Beth Cato's Blog, page 89
April 13, 2016
Bready or Not: Lemon-Date Bars
As I have mentioned before, my husband loves lemony desserts. These lemon-date bars have it all going on. They are shortbread plus savory-sweet plus lemon custard.
This isn’t a quick fix recipe. There are a lot of steps, but each is fairly straightforward.
The end result is an extraordinary kind of lemon bar that looks like you put a lot of effort into it. Because you did.
If you love lemon desserts, make these!
Adapted from Martha Stewart Living.
Bready or Not: Lemon-Date Bars
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These lemon-date bars layer shortbread, savory-sweetness, and lemon custard for an extraordinary dessert. There are a lot of steps, so read through them all before jumping in! This isn’t a quick fix recipe. Modified from Martha Stewart Living, February 2015.
Dates
8 ounces medjool dates, pitted and choppd
1 cup boiling water
Crust
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup confectioners' sugar, plus more for dusting
1 teaspoon coarse salt
Filling
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon coarse salt
4 large eggs
1 tablespoon finely-grated lemon zest
plus 3/4 cup fresh juice (from 4 to 5 medium lemons)
Filling: In a heatproof bowl, soak dates in boiling water for 15 minutes. Drain, reserving liquid. Purée dates in a food processor with enough of soaking liquid (about 1/2 cup) to make a spreadable paste; this can also be done with an immersion blender, but be cautious in case it spits. (You should have about 1 1/4 cups of date paste.) Let mixture completely cool in fridge.
Crust: Preheat oven to 350-degrees. Line a 9-by-13-inch baking dish with aluminum foil or parchment paper, leaving an overhang on the long sides, and use nonstick spray or butter to coat the interior.
In a bowl, whisk together flour, confectioners' sugar, and salt. Work in butter with your fingertips or a fork until it's combined and mixture holds together when pinched. Press crust evenly into bottom of prepared pan. Freeze 15 minutes so it will set. Bake the crust until light golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes.
While the crust is baking, whisk together the granulated sugar, flour, and salt. Whisk in eggs one at a time, followed by the lemon zest and juice.
Spread the cooled date paste evenly over baked crust; an uneven spatula is handy for this. Bake at 350-degrees for 4 minutes. Reduce heat to 325-degrees and pour lemon filling over date layer. Bake about 10 minutes and rotate pan in oven, then cook for another 10 minutes. The top will be evenly set when it is done.
Let cool on a wire rack. Store in fridge. Lift out the bars by the foil or parchment to cut them. Right before serving, sprinkle confectioners' sugar all over top (it'll absorb in a short time, but you can always add more).
OM NOM NOM!
April 10, 2016
Sunday Quote refuses green ham
“I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living.”
~Dr. Seuss
April 7, 2016
Locus Awards 2016 – Novella Consideration
Well, it’s now time for people to vote for the annual Locus Awards. As you might recall, Clockwork Dagger ended up as a finalist for 1st Novel last year; it’d sure be nifty to make the final ballot again.
The work I want to emphasize is my Nebula-finalist novella, Wings of Sorrow and Bone. If you 1) read it, and 2) liked it, please type it in under the novella category and add a rank!
One thing that sets these awards apart from the other major genre awards is that ANYONE can vote. All you need to do is fill in your name, email, and vote in whatever category you want. The ballot is huge. You don’t have to fill in everything.
Take a look and vote! The deadline is April 15th.
#SFWAPro
April 6, 2016
Bready or Not: Maple Nut Butter
Peanut butter can be bought for cheap. Other nut butters? Not so much. The good news is, with a food processor and about 20 minutes of spare time, you can make your own amazing nut butter!
Me being me, I make MAPLE NUT BUTTER. I have done this two ways: with 1 cup each of almonds and cashews, and also with 2 cups of cashews. Other nut combos should work just fine, too. The end yield will be somewhere about 1 1/2 cups nut butter.
I priced and researched food processors for about a year until I caved in and bought a lovely refurbished Cuisinart model. This baby does the job. I’m pretty darn happy with it.
I combined a few recipes to make my own original version. I will type out the details of each stage in the full recipe below, but let’s illustrate in pictures first.
You toss the nuts in maple syrup and toast them in the oven. Let them cool a bit before processing them.
The ground nuts looks like coarse nut flour at first. They will gum up the blades every minute or so. I stop and scrape the sides often.
Then things start to get clumpy. Those lumps will migrate around on the blades like a glacier.
Keep on processing, and after about 15 minutes, you get that. Almost smooth nut butter! After a few more minutes it gets even smoother, and that is when you add spice, flavor, and a bit of oil.
I seal the nut butter in jars and store them in the fridge. Try to use it up within a month. It will be dryer than the standard store stuff, but you can always mix in a little more oil. I like avocado oil because it’s almost tasteless. The nut butter itself is the tastiest nut butter you’ll ever have. It just screams of maple and cinnamon and freshness.
Ready for the recipe? Okay!
Bready or Not: Maple Nut Butter
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Use a food processor to grind down maple-drenched cashews and almonds to make some seriously delicious nut butter! Using about 2 cups of nuts will produce about 1 1/2 cups nut butter. Store the stuff in mason jars in the fridge for up to four weeks. If it’s too dry to spread, mix in a drizzle of oil.
Toast
2 cups nuts (1 cups almonds + 1 cup cashews, or 2 cups cashews, or try other combos)
1/4 cup maple syrup
After processing
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon maple flavor (optional, but adds oomph)
1/2-1 teaspoon cinnamon
1+ Tablespoon avocado oil or other oil
sprinkle of sea salt
Preheat oven at 325-degrees. Line a rimmed baking pan with sturdy aluminum foil. In the pan, toss the two cups of nuts with maple syrup until they are coated. Toast for about 15 minutes, checking about every 5 minutes to toss the nuts around. Let the nuts cool for 30 minutes or so.
Add the nuts to a food processor. (Note that you'll need to pry some off the foil.) Put the lid on and start processing. Run for 2 to 3 minutes then scrape down sides. The mix will look coarse and gritty.
Continue processing, pausing every 1 or 2 minutes to scrape sides of bowl. Mixture will start to clump together.
Continue grinding. The nuts will release more oil and start to smooth out more. Continue to stop and scrape the sides every 2 minutes or so to give the machine a break. After about 10 total minutes, it will look like nut butter but it won't be done yet!
Continue processing. It will smooth out and finally evolve to a liquid-like form that snakes across the blades. This will be at about the 15 to 20 minute point. Add the rest of the ingredients and process another minute or so to blend together. Taste test to see if you need to tweak things.
Transfer the nut butter to mason jars to store in the fridge for up to four weeks. If it seems especially dry, mix in a drizzle of oil.
OM NOM NOM!
April 5, 2016
New Stories and Poems for April
New stories! New poems! New interviews! Shiny new galleys! Here’s the latest news.
Novelocity:
– My advance copies of Breath of Earth decided to play with my cat and climb trees
Stories:
– “The Souls of Horses” in Clockwork Phoenix 5 (out today!)
– The Human is Late to Feed the Cat” in Nature Magazine
Podcast:
– “Stitched Wings” republished in audio at The Overcast
Poem:
– “View From Above” in Space and Time, issue 125
Interviews regarding The Clockwork Dagger series:
– Beth Cato on WINGS OF SORROW AND BONE and Historical and Cultural Accuracy at SF Signal
– Catching up with Beth Cato, author of Wings of Sorrow and Bone, and the Clockwork Dagger series at My Bookish Ways
– Steampunk, Gremlins, and Maple Sugar Cake: My interview with Nebula nominated author Beth Cato by Ruth Vincent
***
A reminder, too–my next Clockwork Dagger story is out in three weeks! It can be preordered now for just 99-cents.
Final Flight story
#SFWAPro
April 4, 2016
Clockwork Phoenix 5 Giveaway & Release
I have written many stories, but “The Souls of Horses” is my favorite. That made months of consistent “this-is-great-but” personal rejections all the more frustrating. Last year, this story finally found a home, and a fantastic one at that: Clockwork Phoenix 5, the newest in a series of acclaimed anthologies.
The book is being released tomorrow. Today, however, is the last day to enter a Goodreads giveaway to win a copy!
Clockwork Phoenix 5 is already garnering lots of positive attention. Publishers Weekly gave it a starred review, and called out my story, saying, “Perhaps the most difficult to classify is Beth Cato’s “The Souls of Horses,” which explores an unusual side of the U.S. Civil War. All the stories afford thought-provoking glimpses into alternative realities that linger, sparking unconventional thoughts, long after they are first encountered.”
At SF Signal, A.C. Wise’s column recommending women to read said, “It’s clear this story is close to the author’s heart, and that, along with all its other wonderful qualities, makes it an excellent starting place for [Cato’s] work.”
365 Short Stories also published a lovely review starting with, “Man, what a fantastic way to conclude this anthology.”
Heck, I’ll take that.
It sure feels good to see people respond so positively to my story after such a long, frustrating slog for an acceptance.
#SFWAPro
April 3, 2016
Sunday Quote does a Tarzan yell
“I have been successful probably because I have always realized that I knew nothing about writing and have merely tried to tell an interesting story entertainingly.”
~Edgar Rice Burroughs
April 1, 2016
Teen Talk at Foothills Branch Library in Glendale
No foolin’ here. Tomorrow I’ll be at the Foothills Branch Library in north Glendale, Arizona, for a talk with teens/adults/sentient beings. It starts at 2:30 and can go up to an hour. I’m keeping things casual. I’m open to questions about writing, traditional publishing, steampunk, short fiction, poetry, baking… whatever! Oh, and I can sign books, too.
If you’re in the Phoenix area, or know someone who is, please come by or spread the word!
#SFWAPro
March 31, 2016
LA Times Festival of Books on April 9th
Hey, Southern Californians! I’ll be at the LA Times Festival of Books on April 9th on the USC campus. The big event is my panel at 3pm!
Yep. I have no idea how I infiltrated such amazing company, but there we go. o_o However, that’s not all I’m doing there! Here’s my full schedule:
1pm signing @ Mysterious Galaxy booth #368
3pm to 4pm panel Fantastical Visions
Taper Hall 101
with Charlie Jane Anders, Beth Cato, and Robert J. Sawyer
4pm signing – follow us there after the panel!
Drop by and say hi!
#SFWAPro
March 30, 2016
Bready or Not: Churro Shortbread
This repost from the Holy Taco Church features cookies made with a hefty dose of butter and then basted with more butter.
These look like churros but they taste like snickerdoodles. I found chopsticks quite handy for impressing the churro-esque lines into the tops of the cookies. You can also use skewers.
Superfine or caster sugar makes for smoother cookie dough. You can make finer sugar yourself by putting regular white granulated sugar in a high-powered blender or food processor and grinding it down more. Or just use regular white sugar; it’ll make for a heavier cookie, but it will still be delicious.
I tried double-soaking these in butter. As one does. This means I brushed on butter before and after baking, and dosed it with more cinnamon and sugar after each buttering. There was no difference in taste. Therefore, I say only do double butter if you need to use up some extra in your bowl.
Modified from Heat Oven to 350.
Bready or Not: Churro Shortbread
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These butter-soaked shortbread cookies look like churros but taste more like snickerdoodles! They keep well in a sealed container. The recipe makes a small batch, so double it if you’re feeding a crowd.
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup superfine or caster sugar (or regular white sugar)
1/4 tsp salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
2 Tb cream cheese, room temperature
2 tsp vanilla extract
Topping
2 Tb melted butter
1/4 cup granulated sugar
3 Tb cinnamon
Whisk the flour, sugar, and salt together in a large bowl. Beat the butter into the dry mix until it looks crumbly. Toss in the cream cheese and vanilla and blend. The dough should form a large cohesive clump. (If you live in a dry locale, add a teeny bit of water, if need be, so it comes together.)
Lightly flour a surface. Roll out the dough as evenly as you can. Use a pizza slicer to cut the dough into cookie-sized rectangles. Line a cookie sheet with wax paper and set the cookies on it; if you stack them, put wax paper between the layers, or they will stick. Stash the cookies in the fridge for at least 15 minutes. This will keep them from spreading in weird ways when they bake.
Preheat the oven to 350-degrees. In a microwave-safe saucer or bowl, melt the two tablespoons of butter. In another bowl, combine the cinnamon and sugar for the topping.
Bring out the cookies and transfer them to a new cookie sheet. They shouldn't spread much so they don't need a lot of space between them. Use a chopstick or something similar to gently form ridges in the tops of the cookies; the chilled dough might crack, but just mush it together again if that happens. Use a pastry brush to apply the melted butter and then sprinkle on the topping as evenly as you can.
Bake cookies for 10-12 minutes. Remove from oven and immediately use your chosen tool to gently indent the tops of the cookies again. Let them cool another ten minutes and then transfer to a rack.
OM NOM NOM!
