Andres Max Salmeron

Category: Recipes

  • Almond Cornbread

    This is a lovely dessert, which is far more flavorful than your average cornbread. The amount of butter varies in this, I’ve made it with the original 2 sticks (very buttery), and 1 stick (dry), and have settled on middle ground. Feel free to play around with it.

    Also, I like to eat it with a berry compote, which is usually just blueberries, sugar, and lemon, cooked in a saucepan.

    • 1.5 sticks of unsalted butter
    • scant 1 cup (180g) sugar
    • zest of 1 lemon
    • 3 large eggs, at room temperature
    • 1 1/4 teaspoon pure almond extract
    • 3/4 cup (125g) finely ground polenta
    • 2 cups (215g) almond flour
    • 6 tablespoons (55g) all-purpose flour
    • 1.5 teaspoons baking powder, preferably aluminum-free
    • 1/2 teaspoon salt

    Directions

    1. Butter a 9-inch (23cm) loaf pan. Dust the inside with polenta, and tap out any excess. Preheat the oven to 350ºF (180ºC).
    2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, sugar and lemon zest at medium-high speed, until it’s light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. (You can also make this in a large bowl, beating the butter and sugar by hand.)
    3. Add the eggs one at a time, stopping the mixer after each addition to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Mix in the almond extract.
    4. In a medium bowl, whisk together the polenta, ground almonds, flour, baking powder, and salt, until there are no lumps. Gradually mix the dry ingredients into the creamed butter mixture, just until well-combined. Do not overmix.
    5. Scrape the batter into the pan, smooth the top, and bake the cake until it is golden brown on top and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out almost clean, perhaps with just a few crumbs attached, 45 to 50 minutes. Let cool on a rack for about 30 minutes, then run a knife along the outside of the cake to loosen it from the pan and tip the cake onto the rack.

    Adapted from David Lebovitz’s Orange-Glazed Polenta Cake

  • Biscotti

    Almond Biscotti

    • 150 g flour
    • 120 g sugar
    • 4 g baking powder
    • lemon peel
    • 1 egg
    • 5 ml milk (probably more, look up photos for proper texture)
    • like maybe a tablespoon of almond extract
    • 100 g almonds

    Directions

    1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
    2. Mix everything together.
    3. Bake for thirty minutes, in small logs.
    4. Take out of oven, and slice logs into individual cookies.
    5. Put them back in the oven for ten minutes.

     

    Adapted from my Italian adventures

  • Shortcake

    Strawberry Shortcake Biscuit

    • 2 cups all purpose flour
    • 5 tablespoons sugar
    • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
    • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
    • 1/2 teaspoon salt
    • 1/2 cup (1 stick) chilled unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
    • 2/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons buttermilk

    Directions

    1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Butter 9-inch-diameter cake pan with 1 1/2- inch-high sides; dust with flour.
    2. Combine 2 cups flour, 3 tablespoons sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl; whisk to blend. Add butter and rub in with fingertips until mixture resembles coarse meal.
    3. Gradually add 2/3 cup buttermilk, stirring with fork until dough forms.
    4. Transfer dough to cake pan; press gently to level top. Brush dough with 2 tablespoons buttermilk, then sprinkle with 2 tablespoons sugar.
    5. Bake biscuit until cooked through and golden on top, about 25 minutes. Cool biscuit in pan on rack (biscuit will be 1 to 1 1/2 inches high.)

    Adapted from Epicurious’s Chocolate Strawberry Shortcake

  • Hamantaschen

    Filling

    1. Put 230g milk, 100g sugar and zest of one orange in a saucepan over medium heat.
    2. Grind 125g poppy seeds to a fine powder in a coffee grinder, taking care not to over-process to a paste. It’s okay to only grind about half of the poppy seeds – some folks like a mix of textures.
    3. When milk mixture is warm, turn heat to low and add poppy seeds.
    4. Cook at a low simmer stirring frequently until the seeds absorb the milk and the mixture is thick, about 15 minutes.
    5. Add lemon juice of lemon half and 1/2 tablespoon butter.
    6. Stir and cook for 2 minutes more.
    7. Stir in the vanilla extract, remove from the heat and let cool completely, or chill until needed, up to 3 days.

    Dough

    1. Cream 225g sugar, 8 tablespoons butter, and lemon or orange zest.
    2. Beat in 3 eggs and 60 ml milk.
    3. Mix together the 480 g flour and 3 ½ teaspoons baking powder.
    4. Refrigerate dough for up to three days.
    5. Preheat oven to 375°F.
    6. If you’re a bit lazy, like me, take a bit of dough with your hands, roll into ball and then flatten to create a disk roughly 1/4 inch thick. Otherwise, you can roll out the dough and use a drinking glass to cut circles.
    7. Lay the disks on a baking sheet (I use parchment paper) and then add a dollop of the filling. You can also use apricot jam filling, or whatever else you like inside cookies. 
    8. Fold three sides of the disks up to form a triangle shaped cookie, pressing the ends together to seal.
    9. If you’re super fancy, add an egg wash to the tops, which can also be used to help seal the sides. I skip this step, because it doesn’t particularly affect taste, which is all that matters.
    10. Bake for 15 minutes, or until the sides are a nice golden brown. You’ll want to eat these almost immediately. After seven hours, they will not be as tasty and you’ll be kicking yourself. Come on. 

    Adapted from Joan Nathan and Marcella Hazan