Let’s pretend that this bread isn’t spiked with cranberries and toasted walnuts and isn’t made with orange juice or vanilla bean paste. That bread, the one pictured down there, without all the extras, is the one I won third place for last year. I thought I’d kick it up a notch by adding all the things we’re pretending it doesn’t have, sure that would get me at least a 2nd place ribbon…and I got nothing. I got good feedback on my judging paper, but I guess the others this year were still better. Kansas has some pretty excellent bakers!
Now, as for what we thought of this bread (we being me, my husband, and his co-workers), we loved it. No ribbons aside, this bread is fantastic and has a great texture (if I do say so myself). Perfectly sweet, with a nice variation in texture from the chewy cranberries and crunchy nuts. The bread itself is so soft and moist it practically melts in your mouth. A great bread to include in your holiday baking this year!
1 cup dried cranberries, roughly chopped
¾ cup orange juice
1 cup chopped walnuts
4 eggs
2 (15 oz) cans pumpkin puree
3 cups granulated sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste*
3 ½ cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon nutmeg
½ teaspoon ground cloves
½ teaspoon allspice
In a small bowl, combine cranberries and orange juice. Cover and let soak at least one hour before making bread. Meanwhile, place walnuts on a microwave-safe plate and microwave for one minute. Stir with fingers, then continue to microwave for another 1-2 minutes in 30 second intervals, stirring in between, until fragrant and toasted. Set aside until ready to use.
Heat oven to 350. Generously butter two 9×5 loaf pans; set aside.
Drain the orange juice into a large mixing bowl and set the soaked cranberries aside. Add the eggs to the orange juice and whisk them until well beaten. Add pumpkin, sugar, vegetable oil, and vanilla bean paste. Beat until well mixed. Measure the flour and remaining ingredients into a separate bowl and stir until combined. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture, beating until smooth. Stir in the reserved cranberries and toasted walnuts.
Divide batter between prepared pans. Bake for 65-75 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool for 10-15 minutes, then remove from pans by inverting onto a rack and tapping the bottom.
*Vanilla extract can be substituted for vanilla bean paste.
**IMPORTANT NOTE: The sign-up deadline for 2011 has now passed, but I plan to continue the swap in 2012 so if you’d like to go ahead and sign up in advance, feel free! (Sign up link is below.) You will be added to the list and I’ll contact you in November to see if you’re still interested in participating. **
I just found out about The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap, 2011 and had to sign up. Not only do I love baking and cookies, but this swap accomplishes both goals of my Postcard Project: it spreads joy and supports the US Postal Service. I am all over this!
After signing up, I immediately started drafting a post to promote the swap, when I realized that the majority of my readers would be left out. What about all the people who don”t have blogs? Don’t you want some cookies too???
OF COURSE YOU DO!
Not wanting anyone to be left out, I contacted Lindsay, the co-host of The Great Blogger Cookie Swap, and ran my idea of doing a separate one for non-bloggers past her. She gave me the go-ahead, despite my blatant copy-catting and ripping-off of her & Julie’s idea. Thank you, Lindsay!
How does it work?
My cookie swap has the same premise as the blogger cookie swap. You sign up for the swap, and I will match you to three other participants. You will mail them each a dozen cookies along with the recipe and a personal note telling the recipient a little about yourself or even about your recipe, if it has a story. In turn, you will receive three dozen cookies from three other people who received your name.
Talk about sweet returns! Want to join in the fun?
Sign-ups are open through November 18th. I will email your matches on November 21st, and I ask that you mail your cookies no later than December 5th. Before signing up, please be sure that you can make the deadline.
I’m accepting registrations from all countries, but I must receive at least four other sign-ups from your country to be able to include it. I will only be matching people within the same country to keep the shipping costs reasonable. If I don’t receive enough sign-ups from your country, I will notify you by November 19th. Reversely, as soon as I have a total of five participants from your country, I will let you know so you won’t be waiting on pins and needles! :)
And as a last note, there is a field for dietary restrictions/allergies and you will only be matched to those with the same restrictions, so this swap really is for everyone. Let’s have some fun!
*New readers: fill yourself in on The Postcard Project and the prizes I’m drawing for here.
First, I want to announce the final winners for October! Out of this week’s participants, I drew…
Doris Henson from South Carolina
Just send me your mailing address in an email to vraklis@yahoo.com, Doris, and I’ll get your cookies out in Monday’s mail. Whee!
And the person that reported sending the most mail this month was…
ME!
Ah, thank you, thank you! hahaha, you know I wouldn’t do that to you! I was pretty floored when I was calculating everyone’s totals and realized I’d sent 41 pieces of mail in the last three weeks because it really didn’t feel like it! No wonder I’m getting more personal mail lately. :)
OK, really, the person with the most mail that actually counts (seriously, I don’t need any more of my own cookies) is…
Sorry, I couldn’t help myself. That’s right, Wilma from Linton, IN, you have an entire batch of my cookies coming to you! Just send me your address and I’ll get them out to you on Monday as well. Very well done on sending 24 cards/letters out in the last three weeks–I’m sure you brightened many days with them!
***
I have a very exciting announcement I’m going to be making soon about The Postcard Project but I’m not quite ready yet–still working everything out. For now, just keep thinking of whose day you could brighten with a postcard, card, letter, or package (with a letter, of course!) and keep sending them. We will be going in a different direction for the month of November and I will be announcing all the details as soon as I possibly can.
Thank you to everyone who participated this month! You are a blessing to every person you sent a piece of mail to! God bless you.
*For those who were having trouble with my code to add a Postcard Project button to your sidebar, I now have it fixed. Click here to grab it! Thanks!
You may remember these from the roundup of all my fair entries. The challenge was to make a heart-healthy muffin using at least one soy product (the contest was sponsored by the Kansas Soy Commission) and I created these beauties using four: soy flour, soy milk, tofu, and soy “cream cheese.”
These were so delicious, I had high hopes of coming home with the $75 prize for first place. There was just one problem. Two, actually. I didn’t notice, until it was too late, that these were supposed to be “fruit muffins” and one of the judging criteria was “ease of preparation. I gave a sigh of relief over the “fruit muffin” thing because although these are mostly a vegetable muffin, there are raisins in them and so they might pass the “fruit muffin” test. My heart sank at the second oversight, however, because these really aren’t simple to prepare. They’re not horribly difficult, but you don’t look at a list of ingredients this long and with this many steps and call it “easy.”
Well, that’s exactly what the judges wrote on my judging paper. “Very healthy ingredients. Wide variety of ingredients. They taste wonderful & attractive. We are looking for ease of preparation & thought this muffin, though wonderful, has too many ingredients.”
Shoot. The real kick in the butt was my soy yeast bread, though (pictured above). It didn’t rise as well as I would have liked, and thought the judges must have found it too dense because it didn’t place. Well, this is what they wrote on that paper: “Beautiful bread-the cinnamon with the raisins is fantastic. I loved it! HOWEVER: due to the facts listed in the State Fair Rule Book, this entry was to be entered on a “sturdy white plain paper plate” & had to be disqualified. I am sorry. Please pay close attention to the listed rules.” (Wasn’t she sweet about? Aw!)
I entered my bread on a foil-wrapped piece of cardboard because that is what I used for all my other breads for the regular contests. But the special contests apparently have special rules too. DRAT! Oh well, maybe next year I’ll get it right.
One thing I did get right is the moisture (so moist!) and taste (like dessert!) on these muffins. They are just SO good you would never guess they don’t have any eggs or dairy–even the soy “cream cheese” filling tastes nothing like soy. Honestly, they hardly even taste “healthy” because they are so good. I froze the leftovers and have been enjoying them slowly. I have only a precious few left and even after almost two months in the freezer, they are still as wonderful as the day I made them!
Filling
8 oz. Toffutti Better Than Cream Cheese
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
Muffins
1 cup white whole wheat flour
¾ cup all-purpose flour
¼ cup soy flour*
½ cup rolled oats
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 ½ tablespoons cinnamon
½ teaspoon nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ginger
1 ½ teaspoons salt
16 oz. silken tofu
½ cup orange juice
½ cup soy milk
¼ cup agave nectar
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 tablespoon orange zest
1 ½ cups finely shredded carrots
½ cup chopped walnuts
½ cup raisins
Topping
¼ cup chopped walnuts
2 tablespoons brown sugar
Mix the filling ingredients together until smooth; set aside. Line 24 muffin cups with paper liners and set aside. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, rolled oats, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Set aside. In a blender, combine tofu, orange juice, soy milk, agave nectar, and canola oil. Blend until smooth, then add the orange zest and pulse once to combine. Pour into the bowl with the flour mixture and stir until moistened. Fold in the carrots, walnuts, and raisins. Divide half the batter between prepared muffin cups, then spoon about 1 ½ teaspoons of the filling mixture over the centers before covering with the remaining batter. Bake for 20-22 minutes or until the center no longer looks wet and feels done when touched in the middle (a toothpick will not come out clean because of the filling so go by the look and feel). Remove to cool completely on a wire rack.
*There’s no need to go out and buy soy flour if you don’t have it, just use a full cup of all-purpose flour and omit the soy flour.
I made a thanksgiving resolution to find something to be thankful for every day until next Thanksgiving. Here’s what I am thankful for this week!
Thursday: I think y’all know I really like personal mail. Well I got some today! Just a short letter, but it made me go like this :D … times ten.
Friday: Sleep, glorious sleep, and enough of it too!
Saturday: That my baby sister caught a much-desserved break! She has been through hell working in the deli at Dillons for the past two years, and she got promoted to deli manager, which means a $13/hour pay RAISE…that’s right, $13 more on top of what she was already getting! She is now making more than me and my industrial engineer & boutique-owning middle sister! I am just thrilled for her! Her and her husband, who are the parents to my only blood-nephew (I have two through Dennis, too), have really struggled financially and this will help a lot.
Sunday: Awwww! OK, so sometimes it really pays off to send a letter! Since I have been working Sunday morning, I have only been able to make it to our evening church service most weeks, and have really missed seeing my friend, Thurman, who only comes to the morning service because he doesn’t have a car and doesn’t want to be a nuisance by asking for more than one ride a week. He is 91 years old and quite spry and alert, and we get along famously. We used to sit next to each other and I’d take his hand during the closing prayer (with Dennis’ hand in my right, of course), and he always told me how much that meant to him. Well, I sent him a letter expressing how much I missed sitting next to him and “holding hands” (haha) and told him that I’d love it if he’d come to the evening services and we’d be happy to give him a ride. I never heard back from him but, lo and behold, there he was sitting in the spot next to mine when I came in Sunday evening. He was such a sight for sore, work-weary eyes! Oh, I can’t tell you how happy this made me. And though the sentiments I sent him were heartfelt, I wouldn’t have sent that letter if it wasn’t for The Postcard Project so I guess I’m also thankful for that extra motivation! :)
Monday: A later schedule. Apparently I’m no good at adapting to an ever-changing schedule and when I was starting at 3:15, I started staying up until 4 AM and never got into the habit of going to bed earlier, despite starting at noon most days for the past month. This week it’s 2:45, which means 8 hours of sleep. My body is grateful.
Tuesday: A generous friend shared her Photoshop Elements 7 with me! I have a long list of priorities that supersede buying a nice camera or photo editing software, so I very much appreciated her help. Now I just gotta learn how to use it–haha! Thanks, Duck Lady!
Wednesday: As of today, I’m back on track, diet-wise. And it feels sooo good. It’s hard to remember how good it feels to eat healthier (and less) when your feel so terrible because you stuffed yourself with cake, but now I don’t have to because I’m living it. And it’s great! So although I will still be sharing many fattening treats (I have several I’ve already made and need to post recipes for, and soon I’ll be doing my holiday baking), you should start to see some lighter options again fairly soon. Yay for feeling healthy again! :)
*Don’t forget to update the spreadsheet with any and all mail you’ve sent over the last month–the person with the most sent will be awarded an entire batch of my blue-ribbon brown butter chocolate chip cookies! And if you’re just now joining The Postcard Project, you still have a chance to win a dozen–anyone with any number in the “completed column for this week will be entered into my drawing for a dozen of the cookies. Yaaaaay!
Yes! Another wacky cake! I’m on a roll. :) (If you’re new to my blog and have no idea what a wacky cake is, I explain that here.) I’ve been hanging onto a Wacky Spice Cake recipe that my friend, Rhonda, shared with me two years ago. I kept forgetting about it until mid-summer, for some odd reason, when spice cake was the last thing I wanted baking in my oven. Thankfully I remembered it on time this year, but I seem to have a problem following recipes exactly and had to add pumpkin. The resulting cake, like any wacky cake, is very moist. And delicious!
For more wacky yumminess, try my Wacky White Cake and the original Wacky Cake! Faith of An Edible Mosaic has a red velvet wacky cake recipe, so I don’t know how many more versions need to be covered. Wacky Caramel Cake, anyone? :)
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups granulated sugar
1 tablespoon cocoa*
2 tablespoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
½ teaspoon cloves
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 (15 oz) can pumpkin puree
1 ½ cups water
½ cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons white vinegar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Maple-Cinnamon Glaze
1 cup powdered sugar
¼ cup real maple syrup
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
½ teaspoon cinnamon
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 10” bundt pan (I used Miracle Pan Release) and set aside.
In a large bowl mix together flour, sugar, cocoa, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, salt, and baking soda. In a separate bowl, whisk together the pumpkin, water, oil, vinegar, and vanilla. Whisk the wet ingredients into the dry until thoroughly combined. Pour into prepared pan and bake for an hour, or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
Place on a cooling rack and allow the cake to stay in the pan for five minutes, then invert onto cooling rack and allow to cool completely. Once cool, put on a plate, blend the glaze ingredients together and pour over the cake.
*Honestly, I have no clue why the cocoa is an ingredient, unless the person that created the recipe wanted it to be a darker spice cake. I will omit this next time because I don’t think it added any flavor, and I prefer my pumpkin cake to look more orange and less dark. If anyone omits it, please let me know your results!
There is a restaurant here called Cracker Barrel that I’d never gone to until my little sister, who had gone with a friend, told me about their uber-fabulous hashbrown casserole and convinced me if I died without trying it, it would have been a life not worth living. Seems her older sister’s penchant for drama & exaggeration might have rubbed off on her a bit! Anyway, I don’t know I’d go so far as to say that you absolutely positively must eat this before you die, but I did think it was very delicious when I finally tried it.
I think it has been ten years since I last had their hashbrown casserole, but when I saw a copycat recipe for it on Big Bear’s Wife, I knew I just HAD to have it again, and added it to my birthday brinner menu. It was the hit of the evening, and my personal favorite of everything I made! I seriously could have eaten it alone for my meal.
I don’t know how close it is to the original since it’s been so long since I had it, but without comparing the two I can tell you this is delicious in its own right. Creamy, cheesy, starchy goodness. It’s a perfect addition to an old-fashioned country or holiday breakfast. The bonus is that it’s so simple & quick to throw together!
1 (1 lb. 14 oz) bag frozen hash browns, thawed
1 (8 oz) tub sour cream
1 (10.75 oz) can cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
1/3 cup diced onion
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 (8 oz) package cheddar cheese, shredded
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9×13 dish with oil and set aside. In a large bowl, mix together all the ingredients, using only half the cheese, until well-combined. Spread into the prepared dish and sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top. Bake for 45 minutes. Serve hot.
Veronica’s notes: Angie’s recipe called for 1/2 tablespoon onion powder, but I was making the recipe at my parents’ house and they were out so I made do with fresh onion. We all loved the flavor, but the powder would certainly make the recipe a bit easier to prepare (no chopping). Her recipe only called for a pound of hashbrowns and 4 oz of sour cream, so if using the powder, you may need to increase it since my recipe is larger. Also, please shred your own cheese. There is a world of difference between the gooey melt you get from cheese you shredded yourself and the packaged pre-shredded kind that has been coated with powder to keep it from sticking together. You will thank me. :)
My Secret Recipe Club assignment this month was The Ginger Snap Girl, and after scouring her blog to pick a recipe to make, I’m a little smitten. Gloria and I have so much in common! We’re both in our thirties, married about the same amount of time, no children except the animal variety, we both have day jobs, and we both LOVE to bake! It was so hard not to leave comments on the many gorgeous recipes she has shared, but I was afraid I would spoil the surprise of who had her blog this month, so I kept mum.
There were so many recipes of hers that I wanted to make. Pretty much every single one, in fact. I mean, hello, the large majority are baked goods so of course I wanted to make them all! I was reminded of my mother’s love for Boston Cream Pie when I saw Gloria’s recipe, though hers is a million times prettier than anything my mother ever purchased. Then there was the glorious eggplant parmesan, a recipe that I’ve always wanted to try. I thought about making her ginger snaps since she’s the “gingersnap girl,” but I decided against it because I don’t like ginger snaps (the only thing I’ve found that we don’t have in common-forgive me, Gloria!). I still might make them for my Dad, though, who almost always had a bag of them stowed away when we were growing up.
The recipe I chose actually ended up choosing me. I had a bunch of screaming bananas (you know, the kind that are so black they start screaming at you to use them) on the same day that I wanted to bake something sugar-free for the visiting diabetic preacher during our church’s gospel meeting. I had bookmarked Gloria’s banana bread because, as many of you know, I’m on the hunt for a recipe that will beat my baking nemesis’ banana bread at the state fair next year. I decided I’d try turning it sugar-free for Connie. (Yes, the preacher’s a man and his name is Connie. And his wife? Bobby. No joke!)
So of course I had to try it, because I’m not going to hand over a loaf of bread that tastes vile or might make our guest preacher violently ill. I figured he’d forgive me for whacking off a hunk of his loaf for the sake of his health. (My Grandpa always said, “I’m saving your life,” when he found our stash of candy and ate the whole thing. So I guess I got this habit from him! haha) I have had really good results using Truvia, an all-natural sugarless sweetener, in baking and again, I’m quite pleased with the results. The loaf rose well, had a good texture, was perfectly sweet, but turned out just a tad dry, most likely because of the sweetener substitution. I imagine the brown sugar lends moisture to the loaf that the Truvia didn’t.
While Connie loved the slightly dry bread, I decided to try making another loaf, this time upping the sour cream to 1/2 cup and using the NuNaturals MoreFiber Stevia Baking Blend that I recently got in a giveaway from My Kitchen Adventures. This banana bread was the definite winner. So unbelievably moist and soft and absolutely NO weird taste/aftertaste. It was just like sugar-sweetened banana bread, but with a the softest texture in a bread I’ve ever experienced. I think the baking blend was responsible for the texture since it says that it will help the texture of your baked goods, and I have to say I’m very, very pleased with this product. Truvia works very well, but the NuNaturals baking blend works even better (so far).
Thanks, Ginger Snap Girl, for giving me a wonderful recipe to share with brother Connie. Next, I will be trying the recipe as written. If it’s this good without real sugar, just think how amazing it will be with brown sugar. I feel a blue ribbon coming on. :)
2 cups flour
½ cup Truvia or NuNaturals More Fiber Stevia Baking Blend
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
2 large bananas, mashed (a heaping cup)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
½ cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
7 drops NuNaturals Vanilla Stevia (optional)
Optional add-ins
½ cup chopped nuts
2 tablespoons cinnamon
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter the bottom only of a large loaf pan; set aside.
In a small bowl, whisk flour, sweetener, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together. In a separate bowl, whisk the remaining ingredients, save the add-ins, until fully combined. Stir in the dry ingredients with a spoon or spatula until just combined. Batter will be thick. Spread into prepared pan and bake for 50 – 60 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
For banana-nut bread, stir in nuts when the batter is barely stirred together, then continue stirring until just combined. Bake as directed.
For cinnamon-swirl bread, spread half the mixed batter into prepared pan, then sprinkle liberally with cinnamon, avoiding the edges. Spread remaining batter on top, then use a folding motion to swirl the batter. I did this by facing the pan horizontally in front of me, taking my fork and plunking it down on the far left side from me, then pulling it toward me and upward in a circular motion, then repeating it 2-3 more times, moving down the pan to the right. Smooth the batter on top and bake as directed.
Looky looky looky! I not only made buttons, but buttons that you can GRAB!! I’m such a genius. (OK, not really, I used the tutorial I found here, and that worked for my side bar but not on this blog post, so I had to do a bunch more Googling to figure out how to get the code to stay in html code below the buttons and after a million years, I finally got it!) So if you like, copy the code below the button of your choice to add a Postcard Project button to your blog’s side bar. Wheeee!
I’m sure you are all as thrilled with the buttons as I am, but I suppose we should go ahead and move on to the giveaway anyway. :) The winner of a dozen crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside, blue ribbon-winning, delicious brown butter chocolate chip cookies this week is…
Suzie Shaw from Michigan!
Can you hear us clapping for you, Suzie? Wait, this might help…
Congratulations! I already have your address, so I’ll be getting the cookies out to you on Monday, along with the postcards you requested.
OK, we’re two weeks into the project now, and have almost doubled in participants! Wilma from Indiana sent the most mail with 16 pieces (let’s hear a hurray for Wilma! Wilma, go back to the video and play it for yourself. :)), so she’s in the lead for most total mail sent as well (not counting myself), with Teri, Mary Toland, and Donna G. all coming in very close behind her. Keep racing, ladies, because the person with the most mail sent by the end of the month will be awarded an entire batch of my cookies.
I’m very excited that two participants joined us from outside the US, one from Russia and one from Canada! (Questions regarding eligibility for those outside the US will be answered below.) Thanks to everyone who is participating–you rock my face off! *L <– See look what you did to my face! It looks like that because you rocked it off! hahaha
This is the final week of the month which means next Saturday there will be two prizes awarded. A dozen cookies will be awarded to one participant, drawn randomly from the names with any number, other than 0, in the “completed” column for this final week. And as I mentioned above, the person with the most mail sent for all three weeks of the project combined will be awarded an entire batch of cookies. So be sure to update the spreadsheet with any mail you haven’t reported in past weeks of the project.
Q&A
I have gotten a couple questions from readers and want to address them here.
Q: Does it help the US Postal Service if I mail something to the US from Russia?
A: The answer is quite complicated, but it boils down to this: if you’re sending mail to the US from another country, even if we do not profit from the sale of the stamp on your letter/postcard/package, there is a higher likelihood that the person who receives the mail from you will respond in kind and send a letter back, which does help the US Postal Service. And it most definitely fulfills the first priority of the project: spreading joy and cheer! So, if you are outside of the US and would like to participate, go ahead and add your name to the spreadsheet, but make sure the number you are reporting is mail sent to the US only.
Q: Will you ship cookies overseas?
A: YES! If you live outside the US and win one of the drawings for cookies, YES, I will totally ship them to you. ANYONE that sends mail will be entered in the drawing.
Q: Do bills count toward my total number of mail pieces sent?
A: Although mailing bills does help support the Postal Service, it only fulfills one goal of the project. You can count bills if you include a note with it, such as thanking the company or person that you’re paying for their service. I’m sure they never see a personal note accompanying a bill and I bet that would really brighten their day!
My postcard collection
I’ve emailed with a few readers and exchanged my address with them because I’ve started a postcard collection, trying to get at least one from every state, and one from as many countries as I can. So far I have one from six different states and one on the way from Russia! If you would like to exchange postcards with me, please send me your address to vraklis@yahoo.com and I will do the same!
Please remember
If you will be sending mail this week, please return to the spreadsheet to report how many pieces you plan to send. I always include a reminder at the end of my Friday morning blogs to return again and report your mailing as “completed,” since only those that do are entered in the drawings, but if anyone has a better idea of how to help people return, please let me know! I could do the reminder Thursday, perhaps, or maybe I need to rethink the whole “sign up sheet” process to make it simpler. Give me your ideas and I’ll do some brainstorming.
I apologize for the very long post. Let’s do a recap so you don’t have to read it again to remind yourself of the bullet points:
1) If you have a blog, would you do me the favor of grabbing a button and adding it to your sidebar?
2) If you would like to exchange postcards with me, send your address to vraklis@yahoo.com.
3) Please remember to update the spreadsheet with your current goal, and update your past numbers if you need to, then be sure to return by Friday night to report how much mail you sent in order to be eligible for the drawing.
4) Just for fun, check out my favorite card this week:
5) Thank you for spreading joy and cheer, and helping support the U.S. Postal Service! Let’s make it a great week!
“This cake is my favorite way to eat chocolate. It is easy to make and contains only three essential ingredients: the very best chocolate, for a full, rich flavor and smooth, creamy texture; unsalted butter to soften the chocolate and release the flavor; and eggs to lighten it. The result is like the creamiest truffle wedded to the purest chocolate mousse. It is chocolate at its most intense flavor and perfect consistency.” -Rose Levy Beranbaum, creator of the Chocolate Oblivion Truffle Torte
That pretty much says it all! I would like to add that although it seems there are many steps to the recipe, it is very simple to make. Think of it this way: all you have to do is melt the butter and chocolate together, beat the eggs to death and fold them into the chocolate mixture and bake. The reason the instructions are so long is that they are very detailed so you are sure to have success with this cake. Enjoy!
1 lb. semisweet chocolate
1 cup unsalted butter
6 large eggs
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Butter the bottom and sides of an 8″x2″ cake pan and place a circle of parchment or wax paper in the bottom, then butter the top of it.
In a large metal bowl set over a pan of hot, not simmering, water (the bottom of the bowl should not touch the water), combine the chocolate and butter and let stand, stirring occasionally until smooth and melted. (The mixture can be melted in the microwave on high power, stirring every 15 seconds. Remove when there are still a few lumps of chocolate and stir until fully melted.)
In a large bowl set over a pan of simmering water, heat the eggs, stirring constantly to prevent curdling, until just warm to the touch. Remove from the heat and beat with an electric mixer until tripled in volume and soft peaks form when the beater is raised, about 5 minutes.
Using a large wire whisk or rubber spatula, fold half the eggs into the chocolate mixture until almost incorporated. Fold in the remaining eggs until just blended and no streaks remaining. Finish by using a rubber spatula to ensure that the heavier mixture at the bottom is incorporated. Scrape into the prepared pan and smooth with the spatula. Set the pan in a larger pan and surround it with 1 inch of very hot water. Bake 5 minutes. Cover loosely with a piece of foil and bake 10 minutes. The cake will look soft, but this is as it should be.
Let the cake cool on a rack for 45 minutes. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until very firm, about three hours.
To unmold, have ready a serving plate and a flat plate at least 8 inches in diameter, covered with plastic wrap. Wipe the sides of the pan with a hot, damp towel, then run a thin metal knife around the sides of the cake. Submerge the bottom in hot water for 10-20 seconds, then invert onto the plastic wrap-lined plate. Remove the parchment from the bottom, then invert onto the serving plate and peel off the plastic wrap.
If desired, you can spread good-quality raspberry or strawberry jam over the top of the cake. (I have an excellent recipe for raspberry jam here.) Allow to come to room temperature before serving. Serve with whipped cream, if desired.
Today is the day to return to the Postcard Project spreadsheet and make sure you report how many pieces of mail you sent this week. I will be drawing only from the names that have a number in the “completed” column for this week (not last week). I’m SO thrilled that so many more have signed up and hope you will be able to return to report your goal completed before I draw for the cookies tonight at midnight. Good luck and thank you!
Veronica's Cornucopia 
