Rancho Merlita

Light and rich at the same time, this dish offers the beauty of blintzes in an easy casserole. I assemble the day before, refrigerate, and bake it off in the morning. Always a big hit!

BLINTZ BATTER:

1/4 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup sugar

6 eggs

1 1/2 cups sour cream

1/2 cup orange juice

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

FILLING:

2 cups small curd cottage cheese

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened

2 egg yolks

2 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in sour cream and orange juice. Combine flour and baking powder; stir into egg mixture. Set aside. Combine filling ingredients in a small mixing bowl and beat until blended. Pour half of the batter into a greased 9 X 13 baking dish. Top with filling and remaining batter. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 40-50 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean.

SAUCE:

2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries

1/4 cup lemon juice

1 cup orange juice

3/4 cup white sugar

In a saucepan over medium heat, combine the blueberries, lemon juice, orange juice, and sugar. Stir gently, and bring to a boil.

In a cup or small bowl, mix together 3 tablespoons cornstarch and ¼ cup cold water.

Gently stir the cornstarch mixture into the blueberries so as not to mash the berries. Simmer gently until thick enough to coat the back of a metal spoon, 3 to 4 minutes. Sauce may be thinned with a little water.

Bon Appetit!

Last year was our first Christmas at the Inn. We rounded up a few of the family’s Western ornaments and added some traditional Scandinavian straw stars that I found at our Unicef store. Mitzi, our massage therapist and neighbor, contributed her lovely bird collection. Then we went to town baking and decorating gingerbread cutout cookies in cowboy boot, cactus, chile pepper, and all the holiday shapes.

These I packed up and stored and was happy to find very much in tact a year later.  Next a shopping adventure at Borderlands, a great importer of all things Mexico. They have opened a big new location right around the corner from the Inn. There I collected a nice variety of painted tin cutouts, and some really sweet tiny hand blown glass bulbs.
Diana forged out on a cold and rainy day and chose this absolutely perfect spruce that reaches almost to our ceiling. A crackling fire and the Rat Pack Christmas album set the decorating mood. The candy canes are a nod to the Bells, but I must admit I draw the line at tinsel when it come to honoring family traditions!

I meant to take a picture of the whole cake, sitting regally on it’s stand before I served it Thanksgiving day, but that didn’t happen. So here it is… after all the guests are gone, along with the rest of the leftovers. The last piece of Carrot Cake…

As I savor the moment before I indulge I think about all the Carrot Cakes I have known.  If you are my age you remember the time BCC, that is before there seemingly was such a thing. You probably also remember how suddenly every restaurant you visited, every birthday party and special event you attended had a Carrot Cake to offer.

I have made a few and tasted many. In my catering days there was the ubiquitous Carrot Wedding Cake ~  prettily piped and adorned with fresh flowers. I especially and fondly remember the one I watched the Cream Cheese Frosting flow from as it awaited it’s ceremonious serving at an unrefrigerated beach wedding in North Florida (not to be confused with the rest of Florida).

It was certainly a first for me to serve one at Thanksgiving, and it was a big hit. I perused quite a few recipes and settled on this approach ~ carrots, crushed pineapple, shredded coconut, walnuts and no raisins.  The frosting was 2 to 1 cream cheese to butter, plenty of vanilla, and just enough powdered sugar to put a dent in the zingy tartness. Two layers were sliced into four with very thin applications of frosting between and on the sides. A little extra on top to make it look pretty and some more nuts pressed on the sides to cover any bare spots and voila!

I am going to miss having a polite slice every day, but it is, after all, time to make room for Christmas Cookies. More on that soon…