc.) work best in this recipe, because sweet ones (strawberries, peaches, any other fruit) tend to be a little too mellow. We had peaches and blues, so that's what went in, but I'm dying to try rhubarb. Maybe the CSA will come through. Who knows?

Fruity Crumb Cake

(c/o Smitten Kitchen; serves 4; total time about 1 hr)

1/4 lb. fruit (I used 1 peach + 1/3 cup blueberries)

2 Tbsp sugar

1 tsp cornstarch

2 1/2 Tbsp brown sugar

2 1/2 Tbsp white sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

pinch salt

4 Tbsp butter, melted

3/4 cup + 2 Tbsp flour (cake or all purpose)

2 1/2 Tbsp sour cream

1 egg

1 tsp vanila

1/2 cup flour

1/4 tsp soda

1/4 tsp powder

pinch salt

1/4 cup sugar

3 Tbsp butter

1. Preheat oven to 350º and grease 5-inch round or 4-6 inch square pan.
2. For the fruit: combine fruit, sugar and cornstarch in a small bowl; set aside.
3. For the topping: melt butter in medium bowl and stir in sugars, cinnamon, salt, and flour. It will look like a regular dough (not crumbly). Do not fret.
4. For the cake: In a small bowl, combine sour cream, egg and vanilla. In another bowl, mix together flour through salt. Add butter and a scoop of sour cream mix to dry ingredients. Beat until moistened. Add rest of sour cream mix and beat until combined. Pour into prepared pan, reserving about 1/4 cup of batter. Top with fruit, then gently spread remaining batter. Crumble topping over surface, aiming for uniform-ish size. Pop in the oven and bake 30-35 minutes, until tester inserted comes out clean. Cool 20 minutes.
5. Grab some powered sugar and pour into a sieve (or, in my case, a tea brewer). Sift over top for a pretty presentation.