Cake or Pie?

     2012 is going to be my year. I know this because James Oseland, editor-in-chief of Saveur magazine (http://www.saveur.com/), was on the Today show today and said so.

     Oseland declared that, among other things, 2012 will be the year of the cake. I have always believed that you're either a cake person or a pie person. Sure, you might like both, but when it comes down to it, you really prefer one over the other. I come from a family of cake people.

     Wouldn't you know, I married into a family of pie people. In the world of fundamental food choices, we're polar opposites on many other dishes: he likes mashed potatoes, I like au gratin. He likes chicken and noodles; I like mine with beef. He likes French toast; I like pancakes. He likes sweet pickles; I like dill. You get where I'm going?

     So after years of sweet food trends focusing on pies, empanadas and other treats encased in pastry, cake will finally get its due. One of my favorite cakes to bake is Carrot Cake. Here's the recipe I use: from Southern Living. (My husband Steve, the pie guy, love, love, loves this cake!)

     So what are you: a cake person or a pie person?

Best Carrot Cake
From Southern Living

• 2 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 3 large eggs
• 2 cups sugar
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups grated carrot
• 1 (8-ounce) can crushed pineapple, drained
• 1 (3 1/2-ounce) can flaked coconut
• 1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
• Buttermilk Glaze
• Cream Cheese Frosting
  
  

Preparation

1. Line 3 (9-inch) round cakepans with wax paper; lightly grease and flour wax paper. Set pans aside.
2. Stir together first 4 ingredients.
3. Beat eggs and next 4 ingredients at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth. Add flour mixture, beating at low speed until blended. Fold in carrot and next 3 ingredients. Pour batter into prepared cakepans.
4. Bake at 350° for 25 to 30 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Drizzle Buttermilk Glaze evenly over layers; cool in pans on wire racks 15 minutes. Remove from pans, and cool completely on wire racks. Spread Cream Cheese Frosting between layers and on top and sides of cake.

Buttermilk Glaze

Recipe

1 cup sugar

• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 cup butter or margarine $ 1 tablespoon light corn syrup
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preparation

1. Bring first 5 ingredients to a boil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Boil, stirring often, 4 minutes. Remove from heat, and stir in vanilla.

Cream Cheese Frosting

 

         1/2 cup butter, softened

• 1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened

• 1 (3-oz.) package cream cheese, softened
• 1 (16-oz.) box powdered sugar
• 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

Preparation

1. 1. Beat all ingredients at medium speed with an electric mixer until fluffy.

What's new with you?

In 2011, my friend Suzy in Florida ran two half-marathons on back-to-back weekends. My sister-in-law Stacia in Indiana got a new job. My friend Liz in California downsized and moved into a condo. Two of my newest friends, Mike and Jeannie Glenn in Brentwood, Tenn., saw their son and daughter-in-law move to South Carolina. (Mike also finished his second book, "The Gospel of Yes" check it out ... he's awesome!)

I know all of this because they told me so in their Christmas letters. OK, so I already knew that Suzy had become a running maniac and that Stacia made a job change ... I use my phone and email pretty regularly. But I love the sum-it-up nature of holiday letters that provide a synopsis of the year that's ending and hope for the one to come.

When I was younger I got zero Christmas letters and probably would have rolled my eyes at any that did arrive in the mail. Now that I'm a little older I get more -- probably half a dozen this year -- and am anxious to see the embedded photos, pet pawprints, inspirational quotes and personal news -- both good and, sometimes, not so good.

They're reminders of the fleeting nature of time. It's hard to believe that another year has passed. When my older sister Cindy became a grandmother for the first time, it was hard for me to believe that I was old enough to have a sister who was old enough to be a grandmother. But they're also reminders of the many loving people in my life, and as my friends children marry and start their families I read the letters with excitement, knowing that my friends and their children and grandchildren are moving forward in life.

I didn't send out a Christmas letter this year. I was so busy at work and managing the Houston Chronicle's United Way corporate campaign that I barely had time to send out Christmas cards. (Confession: if you got a card from Steve and me, Steve did all the work.)

So here's my year, super-condensed to one paragraph: I had foot surgery in May (both feet); my 15-year-old black Lab Gulliver died in July; I still work at the Houston Chronicle; I'm three-quarters done with my book now; Steve and I are both healthy, happy and still employed (me at the Houston Chronicle; Steve at Lone Star RV.)

Next year, you'll get a beautiful letter with photos and details. I promise. So if you didn't get a letter out this year, do me a favor and condense your year to one paragraph and post it in the comments box below.

I wish you all a Merry Christmas and the happiest of New Years.

Eloise's cookies

After my post about a Christmas cooking-baking day with three of my girlfriends, I feel compelled to write a post about another dear friend, Eloise Lloyd. She and her husband John moved from the Houston suburbs into the city to be nearer to their son and their doctors.

Eloise is kind and caring -- and bakes incredible cookies. She came to one party with these cookies and everyone gobbled them up.

You have to try them now, because the cranberry bread mix you make them with is seasonal and can be hard to find.

Cranberry Crispies

1 box Pillsbury Quick Bread Cranberry Mix

1/2 cup margarine, melted

1 egg

1/2 cup craisins (dried, sweetened cranberries)

Instructions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine bread mix, margarine and egg and mix well

Stir in craisins.

Form dough into 1 1/4-inch balls and place 3 inches apart on a nonstick cookie sheet. Flatten each ball with the bottom of a glass dipped in sugar.

Bake 10-12 minutes or until cookies are a light golden color. (Be careful not to overbake.)

My Texas family

For most of my life I could draw a clear line between family and friends. Family consisted of my parents, sisters, aunts and uncles and cousins. Friends were the people I met through college, jobs and social gatherings.
But my parents have passed away, as have most of my aunts and uncles. I live 1,000 miles from my sisters and their families. The cousins are scattered across the country.
Those people are all part of my life, of course, but the people I see every day or every week have become what my husband and I call our Texas family. They're close friends who share many life experiences, both of joy and sorrow, and at this time of year we share holidays as well.
Some years we've hosted a Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner for friends at our home. Other years we've been guests in someone else's home. We're grateful that our friends here have opened their homes and their hearts.
Among my close circle of friends we call ourselves the 10-pack, because there are 10 of us. In the five couples, no two people have the same profession. One of the couples has grown children, the rest are childless. Three are Texas natives, the rest are from different parts of the country. We met because we go to the same gym, but became friends because of our common interests and values.
On Saturday, four of the five women in the group -- the fifth had out-of-town family visiting -- got together for a massive cookie-baking effort. We made spritz cookies with a semi-cooperative cookie press, peppermint bark, rum balls, cranberry-orange cookies and roll-out sugar cookies. We had a great time doing it, and we all left with an assortment of sweets.
That night we all got dressed up and went out for our annual swanky dinner. We call it our family Christmas dinner.
We all have biological family elsewhere, but we can't help but smile when we talk about who's bringing what dish to Thanksgiving or Christmas and find new ways to add value to our friendship.