Lemon Poppy Seed Pound Cake

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...We've been invited to a large barbecue this coming weekend. It's what I call a planned potluck. Everyone is assigned a task and is responsible for part of the meal. By luck or lot, I'm the dessert lady for the day. Because berries are still available here, I'll be making several of the lemon cake I'm featuring tonight, as well as unusual shortcakes that are made with cornmeal. Both will serve as the base for macerated berries. If time permits, I'll also be making peanut bars for those who do not want a fruit dessert. I found the recipe for this unusual poppy seed cake in The New York Times. It caught my eye because it's made with olive oil rather than butter, and I was curious to see how the cake would taste. I'm really pleased with the results. The recipe makes a moist cake with an intensely lemon flavor that is enhanced by the olive oil. It is a snap to make and takes about 15 minutes to prepare, so it is perfect for my purposes. The Silver Fox has given it his approval, so tomorrow I'll make the three others I'll need for the weekend. I do hope you'll try this cake. You will not be disappointed. Here is how it's made.

Lemon-Poppy Seed Scones

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...Mother's Day will be here before we know it. I have a series of recipes that I want to share with you before it arrives. While they all will make delicious desserts, you'll find these recipes produce cakes and pastries that vary considerably in appearance and the amount of effort required to make them. These scones fall into the easy-to-make category and I know you will enjoy the unique flavor the lemon and poppy seed combination provides. I must, however, warn you that these scones have a subtle lemon flavor, so, if you want a more intense lemon hit be sure to increase the amount of zest and lemon juice you use. This simple recipe is easy to follow and save for making sure the scones are actually done at the end of the prescribed baking period, you'll have no trouble making them. If the mother you'll be cooking for is a lemon lover, she will really enjoy these scones. Here is how they are made.

Poppy Seed Snack Cake

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...Poppy seed cake is one of those desserts that folks either love or hate. To be honest, I find it strangely flavorless, but because others do enjoy it, I include new recipes for it whenever I can. Almost all recipes that use poppy seeds suggest they be soaked for 30 minutes before being used. This is done to make the seeds easier to digest. It does nothing to remove the scant trace of opiates the seeds contain, so if you are going to take a drug test, avoid eating anything made from them for at least a day before the procedure. If used in sufficient quantities, poppy seeds impart a lovely nutty quality to baked goods. Unfortunately, most recipes don't use enough of them to make that evident. I've spoken to you in the past about Hannie's German kitchen. She did a great deal of baking with poppy seeds, but went further than most with their soaking. She kept them in milk for 24 hours before using them. She insisted the long soak released their flavor. I do the same, I suspect out of respect for Hannie, not because I'm convinced it makes a difference. I first had today's cake in the home of a friend who was kind enough to share the recipe with me. Good deeds should be played forward, so I'm passing the recipe on to you. Here's how this version of the cake is made.

Poppy Seed Snack Cake...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite

Ingredients:
Cake
1/3 cup poppy seeds
1 cup milk
4 egg whites
3/4 cup shortening
1-1/2 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
Cream Cheese Frosting
1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
2 cups confectioners' sugar

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a 13 x 9 x 2-inch baking pan.
2) Place poppy seeds in a small bowl and soak in milk for 30 minutes. Place egg whites in a large bowl and let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes.
3) Cream shortening and sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Beat in vanilla and almond extract.
4) Combine flour and baking powder; add to creamed mixture alternately with poppy seed mixture, beating well after each addition.
5) Beat egg whites until soft peaks form; fold into batter.
6) Pour into prepared baking dish. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near center of cake comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.
7) To make frosting: Beat cream cheese, butter and almond extract together in a small bowl until smooth. Gradually beat in confectioners' sugar. Spread over cake. Store in the refrigerator. Yield: 12-15 servings.








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You might also like these recipes:
Lemon Poppyseed Cupcakes - The English Kitchen
Lemon Blueberry and Poppyseed Muffins - Life's A Feast
The Weekly Waffle: Lemon Poppyseed - Ginny's Kitchen
Almond Poppyseed Waffles - Jane Deere
Lemon Poppyseed Buttermilk Muffins - My Gourmet Connection

Grapefruit and Avocado Salad with Poppy Seed Dressing

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...One of the things for which Helen Corbitt is remembered, is the poppy seed dressing she used to dress the grapefruit and avocado salad served in the Zodiac Room at the Neiman Marcus store in Dallas, Texas. She was an well-educated Irish New Yorker who spent most of her food career in the state of Texas, including 18 years as the majordomo of food services for the Neiman Marcus empire. She was by all accounts a modest, but opinionated woman, who wrote five cookbooks and was the first woman to garner the food service industry's highest accolade, the Golden Plate Award. She fed president's and kings and became a trend setter in the 1950's. While she is credited for many innovations, among them poppy seed dressing and cowboy caviar, she insisted she had not created many of the things attributed to her. She did, however, bring them to everyone's attention and made them popular. You can read more about her here and if you are a collector of cookbooks you can find a collection of her recipes, The Best of Helen Corbitt's Kitchens, here. I am a newcomer to her recipes and I wanted to try the poppy seed dressing she made famous. In order to do that, I had to reconstruct the signature salad that she dressed with it. I wanted to share both with you, as together they make a nice summer salad. The dressing would work well with any citrus salad. Is it as good as they say it is? Probably not, but it's nice to have a dressing for fruit salad handy and this one is easy to make and perfectly serviceable. Here's the recipe.

Grapefruit and Avocado Salad with Poppy Seed Dressing ...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite, courtesy of Texas Home Cooking

Ingredients:
Dressing
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons white vinegar
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1 teaspoon grated onion
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons poppy seeds
Salad
2 grapefruit, peeled and sectioned into cubes
1 avocado, peeled and cut into cubes
4 cups trimmed watercress

Directions:
1) To make poppy seed dressing: In a food processor or with a mixer, combine sugar, honey, vinegar, lemon juice, mustard, onion, salt and paprika. Pour in oil and continue mixing until dressing is thick. Blend in poppy seeds. Refrigerated dressing will keep for 2 to 3 weeks. If it separates, process or mix again before serving. Yield: 1 cup.
2) To make the salad: Arrange a bed of watercress on each of 4 salad plates. Top with avocado and grapefruit pieces. Drizzle each salad with 1 tablespoon dressing. Makes 4 servings.

You might also enjoy these recipes:
Endive, Pear and Watercress Salad - One Perfect Bite
Andalusian Salad with Avocados, Oranges and Almonds - One Perfect Bite
Berry Patch Salad - One Perfect Bite
Summer Fruit Salad - The English Kitchen
Citrus Salad - Wine Lady Cooks
Moroccan Fruit Salad - Moroc Mama
Dragon Fruit Salad - Pham Fatale