Studio Cuisine Blog

Must-Make Mondays: Raspberry Lemonade Crumb Muffins

Rachel | Studio Cuisine — Tue, 07 May 2013 01:39:38 +0000

I told you I would bring back Must-Make Mondays!

I’m short on time, so my love of Iowa Girl Eats might not be adequately expressed in this post, but I can assure you, this is one blog you must check out! Kristin’s blog has been one of my favorites since my food blog reading obsession began about a year ago. She’s your go-to-girl if you’re looking for quick and easy weeknight dinners, and her step-by-step photos make each and every recipe so enticing! Just check out these chicken gyro sliders or this spinach and artichoke dip chicken. While recipes for sweets are less common, she won’t steer you wrong with those either. Case in point: these raspberry lemonade crumb muffins.

They’re light and fluffy and scream spring/summer with their lemon flavor and juicy raspberries. I dare you to eat just one (disclaimer: it’s not possible). These photos just don’t do them justice, so pop on over to Iowa Girl Eats for the recipe!

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Brown Butter Granola

Rachel | Studio Cuisine — Thu, 02 May 2013 17:30:04 +0000

With grad school wrapping up and a new job around the corner, my meals have become two things: quick and easy.

Despite all the shortcuts I take for my meals (can you say canned tuna on a bed of lettuce?), one shortcut I refuse to take is with store-bought granola. The minimal effort it takes to make your own is worth the peace of mind knowing exactly what went into it. Taking 30-45 minutes to whip up a big batch ensures I’ve got enough granola to top my morning yogurt for at least a couple weeks.

This particular granola comes from one of my favorite blogs that I’ve mentioned in the past, How Sweet It Is. I’ve mentioned Jessica before in my Must Make Mondays post (that I’ll reinstate one day, I promise). Her recipes are creative, her photography is gorgeous, and you better bet I’ll be one of the first people in line to buy her cookbook when it comes out.

So in the style of the brown butter queen, I took a page from her book and added it to this granola. It adds a level of complexity that is unmatched. Add in some almonds, ground flax, and dried cranberries and you’ve got a healthy granola that totally negates the impact of the minimal amount of butter.

Brown Butter Granola

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Adapted from this Crunchy Quinoa, Toasted Almond and Dark Chocolate Brown Butter Granola.

My granola came out in small pieces, not in clumps like some types of granola. You might want to consider adding more honey or other liquid to get a more clumpy granola.

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups old fashioned oats
1 cup toasted sliced almonds
1/2 ground flax seed
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp kosher salt
4 tbsp butter
1/4 cup honey
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 heaping cup dried cranberries (or other dried fruit)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
In a small saucepan, melt butter over medium heat, whisking constantly until butter begins to brown. Remove from heat and stir in honey and vanilla extract.
In a large bowl, stir together oats, almond, ground flax, cinnamon, and salt. Add wet ingredients to dry and stir until mixture is fully coated.
Spread granola over parchment or silicone baking mat-lined baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes, stir, then bake for another 10 minutes. From this point forward, stir every 3 minutes until granola is light brown (this took 6 minutes for me). Let cool completely, then stir in dried cranberries. Serve as desired (over yogurt, like cereal with milk, etc.)

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Turkey Sausage Lettuce Wraps

Rachel | Studio Cuisine — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 14:46:59 +0000

After a few baked good recipes in a row, I figure I owe you something on the healthy side.

This post is a product one of absolute favorite magazines (and who am I kidding, the only magazine I read), Bon Appetit. I was so so happy when my birthday present this year came in the form of a subscription to this magazine (Thanks Lo!). I was burning way too big of a hole in my wallet spending $5 an issue when an entire yearly subscription is only $12. While this particular recipe comes to you as a result of that $5 I spent in an airport shop back in August of last year, you can rest assured that future recipes will be much kinder on my wallet.

These Asian-inspired lettuce wraps are a fresh, flavorful lunch option that I personally have been eating for almost a week now. They pack a big umami punch and are oh-so-satisfying. If you’re not a fan of ground turkey, feel free to substitute ground chicken, pork, or beef. I’m convinced that these Asian flavors would work well with any of the above. Wrapping these babies in lettuce makes them a quick and easy meal that you can enjoy as warmer weather is upon us.

Turkey Sausage Lettuce Wraps

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Yield: 8 lettuce wraps

Serving Size: 1 lettuce wrap

Calories per serving: 270

Ingredients

4 tbsp fish sauce, divided
2 tbsp lime juice
2 tbsp sugar
1 Thai chile, jalapeño pepper, or 1/2 serrano chile, minced and divided (with or without seeds)
1 lb ground turkey
2 large garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup oyster sauce
1 tbsp all-purpose flour
3 tbsp olive oil, divided
1 head Bibb or romaine lettuce, leaves separated

Instructions

To make the dipping sauce: In a small bowl, stir together 2 tablespoons fish sauce, lime juice, half of chile (or jalapeño pepper), and two tablespoons water. Set aside.
To make the turkey sausage: In a medium-sized bowl, stir together remaining two tablespoons fish sauce, remaining chile or pepper, ground turkey, garlic, oyster sauce, and flour.
Heat 1 and 1/2 tablespoons olive oil in a small skillet over medium heat.
Using wet hands, form turkey mixture into eight small patties.
Working with four patties at a time, place patties in skillet and cook 3-4 minutes per side, turning once. Place on paper-towel lined plate to cool. Add remaining 1 and 1/2 tablespoons to skillet and let heat up. Repeat the same process with remaining four patties.
Place patties in a lettuce leaf and serve with dipping sauce.

Notes

Adapted from the September 2012 issue of Bon Appetit.

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Gluten Free Lemon Blueberry Muffins

Rachel | Studio Cuisine — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 16:09:53 +0000

So, can we talk about the weather in DC for a bit?

I’m currently sitting in the sweatbox that is my apartment because apparently, DC has this law that they can’t switch buildings over to air conditioning until the daily low temperature is 65 degrees. It doesn’t matter in the slightest that it’s 90 degrees today, because the low is only 63! Talk about some screwed up logic. I know I shouldn’t be complaining because I am fortunate in that utilities are included in my rent, but seriously, I envy every single one of you that lives in a home where you control your thermostat!

So, what do you do when you’re sweating like a crazy person just sitting in your apartment? Eat muffins of course! I made these a couple weeks ago for a Passover-friendly brunch with some girlfriends of mine, and I like to think the were a hit. One of the perks of gluten free goodies like these is the ability to enjoy them on a holiday where leavened bread is forbidden. I wouldn’t know a single thing about that, considering I didn’t even really try to observe Passover this year, but they’re definitely a treat for anyone who is making an honest effort. Whether you’re observing a specific holiday, or just trying to cut back on carbs, these muffins are tasty no matter which way you cut it.

Gluten Free Lemon Blueberry Muffins

Ingredients

2 cups blanched almond flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup raw (turbinado) sugar (I used Trader Joe's Brand - using something like Sugar in the Raw would also work well)
2 eggs
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp vanilla
juice of 1 lemon (2-3 tbsp)
zest of 1 lemon
1/2 cup blueberries

Instructions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
Spray muffin tin with cooking spray or line with six paper liners.
Combine almond flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and sugar in a large bowl. Set aside.
In a small bowl, combine eggs, olive oil, vanilla, and lime juice.
Add wet ingredients to dry, and stir well.
Fold in lemon zest and blueberries.
Distribute mixture evenly between 6 muffin tins, filling each one all the way to the brim.
Bake at 425 degrees for 5 minutes, then turn the oven down to 350 degrees F, and bake for another 15-20 minutes until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

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Whole Wheat Honey + Goat Cheese Drop Biscuits

Rachel | Studio Cuisine — Sun, 07 Apr 2013 17:53:43 +0000

Of all the things that are on my Sunday agenda, baking is by far my favorite.

It’s even better when that baking turns out as successfully as these biscuits did. Joy the Baker really can do no wrong (if it’s the last thing you do, check out these cookies). Despite being made with whole wheat flour, these biscuits are perfectly light and fluffy. And if you’re one of those strange people who doesn’t like goat cheese, don’t fret. The pieces are so small you can barely notice them! I’d consider this biscuit recipe to be a great introduction to convert those who have yet to be convinced of how amazing goat cheese is.

Once again, I halved the recipe and it fit five perfect biscuits in my eight inch cast iron skillet. No cast iron skillet? An eight or nine inch buttered round cake pan will do just fine. But seriously, if you haven’t gotten yourself a cast iron skillet yet, it’s time. They’re so versatile and if you read through Megan’s recent post on taking care of your cast iron skillet, it even adds iron to whatever you make in it! Have I got you convinced yet?

Another perk of this recipe? Drop biscuits. They’re not your typical roll out and cut biscuit. Just drop some batter into a pan, pop it in the oven and fifteen minutes later you’ve got biscuits. Slather on some butter, honey, or your favorite jam and they’re ready to eat. If you have yet to have success in biscuit making, this recipe is basically foolproof. So what are you waiting for?

This recipe can be found in the Joy the Baker Cookbook: 100 Simple and Comforting Recipes. You can also find a similar version of it on Carrie’s blog here.

To find out more about Sundays with Joy and join in on the weekly baking fun, click here.

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Mediterranean Turkey Sliders

Rachel | Studio Cuisine — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 11:00:03 +0000

These little babies basically made up every single one of my lunches for the past week. Eat them sans bun and they’re gluten free and Passover friendly for those of you suffering through the last couple days of the holiday! They’re the perfect healthy addition to a side salad for a wholesome, Greek-inspired lunch or dinner (or even breakfast if it suits you!).

The bun recipe comes from King Arthur Flour, and you should definitely check it out. I replaced the all-purpose flour with white whole wheat flour and they were pretty dense, so I’d recommend using half all-purpose and half white whole wheat for a fluffier bun.

Mediterranean Turkey Sliders

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Yield: 8 sliders

Serving Size: 1 slider

Ingredients

1 lb ground turkey (or chicken or beef)
3 tbsp hummus of choice (I used a Greek olive hummus)
3 tbsp crumbled feta cheese
salt and pepper, to taste
1 tbsp olive oil
1/4 red onion, thinly sliced
8 slider buns (optional)

Instructions

In a large bowl, stir together ground turkey, hummus, and feta. Add salt and pepper to taste and stir to combine.
Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a medium skillet or grill pan. Form turkey mixture into small patties. Fry each slider about 4-5 on one side, then flip and cook for 3-4 more minutes. When all sliders have been cooked, lightly toast buns in the same pan.
Spread desired condiments on bun, add turkey slider, and garnish with red onion.

Notes

Adapted from the I Love Trader Joe's Party Cookbook

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A Technical Update

Rachel | Studio Cuisine — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 15:19:55 +0000

As many of you have probably heard by now, Google Reader is disappearing as of July 1. As much as it saddens me to report this, there are alternatives. If you’re subscribed via Google Reader, you can use Feedly or BlogLovin to follow along. Ali of Gimme Some Oven provides a great tutorial for transferring over to using both of these of services (just click on either of those two links)!

I also have to report that I am a giant failure when it comes to technology, and just accidentally lost ALL of my email subscribers by deleting my FeedBurner feed. I’ll spare you the technical details and just tell you that if you’d like to re-subscribe to my blog via email, you can just fill out the form below. If you were subscribed via RSS, the new feed is here.

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Brown Butter Peanut Butter Rice Krispie Treats

Rachel | Studio Cuisine — Sun, 24 Mar 2013 11:00:42 +0000

I must start this post with letting you all know that this recipe was a major flop.

As you probably know, I often tinker with ingredients in recipes to make things a bit healthier. When I set out to tackle this one for my weekly Sundays with Joy post, I subbed out a couple things. I used brown rice cereal in place of regular Rice Krispies. I subbed out regular marshmallows with all natural marshmallows I was able to find at my local organic market. The recipe already called for all natural peanut butter, and let’s face it, there is just no healthy, natural, substitute for butter (in my personal opinion)!

I more than likely slipped up with the measurement of ingredient. The bag of marshmallows I bought was only seven ounces versus the ten ounces the recipe called for, so I just reduced the peanut butter by a little bit, and added less cereal than the recipe stated, thinking I’d be in the clear. And while these pictures might say otherwise, these Rice Krispie treats were a dry, crumbly mess. They basically fell apart the second I tried to cut them out of the pan. The pieces you see here were the ones I was able to salvage.

So there you have it folks, my first (publicized) recipe fail. I’m starting to think successful Rice Krispie treats just might not be in the cards for me! If you’re looking for a recipe, you might want to check out these, these, or these. They certainly won’t steer you wrong! For the original recipe, pick up a copy of the Joy the Baker Cookbook.

What are your secrets for successful Rice Krispie treats?

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March Kitchen Challenge: Croissants

Rachel | Studio Cuisine — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 11:00:51 +0000

When I read about the March Kitchen Challenge over at Love and Olive Oil, I couldn’t resist tackling one of the items on my baking bucket list: croissants. I took advantage of my excess free time (on my last spring, EVER) to take a stab at this challenging baked good. Per Lindsay’s recommendation, I used instructions from Cooks Illustrated. I didn’t do such a great job of documenting the entire process, but it starts with a simple yeasted dough of butter, flour, sugar, salt, whole milk, and (surprise!) yeast. After letting the dough rest for a half hour, it’s rolled out and then transferred to the fridge for two hours, followed by 30 minutes in the freezer. While the dough is chilling, roll out three sticks of butter into a flat square. Remove your dough from the freezer and roll it out with your butter.

Refrigerate your dough again, then freeze, then take it out and roll it out again. Your arms will get a serious workout in the process.

Follow the rest of the steps from Cooks Illustrated, and if you’re lucky, you’ll end up with this:

Overall, I’d say my venture into croissant making was a success. They were perfectly buttery and flaky, and I really couldn’t ask for much more than that. A few tips from my mistakes:

It was difficult to strike the balance between underdone and overdone croissants. My first set was a little too buttery in the center, and the second batch I baked was slightly burnt on the bottom (but still edible, for sure). I think the problem had something to do with my using two separate kinds of baking sheets for each set.
The time it took for me to bake my croissants was also significantly less than the recommended time from Cooks Illustrated. They said the croissants should bake for 12 minutes, followed by an additional 8-12 minutes after rotating baking sheets. My croissants only took about 12 minutes total. Keep a close eye on yours as baking times vary from oven to oven.

So, what’s on your baking bucket list?

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Brown Butter Blondies

Rachel | Studio Cuisine — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 11:00:21 +0000

Can we talk about what a small, small world we live in?On Thursday morning, I boarded a plane back to San Francisco for my very last spring break. As the flight attendant walked down the aisle, I did a double take. Of all the flights I could have taken, I happened to be on one with a flight attendant who I not only went to high school with, but was in my graduating class! On top of that, he wasn’t even supposed to be on this flight, because as any DC resident knows, snow is a really big deal (cue sarcasm) and it happened to cancel his flight that was scheduled to leave the day before. I just couldn’t get over what a small world we live in.
On Friday (the day I made these blondies), I headed into San Francisco to hang out with a good friend from high school. We went and saw a Prince cover band with some friends of hers. I got to chatting with a girl who works in TV news, only to find out that she knew a good friend of mine in DC from when they worked together in Sacramento. Again, that super small world made an appearance. With a few days left in the Bay Area, I can only wonder who else I might cross paths with!
Having blogged so little lately, I made these blondies with a serious itch to bake, and boy did they turn out well. They’re perfectly under-baked with a gooey center that is irresistible. You won’t be able to eat just one. And their secret? As always, it’s brown butter. I’m convinced brown butter has the power to solve all the world’s problems. If you haven’t jumped on the brown butter bandwagon yet, now is the time!

Brown Butter Blondies

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Yield: 9 small bars

Ingredients

1/3 cup butter
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp canola oil (optional)
1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional)
1/4 cup butterscotch chips (optional)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and spray 8x8 glass baking dish with cooking spray.
In a small saucepan, brown your butter. Set aside to cool while you prepare the rest of your ingredients.
In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together egg, brown sugar, vanilla extract and slightly cooled brown butter.
In a separate small bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt.
Add dry ingredients to wet, and stir to combine. Batter will be THICK, and similar to the consistency of cookie dough. If batter seems too thick to work with, add an optional tablespoon of canola oil.
Stir in chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, or any combination of your favorites.
Press batter into baking dish, and bake for 15-20 minutes until crust is light brown.

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