Kyle Minor

CRUMB COFFEECAKE

This recipe is from one of my favorite gifts from the past year The King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion. This was the first thing anyone at the party cut into and it was a 100% hit. I made it in my favorite, the tube pan, and for the last few minutes of bake time, I added some slivered almonds. Even before I added a little dusting of Confectioners' sugar, this thing looked like it came from a professional bakery. The crumb was tasty with just a touch of almond flavor, but the cake was fucking incredible. I'm going to make the same batter again, and maybe make Dirt Bombs out of it... you know those little French cinnamon donut-esque cupcakes that are slathered in melted butter and then rolled in cinnamon and sugar? Yeah. Those.
This recipe will make two 8-inch round coffeecakes, or fill a 9x13-inch pan, or a 9- or 10-inch tube pan.

Crumb
2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose (AP) flour
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon almond extract

Cake
8 Tablespoons (1 stick) butter
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup (8 oz) sour cream
2 cups unbleached AP flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salk
1 teaspoon baking powder
Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

Pre heat the oven to 350° F. Grease the preferred pan(s).

To make the crumb: In a medium-sized mixing bowl, wisk together the flour, sugar, salt and cinnamon. Melt the butter in the microwave or small saucepan and add the extracts to it. Pour the butter into the flour mixture and mix until all the butter is absorbed and you ahve a uniformly moistened crumb mixture. Set aside while you make the cake batter.

To make the batter: In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, and beat between additions. Scrape down the mixing bowl, then beat in the vanilla and sour cream. In a medium-sized bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, salt, and baking powder together. Add to the butter/sour cream mixture, mixing until evenly combined. Pour the batter into the greased baking pan(s). Crumble the crumb mixture over the top, until the batter is completely covered. Bake for 20-25 minutes for 8-inch rounds, 30-35 minutes for a 9x13-inch pan, or 35-40 minutes for a 9- or 10-inch tube pan. Bake until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove the cake from the oven and cool on a rack; dust the top Confectioners' sugar, if desired.

LEONARD'S DISH aka 'The Recipe'

This is your typical egg-and-sausage-and-bread dish that every family has their own version of. This one happens to belong to Chirstopher's dad, Leonard, aka Boobie. We love dishes like this since you do all of the work the night before and just pop the sucker into the oven the next morning and voila.

We made ours with Chorizo instead of Italian sausage, added some cumin and fresh ground pepper in addition to the dry mustard, and served it with some diced raw white onion and cilantro on the side; the recipe lends itself well to adaptation. We also used mostly egg beaters, which work fine in this dish. Doubling this recipe works very well in a 9x13 pan. The chorizo, once out of its casing, really cooked up to a mush, so that was less than ideal, but the resulting taste was still pretty good. This stuff is GREAT re-heated the next day, so save your leftovers. Yum!

1 pound browned bulk sausage, drained
2 slices sandwich bread, pulled apart
6 eggs beaten
2 cups milk
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Have ungreased medium-sized baking dish ready.

Brown the sausage in a skillet and drain away excess fat. Set aside to cool. Tear bread into bite-sized irregular bits and scatter in the bottom of the baking dish. Beat eggs with milk, salt, and dry mustard. Scatter sausage evenly over the bottom of the dish. Top with 1 1/2 cups of the cheese. Pour egg mixture over the whole thing and top with the remaining cheese.

Cover and chill in the refrigerator overnight. When ready to bake, pre-heat oven to 350° F. Bake for 45 minutes until bubbly. Serve immediately.

KICKY CORN MUFFINS

Another gem from The Baker's Companion (where they are known as Corn Muffins with a Kick), I made these as a likely companion to Leonard's Dish, but I think I may have overmixed them, because they came out a little tough. I hardly ever have luck with muffins, though, so I need some practice. These have a nice piquant bite thanks to the jalapenos and cayenne, so if they were mixed right, they might not be so bad. I like savory corn muffins, so I haven't given up yet -- the cookbook recommends these as a side for chili.

1 cup milk
1 cup cornmeal
1 1/2 cups AP flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup minced scallions
3 Tablespoons jalapeno peppers, minced
1 cup shredded pepperjack cheese

Preheat the oven to 425° F and heavily grease 12 muffin cups.

In a small bowl, pour the milk over the cornmeal and set the mixture aside to soak while you assemble the dry ingredients.

In a medium-sized bowl, wisk together the flour, baking powder, spices and salt. Beat the eggs and add them to the cornmeal mixture with the oil. Add the cornmeal and milk to the dry ingredients, stirring until just blended; don't beat this batter or your muffins will be tough. Fold in the scallions, jalapeno peppers, and 3/4 cup of the grated pepperjack cheese. Spoon the batter into the pan, filling each muffin cup 3/4 full. Sprinkle the remaining cheese atop the muffins, and bake them for 18-22 minutes, until they're golden brown.

OVEN BACON

This an idea I originally saw in Everyday Food, one of the best cooking magazines around. With some advice from my pal Jason from work, who is a food stylist and great cook himself, I doctored it up with fresh Thyme, which turns out to be an amazing addition to Bacon, whether it's regular or Lemon Thyme. We have some growing in the herb garden in our building's courtyard. Hurrah, fresh herbs!

We had some good lettuce, tomatoes, bread and mayo out so our guests could make their own BLTs. It was a hit, and very tasty. A brunch without bacon is like a day without sunshine!

1 1/4 pounds thick-sliced bacon
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1-2 Tablespoons fresh thyme
1 Tablespoon fresh ground pepper

Preheat oven to 425° F. Lay bacon out in a single layer on a cooling rack set over a rimmed baking sheet lined in foil. Sprinkle liberally with thyme, pepper, and brown sugar. Bake for 10 minutes, and carefully drain off fat drippings if you can, then bake for an additional 6-7 minutes, until bacon is crisp. If using more than one pan, be sure to rotate the pans halfway through the baking time.

TOMATO PIE

I first made Tomato Pie for a gathering with all our new neighbors, and it was easy and delicious. The hardest part is getting the pie baked, but protecting the pie-crust edges from getting too overdone. There is nothing worse than burnt pastry. I think those pie crust edge protector thingies that I've seen would really help, but I don't have one myself... yet.

The recipe says you can serve this hot or at room temp, but I'd let it sit. The hot version is too runny and falls apart. I actually also altered some of the cooking times in this recipe from its original form as found on the Food Network's website, and the new times seem to make much more sense. No offense to Sara Moulton, but pre-baking a crust for 20 minutes, even on the lowest rack of the oven, is just asking for trouble.

1 (9-inch) frozen pie shell, thawed
3 large tomatoes, about 1 1/2 pounds, cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices
Kosher salt, for sprinkling
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
1 cup coarsely grated Gruyere
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh parsley leaves
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme leaves
1 garlic clove, minced
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Additional kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Line the shell with foil and fill with pie weights, dried beans, or rice. Bake in the lower third of the oven for 10 minutes. Carefully remove the weights and foil. Return to the oven and bake for 5-6 minutes more or until light golden. Cool in the pan on a wire rack.

Turn up the oven to 400 degrees F.

Sprinkle the tomatoes with salt and drain in a colander for 10 to 15 minutes. Spread the mustard over the bottom of the shell and sprinkle the cheese over it. Arrange the tomatoes over the cheese in one overlapping layer. Bake until the pastry is golden brown and the tomatoes are very soft, 35 to 40 minutes.

In a small bowl, stir together the parsley, thyme, garlic, olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste to blend. Sprinkle the pie with this mixture while hot and spread out gently with the back of a spoon. Serve the pie hot or at room temperature.

SPARKLING CHERRY-LIME PUNCH

Christine is pregnant again... this time with twin boys (whom she and Gary have naturally pledged to name Chrisopher and Kyle), so we wanted to have something special and non-alcoholic. Thanks to Ms. Julie, we also have a gorgeous customized punchbowl, and so I sought out a good punch recipe.

I was fixated on cherry, and experimented with a few ingredients without much success. A word to the wise: using cherry gelatin as the base for punch just makes the punch taste like cheap red pop. I finally hit upon the idea of Cherry 7-Up, which had exactly the taste I was hoping for. Light, sweet without being artificial tasting, and most importantly, cherry. I decided I couldn't just fill up the punchbowl with 7-Up, so I made an ice-ring with an addative that would lend more flavor, and added some limeade for an underlying citrus punch. Pardon the pun.

This stuff was DELICOUS, especially when cold because of the ice ring, and refreshing. C'pher said it made a great mimosa with champagne, too, so feel free to booze it up as long as your'e not pregnant with my namesake. I'm thinking chambord wouldn't be a bad additive.

Ice Ring
1 medium bottle unsweetened 100% cherry juice
about 30 or so frozen or fresh pitted cherries

Punch
1 2-liter bottle Cherry 7-Up, chilled
1/2 cup frozen limeade concentrate, thawed
1 lime for garnish

Place several cherries in an ice-ring mold and fill part-way with cherry juice, freeze. Once cherries are held in place, top with more cherry juice until ring is full. Ring may be removed from the mold and saved in a plastic bag in the freezer until it is needed. Take frozen limeade can, and store it in the fridge to thaw.

Assemble the punch: place ice ring in punch bowl, and pour Cherry 7-Up over it. Pour in thawed limeade concentrate and stir. Taste, and add more limeade if necessary. Garnish with thin slices of lime.