Bee Sweet

Ten-Minute Risotto & Five-Minute Cream Soup

2011-12-04T13:37:00.004-05:00

Risotto.

Fancy. Time-consuming, Complicated…all words that come to mind. But is it? Risotto is creamy rice. Fancy? I’d say comforting like soup or mashed potatoes! It cooks in twenty minutes; time-consuming? I don’t think so! And complicated? You saute onions, add the rice, and cook for twenty minutes while gradually adding stock and stirring. Oh…my.

Here is what’s so difficult about risotto…the misconception that it’s difficult! Honestly, I will acknowledge fear about getting the texture right and how easy it is to screw up because that almost soup-like creaminess is what makes risotto, not the fact that you used Arborio rice. I mean, I used sushi rice after running out a few times! However…even if your rice ends up thick and softer than it’s supposed to, it will be delicious and so very satisfying! So, I’m here to say, make risotto! Make it plain, make it with tomato sauce, bits of buttercup squash, loads of roasted garlic and fresh herbs. You’ll never look back! And, on top of that, your life will be made easier because, in one batch of risotto, you can end up with the base for ten-minute risotto and some of the creamiest, most flavorful, five-minute soup you can make.

How, you ask? Easily…

First we’ll start with the ten-minute risotto. I found this tip in a book by Jamie Oliver and was so excited! Basically, you cook risotto to the halfway point, which is about ten minutes and four to five ladles of stock. You then pour it out onto a sheet pan, spreading evenly, and immediately put it in the fridge to stop the rice from cooking further. After it has completely cooled, you can transfer it to a container for storage. When you want to cook it later in the week, simply put it in a pan with a ladle of warm stock and gently heat it to temperature, allowing it to mostly absorb that ladleful before finishing it with three to four more! In about ten minutes you have freshly made risotto with the same texture as if you’d never stopped in the first place. This is a great idea if you want to make it for a gathering since risotto must be served immediately lest you chance the rice absorbing every bit of liquid and becoming mushy. Even better, though, busy people, like me, can have a family meal (since risotto is truly a main course!) or side dish finished in ten minutes. What I Iike to do is start a full batch of risotto and refrigerate half of it for later, leaving me with the other half to eat that night. Half a batch is a full meal for two people, so that works perfectly for Billy and I.

What if I don’t save half of it in this manner, though, and end up with a load of leftovers? As flavorful as it is, I don’t really want to eat the equivalent of mashed rice…so what I do is portion it and throw it in the fridge or freezer. Then, whenever I like, I have nearly instant, effortless, creamy soup. I take the risotto and put it in a pot with some stock. Once they’ve warmed up, I puree them together with an immersion blender (you can use a blender or food processor, though) and add more liquid or risotto, if necessary, until I have the consistency I desire. I eyeball the measurements because everybody likes theirs differently.

It’s so easy, though…I come home from work for a half hour break and do this! The mixture heats up (in minutes) while I feed the baby and I need only a minute to puree it before putting it in a thermos and heading back to the office. That’s how simple and fast. And the flavor…It tastes just like the risotto! So, you can have onion soup, roasted vegetable, tomato and basil, sweet potato…your options are endless and all absolutely wonderful. In my opinion, this is as easy as canned soup, but better tasting and worlds healthier, especially if you make risotto as I usually do—sans butter or parmesan. I actually prefer the taste without them; the butter is too rich for me. Plus, I make it several times a week, so it’s just plain healthier!

To get you started on what I can only imagine is a path to addiction…I’ve provided a base recipe with ideas for variation. Enjoy and don’t be daunted!

Risotto -- Base Recipe (serves 4-6 as a main course)

Ingredients:

5 1/2 cups broth/stock (vegetable, chicken, beef, seafood, whatever fits your recipe)
1/2 cup dry white wine
3 tbsp olive oil (butter or butter and oil is more traditional, however)
1/3 cup finely minced onion
1 1/2 cups Arborio rice
Optional: 1 tbsp unsalted butter & 1/3 cup grated Parmesan (to add incredible richness at the end)

Directions:

Bring the broth to a simmer in a small pot and keep it warm.

Heat the oil in a heavy pot over moderate heat; add the onion and saute for 1-2 minutes, until soft and translucent, but not brown. Add the rice and toast, stirring, for about a minute, ensuring all the grains are well coated in the oil. Add the wine and cook, stirring constantly, until absorbed. Add about half a cup of broth, stirring frequently, and allow it to mostly absorb before adding the next. You want to add the broth gradually, one half-cup ladle at a time, allowing one addition to mostly absorb before adding the next; you should always have at least a thin veil of liquid over the rice. Your risotto is done when the rice is tender, yet still firm. If you want to use the butter and Parmesan at the end, simply add them both, stirring vigorously to combine, and then serve immediately!

If you plan to cook all or part of the rice to the halfway point in order to refrigerate it for later, simply stop once ten minutes have passed. As stated previously, that should include about four or five ladles of broth. Have a sheet pan ready so you can stop the rice from further cooking as quickly as possible. If you want to reserve the full recipe, use a full-size jelly roll pan; if you plan to only reserve half, only a half-size jelly roll pan is necessary, but using a larger one is obviously fine, if not better for the cooling process! Spread the rice evenly and immediately throw it in the fridge until completely cooled. To cook, place in a pot with half a cup of stock and warm over moderate heat. Once the stock is mostly absorbed and the mixture is warm, add another ladle and continue to cook as normal. You should get through a total of four to five ladles over the course of ten minutes and the risotto will be ready to serve :) I should note, though, to cook half a batch of risotto, you may want to only add about a quarter of a cup or so of broth or it may take longer to absorb, altering the outcome.

Now, a few tricks...I read these in Risotto, a book by Judith Barrett. Until these tips, my risotto was always thick and soft, as you can see in the photo of butternut squash risotto below (also before I knew how to take good food photos, haha!).

See the difference between this and the very first photo? This looks like a bowl of soft rice, while the other looks almost like soup. The soup is the one you're going for! If you can't achieve that right away, though...I ate thick, soft risotto for over a year before finding this book and Billy and I were very, very happy each and every time :)

Now, for the tricks. First, the absorption of broth should take about 18 minutes, total. If you're done more quickly than that, the risotto will probably be too hard (soft on the outside with a hard bite in the middle, yuck!); if it takes much longer, it will likely end up mushy, at which point you may as well puree it into soup (also delicious!). That means each half-cup ladle of broth should be mostly absorbed in just under two minutes. The very first time I kept track in this manner, my risotto turned out perfectly. Now, I always keep track!

Second, you can know, for sure, that the rice is ready for the next ladle of stock by scraping your wooden spoon across the bottom of the pot. If it creates a clear wake behind it, it's ready for more. If not, allow it to keep absorbing.

Lastly...serve immediately! The longer the rice sits, the more liquid it will absorb--it really never stops. This doesn't mean you need to scarf it down at top speed (I prefer to savor it for as long as possible), but certainly don't leave it in the pot for half an hour.

For variations...consider replacing part of the broth with another flavored liquid, such as tomato sauce; simply combine them at the beginning and add as normal...Roast some vegetables until soft and caramelized, mixing them into the risotto at the last minute or topping it once served (butternut/buttercup squash and sweet potatoes are particularly good!)...Double the amount of onions, slicing rather than mincing, and caramelize them before adding the rice to create a flavor like French onion soup (use beef broth for authenticity)...Add a full head of roasted garlic, chopped fresh herbs, and throw in a drizzle of olive oil at the end...I also like to sometimes top the risotto with toasted nuts (slivered almonds, especially) or homemade croutons. The crunch adds a wonderful contrasting texture. Just play around with it and you'll find a world of possibilities!

And remember, if you make too much or if you just want a ton of delicious soup bases for last-minute meals, refrigerate or freeze the leftovers and then heat and puree them with stock or water...the end!

As always, enjoy!

Homemade Hash Browns: No Grater, No Flour, No Sticky Mess.

2011-10-11T13:09:00.001-04:00

First off, I have to apologize for being so incredibly slow with this blog! I actually have a few unfinished entries, but taking care of a baby uses up a lot of free time! Hopefully, I'll be able to get back on track some time this year, despite also now having to plan my upcoming wedding ;)

Back to the task at hand, though...homemade hash browns! And you all know that when I say homemade...I mean from scratch with fresh potatoes, not from a bag of frozen hash browns, which really is probably what you're eating at the restaurant, wishing you could replicate at home. Since those are frozen and fresh is obviously tastier ;) I promise you that my method creates better hash browns than you've probably gotten anywhere! It's incredibly easy, too, and only takes half an hour!

For hash browns crisp on the outside, soft and fluffy on the inside...all you need is a pan, a potato, a knife, some olive oil, and salt and pepper (plus any herbs and/or spices you'd like to enhance the flavors with).

Heat a tablespoon or two of olive oil over medium heat in a nonstick pan. While it heats up, cut one large potato into matchsticks. An easy way to do this is to cut off the top, tail, and sides of the potato so that you're left with a big rectangle; then, slice it thinly along the long side and repeat along the short side; you're left with matchstick size pieces (think about an eighth of an inch, no larger). If you're an anti-waster like I am, slice the top, tail, and sides into matchsticks as well.

Toss the potatoes into the hot pan, coating evenly with the oil and stirring constantly for about ten minutes, until softened. Sprinkle in salt, pepper, and any herbs or spices that you like; stir to coat evenly. Then, gently form the potatoes into a patty covering the bottom of the pan; don't press the potatoes into each other, though, just leave them loosely together. Cover with a lid and allow to brown for about ten minutes. When crisp and golden on the bottom, flip the patty (turning it out onto the lid and sliding it back into the pan is an easy way to do this) and repeat, leaving it to brown under the lid for another ten minutes. When crisped and golden on both sides, you're done and ready to serve!

The secret to keeping the potatoes from turning goopy inside is the manner in which they're cut. By slicing them into matchsticks rather than grating them, the starchy liquid stays inside the potatoes rather than oozing out and creating a gluey texture. When you grate them, you have to make up for the starch by squeezing the liquid out of the potatoes with a towel and adding flour. Even then, though, they don't quite turn out right. This method, however, is foolproof :)

Soft yet crisp bits of potato rivaling the best diner fare!

Caramelized Onion Pizza

2011-08-17T15:13:00.000-04:00

Growing up, I always remember Saturday nights as 'pizza night' at my parents' house. Just as we went to Big Boy for breakfast Saturday morning and had pancakes Sunday morning, we ordered Little Caesar's pizza for Saturday night dinner...every...week. As a result, I have to admit, I'm not really a big pizza fan! I'm incredibly, incredibly picky. I actually went years without eating it until a trip to Spain my junior year of college.

What's the big difference between Spain's pizza and ours, you ask? A lot, actually. First of all, we didn't order from a chain "pizzeria" like Jet's or Pizza Hut. This came from nice, non-chain restaurants where, I assume, a chef or team of people work hard to establish really great recipes in order to keep their business afloat. Sure, I have a bias against chain restaurants, but you have to admit unique, privately owned establishments tend to have better food! Anyway, these pizzas were thin crust, just as I like them, and made with fresh ingredients, which, in my opinion, bring a new light to pizza...I am not a pepperoni and packaged mozzarella fan (surprise, surprise!). I think, after so many years of regular eating, I just got sick of the generic American pizza. Having it prepared in a different way, though, created something completely new for me, which is exactly what homemade pizza does.

What I like about making pizza yourself is that you can have it exactly as you like it best. I don't usually prefer meat on my pizza, at all...I think we all know I'm not a big meat person, in general...but, on occasion, I do like a nice sprinkling of Italian sausage! The problem is that it's different everywhere you go--sometimes it's large chopped pieces, sometimes little crumbled bits, sometimes hot, sometimes mild! So, to be safe, I usually just don't bother asking for it. At home, though, I can prepare it my favorite way and I can do as many different topping combos on one pizza as I like without paying more, which is another plus!

The pizza Billy and I made last night actually had three different combinations. Half of it was just pepperoni (Billy's favorite), a quarter was the same with the addition of caramelized onions, and the last quarter was caramelized onions topped with wedges of fresh tomato. For the purposes of this blog, I've simply posted the recipe for the latter portion, since the remaining only requires you buy some cheese and pepperoni or any other toppings you'd like.

Now, I think meals made completely from scratch are almost always the best; you just can't beat something freshly made at home. So, a pizza made with home prepared dough and sauce is exquisite. However, sometimes you haven't given yourself the time to make these things, so I think it's completely acceptable to go out and buy them...though, I must say, the sauce doesn't take but half an hour and truly does make a total difference in the outcome.

Since I haven't been able to get too much cooking in after finally having the baby (yup, she's here! I know I hadn't announced that in my blog yet), Billy just picked up some pizza dough at a local Italian bakery--you can really find it any number of places, though. Our local produce stores tend to carry them in the freezer aisle and, I assume, some grocery stores may as well. Anyway, Billy picked up the dough for us to make calzones a few nights ago (delicious!), so we just used the leftovers for pizza last night. I did make my own sauce, though, and encourage you to do the same! Then, simply gather together your favorite toppings and go to town :)

Caramelized Onion Pizza with Aunt Lena's Pizza Sauce

Pizza Sauce Ingredients:

one 32-oz can crushed tomatoes
1 large onion, sliced thin
2 tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 tsp dried oregano
1 1/2 tsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

Directions:

Saute the onions in the olive oil until transparent. Add the remaining ingredients and bring the mixture to a boil. Lower the heat, partially cover the pan, and allow to bubble slowly for 20-30 minutes until reduced, stirring occasionally (if you like a thicker sauce, allow to reduce further). Aunt Lena's recipe doesn't specify this, but I puree the sauce when it's finished, especially for this particular pizza because I'm adding a lot of extra onion as a topping. Leaving it as is, though, with the whole slices of onion and bits of tomato is great as well!

Caramelized Onion Ingredients:

3 tbsp olive oil
2 large onions, sliced thin
3 large garlic cloves, chopped
3 tbsp dry white wine
2 tsp fresh oregano, chopped
salt & pepper, to taste

Directions:

Over medium low heat, saute the onions and garlic in the olive oil about 15 to 20 minutes, until the onions are soft and most of the moisture has dissipated. Add the remaining ingredients and cook another ten minutes, until onions are lightly browned, like caramel.

Pizza Ingredients:

one ball pizza dough (homemade or store bought) -- about one pound
pizza sauce
caramelized onions (full recipe)
fresh tomato, sliced about 1/4" thick and cut into wedges
packaged mozzarella, shredded
fresh mozzarella

Directions:

Preheat oven to 475 degrees.

Stretch or roll out the dough (on a lightly floured surface) until about 13" in diameter and 1/4" thick (or desired thickness). Transfer to a heavy baking sheet, lightly sprinkled with cornmeal or flour; if you don't prepare your pizza on the actual baking sheet, you'll likely have a lot of trouble transferring it to bake!

Spread the pizza sauce to cover all but an inch of dough along the edge--use as much or as little sauce as you like; we spread a thin layer, using maybe half the sauce from the above recipe. Sprinkle a thin layer of packaged mozzarella over the sauce; top with caramelized onions, then cover with wedges of fresh tomato and, finally, top with a layer of fresh mozzarella (I tear it into bits that I drop evenly over the top, but you can lay down large pieces or even try shredding it).

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until crust is golden and cheese has melted. Cut into wedges and serve!

Ribs Guaranteed to Fall off the Bone

2011-07-17T10:26:00.002-04:00

One of my favorite aspects of summer is the opportunity to use my grill. I almost don't want to cook inside, at all; it just feels unfortunate not to take advantage of the sun and warmth after spending nearly three quarters of the year without that option. Our grill even has a single burner on one side, so I'll cook everything I possibly can out on my porch; I just fill up a jelly roll pan with all my prepared food and utensils, grab a drink, and park myself outside.

If I can make everything fully on the grill, I'll one hundred percent do it. For some meals, though, that simply isn't an option. Anything that's going to take several hours to cook in order to yield moist, tender meat, I'll cook first in the oven and only finish off on the grill to bring in a smoky flavor. I'm just not confident enough in my grilling skills, yet, to try otherwise. A lot of people look down on that method because it's not "real" barbecue--even just using the grill isn't "real" barbecue--but who cares? I think all that matters is that your meal is delicious and to your liking :)

The same goes for how your food turns out. There's always a "right way" for something to taste or a "right" texture it should yield, but it's really just a matter of opinion. Do I believe pasta should be cooked al dente? Yes. Do I believe steak and hamburger should be moist, tender, and pink inside? Yes; do I think the meat's been wasted if cooked well done? Certainly! That's just my personal preference, though. Of course, I do partake in judging food that I feel wasn't prepared properly (everybody does, whether they admit it or not)--like lasagna made with browned ground beef rather than mashed up meatballs. But, truly, if that's how you like it best, that's how you should make it and you shouldn't let anyone put that down--not me and not any "expert."

I say all this because I've heard many, many times that rib meat should never be tender enough to fall off the bone; if it is, you've overcooked it. Overcooked?? To me, that means I've cooked something so long, I've rendered it completely unappetizing; for meat, that would mean drying it out. Last summer, I cooked a meal for my boyfriend's family and we accidentally grilled the chicken at too high a temperature for too long, creating something horribly dry that I didn't even want to eat, let alone serve; THAT, to me, is overcooked. Astonishingly delectable, fork-soft meat is not overcooked. If you want to devour pounds and pounds of it, it must be cooked just right ;) So, in my opinion, rib meat so tender it slips right off the bone is cooked just right, and I know loads of you out there agree!

As with pancakes (which I spoke about in a previous entry), I grew up eating only my dad’s ribs, which are cooked first in the oven and then finished on the grill, where he layers on sauce to caramelize. I’ve never ordered ribs in a restaurant because I’m picky about the sauce; it just never lives up to my expectations and I prefer to be safe rather than find myself disappointed while out. So, when it comes to texture, I know only what I’ve had at home, which is almost always tender enough to pull easily off the bone. Until last year, I didn’t know anything more tender than my dad’s ribs.

When my best friend started dating her current fiancé, Steve, though, I got my first taste of someone else’s. I have to say, I was a bit wary because I just find that a lot of people dry out meat and I’d never eaten any of Steve’s food before, so there was no way to know how the meal would turn out. Yet, his ribs soared past my expectations!

Steve’s method for cooking ribs is, actually, nearly identical to my parents’; he also cooks them first in the oven and then finishes them off on the grill. There’s one key difference, though. My parents lay the ribs in a roasting pan covered in foil while Steve lays his in a pan with a layer of plastic wrap covering it before the top layer of foil. By using plastic wrap, a perfect seal is created, allowing the meat to, essentially, steam itself. This method, I swear, is flawless for creating the most supple meat imaginable. With such a low temperature (250 degrees), there’s no worry about the plastic melting, either.

Using Steve’s method, I allow the ribs to cook for about six hours, at which point I could try to lift one side with a pair of tongs and the meat would slip right off the bone. In order to finish it on the grill, I carefully lift the rack with a large, metal grilling spatula and, once on the grill, I don’t move it. My dad will turn the rack over in order to sauce both sides, but that’s too tricky with meat this soft and you can get plenty on the one side. Once it’s to my liking, we’re ready to serve! Billy and I just pull the meat off and eat it with a fork because it’s truly impossible to eat these ribs the traditional way. If you’d prefer that the meat at least stay on the bone, just reduce the cooking time. You’ll still have superbly tender meat, but will at least be able to eat it with your fingers :)

Remember this from last year? Delicious!

So, for guaranteed tender, moist ribs, lay your rack of meat (seasoned with a rub, if that's what you're into) directly in a roasting pan (sans roasting rack), seal the pan completely with plastic wrap and top that with foil. Place it in a 250 degree oven and allow to cook for approximately 4-6 hours, depending on what texture you’re looking for. Don't worry if you have to let the meat go for over six hours, either; Steve had it in the oven for about ten, once, and the meat hadn't dried out! Once it's finished cooking to your liking, carefully lay the rack on the grill to bring in that classic, smoky flavor and to caramelize your sauce (if using). If you don’t finish it on the grill but want caramelized sauce, put your ribs under the broiler and just keep a close eye so that it doesn’t burn.

If you’ve cooked your meat to fall-off-the-bone tenderness, pull out some forks; otherwise, prepare yourself for a most awesomely sticky mess!

Roasted Garlic and Tomato Pasta

2011-07-16T22:55:00.000-04:00

I can't deny that I'm a bit of a pasta freak...I suppose, actually, a big pasta freak. It's generally quick, easy, and there are so many flavor and texture options. As a person who has trouble planning meals, pasta is one of my last-minute, go-to meals, along with risotto; I can't tell you how often Billy and I eat these two dishes compared to anything else during the week! This particular pasta, I created years ago, in college. I can't even recall what inspired me, but, up until that point, I really only ever added butter, olive oil, and a bit of garlic powder to my noodles. One evening, though, I got adventurous and created something that, I think, is truly spectacular.

After having made it on several occasions by now, I've tweaked it a bit...When I first made the pasta, it was dinner for my mother and I while my dad was away on business. For two people, I used a full head of roasted garlic; the flavor was phenomenal. Honestly, I'd continue to use that amount if it weren't for some of the adverse effects that much garlic can have on your body. I'll spare you the details, but if you're not worried about any after-effects, please go ahead and use the ratio of a whole head per two people. Your taste buds, at least, won't be sorry!! Otherwise, I now stick to a much safer half a head per two people; though, I use quite a large head of garlic :) of course!

The general preparation is to cook down some fresh, diced tomatoes with chopped, fresh basil; make a thick sauce out of roasted garlic and olive oil; and mix it all together with the ultimately ooey, gooey, stringy wonderfulness of fresh mozzarella. The resulting meal is like a comfort food classic with the sweet tomato playing upon the fragrant garlic while the melty mozzarella softens every bite. Diced, fresh tomatoes are absolutely necessary in order to keep the flavors of garlic and tomato separate; otherwise, you end up with a garlic tomato sauce. Of course, if you know someone who likes to pick around the chunks of tomato (like Billy!), feel free to cut them up much smaller, but don't bring it to the point of a puree. As you can see in the photo above, I chopped the tomato quite finely so it would be impossible for my wonderfully picky boyfriend to avoid it, yet each bit is clearly separate from the garlic-coated noodles.

In the same vein, fresh mozzarella cannot, without a single doubt, be replaced with any other cheese and expected to give the same flavor or texture. The dish is completely transformed without this element; it's still wonderfully delicious, but the strings of gooey mozzarella add that extra something, bringing the pasta to the next level. No matter what, do not replace it with shredded mozzarella from a bag. If you're not going to go the whole way, just grate some Parmesan over the top. In my opinion, once you've experienced melted fresh mozzarella, you'll wish you could easily find a pizza shop that uses that instead of the sad, boring alternative. There's just nothing like it!

Roasted Garlic and Tomato Pasta (serves two)

Ingredients:

150 grams pasta (I prefer something with ridges or a small bowl shape in order to hold the pieces of tomato well. No matter what, definitely steer clear of pastas that need twirling.)
half a head of garlic
one large, red tomato, diced (if you can't find any nice red ones, halve or quarter cherry or grape tomatoes because those are almost always reliable!)
3-4 large leaves fresh basil, finely chopped (optional)
salt and pepper, to taste
olive oil
4 oz fresh mozzarella, sliced into 1/4 to 1/2-inch cubes (as I said before, I beg you not to use a bag of shredded mozzarella. Fresh is a must and you will see why!)

Directions:

Well before getting ready to start your pasta, roast the garlic. You can do this a number of ways, but my preference is to place the entire head (or, in this case, half a head), intact, into a garlic roaster (or wrapped loosely in foil) placed inside a 400 degree oven for about 40 minutes, until all of the garlic is soft. I allow it to cool off and then peel away the skin so I have several full cloves of roasted garlic. A less tedious method is to slice off the top of the head before roasting, exposing the cloves, and then simply squeezing all of the garlic out; I don't prefer this method simply because I hate wasting the garlic that doesn't squeeze out and hate the mess all over my hands :) Roast however you please; just make sure the garlic is absolutely softened!

Bring a pot of water to the boil, salt it well, and then add your pasta. If you don't already practice this regularly, remember to always salt your water; it allows the salt to get inside the pasta rather than simply coating it after it's cooked. I prefer to cook my pasta al dente and highly recommend it, but, obviously, feel free to cook it to the texture of your preference :)

While waiting for the water to boil, saute the tomato with a little olive oil, the chopped basil, and salt and pepper, to taste. Keep the pan generally over medium heat, occasionally stirring the tomatoes. You're looking mainly to soften the pieces, so they need only cook as long as it takes to finish the pasta. If they've broken down well and softened before the pasta has finished cooking, just turn off the heat; there's no need to keep them heated because the hot pasta will do the job later. Another option is to roast the tomatoes in the oven (about 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes should do the trick). As always, the method is your choice!

In the meantime, make the garlic sauce, which is as simple as pureeing/whisking the roasted garlic with olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste! If using a food processor, very slowly drizzle in the olive oil in order to create an emulsion; if you don't add it gradually enough, the garlic and oil will separate, which isn't a huge deal for this particular dish, but not preferable. Because I don't have a food processor small enough to keep that little bit of garlic constantly mixing, I whisk it in a small bowl while very slowly drizzling in the oil; it's more physically tedious, but most effective under the circumstances. Unfortunately, I don't know the definite amount of olive oil to add; I just keep pouring until the mixture becomes like a thick sauce (rather in between the thickness of mayonnaise and Caesar dressing; it needn't be pourable and should coat a spoon). If it's a little thinner or thicker, you're fine; it'll still taste great and coat the pasta well! Once you've achieved the desired consistency, though, sprinkle in some salt and pepper until seasoned to your liking.

When the pasta has finished cooking, drain it and coat it in the garlic sauce; stir in the cooked tomatoes. Sprinkle the fresh mozzarella evenly over the pasta and place a lid on the pot, keeping it over low to low/medium heat. The mozzarella needs to melt before being incorporated into the pasta. If you try to incorporate it too soon, it'll just all clump together and frustrate you. Once the cheese has clearly melted, use a set of tongs to toss the pasta so that the mozzarella coats every bit in wonderful, gooey strings.

This is a completely different pasta, but shows exactly what you want to happen to the fresh mozzarella!

Once the mozzarella is well-incorporated, divide it into bowls and get ready to give your taste buds a wonderful experience :)

Melt-in-Your-Mouth Buttermilk Pancakes

2011-07-10T17:18:00.002-04:00

Like so many friends, I grew up eating Jiffy Mix pancakes. Every Sunday, my dad would get up early (which he did in the first place, anyway) and, as my brother and I were waking up, he'd have the batter mixed and ready to pour onto the griddle. For those unfamiliar, Jiffy Mix is an all-purpose baking mix in which all the dry ingredients are combined, leaving your only "work" as adding liquid and fat (eggs, oil, etc); it's really just another version of box mix cake. From my own personal experience, it seems most people, nowadays, use these types of ready-mixes for pancakes (just as they do for cake), rather than making the batter fully from scratch. I do have to say, my dad's pancakes were always satisfying!

I think, after getting used to eating my dad's pancakes so often, I became a bit picky about them. They're thin and tender, like the perfect marriage between a crepe and a pancake, and they're probably shorter, in diameter, than the full length of my hand. Restaurants, though, tend to serve thick, plate-sized masses that I wouldn't necessarily consider tender, despite appearing fluffy. They're the complete opposite of what I've always been used to, so I've only ordered them under the most desperate of circumstances!

When I moved out of my parents' house, nearly two years ago, I had to get my dad's recipe so that Billy and I could carry on the weekend pancake tradition. One morning, though...what I thought was one very sad morning...we found ourselves with an empty box of Jiffy Mix. There was no way I was going to let us go without pancakes and I felt terrible making Billy go to the store, so I decided I'd bite the bullet and make them from scratch using a recipe I'd seen in Martha Stewart's Favorite Comfort Food. They at least looked beautiful and I trust Martha's expertise...so I was willing to try something different for one weekend!

Let me tell you, after making that first batch from scratch...I will never...never...make another pancake using any other recipe. I am now even less willing to order a plate of giant, tough, brown restaurant pancakes because, well...why settle for anything less? These pancakes are fluffy and so incredibly tender, they melt in your mouth. Billy and I usually end up with a few left over and, they're so delicious, I just roll them up, hours later, and eat them plain. Leftover pancakes are not generally tasty, especially the texture, but these sure are! I wish I had a plate right now...I'm sitting here smelling the hopefully delicious pulled pork in garlic-lime marinade that's been roasting in my oven for the past two hours and all I can think about is having a big plate of Martha's buttermilk pancakes.

I know I'm overly against food in which any part is pre-made, but here it really does make a difference. I will admit that a box mix cake has the same texture as a homemade oil cake...but you cannot get these pancakes from a box! You can't get those beautiful little holes of tenderness out of a box...you need to add the flour, baking soda, powder, and sugar yourself. In all seriousness, measuring out a few dry ingredients is not hard work. This isn't the difference between throwing a frozen dinner in the microwave or putting together something from scratch. This is about measuring maybe four extra items into a bowl rather than measuring one pre-mixed item plus all the extras you have to add and mix by hand anyway! The extra "effort" is beyond...beyond well worth it. If I could just show up to the homes of everyone I know and make these to get the word out, I would, without a doubt!

Melt-in-Your-Mouth Buttermilk Pancakes by Martha Stewart (makes nine 6-inch pancakes)

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3 tbsp sugar
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
3 cups buttermilk (I keep powdered buttermilk in the fridge, so I actually replace the liquid with regular cow's milk/soy milk and add the equivalent amount of powdered buttermilk to the dry ingredients)
4 tbsp + 1/2 tsp unsalted butter, melted (I replace the 4 tbsp with canola oil simply because I don't want to clean another dish to melt the butter--the extra 1/2 tsp is to melt onto the griddle)

Directions:

Heat an electric griddle to 375 degrees or a heavy skillet until very hot. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar in a medium bowl (add powdered buttermilk, as well, if using). Add the eggs, buttermilk, and 4 tbsp butter/oil; whisk, only to combine--the batter should have small to medium lumps, which will create the lovely air pockets that yield tender, fluffy pancakes. Overmixing the batter until smooth will result in something unpleasantly tough.

Test your griddle by sprinkling a few drops of water onto it; if it bounces and spatters away, the griddle is hot enough. Brush the remaining 1/2 tsp melted butter onto the griddle (you can also melt it directly onto the griddle, as I do) and wipe the excess off with a paper towel. You only need a thin film to help the pancakes brown evenly; too much will fry them, which isn't the result we're looking for here.

Pour about 1/2 cup of batter onto the griddle. If you want some kind of filling such as chocolate chips or fruit, place them on top of the batter immediately after pouring it. If you add them to the batter before pouring, they won't distribute evenly and will thin out the batter. You can flip the pancakes when the surface is covered in bubbles, the center ones just beginning to break, and the edges of the pancakes are beginning to look dry; it should take about 2 1/2 minutes. Cook until golden on the bottom, about 1 minute.

To keep pancakes warm while cooking each batch, I like to fill a casserole dish with a lid, which I bring along to the table so that Billy and I can pull them out of the dish as we want them. You may also have your oven set to 175 degrees, keeping the pancakes on a heat-proof plate.

To serve, I recommend piling the pancakes as high as you can handle, slicing the layers into perfect little triangles and drizzling warm syrup over the top and down the sides :) My personal favorite is to eat one triangle at a time, folded in half on my fork, with a single bite of bittersweet chocolate and a thin layer of pancake syrup.

Enjoy!!

Cannoli Cream Gelato

2011-07-04T13:36:00.002-04:00

Can you think of anything that sounds more delicious than the sweet, creamy, cinnamony filling of cannoli turned into gelato? I can't!! Every time I go to a gelato shop, I wish I could find one based on that flavor, but I never, ever do. And why not? You'd think someone would have come up with this idea by now! And maybe someone has, but I haven't been able to find that person yet.

When Billy got the ice cream maker for his birthday, I quickly started looking for gelato recipes online because I'd always wanted to try homemade gelato; that's when I found out that, generally, it's made with a milk base rather than heavy cream. At the same time, I read that Sicilian gelato tends to be made with a base of milk and cornstarch and found a recipe for dark chocolate gelato using exactly that. As I read the recipe, I realized that, outside of the cocoa powder used to flavor it as chocolate, it looked eerily similar to my family's biancomangiare recipe (biancomangiare is the term for cannoli cream), which has a base of half and half, cornstarch, and sugar, with canella (a unique type of cinnamon) used as flavoring. Traditional cannoli filling is made with ricotta cheese rather than the pudding my family uses; however, our version is incredibly common, at least in America; it would be rare to step into an Italian bakery here and not find one filled with a white pudding rather than ricotta.

So, back on topic, when I realized the base for gelato was generally identical to the base for biancomangiare, I knew that would have to be my very first attempt at gelato...or ice cream...or any frozen dessert made at home. I immediately found our biancomangiare recipe and compared the amount of half and half to the amount of milk so that I could calculate how much canella to add. After a few other flavor tweaks, I poured the base into the machine, adding chopped chocolate and pistachios at the very end. When the gelato had finished freezing and I took my first bite...I nearly died. It was perfect...identical to the flavors of my absolutely positively favorite dessert of all time...and it was so creamy and soft, just as I like it. So, I filled a container, placed it in the freezer, and quickly emailed my mother to brag, who then said I should bring it for the Fourth of July!

A few hours later, I went back to the freezer for another taste...and my heart sank. My soft, creamy gelato had become hard, gritty, icy...the texture was incredibly unappetizing, especially with the chocolate and pistachios mixed into the icy cream. I did some research to find out what had gone wrong and it simply appeared that this is a common problem with homemade ice creams! They're great right out of the machine, but icy and gritty out of the freezer. It bothered me because who wants to make just enough ice cream to immediately eat? Billy and I had wanted pints and pints of flavors in our freezer to enjoy at the drop of a hat! And what was I to do for the Fourth of July? Make the gelato that very afternoon and hope it doesn't melt at my aunt's before it gets eaten? I don't think so.

That's when I found Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home, which I mentioned in my last entry. It was actually probably the third book I looked at. First, I browsed a couple gelato books because...you know...I'm just obsessed with gelato a bit more than ice cream! Since the results were lacking, though, I decided to search for ice cream books, instead, and the very first one I saw was Jeni's, which I had to click on because I'd heard of her ice cream!

In Michigan, we have a store called Plum Market, which is like most markets...they sell amazing looking produce, wines, deli meat and cheese, grocery items, etc. It's a lot more amazing than most markets, though...The quality and selection are supreme; there are things you can find there that you probably can't find anywhere: belgian dark chocolate spreads, dark chocolate dulce de leche, home baked breads like quarkstuten (unless you've been to Germany, have you even heard of this?), the largest selection of frozen yogurt you'll find anywhere and, imported from an ice cream shop in Ohio...Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams. Though I've never purchased any, I've always lusted after her ice creams; with flavors like Brown Butter Almond Brittle, Wildberry Lavendar, Rockmill Golden Ale and Apricots, and (seemingly everyone's favorite) Salted Caramel, how could I not? How could anyone not? There are even unique sorbets, frozen yogurts, and ice creams made with goat cheese!

So, I clicked the link to read about her book and knew I had to search no further; only one reviewer gave it fewer than four stars (and that person sounded like a giant crab) and the whole foundation of the book was about finding the perfect recipe for homemade ice cream so that it retained the same texture as anything you could buy in the store. Hello! Exactly what I was looking for! The next day, Billy went out, bought the book...and we immediately got to work :) Flipping through her recipes, I realized...this homemade ice cream was, really, closer to homemade gelato. Could my day get any better? Her ice cream base does contain heavy cream, but the ratio is nearly two parts whole milk to only one part heavy cream, so that's good enough for me. Despite the preponderance of unique ice cream flavors, I quickly located one for a simple vanilla bean and decided that would be the basis for my Cannoli Cream Gelato--the only thing I would have to do is add the unique flavors of biancomangiare, so it was truly meant to be :)

This time around...once the gelato had set up in the actual freezer...I ran a spoon through it, took a taste...and my smile must have reached from ear to ear or as close as it could get. Jeni knows what she's doing! Her technique for adding chocolate (so that you can make something like mint chocolate chip ice cream) is exactly what Billy and I were looking for too; she calls them "chocolate freckles" and they're amazing. So, I used that technique to imitate the chocolate chunks we mix into the biancomangiare before spooning it into cannoli shells or cassata cake...or simply our mouths. All I left out, this time, were the chopped pistachios, which is because Billy isn't a fan of nuts and I wanted him to try the gelato so he could give his opinion on the chocolate bits (for future use in his mint chocolate chip!). Something like that could be added later, anyway, so the outcome was still exactly what I was looking for and exactly something I would be proud to present to my family.

So, if you own an ice cream maker and are a fan of cannoli, I highly, highly encourage you to make this recipe. If you've never had a cannolo...I'm sorry...and beg you to either go out and buy one or at least make the cream at home if your particular location is void of proper Italian bakeries. Of course, you could always just make this gelato because, I promise, it tastes exactly the same :)

Cannoli Cream Gelato (makes about 1 quart)

Ingredients:

1 1/2 oz cream cheese, softened
1/8 tsp fine sea salt
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
2 cups whole milk
1 tbsp + 1 tsp cornstarch
2/3 cup sugar
2 tbsp light corn syrup
1 vanilla bean, split, seeds scraped out, seeds & bean reserved (or 1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract)
maximum 2 sticks (or 1 tsp finely ground) canella--any other cinnamon will not taste the same and I say "maximum" because I find 2 sticks/1 tsp is probably the strongest you'll want to go
4 oz chopped chocolate--the type is your choice; I used bittersweet, 60% cacao, but usually use milk chocolate in the pudding version

Directions:

In a medium bowl, whisk together the cream cheese and salt; set aside. In a separate, small bowl, take about two tbsp of the milk and whisk with the cornstarch until dissolved; set aside.

In a heavy-bottomed, 4-quart saucepan, combine the heavy cream, remaining milk, sugar, corn syrup, vanilla seeds and bean, and canella. Constantly scraping the bottom of the pan, bring to a rolling boil over medium-high heat, allowing the mixture to boil for 4 minutes, exactly. Remove from the heat, stir in the cornstarch slurry, and bring back to a boil (still scraping constantly so as not to burn the milk), until slightly thickened, about 1 minute.

Discard the vanilla bean and sticks of canella; gradually whisk the hot milk mixture into the cream cheese until smooth. Pour gelato base into a large pan (I use a 9x13"), cover with plastic wrap (allowing it to actually touch the mixture so that a skin doesn't form), and set in the fridge to chill--it should be fully cooled in under an hour. You can also pour the base into a 1-gallon Ziploc freezer bag and immerse it in an ice bath, adding more ice as necessary, until cold.

To freeze the gelato, follow the directions for your ice cream machine. With mine, I turn the machine on and pour the base into the spinning frozen canister, allowing it to freeze until it's thick, creamy, and has pulled away from the sides (rather than leaving a coating). While your gelato is still freezing, though, melt the chocolate, allowing it to cool until tepid but still fluid. Just before your gelato is finished, slowly drizzle in the melted chocolate, allowing it to solidify and break apart; give it about two minutes or so. The result will be wonderful, small flecks of chocolate running all throughout the dessert, just like at Baskin-Robbins ;)

Though, I didn't do it, if you want to add pistachios to the actual mixture, I would chop about 1/4 cup and add those after the chocolate, allowing the gelato to continue churning for a few minutes until the nuts are evenly throughout. You can also add them in layers as you pack the gelato into a container...or, as I did, simply serve them on top! After all, a cannolo simply has chopped pistachios pressed onto the two ends of the pastry.

To store, pack the gelato into an airtight container, pressing a sheet of parchment paper directly to the surface before sealing with the lid; store in the coldest part of your refrigerator. And, remember, if you plan to transport it, try to keep it in the freezer for at least four hours to ensure firmness.

To serve, I recommend scooping into an ice cream cone or waffle bowl to get the crunch you would with a cannolo. For the true frozen cannolo effect, though, spoon into an empty cannoli shell, pressing chopped pistachios or peanuts into the ends and dusting with confectioners sugar :) That's what I'll be trying next time!

Almond Marsala Gelato

2011-07-03T15:38:00.001-04:00

I have to admit that I don't eat ice cream often unless I go somewhere like Maggie Moo or Baskin-Robbins where I can get a nice fat waffle cone and sit outside enjoying it in the summer heat with a friend; if I happen to buy something for home, it tends to stay neglected in the freezer, despite my love for the confection. I think it has something to do with memories of adolescent summers, meeting friends at an ice cream shop and hanging out on the trunks of our cars, idly chatting while we relax with our treat. Sitting inside eating a bowl of ice cream simply isn't the same, so I really almost never buy it unless I find something that looks truly delicious (like mascarpone ice cream with hazelnuts and fudge ribbons).

Billy, on the other hand, is an ice cream FREAK. You can bet that nearly every single night he makes himself a bowl of mint chocolate chip ice cream sprinkled with extra chopped bits of bittersweet chocolate from our pantry. Of course, he adds the extra chocolate because he's never able to find a brand that adds chocolate in just the right amount using just the right method; if he does happen to find that brand, he usually gets one container of ice cream out of it before it's completely disappeared from the store. That's why, when we saw this Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker, we just had to have it. Finally, Billy could have the mint chocolate chip he'd always dreamed of and I could put my culinary creativity to good work and make as many crazy flavors as I please...scooping them into a cone to enjoy on my back porch, of course ;)

Yesterday was my family's Fourth of July celebration and, after having made an experimental batch of Cannoli Cream Gelato, my mom suggested I bring that as my dessert. I thought it was a great idea considering the heat and decided to take the chance to make even more and have a little ice cream bar with it all. So, I came up with the second idea of Almond Marsala (inspired by my favorite pie crust), while Billy picked out a wonderful dark chocolate recipe from Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home, a book I needed to own after reading reviews that it had recipes for homemade ice cream that actually stayed soft and creamy rather than turning into a gritty, icy mess, which is exactly what my experimental batch of Cannoli Cream Gelato had done. It was so perfectly creamy right out of the machine, but a disaster out of the freezer...more on that when I blog the recipe, though.

So, my original idea for dessert was essentially an ice cream bar where we'd have three ice creams, cones, chocolate sauce, fruit...you know, all the general staples of an ice cream bar, plus the cakes and pies others were going to bring. I had also wanted to make a nectarine tart, though, simply because I have a ton of ripe nectarines on hand and thought it would be really refreshing, especially topped with ice cream (I didn't end up making the tart, yet, but that's beside the point). My problem was that I didn't feel like the two ice creams Billy and I were definitely going to bring were right to serve with fruit and I really wanted something to go with it. So, I racked my brain trying to think of something that would be unique, but would taste wonderful alongside roasted nectarines or fresh, macerated strawberries. That's when I thought of Marsala wine and almonds, which I use in many pie crusts to complement the fruit inside. It seemed like the perfect combination for my purpose, so that's exactly what I did!

Because I'm absolutely no expert on the chemistry behind ice cream, though, I chose to use recipes from my new cookbook as bases for my own, simply altering the flavors. You know how I love to tell people to take a recipe and make it their own! By doing so, I was able to make an ice cream with great texture, but still have the ability to take credit for the taste. For the Almond Marsala, I used Jeni's "Cognac Ice Cream" recipe, simply replacing cognac with Marsala (actually, doubling the amount, taking the chance that the ice cream would be softer because of the extra alcohol) and adding homemade almond paste as well as chopped almonds. I made sure to reference a recipe containing nuts, though, so I'd know what amount would be proper; I didn't want to end up with only a crunchy bite every so often or having more crunch than cream.

The resulting gelato has a light, overall almond flavor with just the right hit of sweet, fruity wine at the end, a combination that, I find, pairs perfectly with a bowl of fresh strawberries...

Almond Marsala Gelato (makes about 1 quart)

Ingredients:

1 1/2 oz cream cheese, softened
1/4 tsp fine sea salt
3/4 cup blanched, toasted almonds (half ground to a fine paste, half roughly chopped)
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
2 cups whole milk
1 tbsp + 1 tsp cornstarch
1/2 cup sugar
2 tbsp light corn syrup
1/2 cup Marsala wine

Directions:

Whisk the cream cheese, almond paste, and salt in a medium bowl until combined; set aside.

In a small bowl, whisk about two tbsp of the milk with the cornstarch, so that the cornstarch is completely dissolved. As I've said before, cornstarch must be dissolved into liquid that is not heated. This little slurry you create will be added to the warmed mixture later.

In a heavy-bottomed, 4-quart saucepan, combine the heavy cream, remaining milk, sugar, and corn syrup. Bring the mixture to a rolling boil over medium-high heat, boiling for 4 minutes, exactly, and constantly scraping the bottom of the pan so as not to burn the milk. Remove from the heat, whisk in the cornstarch slurry, and then bring back to a boil and cook, still scraping constantly, until slightly thickened; this should take only about 1 minute.

Remove from the heat and gradually whisk into the cream cheese mixture; you want to pour slowly as you whisk so that it mixes smoothly and easily into the cream cheese and almond paste. Once smooth, stir in the Marsala.

This ice cream base has to be chilled before it can be frozen with your ice cream machine. Jeni's method is to pour the mixture into a 1-gallon Ziploc freezer bag and submerge the sealed bag into an ice bath. I pour the mixture into a 9x13" pan (or larger), cover it with plastic wrap (allowing the plastic to touch the actual mixture so a skin doesn't form), and leave it in the fridge until cooled; it should be ready in an hour or less.

Once your ice cream base is chilled, you can freeze it into ice cream! You should follow the directions that accompany your ice cream machine, freezing until the mixture is thick and creamy. With my machine, it takes roughly 20 minutes; others may differ. Toward the end of the process, though, about five minutes before the ice cream should be ready, add the chopped almonds, ensuring they've mixed evenly before you stop churning the cream.

Pack your dessert into a storage container, pressing a sheet of parchment directly against the surface, seal with an airtight lid, and place in the coldest part of your freezer. Jeni says to allow it to firm up for at least 4 hours, but I'd say you can eat it whenever you'd like; you just may not want to try transporting it elsewhere until it's nicely firmed up.

To serve, I highly recommend mixing it into a big bowl of fresh strawberries and bananas, as I did this morning for breakfast... ;)

Breakfast Bread Pudding: French Toast Baked in the Oven

2011-05-15T13:20:00.002-04:00

I am not a French toast fan...I've always had issues with eggs and egg-y foods; they tend to make me a little nauseated unless I'm craving them. So, French toast is just not where it's at for me. Beyond being able to taste the "custard" too well, I just don't like the texture of the bread! Of course, always a polite guest, I eat what's been made for me...thank goodness...because if I had refused to try this French toast casserole, I would surely, surely be missing out.

My best friend's parents own a cottage up in the thumb of Michigan where we absolutely love to spend hot summer weekends relaxing, barbecuing, drinking on the boat, and sitting by the bonfire. Short, up north vacations are a staple in Michigan, at least for those of us in the suburban, metro area. If we could spend every weekend at the cottage, we'd do nothing else. What's great about these trips with my particular friends is that we don't just allow ourselves to become completely lazy; there's a full kitchen to utilize and, no doubt, you'll find us making anything from a huge breakfast feast to homemade, from-scratch calzones. And, while I love to take charge of cooking, it's absolutely wonderful to have Megan's parents along, allowing us to wake up to the sweet aroma of her mother's French toast casserole and the savory goodness of her father's omelettes.

As Mom C said, "Place the pan on the counter top and magically people begin to descend from the upper level of the cottage and start to devour!" I mean, why even bother waking up unless we can immediately feast ourselves upon her casserole!? Dense, moist, and sweet with bites of crisp caramelized brown sugar, this bread pudding is undoubtedly addictive. I ate so much more than I could handle, I had to lay on my side for half an hour to settle my stomach! And when I felt okay again...I finished the few pieces I'd left on my plate ;)

I've wanted this recipe for years now, but, of course, never remember to ask. I even tried to get my mom to help recreate it, but because I hadn't realized, at the time, that it's truly a bread pudding, my description kept getting lost in translation and all we could do is sadly fail. I just couldn't have my baby shower brunch without it, though, so I finally remembered to get the recipe from Mom C! Two days later, here it is in my kitchen...doubled in size not only as a sure-fire test for the shower, but to give Billy and I plenty of leftovers for freezing :) It's so simple, though, you could make this every weekend without feeling as if you've done any work. It will surely look like you made more effort, though!

Breakfast Bread Pudding (single recipe should serve about 4-6, depending on portion)

Ingredients:

1 loaf crusty bread (French, Italian, Challah...just make sure it's a crusty, dense bread, not soft, mushy Wonderbread!), cut into 1-inch cubes
6 large eggs
1 1/2 cups half & half
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup butter
2 tbsp real maple syrup (using just pancake syrup tastes great too or, as Mom C does, use pancake syrup in combination with maple extract)
1 cup brown sugar (packed)
1 cup chopped pecans (optional, if you're not into nuts)

*A note on variations: The options are endless with this recipe. Bread puddings have such a huge range of flavors, you can add just about any fruit or spice to suit your mood or palette. The next time I make it, I plan to use my homemade Challah with tons of cubed granny smith apples and hints of cinnamon and nutmeg. Think about different fruits, nuts, and liquors you could add to the bread mixture or syrup and get experimenting!

Directions:

This particular bread pudding is prepared the night before you plan to bake and serve it, though you can certainly bake it right away as many other recipes call for; I don't know exactly how that might change the texture, but I'm sure it would be delicious. Why leave yourself any morning work other than throwing it in the oven though? :) Basically, the night before baking, you'll combine the custard and bread in your pan, leave it to refrigerate overnight, and then you'll make the syrup topping in the morning and add it just before baking.

So, the night before you plan to serve...lightly beat the eggs in a large bowl until combined. Beat in the half and half, milk, and vanilla extract. Add bread cubes and gently toss to ensure all cubes are coated in the custard mixture (don't be afraid to get messy; your hands work best!). Leave to sit about five minutes to ensure the bread has soaked up enough custard, which is what will keep it super moist.

Lightly grease a 9x13" pan (I used a ceramic one, which probably bakes similarly to glass; metal may simply give you more of a crust on the sides as they may crisp faster, but I'm sure results are just as wonderful) and lightly fill it, evenly, with the egg-soaked bread cubes. When I say to lightly fill it, I mean that you don't need to press and compact the cubes together; they should simply lay as they are within the pan, which will allow the syrup to seep into the crevices, filling the entire pan rather than simply laying on top of the whole mixture.

Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

In the morning, preheat the oven to 350 degrees and pull the casserole out of the fridge. If you're using a metal baking dish or one made with a temperature resistant material (meaning it can go from freezing cold temperatures into a hot oven without breaking or cracking), your casserole can go right into the oven when you're ready for it. If you're using a glass dish that you're unsure of, though, you may want to allow it time to come to room tempature; I'm no expert on baking materials, but would definitely be paranoid of my dish breaking!

To prepare the syrup, melt the butter in a small saucepan; add the maple syrup and brown sugar, cooking and stirring until the sugar has melted into the butter and everything is incorporated nicely. If using, stir in pecans. Pour syrup evenly over entire casserole and bake, uncovered, for one hour. You should see that the bread has puffed up and turned a beautiful golden color with syrup bubbling throughout. Allow to cool at least five minutes (it should retain its heat well for much longer, too, especially if using a nice thick pan).

To serve, simply cut as big a square as you think you can handle :)

Boca Negra: An Intensely Fudgy Cake

2011-04-07T17:28:00.005-04:00

Late one evening I found myself craving dessert, which actually doesn't happen that often. Usually I'm happy with just a bite of candy or a cookie, but this was the kind of craving where I had to make something or I was going to die (I mean that too!). Most weeknights, I'm too tired to cook anything past dinner and I prefer to allow myself an evening of as much laziness as possible, simply so I can feel I've relaxed at least somewhat. So, making dessert wasn't something I wanted to put any time or effort into. It's pretty difficult to find a fast and easy recipe, though! I suppose it's a good thing I have ten or more dessert cookbooks because there would have to be something in at least one of them, right? I'm lucky because I happened to find the perfect recipe, a Boca Negra, in the first book I grabbed, Dorie Greenspan's Baking with Julia. (Julie who? Julia CHILD, of course, haha).

I can't say enough good things about this book. I suppose I'd feel the same way about any Julia Child based cookbook, but this one contains so many recipes that you never see, which really sets it apart. I've found that many, many baking cookbooks showcase all the same sweets: the same cookies, cakes, cupcakes, pies, icebox desserts...same flavors, same ingredients. They're all very similar! But this book has things like "Sweet Berry Fougasse," "Fruit Foccaccia," "Sage Upside-Down Baby Cake," "Poppy Seed Torte," even a wedding cake with marzipan fruits, and, of course, the "Boca Negra." Now, Julia can't be credited with all of these desserts; it's based on her PBS series and, so, the recipes come from many contributing bakers. Perhaps that's why the range of baked goods is so vast and interesting!

I've only tried out a few recipes, but I can already tell the Boca Negra is one of the best. The author describes it as "moist, dense, and dark," but it's so much more than that. First, while it's best classified as a "cake," the texture is so far from what anyone would consider as such. There's almost no flour, so it's more aligned with a flourless chocolate cake, but the texture and flavor is so intensely better. The best way I can think to describe it is to say that it's like eating the inside of a molten lava cake, but denser. It's smooth, rich, and-- served warm--incredibly comforting. Normally, I can't eat too much of a rich dessert, especially something too chocolatey; I literally get one or two bites and I'm done. I think something about the texture and warmth played against the richness, though, allowing the true addictive quality to come through.

I should add, as the author has, that this "cake" becomes something completely different once chilled; suddenly, when you take a piece out of the fridge and bite into it, you have a mouth full of fudge! What's nice is you then have a choice of what sensation you'd like to get out of this dessert. You can eat it cold and feel as if you're biting into a piece of Mackinac Island fudge or you can heat it back up to revisit the almost gooey, hot chocolate-like flavor that it exuded coming straight out of the oven; you can even allow it simply to come to room temperature and find yourself eating the perfect in-between. I love when the choice is yours :)

Boca Negra, by Lora Brody

*A note about chocolate: It's incredibly, incredibly important that you use the best quality chocolate possible for this recipe because of how greatly the flavor comes through. I recommend E. Guittard, which can be found at Sur la Table; and if you don't trust my amateur word, trust Gina DePalma, pastry chef at one of Mario Batali's Manhattan restaurants, Babbo, who recommended it in her dessert book for it! Also, I really advice against using anything other than bittersweet because, with that amount of chocolate flavor, anything sweeter could just make it too difficult to get through. Though, perhaps that would work in your favor!

Ingredients:

12 oz bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup bourbon
2 sticks (8 oz) unsalted butter, room temperature and cut into 10 pieces
5 large eggs, room temperature
1 1/2 tbsp all-purpose flour (told you there was barely any!)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 and position a rack in the center.

Lightly grease a 9-inch round cake pan (springform, if you have it!). The original recipe actually says to butter it, line the bottom in parchment, and butter the parchment, but I find that generally unnecessary, especially if you have a nonstick pan and, truly especially, if you use a springform. If you do use a springform, wrap the sides and bottom in two layers of heavy duty foil because you'll be setting it in a bath of hot water and don't want that to seep in.

Put the chopped chocolate in a medium bowl and set aside. In a 2-quart saucepan, mix 1 cup of the sugar with the bourbon and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture comes to a full boil. Immediately pour this over the chocolate and stir until it's completely melted and the mixture is smooth. Stir in the butter, one piece at a time, ensuring each is melted before adding the next.

Put the eggs and remaining 1/2 cup sugar in a medium bowl and whisk until the eggs thicken slightly; you can simply do this by hand because you won't be whisking for long and a mixer could take it too far. Add the eggs to the chocolate mixture, whisking all the while until everything is well blended. Gently whisk in the flour.

Alternately, you can make the entire recipe in a food processor. Imitate the same first step with the sugar syrup and chocolate, but use all of the sugar in the syrup and pour it over the chocolate in the bowl of a food processor; then, process until completely blended, about 12 seconds. With the machine running, add the pieces of butter, one at a time, then do the same with the eggs and, finally, add the flour, processing an additional 15 seconds afterward.

Having completed either method, scrape the batter into your prepared pan, smoothing the top. Set the pan inside a shallow roasting pan and pour in enough hot water to come about 1 inch up the outside of the cake pan. Bake for about 30 minutes; the top should have a thin, dry crust. The recipe says to bake for "exactly" 30 minutes, but I realize oven temperatures vary and you may use a different sized pan, which would affect baking time. I used a 6-inch pan, halving the recipe, so my time ended up being longer.

Remove the cake pan from the water bath (very, very carefully because that water is HOT!), wipe dry, and cover the top with a sheet of plastic wrap (actually touching the cake). Invert the cake onto a flat plate, peel off the parchment (if used) and quickly but gently invert it, once more, onto your serving platter. Remove the plastic and your beautiful top should be intact :) If you're in a situation like me, though, using a springform pan and having no intention of "serving" the cake in a way to impress (because it's really just for you), you simply need to remove the sides of the springform and you can serve it while it sits on the pan's removable bottom!

Serve warm or at room temperature. Once cooled, you can store the cake for one day at room temperature or refrigerate/freeze it for longer.

Balsamic BBQ Chicken with Oven Frites

2011-04-06T19:24:00.001-04:00

I think this meal is going to be a new staple in my dinner repertoire, especially once it's warm enough outside to grill. I've always wanted to make my own barbecue sauce because I'd like to be able to tweak it perfectly to my liking and this one blew me away a bit! Normally, I avoid vinegary tasting barbecue sauces; they're completely unappealing to me. I can't tell you what it is about this sauce (by Giada DeLaurentiis, by the way) that's different from the others, perhaps the specific use of balsamic vinegar (which I adore), but the vinegary bite is almost addictive.

The fries were made with an "Oven Frites" recipe by Martha Stewart (go figure, two of my three favorite cooks!). She slices them thin and bakes them at a high temperature so that they're crisp on the outside and fluffy on the inside. I swear they're better than the traditional fried version. I'll admit I've grown tired of fast food fries, but I don't doubt anybody else would devour these like an order of McDonald's, especially with the addition of some Italian herbs and cheese. They're so super crunchy on the outside and light inside, just as a good fry should be! Dipped in the vinegary barbecue sauce...oh...my...goodness. I wish I had a plate right now!!

Balsamic BBQ Chicken with Oven Frites (to serve two)

*I hate recipes that assume I know exactly what I'm doing, so I have a tendency to add extraneous detail for anyone who may not be an avid or comfortable cook. Because of this, I've added three notes at the bottom of the recipe, generally about how best to optimize time so that all aspects of the dish finish together and how to alter cooking times for different cuts of meat. The recipe is broken up into three; the potatoes alone, the sauce alone, the chicken alone. If you're comfortable, you can figure out how to juggle these things yourself to create the dish; if not, that bottom section is for you :)

Balsamic BBQ Sauce, by Giada DeLaurentiis

Ingredients:

1 cup balsamic vinegar
3/4 cup ketchup
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan, whisking until the mixture is smooth and thoroughly combined. Cook over medium heat until reduced by a third, about 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally to ensure it doesn't burn. Remove from heat when finished (or keep warm by leaving it on low).

Oven Frites, by Martha Stewart

Ingredients:

2 medium baking potatoes
1 tbsp olive oil
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
dried Italian herbs (choose your faves! I did parsley, oregano, and basil, though rosemary would be superb)
freshly grated Romano or Parmesan cheese

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Set a heavy baking sheet inside the oven and leave it to heat for at least 15 minutes. This will create a hot base for your potatoes to immediately start crisping on. Skin on or off (your choice), slice the potatoes into 1/3 to 1/2-inch wide batons. Place the potatoes in a bowl and toss with the remaining ingredients, sprinkling the amount of herbs and cheese of your liking.

Remove the heated baking sheet from the oven, spread the potatoes on it in a single layer, and return it right to the oven. After about 30 minutes, when they're golden on the bottom, flip the potatoes; continue to cook until golden all over, about 15 minutes. Serve immediately.

Chicken Thighs

Ingredients:

2 - 4 pieces of bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (I used, specifically, thighs connected to the leg)

Directions:

As should always be the case, thoroughly wash and dry your chicken before cooking it (if it's not dry, it won't brown properly). If there's any fat (there shouldn't be if you buy organic!), remove it. Season with salt and pepper. Set an oven-proof saute pan (I use cast-iron) to medium-high heat and add a tablespoon or two of olive oil (depending on how many pieces of chicken you're browning). When it starts to smoke, add your chicken pieces, skin side down. Brown all sides of the meat (you want a nice shade of walnut); it'll take about a total of 10 minutes.

There are two ways to brown, that I know of. If you're a person who tends to burn the meat when you try to brown, move it often. I know, you're always told "never touch the meat"--let it fully crisp on one side and then turn it. In a Julia Child cookbook, though, she said to turn the meat often! And we all know Julia is God; I started doing this and have since stopped burning the outside of my meat. If you don't have that problem, though, feel free to stick with leaving it to fully crisp before turning.

Once all sides are browned and crisp, place the pan in the oven (chicken skin side up) and allow to cook for another 25-30 minutes. Halfway through, I like to quickly pull the chicken out for a brushing of sauce; I repeat this once or twice more. By doing so, your sauce has time to caramelize. You can also set the sauced chicken under the broiler for a few minutes, at the very end of cooking, to quickly caramelize. Once finished, allow the chicken to rest for at least ten minutes so that the juices settle back into the meat.

Serve alongside your oven frites and a bowl of extra sauce, for dipping. Yum!!

*Notes:

Multiple oven temperatures: The chicken is cooked at 375 degrees while the fries are cooked at 400. If you don't have two ovens (or aren't using a completely different method to cook the chicken), this can create a problem. I chose to compromise my fries rather than my chicken, cooking at the lower heat, but leaving them in longer. Because the fries were still in the oven for ten minutes after removing the chicken, I raised the heat to 400 to finish them off, ensuring they crisped properly.

Timing the dish: The breakdown is that your potatoes need nearly an hour in the oven (if cooked in the same oven as the chicken), chicken thighs need about 40 minutes to cook and ten to rest, and the sauce needs 15-20 to cook and reduce. Because of this, I get my sauce started on the stove first, then get the potatoes in the oven, and lastly start my chicken while the potatoes and sauce are both cooking. With this method, my sauce is done in enough time to brush the chicken while it's cooking; then, my potatoes finish cooking and, therefore, remain hot while the chicken is resting before its served. If you do have two ovens and can cook the fries and chicken separately, though, I recommend starting the chicken first because a room temperature chicken is much more appetizing than room temperature fries.

Cooking different cuts of chicken: When I'm eating straight chicken (as opposed to a sandwich/chicken salad or something similar), I prefer to eat dark meat. I'm one of those who believe that dark meat isn't actually much worse for you than white and it's just so much juicier and tender. For that reason, the timing in this recipe is for dark meat--bone-in, skin on. If you want to use something else, here is my general guideline for chicken: always cook at 375 degrees; 20 minutes for boneless breast, 30 minutes for bone-in breast, 35-40 minutes for bone-in thigh/leg (I've never done boneless, so I can't help you there!). If you brown the chicken, remember that you must reduce your oven time to reflect the amount of time spent browning; otherwise, you'll get some dry, chewy chicken! I promise you, mine is almost always fork tender--you should not need a knife to cut this (besides maybe a crispy skin, if you choose to leave it on). Your chicken is done when the juices run clear; just prick with a fork and pay attention. I find a lot of people overcook their chicken and it's completely unnecessary!

Brussels Waffles

2011-03-27T16:11:00.000-04:00

First off, can I say how proud I am of this photo? Really, all the photos I've taken lately, which should be getting up here SOON! We moved into our beautiful, beautiful new home, which has a huge front window with a large, white ledge where I can prop my creations with not only a wonderful white backdrop, but a lot of natural light. The shadowing can get tricky, but I've had some good luck with lighting, so far!

This delicious dish you see above was breakfast this morning...though, I suppose it was really more like brunch, considering how late I made it :) Billy and I recently went on a shopping trip with my mother to take advantage of the ever-elusive thirty percent off coupon she had for Kohl's, where I found a great, stainless steel, Belgian waffle iron by Food Network. HAD to have it!

The funny thing is, I've generally hated waffles all my life. When my parents would make them for breakfast, they had to make a separate batch of pancakes, just for me. Recently, though, I've learned to love the crisp outer crust of these beauties, and decided I needed a waffle iron so I could start making them.

Recalling that the only waffles I was willing to eat were Big Boy's Belgian waffles, I thought it only fitting to purchase a Belgian waffle iron...and to begin my search for the most authentic recipe I could find! That's where I discovered that the waffles we, in America, know as "Belgian" are actually Brussels waffles, specifically, as there are many more than one type of Belgian waffle, all with their own unique texture/flavor. The difference between these and a more traditional waffle you'd make at home is that Brussels waffles are made with yeast...which I found very exciting since I've been baking my own bread.

While I found the dough/batter quite easy to put together, cooking it scared the life out of me. With a more traditional batter, you simply pour it to cover the peaks of the bottom iron. The yeast dough, however, is much thicker and stickier, like a very, very wet bread dough. The issue that arose is I couldn't simply pour it as needed...even spooning it with a ladle was a problem. I found the most foolproof way to fill the iron was to use a soup spoon, placing a dollop of doughy batter in each corner of each quadrant (the iron has four quadrants and I prefer to fill them separately so that I have four perfect, small waffles, rather than filling the entire bottom as one and having a giant waffle with four quarters that end up being cracked apart anyway). Therefore, I used four spoonfuls per quadrant/waffle. This method ended up working quite well for me and I was able to spread the batter quickly and get that baby closed for even cooking. I'm excited to do it again in the future!

Now, as far as I've seen, our restaurant Belgian waffles are always served with fruit, ice cream, and whipped cream...which I ADORE. However, I've been reading that, in Belgium, these waffles are actually served as snacks with simply powdered sugar! I find, of course, that you should eat them however you like :) which is why I made myself a pair of waffles with a dusting of powdered sugar, two spoonfuls of Belgian chocolate spread, a few slices of banana, and a giant...GIANT scoop of toasted almond gelato. Scrumptious. Simply scrumptious :)

Billy had half his waffles with chocolate syrup and half with Golden Griddle, which I ended up copying with one of my waffles because I was feeling jealous by missing the simple flavor of maple syrup. Eating two waffles each with a different topping was the best of both worlds! I highly recommend it :)

Gauffre de Bruxelles: Brussels Waffles (recipe courtesy of europeancuisines.com)

makes approximately eight to nine 4x4" waffles

I cut down the original recipe so that it would feed 2-4 people, in which case the measurements aren't perfect (you'll see many 1/3's), but definitely work. For this recipe, you will need a scale, as all but three ingredients are measured by weight.

Ingredients:

3/4 pound flour (I used all-purpose because type wasn't specified. I may experiment with bread flour later)
10 grams instant yeast
8 1/3 grams brown sugar
14 oz lukewarm water (use tepid, sparkling water, if possible)
83 1/3 grams powdered, nonfat dry milk
3 1/3 grams salt
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
133 1/3 grams melted butter
3 egg whites

Directions:

Note: All of your mixing can easily be done with a wooden spoon, even after the doughy batter has proofed and become thick and sticky. An electric mixer of any sort is not necessary and I don't recommend it.

Measure the flour into a large bowl and make a well in the center; add the yeast and 3 oz of the water. Add the brown sugar, powdered milk, salt, vanilla extract, and remaining water. Mix the dough well, cover with plastic wrap, and allow to rise for at least 20-30 minutes. During this period, melt the butter and allow it to cool.

When your dough is finished proofing, add the melted butter and mix well; then, beat your egg whites to stiff peaks. You don't want to do this until the very last minute because they'll break down if left to wait! Carefully fold the egg whites into the batter until fully incorporated. At this point, it's okay if your batter sits while you wait for the waffle iron to preheat and as you make multiple batches.

A Belgian waffle maker will give more "authentic" waffles, but you can obviously use any iron you have; the dimples simply won't be as deep. You should use your iron as recommended by the manufacturer. My iron has four quadrants, in which case, I can make four small waffles all at once (about 4x4" each). As most irons tend to have a similar setup of quadrants, I suggest using these to your advantage and filling each separately rather than trying to fill the entire bottom of the iron at once, which can be difficult with this batter. By filling the quadrants separately, you may work more quickly and fill each more evenly. I like to use a soup spoon (probably holding 1-2 tbsp) to add four spoonfuls of batter, one to each corner of my quadrant, gently pushing the batter to cover it fully. Therefore, in total, I've dropped 16 spoonfuls, four per quadrant. Then I close my lid and wait for the steam to disappear!

If making multiple batches, you can keep your waffles warm in a 200-250 degree oven. To serve, simply cover with your favorite topping :)

Berrie's 'n Cream Trifle

2011-03-27T14:49:00.001-04:00

Happy birthday to Greg, for whom this delicious trifle was prepared! Of course, I created this post weeks and weeks ago (it got interrupted by a lot of moving work!), but here it is, finally :)

What's great about trifles is that no baking or cooking is required, whatsoever. Of course, a more traditional English trifle would have custard, which does require cooking, but my version is simply lady fingers soaked in a sweet wine or liqueur, layered with freshly whipped cream and fruit. It's as easy as that.

What's also nice is that it's a sweet dessert, similar to a cake, but much lighter and refreshing. You get your cakey texture fix from the softened lady fingers while your palette is brightened by the fresh fruit...and a little kick from the liqueur never hurt anyone :)

The trifle shown above was, as stated, made for my coworker, Greg. After bringing this in to work, though, I was immediately commissioned to make a second, that very same week, for another coworker! It was my very first commission and incredibly exciting. I think it looked even better the second time around and I've heard that my accidental addition of a bit too much Marsala wine made it an even bigger hit ;)

Berries 'n Cream Trifle

Ingredients:

Savoiardi lady fingers (these are the crisp fingers, not the soft ones most may be accustomed to)
at least 1/2 cup Chambord/Framboise/Marsala (any sweet, fruity liqueur/wine should work)
heavy cream for whipping (half to one pint, depending on how much cream you want)
granulated sugar (to sweeten the cream--use as much or as little as tastes good to you!)
three 1-pint packages blackberries
two 1-pint packages raspberries
three large, shapely strawberries (red throughout!), hulled

My fruit trifle system:

Because a trifle isn't baked, you have a lot of leeway in flavors and amounts of ingredients used. My system is to have as thick a layer of whipped cream as I do Savoiardi; then, I like my fruit to completely cover the whipped cream. When it comes to the fruit, I pay a lot of attention to flavor as well as texture. With a mixed berry trifle, I think about the fact that a lot more hard raspberry seeds have to be chewed through than blackberry seeds. Because of this, I prefer a ratio of up to two to one. Because I prefer the look of equal amounts, however, I play a trick using the layers. The first layer (in which all but one row of fruit is hidden) alternates blackberries and raspberries, equally, in the outermost row of fruit. Everything filled inside that row, though, has nearly twice as many blackberries as raspberries--it appears I've used equal amounts (and the raspberry flavor is still prevalent), but I've removed a good deal of tough seeds.

Now, about the strawberries...these didn't require even one full package because they were used simply for decoration on top. Had I made this trifle in spring/summer (especially June, their peak month), I'd have used equal amounts of blackberries and strawberries. My issue is that, being winter, the strawberries are incredibly tasteless, much more so than the berries. I loved how they looked in the center of the trifle, though, so I wanted to use them at least for that, since it wouldn't take away from the overall taste. Ideally, fruits appropriate for the season should be chosen and I highly recommend that. The difference in flavor and texture is incredible.

Directions:

Before beginning, line the sides of a springform pan with parchment paper; this step is necessary so that, when you remove the sides later, the whipped cream doesn't stick to the pan and pull apart your trifle.

Cover the entire bottom of the pan with ladyfingers; you'll need to cut some in half/quarters to cover the entire bottom--do whatever necessary to make a complete layer. Pour at least 1/4 cup of liqueur/wine evenly over the Savoiardi. The measurement here is not exact; I tend to spoon the liquid over the fingers so that the tops are just soaked, in which case I'm unsure of how much I've used. I recommend using the same method or using something with a lip that makes controlling your pour much easier. You don't want the fingers to be sopping wet, you want them just wetted and emitting the perfect hint of flavor.

Using a stand mixer/hand mixer/wire whisk, beat the heavy cream to soft peaks, a bit stiffer if preferred. Remember, the stiffer the peaks, the stiffer the hold on your trifle; if your cream is too soft, it won't hold together well, though too stiff takes away from the smooth, creamy texture...this is why I recommend going somewhere in between. Toward the end of the mixing process, gradually pour in sugar. Stop, every so often, before the cream has reached its proper consistency, to taste for desired sweetness. You'll likely only need a few tablespoons--remember that your fruit is going to sweeten this dessert, so a less sweet cream isn't a bad thing; it's not the star of the show!

Spread your cream to your own desired thickness; I recommend making it at least as thick as the ladyfingers. Layer your fruit on top of this, covering every inch of cream. To ensure this, I like to carefully make row after row, circling the entire trifle. I also like to make the outer row as neat and pretty as possible. Once the fruit layer is finished, add another layer of lady fingers and repeat the entire process. For the fruit layer on top, create any design you like, again, ensuring every inch is covered. To get the effect I created with the strawberries, make thin (maybe 1/8 inch) slices from the tip of the strawberry, almost to the bottom, but not cutting straight through. Then, fan out the strawberry and nestle it, tip facing up, in the cream so that it stands up and holds the fan. You can also lay down the fan, which looks just as beautiful.

Lastly, because raspberries tend to take on a duller shade of red when compared to strawberries, I like to puree a handful, strain the seeds, and brush the smooth, bright puree over each raspberry. It's tedious and not necessary to do, but an extra step I like to take to bring the look to the next level.

Once your trifle is complete, cover the top with foil (create a hood so that the foil doesn't touch and shift the fruit) and leave in the fridge at least overnight. To serve, remove the sides of the springform pan and carefully peel the parchment paper away from the sides of the trifle. If any berries pull off with the paper, just put them back in place. To serve, cut just like a cake! Make sure you have a good sharp knife, though ;)

An alternate, easier way to make this would be to place the layers in a trifle bowl, in which case the dessert simply needs to be refrigerated overnight (so the ladyfingers soften from the liqueur and cream) and can be served with a spoon. Both methods are absolutely stunning!

Baked Tomato Basil Risotto

2011-01-26T21:18:00.000-05:00

So, Take Home Chef...I told you it's inspiring me! Last night we had a baked, tomato basil risotto with roast chicken and tonight is my very first homemade cream of potato soup! Hopefully an equally tasty, yet healthier version (with barely any cream). We'll see ;)

I was trying to come up with a way to use the leftover roast chicken yesterday and all I could think about was the "Neely's Get Yo' Man Chicken." It's one of my absolute favorite dishes (which...I know I say about a LOT, but when I crave this, I need it) in which you cook chicken in a bath of tomato sauce on the stove top. What gets you is the combination of herbs and spices--they create a very strong flavor that is truly addicting, which is obviously how it got its name! The story is that Pat Neely was won over by this, his very first meal cooked by his wife, Gina. Since my chicken was already cooked, though, I needed to come up with something else. Normally I eat this with rice (as the recipe states as well), so I figured I could easily turn it into a tomato risotto and simply shred up the roast chicken to mix in, which is exactly what I did.

Whenever I try to create my own recipe, I try to use another as a foundation...it makes me a lot more comfortable because I feel I'm less likely to fail. I find this method enables you to be incredibly creative and, eventually, find that the base recipe is no longer necessary!

So, I looked through every cookbook I own that could possibly have a tomato risotto recipe. I have one go-to cookbook for baked risotto, which is Martha Stewart's Favorite Comfort Food. I enjoy just looking through the book at the photos of all my favorite comfort foods, but it's also a very good source! It's my go-to for pancakes as well and I have never...never had better pancakes in my life. Never!!

Anyway, I like to take her recipe for "Baked Sage and Saffron Risotto" and use it as a base for other baked risottos, simply removing the sage and saffron. I find that it's never failed me when it comes to creaminess either. Baked risotto will likely never be as creamy as a traditional stove top risotto, but if you cook this slightly lower, it does mimic it more as opposed to simply resembling a baked rice.

However, that recipe wasn't quite good enough for the tomato sauce idea, so, instead, I used one in Patricia Wells' Trattoria. In her recipe for "Baked Risotto with Tomato Sauce and Pecorino," she combines her tomato sauce with the traditional chicken stock, something I wouldn't have considered, though it makes perfect sense. This is essentially what I took from her recipe since I was missing other key ingredients. I found that I have no hard Italian cheeses, whatsoever (not even a backup supply of Parmesan, *gasp!), and also was out of chicken stock! In a pinch, I simply omitted cheese completely (which is healthier, thank you) and replaced the chicken stock with beef stock. About four ounces short of what I needed in stock, I added just a bit of Burgundy to even it out :)

I have to say, this dish was exactly what I was looking for. Once the risotto was finished, I quickly heated up some of that leftover roast chicken and threw it (chopped up) into the rice. My one qualm is that the flavor of the chicken didn't quite marry with the flavor of the rice; it was too plain! Had I been making chicken from scratch (as I likely will next time), I one hundred percent would cook the chicken in the tomato sauce, like the Neely's.

What's great is that you can bring in as much (or as little) tomato flavor as you like. If you find you'd have preferred more, mix in a little extra sauce at the end. Then, next time, add more sauce initially. When I usually make the Neely's recipe, I do mix the sauce into my rice, so you may also prefer a plainer risotto with the sauce on top! I always encourage your own experimentation :)

Baked Tomato Basil Risotto (perfect for two, if used as more than a side)

Ingredients:

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
3 decent-sized cloves of garlic, minced (used to replace onion, which is a traditional base and I was out of--if you have onion, use it in addition to the garlic, which I'd have used anyway!)
Sea salt, to taste
6 oz Arborio rice
8 fl oz beef stock
4 fl oz Burgundy or your choice of red wine
4 fl oz basil tomato sauce (recipe following)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. I think my oven may run hot, so I put it between the 375 and 400 notches. This risotto wasn't as creamy as the Martha Stewart recipe, but I feel it could be mended by lowering the temperature slightly and checking the risotto a few minutes before the recipe says it's done. Next time, I'll try and will edit this :)

In a baking dish with a lid (I love to use my 2 quart enameled cast iron casserole dish), combine the oil, garlic, and salt over moderate heat; stirring constantly, cook until the garlic is golden, as if it were roasted--don't let it brown! If you have to turn the heat lower, do so. Add the rice, stirring to coat with the oil and cook for 1 minute. Add the beef stock, wine, and tomato sauce, bringing it just to a simmer over moderate heat. Cover with the lid and bake until the rice is cooked through and most of the liquid is absorbed, 30-35 minutes. It should be moist, not soupy!

Serve immediately with the meat of your choice--I imagine steak would be delicious considering the liquid ingredients! But don't forget the tomato chicken :)

Basil Tomato Sauce

Ingredients:

4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
3 plump garlic cloves, minced (again, add chopped onion if you have it; I didn't)
Sea salt, to taste
Pepper, to taste
One 28-oz can of whole, peeled plum tomatoes in juice (San Marzano if you can find them; they're the best)
Leaves from two sprigs of fresh basil (essentially, it's probably 10 larger leaves), finely chopped

Directions:

In a large saucepan, combine the oil, garlic, salt, and pepper. Stirring constantly, cook over medium heat, just until the garlic turns golden but, again, does not brown! Low and slow is best.

Puree the canned tomatoes (with sauce) and add to the pan along with the basil. Whisk to combine (the oil tends to separate if you don't mix it well enough straight off). Simmer, uncovered, for about 15 minutes, when the sauce begins to thicken. I highly recommend, A) a high-sided pan/pot and B) placing a splatter screen over it so you don't get tomato sauce all over the stove and counter because it will explode like a volcano, no matter what you do. Occasionally stir the sauce, just to ensure it doesn't burn.

Taste for seasoning and add more salt and pepper, to your desire.

Any unused sauce can be frozen for later, of course :)

Getting Amped to Cook

2011-01-25T20:07:00.000-05:00

Like I said in my last entry, I've been pretty bad about cooking lately. An issue beyond the cold, dark weather and my fatigue is my small kitchen! It gets cluttered up with dishes so quickly and that's just uninspiring. Obviously I need to learn to keep the kitchen up better and plan meals ahead of time, like I had started months ago...

But today, I've found an additional remedy :)

Billy's been at work all day and, I, bored...tired...and hungry, decided to watch some online Food Network television. We don't have cable, so I've gone nearly a year and a half without my beloved Food Network. FINALLY I discovered, last week, that Hulu has some of its shows online! Today, I've discovered even a couple more cooking shows on Netflix, with far more potential episodes to watch :)

Currently, I'm going through TLC's The Take Home Chef, which many people might remember! A chef, Curtis Stone, goes to the grocery store searching for someone who will allow him to come back to their home and cook a meal for their significant other/family/friends. What I like about it is that these are very doable meals and you get to see everyday people, so much more like you and I than a television chef (even the rich housewives!), working in the kitchen. I could really watch anybody cook, but there's something even more inspiring about being able to relate more to the person...being able to envision their real, home kitchen (rather than an incredibly well put together studio kitchen) as your own and imagining the same exact possibilities.

Also, as always, it's made me so hungry for so many different foods that I never consider on my own. Just seeing something being made can be really inspiring. Perhaps it's just me, but when I see someone cooking or eating a meal, I want that for myself! Even seeing a character just snacking on something particular may encourage my craving (and we're talking far pre-pregnancy). So, watching someone cook on television seems to be having a really great effect.

I'm quite excited! I also hope that, moving into our new home, I'll be even more inspired because of the new environment...just getting to start over again from scratch. The kitchen isn't really any larger, but it's the possibilities of a completely new setup and being able to create a better environment that I'll actually want to spend time in that's so wonderful.

Steak: A Quick-Cooking Meat for Last-Minute Meals

2011-01-20T20:52:00.000-05:00

I am exhausted...ALL...THE TIME. As most know by now, I'm nearly fourteen weeks pregnant and though I have had no symptoms whatsoever (no morning sickness, no mood swings, no cravings, no increased appetite--though mine was large enough as it is--no real weight gain!) I am far, far beyond fatigued during all hours of the day. Being awake is exhausting! Apparently even a peach-sized baby can tire you out.

Add to that the fact that it's winter in Michigan--the most glorious season of all! (Sarcasm). It's cold...it's dreary (though I do enjoy dreary, seriously this time)...and it's dark by five o'clock, which means it feels like bedtime, not dinner time. I get home from nine hours at the office and do not feel energized enough to cook. Not only am I tired from work, my twenty minute drive, and the increasing darkness, but I'm tired because I'm starving--it's a neverending cycle and always has been. When I get too hungry, I get tired, which means I don't want to cook, which means I don't get to eat...which leaves me hungry...and tired! And crabby ;) This is pre-pregnancy too, so imagine how bad it is now.

So, I've had to come up with a solution. Today starts my new routine of making loads of leftovers that can easily be reheated and of resorting to delicious quick-cooking meals, which brings us to STEAK. Sweet, juicy, tender, quick-cooking steak :)

Growing up, I loathed steak. I really am not a beef eater (I think hamburgers are so unappetizing unless made with turkey--and even then, only homemade because restaurants just don't do it right!) and I especially wasn't as a child. My mom had to cook multiple meals because my brother and I were so picky. I definitely was not ever going to touch beef of any kind--not even meatloaf covered in ketchup. A few years ago, though, I finally grew up and decided it was up to me to break my terrible habit and start trying foods that I used to hate and may love now. Enter steak. I love it!!

Billy and I keep a decent set of steaks in the freezer (along with loads of chicken), but my problem (our problem, really) is that I can't ever remember to take one out to defrost. So, I come home from work and there's no fresh meat to cook. I'm not about to put something frozen in the oven; I just think that's a sin...so we have to deal somehow by either eating pasta or sandwiches...or ordering out (gasp!).

Today was like any other day--no thoughts of taking out meat before work (or last night, which would have been better). I knew that I wanted to hit up Whole Foods after work so I could pick up a chicken (we only have two drumsticks and a load of wings left), but my intention for that was to either poach it whole or roast it (to have plenty of leftovers for situations just like this!).

While at the store, I noticed a beautiful section of perfectly crimson, on-sale beef. Most cuts were geared toward slow roasting, but two were perfectly fine for a quick meal (as I discovered by phoning my mom, hehe)--exactly what I needed as I was more hungry than usual! So hungry, in fact, I resorted to devouring an overly sweet Zimmerman's candy bar in the car along with a couple huge squares of super dark chocolate filled with salted caramel (I am not a candy eater, but I was desperate!). I decided to go with the sirloin tip steaks as they were more than half the price of the New York Strip (and these are already expensive because they're organic). This was incredibly, incredibly exciting.

The first thing I did after getting out of the store was text Billy to let him know I picked up some meat and he'd have to start the potatoes while I drove home. It was perfect timing! He could get the potatoes going the entire time I was on the road. Then, when I arrived home, it would only be a matter of minutes before dinner was finished. These are some of my favorite meals. I mean, steak is incredible, so of course that's an automatic fave, but it's really an indulgent meal for me because we don't eat it often. So not only is it super fast, but a real treat.

Steak Diane. A previous meal because I was too hungry to take time to photograph this one :)

The point of this entry is to appeal to those of you who don't like to cook or don't have time to cook. Yes, steak is a little more expensive than chicken, but it's fast and you can likely afford to eat it (especially non-organic) at least a few times a week! If you don't want to wait for a side to cook, think about leftovers. I always try to cook more than I need because then that's less for me to cook later in the week. Last night, Billy helped make some mashed potatoes and we purposely made enough so that there's a second meal's worth. So, if Billy weren't going to be home before I was tonight, we could have easily reheated the mashed potatoes to go with the steak. Beyond that, you could always just put a snack with it--grab some bread, top it with a little oil, some herbs, maybe a little cheese (and pop it in the oven to toast up while the cheese gets melty) and you have an instant side of crostini--or just have steak and chips!

Either way, when you're in a hurry, remember that you can have the most delicious dinner in ten minutes or less. For a little inspiration, I've included a marinade/sauce recipe after the jump...because I think making your own will not only help you feel accomplished but taste a whole lot better than anything you find in a bottle! And it requires barely any extra effort or time, I promise.

Lucinda Scala Quinn's Hanger Steak Marinade-Turned Sauce

My very first steak was cooked using a recipe in Mad Hungry, one of my many go-to cookbooks. Though the recipe was for hanger steak, I used rib-eye, which my mom recommended as the most tender cut (next to a filet mignon)--she was right, by the way. After eating a sirloin tip tonight, I can definitely tell the difference.

Anyway, the original recipe simply has you marinate the steak and grill it. I, however, wanted more :) So, while the steak cooked on the grill, I boiled the marinade to turn it into a sauce. I know...everyone says never to use a marinade as a sauce once its come in contact with raw meat, but that's only if you don't cook it properly! Once the liquid has reached a certain temperature, the bacteria is gone, just like when you cook meat. I have to say, the sauce that this created was the best thing I've ever eaten--I think it was the best thing Billy has ever eaten as well. No sauce since then has compared, though most have been on-the-fly mixtures of beef stock, wine, and random items such as mustard or Worcestershire sauce. This is much better...much.

Ingredients (for two pounds of meat)

3/4 cup red wine
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper, plus more for grilling
5 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
Coarse salt

Directions

To marinate, you should combine all the ingredients up to the garlic; then, rub the steaks with the smashed garlic and, thusly, turn it in the marinade to coat completely. Cover and chill for at least 2 hours and up to overnight. The recipe doesn't specify this, but I drop the garlic cloves into the marinade because they will add more flavor and I just love garlic to death :)

To cook, bring the meat to room temperature, pat dry, generously salt and pepper both sides, and cook it on the grill or stovetop. It's your decision how long because that will obviously affect the doneness--and you'll change this based on the thickness of the meat as well!

While the meat is cooking, pour the marinade into a small saucepan and heat it on high. I stir it the entire time, just to ensure it isn't going to burn and I pay close attention in case I need to turn it down. If you don't watch carefully and remove it from the heat once in a while, you may reduce it too much as well. After boiling for several minutes and reducing to a nice thick, pourable sauce, I know it's ready. If you're scared, feel free to take the temperature using a candy thermometer! I believe 160 degrees is enough, but don't quote me on that.

When your steak is done cooking and has rested for at least five minutes, plate it and pour this delectable sauce (minus the giant chunks of garlic) all over it :) Believe me, you'll wish you had more!

And, once again, measuring out these four ingredients and whisking them together is barely any more effort than dumping out a store-bought marinade--it certainly takes no extra time. Boiling them into a sauce isn't really any extra effort either, especially since you do it for the few minutes that the steak is cooking. The difference in flavor is absolutely incredible and I truly hope you give it a shot.

Aunt Ann's Macaroni & Cheese

2011-01-19T18:43:00.002-05:00

I have tried many, many different recipes for homemade mac and cheese, none with results that I've liked. The cheese sauce never seems to be smooth enough; somehow, the texture is always off. Of course, for years and years and years I've been obsessed with my Aunt Ann's mac and cheese. Anytime it happened to appear at a gathering, I'd be ecstatic...still am! To me, the texture is perfect, the flavor spot on, and the breadcrumb topping? The perfect addition! A little sprinkling of toasted breadcrumbs to so many smoother dishes can make a world of difference--pasta (even a simple pasta without a creamy sauce and without baking like a casserole) and risotto are two of my favorite dishes to top with crumbs. You wouldn't think they'd go well together, but it's really wonderful.

Despite eating my Aunt Ann's version for so long, though, I never got the recipe until recently. I just kept looking for the next best thing! Finally, it's here :)

Aunt Ann's Macaroni & Cheese

Ingredients:

2 cups dry pasta (traditional mac has elbow noodles, but you know anything is great!)
2 tbsp cornstarch
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp dry mustard
1/4 tsp pepper
2.5 cups milk (I use soy because that's what I drink, so if you do too, use it! The flavor is very subtle)
2 tbsp butter
1/2 lb sharp cheddar, grated (I use Vermont white, my brother's idea, because it's OH SO GOOD)
buttered breadcrumbs (lightly sauté 3/4 cup breadcrumbs in 1 tbsp butter; don't burn it!)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

You should start cooking your pasta before you start the cheese sauce, which doesn't take very long at all. If your pasta is done before the sauce, just coat it with a little bit of oil or butter to keep the noodles from sticking to each other. Also, please, for your own sake, do not overcook the noodles--this particular dish, having cooked even longer in the oven, will be especially sad with soft noodles that fall apart. I like al dente, but I know a lot of people don't. Just be careful!

For the sauce, mix the dry ingredients in a medium saucepan; stir in the milk before turning on the heat. You need to dissolve the cornstarch in the milk before it's warm, otherwise the cornstarch will clump and never dissolve...and it does not taste good, believe me. Once the cornstarch is dissolved, add the butter and turn on the heat--you can start medium-high to get it going, but stir constantly and, once the mixture starts to boil, turn it down to medium (milk burns pretty easily). Boil over medium heat, stirring constantly, for one minute.

Remove from the heat and stir in the cheese. Once fully melted, stir in the cooked noodles. Pour into a buttered casserole dish (or mix it all together in the buttered dish, like my aunt!), sprinkle the buttered breadcrumbs over the top, and bake, uncovered, for 25 minutes. Your pasta is done when the sauce is bubbling; if 25 minutes have gone by and there are no bubbles, keep baking.

*A note: Obviously, if you don't want the breadcrumbs, you can simply omit that step, though I swear it's delish! Also, you can try this recipe with virtually any cheese you can come up with. My mom, for a long time, wanted to try it with pepper jack, recently did, and she said it was delicious! When I've found myself without enough cheddar, I'll use whatever I can find in the fridge--I made a Vermont white cheddar and Fontina mac and cheese once and it was superb. I highly recommend experimenting with your own favorite cheeses, whether it's a traditional cheddar, Italian cheese, or a fancy Swiss (just think how amazing Gruyère might be!).

What You've Been Missing

2011-01-16T13:18:00.000-05:00

I have done plenty of cooking, plenty of photographing, and no posting! Life has just been too hectic with the holidays. Today, my major plans are part relaxation, part massive re-organization of my apartment (since we could be moving in less than two months!), so, I've decided to give you a little teaser of all the recipes I have to catch up on!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake

Apple Cranberry Linzer Tart

Cranberry Sugar Pear Tartlets

Big Apple Pancake with Fig Gelato

Orange-Chocolate Chip Muffins, Jam-filled Muffins, and Citrus Scones

Sesame Cookies and Toffee

Berry Trifle Shooters

Chocolate Indulgence Shooters

Lemon Trifle Shooters

Pignolata

Macarons

I've also made a few savory creations, such as pastas, mac & cheese, risotto, and the best homemade hash browns you'll ever try, but the photos don't do them justice, so you'll have to settle with these sweet confections!

Catching Up

2010-12-31T11:51:00.000-05:00

It's been weeks, I'm sure, since I've posted any recipes, but my life has been unbelievably hectic as of late! I didn't realize December was such an active month, but I had plans every weekend--something very unusual for me! This is the last weekend of plans, though...yet a relaxing one :) Tonight, I'll be headed to Detroit to celebrate at The Old Shillelagh, maybe see the Old English 'D' dropped in Campus Martius (my friend put it best: An Old English 'D' instead of a ball..."HOW GHETTO." Hehe! But hopefully awesome, nonetheless)...Tomorrow is lazy...Sunday I simply have a book club meeting (very first one!) and Monday...more lazy :) Too bad this is my last four-day weekend...forever :'(

Anyway, I have so much catching up to do! I don't believe I ever posted my grandmother's recipe for Italian sesame seed cookies...I have pignolata...sugar cookies...chocolate cutout cookies...brown butter toffee bars...chocolate peanut butter velvet cake...butternut squash oven risotto...macarons (finally made them!!)...and probably much more that I can't even remember. I was hoping I could use this weekend to catch up, but I've realized that I should be taking down my Christmas tree/decorations aaaand I may throw myself into another 'Sex and the City' weekend-long marathon as I did during my four-day Christmas weekend ;)

Right now, I have a dozen muffins waiting in the oven--half are Billy's favorite, orange chocolate chip; half are mine, plain muffins filled with jam (three apricot, three fig). I don't know how long I'll be able to let them cool before needing to devour them! I hope they're good, though. I'm using a brand new recipe from one of several baking books my mom gave me by Nick Malgieri. The recipe was a simple muffin base with several variations included--I'd done both these variations before, but can't wait to try some others.

I think, for Christmas, I got about sixteen cookbooks. How crazy is that? My mom gave me at least ten, all Nick Malgieri, Billy gave me The Melting Pot's cookbook and both volumes of Julia Child's 'Mastering the Art of French Cooking,' and his mom gave me 'Baked: New Frontiers in Baking,' this really awesome book that has so many interesting and unique recipes, like a malted milk ball cake! I want to stack up all the books I got and take a photo just to illustrate the insanity that is now my cookbook collection--I thought it was bad before! Hahaha.

Today is about a tiny bit relaxation, some errand-running, eating, and New Year's Eve partying :) I, unfortunately, have no time for recipe updating. Perhaps tomorrow or Sunday I'll get it in me!

Aunt Lena’s Cucidati (Sicilian Fig Cookies)

2010-11-21T15:36:00.001-05:00

I have, what I'd consider, a pretty small family. When I think of Italian families, I think of far, far more than thirteen people. I don't think I'm just stereotyping either; Italian families (like many Mediterranean peoples and more) tend to be huge! Cousins upon cousins upon cousins; it's the kind of family my mother grew up in. For us, though, it's just my grandmother, her four children, and their spouses and children: one grandmother, one mother and father, two aunts, three uncles, a brother, and three cousins.

When my mother was young, their family gatherings were clearly incredible. As cliché as this sounds, the women would make enough food to feed an army. What's funny is that our small family cooks in a very similar way, though we have much fewer to feed. Growing up, we always ended up with dozens of cookies or pastries, some of which would be served at a party, some divided up between each nuclear family, and most layered into plastic bags to keep in the freezer. My bragging about our feasts is neverending; I take pride in how many desserts you can find at our table!

You'd think we'd simply cut the recipes in half too, but we don't! We always make each dessert or meal full-size, try to eat a little bit of everything, and always end up with plenty of leftovers. It's just in our nature. Really thinking about it, though, this process almost works in our favor because most of the dessert can be frozen, which means we can enjoy them for so much longer than one gathering. The food can be used throughout the week for leftovers, making our lives easier at least for a short period of time. Perhaps it would be more logical to only make as much food as can be eaten, but it just wouldn't be right. I imagine that, even if it were just me, my husband, and two children, I'd make a feast for every special occasion. I mean...why not? Losing that would be the saddest thing in the world to me.

I grew up with so much great food because of my family, especially because of my grandmother and especially concerning dessert, which was always my favorite--sesame cookies, butter cookies, biscotti, tiramisu, cassata cake, cannolis, pignolata, angel wings and bow ties. As I've become more involved with cooking, I've wanted to learn to make all the favorites from my childhood that have been traditionally made by my Grandma Pizzo. I'm slowly trying to master each item, which brings us to this recipe (courtesy of my grandma's sister) for cucidati or fig cookies. Anyone who likes Fig Newtons would love these, though they're worlds tastier. The filling is made up of several different dried and candied fruits, nuts, and chocolate, while the outer layer is a pastry, much like pie crust. You're left with a tender, yet flaky crust and an incredibly moist, sweet filling with little bits of soft, milky chocolate and hints of crunchy pine nuts (my favorite!). Of course, every recipe you see will likely vary somewhat, even on the shape (sometimes they're just little logs, sometimes cut into the shape of X's), but they're all equally delectable :)

I got together last week with my mom and grandma to make them; I'd made them with my grandma once before, about three years ago, but I couldn't remember how to form the cookies whatsoever. As usual, we made the full recipe, which means I'm left with three plastic containers filled with multiple layers of cookies; I'm guessing the recipe yields about four dozen or so...and these are not small cookies. About one quarter to one half of a single cookie would probably equal a single Fig Newton! Unless you plan to feed a crowd or have enough room in your freezer to keep a large stash, I highly recommend reducing the recipe by at least half.

I also must warn that there are several steps to this recipe, though each is actually very easy. It took maybe an hour or so to make the dough and filling, then another hour or two forming them (alone!), which I didn't do until the next day. For one person shaping four dozen cookies by hand, I'd say that's pretty good! It's quite fun, though, a feat to be proud of, and definitely worth the effort. You'll never go near the store-bought version again, I promise.

Cucidati

Dough and filling should be made a day in advance of baking.

Pastry Dough
Ingredients:

2 ½ pounds Robin Hood flour
1 tsp salt
3 tbsp baking powder
1 ¼ pounds shortening
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 cup milk

Directions:

Aerate flour, salt, and baking powder in a very large bowl, you’re going to mix this up by hand, so you’ll want enough room so as not to make a complete mess. Add shortening and begin mixing it into the flour as you would with pie pastry, simply grabbing handfuls of the mixture and releasing--I recommend slowly turning the bowl as you do so. This can also be done with a pastry blender (a metal instrument used by hand, not an electric blender!) or in a food processor, using short pulses so as not to over mix. The goal is to end up with little pea sized bits of shortening, which creates pockets in the dough as it bakes, enabling it to be flaky. When it appears you’ve almost gotten to this point, add the sugar and just lightly incorporate it in the same manner.

In a small bowl, lightly mix the eggs and milk, just so that the yolks are broken up well and the two are generally incorporated. Then, make a well in your dry ingredients and pour the liquid into it. Using a fork, gradually mix the flour into the liquid mixture. When the flour is moistened, begin mixing it with your hands, carefully kneading just until everything is incorporated. The dough will be soft, but a bit flaky.

Divide the dough in half, form each into a ball (discarding any really dry bits that haven't incorporated), wrap them in plastic wrap, and leave in the fridge overnight. When ready to form the cookies, only remove one ball of dough to work with, leaving the other in the fridge until your’e ready for it. Unlike a lot of pie pastry, this dough should remain soft while cold and won’t need time to soften.

Filling
Ingredients:

1 pound dried figs
¼ pound mixed candied fruit
½ pound dates
¼ pound toasted almonds
4 dried apricots
½ stick of soft canela (a type of cinnamon found at Italian produce stores)
1 cup warm water

½ cup whole milk
rind of ½ an orange (larger microplane, abt 1/8th-inch hole)
8 oz diced chocolate
¼ pound pine nuts

*If you can’t find canela, but know of an Italian bakery that sells cannolis, you can ask what type of cinnamon they use and if they’d be willing to sell you a bag or know where to buy it; canela is traditionally used in cannoli shells and filling. In MI, Randazzo’s Fresh Market and Vince & Joe’s Gourmet Market both sell canela; I imagine Salvaggio's does as well.

Directions:

All ingredients but the milk, orange rind, chocolate, and pine nuts will be fed through the meat grinding attachment on a Kitchenaid mixer. If you don’t have a stand mixer with a meat grinding attachment (or any other form of meat grinder), you can use a food processor, but you’ll want to chop the dried fruit, almonds, and canela.

Mixing the filling is quite simple, but a bit sticky! You should alternate the ingredients as you feed them through the meat grinder (keeping the speed low) and should keep adding a tablespoon of water or so, every so often, to help wet the ingredients, keeping them from getting stuck and pushing them through the grinder more easily. Basically, pack a few figs into the grinder, then some candied fruit, almonds, dates, cinnamon, an apricot, and a bit of water--then after pushing them down into the grinder, add more in the same sequence, continuing as such until all the ingredients are used. By alternating, the ingredients will already be mixed up fairly well.

When you’ve used up all the ingredients, if you have water leftover, keep the grinder running (placing it at a higher speed) and pour the water into the attachment (no matter what, all the water should end up in your filling); it will help push out any filling stuck inside. If you have no water leftover, use the milk to do so. Once it appears you’ve gotten as much out as possible, you can stop. Anything else left inside the attachment should be discarded.

Lastly, add the milk, orange rind, chocolate, and pine nuts to the dried fruit mixture, incorporating it with your hands; you’re going to get messy, but this is really the best way to make sure everything is mixed up uniformly! When all the ingredients are incorporated well, cover it with plastic wrap, touching the plastic directly to the filling to ensure no air gets to it; cover the actual opening of the bowl as well. Leave in the fridge (with the dough) overnight. A few hours before forming the cookies, take the filling out of the fridge and allow it to come to room temperature. Then, feel the filling to make sure it’s still moist--if not, add a tiny bit of warm water at a time, mixing it completely in, until it feels moist.

Forming the Cookies

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Your basic process will be to roll out the dough into a rectangle, line the center (down the entire length) with filling, then bring up one side of dough over the filling, rolling it over so that the entire line of filling is covered in dough. It should look like a long log, which you’ll cut up into smaller logs.

Here’s the process in more detail:

The dough should be rolled out slightly thinner than a pie crust, about 1/8-inch thick. Start out with, maybe, a third of your first ball of dough. You can roll out more and more dough as you get used to the size and shape you have to roll it to. Also, make sure to flour your work surface and the rolling pin, so the dough doesn’t stick. It should be rolled out into a rectangle about two to three inches wide. The length isn’t as important because you can adjust the amount of filling depending on the length; the width is important, though, because if it’s too wide, you end up with excess dough that will need to be re-rolled (which you don’t want to do), and if it’s too thin, you won’t have enough to cover the filling.

You should trim the edges of your rectangle so that you have nice, straight lines. Gather the scrap dough into a ball, cover it in plastic wrap, and set aside. When you roll out another portion of dough, you’ll gather those scraps with the previous ones and continue as such until you have enough to roll out again.

Next, gather some filling into your hands and roll it into a log about ½ an inch in diameter; place it at one end of your dough, slightly off center (by maybe half an inch). Continue to do so until you have a log of filling that extends from one end of the dough to the other end (it should literally touch the edge of the rectangle).

This dough is rolled out to five or six inches so that I could make two logs at once.

Before rolling one side of dough over your filling, you’ll want to loosen it from the work surface because it will likely be sticking fairly well after rolling it out. I like to slide a bench scraper underneath it, but you can use a flat spatula, if you don’t have a scraper. When the dough seems to be loose, carefully lift it up over the filling (touching it to the filling), and begin to roll your log so that the edge of the dough touches the other side and your log is completely covered in dough. Next, trim any excess, directly next to the seam, and then roll the log once more so that the seam is on the bottom. If you want to smooth out the surface, gently roll the log back and forth so that the surface of the dough smoothes out, but the log doesn’t flatten or become misshapen.

Next, cut the log into equally sized pieces. My Grandma Pizzo likes her cookies to be only a few inches in length, maybe about four; of course, you can make them as big or as small as you like. When the entire log is divided up, make three shallow slices into one side of each piece (don’t slice further than the center) and transfer them to a cookie sheet (they don’t need to be too far apart since they’ll puff rather than spread). Gently curve the logs so that the slices open up, revealing a bit of filling.

Since you’ll be working in batches, you should cover your cookie sheet with a towel until you’ve been able to fill it completely with cookies. Once it’s full, brush each cookie with egg wash (I added this step myself because I think they look prettier with a sheen) and bake for about 15 minutes. If using the egg wash, as I do, the cookies should be lightly golden. If not using the egg wash, they’ll remain pale, but the bottoms will be golden. Once done, lay the cookies on a cooling rack or parchment paper until cooled. While one batch bakes, you can continue forming more cookies and filling up another sheet, repeating the entire process until all the cookies have been formed and baked.

My grandma likes to dust her cookies with confectioners sugar before eating, but some people like to frost them in a simple icing, maybe adding sprinkles on top. You can also eat them plain, which is what I do because they’re sweet enough all on their own.

Childhood Memories & Love for Some Good Old Peanut Butter

2010-11-13T16:17:00.004-05:00

I am eating the most delicious panini! Bet you've never thought of this combination, let alone pressing it in a panini-maker...It's peanut butter...on Wonderbread...double decker! Yummm :)

Yes, I know, you're thinking that I'm the type of person who loves to eat things like paninis made with chicken, freshly roasted red peppers, pesto, pine nuts, and fontina cheese...or coq au vin...or roasted garlic and tomato pasta with ooey-gooey fresh mozzarella...so what on earth am I doing eating a peanut butter sandwich? Well, I'm low on groceries!

It takes me back too, though. I think what's gotten me so far from everyday sweets like peanut butter, Little Debbie snacks, and candy is probably the fact that I ate these things every...single...day since I was probably physically able to! No exaggeration, every year since elementary school, my lunch consisted of at least a peanut butter sandwich and a package of swiss cake rolls (eaten in the intricate manner of first peeling off the outer layer of chocolate, then unrolling the entire treat, scraping off and eating the frosting, and finally eating the sheet of chocolate cake. It's the only way!). My body clearly could only tolerate so many hundreds of pounds of sugar before deciding our relationship had to end, haha.

A peanut butter sandwich on white bread, though, was really my favorite meal. In third grade, I discovered the best way to eat it too. My favorite teacher of all time, Mr. Noble, would walk around the cafeteria, jokingly harassing us about eating our sandwiches before our dessert. I usually went for my dessert first (of course!), so one day, when he got to my table before I'd started my sandwich, I quickly hid it (inside the sealed plastic sandwich bag, I promise) beneath me. Yes...I sat on it. And when I finally ate that sandwich...oh...my god! It was so much better than ever before! Something about the pressed white bread just took it to a new level. Obviously I was onto something considering the common use of panini makers today!

At home, when I was much younger, we had a sandwich maker, which is a lot like a panini maker, but I think, when the lid was lowered, it cut the sandwich in half (into triangles) and the border sealed. Then, when you bit into your sandwich, the flattened border was super crisp and the melted filling oozed out all over the place. It was my absolute favorite, possibly my brother's too. I mean, how can you top a freshly pressed, warm, peanut butter sandwich?

I haven't eaten anything like that in years, though! Since, like I said, we're running low on groceries, I figured I'd just have myself a peanut butter sandwich (double decker, since I can fit a bit more in than I used to), but then I thought "Ooooh, grilled peanut butter," which lead to "Oooooooh, PRESSED peanut butter!" It really did take me back. I should have taken a photo of the oozy warm peanut butter, but I devoured it too quickly. Next is dessert: sesame cookies with dark chocolate spread :) Which reminds me that I have yet to post the cookie recipe and promise to do it this weekend!

Special Breakfasts

2010-11-09T13:05:00.000-05:00

Right now, I'm standing in the kitchen, waiting for the chocolate croissants and brown sugar bacon to finish baking. I wish I could say that the croissants were homemade, but they're not; they're from Trader Joe's freezer :) My mom bought them and said they're wonderful. You just proof the croissants overnight and then bake them in the oven first thing in the morning! I can't wait...chocolate croissants are one of my most beloved pastries (yes, beloved!), especially with bits of crisp chocolate inside.

I can't even begin to describe the achingly delectable scent that has taken over my kitchen. It actually makes me feel like it's Christmas morning even though it's Halloween! I just can't think of anything more comforting than the smell of a freshly baked breakfast...sweets mixed with savory. Creamy scrambled eggs, crisp bacon, hash browns, pastries fresh from the oven (croissants, chocolate chip muffins, cinnamon rolls), and a hot pot of coffee laced with the scent of vanilla, hazelnut, caramel or kahlua.

I think breakfast must be my favorite meal; the morning is when I feel the most starved that I do all day! Most mornings, I wake up with the sensation that there's a hole burning in my stomach--it can actually be painful, as if I haven't eaten in two weeks.

I've always believed that breakfast is an important meal to jumpstart metabolism, but, all my life, I generally had cereal for breakfast, which probably isn't bad, but it's not the best. Recently, I started having an egg every morning, no matter what--hard boiled, over-medium, scrambled--however I can get it, I have an egg and I eat it as soon after waking up as possible. It's really perfect; because eggs cook so quickly, I don't spend a lot of time on breakfast when I'm rushing to get to work. With my unending hunger, I think it's extra important that I do this to help ensure I don't gain 500 lbs from snacking, literally, all day long.

I also believe, however, that indulging yourself once in a while is important! In my family, we always had a tradition of eating pancakes on Sunday. For me, that meant pancakes with chocolate chips, Hershey's chocolate sauce, and whipped cream. It makes me so hungry just thinking about those. Though I stopped eating pancakes like that long ago, I did try to carry the tradition into my home life with Billy. Since he often works weekend mornings, it's not a regular occurrence, but when he is home, we definitely eat well! That's how I believe it should be done. If you eat healthy every day of the work week, don't you deserve a little something terrible at the end of it all? I'm not saying to spend a full day devouring chips, cookies, and pizza, but maybe indulge yourself for a meal or two!

Making this breakfast, I realized how much I enjoy eating sweets as an uncommon indulgence rather than something I consume on a regular basis. When you eat a certain type of food really often, it looses its sparkle. Sure, you probably crave it all the time, so it is satisfying when you eat it, but it's not the same as eating something you barely ever have. I never eat chocolate croissants, so you can bet that if I make three of them one random Saturday morning, I'm eating at least two! We also never have bacon, let alone brown sugar bacon, so you can bet that gets devoured (especially by Billy). If we ate these things on a regular basis, though, they wouldn't be nearly as exciting and I love excitement. What's fun about eating the same thing over and over and over?

I've been working in this way on my own eating habits--trying to take the bad food that I crave most and turning it into a happy indulgence that I reward myself with once in a while--but I really want to get Billy...and other people...to learn to do the same. It's really difficult to give up the food you crave the most, but your body actually tends to crave what it's used to consuming. So, once you've gone without pop or chips or cookies long enough, your body stops caring. Likewise, when you start eating healthy foods, like fruit and vegetables, on a regular basis, your body starts to crave those instead! Then, for some special occasion like a party, a holiday, or just a random weekend morning/night, you can allow yourself something your body used to crave...devour it...and not feel guilty about it later! At least, you shouldn't, because an indulgence here and there is nothing to feel bad about.

My policy is to bring only "healthy" food to work for snacking (since I spend most of my day at the office)--bags of all natural chips (and the like) that are low fat and low calorie (based on the ingredients and cooking method, not that they're 'reduced fat' which is just absurd), for when I crave something salty...a bag of dark chocolate covered almonds, for the few times I crave chocolate...and raw vegetables, fruit, and nuts for when I'm just hungry and need to eat something. For instance, at my desk all this past week, I had out a bottle of water, two small apples, and a big container of grapes. I like to keep something handy that's really easy to snack on, like the grapes, because then I can just consistently grab one to pop into my mouth without disturbing my work, but while also not allowing myself to get too hungry. I do the same by keeping a container of cut up vegetables like carrots and celery. Aside from that, I have a small drawer with snacks. So, I'm set all day! Obviously, my lunch is on the healthier side, as well as my dinner.

Because I behave so well ninety percent of the day, five days a week, I think I'm entitled to a slice of cake, a thin stack of chocolate chip pancakes, or (sometimes) a plate of eggs, brown sugar bacon, toast with butter, and a pastry. If I didn't allow myself these indulgences, who knows...I may have such a powerful craving for something sweet one day that I go way overboard and consume, let's say, a five pound bag of candy! Or a whole batch of cookies...maybe half a chocolate cake ;)

Learn to reward yourself once in a while and do it at breakfast! At least you can spend the rest of the day burning those calories.

Getting a Man to Cook

2010-10-26T18:27:00.001-04:00

My boyfriend has this complex...and hopefully he doesn't mind me outing him here...He doesn't like to cook...not just because it's a hassle and he'd rather relax, but because he thinks he's going to screw it up. That's understandable coming from someone who never cooks, but how is one supposed to overcome that if they don't ever, ever try to cook anything?

So, I nag...and I nag...and I nag. I love cooking; this is obvious! I'm exhausted after work too, though. Exhausted and famished, which makes me more exhausted...and crabby. Sometimes I just don't have the willpower to stand up in the kitchen and make anything, but I also don't want to eat a dang sandwich just because I'm too tired to cook. Sandwiches are all Billy makes, though...outside of a fried egg here and there...maybe a salad, if I really want one.

Last March, we got into a small argument about cooking. I was harassing him because I'd just made dinner and was "playfully" going on about how nice it felt and wouldn't he enjoy feeling as if he accomplished something like that, especially doing something nice for his girlfriend...His reply set me over a bit--something about "why bother if I can make it from a box?" I rather went off, going on and on about "Oh, well why make you mashed potatoes for dinner if I can get them from a box? Why make you a nice, from-scratch birthday cake if I can get it from a box?" and other such examples. My point was, if it's so pointless to make food from scratch since you can get virtually anything in a box on the grocery store shelf, then why am I bothering? I'll just start doing that too! He wasn't fond of the idea, though...

It reminded me of a story Alton Brown told during a lecture at my university. His wife had made spaghetti with tomato sauce and, when he tasted the sauce on the stove, he casually said it could use more of a certain herb; supposedly, it was six months before she ever cooked for him again :) Now, I probably wouldn't go that far, especially over that kind of "critique," but the point is...if you don't appreciate what I'm doing, you don't need it and maybe I should stop!

Of course, Billy does appreciate my cooking; he just doesn't want to do it himself! I swear, though, a lot of it is about the belief that he'll fail. I made him cook our pancakes one morning, to show him how easy it was and that I didn't need to be the one to make them all the time. And you know what happened? He was bopping around, smiling as he poured each ladle of batter onto the griddle; he was enjoying himself! He actually said it was fun.

Since then, I've been getting him to help with certain things, here and there...chop up some onions and garlic...prepare the rice for boiling...cut up the potatoes...season the chicken. Little tiny baby steps, haha. One night last week, though, I came home feeling so heavy on my feet, there was no way I was going to make dinner; we had freshly defrosted chicken in the fridge, but I couldn't even deal with just putting it in the oven. Billy offered to make...surprise! Sandwiches. You know what? I hate sandwiches. I only like them if I'm craving one, otherwise, I don't want anything to do with them! So, I threw a very tiny, rational fit (yes, you can essentially throw a fit while staying calm!) about how all he has to do is season potatoes and chicken and throw them in the oven--nothing could be easier. And he conceded!

And dinner was delicious. Oh my god...the first time he makes chicken and it's cooked perfectly (so plump and juicy), seasoned perfectly. The same with the potatoes. He even prepared a mustard glaze that was so simple a child could pull it off. There was nothing difficult about it! Yet, it was so flavorful and satisfying; I loved the glaze. Of course, I stood there and supervised, but I didn't touch a thing. I just didn't want to give him the chance to screw up simply because his mind was set on it. I know he can cook and I'll be damned if he's not going to figure that out himself...I'll also be damned if I'm going to have to eat a sandwich or buttered noodles (*barf*) just because I want to take a night off.

My hope is that, one day, Billy will be as confident in cooking as I am. That he'll realize most dishes are as easy as following a recipe and having common sense; that he'll even realize you can change up a recipe depending on what ingredients you want to use or flavors you're looking for--nothing has to be exact. Going a step further, I hope that other people with similar mindsets will learn the same--and, if not for themselves, then for their loved ones! Think of how nice it feels when someone makes a really good meal for you, especially one of your favorites. Think of how grateful you are when you can put your feet up in front of the television after work, able to catch your breath and unwind, while someone stands in the kitchen, sacrificing a portion of their post-work relaxation, cooking not only for his or herself, but for you. Don't you want to make someone else feel the same way?

And, if none of that works for you...don't you just want the nagging to end? :)

A little rant about good food.

2010-10-24T20:51:00.002-04:00

I'm only about 25% on the organic food bandwagon. Really, it's just a hassle to find good organic produce because my best bet is Whole Foods Market, but it's all the way in Rochester and that drive is not something I want to make once a week. So, I just make the sacrifice and buy pesticide-rich fruits and veggies at my favorite market.

When it comes to meat, though? I honestly don't even want to touch something that isn't organic, vegetarian fed, and free range. Part of it is because the living conditions of mass-produced animals (because that's really what they are--mass produced) disgusts me. I've never been of the mindset that "they're just animals." Honestly, just because they're not "higher thinking" beings like humans (and dolphins lol) doesn't mean their livelihoods aren't important. People are mortified by dogs kept in any ill manner, but a room of chickens with their beaks cut off, standing all on top of each other, wading in their own feces? Well that's just fine as long as it's only two bucks a pound to eat their breasts with the bones and skin removed!

I'm not against meat eating in any way, whatsoever...I'm pretty sure I could not survive without a nice, juicy piece of chicken or steak once in a while. Animals in the wild hunt and kill each other for sustenance. Sure, we don't have to do that to survive anymore; we're perfectly able to stay alive and well on proteins from the food of the earth. I don't see why, just because we have the luxury of "higher thought," though, that it makes eating meat unethical. Yet, on the other hand, I do find it unethical to essentially torture an animal for their entire life, just to make food cheap.

I recently bought a cookbook by Jamie Oliver called "Cook with Jamie: My Guide to Making You a Better Cook" and he has some pretty good arguments to make about people's eating habits. He makes a point about how we'll search like crazy to make sure we get the best quality television, cell phone, car, any number of materialistic possessions. But when it comes to the food that we put into our bodies, whatever's cheapest will do. Who cares about fat content or whether a piece of chicken is truly plump, meaty, and tender. Who cares if we're loading our bodies up with preservatives and weird chemicals that we can barely pronounce let alone know the effects of on our bodies. Who cares if we're eating pesticides from fruit that isn't quite as juicy or flavorful as it should be. Cheap is the way to go!

A lot of people claim that they just can't afford organic food, especially meat. Jamie uses low income families in Italy as an example, stating that they eat the best quality meat, but only a few times a week, making pasta and vegetables the general meal staple, which keeps costs down. That's actually a really healthy way of eating too! In America, it's all meat meat meat. Meat is the main star of the meal and everybody trying to lose weight is nixing everything but that. If you take a look at countries where most of the population is of healthy weight, though, they aren't packing themselves with beef! They're eating everything in moderation. Hell, in France, they're eating pastries for breakfast each morning and are still thinner than we are. You can bet your ass they're also probably using real butter when they cook rather than replacing everything with weird solidified liquids that are "flavored" like butter.

This whole rant stems from a recent chicken purchase I made. Until recently, my freezer was well stocked with pieces of bone-in, skin-on chicken my mom bought for me at Sam's Club. Every time I wanted to make a meal, I had to stand at the sink for 10 minutes cutting the fat off the meat. It's not only gross, but it's a hassle I don't want to bother with, especially because I can never remember that I have to do it until it's too late; my pan is already hot and I'm staring at huge globs of yellow, mushy fat covering my chicken thighs. Billy and I took a trip to Whole Foods the other day, though, purchased a vegetarian fed, free range, organic chicken and, when I cut it up...there wasn't a sliver of fat to be seen. Not the tiniest bit. Why? Because the chicken wasn't stuffed with protein, leading a sedentary life standing on top of some other poor, fat, sedentary chicken! Not to be truly disgusting, but if I were a cannibal, you can bet I wouldn't make a meal out of Rosie O'Donnell just because she cost less money than Hugh Jackman!

Anyway, beyond that, I even found a massive difference in how the chicken tasted! We cooked the chicken thighs in the exact same manner that we cook all of our chicken--the exact same temperature, exact same length of time. Yet, this chicken was incredibly plump, juicy, and so tender you could cut it with a fork. No exaggeration, whatsoever. This thing sliced like butter. I've never eaten such delicious chicken all on its own before. It was a truly delectable meal and all the credit goes to the chicken, itself.

So, my next goal is beef. That one's going to be harder because it's not like I can buy a whole cow to cut up myself, haha. With the chicken, I paid just over two dollars a pound, since it was a whole chicken. If I'd wanted boneless, skinless breasts (as, I feel, most people buy), I'd have paid over six dollars a pound for organic, free range, vegetarian fed. So, cutting up my own chicken brought me down to about the price everybody else pays for someone else to cut up their meat and skin and de-bone it. There's no way I'm cutting up my own beef, though, soooo I'm pretty much screwed on that front. But...maybe I should be looking to the Italians for inspiration! I'm already taking a note from Europe and having a bit of wine with every meal anyway ;)

Chocolate Salted Caramel Tart

2010-10-22T22:04:00.064-04:00

Last night, the family got together at my parents' house to celebrate my dad and Aunt Ann's birthdays. Of course, it was fun, as always, because my mother and aunts are a special breed of hilariously smart, witty, sarcastic women. They're the kind of people that everyone loves, especially younger generations who always seem to be in awe of parental figures who are actually laid-back and comical. At every event, they spend hours relating stories from work, friends, family, and their childhoods. I always feel like a kid at story-time, sitting there, listening intently on the edge of my seat. They're not afraid to be completely blunt or inappropriate either--in a way that isn't uncomfortable, but fills you with laughter. And they have so many tales to tell, you almost never hear the same one twice. If you do, though, it's just as funny the second time around.

On top of that, they're all wonderful cooks. No matter the reason for a get together, there's always way too much food than can be eaten; leftovers abound! This includes dessert, which can add up to more than seven, full-sized dishes for just the 13 of us. Almost everyone takes a piece from multiple desserts too because you just can't pass that stuff up...cakes, pies, cheesecakes, trifles, tiramisu, cookies, cannolis...you just have to have a little bit of everything.

For Dad and Aunt Ann, we had three desserts. My mom made what seems to be a new tradition--a chocolate cake covered in half chocolate frosting, half Aunt Ann's buttercream with coconut. It's really the perfect combination because at least one side will satisfy everyone in the family; Billy, in fact, likes his slice to fall on both sides of the line, so that he gets chocolate cake and coconut cake, all in one piece. He actually just devoured a giant section a couple nights ago, big enough for two people.

My Aunt Ann made a chocolate cheesecake (courtesy of Junior's Cheesecake), perched atop a thin layer of spongecake, covered in chocolate ganache and chopped candy bars (we're talking Reese's cups, Kit Kats, Peppermint Patties, Hershey's cookies & cream, and more). This thing looked astounding. Nobody would ever suspect it was homemade! Considering my obsession with great food, I am definitely lucky to have family members with such talent.

The third dessert was a Halloween-themed chocolate salted caramel tart that I made for my aunt (as is the tradition, four years running!). I used polenta shortbread as the crust, spread a layer of melted, bittersweet chocolate over it, filled it with a chocolate batter to bake, then topped with a salty, buttery caramel. For the finishing touches, I laid onto it a spun sugar web with a giant, chocolate spider. For my first time designing anything out of spun sugar, I did a pretty decent job too! There were some screwed up areas, but the spider, which my mom made, did a fine job of hiding them ;)

We even got some homemade peanut brittle out of the leftover sugar. I've been eating little bits of it all week as part of my nightly, Halloween dessert. Of course, this week I have not only that but some of the chocolate tart, cheesecake, and chocolate covered strawberries that Billy gave me for Sweetest Day...I don't plan to weigh myself at the end of this month, in case anyone wondered ;)

Now, in this entry, I'm posting the recipe for my chocolate tart, which I highly recommend. It's actually quite easy considering all the separate items that have to be made. The original recipe is simply the crust and chocolate filling, so you could make just that! It really is delicious all on its own that way. I'm going to make another post with the recipe for my aunt's candy bar cheesecake, though...whenever she finally emails it to me!

Chocolate Salted Caramel Tart

Remember, you don't need to include every single step of this tart. The original recipe is simply the crust and chocolate filling, no layer of melted chocolate, caramel, or spun sugar. It's quick and it's easy, which makes it perfect, in my mind. On its own, it's also pretty addictive. With the caramel, the tart becomes more like a candy bar, super sweet and rich. So, you choose how far you want to take it!

No matter what, make sure the filling is made with the best quality chocolate because this is the main feature. I used E. Guittard bittersweet chocolate, which I got at Sur la Table. It's more expensive than a bag of Ghirardelli, but well worth it! I could eat the entire box plain.

Polenta Tart Crust

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 cup instant or fine polenta
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cold, cut into 1/4" cubes
1 large egg
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil (don't be afraid of this either, you won't notice it)
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
a 10" tart pan with fluted sides and a removable bottom

Directions

Place the flour, polenta, sugar, and salt into the bowl of a food processor and pulse to combine. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse sand and no large lumps of butter are visible. Remember, this is more like a shortbread crust, not pie pastry, in which you would want lumps of butter to add flakiness.

In a small bowl, whisk together the egg, olive oil, and vanilla. Add to the food processor and pulse just until a ball of dough forms. Remove this and form it into a round disk, wrap tightly in plastic, and chill until firm enough to roll--at least 1 to 2 hours.

On a flat, floured surface, roll the tart dough into an 11" circle, 1/8-inch thick. Transfer the dough to the tart pan by rolling it around the rolling pin, like a carpet, and unrolling it over the pan. Press the dough into the bottom and sides of the pan, trimming the top so it's flush. Chill while you make the filling.

Before this recipe, I'd never made anything like this. I chilled my dough somewhere between one and two hours and found that it cracked apart along the edges as I rolled and would fall apart completely when I tried to pick it up to place in the tart pan. I have absolutely no idea what was causing this, but if it happens to you, don't worry! I simply mended the cracks, used a giant spatula to transfer it to the tart pan, and then mended any broken off pieces once it was set inside.

If you plan to spread chocolate in the bottom, melt maybe a handful of chocolate and quickly spread it evenly all over the bottom of the tart shell. You have to move quickly because the dough is cold and the chocolate will set.

Chocolate Filling

Ingredients

4 oz bittersweet chocolate (the absolute best! Splurge when it's appropriate)
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
2 large eggs
1/2 cup granulated sugar
pinch of kosher salt
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
3 tbsp instant or fine polenta
1 tbsp unbleached all-purpose flour

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and position a rack in the center.

Place the chocolate and butter in a large, heatproof bowl and set over a pan of simmering water (you only need about an inch of water, it shouldn't touch the bottom of the bowl), whisking occasionally to combine. Remove the bowl from the pan and set aside.

Place the eggs, sugar, and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer (or use a hand mixer) fitted with the whisk attachment and beat on high speed until thick and tripled in volume, about 3 minutes. Beat in the vanilla extract.

Fold the egg mixture into the chocolate mixture until mostly combined. Sift the polenta and flour over the batter and then continue folding until no streaks appear and the dry ingredients are fully incorporated.

Pour the filling into the prepared shell and place it on the baking sheet in the oven (to catch any drips). Bake for 25 minutes or until the filling is puffed and cracking. Allow the tart to cool at least 20 minutes before carefully removing the sides of the pan.

You can eat it plain, dust the top with confectioners sugar, add a dollop of whipped cream (preferably homemade), or pour caramel over the top (recipe below). It's really good at all temperatures too! Eat it right away (after the 20 minute cooling period) while it's still warm, let it come to room temperature, or eat it straight out of the fridge.

Salted Caramel Topping

Ingredients

1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup water
1 tsp fleur de sel or fine sea salt
1/2 cup heavy cream
4 tsp unsalted butter, cubed

Directions

I'm very detail-oriented...I like people to know exactly what to do, exactly what problems may arise...because when you've never done something before, it's nice to have all your bases covered. By doing this, I think I tend to make some things sound more difficult than they are...more daunting than they should be. And that's exactly what this caramel description will probably look like, but I swear it's so so easy.

A note before starting, though. To make caramel, you boil sugar to a certain stage and then mix heavy cream into it. I'd never had a problem before, but on this occasion, a mass of blazing hot steam shot up from the mixture the second I poured in the cream, burning my entire hand as I tried to stir. To be safe, you should always wear oven mitts during this step.

Put the cream and butter in a small bowl--you're going to pour it into the hot sugar mixture, so you want them combined in this way to make it quicker and easier.

Place the sugar and water in a tall, heavy-bottomed saucepan (so it doesn't burn) and bring to a boil over high heat. Continue to cook until amber in color, never stirring. If it appears that one side is becoming a little golden before another side, very gently swirl the pan to mix the two--you need to do this because you don't want one side to cook before the other so that one side ends up burnt and your whole batch is ruined, but you don't want to stir because you can create little crystals of sugar. So, just swirl; it's easy ;)

The second the sugar mixture becomes amber, remove it from the heat and pour in the heavy cream and butter, stirring constantly. If you don't incorporate the heavy cream quickly enough, the areas without it will harden like candy and you won't end up with caramel at all. The mixture is also going to bubble up and rise, but it'll go back down as you stir (this is why you want a taller pan). When the mixture is fully incorporated, add the fleur de sel. If you'd like to sprinkle a little over the top of the tart later, just add half the salt to the caramel.

You can use the caramel like a sauce, pouring it warm over slices of the tart, to be served immediately. You can also allow the caramel to set slightly, so that it's quite thick, but still pourable--this way, you can pour it over the tart, but it won't go running down the sides. Then, when you slice it later, you'll have clear layers of chocolate and caramel :)

Spun Sugar Spiderweb

Originally, the sugar spiderweb was supposed to be in more of a dome shape, rather than flat. My mom had the idea of making a sugar cage to place over the tart, but I thought it would be even better to make it a spiderweb, since it was supposed to be Halloween-themed. We followed the directions and made a pretty decent web, but it wouldn't pull away from the bowl--I'm guessing we let it sit for too long.

I had previously watched several videos of street vendors, in China, making animals out of spun sugar on a piece of marble, though. They used a gravy spoon to pour out the hot syrup in the desired thickness, moving quickly and fluently to create the most amazing animal figures! So, I thought our best bet would be to replicate that method with a flat spiderweb, which is exactly what I did.

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2/3 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup water
parchment paper, for creating the web

Directions

Before cooking the sugar, lay a piece of parchment paper on a flat surface and trace a circle on it, the diameter of your tart pan--you'll use this as a guide, ensuring your web isn't too big.

Place the sugar, corn syrup, and water in a 2-quart, heavy-bottomed saucepan. Boil over medium-high heat, never stirring. Keep a candy thermometer immersed in the liquid (not touching the bottom, or you'll get a false reading) and cook until the mixture reaches 311 degrees; this is the hard crack stage.

Immediately remove from the heat and pour into a medium-sized, microwavable glass bowl. If you don't, the sugar will just keep cooking.

This stuff hardens incredibly quickly...and it makes a mess. A giant, massive, fun mess. If you watch a video of the Chinese street vendors, though, you know that it must get better with practice.

Use a gravy spoon to scoop up a spoonful of syrup scraping it multiple times against the edge of the bowl so that it's not dripping everywhere--you want this to be as clean as possible. You probably want to start out slowly making the strings of webbing, but you should move quickly to keep the lines thin. You'll likely get the hang of it fairly quickly. To me, the most difficult part was starting with a thin line--keeping it as thick or thin as I like after the initial pour was easy.

First, draw the straight lines that go through the web from one end of the circle to the other; I drew at least four that intersected in the middle of the web. Then, make the connecting lines, curving downward in the middle (like a u). I started close to the center of the web and gradually made my way to the outside.

You'll need to refill your spoon multiple times, just remember to always scrape it before working on your web. And work as quickly as you can because, you'll see right away, the sugar will be hardening the entire time. Almost the second you lay a line, the sugar will harden--this isn't something you can fix if you make a mistake. I ended up with some horribly thick pieces of webbing, some that were like little pools of sugar, but just hid them with my chocolate spider. There's enough sugar syrup to make another web if your first doesn't work out. I made two and still had leftover syrup :)

You can also re-melt the sugar (to an extent) in the microwave, which is why you want a microwavable bowl. That way, if it's really thickened too much before finishing your web, you're not out of luck.

Once your web is finished, allow it to sit for about five minutes and then very gently and carefully lift it up with the parchment and start to peel the parchment away. It'll come off with no problems, you just don't want to crack the web in your hands! If you're not going to use it right away, keep it in the fridge because the sugar will actually get a bit sticky and soft if it sits at room temperature too long.

When you're ready, gently lift up the web and place it right on top of the tart!

Chocolate Spider

This one's pretty straightforward...

Melt some chocolate in a small bowl and let it cool just slightly, so that it's thick enough to form the pieces of the spider.

Using a spoon, make a round mound of chocolate on top of some parchment paper--make it as big or small as you like! I wanted a huge spider, for effect :) If your mound is seeming a bit flat, just let the chocolate set a bit more, so that it's thicker.

My mom made the spider while I was working on something else, so I didn't see her exact method for the legs. But the gist is that you form the legs separate from the spider, giving them a little bend in the middle so that, when attached, they extend upward from its body and then back down--just like a real spider! When the legs are all formed, let them set completely before trying to remove them. You'll probably want to put them in the fridge to ensure the chocolate is solid. Even better, you could put it all in the freezer!

For actually forming the legs, I imagine (since the chocolate is thick) you can use a toothpick to scoop up small mounds of it and draw the legs onto the parchment. You could also pipe them, just make sure the hole isn't too large so that you have super thick spider legs.

When the legs are definitely solid, very carefully peel the parchment away from each one. To attach, just use a bit of melted chocolate like glue; when it sets back up, the legs will be fully attached to the spider body.

To make eyes, you can do any number of things...make a bit of thick white icing and dot them on...use tiny silver dragees (just prepare to break your teeth because those things are hard!)...do anything you can think of...or just leave it without.

Once the entire spider is set, legs and all, simply lift it up from the parchment and set it on top of your web-topped tart!

Coq au Vin Blanc

2010-10-13T18:51:00.000-04:00

This week, I've failed to come up with any sort of pre-planned meals and it's sent me into a bit of a tizzy because I'm too indecisive to come up with anything good quickly. I find myself debating what kind of meat I should be taking out of the freezer, what the sides should be, what the flavor should be...and if I don't remember to take the meat out the night before or in the morning before work, then we're really screwed; that's when I default to pasta...generally the same pasta over and over again :)

So, Monday night I took out two chicken thighs, figuring I'd come up with a recipe, Tuesday, on my lunch break...which I did not. When I got home, I decided I felt like Coq au Vin, but I hate making the same meal over and over and I'm supposed to make it with Megan soon, so I really didn't want to end up eating it three times in a three week period. That's the whole point of planning an entire week's meals ahead; I can make something completely different all the time.

I thought that if I switched out the red wine for white and then ignored the traditional Coq au Vin mix-ins (like tomato and mushrooms), it would be changed up enough for me to feel like I was still getting some kind of variety. So, I pretty much came up with this dish on the fly. I took a look at two Coq au Vin recipes, simply to determine liquid-to-meat proportions and cooking times. Then, I thought about what would taste good with chicken and white wine.

That's what I love about cooking. You can take almost any dish and simply use it as a base to translate it into something completely different! This is only the second dish I've come up with on my own using Coq au Vin as a base; the first was chicken curry and I already have so many more in my head. With Coq au Vin, you basically sauté your foundation flavors (onion and garlic), brown some chicken, then throw it all in a pot along with other flavor enhancers (like herbs, mushrooms, and tomato) and some liquid (chicken stock, wine, and brandy). Then you just let the meat cook in the liquid, remove it, and reduce the liquid to become a thicker sauce. That's it! It's the simplest thing in the world and there are so many choices to change it.

The Coq au Vin Blanc sauce with vegetables.

With my chicken curry, for example, I sautéed onions, garlic, and peppers, browned my chicken, then threw it all in a pot with coconut milk, curry paste, and some other flavor enhancers like ground ginger and mirin. Once the chicken was cooked, I removed everything but the liquid, cooked it down to a sauce, and then put the whole thing over a bed of coconut jasmine rice laced with salty chopped peanuts. It was delicious!

Other ideas I've had are using the same method to cook chicken or beef in a chili sauce (much like a sauce you'd get over an enchilada), a sweet rum soy sauce (with sweet potatoes), and an apple cider sauce. You can pick out almost any vegetable to cook with it...any side dish like rice, potatoes, or pasta. The options are pretty much endless; you just have to think about what flavors you like, what you think would taste great together, and then you have a brand new meal! All cooked in the same pot...all superbly delicious.

So, with this meal, I sautéed onion and garlic, browned some chicken thighs, and then cooked it all with chicken stock, white wine, chopped herbs, and root vegetables. Once everything was finished, I served it over a simple bed of jasmine rice (my go-to rice!) seasoned with salt, pepper, a tiny bit of garlic powder, and a combination of extra virgin olive oil and butter. It ended up, literally, being one of my favorite meals of all time. I couldn't believe how well it turned out and I'm so excited. Thank goodness, for me, that I actually paid pretty good attention to the amounts I was using and the ingredients! Now, I'll be able to replicate it any time I like :)

And so can you.

Coq au Vin Blanc

Since I made up this recipe as I went along, a lot of the amounts are approximations, which is why you'll often see "about x amount." If you use a minimum of the amounts I give, you'll be fine. If you prefer even more flavor, simply add more herbs at the end, when you're thickening up the sauce. I doubt you'll need it, though!

Ingredients

2 chicken thighs, bone-in, skin on (you'll remove it after cooking, but it helps flavor!), dried thoroughly (necessary for true browning)
about 1/4 of a big, sweet yellow onion -- roughly chopped (you want big chunks)
3 average-sized cloves of garlic -- finely chopped
1 1/2 cups chicken stock
1/2 cup white wine
root vegetables (for two people, I used about 2 medium-sized carrots and equivalent parsnips)
1 bay leaf (preferably fresh)
about 6 decent sized leaves fresh sage (chopped)
about 3 sprigs fresh thyme
1 1/2 tsp cornstarch, mixed with 1 1/2 tsp cold water

Directions

In a dutch oven, set on the stove to medium/medium-high heat, sauté the onions in extra virgin olive oil. You want to get them at least translucent, if not caramelized, so they should sauté for several minutes; if they start to brown, lower the heat accordingly. Toward the end of the sauté (maybe after about 5 minutes) add the garlic and move the mixture around the pot constantly, ensuring the garlic doesn't burn. When the garlic looks nice and golden, remove the mixture to a bowl and set aside.

Add a little more oil to the pot (just to coat the bottom--you're sautéing, not frying) and, when it's just started to smoke, add the chicken, skin side down. You just want to brown the chicken, which brings out its flavor more, so you should only be cooking it for a few minutes--until it's a nice golden walnut color. Turn the chicken often while it's browning, though, to ensure it doesn't burn. This isn't necessary if you're well-versed in browning chicken, but I always burn it, so turning often helps a lot. Once a piece is ready, remove it to a plate.

When all pieces have been removed, add the wine and chicken stock, scraping the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon to scrape up any browned bits, which also flavor the dish. Season the browned pieces of chicken with salt and pepper and add them back to the pot. Also add the onion/garlic, vegetables, bay leaf, sage, and thyme (leaves pulled off the stems! Just scrape your fingernails along the stem and the leaves will slide right off into the pot). Make sure everything's immersed well in the liquid and turn up the heat to bring it to a slight boil; reduce the heat to a simmer (the lowest heat should suffice), cover it with the lid, and let it cook for 15-20 minutes, until the meat feels tender when pressed (careful not to burn your fingers, haha).

When the chicken's fully cooked, remove it from the pot and set aside on a dish. Discard the bay leaf (you never want to eat it, you just want to use its flavor) Leave the lid off the pot and turn it up to high, allowing it to boil and reduce by about half its volume; this should take about 6 minutes. If you've multiplied the recipe at all, make sure you reduce for that much longer. Add the cornstarch and water mixture to the liquid and stir to combine; it'll quickly thicken. Once the sauce is thickened to your liking, add the chicken back to re-warm.

For presentation purposes, you may want to lay a bed of white rice on a serving dish, cover it with the vegetables and sauce, then top it with the chicken, skin side up. If you don't really care about presentation, though (I only did for the photograph), you may want to remove the skin before adding it back to the pot or serving it. After browning, it will have crisped up nicely, but once cooked in the bath of liquid, the skin softens, which (to me) is not very appetizing.

For me, the sauce makes the dish; it's really the most delicious part. So, I recommend mixing it really well throughout the rice on your plate :)

The Most Nutritional Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

2010-10-11T22:29:00.002-04:00

A few years ago, I got into this sort of health food kick, along with several of my friends. At that time, I was first really getting into cooking, so I was trying hard to come up with healthy versions of my favorite meals. This was right after the short period of time when I'd finally started to gain weight from eating junk food and, since I just can't give up my favorite foods, I really needed an alternative!

Once I started to bake more often for friends and family, though, the experimentation died down. I didn't want to chance serving anybody something that didn't turn out right and I didn't want to have to eat my experiments alone, so I just stuck with the more traditional recipes. My own eating habits were generally fine, though--I'm really a fresh fruit for dessert and pasta for dinner kind of girl--but since I've become much more interested in cooking and baking, I've started to gain weight again. In the past year, I've probably gained around 10 pounds and gone up one full size...so many jeans...so painful on my hips, haha.

So, my mission is back on! With my successes in the past (such as my delicious 80 calorie cheesecake!) and better experience, I'm confident I can easily come up with new, healthier alternatives to keep myself (and Billy) on the right track. I decided to start it off by making a batch of my nutritional oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.

These cookies are soft, chewy, sweet, nutty, and full of nutritional value! To an extent, of course. I took a basic oatmeal cookie recipe from the Quaker Oats container and heavily altered it, replacing most of the "bad" fats with "good." In 4 dozen cookies, there are only 4 1/2 tbsp of butter and 1 egg; that's roughly .09 tbsp of butter per cookie! Of course, I replaced them both with other fatty ingredients, such as ground almonds and flaxseed meal, but these contain the "good" fats. Should you devour a dozen cookies in one sitting? Probably not. But you definitely shouldn't feel as guilty. That's why I don't consider these low cal/low fat cookies, but rather "nutritional," which I think should be the happy medium.

The ingredients may sound odd to anyone who's not used to them, but it can't hurt to give it a try, right? I have a problem where I like to hide certain ingredients from people because I know very well that something can taste different to you if you're prepared for it to suck. For instance, Billy doesn't like vegetables, so when I put parsnips in our pot pie last winter, I didn't let him know; while he picked around the carrots, he ate every last parsnip...because he thought they were chunks of potato ;) Obviously, he doesn't hate parsnips! But if I'd told him what they were, you can bet he'd have eaten around them. My mom takes issue with this, likes to harass me about it...but I'm not trying to feed someone something truly disgusting or something they're truly against eating. Maybe I make turkey meatballs and don't tell anybody they're not beef, but I'm not making liver meatballs!

Anyway, the purpose of this confession is that I've given these cookies to plenty of people without saying a word about the replacement ingredients and the only reactions I've ever gotten is a want for more. To me, that means that these taste just like any other cookie; not some weird nutritional hybrid. I think anybody looking for a more nutritious alternative to replace a particular sweet you like to snack on all day should try this!

Nutritional Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups all purpose or whole wheat flour (or a combination)
1 heaping tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
4 1/2 tbsp butter
a little over 3/4 cup honey
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 cup flaxseed meal
1 large egg
3 tsp flaxseed meal + 1/4 cup cold water (mixed together)
4 1/2 tsp milk
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 cup finely ground almonds
2 1/2 cups oats
1 1/2 cups dark or bittersweet chocolate morsels (mini are best because they'll spread out more)
1 1/2 cups dried fruit

You can do any combination of mix-ins that you like...dried fruit, chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, cinnamon chips, toffee chips, chopped nuts. Don't be afraid to experiment and find what combination you like best!

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl. Beat the butter with the honey and sugar until creamy. Beat in the flaxseed, egg, flax/water mixture, milk, and vanilla; add ground almonds. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in oats, morsels, and dried fruit.

Drop by rounded tbsp onto a baking sheet. This recipe makes approximately 4 dozen cookies, so you can use multiple sheets or make multiple batches. I like to roll the dough into a ball with my hands, so I recommend greasing them with vegetable oil because it's very, very sticky. I, in fact, have to wash my hands every so often and re-oil them. It works out well, though! Perfect, precious little mounds of cookie :)

Bake approximately 13 minutes; the cookies should be a golden brown. Let cool on wax paper.

Lemon Polenta Shortbread Cookies

2010-10-10T20:59:00.005-04:00

My Dad and Aunt Ann's birthdays are coming up this week and, as always, I'm making a dish for my aunt. The tradition started a few years ago when my mother and I came up with the ingenious idea to make a really gruesome cake for her birthday, since it's during the wondrous month of Halloween and our family is just the type to be into that sort of thing ;) Not to say that we're gruesome, but...our sense of humor certainly can be! Every Easter, we have a lamb cake or two and, by lamb cake, I mean a chocolate or yellow cake in the shape of a lamb. So, our idea was to make a chocolate lamb cake...corpse. I deemed it The Silence of the Lambs Cake and, I must say...it was the most amazing cake I've ever made, decoration-wise.

Note the spine and oozing bone marrow (top of neck and bottom of head) constructed of a broken Pirouette cookie covered in icing...also, the chocolate frosting spiders surrounding the plate :) I promise, I'm not a complete and total freak...Seriously.

The following year, I made an evil, murderous Santa cake, deemed Silent Night, Deadly Night, after a really, really terrible horror movie that I've actually never seen, but knew my aunt would surely get the joke.

That would be a bloody razor blade in his hand! A real blade...fake blood. No worries, though, nobody tried to eat that part.

So, this year, I'm, again, making a dessert! I originally had a plan for a cake just about as gruesome (and awesome) as the previous two, but decided to go another route. Instead, I'll be making an amazing chocolate, caramel salted tart and saving the gross idea for next year's birthday, which will give me enough time to pull it off better :)

While I was searching for the perfect tart recipe in Dolce Italianio: Desserts from the Babbo Kitchen, I found one for a polenta tart crust. Most people wouldn't really consider polenta as a dessert ingredient at all, let alone the main component of pie crust, so I thought it was really interesting and had to check it out. I actually ate polenta for the first time a few weeks ago and was surprised to find that it didn't actually taste much like cornmeal, but was much more bland, so I knew it wasn't actually going to be that weird. The full recipe also actually looked more like a type of shortbread, which is also a common tart crust, so I thought I could probably turn it into cookies!

They are REALLY good. I did overbake most of the cookies, so they ended up crispy rather than soft and chewy, but the cooking time just needs to be reduced. No matter what, they're still delicious. The lemon zest is really refreshing too. I think next time I make them, I'm going to reduce the cooking time, but also make up a batch of ganache to sandwich some of the cookies together...maybe even add some orange zest.

Lemon Polenta Shortbread Cookies

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
1/2 cup instant or fine polenta
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
zest of 1 lemon
1/2 cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes
1 large egg
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Place the flour, polenta, sugar, salt, and lemon zest in the bowl of a food processor and pulse to combine. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse sand; no large lumps of butter should be visible.

In a small bowl, whisk together the egg, olive oil, and vanilla. Add the wet ingredients to the food processor and pulse just until a ball of dough forms. Pat it into a disk and wrap tightly in plastic. Chill the dough until firm enough to roll, about an hour.

When the dough's ready, lightly flour your work surface and a rolling pin; roll the dough out into a circle about a quarter of an inch thick. Truly, you can make the cookies as thick or thin as you like, you'll just have to adjust the cooking time accordingly.

Cut the dough with a cookie cutter and place onto a cookie sheet (it doesn't have to be greased; they'll release easily because of the butter). Bake for about ten minutes. The cookies shouldn't brown whatsoever. I cooked mine for about 15 minutes; half of them browned and all of them were crisp rather than soft, as stated above. While that's perfectly fine, I think they're much better soft, in which case the cooking time should be under 15 minutes. Once I've made them again, I can update the recipe with something more certain.

Comfort Food for Cold Days: Creamy Chicken and Risotto Soup

2010-10-10T20:07:00.000-04:00

This entire summer has been blazing hot. I'm sure it's to make up for last summer, which was absolutely frigid. I kid you not, it was cold. Out of nowhere it seems, though, this summer made one giant leap to fall, which I'm actually loving. Autumn is truly my favorite season; it has my favorite clothes, my favorite movies, my favorite meals. It's cool, but just warm enough for me to wear pants and a cute jacket (usually, but who knows with Michigan). Plus, it contains my favorite holiday of all time; Halloween :) The one time when dressing up as someone else and stuffing your face with junk is truly appropriate. I like to spend each night eating a fall/Halloween-inspired treat with a glass of cider and a Halloween movie; I actually gained ten pounds the first month I started this ritual...oops.

So, as usual, the weather's gotten cold and I've been trying to make more comfort food, such as creamy chicken and risotto soup. I got the idea from Panera Bread's "Cream of Chicken and Wild Rice," which I've been obsessed with since my first taste. One day, mid-summer, I'd actually gone to Panera for a chicken salad sandwich and a cup of this tomato Parmesan soup they used to have, but it wasn't there! My only other option (as I can be fairly picky, especially with soup, which I don't usually even like) was the Cream of Chicken and Wild Rice, which did not disappoint...beyond did not disappoint. It was the thickest, creamiest, most addictive soup I'd ever eaten: no exaggeration, I could have eaten it with a fork, it was so thick. The problem with craving this soup on a constant basis, though, is how fattening it must be (I'm certain), not to mention how expensive.

A couple weeks ago, though, as I was stirring a pot of rosemary risotto to have with chicken for dinner, it hit me that risotto is an incredibly creamy rice dish; so creamy, sometimes, it's almost like a thick soup. Therefore, I should be able to easily turn it into a healthy, creamy chicken and rice soup. Why I'd never thought of this before is beyond me. But that's exactly what I did, last week :)

The meal was incredibly easy. The only actual hands-on cooking I did was food prep and, of course, constant stirring of the risotto. Basically, I cut up some vegetables (carrots and parsnips, to be exact) and poached them with a couple chicken breasts, pearl onions, and a bouquet garni, which is just a little homemade satchel filled with herbs (take some cheesecloth, fill it with flavorful items, tie it closed with kitchen twine, and there's your bouquet garni). While that was cooking, I made the risotto. I know that a lot of people probably think risotto sounds really complicated and tiring, but, as always, it's not. I used to be scared out of my mind of it, maybe because it just sounds so fancy, but after actually trying it? I don't even need a recipe and I doubt anyone else would either.

The basic method is to sauté chopped onions in butter or oil, add the rice to coat with the oil, then add a little wine and stir until nearly absorbed, and, lastly, add a ladle-full of heated stock (chicken, beef, vegetable, fish, whatever your flavor preference), constantly stirring (just casual, slow stirring is fine) until it's absorbed, continually adding stock until the risotto is the right consistency. Overall, it takes about twenty minutes, just like regular rice on the stove. The actual work is stirring; big deal, right? The time flies. And what's great about this method is you can keep adding flavorful ingredients, while it cooks, tasting every so often, until you've found exactly what you're looking for. The results are well worth it, like a fresh bowl of creamy, buttery mashed potatoes. It's also traditional to add a little butter and Parmesan at the end, letting it melt into the risotto on its own, lid on, without touching it. It adds an exquisite richness, but, I must say, it's not necessary. So, if you want it healthier, skip it!

Anyway, once everything was cooked, I simply diced up the chicken and veggies, added them to the risotto, and then continued to cook a little bit longer, adding more and more stock to achieve an even creamier, more soup-like, consistency. While risotto is quite creamy, it's supposed to be rather al dente--have a little bite in the center. With cream soup, this isn't what I'm looking for. So, that's why I continued on longer, with more and more liquid. At the very end, I added a splash of wine and a few extra herbs, for flavor. I have to say...it was delicious. Absolutely satisfying! We still have some leftover risotto--just plain risotto--that I'd set aside because we didn't need that much for the soup. So, I'm really excited to eat that with a meal some time this week. It's taken everything in me not to take it for lunch. I thought I should be a good person and leave it to share with my boyfriend :)

Creamy Chicken and Risotto Soup

Poached Chicken and Vegetables

This recipe is for a whole chicken; you can poach it, shred or dice up the meat, and store any leftovers in the freezer to have at hand any time you need it! It's great for last minute dishes when you're not sure what to make or don't have much to use because, most likely, you probably have some rice and veggies for a quick stir-fry or mayo for chicken salad--not to mention using it in enchiladas, tacos, pasta, or anything else you can think of.

If you don't want to poach an entire chicken, simply reduce the other ingredients to match the amount you're using. You'll want to lower the cooking time, though, or the chicken will overcook and dry out.

Ingredients

One 4-pound roasting chicken, giblets and fat removed
3/4 pound of carrots, peeled and trimed
3/4 pound of parsnips, peeled and trimmed
3/4 lb pearl onions studded with 6 whole cloves
A bouquet garni with 4 sprigs fresh thyme, 1 sprig tarragon, 8 peppercorns, 2 bay leaves, & 4 sprigs fresh parsley
1 tbsp salt
1 cup white wine
10 cups water

Directions

Put all of the ingredients into a large stockpot and place a colander on top to hold them down, rather than allow them to float above the water. Bring to a rapid boil and then lower the heat to maintain a gentle boil; cook for 20 minutes. Raise the heat and bring it back to a strong boil; cover the pot with a lid, turn off the heat, and allow it to sit for 45 minutes to an hour.

When the chicken's done, lift it out of the pot with a large strainer and set aside, with the vegetables, while you make the risotto. Once you're ready, the chicken will be easy to cut up/shred and the skin will peel right off. Don't forget to save the bones and cartilage to make stock later! You can keep it all in a bag in the freezer, until you're ready.

Risotto

Ingredients

3 pints stock (your choice, vegetable or chicken)
1 oz unsalted butter
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 shallot, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
4 bay leaves (fresh, if possible!)
salt, to taste
12 oz Arborio rice
4 oz white wine
fresh thyme, to taste

Directions

Heat the stock in a large saucepan and keep it simmering; you always want warm broth for cooking risotto.

In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, cook the butter, olive oil, shallot, bay leaves, and salt over moderate heat. Cook, stirring, until the shallot is soft and translucent, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic about halfway, through, ensuring it doesn't burn.

Add the rice and stir until well coated, 1 to 2 minutes; this is important to ensure a creamy risotto because the fats will keep the grains of rice separate.

Add the wine and cook, stirring constantly, until mostly absorbed, about 1 to 2 minutes. Add a ladleful of stock, stirring regularly until absorbed. You want to continue this action for about 20 to 30 minutes, adjusting the heat, as necessary, to maintain a gentle simmer and always adding more stock once the previous ladleful is absorbed. The rice should cook slowly and always have a veil of stock over it.

With a traditional risotto, the rice is done when it's tender, but firm to the bite. For this soup, though, you want it to be very tender and creamy, which is why you'll want to cook it longer. You may or may not use all the stock, depending on the consistency you're looking for or how quickly the rice is finished cooking.

While the risotto is cooking, peel the leaves from a few springs of fresh thyme and add them. Taste the risotto throughout the cooking process to determine whether more herbs are needed. Once fully put together with the chicken and vegetables, you may want to add even more, to finish it off. Tasting it throughout, though, will ensure you get the end product you desire. Experiment with other herbs as well! Do the same with the vegetables; I prefer simply root vegetables in my soups, but you may like celery, peas, or other traditional items found in chicken soup. You may even enjoy sautéing them with some spices, rather than poaching, for more levels of flavor (garlic powder, ground ginger, even curry would probably be great).

Once the risotto has finished cooking, remove from the heat, discard the bay leaves, and add the chicken and vegetables. Because the rice tends to absorb liquid very quickly, you may want to add more stock at the end. As stated earlier, I also added a splash of extra wine.

Homemade Apple Cider for Fall Days

2010-10-03T23:45:00.002-04:00

Last year, I wanted really badly to make my own apple cider. Why? So I could experiment with different flavors, of course! I never actually got around to it until this week, though. Took me long enough :)

Now, homemade apple cider is probably completely unnecessary unless you want to play with the flavor by using different types of apples or so you can simply boast that you made it yourself. Of course, I enjoy both of these benefits, haha. The problem is that homemade is much more expensive than store-bought, considering all the apples you need to buy in order to get a gallon's worth. I must have used maybe ten apples and only got a few cups out of it. I can't bear giving up the cider, though, so I just have a little sip every day :) It's a problem I have; when I was little I used to hoard my Easter and Halloween candy in a big tupperware container and eat just one piece a day because I didn't want it to be gone.

If you're into the idea of coming up with your very own cider, maybe for a special occasion or just a little fun experimentation for yourself one day, it's incredibly easy! Apple cider is literally just plain old juice from an apple. Growing up, this isn't something I ever realized; I mean, why would I? What's labelled as "apple juice" on the store shelves looks and tastes completely different from "apple cider," which I always thought was something more special, with added ingredients! One day, several years ago, I figured it out when I was making up a container of vegetable juice and found that the juice from the apple looked eerily similar to cider.

Apple remnants, separated by the juicer. So colorful!

So, if you happen to own a juicer (or, for some insane reason, an apple press), all you have to do is cut up some apples, shove them through the juicer, and voila...homemade apple cider! Mine was a combination of mostly red delicious, a few honeycrisp, and a single granny smith. My favorite part is the foam that develops on top, making it look even more rustic and a bit like a glass of beer! But much tastier.

The Way to a Man's Heart? Chocolate.

2010-10-03T22:52:00.006-04:00

I don't know what it is--maybe the simplicity and pure satisfaction of the flavor--but every boy (25 years old and I just can't bring myself to say 'man' yet!) I've ever known has been deeply in love with chocolate. Ask a guy what flavor of dessert he wants, no matter the form, and the answer is "chocolate." You'd expect it to get boring after a while, but there are so many different possible flavor combinations, even savory, that chocolate is timeless.

I think that, maybe, inside every man is hidden a little boy with a big sweet tooth. Perhaps it's because I associate chocolate with sweets and sweets with childhood, but so many of my favorite chocolate desserts remind me of being a little kid with a bottomless pit of a belly and a constant nagging hunger for something sweet. One of my favorites was brownies; somehow, they were always exciting! I can't think of a denser, chewier, more satisfying chocolatey dessert than a brownie. And there are kinds for everyone's taste; you can use milk chocolate, dark chocolate, semi-sweet, bittersweet; lace it with chunks of chocolate or keep it light; make them dense and fudgy or light and cakey. With brownies, really anything goes. And, no matter where you get them, they're always different.

I saw these little glasses at Anthropology this summer and just had to have them. The style reminds me of mason jars and who could resist a glass that has "milk" etched all around it in different languages? Not me!

I've definitely had a lot of different types throughout my life, but the combination I keep coming back to is consistently dark, chewy, and has little fudgy pockets of soft chocolate morsels. I'm not a milk chocolate fan; it is far, far too sweet for me to handle. I'm not even really a semi-sweet chocolate fan, though it's billions of times better than milk. For me, the only options are dark and bittersweet, so that's all I buy. And I have to say, I've found that a nice dark chocolate brownie is definitely the way to a man's heart...at least my man's heart! Of course, he'll take chocolate in any form; though he did devour these pretty quickly. I even had to yell at him today because there was only one brownie left and I hadn't photographed a single one for this entry yet, but he took it to work to eat! Didn't even ask...such is his mad hunger for chocolate ;) No worries, though, he didn't eat it! So, I got my photograph and slipped the last brownie back into his lunch bag for tomorrow.

Now, I know that a lot of people will just default to using a box brownie mix if they want to make them at home, but from-scratch brownies are quite literally one of the easiest desserts you could make. With a mix, you put the boxed dry ingredients into a bowl, add the wet, and mix it all up until incorporated. With from-scratch (at least my recipe), you generally do the same, but in a pot on the stove. I find the main difference in taste and texture probably comes from the use of actual chocolate rather than cocoa. As far as I can tell, chocolate flavored box mixes use cocoa, which imparts a chocolate flavor, but no fudgy texture. For me, I want to feel the chocolate as much as I taste it, so using actual chocolate, rather than cocoa, is a must.

I know that doing something on the stove top sounds like it must be more complicated, but it's really not. The only reason you do your mixing on the stove is so you can melt the chocolate and butter together at the beginning; of course, you could melt the chocolate and butter separately, but that would be more work! Basically, you just melt the two together in a pot, mix the dry ingredients in a separate bowl (it helps them to fully incorporate more easily because half the mixing is already done) and then mix it all together! After that, you just have to pour the batter into a pan and let the oven do its job.

My mom is the queen of box mixes; she loves to taunt me for being a from-scratch purist when it comes to cakey desserts because box mixes are so much easier and, in her opinion, taste just as good. I needed help preparing for a party one night, though, and she offered to help, so I gave her the task of making the brownies...from scratch. Of course, this was not something she was looking forward to! But my mother, who is free and open with her opinions, admitted that my way was just as easy. If she can admit it, so can you! I promise, it's worth it.

Brownies

Ingredients

2 sticks unsalted butter (This is important. Do not use oleo/margarine because the chocolate will seize once it melts into it)
1 cup all-purpose flour
4 oz chopped chocolate/morsels (your choice, but I use bittersweet. No matter what, use the best quality!)
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 cup chopped chocolate or morsels

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 F. Grease and flour an 11x7" baking dish; if you don't have one this dimension, don't worry, it's really just a guideline. I often use a 9x13" dish, which simply makes the brownies thinner.

Heat the butter and 4 oz chocolate in a saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly, until melted. It's important to keep a low heat not only so that the ingredients don't burn (chocolate and butter are both very sensitive to this), but to keep them from getting too warm because you don't want the eggs to cook or set up at all from the heat once you add them; it'll completely alter the texture of your brownies (I know because it just happened to me), as will the chocolate chips added at the end, if they melt. That's also why you should use morsels or finely chopped chocolate; it melts much quicker than big pieces!

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour and sugar, then add it to the chocolate mixture and stir to combine. Remove the pan from the heat and add the eggs, mixing until smooth. The batter can be a little thick for a whisk, so I recommend a wooden spoon. You may want to break up the eggs before adding them, so they're easier to combine, or break them up just after adding them, but before mixing them in. Either way, make sure the eggs are fully incorporated.

At the very end, stir in the chocolate morsels and pour the mixture into the dish. Bake 35-40 minutes until the center is set. You can test brownies like a cake, inserting a toothpick to check for uncooked batter, but remember that there are whole morsels in there, so the melted chocolate may deceive you.

If you want to eat warm brownies right out of the oven (with a scoop of ice cream, perhaps?), just wait several minutes before cutting them up. Otherwise, let cool completely.

Alternatives I enjoy are baking the brownies in a square cupcake tin or mini cupcake tin, in free-standing cupcake liners (such as pictured above), and even in a round pan, served just like cake! With, perhaps, a little powdered sugar, caramel, or chocolate sauce on top :)

As always, have fun with it!

Eat to Energize

2010-09-24T13:21:00.000-04:00

I've been trying really hard lately to eat well; to have a healthier breakfast in the morning (first thing when I get up, rather than two hours later at work), snack on produce throughout the day, and have a more interesting, but healthy dinner.

A while back, I bought a book, "Mad Hungry," by Lucinda Scala Quinn. It's about how to feed men and boys; I got it because I thought there might be more recipes in there that Billy would be interested in. I've found out, though, that there is so much more! She really tells you how to make cooking easier and more enjoyable; how to get the most out of your food and your day! There are tips galore. One of the main tips, which I'm now trying to get into, is to have an established routine because everything is easier when it's all laid out before you.

So, this week I began a routine, planning out four meals (since the other three nights would be booked already): enchiladas salsa verde, coq au vin, potsticker dumplings, and chili.

Coq au Vin. I know it looks like a photo from some Chinese takout menu, but this is chicken simmered in red wine with garlic, onions, and herbs! Amazing.

The first thing I did was make a list of all the ingredients I didn't have on hand, so Billy and I could pick everything up Sunday and be prepared for the rest of the week. Usually, I'm so indecisive and feel like we don't have enough variety in the cupboards, I end up making the same handful of dishes all the time. I usually default to pasta with tomatoes and herbs (actually, one of my favorite and most satisfying meals, though), steak with wine sauce and some type of potato, or baked chicken (plain, spiced, or curry) with, again, some type of potato or coconut rice. Without planned meals, I just don't buy less common ingredients at the store. I figure, I don't want to crowd my kitchen with food that never gets touched, because you know how easy it is to find something interesting, buy it, and never use it because you just don't get to purposefully finding something to use it in.

Planning out the week completely changed this, though. Not only did we eat meals we'd never had at home before (or necessarily at all), but we had something vastly different every single night. With a plan, I was also comfortable cooking straight after work. Usually, I'll sit down to relax first, mostly because I'm exhausted and just plain don't want to cook, but not having any idea what to make compounds that. Cooking after work, though, rather than immediately sitting/laying down for an hour or so, gave me more energy to last the rest of the night! Cooking, itself, obviously kept me awake, but since I was eating at a decent time, I was given an energy burst that would last me until bedtime, rather than finding myself falling asleep in front of the television. I've ended up sleeping better, as well, because of the lack of any sort of nap.

I've been practicing, generally, the same routine in the morning. My main plan is to start cooking breakfast foods that can be taken to work, like frittatas, homemade Hot Pockets, hard boiled eggs, etc--things that are more hardy and will give us real energy boosts, unlike carbs. Both Billy and I eat cereal for breakfast and, at least for me, it does nothing. I wait until work to eat (because I take so long to get ready), which makes it worse because that's two hours between waking up and breakfast, which defeats the metabolic boost it's supposed to give. Now, I haven't actually done any of this yet; I literally haven't had time this week...but I have been eating eggs daily for breakfast, directly after my shower, and I actually do feel the difference! I definitely feel much more awake at work. Being on a computer all day, my eyes get droopy pretty quickly, but I've been fine all this week until today...I'm guessing because I didn't eat breakfast until about 10 and had sugary cereal instead of eggs (it's not my fault, my dog kept me from getting up on time!).

Anyway, my point is that there really is something to this routine stuff. I think people find it difficult to cook not only because it takes effort that they don't want to make after work, but because they're unprepared, which makes it worse. Defaulting to what's easiest is...easier! Even coming up with a plan or routine seems like unwanted work, but it's not really. I think it's actually fun because you get to look through a cookbook at all the different recipes, ogling the most delicious looking photos, and picking out what you want to try, as if you were at a restaurant.t I mean, maybe it's just me, but I love looking through restaurant menus to find the most appealing dish to order, so why wouldn't I want to do that at home?

I'm just hoping I can continue this trend without giving into laziness and that more people discover how much easier cooking is with a routine and how food can truly enrich their lives...because I really do believe that most people love food (nearly) as much as I do.

Whiskey and Chocolate

2010-09-17T21:29:00.008-04:00

This past weekend was the bachelor/bachelorette parties I spoke of in my last entry. To illustrate how much fun I had, I probably need only say that I slept for eight or nine hours Sunday...morning/afternoon/evening as opposed to Saturday night! Between the end of the bachelorette party and Monday, I was probably awake for only four hours. Crazy! I do not like to sleep. Sleep is a waste of my time. Of course, I'm constantly exhausted and try my best to get at least seven hours a night, but during the day? Naps are not an option...though I often fall into an extreme coma against my will.

Anyway, the party was just absolutely awesome and the night flew by so quickly! We started out at the bride/groom's house, quickly ate some of my exquisitely decorated cake (this is the part where you recall what kind of cake I made and laugh), hopped onto the party bus to make our way to the bars, and within what felt like an hour, we were dropping people off. That's how you know you had a great time; it just passes you by in a blink. I only spent $10 too, which is pretty amazing! Of course, I only bought two drinks, but mixed drinks are usually more than $5 a piece.

Beginning of the night...

End of the night...Apparent by the table full of bar condiments!

The only thing I would do differently about that night is bring home some of the whiskey brownies...or actually put the tiny whiskey cake I set aside (using the leftover batter) in the fridge rather than leave it out all night on an open-air cake stand. OOPS.

Oh, and use a different recipe for the bachelorette cake/cupcakes. I didn't want to make a chocolate cake because I wanted it to be as authentic as possible (if you know what I mean), but I hate yellow cake; I absolutely loathe it. It was the simplest thing I could think of, though, and my compromise was to add crushed pineapple, so it would be more like a pineapple upside-down cake. Too bad the pineapple didn't add enough flavor! I actually believe that, had there been more fruit, it would have been great. But I'm entirely unsatisfied with the outcome! I'm sure not everybody felt the absolute same way, though. The meringue frosting was at least amazing.

Of course, I have plenty of leftover "pineapple" cupcakes! The one thing I do not want to eat. I actually hate whiskey, but those cupcakes were pretty good! I think it was the fact that the whiskey was set against so much cocoa; the cake was practically black! I also made bourbon caramel to pour over the tops, which was really my favorite part. I could eat spoonfuls of that...maybe. At first bite, it's really delicious and then the back-flavor of bourbon hits you.

Just sampling the ingredients! I recommend leaving the whiskey for the cake...

The combination has inspired me to try something similar with other liquors. I've brushed straight liquor and liquor-infused simple syrups onto cake before, but I've never actually baked it into the cake, and especially caramel, until now. Perhaps, soon, I'll experiment!

Chocolate Bourbon Cupcakes

Cupcakes
Ingredients

1 1/2 cups brewed coffee (hot)
1/2 up whiskey
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 F and prepare cupcake tins (either with liners or butter and flour). I made 24 cupcakes and had enough leftover batter to make a tiny little cake out of a large ramekin, so you could probably use two full pans plus part of a third, if you like. Otherwise, just do what I did with the leftovers!

Combine coffee, whiskey, butter, and cocoa in a heavy saucepan over moderate heat and whisk until ingredients are incorporated and butter is melted. Remove from heat and stir in the sugar until dissolved. Transfer the mixture to a large bowl and cool 5 minutes. In the meantime, combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a separate bowl. In another bowl, lightly whisk eggs and vanilla; whisk into the cooled chocolate mixture until combined well. Add the flour mixture and whisk until just combined; you may decide to do this in a stand mixer or using a hand mixer, but make sure the speed is high enough to incorporate the eggs properly. Because this is a thin batter, it's difficult to incorporate the eggs at a low speed (at least it was for me!).

Pour about 3 tbsp batter into each muffin cup to fill them about 3/4 full. I used a quarter cup measure and poured slightly less than the entire thing into the cups. These cupcakes do not rise much and mine didn't dome at all, so you could potentially fill the cups further, if you plan to frost the cupcakes, top with whipped cream, or leave as they are. Because I was going to pour caramel over them, though, I needed a little room between the cupcake and the top of the liner, to keep the caramel from flowing over.

Bake about 20 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Leave to cool at least ten minutes before removing from tin. I simply let mine cool completely in the tins because I baked them a day ahead and wasn't going to need them yet; since they were in liners, I wasn't worried about them sticking.

Bourbon Caramel Topping
Ingredients

2 tsp water
1 tsp baking soda
2 cups sugar
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
2 tsp dark corn syrup
1/2 cup bourbon
2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

Stir together the water and baking soda, so that the baking soda dissolves. In a 6-quart saucepan, bring the sugar, buttermilk, butter, and corn syrup to a boil, stirring to melt the butter and dissolve the sugar. Reduce the heat to medium-high and add the baking soda water; the mixture may begin to rise up and bubble--just make sure you keep stirring so it doesn't flow over.

If it looks like it's getting out of hand, remove it from the heat temporarily to calm it. Keep cooking until the sauce is thick and golden, about eight minutes. If you want it thicker, keep heating the mixture. I cooked mine a little longer until it really looked like thick caramel, rather than like a pourable glaze. When it's come to the stage of your preference, remove it from the heat and stir in the bourbon and vanilla.

I let the caramel cook so it would really thicken and I could essentially spread it over the cupcakes. All I really had to do was drop about a teaspoon (this is an estimation) onto each cupcake and let it spread apart on its own; I only had to coax some of it into the corners to make sure the cake was wholly covered.

If you'd rather make this recipe as a cake, I suggest making enough caramel to spread or pour between the layers. I'd cut a few thinner layers, rather than two or three thick ones, so that there's a bit of caramel in every bite, which I think would just be devine! I'm sure the cake would look absolutely sweet with caramel simply oozing out of the layers. You could also turn the caramel into frosting to cover the outside of the cake, though I really think it wouldn't be necessary.

Also, if you're not a whiskey person, try another liquor of your choosing! Kahlua, dark rum, or Frangelico would probably be amazing. I will say the cake was a little strong, so, if that would be a problem, try just reducing the amount of liquor, especially with something as potent as whiskey or rum.

...Go Together like a Horse and Carriage

2010-09-08T13:59:00.006-04:00

*Note: I stole the entry title from a post a friend made about a completely different subject. But it's so perfect! So, thanks Dustin ;)

I began this entry with the intention of talking about the sudden weather change, what it means for my cooking, and the upcoming bachelor/bachelorette dessert task I'm taking on, which I'm pretty excited for, if I have the time to actually be creative.

I'll start with dessert...

My friends are getting married at the end of this month (17 more days! Don't worry, I had to check my calendar to come up with that number, haha) and their bachelor/bachelorette parties are this Saturday. Megan and I have made several bachelorette party cakes, for parties that we're not even invited to; we get asked simply because we always do it, and we're good at it! Of course, being as blatantly dense as I can be at times, I didn't even think of making one for this party. I offer to bake a cake for all of my friends' birthdays, but I let a bachelorette party go right over my head. The only reason the idea came to me is because someone inquired this past weekend. I couldn't believe I hadn't thought of it!

So, Megan has agreed to help me make the cake. If you're wondering what exactly the cake is, just consider the most inappropriate theme for bachelorette parties and that is the cake. If that doesn't help, perhaps you're a Friends fan and recall the bunny-shaped birthday cake Rachel ordered for her daughter's first birthday, which was not in the shape of a bunny ;)

When we make the cake, we usually end up with enough leftover batter for a small batch of cupcakes and I thought this was my perfect opportunity to make the cutest cupcakes possible! Then, I remembered the wedding-themed cupcake liners I saw at Sur la Table; they came with little cutout brides and grooms on toothpicks. Adorable! It's a tossup, though. Spend time making cute little decorations myself...or spend money on some paper decorations that cost more than they probably should...

Bake Cups, Wedding Set

Considering those cupcakes, though, brought me to the realization that the party is starting at the bride's house, which is the location of the bachelor party and, since I'll be there anyway, I thought I should make something fun for the boys! You know they'll devour anything, as men always do...so I figured that's another opportunity to make something fun.

The problem is that I still haven't developed my decorating skills as far as my ambitions. Believe me, if I could make a full-blown (inappropriate) groom's cake, I would. With a full-time job, feeling over-fatigued every night, and only the smallest decorating talent, there's no way that's happening. I don't even know if I'll have the time or energy to accomplish some of my other ideas; for all I know, these will be simple chocolate cupcakes. Let's hope I can pull through!

I love making desserts for my friends, though, because not only do I get to see them happy, but I don't get stuck trying to eat an entire dessert by myself. Now you're thinking, "Her boyfriend lives with her..." But no...that doesn't matter. Billy eats like a bird and, while he loves sweets, he never eats what I make simply because he can't recall that there's anything to eat! People say you need to leave food where a man can see it or he'll never touch it and I have to say...it's so true. Too bad I can't have everything in my fridge sitting front and center.

After having gone up a full size in the past year, I'm excited to make food for someone else to eat :) I'll just ignore the fact that I'll be continually making dessert for myself and Billy anyway. Maybe I should start trying to come up with nutritious, low-fat, low-calorie recipes like I started to years ago...It's actually not that difficult, so I'm not quite sure why I gave up...probably because I started baking for so many other people and didn't want to chance making something bad.

I've been writing this on my lunch break, which is just about up, so I have to run! Pray for my cakes! ;)

A Weekly Family Meal

2010-09-06T21:47:00.000-04:00

For a few years now, my parents and I have gone out to dinner every Friday. My mom came up with the idea as a way for us to go out and regularly try something new. In the beginning, it was fairly easy to pick a completely different restaurant each week; after so much time, though, we tend to go back to the same ones over and over. There are only so many to choose from! Like I've said before, though, I love trying new places, so I make a constant effort to find a dinner location that we've never been to.

Tonight, it was Dino's Lounge in Ferndale. I've actually been there once before, but it was years ago with Megan, and my parents (and Billy) had definitely never been. I hadn't even thought of it until Megan and I drove past it last week on our way to Como's and Pinwheel for our incredibly late lunch and dessert. Like Como's, Dino's seems to be based on Italian food. In my opinion, a preponderance of restaurants seem to dabble in Italian food and get it utterly, utterly wrong; usually, it's less than nothing to write home about. Based on my Chicken Scaloppini Risotto tonight, though...Dino's has it right!

I am very picky with my risotto. The first time I'd ever had it, I made it myself and, while the texture was beyond comfort-food-satisfying, it was far too flavorful to stand for more than a couple spoonfuls. It took me three tries to realize that I didn't like the chicken broth flavor, which all of the recipes I'd used called for. Later, I discovered Brio's Sweet Potato and Chicken Risotto, which I thought was amazing when I tried a bit of my mother's, but found too flavorful, yet again, when I finally had a dish of my own. Instead of overpowering chicken broth, however, it had an overpowering flavor of wine. I have yet to perfect risotto at home, but I finally found a dish I can eat and eat...and eat...until I'm actually full.

After dinner, we headed over to Pinwheel because I, of course, needed to satisfy my week-long craving for macarons! I also wanted to brag about all the more interesting selections they have. This time, instead of getting just one of each cookie I wanted to try, I felt the need to ensure I wouldn't be longing for anything particular all day, every day, for the second week in a row. So, I got a few "cappuccino coins," a Mexican chocolate cupcake, a nice cold lemon buttermilk bar, and two of every flavor of macaron. Two...of every...flavor. That's two blackberry, two strawberry, two lemon, two pistachio, two vanilla, two chocolate, and two coffee. I even had a little photo shoot just to show how adorably delectable they really are!

Now, these cookies, as small as they appear, are definitely sweet enough for a person to eat just one. It's really all you need to be satisfied! For that moment...The next day, however, there are no guarantees, which is why I wanted so many! I figured, I want one of each so that I can sample the different flavors, but I want a second of each just in case there's something I really like that I want to sample again :) Since I don't make too many trips to Ferndale and sandwich cookies tend to be tedious, I'm certain I won't overfill myself on these, so this little overindulgence should be just fine :)

Sunday, I'm going to my parents' house so I can help my mom try a new method for cooking ribs, which is how I attained that tender, fragile meat that slipped right from the bone last week (recipe courtesy of Megan's boyfriend, Steve, man-cook extraordinaire!), as well as learn to properly cut up a whole chicken. Since we'll be having dinner there, I thought it only appropriate that I bring a dessert!

So, tomorrow, I expect, hopefully, to either make several tiny blackberry, red currant, and nectarine tarts (each fruit its own individual tart and all tarts baked rather than fresh, which I tend not to prefer) or an attempt at the original gooey butter cake recipe. I've made the common household recipe (in a chocolate version) just about a bazillion times and finally tried, this past week, to make my own. I used my personal brownie recipe as the cake base and then used the gooey butter cake topping. The treats that came out of the oven, I must say, were out of this world...texture-wise. I thought they must literally be the best little hot fudge cakes I'd ever eaten. The only problem is how blatantly rich and sweet they are. In an effort to find out if alternate recipes exist, I discovered that the most common one found is not the original, which, I can only imagine, is not nearly as overly sweet as it doesn't contain a block of cream cheese paired with a pound (yes, a pound) of powdered sugar.

We'll see what happens tomorrow!

A little comfort dessert for a surprisingly eventful week

2010-09-03T15:47:00.020-04:00

I feel like, with my constant burning hunger and my absolute pure joy just to eat, one of my absolute favorite activities is to find new restaurants that actually have good food (because, I find, restaurant food is usually anything but special) and bakeries with new treats I've never tried. I especially like doing this with Megan because she is one of the few people I know who loves to do the same! I’m sure others enjoy eating at new places, but Megan seems to be constantly looking for new and different food stops, which is how I got into it and ended up spending my Saturday in Ferndale.

We had “lunch,” which was really dinner as it was after four pm, at Como's Restaurant and Pizzeria, where I had one of the better chicken dishes I’ve found. It was covered, absolutely covered, in roasted garlic. I didn’t even need my sides and I always need a side. After Como’s, we went off to our real destination, Pinwheel Bakery, where I discovered my complete, unqualified love for macarons. All my life, the only macaron I've ever eaten was this past Saturday at Pinwheel, but I'm totally addicted! They’re little almond-based meringue sandwich cookies filled with buttercream and there are so many different flavors! Megan had a coffee macaron, which reminded her of my mocha cupcakes (I haven’t made them in years and should probably fix that!), and I had a blackberry, which was actually pretty fruity tasting with just the right amount of sweet! They were the perfect size, too. You really only needed to eat one, though I wanted to eat ten J

There were actually a lot of different cookies that I'd never seen in a bakery before too…chai tea cookies (I think like Mexican wedding cookies, but with different spices), cardamom cookies, tiny "cappuccino coins" with equally tiny chocolate morsels, even rosemary cookies! I had to get myself a little cellophane baggy filled with one of each, just in case I’d find a new favorite and because I might discover something I’d like to reproduce at home. Of course, the winner was the macaron and I had only tried one of five flavors.

After our little food outing, Meg and I did some shopping, popped by her boyfriend's fantasy football draft for a drink, which then turned to two, and, finally, I had just enough time to stop by my mom's to pick something up and then drive aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaall the way back home to get Billy so we could drive half an hour in the opposite direction to be late to a friend's apartment for the funniest drinking game of all time, set to The Jersey Shore, that is sure to get you off your rocker.

Having stayed out late for a friend's barbecue the night before, it was definitely a weekend filled with more fun than I'm used to! I was simply exhausted by Sunday and yearning for some comfort food, which brings us to my very first barbecue ribs, which were so tender (thanks to a method I learned from Megan’s boyfriend), we had to eat them with forks because the entire sheath of meat would fall cleanly off the bone when you tried to pick it up…

…and also, my very first clafoutis, made with figs and raspberries.

I got the recipe from my mom's copy of The Best of Gourmet: 1988 Edition...which she just bought for a dollar, by the way...When I saw the dish had figs in it, a fruit you rarely see in recipes anymore, I just couldn't pass! It was so incredibly easy to make too. All I had to do was slice the figs in half, arrange them in a dish with the berries, mix up some batter, and pour it in!

After that, I let my oven do all the work and spent the next hour laying on the couch with the amazing scent of freshly baked fruit wafting all around me.

When the clafoutis had finally cooled, just enough to serve, I found myself finishing off my small slice so quickly and fervently, I had to take twice as much for seconds. It was everything I was looking for that night...warm and sweet, moist and refreshing...creamy, yet chewy, yet crunchy (from the sugar sprinkled over the top). I'd like to take a piece to work every…single…day this week to warm up in our little toaster oven, but I'm going to at least attempt to behave myself!

Fig and Raspberry Clafoutis

Ingredients

1 lb (about 9) fresh figs, halved lengthwise
1/2 cup raspberries
1/4 cup blanched whole almonts
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
3/4 cup milk
1/3 cup + 2 tbsp sugar
2 large eggs
1 tbsp Tawny Port
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbp cold unsalted butter, cut into bits

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Arrange the figs cut side up decoratively in a buttered 11-inch-long gratin pan, 1.5 inches deep (5 cups), and sprinkle the raspberries around them. In a blender or food processor grind fine the almonds with the flour, add the milk, 1/3 cup of the sugar, the eggs, the Port, and the salt; blend the custard well, stopping the motor and scraping down the sides as necessary. Pour the batter slowly over the fruit, dot it with the butter, and sprinkle it with the remaining 2 tbsp sugar. Bake the clafoutis for 30 to 40 minutes, or until the top is golden and the custard is set. Transfer to a rack and let cool for 20 minutes; serve the clafoutis warm with whipped cream, if desired.

I think this is absolutely delicious warm. If you end up with leftovers, keep them in the fridge, but I recommend warming it back up in the oven before eating, to ensure the top re-crisps. I'm not a fan of microwaves for reheating food, at all, and don't actually own one, but obviously, if you don't care about the clafoutis having the original texture, a microwave is fine.

I also recommend trying this recipe with other fruits; stone fruits would be especially delicious, I'm sure! Technically speaking, I believe a clafouti traditionally contains cherries, so you may want to try that as well. I think the next time I make one, I'm going to try plums or apricots, which I think would probably be the perfect size when halved :)

And, though I'm a huge fan of fruit, especially cooked fruit, my favorite part of the dish was actually the custard! So, I may also reduce some of the fruit, in the future. I'd say this is a dish where you probably have a lot of options, depending on your taste/texture preferences.

Orange-Chocolate Velvet Cake

2010-06-13T15:40:00.023-04:00

This past weekend was my boyfriend's 30th birthday (what an old man! hehe) and I baked him a special Orange-Chocolate Velvet Cake to celebrate.

His absolute favorite flavor combination is orange and chocolate. To illustrate...for Valentine's day, I found a recipe for orange-flavored Milano cookies (his fave) and baked them for him in the shape of hearts. I also made a huge breakfast, which included heart-shaped (of course!), orange-chocolate chip muffins, which are absolutely delectable, if I do say so myself ;)

Even more so, Billy's obsessed with just chocolate, in general, especially dark chocolate (a man after my own heart!). So, how could I not keep with the trend and make an orange-chocolate cake :)

Anyway, for a while now, I've been trying to come up with, what I consider, the perfect texture of cake. I prefer butter-based cakes over oil (which is generally what's used with a box mix) because I find oil-based cakes too light; I feel like I'm not really eating anything because there's just no physical satisfaction from a mouthful of airy, substance-lacking cake. With a butter-based cake, however, you get a nice thick, dense bite of cake. The problem, though, is they tend to feel more dry, so I always end up soaking my layers with some kind of liquid to add moisture. Now, sometimes I like to add liquid anyway, for flavor, but I prefer not to need extra liquid to make up for a drier cake.

So...I decided to take a chance on Billy's birthday cake and experiment. Thank goodness...it was a success! All I had to do was take a butter-based recipe and cut the butter, replacing half of it with vegetable oil. The result was a dense but super moist cake. Now, that seems like an obvious, easy fix, but baking takes chemistry; remove a certain ingredient and the entire thing may fail. For instance, replacing half the butter with oil caused the cake to rise less. It turned out to be the perfect size for this particular party, but if I'd needed twice as much cake, it would have been a major problem. I'm glad to finally have my perfect base cake recipe, though :)

Orange-Chocolate Velvet Cake

Cake (based on my own personal recipe)

Ingredients

2 cups sugar
1 stick butter, room temperature
2 eggs
zest of 1/2 to 1 orange (depending on your flavor preference)
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 cup cake flour
1 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk (you may also substitute milk with orange juice or add a combination of the two, but zest will flavor the batter far more than juice ever will)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon vinegar

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a mixing bowl, cream the butter with 1 cup of the sugar, beating until light and fluffy (about 3 minutes). Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Zest your orange directly into the bowl; zest only half the orange for a more subtle flavor and the whole orange for a more powerful flavor. You can experiment with how zest affects flavor and alter it to your liking!

Sift together the flours, cocoa, and salt. Add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture alternately with milk (in 3 batches), vanilla, and oil. In a small bowl, combine the baking soda and vinegar, immediately adding them to the batter (you'll get a chemical reaction like a science fair volcano). Baking soda reacts with liquid, so you don't want to add it until the very end, right before the batter goes in the oven. Quickly mix the batter once more, ensuring everything is incorporated and immediately pour it into two (9-inch) round, greased and floured pans. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool for 10 minutes before removing from the pans to cool on a wire rack; always cool completely before frosting.

*Note: When baking something new, for a special occasion, I always pour a little batter into a greased ramekin that I bake with the actual dessert. Then, I can taste the cake before I serve it and know whether or not it's a flop! Just remember to check the sample before your timer goes off because it won't take nearly as long to bake as the large layers.

Chocolate Buttercream (based on a recipe by Julia Child)
Ingredients

2/3 cup (4 to 5) egg whites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
pinch of salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup water
2 sticks unsalted, softened butter
1 tbsp + 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
4 oz melted dark or bittersweet chocolate

Directions

Beat the egg whites, cream of tartar, and salt to soft peaks; then, turn the machine to slow while you prepare the syrup.

For the syrup, boil the sugar and water to the thread stage. Beating the egg whites at moderate speed, slowly dribble in the syrup, increasing the speed to moderately fast and continually beating until the meringue is cool and forms stiff, shining peaks. Your mixing bowl is going to be very hot because of the syrup, so be careful touching it. Use its temperature as a basis for knowing when your meringue has likely cooled. Obviously, a warm bowl means a warm filling. If it doesn't cool enough, it will begin to liquidize.

I could, literally, eat this by the spoonful.

In a separate bowl, cream the butter until light and fluffy (using a paddle-attachment); then, add 2 to 3 cups of meringue. Once incorporated, add the vanilla and the melted chocolate. Now, you can play with the amounts of meringue/chocolate, depending on what you want the frosting to taste like! If you want it to taste more like marshmallow, add more meringue. If you want it to taste really chocolatey, add more chocolate. Just realize that your texture is going to change depending on your ingredient; for instance, the more chocolate you add, the stiffer the frosting will be. Now, this frosting is naturally incredibly, incredibly light, airy, and creamy. It's absolutely amazing and so easy to pipe, so I wouldn't worry too much about extra chocolate.

If you don't plan to use the buttercream right away, put it in an airtight container and refrigerate it. You'll need to remove it an hour or so before using it, though, because it will completely set in the fridge; you'll barely be able to scoop it out, let alone spread it. I haven't done this, so I don't know the actual amount of time it needs to soften, but I promise it will soften because I did keep slices of leftover cake in the fridge and let them come to room temperature before eating.

Also, this version of buttercream holds up very well in humidity, so it's a great choice for outdoor parties in the summer!

Assembly
This particular cake is only two layers, but you can cut more, if you like. I wasn't satisfied with the amount of orange flavor (I used the lesser amount of zest), so I brushed orange juice onto both layers; this not only adds a little extra flavor, but makes the cake more moist, which it didn't need, but simply made it that much more satisfying!

Spread buttercream on the first layer, top it with the second, and cover the rest of the cake, leaving enough buttercream for piping (if desired). I can't give you specific amounts because I tend to simply "eyeball" everything. My motto is that people should add as much as they like; so, if you're a frosting person, lay it on thick; if not, put a thin layer all around. Just keep in mind how much frosting you actually have on hand, so you don't end up with too little to finish the cake; appearance can be nearly as important as taste! Because I planned to pipe the entire top, I simply put a thin enough layer to mask that part of the cake.

Next, I pressed bits of candied orange peel into the sides of the cake...this was a terrible idea considering how light the frosting is because the peel pushed the frosting aside so easily, I had to be incredibly careful! I even started pressing them in one-by-one, which was, obviously, also a nightmare. It took forever and it was so, so messy handling that super sticky peel; I just don't recommend it, at least with this frosting.

Lastly, I filled a pastry bag (with tip) and began carefully piping the entire top of the cake. Unfortunately, I'm not very educated in the art of decoration, so I have no idea what that tip is called, but just use whatever you think looks good :) After the top, I put a finishing line of piping all around the bottom of the cake.

If you don't plan to serve this cake until the next day, there's no need to refrigerate. A lot of people believe that frosting needs to be refrigerated because of the dairy, but that's simply not true. The fact is, you can leave butter out all night long if you want and nothing will happen. Just make sure it's covered well.

And remember, if you do refrigerate it (because you're nervous about leaving it out, plan to store it for several days, or have leftovers), pull the cake out a couple hours ahead of time to ensure the frosting is the consistency it should be.

I didn't think a cassata cake could get better...until there was chocolate.

2010-05-23T15:48:00.002-04:00

This is one of my all-time favorite cakes, so far! It's a rich, but addictive all the same; the cake is chocolatey and moist, the pudding creamy, and the ganache smooth and decadent. Having made it three times in a row, I've used both traditional chocolate ganache and hot fudge as a chocolate shell. The choice is yours, but I believe I preferred the fudge because of the hint of caramel flavor it added.

If you don't like your cakes as rich, skip the shell and make it like a trifle, with only cake and pudding. You can also play with the amount of chocolate and the type of chocolate, depending on your taste. A nice addition may be to add chopped nuts such as peanuts, hazelnuts, or pistachios. The saltiness would likely cut back the richness of the dessert while adding just the ring hint of another layer of flavor and texture. In the photo above, the cake is topped with toffee bits.

Cioccolato-Mangiare Cake

You probably need three days to make this because the cioccolato-mangiare must chill overnight before assembling the cake, which must chill overnight itself (or at least several hours) to ensure it holds together; so that's two nights of chilling. The filling is actually quite simple and doesn't take too long to cook (maybe half an hour), so I recommend doing that one evening (even a weeknight, it's easy!), chilling it overnight, then baking the cake the next day, assembling it, and leaving that overnight, again.

Cioccolato-mangiare - Day 1

Ingredients

2 qts half & half
1 1/3 cup sugar
1 cup cornstarch (I varied this every time; use less if you want a thinner, traditional pudding-like consistency, because this filling is a bit thick and more stable, especially with the addition of chocolate)
8 oz bittersweet (or dark) chocolate
1 tbsp pure vanilla
2 tsp ground caneda

Directions

In a large pot, mix the sugar and cornstarch; if you don't mix them, the cornstarch can more easily end up getting clumpy. Add the milk and ground caneda, mixing well.

Bring to a slow boil, constantly stirring and making sure to scrape the bottom and sides of the pot so that the pudding doesn't burn. Be patient, taking longer at a lower heat will ensure success; I generally cook mine around medium or medium-high, lowering the temperature, if necessary. You'll know it's getting near the finish when you can pick up big clumps of pudding in your spoon. From here, it fairly quickly comes together. .

Once the pudding has clearly come together, remove it from the heat immediately and add the vanilla.

Cover the pudding with plastic wrap, making sure they're actually touching. Don't worry about the plastic touching the hot pot and pudding, either; I promise you, it won't melt. Just be careful setting it on so that you don't burn yourself. Let the pudding cool at room temperature for a while before setting it in the fridge. Leave overnight.

The next day, beat the mixture until it becomes a fluffier consistency. I use a hand mixer directly in the pot, but you can transfer it to a bowl, if you like, or use a stand mixer. It's very thick, so this isn't something you can likely do with a whisk in your hand!

Chocolate Cake

I'm not even going to bother writing directions for this because I just used box mix cake. Now, that goes against everything I believe in, but my mother specifically requested it for her birthday cake. I will note that I used Duncan Hines' Moist Deluxe Dark Chocolate Fudge Cake Mix. I baked it in two 9-inch cake pans for one of the versions and switched to three for another. I find that three layers is probably best so that you end up with two thinner layers of filling rather than one thick one. I also made a rum syrup to brush over the layers, recipe to follow.

Rum Syrup (it's pretty much a simple syrup with the addition of rum)

Ingredients

3 oz water (or about 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp)
3 oz sugar (about 1/4 cup + 3 tbsp)
3 oz dark rum (about 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp)

Obviously, it's basically equal parts water, sugar, and rum--so make as much as you like and store it in the fridge or freezer! It will keep in the fridge for up to a month.

Directions

In a small saucepan (preferably one with a lid), bring the water and sugar to a rolling boil, stirring constantly. Cover immediately, remove from the heat, and allow it to cool completely. Once cool, stir in the rum.

Assembly - Day 2

This is assembled much like a trifle. Set the bottom layer of cake into a springform pan with the sides lined in wax paper. Brush or pour over some of the rum syrup, then spread the cioccolato-mangiare, covering the entire layer. Now, you can add as much or as little as you like! When making trifle-like desserts, I prefer to have just about equal amounts of cake and filling. I'd love to give you an exact measurement, but, as always, I just eyeballed it. Don't worry too much about this, though, because I assure you it will be delicious, no matter what the ratio of cake to filling.

After your first layer of cake and filling, repeat the entire process with a second layer of cake and filling. Then, simply top it all with the third layer, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and leave it in the fridge to chill overnight. Chilling is essential because the cake and filling will adhere to each other, ensuring the entire thing doesn't fall apart when you try to unmold or cut it. Because the cake layers are full rounds, rather than various pieces (like with lady fingers), it's far less likely to fall apart, but your filling will ooze out much more easily if it's not chilled for several hours first.

If you're making a rustic cake with no outer covering of chocolate, though, there's no need to chill over night! Just assemble the layers on a platter and you're all set. In that case, though, I do recommend adding some type of decoration to the top, such as a spreading of ganache or whipped cream with chocolate shavings (yum!)

Final Touches - Day 3

Chocolate Ganache (remember, a variation is hot fudge, so that recipe follows)

Ingredients

2 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 lbs bittersweet chocolate, chopped (unless you have morsels!)

Directions

Have your chocolate ready in a heat-proof bowl. Heat the cream until it just comes to a simmer, remove it from the heat and pour it over the chocolate. Allow it to sit for about 10 seconds and then whisk until the chocolate is melted and the mixture becomes smooth. Allow it to cool slightly, stirring occasionally. The longer you let the ganache sit, the thicker it will become. For this recipe, I let it cool a little longer so that it was still "pourable," but very thick and easy to spread, rather than sliding all over the cake like a sauce.

The trouble you'll have covering this cake is that it's cold, so the ganache will set very quickly, which means you have to work quickly. It's also quite difficult to smooth out because of how quickly it sets. Unless your heart is set on having a perfectly covered, smoothed out layer of ganache, I'd simply pour it over the top, spread it a little bit to coax it to the edges, and let it gently fall over the layers! Rustic is just as beautiful and lends a sweet, homemade quality.

If you plan to serve the cake later, keep it in the fridge. Your ganache will definitely set in there, creating more of a shell than a creamy layer of chocolate, but it's necessary for the pudding. To be honest, everybody raved about the chocolate shell and wondered how I did it! The only problem is the difficulty cutting through it because the chocolate wants to stick to your knife...but who cares about that ;)

Oh, and I almost forgot...If you want piping like my cake, just let the ganache cool completely (again, at room temperature), so that it takes on the thickness of frosting. Then, pipe it all around your cake! I absolutely adore how it looks piped too; it's so ooey and gooey like little melty morsels of chocolate :)

Hot Fudge

Ingredients

9 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped (or morsels)
3/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup unsalted butter, cubed
pinch of salt
1/2 cup sugar
2 tbsp light corn syrup
2 tbsp water
1 tsp pure vanilla

Directions

Place the chocolate in a large, heatproof bowl; in a second, small bowl, combine the cream, butter, and salt. Separately, in a medium saucepan set over medium heat, cook the sugar, corn syrup, and water until the sugar is dissolved (stirring often). Increase the heat to high and bring it to a full rolling boil; cook, without stirring, until it becomes a dark amber color, about 1 to 2 minutes. Be very careful not to overcook because it will burn. If the heat seems to be uneven (you'll see one side getting dark before another), gently swirl the pan; this will then swirl the sugar mixture so that it disperses evenly without being disturbed by stirring.

As soon as it's a dark amber, remove the pan from the heat and carefully pour in the cream mixture and whisk together. The mixture will rise high and become very bubbly the second you add the cream; you may think it looks like it's about to boil over! Just keep whisking and it'll die down. If you're scared, use a saucepan with higher sides.

Pour the hot mixture over the chocolate, add the vanilla, and whisk until smooth.

After this, simply treat it like ganache! The longer it cools, the thicker it will become, so just wait (stirring occasionally) until it's thick enough to spread, but still a bit pourable. And, as I pointed out with the ganache, it will set quickly on the cold cake and will set fully once it's in the fridge, creating a cool, delicious shell of hot fudge.

Though the recipe appears more difficult, it's actually quite simple to make hot fudge. I burned it the first time I made it, but have only had easy success since! And it's so, so, so so so delicious. If it's a tossup between ganache and hot fudge...the fudge takes the cake, without a doubt.

A Double Birthday

2010-05-23T15:07:00.350-04:00

The birthday was a major success!

A small group of us had dinner at Black Finn for the first part of the night. Since it was my 25th, I felt free to order myself a few cosmos and a nice steak, which, unfortunately, I wasn't as impressed with as my boyfriend's burger. I actually don't prefer beef and tend toward turkey burgers (homemade only) instead, but this looked so amazingly messy and you know those are always the best! Not to mention, it was actually cooked right -- medium, rather than well-done, which is just gross.

After Black Finn, we headed over to Joe Kool's for the real party. If you recall, Megan didn't know that the party was also for her, so I asked a friend, who she drove with, to ensure she didn't arrive to Kool's before I did because I wanted to be there when she realized what was going on! Since we were going to be at dinner together beforehand, I had (I thought) no way to get to Kool's with enough time to decorate, so my wonderful parents went a little early to set up the balloons and sign. I love how easily a few balloons can alter an atmosphere!

Anyway, the funny part is that Megan was incredibly late to Kool's because she and her boyfriend made some incredibly long pit stops beforehand. I sat there, with my vodka and lemonade, waiting...and waiting...and waiting...I couldn't even go to the bathroom because I was afraid she'd walk in right at that moment! And when she finally did, she didn't even notice the sign. Having known Megan nearly my entire life, I should have known better, but it was awesome all the same. And she loved her gift, a portrait lens for her camera, which our friends were so generous as to pitch in for.

You can guess how the rest of the night went. Drinks, friends, good food...what more could you want?

Scroll to the bottom of the page for recipes :)

The cakes!!

Now, for archiving purposes, only the Peach Melba Cake recipe is in this entry. You can find the Cioccolato-Mangiare in the very next.

Peach Melba Cake: Trifle Version

There are two variations of this cake; you can either make it similar to a trifle (like I did for this birthday) or as a classic cake, frosted on the outside (as I did for last year's cake). If you want to make it like a classic cake, use the recipe from the previous entry: Peach Melba Cake with Buttercream

Fruit Trifle
Ingredients

Savoiardi (these are crunchy lady fingers, you may substitute with soft ones, if preferred, but realize that these do soften once layered with liquor and whipped cream)
Marsala wine, Chambord, or Framboise liqueur
poached peaches (recipe above)
fresh raspberries
heavy whipping cream
sugar

Assembly

I have to apologize because I have no measurements, whatsoever, for this recipe. Every time I make a trifle, I simply grab a bag of savoiardi, whatever sweet liqueur or wine I have on hand, a bunch of fresh fruit, a container of heavy cream, and I just go with it. Trifles are easy to wing, though, because you don't have to cook a thing and, unless you overdo the liquor, it'll pretty much taste good no matter what. I know it would be much more helpful if I had measurements, but you simply have to trust your instincts. So...

First, you have to decide whether you want a trifle in a bowl or you want a freestanding one, like mine. If you plan to spoon it out of a dish, like you would a traditional trifle, your first step is simply to cover the bottom of the dish with lady fingers; if you have to cut some in half or quarters, in order to cover the bottom, that's fine.

If you want a freestanding trifle, like mine, you need a springform pan, whether round or square. In the springform pan, you'll layer the trifle the same way you would a dish, but line the inner sides of the pan with wax paper to ensure the trifle stays together when you finally remove the sides. I've made a few trifles without the wax paper and, believe me, it is not a good idea. Once your wax paper is in place and your first layer of lady fingers is set down, you're ready to continue assembly.

Soak the lady fingers in the wine/liqueur. When I say soak, though, I really mean an even drizzle, all over the lady fingers; you don't want to get them too wet or you'll end up with dessert soup; your real aim is to flavor them while adding a hint of moisture. If you've ever made tiramisu, you'll know exactly what to do. I like to use my smallest pyrex measure because it has a spout and I can easily pour a little bit wherever I need it; you may prefer to brush the liquid on, though, if you're afraid of over-wetting the lady fingers.

Next, spread on some freshly whipped cream. To whip your own, pour a few cups of heavy cream (or whipping cream, whichever you find at the store) into a stand-mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and mix it just like you would egg whites -- start on low speed (so it doesn't splatter) and turn it up to high. Don't overbeat the cream or it'll be too stiff; if you're unsure, just stop the machine and check the consistency -- it should look a lot like cream out of a can. If it does end up too stiff, though, it's not the end of the world; nobody would probably even notice! I'm sure I've overbeaten plenty. You'll probably want to sweeten it too, so just add a little granulated sugar at a time until it tastes as sweet as you like. If you want to color it pink, like I did, just add a little red food coloring before whipping.

Your layer of whipped cream should just about equal your layer of lady fingers. Once it's spread evenly, cover it in fruit. I like to make sure I have an equal amount of everything I'm using. So, for this cake, I covered the outer border in raspberries, then bordered inside those with peaches, then raspberries, and so on and so forth until the cream was fully covered in fruit.

Now, repeat the entire process, adding a layer of lady fingers over the fruit, drizzling with wine/liqueur, spreading with whipped cream, and covering with a decorative topping of fruit. Depending on the depth of your bowl/springform, you could add more than two layers of each, but I usually only get two.

If you've used a dish, simply cover it and refrigerate overnight to allow the fingers to soak up the flavor and moisture of the liquor and whipped cream. To serve, just spoon onto plates.

If you've used a springform, cover and refrigerate overnight. The next day, remove the sides of the springform and peel off the wax paper. To serve, carefully slice into pieces as you would a cake. Now, if you've done this correctly, your trifle should generally stay intact, just like a cake -- no fruit pieces falling all over the place or lady fingers separating from each other. I've never had a problem with this.

Also, though I didn't do this (but meant to), you could set aside a container of raspberry sauce to pour over each slice. It's really one of my favorite features and I highly recommend it! It add's that little extra something :)