Moxie

No joy in Mudville

The Rock and I have broken up. Our relationship was going really well when we actually saw each other, but you can't hold something together when you see each other maybe every six weeks, if you're lucky. I made a last-ditch attempt to convince my ex to move to the city The Rock lives in, and offered some major, major concessions, but my ex likes his job too much here. So we broke up, because there's no future for us together. (He's in the same non-moving situation I am, with a child and an ex who won't budge.)

I am so, so, so sad. The Rock matched me in so many ways, and I could have been thrilled with him for the rest of my life. Honestly, I haven't felt this sad since my heart was broken the first time when i was 16. I think it's because I feel like it was this stupid logistical thing that broke us up, not a problem with us. It's just so Victorian. Or Gothic. I'm not sure which one. But I'm in deep, sad, pain.

I just had the realization, though, that when I was still married and unable to feel any emotion, I couldn't even imagine this. It is truly good to be in emotional pain, because it means I'm free of my marriage, in mind. Even if my ex-husband controls where I live.

Bacon-Brown Sugar Coffee Cake

Here's the bacon coffee cake recipe I've been thinking about for a few weeks. I wanted something that would use the savoriness and richness of bacon, caramelized with brown sugar. And I wanted to give coffee cake an extra grounding, so it would have a more weighty bottom note to make it even more satisfying.

Surprisingly, I think I hit it on the first try. The cake itself is the classic sour cream bundt cake recipe, but the swirl/streusel part is different (and far superior, IMO).

Bacon-Brown Sugar Coffee Cake
(c) 2009 Moxie/Magda

6-8 slices bacon (regular or sugar or maple-cured, but NOT peppered or jalapeño or garlic or anything you wouldn't want in cake)
2 sticks butter, softened
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 t. vanilla extract
1 cup sour cream
2 cups AP flour
1 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
1/3 cup dark brown sugar, packed
1/3 cup uncooked rolled oats

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour the bundt pan.

Fry the bacon slices until crisp. Set aside to cool and drain.

Cream together butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla, and sour cream. Sift together flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Stir in to creamed mixture and blend.

Crumble or chop bacon slices into little pieces. Add dark brown sugar and oats, and mush together with your fingers to get the bacon and sugar blended and clumped with the oats. It will be a loose mixture, but you want the three elements to be well-acquainted with each other.

Put half the cake batter into the bundt pan (you'll have to put globs of it in--it's a thick batter), then top with half the bacon mix. Put on the rest of the batter, and top with the remmaining bacon mixture.

Bake for 45 minutes to an hour, until done (test with a toothpick or your finger). Allow to cool for at least 15 minutes before eating. If you let it cool for a few hours, the cake itself seems to taste a little sweeter.

The sad life of an underappreciated genius

There is nothing going on of note here. We're going to my parents' for Easter at the end of the week. Continuing the ridiculous rain that makes all public transportation slow down in NYC. (Why??? I think the terrorists have won on this one.) My jaw-clenching has subsided somewhat so my headache is less intense, plus I've gotten used to it so it's not crippling me anymore.

My main problem at this point is that I have about 40 million dollar ideas, and no capital or staff to start them up. Sigh. And I don't even mean the monkey ranch--I'm talking actual ideas that could work.

Pesach-safe and GF Brownie recipe

A few years ago when I had my gluten intolerance, I modified the Katharine Hepburn brownie recipe not to use any wheat flour. I chose that particular recipe because A) it's the best brownie recipe I've ever tried, and B) there's so little flour in it that I figured the modification had a chance at being pretty successful.

I tried rice flour (too gritty) and cornstarch (too off), but settled on potato starch (just right, and very moist). Which makes it a perfect recipe for Passover, too.

These are very dense rich, moist brownies. I wouldn't make them with wheat flour anymore, because the potato starch keeps the moistness much better, IMO.

KFP/GF Brownies You'll Make All Year And For People Who Can Eat Wheat, Too

1 stick butter
1/2 cup cocoa powder (the better the cocoa powder, the better the brownies)
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1/4 potato starch
pinch of salt
splash of pure vanilla extract

Preheat the over to 325 degrees F. Grease an 8-inch by 8-inch baking pan (or line the bottom with parchment paper).

In a small saucepan, melt together the butter and cocoa powder. Stir until smooth. Remove from heat and allow to cool for a few minutes.

Stir the eggs in quickly, one at a time, so they don't scramble. The mix will look really gloppy at this point. Stir in the sugar, and it should smooth out considerably. Stir in the potato starch and salt, and then the vanilla extract.

Pour into the baking pan, and bake for 30 minutes. This should be just about underbaked (better to underbake than overbake), but check at 25 minutes.

Allow to cool for as long as you can stand it, then eat.