From what I remember, when I was growing up St. Patrick’s Day was nothing but a reason to wear green and hang up paper shamrocks. That was in Pennsylvania where, I guess, there weren’t a whole lot of Irish. Here in New York, however, some people seem to think it’s on par with Thanksgiving or something of that caliber. For me, it’s a perfect opportunity to make a themed dessert so I did just that. (Last year I did the same thing when I made a really amazing Grasshopper Cheesecake!) Continue reading
Grasshopper Cupcakes for St. Patrick’s Day
Posted in Baking Jumbles
Tagged chocolate, Creme de Menthe, ganache, mint, mousse, st. patrick's day
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Peanut Ice Cream from Senegal – Crâme Glacée d’Arachide
I have an old college friend who, like me, has a food blog. Hers, however, is a global eating adventure; she visits restaurants all around New York City, tasting food from different cultures. Seeing as this is New York and we have the world at our fingertips, this isn’t like “Mexican this week, Italian next week.” She goes to the farthest reaches of the globe while staying right here in the boroughs. Continue reading
Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownies for Valentine’s Day
Just in the nick of time I am here squeezing in a Valentine’s Day recipe. Whether you are baking for someone else or just yourself, I think that these will be a real hit – the combination of cheescake and brownies is sure to please chocolate-lovers and the rest of us equally.
The good and bad news is that because these are cookie cutter bars, there is a fair amount of leftover scrap. In other words, snacking temptation. Next time I make these I am going to prepare ahead better and turn the “scrap” into a trifle – add some whipped cream, berries, and whatever else my imagination comes up with and have some extra individual trifles to enjoy. But, since I didn’t realize this would be an option until I was done, I just have a tempting tupperware full of brownie/cheesecake goodness in my fridge. Calling my name. Whispering sweet nothings. Begging me to love it. And I do….
But, back to the recipe. When I made these, I made 16 medium sized hearts. Depending on the size of your cookie cutter, it could obviously be more or less. As a Valentine’s Day gift to you, I am not even calculating calories on this one (ok that is acutally because I can’t figure out how to do so, but let’s consider it a gift anyway).
Enjoy, and have a Happy Valentine’s Day!
Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownies
Source: Novice Chef
Red Velvet Layer:
3 1/4 c flour
2 1/4 c sugar
3 T cocoa powder
1 t salt
1/4 t baking powder
3 large eggs
1 1/2 c vegetable oil
1 T vanilla extract
1 T red food coloring
2 t white vinegar
2 T milk
Cheesecake Layer:
2 8oz packages cream cheese, softened
3/4 c sugar
2 large eggs
2 t vanilla
- Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease a large 13×18 jelly roll pan with non-stick cooking spray.
- In large bowl, sift together flour, sugar, cocoa powder, salt, and baking powder. Set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, vegetable oil, vanilla extract, red food coloring, and white vinegar.
- Whisk together the dry and wet ingredients until smooth. Set aside.
- Remove 3/4 cup of the batter and place it in a medium bowl. Whisk 2 tablespoons of milk into the divided 3/4 cup of batter. Set aside.
- Pour the remaining batter into the prepared jelly roll pan. Using a spatula, smooth out the batter to reach all the edges.
- In a stand mixer beat cream cheese and sugar until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add eggs and vanilla, beating until combined and there are no lumps. Pour the cream cheese mixture on top of the red velvet layer, again smoothing out the batter to reach all the edges.
- Drop spoonfuls of the remaining red velvet batter onto the top of the cheesecake layer. Drag the tip of a knife through the red velvet and the cheesecake layers to create swirls.
- Bake for 30 minutes or just until the center is set and it no longer jiggles. Cool completely on a wire rack before cutting. Use a medium sized heart cookie cutter to create individual brownie cheesecake bars!
Browned Butter Cranberry Lime Muffins
I have mentioned many times in the past that I am a huge fan of cranberries, so it should come as no surprise to you that I snuck in one more cranberry baked good before the season was over. I had to go to two stores just to find some cranberries, so you may just have to wait until cranberries are back in season to try this recipe. But, if you are lucky enough to have some still on your grocer’s shelves, these are worth the effort of finding them. To top it off, you could totally call these a Valentine’s Day treat since the berries are red.
I’ll be posting a Valentine’s Day special shortly but I realize that I’m kind of last-minute this year so please bear with me.
Browned Butter Cranberry Lime Muffins
Source: Joy the Baker
7 T unsalted butter
1/3 c milk
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 t vanilla extract
zest of 1 lime
1 1/2 c all-purpose flour
3/4 c sugar
1 1/2 t baking powder
3/4 t salt
1 1/2 c fresh cranberries
1/4 c granulated sugar for topping (optional)
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin pan with paper or foil liners
- Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook down the butter until little brown bits appear in the pan. The crackling will subside and butter will begin to brown fairly quickly after that. Keep a close eye on it and remove from heat.
- Whisk milk, egg, egg yolk, vanilla and lime zest together. Add the brown butter and whisk to combine.
- Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl Add milk and butter mixture, stirring to combine. Gently fold in the cranberries.
- Divide the batter among muffin cups and spread evenly. Generously sprinkle with granulated sugar (optional)
- Bake until golden, about 18-20 minutes. Cool in pan for 15 minutes, then remove from the pan. Serve warm or at room temperature.
serves: 12
calories: 182
Glazed Cranberry Doughnuts – and a Five Spice Glaze for Chinese New Year
I decided to make some doughnuts for my coworkers because last week my boss made bagels for us to enjoy. I had the perfect recipe, or so I thought. Actually the doughnut recipe was quite good, but the glaze recipes are what really caught my eye. But more about that later. Continue reading
Posted in Baking Jumbles, Bread Jumbles
Tagged cranberry, donuts, doughnuts, fivespice
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Don’t Fly with Cupcakes…
Happy New Year!
This isn’t my normal recipe post, but I just found this too funny not to share.
The TSA has differentiated between traveling with cupcakes (no problem) and “cupcakes in a jar” (Houston, we have a problem). For your afternoon funny, read this article.
I should have a recipe to post soon!
Gingerbread Nests
I relented to the peer pressure of the blogosphere and baked a batch of Christmas cookies. These are the softest, chewiest gingerbread cookies I have ever tasted, and they are really delicious (just ask my co-workers!). If you want my permission, I see no problem with eating four at a time. I would highly recommend you include these on your plate of treats that you leave out for Santa on Christmas Eve, he will probably give you a little extra somethin’ for doing so.
Wishing you all a merry and bright holiday filled with joy, a new year of peace, and more smiles than tears in 2012.
Gingerbread Nests
source: Peabody
3 c all-purpose flour
2 t ground ginger
1 t ground cinnamon
1 t baking soda
1/4 t ground nutmeg
1/4 t salt
3/4 c unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 c firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 c molasses
1 egg
1/4 c sugar
1 t vanilla extract
1 c white chocolate chips
- Mix flour, ginger, cinnamon, baking soda, nutmeg and salt in large bowl. Set aside.
- Beat butter and brown sugar in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add molasses, egg and vanilla; beat well. Gradually beat in flour mixture on low speed until well mixed.
- Form dough into a thick flat disk, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate for 4 hours (or overnight).
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Shape cold dough into 1-inch balls. Roll in sugar and place on ungreased cookie sheets.
- Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until edges of cookies just begin to brown. Immediately press about 5-6 white chocolate chips into center of each cookie. Cool on wire racks.
makes about 4 dozen
calories: about 100 per cookie
Rhubarb Tart
Last week I was passing through Whole Foods to pick up some Fair Trade Chocolate…when what to my wondering eyes should appear but – RHUBARB!
I love rhubarb and can rarely find it, much less in wintertime. I bought a bunch of it, knowing full well that I had several recipes at home to try and this was the perfect opportunity. So what if it’s not a “Christmas dessert,” that’s sooooo overplayed anyway!
I’ve done my shopping, my wrapping, my card-sending, and hopefully everything else that needs to be done. A little non-Christmas baking is a welcome relief from all things red and green! (For those of you who consider this Grinch-y, I should have a more seasonal post in a few days.)
Rhubarb Tarts
adapted from: Smitten Kitchen
Pastry:
1 c whole wheat flour *
1 c all-purpose flour
½ c cornmeal
½ c less 2 T sugar
1 t Kosher salt
½ c cold, unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
¼ c plus 2 T heavy cream
2 egg yolks
Rhubarb Vanilla compote (see below)
*any coarse/grainy flour should work. The original recipe called for corn flour and I actually used a combo of whole wheat a graham flour because I happened to have it on hand.
- Using a pastry blender or a food processor, combine dry ingredients with butter until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal.
- Add heavy cream and egg yolks until combined.
- On a well-floured counter, knead dough into a mass and then divide into 10 equal pieces (more or less if you want extra small or extra large tarts). Using the heel of your hand, flatten each portion into a rough circle, reaching about 4” diameter. Work quickly so it doesn’t get too warm.
- Spoon 1-2 Tablespoons of the Rhubarb Vanilla compote into the center of the dough. Fold edges over to create a pocket. It should look rustic, not perfect.
- Transfer tarts to a parchment-lined baking sheet and freeze for at least one hour and up to 2 weeks. (Wrap in plastic if freezing for an extended period of time.)
- Preheat oven to 375. Bake frozen tarts for 35 minutes or until edges are brown and rhubarb is bubbling. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Rhubarb Vanilla Compote:
1 ½ lb. rhubarb stalks
1 c minus 1 T brown sugar
½ vanilla bean or vanilla bean paste equivalent
- Rinse rhubarb and trim ends. Cut in half lengthwise and then on the diagonal into 1” chunks (will amout to about 3 cups).
- In a large pot, combine rhubarb, brown sugar, and vanilla and heat to medium low. The low heat will help the rhubarb release its liquid. Cover and cook for 15 minutes or until, a sauce has formed.
- Remove cover and increase heat to medium, cooking for 15 minutes or until rhubarb is completely broken down and sauce is thick. Don’t walk away, it could burn!
- Remove from heat and cool. (Don’t forget to take out vanilla bean pods if you used them.)
*Compote can be done up to a week ahead of time.
Serves: 10
calories: 330
Easy(ish) Chocolate Babka
Since my last post, I visited Haiti where I helped build homes for those who lost them in the earthquake nearly 2 years ago. I kind of suspected that I’d come back with no good baking recipes to share, and I was right. We had no desserts, and overall the food left a bit to be desired. This surprised me a little bit since I really love Dominican food; the similarities ended at rice and beans. Several times we were fed fish spaghetti, which is basically plain spaghetti noodles with fish juice. Seeing as I don’t like fish, this was especially delicious. Continue reading
Key Lime Parfaits and a Baby Shower
During the past several weeks I spent my time preparing a menu for my sister’s baby shower. Not only was I preparing a menu, but I was doing “test runs” on various items which we planned to serve. The theme of the shower was simply green & tan (gender neutral colors planned for the nursery) and so I decided to go all the way and made the food (well, most of it) green. Not like artificial weird neon green, but more or less natural.
I couldn’t exactly tell you all about my kitchen adventures during this time since my sister reads the blog! You escaped the drama of the four different batches of key lime custard, four different icings, and the four tiered cake that had to be mostly thrown out simply because there was nobody to eat it! (Four seems to be a theme, for some unknown reason….)
After all was said and done, the menu included the following:
- Chicken salad in phyllo cups
- Herb Apple Tea sandwiches
- Cucumber Hummus tea sandwiches
- Cake
- Key Lime Parfaits
- Cake Pops
- Sugar Cookies
- Lime & sherbet punch
- Veggies & dip
My mom made half of the stuff (mostly the savory stuff) and I made the other (sweeter) half. Here are a bunch of photos for your enjoyment. I will include the recipe for the Key Lime Parfaits at the bottom of this post.
P.S. I head out of town tomorrow for 10 days in Haiti where I’ll be doing some post-earthquake rebuilding. I don’t expect it to be a culinary adventure so don’t count on any trip-inspired recipes upon my return. But hey, ya never know!
Key Lime Parfaits
adapted from Cooking Light
Custard Layers:
1/2 c key lime juice (or fresh lime juice)
1/4 c sugar
1/4 t grated lime rind
2 large eggs
1 (14-oz) can of fat-free sweetened condensed milk
-
Combine ingredients in a large bowl, whisking until smooth.
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Pour into a double boiler. Cook over simmering water, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens (it will be over 160 degrees) and will coat the back of a spoon.
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Remove from heat and bring to room temperature. Custard will thicken as it cools.
Graham cracker layers:
3 T unsalted butter
3 T sugar
1/2 c graham cracker crumbs
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Melt butter in a skillet over medium heat. Mix in sugar until bubbling, about 1 minute.
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Mix in crumbs, stirring until color deepens, about 3 minutes.
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Remove from heat and cool.
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Assemble alternating layers of custard and graham crackers. Top off with some fresh whipped cream and lime zest.
serves: 4
Sweet Jumbles 
