Holiday Bread Baking with Cardamom's Joanne Squires-Sherif

I first met Joanne Squires-Sherif about five years ago, just after she opened her North Park bakery cafe, Cardamom. She did then what she always does, embrace and feed you with house-made flaky croissants or sweet brioche, maybe an omelet or sandwich. The neighborhood cafe is cozy and colorful, its walls shades of yellow, green, and purple, sporting vibrant paintings by local artists. It's clearly Joanne's alternate home. And she's utterly sincere when she says she loves all her customers. Many have grown to be dear friends.

Last week, I didn't hang out at Cardamom for a meal; I came to learn how Joanne makes a couple of her annual holiday treats--specifically  her Pumpkin Walnut Cranberry Quick Bread and her Apple Spice Bread Pudding with Rum Raisins.

It wasn't a banner morning when I got there. Joanne's large refrigerator had just gone on the fritz. Unfazed, she had already moved ingredients elsewhere. Her cook figured out a fix, but in any case Joanne was already plotting her next improvement--installing a walk-in. The place was humming. One of her five kids, 20-year-old daughter Galen was busy serving customers, as she's done since she was 14. The long butcher block island in the kitchen was already filled with prepped ingredients for both breads and once I got there, Joanne set to work, starting with the quick bread. This is a bread she's been making for about 10 years. It's adapted from different sources and Joanne is quick to point out that even those breads she's been making for years she's still fiddling with.

Using a stand mixer, she combined a metal bowl filled with sugar and orange zest with melted butter into the stand mixer bowl. With the mixer running on low, she added water, pureed pumpkin, the dry ingredients, and finally walnuts and cranberries. Once the ingredients were loosely combined, she poured the batter into a variety of paper loaf pans and muffin cups.

While she'd been working on that, a large metal bowl on the island sat off to one side filled with torn brioche and croissant pieces soaking in a sweet cream and egg mixture to make a rich, fragrant bread pudding. This recipe, too, was as easy as the quick bread. Galen had already caramelized chopped and sliced apples in butter. Joanne's blend of dark and golden raisins had been soaking in rum since the night before. Everything but the sliced apples, brown sugar, and cubed butter was added and stirred. Joanne then poured the batter into paper loaf pans, topped them with the sliced apples and brown sugar, and dabbed the tops with butter before sending them into the oven.

While we waited for the breads to bake, Joanne headed over to her large espresso machine and made us frothy cups of tea latte, with Darjeeling tea, cardamom pods, and honey topped by steamed milk. It was both acrid and sweet, redolent of the cardamom and so soothing on that chilly morning.

We talked about the origins of the bakery's name. Joanne's grandmother was Norwegian; her ex husband is from Ethiopia but is part Arab. Cardamom plays a role in both cultures so it was something the couple had in common. Long ago she used to make their family cardamom rolls, which he loved. When the time came to name the shop, it was named for those rolls.

By now the breads were out of the oven. Joanne set them in front of me and we dug in.

The bread pudding was beautifully browned; its interior creamy and buttery and just slightly boozy from the rum. The bits of apple were sweet and played nicely with the rummed up raisins. I could have gone for a dollop of whipped cream or the caramel Joanne usually drizzles over it, but the already rich naked bread pudding was just fine for me.

By the time I finished that slice, I had no room for the quick bread, but I took it and the leftover bread pudding to my parents house and we dove in. I loved the lightness of the bread and how the faint flavor of the orange zest melded with the rich pumpkin and pop of tartness that erupted from biting into the  cranberries.

Pumpkin Walnut Cranberry Quick Bread
from Joanne Squires-Sherif
(Printable recipe)

Yield: 1 dozen regular-size muffins or one regular quick bread loaf

Ingredients:

Wet
3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 large eggs (We use Eben-Haezer Poulty Ranch in Ramona. The size and quality are consistent and they are family owned and operated.)
15-ounce can of pumpkin puree
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup water
zest of one orange

Dry
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup fresh cranberries
3/4 cup walnuts, roughly chopped

1. Pre heat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Combine butter and eggs.
3. Mix in pumpkin, sugar, zest, and water.
4. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix until just combined.
5. Divide batter into muffin cups or loaf pans.
6. Bake loaves at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Bake muffins at 350 degrees 25 to 30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

Spiced Apple Bread Pudding with Rum Raisins
from Joanne Squires-Sherif
(Printable recipe)

Yield: 4 ramekins or 1 9-inch square pan

Ingredients

3/4 cup dark raisins
3/4 cup golden raisins
Captain Morgan Spiced Rum

8 cups days-old but not stale bread or rolls, cubed 1-inch. If you use wheat, the pudding will have a nuttier flavor.

Wet
4 eggs
2 egg yolks
2 cups half and half or manufacturers cream
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Five Granny Smith apples
2 tablespoons butter

Topping
1/4 cup cold, cubed butter
1/4/ cup brown sugar

1. Place raisins in a dish and cover with the rum. Allow raisins to soak at least two hours. (I love to have rum raisins around the house during the holidays. You can add them to muffins, pancakes, or coffee cake.)
2. In a large bowl, whisk together all wet ingredients. Add the cubed bread and let soak from two hours to overnight in the refrigerator.
3. Peel, core, and chop four apples. Peel, core, and slice one apple. Saute the apples in butter for five minutes until caramelized. Keep the cubed and sliced apples separate. Set aside.
4. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.
5. Gently mix in the cubed apples and drained rum raisins to the bread mixture. Portion the bread mixture evenly into butter ramekins or a 9-inch pan.
6. Lay sliced apples decoratively on top of the batter, sprinkle with brown sugar, and dot with butter.
7. Bake at 350 degrees. The ramekins will need 30 minutes, the pan will need 40 minutes. Use a toothpick inserted into the bread pudding to test. It should come out just slightly wet. Don't over bake.

Both breads are easy to make and wonderful for a holiday table or to take to a party as a hostess gift. No time to bake? No worries. Joanne has a host of breads customers can buy, including Cardamom Holiday Stollen, Pan d'Oro, Hungarian Sweet Cheese bread, Brioche Têtes, Brioche Pumpkin, and Brie Baked in Brioche. You can find Cardamom in North Park at 2977 Upas St. at 30th St.


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Sweet San Diego: Holiday Desserts Spreading Cheer

On Monday morning I'll be going on These Days on KPBS radio (89.5 FM at 10 a.m.) with the wonderful Michele Coulon to talk about holiday desserts. And, like all my appearances on the show, this required focused preparation. To that end, I've been traveling around San Diego to some of the hottest sweet spots. I've eaten tarts and French macaroons, Buche de Noels (Yule logs) and pumpkin spice cakes. And lots of chocolate, of course.

Because not everyone has started baking their holiday pastries yet, I've only got photos where they were available. So, let's start the round up:

• Michele Coulon. The always elegant Michele Coulon is already starting its holiday baking extravaganza. The first items Michele showed me yesterday were a plate of Christmas cookies -- gingerbread dipped in chocolate, organic orange, shortbread and cappucino. Then there were the stunning caramel apples, drizzled with Belgian chocolate and nuts. These are the small ones, but she also has them in medium and large sizes. The cupcakes were so clever -- lovely pink and red poinsettias in an assortment of cake flavors like chocolate, vanilla and lemon. Of course, there's a Buche de Noel. This log is a flourless Belgian chocolate cake in Bailey's cream and covered with Belgian chocolate mousse with flourishes like a marzipan snowman and meringue snowmen. You should call at least a couple of days before Christmas Eve to have one set aside for you. Other holiday specialties include a rum eggnog cheesecake decorated with marzipan holly leaves, traditional American pies, French macaroons, and specialty sweet breads like a Danish Kringle (Danish pastry filled with almonds, cinnamon and marzipan) and Kougloff (a brioche filled with rum-soaked dried fruit). Michele Coulon is located at 7556 Fay Ave., Suite D in La Jolla.

• Mille Feuille: I stopped by Mille Feuille last Friday, thrilled to find a metered parking spot near the cafe's prime location at Fifth and University in Hillcrest. Assistant pastry chef Sherry Punch led me through the variety of sweets they're preparing for the holidays and sent me home with a number to try. The Black Forrest is a deep, rich chocolate sponge cake soaked in brandy and dipped in a chocolate glaze before being topped with chocolate curls. The Eggnog Whisperer, an olive oil sponge cake layered with caramelized cinnamon apple slices and eggnog mousse, is topped with a caramel glaze and candied chestnuts with gold leaf. The flavors are sublime and subtle. Delicious but not so subtle is the Pumpkin Spice Cake, a chocolate sponge cake soaked in Grand Marnier alternating with pumpkin spice mousse and glazed in chocolate. The spices are bold, but not overwheming. It's a strong flavor in a very pretty package. Mille Feulle also has little packages of French macaroons in a rainbow of colors, orange blossom marshmallows (my friends and I found these disappointingly grainy in texture), and a variety of traditional cookies. Mille Feuille is located at 3896 Fifth Ave. at the corner of Fifth and University in Hillcrest.

• Heaven Sent Desserts. I just adore Tina Luu. She's so creative and works such sweet magic at this North Park dessert cafe. She's got a variety of holiday specialties, starting with the traditional Yule logs -- both chocolate chocolate and vanilla lemon, which has a vanilla sponge cake soaked in lemon juice and wrapped with lemon marscapone. Chocolate fondant leaves and sugared cranberries add an extra festive flair. For something a little different, try the frangipane tart with cranberries, pomegranate seeds and orange confit. A little almond, a little citrus. A crunchy crust. Very nice.For pure decadence, it's got to be a the sea salted chocolate caramel tart. Inspired by the much-loved Millionaire's Shortbread of Ireland, with its cookie, caramel and chocolate layers, the tart adds a little something extra with crushed lavendar. Then there's the party girl, toasted pecan and spiced cream pie. Think caramel pecan pie filling studded with bittersweet chocolate, topped with a layer of vanilla custard and then Chantilly cream. Tina will also have an assortment of cookies ready for the holidays, including ginger cookies with candied, fresh and toasted ground ginger. Heaven Sent is located at 3001 University St. at 30th in North Park.

• Cardamom Cafe and Bakery: Meet the new kid in the neighborhood. North Park, that is. Last June, Joanne Sherif opened the cozy cafe/bakery on Upas just off 30th St. A home baker since she was a young girl, Joanne has been busy raising five kids and doing volunteer advocacy for special ed kids, but long had the idea of having a business of her own that filled the need she has had to feed others. Everyday, her bakers roll out a wide assortment of breads, brioche, croissants and pastries. Take a look at the platter she served me last week: a sticky bun from brioche dough, a spinach and blue cheese croissant, a slice of brioche, a sugar star (also from brioche dough), a chocolate croissant, and a brioche fruit tart. She also makes a mean chicken salad, substituting all mayonaisse as the binder with one-third mayo, one-third buttermilk and one-third sour cream. It's divine. Oh, but we're talking holiday goods here, so let me tell you some of the traditional breads she'll have on hand. (I don't have photos because these weren't ready yet -- in fact, it takes about two weeks to make the starter and craft the bread, so call early to reserve what you want.) There's the Holiday Stollen, with dark raisins, dried cherries, candied lemon and orange peel, and almonds soaked in rum. There's Julia's Fresh Cranberry-Walnut Pumpkin Loaf made with a yeasted dough, a little sweet, a little savory, a little spicy. The Pan d'Oro is a relation of Panettone, sans nuts and fruit. Instead, it has three separate doughs and is shaped in a star. Hungarian Sweet Cheese Bread is bundt shaped and made with sour cream and goat cheese with a Grand Marnier apricot glaze. This list goes on and on. A novel approach to holiday baking. And the cafe is a lovely neighborhood spot for breakfast or lunch. Cardamom Cafe and Bakery is located at 2977 Upas St. There's no web site yet, so call 619-546-5609.
  

• Opera Cafe and Patisserie: Owners Thierry Cahez and Vincent Garcia have been known around town and beyond as superb cooks and pastry chefs. Their new cafe in Sorrento Valley is a boon to local office workers. But the duo spread their magic far beyond the sandwiches and pastries they serve at the cafe. They do a very nice wholesale and catering business as well. I love their French macaroons, a perfect holiday gift. But I also enjoyed their flourless chocolate cake, with its oozy ganache (thanks to a quick 30 seconds in the microwave at home). A breakfast treat? One of their fruit tea cakes. I took home the raspberry, but they also had blueberry, peach and apricot. Opera has a very long list of holiday specials, starting with a large Yule log in chocolate, coffee, tiramisu, or chocolate creme brulee. There are pumpkin and eggnog cheesecakes, tradtional pumpkin tarts as well as Bourbon Pecan Caramel, Apple Cinnamon Crumble and Linzer tarts. Or try the holiday minis -- cream puffs, chocolate praline tartlets or mini yule logs. Opera Cafe and Patisserie is located at 9254 Scranton Road in Sorrento Valley.

• Extraordinary Desserts: Karen Krasne's Extraordinary Desserts is a San Diego mainstay. Her two locations, on Fifth Ave. in Bankers Hill and now on Union St. in Little Italy/Downtown, draw a large swath of loyal customers. And no wonder. The pastries and cakes are delicious and just as decadent to look at, what with the abundance of flowers she uses to turn beige and brown into MGM color. Recently, I've enjoyed an amazing pecan shortbread with its crackle of sanding sugar. The chocolate streudel is nothing like what my Nana would have made; it's far more elegant in presentation and flavor but oh so good. Speaking of chocolate, there's also the decadent spire of Chocolate Cocada, a coconut macaroon like none I've ever enjoyed. And, the French apple cranberry pie was wonderful after briefly reheating it in the microwave at home and adding a drizzle of raspberry/blackberry sauce. What's on the menu for the holidays? It's a long list -- and you can even order online -- but it includes a Yule log of Valrhona chocolate, roasted almonds and a tough of whiskey, finished with a layer of chocolate truffle, white roses and gold leaf. There's also a Gateau Noel, a chocolate cake with raspberry creme brulee, raspberry-infused chocolate mousse and dark chocolate ganache; a toasted macademia cheesecake; and a white chocolate linzer torte. And then there's the Versailles, a decadent torte, with its four chocolate cake layers soaked with tuaca and surrounded by Valrhona chocolate mousse, salted caramel mousse and homemade caramel. Extraordinary Desserts is located at 2929 Fifth Ave. in Bankers Hill and 1430 Union St. in Little Italy (really more like downtown San Diego).
  

I know there's a lot more going on and I'll be filling in the blanks in the next weeks, so check back to find out what places like Eclipse Chocolat and Elizabethan Desserts are up to. And, if you have any favorite places to add, please let me know.


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