Was I the last person to learn that you can bake a cake with baby food? Dennis Lee
Daily Journal has released an interesting cake recipe with a special ingredient in it, and that special ingredient is baby food. Prune baby food, to be specific. It sounds strange at first, but when you consider that most baby food is just pureed produce, it’s a time-saving step that makes use of an “ingredient” home cooks might already have on hand. (In fact,
Takeout contributor Stacey Ballis uses a jar of baby food in these Sweet Potato Gougeres.)
The rest of the ingredients are pretty straightforward: Sugar, flour, eggs, and spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice. This actually sounds pretty good; considering there are cake recipes with applesauce in them, that does not seem far-fetched whatsoever. The applesauce keeps the cake moist without adding extra fat.
Serrano ham
Last, but not least, the specialty gift that we wait for all year is this annual offering of a whole leg of Spanish serrano ham. The super-premium cured ham is usually thought of as an ideal centerpiece for a holiday cocktail party buffet, but don t discount it as the magical ingredient for the post-holiday season! Serrano ham can often run as much as $40 per pound when sourced in premium delis and butchers, so to get a 15-pound leg for under $10 per pound is a steal. You can use serrano in any recipe calling for prosciutto or country ham or even bacon, and because it is cured, it will last, properly stored, for a year or more. Plus, it freezes beautifully. This year slice some thin for charcuterie boards or sandwiches, some thicker and some cubed or in lardons for ease of use in recipes and be sure to save the bone for making a rich ham stock, ideal for black bean or pea soup. Once the ham is broken down you ll have a year s worth of wonderful cookin
Cleanse your palate with orange sherbet. Jell-O Mold Stacey Ballis
Welcome to
’s holiday celebration of Jell-O, gelatin, and all things wiggly. We’ll be releasing new feature stories and original holiday recipes every day this week, and each of them will have a little bit of wobble.
A feast is not a true feast without something wiggly on the buffet. Jelled molds have long been the secret weapon of entertainers: they’re kid friendly and adult approved, can be simple or fancy, are inexpensive and easy to prepare, and flesh out a meal with joy-inducing sass. And if you have a sweet tooth, what is better than a dish that could technically be a dessert, but more often than not, shows up on the dinner buffet? When you eat it as a side during the main meal, you leave yourself plenty of space in the actual dessert lineup.