Moist, dark, spicy, but not too sweet, this is classic gingerbread. My addition of black pepper is because it was a constant ingredient in gingerbreads of the past. It sparks the other ingredients.
Ingredients
I know that suggesting homemade ice cream for an easy after-work supper makes me sound as if I'm going into deranged superwoman overdrive, but may I put the case for the defense?
This tender, buttery cake is based on the Marble Gugelhupf at Demel in Vienna, although I've added baking powder to give it the lighter crumb Americans prefer.
In Alta Verapaz, a lush and deeply forested region of Guatemala that was part of the ancient Mesoamerican chocolate empire, the Kekchi Maya roast cacao beans and grind them with ululte, the local name for the tiny but devilish chile piquin. They shape the resulting sticky paste into balls, which are then air-dried and stored. To add heat and flavor to feast dishes like the chompipe (turkey) and pepiaries (stews thickened with pumpkin seeds), they grate a little of this mixture over the food.
Brandy or Cognac can be used as long as it is a minimum of 80-proof.
Perfect for summer, especially when cherries are in season. With this sundae, the cherries don't go on top—they go into the ice cream. The "double" chocolate is the combo of bittersweet chocolate and crunchy nibs of cocoa bean. (One brand to look for is Michel Cluizel's "61% Cocoa with Cocoa Bean Nibs," or blend nibs, available in some fancy-food shops, with good bittersweet chocolate.) Prepare sauce and ice cream well ahead.
Ingredients
First thing you should know is that these donuts are worth eating a full day after you fry them.
This is the best shoofly pie I’ve eaten, and believe me, I’ve tried many. Some versions are dry and soft; others are quite gooey and moist. This one falls somewhere in between, and is thick and unabashedly pleasing. Shoofly is authentic American pie that comes to us from the Pennsylvania Amish and Mennonites and the Pennsylvania Dutch; we should be grateful to them forever.