Baking in the Attic

Almond Butter, Coconut Chocolate Chunk Cookies

2013-04-21T21:21:00.000-05:00

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I saw these cookies via foodgawker which is the best and worst site. The recipe is originally from Strawberry Plum and while they look amazing, they have butter. I decided these would be the perfect cookies to update, since coconut is already part of the flavor profile, it made sense to sub in the coconut oil for the butter. These remind me of the almond butter maple cookies I made before, in texture, but I really love what the coconut oil adds in both taste and texture. They are slightly crumbly, but remain moist in texture and buttery in flavor. The most prominent flavor is definitely the almond butter, but the coconut is a nice accent.

Here's what you'll need: whole wheat pastry flour, baking soda, coconut chips, eggs, almond butter, coconut oil, brown sugar, vanilla, sugar (I have been using evaporated cane sugar where I always use white sugar and it works great!), almonds and bittersweet chocolate.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and toast the coconut and almonds until the coconut turns golden brown. Allow to cool while preparing the cookie dough.

Start by mixing together the dry ingredients: whole wheat pastry flour, baking soda and salt.

Then cream the softened coconut oil and almond butter together.

Add the white and brown sugar and beat until fluffy. Then add the egg, egg yolk and vanilla and continue to mix until combined.

Turning the mixer to low, add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. The mixture will look crumbly.

Then add the chopped almonds, toasted coconut and chopped chocolate. Mix with a large rubber spatula to evenly distribute the ingredients.

Using a cookie scoop or large spoon, pack the cookie dough firmly into golf-ball sized portions. Place the cookies on a parchment of sil-pat-lined baking sheet. Flatten the cookies to about 1-inch thickness. If desired, sprinkle with salt.

Bake the cookies for ten minutes, until golden brown around the edges. Allow the cookies to cool completely at least 10 minutes, before carefully transferring to a cooling rack. Serve and enjoy!

Meyer Lemon Pistachio Biscotti

2013-03-10T16:36:00.000-05:00

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Last week, I was still enjoying the bounty of the Meyer lemons I received for my birthday. I made the olive oil cake which was surprisingly addictive. But last weekend, I made these yummy biscotti. I adapted from Cook's Illustrated's hazelnut-orange biscotti recipe. They increased the amount of nuts used so that the biscotti would be easier to bite into. I replaced the butter with fruity e.v. olive oil and really enjoyed the biscotti! Unfortunately, the Meyer lemon flavor is very light, but the nuttiness of the pistachios is satisfying and delicious.

The step-by-step directions are for the food processor, but detailed directions can be found on the link, if you don't have a food processor.
Ingredients: baking powder, salt, oil (I actually used extra virgin olive oil), flour, sugar, eggs, Meyer lemons and pistachios.

In the bowl of the food processor, process 1 cup of the pistachios until roughly chopped.

Set them aside in a bowl. Place the remaining quarter cup of pistachios and pulse until finely ground.

Add the flour, baking powder and salt and pulse to combine.

Dump the flour mixture into a separate bowl until ready to use. Place both eggs into the work bowl. Process until the eggs lighten and double in volume.

With the food processor running, stream in the sugar until smooth. Add the lemon zest, juice and oil and process until thoroughly combined.

Pour the liquid mixture into a large bowl. Add half the flour/pistachio mixture into the wet ingredients. Stir with a large spatula until just combined. Add the remaining flour and roughly chopped pistachios.

Mix until the dough just comes together.

Divide the dough in half and flatten each portion into 4x8-inch logs.

Bake for 25-30 minutes until golden brown around the edges. Rotate the pan halfway through baking. After baking remove the pan and allow to cool for 30 minutes. Lower the oven temperature to 325 degrees.

Once the biscotti logs have cooled, transfer them to a cutting board and slice them into half-inch thick wedges.

Place a cooling rack on top of the baking sheet and place the biscotti cut-side down on the rack. Leaving a quarter-inch space between each cookie. If you don't have a baking rack, you can place the cookies directly back on the baking sheet.

Bake the biscotti for another 30-35 minutes, flipping the biscotti halfway through the baking time. Bake until dried out. Cool completely before serving. Enjoy!

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Pretzel Crunch Chocolate Chip Cookies

2013-02-21T22:30:00.004-06:00

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Link to Chocolate Pretzel Crunch post.

Clearly, I've had pretzels on my brain (and a bag of pretzels I've been desperate to use before they become stale). I've made Chubby Hubby Balls and Peanut Butter Pretzel Brownies and I also recently made peanut butter cookies with a chocolate-covered pretzel mix-in. However, these cookies were so good, that I had to share them with you first.

I don't know if you've noticed lately, but I've been trying to make my desserts dairy-free. That means no milk (sigh), sour cream (sniff), cheese (shaky breath) or butter (wahh!!). My life has been poorer without milk and I'll admit it has not been a smooth or pure road. I'd actually been thinking about going dairy-free for several months after reading an article in Glamour about the Clear Skin Diet. I borrowed the book from the library, saw the yucky pictures of my clogged pores and resolved to go dairy-free. Then the next day, I'd go to Whole Foods and pick up a box of almond milk with every intention of starting that day. Then I'd realize I still had half a gallon of milk in the refrigerator and a few blocks of cheese, as well, and I put it off another month of two.

Well, this happened a few times until finally, I started by first not buying a gallon of milk. I eased my way into it slowly, initially not counting butter or cheese as a dairy. Finally, after a few weeks and as I noticed a difference in the type of acne I had, I'm now mostly dairy-free. If I go out to eat, then I'll allow myself some dairy, but I'd say I'm about 85-90% dairy free. And really, while I still have some acne, it's not nearly as severe and the acne is not as deep and painful as it used to be.

Wow that's a lot of talk about zits, let's talk about something appetizing and amazing, like these Pretzel Crunch Chocolate Chip Cookies. They're fat, hearty cookies that totally satisfy my chocolate chip cookie cravings. The texture is kinda sandy and you can taste the coconut flavor. However, the flavor is rich and buttery and made me a little less sad that I'm not eating butter (mostly). They're based off of David Leite's famous chocolate chip cookie recipe, but I substituted coconut oil for the butter and chocolate-covered pretzel pieces for some of the chocolate chips.

I don't have a picture of all the ingredients. But I do want to mention that I used my scale to measure everything. However, in the recipe link, there are measurements by both weight and volume.

Sift together the cake flour, bread flour, baking powder, baking soda and kosher salt. You will measure out a total of 17 ounces of flour, which may convert to 1 lb. 1 oz. on the scale.

Weigh out the coconut oil and then melt it.

In a large bowl, cream together the coconut oil, brown sugar and white sugar. It will still look quite grainy.

Beat in the eggs one at a time. Then add the vanilla.

Add the flour and mix on low until the dough just comes together. If using a hand mixer, you may need to switch to a large spatula or spoon.

Add the chocolate pretzel crunch and chocolate chips.

Refrigerate the dough, if desired.

Portion the dough into golf-ball sized balls. The dough may be crumbly, pack them if necessary.

Bake at 350 degrees for 15-18 minutes, until light golden brown around the edges. Allow the cookies to rest on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, before transferring to cooling rack. Serve with your favorite milk and enjoy!

Okay, last picture, I promise. But seriously, you need to make these, they're delicious!!

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Chocolate Pretzel Crunch

2013-02-21T22:30:00.003-06:00

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Here's how you make dark chocolate covered pretzels. All you need are dark chocolate chips and pretzel snaps. The key is mostly in melting the chocolate correctly.

Place the chocolate in a microwave safe bowl, leaving out 2 tablespoons. Melt in 20 second intervals, stirring after each interval until mostly melted. Once the chocolate is mostly melted, add the reserved chocolate chips. Continue to stir until completely melted.

Once the chocolate is melted, break the pretzel snaps into quarters or so, over the melted chocolate.

Stir well until completely coated. Spread the pretzels out onto a parchment-lined or silicone mat-lined baking sheet.

Allow to chill in the fridge for a few minutes until the chocolate is set.

Break the pretzels into small pieces and set aside for later use (good luck with that!). Enjoy!
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Meyer Lemon Glazed Olive Oil Cake

2013-02-18T07:32:00.000-06:00

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My birthday was last month and I got one of the funnest presents from some good friends. It was so surprising--a white Crate and Barrel box, taped up and with a strip of paper in the center that had lovely lemons on it. Around the paper was black-striped kitchen twine. The packaging was so cute, it could have been left as that. But then I opened it and inside was a lovely Microplane and a ton of gorgeous Meyer lemons that were grown on their friend's trees in California! How cool is that?! So clever, that the wrapping was actually a hint at what was inside, not just for show.

Meyer lemons are a beautiful and fragrant fruit that are a cross between an orange or tangerine and a lemon. They're extremely floral and can easily substitute "regular" Eureka lemons in lemon recipes. I got the Smitten Kitchen cookbook for Christmas and those two special days combined to make this Meyer lemon glazed cake, which I adapted from her grapefruit olive oil cake. Seriously, the best part is the syrup and glaze and it was what made me come back for more, when I didn't think I liked the cake that much. Let me explain this cake to you. It's not a buttery cake, it's not a light and tender cake and it's not even that sweet of a cake. However, it is a great conduit for the aggressively tart and flavorful syrup, which is toned down and balanced by the sweetness of the glaze. You will probably find yourself breaking your slice of cake in half and moving the bottom to the top, so that the glaze and syrup are sandwiched between the cake.

Here's what you'll need: flour, sugar-white and raw, baking powder, baking soda, salt, coconut milk (see recipe for substitutions), white wine or white vinegar (only if not using yogurt or buttermilk), powdered sugar and lots of Meyer lemons.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Prepare your loaf pan by spraying it with nonstick spray and placing a sheet of parchment paper, which overhang two opposite sides to create a sling for easy removal.

Start by whisking together the dry ingredients and setting them aside.

Combine the coconut milk with 2 tablespoons of Meyer lemon juice and the vinegar. Set aside. If you can have dairy in your diet, use 1/3 a cup of buttermilk or yogurt and add the lemon juice to that. Next, in a large bowl, combine the white and raw sugar with the lemon zest and rub together. This will release the oils from the zest to maximize the flavor.

Whisk in the olive oil until smooth. Then add the eggs, one at a time, whisking after each addition.

Now add the flour mixture and milk mixture alternately in 5 additions, starting and ending with the flour.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Poke the cake several times throughout either with a toothpick or skewer. However, I would recommend poking the cake with something even bigger, like chopsticks, so the syrup can actually sink into the cake.

Prepare the syrup by combining the sugar and Meyer lemon juice. Bring the mixture to a boil and then reduce the heat, allowing it to simmer until thickened and slightly reduced.

Cool the cake in the pan for 10 minutes, before removing it from the pan. Spoon or brush the syrup over the cake, after it has cooled the 10 minutes.

Continue to allow the cake to cool completely, for another hour or more. Once cooled, prepare the glaze by mixing together the powdered sugar, lemon juice and salt until smooth. A tiny bit of liquid will go a long way with powdered sugar!

Pour or spread the glaze over the cake. If you have the patience, allow the glaze to set and harden before serving. Otherwise, have at it. Enjoy!

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Dairy-free peanut butter pretzel brownies

2013-02-03T09:55:00.000-06:00

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I'll admit it, I'm a boxed brownie fan. Ghirardelli triple chocolate with a handful or two of bittersweet chocolate chips thrown in, to be exact. I usually like boxed more than homemade and it turns out I'm not alone! Cook's Illustrated has a great recipe for a chewy brownie, which mimics Ghirardelli's boxed brownie mixes and it's super yummy! I decided to make the recipe even better, with some inspiration from Joy the Baker by adding peanut butter and pretzels.

I'm also doing my best to give up dairy so I tweaked the brownie recipe to use shortening instead of butter. What makes Cook's Illustrated's recipe interesting is they realized that the ratio of saturated to unsaturated fat is what makes boxed brownies so delicious. While typical homemade brownies use mostly butter and are 64% saturated fat, boxed brownies are 28% saturated fat. I'm happy with the texture still and used Earth Balance for my shortening. If you're okay to have dairy the original amounts of butter and oil are included in the recipe link.

Here's what you'll need: flour, sugar, salt, oil, Dutch-processed cocoa, vanilla, shortening, eggs, unsweetened (I only had 90% but think unsweetened would have made this better and richer) and bittersweet chocolate (chips or bars), peanut butter, pretzels and not pictured: kosher salt, water and powdered sugar.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a 9x13 pan, by spraying with nonstick spray and making a sling out of foil or parchment paper.

In a large bowl, whisk together cocoa and instant espresso powder (I didn't use this) with boiling water until smooth.

Next, whisk in finely chopped unsweetened chocolate until it has completely melted and the mixture is smooth.

Mix in the melted shortening and oil and mix well. Add the two eggs, two egg yolks and vanilla, continuing to whisk until the mixture is homogenous and smooth.

Whisk in the sugar until completely incorporated. Switching to a rubber spatula, fold in the flour and sea salt until mostly incorporated. Finally, fold in the bittersweet chocolate and mix until evenly distributed.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and set aside. To prepare the peanut butter mixture, mix the peanut butter, kosher salt, melted shortening, vanilla and powdered sugar until smooth.

Drop the peanut butter by the heaping teaspoonful into four rows. Drag a chopstick or butter knife through the peanut butter in opposite directions for each row for a nice design. Or swirl in a pattern if desired.

There may be some extra peanut butter, but you have pretzels and hopefully chocolate, so I don't think it will be a problem. :-) Lay the pretzels on top, as you like it. I like to stagger mine, but you may choose to throw them on or line them up perfectly.

Bake the brownies for 30-35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted between the edge and center comes out with a few moist crumbs.

The hardest part will be allowing the brownies to cool completely before serving. Enjoy!

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Cream-free Tomato Soup

2013-01-21T20:35:00.001-06:00

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I didn't discover tomato soup until after college maybe. So I don't have any nostalgic memories about Campbell's tomato soup with grilled cheese (though I did eat lots of proper American grilled cheese sandwiches with a slice and a half of Kraft American cheese between two well-buttered pieces of bread). So the first time I had tomato soup was a boxed soup made by Pacific, which I loved and still do. I couldn't figure out how it was so sweet and creamy, but low in fat. It wasn't until I came across Cook's Illustrated's recipe, that a light bulb went off.

This soup is thick, sweet, tomato-y and creamy. It comes together quickly and is surprisingly filling for a soup!

Here's what you'll need: salt and pepper, cans of whole tomatoes, red pepper flakes, olive oil, chicken broth, onion, garlic, brown sugar, bay leaf and bread.

Prepare your vegetables, chopping onions medium and finely mincing garlic. Heat olive oil in a large dutch oven over medium high heat. Add onions, garlic, red pepper flakes and bay leaf. Cook until translucent, for about 5 minutes.

Add both cans of tomatoes and crush the tomatoes with a large spoon or potato masher.

Add bread to the soup and cook and bring to a boil, until the bread begins to break down.

Transfer the soup in batches to a blender and blend until smooth, distributing the remaining two tablespoons of olive oil between the batches. Do not fill the blender more than halfway full, otherwise the steam from the hot soup may cause the top to pop off.

Return the blended soup to a clean pot and add chicken broth to your desired taste and consistency. Just a note, when I made this I did not add any chicken broth, because I thought it would dilute the soup too much. However, the next day, the tomato flavor became way too concentrated and I found that I needed the chicken broth. Bring the soup to a boil, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve and enjoy!

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Chubby Hubby Balls

2012-12-30T21:30:00.001-06:00

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Yikes, I can't believe it's been so long since I've posted! It's not that I haven't been cooking and baking up a storm, but it's been crazy busy at work and at home and I haven't had a chance to take a breath until now. I love baking and making things to give away as Christmas gifts. Sadly, one of my gifts, which I thought would be brilliant, turned into nasty cough syrup. I intended to make a sweetened clementine-infused vodka, similar to limoncello, instead it was overly sweet and medicinal. Ugh.

But these guys were the opposite of ugh and are delicious. They're modeled after the yummy Ben and Jerry's ice cream, which has these chocolate-covered, peanut butter filled pretzels. They're awesome because they float in a malted vanilla ice cream and stay perfectly crisp because they're coated in chocolate. These balls are the perfect bite in that it is both salty and sweet, a tiny bit bitter from a nice dark chocolate to balance the sweetness and has a nice crunch from the pretzel bits. What's even better is that it only needs two bowls and no fancy equipment.

Here's what you'll need: peanut butter, kosher salt, malted milk, powdered sugar, pretzels, vanilla (not pictured) and chocolate.

In a large bowl (larger than the one I used), combine all your ingredients, except the chocolate. Just a note about the ingredients, the first time I made these I used regular peanut butter, but found the balls lacking in peanut butter flavor.

Mix together the ingredients either using your hands or a mixture or a fork. The mixture will look crumbly.

Using a cookie scoop or measuring spoon, firmly pack the dough into balls.

Place the balls onto a parchment-lined cookie sheet or plate. Freeze the formed balls until firm, for about 30 minutes. In the meantime, melt your chocolate of choice. I used Ghirardelli's candy making and dipping chocolate. I like a darker chocolate, but this chocolate melts easily and hardens quickly to a solid. You can use chocolate chips or a bar, chopped into small pieces. If using a microwave, cook it at 50% power, stirring every 15-30 seconds, to prevent the chocolate from scorching. Dip the peanut butter balls into the melted chocolate. Using a plastic fork with the two inside tines broken off, is a very helpful tool, which allows the extra chocolate to drip off.

Place the dipped peanut butter balls onto a parchment-lined surface to harden.

Store these at room temperature or in the refrigerator and enjoy!

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Pumpkin Ice Cream

2012-11-15T19:17:00.001-06:00

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I warned you, but my pumpkin obsession just won't relent. If you read food blogs regularly, there are trends in foods that pop up for weeks and months. Macarons were everywhere for a while, as were the NY Time's chocolate chip cookie recipe. Over the spring and summer, I saw Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream recipes raved about all over the internet and was intrigued. What I love about Jeni's recipes are they don't contain any egg yolks and they're super flavorful. Over the summer I made a Cherry Garcia fake-alike and also a coconut-lime frozen yogurt. All were smooth, creamy and intensely flavored. I changed Jeni's pumpkin ice cream recipe a bit, because I wanted a traditional pumpkin flavor and didn't have 5-spice powder. I'm sure the original is amazing, but I have to say, this recipe is pretty yummy! It tastes just like pumpkin pie, in a cool and creamy form. FYI: the ice cream is a little grainy due to the spices, you may want to strain it, but it may dull the flavor.

**Important (because two asterisks were not enough). Be sure to freeze your ice cream canister at least 24 hours before making the ice cream.

Here's what you'll need: concentrated pumpkin puree, whole milk, corn starch, cream cheese, sea salt, grade B maple syrup, heavy cream, light brown sugar, corn syrup, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, ginger and cloves. (Oops, no picture).

Fill a large bowl with ice and some water, this will be used to quickly cool down the custard.

Start by preparing the pumpkin puree. Cook it in a skillet or saucepan over medium high heat for 5-10 minutes, until no additional liquid remains and the pumpkin reduces slightly.

Make a slurry, by combining the corn starch and 2 tablespoons of the milk (from the measured 2 cups) together in a small bowl. Set aside for later use.

Prepare the ice cream base by first whisking together the cream cheese and salt in a bowl.

Then add 3/4 cup of the concentrated pumpkin puree and maple syrup and whisk until smooth.

In a large saucepan, combine the remaining milk, cream, brown sugar, corn syrup and spices together.

Bring the mixture to a rolling boil and boil for 4 minutes. Keep a close eye on the milk, because it may boil over if unattended. Remix the cornstarch slurry to stir up any cornstarch that has settled. Remove the saucepan from the heat and mix the slurry into the milk mixture. Then, stream the hot milk into the pumpkin/cream cheese mixture, whisking as you add the milk. I have also kept a metal bowl in the freezer and poured the mixture into it and returned it to the fridge.

Whisk until smooth and fully incorporated. Then transfer the mixture to a freezer ziploc bag and seal the bag. Submerge the bag in ice water. Leave the bag in the ice water until it is cold, about 30 minutes. Alternatively, you can refrigerate or freeze the mixture until cold, though this will take longer. If you freeze it, do not forget about the mixture in the freezer!!

Note: This ice cream is a bit grainy from all the spices, you can optionally pass the ice cream through a sieve either before transferring it to the ziploc bag or before transferring it to the ice cream canister. But this may make the ice cream less flavorful and spicy.

Remove your canister from the freezer and place it in the ice cream base. Put the mixer and top on. Turn the machine on so it begins rotating. Remove the ziploc bag from the ice water and snip a corner of the bag and pour the ice cream into the ice cream machine. Freeze according to manufacturer's directions. I mixed mine for about 25 minutes. The ice cream will pull away from the sides and the indentation in the center will become more pronounced.

This is the hard part, transfer the ice cream to a freezer safe container. Place a sheet of parchment paper or plastic wrap directly on the surface of the ice cream. Freeze for at least 4 hours until firm.

Sandwich it between two whole wheat pumpkin snickerdoodles for a fun fall treat! Or eat with graham crackers, it tastes just like pumpkin pie! Enjoy!

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Whole Wheat Pumpkin Snickerdoodles

2012-11-08T22:04:00.002-06:00

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And the pumpkin obsession continues. And let me just warn you, the next recipe is also pumpkin-centric. I was really pleasantly surprised by these cookies. They're whole wheat, but have a great texture and don't taste too healthy. What I like most is these cookies are more like typical snickerdoodles, rather than typical moist, cake-like pumpkin cookies. I never thought I was much of a snickerdoodle fan until I tried Mrs. Sigg's recipe on allrecipes.com, go try them if you're not a fan! Then come back and try these.

I don't have a picture of ingredients because I wasn't expecting these to turn out, but you'll need: whole wheat pastry flour, all-purpose flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, salt, unsalted butter, brown sugar, maple sugar, pumpkin puree concentrate, 1 egg, vanilla, granulated sugar, cinnamon, allspice, ginger and nutmeg.

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the whole wheat pastry flour, flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar and maple sugar until light and fluffy with a hand or stand mixer. Add the pumpkin puree, vanilla and egg and continue mixing until smooth.

Add the dry ingredients into the wet and mix until combine.
Mix together the granulate sugar and spices.

Portion the dough into tablespoon balls a and roll into the spice-sugar mixture. Place the dough onto the parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for 6 to 8 minutes.

The cookies are done when they no longer look moist through the cracks.

Serve as is, or an even better way to come! Enjoy!

No Yeast Pumpkin Spice Rolls

2012-10-22T20:48:00.003-05:00

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I love sticky buns and challah and pizza. They are delicious and light and wonderful. However, the worst thing that can happen is waiting all day for your dough to rise (sometimes two or three times) and baking it in the oven, pulling it out and having the finished product be yeasty and tough. True story, too many times to count. Understandably, I've developed a bit of a yeast phobia. If I've made something successfully, it usually ends up being a one-hit wonder and is never as good as the first time.

I stumbled across Our Best Bite's version of a no-rise recipe from Fine Cooking. I made an almond version which was awesome and they're really really good straight out of the oven and not as good a few hours later (which was why I justified scarfing down 4 at once). They're not terrible, but the dough becomes kinda spongy. The recipe came together quickly and were warm, gooey and light. When fall rolled around again, I knew I needed to do a pumpkin version. Since I don't keep cottage cheese on hand, I decided to change this recipe by using Greek yogurt instead. The dough is still very tender and not biscuit-like, and actually keeps for a few days. Of course in my mind, all things pumpkin need to go with browned butter, so I topped the rolls with a browned butter glaze. Anytime your yeast phobia rises (haha), turn to these rolls for a quick and easy substitution.

Here's what you'll need: flour, sugar, salt, milk, Greek yogurt, baking powder, baking soda, ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon, nutmeg (or pumpkin spice and cinnamon) cider vinegar, butter, pumpkin puree, vanilla, brown sugar, and powdered sugar. Full disclosure, these aren't super pumpkin-flavored, you might want to add some spices to the flour when you whisk it together to reinforce the spiced flavor.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and grease a 9-inch pie pan or springform pan with nonstick spray.
To prepare the dough, whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Next, blend together the wet ingredients: yogurt, pumpkin puree, vinegar, milk, vanilla and 4 tablespoons of melted butter until a nice bright orange.

Now, add the blended ingredients into the dry and fold with a large spatula.

Mix a few times, the dough will be very shaggy.

Turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead 3-5 more times, until it forms a dough. Then using a rolling pin, roll the dough into a 12 by 15 inch rectangle. Spread the 1.5 tablespoons of butter over the dough. In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar, spices and salt together. Sprinkle it evenly over the surface of the dough, but not too thickly. If you have some extra that's fine, but too thick a layer will make the cinnamon rolls gritty and too sugary. Starting from the bottom, roll the dough tightly and pinch the seam together. Cut the dough in half, then half again to make 4 even pieces. Then divide each quarter into thirds, to make 12 pieces all together.

Place the cinnamon rolls, starting at the edge. You'll be able to fit 9 around and then place 3 snugly in the middle.

Bake for 20-28 minutes, until the rolls are golden around the edge and firm to the touch in the center.

Meanwhile, prepare the glaze while the rolls are baking. In a large skillet, brown the rest of your butter. Pour the browned butter into a bowl to cool for a few minutes. Then add the powdered sugar, milk and salt until smooth.

Remove the rolls from the oven and dollop a spoonful of glaze on each roll. Allow the rolls to warm the glaze and spread.

Serve warm and enjoy!

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Pumpkin Pie Bread Pudding

2012-10-08T20:29:00.000-05:00

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This bread pudding is pretty yummy. It's pumpkiny and easy to make and a perfect fall breakfast or dessert. I was inspired by Smitten Kitchen's recipe and Cook's Illustrated's technique. What I love about this bread pudding is the contrast of textures. The top is sprinkled with uncoated cubes of bread sprinkled with butter and cinnamon sugar, which contrasts nicely with the custardy bread pudding.

Here's what you'll need: pumpkin spice, cinnamon, salt, pumpkin, whipping cream, eggs, vanilla, sugar, brown sugar and challah (or your favorite bread).

First we'll need to prepare the bread. Cut half a loaf of challah into half-inch cubes. Don't be like me and decide to make 1-inch cubes, because the custard won't be able to get through the center and your pudding will be a lot more bread-y than pudding-y. We're going to dry out the bread, by baking it in the oven at 325 degrees for 15 minutes. Spread the bread into a single layer on a sheet pan. Be sure the bread does not brown, we're not toasting it. We just want to evaporate the liquid so it can absorb the custard easily.

Prepare an 8x8 pan by spraying it with nonstick spray or greasing it with some butter.

While the bread is drying out, prepare your custard by whisking together the rest of the ingredients in a large bowl: 2 eggs, two egg yolks and one-quarter cup of sugar and two tablespoons of brown sugar together until smooth. Add the evaporated milk, cream, vanilla, sugar, brown sugar and pumpkin puree. Continue whisking until homogenous.

Once the bread is dried, it should be firm and crusty, remove it from the oven and allow it to cool for a few minutes. Once cool enough to touch, set aside one cup of bread. This will give a nice contrast to the custardy pudding. Add the rest of the cubed bread to the custard. Toss gently and then pour into the prepared pan. Allow the mixture to rest for about 5 minutes, so the bread can absorb the custard. Your soaking time will vary depending on what kind of bread you use. I made this twice with two different challah loves-one was very dense and eggy, while the other was extremely light. The light one obviously took much less time to soak, than the heavy. You want the bread to be thoroughly saturated, so use your best judgment.

Combine the remaining sugar, brown sugar and cinnamon together. After the bread and custard have soaked, sprinkle the remaining bread cubes on the top. Sprinkle the top of the bread pudding with the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Drizzle the melted butter over the top. This topping is amazing, especially if you love cinnamon-sugar toast.

Bake for 30-40 minutes. The bread pudding is done when a knife inserted in the middle does not leak out any liquid. Allow the bread pudding to cool until warm and enjoy!

Morning Glory Muffins

2012-10-02T20:38:00.000-05:00

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These muffins are suprisingly really really good. And I'm glad they are because they were a pain in the butt to make!! There were a lot of steps, with the complication of having a tiny kitchen and no food processor, they took a while to make. But I will definitely make these again and prep some of the ingredients the night before. I can't exactly claim that they're healthy, but they are hearty and filling and full of nutritious ingredients, but somehow remain light and decadent tasting. I saw the recipe on Cook's Country and had to make them. But I didn't want to use a whole stick of butter and made a few on purpose and not so on purpose changes .

Here's what you'll need: salt, baking powder, baking soda, crushed pineapple, cinnamon, coconut oil, vanilla, golden raisins, eggs, coconut, whole wheat pastry flour, all purpose flour, carrots, an apple, and walnuts.

To prep the ingredients the night before, toast the walnuts and coconut separately in a nonstick skillet. In a food processor or spice grinder, pulse the nuts and coconut until finely ground. Peel your apple. Shred the apple, rotating around the core, for an easier time. If desired, shred your carrots now, as well. Store in an airtight container. Over a bowl or measuring cup, strain the pineapple over a mesh strainer. Add the shredded apple and press it firmly through, until you get 1 cup of liquid. You may have to ring the fruit with your hands to get most of the juice out. Store the fruit in an airtight container. Pour the liquid into the cleaned out nonstick skillet, boiling it until reduced to a quarter cup. Pour into a container and store both in the refrigerator until ready to use.

The day you plan to make the muffins, pull out all your ingredients to room temperature. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare the muffin pans by spraying with nonstick spray or lining with paper cups. If your coconut oil is solid, microwave it for 15-30 seconds.

Prepare your dry ingredients by combining the whole wheat flour, all purpose flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and sugar with the finely ground walnuts and coconut. You can either whisk them together or pulse them them in a food processor. In a small bowl or measuring cup, whisk together the eggs, vanilla, coconut oil and reduced juice together. Add the wet ingredients into the dry and fold gently a few times.

Add the raisins, fruit and carrots to the batter and mix a few more times until evenly distributed.

Do not over mix! Over mixed muffins will be tough muffins.

Portion the batter into the prepared muffin tins. If you fill them barely to the top you will get about 18 muffins. Bake 22-28 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

If you only have one muffin pan like me, and are making 18 muffins from this recipe, allow the muffins to cool for 5 minutes. Remove them from the pan by running a nonstick spatula around the edges of the muffins. Place a paper liner every other cup and fill with batter and bake. This way, the muffins won't stick to the pan and you won't have to wash it before baking. Enjoy!!
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Whole Wheat Mini Chocolate Chip Scones

2012-09-13T18:38:00.000-05:00

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Metropolis Coffee has these super yummy chocolate chip scones. They are crumbly and buttery and gritty (in a good way) and I searched for a recipe that could replicate those scones. These aren't the same, but they are a good and healthier replacement. These scones are nice and wheaty, but still very delicate and light. I definitely recommend using mini semisweet chocolate chips. I tried making them with my favorite Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate chips, but it was not nearly as good. The scones are not very sweet and need the tiny chips throughout to balance and provide sweetness in every bite.

Here's what you'll need: whole wheat pastry flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder (not pictured, grr), butter, yogurt, milk, sugar, an egg and coarse sugar.

Start by preheating your oven to 425 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Mix together the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Then cut the cold butter into the flour mixture, until it resembles a wet sand. Some butter chunks are fine.

In a small bowl, mix together the egg yolk, yogurt and milk together.

Then mix the liquid into the flour mixture to evenly incorporate. Add the chocolate chips. The mixture will still be very crumbly.

Turn the dough out onto your parchment-lined baking sheet. Knead the dough, by pressing down firmly with the heel of your hand, away from you, smearing the butter into the dough. Dough this a few times. Then use the parchment paper to form the dough into a 5x6 rectangle. Cut the dough into 6 equal rectangles, 2.5x3-inches each.

Then cut the rectangles diagonally to make 12 triangles. Spread the scones out on the baking sheet. Brush the tops with the leftover egg white.

Generously sprinkle the coarse (I used demerara) sugar over the tops.

Bake in the preheated oven for 12-15 minutes. Serve and enjoy!

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Skillet Aprium Cake

2012-09-06T17:53:00.000-05:00

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Every few years or so, I encounter a fruit that I become obsessed with. About 4 years ago, it was Taylor-Gold pears. These things are amazing and absolutely melt in your mouth. I accidentally bought my first Taylor Golds when my produce market was carrying them instead of the normal bosc pears. Unfortunately they have a short season and I've had trouble finding them since. The next fruit that I became obsessed with was opal apples. These gorgeous apples are an almost unnaturally bright yellow and look like a neon golden delicious. But they have a nice tart and sweet flavor and firm texture. They're available the end of winter into spring. Then this summer, I was looking for apricots at Sam's, but only came across gorgeous and petite apriums carefully packaged on top of styrofoam and in plastic packaging. They're a mix of apricots and plums, but I have to say they mostly taste like plums. What I love about apriums is that they're extremely juicy like a rip peach and the flesh is tender and melt in your mouth. But then as you continue eating, you get a tart kick from the skin, like a plum. They taste great in Cook's Illustrated's rustic plum cake. I originally made the cake as directed in a 9-inch spring form pan, but it was flat as a pancake, literally!! It was less than half an inch high. While tasty, I wanted it to have more body and made it in the cute little 7.5-inch enamel cast iron skillet I bought from World Market. The crust is crunchy and sweet like a cookie and the cake is nice and dense so it doesn't become soggy from the fruit. Layer as much fruit as you can in the cake, because the cake itself is quite sweet and needs the acidity of the fruit to balance it.

Here's what you'll need: 4-5 apriums, flour, sugar, almond extract, vanilla, baking powder, salt, butter, slivered almonds and eggs.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare your skillet by greasing it (you can use the butter wrapper or shortening) and flour it. Just a note, the skillet is way to heavy to shake out the excess flour. So sprinkle it as evenly as possible over the pan.

The original recipe was made in a food processor, but I just used a pastry cutter and spatula to bring the dough together. First though, you'll have to grind your almonds and sugar together until it is pulverized. I used the spice grinder blade of my blender, though a mini food processor would also work well.

In a large bowl, dump out the finely ground almonds and sugar. Using a pastry cutter or fork, cut in the softened butter until it resembles wet sand. Mix in the flour, baking powder and salt.

Add the egg, egg yolk, vanilla and almond extract. Continue to cut it into the flour mixture.

Finish mixing the batter with a large spatula. It will be very heavy and dense.

Transfer the dough into the prepared skillet.

Fan the prepared over the cake in two rings. Layer them even more closely than this as the fruit shrinks and separates from each other. I would recommend putting more fruit and overlapping it more closely.

Bake for 40-50 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out with a few crumbs. How gorgeous is this cake?!! Enjoy!

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Blueberry Marzipan Hand Pies

2012-08-21T19:50:00.000-05:00

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These hand pies are divine. Again, I had to put my mealy blueberries to some use and was thrilled when I saw King Arthur's recipe online. I was intrigued by the crust, because it was a simple puff pastry type of dough made with sour cream. I knew all the layers would be good, but unfortunately I had just used my left over sour cream in some muffins. I had tons of plain yogurt, however and substituted it in the recipe. The dough is super yummy, but divine when served warm. It's much easier than you would think and you don't need any high-tech fancy machines to make it.

Here's what you'll need for the pies: one egg, blueberries, turbinado sugar, white sugar, yogurt, salt, butter, baking powder and flour. I omitted the lime, which I planned to use instead of lemon, but found the blueberries had a nice fresh flavor already.

Also not pictures is tapioca starch. You can find this at whole foods or almost any asian store for a better value. If I was more computer savvy, I would somehow photoshop this in.

To make the dough, whisk together your flour, baking powder and salt. Add the cold chunks of butter to the flour.

Using a pastry cutter or two knives, cut the butter into the flour. Leave large pea-sized chunks of butter into the mixture. This will help create flaky layers in our pastry dough.

Next add the yogurt and press it into the batter, using a large spatula, until it is evenly distributed.

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface. I turned mine onto a large sheet of plastic wrap, to help bring the dough together. The dough will seem very dry and shaggy.

Press the dough firmly into itself until it sticks together. Once it comes together roll it into an 8x10 inch rectangle. I guesstimated by using my recipe, which was 8.5 x 11.

Fold the dough as you would a business letter, in thirds. Roll it out again to an 8x10 rectangle. Fold it again into thirds and wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

To make the filling, combine the washed blueberries, sugar and tapioca in a small saucepan.

Cook the blueberries, smashing a few of the berries in the center, until there is some juice that begins to thicken. There will not be a lot of liquid, but it should be quite thick. You should still have at least 3/4 of the berries still intact. Transfer the cooked berries to a bowl to cool. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

If you are making almond-filled hand pies, roll your marzipan into a sheet. Set aside until ready to fill the pies. This marzipan that I buy from World Market works great and is a bit cheaper than the grocery store tubes.

Roll the chilled dough into a 14" square. There is absolutely no shame in using a ruler. There is also no shame in having your measurements be off, despite using a ruler. I rolled out my dough on two sheets of plastic wrap lain next to each other and that was lightly floured.

Divide the dough evenly into 16 squares, 3.5-inches on each side.

Cut the marzipan into 3x3 squares and place them in the center of the dough. I made half almond and half just blueberry.

Now, place a heaping tablespoonful of the blueberry filling onto eight of the squares. Cut slits into the remaining eight squares. These will all the steam to vent from the pies. Since I was doing half and half, I cut two slits into the plain blueberry hand pies and three slits into the almond blueberry ones.

Carefully take the slitted, top layers and place them over the blueberries. Press firmly so that the top layer sticks to the bottom. If necessary, you can use some egg wash. Crimp the edges with a fork and place it on a parchment lined baking sheet. If you don't want to prepare them all now, you can freeze them and pop them into a ziploc bag when they are firm.

Scramble the egg lightly and brush the tops of the pies with the egg wash. For the plain blueberry hand pies, sprinkle some turbinado sugar on top for extra sweetness and a little crunch. We'll leave the almond ones without the sugar, because we will glaze it when it comes out of the oven.

Bake the pies in the preheated oven at 425 degrees for 15 minutes, until a deep golden brown. While the pies are baking, prepare the almond glaze by mixing together the powdered sugar, tapioca starch and almond extract. Add the milk, just 1 teaspoon at a time, until you get the desired consistency.

Once the pies are baked, remove them from the oven and immediately glaze the tops of the pies. The heat of the pies will help activate the tapioca and as it cools, will form a nice hard glaze on top.

These are best served warm. If preparing the day before, you can lightly heat them in a toaster oven or in a conventional oven at 300 degrees until heated through. Enjoy!

Look at those layers!! Just a note, those that have tried the pies prefer the almond/marzipan ones most!

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Blueberry Swirled Oatmeal Muffins

2012-08-11T21:44:00.000-05:00

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Muffins are great, they're delicious and portable and a great excuse to eat cake for breakfast! When I saw the Homesick Texan's recipe for Oatmeal Blueberry Muffins I was intrigued by the combination of sour cream and oats. I knew it was fate when I found a half of a container of light sour cream in my fridge. Not sure when I bought it or for what, but there was no mold and it smelled fine, so in it went! Even more perfect, I had just bought a large container of blueberries from Sam's in anticipation of making these muffins, but was disappointed that they were very mealy. I needed to figure out a way to use more than just the one cup of blueberries. I remembered that Cook's Illustrated had their recipe for the Best Blueberry Muffins, which swirled a homemade blueberry jam into the muffins, in addition to the fresh. And thus these Blueberry Swirled Oatmeal Muffins were born.

This recipe does use a few more bowls than a typical muffin recipe, but it will definitely be worth it! They're moist and have an intense blueberry flavor that really pops in your mouth. I really wanted to make sure the blueberries were the stars, so I nixed the lime and vanilla. But I left the cinnamon because it gives a little warmth that complements the blueberries well.

Start by preheating your oven to 425 degrees. This is quite high for a muffin, but works well. Prepare the quick-cooking oats by combining them with sour cream, so they soften.

In another bowl, combine all your dry ingredients together and give them a whisk. Set aside. Prepare your blueberry jam by taking 1 cup of the washed blueberries and combine them with 1 teaspoon of sugar in a small saucepan. Cook the blueberries until they reduce down to a quarter cup. Smash the blueberries along the sides of the pans as you cook them. Cook until the mixture thickens and reduces to a quarter cup. Place the blueberry jam into a bowl and allow to cool.

Whisk together the melted and cooled butter, oil and eggs. Add this egg mixture as well as the brown and white sugar to the sour cream and oats and whisk to thoroughly combine.

Add all the flour mixture and blueberries to the wet mixture. Then fold the batter a few times until barely mixed together. The muffins will be stirred more when you add the blueberry swirl, so you want to almost under mix the muffins now, so they don't become over mixed and tough later.

Portion the muffin batter into greased or sprayed muffin tins.

Then take a 1 teaspoon measuring spoon and place one spoonful of the blueberry jam into the center of each muffin. Taking a chopstick or wooden skewer, swirl the blueberry jam into the muffin batter to evenly distribute the blueberries and to finish mixing the batter.

Bake the muffins for 17-19 minutes. The edges will be golden brown and the tops will be set. A toothpick inserted into the center of the muffin should come out clean of any batter. This may be difficult to tell with all the blueberries in the muffin. Run an offset spatula or paring knife around the edges of the muffin once they have been removed from the oven and allow the muffins to cool.

Serve as is or with a pat of butter. Enjoy!

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Almond Butter Maple Cookies

2012-08-06T17:37:00.000-05:00

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My sister first introduced me to almond butter cookies. I thought they were nice, but didn't really feel the need to add them to my recipe box, because peanut butter is pretty much the only nut butter I need. As I played around with the original natural peanut butter cookies though, I found that I missed the unique texture of the almond butter cookies. These cookies are great because they come together quickly, don't use any butter or eggs (i.e. you can eat all the cookie dough you want, sans fear of salmonella) and are delicious. The only drawback is the amount of maple syrup the original recipe used. I love grade B syrup, but it's not cheap! And I'd prefer to slather it all over pancakes instead of losing its potency in a baked good. I was thrilled when Trader Joe's came out with organic maple sugar and decided to revisit this recipe, using that partially as a sweetener. It really boosted the maple flavor and made these cookies outstanding! I don't know how it compares ounce per ounce price-wise, but there is something way less painful about using the maple sugar instead of the maple syrup. And I think it is significantly cheaper.

Here's what you'll need: maple syrup, maple sugar, salt, spelt (or whole wheat pastry flour would work well), oil (the evoo was great and didn't impart any weird flavors, but a vegetable or canola oil would work well), almond butter, baking soda and vanilla.

I forgot to change my camera setting from 16x9 back to 4x3, so sorry for the extra long pictures.
Start by whisking your dry ingredients together in a medium bowl.

Then in another bowl (or measuring cup), combine the maple syrup, maple sugar, oil, vanilla and almond butter together to make a smooth paste.

You'll actually need two of these :-)

Now add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix well.

Portion the dough into 1-inch balls or use a cookie scoop. Flatten the cookies by using the tines of a fork to make a waffle print or just with your fingers if you'd prefer. The cookies should be densely packed and should still be about half to three-quarters of an inch thick.

Bake at 350 degrees for 8 minutes. This really is the sweet spot, you don't want to over bake the cookies or they become very dry and crumbly.

You will know the cookies are done when they are evenly paler and no longer look moist. Allow to cool (or don't) and enjoy!

Just a note. If you don't want to bake them all at once, I would recommend you still scoop and flatten the cookies. Don't wait to shape them, because when the dough sits out or in the refrigerator for a few hours, it becomes drier and more crumbly and difficult to work with. The texture of the baked result won't suffer, it just makes shaping them more difficult. Freeze the formed dough on a sheet of parchment paper on a flat surface (a cookie sheet, plate or cutting board work great). Once they've been frozen solid, place them in a ziploc bag with the date, baking temperature and time written on the outside. Bake them straight from the freezer, just be aware you may need to add a minute or two.
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Zucchini, Basil, Tomato and Parmesan Quiche

2012-07-30T22:14:00.004-05:00

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Quiche kind of have a bad rap. One time at work, when we were talking about things to bring to a breakfast potluck, I offered to bring a quiche and got blank stares and noncommittal grunts around the table. My coworkers usually like and are excited about what I bring in, but this response was less than enthused. The problem is that there's a lot of bad quiche out there. It can be soggy-bottomed or curdled or watery. This is the recipe to make you forget all your quiche woes. With a few steps, you can have a quiche that is rich and custardy and has a firm, flaky crust all around.

You'll need one 9-inch pie crust (I'll be sharing my favorite recipe in the next week or two),

a little olive oil, garlic, zucchini, basil, tomatoes,

parmesan cheese, 4 eggs, eggs, cream, milk (skim is fine), salt and pepper.

Start by preparing your crust; we will be blind baking it to ensure it will remain firm and crisp. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Take two large sheets of foil and spray one with nonstick spray. Place the sprayed foil, spray-side down, directly onto the dough. Then place the other sheet perpendicular to it, pressing down firmly. Fill the pan with pie weights or beans or a bunch of spare change. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove the foil and weights (the dough should be dry) and continue baking for another 10 minutes. Remove the pie crust from the oven and set aside to cool for about 10 minutes.

While the crust is baking, prepare your filling. Mince the garlic and shred the zucchini in the large holes of a box grater.

In a skillet, place the olive oil and garlic in the cool pan. Turn the stove on to medium heat and cook the garlic until it begins to sizzle and is fragrant. This will only take a minute or two, don't let the garlic brown. Add the zucchini and cook until softened. Season with salt and pepper. Line a sieve or colander with paper towels and drain the cooked zucchini in the sieve over a large bowl. In the meantime, slice your tomatoes and basil.

To prepare the custard, combine the milk and cream in a two-cup glass. Then, crack three eggs into a large bowl. For the fourth egg, separate the egg from the white and add the egg to the large bowl. Reserve the egg white for later use. Whisk the eggs very well for a few minutes. Continuing to whisk, stream the milk mixture in steadily until you have a homogenous, pale yellow mixture. Add the nutmeg and salt and pepper and whisk again lightly.

After the crust has cooled for a short time, brush the remaining egg white over the bottom and sides of the crust.

Sprinkle the pre-baked crust with half the parmesan cheese.

Toss the zucchini with the flour and basil. Then layer it on top of the parmesan in the crust.

Pour the custard over the zucchini slowly. Then gently lay the tomato slices, cut-side up, on top of the custard evenly across the surface.

Sprinkle more parmesan over the top.

Bake at 375 degrees for 30-35 minutes. If the crust begins to brown too quickly, cover the edge with a ring of foil and continue baking. The center will be set, but have the barest jiggle when shaken. When you insert a knife at the edge of the quiche, it will come out clean. Allow the quiche to cool and for 15-30 minutes before serving. The crust will be firm and flaky, the egg will be smooth, rich and custardy and the basil really shines through. It's the perfect summer breakfast, lunch or dinner. Enjoy!
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Recipe adapted from Cook's Country

Healthier Caesar Dressing

2012-07-22T09:58:00.000-05:00

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Caesar salads kinda have a bad rap. For a long time, we believed that since it was a salad it had to be healthy, until we learned that it's made of egg yolks, cheese and tons of oil. Thus the once "healthy" dinner of a chicken caesar salad was thrown out and only enjoyed as a treat in very small portions. Well the other day I was craving a caesar salad and fully prepared to whisk together an egg yolk, anchovies, etc. together. After all, I've recently taken up running (really jogging) and didn't think it would be so bad to cancel out any calories I burned. But as I was searching, I came across Alton Brown's No Guilt Caesar Dressing and it is amazing. The secret ingredient is silken tofu and I promise, you really can't taste the tofu. This dressing is as good as regular Caesar dressing, easy to make, without the any worry of salmonella. I tweaked his recipe a bit, and added anchovies and lemon, because it just seemed right. I think it would still be fabulous without them.

Here's what you'll need: dijon mustard, silken tofu, worcestershire, white wine vinegar, olive oil, salt, pepper, parmesan, anchovies (not pictured, urgh) and garlic.

The only equipment you'll need is a blender. Start by grating up your parmesan, use the good stuff! Start it on low, then when it begins to break down and settle at the bottom of the blender, boost the power to high.

Once it is finely grated, add the garlic until finely minced. Then add the tofu and all the rest of the ingredients. Blend until smooth It is half of a typical 14-oz package. Store the leftover tofu in a container with water. You could make nearly vegan mousse, but not my recipe unless you like chalkiness. The chocolate is better, but still needs some tweaking.

Finally, with the blender running add a few tablespoons of olive oil until you get the desired consistency. I added a tablespoon or so, though I like my dressing on the thicker side and did not think it was necessary.

Lightly (or heavily, since it's guilt free!) toss with lettuce and serve with croutons, fresh cracked pepper and additional parmesan. The leftover will keep for two weeks. Toss it with chicken and other veggies to make a wrap or dip veggies in it as a dip. Enjoy!

Oatmeal Cream Pies

2012-07-16T13:27:00.001-05:00

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My sixth grade year was full of changes. That year, the district decided to change its junior highs to middle schools, so I was the first sixth grade class in middle school. It was exciting to be with the big kids, but we were also cheated of a lot of perks. Most importantly, we never got to be the oldest and coolest in elementary school. No one was in awe of us, because there were still 6th graders at the school. We were the rejected middle child. Instead of finally rising to the top of the food chain, we fell to the bottom. But sixth grade ended up being a great year. Granted, I was mean and kind of a bully, so can't say how others experienced it, but for me, it was great. We had our own wing and were cocooned and protected as the newbies. One of the best things about middle school was the snack line. In elementary school, you got to go to the cafeteria only once and got whatever ~~crap~~ food, they plopped on our Styrofoam trays. But in middle school, there was the lunch line and the snack line. The snack line was the wonderful double-door, countertop, closet that opened up during lunch. We could go whenever we wanted and get ice cream sandwiches, star crunch, nutty bars (note, if you can't remember the name, nutty buddy is not just a type of cookie) and the super yummy oatmeal creme pie. This is the albino homemade version of Little Debbie's delicious treat. If you want them to resemble the original, see Cookies and Cups recipe, which uses molasses. The filling is from Cook's Country's whoopie pie filling.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line your cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Start by creaming the butter and sugars together until light and fluffy.

Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Then add the vanilla and mix well. Whisk together the flours, baking powder, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon together in a separate bowl. Add it to the creamed butter mixture and beat to combine. Then add the oats and mix to combine.

In a separate bowl, combine the baking soda and boiling water. Mix this into the cookie dough.

Drop the cookie dough in tablespoons onto the lined baking sheets. Leave at least 2-inches between each cookie as these spread a lot. Using a cookie dough scoop is very helpful to get uniform cookies to match together.

Bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes, until the edges are golden brown and the dough no longer looks damp.

Improperly spaced cookies smoosh together, oops!

Let the cookies cool completely before filling.

To make the frosting, cream the butter and powdered sugar together until fluffy.

Add the vanilla and salt and mix well. Then add the full (7 oz) jar of marshmallow fluff. If you have a larger jar, the original recipe calls for 2 1/4 cups of marshmallow fluff, but I refused to open another jar of fluff for 2 tablespoons (never mind that I totally had a second jar in my pantry).

Beat until combined and you'll have a luscious bowl like this:

It's easiest to spread when it is like this, but if you're not using it right away, store the cream in the refrigerator. Assemble your cream pies carefully, as the cookies are somewhat delicate. It's helpful to place one cookie on a flat surface and scoop on the marshmallow filling with a cookie scoop and spread it carefully. This recipe makes enough to place a slightly heaping tablespoon of filling for each sandwich. However, feel free to fill them as much as you want. You can always fill the extra cookies with ice cream! Store this in the fridge and they continue to soften with time. Enjoy!

White Stone Fruit Sangria

2012-07-14T21:14:00.001-05:00

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I'm not a big wine fan. It kind hurts me. Whenever I drink red or something dry, it is very unpleasant and bitter and aggressive. I was told to try rieslings and Gewürztraminer, didn't like either. I thought sangria would be the answer. The first time I ordered a sangria was at a tapas bar, to the shock of my parents, who think I'm still 5 and that ordering a drink every once and a while makes me a lush. Well, despite being watered down, it was disgusting. I figured, if I can't have wine with fruit in it, I must not be able to drink wine. But then a few years later, a friend of mine brought over her red wine sangria, sweetened with lots of sugar and apples and oranges. I was inspired to create a recipe using white wine, that I knew I wanted flavored with mangoes. That's where this sangria comes in. It's fruity and tropical and dangerously easy to drink. You can use any fruits you like, but I try to pick slightly under ripe fruits that are firm, so that they do not disintegrate into the drink.

Here's what you'll need: lime, mango, nectarine, rainier cherries, sugar, club soda and ice.

Chop up the fruit into bite-sized pieces. I halved the cherries and removed the pits (Just a note, I originally halved the cherries and let them marinate in the sangria, however, found they absorbed the liquid and didn't love the texture. So next time, I will add the cherries with the club soda, just before serving). Here's an easy way to cut up the mango. Slice around the ginormous seed in the center and take a section and score it all the way down to the peel.

Flip the mango inside out, making it easy to slice or scoop out the pieces with a spoon.

In a large bowl or pitcher, juice the lime (s) and dissolve the sugar in it by stirring vigorously. Add a quarter cup of club soda to help it dissolve better. Add the fruit to the bowl. You could always toss and stop here and have a lovely fruit salad.

Or you can keep going and add the wine. I used a nice $3.99 riesling from Trader Joe's.

Pour it into a container and chill the sangria to allow the flavors to mingle until ready to serve. Just before serving, add the club soda, (cherries) and ice. Enjoy!

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Turkey Lettuce Wraps

2012-07-07T18:45:00.000-05:00

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Remember that Vietnamese Quinoa Recipe I made? Well I had a bunch of dressing or Nuoc Cham leftover, but was over my quinoa phase. I found organic ground turkey at Costco and started researching lettuce wrap recipes. I found Aida Mollencamp's recipe, which had a base very similar to the nuoc cham. Instead of starting all over, I used the leftover nuoc cham to season the meat and create a glaze for the meat.

Here's what you'll need: nuoc cham (a mix of lime juice, sugar, water and fish sauce), canola oil, ground turkey (I used 93/7), green onions, garlic scape or minced garlic, shallots, ginger, corn starch (urgh, not pictured) and salt and pepper.

The second time I made this, I left out the sesame oil and liked it better.

Season the turkey by adding a few tablespoons of the nuoc cham, corn starch (and a 1/2 teaspoon of sesame oil). We'll season it more as it's cooking. I like to mix everything in the container it came in if I can. It's cleaner, leaves less dishes and they're not recyclable anyway. I portioned the rest of the turkey into little ziploc bags and froze it for later use.

Heat the pan with the oil and add the shallots and ginger and cook well. Once they begin to brown, add the garlic (scape or cloves) and green onions. After a minute or two, when these have softened, add the seasoned turkey. Season it with some kosher salt and pepper.

Once the turkey is cooked, add more nuoc cham to taste. This will give the meat, obviously more flavor, but will also brighten it up. Continue cooking the turkey, until the sauce mostly evaporates.

Clean and prep your lettuce and top them with the ground turkey and lots of hoisin sauce.

Hoisin is the best, if you've ever had Peking duck with the steamed pancakes, that's the sauce they give you. I can eat it with a spoon. Enjoy!

Vietnamese Quinoa Salad

2012-06-30T12:03:00.001-05:00

Just the recipe...

I've been loving and hating my CSA, because it feels like I get a surprise gift each week. I looked forward to all the new and exotic vegetables I'd be getting each week. It started out slow with some conventional vegetables, lots of lettuce and asparagus, which wasn't super exciting. My first week of getting french radishes, I was ecstatic! They were so beautiful with the pink blush and bright green leaves. I had no idea what to do with them and started putting them in chicken salads with grapes and slicing them into sandwiches. This is where the hate came in. Every time I would pick up a new box or bag, I was keenly aware of the vegetables from last week that had not been used. Soon I had pounds of french radishes, neon-colored lettuce and herbs sitting in my fridge. I pickled a bunch of radishes, but they're still cooling so we'll see how they turn out. But my favorite way so far that I've used the radishes is in this quinoa salad. I had this salad in a restaurant, but it was served with rice noodles and shrimp. It was delicious! Fresh, tart, sweet and light, it was the perfect summer meal. I decided to recreate the flavors and crunch in this quinoa salad. The dressing or nuoc cham was adapted from this recipe, but I made it sweeter to my taste.

If I were buying vegetables, instead of just using what was in my CSA box, I would add bean sprouts, maybe some cilantro and cucumbers. Save the dressing for a dipping sauce for summer rolls or making this again in a rice noodle salad. Or use it when you wrap this salad in lettuce to dip in. Enjoy!

Just the recipe...

"Hawaiian" Blondies

2012-06-29T10:17:00.000-05:00

Just the recipe...
I never understood what blondies were. I'd always had them with chocolate chips and thought they were just chocolate chip cookies pressed into a pan. But I was so wrong! Done right, they're gooey and moist and super rich. Blondies are more like brownies in texture and these I made are strongly flavored with brown sugar, vanilla and butter. But I wanted to bring these up a notch and made them "Hawaiian." I feel bad calling them Hawaiian, because I know a lot of things get labeled that way just because they have pineapple or mac nuts, but it's the most fitting name because there's coconut and macadamia nuts. If it was just white chocolate and mac nuts, then I could easily call them white chocolate macadamia blondies, but using three descriptors in the title was just too much. Coconut, macadamia nut and white chocolate blondies just does not roll off the tongue very well.

Here's what you'll need: eggs, vanilla, kosher salt, coconut, brown sugar, flour, nonstick spray, macadamia nuts, white chocolate, unsalted butter and baking powder (ugh, not pictured).

Sorry for the blurry picture! Shoulda used the tripod.

First, preheat your oven to 350 degrees and toast the coconut and macadamia nuts. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper and spread the coconut out. You will want to stir the coconut halfway through as you bake it (I bought dry roasted macadamia nuts and skipped this step). Allow the mixture to cool completely. Otherwise your white chocolate will melt. You can do this step a day ahead.

Next, whisk the dry ingredients together in a medium bowl. Set aside.

One handy trick I learned from Cook's Illustrated when melting butter is to only melt part of it in the microwave, leaving a few tablespoons cold. Once the butter has melted completely in the microwave, I bring the temperature down by stirring the cold butter into the melted butter. If you have time or the planning skills to melt your butter ahead of time and allow it to cool, you don't need to do this.

In a large bowl, whisk together the brown sugar and melted butter.

In the same mixing cup or bowl you melted the butter in, quickly whisk the eggs and vanilla together. Then add it to the brown sugar and butter mixture. Whisk until thoroughly combined.

It's important to whisk all the wet ingredients together well, because you want to handle folding in the dry ingredients as little as possible. Add the flour.

Mix gently with a large spatula, leaving some streaks and pockets of flour in the batter.

Add the fixins': macadamia nuts, white chocolate and toasted coconut.

Stir gently to evenly distribute all the goodies. Three to four turns should be good. Don't over mix!! Prepare your pan. Using the same parchment paper you used to toast the nuts and coconut, fold it so it is 8-inches wide. An easy way to do this is to flip your 8x8 pan over and fold it to its width. Spray the pan thoroughly with nonstick spray. Then place the parchment in the pan. The overhang will act as a sling, which will make for easy removal.

Spread the batter into the prepared pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 22-28 minutes. The center should be set, but will be a very pale golden brown. Do not over bake or the texture will be dry and unpleasantly chewy.

Allow the blondies to cool completely in the pan before removing and cutting.
**Disclaimer, these blondies are ridiculously buttery. You may notice pools of butter at the bottom of the pan, this just leads to more deliciousness. Enjoy!

Just the recipe...