A Kitchen Keeper Original - Maple Walnut Chiffon Cake

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...There's a place on memory lane where retro recipes are safely stored. They're carefully filed away, waiting for another generation to "discover" them. Today's recipe, an outstanding chiffon cake, is one of them. The chiffon cake has quite a history. It became an overnight phenomena in the late 1940's. It had been created prior to the great depression by Harry Baker, an insurance agent who became a caterer. He kept the secret of his remarkably airy cake for two decades before selling the formula to General Mills. His secret recipe used vegetable oil instead of conventional shortening. General Mills released the recipe for chiffon cake to Better Homes and Gardens magazine where it was advertised as the first really new cake in a hundred years. The magazine sponsored on-going contests that caused the mania for chiffon cake to last for at least two decades. Chiffon cakes were a wonder to home bakers. They combined the richness of butter cakes with the light spring of an angel food or sponge cakes. The cakes were unusually moist, but they were not that all easy to make. Not everyone mastered the beating of egg whites that was required to produce the towering cake. As the bundt cake became popular, fascination with the chiffon cake waned and most busy women turned to desserts that were easier to prepare. I continued to make them because one of my children loved chiffon cakes, and, for years, this maple-nut masterpiece was the one he requested for his birthday. This weekend, I decided to pull the recipe for the cake from storage to see if it still passed muster, and I must admit I had forgotten just how good it actually is. I know you'll love this one. I hope you'll be able to make it for your family and friends. Here is how it's done.

Maple-Walnut Tart

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite......and then a miracle occurred. Everything got to the table on time and I didn't cuss even once in the process. I have pictures and recipes that I'll be sharing with you next week because this was a meal that would work as well for Christmas as it did for Thanksgiving. Today's tart is a riff on pecan pie that I found in Fine Cooking magazine. It is a rich and delicious creation and it was the first of the desserts to disappear from the table. The recipe seems long, but the tart is not actually difficult to make. While the tart crust described in the recipe is lovely, a commercial pie shell would make short work of this dessert without harming the finished tart. If you like maple flavored desserts, do give this one a try. It is delicious. Quite rich, but delicious nonetheless. Here's how it is made.

Maple-Walnut Tart...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite courtesy of Fine Cooking magazine

Ingredients:
Pie Crust
1-3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour + more for rolling
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, cut into 24 small pieces and frozen
1 large egg yolk
1/4 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
3 to 4 tablespoons ice water
Cooking spray
Filling
2 large eggs
3 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon pure maple extract
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup pure maple syrup
3/4 cup granulated sugar
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 cups chopped walnuts, toasted

Directions:
1) To make pie crust: Pulse flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor once or twice to combine. Add butter and pulse until mixture is pebbly, with some pea-size bits of butter.
    Whisk egg yolks, lemon juice and 3 tablespoons of ice water together in a small bowl. Pour mixture through feed tube of food processor, pulsing to combine. Dough mixture should be moist but should not come together into a ball. If a small handful of dough pressed together does not adhere, add remaining 1 tablespoon ice water and pulse to combine.
    Turn dough mixture onto a piece of plastic wrap. Gather plastic around dough and press dough into a disk. Wrap tightly in additional plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour and up to 2 days.
2) To roll crust: Let dough stand at room temperature for about 15 minutes to become pliable before rolling. Lightly coat a rolling pin with flour and roll  dough on a lightly floured surface into a 15-inch circle. Lightly coat a round 9-1/2 x 1-inch fluted metal tart pan with a removable bottom with cooking spray. Roll dough around rolling pin and carefully unroll over tart pan. Gently press it into bottom and up  sides of  pan without stretching. Trim excess, leaving a 1-inch overhang. Fold overhang inside  tart and press against sides to make a double wall about 1/4 inch higher than  tart pan (this will offset any shrinkage during baking). Wrap tart shell in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes and up to 24 hours.
    Position a rack in lower third of oven and heat the oven to 425 degrees F. Line tart shell with parchment and add enough beans or pie weights to fill shell. Bake on a heavy-duty rimmed baking sheet until  edges are firm and starting to brown, 15 to 20 minutes. Carefully lift parchment and weights from tart shell. Continue to bake until bottom of the shell is pale golden, 5 to 7 minutes more. Let cool on  baking sheet on a rack and reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F.
3) To make filling: In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, yolks, maple and vanilla extracts, and salt. Set aside.
     In a 2-quart saucepan, combine maple syrup and sugar and cook over medium-high heat, stirring constantly until sugar is dissolved and mixture just starts to boil, about 3 minutes. Reduce heat to medium and add butter, stirring until melted. Remove from heat and let cool for 1 minute.
    Slowly whisk warm syrup into egg mixture, drizzling it in about 1/4 cup at a time and whisking continuously to prevent hot syrup from cooking eggs.
4) To fill and bake tart: Fill tart shell with chopped walnuts. Carefully ladle filling over walnuts to within 1/4 inch of  rim (do not overfill; there may be a little filling left over). Bake tart until it is just set in the center, 30 to 40 minutes (if crust is golden-brown before filling is set, cover edges loosely with foil). Cool completely on the baking sheet on a rack.
    Carefully remove tart rim. Slide a long, flat spatula between  pastry and the pan bottom and transfer tart to a serving platter. Yield: 8 to 10 servings.

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Frozen Maple-Mousse Cake with Candied Cranberries

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...I'm so pleased to be able to share this recipe with you. I found it while scouting for desserts that would compliment the non-traditional menu I was planning for our Thanksgiving dinner. It sounded wonderful but it seemed involved and was more work than I had intended to do. I put the recipe away, but I kept thinking about it and in a weak moment decided to give it a try. The maple flavored mousse cake was an enormous hit with my taste testers, and their praise guaranteed it a spot on the Thanksgiving menu. As a matter of fact, the Silver Fox, who I swear channels Bob Cratchit, gave it his highest and most sought accolade, "Another triumph, my dear!" That always leaves me tongue-tied and verklempt. The cake was originally developed by Kathleen Callahan for Food and Wine magazine. Her creation has a pecan crust that's topped with a frozen mousse and garnished with cranberries that simmer to tart perfection in a bath of simple syrup. The berries add wonderful color to the cake and help cut the sweetness of the frozen mousse. The cake and candied cranberries can be made up to 4 days before serving and that makes them a boon for busy cooks. While the cake is frozen, it never gets rock solid and it can be served directly from the freezer, so it's a real space saver for overcrowded holiday kitchens. Do not make the mousse with imitation syrup. If you are unable to find grade B syrup, grade A can be substituted, but the cake will be lighter in color and lack the caramel-like flavor that grade B syrup imparts. I really like this dessert, and, yes, it had my socks going up and down. I hope you will try it. Here's the recipe.

Frozen Maple-Mousse Pie with Candied Cranberries...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite courtesy of Kathleen Callahan and Food and Wine magazine

Ingredients:
Crust
2 cups pecans (8 ounces)
3 tablespoons light brown sugar
1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
Pinch of salt
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
Mousse
1 cup pure grade B maple syrup
2 large egg whites, at room temperature
Pinch of cream of tartar
Pinch of salt
1-1/2 cups chilled heavy cream
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Candied Cranberries
8 ounces fresh cranberries (2 cups)
1-1/4 cups sugar
3/4 cup water

Directions:
1) To make crust: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spread pecans on a rimmed baking sheet and bake for about 8 minutes, until fragrant. Let cool completely. Pulse pecans, sugar, nutmeg and salt in a food processor until nuts are finely chopped. Add butter and pulse to combine. Press crumbs in an even layer into a 9-inch springform pan. Refrigerate until firm.
2) To make mousse: Bring maple syrup to in a medium saucepan. Simmer over moderate heat until slightly reduced and a candy thermometer inserted in syrup registers 235 degrees F, about 8 minutes. Watch carefully to prevent it boiling over. Meanwhile, using an electric mixer fitted with a balloon whisk, beat egg whites with cream of tartar and salt until stiff peaks form. Reduce speed to medium and drizzle hot syrup onto whites, beating until incorporated. Increase speed to high and beat meringue has cooled to room temperature, about 5 minutes. In a separate large bowl, beat heavy cream with vanilla until soft peaks form. Fold meringue mixture into whipped cream until blended. Scrape mousse into crust and spread evenly . Freeze until firm, about 24 hours.
The mousse will not freeze hard like ice cream.
3) To make candied cranberries: Put cranberries in a large heatproof bowl or into top of a double broiler. Combine sugar and water in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer, stirring to dissolve sugar. Pour syrup over cranberries and cover bowl or top of double boiler with plastic wrap. Set over a pan of simmering water and cook, undisturbed, over very low heat until syrup is rosy and cranberries are tender but not broken down, about 45 minutes. Remove bowl from saucepan and let cranberries cool completely. Refrigerate until berries are chilled.
4) To serve: Loosen sides of springform pan with a warm knife. Remove ring from pan. Cut cake into wedges and transfer to dessert plates. Spoon candied cranberries over top of each cake and serve. Yield: 12 servings.








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