make and bake

Buttermilk Biscuits

2012-01-08T23:01:00.005-05:00

I made some biscuits this morning. It's the same recipe that I've posted before, the same one I always use. But this time, I used a technique I saw on Serious Eats in an Andrew Carmellini biscuit recipe for folding the dough multiple times before cutting out your biscuits. Sorta like when you make puff pastry and have to keep rolling and folding the dough.

I also brushed the tops of the biscuits with a little extra buttermilk and then sprinkled some sea salt on top. These definitely rose up and had more layers than usual, so I think I'll stick with that little trick.

As expected, this biscuits are really best when they are still hot. But I don't think I'll have any problems finishing them up this week.

Buttermilk Biscuits
recipe from Baking Illustrated with help from Andrew Carmellini via Serious Eats

1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup cake flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces
3/4 cold buttermilk

Preheat the oven to 450ºF and place rack in the center of the oven.

Whisk together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt. Using a pastry blender (or two knives), cut the butter into the flour mixture until it forms a coarse meal with some slightly larger pieces of butter. Add the buttermilk and mix it in with a spatula until it forms a soft sticky ball of dough. Add a little extra buttermilk if a ball does not form.

Dump the dough onto a lightly floured surface and form into a ball. Roll the dough out to about 1/2 inch thick and then fold into thirds (like you're folding a business letter). Repeat this step 7 times, but don't fold the 7th time you roll out. Cut the dough into circles with a round biscuit cutter. Use the scraps to form additional biscuits. Place on a ungreased cookie sheet. Brush the tops with buttermilk and then sprinkle with sea salt (if desired).

Bake until tops are light brown, 10 to 12 minutes. Serve immediately.

Christmas Cookies

2012-01-02T11:57:00.002-05:00

Happy New Year! Soooo I'm a little late, but I wanted to a run-down of some of the cookies I made for Christmas this year.

New cookies this year: Nutmeg Maple Butter Cookies from Smitten Kitchen. Salty, buttery, sweet - yum! Seriously addictive.

Vanilla Bean Spritz. One of my favorites from childhood.

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies with Cherries and Pecans from the Kitchn. One of my new favorites. I'm not usually a big fan of chocolate chips in my oatmeal cookies, but somehow when you add the cherries and the pecans and the chocolate chips it just works.

Italian Rainbow Cookies - my favorite cookie ever (they're actually more like cake, but they're cookie sized so they count in my opinion).

And not cookies or baking, but still filled with sugar and butter - Salted Caramels from eat make read. I think this is my first successful attempt at caramels.

Also made this year, but all gone now:
My Mom's Sugar Cookies (in the shape of NJ and unicorns)
Carrot Cake Sandwich Cookies
Marlow and Sons Brown Sugar Walnut Shortbread - (awesome, try sprinkling some salt on top with the sugar)

Holiday Breakfast Wreath

2011-12-31T12:03:00.003-05:00

Every year for Christmas, my gramma makes a Swedish Tea Ring. It's basically cinnamon bun dough, filled with maraschino cherries, walnuts, butter, cinnamon sugar, shaped into a ring and covered with icing. It's amazing.

Since I knew I'd be having the Swedish Tea Ring at her house on Christmas Eve, I tried out this similar recipe for our office holiday party. It's a Holiday Breakfast Wreath, and it pretty much the same as the tea ring except that it's filled with dried cranberries and almonds instead of maraschino cherries and walnuts. It looks pretty impressive, and really isn't that hard. Plus it makes your kitchen (or your tiny apartment) smell amazing.

Holiday Breakfast Wreath
recipe from The Kitchn, adapted from Sunset Magazine recipe

Dough:
1 packet (2 1/4 tsp) active dry yeast (I used instant yeast)
1/4 cup warm water (about 110ºF)
1/2 cup warm milk (about 110ºF)
3 tablespoons sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cardamom powder
2 large eggs
2 tsp grated lemon zest
3 1/2 cups flour

Filling:
3/4 cup dried cranberries or cherries, soaked in 1/2 cup brandy or other liqueur
6 tablespoons butter, softened
1/3 cup flour
3/4 cup finely chopped blanched almonds
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tsp freshly grated lemon zest
1 tsp almond extract

Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/4 tsp cardamom powder

In a large mixing bowl, dissolve the yeast in the warm water and let sit for a few minutes until it's foamy. Add the milk, sugar, butter, salt, cardamom, eggs and lemon peel in your mixer. One cup at a time, stir in 2 cups of the flour. Add the remaining flour 1/2 cup at a time until you have a soft, workable dough. (You may not need to use all the flour, I only used about 3 cups)

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth, about 5 to 10 minutes. Place in a lightly oiled large bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise in a warm place for about 1 1/2 hours, or until doubled in size.

While the dough is rising, drain the dried fruit from the liquer and combine the fruit with the rest of the filling ingredients. Cover and refrigerate.

When the dough has doubled in size, punch down and turn out until a lightly floured surface, kneading just enough to release any air bubbles. Your will need a large surface for this part (I just used my kitchen table). Roll the dough into a 9x30 inch rectangle. Crumble the filling over the dough to within 1 inch of the edges. Starting at one of the long edges, tightly roll up the dough, pinching the edge against the loaf to seal. Using a sharp knife, cut the roll in half lengthwise and turn the cut sides up. Loosely twist the two pieces together into, keeping the cut sides up, and shape into a wreath. See the pictures on the Kitchn for better instructions.

Carefully transfer the wreath to a greased and floured baking sheet, and let rise uncovered for about 45 minutes to an hour.

Preheat oven to 350ºF and bake wreath for about 25 minutes, or until golden. While the wreath is baking, combine all the ingredients for the glaze. When wreath is done baking, transfer to a cooling rack to cool. After a few minutes, drizzle the glaze over the wreath.

You can prepare the wreath up to 2 days ahead of time, cooled completely and wrapped tightly in foil (save the glaze until your serve). Store at room temperature then re-heat at 350ºF for 10-15 minutes, drizzling the glaze right before serving.

Halloween Cupcakes

2011-11-03T23:08:00.002-04:00

We had a Halloween party at work and I brought two types of cupcakes - Gluten-Free Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Frosting and Vanilla Candy Corn Cupcakes.

For the gluten-free chocolate cupcakes, I used a Serious Eats recipe for one-bowl chocolate cake and a peanut butter cream cheese frosting recipe from Sky High: Irresistible Triple-Layer Cakes. For the vanilla cupcakes, I used a Dorie Greenspan recipe that I used for my Valentine cupcakes and the best frosting ever, which I found on Tasty Kitchen.

Seriously, that vanilla frosting is amazing. Not too sweet, very light, kinda like whipped cream. Make it.

Gluten-Free Chocolate Cupcakes
recipe adapted from Serious Eats

2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup white rice flour
1/4 cup sweet rice flour
1/2 cup cornstarch
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp xanthan gum
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup hot coffee
1/2 cup warm water

Preheat oven to 350ºF and line about 2 cupcake tins with cupcake liners. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the sugar, flours, cornstarch, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and xanthan gum. Add the wet ingredients and stir until completely combined, no flour or dry ingredients are visible.

Fill cupcake liners about 2/3 full. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the cupcake tins for about 5 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Makes about 18 cupcakes

Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Frosting
recipe from Sky High: Irresistible Triple-Layer Cakes

8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
4 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter (commercial brands work better than natural because they don't separate)

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together the cream cheese and the butter. When fully combined, gradually add the sugar, scraping down the sides of the bowl often. Beat for about 3-4 minutes or until light and fluffy. Add the peanut butter and beat until fully combined.

Vanilla Cupcakes
recipe from Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours via Cheese and Chocolate

Makes 18-21 cupcakes

2 1/4 cups cake flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 cups whole milk or buttermilk
4 large egg whites
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 tsp grated lemon zest (optional)
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 tsp lemon extract (optional)
Yellow and red food coloring

Make the cupcakes:
Preheat the oven to 350ºF and place the rack in the center of the oven. Line muffin tins with cupcake liners.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the milk and egg whites. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the sugar and lemon zest and rub the zest into the sugar until the sugar is moist and fragrant (if using). Add the butter, and beat on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.

Beat in the lemon extract if using. Add one third of the flour mixture and beat until combined. Then add half the milk mixture. Repeat with another third of the flour mixture, the remaining half of the milk mixture, and then the remaining third of the flour mixture. Beat for about 2 minutes until the batter is fully combined and smooth. Be sure not to over-mix here since you will be mixing more when you add the food coloring.

Divide the cupcake evenly into 2 bowls. In one bowl, add yellow food coloring until it's the desired color. In the second bowl, use a combination of yellow and red (about 2 drops of yellow for every red) until it is the desired color. Fill each cupcake liner about a 1/3 full with the yellow batter. Then fill to about 2/3 full with the orange batter.

Bake for 20-25 minute or until golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool the muffin tins on a cooling rack for 5 minutes, then remove the cupcakes from the tin and cool them completely before frosting on the rack.

Whipped Vanilla Frosting aka Best Frosting Ever
recipe from Tasty Kitchen

5 tablespoons flour
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup butter
1 cup granulated sugar

In a small saucepan, whisk the flour into the milk over medium heat. Stir constantly until it thickens to the consistency of brownie mix. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature. Stir in the vanilla.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy and completely combined. Add the cooled milk and flour mixture and beat on high until it looks liked whipped cream. It will probably look separated before it gets there, but that's ok, just keep beating it.

Makes about 18 cupcakes

Apple Walnut Oatmeal Cookies

2011-11-02T21:47:00.004-04:00

I went apple picking last month on a weekend trip back to NJ, and I've been trying to use up the 20 pounds of apples I picked. There has been apple sauce, apple butter, and two batches of these oatmeal cookies. They are super good and taste just like fall. I have needed to bring them to work or give them away to friends so that I would stop eating them.

I used an oatmeal cookie recipe I found on Smitten Kitchen and adapted it by adding apples and increasing the amount of flour to account for the apples. The cookies end up nice and chewy, and if you refrigerate the dough for at least a couple of hours, they don't spread out completely, which is a problem I've had a lot with oatmeal cookie recipes.

Apple Walnut Oatmeal Cookies
adapted from Smitten Kitchen recipe

2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/3 cup brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
3 cups rolled oats
1 1/2 cups chopped apples (about 2 apples)
1 cup chopped walnuts

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter and the brown sugar. Add the eggs one at a time, and then the vanilla. Add the flour mixture and mix just until fully combined. Add in the oats, apples, and walnuts.

Refrigerate the dough for a couple hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Drop dough by rounded tablespoons onto a parchment-lined cookie sheet. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until ends are golden and the tops look slightly under baked. Let cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet, then finish cooling on a wire rack.

Makes about 48 cookies.

Homemade Skyr (Icelandic Yogurt)

2011-09-26T22:26:00.005-04:00

I love Siggi's yogurt. It's super thick, they have great flavors (um, orange and ginger...yum!), and it's fat-free to boot. It's a bit expensive though. So I was really excited when I found this recipe to make your own.

Basically you start with a gallon of fat-free milk, heat it up and then let it cool back down. Add some yogurt and a few drops of rennet, then wrap it up in some towels and let sit for half a day. Then you let it drain for a long time, and you have yogurt!

I actually bought the adorable Weck jars that I used for the yogurt months ago in anticipation of making it. I finally got around to buying the rennet I needed last weekend, and I picked up two other ingredients - milk and siggi's to start it off.

It took a long time, but most of the time was letting it drain so it didn't require any work. And for the price of a gallon of milk and a container of yogurt (plus the couple drops of rennet), I have six 6oz containers of yogurt. Next time I'll just have to buy the milk because I'll save a few tablespoons of the yogurt I made.

I've just been eating it with some cherry jam and a little granola, but I really want to try to replicate the orange & ginger flavor that they make.

Homemade Skyr
recipe from Jules Food

1 gallon fat-free milk (not ultra-pasteurized)
3-4 tablespoons skyr (Siggi's or another brand or leftover homemade)
7-8 drops rennet (I used 3 drops of Double Strength Plus rennet)

Heat the milk to 195ºF in a large pot, stirring occasionally. When the milk reaches 190-195º, turn off the heat and let cool to 110ºF. Mix 3-4 tablespoons of the skyr into a couple tablespoons of the warm milk in a small bowl until it is mixed and pourable. Stir this mixture into the pot of milk, being careful not to scrape up any milk solids that may be at the bottom of the pot.

Add the rennet and stir carefully. Cover with the lid on the pot and wrap up in 2-3 towels. Place on the counter and let sit for 12-16 hours.

Look inside and make sure it looks like a mostly solid mass with some whey around the outside. If not, then you need to start over. If it looks good, then slice the curds into cubes.

Line a large strainer with several layers of cheesecloth and place over a large bowl. Spoon the cubed curds into the strainer, then let sit for 1-2 hours. When the dripping has slowed, tie the corners of the cheesecloth together and hang on a wooden spoon over a bowl or pot. I did this on the counter, but you can also move it into the refrigerator if your apartment is warm. Let sit for 2-3 hours or until it is firm. It should be thicker than greek yogurt but not as thick as cream cheese.

Dump into a bowl and whisk until smooth. You can also put it in your mixer and beat it until it is smooth. Flavor as desired and eat!

Peach Cobbler

2011-09-21T21:39:00.003-04:00

I made peach cobbler for Labor Day. I can't find the recipe I used though, so it's just pictures for this one. Pretty basic recipe though, peaches sliced and mixed with cornstarch, biscuits on top.

Peanut Butter Banana Bread and Zucchini Corn Bread

2011-09-18T21:19:00.004-04:00

Last weekend I was on a quick bread kick.

First, there was Peanut Butter Banana Bread from Joy the Baker. How could that not be awesome?

Then I made some Zucchini Corn Bread from Bon Appetit. No complaints on this one either.

They were both great, I just probably should have only made one at a time because that's a lot of bread for one person to eat.

Peanut Butter Banana Bread
recipe from Joy the Baker

1 1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas
1/3 cup plain or vanilla fat free yogurt
1/3 cup creamy all-natural peanut butter
3 tablespoons butter, melted
2 eggs
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup ground flaxseed meal
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground allspice
1/4 cup chopped dry roasted peanuts

Preheat oven to 350ºF and put rack in center of the oven. Grease and flour a 9x5-inch loaf pan and set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, flaxseed meal, baking soda, salt, ground cinnamon, and ground allspice. Set aside

In a separate bowl, whisk together the mashed bananas, yogurt, peanut butter, and melted butter. Whisk in the eggs and sugars until no sugar lumps remain.

Pour the banana mixture into the large bowl with the flour mixture. Fold together until no more flour is visible. Fold in the chopped peanuts.

Pour into the prepared loaf pan and bake for 55 to 65 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean.

Let cool in the pan for 20 minutes, then run a butter knife along the edges of the pan and invert onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Makes 1 9x5 inch loaf. Keep well-wrapped at room temperature for up to 4 days. This bread also freezes well.

Zucchini Corn Bread
recipe from Bon Appetit

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 large zucchini (about 10 ounces or 2 cups shredded)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp fine sea salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup medium-grind cornmeal

Preheat oven to 350ºF and place rack in the center of the oven. Butter a 9x5-inch loaf pan.

Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook until butter solids at bottom of the pan turn golden brown, about 3 minutes. Scrape the butter into a medium bowl, and set aside to cool. When cool, whisk in the eggs and buttermilk.

Trim the ends of the zucchini and thinly slice five 1/8" rounds from 1 end of zucchini and set aside for garnish. Coarsely grate the remaining zucchini. Add to the butter mixture and stir until well-blended.

Whisk together the flours, sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in a large bowl. Whisk in the cornmeal. Add the zucchini mixture, and fold in just until combined.

Pour batter into the prepared loaf pan and place the reserved zucchini slices on top of the batter down the center in a single layer. Bake for 55-65 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean.

Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then run a butter knife along the edges of the pan and invert onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Makes 1 9x5-inch loaf. Store in a airtight container at room temperature for 4-5 days.

Salted Caramel and Fudge Swirl with Pretzel Ice Cream

2011-09-11T16:18:00.002-04:00

I want to apologize for the crappy pictures, but I decided to try to take pictures of this ice cream when there was only one sad little scoop of ice cream left in my apartment. But I wanted to share the recipe because this ice cream was amazing. Sweet and salty and creamy.

I love Chubby Hubby so this was my attempt to make something similar with salted caramel instead of the peanut butter. I love peanut butter, but I had some leftover salted caramel from a batch of Sweet and Salty Brownies from Baked Explorations that I had been wanting to use in some ice cream. I used the vanilla base and fudge swirl recipes from David Lebovitz's The Perfect Scoop.

Salted Caramel and Fudge Swirl with Pretzel Ice Cream
recipe adapted from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz and Baked Explorations by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito

Makes 1 quart

1 cup whole milk
3/4 cup sugar
2 cups heavy cream
pinch of salt
1 vanilla bean, split in half lengthwise
6 large egg yolks
3/4 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup fudge swirl (see recipe below)
1 cup salted caramel (see recipe below)
1 cup crushed pretzel pieces (I crushed some pretzel logs, but you could use any type, even chocolate covered pretzels)

In a medium saucepan, whisk together the milk, sugar, 1 cup of the cream, and salt over medium heat. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean into the warm milk and add the bean halves as well. Cover, remove from the heat, and steep for 30 minutes.

In a large bowl, pour the remaining 1 cup of cream and place a mesh strainer over top of the bowl. In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Carefully pour the warm milk mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, and then pour back into the saucepan.

Heat over medium heat with a heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom until it thickens and coats the spatula. Pour the custard through the mesh strainer into the remaining cream and add the vanilla beans back to the custard. Place the bowl into an ice bath, add the vanilla extract, and stir until cool.

Chill thoroughly in the refrigerator. When it is chilled and you are ready to churn the ice cream, remove the vanilla bean and rinse and reserve it for another use.

Freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions. In the last few minutes, add the pretzel pieces.

When it is done churning, layer the ice cream with spoonfuls of the fudge swirl and the caramel. Do not stir the ice cream together with the fudge swirl and the caramel. Freeze until firm in your freezer.

Salted Caramel:
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tsp fleur de sel
1/4 cup sour cream

In a medium saucepan, carefully stir together the sugar, corn syrup, and 1/4 cup water, taking care not to splash the sides of the pan. Cook over high heat until the temperature is 350ºF or until a dark amber in color, about 6 to 8 minutes. Keep a close watch on the caramel because once it starts to brown it goes quickly.

Remove from heat and slowly add the cream and then the fleur de sel. Whisk in the sour cream, and set aside to cool.

Fudge Swirl:
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup water
6 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

In a medium saucepan, whisk together the sugar, corn syrup, water and cocoa powder. Heat over medium heat, whisking constantly, until it begins to bubble at the edges.

Continue to whisk until it just comes to a low boil and then continue to cook for an additional 1 minutes, whisking constantly. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla, then set aside to cool. Chill in the refrigerator before using.

Crustless Broccoli, Fontina, and Bacon Quiche

2011-08-27T13:34:00.004-04:00

This morning I was preparing for the hurricane by making ice cream, and I got to the part where the recipe said to whisk together 6 egg yolks in a bowl. But instead of doing that, I whisked together 6 eggs, yolk and white, in a bowl. Oops! So I made quiche.

I didn't feel like making a pie crust because it's hot in my kitchen (which is why I was making ice cream). I found a basic recipe for crustless quiche here, and made some adjustments - used 6 eggs instead of 4, used whole milk instead of half-and-half, swapped the swiss cheese for fontina, added 4 strips of crumbled up bacon and a healthy splash of hot sauce, and nixed the nutmeg.

The crust is generally my favorite parts of a quiche, but I really liked how this one turned out. Pictures of the ice cream to come soon!

Crustless Broccoli, Fontina, and Bacon Quiche
recipe adapted from food.com

6 eggs
1 cup whole milk or half-and-half (I used a really creamy whole milk from the farmers' market)
1 cup fontina cheese, shredded
2 cups broccoli florets
4 strips bacon
1/2 tsp salt
freshly ground pepper
couple splashes of hot sauce

Preheat your oven to 350ºF and butter a 9-inch pie pan.

Cook your bacon in whatever way you generally cook your bacon, and then crumble up into small pieces. Blanch you broccoli in a large pot of boiling water for about 3 minutes.

In a medium bowl, whisk together your eggs and milk. Add in the cheese. Then add in the broccoli, bacon, salt, a few grinds of pepper, and hot sauce.

Pour into your buttered pan and spread around the broccoli so it's evenly distributed. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

Dutch Baby with Buttermilk Syrup

2011-08-21T12:07:00.003-04:00

First, I want to thank the Union Square Farmers' Market for having strawberries in the middle of August. Delicious little strawberries.

My mom used to make dutch baby pancakes when I was growing up and she would always make buttermilk syrup to go with them. I know buttermilk syrup sounds weird, but it awesome. Buttery, sugary awesomeness. The Dutch Baby is delicious too, but it was really always about the syrup for me.

I didn't have my mother's recipe for the syrup, but I found one online that I think it's pretty similar and it tastes the same and frothed up the same way I remember. I think my mom's used corn syrup though.

I sprinkle the pancake with lemon juice and powdered sugar, and then covered it in syrup and strawberries. And then I stuffed it in my face.

Dutch Baby Pancake
recipe from Cook's Country via Joy Cho on Pinterest

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
2 tsp grated lemon zest
1 tsp salt
3 large eggs
1 1/4 cups skim milk
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tablespoons lemon juice
3 tablespoons confectioners' sugar

Preheat oven to 450ºF and place oven rack in the middle position. Brush the surface and sides of a large oven-safe skillet with the vegetable oil. Place the skillet in the oven and heat until the oil is shimmering, about 10 minutes.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cornstarch, lemon zest, and salt. Set aside.

In another bowl, whisk the 3 eggs for about a minute, or until frothy and light. Whisk in the milk, melted butter, and vanilla until fully incorporated. Add one-third of this milk/egg mixture to the flour mixture until no lumps remain. Then add in the remaining milk/egg mixture and mix until smooth.

Pour the batter into the heated skillet and bake for about 20 minutes, or until the edges of the Dutch Baby are deep golden brown and crisp. Place the skillet on a wire rack to cool, and then sprinkle with the lemon juice and confectioners' sugar.

Cut into wedges and serve with syrup and fruit.

Buttermilk Syrup
recipe found on Dandelion Mama

1/2 cup butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda

Combine the butter, sugar, and buttermilk in a medium saucepan over low heat to melt the butter and dissolve the sugar. Then bring to a boil and boil for one minute.

Remove from heat and whisk in the vanilla and baking soda. It will foam up, but continue to stir until fully combined. Serve warm.

Italian Rainbow Cookie Cake

2011-08-14T22:30:00.007-04:00

Sorry for the three month hiatus. It's been really hot so I haven't really turned my oven on for the past month and I was on vacation for a couple weeks. And let's just face it, it's summer and I've been lazy.

I did make these the other day, and they were delicious. I tried to take a picture, but they were messy and didn't come out of the molds very well. Still tasted good though.

One of my co-worker's birthday was this weekend, so I decided it was time to suck it up and turn on my oven again. Plus it rained all day today so it was slightly cooler in my kitchen. He is gluten-intolerant, so I was on the hunt for a good gluten-free cake recipe. He loves italian rainbow cookies, so I decided to try to make this recipe and convert it to gluten-free. It looked awesome.

The only ingredient I had to replace in the recipe was the flour. Also, I had to make sure that the almond paste that I had was gluten-free as well. The Solo brand (in the cans) is gluten-free, but the Odense brand (the one in the tube) has wheat in the ingredients. Unfortunately, I had one can and one tube, but the recipe calls for more than one can. I tried both of the grocery stores near my apartment, and neither had almond paste, so I ended up buying some blanched almonds and making my own almond paste using a recipe I found here. It was actually really easy and if I wasn't buying the almonds at the fancy grocery store it would probably be a lot cheaper than the canned stuff.

For the gluten-free flour substitute, I used a rice flour mix recipe I found here. I think this mixed worked really well, the cake had a really good texture and everyone said it didn't taste "gluten-free".

Sorry for the crappy post-slicing pictures, I didn't have my real camera at work and only remembered to snap one with my iphone after most of it was gone.

Obviously it was enjoyed by all. Especially the birthday boy.

Italian Rainbow Cookie Cake (Gluten-free)
recipe adapted from Always Order Dessert

3 sticks butter (1 1/2 cups), softened
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
6 large eggs
12 oz almond paste (homemade, see recipe below, or store-bought), grated with a box grater
1 tablespoon pure almond extract
1 cup white rice flour
1 cup brown rice flour
2/3 cup potato starch
1/3 cup tapioca starch
1 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
3 tsp baking powder
red, green, and yellow food coloring
1/4 cup seedless raspberry jam
1/4 cup apricot preserves
1 cup heavy cream
12 oz semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Butter and flour 3 9-inch round cake pans and place a round of parchment in the bottom of each pan.

Cream the butter and sugar together in the bowl of a stand mixer, about 5 minutes. Add the eggs and beat for another 3 minutes. Add the almond paste and almond extract and beat until well combined.

In another bowl, sift together the four types of flour, xanthan gum, and baking powder. Gradually add the flour mixture to the batter in the mixer and mix until combined.

Separate the batter evenly into three bowls. Add red food coloring to one bowl, green to another, and yellow to the last. Pour each color mixture into individual pans, smoothing out the tops. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Let cool for 5 minutes, then invert onto cooling racks and remove the parchment paper. Let cool completely.

While the cake is cooling, prepare the ganache. Place the semi-sweet chocolate chips into a medium sized bowl. Heat 1 cup heavy cream in a small saucepan until bubbles form around the edge (do not boil). Turn off the heat and pour the cream over the chocolate chips and let sit for a minute. Then stir continuously until melted completely and smooth. Cool to room temperature.

When the cake and the ganache have cooled to room temperature, assemble the cake. Place the pink layer on the bottom and spread with the raspberry jam to the edge of the cake. Place the yellow layer on top and then spread with with apricot preserves to the edge. Then place the green layer on top.

Pour the ganache on top of the cake and spread with a an offset spatula so it goes down the sides of the cake. Spread to that it evenly covers the entire cake. Let sit in a cool location for 1-2 hours to let the ganache harden (I used the fridge since it is so hot in my kitchen).

Homemade Almond Paste
recipe from My Sister's Kitchen

1 1/2 cups (8 oz) blanched almonds
1 1/2 cups (5 oz) powdered sugar, sifted
1 egg white
1 tsp almond extract
1/2 tsp salt

Grind the almonds in a food processor. Add the sugar, egg white, almond extract, and salt and combine until it forms a stiff paste. Store in the refrigerator or freezer, tightly wrapped in saran wrap or plastic bag. Makes 1 1/3 cups (13 oz) almond paste.

Lemon Raspberry Petits Fours

2011-05-17T23:25:00.005-04:00

I made petits fours over the weekend! Aren't they cute?

I think you should go make these, because they just make me happy. I showed a picture of them on my phone to a co-worker today and she squealed.

I made these for my amazing friend Heather's bridal shower on Sunday. We had a beautiful party hosted by my friend Yuri, ate awesome food, and drank a ton of wine. It was a lovely Sunday afternoon.

I also learned a couple things about swiss meringue buttercream:

It might look like your buttercream is curdling or soupy and will never come together, but just keep letting it whip. Eventually it will thicken and turn into fluffy buttercream.
If you decide to refrigerate your buttercream before using and you end up with cold separated buttercream, melt about 1/4 of it in a small saucepan. Add back to the rest of the buttercream in the bowl of your mixer and whip until it turns into beautiful buttercream again.

Lemon Chiffon Cake
recipe found here

2 1/4 cups cake flour
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
8 egg yolks
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup water
3/4 cup oil
8 egg whites
1 tsp cream of tartar

Preheat oven to 325ºF and line two 9 inch cake pans or one 9x13 inch sheet pan with parchment or wax paper. (I ended up having enough batter to fill both a 9x13 inch sheet pan and an 8 inch round cake pan)

Sift the cake flour in a large bowl and add 1 cup of the sugar, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

Mix together the lemon juice, water, oil, and egg yolks in a medium bowl. Make a well in the flour mixture and pour in the liquid mixture. Mix together for about 2-3 minutes with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk the egg whites until frothy. Add the cream of tartar and slowly add the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar. Beat until stiff peaks form.

Gently fold the egg whites into the batter.

Pour the batter into the prepared cake pans and bake for 45 minutes. The cake is done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and the cake springs back when lightly touched.

Run a knife along the edges of the cake and invert onto a wire rack. Invert once more and let fully cool on wire rack.

Raspberry Limoncello Simple Syrup
recipe adapted from Annie Eats and Use Real Butter

1 cup sugar
1/3 cup water
2 tablespoons limoncello
1 cup raspberries

Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium high heat, stirring until sugar is completely dissolved. Remove from heat and strain. Let cool.

Meyer Lemon Curd
see recipe in my last post here

Lemon Swiss Buttercream
recipe found on Use Real Butter

4 oz egg whites (from 3 or 4 large eggs)
8 oz sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temperature
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3 oz lemon juice

In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the egg whites and sugar. Place the mixture over a pan of simmering water until 140ºF is reached, stirring constantly. Move to the mixer and whip until stiff on high speed. Turn down the speed to medium high and whip until the mixture is cool to the touch. Change to the paddle attachment and slowly add the soft butter, one tablespoon at a time. Once the desired consistency has been reach, add the vanilla and lemon juice.

Poured Fondant Icing
recipe found on Use Real Butter

4 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar
1/3 cup water
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp almond extract
drop of yellow food coloring

Mix together all ingredients in a double boiler or a large bowl over a pot of simmering water. Heat until lukewarm. If the consistency is too thin, you can add slightly more water. Remove from heat and stir in the he food coloring.

Assembling the Cake:

Bake the lemon chiffon cake and let cool fully. You make want to refrigerate the cake when it's cool for at least an hour because it is easier to slice after refrigeration. Once the cake is cool, slice the cake in half horizontally so you have two equal halves. Spread each layer with the simple syrup. Spread about 1 cup of lemon curd on the bottom half. Then spread the buttercream on top of that. Sandwich the top half on top of the bottom half.

Using a serrated knife, slice the cake into 1 1/2 inch squares. Place each square on a wire rack on top of a baking sheet, leaving an inch in between each square.

Either ladle the warm poured fondant over top of each square, or fill a plastic squeeze bottle with the fondant and use to cover each cake. You may need to do a couple coats, let cool in between coats. Place a raspberry on top of each cake or decorate as desired.

Meyer Lemon Curd and Buttermilk Biscuits

2011-04-03T21:04:00.003-04:00

This lemon curd is the only reason I got dressed today.

See, I got up and made the lemon curd from the beautiful meyer lemons I picked up at the coop yesterday. But then I had nothing to put the lemon curd on. I was going to make pancakes or biscuits, but I had no milk or buttermilk or sour cream. Not even any soy milk.

But I really wanted to put the lemon curd on something and eat it, so I had to get dressed and leave my apartment.

Biscuits are now made and eaten with lemon curd on them. This picture was taken before I ate two more of the biscuits.

It was yummy and totally worth getting dressed for.

Meyer Lemon Curd
adapted from recipe from Put 'Em Up: A Comprehensive Home Preserving Guide for the Creative Cook, from Drying and Freezing to Canning and Pickling

1 tablespoon lemon zest
1 cup fresh meyer lemon juice (from 6-8 lemons)
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, cut into pieces
4 eggs
1/2 tsp salt

Combine the lemon zest, juice, sugar, butter, eggs, and salt in the top of the nonreactive double boiler or in a glass bowl set on top of a saucepan. Bring the water in the bottom pan to a simmer and whisk the curd constantly until it thickens, this should take about 10 minutes. Strain the mixture through a fine-mesh strainer.

If you just want to keep your curd in the fridge, ladle it into jars, cover, and refrigerate for up to 2 weeks.

If you want to can it like I did, have 3-4 sterlized half-pint canning jars ready. Ladle the curd into the clean, hot jars leaving 1/4 inch of headspace. Release trapped air by tapping on the counter. Wipe the rims clean with a clean cloth, then screw on the lids and bands. Process in boiling water for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat, remove canner lid and let rest for 5 minutes. Remove from the water and set aside for 24 hours. Check seals and then store in a cool dark place for up to 1 year.

Makes about 3 cups (I got 3 half pint jars plus a little extra to use right away)

Buttermilk Biscuits
recipe from Baking Illustrated

1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup cake flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces
3/4 cold buttermilk

Preheat the oven to 450ºF and place rack in the center of the oven.

Whisk together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt. Using a pastry blender (or two knives), cut the butter into the flour mixture until it forms a coarse meal with some slightly larger pieces of butter. Add the buttermilk and mix it in with a spatula until it forms a soft sticky ball of dough.

Dump the dough onto a lightly floured surface and form into a ball. Pat the dough out and then divide the dough into 12 equal pieces. You can cut it into circles if you like. Place on a ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake until tops are light brown, 10 to 12 minutes. Serve immediately.

Panda Cookies

2011-03-10T20:47:00.007-05:00

Oh, hey there panda.

Don't be sad.

So many pandas!!

My friend sent me the link for these turtle cookies (and lions and pandas and domos) last week and I had to make them. Except I decided I wanted to try a different animal. What's cuter than pandas??

Mine are nowhere near as perfect as hers, but I still think they're pretty darn cute.

Panda Icebox Cookies
recipe found on Diamonds for Dessert

2 1/2 cups flour
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 egg yolks
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tablespoons cocoa powder (I honestly didn't measure this, but know I put a few scoops in)
food coloring, optional
white nonpareils or sprinkles, melted chocolate, for decorating

Cream the butter and the sugars together. Add the egg yolks one at a time, then add the vanilla extract. Add the flour until just combined. Split the dough into 3 equal pieces, combine 2 of the pieces together in a separate bowl. Add the cocoa powder to the remaining piece of dough and add a mixture of red and blue food coloring (if desired) until the dough is dark enough to resemble panda ears.

Now it's time to form the panda face. Take two pieces of the brown dough and roll each out into a skinny rope. Form three long sheets of the white dough, excuse my crappy diagrams:

Wrap the white dough around the brown dough so you get something like this:
Cover in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 15 minutes. After chilling, slice the dough into 1/4 inch slices and place on a parchment lined baking sheet. With the remaining brown dough, form a long skinny tube of dough. Slice off a 1/4 inch piece and cut in half. Stick the halves to the top of the circle as the ears. Add white nonpareils as eyes. Chill the cookies for 10 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 325ºF. Bake the cookies for 12-15 minutes. Cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet and then finish cooling on a wire rack. When cool, draw on a chocolate nose and mouth using a toothpick.

Makes 4 dozen cookies

Valentine Cupcakes

2011-02-15T00:17:00.005-05:00

I love cutesy valentines decorations and candies and desserts. Last year I bought sprinkles on sale after Valentines Day and they've sat waiting in my cabinet for a year. This year I used those sprinkles and some new cupcake wrappers to make some treats for my coworkers.

I really think these might be the cutest cupcakes I've ever made. I bought a new frosting tip last week, and I really like how they came together. And I got to use my awesome Martha Stewart cupcake carrier to tote them to work with me.

I saw the recipe on Cheese and Chocolate and knew I had to make them as soon as I saw them. The only thing I changed was that I did not add the lemon flavoring to the cake, I just wanted plain vanilla cupcakes.

I've never made this type of frosting before either and I really like how it turned out. I was a little worried about the pound of butter I put into it, but it was still nice and light and way less sweet than a regular buttercream.

Perfect Party Cake Cupcakes
recipe from Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours via Cheese and Chocolate

Makes 18-21 cupcakes

2 1/4 cups cake flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 cups whole milk or buttermilk
4 large egg whites
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 tsp grated lemon zest (optional)
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 tsp lemon extract (optional)
Red food coloring

Make the cupcakes:
Preheat the oven to 350ºF and place the rack in the center of the oven. Line muffin tins with cupcake liners.

Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the milk and egg whites. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the sugar and lemon zest and rub the zest into the sugar until the sugar is moist and fragrant. Add the butter, and beat on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.

Beat in the lemon extract. Add one third of the flour mixture and beat until combined. Then add half the milk mixture. Repeat with another third of the flour mixture, the remaining half of the milk mixture, and then the remaining third of the flour mixture. Beat for about 2 minutes until the batter is fully combined and smooth.

Fill each cupcake liner about 1/3 full with the white batter. Add a few drops of red food coloring into the remaining batter in the bowl and stir until it's light pink. Put about 1/3 of the pink batter into a pastry or ziploc bag and set aside.

Add more red food coloring into the pink batter until the batter is red. Add all the red batter into another pastry or ziploc bag.

Cut the tip off the bag of red batter and carefully squeeze a couple tablespoons of red batter into the center of each cup of white batter. Then cut the tip off the bag of pink batter and carefully squeeze about a tablespoon of pink batter into the center of the red batter you just added.

Bake for 20-25 minute or until golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool the muffin tins on a cooling rack for 5 minutes, then remove the cupcakes from the tin and cool them completely before frosting on the rack.

Classic Buttercream
recipe from Cook's Illustrated via Cheese and Chocolate

4 large eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons chambord (optional for raspberry flavor, or use 2 tsp vanilla extract)
pinch of salt
1 pound (4 sticks) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature, cut each stick in quarters
3 tablespoons powdered sugar

In a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water, combine the eggs, sugar, chambord (or vanilla) and salt. Whisk gently but constantly, and heat the mixture until 160ºF. It will be thin and foamy.

Pour the egg mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer and beat on medium high with the whisk attachment until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Reduce the speed to medium and add the butter, one piece at a time. Wait for each piece to be fully combined until adding the next piece. The mixture may look curdled as your are adding the butter, but keep whipping it and eventually it with begin to look smooth. After you have added all the butter, add the powdered sugar and beat for one more minute. The frosting should be fluffy and smooth. You can keep this frosting stored in the refrigerator covered for up to 5 days.

Gaufres de Liege

2011-02-08T22:16:00.002-05:00

Two years ago, I went on an awesome trip to Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam with my aunt. In Brussels, we would go to the waffle place near our hotel, and I would order the gaufres de Liege with whipped cream and chocolate every time. My aunt always got the fluffy belgian waffles, but I was loyal to the gaufres de liege. I became a little obsessed with those chewy little waffles.

Those waffles are actually a major part of why I decided I needed a waffle maker. And the only reason it's taken me almost two months to make them was because I didn't have the pearl sugar that goes into them. Then I happened to be in Ikea over the weekend buying some picture frames (and a couple of plants and pots for them to go in), and I was walking through the little Swedish market on my way to buy a 50 cent hot dog and there was the pearl sugar! I love Ikea...

I used a recipe I found on not martha, which was originally from the Kitchn. These are yeasted waffles, so it does take a little longer than a regular waffle to make. Definitely a lazy weekend waffle.

And I'm not sure if I lost track of my measuring, but when I had everything mixed together, my dough was definitely not yellow and stiff. So I added about half a cup more flour, and then it was fine. I may have been distracted, I was making the baked oatmeal in my last post at the same time.

This recipe makes 12 waffles, which is a little more than I should be eating on my own. I put them in a tupperware container between layers of parchment paper, and I just toasted one and it still was yummy two days later.

The verdict? They were really good. Definitely not as good as the ones I ate in Brussels, but a good substitute until I can go back.

Gaufres de Liege
recipe found on not martha from the kitchn

6 tablespoons warm milk (no hotter than 110ºF)
1/2 tsp granulated sugar
2 tsp instant yeast
1 1/2 cups (230 grams) bread flour, sifted
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
1 medium egg
1 egg yolk
1/2 cup unsalted butter, slightly cooler than room temperature
140 grams turbinado sugar or pearl sugar (it was slightly more than 1/2 cup pearl sugar)
cooking spray

Dissolve the sugar in the warm milk and then add the yeast. Cover with a plate and let sit for about 5 minutes. It should look bubbly.

In a stand mixer, mix together the flour, cinnamon, vanilla extract, and salt. Add the yeast mixture, then the egg and yolk. Mix on medium speed until a stiff yellow dough is formed.

Cover the mixing bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough rise for about 30 minutes.

Cut the butter into pieces and add the pieces one at a time to the dough while beating in the mixer. Once about half of the butter has been added, the dough will start to look like a thick paste. Keep mixing on medium high and add the rest of the butter. The dough will become smooth and elastic. Scrape the sides of the bowl as needed.

Gently knead the sugar into the dough until it's evenly distributed. Work quickly so that you don't soften the dough. Divide the dough into 12 equal pieces and form into balls.

Set on a cutting board and let sit for about 15 minutes. During the last 2 minutes, preheat your waffle iron to a low setting (should be very warm, not hot).

Spray your waffle iron with cooking spray. When the waffle iron is heated, place one ball of dough into waffle maker (you might be able to fit two, but I didn't). Cook until the dough starts to puff up and the surface of the waffle is golden to dark brown. Mine took about 2 - 2/12 minutes.

When the waffles are done, carefully remove from the waffle maker. Beware of dripping sugar. Cool on a wire rack to keep crispy. Serve with powered sugar (or plain or with whipped cream and chocolate - I went with plain this time).

You can store waffles in an airtight container between layers of parchment paper. To reheat, toast for about 30 seconds.

Makes 12 waffles.

Baked Oatmeal

2011-02-06T12:56:00.005-05:00

I am obsessed with this baked oatmeal. This is the third time I've made it in the last two weeks. It makes about 4 large servings so I can have it for breakfast most days of the week and then not feel so bad about the egg sandwich I eat on the 5th day.

I found this recipe on Seven Spoons and I've made a few adjustments to the recipe. First, I use slightly less sugar, only 1/4 cup brown sugar. I've also used soy milk and almond milk in place of the regular milk.

The recipe notes that there is room for a lot of variations in the recipe, so I did make my own variations and plan to try others. The first two times I made it, I used about 1 cup fresh blueberries and 1/2 cup pecans. This time, I didn't have any fresh fruit, so I used 1/2 cup frozen blueberries, 1/2 cup frozen cranberries and 1/2 cup pecans. I want to try it with some sliced apples too. And I want to try it with the pepitas as well.

Baked Oatmeal
based on recipe from Seven Spoons

Butter or cooking spray to grease pan
2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup chopped nuts (pecans or almonds or walnuts...)
1/4 cup pepitas (optional)
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tsp flax seeds (I used ground flax seeds)
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/8 tsp kosher salt (I used slightly more)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 cups milk (regular, soy, or almond)
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp maple syrup
about 1 cup fresh or frozen fruit (enough to cover the bottom of the pan)
About 1 tsp coarse sugar, for sprinkling on top

Preheat oven to 375ºF and grease an 8 inch round or 8x8 inch square baking dish and set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine the oats, nuts, pepitas, brown sugar, flax seeds, baking powder, spices, and salt. Set aside

In another medium microwave safe bowl, melt the butter. Set about 1 tsp of the butter aside, and then add the milk, egg, vanilla, and maple syrup to the remaining butter in the bowl. Whisk until combined and then set aside.

Spread the fruit in an even layer in the bottom of the greased pan. Lightly spread the oat mixture over the fruit. Then evenly pour the liquid mixture on top. It will look like too much liquid, but it will be absorbed during baking. Drizzle the reserved teaspoon of butter over top and then sprinkle with coarse sugar.

Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until golden and set. Cool slightly before eating. This can be stored covered in the fridge for about a week.

Deli Rye Bread

2011-02-01T20:50:00.003-05:00

We always had rye bread at our house going up. I think I ate more rye bread than white bread as a kid. I would eat peanut butter and jelly on rye, grilled cheese on rye, and rye toast with peanut butter. Now I'm more of a whole wheat girl, but I still love my rye.

I bought a bag of rye flour at the farmers' market a couple months ago and decided a couple weekends ago to finally use it. I used a recipe from Baking Illustrated, which is one of my favorite general baking cookbooks.

The recipe is simple, it just takes a long time. And it makes two large loaves, so you can freeze one, which makes the time commitment more worth it. I would definitely make this again.

Deli-Style Rye Bread
recipe from Baking Illustrated

Sponge:
2/3 cup rye flakes (optional)
2 3/4 cups water, room tempurature
1 1/2 tsp instant yeast
2 tablespoons honey
3 cups (15 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour

Dough:
1 1/2 cups (7 1/2 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
3 1/2 cups (12 1/8 ounces) medium or light rye flour
2 tablespoons caraway seeds
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon salt
Cornmeal for sprinkling on the baking sheet

Glaze:
1 egg white
1 tablespoon milk

Make the Sponge: If using the rye flakes, preheat the oven to 350ºF and then toast flakes until golden (10 to 12 minutes). Cool to room temperature. Mix the water, yeast, honey, rye flakes, and flour in a stand mixer until all combined. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit until the entire surface is covered in bubbles (at least 2 1/2 hours). If you want, you can keep at a cool temperature over night.

Make the Dough: Mix the flour, 3 1/4 cups rye flour (reserve 1/4 cup), caraway seeds, oil and salt into the sponge. Switch to the dough hook and knead the dough on low speed. Once the dough is all combined, add the remaining 1/4 cup of rye flour. Continue to knead for about 5 minutes, until smooth and slightly sticky. Transfer the dough to a well-floured work surface and knead the dough into a smooth ball. Place into a lightly oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise until doubled, 1 1/4 to 2 hours.

When doubled, sprinkle the cornmeal on a baking sheet. Turn the dough back out onto a well-floured surface. If you want to make one large loaf, shape the dough into a 12 x 9 inch rectangle. If you want two smaller loaves, divide the dough in half and shape each into a 9 x 6 inch loaf. With the long side of the loaf facing you, roll dough into a 12-inch log (or two 9 inch logs). Pinch the seam and then seal the ends by tucking them into the loaf. Transfer the shaped loaf (or loaves) to the prepared baking sheet, seam side down. Cover with lightly oiled plastic wrap and let rise until the dough looks "bloated and dimply", about 60 to 75 minutes.

Place the oven rack in the lower-middle position and heat the oven to 425ºF. Whisk the egg white and milk together and brush over the sides and top of the loaf. Make 6 or 7 slashes, 1/2 inch deep, on the top of the loaf with a very sharp knife or a razor blade. Bake for 15 minutes at 425ºF, then reduce the heat to 400ºF and bake another 25 to 30 minutes (15 to 20 minutes for smaller loaves), or until golden brown and the internal temperature is 200ºF. Cool to room temperature on a wire rack.

Blood Orange Olive Oil Cake

2011-01-15T14:41:00.003-05:00

So I made this cake last Christmas as two mini bundt cakes, and I gave one of them to my friend Lisa. She hasn't stopped talking about this cake since then. Unfortunately, blood oranges are not available year round, so I've been waiting for them to show up again so I can make her some more.

Luckily, two weeks ago I went the coop and there they were! So I bought a huge bag of them and came home and made some cake. This recipe is supposed to make one regular loaf, but I made 4 little loaves instead so I could share.

Supreming and juicing blood oranges is really messy. Don't wear a light colored shirt because you will end up with blood orange juice sprayed all over it. Or at least I did. So I'm just warning you.

Blood Orange Olive Oil Cake
recipe from New York Times

3 blood oranges
1 cup sugar
Buttermilk or plain yogurt (about 1/2 cup)
3 large eggs
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

Preheat oven to 350º F and grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan (or 4 mini loaf pans or two mini bundt pans). Grate the zest from 2 of the oranges and add to the sugar in a small bowl. Use your fingers to rub the zest into the sugar until it's evenly distributed.

Supreme two of the blood oranges (here's a video). Cut the bottom and top off the oranges so you can see the fruit and the orange will stand upright. Cut away the peel and pith, following the curve of the fruit with your knife. Then cut each segment away from the connective membranes and place in a bowl. Break up the segments into 1/4 inch pieces.

Juice the remaining orange, should be about 1/4 cup of juice. Add buttermilk or yogurt to this juice to make 2/3 cup liquid. Mix and combine with the sugar in a medium bowl. Whisk in the eggs.

In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Whisk these dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Then fold in the olive oil in a small batches with a spatula. Finally, fold in the blood orange segments.

Pour the batter into your pan (or pans). For one large loaf, bake for about 55 minutes. For smaller loaves, bake about 35-40 minutes. When done, cakes should be golden and a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake should come out clean.

Cool for 5 minutes in the pan, then remove from pan and cool on a wire rack.

Waffles of Insane Greatness

2011-01-08T23:20:00.005-05:00

I got a waffle maker for Christmas. So....I made some waffles!

I used the adapted recipe for Waffles of Insane Greatness that I saw on Orangette and they came out delicious. I did realize though that my counter is so tilted that when I pour the batter in the waffle maker, it all runs out the side. After trying to prop it up in the back and failing miserably, I moved the waffle maker to the kitchen table and was much more successful. I ate them with cherry preserves and a little maple syrup.

Next I'm going to try the yeasted waffle recipe, I just wasn't ambitious enough this time to start the night before.

Waffles of Insane Greatness
recipe from Food Network via Orangette

3/4 cup flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp sugar
1 cup milk or buttermilk (or 1/2 cup of each)
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg, lightly beaten
3/4 tsp vanilla extract
(I also added 1/2 tsp almond extract)

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar. Whisk together the milk or buttermilk, oil, egg and vanilla extract in a separate small bowl. Pour into the flour mixture and whisk until very few lumps remain. Set aside for 30 minutes.

Make according to the directions for your waffle maker. I have this waffle maker, and it made about 5 large waffles.

Gluten-Free Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies

2010-12-06T22:45:00.004-05:00

Chocolate + Peanut Butter = Yum

These are super rich, so have some milk handy.

The changes I made from the original recipe are that I used brown rice flour instead of white rice flour, because that's what I had on hand. I also substituted butter for vegetable shortening and I made the cookies smaller than the 3 inches suggested in the recipe. I would probably make them even smaller if I make them again because they are super rich.

Gluten-Free Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies
adapted from recipe from Serious Eats

Cookie:
1/2 cup gluten-free oats
1/2 cup brown rice flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup sweet rice flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 cup butter
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
3 tablespoons creamy peanut butter (not natural peanut butter)

Filling:
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
3/4 cup powdered sugar
2 tsp water

Coating:
12 oz milk, dark, or white chocolate, chopped

Preheat the oven to 350ºF and line a baking sheet with parchment papepa, set aside. Process the oats in a food processor until finely ground. In a medium bowl, whisk together the ground oats, rice flour, cornstarch, sweet rice flour, salt, and xanthan gum.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter, peanut butter, and granulated sugar for 30 seconds on medium high speed. Add the egg and mix for 15 seconds, scrape down the sides and then mix another 15 seconds.

Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture, mix until dough forms. Divide dough in half, shape each half into a disk, and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 20 minutes.

Roll dough out with a rolling pin on a lightly rice-floured surface. Roll until dough is about 1/4 inch thick. Cut dough with a 2 inch (or smaller) circular cookie cutter.

Place cookies on a prepared baking sheet and bake for 12-14 minutes or until lightly browned. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

While cookies are cooling, prepare the filling. Mix together the peanut butter, powdered sugar, and water in the bowl of a stand mixer. Mixture should be smooth, if it is too thick, add a 1-2 teaspoons more water. When cookies are cool, spread one cookie with a thin layer of filling and then sandwich with another cookie.

Melt the chocolate in a large bowl set over a pot of simmering water. Remove the bowl from the heat. Dip each cookie one at a time into the chocolate, then place the cookies on a parchment lined baking sheet.

You can drizzle the cookies with a chocolate and make them look pretty, but I didn't because I ran out of chocolate. I totally would have though. Chill the cookies for 20 minutes, then store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week.

Makes about 25 sandwich cookies

Thanksgiving!

2010-11-28T23:37:00.002-05:00

Hope everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving! Here's what I contributed this year for Thanksgiving:

Maple Bourbon Pecan Pie - it looked so pretty before baking. I tried to copy the one from the New York Times last week.

Then after baking the crust sunk down and it got really dark, but it still tasted good.

Parker House Rolls

Gougères

Recipes:
Maple Bourbon Pecan Pie - Martha Stewart
Parker House Rolls - Gourmet recipe via Joy the Baker
Gougeres - Dorie Greenspan recipe via Epicurious

Swedish Princess Cake

2010-11-20T15:17:00.002-05:00

I made a Swedish Princess Cake! This was for my friend Erin's birthday last weekend. We had an awesome fall picnic in Prospect Park with perfect weather and amazing food. I even won a game a horseshoes.

This was probably one of the most difficult, or at least time consuming, cakes that I've ever made. The part that gave me the most trouble was the genoise cake itself. My layers kept coming out very flat and eggy, and you were supposed to cut the cake into three layers, which would not have been possible with the cake I ended up with.

I think the main problem was that I wasn't mixing the flour in enough. I was trying to be so careful folding in the flour, but it was all sinking to the bottom of the batter and not mixing in evenly. It took three attempts to get some usable cake, but then I had some leftover to make a mini princess cake as well.

I was actually the most worried about the marzipan because I've never made it before, but that part was actually really easy. A friend had recommended making my own from almond paste instead of using ready made marzipan, so that's what I did. It was simple to make and rolling it out and placing it over the cake wasn't too bad. It wasn't quite as smooth as I would have liked over the cake and I had to fix a few cracks, but I'm pretty happy with my first attempt.

I think it was worth all the eggs that it took to get to the final product. The cake looked awesome, and it tasted great. All the different layers came together really well.

Swedish Princess Cake
recipe from Pete Bakes! via iVillage (but I couldn't find the recipe on the ivillage site).

Vanilla Genoise Cake:
5 eggs
1/3 cup sugar
2 Tbsp butter
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup flour

Rum Simple Syrup:
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp dark rum

Whipped Cream:
3 cups heavy cream
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Pastry Cream:
1 1/2 cups half and half
6 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
4 egg yolks, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla

Marzipan:
3 cups confectioner's sugar
1 lb almond paste
3 tablespoons light corn syrup
2-3 tablespoons water
1/8-1/4 tsp green food coloring

Other:
1/3 cup raspberry jam, seedless or heated and strained
confectioner's sugar for dusting

Preheat the oven to 350ºF and grease and flour a 9x2 inch cake pan (or 2 9x1 cake pans).

To make the cake, beat the eggs in a stand mixer until well blended. Whisk in the sugar. Place the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Whisk the mixture constantly so the eggs do not cook. Once they feel warm, move the bowl to your mixer and whip on high speed with the whisk attachment for about 4-5 minutes or until tripled in volume.

Melt the butter in a small dish and add the vanilla, set aside. Sift a small about of the flour over the top of the egg mixture, and gently fold the flour in using a rubber spatula. Continue sifting a small amount of flour in at a time, folding it all in before adding the next addition, until all the flour has been added. Add about a cup of the egg and flour mixture to the butter that you set aside and fold together until combined. Slowly and gently fold the butter mixture into the egg and flour until everything is fully combined.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake on the center rack for 30 minutes. The cake will pull away from the sides of the pan and the top will spring back when it is done. Let cool in the pan for 5 minutes and then let it finish cooling on a wire rack. When cool, cut the cake into three equal layers. If you want to make the cake in advance (like I did), you can store it wrapped in plastic wrap in the fridge for a few days or the freezer for a much longer time.

To make the marzipan, put the confectioner's sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer. Add the almond paste a little at a time. You can break it into pieces with your fingers and add it slowly to the sugar. When all added, the mixture should be crumbly. Add the corn syrup and mix for a few more minutes.

If you want to make marzipan flowers for on top of the cake, put a small amount of the mixture aside. Combine the water and food coloring in a small bowl and add to the remaining mixture while the mixer is running. Turn it out to the counter and knead with your hands. Add more food coloring if you want it darker. Add red or pink food coloring mixed with a little water to the marzipan that you set aside to use for flowers. Flatten the marzipan into a disk and wrap in plastic wrap. Store in the fridge until you are ready to use.

To make the simple syrup, combine the water and sugar in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and let the sugar dissolve. Remove from the heat, cool and add the rum. Store in a covered container in the fridge until you are ready to use.

To make the pastry cream, bring the half and half to a simmer in a medium saucepan. In a bowl, mix the cornstarch, sugar and water. Beat in the egg yolks. Slowly add the cornstarch/egg mixture to the half and half, whisking constantly. Once it becomes very thick (this will happen very quickly), remove from the heat and add the vanilla. If there are little lumps in it, you can push it through a fine sieve to make more smooth. Allow it to cool completely, then cover and refrigerate until chilled.

To make the whipped cream, whip the cream, sugar, and vanilla in a stand mixer on high speed until peaks form.

Now it's time to assemble the cake. Remove the marzipan from the refrigerate to let it come to room temperature. Place one layer of the cake on a cake board. Brush it with the rum simple syrup and then spread with a layer of the raspberry jam. Spread a thin layer of whipped cream on top of the jam. Lay another layer of cake on top of the whipped cream. Brush with the simple syrup, then spread a thick layer of the pastry cream. Place the last layer of cake on top of the pastry cream. Brush with the simple syrup and then spread with remaining raspberry jam.

Using an offset spatula, cover the sides of the cake with a thin layer of the whipped cream. Mound the remaining whipped cream on top of the cake and form a dome. You should not see any cake when you're done. Place the cake in the refrigerator to cool while you roll out the marzipan.

Dust a large surface with confectioner's sugar and place the marzipan disk on top. Begin to roll out with a rolling pin (coated in confectioner's sugar) and roll into a 16 inch circle (about an 1/8 inch thick).

Roll the circle of marzipan up on your rolling pin and hen carefully unroll it over the whipped cream dome. Once it is draped over top, gently smooth out the marzipan to form a smooth coating. Cut the excess marzipan around the bottom

I found a youtube video that showed how to make marzipan flowers, so I used that. You can also roll the remaining marzipan into shapes and place on the top of the cake. Dust the cake with confectioner's sugar before serving.

I stored my cake in the fridge for a day before using it, and I stored the mini cake in the fridge for almost a week and it was still good.

Jewelry Class Necklaces

2010-10-18T22:32:00.007-04:00

I just finished taking a jewelry class with Kate Miss of for me, for you at Lena Corwin's studio. I have one of Kate's brass drops necklaces and wear it all the time, and I had a really great time taking this class. These are my three finished products from the class.

See here for some of the amazing necklaces that other students made.

Peanut Butter Swirl Brownies

2010-10-17T22:30:00.003-04:00

Made these using the Baked recipe that I always use, but added some peanut butter.

To add peanut butter swirl:
Melt about 3/4 cups peanut butter in the microwave until it is pourable. After you have poured the brownie batter into the pan, pour the peanut butter in stripes on top of the batter. Then using a toothpick, swirl the peanut butter to make a marbled effect. Bake as usual.

Sourdough Bread

2010-10-03T21:51:00.004-04:00

I often start projects and don't really plan out the amount of time it will actually take to make them. I'm not a very good planner. Like when I decide to bake brownies at midnight, but then forget that I have to bake the brownies for 30 minutes, which means I will be up until 1am.

So last Sunday, I decided to make my first bread with my sourdough starter. I started the dough early in the afternoon, but finished the first rise and realized that I didn't have enough time left to let it rise one more time and then bake it before having to go out. I was planning to just use the basic recipe which you do all in one day, but the next recipe had a delayed-fermentation where you just put the dough overnight in the fridge after the first rise. So I decided to just do that. I split the dough in two and put it in two loaf pans, and then put it in the fridge until the next evening.

Mine didn't really slow down that much overnight in the fridge though, it was overflowing out of the pans the next day. You're supposed to let it come to room temperature and let it rise more, but I just let it sit out for an hour and it was oozing out everywhere. I kinda pushed it back into the pan and then baked it.

It came out nice and golden and smelled awesome. And I, of course, didn't wait for it to cool all the way before I sliced a piece off to try it. It actually tastes like sourdough! Now I need to figure out what to make next with my starter.

Basic Sourdough Bread
recipe and delayed-fermentation directions from the kitchn

2 cups water
1 1/2 tsp yeast
2 cups sourdough starter
4-5 cups flour
1 1/2 tablespoons sea salt
1 cup extra flour, as needed

Combine yeast and water and let sit for 1-2 minutes, or until yeast is dissolved. Add the sourdough starter and mix.

Add 4-5 cups of flour, one cup at a time, stirring completely between each additional cup. When it becomes too difficult to mix, turn out onto a floured surface. Knead for a minute or two and form the dough into a ball. Sprinkle with some of the extra flour and let sit for 5 minutes.

After 5 minutes are up, flatten the dough with your hand and sprinkle on half of the salt. Fold in half and flatten and then sprinkle with the remaining salt. Knead the dough for 10 minutes, adding extra flour if the dough becomes too sticky.

Let sit for 5 minutes, then knead for another 10 minutes. You are done kneading if the dough springs back when you poke it with your finger.

Coat a large bowl with oil, and place the dough in the bowl. Turn it over to coat both sides with oil. Let rise for about 2 hours in a warm place. Dough will not double in size like regular dough, it will probably rise about 25%.

Divide the dough into two equal pieces and shape into ball. Let sit for 20 minutes to allow the gluten to relax. Grease two loaf pans.

Shape the loafs by flattening each ball and shaping into a rectangle. Then fold the rectangle in three like a letter. Pinch the seam closed, then flatten and repeat. Place in the pans with the seams down and let rise for another 1 1/2 to 2 hours. (This is point where you can stick the dough in the refrigerator overnight instead of letting it rise now. The next day you may have to let it rise longer since it will need to come back to room temperature.)

Preheat oven to 450ºF and place a heavy pan in the bottom of the oven after the dough has been rising for about an hour. When the dough is done, bring two cups of water to a bowl. Make three slits along the top of the loaves with a sharp knife. Place the loaves in the oven and quickly pour the boiling water into the heavy pan and close the oven door.

Bake for 10 minutes and then rotate the loaves and reduce the oven temperature to 400ºF. Bake for an additional 10-15 minutes, or until loaves are golden brown and sound hollow when knocked on (internal temperature should be 190ºF).

Let cool and then eat. Makes two loaves.

Sourdough Starter

2010-09-29T23:15:00.004-04:00

I started a sourdough starter last week!

It's smelly and super bubbly.

I made some bread with it, will post about that later.

It was super super simple:

Day 1:
Mix together 1/2 cup flour and 1/2 cup filtered water in a large glass or plastic container. Scrape down the sides and cover. Let sit at room temperature for 24 hours.

Day 2:
Add another 1/2 cup flour and 1/2 cup filtered water. Scrape down the sides and cover. Let sit at room temperature for 24 hours.

Day 3:
Repeat Day 2

Day 4:
Repeat Day 2

Starting Day 5, you can start to use the starter, or you can store it in the fridge. Ever week or so, discard or use about 1 cup of the sourdough and add another 1/2 cup flour and 1/2 cup water to refresh.

I found the recipe and instructions on the kitchn.

Blackberry Almond Cupcakes with Chocolate Ganache

2010-09-29T20:54:00.002-04:00

I made these cupcakes for my friend's birthday last weekend. I found the recipe on Joy the Baker, except hers used raspberries instead of blackberries. There were only blackberries left at the farmers' market on Saturday, so that's what I used.

These cupcakes were super moist, and the tartness of blackberries went really with the bittersweet chocolate ganache. The cupcakes did shrink a little away from the cupcake wrappers after they came out of the oven, but that just made it easier to justify eating two.

Blackberry Almond Cupcakes with Chocolate Ganache
recipe adapted from Joy the Baker

1 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1/4 tsp almond extract
1/2 cup whole milk
1/3 cup fresh blackberries, chopped

Preheat oven to 350ºF and line muffin tin with cupcake liners.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.

With an electric mixer, beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add egg and almond extract and beat until combined. Reduce speed to low and add 1/3 flour mixture, then half of milk. Repeat and add the remaining flour, beat just until combined. Fold in the the blackberries.

Divide the batter into the twelve cupcake liners. Bake about 20 minutes, until golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a rack, then frost with ganache and add sprinkles if you like.

Chocolate Ganache

3/4 cup bittersweet chocolate chips (can also use semi-sweet)
1/4 cup heavy cream

Place the chocolate in a small bowl. Bring the cream to a simmer in a small pot over medium heat. Pour the cream over the chocolate and let sit for a minute. Then stir until the chocolate is smooth. This frosting will thicken as it sits.

Watermelon Lemon Mint Popsicles

2010-08-22T21:18:00.002-04:00

I bought some new popsicle molds, and these were my first attempt. I had some watermelon in my fridge that I had blended up, and I just added the juice from one lemon, a few squirts of agave nectar, and some chopped up fresh mint.

The separated a bit while freezing so that all the lemon is at the very top. Now I just have to eat them all so that I can try some other flavors.

Triple Chocolate Cookies

2010-06-21T23:33:00.002-04:00

I made these cookies in June and I'm just posting them now because I've been very lazy. I also haven't really been taking pictures of the stuff I've baked. In July I barely baked anything because the first two weeks were soooo hot here in NYC and my apartment that I didn't want to turn my oven on. Then I was on vacation for the 2nd two weeks.

Anyway, back to the cookies. I used a recipe from Baking Illustrated, pretty much one of my go to cookbooks for anything I want to bake. The only thing I changed was that I added some peanut butter chips as well as bittersweet chocolate chips at the end. They were awesome.

Thick and Chewy Triple Chocolate Cookies
recipe from Baking Illustrated

Makes about 42 cookies

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 cup dutch processed cocoa powder
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
16 oz semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped
4 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp instant coffee or espresso powder
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, softened but still cool
1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
12 oz semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips (or half chocolate and half peanut butter chips)

1. Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl, and then set aside.

2. Melt the chocolate in a medium heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water, stirring once or twice, until smooth, then remove from the heat. In a small bowl beat the eggs and vanilla lightly with a fork, sprinkle the coffee powder over to dissolve and set aside.

3. Either by hand or with an electric mixer, beat the butter at medium speed until smooth and creamy, about 5 seconds. Beat in the sugars until combined, about 45 seconds; the mixture will look granular. Reduce the speed to low and gradually beat in the egg mixture until incorporated, about 45 seconds. Add the chocolate in a steady stream and beat until combined, about 40 seconds. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. With the mixer at low speed, add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Do not overbeat. Stir in the chocolate chips. Cover with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature until the consistency is scoopable and fudge-like, about 30 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, adjust the over racks to the upper- and lower-middle positions and heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Scoop the dough onto the prepared baking sheets with a 1 3/4 inch ice cream scoop, spacing the mounds of dough about 1 1/2 inches apart.
5. Bake until the edges of the cookies have just begun to set but the centers are still very soft, about 10 minutes, rotating the baking sheets front to back and top to bottom halfway through the baking time. Cool the cookies on the sheets about 10 minutes, slide the parchment with cookies onto wire racks, and cool to room temperature. Cover one cooled baking sheet with a new piece of parchment paper. Scoop the remaining dough onto the parchment lined sheet, bake and cool as directed. Remove cooled cookies from the parchment with a wide metal spatula.

Purple and Pink Rainbow Cookies

2010-05-12T23:22:00.008-04:00

For the last two years for Christmas I have made Italian rainbow cookies using a Gourmet recipe I found on Smitten Kitchen. They are one of my favorite cookies, and homemade ones, in my opinion, are way better than the ones you get at a bakery. They are way more moist and awesome, and they keep really well in my freezer so that I can have a little rainbow cookie snack whenever I want.

One of my good friends from college, Celia, got married down in North Carolina last month, and a week before the wedding she asked me if I was going to be bringing some tasty baked goods, like maybe those rainbow cookies I make. I hadn't been planning on bringing anything, since I was having a hard enough time trying to figure out what to wear and how to pack three dresses and five pairs of shoes in my carry-on bag. But at around 10pm two days before I was heading down there, I decided that I was going to make these cookies, and that I was going to make them purple since that was her wedding color.

Since I was making these in a shorter period of time than I normally do, I bought 3 disposable rectangular cake pans at the grocery store so that I could bake all three layers at the same time. Normally I bake each layer separately and have to wait for the pan to cool in between layers. I also bought neon food colors which had purple and pink so I could make the purple and pink layers easily.

I kept these in the freezer overnight before I left, and they survived sitting in my suitcase all day, in a plane, in the trunk of a car, in 80 degree weather, until I got to my hotel and stored them safely in the refrigerator until the rehearsal dinner that night. And they were still yummy. So were the leftovers in my freezer when I got back to Brooklyn.

Italian Rainbow Cookies (or Seven-Layer Cookies)
recipe from Gourmet via Smitten Kitchen

4 large eggs, separated
1 cup sugar
1 8 oz can almond paste
2 1/2 sticks (1 1/4 cups) unsalted butter, softened
1 tsp almond extract
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
25 drops red food coloring (or purple)
25 drops green food coloring (or pink)
1 12 oz jar apricot preserves, heated and strained
7 oz fine-quality bittersweet chocolate, chopped

Preheat oven to 350ºF and place oven rack in the middle of the oven. Butter a 13x9 inch baking pan and line bottom with wax paper, leaving an overhang on 2 ends, then butter the paper. (Or if you want to bake them all at once, prepare 3 disposable baking pans the same way.)

Beat the egg whites on medium high speed in a stand mixer using the whisk attachment, just until they hold stiff peaks. Add 1/4 of the sugar gradually, increasing speed to high until the whites are stiff and glossy. Place mixture in a another bowl gently and set aside.

Beat the almond paste and the rest of the sugar (3/4 cup) using the paddle attachment of your stand mixer, about 3 minutes. Add the butter and beat for another 3 minutes, or until pale and fluffy. Add the egg yolks and almond extract and beat until well combined, about 2 minutes. Reduce speed to low, then add the flour and salt. Mix until just combined.

Gently, fold half of the egg white mixture into the almond mixture, then fold in the remaining egg whites until thoroughly combined.

Divide your batter evenly into 3 bowls. Stir red food coloring into one bowl, the green into another, and leave the third bowl plain. Set the white batter aside and cover the green batter and chill. Pour the red batter into the prepared pan and spread it evenly with an offset spatula.

Bake red layer 8 to 10 minutes, until just set. It is important to undercook. Transfer to a wire rack to cool, about 15 minutes. Wipe out your pan, and prepare as earlier (butter, wax paper, butter). Bake the white layer the same as the red layer. Bring your green batter to room temperature as the white layer is baking. Repeat the same process with the green batter.

When all three layers are cool, line a large baking sheet with wax paper. Carefully invert the green layer onto the baking sheet, and remove the wax paper from the layer. Spread the green layer with half of the apricot preserves. Invert the white layer on top of the green layer and remove the wax paper. Spread with the rest of the preserves. Invert the red layer on top and remove the wax paper.

Cover the three layers with plastic wrap and place another baking sheet on top to weigh it all down. Chill for 8 hours.

When it's chilled, remove the weight and plastic wrap, and let it warm to room temperature. Melt the bittersweet chocolate in a double boiler or in a metal or glass bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Stir until smooth and fully melted. Remove from the pan from the heat, but keep over the water.

Spread half of the chocolate in a thin layer on top of the cake. Chill in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes, or until it's hardened. Place a piece of wax paper on top of the chocolate covered cake, and invert onto another baking sheet. Remove the wax paper and spread with the rest of the chocolate. Chill until firm, about 30 minutes.

Trim the edges, then cut lengthwise into 4 strips. Cut each strip into 3/4 inch wide cookies.

Makes about 5 dozen cookies.

Gluten-Free Brownies

2010-04-26T22:56:00.004-04:00

I've been playing around with some gluten-free recipes lately, and last week I decided to tackle brownies. I figured that since I like my brownies super fudgy anyway, that they wouldn't suffer too much from no gluten.

I found two similar gluten-free recipes that I combined ideas from and I also used some other ingredients from my favorite gluten-full brownie recipe, the Baked brownie. The main recipe I used was from Gluten-Free Girl. She adapted an Alice Medrich recipe and used a combination of brown rice flour and tapioca flour. The other recipe I worked with was from Gluten-Free Goddess, which had a very similar recipe but she used almond flour and brown rice flour.

Both recipes were for an 8x8 pan, but I wanted to make a 9x13 pan, so I figured I'd double the recipes and use a little bit from each. So I ended up using brown rice flour, almond flour, and tapioca flour. The Gluten-Free goddess recipe used all brown sugar and the gluten-free girl recipe used all white flour, but since I really like the Baked brownies which use a combination of the two, I did the same here. The other thing I stole from the Baked recipe is the espresso powder, I added a teaspoon to the butter and chocolate while melting it.

I really didn't miss the gluten. And my co-worker who is gluten-free was very happy with them. So were the rest of my co-workers, who all have no problems with gluten. The empty container was delivered back to my desk about 20 minutes after I left it. They are really fudgy, so you really only need a small piece.

One other note: as I was making these, I realized I only had 3 eggs left in my fridge. I did some googling to see what I could substitute, and I found that you can substitute 1 tablespoon flax seed with 3 tablespoons water for 1 egg. I ended up doing that and everything turned out fine, so I guess it works!

Super Fudgy Gluten-Free Brownies
adapted from recipes from Gluten-Free Girl, Gluten-Free Goddess, and Baked: New Frontiers in Baking

2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, cut into small pieces
1 tsp instant espresso powder
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup brown rice flour
1/4 cup tapioca flour
1/4 cup almond flour

Optional: extra chocolate chips to sprinkle on top, I used about half a cup of bittersweet chips

Preheat oven to 400ºF. Butter a 9x13 inch baking pan, line with parchment paper, butter the parchment paper. In a glass or metal bowl over a pan of simmering water, combine the butter, chocolate, and espresso powder. Let melt and stir until fully combined. Remove from the heat and set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the sugars with the eggs. Once fully combined, add the vanilla extract. Add the flours and mix until just combined. Finally, add the melted chocolate and butter mixture. Stir in with a rubber spatula.

Pour into the prepared baking pan, smoothing with the spatula to even out. Sprinkle with the extra chocolate chips if desired. Bake for 25-30 minutes.

Let cool, and of course taste one while they are still hot. Then I would recommend doing what I did, which is let them chill overnight in the refrigerator. In the morning pull them out of the pan using the parchment paper and slice. They were much easier to deal with when they were chilled. Serve to all your friends or co-workers!

Makes a 9x13 inch pan of brownies, which I cut into about 24 brownies.

Ginger Fried Rice

2010-04-23T21:27:00.004-04:00

I've made fried rice a bunch of times, but it never comes out quite right. I mean, it's decent, but it's never as good as what you get at a restaurant. This recipe however, came out pretty awesome. I think it may have been the fried egg on top. And the crunchy ginger and garlic helped too.

There's not really much in it and it's really simple to make. And it's a Jean-George Vongerichten recipe, so it's not a really a surprise that it's delicious, but I was surprised how easy it was. Just make sure that you don't let the ginger and the garlic burn. My stove, as well as the rest of my kitchen, is a little uneven, so one side of my pan got a little darker than I would have liked. So I would just recommend keeping a close eye on it once it starts to brown.

Since I was eating the leftovers for this for lunch, I also found out that if I cooked a fried egg in the morning and plopped it on top of the rice in my little glass container, and brought it to work and kept it in the fridge until lunch, that it would still be runny when I would heat it up at lunch time. Didn't think that would happen, so it was a pleasant surprise. But be warned, that garlic and ginger is pretty potent, and people a couple cubes away could smell it. So make sure you've got some gum or mints for afterward.

I followed the recipe pretty much exactly except that I used leftover brown rice instead of white, and it tasted just as good to me. There is also a nice video if you like to watch instead of just reading the recipe, which I do. And I also love Mark Bittman.

Ginger Fried Rice
recipe from The Minimalist, New York Times

1/2 cup peanut oil
2 tablespoons minced garlic
2 tablespoons minced ginger
salt
2 cups thinly sliced leeks, white and light green parts only, rinsed and dried
4 cups day-old cooked rice - white, jasmine, or brown
4 large eggs
2 tsp sesame oil
4 tsp soy sauce

In large skillet, heat 1/4 cup of the peanut oil over medium heat. Add the garlic and ginger and cook until crispy and brown. Keep an eye on it once it starts to brown, don't let it burn. Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon and place on paper towels, add salt to taste.

Reduce heat to medium low and add 2 tablespoons of the peanut oil and the leeks. Cook them for about 10 minutes, until translucent and tender, stirring occasionally. Season with a little salt.

Raise the heat back up to medium and add the rice. Cook until everything is well combined and heated through, then season again with salt.

In another pan, fry your eggs, either sunny side up or over easy until the whites are set but the yolks are still runny.

To serve, you can divide the rice into 4 portions, put an egg on top of each, add 1/2 tsp sesame oil and 1 tsp soy sauce, and then sprinkle with a 1/4 of the ginger and garlic. Or, if you're not going to eat it all at once, you can just add all the sesame oil, soy sauce, and ginger and garlic to the whole pan of rice. Then make your eggs as needed.

Makes 4 servings.

Key Lime Pie

2010-04-20T22:35:00.003-04:00

My contribution for Easter this year was Key Lime Pie. I used an Ina Garten recipe that I found on Oh Joy Eats. I've made Key Lime Pie before, but I've never made one where you don't cook the filling, just freeze it.

It turned out awesome, it just doesn't hold up too long outside of the freezer. It especially doesn't hold up too well on the car ride from NJ back to Brooklyn, even if it's in a little insulated cooler with an ice pack. But hopefully if you decide to make it, you won't have that problem.

I made 1 1/2 times the crust recipe as suggested on Oh Joy Eats, and it was a really thick crust. My mom bought me monster size limes, so I only needed 3 1/2 to get 3/4 cup of juice. But they were at least double a regular-sized one, so you will probably need at least 6 regular limes.

Frozen Key Lime Pie
recipe from Ina Garten via Oh Joy Eats

Crust:
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (about 10 crackers)
1/4 cup sugar
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
Note: I made 1 1/2 times the crust recipe

Filling:
6 extra large egg yolks, room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
1 14-oz can sweetened condensed milk
2 tablespoons grated lime zest
3/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice (4 to 5 limes)

Topping:
1 cup (1/2 pint) heavy cream
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
Lime wedges for garnish

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Combine graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and butter in a bowl. Press into a 9-inch pie pan, making an even layer. Bake for 10 minutes, let cool.

In the bowl of an electric mixer (or I used a blender), beat egg yolks and sugar on high speed for 5 minutes, or until thick. Lower speed to medium and add condensed milk, lime zest, and lime juice, mix until fully combined. Pour into the cooled crust and freeze.

For the topping, beat the heavy cream on high speed with whisk attachment until soft peaks form. Add the sugar and vanilla and beat until firm. Spread over the top of the filling, or you can pipe it on if you want it to look fancy. Decorate with lime wedges to make it pretty.

Freeze for several hours or overnight before serving.

Multigrain Bread

2010-04-01T23:47:00.003-04:00

I made this bread almost a month ago, but I'm just getting around to posting it now. I've been slacking with posting on the blog, but I promise that I've still been baking. I've been working on perfecting my chocolate chip cookie recipe, and I've made some compost cookies (a little too sweet for my taste) and Irish car bomb cupcakes (freaking amazing, make them!). I just haven't taken very good pictures of all these things, but I made them and ate them.

So since I made this bread so long ago, I don't remember all the changes I made to the recipe. I remember adding some seeds to the dough itself and I also added some sea salt and freshly ground pepper to the topping. I think I actually may have added a little too much salt.

So I had pretty much eaten a third of this loaf of bread within an hour of it coming out of the oven. I always tell myself that I'm probably going to the eat the entire loaf of bread eventually, and it's going to taste the best when it's still hot, so I might as well just eat a bunch of it all right away. Probably not the best logic.

Multigrain Bread
recipe from Bon Appétit

1/2 cup unsweetened multi-grain cereal (such as 7 grain) *I just used 1/2 cup rolled oats
2 cups boiling water

1 envelope dry yeast
4 1/3 cups bread flour
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
Optional: add seeds directly to the dough, I just sprinkled in some poppy and sesame seeds

2 tsp sesame seeds
2 tsp flax seeds
2 tsp poppy seeds
I also added some sea salt and ground black pepper

2 cups water - to create steam in the oven

Place cereal (or oats) in a large bowl and pour boiling water over. Let cool until the temperature is between 105º and 115º F, about 20 minutes.

Add the yeast, 1 cup bread flour, oil, sugar, and salt and stir until fully combined. Gradually add the rest of the flour until it forms a dough. Cover and let sit for 15 minutes.

Turn onto a floured surface. Knead for about 10 minutes or until the dough is smooth and not sticky, adding more flour if necessary. Place the dough in a large oiled bowl, turn the dough to coat with oil. Cover and let rise until doubled, about an hour.

Mix your seeds in a small bowl. Punch down the dough and turn out onto a lightly floured surface. To make two small loaves, divide the dough in half and place each half in a lightly greased loaf pan. Or you can make one long loaf by shaping the entire piece of dough into a 12x4 inch loaf. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 425ºF and place one rack in center and one below that. Place a baking pan on the lower rack. Brush the top of the dough with water and then sprinkle with the seed mixture.
Make several slashes in the top of the dough with a sharp knife. Bake on the center rack, and immediately after you place the pan on the center rack, pour the 2 cups water in the baking pan on the lower rack. Close the oven door right away to trap the steam.

Bake for about 35 minutes, or until golden brown and the bread sounds hollow when tapped. Cool on a wire rack.

Mardi Gras King Cake

2010-02-21T19:17:00.003-05:00

I've been meaning to make a King Cake for the last two years for Mardi Gras, but I hadn't gotten around to it. This year, thanks to President's Day falling the day before Mardi Gras, and me having the day off, I finally made one.

I had a really hard time deciding what recipe to use. I had an awesome vegan King Cake on Super Bowl Sunday, and I almost just used that recipe, but I didn't have all the vegan substitutes available. I found a couple recipes that had a cream cheese filling, and I'm thinking now I should have used one of them. The one I did end up using was more like a big cinnamon bun, but it was a little dry.

The recipe I used was from the Times-Picayune, and I only made a few adjustments. The actual shaping of the dough was a little confusing, so I made a few changes based on some other recipes I saw. It also had you dye the icing purple, green, and yellow, but I used purple, green, and yellow colored sugar on top of white icing instead.

Last year I tried to find plastic babies to put inside a cake in Park Slope, but I had no luck. I found them this year at A.C. Moore when I was in NJ visiting the family (for doughnut making!).

King Cake
adapted from a Times-Picayune recipe

For dough:
1/4 cup warm water
1 envelope active dry yeast (I used 2 1/4 tsp instant yeast)
1/4 cup warm milk
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
3 to 3 1/2 cups flour
2 eggs
Red bean, pecan half, or plastic baby for inside cake

For filling:
1/4 cup melted butter
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp sugar
I added 1/2 cup toasted pecans, chopped

For icing:
1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
1/4 tsp almond extract
1 to 2 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Purple, Green, and Yellow sugars

Place warm water in a large bowl, sprinkle yeast over top and stir until dissolved. Let sit for 5 minutes if using active dry yeast. Add the warm milk, butter, sugar, nutmeg, and salt and mix until fully combined. Stir in eggs and 3 cups of flour. If the dough is sticky, add more flour. Knead the dough either on a lightly floured surface or with the dough hook in a standing mixer, about 5 minutes. The dough should be smooth and elastic. Lightly grease a large bowl, and place the dough in the bowl and turn to grease both sides of the dough. Cover with a towel and let rise in a warm place for 1 hour or until doubled.

Punch down the dough and place on a lightly floured surface. Roll out into a 30x9 inch rectangle (I had to use two cutting boards side by side since I don't have any surfaces that big). Cut the dough in half length-wise so you have two 30x4.5 inch pieces. Brush both pieces with the melted butter, then sprinkle with the brown sugar, cinnamon, and pecans to within 1/2 inch of both long sides. Roll each strip like a cinnamon bun, enclosing the filling within the dough. You will then have two 30 inch cylinders of dough. Twist the two pieces together and bring the ends together into a circle. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet, cover and let rise for 20 to 40 minutes or until doubled.

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown. Remove and cool on a wire rack. Make a small slice in the bottom of the cake and insert the baby.

Mix all the icing ingredients together until they are the right consitency, not too thin that it will run all off the cake and not too thick so that you can't pour it. I had to add a little extra powdered sugar. Pour the icing over the top of the cake and then sprinkle with alternating bands of purple, green, and yellow sugar.

Serve and make sure who ever finds the baby brings the next cake!

Pigs in a Blanket (who dat!)

2010-02-09T20:56:00.004-05:00

For Super Bowl Sunday this year, I decided to make pigs in a blanket, because I love hot dogs and I love puff pastry. And I put some cheddar cheese inside because I love cheese too.

We had a whole lot of food at our Super Bowl party. There were wings, red beans and rice, homemade pretzels, muffuletta sandwiches, veggies and dip, lamb sliders, Texas caviar, spinach artichoke dip, banana pudding, chocolate banana bread pudding with whiskey caramel sauce, and vegan king cake. There was probably more that I can't think of right now too, but my brain is trying to make me forget all the food I consumed. I should have taken some pictures of the food because it was amazing and I stuffed my face with it and I felt like I was going to explode several times during the night.

Anyway, so I made pigs in a blanket to add to that buttload of food. I had some leftover homemade puff pastry in my freezer from the vols-au-vents I made last fall, so I used that. I used a Martha Stewart recipe that I used last year as well, even though you don't really need much of a recipe to make these. I also sprinkled poppy seeds on top, which if you're going to do that, you should check your teeth after you eat some of these. Because I got home after the game and realized I had a poppy seed wedged in between my second and third tooth.

And even though I'm not a huge football fan, I had an awesome time at the game because most of my friends here in the city went to school down in New Orleans and are big Saints fans. And the food was awesome. Go Saints!

Pigs in a Blanket
recipe from Martha Stewart

2 lbs (about 60) mini hots dogs (I used two packs of Hebrew National cocktail wieners)
Cheddar cheese, cut into small pieces, optional
1 large egg
Flour, for working with pastry dough
1 box of puff pastry, or two sheets of homemade puff pastry (2/3 of the recipe here), thawed
poppy seeds or sesame seeds, optional

1. Slice all hot dogs about 3/4 of the way length-wise and put a small piece of cheese inside the hot dog. If you're not using the cheese, just poke the hot dogs a couple time with a fork.

2. On a lightly floured surface, roll one sheet of puff pastry at a time into a 11x14 inch rectangle. Cut lengthwise into 7 1 1/2 strips, then cut each strip into 4 rectangles, each about 3 inches long.

3. In a small bowl, beat together the egg with 1 tablespoon of water. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or baking mat (I am out of parchment so I just sprayed my sheets with some baking spray). Wrap each hot dog with a piece of the puff pastry. Using a pastry brush, brush the top with the egg wash and then sprinkle with poppy or sesame seeds. Chill the baking sheet of hot dogs in the refrigerator for 15 minutes.

4. Preheat oven to 450ºF. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until puffed and golden.

Sample a few yourselves and then serve to all your hungry friends.

White Sandwich Bread

2010-02-03T23:13:00.003-05:00

So I was sitting around my apartment, reading thru some food blogs on Sunday, when I came across this post for Farmhouse White Bread on British Larder. How awesome does that bread look? I had no plans for any baking on Sunday, but I got up right after reading through the post and started making this bread.

The instructions were really clear with lots of helpful pictures, and I had all the ingredients already in the kitchen (only yeast, flour, and salt). Plus, the bread was ready in only about 3 hours. I ate about 3 slices right out of the oven, plain and then with some butter. Mine didn't look nearly as perfect as the original, but it tasted and smelled perfect. It's nice and light and moist, perfect with a little butter, jam, or a slice of cheese.

When I first started to work with the dough, it was really sticky. I was tempted to add more flour, but the directions told me not to. So I didn't, but I had to use my bench scraper a lot. Eventually, it became less and less sticky and much easier to work with. So don't add more flour, even if you really, really want to.

Farmhouse White Loaf
recipe from British Larder

15g fresh yeast (or 7g dry yeast) *I used 7g (or 1 packet) of instant yeast
750g white flour
15g salt
525 ml water

*Note: If you only have active dry yeast, you should proof the yeast first by combining the yeast with a cup of warm water (about 105ºF) and letting it sit for about 5-10 minutes, until bubbly. Just remember to reduce the water you add later by the cup of water.

Add the yeast and flour to the bowl and rub them together with your fingers. Mix in the salt.

Make a well in the center of the bowl and add in the water. Use a flexible plastic scraper or a spatula to combine the flour mixture and the water, folding them together.

Once it's fully combined, turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. The dough will be sticky, and I found my bench scraper very helpful for this next stage. Without adding more flour, pull the dough towards yourself and then fold back on itself. Turn a quarter turn and repeat. The dough will become less sticky and easier to work with. Continue to fold the dough for 6 to 7 minutes, or until smooth. Form the ball into a smooth ball and place in a lightly greased bowl. Cover with a tea towel and let rise for 40-45 minutes, or until doubled in size.

When done proofing, preheat the oven to 425ºF and grease two loaf tins. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and gently press the dough into a rectangle. Fold the dough into thirds, folding one side into the center and then the other side over that. Divide the dough into two equal pieces and place each into a greased loaf tin. Cover with a tea towel and let rise until doubled (I let it rise for about an hour).

When doubled, use a sharp nice to make several slashes across the top of the dough and dust the top with flour. Bake for 25-30 minutes. The dough is done when you knock the bottom of the loaf of bread and it sounds hollow. Let cool for 5 minutes in the pans, then remove from pans and cool on a wire rack.

But good luck letting it cool, I sliced into mine as soon as I dumped it out of the pan.

Daring Bakers January Challenge: Gluten-Free Grahams and Nanaimo Bars

2010-01-27T06:00:00.001-05:00

The January 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Lauren of Celiac Teen. Lauren chose Gluten-Free Graham Wafers and Nanaimo Bars as the challenge for the month. The sources she based her recipe on are 101 Cookbooks and www.nanaimo.ca.

The requirements of this challenge were to make graham crackers and to use them to make Nanaimo bars in honor of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. The optional part of the challenge was to make the graham crackers gluten-free.

Since one of my co-workers just went gluten-free at the beginning of the year, I decided to try the gluten-free recipe. The adjustments that I made to the recipe were that I swapped out the coconut with Rice Krispies (since I just don't like coconut) and I didn't have custard powder so I substituted cornstarch and vanilla extract.

These came out really good and were a big hit at my office. Personally, I thought they were a little sweet, so I think if I made them again I'd use bittersweet chocolate instead of the semi-sweet or maybe include some salted nuts in the bottom layer to counteract the sweetness. I skipped the last two months of Daring Bakers challenges, so I'm glad to be participating again. Hopefully I will be a little less busy this year and can participate in more.

Gluten-Free Graham Wafers

Ingredients
1 cup (138 g) (4.9 ounces) Sweet rice flour (also known as glutinous rice flour)
3/4 cup (100 g) (3.5 ounces) Tapioca Starch/Flour
1/2 cup (65 g) (2.3 ounces) Sorghum Flour
1 cup (200 g) (7.1 ounces) Dark Brown Sugar, Lightly packed
1 teaspoon (5 mL) Baking soda
3/4 teaspoon (4 mL ) Kosher Salt
7 tablespoons (100 g) (3 ½ ounces) Unsalted Butter (Cut into 1-inch cubes and frozen)
1/3 cup (80 mL) Honey, Mild-flavoured such as clover.
5 tablespoons (75 mL) Whole Milk
2 tablespoons (30 mL) Pure Vanilla Extract

Directions:
1. In the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade, combine the flours, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt. Pulse on low to incorporate. Add the butter and pulse on and off, until the mixture is the consistency of a coarse meal. If making by hand, combine aforementioned dry ingredients with a whisk, then cut in butter until you have a coarse meal. No chunks of butter should be visible.
2. In a small bowl or liquid measuring cup, whisk together the honey, milk and vanilla. Add to the flour mixture until the dough barely comes together. It will be very soft and sticky.
3. Turn the dough onto a surface well-floured with sweet rice flour and pat the dough into a rectangle about 1 inch thick. Wrap in plastic and chill until firm, about 2 hours, or overnight.
4. Divide the dough in half and return one half to the refrigerator. Sift an even layer of sweet rice flour onto the work surface and roll the dough into a long rectangle, about 1/8 inch thick. The dough will be quite sticky, so flour as necessary. Cut into 4 by 4 inch squares. Gather the scraps together and set aside. Place wafers on one or two parchment-lined baking sheets. Chill until firm, about 30 to 45 minutes. Repeat with the second batch of dough.
5. Adjust the rack to the upper and lower positions and preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celsius).
6. Gather the scraps together into a ball, chill until firm, and reroll. Dust the surface with more sweet rice flour and roll out the dough to get a couple more wafers.
7. Prick the wafers with toothpick or fork, not all the way through, in two or more rows.
8. Bake for 25 minutes, until browned and slightly firm to the touch, rotating sheets halfway through to ensure even baking. Might take less, and the starting location of each sheet may determine its required time. The ones that started on the bottom browned faster.
9. When cooled completely, place enough wafers in food processor to make 1 ¼ cups (300 mL) of crumbs. Another way to do this is to place in a large ziplock bag, force all air out and smash with a rolling pin until wafers are crumbs.

Nanaimo Bars
Ingredients:

For Nanaimo Bars — Bottom Layer
1/2 cup (115 g) (4 ounces) Unsalted Butter
1/4 cup (50 g) (1.8 ounces) Granulated Sugar
5 tablespoons (75 mL) Unsweetened Cocoa
1 Large Egg, Beaten
1 1/4 cups (300 mL) (160 g) (5.6 ounces) Gluten Free Graham Wafer Crumbs (See previous recipe)
1/2 cup (55 g) (1.9 ounces) Almonds (Any type, Finely chopped)
1 cup (130 g) (4.5 ounces) Coconut (Shredded, sweetened or unsweetened) (I substituted 1 cup Rice Krispies)

For Nanaimo Bars — Middle Layer
1/2 cup (115 g) (4 ounces) Unsalted Butter
2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons (40 mL) Heavy Cream
2 tablespoons (30 mL) Vanilla Custard Powder (Such as Bird’s. Vanilla pudding mix may be substituted.) (I substituted 2 tablespoons cornstarch and 2 tsp vanilla extract)
2 cups (254 g) (8.9 ounces) Icing Sugar

For Nanaimo Bars — Top Layer
4 ounces (115 g) Semi-sweet chocolate
2 tablespoons (28 g) (1 ounce) Unsalted Butter

Directions:
1. For bottom Layer: Melt unsalted butter, sugar and cocoa in top of a double boiler. Add egg and stir to cook and thicken. Remove from heat. Stir in crumbs, nuts and coconut. Press firmly into an ungreased 8 by 8 inch pan.
2. For Middle Layer: Cream butter, cream, custard powder, and icing sugar together well. Beat until light in colour. Spread over bottom layer.
3. For Top Layer: Melt chocolate and unsalted butter over low heat. Cool. Once cool, pour over middle layer and chill.

Note: If you're in New York, I found the sweet rice flour at Kam Man on Canal St. in Chinatown, the tapioca starch at the Park Slope food coop, and the Sorghum Flour at Whole Foods.

Chubble (Cheesy Bubble Bread)

2010-01-25T21:05:00.006-05:00

I really wish I had some more of this bread in front of my right now, so I could stuff my face with it. You really can't go wrong with bread and cheese. I bookmarked this recipe over two years,and I want to kick myself for not making it until now.

During the Saints game last night, we went through two cake pans of this, along with loads of wings, seven layer dip, chips, pasta, and cupcakes.

I decided to make this a little late in the day, so I wasn't able to let the dough rise for the full time for either rise. But, I let the dough rise in the oven, so it was nice and warm, and I still was able to get the dough to double in size.

For the toppings, I used a combination of sharp cheddar, pepper jack, and parmesan cheese, along with fresh parsley and chives, green onions, garlic, oregano, and red pepper flakes. It ended up having a good kick from the pepper jack and red pepper flakes.

Chubble (Cheesy Bubble Bread)
recipe from To Be Mrs. Marv

Sponge:
1 tsp active dry yeast (I used instant yeast)
1/2 cup warm water (105º-115ºF)
3/4 cup flour

Dough:
1 tsp active dry yeast (I used instant yeast)
1 cup warm water (105º-115ºF)
3 tsp olive oil
Sponge, from above
3 1/4 to 3 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp kosher salt

Filling:
5 oz sharp cheddar cheese
5 oz pepper jack cheese
1/4 freshly grated parmesan cheese (you can use cheese from a can as well)
1 bunch green onions, white and green parts, thinly chopped
1 bunch fresh parsley, chopped
2 tsp kosher salt
2 tsp garlic powder
1 1/2 tsp dried oregano or basil
1 tsp red pepper flakes
3 tablespoons olive oil

Sponge:
Whisk together the yeast and warm water in a small bowl, let proof for 10 minutes. Mix in the flour, and cover with plastic wrap and let sit for 45 minutes, until bubbly and doubled in size.

Dough:
Whisk together the yeast and warm water in a small bowl, and let proof for 10 minutes. Add the yeast mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer with the olive oil and sponge, and mix with the paddle attachment until completely combined. Add the salt, then add the flour 1/4 cup at a time. Once all the flour is added, the dough should be only slightly sticky.

Switch to the dough hook, and knead on medium speed for about 3 minutes. Dump the dough onto a lightly floured surface, and knead by hand for a minute. Place the dough in an oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise for about 1 1/2 hours, or until doubled in size.

Filling:
Mix together all the filling ingredients in a large bowl, and set aside until the dough is ready.

Assembly:
Once the dough is risen, dump the dough onto a lightly floured surface, and press the dough into a rectangle about 1/2-1" thick. Cut the dough into strips, about an inch in width. Then cut each strip into 1 inch pieces.

Put some of the filling material into a bowl, and toss in some of the dough pieces to coat. Continue to add more filling material and dough pieces, until all the dough is coated with the filling. Divide the dough between two cake or pie pans. Cover pans with plastic wrap and let rise for another hour, or until doubled in size.

Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Brush the top of the dough with olive oil and bake for 25-30 minutes.

Pull it apart and eat it.

Cornmeal Pancakes with Cranberry Syrup

2010-01-24T15:44:00.004-05:00

IHOP used to have Corn Cake pancakes with a sweet butter topping, and they were awesome. But sadly, they are no longer on the menu. I've tried a couple times to replicate those pancakes, but they are never the same.

I found this recipe in the Joy of Cooking, and they are pretty darn tasty. But not quite the same as the IHOP ones. So I'll keep searching for something that comes closer.

This cranberry syrup is perfect for these pancakes. And once you've made the syrup, you can use it on lots of things. I've been adding it with some lime to seltzer, just keep it in a jar in the fridge.

Cornmeal Pancakes
recipe from Joy of Cooking by Irma S. Rombauer and Marion Rombauer Becker

1 cup white or yellow cornmeal
1 tsp salt
1 to 2 tablespoons honey, syrup or sugar
1 cup boiling water
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
2 tablespoons melted butter
1/2 cup sifted all purpose flour (sift before measuring)
2 tsp baking powder

Mix together cornmeal, salt, and honey, syrup, or sugar in bowl. Slowly stir in the boiling water. Cover and let stand for 10 minutes.

Beat together the egg, milk, and melted butter. Add to the cornmeal mixture.

Resift together the flour and baking powder, then stir into the batter. Mix just until combined, do not overmix. Lumps are fine.

Cook on a griddle or large frying pan. Heat the griddle until water bounces and sputters when it hits the griddle. Drop scant 1/4 cup-fuls onto the pan, and cook until bubbles appear on the upper surface (about 2 to 3 minutes). Cook the second side until done (about half as long as the first side).

Serve immediately with syrup. Makes about 12 pancakes.

Cranberry Syrup - see Smitten Kitchen for recipe

Happy New Year!

2010-01-02T15:48:00.004-05:00

Happy New Year everyone! This year for New Year's Eve, my friends decided to do a fancy dinner with candles and fancy dress. There were lots of delicious appetizers, smoke alarms, Manhattans, an amazing roast with equally amazing potatoes, Mad Men themed outfits, champagne, and records. Check out this roast:

I volunteered to make dessert, so I had to come up with something worthy of New Year's Eve and such a delicious dinner. So, of course I again turned to Smitten Kitchen because she always has the best recipes. I remembered seeing this gateau de crepes when she originally posted about it a couple years ago, but I hadn't come up with a good occasion to try it.

So I dusted off my crepe pan and went out to Lowes and bought a propane torch (so exciting). On Wednesday night around 1am I put together the crepe batter and the pastry cream and refrigerated them both overnight.

On Thursday, I started to make the crepes early in the afternoon. I figured that the first crepe would not work out, because generally you scrap the first one. However, I miscalculated my crepe-making skills and had to toss the first five or so crepes.

Then I got the hang of it.

And I had a big stack of....only 15 crepes. You need 20.

So I quickly made another 1/3 batch of crepe batter, and left it to refrigerate while I did my hair up in pin curls. I fortunately was able to make 6 more crepes (I had to scrap a couple). Then, it was time to assemble the cake.

Pretty easy to assemble. It did fall over slightly in the car on the way to my friend's house, but after playing with a little bit, it stood up mostly straight.

Around 11:00pm, we pulled it out of the fridge, and it was time to brulee the top layer. It was pretty fun. There were a couple times when large flames were flowing out of the torch, but we manage to end up with a nice crackly crust on the top and no one set on fire.

So I hope everyone had an equally fantastic New Year's Eve and has a great 2010!

Gâteau de Crêpes
recipe originally from the New York Times but I found it via Smitten Kitchen

Crepes:
6 tablespoons butter
3 cups milk
6 eggs
1 1/2 cups flour
7 tablespoons sugar
pinch of salt

Vanilla Pastry Cream:
2 cups milk
1 vanilla bean, cut in half and scraped
6 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup cornstarch, sifted
3 1/2 tablespoons butter

For assembly:
Corn oil
2 cups heavy cream
1 tablespoon sugar, or more
3 tablespoons Kirsch
Confectioner's sugar

The day before, make the crepe batter and the pastry cream, so you can refrigerate it overnight.

For the crepes:
In a small saucepan, melt the butter and let it brown slightly, until it's about the color of hazelnuts, then set aside. In another pan, heat the milk until steaming. Let both the butter and the milk cool. Meanwhile, beat together the remaining ingredients in a medium sized bowl; you can use a stand mixer or do it by hand. Slowly add the butter and the cooled milk and beat until fully combined. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

For the pastry cream:
Place the milk and the vanilla beans with the bean scrapings in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Let cool for 10 minutes, then remove the vanilla bean. Prepare an ice bath by filling a large bowl with ice and set aside a smaller bowl for the pastry cream.

In a medium saucepan, whisk together the egg yolks, sugar, and cornstarch. Slowly add the hot milk, while whisking constantly. Bring to a boil, and whisk for 1 to 2 minutes. Push the pastry cream through a fine-meshed sieve into the smaller bowl that was set aside, and then place the bowl into the ice bath. Continue to stir the pastry cream until the temperature measures 140ºF. Stir in the butter. Let cool and then cover and refrigerate overnight.

The next day, make the crepes. Remove the crepe batter from the fridge and bring to room temperature. Heat a 9-inch crepe pan or round non-stick pan over medium heat, and brush the pan with the corn oil, making sure to get the edges of the pan. Add about 3 tablespoons of the crepe batter to the pan, and swirl the pan so that the batter covers the whole pan. Cook for about 1 minute, then gently lift the edge of the crepe and flip over with your fingers. I found that using an offset spatula was really helpful and I used that to loosen the edges and flip over the crepe. Cook the other side for about 5 seconds and then flip the crepe onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Repeat until you have 20 crepes.

Press the pastry cream through the sieve once more. With a stand or hand mixer, whip the heavy cream, sugar, and Kirsch. It won't hold stiff peaks. Fold the whipped cream into the pastry cream.

To assemble the cake, place one crepe on a cake plate. Spread a thin layer of the pastry cream on the crepe (about 1/4 cup), then continue to layer crepes and pastry cream until you run out of crepes. Put your best crepe on the top. Chill for at least 2 hours. About 30 minutes before serving, remove from the refrigerator. If you have a blow torch, now's the time to use it (otherwise you can sprinkle the top of the cake with confectioner's sugar). Sprinkle the top of the cake with about 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar, and then carmelize it with the torch. Serve and enjoy!

Holiday Ornaments

2009-12-20T21:38:00.003-05:00

I've been getting in the Christmas mood, and I found these patterns for adorable embroidered felt ornaments from Posie: Rosy Little Things via wiksten-made. I've made two of them so far, and I'm working up to making the third one.

I also made one of these felt ornaments, the tutorial is from Zakka Life.

And my apartment is smelling awesome because I made this awesome stovetop potpourri from Make it Do. It's made from cranberries, orange (I used a clementine from the big crate I bought), cinnamon sticks, and cloves, and I've just left it on the back burner of my stove. I just turn the heat on occasionally.

Now I just need to start wrapping some presents...

Linzer Sables

2009-12-10T08:28:00.004-05:00

So my second Christmas cookies this year are Linzer Sables. I got a linzer cookie cutter a year or two ago, and this was my first time trying it out.

The recipe is Dorie Greenspan's, and I found it on Lottie + Doof's 12 days of Cookies. It calls for either ground almonds, hazelnuts, or walnuts, and I chose to use almonds since I had some almond meal in the cabinet. Other than that, I didn't make any changes to the recipe.

And I decided to use a heart instead of a plain circular cutout in the top cookie.

Dorie Greenspan's Linzer Sables
recipe from Dorie Greenspan via Lottie+Doof

1 1/2 cups finely ground almonds, hazelnuts, or walnuts
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
scant 1/4 tsp ground cloves
1 large egg
2 tsp water
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup raspberry jam or strained apricot jam plus 1 tsp water
confectioner's sugar, for dusting

In a medium bowl, whisk together the ground nuts, flour, cinnamon, salt, and cloves. In a small bowl, lightly beat together the egg and water.

In an electric mixer, beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg mixture and beat until combined. On low speed, add the nut and flour mixture and beat only until just combined.

Divide the dough into two halves, and shape each half into a disk. Place each disk between two sheets of wax paper or plastic wrap, and with a rolling pin roll out until the dough is 1/4 inch thick. Place both pieces of wrapped dough on a cookie sheet and refrigerate for about 2 hours, or freeze for about 45 minutes, or until firm. If you don't want to bake right away, you can keep the dough refrigerated for up to 3 days, or frozen for up to 2 months.

After dough is firm, preheat oven to 375ºF and place rack in center of oven. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper or silpats. Using a 2-inch round (or scalloped) cookie cutter, cut out, cut out as many cookies as possible. If you want a hole in the top cookie so you can see the jam inside, use a small cookie cutter to cut a small shape out of the center of half of the cookies.
Set the scraps aside, you can combine them with the scraps from the second sheet of dough.

Place cutout cookies on the cookie sheet, leaving space in between cookies. Bake for 11-13 minutes or until lightly golden. Cool cookies on a wire rack.

Repeat with the second sheet of dough, and also roll the scraps out between two sheets of wax paper and repeat.

While cookies are cooling, combine the jam and teaspoon of water in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over low heat. Remove from heat and let cool.

Spread half of the cookies with about 1/2 tsp of jam and sandwich together with another cookie. Sprinkle with confectioner's sugar before serving.

Makes about 25 sandwich cookies.

Vanilla Bean Spritz

2009-12-05T22:22:00.005-05:00

Spritz are one of my favorite types of Christmas cookies. They are super buttery but manage to be light at the same time. Plus there's just something about the shapes made by the cookie press.

I got a cookie press for Christmas last year, so I was excited to use it this year. I got up this morning and made the dough for Vanilla Bean Spritz from Martha Stewart's Cookies. I loaded up the cookie press, but then I realized there were no directions and that I don't think it actually worked. Plus all the parts were plastic so it just started to fall apart when you pushed the cookie dough through.

So I ran out in the rain to the kitchen store in Park Slope to buy a new one, with nice metal parts, and came home to finish the cookies. I followed all the directions, but I was still have problem getting the cookies to detach from the machine and stay on the cookie sheet.

I kept trying different shapes hoping another one would work better, but then I had my duh moment on the second sheet of the second batch. I had been using parchment paper, because I usually use parchment when making cookies so that they don't stick and so it's easier to clean up. But these cookies really need to stick to the pan so that they will detach from the press. After I got rid of the parchment paper, it went a whole lot easier. So don't use parchment with these cookies!

The main change I made to the recipe was that I left out the cinnamon, because the spritz I grew up with were just plain butter cookies, no spices. The directions also said to sprinkle the cookies with sugar after baking, but in my experience, the sugar always sticks better if you sprinkle it on before you bake.

Vanilla Bean Spritz
adapted from Martha Stewart recipe

3 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
2 vanilla beans, seeds scraped and reserved
1 cup sugar
3 sticks unsalted butter, softened
2 large egg yolks
Extra sugar for decorating, can use colored sugar as well

Preheat oven to 350ºF. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour and the salt, set aside.

In an electric mixer, mix together the sugar and the vanilla seeds on medium speed, about 3 minutes. Add the butter and beat until fluffy. Add the egg yolks, and beat until combined. Switch to low speed, and add the flour mixtures. Beat only until just combined.

Fill your cookie press with dough and follow the directions for your press, leaving about 2 inches between cookies. Sprinkle cookies with remaining 4 tsp of sugar. Bake for 9-11 minutes, or just until the edges turn golden.

Cool on a wire rack. Makes about 5 dozen cookies.

Pasta with Brussels Sprouts and Bacon

2009-11-14T22:24:00.005-05:00

Like most kids, I did not grow up liking brussels sprouts. But I've learned to like them just like broccoli and kale and spinach (and most green vegetables!).

I had a bag of them in the fridge that I needed to use and I had some pasta in a cabinet and some bacon in the freezer. I found this recipe on Martha Stewart, and I had all the ingredients on hand.

It was a nice and quick dinner and tasted yummy. The only change I made was that I swapped out 1/4 cup of the chicken broth for some white wine, because I like booze in my food.

Pasta with Brussels Sprouts and Bacon
adapted from recipe from Martha Stewart

6 oz bacon (about 7 slices), chopped into 3/4 inch pieces
About 1/4 cup olive oil
2 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
4 large shallots, sliced
1 1/4 lbs brussels sprouts
1 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup white wine
Salt and pepper to taste
12 oz pasta, recipe called for rigatoni but I used fusilli
1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
1/3 cup fresh sage leaves, chopped

1. In a large skillet, cook bacon over medium heat until crisp (about 5 to 7 minutes). Remove bacon to drain over a paper towel, leave bacon drippings in pan. Add addtional olive oil to the pan so that there is about 2 tablespoons with the bacon drippings. Add garlic, shallots, and brussels sprouts to the pan, and cook over medium heat for about 3 minutes. Add the stock and wine, and season with salt and pepper. Cook for about 10-12 minutes until there is little liquid remaining.

2. While the sprouts are cooking, bring a large pot of water to a boil with 1 tbsp salt. Cook the pasta according to the package directions, until al dente. Drain, but reserve 1/2 cup of the pasta water.

3. In the large pot, combine the pasta with the sprouts, reserved pasta water, and parmesan cheese. Add in the bacon and sage and drizzle with extra olive oil. Serve with additional grated parmesan cheese on top.

Serves 4

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

2009-10-30T19:05:00.002-04:00

Today was our work Halloween party and I volunteered to make cupcakes. I decided to go with pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, because it's awesome and who doesn't love cream cheese frosting?

They were super moist and really flavorful. I played around with my pastry tips to decorate them, and I love how the mummies turned out (got the inspiration here). I doubled the recipe and got 48 cupcakes.

I had planned to get up this morning and take some pictures before I left for work, but I overslept and ran out of time. So these are pictures I took on my iphone after we put them out at work.

Pumpkin Cupcakes
adapted from Martha Stewart recipe

2 cups cake flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp fresh ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks), melted and cooled
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 can (15 oz) pumpkin puree

Preheat oven to 350ºF and line two muffin tins with cupcake liners.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and pumpkin pie spice. In a large bowl, mix the sugar and butter. Add the eggs and stir to combine. Gradually add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients, and whisk until fully combined. Then whisk in the pumpkin puree.

Fill the cupcake liners about half full, and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the tops spring back when you touch it.

Transfer to wire rack and cool completely. Frost with cream cheese frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting
recipe from Slashfood

8 oz cream cheese, cold (straight from the fridge is fine)
5 tablespoons butter, softened
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups powdered sugar

Beat the cream cheese, butter, and vanilla with an electric mixer. Gradually add the powdered sugar until fully combined.

(Note: to make orange frosting I used a ratio of 3 parts yellow to 1 part red food coloring)

Daring Bakers October Challenge: Pumpkin Spice Macarons

2009-10-27T01:20:00.005-04:00

The 2009 October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Ami S. She chose macarons from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern as the challenge recipe.

I think the first macaron I had was from Dean and Deluca, and I just grabbed it because I had heard so much about them and had never tried one. But the cookie was really crunchy like a meringue and I didn't really like the texture at all, so I just figured that I didn't really like macarons.

Then I went to Paris last spring, and I went to Laduree. I went in a got a small bag of about four macarons, and as I was walking away I pulled one out to try it. I literally stopped walking and just stood there smiling because it was amazing, and I realized that I had just never had a good macaron and this is what they should be like.

I've been reading recipes and wanting to try to make macarons since then, but it always sounded really complicated and finicky. So when I read that this month's challenge was to make macarons, I was super excited.

Originally I was going to try to make a pistachio flavored macaron, because that was one of my favorites from Laduree, but then I got into a really autumn-type mood this past weekend, and decided I wanted to try something involving pumpkin. I had seen a recipe for Saffron Macarons with Pumpkin Filling on Tartelette, so I borrowed her recipe for the pumpkin cream cheese filling. For the actual shells, I decided to just use the basic recipe but added about a teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice.

I have to confess that my first two sheets of cookies completely stuck to the silcone mats and did not have feet and I ended up scraping most of them into the trash. But the second batch, made on parchment paper, was a whole different story. They had feet! I think I actually just undercooked the first batch, because I ended up cooking the second batch about 5 minutes longer than the recipe suggested and they came out perfect. Maybe not as puffed as I'd like, but it was a humid rainy day, so I'll just blame it on that.

Claudia Fleming's Macarons

Equipment required:
• Electric mixer, preferably a stand mixer with a whisk attachment
• Rubber spatula
• Baking sheets
• Parchment paper or nonstick liners
• Pastry bag (can be disposable)
• Plain half-inch pastry bag tip
• Sifter or sieve
• If you don’t have a pastry bag and/or tips, you can use a Ziploc bag with the corner snipped off
• Oven
• Cooling rack
• Thin-bladed spatula for removing the macaroons from the baking sheets
• Food processor or nut grinder, if grinding your own nuts (ouch!)

Ingredients
Confectioners’ (Icing) sugar: 2 ¼ cups (225 g, 8 oz.)
Almond flour: 2 cups (190 g, 6.7 oz.)
Granulated sugar: 2 tablespoons (25 g , .88 oz.)
Egg whites: 5 (Have at room temperature)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 200°F (93°C). Combine the confectioners’ sugar and almond flour in a medium bowl. If grinding your own nuts, combine nuts and a cup of confectioners’ sugar in the bowl of a food processor and grind until nuts are very fine and powdery.
2. Beat the egg whites in the clean dry bowl of a stand mixer until they hold soft peaks. Slowly add the granulated sugar and beat until the mixture holds stiff peaks.
3. Sift a third of the almond flour mixture into the meringue and fold gently to combine. If you are planning on adding zest or other flavorings to the batter, now is the time. Sift in the remaining almond flour in two batches. Be gentle! Don’t overfold, but fully incorporate your ingredients.
4. Spoon the mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a plain half-inch tip (Ateco #806). You can also use a Ziploc bag with a corner cut off. It’s easiest to fill your bag if you stand it up in a tall glass and fold the top down before spooning in the batter.
5. Pipe one-inch-sized (2.5 cm) mounds of batter onto baking sheets lined with nonstick liners (or parchment paper).
6. Bake the macaroon for 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and raise the temperature to 375°F (190°C). Once the oven is up to temperature, put the pans back in the oven and bake for an additional 7 to 8 minutes, or lightly colored. (Note: Mine needed about 5 extra minutes)
7. Cool on a rack before filling.

Yield: 10 dozen.

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Filling
(Note, since I only ended up really using one tray of cookies, the amount of filling for this recipe is pretty small. If you want to fill an entire batch of cookies with this filling, you should double or triple this recipe.)

2 oz pumpkin
2 oz cream cheese, softened
2 tbsp confectioners sugar
1/8 tsp cloves

Mix together and spread on macaron shells.

Bourbon Apple Cake

2009-10-19T23:26:00.003-04:00

My friends threw an autumn themed party on Saturday night, and it was the perfect weather here in Brooklyn for it. My friend Heather made some amazing butternut squash soup and we drank spiked apple cider and pumpkin beer.

I was initially thinking about making an apple pie, but pies are hard to share with a lot of people. Then I decided I wanted to bake something involving apples and bourbon, because that sounds like fall to me. I searched all over for a good recipe, and then I found a Mark Bittman recipe for Bourbon Apple Cake from the Minimalist column in the New York Times.

All the reviews I found for it said it was awesome. I also found a video of Mark Bittman making the cake, and it looked really easy to make. In the original recipe, it calls for 2 1/2 cups sugar, but in the video, he recommends reducing the amount of sugar in the cake to 1 cup (the other cup is for the bourbon glaze). I did this reduction as well, and I don't think you need any more sugar. The only other change I made was that I used buttermilk instead of regular milk, but that's just because I didn't have any regular milk. Oh, and in the video he uses a vanilla bean in the glaze, so I did that too.

I made my cake in a bundt pan, because I bought one a couple months ago and hadn't used it yet. I was a little unsure about when to actually pour the bourbon glaze over the cake, but I just poured it over the cake after it had cooled for awhile. Then I unmolded the cake after about an hour. I was a little unsure whether the cake would absorb all the bourbon, but it did.

Yum! The cake came out super moist and really boozy, so it's not something I could bring to work, but it was perfect for a party. I ate two slices at the party and kinda wished I had more waiting for me at home.

Bourbon Apple Cake
recipe from The Minimalist and there's a video too!

For cake:
1 1/2 sticks (12 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cold and cut into pieces
2 medium apples, cored, peeled, and quarters
1 cup sugar
4 eggs
2 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk

For the bourbon glaze:
1 cup bourbon (or Calvados or cognac or brandy)
1 cup sugar
1/2 stick (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter
1 vanilla bean

Preheat oven to 350ºF and either butter a 9x13 inch pan, or butter and flour a bundt pan.

Add the apples and sugar to the bowl of the food processor and blend until there are no longer any large pieces of apple. Add the butter and pulse until combined. It may looked slightly curdled, but that's ok. While the food processor is running, add the eggs one at a time.

In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add in about three portions, pulsing a few times between each, but don't over mix. It's ok if a little flour is still visible. Add the milk and pulse about 3 times.

Pour the batter into the buttered pan and spread with a spatula to even out. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until the middle is set.

While the cake is baking, combine the butter, sugar, and butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir until the sugar dissolves, then cut a vanilla bean in half and scrape out the inside and add to the saucepan, and throw the beans in there too. Cook for about 10 minutes until it has thickened. Pour through a fine mesh strainer and let cool to room temperature.

When the cake is done, let it cool for at least 10 minutes. When the glaze has cooled, pour over the cake in the pan and let sit for an hour. Don't worry, it will all absorb into the cake. You can then unmold the cake and eat it all.

Spaghetti with Braised Kale

2009-09-30T21:32:00.003-04:00

I learned to love kale during grad school. My roommate worked at a community garden and would occasionally bring home big bunches of lacinato kale. She would saute it in a big cast iron skillet with lots of garlic and onions, oil and butter, seitan, and I think there was usually some soy sauce and maybe some balsamic vinegar involved. All I know is that I had to restrain myself from finishing it off when she offered to share some with me.

Since then, I've tried to replicate that kale many times, but even though I enjoy it, it's never been quite the same. Everytime I make it now, I try to add a little dash of this, or a little more of that, to see if I can get it just right. Maybe it was just that it was something new, and that's why I liked it so much.

A couple weeks ago, I happened to pick up a copy of Bon Appetit, and came across Molly Wizenberg's article about how she learned to love kale. I'm completely in love with Molly's blog Orangette (I can't wait to make this plum crumble) and have tried a few of recipes already and they always come out fantastic. So I decided to try out her recipe for Spaghetti with Braised Kale.

And it's perfect. It's not the same as what my roommate made, but it's delicious and better than any of my experiments since then.

Spaghetti with Braised Kale
recipe by Molly Wizenberg from Bon Appetit

1 lb lacinato kale, stems and center ribs removed, cut into 1/2 inch slices
3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 medium onion, finely chopped
8 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1/2 lb spaghetti
2 tsp fresh lemon juice
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Rinse and drain kale. Heat 2 tbsp of the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion and let it cook for about six minutes, or until it's soft and translucent. Add the garlic and a pinch of salt, and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is golden. Add the kale and remaining tablespoon of olive oil, and saute until the kale just begins to wilt, about 3 minutes. Cover the pot and lower the heat to medium low. Let cook for 20 minutes, adding teaspoons of water if it begins to dry out.

Cook the spaghetti according to the directions on the box while the kale is cooking, but reserve about 1/4 cup of the pasta water. Drain the spaghetti, and add to the kale once it is done. Add the lemon juice and 2 tbsp of the pasta water and stir to equally distribute the kale. If it's dry, add more of the pasta water.

Serve with the parmesan sprinkled on top.

Daring Bakers September Challenge: Vols-au-Vent

2009-09-27T16:52:00.006-04:00

The September 2009 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Steph of A Whisk and a Spoon. She chose the French treat, Vols-au-Vent based on the Puff Pastry recipe by Michel Richard from the cookbook Baking With Julia by Dorie Greenspan.

The requirements for this challenge were to make homemade puff pastry using Michel Richard's recipe and to use that puff pastry to make vols-au-vent. You were allowed to use any type of filling you wanted, either sweet or savory.

As usual, I waited until the very last moment to start this recipe. I started working on this today, the reveal day. I was a little intimidated by the puff pastry, so I kept putting it off until I knew that I'd have most of the day to work on it. So I woke up today, all ready to make some puff pastry. I was nervous, but then I watched the video, with Julia Child and Michel Richard, and it actually didn't look too bad.

I went to the store and bought some fancy Plugra butter to use, because I figured that I'm not gonna make puff pastry that often, I might as well use the good stuff. I started around noon and it was all finished by 5, so the estimate of 4-5 hours was pretty spot on.

I decided to make sweet and savory vols-au-vents. For the savory, I made a quick broccoli, shallot, and garlic filling. For the sweet, I made a lemon almond pastry cream topped with raspberry and blackberry.

Overall, I'm really happy with how it all turned out. The puff pastry was nowhere near as hard as I had thought it would be, the pastry dough was actually really easy to work with. And I'm excited that I have extra dough frozen for the next time that I need puff pastry.

Recipe:

Equipment:
-food processor (will make mixing dough easy, but I imagine this can be done by hand as well)
-rolling pin
-pastry brush
-metal bench scraper (optional, but recommended)
-plastic wrap
-baking sheet
-parchment paper
-silicone baking mat (optional, but recommended)
-set of round cutters (optional, but recommended)
-sharp chef’s knife
-fork
-oven
-cooling rack

Prep Times:
-about 4-5 hours to prepare the puff pastry dough (much of this time is inactive, while you wait for the dough to chill between turns…it can be stretched out over an even longer period of time if that better suits your schedule)
-about 1.5 hours to shape, chill and bake the vols-au-vent after your puff pastry dough is complete

Forming and Baking the Vols-au-Vent

Yield: 1/3 of the puff pastry recipe below will yield about 8-10 1.5” vols-au-vent or 4 4” vols-au-vent

In addition to the equipment listed above, you will need:
-well-chilled puff pastry dough (recipe below)
-egg wash (1 egg or yolk beaten with a small amount of water)
-your filling of choice

Line a baking sheet with parchment and set aside.

Using a knife or metal bench scraper, divided your chilled puff pastry dough into three equal pieces. Work with one piece of the dough, and leave the rest wrapped and chilled. (If you are looking to make more vols-au-vent than the yield stated above, you can roll and cut the remaining two pieces of dough as well…if not, then leave refrigerated for the time being or prepare it for longer-term freezer storage. See the “Tips” section below for more storage info.)

On a lightly floured surface, roll the piece of dough into a rectangle about 1/8 to 1/4-inch (3-6 mm) thick. Transfer it to the baking sheet and refrigerate for about 10 minutes before proceeding with the cutting.

(This assumes you will be using round cutters, but if you do not have them, it is possible to cut square vols-au-vents using a sharp chef’s knife.) For smaller, hors d'oeuvre sized vols-au-vent, use a 1.5” round cutter to cut out 8-10 circles. For larger sized vols-au-vent, fit for a main course or dessert, use a 4” cutter to cut out about 4 circles. Make clean, sharp cuts and try not to twist your cutters back and forth or drag your knife through the dough. Half of these rounds will be for the bases, and the other half will be for the sides. (Save any scrap by stacking—not wadding up—the pieces…they can be re-rolled and used if you need extra dough. If you do need to re-roll scrap to get enough disks, be sure to use any rounds cut from it for the bases, not the ring-shaped sides.)

Using a ¾-inch cutter for small vols-au-vent, or a 2- to 2.5-inch round cutter for large, cut centers from half of the rounds to make rings. These rings will become the sides of the vols-au-vent, while the solid disks will be the bottoms. You can either save the center cut-outs to bake off as little “caps” for you vols-au-vent, or put them in the scrap pile.

Dock the solid bottom rounds with a fork (prick them lightly, making sure not to go all the way through the pastry) and lightly brush them with egg wash. Place the rings directly on top of the bottom rounds and very lightly press them to adhere. Brush the top rings lightly with egg wash, trying not to drip any down the sides (which may inhibit rise). If you are using the little “caps,” dock and egg wash them as well.

Refrigerate the assembled vols-au-vent on the lined baking sheet while you pre-heat the oven to 400ºF (200ºC). (You could also cover and refrigerate them for a few hours at this point.)

Once the oven is heated, remove the sheet from the refrigerator and place a silicon baking mat (preferred because of its weight) or another sheet of parchment over top of the shells. This will help them rise evenly. Bake the shells until they have risen and begin to brown, about 10-15 minutes depending on their size. Reduce the oven temperature to 350ºF (180ºC), and remove the silicon mat or parchment sheet from the top of the vols-au-vent. If the centers have risen up inside the vols-au-vent, you can gently press them down. Continue baking (with no sheet on top) until the layers are golden, about 15-20 minutes more. (If you are baking the center “caps” they will likely be finished well ahead of the shells, so keep an eye on them and remove them from the oven when browned.)

Remove to a rack to cool. Cool to room temperature for cold fillings or to warm for hot fillings.

Fill and serve.

*For additional rise on the larger-sized vols-au-vents, you can stack one or two additional ring layers on top of each other (using egg wash to "glue"). This will give higher sides to larger vols-au-vents, but is not advisable for the smaller ones, whose bases may not be large enough to support the extra weight.

*Although they are at their best filled and eaten soon after baking, baked vols-au-vent shells can be stored airtight for a day.

*Shaped, unbaked vols-au-vent can be wrapped and frozen for up to a month (bake from frozen, egg-washing them first).

Michel Richard’s Puff Pastry Dough

From: Baking with Julia by Dorie Greenspan
Yield: 2-1/2 pounds dough

Steph’s note: This recipe makes more than you will need for the quantity of vols-au-vent stated above. While I encourage you to make the full recipe of puff pastry, as extra dough freezes well, you can halve it successfully if you’d rather not have much leftover.

There is a wonderful on-line video from the PBS show “Baking with Julia” that accompanies the book. In it, Michel Richard and Julia Child demonstrate making puff pastry dough (although they go on to use it in other applications). They do seem to give slightly different ingredient measurements verbally than the ones in the book…I listed the recipe as it appears printed in the book. http://video.pbs.org/video/1174110297/search/Pastry

Ingredients:
2-1/2 cups (12.2 oz/ 354 g) unbleached all-purpose flour
1-1/4 cups (5.0 oz/ 142 g) cake flour
1 tbsp. salt (you can cut this by half for a less salty dough or for sweet preparations)
1-1/4 cups (10 fl oz/ 300 ml) ice water
1 pound (16 oz/ 454 g) very cold unsalted butter

plus extra flour for dusting work surface

Mixing the Dough:

Check the capacity of your food processor before you start. If it cannot hold the full quantity of ingredients, make the dough into two batches and combine them.

Put the all-purpose flour, cake flour, and salt in the work bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade and pulse a couple of times just to mix. Add the water all at once, pulsing until the dough forms a ball on the blade. The dough will be very moist and pliable and will hold together when squeezed between your fingers. (Actually, it will feel like Play-Doh.)

Remove the dough from the machine, form it into a ball, with a small sharp knife, slash the top in a tic-tac-toe pattern. Wrap the dough in a damp towel and refrigerate for about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, place the butter between 2 sheets of plastic wrap and beat it with a rolling pin until it flattens into a square that's about 1" thick. Take care that the butter remains cool and firm: if it has softened or become oily, chill it before continuing.

Incorporating the Butter:

Unwrap the dough and place it on a work surface dusted with all-purpose flour (A cool piece of marble is the ideal surface for puff pastry) with your rolling pin (preferably a French rolling pin without handles), press on the dough to flatten it and then roll it into a 10" square. Keep the top and bottom of the dough well floured to prevent sticking and lift the dough and move it around frequently. Starting from the center of the square, roll out over each corner to create a thick center pad with "ears," or flaps.

Place the cold butter in the middle of the dough and fold the ears over the butter, stretching them as needed so that they overlap slightly and encase the butter completely. (If you have to stretch the dough, stretch it from all over; don't just pull the ends) you should now have a package that is 8" square.

To make great puff pastry, it is important to keep the dough cold at all times. There are specified times for chilling the dough, but if your room is warm, or you work slowly, or you find that for no particular reason the butter starts to ooze out of the pastry, cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate it . You can stop at any point in the process and continue at your convenience or when the dough is properly chilled.

Making the Turns:

Gently but firmly press the rolling pin against the top and bottom edges of the square (this will help keep it square). Then, keeping the work surface and the top of the dough well floured to prevent sticking, roll the dough into a rectangle that is three times as long as the square you started with, about 24" (don't worry about the width of the rectangle: if you get the 24", everything else will work itself out.) With this first roll, it is particularly important that the butter be rolled evenly along the length and width of the rectangle; check when you start rolling that the butter is moving along well, and roll a bit harder or more evenly, if necessary, to get a smooth, even dough-butter sandwich (use your arm-strength!).

With a pastry brush, brush off the excess flour from the top of the dough, and fold the rectangle up from the bottom and down from the top in thirds, like a business letter, brushing off the excess flour. You have completed one turn.

Rotate the dough so that the closed fold is to your left, like the spine of a book. Repeat the rolling and folding process, rolling the dough to a length of 24" and then folding it in thirds. This is the second turn.

Chilling the Dough:

If the dough is still cool and no butter is oozing out, you can give the dough another two turns now. If the condition of the dough is iffy, wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for at least 30 minutes. Each time you refrigerate the dough, mark the number of turns you've completed by indenting the dough with your fingertips. It is best to refrigerate the dough for 30 to 60 minutes between each set of two turns.

The total number of turns needed is six. If you prefer, you can give the dough just four turns now, chill it overnight, and do the last two turns the next day. Puff pastry is extremely flexible in this regard. However, no matter how you arrange your schedule, you should plan to chill the dough for at least an hour before cutting or shaping it.

Steph’s extra tips:

-While this is not included in the original recipe we are using (and I did not do this in my own trials), many puff pastry recipes use a teaspoon or two of white vinegar or lemon juice, added to the ice water, in the détrempe dough. This adds acidity, which relaxes the gluten in the dough by breaking down the proteins, making rolling easier. You are welcome to try this if you wish.

-Keep things cool by using the refrigerator as your friend! If you see any butter starting to leak through the dough during the turning process, rub a little flour on the exposed dough and chill straight away. Although you should certainly chill the dough for 30 to 60 minutes between each set of two turns, if you feel the dough getting to soft or hard to work with at any point, pop in the fridge for a rest.

-Not to sound contradictory, but if you chill your paton longer than the recommended time between turns, the butter can firm up too much. If this seems to be the case, I advise letting it sit at room temperature for 5-10 minutes to give it a chance to soften before proceeding to roll. You don't want the hard butter to separate into chuncks or break through the dough...you want it to roll evenly, in a continuous layer.

-Roll the puff pastry gently but firmly, and don’t roll your pin over the edges, which will prevent them from rising properly. Don't roll your puff thinner than about about 1/8 to 1/4-inch (3-6 mm) thick, or you will not get the rise you are looking for.

-Try to keep “neat” edges and corners during the rolling and turning process, so the layers are properly aligned. Give the edges of the paton a scooch with your rolling pin or a bench scraper to keep straight edges and 90-degree corners.

-Brush off excess flour before turning dough and after rolling.

-Make clean cuts. Don’t drag your knife through the puff or twist your cutters too much, which can inhibit rise.

-When egg washing puff pastry, try not to let extra egg wash drip down the cut edges, which can also inhibit rise.

-Extra puff pastry dough freezes beautifully. It’s best to roll it into a sheet about 1/8 to 1/4-inch thick (similar to store-bought puff) and freeze firm on a lined baking sheet. Then you can easily wrap the sheet in plastic, then foil (and if you have a sealable plastic bag big enough, place the wrapped dough inside) and return to the freezer for up to a few months. Defrost in the refrigerator when ready to use.

-You can also freeze well-wrapped, unbaked cut and shaped puff pastry (i.e., unbaked vols-au-vent shells). Bake from frozen, without thawing first.

-Homemade puff pastry is precious stuff, so save any clean scraps. Stack or overlap them, rather than balling them up, to help keep the integrity of the layers. Then give them a singe “turn” and gently re-roll. Scrap puff can be used for applications where a super-high rise is not necessary (such as palmiers, cheese straws, napoleons, or even the bottom bases for your vols-au-vent).

New Dress for Fall

2009-09-26T12:37:00.004-04:00

So I've been in love with mociun's tie-front dress forever, but can't justify the price right now. And I had been trying to think in my head how to make my own, but I hadn't quite figured out exactly how it would come together.

Then I stumbled across Anna's blog wildflowers::pretty where she made the dress and gracefully shared her notes on how she made it. She recommended using Butterick pattern 5181 as a base, which I ran out and bought. I had this great plaid fabric that I had found on clearance at PS Fabrics in Manhattan, which is conveniently located a short walk from my office.

It came together pretty easily, and I really like how it turned out. I added pockets, because in my opinion, pockets make everything better. It poofs out a little weirdly in the front skirt part where it ties, but that was fixed with a belt.

Hopefully this successful dress will motivate me to make some more dresses for the fall!

Nectarine and Raspberry Upside Down Cake

2009-09-01T20:28:00.006-04:00

Do you have some fruit sitting around the kitchen? Maybe some peaches or nectarines or plums? Then you should make this cake, because it is awesome. And it's really easy. And if you don't have any fruit, you should get yourself out to the farmer's market and get some, because it won't last that much longer.

My inspiration for this cake is one I saw on Tastespotting from Kitchen Therapy. It was so pretty, but her cake recipe was gluten free, and I did not have all those ingredients on hand. Plus I had an idea of an almond cake to go with the fruit. I looked around a bit for an upside down cake with an almond flavored cake, but didn't find one that I liked.

So I dug out my copy of Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Your s and found her recipe for Swedish Visiting Cake. It looked simple and said it was a moist almond cake, so I decided to try it out. I'd never made an upside down cake before, so I was a little nervous that it would all stick and not come out of the pan. But I used a trick I saw on Kitchen Therapy to put two layers of parchment paper on the bottom under the fruit to make sure that it doesn't all stick.

And it worked! Nothing stuck to the bottom, all I had to do was peel the parchment off once I flipped it out of the pan.

Nectarine and Raspberry Upside Down Cake
adapted from recipe from Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan

1 cup sugar
Grated zest of 1 lemon
2 large eggs
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 stick (8 tbsp) +1 tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled, divided

Fruit:
I used 3 nectarines, sliced, and about a cup of raspberries, but you could use any type of fruit. Just use enough to cover the bottom of the pan.

Preheat the oven to 350ºF with the oven rack in the center of the oven. Butter the bottom and sides of a 9-inch cake pan, place two pieces of parchment paper in the cake pan, and butter the parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, combine the sugar and the lemon zest with your fingers, until the zest has been fully incorporated into the sugar. Whisk in the eggs, one at a time, and then the salt and the extracts. Mix in the flour with a spatula, and then once combined, fold in 8 tbsp of the melted butter.

Pour the remaining 1 tbsp of melted butter into the bottom of the cake pan and swirl so that it coats the entire pan. Arrange your fruit in a pretty pattern in the bottom of the pan. I layered the nectarines in a circle around the outside and dumped all the raspberries in the center, with a few around the outside.

Pour the batter over the top of the fruit and spread so it's even with a spatula. Bake on a baking sheet for 30-35 minutes until golden and top looks set. Cool for 5 minute, then run a knife around the outside of the cake. Carefully invert onto a cooling rack and remove the parchment paper.

Peach Blackberry Crisp with Brown Sugar Ice Cream

2009-08-25T20:07:00.004-04:00

I'm a big fan of crisps and cobblers and crumbles. But growing up, we didn't really have anything other than apple crisp. And don't get me wrong, I love apple crisp, it's definitely one of my favorite desserts. But there are so many other combinations of fruits and topping to try out. Earlier this summer I made a strawberry rhubarb crumble which is now near the top of my favorites list. So when I found myself with a bunch of peaches that needed to be used, I knew I wanted to make something along those lines.

At the farmer's market on Saturday, the blackberries were huge and perfect looking, so I picked up two little containers of them along with some plums and raspberries (which I'm still trying to figure out what to do with.) Then I found an old Gourmet recipe for peach blackberry crisp, so I was all set. It's a simple crisp recipe that could be used with pretty much any type of fruit. The only change I'll make when I make this again is that I'd peel the peaches. The recipe didn't say to, but I ended up with a few peach peels floating around in the crisp. And I didn't add the pecans because I didn't have any.

And you can't really have crisp without something to go on top. And instead of buying some ice cream, I decided to get some use out of my ice cream maker and make my own. I haven't made any all summer, and there's really no excuse for that. With the crisp recipe there was another recipe for peach and brown sugar ice cream, but I found another Bon Appetit recipe for brown sugar ice cream that I ended up using instead. This one used whole milk and heavy cream instead of half and half, which makes it much creamier.

I really like how the ice cream came out. It's nothing fancy, but has a nice brown sugar flavor which makes it a little more interesting than plain vanilla.

Peach Blackberry Crisp
recipe from Gourmet

1 1/2 lbs peaches (about 3-4), pitted and cut into 1/2 inch slices
2 cups blackberries
1 tbsp cornstarch
2 tbsp lemon juice
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
6 tbsp (3/4 cup) cold, unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
3/4 cup coarsely chopped toasted pecans (optional)

Preheat oven to 350ºF.

In a large bowl, combine the peaches, blackberries, cornstarch, lemon juice, and granulated sugar. In another smaller bowl, mix together the flour, brown sugar, oats, salt and cinnamon. Then with a fork or your fingertips (which I think is easier), add in the sugar and mix until it forms a coarse crumb. If using the pecans, add them now.

Place the peach and blackberry mixture into a 13 x 9 pan, and then sprinkle the crumb mixture evenly over the top. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until the crumbs are golden. Serve warm with ice cream.

Brown Sugar Ice Cream
recipe from Bon Appetit

1 1/2 cups whole milk
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 cup packed brown sugar
6 egg yolks
Pinch of salt

Simmer the milk and cream over medium heat. In a medium bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, egg yolks, and salt. Slowly add a little bit of the milk and cream to the yolk while whisking so that you don't curdle the eggs. Gradually add the rest of the milk and cream. Pour it all back into the saucepan and heat over medium heat. Stir until the mixture reaches 170º, about 4 minutes.

Chill in the freezer for 40 minutes stirring occasionally, or for a few hours in the refrigerator. Then pour into your ice cream maker and follow the instructions for your machine.

And if you don't have an ice cream maker, David Lebovitz gives some really great instructions on how to make ice cream without one on his site. It will definitely take longer and require a little more effort, but it can be done.

Cucumber Lemonade with Cherry Syrup

2009-08-09T16:17:00.002-04:00

I've been making a lot of lemonade this summer, because it's so summery and refreshing. I tried this watermelon lemonade from Smitten Kitchen, which was delicious. But the one I'm stuck on now is this cucumber lemonade that I found on Crying Onions.

I made it for the first time last week and I couldn't stop drinking it. The only change was that I didn't use any grenadine and I added some ginger to my simple syrup. You could really taste all three flavors, and it was delicious. I didn't add the entire 4 cups of water, but instead mixed it with some seltzer to make it nice and bubbly.

I made some more yesterday, and I was going to use ginger again, but sadly there was no ginger in my apartment, so I had to do without. I did have some cherries that needed to be used in my fridge though, so I decided to make some cherry syrup to use in place of the grenadine suggested in the original recipe.

I found a couple recipes for cherry syrup, and a lot of them called for equal parts cherries and sugar. I didn't want to use that much sugar, so I decided to go with a recipe I found on epicurious and just increased the sugar slightly to 1 cup.

I think I like the ginger flavor a little better, but either way it's awesome lemony goodness. I think I might try some basil lemonade next.

Cucumber Lemonade
recipe from Crying Onions

1 large cucumber, peeled and chopped into a few large pieces
1 cup lemon juice (from about 6-8 lemons)
1 cup sugar
4 cups cold water
1-2" piece of ginger (optional)

To make a simple syrup, combine sugar and 1 cup water (with ginger if using) in a small saucepan. Heat until the sugar dissolves, stirring occasionally. Let cool.

In a blender, combine the cucumber, lemon juice, and simple syrup and blend until smooth. Pour through a mesh strainer to get rid of any seeds and pulp. Mix with remaining water until it's the desired sweetness.

Serve with ice and optionally mix with seltzer or cherry syrup.

Cherry Syrup
adapted from Gourmet recipe

4 cups cherries, pitted and halved
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup water

Combine cherries, sugar, and water in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Let boil for about 10 minutes until it's reduced a bit. Let cool for 10 minutes, then strain through a fine mesh strainer. Store in a tightly sealed jar in the refrigerator.

Homemade Pita Bread and Hummus

2009-08-03T21:56:00.005-04:00

I got back from two weeks of vacation with my family on Friday, so I was excited to have my own kitchen again. I made a batch of S'mores cookies on Saturday for a barbecue which were as awesome as the last time. Except it was so hot in my apartment that my bag of chocolate chips melted.

Sunday, I went grocery shopping because my refrigerator was completely empty. I was going to buy some hummus at the store, but then I decided to make my own since I knew that I had a can of chickpeas and tahini at home. I had made hummus once before, but I have no idea what recipe I used last time. So I went with trusty Martha Stewart and used a recipe on her site as my basis. I made a few adjustments based on what I had on hand, and I also added some scallions and cilantro.

On Sunday, I ate the hummus with cucumber, but today there was no cucumber left and I really wanted some pita. But I'm trying to avoid the grocery store for the rest of the week to save some money after vacation and I am subject to impulse buys when I'm around food. I've been wanting to try to make homemade pita for awhile after seeing big puffed up pita breads on so many blogs in the past year. So tonight was the night.

I had everything I needed on hand, so I started when I got home from work around 7:30 and by 9:00 I was eating homemade pita. I used the recipe from The Kitchn which was just as easy as it says. And because my kitchen is 90 degrees, my dough doubled in size in about half an hour instead of the 1-2 hours the recipe suggests.

I only made half the recipe tonight and stored the rest in the fridge for later this week. I used my pizza stone and attempted to slap the dough onto the stone. I was doubtful, but three out of my four pitas puffed up. The fourth one was like a little football!

Homemade Hummus
adapted from Martha Stewart recipe

20 oz can chickpeas, drained, liquid reserved
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup tahini
1/4 cup lemon juice
3 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
1/4 cup cilantro
2-3 scallions, chopped
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 tbsp lemon zest

In blender or food processor, combine the chickpeas (reserve a few whole chickpeas to garnish if you want to be all fancy), olive oil, tahini, lemon juice, garlic, cilantro, and scallions. Process or blend until all combined. Add some of the reserved liquid from the chickpeas until it reaches the thickness that you like. Salt and pepper to your taste.

Garnish with the reserved whole chickpeas and the lemon zest.

Homemade Pita Bread
recipe from Apartment Therapy: The Kitchn

1 cup warm water
2 tsp active or instant yeast
3 cups flour (I had to add more flour, maybe because it's so humid)
2 tsp salt
1-2 tsp olive oil (optional)

Combine the warm water and yeast and let sit for about 5 minutes. In a stand mixer, add about 2 1/2 cups of the flour, salt, and olive oil to the yeast mixture and mix until combined. Switch to the dough hook and add some more flour. Let knead in the mixer for about 8-10 minutes (you can do this by hand too). If it's really sticky add some more flour, but don't add too much, it will still be sticky.

After kneading, place the dough in an oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise for 1-2 hours until doubled (mine only took half and hour because it was so warm).

Preheat the oven to 450ºF and place baking stone or baking sheet in the oven. Once dough is done rising, lightly punch it down and place on a floured surface. At this point, you can refrigerate dough for later use for up to one week. Divide the dough into 8 equal portions and place under plastic wrap until ready to use. Roll each portion of dough into an 8-9 inch round. Place the round in one hand, and flip it over on the baking stone or sheet.

Bake for 3 minutes or until it's all ballooned up. And if they don't puff up, they're still good.

Daring Bakers July Challenge: Mallows and Milans

2009-07-27T09:03:00.005-04:00

The July Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Nicole at Sweet Tooth. She chose Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies and Milan Cookies from pastry chef Gale Gand of the Food Network.

For this month's challenge, we had the option of two different knockoffs of store-bought cookies, Milans and Mallows. Since my beach vacation is taking up the last two weeks of July, I only had a little time to complete this challenge. And again, I waited until the last minute and stayed up late finishing these a couple nights before I left.

I decided to make both types of cookies, but I didn't really change anything to either recipe, mainly because I didn't have much time to think about it. The only change I made to the recipes was that for the Milans, I didn't use orange zest because I had no oranges, just added a little almond extract instead, and I used bittersweet chocolate instead of semi-sweet.

The Milans were pretty straight-forward and simple. You just made the batter, piped them onto the baking sheet, and then spread them with the chocolate.

The Mallows gave me a few problems. The cookie part and the dipping in chocolate part were simple, but the marshmallow piping part nearly made me cry. The problem was that the marshmallow was really sticky, as you'd expect. But as I was piping them, I kept bumping the already done ones with my hand, and then they'd stick to my hand. So I'd try to pull them off with my other hand, but then they'd stick to my other hand. And then I'd bump into a couple more as I was putting them back down. It was really sticky and messy.

But eventually I finished, and they look cute and taste yummy. I'm not sure how I feel about the cinnamon in the Mallows cookie base though, I'm not sure if I'd add it if I made them again. I also think that I made the cookies a little too small and thick. I would have been happier with a higher marshmallow to cookie ratio.

Mallows(Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies)
Recipe courtesy Gale Gand, from Food Network website

Prep Time: 10 min
Inactive Prep Time: 5 min
Cook Time: 10 min
Serves: about 2 dozen cookies

• 3 cups (375grams/13.23oz) all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup (112.5grams/3.97oz) white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/8 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 12 tablespoons (170grams/ 6 oz) unsalted butter
• 3 eggs, whisked together
• Homemade marshmallows, recipe follows
• Chocolate glaze, recipe follows

1. In a mixer with the paddle attachment, blend the dry ingredients.
2. On low speed, add the butter and mix until sandy.
3. Add the eggs and mix until combine.
4. Form the dough into a disk, wrap with clingfilm or parchment and refrigerate at least 1 hour and up to 3 days.
5. When ready to bake, grease a cookie sheet or line it with parchment paper or a silicon mat.
6. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
7. Roll out the dough to 1/8-inch thickness, on a lightly floured surface. Use a 1 to 1 1/2 inches cookie cutter to cut out small rounds of dough.
8. Transfer to the prepared pan and bake for 10 minutes or until light golden brown. Let cool to room temperature.
9. Pipe a “kiss” of marshmallow onto each cookie. Let set at room temperature for 2 hours.
10. Line a cookie sheet with parchment or silicon mat.
11. One at a time, gently drop the marshmallow-topped cookies into the hot chocolate glaze.
12. Lift out with a fork and let excess chocolate drip back into the bowl.
13. Place on the prepared pan and let set at room temperature until the coating is firm, about 1 to 2 hours.

Note: if you don’t want to make your own marshmallows, you can cut a large marshmallow in half and place on the cookie base. Heat in a preheated 350-degree oven to slump the marshmallow slightly, it will expand and brown a little. Let cool, then proceed with the chocolate dipping.

Homemade marshmallows:
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup light corn syrup
• 3/4 cup (168.76 grams/5.95oz) sugar
• 1 tablespoon powdered gelatin
• 2 tablespoons cold water
• 2 egg whites , room temperature
• 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. In a saucepan, combine the water, corn syrup, and sugar, bring to a boil until “soft-ball” stage, or 235 degrees on a candy thermometer.
2. Sprinkle the gelatin over the cold water and let dissolve.
3. Remove the syrup from the heat, add the gelatin, and mix.
4. Whip the whites until soft peaks form and pour the syrup into the whites.
5. Add the vanilla and continue whipping until stiff.
6. Transfer to a pastry bag.

Chocolate glaze:
• 12 ounces semisweet chocolate
• 2 ounces cocoa butter or vegetable oil

1. Melt the 2 ingredients together in the top of a double boiler or a bowl set over barely simmering water.

Milan Cookies
Recipe courtesy Gale Gand, from Food Network website

Prep Time: 20 min
Inactive Prep Time: 0 min
Cook Time: 1 hr 0 min
Serves: about 3 dozen cookies

• 12 tablespoons (170grams/ 6 oz) unsalted butter, softened
• 2 1/2 cups (312.5 grams/ 11.02 oz) powdered sugar
• 7/8 cup egg whites (from about 6 eggs)
• 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons lemon extract
• 1 1/2 cups (187.5grams/ 6.61 oz) all purpose flour
• Cookie filling, recipe follows

Cookie filling:
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 8 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
• 1 orange, zested

1. In a mixer with paddle attachment cream the butter and the sugar.
2. Add the egg whites gradually and then mix in the vanilla and lemon extracts.
3. Add the flour and mix until just well mixed.
4. With a small (1/4-inch) plain tip, pipe 1-inch sections of batter onto a parchment-lined sheet pan, spacing them 2 inches apart as they spread.
5. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 10 minutes or until light golden brown around the edges. Let cool on the pan.
6. While waiting for the cookies to cool, in a small saucepan over medium flame, scald cream.
7. Pour hot cream over chocolate in a bowl, whisk to melt chocolate, add zest and blend well.
8. Set aside to cool (the mixture will thicken as it cools).
9. Spread a thin amount of the filling onto the flat side of a cookie while the filling is still soft and press the flat side of a second cookie on top.
10. Repeat with the remainder of the cookies.

Sour Cherry Crumb Cake

2009-07-03T22:50:00.002-04:00

Outside of my office in Manhattan, we have a small farmer's market twice a week. I usually hurry past on my way into the office because I'm generally running late, and it's usually all closed up by the time I leave work in the evening. This week though, I had to go return some library books during my lunch break, so I actually was outside during the day. I walked past the farmer's market on the way back, and they had lots of pints of sour cherries and they looked so perfect. I couldn't resist buying two pints of sour cherries and a pint of raspberries.

They sat on the kitchen table for a day while I decided what to make with them. Then I was browsing through the July Martha Stewart Living and found a recipe for Sour Cherry Crumb Cakes. I love crumb cake, not only because it's delicious, but it makes me think of my great-grandma. She would make big sheet pans of crumb cake all the time, with a thick layer of crumbs and light fluffy cake underneath.

She never added any fruit to her crumb cakes, but I really love the addition of the layer of sour cherries to this cake. The tartness of the cherries goes really well with the cinnamony crumb and buttery cake. So you should run out and buy some sour cherries before they're gone for the summer! I've got another pint sitting on the table...

Oh, and if you don't have a cherry pitter like me, I took advice from this The Kitchn article and used one of my pastry tips. Worked perfectly.

Sour Cherry Crumb Cakes
recipe from the July Martha Stewart living or the website

Topping:
2 ounces (4 tbsp) unsalted butter, melted
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 granulated sugar
1/4 packed brown sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

Cake:
1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup buttermilk
2 1/2 cups (1 lb) fresh sour cherries, pitted or frozen dark sweet cherries

Preheat oven to 350ºF and butter and flour a 9-inch square pan.

For the topping, combine the butter, flour, sugars, salt and cinnamon in a bowl. Set aside.

For the cakes, mix together the flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. In your mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until fully combined. Add the eggs and vanilla. Then alternately add some flour mixture and some buttermilk, ending with flour mixture. Mix just until it's all incorporated. Pour cake into the prepared pan and smooth with a spatula. Place the cherries on top of the cake in an even layer and then sprinkle with the crumb topping.

Bake about 1 hour. When done a toothpick inserted in the center will come out clean. Cool and then cut and serve.

Daring Bakers June Challenge: Bakewell Tart

2009-06-27T12:11:00.003-04:00

The June Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar. They chose a Traditional (UK) Bakewell Tart... er... pudding that was inspired by a rich baking history dating back to the 1800's in England.

So the two main requirements for this challenge were to make a homemade shortbread crust and to make frangipane. The last element of the Bakewell Tart is the layer of jam, and we weren't required to make out own, but I decided to anyway.

I had some plums sitting around the kitchen that weren't going to last much longer, so I decided to make a quick jam with those. I used a Bon Appetit recipe that I found online . When I was looking for almond flour at the store, it was like $6, so I decided to just buy blanched almonds and make my own. I just threw them in the food processor for a little while, and they ground down really well.

Instead of making 1 9" tart, I decided to use my new 7" tart pans so I made 2 7" tarts and I still had extra ingredients so I also made 2 mini tarts. I filled the two large tarts with the plum jam, and the mini tarts got store-bought raspberry jam for one and nutella for the other. The 7" tarts I baked for about 25 minutes, and the smaller tarts were done after about 15 minutes.

Bakewell Tart...er...pudding

Makes one 23cm (9” tart)
Prep time: less than 10 minutes (plus time for the individual elements)
Resting time: 15 minutes
Baking time: 30 minutes
Equipment needed: 23cm (9”) tart pan or pie tin (preferably with ridged edges), rolling pin

One quantity sweet shortcrust pastry (recipe follows)
Bench flour
250ml (1cup (8 US fl. oz)) jam or curd, warmed for spreadability
One quantity frangipane (recipe follows)
One handful blanched, flaked almonds

Assembling the tart
Place the chilled dough disc on a lightly floured surface. If it's overly cold, you will need to let it become acclimatised for about 15 minutes before you roll it out. Flour the rolling pin and roll the pastry to 5mm (1/4”) thickness, by rolling in one direction only (start from the centre and roll away from you), and turning the disc a quarter turn after each roll. When the pastry is to the desired size and thickness, transfer it to the tart pan, press in and trim the excess dough. Patch any holes, fissures or tears with trimmed bits. Chill in the freezer for 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 200C/400F.

Remove shell from freezer, spread as even a layer as you can of jam onto the pastry base. Top with frangipane, spreading to cover the entire surface of the tart. Smooth the top and pop into the oven for 30 minutes. Five minutes before the tart is done, the top will be poofy and brownish. Remove from oven and strew flaked almonds on top and return to the heat for the last five minutes of baking.

The finished tart will have a golden crust and the frangipane will be tanned, poofy and a bit spongy-looking. Remove from the oven and cool on the counter. Serve warm, with crème fraîche, whipped cream or custard sauce if you wish.

When you slice into the tart, the almond paste will be firm, but slightly squidgy and the crust should be crisp but not tough.

Sweet Shortbread Crust

Prep time: 15-20 minutes
Resting time: 30 minutes (minimum)
Equipment needed: bowls, box grater, cling film

225g (8oz) all purpose flour
30g (1oz) sugar
2.5ml (½ tsp) salt
110g (4oz) unsalted butter, cold (frozen is better)
2 (2) egg yolks
2.5ml (½ tsp) almond extract (optional)
15-30ml (1-2 Tbsp) cold water

Sift together flour, sugar and salt. Grate butter into the flour mixture, using the large hole-side of a box grater. Using your finger tips only, and working very quickly, rub the fat into the flour until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Set aside.

Lightly beat the egg yolks with the almond extract (if using) and quickly mix into the flour mixture. Keep mixing while dribbling in the water, only adding enough to form a cohesive and slightly sticky dough.

Form the dough into a disc, wrap in cling and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes

Frangipane

Prep time: 10-15 minutes
Equipment needed: bowls, hand mixer, rubber spatula

125g (4.5oz) unsalted butter, softened
125g (4.5oz) icing sugar
3 (3) eggs
2.5ml (½ tsp) almond extract
125g (4.5oz) ground almonds
30g (1oz) all purpose flour

Cream butter and sugar together for about a minute or until the mixture is primrose in colour and very fluffy. Scrape down the side of the bowl and add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. The batter may appear to curdle. In the words of Douglas Adams: Don’t panic. Really. It’ll be fine. After all three are in, pour in the almond extract and mix for about another 30 seconds and scrape down the sides again. With the beaters on, spoon in the ground nuts and the flour. Mix well. The mixture will be soft, keep its slightly curdled look (mostly from the almonds) and retain its pallid yellow colour.

Plum Jam

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup water

1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise

1 lb ripe plums, halved, pitted, and cut into slices

Optional: I also added some lime zest

Stir the water and sugar together in a saucepan over medium heat until all the sugar dissolves. Scrape in seeds from the vanilla beans and then throw in the beans along with the lime zest. Bring to a boil and continue until it reaches 260ºF. Remove from the heat and add the plums and let sit for a minute. Put back on high heat and stir constantly until it's all broken down and reduced, should be about 9 minutes. Pour into a metal or glass container and cover with plastic wrap, pressing it down onto the surface. Chill.

Olive Oil Ice Cream

2009-06-09T22:20:00.002-04:00

The weather keeps teasing me. It'll be warm and beautiful for a couple days, but then it gets all cold again. Luckily last weekend was beautiful all weekend long, perfect for the farmers market, long aimless walks about Brooklyn, the Renegade Craft Fair, and barbecues. To celebrate the fact that it's starting to feel more and more like summer, I busted out the ice cream maker.

I have been planning on making ice cream for about two weeks now, but couldn't decide on what flavor to make. Then I was reading about the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck and they said one of the flavors would be olive oil with sea salt. I got David Lebovitz's The Perfect Scoop last Christmas, and I remembered that there was a recipe for olive oil ice cream in there. So there was my decision.

I've never had olive oil ice cream before, but this stuff is awesome. It's like vanilla with a slight olive oil taste, and it's especially delicious with a little sea salt sprinkled on top. And how good would it be with chocolate covered salt on top??

Olive Oil Ice Cream
from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz

1 1/3 cups whole milk
1/2 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
1 cup heavy cream
6 large egg yolks
1/2 cup fruity olive oil

Combine the milk, sugar, and salt in a saucepan over medium heat until warm and sugar is dissolved.

In another bowl, whisk the egg yolks. While continuing to whisk, gradually add the warm milk mixture to the egg yolks. Once it's all combined, return the entire mixture to the saucepan.

Stir it over medium heat, making sure that it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan. Let it thicken enough so that it coats the spoon.

Pour the cream into another bowl and place a strainer over the top of the bowl. Pour the milk and egg mixture through the strainer into the cream. Whisk together and then add the olive oil, continuing to whisk until all combined. Place over an ice bath and continue to stir until the mixture has cooled.

Chill for at least a few hours in the refrigerator and then freeze in an ice cream maker using the instructions for your maker. Makes about 1 quart.

Serve with a little sea salt sprinkled on top.

Alton Brown's Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

2009-05-28T21:29:00.003-04:00

In my continuing quest for the perfect chocolate chip cookie, I decided to try Alton Brown's The Chewy Recipe for a Memorial Day BBQ I went to on Monday. This is the first time I've made this recipe, but I've read a lot of good reviews about it.

It's actually very close to the Baking Illustrated recipe that has been my favorite so far. The only major difference is that this recipe calls for 2 tablespoons of milk. The amounts of ingredients are very similar, they both use melted butter, and they both have a high ratio of brown sugar to granulated sugar. I think the extra yolk and the amount of brown sugar both add to the chewyness of these cookies. I had one of the last cookies today, and they were still nice and chewy.

The other difference is that these bake at 375º while the Baking Illustrated ones bake at 325º. I have had some problems with the Baking Illustrated ones not browning as much as I'd like, so maybe I'll try raising the temperature the next time I make them.

The verdict? I'm not ready to throw out my other recipe yet, but these were really good cookies. They had a really good taste and consistency, but I think that Baking Illustrated ones were a little chewier. Or maybe it's just that I generally don't bake the BI ones as much because they're in on a lower temperature. I think that next time I make chocolate chip cookies I'll combine ideas from Baking Illustrated, Alton Brown, and the New York times recipe.

The Chewy Recipe
from Alton Brown, recipe from Food Network

2 sticks unsalted butter
2 1/4 cups bread flour
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 tbsp milk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (I used bittersweet chocolate chips)

Melt the butter in a saucepan and let cool slightly. In another bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and baking soda.

Combine the melted butter and sugars in an electric mixer on medium speed. Add the egg, yolk, milk, and vanilla extract until completely combined. Stir in the chocolate chips. Chill the dough.

Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto parchment covered baking sheets. Bake for 12 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on wire racks. Store in an airtight container.

Daring Bakers May Challenge: Apple, Brie, and Raspberry Strudel

2009-05-27T07:00:00.001-04:00

The May Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Linda of make life sweeter! and Courtney of Coco Cooks. They chose Apple Strudel from the recipe book Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague by Rick Rodgers.

This month the challenge was to make strudel from scratch. The main requirement was to make the strudel dough, but you could do any filling you wanted. The basic recipe listed was an apple strudel. I got started a little late this month because I was on vacation for the first two weeks of May. I didn't even check what the challenge was until the middle of May, so that's why I was making my strudel on Monday morning so that I could finish it before today.

I was originally thinking about making a fully savory strudel, but then I decided to just modify the original apple strudel by adding brie and some raspberries. I liked how it came out, still sweet but you get a little savory with the cheese.

I also decided to halve the recipe since I figured I'd be eating most of it, and I really didn't need that much strudel for myself. I think the half recipe was a good amount, especially after giving some away to some friends. Rolling out the dough was pretty reasonable with the half recipe too.

Overall, I was kinda nervous about this challenge when I first read the recipe because strudel just sounds difficult. But it actually came together really quickly and the dough was really easy to work with, not sticky like bread dough. My dough rolled out to about 24" by 16", and it was pretty thin.

The only problem was that the cheese and raspberries leaked out of the dough during baking. So it looked a little messy, but still tasted good.

Preparation time

Total: 2 hours 15 minutes – 3 hours 30 minutes

15-20 min to make dough
30-90 min to let dough rest/to prepare the filling
20-30 min to roll out and stretch dough
10 min to fill and roll dough
30 min to bake
30 min to cool

Apple, Brie, and Raspberry strudel (Full batch, I made half)

adapted from “Kaffeehaus – Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague” by Rick Rodgers

1/2 cup (1 stick / 115 g) unsalted butter, melted, divided
1 1/2 cups (350 ml) fresh bread crumbs
strudel dough (recipe below)
About 1/2 lb brie
2 pounds (900 g) tart cooking apples, peeled, cored and cut into ¼ inch-thick slices (use apples that hold their shape during baking)

1 pint raspberries

1. Heat 3 tablespoons of the butter in a large skillet over medium-high. Add the breadcrumbs and cook whilst stirring until golden and toasted. This will take about 3 minutes. Let it cool completely.

2. Put the rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Line a large baking sheet with baking paper (parchment paper). Make the strudel dough as described below. Spread about 3 tablespoons of the remaining melted butter over the dough using your hands (a bristle brush could tear the dough, you could use a special feather pastry brush instead of your hands). Sprinkle the buttered dough with the bread crumbs. Spread the cheese, apples, and raspberries about 3 inches (8 cm) from the short edge of the dough in a 6-inch-(15cm)-wide strip.

3. Fold the short end of the dough onto the filling. Lift the tablecloth at the short end of the dough so that the strudel rolls onto itself. Transfer the strudel to the prepared baking sheet by lifting it. Curve it into a horseshoe to fit. Tuck the ends under the strudel. Brush the top with the remaining melted butter.

4. Bake the strudel for about 30 minutes or until it is deep golden brown. Cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing. Use a serrated knife and serve either warm or at room temperature. It is best on the day it is baked.

Strudel dough
from “Kaffeehaus – Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague” by Rick Rodgers

1 1/3 cups (200 g) unbleached flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
7 tablespoons (105 ml) water, plus more if needed
2 tablespoons (30 ml) vegetable oil, plus additional for coating the dough
1/2 teaspoon cider vinegar

1. Combine the flour and salt in a stand-mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix the water, oil and vinegar in a measuring cup. Add the water/oil mixture to the flour with the mixer on low speed. You will get a soft dough. Make sure it is not too dry, add a little more water if necessary.
Take the dough out of the mixer. Change to the dough hook. Put the dough ball back in the mixer. Let the dough knead on medium until you get a soft dough ball with a somewhat rough surface.

2. Take the dough out of the mixer and continue kneading by hand on an unfloured work surface. Knead for about 2 minutes. Pick up the dough and throw it down hard onto your working surface occasionally.
Shape the dough into a ball and transfer it to a plate. Oil the top of the dough ball lightly. Cover the ball tightly with plastic wrap. Allow to stand for 30-90 minutes (longer is better).

3. It would be best if you have a work area that you can walk around on all sides like a 36 inch (90 cm) round table or a work surface of 23 x 38 inches (60 x 100 cm). Cover your working area with table cloth, dust it with flour and rub it into the fabric. Put your dough ball in the middle and roll it out as much as you can.
Pick the dough up by holding it by an edge. This way the weight of the dough and gravity can help stretching it as it hangs. Using the back of your hands to gently stretch and pull the dough. You can use your forearms to support it.

4. The dough will become too large to hold. Put it on your work surface. Leave the thicker edge of the dough to hang over the edge of the table. Place your hands underneath the dough and stretch and pull the dough thinner using the backs of your hands. Stretch and pull the dough until it's about 2 feet (60 cm) wide and 3 feet (90 cm) long, it will be tissue-thin by this time. Cut away the thick dough around the edges with scissors. The dough is now ready to be filled.

Plant Markers

2009-05-25T23:31:00.003-04:00

Last weekend I bought some herbs at the Grand Army Plaza market here in Brooklyn. I got mint, cilantro, chives, and rosemary. I also had some basil that I had bought at the coop that still had the roots attached which I had put in a pot. I pulled in my planters that had been sitting out on the fire escape all winter and planted the cilantro, chives, and rosemary in one pot. And I put the mint in its own pot because the guy who sold them to me told me that sometimes mint can take over.

I had also bought some radish seeds because I wanted to try to grow something from seed this year. I planted them in one of the other pots. We'll see how long I can keep it all alive. I'm planning on getting a tomato plant soon too. I saw the one pot garden on Joy the Baker, so I'm thinking about trying that. I had tomato plants last year, but they didn't do so great.

Then I was reading The Small Object the other day and she did a post about plant markers. She posted a link to ones that were posted on Avocado & Papaya that were basically just vinyl letters on wooden tongue depressors, but they look adorable. So I ran out to Staples and found 1" red vinyl letters, and then since I wasn't sure where to look for tongue depressors, I went to the craft store and found some long wooden strips that were 1" wide. I just snapped the strips at the length I wanted them and then stuck the letters on.

Carrot Cake Sandwich Cookies

2009-05-02T23:41:00.005-04:00

A few weeks ago, one of my co-workers asked if I would make carrot cake sandwich cookies for a lunch she was having this weekend. And, of course, I said sure. I had made these cookies once last year, and she's been talking about them ever since.

She asked for about 50 cookies so that would only require doubling the recipe. In my head, I didn't think it would take that long because it's a simple dough and the frosting is quick. But I didn't really figure in the amount of time needed to bake all those cookies because to make 50 sandwich cookies, you need to make 100 individual cookies. Anyway, I'll just say that I was up rather late on Thursday night baking.

These are my brother's favorite cookies and they're pretty high up on my list too. You can't really go wrong with cream cheese frosting. It's a Martha Stewart recipe that I had found on the website a couple years ago, but when I bought the Martha Stewart's Cookies book last year, I found it in there too.

I made one batch with raisins and one batch without this time. The non-raisin version was the one I made first, so they didn't chill as long and they flattened out a lot more. So I would recommend chilling for longer than an hour if you have time.

Carrot Cake Sandwich Cookies
from Martha Stewart's Cookies: The Very Best Treats to Bake and to Share

For cookies:
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground ginger
2 cups rolled oats
1 1/2 cups finely grated carrots (about 3 large carrots)
1 cup raisins

For cream cheese frosting:
8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Line two baking sheets with either parchment paper or silicone liners. In a mixer, cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy, about 3 to 4 minutes. Add the eggs and vanilla and continue to mix.

2. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger. Add the flour mixture in several parts to the mixer on low speed. Stir in the oats, carrots and raisins. Chill the dough for minimum an hour, but longer is probably better.

3. When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350ºF and drop the dough by rounded tablespoons onto the baking sheets. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until slightly browned. Cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet, then cool completely on wire cooling racks.

4. Meanwhile, put the cream cheese in the mixer and beat it for a minute or so. Then add the butter and combine until smooth. Add the confectioners' sugar, beat some more. Finally add the vanilla.

5. When the cookies are completely cool, spread about 2 teaspoons of frosting onto one side of a cookie with an offset spatula. Then sandwich it with another cookie. You can keep these cookies in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Makes about 36 sandwich cookies

Roasted Asparagus with Poached Egg and Parmesan

2009-04-28T21:58:00.003-04:00

I bought some asparagus at the coop last night and was trying to decide what to do with when I saw this recipe on The Kitchn for Roasted Asparagus with Poached Egg and Parmesan. So I decided to make it for dinner tonight.

This was my first successful egg poaching attempt! I used the "whirlpool" technique that the recipe recommends and it came out perfect. I lost a little bit of the white, but not too much. I've tried poaching eggs without the whirlpool and it always spread out a ton and I lost most of the white. So I would definitely recommend trying this technique.

The only thing that I changed from the recipe was that I didn't add the breadcrumbs, and I only made 1 egg.

Roasted Asparagus with Poached Egg and Parmesan
from a recipe on The Kitchn

1 tbsp olive oil
20 asparagus spears, trimmed
1 tbsp salt
1 tsp vinegar
4 large fresh eggs
2 oz. parmesan cheese, shaved

Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Put the asparagus in a small roasting pan and coat with the olive oil. Sprinkle on some salt and pepper. Roast for 10-12 minutes.

Bring 2 quarts of water to a boil in a medium saucepan with the vinegar and salt. Lower the heat until the water is just simmering. Stir the water in the circular motion so that a whirlpool forms in the center of the pan. Crack an egg into a cup or small bowl. While stirring with one hand, gently slip the egg into the center of the whirlpool. Cook for 3 1/2 to 4 minutes and then remove from the water with a slotted spoon. Place on top of asparagus. Repeat if you are making more eggs, (you can cook them at the same time if you like, but I'm not that advanced yet.)

Add the parmesan to the egg and asparagus and season with salt and pepper. Serve!

Daring Bakers April Challenge: Peanut Butter Chocolate Swirl Cheesecake

2009-04-27T07:00:00.002-04:00

The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.

This month the challenge was to make cheesecake and to be creative with it. I decided to go with one of my favorite combinations, peanut butter and chocolate. For the crust, I wanted something different from the regular graham cracker crust, so I took a tip from a Smitten Kitchen recipe where she used Teddy Grahams to make a crust. I picked up a box of chocolate chip Teddy Grahams and crushed them as my crust.

To add in the peanut butter and chocolate, I made the basic recipe, and then I put 1 cup of batter in a bowl with 1 cup of melted bittersweet chocolate and another cup of batter in another bowl with 1/2 cup peanut butter. I poured the rest of the batter into the pan, then poured the chocolate and peanut butter mixtures over it. Then swirled it around with a butter knife to give the marbled look.

I ran into a problem when I was trying to figure out the water bath. Unfortunately, I realized after it was all in the pan that I don't have a big enough pan to fit my springform pan. So I had to use a rimmed cookie sheet, which really didn't provide a deep enough water bath and my cake cracked. But it didn't affect the taste, so it really didn't matter that much.

The cake came out really rich, but delicous. The only thing I'd change is that I think I'd want more crust. There were some parts where the crust was really thin and I really love the crust.

Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake:

crust:
2 cups / 180 g graham cracker crumbs [I used crushed Teddy Grahams instead]
1 stick / 4 oz butter, melted
2 tbsp. / 24 g sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract

cheesecake:
3 sticks of cream cheese, 8 oz each (total of 24 oz) room temperature
1 cup / 210 g sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup / 8 oz heavy cream
1 tbsp. lemon juice [I didn't use]
1 tbsp. vanilla extract (or the innards of a vanilla bean)
1 tbsp liqueur, optional, but choose what will work well with your cheesecake [I didn't use]

My variation: 1 cup bittersweet chips, melted, and 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (Gas Mark 4 = 180C = Moderate heat). Begin to boil a large pot of water for the water bath.

2. Mix together the crust ingredients and press into your preferred pan. You can press the crust just into the bottom, or up the sides of the pan too - baker's choice. Set crust aside.

3. Combine cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of a stand-mixer (or in a large bowl if using a hand-mixer) and cream together until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, fully incorporating each before adding the next. Make sure to scrape down the bowl in between each egg. Add heavy cream, vanilla, lemon juice, and alcohol and blend until smooth and creamy.

My variation: Put 2 separate 1 cup portions of batter into smaller bowls. Add melted chocolate to one bowl and peanut butter to other bowl. Pour remaining batter into prepared crust, then add chocolate and peanut butter mixtures to the pan and swirl with a butter knife until it's all marbled.

4. Tap the pan on the counter a few times to bring all air bubbles to the surface. Place pan into a larger pan and pour boiling water into the larger pan until halfway up the side of the cheesecake pan. If cheesecake pan is not airtight, cover bottom securely with foil before adding water.

5. Bake 45 to 55 minutes, until it is almost done - this can be hard to judge, but you're looking for the cake to hold together, but still have a lot of jiggle to it in the center. You don't want it to be completely firm at this stage. Close the oven door, turn the heat off, and let rest in the cooling oven for one hour. This lets the cake finish cooking and cool down gently enough so that it won't crack on the top. After one hour, remove cheesecake from oven and lift carefully out of water bath. Let it finish cooling on the counter, and then cover and put in the fridge to chill. Once fully chilled, it is ready to serve.

Pan note: The creator of this recipe used to use a springform pan, but no matter how well she wrapped the thing in tin foil, water would always seep in and make the crust soggy. Now she uses one of those 1-use foil "casserole" shaped pans from the grocery store. They're 8 or 9 inches wide and really deep, and best of all, water-tight. When it comes time to serve, just cut the foil away.

Prep notes: While the actual making of this cheesecake is a minimal time commitment, it does need to bake for almost an hour, cool in the oven for an hour, and chill overnight before it is served. Please plan accordingly!

Tulip Skirt

2009-04-22T21:25:00.004-04:00

I ran out and bought the Winter 2008 issue of Stitch magazine last year when I found out that Jenny Gordy had a pattern in it. Her blog, wikstenmade, is one of my favorites. She designs the most beautiful clothing and sells it on her site. Unfortunately, I am not lucky enough to own anything she has made, but when I saw that I could possibly make one of her designs by myself, I jumped at the chance.

I had the magazine sitting around for awhile, and finally bought two different colors of linen to make the skirt with. I got a deep purple linen and a plain chocolate brown linen. I love the combination of purple and red, so I bought red buttons to go with the purple skirt. I cut out all the pattern pieces, but then they sat in a pile on my floor waiting to be sewn together. I kept putting off making the skirt, but then I saw Jenny's post on her blog describing the skirts that she made with the pattern, and I finally got motivated. Jenny also gives a few corrections to the pattern, which were really helpful because I had been a little confused by some parts of the pattern.

With the corrections, the pattern was really easy to follow and came together pretty easily. It also resulted in my first successful buttonholes. I've always been really scared of sewing buttonholes, but when you use the 4-step buttonhole setting on the sewing machine, they're actually pretty simple.

Now I just need to get around to making one with the brown pattern. Maybe with some pockets next time?

NY Times Chocolate Chip Cookies

2009-04-22T20:32:00.003-04:00

I've made the famous NY Times chocolate cookies before, and the last time I planned ahead and let them chill for the recommended 36 hours. And they were delicious, but not as mind blowing as I expected after all the hype. My go-to chocolate chip recipe is the one in Baking Illustrated for chewy chocolate chip cookies, and I still think it's my favorite.

I decided to try the NY Times cookies again though, but this time I was too impatient to let them chill for the recommended time. I think I chilled them for about 3 or 4 hours this time. They're still really good, even without the chilling. And they disappeared very quickly.

Next time I make chocolate chip cookies, I think I'll use the Baking Illustrated recipe, but try chilling it for a day or so and sprinkling the dough with sea salt before baking.

Chocolate Chip Cookies
from NY Times recipe adapted from Jacques Torres

2 cups minues 2 tbsp (8 1/2 ounces) cake flour
1 2/3 cups (8 1/2 ounces) bread flour
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp coarse salt
2 1/2 sticks (1 1/4 cups) unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups (10 ounces) light brown sugar
1 cup plus 2 tbsp (8 ounces) granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 lb bittersweet chocolate disks or fèves, at least 60 percent cacao content (I used Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate chips)
Sea salt for sprinkling

Mix together flours, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a bowl and set aside.

Cream together the butter and sugars in a mixer, about 5 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, then the vanilla. Add in the flour mixture and mix only until just combined. Stir in the chocolate disks gently so that they do not break.

Cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 24-36 hours. You can refrigerate it for up to 72 hours.

After chilling, preheat the oven to 350ºF. Line baking sheets with parchment or nonstick mats. Drop dough by golf ball sized mounds on the baking sheet, about 6 per sheet. Sprinkle each cookie with sea salt and bake for 18-20 minutes, until golden brown. Cool on the sheet for 10 minutes, then completely cool on wire racks.

Makes about 18 5-inch cookies, or about 3 dozen smaller cookies. (If you make smaller cookies like I did, adjust the baking time to about 12-14 minutes.)