The perfect cookbooks for summer

Summer is here, so recipes to keep the kids at home busy and to quench our thirst are most appreciated at this time of the year. I came across two cookbooks that I believe are season-appropriate.

Don’t we all have fond memories of the Maya Kitchen, back in the day when it was one of the few that offered cooking and baking lessons?

The iconic kitchen of my youth has published a new edition of “The Complete Guide to Baking.” The book contains many of our most beloved baked pleasures.

For the beginner, the book is an easy-to-understand, non-intimidating resource that inspires one to simply bake.

For advanced and professional bakers, the recipes recall a time when baking first caught their fancy. It is most likely that one’s first baked masterpiece is among the many cake, bar, cookie, and pie recipes in the book. Included in the roster are many nostalgic recipes that take the palate back in time.

“The Complete Guide to Baking” includes additional recipes with helpful step-by-step illustrations.

The book is also a useful guide for those who wish to try selling home-baked goods.

I am sharing some recipes that I have a particular fondness for. Prune cakes were staples in bakeshop chillers in the ‘70’s and ‘80s. Of late, the cakes have become quite rare to find. I baked lots of prune cakes in my teens. Here’s a recipe that relives the taste of the good old days.

“The Complete Guide to Baking” is great for beginners. —PHOTOS COURTESY OF ANVIL PUBLISHING

Prune Cake

Cake:

1 c butter
1½ to 2 c sugar
4 eggs
1½ to 2 c Maya Cake Flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 c sour milk
1 c chopped, stewed prunes*

Icing:

½ c evaporated milk
½ c prune liquid
1 c sugar
1 c butter
12 c chopped, stewed prunes

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and line a 13 x 9 x 2-inch rectangular pan. Set aside.

Prepare cake: In a bowl, cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Sift the dry ingredients together then add the prunes.

Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 40 minutes or until done. Cool.

Prepare icing: Blend evaporated milk and prune liquid. Dissolve sugar in this mixture.

Chill for at least 30 minutes. Cream the butter until soft, then add the chilled mixture gradually while beating continuously until smooth. Set aside ⅓ of the icing for piping borders. To the remaining icing, blend in the chopped prunes. Frost cake all over with this icing. Pipe out borders using the plain butter icing. Decorate with more prunes on top, if desired.

*To stew prunes: Put prunes in a saucepan with water. Cook until prunes are tender.

Drain. Reserve liquid for icing. Pit the prunes, then chop for the cake and icing.

Easy muffins recipe

Those who sell baked goods often start their home-based businesses with bars and muffins. The muffin recipe in the book allows you the possibility of creating a few variations from one base recipe.

Basic Muffins is an easy recipe to teach your kids that will surely raise their confidence in the kitchen.

Basic Muffins

2 c Maya All-Purpose Flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 c sugar
1 egg
1 cup milk
3 Tbsp oil

Preheat oven to 425°F. Grease a 12-hole muffin pan.

Sift dry ingredients together. In a bowl, beat egg lightly with a fork. Stir in milk and oil. Add sifted dry ingredients. Pour into muffin pan. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Variations:

Raisin Muffins: Add 1 cup raisins to batter.

Blueberry Muffins: Add 1 cup blueberries to batter.

Date-Nut Muffins: Add ½ cup chopped dates and ½ cup chopped walnuts to batter.

“Tropical Cocktails” features refreshing recipes.

Cocktail drinks

Another recent release is Chef Gene Gonzalez’s “Tropical Cocktail.” The easy-to-follow, playfully crafted cocktail recipes will give your summer getaways an exciting twist.

I am amused by the way Gene concocted the drinks. Some are liquid desserts, the others are classics to which local fruits were incorporated.

I can imagine myself holding this Tamarind Margarita while enjoying sunset on the beach.

Tamarind Margarita

1 jigger (45 ml/1.5 oz) tequila
1 jigger (45 ml/1.5 oz)  tamarind purée
1 jigger (45 ml/1.5 oz) simple syrup
½/ jigger (22 ml/0.75 oz) basi or port wine
½ jigger (22 ml/0.75 oz) dark rum
Ice

Blend all ingredients with ice and pour into a salt-rimmed glass. Garnish with a young tamarind frond.

Glass: 8 oz large cocktail or martini glass

I know many whose drink of choice is an ice-cold glass of Four Seasons.

Well, leave it to Gene to give it a spin, and just like that, the Four Seasons becomes All Seasons.

He laced the old-time favorite with other fruits, rum, and Midori, and topped it with a little whipped cream for what he claimed as “juvenile enjoyment.”