Vanity Fare (29 page)

RECIPES FROM

Vanity Fare

Recipes courtesy of

Emily Isaac

of Trois Pommes Patisserie

(troispommespatisserie.com).

Much Ado About Muffins

MAKES A DOZEN MUFFINS
.

1 stick unsalted butter (room temperature)

1 cup granulated sugar

2 whole eggs

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

½ cup milk

¼ cup dried cranberries

¼ cup chocolate chips

¼ cups chopped walnuts

For the crumb topping:

1 cup flour

⅓ cup dark brown sugar

¼ cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon salt

2 ounces (one half stick) melted unsalted butter

2 tablespoons chopped pecans

Are the chocolate chips paired with the flour here? Or maybe they’re with the dried cranberries? And what about the walnuts? They seem to have an eye toward overthrowing the pecans. There’s a superfluity of ingredients here, all changing partners as quickly as you change your mind.

But once you taste this muffin, you’ll never switch again.

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Prepare a 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners.

2. In the bowl of a standing mixer using a paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar until light in color and fluffy in texture.

3. Slowly add the eggs one at a time, scraping down the bowl after each addition. Add the vanilla extract.

4. Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add one cup of the dry ingredients and ¼ cup of the milk to the sugar mixture. Then add the rest of the dry ingredients followed by the other ¼ cup of milk, being careful to scrape down the bowl once again to ensure that all of the ingredients are well combined.

5. Add the cranberries, chocolate chips, and walnuts and mix.

6. Spoon the muffin mixture into the prepared muffin pan and top with the crumb topping. Bake about half an hour, until the muffins start to brown, are firm to the touch, and a knife comes out clean when you insert it. Allow the muffins to cool for 10 to 15 minutes before serving.

7. Crumb Topping: Combine all the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Slowly add the melted butter while mixing with a wooden spoon or your hands. Add the pecans at the end.

Tart of Darkness

MAKES 6 TO 8 SERVINGS.

For the chocolate tart dough:

1 stick unsalted butter

½ cup powdered sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 ¼ cups flour

¼ cup cocoa powder

½ cup salted peanuts or other groundnuts

For the chocolate ganache:

¾ cup heavy cream

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1 tablespoon sugar

8 ounces high-quality bittersweet chocolate

1 tablespoon white rum

Obscure, faintly dangerous ingredients—Belgian chocolate, white rum, African groundnuts—combine in a swirl of flavor, topped off with a heady adventure of whipped cream. Delicious, delectable, and almost completely inscrutable, this tart reveals your most secret desires. And if Kurtz had been able to savor this, who knows how the story would have ended?

1. In the bowl of a standing mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light in color and fluffy in texture.

2. Add the eggs and the vanilla extract.

3. Sift together the flour and the cocoa powder and add to the bowl.

4. Form the dough into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap, and allow to chill in the refrigerator for one hour.

5. Spray a 7-inch tart pan that has a removable bottom.

6. Place the chilled dough between two pieces of wax or parchment paper and using a rolling pin roll into a 10-inch disk. Peel off the top layer of paper and drop the dough inside the prepared tart ring. Press down on the dough, removing the other layer of paper. Using your fingers, press the dough into the tart pan, removing any excess dough. Place the tart pan in the freezer for at least 30 minutes.

7. Bake the tart shell in 325˚F oven for about 20 minutes, until firm. Allow to cool for half an hour.

8. Sprinkle half of the salted peanuts on the bottom of the tart shell. Pour the ganache into the shell and sprinkle the other half of the peanuts on the top. Allow to chill for about half an hour. Serve with whipped cream.

9. Chocolate Ganache: Combine the cream, butter, and sugar in a pot and bring to a boil. Break apart the chocolate in a bowl. Slowly pour the cream mixture over the chocolate and allow to sit for 5 minutes. Whisk together, adding the rum, until creamy and well combined.

Gravity’s Rainbow Cookies

MAKES 32 COOKIES
.

4 ounces almond paste

1 stick (4 ounces) soft butter

1 cup sugar

3 eggs

3 teaspoons almond extract

1 cup flour

¼ teaspoon baking powder

pinch of salt

green and red food coloring

¼ cup raspberry jam

¼ cup apricot jam

For the chocolate glaze:

4 ounces chocolate

1 stick butter

1 tablespoon light corn syrup

2 tablespoons water

Is it possible for a cookie, a mere dessert, to achieve an altered state of consciousness? Pynch yourself. It is. Marzipan, food coloring, almond extract, raspberry jam, and chocolate chips blend into a splendid mishmash of flavors, very confusing but ultimately completely satisfying. Rainbow nonpareils top the cookie, which is a nonpareil in itself.

1. Preheat the oven to 325˚F. Prepare three 11-by-7 brownie pans by spraying with vegetable spray and lining with parchment paper.

2. In a standing mixer, cream together the almond paste, butter, and sugar until fluffy and light in color. Add the eggs, one at a time, scraping down the bowl after each egg is added. Add the vanilla extract.

3. Sift together the dry ingredients and add to the sugar mixture. Mix until well combined.

4. Divide the batter into three bowls. Add a few drops of green food coloring to one bowl and a few drops of red food coloring to the other. Leave one bowl of batter white.

5. Pour the batter into the prepared pans. Bake until firm, about 5 minutes.

6. Allow to cool completely before continuing.

7. Place the red layer on a plate and cover with raspberry jam. Place the white layer on top and cover with the apricot jam, and then place the green layer on top. Freeze for at least one hour.

8. Remove the cake from the freezer and cut into four equal strips. Pour the chocolate glaze over each strip, being careful to cover the sides. Put back in the freezer for another half hour until the glaze sets. Cut into 2-inch slices and serve.

9. Chocolate Glaze: Combine the chocolate, butter, corn syrup, and water. Whisk together over hot water bath until smooth. Remove from heat and allow to cool for about half an hour before glazing the cake strips.

Lord of the Tea Rings

MAKES ONE 6-INCH CAKE. SERVES 4 TO 6.

2 sticks unsalted butter

½ cup sugar

scrapings of ½ vanilla bean

4 eggs

2 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

powdered sugar

It’s a world far removed from ours. A world where magical creatures hunt for the ultimate dessert ring, the dessert that will bestow power on whoever eats it. Our hunt has culminated in this rich, vanilla-scented cake, perfect for long days and nights on the road to Middle Earth.

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F.

2. Prepare a 6-inch cake pan by spraying it with vegetable spray and then placing a circle of parchment paper on the bottom and spraying it again.

3. In a standing mixer, combine the butter, sugar, and vanilla bean and, using the paddle attachment, beat until light in color and fluffy in texture.

4. Add the eggs one at a time, scraping the bottom of the bowl after each addition.

5. Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt and add to the bowl. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan.

6. Bake until browned and a knife comes out clean when inserted, about 20 minutes. Allow the cake to cool for about half an hour. Unmold and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Serve at room temperature with a cup of tea.

Dorothy Parker House Rolls

MAKES 12 ROLLS
.

3 cups cottage cheese

1 tablespoon sugar

3 tablespoons onion, chopped and sauteed

1 tablespoon soft butter

⅛ teaspoon baking soda

2 whole eggs

1 package dry yeast

4 cups flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage

1 egg, for brushing

You’d bet this has got a bite to it—and you’d be right. Tangy, dry, and ever so slightly bitter, this by-no-means meek breadstuff is something to eat when you’re ready to take a chomp out of the Big Apple. It’s better in short (story) bites, but one taste of this sage-and-onion roll and you’ll be ready to take your place at the Algonquin Table. (We’d say the head of the table, but the table is round, dear,
round
!)

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.

2. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the cottage cheese, sugar, onion, butter, baking soda, and eggs.

3. In a separate bowl, mix together the yeast and 3 tablespoons water.

4. Place the flour and salt in the bowl of a standing mixer, using the dough hook. Slowly add the yeast mixture and then the cottage cheese mixture. Add the chopped sage. Knead the dough until it is smooth and forms a ball. You may need to add a bit more flour.

5. Place the dough in a bowl covered with plastic wrap and let sit in a warm area until it rises about 50 percent. Punch it down and form into 12 balls. Brush with the egg and allow to rise again.

6. Bake until very brown and puffy, about 20 minutes. Allow to cool for at least 20 minutes before eating.

Acknowledgments

Thank you to all of these wonderful people who helped me in the course of writing this: my agent, Louise Fury; Myretta Robens; Kwana Minatee-Jackson; Clare Toohey; Robin Bradford; Carolyn Jewel; Emily Isaac from Trois Pommes Patisserie; my editor, Jessica McGrady; and my friends Eva Metalios, Lori Blumenthal, and Liz Maverick.

Also to Rhys, who inspired Aidan’s character (even if he’s moved on from
Pokémon)
.

Extra thanks to Anne Clark, who joined me for wine and
Wuthering Heights,
which is when I first thought of the book.

About the Author

MEGAN CALDWELL
grew up in a remote town in New Hampshire where she devoured every book of fiction in her well-read parents’ library. An English literature major at Barnard College with double minors in political science and religion, Megan wrote and edited reviews for a music industry magazine for fifteen years. Eventually, she became editor-in-chief and went on to develop conference programs for the industry. Now she is the community manager for Heroes and Heartbreakers, a romance novel website, where she blogs daily as Megan Frampton about the fiction she reads. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and son.

www.MeganFrampton.com

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Credits

Cover design and photograph by Laura Klynstra

Copyright

This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

VANITY FARE
. Copyright © 2013 by Megan Frampton. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins ebooks.

FIRST EDITION

ISBN 978-0-06-218836-6

Epub Edition © JANUARY 2013 ISBN: 9780062188434

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