Almond Macaroons

I am always looking for recipes that are gluten free and of course macaroons are a very safe cookie given they have no flour of any kind. I made them yesterday but had another sweeter than cookie dough experience, because I made them with my two year old grand daughter. She stood on the large dining room chair and insisted that she also wear her apron since I was wearing mine. Her apron is brightly coloured,looks like the front of a Ukrainian doll and was hand sewn by a baba in the Ukraine. "Dolly apron, please", she insisted. We then washed our hands. We were ready. First 2 large egg whites were whipped till frothy in the mix master. She slowly poured in one cup of sugar. Most of it landed in the mixing bowl. When this was blended, she stirred the batter while we took turns mixing in 1 and 1/2 cups of ground almonds. She kept moving the mixing spoon to her left and then to her right hand because she is not sure yet which is her dominant hand. Meanwhile I lightly oiled the cookie sheet. When the batter was mixed (she allowed me to do some final stirs), I dropped the batter on to the cookie sheet with a tsp spoon and she found the right whole almond for each cookie and pressed it firmly into the center. Ten minutes in a 400 degree oven produced a wonderful cookie, crisp around the edges and soft in the center. We each ate two cookies and put the rest in a cookie tin. There is a saying that food flavoured with a mother's love is like no other food and I would have to add that food flavoured by an eager two year old is a memory maker of outstanding flavour.

Pepper Pound Cake

Sarah, whose mother is East Indian, made this cake for a lunch we were having this past summer. Why mention the nationality? The cake is Maya Kaimal's recipe who wrote Curried Flavors. She published this recipe in Food & Wine in 1999. So I think Sarah has an in on Indian food. At the lunch we were discussing Sticky Ideas by Heath and it may have been this topic, or the people, not sure, but what stuck with me was the flavour of this cake. I loved it. So I made it. However, my cake was dry compared to Sarah's. Sarah's cake had a fine crumb, was moist and had a buttery texture. It coated your mouth like good chocolate can. Sarah said she had inverted the hot cake and half fell out so essentially it was a disaster. Heads up for me, instead of calling Sarah, I called the Blue Flame Kitchen and a delightful but young helper tried to help me. Every question I asked her, she would run to some one (something?) else to find the answer. We concluded that my eggs may not have been large enough, that perhaps I put in too much flour and/or over baked it. I know you are suppose to scoop up the flour with a measuring cup and then level it with a knife but some times I am a bit hasty. We had another lunch this week, this time we discussed A Whole New Mind by Pink. Sarah again brought the Pepper Pound Cake and the recipe. Again I was struck by the flavour and the texture of this cake. The recipe is worth trying.

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3 cups of flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 pound unsalted butter at room temperature
21/2 cups sugar (I used 2 cups of sugar)
5 large eggs, separated
2 tbsp honey
1/1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp salt
finely grated zest of one lemon
1 cup buttermilk

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Butter and flour a 10 inch bundt pan. Sift the flour with the baking powder into a medium sized bowl. In a large bowl, beat the butter with the sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg yolks one at a time, then honey, pepper, ginger, salt and lemon zest. Mix the dry ingredients alternating with the buttermilk. Beat the egg whites in a glass or stainless steel bowl until firm. Fold into the cake mixture one third at a time. Scrape batter into the bundt pan. Bake for one hour and 10 minutes (note do not over bake). Cool the cake for 20 minutes and then unmold onto a rack. This cake is best if it is eaten the day it is baked.

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I hope that your cake will be as good as Sarah's. It is well worth the effort. For presentational effect, serve in a puddle of strawberries or raspberries or unadorned on nice plates. I would post a picture, but it is all gone.