Cranberry-Almond Granola

This recipe for Cranberry-Almond Granola is the same basic recipe I always use, often substituting raisins, dried apricots, or dates for the cranberries, and swapping pecans or walnuts for the almonds, sometimes throwing in pumpkin seeds, chia, or coconut. This recipe will work for whatever you want to add to your granola — but always remember to add fruits AFTER cooking, otherwise their (and the granola’s) consistency is ruined. Granola is fantastic on top of yogurt, with milk, or just by itself.

Ingredients:

Yields approximately 9 cups

– 1/2 c. oil

– 2 Tbsp. honey

– 2 Tbsp. high-quality maple syrup

– 1/2 tsp. vanilla

– 1/4 c. brown sugar

– 3 c. oats

– 1/2 c. millet

– 1/2 c. sunflower seeds

– 1/4 c. flax seeds

– 3/4 c. shaved almonds

– 3/4 c. unsweetened dried cranberries

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F

2. In a small saucepan over low-medium heat, combine oil, honey, syrup, vanilla, and sugar. Heat until sugar is dissolved and liquid is uniform consistency.

3. Combine all dry ingredients, EXCEPT cranberries in a large bowl

4. Pour liquid over dry ingredients, stirring gently

5. Spread granola evenly over an aluminum or parchment lined baking sheet

6. Bake at 350F for 30 minutes, or until golden brown, stirring occasionally with a spatula. (Keep an eye on it though — it can burn quickly!)

7. Allow to cool, mix in cranberries and enjoy! Store in an airtight container.

Black Rye Bread

Been looking for a rye bread recipe so bad-ass and robust it makes regular rye taste like Wonderbread? Probably not, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try making your own loaf of Black Rye. Variations of this recipe are found throughout Russia, Scandinavia, Eastern Europe, and the Balkans, but the characteristic flavor in this loaf comes from rye flour, cocoa, molasses, caraway, and coffee. Sounds weird, right? Wrong! It’s delicious…

This is a very hearty bread, perfect for cold winter weather. Enjoy it like they do in Lithuania, fried in oil and smeared with garlic (kepta duona); the Latvian way, with raspberry or apricot jam and sweet cream (rupjmaizes kartojums); like they do in throughout Scandinavia with sliced cheese, boiled egg and/or pickled vegetables (variations of smorbrod); or just enjoy it simply smeared with butter or dunked into your favorite soup. It’s delicious whatever you do with it.

Ingredients:

Yields 1 small loaf

– 1 1/2 c. all purpose flour

– 3 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder

– 1/4 oz. package active dry yeast

– 2 tsp. caraway seeds

– 2 tsp. salt

– 1 Tbsp. butter or butter substitute

– 1/4 c. unsulphured molasses

– 1 1/2 tsp. brown sugar

– 1 Tbsp. vegetable oil

– 1 c. strong brewed coffee

– 1 3/4 c. rye flour

Directions:

1. In a large bowl combine flour, cocoa, yeast, caraway seeds, and salt

2. In a small bowl mix butter, molasses, brown sugar, and oil into hot coffee (mixture should be quite warm — 100-115F — but not scalding)

3. Add liquid to dry mixture

4. Stir until well-integrated, frequently scraping down bowl, and then mix vigorously for 2-3 minutes

5. Stir in 1 c. of the rye flour and then gradually add remaining 3/4 c. using hands

6. Knead on a clean, lightly floured surface for 5 minutes, until dough is smooth and elastic

7. Cover and allow to rise in a warm place 1 hour, or until doubled in size 8. Punch dough down, knead briefly, and shape into a small oval loaf

9. Place loaf on a greased baking sheet and brush with oil. Slash top of loaf with knife *Optional: sprinkle with oats and caraway seeds

10. Cover and set in a warm place to rise, 1 hour or until doubled in size

11. Uncover and bake at 400F for 25 minutes

12. Remove from baking sheet and place on a rack or towel to cool

Perfect and Simple Cornbread

This is a simple, fool-proof and absolutely delicious recipe for traditional cornbread. Just slightly sweet, this bread would be perfect for use in a cornbread stuffing, though it is also wonderful eaten alone with a smear of butter and a drizzle of maple syrup…..

 

Ingredients:

– 2 c. yellow corn meal

– 2 c. flour

– 1/2 c. sugar

– 2 Tbsp. baking powder

– 2 tsp. salt

– 2 1/2 c. milk

– 5 Tbsp. melted butter

– 3 Tbsp. oil

– 4 eggs, lightly beaten

 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375F

2. In a large bowl combine corn meal, flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder

3. In a small bowl combine milk, butter, oil, and eggs

4. Add liquids to dry ingredients

5. Stir wet ingredients into dry until just combined

6. Pour batter into a well-greased 13x9x2 baking pan (you can use another size but baking times may vary)

7. Bake at 375F for 35 minutes, or until top is golden and a toothpick or knife inserted into the center comes out clean

Enjoy! If using for cornbread stuffing make at least 24 hours in advance — you want the bread to be just slightly stale so that it doesn’t get too soggy when you add your stock and other ingredients!

 

 

Best Apple Pie

This apple pie recipe is about as classic, simple, and delicious as it gets. This recipe is super-easy but sure to impress — the perfect pie for Thanksgiving, or just any cozy autumn evening you want something comforting and special.

Ingredients:

– Pie dough (you can use store-bought crust here, but if you do, you must use two)

– 7-8 medium sized apples (about 3.5 pounds) — I used a mix of Honeycrisp, Jonagold, Braeburn, and Granny Smith

– 1/4 c. butter or butter substitute

– 2 Tbsp. flour

– 1/2 c. granulated sugar

– 1/2 c. brown sugar

– 2 tsp. cinnamon

– 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg

Directions:

1. Prepare pie dough according to recipe. Put in refrigerator to chill at least 30 minutes

2. Preheat oven to 450F

3. Peel, core, and slice apples

4. Melt butter, then pour over apples and toss to coat

5. Combine flour, sugars, and spices

6. Sprinkle dry mixture over buttered apples and mix well

7. Separate pie dough into two equal parts. Roll out one half of dough to about 1mm thick and fit to pie pan

8. Put apple filling into pie. Don’t worry if it seems like there are a lot of apples — they should mound over the top of the crust/tin and will reduce when baked

9. Roll out second piece of dough

10. Carefully place dough on top of pie to cover. Roll top edges over the overhanging dough from the bottom piece and pinch into place

11. Use a sharp knife to cut several holes into the top crust so that steam can vent

12. Bake in oven at 450F for 15 minutes, then reduce temperature to 325F and bake for an additional 25-30 minutes, until golden brown

13. Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly. Can be baked ahead of time and reheated at 200F for 15 minutes before serving

14. Enjoy! We enjoyed ours so much I forgot to take pictures after we cut into it! 🙂

Dark Chocolate-Cranberry Cookies

These are only slightly modified from my all-time favorite cookie recipe for White Chocolate-Cranberry Cookies. Obviously, the adaptation was not a difficult one…These cookies are chewy, rich, and delicious, and can easily be made via traditional recipe or adapted to a vegan cookie. Dark chocolate in a vegan cookie? Indeed! Any high quality dark chocolate should be vegan in fact. As a rule milk fat is only added to poor-quality dark chocolate, so if you are vegan, just be sure to read the ingredient list before selecting your chocolate, or, of course, you can always use carob instead…

I’m trying to make the switch over to thinking in terms of fall ingredients, and now that the weather has (finally!) cooled down a little that shift seems a bit more natural….Not that dried cranberries are particularly a “fall” ingredient, but fresh cranberries do begin to come into their peak in October, and we generally associate cranberries with Thanksgiving and Christmas, so it’s not that much of a stretch to count this as an autumn recipe….is it? I am trying to start assembling my Thanksgiving recipes now so that I can get some of them up on the site in plenty of time for the holiday, and requests and suggestions are always very much appreciated…What are your favorite Thanksgiving side dishes and desserts? I’d love to hear about what dish you most look forward to at your holiday meal….

Anyway, the cookies:

Ingredients:

Yield: about 2 dozen cookies

– 1 c. flour

– 1 tsp. salt

– 1 tsp. baking soda

– 1 c. butter or butter substitute, softened

– 3/4 c. brown sugar

– 3/4 c. white sugar

– 1 tsp. vanilla extract

– 2 eggs (or 1/2 c. applesauce, plus 1 Tbsp. vegetable oil for vegan cookies)

– 1 1/2 c. dark chocolate chips or pieces

– 1 c. dried sweetened cranberries

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375F

2. Sift together flour, salt, and baking soda in a small bowl

3. In a large bowl  combine butter (substitute) and both types of sugar. Beat until smooth and fluffy

4. Add vanilla to creamed sugars

5. Add eggs one at a time, or if making vegan cookies, mix together applesauce and oil and add slowly to your sugar mix

6. Slowly begin to mix in your flour, adding a bit at a time and mixing well after each addition

7. Add dark chocolate to your cookie dough. Mix well.

8. Add dried cranberries

9. Use a spoon (or your hands!) to scoop out cookies. Place on greased baking sheets and bake for 10 minutes.

10. Remove from oven. Allow to cool on baking sheets 2-3 minutes.

11. Transfer to a cooling rack or paper towels to finish cooling.

12. Enjoy!

Someone really wants that cookie…

Toasted Coconut Cupcakes with Caramel Frosting

It was my birthday last week, so I decided I was going to bake myself something really fun. I have been a coconut fiend ever since I was a little girl, and I have really been wanting to experiment with making coconut-milk dulce de leche and vegan caramel, so it didn’t take long to decide on these Toasted Coconut Cupcakes with Caramel Frosting. My father’s birthday is the day after mine (True story: if I had been born one day later, and another gender, I would have been Peik Johan III…), and since he was about to go out of town, we decided to celebrate our birthdays together.

Now, my Pops is a foodie. The man loves to cook, the man goes out to a good restaurant at least once a week, watches cooking shows, pre-orders cookbooks, etc., etc. Along with that culinary elitism also goes an unparalleled passion for animal protein. Like, seriously: my husband’s a meat-lover but he doesn’t even come close to my old man, not even the same ball-park. I daresay it even borders on mental illness…I’m not bad-talking my dad here — just having a little fun at his expense 🙂 For our birthday celebration I decided that I would challenge myself to see if I could bake vegan cupcakes good enough to slip by the old bear that nary a once-breathing thing was involved in our birthday yumminess. Success!

There are two common misconceptions about vegan food: 1)It never tastes good, and 2) It is always really good for you. Newsflash: any kind of food can be delicious or disgusting depending on the quality of the ingredients and preparation, and vegan definitely does not equal healthy — Oreos, Fruit Loops, and Sour Patch Kids are all examples of vegan junk food. Indeed, these cupcakes definitely expose both of those statements as falsehoods. I wish I could say these were good for you, but alas, find me a healthy cupcake and I’ll be your slave for life…However; creamy, decadent, and outrageously delicious, no one would ever guess these cupcakes were vegan, as my father proved…

Ingredients:

Yields 12 frosted, decorated cupcakes

Coconut Cupcakes:

– 1 1/2 c. flour

– 1 c. white sugar

– 1/2 c. unsweetened coconut flakes

– 1 tsp. baking soda

– 1 tsp. salt

– 1 c. coconut milk

– 1/3 c. vegetable or canola oil

– 1 Tbsp. dark rum, such as Meyer’s

– 1 tsp. vanilla

– 1 tsp. red wine vinegar

 

Coconut-Milk Caramel Frosting:

– 1 13.5 oz. can coconut milk

– 3/4 c. brown sugar

– 1/2 tsp. salt

– 3/4 c. Earth Balance, or other buttery spread (of course, if you are not a vegan you can use regular butter here)

– 1 1/2 c. powdered sugar, or more if needed

– 1 tsp. vanilla

– 1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes

 

 

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350F, grease cupcake tin or ready with paper liners

2. In a large bowl combine flour, sugar, coconut, soda, and salt

3. Add milk, oil, rum, and vanilla to the dry ingredients. Add vinegar last, then stir well to combine

4. Pour batter into tin and place in 350F oven to bake for 30 minutes, or until golden brown and a skewer or knife inserted into the middle of cakes comes out clean

5. Set cupcakes aside and allow to cool while you prepare your frosting

6. Place coconut milk in a small saucepan or skillet over medium heat

7. Once skin begins to form over the milk and small bubbles appear, stir gently while adding brown sugar and salt

8. Gently stir until sugar is dissolved completely and color is consistent. Turn heat to medium-low

9. Cook until reduced by half — about 20-25 minutes — stirring often and scraping down the sides of the pan

10. Remove from heat and set aside to cool (This coconut-milk caramel could also be used as a sundae topping for soy or almond milk ice cream, spooned over grilled bananas with chopped peanuts, or anything else you could think to do with regular caramel sauce!)

11. In the bowl of an electric mixer beat Earth Balance until smooth and creamy

12. Add 1 c. of the powdered sugar and beat until lump-free

13. At medium speed add vanilla to frosting, then slowly begin to add the cooled caramel sauce

14. Once caramel has been combined, add remaining 1/2 c. of powdered sugar. Evaluate your frosting — if you want it thicker and stiffer add more powdered sugar. (Just be careful not to over beat this frosting as it can “break”)

15. Spread your coconut over a sheet pan

16. Bake in your 350F oven for 3-5 minutes. Watch carefully — coconut can burn in an instant!

17. You are now ready to decorate your cupcakes! Use a pastry bag to pipe frosting liberally over cupcakes, or simply slather it on with a knife. Top with toasted coconut flakes.

18. Try not to eat them all at once….

Recipe for cupcake batter adapted from vegweb recipe, coconut-milk caramel and frosting recipe developed completely by my own trial and error and recipe my own.

Caramel Custard Bread Pudding

Its going to be difficult for me to describe just how delicious this is without using expletives…..Let’s just say that this is the kind of thing that you may want to eat in private because there will probably be sufficient eye-fluttering and moaning to cause some embarrassment in mixed company. It’s what would happen if creme brulee, caramel, and French toast had a menage a trois…Yeah, it’s that good…

I never liked sweets. Given the choice of a cheese plate or popcorn (or a cocktail) versus dessert, the savory option would win every time. And then I got pregnant. Aside from wanting to put cream cheese on everything, I also craved sugar. Hard core. There was a key lime pie phase, a lemon bar phase, a chocolate-raspberry truffle phase, a peanut brittle phase, and a cinnamon ice cream phase. Not that I was turning down any other sweets available amidst the cravings….I had assumed that once my daughter was born the cravings, and the sweet tooth, would go away. Incorrect. It seems that the sweet tooth that was neglected for so many years is here to stay, and wants to make up for lost time…

Now, despite my newfound love of all things dessert, I’ve never been a big fan of bread pudding; but, my sweet, wonderful sister recently brought me some amazing local eggs and raw milk from the farm she works on, and I wanted to put them to good use.

(Quick note: Sea Island Eggs are a much-coveted Charleston delicacy. Known locally as “Celeste Eggs” they are found on the menus of all of the best local restaurants. Why? Because they are delicious — nothing like the eggs you find in the grocery store. Next time you’re at your local farmer’s market, see if you can find a local egg purveyor. You’ll never be able to go back to supermarket eggs again, I promise.) I also just baked a loaf of bread yesterday, so putting the eggs, milk, and bread together for an easy dessert seemed like a no-brainer, but how to make it more appealing was another question entirely. I considered strawberries briefly — and then, out of nowhere, it hit me: caramel.

One of my favorite sweet things in the world is caramel. I LOVE caramel. Like, love it the way peanut butter loves jelly, like Ricky loves Lucy (bad analogy: my love for caramel is waaaay more affectionate), like a fat kid loves cake…or caramel for that matter… Eating caramel is an other-worldly experience, but for all of the complexity of its flavor it is astonishingly simple to make: milk (or cream), butter, brown sugar. That’s it — three simple ingredients. For this recipe the milk, butter, and sugar are all baked together with the bread, rather than separately making a caramel sauce, so it’s just about as easy as could possibly be.

Ingredients:

Yields 6-8 servings

– 2 2/3 c.  whole milk

– 1/4 c. butter

– 1 c. brown sugar, plus 2 Tbsp.

– 3 eggs

– 1 tsp. vanilla

– 1/4 tsp. salt

– 3 c. cubed (about 1”) day-old bread — use the rest of that baguette left over from last night’s dinner, or some crusty French bread, or use my easy recipe to bake your own, but don’t use pre-sliced sandwich bread — your results will be disappointing

– 1/4 tsp. vanilla

– 2 Tbsp. ground cinnamon

Directions:

1. Cut bread into cubes, removing crusts

2. Toast bread briefly under broiler, until crisp. I tossed mine in about a tablespoon of melted butter, but it’s not necessary

3. Set oven to 350F

4. Scald milk*

*Scalding milk is not a common practice anymore. It used to be crucial when baking, but now that our milk is pretty much all pasteurized there’s not the same concern about bacteria. However, when working with breads it is a good idea to scald your milk to keep the bread fluffy. To scald milk:

– Heat milk over medium-low heat

– Stir frequently

– Cook until just beginning to bubble and steam, but DO NOT boil

– Remove from heat

5. Add butter to scalded milk and let cool

6. Add two eggs, plus one egg yolk to one cup of the brown sugar. Mix well.

7. Place bread cubes in a greased bread tin or a 1 1/2 quart casserole dish

8. Add cooled milk to egg/sugar mixture. Add vanilla and salt. Mix well.

9. Pour liquid mixture over bread cubes

10. Sprinkle cinnamon and remaining 2 Tbsp. brown sugar over top of bread

11. Set casserole/bread tin in a pan containing about 2” of water

12. Bake in oven at 350F for 50 minutes or until a skewer or knife inserted into the center comes out clean

* Be very careful removing the pan from the oven! That water is HOT — strain it carefully into the sink before attempting to remove your casserole or bread tin from the pan.

Serve warm or cold.

I was kicking myself for not having any vanilla ice cream or whipped cream in the house — that would have been unbelievable. I topped it instead with a little bit of powdered sugar and a splash of raw milk. So good I had two pieces and had to stop myself from eating more…

It also occurred to me that adding chopped apple, pear, or banana into this would be absolutely insane. In a good way. Or chunks of dark chocolate?!? Craziness! It might be too much to handle…

Adapted from Farm Journal’s Country Cookbook, 1959

Best Blueberry Pancakes

Blueberry pancakes are the perfect lazy Sunday breakfast, though, I would gladly eat these for dinner any night of the week…These pancakes are substantial and yet somehow light at the same time, and showcase one of summer’s best fruits.

 

Ingredients:

Makes about 1 dozen pancakes, depending on size

– 1 c. flour

– 2 1/2 tsp. baking powder

– 1/2 tsp. salt

– 2 Tbsp. sugar

– 1 egg, beaten (or 1/4 c. applesauce)

– 1 c. milk (or almond milk) — 1/4 c.  more can be added if you desire thinner pancakes

– 4 Tbsp. melted vegetable shortening or butter

– 3/4 fresh blueberries

*ingredients in parentheses are for vegan recipe

 

Directions:

1. Heat skillet or griddle over medium heat

2. In a large bowl combine flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar

3. In another bowl, add milk to beaten egg and mix well

4. Stir melted shortening or butter into milk-egg mixture

5. Combine flour and liquids at once and beat until perfectly smooth

6. Fold in blueberries

7. Grease griddle

8. Using a soup ladle or 1/4 measuring cup, pour batter into center of heated pan

9. Bake until you see air bubbles appear on the top of the batter, then flip until both sides are golden brown

10. Continue with remainder of batter

11. Serve immediately with maple syrup, fruit reduction, honey, butter, or jam

12. Enjoy!

Adapted from The Modern Family Cookbook, 1942

Sweet and Salty Peanut Butter Cookies

My brother’s birthday is on Monday. Unfortunately (for me, anyway) he is spending the summer working on Nantucket. So, since I will not be able to celebrate the anniversary of his arrival into this world in-person, I’ve opted instead to send him a care package. Along with road atlases of the American Southwest, Chile, and Mexico, a Moleskin journal, and break-away piece of amazing dark chocolate, I am also sending homemade peanut butter cookies; his favorite. I’m a big fan of the sweet/salty flavor combo, so I decided to add some crushed salted peanuts to my usual recipe. These were delicious! I think next time I’ll try making these using cashew butter and salted cashews….and maybe sprinkling a little sea salt over the top before baking too…

Ingredients:

Makes 2 dozen large cookies

– 2 1/2 c. flour

– 1/2 tsp. baking soda

– 1 tsp. baking powder

– 1 c. butter or butter substitute

– 1 c. sugar

– 1 c. brown sugar

– 2 eggs, beaten (or 1/2 c. applesauce if making vegan)

– 1 c. peanut butter

– 2 tsp. vanilla

– 3/4 c. crushed, salted peanuts

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375F

2. Measure flour, baking soda, and baking powder into a large bowl

3. In a separate bowl, cream together butter (substitute) and both sugars. Beat until well blended, but not fluffy

4. Add eggs (or applesauce), peanut butter*, and vanilla to creamed sugars

* Tip: To prevent peanut butter from sticking to your measuring cup, spray cup first with a little cooking spray — it minimizes mess and frustration!

5. Add peanut butter mixture to your flour and incorporate fully

6. Add crushed peanuts to dough. I just put my peanuts into a large ziploc bag and used a pestle to crush them…

7. Mix well

8. Using your hands and/or a spoon, roll pieces of the dough to form smooth balls. I made these cookies rather on the large side, but the size you make them is totally up to you

9. Place cookies on an ungreased cookie sheet, with at least 2” between each

10. If desired, press tops of cookies with the tines of a fork to get that old-fashioned PB cookie look

11. Bake for 10 minutes, or until golden

12. Let cool on cookie sheet about 5 minutes, and then transfer to a wire rack or paper towels to finish cooling. I find I get the best results when I bake 1 tray at a time…

And, of course, I had to do a taste test before sending these. Delicious!

Decadent Pineapple Upside-Down Cake (with vegan options)

When I asked my stepson, Mason, what dessert he would like for me to make he took the question very seriously. After much conflicted deliberation and mind-changing he decided upon Pineapple Upside-Down Cake. (It was between that and Coconut Cream Pie…so maybe that’s next.) I don’t think I had ever even tasted a real Pineapple Upside-Down Cake (outside of a shot glass, I mean), let alone made one, but after eating a piece of this (okay, more like six pieces…) I am certain I will be making this again. Soon.

Are there things that I would do differently? There are: I would probably make the whole thing from start to finish in a 10” cast iron skillet, so that the pineapple had a chance to caramelize a bit more and have a little more texture; I’d use brown sugar in the pineapple/cornstarch mixture to get a richer, deeper, more caramel-like flavor; I would use pineapple rings in the decorative first layer with the maraschinos to get that classic Pineapple Upside-Down Cake look. But regardless of the type of pan it was made in, what kind of sugar I used, or how pretty it was, there is no doubt that this was one darn delicious cake. Not only did my husband say that it was one of his favorite things I have ever made, but nary a crumb was left of it 24-hours later! With only three people in the house… I think it’s safe to say we liked this cake…and that a few pounds were gained between the three of us….

Ingredients:

– 1 c. sugar (or 1/3 c. brown sugar, 2/3 c. white)

– 3 Tbsp. cornstarch

– 20 oz. crushed pineapple

– 2 Tbsp. melted butter or Earth Balance/butter substitute

– 1/2 c. maraschino cherries

– 1 2/3 c. flour

– 1/2 tsp. salt

– 2 1/4 tsp. baking powder

– 1/3 c. vegetable shortening

– 2 eggs, beaten (or 1/2 c. applesauce for vegan version)

– 1/2 tsp. vanilla

– 1/2 c. milk (or almond milk for vegan)

Directions:

1. Mix 1/3 c. of sugar with the cornstarch. Add juice drained from the pineapple  (about 3/4 – 1 c.)

2. Cook in a saucepan, stirring constantly until sauce boils and becomes glossy and clear:

3. Add drained pineapple and melted butter/butter substitute. Mix well and remove from heat

4. Drain cherries and arrange in whichever pan you’d like to use. I used a 9” spring-form cake tin, but you could use a large skillet or a regular cake pan, even a casserole dish or bundt tin would work

5. Cover cherries with pineapple mixture

6. In a large bowl mix together the flour, salt, and baking powder

7. Cream the shortening with the remaining 2/3 c. sugar and the eggs (or applesauce). Beat until smooth and fluffy. Add the vanilla.

8. Add the flour mixture and the (almond) milk alternately to the creamed shortening, ending with the flour. Mix well.

9. Pour batter over pineapple, smooth evenly to cover

10. Bake in a preheated oven at 350F for 35-40 minutes. The center of your cake should be golden and barely springy when gently pressed with fingertips

11. Remove from oven and let cool 10-15 minutes

12. Turn onto a serving plate and let cool another 10-15 minutes. This part is important — the still hot pineapple juice will seep down into your cake, making it super moist and, well, pineapple-y….This part of the cooling process also allows your pineapple layer to set a bit. I rushed this part; as you may be able to tell from the pictures…

13. Carefully remove pan from cake

14. Serve warm. Do yourself a favor and throw some whipped cream or vanilla ice cream up on this beast….you won’t be disappointed….

Adapted from The Modern Family Cookbook, 1942