Pineapple Meringue Cake

Pineapple Meringue Cake

2/10 inch spring form cake pans

350 degrees 25 minutes

Cake

8 egg yolks beaten

1 cup sugar

1 cup butter

1 cup cake flour

2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup milk

Beat egg yolks until thick and lemon coloured. Cream butter and sugar together when light and fluffy add beaten egg yolks. Sift dry ingredients together into mixture starting with the dry ingredients alternating with the milk finishing with the dry ingredients. Pour batter into buttered and floured cake pans lined with parchment paper.

Meringue

8 egg whites

1.5 cups sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

Slowly whip egg whites with cream of tartar  adding sugar at a slow and steady rate. Spread meringue on top of cake batter. Sprinkle 1.5 cups chopped pecan pieces. Bake 25 minutes at 350 degrees.

Cream Filling

1 pint whipping heavy cream

2 cans crushed pineapple drained

3 Tablespoons icing sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Construction

Place one layer cake side down ,spread cream filling on top of meringue. Place other layer with meringue side down on top of the bottom layer. Spread remaining cream over cake.

Incredibly Crisp Gingersnaps

Incredibly Crisp Gingersnaps

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 teaspoons ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter

1 cup sugar

1 large egg

1/4 cup molasses

1/2 cup sugar in a shallow bowl, for finishing

2 or 3 cookie sheets or jelly roll pans covered with parchment or foil

Directions

Set racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees. Combine the flour, baking soda, salt, and spices in a bowl; stir well to mix. In the bowl of a standing electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together on medium speed the butter and sugar for about 5 minutes until very light, fluffy and whitened. Add the egg and continue beating until smooth. Lower speed and beat in half the dry ingredients, then the molasses. Stop the mixer and scrape down bowl and beater. Beat in the remaining dry ingredients. Remove bowl from mixer and use a large rubber spatula to finish mixing the dough. Use a small ice cream scoop to scoop out 1-inch diameter pieces of dough. Roll into balls between the palms of your the hands, then roll in the sugar. Place the balls of dough on the prepared pans leaving about 3 inches all around each, to allow for spreading. Bake the cookies for about 15 to 20 minutes, or until they have spread, the surface has crackled, and they are firm to the touch. Slide the papers from the pans to racks. Store the cooled cookies between sheets of parchment or waxed paper in a tin or plastic container with a tight-fitting cover.

Wild Grape Wine

I finally bottled my wild grape wine, thick, heady and a black purple, like me a whole lot of nonsense.
I shared a glass with John and my brother Mike, it was acclaimed as critical. Wine snobs......bleech!
I bestowed upon a few neighbours a bottle with the following advice
:" Do not drink  now as it still is green, if you do and you die......you were warned. Age until Christmas, if you die then you were naughty not nice. Mull the hell out of it and serve to your guests to speed up their departure."
Still waiting on my pumpkin wine..........fun to make but a dare to drink.

Can you guess what this is?

Morels

Morel season is now ! My friend Dan found his first morel/wild mushroom, sent me these pics.I will be doing my stalking this weekend with an eye for asparagus.