Heart Shaped Coffee Cake Celebrates AZ 100th Birthday

Valentine's Day and Arizona's 100th birthday couldn't be any sweeter with this delicious Cranberry Coffee Cake. Historical League member, Kay Holcombe, is creative in the kitchen with the heart-shaped pan for the coffee cake. The Holcombes, married for 35 years, often give each other innovative and unique gifts for special occasions. This is a great way to celebrate Valentine's Day or any event.

Cranberry Coffee Cake pg. 199 in Tastes & Treasures cookbook
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup sour cream
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 cup walnuts or pecans, chopped
1 (16 ounce) can whole cranberry sauce

Confectioners' Sugar Glaze
3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons (about) warm water
2 teaspoons lemon juice

For the Coffee Cake: preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt together. Beat the butter in a bowl of a stand mixer until creamy. Add the sugar gradually, beating constantly until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add the flour mixture alternately with the sour cream, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the lemon juice and 1/4 cup of the walnuts.

Spoon half the batter into a greased and floured tube pan, 9 X 13 inch baking pan or bundt pan. Spread with 1/2 of the cranberry sauce. Top with the remaining batter and remaining cranberry sauce. Sprinkle with the remaining 1/4 cup walnuts. Bake for 50 to 55 minutes for the tube pan or bundt pan. Bake 35 to 40 minutes for the 9 X 13 pan or until the coffee cake tests done. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes and invert onto a serving platter.

For the Glaze: mix the confectioners' sugar, warm water and lemon juice in a bowl until of a glaze consistency. Drizzle over the warm coffee cake. Let stand until set.

Pork Roast with a Twist

Cuban Pork Tenderloin has a combination of unique ingredients that make it fresh and flavorful. With family visiting from Toronto, we served this to take advantage of the fresh grapefruit and oranges as well as the cilantro from the garden. Half the fun of cooking is having guests in the kitchen- chopping, laughing and telling stories.

Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds pork tenderloin, trimmed

1/4 cup fresh orange juice

1/4 cup fresh grapefruit juice

2 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon dried oregano

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Directions

Using thin knife, trim silver skin from tenderloin.

Mix orange juice, grapefruit juice, cilantro, cumin, oregano, garlic, salt and red pepper flakes in gallon-size zip-top plastic bag. Add pork, close and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes and up to 4 hours.

Preheat grill on high. Adjust temperature to 400 degrees. Lightly oil cooking grate. Remove pork from marinade, drain briefly, but do not scrape off solids. Place on grill and cover grill. Cook, turning occasionally, until browned and instant-read thermometer inserted into center of pork reads 145 degrees, about 20 minutes. Transfer to carving board and let stand 3 minutes. Cut on slight diagonal and serve.

Serves 6.

John Jacquemart supports Historical League

Extremely knowledgeable of AZ History, John Jacquemart enjoyed The Historical League booth at BestFest.

League member Susan Dale spoke with John during the event. Always helping out, he took cookbooks and Centennial books to the Willo Historic Home Tour for Sunday, Feb 12 and sold more at that event.

Cookbook Organizer Terrie Sanford Remembered

We remembered past Historical League member Terrie Sanford again when her sister-in-law, Leslie Dunsworth, shopped with us at BestFest. Leslie bought a cookbook for a hostess gift.

Terrie is second to left in the middle photo accepting the Tabasco Award for the SW region from FRP. She was the driving force behind the cookbook and kept us on target with deadlines and production. Thank goodness she was there for the League. We miss her.

Corn muffins from Rancho de La Osa

Rancho de La Osa Corn Muffins

So many recipes came to us for Tastes & Treasures cookbook that are meant for large crowds. This one makes 4 dozen and I am sure Rancho de La Osa Resort goes through them quickly. The Historical League has toured their kitchen and everything is made from scratch. You can cut this recipe in 1/2 for more “normal” family sizes.

2 cups chilled unsalted butter, cut into pieces

2 cups sugar

20 large eggs

2 cups buttermilk

4 cups all-purpose white flour

4 cups cornmeal

4 teaspoons salt

8 teaspoons baking powder

4 cups grated Jack cheese

4 cups grated Cheddar cheese

4 cups sour cream

1/2 cup finely diced jalapenos

1/2 cup crumbled bacon, optional

Add butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Use a mixer and beat until smooth. In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs and buttermilk. Set aside. Alternating, add buttermilk mixture and remaining dry ingredients to creamed butter ixture. When well mixed, slowly stir in Jack and Cheddar cheese, sour cream, jalapenos and bacon. Mix well.

Heat ove to 375 degrees. Heavily grease muffin tins. Spoon about 1/3 cup batter into tins. Bake about 25 minutes or until firm.

Makes about 4 dozen.

ASU Alumni enjoy AZ Recollections and Reflections Centennial book

ASU's University Club is full of history so it was the perfect venue on Feb 9 to tell the story of Arizona Recollections and Reflections An Arizona Historymakers Centennial Commemoration.
Gwen Goebel and the ASU Alumni group that attended were most supportive. We enjoyed a lovely lunch prior to the presentation and met many people including Kirk Baughan, chair of ASU Estate and Gift Planning.

Joan Robinson has created a power point presentation that Zona Lorig and Ruth McLeod have given to many groups. It talks about the Historical League and the AHS Museum at Papago Park. Our Legacy Project goal is to honor our Historymakers with this Centennial book as well as the Historymakers Video, Historymakers Gala and www.HistoricalLeague.org.

The Centennial book appeals to a wide range of people interested in the history of this wonderful state. The beautifully leather-bound book incorporates the people and businesses who have played an integral part in the growth of AZ.

400 lb birthday cake from Fry's at AZ Centennial

Tastes and Treasures, A Storytelling Cookbook of Historic Arizona, features the chocolate cake served at Historymaker Polly Rosenbaum's 100th birthday celebration at the AHS Museum. Polly would have loved the Centennial event at the Capitol with all it's history. The recipe, on page 136, serves about 15 and it is chocolate decadence.

The Historical League had a booth at the Centennial celebration selling Tastes and Treasures cookbook, Arizona Recollections and Reflections, aprons and Centennial hats. It was a great opportunity to talk to those attending about the AHS Museum at Papago Park as we handed out maps and brochures.

Fry's donated the 500 cupcakes but the culinary arts students at Vista Grande actually made this 400 lb wonder.

The students prepared a 48 square foot cake in the shape of the state of Arizona. It was made out of about 40 18 by 12 inch cakes. They were all put together in a rectangle and then cut into the shape of Arizona. A regular classic yellow cake recipe and topped with decorative white frosting, it was painted to look like the flag of Arizona and topped off with an actual copper star in the middle. At lunchtime on the Tuesday, Feb 14 at the Capitol Celebration, it was served to the crowds attending. All of those students got their own little piece of history that day.