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rec ipes

Baking Powder Biscuits Buttermilk Biscuits Cornmeal Drop Biscuits Cream Cheese and Chive Biscuits Spicy Cheese Biscuits Blueberry Muffins Cranberry-Zucchini Muffins Plum Coffee-Cake Muffins Date-Bran Muffins Popovers Currant Scones Oat and Dried Apricot Scones Chocolate Scones Fennel and GoldenRaisin Scones Banana-Nut Bread Pumpkin Bread Fig-Walnut Bread Cornbread Irish Soda Bread Cherry-Streusel Coffee Cake Classic Crumb Cake Pear-Spice Bundt Cake Classic Pound Cake Glazed Lemon Pound Cakes Brown Sugar Pound Cakes Marble Cake with White-Chocolate Glaze

si mple baked g ood s I N T R O D U C T I O N

You dont need to wait for a special occasion to make biscuits, muffins, scones, and quick breads. These and other simple baked goods are meant for any Sunday breakfast or afternoon cup of tea or for whenever youre in the mood to nibble on familiar favorites. he recipes in this chapter are simple and straightforward, calling for just a handful of ingredients to be combined in a few short steps. They are well suited to spur-of-the-moment urges to roll up your sleeves, tie on an apron, and create. In fact, its likely that your pantry and refrigerator already hold the required components. Lots of the recipes call for little more than flour, sugar, baking powder and soda, eggs, butter, and milk or cream. You may already know the roles of these cornerstone ingredients such as the way cold butter blends into flour to produce flaky biscuits, and how lightly beaten milk, eggs, and flour help give popovers their essential loft. You will find that such interactions recur throughout all baking: It is method, not magic, that turns out sublime Cornbread and sugar-crisped Chocolate Scones and that enables you, with a little practice, to approach recipes for any baked good with confidence. Look to the following recipes for direction not only on basic techniques, but also on the value of fresh ingredients and original combinations. The flavor of a just-baked Brown Sugar Pound Cake or Cranberry-Zucchini Muffin is unlike anything found in the grocery store. Even the local bakery doesnt compare: A coffee cake taken from a white cardboard box simply cannot compete with one straight from the oven. Just watch as your family congregates in the kitchen, clamoring for samples.
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u p si de-d own c a k e s
A P R I C O T - C H E R R Y U P S I D E - D OW N C A K E
MAKES ONE 8-INCH CAKE

In traditional upside-down cake recipes, the fruit is first caramelized in a skillet. In our simplified version, the butter and sugar are creamed and spread into the cake pan; then the fruit is layered over the mixture and topped with cake batter.
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pan 11/4 cups sugar 5 to 6 medium fresh apricots (about 1 pound), halved and pitted 12 ounces fresh sweet cherries (such as Bing), stemmed, pitted, and halved 3/ cup all-purpose flour 4
1/ 4

cup plus 2 tablespoons fine yellow cornmeal teaspoon salt cup almond paste (not marzipan), crumbled teaspoon pure vanilla extract teaspoon pure almond extract cup milk

1 teaspoon baking powder


1/ 2 1/ 4

3 large eggs, separated


1/ 4 1/ 2 1/ 2

Preheat the oven to 350F. Butter an 8 -by-3-inch round cake pan, and line bottom with parchment paper. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat 2 tablespoons butter with cup sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Spread evenly over bottom of prepared pan. Arrange apricot halves, cut sides down, in pan. Fit cherries into any gaps between apricots. Pack down the fruit slightly with your hands; set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat remaining 6 tablespoons butter until smooth, about 1 minute. Add almond paste and cup sugar, and beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add the egg yolks, and beat until well combined. Beat in vanilla and almond extracts. Add the flour mixture in two parts, alternating with the milk and beginning and ending with the flour; beat until combined, and set aside. In the clean bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat egg whites on medium speed until foamy. Gradually sprinkle in the remaining cup sugar, and beat until soft peaks form. Fold a third of egg-white mixture into the batter with a spatula. Gently fold in remaining egg whites. Spread batter over fruit, smoothing with an offset spatula. Bake, rotating pan halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 1 hour to 1 hour 10 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack to cool slightly, about 15 minutes. Run a knife or small offset spatula around the edges to loosen, and invert cake onto a serving plate to cool completely. Cake can be kept at room temperature, loosely covered with foil, for up to 3 days.

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APR I C OT- C H E R RY U P S I D E DOWN CAKE HOW-TO

1. An offset spatula is used to evenly spread the creamed butter and sugar over the bottom of the pan. 2. Apricot

halves are arranged, cut sides down, atop the butter mixture, then halved cherries are tucked into the gaps.

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BAKING H AN DBOOK

Excerpted from Martha Stewarts Baking Handbook by Martha Stewart. Copyright 2005 by Martha Stewart. Excerpted by permission of Clarkson Potter, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

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