Quiche Supper

I’ve become a fan of quiche.  I wouldn’t have said that a year ago, because I hadn’t even made a quiche before Easter 2009.  However, it’s a great way to use up bits of meat, veggies, and cheese … and it’s quick!

Quick Quiche
Yield: 6-8 servings
Ingredients:

• 4 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups whipping cream, 1/2 & 1/2 or milk
• 1/2 cup vegetables, cooked
• 3/4 cup diced meat – ham, chicken, shrimp, etc.
• 1 1/2 cups shredded cheese – cheddar, swiss, colby, etc.  (swiss is my favorite)
• salt & pepper to taste
• Other extras: chopped green onion, chopped chives, chopped parsley, dash of nutmeg

Directions:  Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Spray or butter a 9” pie dish.  Beat the eggs and mix in the cream.  Add the vegetables, meat and cheese.  Mix thoroughly.  Add seasoning.  Pour mixture into the pie dish. 
 
Bake for 40-45 minutes or until just set in the center. **I needed to bake my quiche for 20 minutes longer.  Be prepared for that!**  Let set 10 minutes before serving.

Note:  I usually bake pies/quiche, and anything I ‘think’ might boil over, on a large pizza pan.  Save me from having to put up with a burnt smell until I have time to thoroughly clean the oven.

Chocolate Angel Food Cake ...

... with the substitute cake flour. 

Aside from my being a little rusty in removing all the large air bubbles, the cake looks and 'feels' right.  There are a couple of large depressions around the edge and one on the top of the cake where I didn't get all the air pockets deflated before baking.  I don't remember having to run knife through the batter and being so diligent about it, but I probably wasn't the one doing it!  Besides, who will really be able to tell once we slice it up and put a dollop of whipped cream and raspberries over top???  Well, if they notice, hopefully they'll not say anything.  SHhhhhh!

Here's the recipe I used, should you suddenly find yourself with an abundance of egg whites.

Chocolate Angel Food Cake

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 cup cake flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
12 egg whites (about 1 1/2 cups ... my amount was more & it turned out fine)
1 1/2 tsp. cream of tartar
1 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. salt

Directions:

Move oven rack to the lowest position.  Heat oven to 375 degrees.  Mix powdered sugar, cocoa, and flour in a separate bowl and set aside.  Beat egg whites and cream of tartar in medium bowl on medium speed until foamy.  Beat in granulated sugar on high speed, 2 tablespoons at a time, adding vanilla and salt with the last addition of sugar.  Continue beating until stiff and glossy.  Do not underbeat.

Sprinkle sugar-flour mixture, 1/4 cup at a time, over meringue, folding in just until the sugar-flour disappears.  Spoon into an ungreased tube pan.  Cut gently through batter - apparently this step is pretty important!

Bake 30-35 minutes or until cracks in cake feel dry & spring back when touched lightly.  Immediately turn pan upside down onto glass bottle or metal funnel.  Let hang two hours or until cake is completely cool.  Remove from pan.

Egg Yolk Cookies

This is the recipe to have after you’ve made a home-made Angel Food cake!  They’re crisp and flavorful with a nice yellow/orange tint to the batter.

Egg Yolk Cookies

Ingredients:
12 egg yolks
1 c. brown sugar
1 c. white sugar
1 1/2 cups butter
2 –3 tsp. lemon & orange flavoring
3 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. soda
2 tsp. baking powder


Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cream sugars with butter.  Add slightly beaten egg yolks.
3. Sift dry ingredients; add to creamed mixture.
4. Add flavoring.  *I added 2 tsp. pure lemon extract … I didn’t have orange extract available.
5. Use a small cookie scoop to drop little balls onto the cookie sheet and then flatten with a glass dipped in sugar.

6. Bake 7-10 minutes.

Cake Flour Substitute

 

I remember my mom always having a box of Softasilk cake flour in the cupboard.  Those were the days when we didn’t have many boxed cake options and our Angel Food cake was always made from scratch.  For years, now, I’ve just bought the boxed mix for Angel Food cake, but that is about to change!  With our new-found supply of eggs, I am making an Angel Food cake from scratch (then I can test out the 12 egg-yolk cookie recipe, which I did eventually remember to search for and print out).

But, Angel Food Cake recipes always call for cake flour, which has a lower gluten content than other flours.  I do not keep cake flour on hand, so am going to try a substitution of 3/4 cup all-purpose flour, sifted, plus 2 tablespoons cornstarch for every cup of cake flour called for in the recipe.

I have seen at least one review that said it didn’t work well for Angel Food Cake, but I am going to try it regardless.  I wonder if the flour was properly sifted before being added to the Angel Food Cake batter … I’ll wonder until I try it. 

Dash’s birthday is later this week, and for his celebration with family, I’m planning to make a Chocolate Angel Food cake.  I remember them as being very tasty served with whipped cream and berries!  I’ll post my Chocolate Angel Food cake recipe and a picture later, then you and I will both know if the cake flour substitute ‘works.’