teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon salt
2 cups cake flour
STEPS
• In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream sugar and eggs at medium speed. Continue at medium speed while adding lemon zest, olive oil and milk.
• In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Reduce the speed of the mixer and add the flour mixture. Gradually increase mixer speed to high and whip batter for 3 minutes. Put the mixing bowl in the fridge for 45 minutes.
• Ten or 15 minutes before you’re ready to bake, heat the oven to 475°F.
• Prepare the muffin pan using paper baking cups, nonstick baking spray or other preparation. Evenly divide batter among wells in the muffin tin, filling each one ½–¾ full. Sprinkle a little sugar on top of each magdalena.
• Put the muffin pan in the oven, lowering temperature to 350°F. Bake for about 15 minutes, or until a toothpick or cake tester poked into a magdalena comes out dry.
• Enjoy with thick, bittersweet hot chocolate, coffee, juice or milk, according to your age, time of day, or personal preference.
Chris
There is nothing wrong with a nice, gooey, grilled cheese sandwich. But when I was growing up we looked forward to a different kind of cheese sandwich for a Saturday lunch. It was made with ricotta and mozzarella, but the distinctive cheese flavor came from the addition of caciocavallo (which means saddlebags in Italian). The name comes from the way the balls of cheese are tied with string and hung over a rafter or wooden beam to dry and age. It is reminiscent of provolone with a salty and smoky character. You can easily substitute provolone if the more exotic cheese is unavailable.
(In the Sicilian dialect spoken by my Gram, caciocavallo sounded to a child’s ear like “ghas gavalda” and it took me many years to track down the real thing.)
SERVING OPTION
You can also put 2 halves together for an even heartier sandwich.
Ricotta and Mozzarella Sandwiches
Makes 8 open-faced sandwiches
INGREDIENTS
4 soft Italian rolls, split
8 ounces whole milk ricotta
8 slices fresh mozzarella
1 cup shredded caciocavallo (or provolone)
Freshly ground black pepper
STEPS
• Spread each half of the rolls with ricotta and season with fresh cracked pepper. Cover with a slice of mozzarella and a handful of the shredded caciocavallo.
• Lay the sandwich halves on a foil-lined baking sheet and broil for just a minute or two, until the cheese is bubbling.
Chris
If you ask for biscuits and jam in England, you’ll probably get a plate of flat dry crackers and a small dish of preserves. But around here we like our biscuits fresh from the oven, light and flaky with a golden crust. You can enjoy them as a breakfast bread with eggs and sausage gravy but they might be best of all when split and served with a dollop of fresh jam.
This recipe for freezer jam means you don’t need any special canning equipment or expertise, and because the fruit is never cooked it retains its fresh-picked flavors.
This recipe makes a delicious jam with minimum work. It is kept in the freezer because it has not technically been preserved like traditional jams. It will keep in the freezer for months and, once opened, it will easily keep a week in the refrigerator. Freezer jam can be made with any kind of fresh berries or fruit, but strawberries seem to hold up particularly well.
Welch’s grape jelly was our sweet spread of choice. It went on our toast with peanut butter, cream cheese or butter. We spread it on crackers and English muffins. I don’t think it was so popular because of any outstanding flavor characteristics. It just came in the cutest glass jars with cartoon characters. Our cupboards were overflowing with these colorful and whimsical little drinking glasses. Something for free! And much quicker and easier than saving Bazooka Bubble Gum wrappers to send in for a prize.
Biscuits and Jam
Makes about 12 biscuits and 5 cups of jam
BISCUITS
INGREDIENTS
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
½ cup shortening
¾ cup buttermilk
STEPS
• Preheat the oven to 425°F.
• In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Cut in the shortening with a pastry cutter as you would for pie crust until the mixture is crumbly with pea-sized pieces of shortening.
• Pour in the buttermilk all at once and stir gently with a fork, just until the dough clings together in a ball.
• Put the dough on a well floured board and knead ten times, dusting with flour only if necessary. The dough should be springy and elastic.
• Dust the top with a little flour and roll out gently to ½-inch thickness. Use a 2½-inch cutter (or the top of a juice glass) to cut out rounds and place them on a greased cookie sheet with the edges touching. Push the remaining dough together and cut out the rest.
• Bake for 12–15 minutes or until puffed up and golden brown on top.
• Eat them as soon as possible after they come out of the oven!
FREEZER JAM
INGREDIENTS
2 cups ripe, hulled strawberries (about one quart)
4 cups granulated sugar
1 package pectin
¾ cup water
STEPS
• Wash and dry about five 1-cup jelly jars.
• Use a potato masher to make a rough puree
