Adventures of a Baking Brunette

Gone, but not forgetting.

2012-03-04T19:39:00.001-05:00

I have been so busy, once again, with life's many challenges. But I have been baking as well and I mean to post recipes once I get my act together.

Highlights include:

My first attempt at a proper buttercream - eggs and all! (I know, sad)
A horrible fat free chocolate cookie recipe I invented. (never again!)
A beautiful yellow cake.
A wonderful blueberry cobbler.

And some other bits and bobs of sugary goodness here and there.

To be continued.

Boozy Brownies

2012-01-02T13:25:00.003-05:00

Gojee.com - this site has me forgetting about anything diet-resolution like and wishing I had a bigger pantry. The coolest thing about this site is that they have a function where you can plug in items you have in your pantry and then the site curates recipes that include the ingredients you have - it's not an exact science, but it's pretty impressive all the same.

Thanks to the fact that I always have chocolate and booze on hand (because all bakers need to have chocolate and booze in their pantry), I plugged in the "ingredients" into the Gojee recipe finder thingamajig and came across a boozy brownie recipe.

Of course, I decided to alter it a little to make it more chocolatey and I substituted brandy for whiskey, as that's what I had on hand at the moment.

Boozy Brownies (modified recipe)

Ingredients
1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick)
4 oz of 60% Callebaut chocolate, chopped up
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
2 large egg yolks
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup of stout (I used Murphy's here - but any stout beer will do)
3 tablespoons of brandy
3/4 cup of all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons of cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degs F. If you're using a regular brownie pan, butter it and dust it with cocoa powder. I used a non-stick pan here and just buttered it for good measure. I also used a standard brownie pan, 9x12 inches.

Melt the butter over low heat and add the chopped chocolate, stirring until completely melted and incorporated with the butter. Remove from heat and add the sugar - granulated and dark brown - mixing well. Set aside to cool a bit until it reaches lukewarm or room temperature.

In a larger mixing bowl, beat together egg yolks, eggs, vanilla stout and brandy until smooth. Sift into the mixture flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt. Stir to combine - try not to over mix it.

Add the chocolate + sugar mixture to the flour/egg/booze mixture, folding to combine until all is incorporated. Add the chocolate chips, fold into the final mixture.

Pour into prepared pan and bake for 30 mins or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted. Cool, cut and enjoy! I like it with cold milk.

Caramel Apple...Tarte Tatin

2012-01-02T13:19:00.001-05:00

I've always wanted to make a Tarte Tatin - it's a simple enough recipe, essentially an upside-down apple pie, but somehow it's also more. The beauty of the caramelized apples, arranged in a soft amber patter, the rich pie crust and the fact that it's baked in a skillet (yes, this latter point always fascinated me) makes it an especially special dessert.

I googled my way to a recipe, one that Epicurious was happy to provide - a Tarte Tatin with Brandied Caramel Sauce. First a medley of apples - I used a mix of Granny Smith, Golden Delicious and the last of my Jonagolds - arranging them into a circular pattern.

Next, the brandy caramel sauce - this is what gives the apples that lovely amber color, rich and sweet, yet the tartness of the apples do match up well with it.

Finally, the pie crust goes over the sauced apples, like a blanket, and into the 400 deg F oven it goes for about 55 minutes. (see recipe for more detail)

The tricky part is the flip - I used a large pie plate as my base for the flip so in case anything decided to crumble apart, it was safely ensconced in the pie plate.

This was what I made for Thanksgiving last year - let's just say I might not be going back to traditional apple pie anytime soon.

My 15 Minutes of Fame

2011-11-16T10:00:00.001-05:00

Remember a month ago I posted about my upcoming 15-minutes of fame? Well, the day has arrived, my friends, for when the world gets to see my shenanigans in a kitchen.

So, what exactly happened? Well, the commercial for Breville Toaster Ovens was filmed at Brooklyn Kitchen and it was done in the style of Chopped!, where my fellow contestants and me were given a basket with the following secret ingredients: quick cook tapioca, organic canned pumpkin, organic apple cider and organic quick cook oatmeal. Believe it or not, I was pretty nonplussed by the quick cook tapioca – mainly because I am not a fan of the substance and have never really cooked with it.

But we had 90 mins, which gave me more than enough time to burn one batch of tapioca (oh yes, I think I burned the most things out of anyone there – I was so unlike myself; this is what live action does
to me) and still make another batch that turned into a filling for a layered-concoction.

The end result of 90 minutes of me hyperventilating was:

Sage Pumpkin Apple Cider Shortbread layered with Pumpkin Tapioca Custard, topped with an Oatmeal Brown Sugar Crisp and then served with a side of Apple Cider Whipped Cream.

I have to admit, I was pretty proud of my Apple Cider Whipped Cream because it tasted fresh like apple cider, but it was still smooth and creamy like a good whipped cream. But according to the commercial, which aired last night - the judges were more impressed with my Oatmeal Brown Sugar Crisp - who knew!

So...that's the story of my 15 minutes of fame. Just keep your eye out when watching Chopped! and you just might see me looking all "professional" in the kitchen!

More about the Bake-Off

2011-10-28T11:00:00.002-04:00

While I do know I have a bake-off page here, I did want to share the winning items here individually. And they are:

Apricot Pine Nut Squares, made by Sandy Cheung - winner for Sweet

Puff Pastry filled with Duck, Apples and Pumpkin, made by Isabelle Nguyen - winner for Savory!

Chocolate Croissant Bread Pudding made by Anna Miller-Bailer, winner for Crowd Favorite!

The event was a complete and utter success and everyone had such a good time! No diabetes reports at all, so I'm happy. I can't wait for next year! And if you want to check out the fun - see the pictures here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bakingbrunette/

Things I need to do

2011-10-25T09:48:00.001-04:00

1) Post recipe for Sweet Potato and Blue Cheese whoopie pies
2) Post recipe for Dark Chocolate and Yuzu Curd whoopie pies
3) Bake something for Diwali.

Chopped! Or, how I got on TV

2011-10-07T19:55:00.002-04:00

So, thanks to all the running around I've been doing for the Bake-Off I found myself submitting my name and my passion for food via email to a television producer, filming an amateur version of Chopped! for Breville Toaster Ovens.

I was chosen as a contestant. And now I am the proud owner of this fancy toaster oven, which I am supposed to get used to because the premise of the clip I'll be in (yes, I am going to be on TV) demands for the use of this toaster oven. This weekend, I plan to bake my way into a reasonable sense of calm so when I am faced with 90 minutes, 4 mystery ingredients and no recipe cards to be seen, it'll be all good.

So, the first thing I decide to make, of course, is my chocolate chip cookies. Simple, classic and you know when you mess up the recipe.

From scratch, from memory - rattling off the ingredients, almost forgetting the baking powder. But in the end, they did come out pretty normal looking and they tasted like chocolate chip cookies should taste warm out of the oven - caramel-y, chocolate-y and perfect with a glass of milk.

Next on the agenda - Focaccia.

Gimme a little sugar...brown sugar brownies that is.

2011-09-05T20:08:00.000-04:00

A good friend of mine makes these amazing muscovado sugar brownies that are rich, fudgey and droolworthingly delicious.

They are wonderful and now I am thinking I need to get him to make me some soon. I did not have muscovado sugar in my pantry, but I did have some lovely regular brown sugar so I decided to make a version of his brownies.

I also wanted to reassure myself that my baking prowess did not desert me - my last two baking attempts were less than satisfactory. I've since confirmed that the organic flour I used was the culprit. Thank god for regular all-purpose! Not to mention, for this particular recipe, I was able to use my wonderful new food scale. Yes, I did not have a food scale until recently. I love it.

Brown Sugar Brownie (adapted from All Recipes UK)

Ingredients
25g unsweetened chocolate
60g semi-sweet chocolate pieces
100g unsalted butter
1/2 cup white sugar
100g dark brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs + 1 egg yolk, beaten
100g all-purpose flour
3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking powder

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and grease an 8 x 8 baking pan. In a double boiler (or a bowl over a pot of simmering water), melt the chocolate and the butter together. Once melted, set aside to cool. Add the white and dark brown sugar to the cooled chocolate mixture and mix well. Stir in vanilla and then add the eggs and mix until fully incorporated. Sift together the flour, cocoa and baking powder, and fold into the chocolate egg mixture. Do not over mix. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and bake for 25-30 mins or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the brownie.

Let cool slightly and then cut into your serving size. I got 16 pieces out of this recipe - they only lasted a day. These are fudge-y chocolate-y goodness.

Tarting up Tomatoes

2011-08-28T18:38:00.008-04:00

I bought a bunch of fancy tomato plants this year from Cross Country Nurseries out in New Jersey. Plants with names like Isis Candy and Black Seaman...yes, I did buy the latter plant because of the name.

As a result, a bunch of beautiful tomatoes have been slowly covering a fence in my backyard and I've been itching to bake with them. A bunch of yellow and bright red heirlooms were sitting in my fruit basket when inspiration struck - a tart. A tomato tart with an herb crust.Tomatoes are lovely when fresh and in salads, but this is a great way to use them even when they're not in season - removing some of the moisture before baking just concentrates the flavor and makes it lovely and rich.

So what I did first was slice the tomatoes about a 1/4 inch thick, laid them out on a layer of paper towel, salted them lightly in order to bring out some of the moisture. I covered them with another layer of paper towel and let them hang out for a while.

While they were sweating away, I made my herb pie crust.

Herb Pie Crust
Ingredients1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup of chilled, cubed unsalted butter
a few tablespoons of ice water
2 teaspoons of chopped fresh herbs (here I used tarragon, thyme and sage from the garden)

Directions

Mix together the flour and salt, then add the chilled butter. With a pastry mixer or two knives or a fork, work the butter into the flour until fully incorporated and the mixture is the size of large crumbs. Add the herbs and mix in some more until they are also incorporated. Add the ice water little by little, mixing until a firm dough comes together. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill until ready to use.

For the tart itself, it was more about assembly than anything. You needed your tomatoes, pie crust, any good grated cheese and some additional herbs and seasonings.

Tomato Tart
Ingredients

1 recipe herb pie crust (see above)
4 large heirloom tomatoes, salted and drained
2/3 cup of good grated cheese (here I used smoked mozzarella)
10 sage leaves
3 sprigs of thyme, all leave removed
Pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Bake the pie crust in a tart pan for 15 mins. Remove from oven and cool.

Once the shell is cool, layer on the shredded cheese, then arrange the tomatoes on top. Sprinkle the thyme on top and layer in the sage leaves and sprinkle the pepper on top.

Bake the tart in the oven at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for another 15-20 minutes or until the tomatoes are cooked through. Remove from oven and cool slightly before serving. This makes about 8 servings. Enjoy!

I am not lame.

2011-08-17T10:18:00.002-04:00

I just have been busy with stuff and nonsense.

That being said, I have baked over these past couple of weeks. There was lime and coconut (and mix it all up). Baklava. Impromptu lactose-tolerant cupcakes. My awesome trail mix cookies - which are essentially my Orange Oatmeal Cookies with more stuff added to it. Like nuts, seeds, granola, etc. What you would find in good trail mix, you can add to this recipe and voila - a trail mix cookie.

More recipes to come! And also an update on the Bake-off!

Fake Baking

2011-06-20T10:06:00.012-04:00

I can't think of baking when the weather is so hot and humid that all I want to do is just turn on the air conditioning and pretend my room is a fridge and I'm a lukewarm bottle of white wine in need of a good chill.

But a dessert was needed for a barbecue on a hot June day, so I decided to go with trifle since it was a no-bake dessert and since berries are in season. What better use of berries than in a trifle? Don't answer that, just check out the recipe and assemblage instructions below and you'll see what I mean.

Berry Trifle with Lemon Vanilla Cream

1 store bought Vanilla Angel Food Cake
1 recipe Lemon Vanilla Cream
4 cups mixed macerated berries
Whipped Cream, about 1 or 1 1/2 cups

I used store bought Vanilla Angel Food Cake (already prepared mind you) because I was trying not to turn on the oven. What you need to do with this is slice it into 1/4 inch slices and set aside until assembling time.

Regarding the berries, I used strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and blackberries - but you can use any summer berries you like. I added a 1/4 cup of white sugar, juice from half a lemon and zest from half a lemon to the berries, tossed to combine and set aside.

Now, for the Lemon Vanilla Cream (adapted from Mark Bittman's version)

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups half-and-half or whole milk
2/3 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
1 vanilla bean
zest from half a lemon
3 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

Directions

Mix together the 2 cups of half-and-half or milk, sugar and salt in a small or medium saucepan over medium-low heat. If using a vanilla bean, split in half lengthwise and scrape seeds into milk or half-and-half using small sharp knife. Do not discard the pod.* Cook just until mixture begins to steam.

Combine cornstarch and remaining milk or half-and-half in a bowl and blend; there should be no lumps. Add cornstarch mixture; cook, stirring occasionally, until mixture starts to thicken and barely reaches a boil, about 5 minutes. Immediately reduce heat to very low and stir for 5 minutes or so until thick. Stir in butter and lemon zest.

Pour mixture into a bowl or dish to cool. Put plastic wrap directly on the pudding to prevent formation of a skin, or do not cover if you like skin. Refrigerate until chilled.

*I put the vanilla pod in my white sugar bowl to make vanilla sugar - it's definitely added a little something extra to my coffee!

Assembly!

In a glass trifle dish, or in my case, an 8-inch square glass dish, lay down a layer of the sliced angel food cake. Then dollop on a third of the lemon vanilla cream on top of the slices. Add a third of the berries and the juice from the maceration. Repeat until all layers are complete and then pipe the whipped cream around the edges. Voila - Summer Berry Trifle! Perfect for a lazy summer evening after a BBQ.

Bears, Beets, Battlestar Gallactica

2011-06-17T17:47:00.007-04:00

Let’s face it. It’s weird when you mix vegetables in with dessert – like something went wrong in Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory and all of a sudden instead of Turkish Delight, you have Broccoli Delight. Not the kind of delight I like in a sweet treat.

However, vegetables seem to somehow make their way into desserts and cakes all the time: Carrot Cake, Zucchini Bread, Pumpkin Pie, not to mention the southern classic –Red Velvet Cake, which got its coloring and name from beets.

Speaking of beets, a good friend of mine mentioned that she once had a wonderful Beet Chocolate Cake at a local restaurant and that it was her favorite cake ever. She then told me that they took it off their menu and she wished that she could find as good a beet chocolate cake so she could have it for her birthday. So, instead of buying her a gift, I offered to make her some beet chocolate cupcakes for her birthday get together. I had never made these cupcakes before before and I knew that I wanted to go more chocolate than beet. So I ended up with the following recipe (which is an amalgamation of research into different recipes and takes the best out of many to create something pretty darn tasty).

Beet Chocolate Cupcakes with Dark Chocolate Rum Glaze

Ingredients

2 cups of fresh beet puree (use about 6 medium beets for this)
3/4 cup margarine
1 cup white sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup of dark cocoa powder (I used E.guittard here)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup skim milk

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Prepare your cupcake tins as you would always – i.e. line with cupcake liners. Boil beets until tender, then drain and cool. Once cool, use a food processor (or whatever you use to blend boiled vegetables) to puree the beets into a fine pulp. Set aside.

Cream the margarine and sugar until well combined. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla extract. Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt and add in alternating amounts with the milk. Add the beet puree and mix for a couple minutes or until very smooth. Using s small spoon, scoop the batter into your prepared cupcake tins. Bake for 15 mins, or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the cake. Cool completely before glazing.

For the glaze,

Ingredients
4 oz dark chocolate, broken into small pieces
3 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 tablespoon light corn syrup
1 tablespoon dark rum

Directions

In a double boiler, melt the chocolate with the butter. Stir frequently until smooth and incorporated. Add corn syrup and rum and stir until smooth. Cool till room temperature before use. If the glaze is too runny, add some powdered sugar to it. If it’s too thick, add some more corn syrup.

I added some silver non-pareils to make these little mini bites more festive, but they taste good with or without a silvery sparkle. Enjoy!

It's Peanut Butter Jelly Time!

2011-06-05T11:27:00.010-04:00

Growing up I never used to have proper peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. My parents didn't buy grape jelly for some reason; they preferred to have marmalade and strawberry jam in the house. So our peanut butter sandwiches were with marmalade or strawberry jams.

Sometimes, on very rare occasions, they would buy Goobers® for me and my brothers and we would be ecstatic. As I grew older, I grew used to the different jams with my peanut butter sandwiches, and didn't mind apricot or guava or even good old strawberry jam with my peanut butter. One thing that I grew out of was the taste and texture of over-processed peanut butter and preferred natural, no sugar added stuff. This was primarily due to my living abroad in a country where peanut butter was just ground up roasted peanuts - no bells and whistles attached. This is my favorite kind of peanut butter to use for baking because, well, it's peanutier (not a word I know)and it doesn't add anything other than a good, rich peanut butter flavor to a batter, frosting, filling. And it's better for you than processed, sugar-filled peanut butter.

This rambling introduction brings me to the point of this post - peanut butter and jelly cupcakes. Which I made as a ode to my lack of true peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (and also because they are really cool).

There are 3 components to these cupcakes: the cake, the filling and the frosting - all of which are modifications to other recipes I've worked on/used before.

Peanut Butter and Jelly Cupcakes

Ingredients
1 recipe for peanut butter cake (use natural peanut butter versus processed and you'll have a better batter guaranteed)
1 cup of grape jelly, melted and cooled
1 recipe for peanut butter and jelly frosting (see below)

Assembly
Bake your cupcakes as you would and let cool. Fill a piping bag with a No. 2 or 3 round tip with the melted grape jelly. Insert tip in middle of cupcakes and fill until you see the jelly poking through the top of the cupcake.

Using another piping bag with a shell tip, fill with frosting and pipe onto cupcakes.

And voila - peanut butter jelly time!

So, here's the frosting recipe I created for this cupcake:

Ingredients
1 cup (2 sticks), room temperature unsalted butter
2 cups confectioner's sugar
2 tablespoons natural no sugar added peanut butter
1 tablespoon melted grape jelly

Directions
n a large bowl, cream the butter until it's light and fluffy. Add the confectioner's sugar gradually, beating the sugar into the butter. Add the peanut butter and grape jelly. Continue to beat until the ingredients are well incorporated and the mixture is double in volume. Makes about 2 1/2 cups.

Tiramisu!

2011-05-31T13:50:00.008-04:00

I love Tiramisu.

One of the first places I tried it was at the San Genaro Festival, which they hold in the last remnants of Little Italy in NYC. It was a perfect amalgamation of cookie, cream, coffee and alcohol - and they sold it by the cup so you didn't feel too guilty after scarfing it down.

Ever since I tried it those many years ago, I've made it on particular occasions. Something about Tiramisu begs for an occasions to bring it out - it's a festive, wonderfully decadent dessert and while there is no real "baking" involved, I feel that it deserved a shout out on my woefully neglected blog.

So this time around, the festive occasion was Mother's Day! And since we were planning an Italian inspired early supper, what better to end it than with a wonderful tiramisu. I trolled my favorite online cookbook, Epicurious and found the following recipe:

Tiramisu (adapted from Epicurious.com)

Ingredients
3 large eggs, separated
3/4 cup sugar
1 (8-oz) container mascarpone cheese (1 scant cup)
1/2 cup chilled heavy cream
2 cups very strong brewed coffee or brewed espresso, cooled to room temperature
2 tablespoons coffee liqueur (I used Starbucks brand here)
18 Ladyfingers (the crunchy variety)
2 tablespoons good quality unsweetened cocoa powder

Directions
Beat together yolks and 1/2 cup sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until thick and pale, about 2 minutes. Beat in mascarpone until just combined.

Beat whites with a pinch of cream of tartar in another bowl with cleaned beaters until they just hold soft peaks. Add remaining 1/4 cup sugar a little at a time, beating, then continue to beat whites until they just hold stiff peaks. Beat cream in another bowl with cleaned beaters until it just holds soft peaks. Fold cream into mascarpone mixture gently but thoroughly, then fold in whites.

Stir together coffee and coffee liqueur in a shallow bowl. Dip 1 ladyfinger in coffee mixture, soaking it about 4 seconds on each side, and transfer to an 8-inch glass baking dish (2-quart capacity). Repeat with 8 more ladyfingers and arrange in bottom of dish, trimming as needed to fit snugly.

Spread half of mascarpone mixture evenly over ladyfingers. Make another layer in same manner with remaining ladyfingers and mascarpone mixture. Chill tiramisu, covered, at least 6 hours.

Just before serving, sprinkle with cocoa powder. And voila - Tiramisu!

Come to think of it, I might have to make this again especially with the weather becoming warmer and warmer (hot as hades here in the NYC) and oven-prohibitive!

I'll Be Back

2011-05-31T13:45:00.002-04:00

This is a long overdue post.

I have been taken over by all things work/life/etc. and as a result have woefully neglected this blog. This doesn't mean I haven't been baking, though.

I've made Tiramisu, Peanut Butter Cupcakes, other kinds of cupcakes, some horrible diet cookies (never again!) and other baked goodies (both sweet and savory).

I'm going to posit my Tiramisu recipe sometime soon and the rest as well. There's just too much baking to be done and documented to be lazy about it anymore. And I felt it was necessary to mention that before restarting the engines on this blog.

Can't wait!

Donuts

2010-12-14T15:51:00.007-05:00

Ever since I saw an episode of Chuck Day's Off on the Cooking Channel on donuts, I've been wanting to make donuts.

I promptly borrowed my neighbor's deep fat fryer (portable)and set up my limited counter space so I had a kind of assembly line going. The key to frying and not burning your apartment or house down is to have something like this set up so there's no question on the order in which things should proceed.

But what about the dough? Using this Chuck fellow's recipe, I was able to have wonderfully yeasty, but not overwhelmingly so, munchkin-sized donuts:

What's the recipe? Well you can google it, or I can just list it here:

Donut Extravaganza (courtesy of FoodNetwork Canada)

Ingredients
1 teaspoon active dry yeast (5 ml)
2 cups warm milk (approx. 105C) (500 ml)
1/2 cup granulated sugar (125 ml)
1/2 teaspoon salt (2 ml)
2 eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (5 ml)
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (1,25 L)
1/2 cup butter
Oil for deep frying
Powdered sugar for garnish

Directions

In a food processor sprinkle yeast over the warm milk; stir to dissolve and let stand for 5 minutes. Add sugar, salt, beaten eggs and vanilla. Blend thoroughly. Add flour and then using a stand mixer with a dough hook, beat until smooth. You can also kneed the dough by hand for about 5 minutes. Add butter and blend until thick. Cover with plastic wrap and chill at least 4 hours or overnight.

Roll the dough out on a floured surface to 1/2-inch in thickness. Cut the dough into 1 inch-round doughnuts using a circular cookie cutter (or alternately, a can). Cover with a plastic wrap and let rest for an hour in a warm place. Deep fry at 360F (185C) for 1 to 1 and a half minutes until lightly browned on both sides. Drain on paper towels.

I made the chocolate caramel and lemon creme filling that the recipe came with, and when shared it was unanimous that the lemon creme was the favorite among the eaters.

There is nothing like warm, fresh donuts bursting with creme filling. It's actually a little obscene, come to think of it. Obscenely good that is!

It was a birthday surprise.

2010-12-03T16:16:00.009-05:00

As I settle into my new workplace, the debate on whether to be the "baker girl" or just someone who quietly bakes outside of work has raised itself in my mind. Yes, I have debates with myself on a regular basis. I decided I wouldn't be "baker girl," but if asked nicely, I would bake for my colleagues. Why not? It's a way to keep the chops...chopping?

Well, the baking chops were called upon for an impromptu surprise party for my boss and chocolate cupcakes were the ask. And there's nothing like a birthday than chocolate cake of some sort with a lovely, rich butter cream frosting. I mean, it's quintessential birthday fare, right?

As I knew that my previous dalliances with Chocolate Stout Cake were pleasant ones, I turned to SmittenKitchen for her modified Chocolate Stout Cake recipe. The amount of batter equals to two dozen regular cupcakes, or 48 mini-cupcakes. I used a regular cupcake tin.

As for the butter cream - here's my take on boozy butter cream:

Whiskey-Bailey's Buttercream

Ingredients

1 cup (2 sticks), room temperature unsalted butter
2 cups confectioner's sugar
2 tablespoons whiskey
1 tablespoon Bailey's

Directions

In a large bowl, cream the butter until it's light and fluffy. Add the confectioner's sugar gradually, beating the sugar into the butter. Add the whiskey and Bailey's. Continue to beat until the ingredients are well incorporated and the butter/sugar/alcohol mixture is double in volume. Makes about 2 1/2 cups.

I have to admit, my boss was really happy with the cupcakes. As were my colleagues - only crumbs remained.

I killed my baby.

2010-11-27T13:54:00.004-05:00

My baby sourdough starter that is. This is what it looks like now:

You can see the dark liquid sitting on top of the slurry-like flour and yeast mixture, and it just looks bad. I opened the jar and confirmed death. It's actually rather embarrassing because I purport to be this amateur expert of a baker, but it seems the amateur is coming out in this case.

There's something about bread-making that scares me a little. Maybe it's because there's less precision than in cake-baking or cookie making - it's a lot more about the senses. You smell the yeast, handle the dough, massage it into a form that you want - it doesn't have to be pretty, but it has to be something you are attracted to. There's also a lot more patience involved than in regular baking. Humidity, ambient temperature, the amount you beat your dough or let it rest - all foibles affecting the rise, taste and texture.

Bread-making is an inexact science that I am willing to try out, nay, determined to master.

So, I'm trying to make my own starter:

I am crossing my fingers something bubbles soon!

Turkey Stuffing Pie with Cranberries

2010-11-27T12:26:00.005-05:00

So the pie I submitted for the 2nd Annual Brooklyn Pie Bake-Off Benefit was a labor of love and, I think, some thought. I mean, it wasn’t something out of a recipe book and I wasn’t sure how well it would come out. But there’s nothing like a challenge to keep things interesting – I mean, why else do they have all those Top Chef shows?

First, I roasted a turkey breast. Sure I could have found some pre-roasted turkey meat, but I wanted to control the flavor profile in my pie and there’s no better way in doing that by roasting your own turkey breast. I used a butter rub and added some sage and rosemary, salt and pepper and roasted till the skin was a lovely golden brown. Once it was done, I let it rest and then pulled off all the breast meat and did a rough chop and set it aside.

In the interim I made the stuffing crust and the cranberry sauce.

The stuffing recipe was incredibly simple:

Ingredients (for 2 stuffing crusts)

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped celery (I used locally grown, wild celery)
6 cups dry bread cubes (I used potato bread cubes from the supermarket)
1/2 cup chicken broth
2 teaspoons fresh sage, minced
2 teaspoons fresh rosemary, minced
2 eggs, beaten
Salt
Pepper

Directions
In a skillet, melt butter and sauté onion until tender. Add celery, sage and rosemary and sauté until the celery is softened. Cool slightly. In a bowl, add the bread cubes, celery mixture, salt and pepper to taste and chicken broth. Taste the seasoning before adding the beaten eggs and mix until all ingredients are incorporated. Press the mixture into 2 9-inch pie plates and set aside until ready to fill.

Cranberry Sauce

1 lb of fresh cranberries (from some farm upstate)
1 cup sugar
Zest of half a tangerine (or orange if you have that on hand)
1 stick of cinnamon

Boil all the ingredients together until all the cranberry pods pop. Then let cool for about an hour so the sauce has time to gel.

Assembling the pie

What I did was mix about 1 cup of the cranberry sauce with the chopped turkey breast. I added some more sage and rosemary and then as a binder – eggs, cream, stock and a little flour.

I filled the pie crusts with the turkey-cranberry mixture, poured on the binder mixture and dotted the top with some more cranberry sauce.

This went into a 375 degree oven for 45-50 mins, until the binder was set and the crust was golden brown.

The pie needs to rest until almost completely cool so that all the ingredients set and you can cut a clean piece of pie.

It was declared by my brothers and friends – a huge success.

She's my cherry pie!

2010-11-26T16:56:00.002-05:00

This past August, after five years of working at the same company and going nowhere fast, I left for greener pastures. It was exhilarating and also incredibly sad because while I didn’t like my job all that much – I grew very fond of my colleagues there and I would miss them.

One of them was a baker like me and we’d talk about different pie crusts, weird gadgets that we want but don’t see any practical use for and why some people prefer tart lemon bars and others sweet. It was great conversation and I still miss it. As a parting gift, she gave me one of the I-want-it-but-what-else-can-I-do-with-it? gadgets – a cherry pitter. I’ve always wanted a cherry pitter. Thanks, D. :)
So, when I saw a giant bag of dark, sweet cherries – I bought them and decided to make fresh Cherry Pie.

I wanted to try out a whole wheat pie crust, and it was a good call because the nuttiness of the whole wheat worked really well with the dark sweet and sour of the cherries. Waxing poetic here a bit, yes I am.

Pie crust

Ingredients

2 cups whole wheat flour
2/3 cups butter-flavored shortening
1/4 cup ice-cold water
Salt

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Add pinch or two of salt to flour and mix. Add shortening and cut into the flour until the mixture resembles large crumbs. Add the cold water bit by bit until a dough ball forms. The dough shouldn’t be sticky, just soft and should hold well together. Separate into two pieces and roll out to fit into your pie dish. This should make two crusts.

Filling

Ingredients

2 lbs of fresh, pitted cherries
1/2 cup of all-purpose flour
1/2 cup of sugar
Zest of half a lemon
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Directions

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl, pour into rolled out pie shell. Top with remaining rolled out pie dough, crimp edges, slash vents in top and bake for 45-50 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool for an hour – this is important because you want the filling to set properly so it cuts properly.

I eat this with sweetened whipped cream. Because there’s nothing like warm cherry pie and cool whipped cream – yum!

PIZZA!

2010-11-26T15:46:00.006-05:00

Sometimes, I like to hang out with friends. Maybe on a nice late summer afternoon, in a beer “garden” of sorts, drinking beer and shooting the breeze.

One of those lazy Sunday afternoons took me to Brooklyn, where my friend and I moseyed on over to Franklin Park a bar in Prospect Heights and partook in the open bar sponsored by Yelp and Fire Island Beer.

Being in a chatty mood, I found myself chatting with one of the brewers from Fire Island Beer and got on the topic of pizza dough. Now, I love making pizza at home and I hate using the stuff from your friendly grocery freezer aisle. But I’ve always ended up with either a tough or yeasty or a not that tempting product.

This brewer fellow said that I’d have a great thin crust pizza pie if I followed this recipe:

Ingredients

1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 1/2 cup bread flour
1 1/2 cup of lukewarm water
1/2 teaspoon of active dry yeast
1 tablespoon good olive oil
Sea Salt

Directions
Pour water into a bowl and add yeast. Let rest for 10 minutes. Add all the other ingredients and knead for 5-10 minutes. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise for 1.5-2 hours, or until doubled in bulk. Makes about 3 pizzas. Enjoy!

(Note: when when you are separating out your risen down for the pies, make sure you punch down all the air and then lightly knead the dough again with some additional all-purpose flour to remove any residual stickiness. You want a nice, smooth, stretchy dough. And you can bake the pies right away or let them rise again for about 20 mins while you're prepping your toppings.)

So, I did all of the above, made my oven as hot as it could possibly go (most standard ovens go up to 550 degrees F – crank yours up to its max if you want a nice crisp crust). I don’t have a pizza stone – yet, but I do have pizza pans and I stretched the lovely dough on to them and added my homemade tomato-basil sauce and toppings galore. And you know what, those pie crusts were the best homemade pie crusts I’ve ever made. Thanks beer guy!

My take on a Blueberry Cobbler

2010-11-26T15:39:00.002-05:00

Back in the summer when blueberries were in season, I went little nuts and bought a lot of them. It was the fault of my local green grocer for stocking large quantities of fresh, plump blueberries for ridiculous prices.

Putting blame aside, I did enjoy my delicious purchases, and made pancakes, ate them with ice-cream, yogurt, in smoothies, just fresh with some honey and lemon zest – the possibilities were limitless. But one thing blueberries scream to me is cobbler. But I wanted to make something small and portable, so I opted for a simple muffin batter recipe instead of cobbler batter (which is crumbly) and added it to the blueberries that I places in a large muffin tin.

My Take on a Blueberry Cobbler

Ingredients

1 1/2 tablespoons of melted butter
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 small or medium sized egg
1/2 cup of milk, more if needed
1 cup of fresh blueberries, washed and dried

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Grease a 6-cup muffin tin, or whatever large muffin/cupcake tin you have.

Mix together the dry ingredients in a bowl. Beat together the egg, milk and butter. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour the wet ingredients into it. Using a large spoon or spatula, combine the ingredients until just moistened – don’t over mix, you want a lumpy batter here.

Evenly portion out the blueberries in the greased muffin tins. Top with equal portions of the muffin batter. Pour water into the empty cups, if any are left empty.
Bake 20-30 minutes or until muffins are nicely browned on top. Remove from oven, let cool for about 5-7 minutes and serve warm.

I made some strawberry sauce from some soon-to-be-moldy strawberries I had in my fridge (it’s what you see in the picture), but sweetened whipped cream, ice-cream or plain works just fine.

2nd Annual Brooklyn Pie Bake-Off!

2010-11-21T18:40:00.008-05:00

My good friend Deborah excitedly insisted in participating in the 2nd Annual Brooklyn Pie Bake-Off Benefit – an event where pie and charity go hand in hand.

Since I didn’t want to go all traditional, and the looming cooking marathon that is Thanksgiving was just around the corner – I decided to make a “deconstructed Thanksgiving meal.” This amounted to a Turkey Stuffing Pie with Cranberries.

I didn’t win, but the event was well attended.

I even got my brothers to come out.

They held it at Spacecraft in Williamsburg, a small space for the amount of people there, but still the haphazard quality had some charm to it.

There was a lot of pie, and while I didn’t get to try too many kinds – everyone seemed to be really enthusiastic about the depth and breadth of the pies.

It wasn’t too bad of a way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

Grapefruit Lavender Cupcakes

2010-05-18T21:13:00.003-04:00

This was my sweet submission...well, for my bake-off that is! I actually have to credit a brainstorming session with my brother to this particular flavor combination. I knew that it would taste good because Elderflower Syrup does, and that is a tart floral flavor combination!

So, without further ado, here's the recipe!

Grapefruit Lavender Cupcakes (modified from my Grapefruit Yogurt Cake recipe)

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup plain non-fat yogurt (you can use whatever you have on hand)
1 cup plus 2 tablespoon sugar
3 large eggs
3 teaspoons grated grapefruit zest (approximately one large grapefruit)
½ tsp of ground dried lavender flowers
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup freshly squeezed grapefruit juice
1 tsp of lavender flowers (unground)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a mini-cupcake pan with cupcake liners. You can use a regular 12-cupcake pan if you’d like.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt into 1 bowl. In another bowl, whisk together the yogurt, 1 cup sugar, the eggs, grapefruit zest, lavender and vanilla. Slowly whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. With a rubber spatula, fold the vegetable oil into the batter, making sure it's all incorporated. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 15-20 min, or until a cake tester (or toothpick for us amateurs) placed in the center of one of the cupcakes comes out clean.

Meanwhile, cook the 1 cup grapefruit juice and remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar with the lavender flowers in a small pan until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is clear. Let cool for later.

When the cupcakes are done, allow them to cool for about 5 minutes. While they are still warm, brush on the grapefruit-sugar mixture over the cupcakes several times to let the syrup soak in. I did it about a total of 6 times. If some of the syrup is left, that’s OK – you can use it for a cocktail base. (that’s what I did!)

For the Grapefruit Buttercream Frosting:
1 cup butter, softened
3 3/4 cups confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup of freshly squeezed grapefruit juce and 1 tbsp of grapefruit zest
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
Lavender flowers

Combine butter, sugar and salt and beat till well combined. Add the grapefruit juice, zest and vanilla and continue to beat for another 3 to 5 minute or until creamy.

Frost the cupcakes when completely cooled and soaked with the syrup. Sprinkle with lavender flowers.

And that’s how you make a Lavender Grapefruit Cupcake. :)

A Lotta Leeks

2010-05-18T19:46:00.007-04:00

While I was preparing for my bake-off, I was also thinking about how I can’t just do a cookie or a cake or a cupcake. It was done, it will be done and I needed to break from the mold. So I decided to turn to my source of culinary inspiration…my green grocer.

I had been eyeing their pile of leeks for weeks. I like leeks braised, grilled and in vichysoisse. I used to make this lovely soup so often that I was asked to stop. Literally, every week there’d be a pot of it bubbling away. The rationale was that if they were growing in my backyard, I should use them!

Since I no longer have leeks growing in my backyard, I fall back on eyeing them at my green grocers. And when the opportunity came to use them in a savory recipe, I jumped at the chance. And I also jumped onto the internet to find a recipe. Luckily, I knew that I could turn to smittenkitchen.com instead of just trolling the internet, and I found a lovely Leek Bread Pudding recipe. While I liked the version that was on the site, I decided to change it a little.

Leek Bread Pudding (modified from the SmittenKitchen recipe)

Ingredients

2 cup leeks in 1/2-inch thick slices, white and light green parts only, cleaned and rinsed*
Kosher or coarse salt
Freshly ground pepper
2 tablespoons (1 ounce) unsalted butter
Freshly ground black pepper
6 cups 1-inch-cubed brioche loaf (I like to leave the crusts on)
2 tablespoons finely chopped chives
1 teaspoon of fresh oregano leaves, chopped
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 cup of heavy cream
2 cups of milk (I used my 2%, but you can use what you have)
Freshly grated nutmeg (or in a container if you have that)
1/2 cup shredded Gruyere

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a loaf pan and set aside.

Place a medium sauté pan over medium-high heat, drain excess water from leeks, and add to pan. Season with salt and pepper, and sauté until leeks begin to soften, about 5 minutes, then reduce heat to medium-low. Stir in butter. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until leeks are very soft, about 20 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Remove from heat and set aside.

While the leeks are cooking, spread the brioche cubes on a lightly greased baking sheet and bake until dry and pale gold, about 15 to 20 minutes, turning pan about halfway through. Transfer to a large bowl. Keep the oven at 350 degs.

Add leeks, chives and oregano to the bowl of bread; toss well. In another large bowl, lightly whisk the egg and egg yolks, then whisk in milk and cream, a generous pinch of salt, pepper to taste and a generous pinch of nutmeg.

Sprinkle 2 tablespoons shredded cheese in bottom of the buttered loaf pan. Spread 1/2 of bread mixture in pan, and sprinkle with another 2 tablespoons cheese. Spread remaining bread mixture in pan, and sprinkle with another 1/4 cup cheese. Pour in enough milk mixture to cover bread, and gently press on bread so milk soaks in. Let rest 15 minutes.

Add remaining milk mixture, letting some bread cubes protrude. Bake until pudding is set and top is brown and bubbling, about 55 to 65 minutes. Serve hot or cold…both temperatures are equally delicious. Enjoy!

Second Annual Bake-Off (on the rooftop) - Success!

2010-05-16T21:43:00.007-04:00

Well, it turned out that yesterday was destined to be the most perfect day for a roof-top bake-off. The sky was blue, the sun shining, the breeze only mildly out of hand - perfect.

With close to 60 guests, 25 sweet and savory submissions and lots of good will, I was able to raise $315.00 for Share Our Strength and also name several deserving bakers as winners of the contest. The categories being judged were Sweet and Savory. There also was a "Most Popular" category, which was voted by the people, for the people.

I was lucky enough to have two celebrity judges - Andy Yang from Rhong-Tiam and Marlo Scott from Sweet Revenge, who not only took on the daunting task of eating through 25 sweet and savory treats, but were lucid enough after the sugar rush to name winners from the Sweet and Savory categories.

From the Savory Category, Yelper Madhuri I. won with her fantastic Pastry Puff Bites.

And from the Sweet Category, Nafeesa S. won with her Carrot Cake Cupcakes w/ Pecan Frosting.

And the winner of the most popular baked good was, well, yours truly for my twist on a favorite recipe of mine, Grapefruit Lavender Cupcakes.

There was sun, sweets and some pretty fantastic sangria - tie that in with celebrity, charity and good ol' fashioned fun - I think it was a pretty successful event.

I did submit something in the savory category, but you'll have to wait for the recipe to see it!

Bake-Off!

2010-05-14T13:14:00.004-04:00

I am holding my 2nd Annual Bake-Off (on a rooftop this time) tomorrow, May 15, 2010.

It's both an exercise in ego and philanthropy as I am going to use this as a venue to promote the Great American Bake Sale, an annual event run by ShareOurStrength.org.

If anyone wants to donate, they can do so at my participant page here.

I am excited that a) the weather is going to be gorgeous b) I have close to 25 committed bakers c) I have three judges, two of which are professional and finally - that I get to try my hand at baking something savory as opposed to my usual cookies/cake/cupcake fare.

::excited::

You Put the Lime in the Coconut...

2010-04-05T16:51:00.006-04:00

There's something about spring that makes me think of citrus. And sunny skies and balmy weather.

So what better way to celebrate all of these wonderful occurences in a confectionary form? I was trolling on Twitter the other day and a post on my feed referenced lemon as an ingredient in cupcakes. Since I had bought some pretty awesome coconut flakes and went a little nuts with the citrus purchases at the local greengrocer, I figured...why not make some lime and coconut cupcakes?

Thanks to the internet, I found a recipe...and then promptly decided to change it a bit.

Lime Coconut Cupcake

Cupcake Ingredients

1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup buttermilk
2 eggs
2 teaspoons lime juice
1 teaspoon of orange blossom water
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
zest of one lime

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350.

Line cupcake tin with cupcake liners (this recipe makes 12).

In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a larger bowl, cream together the butter, zest and sugar until fluffy, about 3 minutes. I like to use my handheld mixer for this, because it's no joke creaming butter and sugar by hand.

Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in the juice and orange blossom water. Alternately add the flour mixture and buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour. Fill each baking cup two-thirds full. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the middle of a cupcake comes out clean, about 20 minutes.

Icing Recipe

1 cup confectioner's sugar
3 tablespoons butter, softened
1/4 coconut milk
1 tablespoon lime juice
zest of one lime

Combine together confectioner's sugar, coconut milk, lime juice and zest. Whisk well. Then add butter, tablespoon by tablespoon, whisking well until fully incorporated. Frost cooled cupcakes with icing and top with either sweetened grated coconut, or (like I did) unsweetened coconut flakes.

Now if that ain't a pretty sight, I don't know what is. Enjoy!

Cheese!!! (cake)

2010-03-14T13:37:00.004-04:00

My youngest brother had a plan, one that I was unaware of. It was for me to make a chocolate cheesecake. Of course, he didn’t actually apprise me of his plan until all the ingredients (literally) were in place. “Oh, I bought a six-pack of cream cheese from the store because it was on sale…I also bought this giant bag of chocolate chips! Wait, do we have graham crackers?”

You get the idea.

I had never made a chocolate cheesecake before, usually sticking to being a purist in the cheesecake realm by making a New York-style cheesecake once a year (mainly because I don’t want my hips to start getting the form of a cheesecake).

But a chocolate cheesecake always intrigued me. So keeping in cookbook theme, my trusty New York Times Cookbook was pulled out, because I knew Craig Claiborne had a recipe in there.

Chocolate Cheesecake Recipe (adapted from The New York Times Cookbook recipe)

Ingredients

1 cup of graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup of shredded wheat crumbs/flakes/leavings
5 TBSP melted butter
3/4 (minus 2 TBSP) sugar
1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate pieces
2 1/2 8 oz packages of cream cheese
pinch of salt
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
4 eggs, separated
1 cup of heavy cream
1/2 cup all-purpose flour

Another reason why I don’t like making cheesecake is because of the time consuming process when you have to make one from scratch. The whipping, the folding, the long baking time at a low temp, the resting period, the chilling period, etc. If you’ve seen the other recipes I’ve posted here, you might have noticed that I’m a fan of the quick and tasty. And there is nothing fast about a cheesecake.

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Lightly grease bottom and sides of a 9-inch springform pan.

Mix the graham cracker and shredded wheat "crumbs" with the butter. Press the mixture into the greased springform pan until a 1 to 1 1/2 inch crust is formed around the sides of the pan and the bottom is evenly coated. Set aside.

Melt the chocolate on the top of a double-boiler, remove from heat and let cool.

Beat together the cream cheese, salt, vanilla and half of the sugar until creamy and smooth. Beat in the egg yolks one by one until well incorporated and you have a nice smooth batter. Fold in the melted chocolate until well incorporated. Set aside.

In another bowl, beat the egg whites with the remaining sugar until they hold stiff peaks. Remember to add the sugar a little at a time while beating the eggs so that they actually incorporate completely.

Whip the heavy cream until stiff.

Add the egg whites and whipped cream to the chocolate cream cheese mixture. Sprinkle flour on top. Fold all these components together and make sure every item is well incorporated.

Pour the mixture into the prepared springform pan and bake for 1 1/4 hours. Do not open the oven door for one hour. Turn off the heat and let the cake sit in the oven for another 3 to 4 hours before removing. Once out of the oven, place in your refrigerator to chill.

And voila a good 4-5 hours later, a chocolate cheesecake is born.

The texture was decidedly creamier and lighter than a New York-style cheesecake. I spread some strawberry jam on top (which was "melted").It made me feel less self conscious about scarfing down a slice every other day until it disappeared. Dangerous.

Enjoy!

Birthday Cake

2010-03-11T15:32:00.004-05:00

Because apparently I’m a decent enough baker in the eyes of my friends and family, I was commanded to bake a birthday cake for one of my father’s friends. I wasn’t sure what to do, mainly because the majority of the people attending were from West Africa and I was afraid that if I didn’t do something familiar, it’ll go down in flames. This is not an unfounded fear – when I lived abroad in a tiny island in the middle of the Indian Ocean, most of my “American as Apple Pie” creations were dubbed as interesting, but when I made a “tarte banane” or something that was culturally local, the reviews were more of the rave variety.

Well thank jeebus I was told they like chocolate. (because even on my tiny island, they liked chocolate.)

I of course hunted online for recipes, but then realized that I had perfectly good falling apart cookbooks to turn to for a simple chocolate cake, filling and frosting. The actual cake had the following components: Basic Chocolate Cake, Dark chocolate ganache, Mocha Buttercream Frosting.

The recipes for the cake and the buttercream I modified from The Good Housekeeping Illustrated Book of Desserts, which has really nice standard recipes for cakes and frostings.

Basic Chocolate Cake (adapted from from The Good Housekeeping Illustrated Book of Desserts recipe)

Ingredients

3/4 cup Valhorna cocoa powder, plus extra for dusting
2 cups cake flour
1 3/4 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups milk
3/4 cup shortening
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla
3 eggs

Directions

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Grease two 9-inch round cake pans, line the bottom with parchment paper and grease parchment paper; dust pans with extra cocoa powder.

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

Next, in your mixer cream together the shortening and sugar until light and fluffy. Then add the eggs one at a time, scraping down the bowl in intervals to incorporate the ingredients. Add the vanilla and mix well.

Alternately add the dry ingredients with the milk to the egg/shortening mixture. I like to add it in thirds of each. Remember to scrape down the sides of your bowl so that all the ingredients are incorporated.

Pour the batter evenly into the prepared pans. You might need a spatula to spread the batter if it's a little thick. To remove air bubbles, tap the pans on the counter a few times. This also lets the batter settle more evenly in the pan for a uniform rise.

Bake for 30 to 35 mins until toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the center of the cake.

Let cool completely before frosting or decorating.

The frosting I used was a simple Mocha Buttercream, and what made it extra special I think was using my leftover French-pressed coffee from the morning’s brew. Now, I am sure any kind of coffee would work, but I think brewed versus instant will work better flavor-wise.

Recipe for Mocha Frosting (adapted from from The Good Housekeeping Illustrated Book of Desserts recipe)

Ingredients
1 16 ounce package of confectioner's sugar
6 TBSP butter, softened
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa (I used Valhorna here as well)
1/3 cup cold, fresh brewed coffee
1 tsp vanilla

Directions

In your mixer bowl, on medium speed, mix together the powdered sugar, cocoa powder and butter until well incorporated. Add the vanilla and coffee until the mixture is smooth and creamy.

I like to beat the frosting for a few extra minutes to make it fluffier. My brothers claim that it tastes like the filling from the Dunkin Donuts® Chocolate Cream Filled Donut.

As for the ganache filling, I used a regular recipe that called for a 1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips and 1 cup of just boiling heavy cream poured on it, followed with a teaspoon of vanilla. All whisked until smooth and then set aside to cool.

Maybe because this cake was for a festive occasion, I tried my hand at decorating…and ended up with this.

It’s not Ben Israel, but my cake-eaters loved it.

Kid in a Candy Store

2010-03-04T15:50:00.005-05:00

It’s been months since I’ve wanted to check out the New York Cakes & Baking Supply store here in the city. This cavern of confections was first mentioned to me by a very regular baker in my office and he was pretty impressed by its offerings. Judging from his baked goods (brought into work every now and again), I could safely say that he knew what he was talking about.

I usually kept my baking contraption purchases limited to Bed, Bath & Beyond or Zabar’s, the latter for the more obscure utensils and ingredients. So when I came in here and saw all that this store had to offer – I think I might be visiting more and more in the future.

My wallet might need to be put on lockdown.

You can read a proper review of this fine establishment here.

I know this isn’t a post about a baked item, but it’s baking related so it counts!

(photo courtesy of Yelp.com)

Haman has got nothing on Hamentashen

2010-02-27T13:13:00.011-05:00

I know that my mother has been trying to get me to make this particular cookie treat for a while now. She remembers them from her days in Winnipeg, where she, an "island princess", was exposed to Jewish cookery by her landlord. Not only does she now exclaim "oy vey iz mir" whenever she gets irritated with us children, she also has a predilection for hamentashen, rugelach and chocolate babka (although the latter was probably more due to Zabar's than Winnipeg).

So when my friend Susan told me she was making some Hamentashen for Purim, she also told me I should give it a go.

So, of course I turned to my favorite baking blog - SmittenKitchen for the recipe.

Of course, instead of adding orange zest (which is what her recipe calls for) I added lemon zest because it's what I had on hand. Citrus is citrus and lemon works just as well a orange in this case.

Well, I was able to get the dough to the right consistency and I used a 3-inch cookie cutter instead of her suggested 2-inch, mainly because I wanted a bigger cookie and in the SmittenKitchen blog, she mentioned that one needed to pinch the walls really tight in order to create a proper seal. So, I thought more dough would mean less leakage.

How wrong I was. Even with my careful filling of the preserves (I used apricot, strawberry and blackberry preserves) and my solid pinching...

I still ended up with little random shaped oblong cookies with preserves all over the place.

Moral of the story of Hamentashen, lots of dough doesn't mean that your filling wont leak. I think maybe next time, I'll do a half shortening half butter dough and maybe use an egg wash to seal those pesky corners!

Still, they tasted good with tea!

Wheat vs. White

2010-02-22T15:45:00.002-05:00

Wheat. White. Wheat. White. Wheat...OK, I've been thinking about how to make my cookies and other baked items healthier so I bought a two pound bag of whole wheat flour.

And it's been sitting in my cupboard for about three weeks now with nary a use to be found. Or rather I have yet to feel inspired enough to use my whole wheat flour (not to mention a lot of the recipes I've researched, breads aside, have not been inspiring). Then I got to thinking - maybe it wasn't lack of inspiration, but rather a fear of the unknown. I admit, I am a fan of simple tried and true recipes and my recent foray into the realm of french pastry had me more than a little frustrated. But this year I am going to be adventurous with my baking! So whole wheat flour will be used in the very near future!

With the help of the inter webs, I have reassured myself that substituting whole wheat for white flour shouldn't be a problem.

According to a neat How-To on eHow.com:

1) Each flour can be substituted for the other, part per part. I.e. 1 cup of whole wheat can be used for 1 cup of white.

2) One must sift whole wheat flour so as to avoid a denser than normal product. Aeration is good.

3) In order to avoid a dryer product (because it'll happen apparently), you need to slightly increase your wet ingredients or shorten your baking time by a few minutes.

4) Fold instead of mix - you want your liquid to just absorb, not become a gluey mess.

I think that's simple enough, right? Well, let's see if the cookies I make tonight are proof positive that 4-steps to substitution works.

Stay tuned...

Longest Post Ever!

2010-02-15T12:33:00.013-05:00

If there is one thing you need as a baker (amateur or otherwise) it's patience. Although I tend to steer towards one-bowl, under an hour recipes, I do like to challenge myself sometimes.

Personally, I think the epitome of baking lies in the realm of the French. Especially when it comes to pastries. And nothing else spells French pastry like a croissant. So of course, after a conversation with a friend and baker where it was discussed that challenging oneself was important - I decided to embark upon making croissants.

The recipe I used I found online and it was from Bernard Clayton's Complete Book of Small Breads.

Let's just say after reading it through, I realized that this was not simply a recipe - it was an undertaking. A 2-day undertaking. But I was game and not a little motivated to try something so outside my comfort zone. Allons-y!

I used a lot of flour and butter for this thing. In fact, your butter component is a mixture of flour and butter pressed into a block and then chilled until firm.

After placing my butter square to chill, I made the dough. It needs to rise for a couple of hours until doubled in bulk. Then the rolling and folding commences. About three different maneuvers with several hours of proofing in between. Patience is something one learns when one attempts making croissants.

The final roll had me using rulers and rollers to cut out perfect triangles. This is precision work people!

And...apparently this is what a raw croissant looks like?

Alas, I forgot the final rising of the croissant once the dough was cut into little 5-inch triangles. So I ended up with lovely...dinner rolls.

However, due to my small work surface - I ended up cutting my batter in half. All was not lost when I realized that I ended up goofing on the first batch - and the second batch was proofed properly before being fed to the oven. They ended up as Pain Au Chocolat.

Would I make these again? I am not sure. While I was excited to be doing something so involved, I find that I like to bang out my baked goodies. But, if I need to be challenged again...maybe puff pastry?

Cookies and Camaraderie

2010-02-15T12:29:00.010-05:00

I might have mentioned in a previous post or two that the reason why I bake is less because I like to eat a lot of sugary treats and more because I like to make people happy.

It is a scientifically proven fact that by ingesting sugar, you stimulate the pleasure centers of the brain releasing opiods. This chemical is linked to feelings of intense pleasure hence the idea that happiness and sugar go hand in hand. Well, what better way to spread happiness than by sharing baked goodies (with sugar and chocolate and other lovely tastes) with friends?

A friend of mine decided to expound on this theory by organizing an event that had people bring baked goods (both homemade and store-bought) to a bar and basically eat and drink and be merry. And eat, drink and merriment there was!

This is just a third of the goodies that ended showing up at the event.

I decided to bring my Irish Car Bomb cupcakes and my Orange Cardamom Cookies. They were devoured with only crumbs and empty containers left for me to bring home.

Whole event was a success and I think it wasn't only due to brain chemicals - it was because there is nothing like a cookie to make one your friend. And this is just proof that this is true.

Oldie, but goodie.

2009-12-05T20:51:00.007-05:00

There's a cookbook I turn to time and again when I run out of inspiration on the Internet. It's a cookbook that thousands of cooks (both serious and aspiring) have, or should have, on their kitchen shelf.

Mine has been to the other side of the planet and back, attacked by mold and humidity of the tropics and questionable storage in the North East of the US. But even though the cover and binding is falling apart, and my edition is a rather older one, it still serves its purpose - a solid cook book with recipes even the most timid of chefs can attempt. This, of course, is Craig Claibourne's New York Times Cookbook.

There's a recipe in there that I have been using for years, a simple basic roll recipe that I modified into making Cinnamon Buns.

The recipe is the Basic Rolls recipe from the cookbook where I just make my own filling and roll it out Cinnamon Roll style.

Basic Rolls
Ingredients

2 cups milk
1/4 cup of vegetable shortening or butter
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp salt
2 packages (or 2 TBSP) yeast
1/4 cup lukewarm water
5-6 cups all-purpose flour
Melted shortening or butter

Filling

1 1/2 cup brown sugar
2 TBSP cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice
1 tsp vanilla

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 deg F. Grease a 9 x 13 baking dish.

Bring milk to a boil. Then add shortening or butter, sugar and salt and cool to lukewarm.

Soften yeast in lukewarm water in a separate bowl. Once softened, add to cooled milk mixture.

In a large mixing bowl, add half the flour to the milk mixture and beat well. Then add enough of the remaining flour to make a soft dough.

Turn out the dough onto a well-floured board and let rest for 10 minutes. Then knead (adding flour as the dough gets sticky) for about 10 minutes until smooth.

Place dough into greased bowl and let rise until double in bulk (about 30-45 mins).

Make filling: Mix together all filling ingredients until well-combined. Set aside.

Once dough has risen, punch down to remove some of the air and turn out onto a floured board. Knead with a little flour until smooth (about 5 mins). Roll out dough in a rectangular shape (approx 10 in x 13 in). Brush on some melted butter or shortening and sprinkle on filling evenly, until entire surface is covered. Roll the dough tightly as if for a jelly roll and pinch down seam firmly.

Cut 1-inch sections of roll and place cut side up in greased baking dish. Cover and let rise for about 30-45 minutes in a warm place. Once dough has risen, brush with remaining butter or shortening and bake for about 30 mins.

Let cool and serve plain or with a simple vanilla icing. Eaten warm is the best - and a bonus is that your home will smell like heaven for a while.

Enjoy!

Thanksgiving

2009-11-27T17:31:00.004-05:00

So, this year for Thanksgiving me and my family decided to forgo tradition and infiltrate a friend's Thanksgiving celebrations. This meant less cooking, less arguing (yes, arguing - you cannot believe the level of discussion that goes on between my brothers regarding the amount of sides and the correct way to prepare a turkey) and a generally stress-free dinner.

We did bring a Turkey and two sides (simple vegetables) and I baked. Because I bake.

This time, I made not only an Apple Pie, but a Pumpkin Pie with Walnut Streusel topping. I've never made a Pumpkin Pie before and surprisingly enough - everyone loved it over the Apple Pie (I liked the latter better).

The recipe I found here on epicurious.com, but I added less sugar because I don't think that something with a streusel topping needs more sugar.

Personally, I thought the pie was too sweet, but the texture was velvety and rich while still being light.

I wish I had another picture to put up, one preferably of a slice, but the pie was devoured without much more than grunting noises from the pleased partakers. A success!

Let's Make Whoopie Tonight - Pumpkin Style

2009-11-08T19:07:00.005-05:00

As kinky as the title sounds, making whoopie...pies is pretty straightforward. No kinks to be found.

Since I had leftover pumpkin puree from my Pumpkin Swirl Brownie recipe I figured why not find a simple recipe that really shows off the combination of pumpkin and spice. Enter whoopie pies.

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 tablespoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cups dark brown sugar

1 large egg, room temperature

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

8 ounces pumpkin puree

Vanilla Filling

1/4 cup vegetable shortening

1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup confectioners' sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup light corn syrup

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and lightly grease two cookie sheets.

Mix all dry ingredients, minus sugar, in a bowl. In another bowl, beat together butter and dark brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg and beat well. Add ginger, vanilla and pumpkin puree and beat well. Add flour mixture, and yes, beat well.

Drop heaping tablespoons of the batter on to the greased cookie sheets and flatten out a little.

Bake for 12-14 mins or until the tops of the "cakes" are springy to the touch.

Let cool completely and in the meanwhile, make the filling!

Beat the shortening and butter until soft and creamy. With the mixer on its lowest speed, gradually beat in the confectioners' sugar. Increase the speed to high, and beat until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Then, with the mixer on low speed, beat in the vanilla extract and slowly drizzle in the corn syrup. Continue to beat until the filling looks like soft mayonnaise.

Assembly

When cakes are completely cooled, place a heaping tablespoon of the filling on one cake (flat side) and top with another.

And that's how you make whoopie...pie. Pumpkin Style.

Pumpkins Are a Girls Best Friend!

2009-11-08T18:47:00.007-05:00

Well, they are when said girl needs a break from writing her god-awful thesis. Tis the season for all things orange-y, so when I was doing my food shopping the other day, I decided to pick up a can of pureed pumpkin. I know I could have bought one fresh, roasted it and made some homemade puree, but pumpkin from a can is easier. And if my favorite cooking blogger smittenkitchen uses it, then why the heck can't I?

That being said, I remember seeing on her blog a lovely marbled pumpkin and chocolate brownie recipe. So, off I went in between writing bibliographies and found the recipe (which was incidentally modified from Martha Stewart's - don't you love baking? It's all about the mods).

I decided to go with my own modifications and ended up with these.

They taste as good as they look.

Pumpkin Swirl Brownies (adapted from smittenkitchen.com adapted from Martha Stewart Living)

Ingredients

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, plus more for pan
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cups sugar (the original recipe calls for the larger amount; I think it could be dialed down a bit)
3 extra large eggs
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups solid-pack pumpkin
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
dash of allspice
dash of mace

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8 x 8" brownie pan.

Melt butter and chocolate over a double boiler. Let cool.

Mix together flour, salt and baking powder in a bowl. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs and sugar. Add vanilla and beat until light and fluffy. Add the flour mixture and mix well.

Separate the batter into two halves (approx 1.5 cups of batter each). Add chocolate mixture to one half and mix well. To the remaining batter, add vegetable oil, pumpkin puree, and spices and beat well.

Into your greased brownie pan, pour the majority of the chocolate mixture and spread evenly with a spatula. Top that with the pumpkin mixture and spread evenly. Add the last bit of chocolate batter and swirl the mixtures together to create that lovely marbled effect.

Bake for 45-50 mins (I know!) until toothpick comes clean when inserted into the brownies.

Let cool before cutting and serving. And let me tell ya, they taste as good as they look!

Festival of Light

2009-11-07T21:22:00.002-05:00

No, it's not Hannukah, it's Diwali the Indian festival of light. The origins of the festival are nested in myth, but the meaning remains the same - the triumph of good over evil, signified by the lighting of small oil lamps called diyas to chase the darkness out of our lives and the baking of many traditional sweets to sweeten the mouths of friends and family.

It's a pretty cool festival all in all.

Being not as traditional as the usual celebrators, I decided to fiddle with a traditional recipe and make it a little more modern. There is a version of a butter cookie that is made throughout India called nankhatai. It is essentially butter, flour, semolina, spices and sugar. Sometimes you add nuts to the dough, like pistachio or almonds.

I decided to forgo the semolina and make a simple butter cookie with some added, err, pizazz.

Orange-Cardamom Butter Cookies with Chocolate Glaze

Ingredients

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

1/4 cup confectioner's sugar

1 cup all purpose flour

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/4 tsp baking soda

1 tsp orange zest

1/2 tsp cardamom powder

1/2 tsp orange blossom water (optional)

Chocolate Glaze

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon corn syrup

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 deg Fahrenheit. Grease two cookie sheets.

Using a hand beater or your stand mixer, beat together the butter and confectioner's sugar until light and fluffy. In a separate bowl, mix flour, salt, baking powder and cardamom. Add the dry ingredients slowly to the butter/sugar mixture and beat together on low speed until well incorporated. Add zest and orange blossom water and mix well.

Using a small spoon, scoop out spoonfuls of the dough and form into a flattened ball and place on cookie sheet. (Mine were oblong) Bake for 12 minutes or until lightly golden in color.

Make glaze by melting together the butter, chocolate, and syrup in a double boiler. Alternatively, you can melt the chocolate in the microwave, and then blend in the other ingredients.

Let cookies cool completely before dipping half the cookie in the cooled glaze. Let cookies rest before devouring.

Happy Belated Diwali Everyone!

Sugar Shock, part 2

2009-10-10T21:57:00.006-04:00

Not only did I buy a bag of Butterfinger ® mini's, I also was, err, enlightened to buy a bag of peanut M&M's ®. And enlightened I was because it spurred me to use them in yet another baked treat!

This time, I visited the M&M's ® website and decided to fiddle around with their Chocolate Marbled Blondie recipe.

The difference is that I used dark brown sugar instead of light brown, I added a 1/4 tsp of salt and instead of fat-free cream cheese, I used Neufchâtel. And those honkers on top of the blondies? Well, they are peanut M&Ms ®. I like them better than the regular.

Why? Because these are what I had in my pantry and salt always makes a baked good better. It balances out the flavor and enhances it as well. So always remember to add a bit of salt to your baked goodies to make it all that much better!

Enjoy!

Sugar Shock, part 1

2009-10-10T20:23:00.007-04:00

There something about the duality of Halloween that is really cool. On the one hand, it's the night before All Soul's Day when the dead walk and "scare" the living. On the other hand, it's a night where children (and adults) can go nuts over candy.

I luckily live on a block where there are tons of wee ones in costume that I can make light up with handfuls of sugary goodness. And I don't skimp on the good stuff - Reese's Peanut Butter ® cups, M&M ® Peanut (and regular because allergies to abound), Butterfingers (r), Hershey's ® Miniatures.

No candy corn, dried fruit or pennies. I had too many encounters with those "treats" when I was a costumed fiend and still remember not being too happy about it.

Anyways, I was thinking that since candy is so cheap and plentiful this time of year, I would score a few bags pre-Halloween and make me some goodies.

I remembered making Butterfingers ® cookies once, and decided to make them again!

Butterfinger ® Cookies

Ingredients
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, softened
1 large egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup coarsely chopped NESTLE BUTTERFINGER® Candy Bars

Directions
Preheat oven to 375°F. Lightly grease two baking sheets.

Combine flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat sugar and butter in large mixer bowl until creamy. Beat in egg and vanilla next. Then, gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in Butterfinger pieces. Drop by slightly rounded tablespoon onto baking sheets.

Bake the cookies for 10 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Makes about 2 1/2 dozen cookies.

The best part about these cookies is that they don't stick to your teeth, unlike the candy that's in them. And they go really well with a nice cold glass of 2% milk. So...healthier?

Happy Halloween!

Bananas!

2009-10-04T11:33:00.008-04:00

It's been a while since I've posted, but I blame school. And life. And, for some reason, a hectic social schedule.

But of course, I couldn't go for too long without baking, so when I saw this awesome pile of slowly browning bananas on my kitchen table, I knew I had to do something.

So I found this recipe and decided to use the brownest of my bananas and whip up a batch of muffins for Sunday breakfast. And you know what, I am always amazed when recipes come out quick and tasty after the first try.

Banana Muffins with Cinnamon Streusel Topping

Ingredients
1 1/2 cup of all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 very ripe bananas, mashed
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/3 cup canola oil
1 tsp good vanilla
for the streusel:
3 tsp dark brown sugar
1/4 cup flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp butter

Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees and grease muffin pan if you are not using muffin liners.

Mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, mix together bananas, sugar, egg, oil and vanilla.

Pour banana mixture into dry ingredients and mix until just moistened. Spoon batter into muffin cups.

In another bowl, mix together brown sugar, flour and cinnamon. Cut in the butter until it resembles a coarse meal. Sprinkle amply on top of the muffin batter.

Bake muffins from 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

And voila - quick, easy morning muffins. The whole house was smelling like warm bananas and cinnamon - what a great way to start the morning! Well, it was for me. The whole process took about 40 minutes, which is more than enough time to surprise family, friends or a "special friend" with tasty in the morning. I say if you have some bananas that you don't know what to do with, make this!

Low-Fat?

2009-09-05T10:16:00.004-04:00

Well, due to a serious health scare in my family, I've decided to include "low-fat" as part of my baking vocabulary.

Now, I know that I might have mentioned before that using substitution to make a cookie, cake or other baked goodie "healthier" ends up making the baked good taste a little less authentic. Who am I kidding, they end up tasting "fake".

An essential ingredient in most baked items is butter. Good, golden, creamy, fattening butter. According to the International Food Information Council,

In baked goods such as cakes, fats help produce a high, fine texture. When "creaming" fats and sugar—the first step in mixing many cake batters—fats trap tiny air bubbles that help the batter to rise. Fats also help keep dough and batter from separating and falling. And fats coat the proteins in flour to make a tender or flaky product.

So when there is little or no fat in a baked good, you end up with a drier product, or worse - a flavorless one.

But the topic of this post is "low-fat" and so I decided to try my hand at a low-fat brownie. What ended up happening was me creating a low-fat, richly satisfying treat that even my sugar-crazed brothers could love. The secret? Low-fat, plain yogurt and a little baking powder.

Yogurt Cocoa Brownies

Ingredients
1 cup of granulated sugar
6 TBSP cocoa powder (any kind will do)
10 TBSP low-fat yogurt
2 large eggs
1/8 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup + 1 TBSP all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup dried cranberries (optional)
1/2 cup of dark chocolate chips (optional)

Directions
Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease an 8 x 8 in. baking dish (I use non-stick spray).

Mix together sugar, cocoa and yogurt until well blended. Add eggs one at a time until incorporated fully. Add vanilla and salt and mix well. Stir in flour and baking powder until it doesn't show and batter is creamy. Do not over mix.

Fold in dried cranberries and chocolate chips. (optional)

Bake for 28-32 minutes (when a toothpick is inserted, it should come out with a little of the brownie sticking to it).

Cool and cut into squares. Serve warm or room temperature with a nice cold glass of low-fat milk. Enjoy!

Blueberries!

2009-08-09T20:40:00.004-04:00

With blueberries being $0.99 a pint at my local green grocer (well more like Chinese Superstore extravaganza - they sell everything there) I figured I'd buy a half-dozen and see what I could make with them.

Blueberries are technically not really blue, but purple. But it doesn't matter, the color is still so wonderfully rich and inviting, it would be a crime not to bake with them.

Of course, with the trusty internet on hand, I scoured Epicurious.com for a quick and easy recipe. And yes, the site delivered in the form of a Blueberry Crumb Cake.

And what I got was a light, fluffy, richly blueberry cake with just the right amount of crunch/texture on top for the crumble.

A perfect way to celebrate the blueberry in my opinion. Well, other than eating them fresh with some vanilla ice-cream.

Yum.

Irish Car Bomb?

2009-08-02T13:07:00.005-04:00

Ever since I saw the recipe while perusing through smittenkitchen.com, I came across a recipe that I've been wanting to try out ever since I bought a six-pack of Guinness Extra Stout for a BBQ recipe. The BBQ sauce was a hit, and I finally got around to making these Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes yesterday.

What exactly is an Irish Car Bomb? Well, according to Wikipedia (my go to source for instant laymen knowledge)

An Irish Car Bomb is a beer cocktail which is a variation of the boilermaker. It is made with stout (e.g., Guinness), Irish Cream (e.g., Baileys), and Irish whiskey (e.g., Jameson).
The name refers the drinks Irish ingredients and to the car bombings notoriously used by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) during the Troubles. The Jameson whiskey is floated on top of the Baileys in a shot glass, and the shot glass is then dropped into the stout. Once mixed, the drink must be consumed quickly because it will curdle.

The cake recipe itself was really easy to make, and it almost felt like the additional carbonation from the Guinness made for a seductively moist cake. Not to mention the maltiness of the Guinness melded perfectly with the organic cocoa I used.

The whiskey ganache was also relatively simple to make, but I think I erred in this case by not using a higher cocoa-content bitter chocolate. Next time, I think 65% or higher would work better. Read on and I'll tell you why.

The reason is because the frosting is so goddamn sweet! It's all butter, sugar and then Bailey's Irish Cream. With a higher cocoa-content in the ganache, I feel that the frosting will be balanced out. However, my brother's liked them - but my brother's liking my baked goods is subjective - they eat anything with sugar in it!

In the end, the cupcakes were a success and one of my brother's friends said that they would pay me for a batch. Pay me with gratitude.

The jury is out on whether I would like to be paid in "gratitude". Baking is hard work!

Bake-Off!

2009-07-29T23:10:00.004-04:00

The bake-off idea was one I had been contemplating for over a year, based on a previous unfulfilled attempted from another yelper (Yelp.com is where yelper's hang out). With NYC being as diverse as it is and as a result having more restaurants than one could possibly know what to do with - people would like food. And possibly like to cook, and maybe even like to bake. In the summer.

On July 18, 2009 the weather was perfect. I had confirmation from the powers that be (a.k.a. Parks Department) that my event could be held and people said they would show up.

And some of them did and we had a good ol' time with my special "lemonade", gorgeous weather and lots of sugary confections. There were categories to be judged on and the ever popular, err, popular vote.

I made my Chocolate Chocolate Cookies and Orange Carrot Cake Cupcakes:

And here were some submissions from our other intrepid bakers:

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Chocolate Caramel Brownies

Sm ores Cookies

Once again, food = love, and baked goodies = big love.

Can't wait to do this again next year!

*photos courtesy of Nina C.

Stay Tuned

2009-07-29T15:42:00.001-04:00

This is a temporary post that will force me to elucidate on my fantastically flawed bake-off, which happened on a sunny Saturday in early July.

to be continued...

Rain, Rain, Go Away!

2009-06-22T15:29:00.004-04:00

In an effort to spread my love of baking among the Yelp community, which I am very vocal member of, I decided to host a bake-off.

The gist of the event was that people interested in baking would participate by bringing their homemade baked items to a pre-determined location in, oh say Central Park, and we would all compete for "prizes."

I was very excited because the turnout for the event exceeded my wildest expectations. And then it rained all week.

And on the day of the bake-off.

So I was naturally incredibly angry at the weather (futile, but necessary) and also at a loss as to what to do with my pre-baked goods. I made two batches of my Grapefruit Yogurt Cake in mini-cupcake format.

Luckily I have brothers. And neighbors. And co-workers.

What I am hoping is that my next attempt will actually be more than just an attempt.

Stay tuned!

Frozen, not stirred.

2009-06-14T15:37:00.005-04:00

Lame James Bond pun aside, making ice-cream is just as labor intensive, if not more so, than baking a cake.

The recipe is simpler, but the process requires a lot more patience. So when I finally decided to use natures bounty of berries (strawberries) to make some ice-cream, planning went into this endeavor.

A day in advance, I had to freeze the ice-cream attachment for my KitchenAid and make sure that it was properly covered so that there is no contamination from other items in the freezer. Next, I had to make sure to find a simple enough custard based ice-cream recipe. And what do you know? Epicurious had one, which of course I modified. Modification in the sense that I used lemon extract instead of lemon rind and I didn't add the chilled macerated strawberries to the semi-frozen custard mixture, but rather some fresh frozen strawberries I'd been saving for a while.

The addition of the frozen strawberries actually helped the custard mixture set-up better, because in previous ice-cream making experiments it had turned to mush after adding stuff to the custard base.

And here's what else I learned - custard based (or French-style) ice-cream is moons and stars better tasting than American-style. It's also a lot fattier, so eat in moderation.

Enjoy!

Orange you glad I made it?

2009-05-17T21:43:00.005-04:00

So, more oranges. This time, not because they tempted me while carelessly arranged on the greengrocer's aisles, but rather because a family friend dumped a sackful on my mother's table and she wasn't sure what to do with them.

Well, where there's a fruit, there's a recipe.

Actually, all I did was modify my Grapefruit Yogurt Cake recipe to make it an Orange Mini-Cake with Chocolate Drizzle recipe.

How? Simple, substitute orange zest for grapefruit zest. Use orange extract instead of vanilla, but instead of 1/2 teaspoon, use only 1/4 teaspoon. I also baked the cakes in a mini-muffin pan for 30 mins, as opposed to a loaf pan for 50 mins. Came out fine.

As for the syrup, it is the following:

Ingredients
1 cup of fresh orange juice
2 tbsp of sugar
1 tsp of orange blossom water (optional)

Directions
Mix together all ingredients, bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer until the mixture is slightly syrupy. Cool before use.

To assemble, just place the mini-cakes in a shallow baking dish and brush on the cooled syrup until all the syrup is gone. Let the cakes stand for about 30 mins to absorb the remaining syrup and completely cool.

As for the chocolate drizzle, well whatever you like to use is fine, but a good simple recipe is simply melting 1/2 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips in your microwave and mix until smooth. I like to add a little vegetable oil to make it glossy and not coagulate too quickly.

I used three oranges in this recipe - nine more to go!

Mother's Day!

2009-05-10T13:27:00.005-04:00

So, today is Mother's Day and I decided that I would rouse myself early and make my mother brunch instead of going nuts about booking a reservation at a restaurant.

Like with most brunches, I like to combine sweet and savory dishes because it's not technically breakfast (sweet) or lunch (savory), so why not have both together? My menu was:

Eat
Scrambled Eggs with Sun dried Tomatoes
Chicken Sausage
Cherry Tomato and Feta Salad (with walnuts)
Marble Pound Cake with two sauces on the side (chocolate sauce and strawberry sauce)
Crudites with a Greek Yogurt dip
French Toast Pudding
Drink
Blood Orange Spritzer (non-alcoholic)
Vegetable Juice (with herbs and spices)
Tea
Coffee

Pretty nice spread, right? Well since this is a baking blog, I must tell you that of course I baked something. But it wasn't the Pound Cake - that I bought from the store and jazzed it up with the sauces. I made the French Toast Pudding because I wanted to make French Toast, but didn't want to deal with all the battering and frying. This was an easy way to get all that French Toast goodness without a lot of work.

I found the recipe on Epicurious.com, but I modified it as follows:

Ingredients

12 (1-inch-thick) baguette slices (cut on a long diagonal)
3 tablespoons fresh espresso
3 cups whole milk
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
dash of Cinnamon
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoons sugar, divided
1/2 cup of dried cherries
Cinnamon for dusting

Directions
Preheat oven to 400°F with rack in middle and generously butter a 13- by 9-inch shallow baking dish or pan (3-quart; preferably glass or ceramic).

Arrange bread in 1 layer in baking dish and sprinkle the dried cherries evenly over the bread. Whisk together espresso, milk, eggs, vanilla, dash of cinnamon and 1/2 cup sugar until smooth.

Pour custard over bread, then turn slices over several times so they soak up as much custard as possible. Sprinkle top with remaining 1 tablespoons sugar.

Bake until puffed and set, 25 minutes. Cool in dish on a rack 10 minutes, then dust with cinnamon.

This was the perfect accompaniment for the brunch and it was really quick and easy to make - it looked fabulous in the dish and it tasted like a good piece of French Toast. Allowing it to cool for that last 10 minutes allows the remaining custard to set properly, so you don't get a pudding but a really nice piece of "French Toast."

And my momma loved it, so there's all the endorsement you need to go and make a batch for your next brunch!

Choc Choc Chocolate!

2009-05-07T20:59:00.004-04:00

I was discussing tattoos and addiction with a friend earlier and we were arguing about the nature of addictions. At one point, I mentioned that by her definition, I should be a chocolate addict. And then I realized, hey you know? I probably am!

I crave it when it's not around. I try to deny myself it, only to find that the next time I have a piece it's that much better. So why deny the addiction?

In the spirit of addiction, I decided to pull out an old recipe that I saved from my internet browsing for a chocolate cookie recipe.

I ended up wanting to make it even chocolaty-er (not a word, but you know what I mean) and modified it to the following:

Fudgey Chocolate Cookies

Ingredients

1/2 cup margarine (salted is fine)

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1/4 cup white granulated sugar

1 extra-large egg

1 1/2 tsp of strong coffee

1 cup all purpose flour

1/4 cup + 2 tbsp cocoa powder (I used Nestle here, but you can be fancier)

1 tsp teaspoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon salt*

1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and place rack in center of oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), cream the margarine and sugars until light and fluffy . Add the egg and coffee and beat until incorporated. Add the flour, baking powder, cocoa powder and salt* and mix until well incorporated. The mixture should have the consistency of a thick frosting. Fold in chocolate chips until fully incorporated.

Using two teaspoons, measure out spoonfuls of the batter onto the lined baking sheets.

Bake for approximately 14 minutes or until the the cookies are still soft in the center but are firm around the edges. Remove from oven and let cookies cool on baking sheet for about 5 minutes before removing the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

Makes about 2 dozen pieces of chocolaty goodness!

*Only add salt if you're not using salted margarine. You can also use butter, but it'll be a different cookie.

More Orange!

2009-05-03T20:45:00.009-04:00

Yes. I admit. I am in love with all things orange in baked goods. I am at this moment dreaming of an orange custard, kissed with Grand Marnier in little Angel Foods Cake cups. With a drizzle of chocolate. Dark Chocolate.

*drool*

But since it was the evening, and I wasn't too keen on whipping egg whites till "just so" - I decided to hop on Epicurious and see what I could find with Orange + Cookie + Chocolate. There's something about the brightness of citrus and the dark, sultry flavor of semi-sweet chocolate that works in such a wonderful way.

So armed with my zester, chocolate chips and this recipe - I decided to make me some Orange Oatmeal Cookies with Chocolate Chips.

I decided to use the zest of an entire small orange for this recipe, because I find that I like the intense flavor of orange in cookies, and the 3/4 tsp recommended by the recipe didn't seem to cut it.

I also used some of my secret ingredient in the recipe. I can't tell you what it is, because it's a secret. But then, what's the point of me posting the recipe and telling you that I modified it without telling you what the mods were, right? It's like souping up a car for a friend and not giving them the specs afterwards. Not a good idea.

So my secret ingredient is *drum roll* - Moroccan Orange Blossom water. My brother brought back a liter of it from when he was last in Marrakesh and I've been using drips and drops of it in a lot of my citrus-based baked goodies. Just a half-a-teaspoon in this recipe, but it adds so much to the cookie.

And they are so easy to make! Just two bowls, some elbow grease and literally 30 mins and voila - some tasty cookies. And you don't need the fancy flower water to make the cookie any better than it already is - I just like to be fancy sometimes.

Enjoy!

Shortbread

2009-04-08T22:21:00.006-04:00

One of my closest friends, a tall Jewish red-head, has come back down to the motherland (Brooklyn) to celebrate Passover with her family.

We were discussing various dietary restrictions and how to make nontraditional meals without breaking the rules of keeping kosher. Somehow, this made me start thinking about my various dietary restrictions (no beef, no pork and no salt & meats on Thursday).

Then I got to thinking about her fiance, who is lactose-intolerant, a friend of my brother who cannot eat anything with wheat in it.

Now, tomorrow is Thursday, which means I don't eat anything with salt (until after 6 pm) or meat for the entire day. However, I also am going to a classmates home and I feel bad not bringing anything.

Enter shortbread.

It's a really simple basic recipe that is versatile enough to add stuff to without affecting the integrity of the cookie too much.

I made two kinds, an Orange Shortbread Cookie and a Chocolate Shortbread Cookie. The former is a recipe I found off the Internet, and I modified by substituting butter-flavored shortening for butter and added a whole lot more orange zest. The granulated sugar, was actually turbinado in this case and it added an richer sweetness to the cookie (in my opinion).

Now, the Chocolate Shortbread, well that was a work in progress. Not so much progress, as I didn't like the recipe I found and I thought I could do better. I take liberties with my baking now and again.

Here's the recipe I came up with:

Ingredients:

3/4 cup of flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp instant coffee powder
1/2 cup butter-flavored shortening
3/8 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
Sift together flour, cocoa powder, salt and baking powder and set aside.

In a medium mixing bowl, cream butter-flavored shortening, sugar and coffee powder until light and fluffy.

Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and blend until a soft dough forms. Add vanilla and mix well.

Using a teaspoon, measure out spoonfuls of dough onto the cookie sheet and pat down to resemble a flattened round cookie. Bake for 15-20 minutes in the middle rack of your oven until the cookies are slightly puffed.

Remove from oven and cool completely before removing from the baking sheet. Store in a cool place or eat them right away with some espresso or just a good old fashioned glass of milk.

I like shortbread cookies because they are easy to make, and they taste good and in this case, my lactose-intolerant friends can have them too.

The kosher for passover stuff will be coming this weekend. ;)

Bake, Bake, Bake that Cake

2009-03-24T16:41:00.005-04:00

I made a birthday cake.

I figured if I was going to get back into the baking process, I might as well go big. And what is bigger than a birthday cake? Well a wedding cake, but my baking prowess only goes so far.

My friend Linda was turning 28 and I didn't know what to get her, so I made her this:

It was a Chocolate Chocolate Cake, and I got the recipe at my favorite blog. The only modifications were reducing the amount of sugar needed from 3 cups (yes, 3 cups) to 2 1/2 cups and using different chocolate from what was suggested in the recipe. By different chocolate, I mean brand. It was a half and half mixture of generic semi-sweet chocolate and artisanal chocolate.

I also frosted and filled the cake entirely with ganache, which made it into a chocolate explosion - a very, very good thing.

Next cake - something with lemon.

I'm back baby!

2009-03-16T11:37:00.002-04:00

My oven has finally been fixed and I could not be happier! I didn't realize how much baking meant to me until I was without the key to my baking.

Sure I had the toaster oven, but it was a sad substitute to my oven, where I could bake my mini-cupcakes, cookies, cakes and other goodies. I currently have a stash of recipes I've been collecting for the past two months and I cannot wait to try them out.

Yesterday I made my Orange Carrot Cupcakes and my Grapefruit Loaf. The latter I miniaturized and used my mini-muffin tin to make it. The baking time is reduced to 30 minutes and the icing needs to be thicker, but I brought them into work today and they have disappeared.

I'm as happy as a clam that just escaped the cooking pot!

Still No Oven

2009-02-05T22:45:00.001-05:00

ARGH!

Grapefruit?

2009-01-24T21:24:00.008-05:00

I think that during the winter, especially a horribly cold and frostbiting one like this winter, people like to stock up on citrus. Seriously, I notice lots of lemons on sale and oranges and other citrus fruits.

I, thinking of summer, bought a huge bag of grapefruits. Ruby, to be exact. I was planning on eating them for breakfast as a way to battle the winter blues and to combat winter weight. However, they ended up sitting on my kitchen table and slowly began the process of dessication. So to salvage the grapefruits and to not waste food (this is a very bad economy), I decided to do something with them.

My original thought was Grapefruit Bars, a twist on my favorite Lemon Bars recipe. But I trolled the Internet instead and found a great recipe for a Grapefruit Yogurt Cake. It sounded so healthy, that I had to try it.

I ended up with this:

It's not very sexy, but it tastes so wonderful. The yogurt in the batter adds a subtle tang in the cake, while the fresh grapefruit syrup adds this wonderful aroma and of course the lovely citrus flavor that I love with this fruit.

And without further ado, the recipe (modified from the modified recipe off SmittenKitchen.com - my new favorite blog)

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup plain non-fat yogurt (you can use whatever you have on hand)
1 cup plus 2 tablespoon sugar
3 large eggs
3 teaspoons grated grapefruit zest (approximately one large grapefruit)
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup freshly squeezed grapefruit juice

For the glaze:
1/3 cup of confectioner's sugar
enough fresh grapefruit juice to mix into a runny icing

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8 1/2 by 4 1/4 by 2 1/2-inch loaf pan. Line the bottom with parchment paper. Grease and flour the pan.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt into 1 bowl. In another bowl, whisk together the yogurt, 1 cup sugar, the eggs, grapefruit zest, and vanilla. Slowly whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. With a rubber spatula, fold the vegetable oil into the batter, making sure it's all incorporated. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 45-50 minutes, or until a cake tester (or toothpick for us amateurs) placed in the center of the loaf comes out clean.

Meanwhile, cook the 1 cup grapefruit juice and remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar in a small pan until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is clear. Let cool for later.

When the cake is done, allow it to cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Carefully place on a baking rack over a sheet pan. While the cake is still warm, pour the grapefruit-sugar mixture over the cake and allow it to soak in. Cool.

For the glaze, combine the confectioners' sugar and grapefruit juice and pour over the cake.

Babka!

2009-01-18T11:14:00.005-05:00

Since I live in NYC, my oven is often used as an extra storage compartment. This means that if I want to bake something, I'll not only have to unload the oven, but I'll also need to find temporary storage around my kitchen and other rooms. It's a hassle.

Enter the toaster oven, an urban baker's trusty sidekick. I invested in a Krups Convection Toaster Oven, which has served me well over the years. Whether I need to bake up a quick batch of Lemon Bars, my Jam Crumb Cake or any other "small dessert," I've been able to do it...sometimes they come out better than if I did bake it in my regular oven.

So, with my oven on the lam and me with a three-day weekend, I decided to bake Babka. Yes, Babka- that quintessential Jewish sweet treat that I buy in bulk when I go to Zabar's. Since I love the Chocolate Babka they sell there, I was able to find a great recipe on Epicurious.com and thus attempt to recreate one of my favorite treats. My only addition was the powdered sugar and melted semi-sweet chocolate drizzle on top. I also added cinnamon to the filling, because cinnamon and chocolate complement each other well flavor-wise.

It was a long and arduous process, and I was afraid many a time of falling flat (lame dough rising joke here), but everything turned out more or less OK. Not exactly as airy as the delectable Babka I get at Zabar's, but still pretty darn good for an amateur attempt and a toaster oven.

Let's just say that everything is better with Babka.

I'm Smitten!

2009-01-17T21:33:00.002-05:00

So with my oven on the fritz and me dithering about whether to call a repairman or fix the damn thing myself...I haven't been baking!

I know, and with a three-day weekend, I can only think about all the things I want to make and can't. So instead I've been trolling the Internet for recipes and blogs so I can greedily soak in recipes and ideas for when my oven does get fixed.

My toaster oven works fine, but the limited capacity puts a hamper on my plans for cookies and cakes. So I've been looking for simple loaf and bar recipes.

A site I have recently come across that has me wishing I was a better photographer (and writer) is Smitten Kitchen - a beautifully laid out blog about cooking. It's not at all pretentious, the blogging is easy to read and the recipes are given like the way you'd give your recipe to a good friend. I've bookmarked it, added it to my RSS feed and am using it as an aspirational prototype for the way my blog should be.

I don't think I'm ever going to go the professional route with my baking (although you never know), but as with all things, the will to learn and better oneself in the pursuit of knowledge is always worthwhile.

So thanks Smitten Kitchen for making my oven-less days a little brighter!

Catastrophe!

2009-01-13T15:56:00.004-05:00

My oven has decided to give up on me.

I was in a state of (almost comical) shock for an hour or so on Sunday trying to figure out what happened. I ascertained that the broiler and burners worked, but the oven - well it stayed at a cool 100 degrees Fahrenheit for 20 minutes without budging one degree higher.

The tragedy of the situation was that I had some freshly prepared Carrot Cake Cupcake batter sitting in my mini-muffin pan. They were ready to go and then this happened. I was in a dither because I needed to bring these treats to my friend's place where I was graciously invited to dinner.

In the end, I baked the cupcakes at her domicile to the adulation of her and her husband (the latter gobbled so many of them I was afraid he's fall into a sugar coma).

So now, I have ideas aplenty and a Daring Baker's Challenge to complete and no oven.

I'm almost afraid to see what the cost will be.

Ginger

2009-01-07T15:10:00.004-05:00

I've become obsessed with ginger this winter. Mainly because drinking it in tea format seems to clear my body of aches and pains and other seasonal maladies. It is also refreshing and a wonderful addition to cookies and cakes.

I prefer to add my ginger in the raw versus powdered because the pure "gingery" flavor seems to work better, or rather come through more in the cookie or cake.

An online friend of mine shared with me a fabulous recipe for gingersnaps that I made using fresh ginger and parceled out to my friends and family for holiday gifts. Out of all the other cookies, this was the one that hit the highest note.

Recipe to follow.

Holiday Baking!

2008-12-21T22:29:00.009-05:00

I've found that baking for the holidays is the best way to share the joy of the season without spending a lot of coin.

Inside are Soft Gingersnaps, Chocolate Chocolate Cookies and Chocolate Pumpkin Cookies.

So overdue...

2008-12-20T12:53:00.001-05:00

...for a post.

It's a combination of economic shock, finals and general sloth that has made me not post. That doesn't mean I haven't been baking - I have, but nothing new. I've been trotting out my chocolate chip cookies, Carrot Orange Cupcakes, Jam Crumb Cake and all sorts of other goodies.

There will be baking and recipes to come, I promise.

What else did I make for Thanksgiving?

2008-11-28T10:12:00.005-05:00

I also made a Lemon Tart, which ended up being a Lemon-Lime tart because I had some limes that were going bad. How does a lime go bad? Ok, I was going to make a stupid joke here, but I'm not.

And here's my modified recipe, taken from The Joy of Baking

Lemon-Lime Tart

Ingredients
CRUST:

1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
1/3 cup + 2 TBSP confectioners sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces

FILLING:

7.5 oz cream cheese, room temperature
3/4 cup granulated white sugar
3/4 cup fresh lemon and lime juice (approximately two large lemons and two limes)
3 large eggs
2 TBSP Lemon Zest
2 TBSP Lime Zest

TOPPING:

1 1/2 cups of heavy cream
1/3 cup of superfine sugar
1 TSP of cornstarch
Lemon/Lime Zest

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 deg Fahrenheit. Grease a 12 inch tart pan.

Mix together the ingredients for the crust in a food processor or you can mix them in by hand until the crust begins to come together into a ball. Once this happens, press the crust evenly into the greased tart pan. Cover and place the pastry crust in the freezer for 15 minutes to chill.

When the pastry is completely chilled, bake until the crust is golden brown, about 13 - 15 minutes. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool while you make the filling.

In your mixer place the cream cheese and beat until smooth. Add sugar and beat until incorporated. Add eggs, one at a time, and beat until thoroughly combined. Add remaining ingredients (reserve 1 TBSP of the lemon and lime zest mixture) and process until well blended and smooth. Pour filling into pre-baked tart shell and bake for approximately 25 - 30 minutes or until filling is set. Transfer tart to a wire rack to cool and then cover and refrigerate until well chilled, at least an hour.

For the topping, simply whisk together your heavy cream, cornstarch and sugar until stiff peaks form. Top the completely cooled tart with your topping and sprinkle on the remaining lemon-lime zest.

This turned out to be a little tarter (no pun intended) than I would presume the original recipe was. I think it's because of the addition of the lime juice. But I like it, it's kind of like a key lime tart without having to use the key limes.

Enjoy!

Daring Bakers Challenge - November 2008

2008-11-28T09:47:00.005-05:00

So I finally got back on the wagon, the baking wagon that is and decided to commemorate this Thanksgiving by making the Caramel Cake with Caramel frosting. The challenge was thought up by not one, not two but three daring bakers:

Dolores, of the blog Chronicles in Culinary Curiosity
Alex, from Blondie and Brownie
Jenny of Foray into Food
and for all those with gluten-free challenges (which thankfully I don't have), the hosts turned to Natalie of Gluten-a-Go-Go

Now on with the challenge! The actual recipe came from this site and was authored by Shauna Fish Lydon. You can find the recipe and instructions at website.

I was going to link to her name and bio, but this post has too many links and not enough cake in it yet.

The cake itself was relatively easy to make; however, the actual baking time was a half an hour longer than originally stated in the recipe, which did cut into baking time for other Thanksgiving treats. I was happy to see that the longer time didn't mean a messed up cake. Take a look for yourself,

Another thing I got to use in this challenge was my brand-spanking new candy and deep fat fryer thermometer! I was pleased to see that the "brown and smoking" sugar and water mixture needed for the caramel syrup was actually registered on the thermometer as "soft crack." My brothers got a kick out of that description.

In any case after much boiling and melting and mixing and baking, I ended up with this,

My only additional step that wasn't in the recipe was making a wash of dark rum and vanilla and brushing it all over the cake to add a little punch to all the sweetness.

Yum.

Orange = Fall

2008-11-04T16:37:00.004-05:00

Of course this means that I need to bake something orange! I was tired of making all things chocolate (blasphemy, I know) and all the falling leaves, dotting the lawns in my neighborhood, clogging my windshield wipers just brought to mind this color of the Fall.

So I trolled the Internet, my fingertips cookbook and found the following recipe on epicurious.com. I decided to change the recipe around a little with the flavorings, and I didn't have large eggs so I found that substituting 2 Jumbo eggs for 3 large eggs did not damage the integrity of the recipe.

So here's what I made:

And here's the modified recipe!

Carrot Cupcakes with Orange Icing

Ingredients

For cupcakes
2 cups of grated carrots
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
Dash of allspice
Zest from a large orange
3/4 cup vegetable oil
2 Jumbo eggs (or 3 large, as the recipe says)
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 granulated sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup of golden raisins

For icing
1 1/4 cups confectioners sugar
1/2 teaspoon grated orange zest
2 to 3 tablespoons fresh orange juice

Directions
Make cupcakes:
Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle. Line muffin cups with paper liners.

Coarsely grate enough carrots to measure 2 cups using large teardrop holes of a box grater.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg in a bowl.

Whisk together oil, eggs, brown sugar, granulated sugar, grated carrots, orange zest and vanilla in a large bowl, then stir in flour mixture until just combined. Then add raisins and fold into batter.

Divide batter among muffin cups and bake until golden and a wooden pick inserted into center of a cupcake comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes.

Cool in pan on a rack 10 minutes. Remove cupcakes from pan and cool completely on rack, about 1 hour more.

Make icing:
Sift confectioners sugar into a bowl. Whisk in zest and 2 tablespoons juice until smooth. If icing is too thick, add more juice, 1 teaspoon at a time. Dip top of each cupcake into icing, letting excess drip off.

Note:
I used mini muffin pans and they are cute, bite-sized and perfect for your next holiday party, or just to parcel out during the week for yourself. Mini bites means mini guilt. (ha!)

Wheat Allergy? Lactose Intolerant? No problem.

2008-10-25T17:38:00.004-04:00

I made these for the sufferer of the above intolerances and what do you know, they were a hit!

Deep Dark Chocolate Cookies (courtesy of Epicurious.com)

Ingredients
Nonstick vegetable oil spray
1 1/2 cups bittersweet chocolate chips (about 9 ounces), divided
3 large egg whites, room temperature
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar, divided
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions
Preheat oven to 400°F. Spray 2 large baking sheets with nonstick spray. Melt 1 cup chocolate chips in glass bowl in microwave, stirring twice, about 2 minutes. Cool slightly.

Using electric mixer, beat whites in large bowl to soft peaks. Gradually beat in 1 cup sugar. Continue beating until mixture resembles soft marshmallow creme. Whisk 1 cup sugar, cocoa, cornstarch, and salt in medium bowl to blend. On low speed, beat dry ingredients into meringue. Stir in lukewarm chocolate and 1/2 cup chocolate chips (dough will become very stiff).

Place 1/2 cup sugar in bowl. Roll 1 rounded tablespoon dough into ball; roll in sugar, coating thickly. Place on prepared sheet. Repeat with remaining dough, spacing 2 inches apart. Bake until puffed and tops crack, about 10 minutes. Cool on sheets on rack 10 minutes. Transfer to rack; cool.

Note: These cookies are good with a little cup of espresso, or just when you need a pick-me-up.

From Focus...to Frosting

2008-10-19T21:36:00.003-04:00

I've recently finished reading My Life in France a book about Julia Child and her life and love of food and how it came to be. My friend Alexis lent me the book and I can't help but want to give her a big kiss for doing so. I think instead I'll give her some cookies.

In any case, during my feverish devouring of the words, I started to think about returning to my earlier baking roots. Back when, in the sweltering heat of the Tropic of Cancer, I'd make stews, cream-filled cakes and other items that normally would be better suited for a cooler climate. Back then, I was cooking to cope with the homesickness I was feeling and escaping into complicated recipes. The results weren't always on point, but the process was so much fun. Something that I remembered while reading Julia Child's memoirs.

In any case, something that I've been wanting to do recently is to make a proper cake. I've noticed a trend towards cookies and cupcakes, and smaller dessert items. I think one of the reason could be that people are actually thinking of what they put in their mouth (I could be completely wrong with the amount of fast food commercials that tempt me with sauce-drenched batter-fried chicken). So I picked up my Cake Bible and made an All-American Chocolate Cake.

The result was a rich and chocolaty cake, without being too fudgey. I filled it with her recipe for stabilized whipped cream and frosted it with a simple Peanut Butter Frosting that I swear tastes like the filling of a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup®.

I am not going to reproduce the cake recipe here because I do feel that every baker should have The Cake Bible on their cookbook shelf, but the frosting is something that I feel compelled to leave here.

Fluffy Peanut Butter Frosting (courtesy of Allrecipes.com)

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup creamy peanut butter
3 tablespoons milk, or as needed
2 cups confectioners' sugar

Directions

Place the butter and peanut butter into a medium bowl, and beat with an electric mixer.

Gradually mix in the sugar, and when it starts to get thick, incorporate milk one tablespoon at a time until all of the sugar is mixed in and the frosting is thick and easy to spread.

Beat for at least 3 minutes for it to get good and fluffy.

Notes: Once you fill and frost the cake, it keeps on the counter-top for at least 3 days. If it lasts longer than that (yeah, right), put it in the fridge to keep the stabilized whip cream filling from spoiling.

As American as...

2008-10-19T21:27:00.003-04:00

So, I redeemed myself this weekend by proving that I can bake a pie.

Sometimes, you need to keep a few recipes up your sleeve that you can whip out and not only have something warm and wonderful for dessert, but also soothe that bruised ego when your last dessert was a flop. Apple pie happens to be the one I keep right above the cuff.

I love apple pie. I like it plain and warm, warm with ice-cream, or just cold for breakfast. It's something I learned to make from watching my mother make it over and over again when I was a child. Apple pie for me, like so many people, is home and happiness.

I am not posting my recipe because it's no better than my mom's or anyone's mom's apple pie recipe. I think something like apple pie is personal and everyone has their own secret spice to add.

Mine is love. (Yes, corny, but so true.)

Mistakes - it's what you learn from.

2008-10-14T10:43:00.003-04:00

It turns out that I am an amateur baker after all - prey to the foibles of my random kitchen and appliances.

I recently made a Concord Grape Tart - the photo of which I fell in love with during my perusal of the last Martha Stewart Living magazine I received. I imagined a golden brown crust with the royal purple fruit filling bubbling through and then the taste would be a concentrated grape jelly enveloped in a crisp, buttery crust.

What ended up happening was that I got impatient. The recipe, although extremely simple, called for a lot of prep and cook time. There was boiling, and straining and cooling and stirring of the Concord grape filling. Then the crust – well let’s say after I had to put the damn things in the freezer for a third time, I had enough.

I stirred my filling one last time, I removed my crust semi-frozen, put everything together and plopped the darn thing in the oven.

40 minutes later, what I pulled out of the oven was a far cry from what the picture promised. I had a pale, listless crust with the filling oozing all over the place. The taste was too sweet for my palette and even when completely cooled, the filling refused to remain jellied.

So what did I learn? I learned that in my quest for simple recipes that anyone can whip up in an hour or so, I’ve forgotten that sometimes, you need to spend time with your recipe in order for it to turn out perfect.

Haste, in this case, did make waste.

Vegetarian...possibly Vegan

2008-10-12T13:14:00.006-04:00

I remember the first time I had a mock-dessert, i.e. a dessert that pretended to be something scrumptious but ended up tasting like mud. I was in a bakery and I saw this chocolaty cake-like confection and thought that it would be a perfect thing to have after a light meal.

After taking my first bite, I had to spit it out. I know that people have food allergies and lifestyle choices that make it difficult for them to have a regular chocolate cake. But this was really awful and very sneaky. It was my fault for just pointing at it and telling the bakery counter person "I want that one," instead of actually asking what it was, but it looked so innocuous. Now I always ask.

The point of the story above is that since that mistake of a dessert happened, I've been wary of anything that called itself, say, a "chocolate chip cookie" but didn't actually have any chocolate in it.

However, I feel that I have been prejudiced because when faced with the task of creating a vegetarian cookie for my mom, I realized I'd have to put my prejudice aside and attempt to do my best in baking. And you know what? I actually did!

I made these Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies (which later turned into Vegetarian Peanut Butter Cookies because I added chocolate chips), which I ended up devouring more than anyone else.

So here's a recipe that you can make for the dietary restricted people in your life:

Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies (adapted from a recipe found on Cooks.com)

Ingredients
1 cup shortening
1 cup creamy peanut butter (I used a low sugar, low sodium variety)
1 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup of buttermilk (see substitution in previous blog post)
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/2 cup of all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups of chocolate chips (optional)

Directions

1)Preheat oven to 350 deg Fahrenheit. Grease two cookie sheets.
2)Cream the shortening with the brown sugar until lighter in color. Add peanut butter and beat well. Add buttermilk and vanilla and beat for about 2 minutes.
3) Mix in flour, baking powder and salt until a smooth batter is formed. Now, if you're only vegetarian, you can add the chocolate chips. If you're vegan, add carob chips or chopped nuts or just leave it plain.
4) Drop teaspoonfuls of the batter, one-inch apart on the cookie sheets. Bake for 10-13 minutes or until the cookie looks set and is a light brown.

Enjoy with a cold glass of milk, see picture for instruction.

Let's Make Whoopie

2008-10-01T23:12:00.003-04:00

...pies that is. (Stop thinking smut, sheesh!)

I might have mentioned in a previous post (or not) that I go to Boston quite a bit. When I go there, I end up spending a good amount of time in the North End and a good amount of money in the various bakeries and other food related establishments there. Needless to say, I wear my "comfortable clothes" when I head to the North End.

There's this one unpretentious bakery I go to (I don't remember the name, just the location) where I buy Whoopie Pies from and cart them back to NYC for my brother's to devour. The other day when I was thinking of marshmallow treats, I thought about attempting to make these overblown versions of Oreos and found myself a pretty sweet recipe on my favorite recipe site - epicurious.com.

Of course, I modified it to meet the needs of my pantry and I think they came out pretty swell.

Take a looksee:

My brother's declared that they were 10 times better than any Whoopie pie they've had. So I guess I have some extra space in my duffel bag the next time I go up to Boston.

So here's the recipe (modifications included):

For Pie part:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder (I used Hershey's here, but epicurious liked fancier Dutch-processed cocoa)
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup well-shaken buttermilk*
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup of vegetable shortening
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 large egg

For Filling:

1 pint of heavy cream
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup confectioner's sugar

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 350°F.

Whisk together flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt in a bowl until combined. Stir together buttermilk and vanilla in a small bowl.

Beat together butter and brown sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Add egg, beating well. The alternatively add buttermilk mixture and dry mixture, beginning and ending with the dry mixture until the batter is smooth and well incorporated.

Spoon 1/4-cup mounds of batter about 2 inches apart onto 2 greased large baking sheets. Bake for 11 to 13 minutes until the cake is set. Remove from oven and cool completely before filling.

To make the filling, simply whip the heavy cream, vanilla and sugar until very stiff. Refrigerate until use.

To assemble, simply spread the filling on the flat side of one cake and sandwich together. Enjoy immediately or refrigerate until you get time to.

* If you don't have buttermilk on hand (like most people) you can make it by mixing together lemon juice and whole milk. It also works with 2%, but you get a more buttermilk like substance with whole milk. What I did for this recipe was use 2 TBSP lemon juice and added enough milk to make the 1 cup.

Inspiration - Pt. 2

2008-09-24T13:06:00.002-04:00

Due to my current lack of baking thanks to my increasingly busy schedule, I’ve been eating other people’s baked goods.

Last night it was torrone from Modern Pastry. I don’t like nougat, BUT – this place makes me a nougat-lover. I have a long-distance relationship with the nougat from this shop as I live in NYC and my wonderful nougat is housed in the shop in Boston, MA. I was up in Boston recently and came back with almost two pounds of the stuff. Yes, I know, I’m crazy.

There’s something about the texture and flavors of this particular torrone that makes it so melt-in-your mouth wonderful.

So I think I am going to be making something marshmallow related this weekend because nougat is marshmallows that had a lot more syrup and other goodies added to it.

Choco-Loco

2008-09-23T11:48:00.002-04:00

I think that the Chocolate Chip Cookie is one of the best cookies on the planet! Seriously – it’s got chocolate, it’s got cookie and when dunked in a cold glass of milk it tastes even more amazing than on its own.

I have baked hundreds of Chocolate Chip Cookies in my career as an amateur urban baker and recently, I’ve been experimenting. I’ve been adding blueberries, orange extract and now modified the standard Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe to make it even chocolatier!

So without further ado, here’s what I did:

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients
3/4 dark drown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 cup vegetable shortening
2 large eggs
1 tsp of good vanilla
1 tbsp of strong coffee or espresso (whatever you have leftover from your morning brew)
2 cups of all-purpose flour
1/4 cup of good cocoa powder (I like Ghirardelli)
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups of chocolate chips

Directions
Preheat oven to 375 deg Fahrenheit. Grease two cookie sheets

Cream the sugars and the shortening together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time and beat well after each addition. Add the vanilla and coffee/espresso and mix well.

Combine all the dry ingredients in a separate bowl.

Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and gently mix/fold in. You don’t want to over beat because that will lead to a tougher cookie.

Mix in the chocolate chips into batter.

Bake cookies for 15-17 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes on cookie sheets before chowing down.

Makes 2-3 dozen cookies depending on how you size them.

Although my oven is only a couple of years old (as opposed to the archaic devices found in most NYC dwellings), it seems to have taken on the quirks of an older appliance. This means that the heat is distributed unevenly. So here’s a tip: When baking something like cookies, where your cookie sheets don’t both fit on one oven rack, alternate the sheets every 7-8 minutes until your baking time is up. This ensures an even batch of cookies every time. You can also invest in a brand new convection oven, but I think my trick is cheaper.

Enjoy!

Inspiration

2008-09-20T14:13:00.001-04:00

As you might have noticed, I have been reticent as of late in posting. Not so much reticent – more so busy with my life outside of baking.

Classes have started again and have readily usurped areas of my life I had in the previous month cleared. Suddenly my job upped the dronage factor and I’ve been bombarded with projects. And in an effort not to return to hermit-tude – I’ve been actively keeping up my social life.

So when does one bake? Well…for me, in the small moments in between when I want to feel better or make other people feel better. I might have mentioned this before, but baking is more than just making something sweet/savory/delicious to satisfy a food need. It’s to satisfy the soul. I know, corny, but the sentiment has been repeated in many a forum. Being able to pull something warm and good from the oven (toaster or otherwise) and making someone smile in the process is what it’s all about for me.

The title of this post is inspiration – so here are some of the things that inspire me to bake:

1) Family
2) Friends
3) Visiting pastry shops
4) Fresh fruit
5) My love of chocolate
6) The technical process that is baking
7) Being able to satisfy my sweet tooth without having to leave the house.

What are some things that inspire you?

Craze?

2008-09-07T20:11:00.005-04:00

I was reading an article in the NY Times about the current cupcake craze and how it is mirroring the sudden rise of Krispy Kremes.

What really got my notice about the article was not that cupcakes were being marketed as the next "donut," but rather one of the responses to the article by a reader. A person by the moniker cake eater stated,

"It is ridiculously easy to make good cupcakes yourself."

And with that in mind, I went ahead and decided to make some myself.

Personally, I am not a cupcake fan. The fact that the surface-to-interior ratio is larger than a cake, they tend to dry out quicker and then all you have is a dry piece of cake with lots of sugary frosting on top.

So I decided to make chocolate cupcakes, and fill them with some whipped cream à la Hostess Cupcakes style and then top with the remaining whipped cream.

And voilà, some pretty kick-ass cupcakes, if I may say so myself! I think the key is to use a fat-heavy frosting and filling to keep the cake moist. If you load it with sugar, you're not really helping the cupcake.

I found through this exercise, that cupcakes are ridiculously easy to make. You can make a lot in a short amount of time. And what you can't finish eating after a mini-binge, you can easily store in an airtight container. Since these cupcakes were frosted and filled with a heavy cream, err, cream - I kept the left-overs in the fridge. If you decide to forgo the homemade filling/frosting and use good ol' boxed, you can keep the cupcakes out of the fridge.

So here's my modified recipe for Chocolate Cream-Filled Cupcakes - try 'em, you might just save yourself a trip to the overpriced bakery in your neighborhood. ;)

Cake

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 cup Ghiradelli baking cocoa powder
3 tablespoons butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup milk

Frosting/Filling

1 1/2 cups of heavy whipping cream
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup of confectioner's sugar

Directions

Preheat your oven to 350 deg Fahrenheit.

In a bowl mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder, cocoa powder. In a separate bowl, cream the butter and sugar (white sugar, not confectioner's) until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla and mix well. Alternately add the dry ingredient mixture and the milk to the butter/sugar/egg/vanilla mixture. Make sure that there are minimal lumps in the batter once everything is incorporated.

Bake for 17-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.

Set cupcakes aside and let cool completely before frosting.

To make the frosting, simply beat the heavy whipping cream, vanilla and confectioner's sugar until very stiff. Refrigerate until ready for use. Tip: This is something every cookbook will tell you and yes you should listen to them - chill your bowl and whisk/beater attachments before beating your whipping cream. It makes for a stiffer product.

Assembly

When the cupcakes are completely cooled, you fill them! How? Take a round frosting tip and insert into your frosting bag. Fill bag with the now whipped cream and secure.

Poke the tip into the top of the cupcake and squeeze the filling in for about 5-7 seconds. If the cake ruptures, well...you know you've squeezed too much in.

After filling the cupcakes, use the remaining whipped cream to top them. I simply swirled the top, but you can add the "frosting" any way you like.

Enjoy!

Pancakes?

2008-09-04T13:43:00.004-04:00

So, I finally conquered the pancake this past weekend.

Oh I know you can grab the box mix, maybe add some chocolate chips or blueberries to the batter and call it a day. I mean they still taste pretty good and I know for a fact that they will be appreciated by anyone you make them for.

I used to make pancakes from scratch when I was living on the other side of the planet and the convenience of boxed mixes was not available. They used to come out pretty decent. However, until recently, my pancakes were coming out either chewy, or flat or rubbery.

I figured I'd try something that usually I reserve for when I make waffles - instead of eggs (yolk and all) I used well beaten egg whites. My pancake recipe calls for 2 eggs per batch, so I substituted 4 egg whites, stiffly beaten. I also mixed the dry ingredients first, the wet ingredients next (milk and fat in this case) and finally, I folded in my egg whites.

Needless to say, the pancakes came out perfect and now I feel that all is right in the world again. Featured above are Blueberry Pancakes with Fresh Blueberry Syrup.

Blueberry Syrup

1/2 cup of fresh blueberries
1 tsp of fresh lemon or lime juice
1/2 cup of sugar
3/4 cup of water
1/2 cup of light corn syrup

Mix all ingredients together in a heavy saucepan or pot. Bring to a boil, mixing well then lower the flame (or whatever your stove happens to use as heat) to medium-low and let simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Makes about 1 1/2 cups.

Serve either warm or cool on your treat of choice.

Daring Baker's Challenge - August 2008

2008-08-30T21:59:00.007-04:00

Well, here I am - a daring baker! I dared to believe that I could make Chocolate Eclairs on a humid day in August and what do you know, I sorta nailed it!

In this challenge, we were inspired not only by our hosts - Meeta K and Tony Tahhan, but by their inspiration, Pierre Hermé. A lot of linking, I know, but it goes to show you that baking on the internet is baking nonetheless.

Anyways, back to me and my attempt. I decided to forgo the chocolate filling and stick with a traditional pastry cream, which I added some dark Colombian rum to along with the vanilla. I liked the addition of the rum because it disguised the otherwise eggy flavor of the pastry cream.

My chocolate glaze was not as successful, even with the addition of light corn syrup and some solidifiers (e.g. 1/2 TBSP cornstarch). Still, after a good chill in the freezer, it thickened up enough to do the trick and I think the bitterness of the syrup (because I didn't add a lot of sugar) complements the light sweetness of the cream and the slight egginess of the pate a choux.

And here they are in their dripping glory:

I'm actually alright with them being a little fat. I guess my next batch will be skinnier. A trip to Zabar's for the proper tools will be in order!

All in all, I'm glad that I was able to participate - stay tuned for more Daring Baker's challenges conquered by yours truly!

Berry Good Time

2008-08-17T15:13:00.005-04:00

Something about summer makes me reach for the berries - I just like to eat them fresh from the produce aisle. Well, after a good wash of course.

After perusing the aisles of my local green grocer, I found some ridiculously cheap strawberries and blueberries. So without another thought, I grabbed some and some heavy cream. I thought I was just going to make a simple berries and cream dessert (essentially washed, sugared berries with lots of fresh whipped cream on top).

Instead I made this:

I found through making a Berry Shortcake how easy it is to make a simple dessert look so pretty.

Sometimes, architectural arrangement (i.e. stacking correctly) and interesting layout (i.e. arranging the berries in circles on top of a dollop of whipped cream) leads to a very attractive presentation.

Too bad it didn't last too long for admiration. ;)

It's Cobbler Time!

2008-08-14T23:31:00.003-04:00

Yes, I realize that the title of this post is a lame comparison to one of the Fantastic Four's member's cheesy catchphrase. I thought it was cute.

Moving away from comic books and onto cobbler - I finally just went to my local greengrocer and bought some of those in-season yellow peaches and blueberries. Very reasonably priced and incredibly well-ripened. And guess what? I made that Blueberry-Peach Cobbler recipe. I found that I didn't like the cobbler topping too much. It was too sweet and there wasn't enough rise on it. My family on the other hand was all praise, but what do you expect from your family?

I am going to make mini-cobblers and experiment with different toppings - maybe add a little less sugar, or substitute the white sugar with brown sugar. Perhaps I'll use baking soda instead of powder to get a higher rise.

Stay-tuned for more action packed, err, cobbler action?

Get it Sold!

2008-08-10T09:13:00.002-04:00

Sounds like a title of an HGTV show, right?

Well - I made my first sale yesterday. I sold two dozen lemon bars and two dozen cardamom cookies to a brave classmate of mine. They will be part of a bridal shower (or baby shower, I forget) and I hope that there will be feedback - I welcome positive and negative!

I think I need to expand my repertoire of "ready to bake" recipes because only then can I truly start to market myself as a viable baker.

Hmmmm.

Oh, and here's some packaging I picked up at the 99 Cent store, pretty neat right?

Keep on bakin'!

I Want to Dec-o-rate You...

2008-08-07T13:11:00.001-04:00

I was thinking about cookies yesterday and also how some cookies look so much better than others. I mean, my chocolate chip cookies taste pretty darned good, but they don’t look as gorgeous as some of the chocolate chip cookies I’ve seen. Even if they taste better (yes, I am a firm believer of my chocolate chip cookies).

Maybe some bakers (mass produced or otherwise) tend to go for looks more than actual taste? I mean, a Chips Ahoy^TM Cookie looks pretty tasty, but it’s not a good as one straight from the oven. And some of these bakeries have pretty cookies with ‘meh’ taste.

Since I’ve been baking, I usually care more about the content of my goodies than the final execution. When things come out looking pretty – I find that to be a bonus, and as a result am a little happier with the outcome. Not that I get to enjoy them looking pretty for long. (Can I toot my own horn any louder?)

So I was thinking, that since the weather has been really nice lately and although it’s heresy to say I’d rather be outside drinking a beer than inside baking a 3-tier cake, I’m also thinking about presentation.

One thing that would be great is to maybe take a class or two on decorating – that way I am not only outside and meeting other baking-minded people, but I’m learning to make my cookies, cakes and cream puffs cute! (The alliteration was intentional.)

I think I just might do it!

Updates of my decorating prowess will be posted in the future, so stay tuned!

Visions of Green Plums Dancing In My Head?

2008-08-04T18:30:00.008-04:00

So I was supposed to go peach-picking this weekend, but my peachy plans fell through and instead I went to the grocery store. I happened upon these very interesting looking plums and figured I’d buy a bunch and see what I could do with them.

Plums start their season in May and keep on going till October. However, July and August seem to provide the juiciest fruit, as well as a whole array of colors. I love my green grocer because they keep a really good variety of seasonal fruit on hand and price them accordingly.

So here’s what I ended up making:

And here’s the super easy recipe so you can attempt it as well! And it’s another foolproof recipe (I’ve found) – one of those easy to assemble, easy to bake and it looks really special.

I made it for dessert yesterday, but I see it being a hit at brunch as well!

Green Plum Dessert Cake (adapted from recipe from Cooks.com)

Ingredients
2 cups fresh tart green plum halves
1/8 cup granulated sugar
1/8 cup dark brown sugar
Sprinkle of vanilla powder

1/2 cup butter
1/2 tsp. lemon extract or 2 tsp. fresh lemon juice
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. fresh salt
1/2 tsp vanilla powder

2 tbsp granulated sugar mixed with ¼ tsp nutmeg and 1 tsp lemon rind

Directions
Preheat oven to 375 deg Fahrenheit.

Arrange the halved and pitted fresh plums in the bottom of a greased baking pan (7x11inches or 9 inch square). Sprinkle with white and brown sugar mixture.

In a bowl, cream together thoroughly the butter, lemon extract or juice and 1 cup granulated sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each is added. The mixture should be a light lemony color with the consistency of a good frosting. Just don’t go licking this “frosting” – raw eggs people!

Mix flour, baking powder, salt and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla powder in a separate bowl. Add to wet mixture. Stir until well blended. Spoon batter over the plums. Sprinkle the top with sugar and spice mixture (the second one)

Bake for about 45 minutes or until the cake pulls away from sides of pan. Serve warm or cool, topped with your favorite topping – I like fresh whipped cream with no sugar added. My mother likes vanilla ice-cream.

Enjoy!

Twinkies!

2008-07-30T22:14:00.016-04:00

As promised, I have a Twinkie post for you. It's a little ambitious as I am going to show some of the processes that went into making these remarkably easy treats.

I'll also show you how little hardware I used, which is key when you don't have much space to work with.

First you need to grease and line a jelly roll pan. I like to line with parchment paper, because then the outside of the cake doesn't become as hard as if you only greased and floured the pan.

Next, I made my yellow cake batter, using my trusty hand-held Sunbeam mixer. It's surprisingly powerful and does the trick when I want to whip up something quickly. If you don't want to make the batter from scratch, just use boxed mix. I like to add a little vanilla powder just to make the cake taste richer.

Next, pour the batter into your jelly roll pan and pop in a 350 deg oven (Fahrenheit) for 25-30 minutes or until the cake is springy to the touch and has an even golden color. Or you can use the toothpick test.

This is what it's supposed to look like.

Now, while the cake is cooling, you might want to make the cream. It's super easy - 20 oz. jar of marshmallow fluff, 1/2 of unsalted butter, 1/3 cup of confectioners sugar, and 1 1/2 tsp of vanilla powder. Just whip it all together and pop it in the fridge while your cake is cooling. Easy as whipped cream.

Next, you'll want to assemble the Twinkies. First, turn out your cake onto a clean, dry surface. You might want to line the surface with cling film so that it doesn't make a mess. Clean off any rough edges or hard areas on the cake and brush off any crumbs.

Measure and cut the cake in half width-wise. Take out that cream filling and spread evenly on one half, making sure that you leave about a 1/2 inch of the edge of the cake without filling. Place the other half on top of the cake and then using the cling film, wrap the cake up tightly.

Place the now filled cake into the fridge for about an hour. This will let the filling spread out and the flavors to blend. Not to mention, it'll make it easier to assemble.
Assembly
Take the cake out of the fridge and unwrap. Cut the cake into even pieces - I got 12, but you can get more or less depending on your cutting skills. Mine are only so-so.

Wrap each piece with a good amount of cling film, and let refrigerate overnight, or for as long as you can stand. What you'll end up with is something that looks a little like this:
Pretty neat, right?

And I only used the following in this production:

And let me tell you, not one was left. My classmates loved them and my professor gave them two thumbs up. Score!

Miscellaneous

2008-07-29T22:11:00.003-04:00

I'm currently recovering from vacation, but there will be a great post on Twinkies coming up.

I promise.

I also think I'm going peach picking soon so I can make some of that cobbler!

Tune in for more baking tips and recipes!

Tips, Tricks and Techniques, part 1

2008-07-21T14:21:00.003-04:00

Tips and Tricks

I realized that I’ve been peppering my blog posts with one or two tips for bakers and I thought it would be a good idea to simply consolidate all of them into one easy to read post.

TIPS

Tip: Don’t keep opening and closing the door of your oven. Not only are you releasing hot air into an already hot and claustrophobic kitchen (assuming your kitchen is tiny), you are wreaking havoc with the internal temperature of your oven. Even baking requires even temperatures. Resist the temptation!

Tip: When making a crumble topping, add the liquid fat (usually melted butter) a little at a time so that the mixture can "clump" and not become a smooth paste. The best utensil to use is your fingers, although a fork will be just fine if you just got a manicure.

TRICKS

Here are some previous posts that have cool tricks (well, I think they are cool) on how to bake specific items. They also can be used in most day-to-day baking (that is if you bake daily):

Baking in the summer

Chocolate Chip Cookies anyone?

I love my lemon bars, I really do.

TECHNIQUES

•Washing dishes is not evil, it’s useful to keeping that tiny counter top free of clutter and also minimizes on the amounts of pans, dishes and bowls you need.

•If pies are your preference, but you don’t have a lot of cool space to roll out dough, think about getting a marble slab to put on your counter top. Not only is it the perfect place to roll out dough, it doubles as a work surface for your everyday needs. Here’s a link to where you can find a counter top to match your counter.

•Start keeping a list of recipes you can make under an hour – the less time you spend in your kitchen baking, the less discouraged or frustrated you’ll be with its size.

•Buy a good multi-purpose food processor. When I was living abroad in a little tropical country, I didn’t have access to all sorts of baking implements. What I did have was a really good Braun^® food processor, which had attachments for folding dough, whipping cream and mixing. I also was able to use it for regular food processor purposes.

•Learn to organize – a clean, well-organized kitchen is perfect in any space.

Stay tuned for more tips, tricks and techniques as I think of them and as always,

Happy Baking!

And the "heat" keeps marching on

2008-07-19T16:27:00.011-04:00

I asked in a previous post what your favorite summertime treat was and a few people responded with fruit-related baked goodies.

I have noticed the peaches getting riper on my grocers fruit bins and there seems to be an insane amount of blueberries for really reasonable prices. So it got me thinking about blueberry and peach cobbler.

A cobbler is basically a crust-less pie with a biscuit-like topping. It doesn't require a lot of baking (so you aren't heating up your kitchen more than you have to) and it doesn't require a lot of equipment or counter space to roll out dough (perfect for a tiny kitchen in an urban space).

The biggest equipment you'd need to make a summer-fruit cobbler is probably the large mixing bowl.

So without further ado, here's a simple cobbler recipe:

Blueberry Peach Cobbler

Filling
2 ½ cups of peeled and sliced yellow peaches (you can substitute frozen if you don’t have fresh)
2 cups of blueberries, washed
½ cup of granulated sugar
¼ cup of light brown sugar
1/3 cup of all-purpose flour
1 ½ tsp of lemon juice (fresh or not)
4 TBSP of butter
¼ tsp of nutmeg
1 tsp of good vanilla

Cobbler Topping
1 stick butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
¼ tsp salt
½ tsp baking soda
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp vanilla

Equipment
1 oven proof baking dish
1 large mixing bowl, 1 smaller bowl
1 whisk

Directions:
Pre-heat oven (or fancy toaster oven in my case) to 350 degrees. In your ovenproof baking dish, mix all the filling ingredients, except butter, until well combined. Spread out evenly in dish and dot with butter.

In your large mixing bowl, whisk together butter, eggs and vanilla. In smaller bowl, mix together the dry ingredients. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and fold together until just combined and there are no lumps.

Spread topping over fruit filling (it doesn’t need to cover the entire top of the filling). Bake for 30 min to 45 min, or when crust is well browned and filling is bubbly.

Serve with some Cool Whip^® or just cooled.

Tip: Don’t keep opening and closing the door of your oven. Not only are you releasing hot air into an already hot and claustrophobic kitchen (assuming your kitchen is tiny), you are wreaking havoc with the internal temperature of your oven. Even baking requires even temperatures. Resist the temptation!

Happy Baking!

The Fastest Cake in the East

2008-07-12T17:51:00.003-04:00

All but crumbs were left behind

I did a mock interview for class where one of the questions that I was asked was – what’s the quickest, easiest recipe an “urban baker” can make in their tiny kitchen.

I replied, “Jam Crumb Cake.”

And I know that I am right. It’s the simplest one-bowl cake recipe I have come across and every time I’ve made it, it’s taken under an hour and has come out perfectly each time. I like to think that it’s the most versatile cake that anyone can make. And it’s completely customizable, something that anyone living today is extremely familiar with.

So before I continue to rhapsodize about the customizability of the Jam Crumb Cake, here’s the recipe:

Jam Crumb Cake*

For cake
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 stick butter-flavored shortening
1/2 cup milk
1 large egg
1/2 cup raspberry jam or preserves

For crumb topping
1/4 stick unsalted butter, melted
½ cup of butter flavored shortening
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Make cake:
Preheat oven to 400°F with rack in middle. Generously butter a 9-inch square or round cake pan.
Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
Whisk together shortening (softened), milk, and egg in a large bowl, then whisk in flour mixture until just combined. Pour batter into cake pan. Dollop jam all over surface, then swirl into batter with spoon.

Make crumb topping:
Whisk together butter, sugars, cinnamon, and salt until smooth. Stir in flour, then blend in shortening with your fingertips until incorporated (tip: add the liquid a little at a time so that the mixture can "clump" and not become a smooth paste). Sprinkle crumbs in large clumps over top of cake.

Bake cake until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean and sides begin to pull away from pan, about 25 minutes. Cool in pan on a rack 5 minutes.

While writing the recipe down I thought about things I’d like to try differently with the cake. I’d like to make a Florida version (as I am currently in the airport terminal, waiting to begin soaking up the humidity). Instead of jam, maybe a lime custard and in the crumb topping, instead of spices, maybe a hint of nutmeg and coconut? When I get back to the Northeast, I am definitely going to try this one out.

I’ve also wanted to try a black forest version, maybe using cherry preserves and dark chocolate ganache instead of the jam. See? In a space of a minute (seriously, one minute at an airport is a long time) I’ve come up with two rather creative iterations.

One thing any baker should have ready at their fingertips is simple recipes that can easily adapt to different tastes or moods. Something that can be made in under an hour and will have your “taste testers” drooling for more – that’s definitely the Jam Crumb Cake.

*recipe provided and adapted from original, courtesy of Gourmet, December 2007

Now doesn't that just look refreshing?

2008-07-05T23:43:00.002-04:00

I admit - due to the humidity and the heat, thoughts of baking (although tempting) just don't appeal to me at the moment.

However, that doesn't mean that I don't have ideas about what to do with ice-cream and baked items!

I was thinking of making a soft cookie, kind of like the ones used in whoopie pies and creating a homemade ice-cream sandwich, with my very own vanilla bean ice-cream.

Instead, I went with a citrus-basil sorbet (that's in the picture) and I think it would pair nicely with a citrus tuille.

So here's a question for you, my fledgling readers, what's your favorite summer treat?

If you tell me, I just might make it!

I Scream, You Scream, We all Scream for Ice Cream!

2008-07-02T23:47:00.003-04:00

Oh yeah. I finally got it - the ice-cream maker attachment for my KitchenAid mixer. I know that technically making ice-cream isn't baking as there is no heat involved. However, a liquid does turn into a solid so the chemistry is still inherent in this process.

I figured that I would go with something simple, something classic, something chocolate. So I made this very rich chocolate ice-cream, which was really simple to make. And for the first time ever on this blog (drum roll) here's the recipe!

Ingredients

14 oz can of sweetened condensed milk
1/3 plus 2 TBSP of Ghiradelli Cocoa Powder (dutch processed)
2 cups of heavy cream
1 cup of whole milk or half/half
1 tsp of vanilla

Method

1) In a pot over medium heat, combine the condensed milk and cocoa powder. Whisk well until no lumps appear and until the mixture is slightly thickened (about 7 minutes).

2) Let the mixture cool slightly, then add slowly the heavy cream, the whole milk or half/half and the vanilla. Whisk all ingredients until well combined.

3) Refrigerate until cold.

4) Prepare in your ice-cream maker per it's instructions.

5) Happy Ice-Cream!

One thing I found in the process of making the ice-cream mixture is that the heated combination of the condensed milk and cocoa powder turns into a reasonable ganache. Well, not so much ganache as a great easy filling for a cake, or a frosting for cookies or brownies.

I think I am going to see if my guess is true by baking a cake and making the above as a filling!

We Have Liftoff

2008-07-01T21:58:00.002-04:00

So I officially launched this blog last week to all my friends and family members. I received a ton of positive “oohs” and “aahs” and have even inspired said friends to start their own blogs.

I think blogging is effective as a tool to reach people that otherwise wouldn’t realize that you were a baker/plumber/superhero in your spare time. It’s also a great way to get feedback about this secret identity of yours.

However, I would like some professional feedback on my baking. Although I have the loving adoration of above friends and family – they are incredibly biased to love my stuff. Hey – it’s free goodies, what’s not to love?

I mentioned in an earlier post that I had an opportunity to provide some samples of my baking to a local and reputable bakery. I got my professional feedback from them. I even got a tentative job offer as a baker. Both took me off guard.

The feedback was universally positive and the job offer was flattering as heck. The conversation ended with “follow your dreams,” which is kind of cliché but what is a cliché but something that works?

So I will take those words of encouragement to heart and keep on whisking!

Hot sun, summer in the City

2008-06-25T22:30:00.000-04:00

Now, the summer is not a time to bake – well, no sane person would want to bake in a small, poorly ventilated kitchen in New York City. However, things like possible heat stroke don’t faze me.

This is because I have some tricks up my sleeve that make it possible to whip out a seemingly labor intensive dessert without much baking at all.

The key is to pick a recipe that doesn’t require a lot of time in the oven. Recipes with a short list of ingredients usually tend to spend less time in your oven. For example, I make a crumb cake that can be baked in a toaster oven and it takes from start to finish (inc. prep) 45 min. Yes, the recipe will be provided in another post. I need a picture first.

Another thing to keep in mind is to avoid recipes calling for cream based frostings – they will weep and wallow in the heat and all that careful watching of the beater will have gone to vain.

If you are going to use a whipped cream based frosting, make the frosting separate from the cake and only frost right before serving. Keeping everything chilled in the fridge helps. How to keep the fridge smells from your whipped cream? Why, cover with cling film of course!

The essentials to baking in the summer are:

• Keep it simple
• Keep it cool
• Stay away from ingredients that will melt if outdoors too long, like butter
and whipped cream
• Use fresh fruit as much as possible
• Sometimes, prepackaged cake is good in a pinch – especially for something like strawberry shortcake

Keeping the above in mind makes it a little less hellish to bake in the summer. I’m planning on baking something this weekend!

Stay tuned.

Inspiration hits!

2008-06-23T14:45:00.004-04:00

Inspiration hit while doing research for a class assignment.

I read an article about Sugar Bakery and Café in Seattle, WA and the journey that the owner/baker Stephanie Crocker went through and thought “If she can do it, so can I.”

I think the main problem is just taking the leap – and this is true with baking as well. I have heard from friends countless times “Oh, nothing I bake comes out right.” or “I keep burning the outside and the inside is raw!” The key is to take that leap of faith and keep on baking.

There is something about making that scary first step, on your own, that turns that step into perpetual motion.

I think I’m going to take a page out of the book of Stephanie Crocker’s success and begin making those samples. It tough to put your heart on the line, but with every heartbreak you get stronger.

And who knows, maybe someone will fall head over heels for my baking.

Here’s to hoping!

You can track Stephanie’s journey at her blog sugarshop.blogspot.com.

Fruits of My Labor

2008-06-15T23:49:00.005-04:00

Good Ol' Chocolate Chip Cookies

My super lemon bars

Chocolate Orange Sugar cookies

And hopefully...the first iteration of my signature cookie...something old, and something new. If it get's picked up, I will share the recipe

Busy Little Baker

2008-06-15T12:27:00.003-04:00

I spent most of last night and some of this morning preparing different sugary, chocolaty, lemony items. Why would I do this when it's 85 degrees outside and humid as a rain forest in the monsoon?

Simple, I have an opportunity.

I have an opportunity to actually have someone other than a family member, or a friend, give me feedback on my baking. I know I make decent stuff, and most of the time I like it. However, having a professional either validate or castigate my baking is something that I haven't had a chance to experience.

Sometimes, it helps to be humble. That way you can learn and improve.

And now, the adventure truly starts.

Me Want Cookie!

2008-06-10T21:42:00.005-04:00

Why do I bake? I think the reason is because I like to make people feel better. There is no denying the healing power of a brownie and just bringing baked goods to the office makes everyone a little less disgruntled.

I know everyone has a great recipe that they’ve conquered and made their own – mine is the chocolate chip cookie. It’s a variation on the Tollhouse® classic, but whenever I roll those babies out, they are gone before I can yell “Cookie!”

Seriously.

What makes mine special? I say what my friend’s husband says – that I make it with “lurve” and thus they are extra-good. Actually, it’s all in the technique.

To make a cookie that will stay chewy even after sitting in a container for several days (if they last that long) requires proper preparation.

The sugars and the fats need to be whipped till they nearly double in volume.

The dry ingredients need to be sifted together, separately from the wet ingredients.

Never underestimate the power of that ¼ tsp of salt – salt is a powerful preservative and it provides a balance in the flavor of the cookie.

Never over beat the eggs and butter – you’ll get a curdled mess

And when you mix the wet with the dry – don’t over do it. You want cookie dough, not spackling compound.

The actual baking of the cookie also lends to its texture.

Never over-bake. It’s better to leave off a few minutes and let the residual heat from the oven take care of the rest of the baking than to have burnt cookies.

If you’re like me and don’t have a fabulous convection oven, chances are that your oven has pockets of heat unevenly distributed. Rotate your cookie sheet so that you have a full-batch of evenly cooked cookies and not mush in front and charcoal in the back.

Remember – hot air rises. Don’t put your cookies on the top rack; always the middle rack.

If you follow the above, there’s a chance you’ll get a near-pristine batch. I still miss a few, but practice makes perfect!

Tarte Banane

2008-06-06T16:50:00.001-04:00

Essentially a simple banana tart, I’ve never come across it here in New York. My first encounter with a tarte banane was in Mauritius, where my parents are from. The pastry was a perfect combination of French and local cuisine, with the rich buttery pastry crust and the simple banana fruit filling.

I tried to replicate it once when I was living on my own and not familiar with the appliances in my landlord’s kitchen. Let’s just say I forgot that gas ovens sometimes needed their pilot lights lit before working. Let’s also just say that I had the notion that one could bake a simple tart crust on the stove using a combo of a cast-iron skillet and a damp dish towel.

Needless to say, I nearly burned the kitchen down and my friend and I (who had come over to sample some nostalgia) ended up trying to remove all traces of hapless arson from the kitchen walls. We ended up going out for ice-cream and I haven’t attempted to make it since.

It just goes to show you that even someone who counts themselves as a pretty decent baker can have lapses in judgement.

Tip of the day: never try to bake something on your stove-top.

Makes you pucker!

2008-06-04T10:34:00.008-04:00

So something that my friends and family seem to like me baking are my lemon bars. Not exactly the sexiest sweet treat – but there is something about the bright, concentrated flavors of lemon and sugar that drive my people crazy. I actually never thought that lemon bars would be so popular – I only started to make them because I liked them. And I usually bake things that I like to eat. Is that selfish? Maybe, but I *am* baking them gosh gang it!

The best part about lemon bars is that they are ridiculously easy to make. That being said, one can screw up the simplest lemon bar recipe.

I’ve had lemon bars in early batches where the sugar frothed to the top of the bar and made this interesting crunchy topping. (Not exactly what I was going for, but something to think about in a future iteration? Crunchy lemon bars?)

So what are some tricks to making a good batch of lemon bars?

Use a half/half mix of butter and shortening for your crust – makes the base rich without being too oily.

Mix your citrus – add some lime along with your lemon, gives it a spicier flavor. Yes, limes are spicier than lemons.

Use fresh if you can, or if you can’t make it half/half. Fresh ingredients always trump processed or preserved (unless you’re making Jam Crumb Cake, but that’s a different post).

Watch for browning! If you are usually scatterbrained, use a piece of tin foil to cover your bars so that the lemony color stays and you don’t get the crunch effect.

Crap. I foresee growing exponentially larger as the posting continues. Maybe I should think about making diet bars.

Eww. The moment I typed the above my mind revolted against the idea of a “diet bar.” The thing is, if you’re going to bake, you’re going to bake. I might try something lactose-intolerant-friendly or use less fatty ingredients in the future, but for the most part I am a firm believer of if you’re going to bake something chocolaty, sugary or rich – own it.