#COOKING WITH CLORIS--VICTORIAN CURRANT CAKE

The Victorians gave us many of the traditions we now associate with Christmas. This Victorian-inspired sweet bread, featured in Bake, Love, Write: 105 Authors Share Dessert Recipes and Advice on Love and Writing, is a perfect complement to your holiday dinner, whether you’re serving ham, turkey, or a beef roast.

Victorian Currant Bread

(adapted by author Barbara Monajem from a recipe featured in Beeton’s Book of Household Management, published in 1861.) 

3 cups flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup brown sugar

1 stick butter, softened

1-1/4 cups milk

1-1/2 cups currants

1/3 cup diced candied lemon peel (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Mix the flour, baking powder, soda and salt together.  In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Add the dry ingredients alternately with the milk and mix well. Add the currants and lemon peel and stir until thoroughly mixed.

Fill a greased loaf pan about 2/3 full and bake for 45-50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out more or less clean.

Old-fashioned cookbooks don’t give specific information about pan sizes. This recipe made too much batter for one loaf pan. The remaining batter can be poured into a muffin tin or mini-loaf pans, but reduce bake time to 20–25 minutes.

Bake, Love, Write: 105 Authors Share Dessert Recipes and Advice on Love and Writing

An Amazon bestselling cookbook

What do most authors have in common, no matter what genre they write? They love desserts. Sweets sustain them through pending deadlines and take the sting out of crushing rejection letters and nasty reviews. They also often celebrate their successes—selling a book, winning a writing award, making a bestseller list, or receiving a fabulous review—with decadent indulgences. And when authors chat with each other, they often talk about their writing and their lives. Recipes. Writing. Relationships. In this cookbook 105 authors not only share their favorite recipes for fabulous cakes, pies, cookies, candy, and more, they also share the best advice they’ve ever received on love and writing.

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COOKING WITH CLORIS -- CHRISTMAS CUT-OUT COOKIES

Yesterday we used cookie cutters to make Christmas ornaments. Today Cloris presents her recipe for for using those cookie cutters the traditional way. -- AP 

CHRISTMAS CUT-OUT COOKIES

Ingredients:
1-1/2 sticks unsalted butter

3/4 cups sugar

1 egg

1 tablespoon vanilla

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon salt

2 cups flour
1 can each chocolate and vanilla icing
 Christmas sprinkles

Bring butter and eggs to room temperature. Cream butter and sugar. Add egg and vanilla. Mix together dry ingredients. Slowly add dry ingredients to wet ingredients, mixing well. Refrigerate dough for at least 1 hour.

Roll out dough to 1/4” thickness. Cut out shapes. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Bake 10-12 minutes.

Bake in preheated oven at 375 degrees.

After cookies cool, ice tops with frosting. Dip in sprinkles. Allow icing to harden before storing cookies in tins.