These fragrant apricots are so useful, I make big batches of them to give as gifts and to use for my own entertaining. They are delicious with drained whole milk yogurt, ice cream or creme fraiche make an excellent filling for tarts and turnovers, or accompaniment to plain cakes, with some whipped cream. They are also spectacular roasted and served with crème fraiche (see recipe). I like to use California apricots because they have more intense flavor and delicate texture than Turkish ones.
How to make a cake that will light up your party -- literally.
In his book Ratios: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking, food writer Michael Ruhlman reveals the cooking codes professional cooks use all the time. Here is Michael's formula for pie dough:
Shards of chocolate embedded with surprising flavors and crunchy elements make terrific gifts for much less than pricey "artisan-made" chocolates. The key is to use the best and freshest chocolate you can buy: fragrant and glossy with no trace of a gray bloom on the surface. This easy method insures that the chocolate sets well and snaps when it breaks. You can improvise endlessly on it, devising unique combinations of chocolates and flavorings. (You can also simply stir the embellishments right into the melted chocolate before pouring.)
What This Recipe Shows: By rolling the dough balls in plain sugar first, the confectioners sugar does not soak in so much and stays on the surface better.
Get the leavening right and you'll have lighter, finer textured cakes.
Ingredients
Use this Orange Flower Cake as a blueprint for other citrus cakes. Serve it plain, with a dusting if confectioners sugar, or poke the top with holes and saturate it with a tart glaze as follows.
Jennie Grant nurtures a barnyard of creatures in her idyllic Seattle backyard. Information about raising goats in an urban environment can be found at www.goatjusticeleague.org.