Cookbook with a mission
One of the most rewarding experiences for the Yale employees who work at Science Park is planning events that enrich the community surrounding Science Park — including an annual holiday party for the students at the Wexler-Grant Elementary School.
This year, to help fund their activities, the Science Park Outreach Committee has put together a cookbook full of recipes contributed by Yale employees from across the University.
Ann Brainard-Dougan, who helped to compile the submissions, notes, “The book is a great cross-section of recipes – including ethnic and old family recipes — I was starving during every moment of editing.”
With over 200 recipes, the cookbook describes its mission in its forward: “As you broaden your culinary horizons whipping up a batch of kheema or some stuffed squash blossoms, know that you are also helping to broaden the horizons and enrich the lives of many within our neighborhood.”
The spiral-bound “Science Park at Yale Community Cookbook” is available for $15. To purchase a copy, contact ann.brainard-dougan@yale.edu or donna.harris@yale.edu.
Here is one sample of what the book includes:
Nana’s Fig Cake
Submitted by Hilary Thornley, Yale Shared ServicesThis is my Nana’s recipe. You can eat this right away, although I find it is best to let it set up overnight.
Ingredients
- 2 cups flour
- 1½ cups sugar
- 1 teaspoon each of salt, baking soda, ground cloves, nutmeg and cinnamon (Note: you can also substitute 3 teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice if you don’t want to buy three separate spices)
- 1 cup oil (or butter, if you like, but you’ll need to be careful not to dry your cake out in the oven)
- 1 cup buttermilk (or 1 cup whole milk mixed with 1 tablespoon white vinegar – let this curdle the milk for five minutes)
- 3 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 jar of fig jam
Ingredients for glaze
- 1 stick butter
- 1 cup sugar
- ½ cup buttermilk (or ½ cup whole milk mixed with ½ TB white vinegar – let this curdle the milk for five min. before you add it)
- 1 tablespoon corn syrup (or just add an extra TB of sugar and a little water and be sure you cook that sugar down to liquid)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Directions for cake batter
- Sift together flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, ground cloves, nutmeg and cinnamon
- Add oil, buttermilk, eggs, vanilla and fig jam
- Bake in greased, floured 13x9-in pan for 45-60 min @ 325 degrees – or until your toothpick comes out almost clean. If you over bake, it’s actually okay. The glaze will take care of that.
- Remove from oven and let it set for 10-15 minutes.
- Pierce it all over with a fork. The glaze will drizzle down into these fork piercings, so pierce liberally.
Directions for glaze
- Bring all ingredients to boil then transfer to a glass container and let it cool off a bit.
- Stir the glaze (it should be warm – not hot, not cold) pour it over the cake, slowly, concentrating on the outer edges of the cake.
- When the glaze is all poured, tilt your cake pan around to distribute it evenly. Don’t let the glaze settle in the middle of your cake, or you’ll have a soggy center and dry edges.
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