Glazed Orange Cake

Hello, December.

Good-bye July, August, Septoctvember...

Uhh, what happened for six months ... ?!

Oh right, wild and adventurous chaos consumed my life.

!!!

No really. Chaos. I'm still wigging out.

I traded my mountain view for a windy lakefront. A five-bedroom ranch-style house with dos fireplaces and a screened-in porch for a one-bedroom apartment that costs me twice as much. My office job for an apron and artisan breads. A personal vehicle for a CTA pass. And most significantly and troublesome of all, mild, mild winters for intolerable arctic temperatures.

Not arctic. But close enough.

Chicago. I moved there. Here. I live in Chicago.

I have a library card to prove it.

My iPhone saw all this.

But today, the first of December AND more importantly, my first Saturday off since I snagged a job in the Windy City, I decided to introduce Virginia to my new life-partner, Chitown.

My thoughtful friend Ana sent me off to the Midwest with a bit of Southern charm in tow: the Virginia Hospitality Cookbook.

A conglomeration of the commonwealth's heritage and culinary tradition.

So, in consummating the marriage between VA and Chicago, I chose a wintery cake recipe from the historic Kenmore Plantation to commemorate my new location on Kenmore.

Glazed Orange Cake

Food creds: Virginia Hospitality

Ingredients:

         Cake:

            1 cup butter, softened

            2 cups sugar

            1/2 tsp vanilla

            2 T orange zest

            5 eggs
            3 cups cake flour
            1 T baking powder
            3/4 cup milk

         Glaze:

            1/4 cup butter

            1/3 cup orange juice

            2/3 cup sugar

          

Directions:

         1. Preheat oven to 350°. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. 

         2. Add vanilla and orange rind. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each.

         3. Combine and sift cake flour, baking powder, and salt twice. Add dry ingredients to the creamed mixture gradually, alternating with the milk and ending with the flour, beating well after each addition.

         4. Spoon batter into buttered and floured tube pan and bake 1 hour or until cake springs back when touched. 

         5. Cool 15 minutes.

         1. Heat ingredients in saucepan until sugar is dissolved.

         2. Pour evenly over cake in pan while cake is still warm. 

         3. Allow cake to cool thoroughly in the pan before removing.



Thank you, Virginia, for your hospitality and sweet Southern edibles.

With love, from one Kenmore to another.

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Breakfasting

Could I own a bakery that only made crescent rolls filled with a variety of deliciousness and be successful?

I think I could. I think you could. I think this should happen. I think I'm giving you a business tip. I don't know anything about business.

But somewhere in the world someone is baking crescent rolls with something random inside them right this very moment.

In that same kitchen someone is nibbling, oh please, shoveling a mass of flaky carb goodness into her mouth and pondering why that combination hasn't been sold in mass quantity by now.

Perhaps that shoveler is me -- just bein' real.

A decadent spread on Christmas morn'.

Looks like someone else knows a little somethin' about shoveling, too...

My mom is master at escaping the camera lens. I caught her elbow. Small victory.

 

Sausage | Egg Scramble Crescent Rolls

Ingredients:

             1 can crescent rolls (8 rolls)

             1 tbsp melted butter
             shredded cheese

             4 eggs

             milk

             seasonings optional (salt, pepper, garlic powder, chives)

             8 sausage links

                         

Directions:

             1. Preheat oven according to can directions. Grease selected cookie

                 sheet.

             2. Unroll crescent rolls and spread melted butter on each one. 

                 Place shredded cheese at one end of roll (the end that you would 

                 begin rolling)

             3. Grease a medium-sized skillet and place over medium heat. 

                 In a bowl, combine eggs, a touch of milk (just enough so that eggs 

                 aren't too runny), and seasonings, then whisk together. Scramble 

                 in skillet.

             4. In a separate skillet, brown sausage links.

             5. On top of cheese, add scrambled eggs and a sausage link and 

                 then roll crescent like normal.

             6. Bake for 12-15 minutes.

Nutella | Strawberry Crescent Rolls

Ingredients:

             1 can crescent rolls (8 rolls)

             Nutella

             8 strawberries (sliced)

                         

Directions:

             1. Preheat oven according to can directions. Grease selected cookie

                 sheet.

             2. Unroll crescent rolls and spread Nutella on each one.

             3. Place 3-4 strawberry slices at top edge of crescent and then roll like 

                 normal.

             4. Bake for 12-15 minutes.

             5. Sprinkle with powdered sugar (optional)

           

Happy breakfasting!

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