your favorite Maida Heatter recipe

Guess I've been living under a rock (or just in the habit of using Mom's tried and true recipes)but I've only recently discovered Maida. I've taken 2 of her books out of the library and am wondering what are some chowhound favorites. It's going to rain in New England for the next 5 days so it's either gather animals 2 by 2 or do some serious baking.

A few of my favorite Maida Heater recipes are:
the cake recipe for New Orleans Chocolate Layer Cake (a very easy delicious one bowl chocolate cake)with the frosting from the County-Fair Chocolate Layer Cake-both from her Book of Great Chocolate Desserts
Supremes always get a rave and are great for bake sales since it makes a lot. That is from the Book of Great Cookies
My husband loves the Mulattos a mocha chocolate chip cooky that is based on whipped eggs rather than creamed butter. That is from her Book of Great Desserts.

[opinionatedchef]

I'd like to give a gift of a maida heatter book to someone who doesn't know her work. Which would you choose of all hers- that is not a cookie book? thanks so much!

[buttertart]

Taking the liberty of answering - her chocolate book is great if the person is a chocolate lover as is the American desserts one. I also like the Best Dessert Book Ever. You really can't go wrong with any of the books, they all have super recipes for great baked goods.

I love the Snowball (real name - Abby Mandel's Boule de Neige) recipe from her Book of Great Chocolate Desserts. She says "It is in a class by itself - not a pudding, not a mousse, not a cake, yet vaguely like three." I don't have the patience for covering it in the whipped cream rosettes so I just serve with whipped cream. Although to be honest, I never served it - it's a "me alone" dessert so far! Let me know if you're interested in the recipe.

The chocolate chip and almond biscotti from the same book are awesome as well. I usually take out some of the flour and add cocoa powder instead to make them double chocolate. I have served these and everyone loves them - they've become my only Christmas cookie contribution.

One of my Dad's favorites from one of her older books (can't remember which) was the Amaretto-Amaretti Chocolate Cheesecake. Crust is chocolate and crushed Amaretti; cake is a chocolate cheesecake flavored with Amaretto. The ingredients are pricey, but it's so good!

East 62nd Street lemon cake. One of the best lemon cakes I've had.

Palm Beach Brownies! Especially if you make them with the York Peppermint Patties in the middle. There's another variation she calls Bali Hai brownies with crystalized ginger, coconut, and macadamia nuts.
The King's Pound Cake is great too. The Black & White Pound Cake is really stunning.

Hi, I love her books as well! I think her biscotti recipies are excellent. i've also learned over the years that biscotti can be formed into loaves and frozen before baking. I do this at holiday time a lot, it allows me to make the logs early, and then back them when I'm ready! I'll post more later if I get a chance to leaf through the books. I'm in NE as well so I will be with you on the Ark:(

Ditto on the biscotti recipes, esp. Chocolate Chip and Almond from M.H.'s Brand-New Book of Great Cookies and the Honey Biscotti from M.H.'s Best Dessert Book Ever. Sounds like a good use of wet weather.

Hi, just read your post regarding freezing the biscotti logs, do you thaw them before baking and if not how long do you bake and what temp.? I've never done this before but it sounds like a brillant idea in planning ahead! Save room for me on the ark...heard today the rest of May is supposed to be like this in N.E.!!!

hi, I usually don't thaw them first, but you probably could - just put them in the fridge for a day prior to baking. I usaully bake the frozen log at the original temp called for in the recipie, the log just might need a little extra baking time if frozen, but biscotti are very forgiving! Good luck!

Pennies from Heaven in one of the cookie books. I make them every year for Xmas although there's nothing intrinsically Xmassy about them. They are crisp shortbread wafers sandwiched around buttercream (for cookie fans, they're similar to Rose Beranbaum's Mother Bauer's buttered rum cookies without the puverized almonds plus it's a sliced log instead of rolled & cut).

Santa Fe Wafers. These are terrific chocolate cookies, that I think are in the Dessert book.

My favorite too! Everyone who tastes them wants the recipe.

It's in MH's Cookies book (as well).

All Maida Heatter's recipes are wonderful. Her Brownies and Pound Cake are great. The recipe for the "better than sex" pie is really good.

Have a great weekend cooking.

look for a chocolate confection titled something like Ande's best chocolate cake- it is my fav- from the Best Deserts cookbook. A very simple( do not let the long instructiions fool you. She is a detail lady)- a flour-less cake; chocolate flavored egg bake with a glaze( she wants you to put curls on top to mask the uneven top- hardly needed. glorious with fruit, caramel or sorbet...