coconutandchartreuse

Weekly Tidbits: Cauliflower + Sweet Pepper Casserole

noreply@blogger.com (coconutandchartreuse) — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 21:48:00 +0000

I tossed this together from the ingredient in my fridge. I had this big plan to make fresh pesto to toss with peas and fettucine tonight, but....I was a couple days late on the basil. It had gone bad. So what else was in there? Cauliflower that needed to be cooked up ASAP.

I had some cream cheese leftover from the Banana Cake earlier this week, so I used that as the base to my gratin, I added a little spice, red pepper (sale!) and breadcrumbs to turn it all casserole-like. Pop it in the over and delicious! Here is how it goes.

Cauliflower + Sweet Pepper Casserole

Ingredients:

1 head of cauliflower, rinsed and sliced
1 red pepper, large diced
1 cup of cream cheese
1/2 cup of vegetable broth
1 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp of Joe's Stuff (cajun seasoning)
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup of shredded parmesan

Directions:

Pre-heat the oven to 375.
First steam your cauliflower. While the cauliflower is steaming until tender, toss your diced red peppers into a pan with some oil to soften and brown around the edges. Toss together the cauliflower and peppers into a medium-sized baking dish.

Next prepare the sauce: In a small saucepan on low heat, combine cream cheese, broth, and seasonings. Stir until combined and beginning to bubble at the edges.

Pour the cheese cause over the vegetables in the pan, gently turning them with a spatula to coat. Once combined, dust the top of the casserole with a combination of bread crumbs and shredded Parmesan.
Place in the oven and bake until the top is golden and melted.

Banana Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

noreply@blogger.com (coconutandchartreuse) — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 21:31:00 +0000

Another birthday, another "cake" to make. I was given free reign this time around. I wanted fruit to be involved, but I had limited time and couldn't whip up the mousse cake I would have preferred. So instead, I went for creativity over complexity. Or at least that's what I thought.

So I found the how-to on cupcake cones at the blog House of Hepworths. She describes this fantastic holder cut from a foil pan, which appeals to my crafty senses. Well, I might have gone a bit overboard. I bought a deep roasting pan, since the cake takes like 90 minutes to cook through (it's a sloooooow cake recipe) and therefore I didn't have three hours to spare by the time I rolled home at 10pm (That's right, I got suckered into post-work drinks and forgot about my ambitious cake-making plans).

Well, let me warn you: Do not use a roasting pan to get 18 holes in for your cones. The cones don't rest on the cookie sheet below and the pan is left to support their weight. It will sink in the middle as it heats up. The batter will spill out into the great big lake of batter in the middle of your aluminum holders. The cheap ice cream cones will then get soaked with batter, soften up and holes will form in the sides further allowing more batter to pour out. It's not pretty. At all.

It was so distressing that I forgot to photograph the massive oven disaster. I was too busy in how-can-I-fix-this mode.

So how did I fix it? I removed all of the cones and placed them upright in a high-sided baking pan. I topped off the batter with my extra (thank goodness for the double batter recipe!), and then placed them back into over at 350F. The majority were still a little lop-sided, prone to leaking or a little crusty, but overall they TASTED fine. Right? And I could cover up the tops with the delicious frosting.

Lesson? Well, this is amazing cake. This is amazing cream cheese frosting. This should not be wasted in a styrofoamy ice cream cone. Just bake the cake by itself. And if you want to do the cone thing, use a half dozen loaf pans that will hold 3 cones each. It's tedious, but if you have a giant oven, lots of time, or just stick with the traditional box mix cake, you should be fine.

Banana Cake in Ice Cream Cones with Cream Cheese Frosting
Recipe circulating the web a million times over with one source at allrecipes.com

Batter (this makes twice as much batter as you need for 24 cones, so plan on make a little loaf too):
3 bananas, mashed, ripe
2 teaspoons lemon juice
3 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup butter, softened
2 1/8 cups sugar
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/2 cups buttermilk

Frosting:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
**
cinnamon & sugar, for dusting

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 250°.
2. In a small bowl, mix mashed banana with the lemon juice; set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.
4. In a large bowl, cream 3/4 cup butter and 2 1/8 cups sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, then stir in 2 tsp vanilla.
5. Beat in the flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk. Stir in banana mixture.

6. In a 9 x 13" baking pan, place as many upright ice cream cones in the pan as possible. Pour batter into each of the ice cream cone cups to apprximately 1/2 inch from the top of the cone. There will be approximately 1/2 of the batter left after 18 cones. Save it or pour it into a loaf pan for a cake on the side.
7. Bake in preheated oven for one hour or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from oven.
8. For the frosting, in an electric mixer with a whisk attachment, cream the butter and cream cheese until smooth. Beat in 1 teaspoon vanilla. Add confectioners' sugar and beat on low speed until combined, then on high speed until frosting is smooth.
9. Scoop the frosting into a pastry bag without a tip, just the plastic tip-attachment piece (or a wide open round tip), and create soft serve-like swirls on top of your cake-cones. Dust with cinnamon sugar (or I used the cinnamon dolce topping from Starbucks).

Eating Out: San Francisco, Part I

noreply@blogger.com (coconutandchartreuse) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 18:24:00 +0000

I ran off to San Francisco at the beginning of February for business, hence the screeching halt of my blog posts. So while there has been a bit of a dry spell on the posting front, I have had a dozen amazing food experiences during my absence. Honestly, the best part of visiting a new city is the food. Eating at new places. And boy does San Francisco really come through in the restaurant department.

I was typically rushing off for work-related purposes, so the scope of establishments was limited to something of a two block radius of my hotel. But even within such a small corner of the city, there were far too many delicious places to try over the course of the eleven official meal times available. Sadly, I couldn't even score eleven fantastic meals due to time crunches and an overwhelming sense of fullness that carried me through the trip (omg, I ate so much!). A number of my meals were on the go (a la Starbucks or a Mojo bar in the purse), a couple were forgettable bites at the hotel bar, and the Superbowl was a blandly catered event at the Marriott Marquis - although memorable due to the bizarre and excessive usage of olives in every single dish and appetizer (I'm not kidding).

Tropisueño

My very first meal for the trip landed me at an adorable Mexican restaurant called Tropisueño. Now it's unique in that before 4pm, you order food from a carry out counter off from a tall floor to ceiling canvas menu. The great part about the menu is the big, open-armed welcome it gives to vegetarians and vegans. All of your classic food truck-style tacos, tamales, flautas, tortas, etc. are available with flavorful sauteed veggies. It's the magic and spice of the meat without the meat. Once you pay for and receive your food at the checkout counter, you can take it to go or settle down at a table or the bar. At the end of the bar is a salsa bar, where you can load up on a dozen different options for the tortilla chips provided with your meal. I highly recommend the fresh tomatillo salsa (you know, the green one).

Now 4pm is when happy hour breaks out and runs until 7pm. Three hour happy hour? Crazy, right? Discount margaritas and food. As a Boston native, it delights me to see discounted alcoholic beverages, since such a thing is prohibited in our Puritanical city. Now at 4pm, the food counter closes up and your only source of munchies comes from the happy hour menu. That is, until 5:30pm, when the dinner service starts. With dinner service, the tacqueria and bar turns into a classic restaurant. A hostess seats you, a server comes to your table for orders. The meals, whether at the table or the bar, are started with tortilla chips and a selection of three of salsas from the earlier mentioned salsa bar.

So I rolled into this place around 3:30pm for a late lunch, ordered some veggie tacos and sat down at the bar. Over the course of the next two hours awaiting my friend to arrive, I tested out the following margaritas. Both delicious and unique, as I'm partial to herbal concoctions.:

Santo: A St. Germaine elderflower liqueur Margarita. Rocks and salt.
Tropisueño: Canton ginger liqueur is balanced with meyer lemon and tequila. Served up with rose-infused sugar and lemon salt.

When my friend arrived, we devolved to discount house margaritas, describes as "appropriate measures of Agave nectar, fresh lime juice and Tequila. Served on the rocks. Arbol chili salt." There really was nothing discount about them, only that we didn't pay full price. I am a huge fan of these flavored salt rims, especially the chili salt. Take note, I'm definitely tossing these together for margaritas lovers around the holidays.

Fluffy Coconut Cheesecake

noreply@blogger.com (coconutandchartreuse) — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 22:35:00 +0000

You're probably beginning to get the idea that I do 85% of my baking for work. You'd be right. There are about 18 coworkers that I actively and daily interact with, each of whom has a birthday. As a result, every few weeks I have a reason to whip up something sweet and get immediately feedback from a captive audience.

This week my co-worker Mitchell had a birthday. He loves coconut. Last year, I made him these jazzy super-duper coconut cupcakes. They were actually coconut-ized box yellow cupcakes. I like to think that I took the box to a new level. If you know anything about my history with cake, it's that I'm actually pretty terrible at making it from scratch. It's a bit like rice. I can't for the life of me make proper rice. Something always goes wrong - too hard, too soft. With cake, it's too dry or too dense.

So this year when I asked Mitchell what he wanted for a cake, he said again: Coconut. I had free reign. Having not make cheesecake in some time (and my fridge had three bars of malingering cream cheese), I thought 'Perfect!' And I found the perfect recipe.

Now I found the cheesecake on The Novice Chef, but the recipe itself was written by a guest blogger from food + words. Everything positive that was said about this cheesecake is absolutely true. And I only changed a couple things based upon the ingredients in my house (per usual). To quote agnes in Despicable Me: 'It's so fluffy!' So let's just to it!

As a brief overview of my changes:

I love to make my cheesecake crusts with crushed pretzels, since it's super absorbent and makes this unique sweet + salty flavor. So I subbed pretzels for the graham crackers.
I doubled the whipped cream topping recipe because frankly, with the amount in that recipe, even using my KitchenAid, it went to only 1/2 the height of the towering masterpiece on The Novice Chef blog. You definitely want twice as much fresh whipped cream, trust me

I also scooped the coconut cream off the top of the coconut milk to set aside for use in the whipped cream. This thick cream is frequently used as a dairy-free substitute for whipped cream. So really, this makes sense.
I really want to emphasize temperature when it comes to cheesecake. Make sure your ingredients are at room temperature, whether its the softened cream cheesecake, butter or the eggs.
I have never once used a water bath, and I've made cheesecake in a wide variety of ovens, so I just skipped out on that step and my cake didn't crack. So, not a big deal if you don't want to use a water bath, in my opinion.

Triple Coconut Cheesecake
Adapted from The Novice Chef with guest blogger from food + words.

Ingredients:

For the crust:
1 cups of crushed pretzels (food processor!)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/2 cup shredded sweetened coconut
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

For the filling:
24 oz cream cheese, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
3 large eggs, at room temperature
7 ounces coconut milk, separate from the thick cream on top and just use the milky part
1/2 teaspoon coconut extract

For the coconut whipped cream:
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 cup of the thick cream off the top of the coconut milk
1/2 teaspoon coconut extract
1/2 cup toasted coconut, for topping

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
In a bowl, combine pretzel crumbs, granulated sugar, cinnamon and shredded coconut and stir until evenly mixed. Next, pour in the melted butter and mix until the dry ingredients are saturated.
Dump the crust mix into a springform pan and then press it against the bottom and sides until it create an even layer throughout. It might be a little crumbly, but just make sure there are no blatant gaps.

Bake for 10-12 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool. Reduce the oven temperature to 325 degrees F.
Using an electric mixer, use a paddle attachment to whip the cream cheese until light and aerated. Add the granulated sugar, cornstarch, vanilla extract and salt. Beat until smooth and combined. While still mixing, add one egg at a time. Add the coconut milk and extract and beat until combined.

Pour the filling into the cooled pretzel crust, and place it on a baking sheet (to catch spills) in the oven. Bake for an hour or until the filling is set and golden at the edges. Remove and allow to cool.
While your cheesecake is cooling, or the next morning, prepare the coconut whipped frosting. In your electric mixer, add heavy whipping cream, coconut cream (reserve from before!), coconut extract and confectioners’ sugar. Whisk until stiff peaks have formed. Spread a thick layer on top of the cheesecake, and top with the toasted coconut flakes. Keep chilled in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

Weekly Tidbits: Avocado Grilled Cheese

noreply@blogger.com (coconutandchartreuse) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 21:41:00 +0000

I felt inspired to tackle the classic grilled cheese after reading an article written by Ruth Reichl for Gilt Taste on several small changes you can make to take your grilled cheese from ordinary to extraordinary. Although I think we all have to admit that it's not physically possible to make a bad grilled cheese. It's cheese and bread. Even if you fail to melt the cheese or burn the crust, it's still cheese and bread! Frankly, I'll eat one in pretty much any condition.

I have loved the classic white bread and Velveeta grilled cheese since childhood. On a faster and similar note, I used to eat cheese pouches (Hoffman Super Sharp + Pita Bread + 45 sec microwave) for lunches in high school. Or breakfasts. Or snacks. Did I mention I love cheese?

As I've grown older, I've experimented with new variations. Whole grain, seeded, honey and oat breads. I've combined provolones, cheddars, swiss, monterrey jack and brie. I've rotated in tomatoes, faux ham, spicy mustards, even peanut butter on occasion. I've also always known that the key to a melted, golden edged grilled cheese is patience and low heat.

So not everything Ms. Reichl describes in this article is new to me. But what really turned the tables on me in the article was her suggestion to coat the outside of the sandwich not with butter, but with mayo. Mayo! I really hate mayo. I was raised on Miracle Whip Light and have the same sort of violent opinion on the matter that I reserve for Yankees vs. Red Sox debates (clearly, the Yankees are smarmy, overpaid, juiced up egotists that have never deserved a single World Series win). So when I gave this savvy suggestion a shot with MW instead - and just as awesome, adding a little tang to the sandwich, while perfectly browning the bread.

Another great suggestion was shredding the cheese as opposed to laying on slices. Most cheeses aren't overly processed and meant to melt at the drop of a hat like pasteurized cheese product, so by grating the cheese you increase the surface area exposed to the heat and it melts so much faster! Bravo, Rachel!

Here is a little summary of the new and improved grilled cheese sandwich:

2 slices of Whole Foods 365 Organic Mighty Multigrain Bread
1 tbsp Miracle Whip Light, divided in two parts
3 slices of deli-sliced Havarti (or grate if you buy a hunk)
1/4 cup of shredded mozzarella
1/2 avocado, 1/4" slices lengthwise
Spectrum coconut oil spray

Spray your nonstick frying pan with a light layer of coconut oil and heat to medium. Toss in the slices of avocado and saute, flipping them periodically, until a light gold crisps the edges. Remove from heat and set aside.
Re-spray the pan with a little more coconut oil (or use butter depending on preference and health concerns - although you're eating a grilled cheese sandwich so I assume health isn't your primary focus in constructing a meal) and place on high heat.
Slather the miracle whip on one side of each piece of bread, and place one, miracle whip side down, into the pan once it has heated up. Immediately drop the temperature to low heat.
Sprinkle or lay your cheese onto the first piece of bread, and top with the second, miracle whip side facing upward. The first side will take on the order of 5 minutes or so. During this time watch some hulu or wash some dishes.
Once the bottom half of the cheese begins to melt, it's ready to flip. At this stage, the bread shouldn't be golden, merely a little shiny and softer. Repeat this melting process on the second side, but don't flip again until the bottom side is a golden brown. This should be faster than the first half.
Once you're back to your original side, grab some tongs or use your fingers to peel up the top piece of bread. Layer your lightly sauteed avocado in the cheese. Allow the sandwich to cook until the first side browns to match the second.
Remove from heat, cut in half and serve! (I enjoyed mine with some mango salsa!)

Orange, Pineapple and Banana Muffins

noreply@blogger.com (coconutandchartreuse) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 16:51:00 +0000

I originally found this recipe on Cafe Sucre Farine and had every intention of following it to the letter ... up until I looked in my fridge and realized that I was missing some key ingredients. But never fear, I can substitute like a champ!

Glazed Pineapple, Orange & Banana Muffins

For muffins:
1 stick butter, softened
½ cup sugar
1 large egg
2 cups flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup greek yogurt, plain
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 medium ripe banana, diced
½ cup chunk canned pineapple, drained and diced (reserve juice)
1 naval orange, segmented

For glaze and topping
½ cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon of reserved pineapple juice

⅓ cup granulated sugar
½ teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon orange zest

Directions for muffins:

1. Preheat oven to 350˚F.

2. In a small bowl, toss together pineapple, orange and banana like a fruit salad.

3. Using either an electric mixer or separate bowl, whip together softened butter and sugar. Add the egg, continuing to mix, and lastly beat in the greek yogurt and vanilla.

4. In a third bowl (yes, three!), sift together the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt).

5. Now bring it all together: Slowly add the wet batter to the dry ingredients, one spoonful at a time. Once combined, then gently fold in the fruits.

6. Divide mixture evenly into a mini-muffin pan, either nonstick or using muffin cups. This should make approximately 24 mini muffins.

7. Place muffins in oven. Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until golden. Allow muffins to cool before applying glaze.

8. Combine powdered sugar and pineapple juice until smooth for the glaze, and then drizzle it atop the cooled muffins. Combine sugar, flour orange zest and cinnamon and sprinkle atop the glaze before it sets.

Spicy Sauteed Okra (Bhindi)

noreply@blogger.com (coconutandchartreuse) — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 05:34:00 +0000

A few weeks ago I was introduced to this amazing dish whipped up by a friend of friend's wife. We had returned to the house from a winding shopping trip and were ready for a bite to eat. Food preferences can always be a bit tricky when you're a guest in someone's home, but luckily my friend chimed in that I was a vegetarian while the menu was still under debate. The news was readily accepted and a plan for an all Indian-meal was devised with curry, rice, potatoes and bhindi (okra).

It was my first time having okra outside of a Southern gumbo-type situation and I was completely blown away (actually it was also my first time having authentic, homemade Indian outside of a restaurant). The okra was so crisp, flavorful and fresh with a depth of spices to enhance what remained a solid green vegetable dish. Who knew? I always pictured okra as sour and slimey. Clearly someone has been cooking it wrong. With cravings to try this delicious main dish, I ended up prompting one of my Indian coworkers for the recipe - she immediately knew what I was talking about, and while she professed she personally wasn't a fan, that she'd snag the details from her friend.

And the result is below! I added a bit of yogurt in because I thought it was a touch dry without an accompanying dish (yes, I just sat down and gluttonously ate a whole bowl of it). Some scallions or dill would make a nice touch to mix in with the yogurt as well. I'll add an update if I make any adjustments to the recipe in the future, as I've seen a variety of options online as well that I'm itching to try in an attempt to bring a more complex range of flavors. Enjoy!

Spicy Sauteed Okra

0.5 lb okra

Olive oil

Salt (to taste)

1 tsp coriander

1 tsp tumeric

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp chile powder

Dash of cayenne
1/2 cup of greek yogurt, plain (optional)
1/4 cup scallions, chopped

1. Wash and chop okra into 1/2" pieces, disposing of stems.
2. Add a tablespoon of olive or coconut oil to a saute pan with the burner set on medium heat. Add okra and spices to the pan and begin to cook, stirring with a wooden spoon as you go.
3. After about 10 minutes, the okra should begin to get golden in the white centers near the seeds, the slippery interiors will dried up and the edges will begin to get caked with spices. Taste to verify that the spices are to your liking, mix in a little extra if necessary at this time to adjust.
4. Continue to cook until the edges are browned and the okra has soften, no longer the crisp fresh fruit.
5. Serve immediately with a dollop of plain greek yogurt and a dusting of fresh scallions.

Weekly Tidbits: Tomato and Cranberry Bagel

noreply@blogger.com (coconutandchartreuse) — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 17:05:00 +0000

I made an exciting trip to Panera Bread this week, when I had a massive craving for a bagel and cream cheese. Rather than just one, I ended up grabbing a half dozen of the Cranberry Walnut Bagels along with their new Cranberry Orange Cream Cheese. Yum.

What I always forget when surrounded by the scent of fresh breads and soups at Panera is that I never eat bagels, let alone at home. It takes me weeks if not months to eat six of those puppies, so they always end up in the freezer, which seriously dents their freshness.

So in an attempt to have a well portioned lunch, I tossed together half of a toasted bagel, a slathering of the deliciously sweet cranberry orange cream cheese - and what really made, left it fresh and clean were the halved grape tomatoes I popped on top. Something about the cranberry-orange-tomato combo that sent me straight to heaven.

Highly recommended way to get in a quick, filling lunch!

Lingonberry Caves and Icebox Rolls

noreply@blogger.com (coconutandchartreuse) — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 21:47:00 +0000

Just after graduating college, I spent a couple of years working two jobs - one in an entry-level engineering position that didn't quite make the rent, and the other as a part-time sales associate for Crate and Barrel. It's hard to explain the culture of C&B unless you've work there, while while recognizing the melodrama in saying this, it totally changed my life. And I'm not just talking about the total kitchenware overhaul I pulled off or the entrance of a KitchenAid Artisan mixer into my home or even the birch-bark moose that has become long-standing guest at Christmas. It was just this super friendly, optimistic, happy, helpful atmosphere that I haven't seen replicated in other stores - let alone national chains.

C&B employees were not only were super cheerful with customers, but with each other. Going to work was a fun, social experience and everyone believed in the products and was excited about the products. You assisted customers not because you wanted to sell them something, but because you wanted to find that perfect item for them - even if it meant that item was at another store. You'd bend over backwards to make sure they walked out with a smile or good feeling about their experience. That's a serious feat to pull off when it comes to hiring the right people. Now given that I only worked at one particular store, I can't say that this attitude was the attitude across the board - but the C&B in Cambridge, MA was a fun experience all around as someone who worked there and as a customer.

Now what does this have to do with cooking? Well, we would have storewide meetings from time to time that involved games, raffles, food and, of course, some serious motivational talks to get us psyched for the new season. At one of these meetings we had a bake-off challenge: Use one of the items in the "pantry" section of C&B to make something delicious. Winners and participants would get prizes (and these were intense prizes - one time I got a blender, another a juicer). Now it was stiff competition among C&B staff members - they hire people who are passionate about cooking, baking, home design, and everything domestic. So when it came to baking, I frankly never even came close to winning. But what I did get out of it was an introduction to lingonberry preserves.

Lingonberries seem to be most commonly associated with Sweden (and thus can be found at Ikea). They are red, tart and similar to a cranberry or current, perhaps a bit more mild. They're most commonly found in the form of jams and juices. Over the past few years lingonberry products have slowly moved into mainstream grocery stores as well, at least in New England, so they shouldn't be too difficult to get your hands on.

So with some lingonberry preserves on hand, I decided it would be the perfect fruit to accent the many Christmas cookies I had to make (as a result of the truffle failure). I did a quick sweep of the web to see what I could find that was a traditional or unique cookie using the lingonberry, but mainly came across a variety of shortbread or icebox varieties. That was fine with me, I could handle a basic shortbread cookie.

First, I made Lingonberry Caves with Cinnamon. I snagged/converted this recipe from blogger Dagmar on A Cat In The Kitchen. Please check out her site, since she has many tasty ideas and really beautifully photographed portraits of her cats.

Lingonberry Caves
(makes approx. 24 cookies)
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
lingonberry jam (or substitute with your favourite one)
30 mini paper cups

1. Preheat the oven to 375° F.
2. Cream the butter, sugar and vanilla sugar.
3. Add the flour, combined with baking soda and cinnamon. Roll dough into 24 balls, placing each into put in a medium sized paper cup.
4. Using a finger, indent the dough balls with a thumbprint size holes and fill them with spoonfuls of jam.
5. Bake for approximately 12 minutes.

Next I had a double batch of icebox cookie dough originally to be used for Chocolate Dipped Coconut Sticks (later recipe). So I rolled out the additional half batch of dough, slathered on some lingonberry jam, rolled it back up and baked up some tasty berry swirls as an additional treat for the cookie box. Bringing this all back to C&B, the basic icebox dough recipe was given to me by a C&B coworker, Jane, who made literally thousands of cookies every year to share with friends, family and, of course, coworkers.

Basic Icebox Cookie Recipe:

1 stick butter, softened to room temperature
1/3 cup powdered sugar, sifted
1 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 cup flour

1. Whisk butter, sugar and salt until light and fluffy, preferably in an electric mixer.
2. Beat in egg yolk and vanilla.
3. Add flour until combined well.
4. Lastly fold in any additions to the dough at this time, whether nuts, chocolate chips, coconut, etc.
5. Roll out into a long rectangular block and fold up in plastic wrap to chill in the fridge before rolling, shaping and baking.
6. Let chill for at least 30 minutes, and preheat the over to 350F while doing so.
7. Depending on the size/thickness of the cookies, they should bake for approximately 12 minutes or until a light golden on the underside. Don't over bake.

For Lingonberry Swirls:

Between Steps 4 and 5, roll out the dough until approximately 1/4" thick. Using a spatula, spread a thin layer of jam across the surface of the dough. Carefully roll the dough into a long cylinder, making sure to prevent any of the jam from pressing out the ends or side. Wrap the resulting dough and jam roll in plastic and proceed to chill as instructed above. Once chilled, slice cookies into 1/3" slices and place on parchment paper-lined baking tray.

Chocolate Truffles Gone Awry

noreply@blogger.com (coconutandchartreuse) — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 17:43:00 +0000

I love to make Christmas cookies. But it's exhausting. So when I saw Gilt City deal on a truffle-making class, I thought "quick, impressive alternative!" Not so much. This week I'm reporting a big honking cooking failure.

Now everything with this class was great. Fun, tasty, friendly folks. It took place in the basement of Castle and Elephant by Taste of Chocolate, or Boston Chocolate School. We were greeted with decadent hot chocolate and a history lesson, including a sample of cocoa butter and coca beans.

I had every intention of walking away from this class with some new skills. Our chocolatier made it look so easy. We were even give a recipe list to take home with several recipes for flavored ganaches and a detailed explanation on tempering chocolate. Actually, the class itself really focused on the chocolate tempering - although we didn't try it ourselves. She had these big machines that just constantly kept the chocolate at temperature. My at-home problem wasn't tempering - technically, I never even made it that far. We were also handed pre-made blocks of ganache in three different flavors. Then we were sent on our way to shape, dip and decorate our truffles. It seemed so easy when an experienced set of chocolatiers had pre-made the ganache and tempered the chocolate!

When I attempted to reproduce those delicious chocolates at home, my problem was the ganache. Ganache was solidly breezed over. No one mentioned to me the importance of temperature. That I would need to heat the heavy cream to the same temperature of the chocolate. That there was this risk of separation between the fat and the chocolate. That it could turn into a crumbly, lumpy mess rather than the smooth "pudding-like" consistency that was described. Nope. I got to discover that on my own.

I scoured the internet to find some sort of "fix" for the crumbly, dry ganache. I read about reheating half of it and then bringing down the temperature by mixing in the rest of the room temperature ganache. This did not work. It actually separated further until there were two distinct substances - little ponds of fat across a bumpy brown landscape.

I ended up tossing the lot and baked a bunch of cookies instead (I'll get everyone caught up on the cookies in the next post). Below I am posting the original recipe for the chocolate caramel truffles that I attempted to make. Perhaps someone else will have better luck.

Chocolate Caramel Truffles
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
3/4 heavy cream
18 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped
2 tbsp butter, soft

1. Place sugar and water in pot.
2. Let mixture cook until amber in color (using a candy thermometer this should be approximately 350F).
3. Remove from heat and whisk in heavy cream a little at a time. Mix in a slow stream to prevent from boiling over.

4. Pour the hot caramel over the chopped chocolate.
5. Cover with foil and let sit for 5 minutes.
6. After 5 minutes, remove foil and whisk to blend. Next, whisk in butter.
7. Refrigerate until solid enough to roll into truffles.

The Most Magical Place on Earth

noreply@blogger.com (coconutandchartreuse) — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 20:56:00 +0000

It's not where you think. There are no life-sized cartoon mice or princesses with castles. Nope. It's in a truck with a secret password.

When I went to New York City this weekend, I had one mission in mind: Find a Wafel and Dinge truck. I'd read about this food truck, saw endless odes to its amazingness on Yelp and in magazine articles, and I just knew that if there was anything I was going to get on a Chinatown bus and travel 4 hours for, it was going to be this truck.

So what about that secret password? You go to their twitter feed for a daily ticket to a free dinge. Sadly, Saturday's secret password was not so much a password as an exercise in torturing other customers. Opera is not our thing, even in the name of free dinges. My friend and I decided we could handle forking over the extra $1 to double-dinge our order and not burst eardrums.

Now everything anyone has ever said about these wafels doesn't hold a candle to what your first bite is like. There were fireworks exploding, which I couldn't see at first because I went temporarily blind in my ecstasy. I'm pretty sure there was also a Baptist choir belting out hallelujah, several rainbows appeared simultaneously through the cloudy gloom, and there were puppies. Really cute puppies.

At the Wafel & Dinge cart just off Central Park

Okay, maybe only that last part was true. About the puppies. Beside us on the park bench a couple shared small bites of the wafel with their puffy-jacketed pug who spent the entire time perched upright against their knees with an intent stare fixed on the wafel. I would act similarly if someone was withholding wafel from me.

I actually have no idea what amazing recipe these folks have to make the wafels so addictive, but they come out chewy and slightly caramelized on the corners. And then the dinges, or the toppings, there are so many choices but the one you can't forego is the speculoos spread. It's like peanut butter, but better. I know, I know. What could be better than peanut butter? Well, this is it. It's made from ground up ginger cookies. It's like making gingerbread in smooth spreadable form. And then (it can get better), if you drizzle warm Belgian fudge over the speculoos-laden caramelized wafel, it's like a superior nutella. That's right, it got even better.

Wafel with speculoos and Belgian chocolate

I mean, I've been fantasizing about these wafels since before I even finished my last bite. My friend and I, sitting in the bitter cold at the edge of Central Park, looked at each other shyly and from powdered sugar-dusted lips tentatively voices what was going through both our minds, "What if we went back for more wafel?"

"At this cart? Maybe we should go find another truck."

"Oh, you're right. I suppose we can't go back for seconds here. Do you think there's one parked in Soho?"

"Probably. What if we went to every truck? And got a wafel at each one?"

"That is the best idea ever."

P.S. There were nuts purchased also.

Homemade Cranberry Bliss Bars

noreply@blogger.com (coconutandchartreuse) — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 17:13:00 +0000

Homemade Cranberry Bliss Bar

I've had my mind set on replicating the Starbuck's Cranberry Bliss Bar from the first time I bit into one. Years ago. You know the one. The million calorie holiday treat that's here for a mere two month showing but causes you to gain 10 lbs? Don't worry, this version is no healthier.

While I'd like to consider myself a baking genius who just digs into the encyclopedia of her mind to retrieve a base recipe for whatever strikes my fancy, I'm totally not. I always google or crack open a cookbook. So when I searched for "Starbucks Cranberry Bliss Bar recipe", much to my delight, hundreds of recipes showed up. And frankly, they all pretty much looked alike. So when I post the recipe that I used here, I'm not referencing any one source - it is a general mash-up of the same recipe circling every baking blog or site on the net. You can do the google math.

Cake:

2 stick unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
3 eggs
2 tablespoons crystallized ginger, minced
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup dried cranberries, minced
4 oz white chocolate, coarsely chopped

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Whip together the softened butter and brown sugar in your electric mixer. Add in the eggs, minced ginger and vanilla extract, and continue to whip. At this point, the consistency was a bit frothy (the eggs) and lumpy (the ginger).

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Slowly add the dry ingredient mixture to the wet mixture with electric mixer on a slow speed to prevent flour clouds.

Lastly fold in the minced dried cranberries and white chocolate by hand, until evenly distributed.

Pour into a butter-greased 9" x 13" baking pan. Bake for 30 mins or until golden on top, and the cake tester draws out clean. Allow to cool in the baking pan.

Frosting:
3 cups powdered sugar, sifted
4 oz light cream cheese, softened
Juice from 1/2 naval orange, squeezed
2 tablespoons grated orange rind
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup dried cranberries, coarsely chopped

Using an electric mixer, whip the softened cream cheese, powdered sugar, juice, rind and vanilla together until fluffy.
Then fold in the chopped cranberries by hand until evenly distributed.
Frost the top of the cooled cake base while still in its pan. Allow several hours to set.

Drizzle:
2oz white chocolate, coarsely chopped

Using a double boiler, melt the white chocolate.
Drizzle over the top of the frosted cake.

The final product, cut for serving.

Weekly Tidbits: Apples and Cheddar

noreply@blogger.com (coconutandchartreuse) — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 19:47:00 +0000

Sausage, sauteed apples, sharp cheddar and an egg over easy

I love to experiment in the kitchen when I get the chance and this past week was no exception. My recipes aren't always post-worthy in their own right, but really just a smattering of ideas or old favorites. Nothing ground breaking and well documented. Or rather, I did photograph them, which is why you're going to get a sample.

One of my favorite flavor combos is apple pie and sharp cheddar cheese. Nothing goes better with apple pie, not even vanilla bean ice cream, than a nice aged sharp white cheddar. The salt perfectly offsets the sweet fruit. I've been having cravings since Thanksgiving. So Sunday morning, I decided that I was going to tackle it. I was going to have it for breakfast. That's right. Pretty ballsy.

But what else goes great with apple? Sausage. That must be why they have those apple-smoked sausages everywhere. So here are the meal deets:

2 veggie sausage links
1 chopped apple, sauteed to soften and cook down (pan fried)
Cinnamon, nutmeg and a dash of salt to taste in the apple sauce
Sliced sharp cheddar
A fried or poached egg on the side

I used the Boca veggie sausage links. I find that a lot of the vegetarian sausage substitute have almost a metallic flavor to them. It's weird. I don't know if it's the spices or what, but I find that they really taste best when eaten with other flavors - maple syrup, egg yolk, apple sauce, etc. On their own it's a bit iffy and I try not to think too hard about what's in them. I suppose ignorance is bliss whether your sausage is made from soy or meat.

In any case, this is definitely going to be a go-to meal in the future. If you want a bit of fiber or a more filling meal, I would lay your warm sauteed apples over a nicely softened bed of shredded wheat. I was planning to do that, but realized that after months of neglecting the shredded wheat in my cabinet, that I'd finally tossed it out last week. Oops. So I added in an egg cooked over easy for a little more substance and protein.

I enjoyed this decadent breakfast with mug of coconut macaroon coffee mixed with eggnog.

Eggnog French Toast

noreply@blogger.com (coconutandchartreuse) — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 15:36:00 +0000

"A photo is worth a thousands words." That's how I feel about the photos of my eggnog french toast below. As in, my mouth is watering just looking at it, remembering the eggy, sweet soft bread drizzled with real maple syrup and melted butter for just that touch of creaminess. In fact, I was going to write an entire entry discussing how french toast is just like bread pudding, but faster. And how odd it is that we consider bread pudding dessert, when it's the same exact ingredients as french toast, which is for breakfast. But that someone must actually consider bread pudding a breakfast food also because they serve it in the cafeteria for breakfast where I work. I'm not going to do that though. Just look at the pretty pictures.

Really, it's just like the bread pudding, but faster.

Eggnog French Toast for (a really gluttonous) One

3 slices of soft Portugeuse sweet bread, or brioche, torn in half if cut wide
1 egg
1/2 cup of light eggnog (because we like to pretend we're making this healthy)
Dash of cinnamon
Butter, unsalted (for pan and to top toast if desired)
Maple Syrup

1. Whisk together egg, eggnog and cinnamon until frothy.
2. Dunk halfs of bread into the eggy mixture until coated on both sides and let sit for approximately 15-20 seconds until its soaked through but still firm
3. Place soaked bread slices onto medium-hot skillet with a touch of butter in the bottom, and flip until cooked through and golden.
4. Top with a bit of butter and maple syrup.
5. Die of pleasure.

Eggnog Bread Pudding

noreply@blogger.com (coconutandchartreuse) — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 04:18:00 +0000

Eggnog Bread Pudding

This has been a comfort food kind of week for me. Or rather, after feeling a bit sick to my stomach the first half of the week and not eating, I was ready to have a yummy treat that would both settle my tummy and provide a big warm and fuzzy hug. And you know what kind of food does that the best? Bread pudding.

When I bought the day old bread for the bread pudding, I had visions of a spicy pumpkin souffle in mind. But last night when I realized that the only liquid dairy product in my kitchen was eggnog, plans had to change. I had to get in the Christmas spirit and let go of the squashy autumn flavors.

Unfortunately, I didn't accept this change to my (complete lack of) recipe until after I had photographed the ingredients. Thus no ingredient snapshot. But I did my best to capture some of the vitals add-ins after the fact. Next time I think that I might toss in dried (or fresh?) cranberries as opposed to raisins and apples, along with a stronger hint of nutmeg.

The great part about this recipe is that the eggnog and whiskey is already sweetened, so there is no need to add sugar into the mix. The raisins and apple also add a bit of sweet, fruity flavor in each bite. I'm very pleased with the portions in this recipe also. Often times my bread will be a bit too stale, or I won't use enough liquid in the mix, or a bit too much egg so that it almost quiche-ifies (my word!). So proportionally, I was very pleased with how this came out. Everything came together in a soft, but thoroughly cooked treat.

Ingredients

1/2 loaf of Portugeuse bread, torn into bite-size pieces
3 large eggs
1 cup of light eggnog
1/2 cup of American Honey
1/2 cup golden raisins
1 apple, diced into 1/2" cubes
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, diced

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375F.

2. Whisk together eggs, eggnog and whiskey in a small bowl.

3. Toss together bread, raisins and apple and when mixed place into a medium-sized (8-9" diameter) baking pan.

4. Pour the eggnog mixture over the dry ingredients in the baking pan, using a large spatula to fold it in and coat all of the bread.

5. Evenly sprinkle the diced butter over the top of the bread pudding and place in the oven.

6. Bake for approximately 30 minutes or until a knife or cake tester draws clean. Remove from the oven and allow to cool. Best served warm with a dollop of ice cream!

Mini Pumpkin Whoopie Pies with Maple Filling

noreply@blogger.com (coconutandchartreuse) — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 20:45:00 +0000

Mini Pumpkin Whoopie Pies with Maple Cream Cheese Filling

A recipe arrived in my inbox on Friday that could only make magic with that one last pumpkin perched on my counter. My favorite newsletters/blog from thekitchn.com was highlighting the joys of Thanksgiving treats, namely pumpkin-derived treats. And standing out in their collage of autumnal food porn was the Mini Pumpkin Whoopie Pie from Brown Eyed Baker. It was destiny.

Now I'm including the recipe below because I made some modifications - as usual. So what happened? Well, the first problem was that I ignored the keyword "chilled" in front of "pumpkin puree". I literally steamed my pumpkin, pureed and dumped it directly in with the wet ingredients. The sugar melted from its fluffy state and became an egg-sugar-pumpkin soup. There was really no recovery from its liquid state, so I tossed in the dry ingredients to see how bad the damage was. It was bad. It was like cake batter, not cookie dough.

Melted sugar-egg-pumpkin batter

Lesson: Don't be so impatient! Cook and chill pumpkin before starting the recipe.

So if, in spite of my warnings, you do this anyway, this was my solution: Add another egg. Add another cup of flour. Add 1/4 cup of sugar. So the recipe below is the Oops! recipe. I did test out some of the liquid batter to see how it baked compared to the Oops batter, and I saw little difference, honestly. The added egg/flour only managed to fluff it up by a mere 1-2mm. No where near the fluffiness of the ones on the BEB blog. The flavor was not compromised.

You'll also note that I halved the filling. I seriously had 1/2 bowl left from the original recipe, so unless you want to get diabetes in one sitting or toss out half your food stuffs, stick with the recipe below. I also felt that the tart cream cheese heavily overwhelmed the maple syrup, so I kicked the maple up a notch.

Maple cream cheese filling whipped up in the KitchenAid

Pumpkin Whoopie Pie Dough:

4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 cup granulated sugar
1 1/4 cup light brown sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
3 cups chilled pumpkin puree
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Maple-Cream Cheese Filling

1.5 cups powdered sugar
4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
2 ounces (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
5 tablespoons maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. You can brush and flip the parchment to cycle through, since I ended up putting 6 professional-sized baking sheets-worth of cookies inside and ran out of parchment.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ginger and nutmeg. Set aside.

3. In your mixer with the whisk attachment, whip the granulated sugar, dark brown sugar, and oil together. Next add the pumpkin puree (when its chilled!), eggs and vanilla.

4. Lastly, gradually add the flour mixture to the pumpkin mixture. You may want the shield on your mixer bowl since it tends to splash up a lot of flour in the process of mixing.

5. Use a small cookie scoop to deposit mounds of dough on the prepared baking sheets, about 1 inch apart.

6. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. They'll puff up a bit and look a little golden on the edges. If you lift the underside of a cookie, it will be just beginning to color. You may want to test a cookie at this point also, just to make sure it's baked thoroughly.

Now I brought these puppies into work, since that's where I pawn off all my treats before I gluttonously eat themself. Best response yet! Here is a selection of the e-mails and verbal comments I was made!

"I went home last night feeling so terrible because I didn't tell you how amazing the whoopie pies were!" "Me too! I meant to e-mail you and felt so bad that I didn't give you feedback!" - Meridith + Dov
"You should seriously consider opening your own bakery. They are delicious. Thanks for sharing." -David
"Your pastries were SO delicious yesterday." - Chris (and I don't think he was just sucking up to me because I'm his new boss)
"I went back for seconds but... they were all gone!" and holds up the empty tupperware container with a sad look. - Mitchell

Pumpkin Mac and Cheese

noreply@blogger.com (coconutandchartreuse) — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 21:07:00 +0000

I'm completely serious when I tell you that I still have those sugar pumpkins in my kitchen just waiting for me to make use of them. And now that I'm no longer eating vegan (did I mention this? I started November as a regular vegetarian again), it was clear that I had to indulge in the most decadant of dairy comfort foods: macaroni and cheese.

But what about pumpkin macaroni and cheese? It's been done. It's been in Gourmet, Better Homes and Gardens, the Food Network, a million food blogs, but not by me! And surely that's a massive oversight. I love pumpkin. I love cheese. Marrying the two together in a creamy, spicy autumn dish sounds like just the ticket to heaven.

And fat thighs.

So rather than try to make this dish healthy (because really, can you? I think not), I just dropped down the serving size to reduce the temptation to overindulge. This is a two serving recipe that you should be able to double if you're serving more than one or two.

Some notes on the recipe before we get started. I only had vanilla soy milk in the house, so where I would normally use milk in the cheese sauce, I ended up using plain greek yogurt. I'm quite pleased with the results and will likely continue to use it in the future. I also only happened to have Four Cheese Mexican shredded, which I'd hesitate to use as my cheese base - opting for an American or Gruyere, something super melty, but this actually turned out fairly well once creamed with the yogurt and butter.

Now I left the house while roasting my pumpkin and remember, in a panic, two hours later that it was in the oven. My pumpkin was a bit brown on the skin and the underside blackened on the surface, but the great part is that the skin peeled off instantly, as did the crusty edge, leaving a rich, flavorful well-roasted pumpkin interior. Lesson learned: None. Without proper ramifications, I will continue my spree of nearly burning down the house via the oven/stove.

My last note is that I love adding a spicy kick to pretty much every savory dish. My most frequently used spice is cayenne pepper. Add this, or not. I put it in both the cheese sauce and the crumb topping. I highly recommend including, but I do recognize that cayenne in every single dish isn't for everyone. I'm thinking next time that I might toss in some chipotle in adobo sauce to kick things up a notch as well.

Pumpkin Macaroni and Cheese

3/4 cup of roasted sugar pumpkin
1 cup of Ezekial 4:9 rotini (or other pasta)
1 cup of shredded cheese (use what you have or love)
2 Tbsp of plain greek yogurt
1 Tbsp salted butter
2 garlic cloves, pressed
1-2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 Tbsp of butter, diced
1/4 cup of whole wheat breadcrumbs

Pre-heat oven to 400F.

The first step is roasting the pumpkin. I pretty much exclusively roast vegetables. It is a slow cook method that caramelizes and brings out the richest flavors. To do this I halved the sugar pumpkin, chopped off the stem, cleared out the seeds and lay it face down on an olive oil-greased pan. Place it in the oven until the flesh is tender, the edge caramelized (or go shopping and leave it in the oven for two hours until it's burnt and just scrape off the toasty parts).

The next step is cooking up the pasta. I exclusively eat Ezekial 4:9 pastas, which are rich and dimensional in flavor with high protein content and wide nutritional profile. This pasta cooks a bit quicker than your average pasta, so if you go with it, make sure to test for readiness after 6 minutes or so. Once done, drain and set aside.

The cream sauce is quick and easy. In a saucepan, toss in your garlic along with the cheese, butter and yogurt. Cook on low and constantly stir until creamy. Add pumpkin. Once combined, toss in any spices just as you take it off the stove.

Fold sauce into the pasta. Top with a combination of bread crumbs, salt and spice. Then pop into the oven until the top is a golden brown and the sides are bubbling. Eat.

Bonus: Toasted Pumpkin Seeds

Using up all the parts, I threw my pumpkin seeds in the oven with some olive oil, salt and chilli powder. I totally do not recommend using any oil. I don't know why I did. The wet pumpkin guts are enough to stick the seasoning to the seeds.

One sugar pumpkin down! One last pumpkin to go.

Bloody Broken Glass Cupcakes

noreply@blogger.com (coconutandchartreuse) — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 20:18:00 +0000

Bloody Broken Glass Cupcake

Halloween is my favorite holiday of all time. I actually think that it should be a national holiday that gives people that day off from work. That way we can spend our day putting on costumes and hosting lengthy themed parties. Parents will easily be able to take their kids trick or treating mid-day rather than rush home after work. We get time off for religious observances, right? Can Halloween be my religion?

This year I decided that I was stepping my Halloween cupcakes up a notch. I always stick with cupcakes, since they're easy to grab at parties. There can be individuality to each cupcake as well. Usually I do frosting-and-candy based monsters and creepy creatures. But this year, I came across a pin on pinterest that took my breath away. Bloody shattered glass stabbing into a perfectly pristine white cupcake. Gruesome.

Not only do they look impressive, but easy on an effort scale. I mean, individual monsters actually cost me more time than bringing sugar to the hard crack stage, and whipping up a batch of syrupy blood.

I consulted multiple sources for the concoction of realistic looking blood and the easiest, clearest sugar glass recipe. In the end, I adapted a Martha sugar glass recipe for similar cupcakes and followed a great tutorial on edible fake blood from the Clockwork Lemon blog.

Bloody Broken Glass Cupcakes

Classic buttercream topped vanilla cupcakes

This is all up to you. Homemade, box, whatever. Just put together your classic white cupcakes. White so that the blood shows in stark contrast. I also recommend picking up some black cupcake liners, or thick premium white liners. The regular store bought white liners tend to discolor with the cupcake.

Sugar Glass
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup water
1/4 cup corn syrup

For the sugar glass, combine all of the ingredients in a saucepan set to medium-high and clip your candy thermometer onto the side. Bring the mixture to a boil, drop the stove temperature down to medium and simply stir. And stir. And stir. Seriously, stir for like 45 minutes until the water evaporates off and your thermometer reaches 350F. Once your sugar reaches temperature, remove it immediately from the heat and pour it in a thin layer into a greased baking metal baking pan. I used butter to grease mine with, which was a poor plan. It turns your glass yellowish. So make sure to use something clear like shortening to avoid yellow swirls and cloudiness in your sugar glass. Allow to set until hard. Twist the pan to pop out the sugar glass and crack as desired.

Edible Fake Blood
1/4 cup corn syrup
Wiltons no-taste red gel dye
Wiltons black gel dye
Hot cocoa powder

You don't really need much of this, so my recipe creates only a small amount of this fake blood. I found that the Wilton gel dyes created a much stronger color. Make sure to mix the dyes and syrup in Pyrex or other glass because it will otherwise stain plastics. I used the tiniest dot of black (it goes a looooong way) and quite a bit of red. Experiment. You can use the cocoa powder to create opacity in the blood. Just make sure to mix well so that it doesn't look gritty.

The final product can be styled in a most gruesome fashion to wow all of your friends and coworkers!

Pumpkin Cookies with Maple Glaze

noreply@blogger.com (coconutandchartreuse) — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 03:57:00 +0000

One of my pumpkins from the overzealous pumpkin-buying spree.

I recently bought four sugar pumpkins. Whole Foods was having this 2/$3 sale that I couldn't resist. They're so round, so orange and embody everything that makes autumn delicious. But yeah, I really don't need four. I don't even have room to cook down and freeze them. I should have known this. I see a lot of pumpkin-carving on the menu this week. Or like three weeks worth of pumpkin-based meals. No kidding.

Now in spite of having pumpkins at my disposal, that whole roasting and blending process is a daunting prospect after a busy work week. So I'll admit, I cheated. Okay, it wasn't really cheating. Not only do I apparently ~~hoard~~ over-buy sugar pumpkins, I also have a cabinet full of canned pumpkin (and coconut milk, coincidentally). That means that I was actually doing my cabinet a favor when I cracked open a can when I felt compelled to make cookies last night.

I really just wanted some nice chocolate-chip cookies, but I had no chocolate. I was also exhausted and coming off having a rough afternoon, so the idea of moving any greater distance (such as to the grocery store) than 5 feet from one side of my kitchen counter to the other was basically a pipe dream. Thus I looked over what was in my cabinets and what was on the internet for veganized cookie recipes and landed on Pumpkin Cookies!

I love pumpkin cookies. I actually have an amazing Martha Stewart recipe that I whip up every Christmas that uses a brown-butter glaze. They're insane. But if the "brown butter" didn't clue you in, they're so not vegan. I have, however, started to get used to the tricks of the trade - how to get around basic baking ingredients like eggs (flaxseed + warm water), butter (oil or vegan butter), and milk (soymilk really is okay to use most of the time). In fact, the most exciting trick of all is making whipped cream from the thick custardy top on canned coconut milk. Mmm. But I digress.

The super soft, total-wouldn't-know-they-were-vegan pumpkin cookies:

Vegan Pumpkin Cookies with Maple Glaze

Pumpkin Cookies with Maple Glaze
adapted from food.com

Cookies:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup Earth Balance
1 can pumpkin
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons flaxseed in 4 tablespoons of warm water, whisked

Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons of real maple syrup
1 tablespoon soymilk
1 tablespoon Earth Balance
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease your baking sheets. I use coconut oil to grease mine!

Now I'm notoriously bad about my mixing methods when it comes to cookies. It's a little different if the baked good has more temperature sensitivity, but cookies? Not so much. I just toss everything into the bowl at once and then let KitchenAid do the magic. If I were mixing by hand? Well, then I might do a dry-only bowl and a wet-only bowl, mixing at the end. But I don't because I am convinced that my KitchenAid can fix anything from lumpy custard to lung cancer. So my instructions are like this: Put all of those cookie ingredients into the bowl and mix until whipped smooth.

For soft fluffy cookies, especially where I don't use traditional levening ingredients, I like to chill my dough. So once you've mixed up the dough, pop it into the fridge for a half hour to stiffen up. Then use a small melon baller to pop out bite-sized cookies on your sheet.

The cookies take anywhere from 12-15 minutes to bake. They'll be tender and soft, so do a bottom check to see when they're a soft golden. Even if they're a bit soft on the inside, they'll continue to cook on a rack while they cook down. This recipe made me about 45-50 bite-sized cookies.

Once your cookies have reached room temperature, it's time to make the glaze. Since I don't own a microwave, I melted my butter in my stove-top butter warmer. After it melted down, but wasn't bubbling just yet, I removed it from the heat and added the wet ingredients. Using a whisk, I blended the soymilk, maple syrup, vanilla and butter until smooth, then began sifting in the powdered sugar. The amount of sugar you use is both a matter of taste and consisency. I found that 1/2-1 cup was plenty and that I only ended up drizzling 1/4 of it onto the cookies. Less is more with this glaze, so feel free to halve this recipe.

The glazing process: butter warmer + maple syrup = delicious.

I was bringing these puppies to work within a half hour of drizzling, so I tossed them into the fridge for a quick glaze-hardening chill. And that, ladies and gentleman, is your bit of autumn baking spirit!

Fresh Avocado Vinaigrette Dressing

noreply@blogger.com (coconutandchartreuse) — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 20:11:00 +0000

I discovered something incredible yesterday. So incredible that I had the salad bar from Whole Foods not just for lunch, but for dinner too. It wasn't the fresh greens, creative flavorful side salads or heavily sauced seiten. It was a new salad dressing.

Cindy's Kitchen has come out with another mind-blowing dressing to top your salad: Fresh Avocado Vinaigrette Dressing

It's smooth, fresh, but with a zing of heat and spice that makes you want to drink the entire bottle rather than slather your lettuce in it. It's almost like a more fluid, smoky, spicy guacamole. The ingredients explain why: Filtered water, avocados, salsa verde (roasted tomatillos, water, fire roasted chile peppers, fire roasted onions, salt, garlic, spices), organic sunflower oil, white balsamic vinegar, can sugar, lime juice concentrate, garlic puree, sea salt, extra virgin olive oil, matcha green tea and green tea extract.

If anyone can tell me why they add green tea, I'd love to know. To claim an antioxidant boost? As the last ingredient, I can't imagine that it packs even a subtle shift in the flavor. If you haven't tried this dressing yet, I insist that you run out immediately. I grabbed a full bottle from the produce section to take home, along with some other salad-making ingredients. There is no way that this isn't going to be hitting my plate on a nightly basis from here until all 16 oz are gone.

For a peek at the bottle as well as another ringing endorsement, check out another Boston blogger who also raves about the new fave: Mise en place

I will be updating with photos this evening (who likes a post without visual enhancement, right?)!

Weekly Tidbits: Mushroom and Cheese Vegan Breakfast Sandwich

noreply@blogger.com (coconutandchartreuse) — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 00:48:00 +0000

Inspired by a suggestion for a quick and easy vegan breakfast sandwich at Healthy Happy Life, I ventured into the slippery, oily world of vegan cheese. Let me start by saying that I didn't necessarily go into this with a lot of optimism. I am a from-the-heart cheese lover, so faced with the oily wet vacuumed packed vegan "cheese" I was highly skeptical. But the original recipe assured me that the vegan gourmet cheddar was as sharp as it gets - and I love sharp.

Now I didn't go by the book on this. For one, I cut out the pumpkin butter. Maybe this was an elemental part of the breakfast sandwich? I'm not sure. I just thought breakfast patty + cheesy mushrooms = bliss. Not quite.

My breakfast sandwich was made up of the following:

1 Ezekial 4:9 English Muffin
1 thin slice of Gimmie Lean Sausage
5 mushrooms, sliced
2 slices of Vegan Gourmet Cheddar
Earth Balance butter to soften english muffins

The biggest question I was left with was: How do you make vegan cheese melt? I don't think any amount of pumpkin butter could have helped me with that one.

Well, I didn't figure it out. I tried throw some into the hot frying pan and it sort of soften, but not really melted. Somehow the original sandwich recipes turned out fantastic (at least according to the photos) and I'm wondering if it has something to do with the slow heat of the panini press. I merely had my frying pan and spatula on hand to recreate the press-making conditions. This is going to require some more explanation. If anyone else has experience with melting vegan cheese, please let me know. Perhaps I needed a shredded version?

Or maybe I should just accept a cheeseless lifestyle...

In any case, my final product looked like this following:

I still really like the idea of this sandwich, but it needs some major improvements before I start whipping it up on a regular basis. Hopefully I'll be back with some changes and alternative fixings soon!

Weekly Tidbits: Brown Bagging Lunch as a Vegan

noreply@blogger.com (coconutandchartreuse) — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 16:42:00 +0000

Following yesterday's theme on my brown bagged breakfasts, I thought I'd also share my newest, most favorite vegan lunch go-to! At this stage, I've eaten this for lunch almost every day for the past three weeks, so it really doesn't get old. It may, however, get old when I run out of super sweet grape and cherry tomatoes from my garden. Will store-bought ring in just as delicious? I'm dubious.

Now my classic vegetarian lunch combo goes like this:

Faux meat burger or cutlet (Quorn, Morning Star Farms, Boca, Meredith Farms)
+
2 cups of roasted vegetables (zucchini, peppers, mushrooms, spinach)
+
1/2 cup of a grain/fiber (rice, yukon gold potato, couscous, barley)

My greatest discovery last year were Quorn products. The juicy chick'n cutlets required nothing but a little warm up. Texturally appealing, not remotely dry, perfect to dress up or have plain. I would snack on them for kicks. Excellent source of protein. The drawback? They aren't vegan. They use egg whites as a binder. Thus they have fled my diet just as quickly as they arrived. I'm back to the classic veggie burger brands and homemade options like seitin and TVP. In my sorrow I have rejected the classic lunch combo above for newer, greener pastures.

In comes a newly discovered passion for hummus. Not just any old hummus, but Sabra and Eat Well Enjoy Well. Both of these brands have super creamy, moist, flavorful hummus. Sabra is fairly classic and tops off the hummus with a spoonful of chopped ingredients (peppers, chillis, garlic), while Eat Well Enjoy Well incorporate revolutionary hummus flavors and hummus bases (edamame, white bean, yellow lentil) that also retain that tasty moist, easily spreadable hummus topped with fresh chopped ingredients. Honestly, I'm a little more in love with EWEW than Sabra, although it's a bit more difficult to get your hands on.

So if I want hummus for lunch, then what's the easiest way to bring it along in my purse? In a wrap! And not just any wrap, my favorite buttery soft, richly flavorful, high-protein, omega-ladden Joseph's Lavash bread. I swear, no one is paying me for these posts. I just honestly love these brands and will wax poetic when a food product worms its way into my heart.

Thus comes my favorite go-to lunch wrap:

Spicy Hummus Wrap

3-4 Tbsp Sabra Supremely Spicy Hummus or EWEW Spicy Yellow Lentil Hummus
1 Joseph's Lavash Square
1/2/-3/4 cup of garden fresh sweet grape or sunburst tomatoes, chopped into quarters
A fistful of fresh spinach leaves
2 slices of faux deli meat

Roll it up, wrap it in aluminum foil and toss it into your bag.

Weekly Tidbits: Quick Breakfasts Turned Vegan

noreply@blogger.com (coconutandchartreuse) — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 16:19:00 +0000

Unfortunately I started this blog the week before I went on a two week business trip/vacation. So while I indulged in unexpected foods (that I didn't have the forethought to thoroughly document), the blog itself took an immediate break before really getting off the ground. I am, however, happy to say that I'm back, focused and with a dozen foodie topics to catch up on!

Now, as I mentioned in my last post, I shifted my lacto-ovo vegetarian diet to a full-fledged non-ethically driven vegan diet. When I say non-ethically, I mean that I'm not bemoaning the manufacturing process of refined sugar (bone char) nor shedding tears of the plight of enslaved honeybees (although I do support and buy my honey from local beekeepers who practice sustainable, organic beekeeping). And after a full month of eating (almost completely) vegan, I've realized that while I prefer this diet, I'm going to continue to call myself a regular vegetarian who simply predominantly eats vegan.

When you clean up your diet for health reasons, it's the overall healthier trend that has the long term impact. When I eat out, it isn't always possible or enjoyable to parse down the ingredients of each item on the menu. So as long as a minute dairy or egg consumption is atypical and relegated to special occasions, I think I'll still live for 200 years. Just kidding. 105 years.

So what have I been up to day to day? I almost always make my own meals and rarely eat out. Over the past few years, I developed a rotation of lunches and breakfasts that were both easy and delicious.

Breakfasts:
Chobani Greek Yogurt Plain + fresh berries + agave nectar
Biochem Whey Vanilla Protein Shake + flaxseed + frozen berries
Lara Bar (on the go convenience!)
Nature's Path Optimum Slim cereal + almonds + flaxseed + fat free milk

Now when I decided to take this crash course in being vegan, I definitely could have stuck to my lunches, but my breakfasts would need a tune up. And that tune up came in the form of oatmeal - both filling and nutritious with tasty add-ins.

My favorite oatmeals are the Better Oats single-serve packets. They are made from organic whole grains with a delicious sprinkling of whole flaxseeds. Now I don't own a microwave, which the packaging seems to demand, but I've found a way around it. I pop the dry oatmeal into a round tupperware dish with a cover. I add 3/4 cup of hot water directly into the bowl, and then slap on the cover to let it sit and absorb for 5-10 minutes. During this time, I finish doing my hair or making my lunch for the day.

I found that of the Better Oats flavors, I prefer the less-sweet versions. When I picked them up originally, I just wanted a plain instant oatmeal - no preservatives or sugary flavors. So I typically stick to the Raw Pure and Simple Bare and the Raw Pure and Simple Chai Spice for when I want a little extra flavor (both salty and sweet). The Oat Revolutions don't appear to be vegan for the most part, but the Abundance Apple and Cinnamon is also delicious without being overly sweet.

Naked oats with raspberries, chopped apples, almond slivers, cinnamon and local sustainable honey.

I add chopped banana, chopped apple, a little cinnamon, sliced almonds or some extra flax into the oatmeal and paired with a disposable spoon, I can chow down on my way to work!

On-the-go oatmeal.

PPK's Chipotle Chili with Sweet Potatoes and Brussel Sprouts

noreply@blogger.com (coconutandchartreuse) — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 16:06:00 +0000

Saturday was my first fully plant-based diet day on what will be a two week experiment. My foray into veganism is only scheduled to last only two weeks because I'm traveling for work. Specifically, I am headed to Philadelphia for a couple of days and the highlight of my trip is a visit to my favorite Mexican restaurant. You see, cheese is used in their sopa azteca and I can't skip the sopa azteca. It was the inspiration for my own tortilla soup four long years ago and completely changed my relationship with homemade soup (as in, I didn't have a relationship before that). I will make a separate post about both soup and restaurant in the subsequent weeks.

As I was saying, Saturday I headed to the grocery store and loaded up on vegetables, legumes and a few grains. I did this in a chaotic shopping trip for which I had no list, no idea what I was going to make, and no set recipes. I grabbed what looked good, what was on sale, and what looked easy. I tried valiantly to avoid the dairy section, but caved when I decided I needed hummus.

Promptly after I arrived home, I found the perfect recipe and had to go grocery shopping again. Of course I didn't pick a dish that I already had the ingredients for!

I do most of my recipe search online rather than in a cookbook. Once I discovered Tastespotting, where I could search for everyone else's inspired dishes, I couldn't imagine going back to a limited selection of recipes, the majority of which had no accompanying photo. I have no imagination when it comes to end products. I want a clear image of how it's supposed to look when I'm done, thus I can have a visual cue when things are going poorly. Food blogs have changed everything for me. Even if I find a recipe in a cookbook, I scour the web to find a blogger who has tried and photographed the dish.

So when I decided to locate a visually inspiring, common ingredient, low energy vegan recipe, I first turned to Post Punk Kitchen for inspiration. The site, of course, did not let me down. I like to make a one-pot dish on the weekends to minimize the hassle of lunches during the week. I'm big on casseroles, pre-roasted vegetables and hearty soups (stoups!). Thus when I found PPK's Chipotle Chili with Sweet Potatoes and Brussel Sprouts, I knew that it was destined to be my first (intentionally) vegan dish. I love all of the main ingredients: beans, sweet potatoes, brussel sprouts (remind me to tell you about my brussel sprout experience at Herbsaint in New Orleans) and chipotle in adobo sauce. Especially chipotle in adobo sauce.

Since this is my first recipe blog, citing a recipe from another food blog, I'm going to provide a link to their original recipe. Honestly, I hate when bloggers do this since I want everything in one place, but I'm iffy on the etiquette and legal business so I'm going to proceed with caution and sort out getting permission to include other people's recipes in my own posts down the road. I will tell you, however, my modifications.

The original recipe: Chipotle Chili with Sweet Potatoes and Brussel Sprouts

Ingredient Commentary and Adaptations:

Brussel Sprouts: I used a 16 oz store brand frozen baby brussel sprouts bag. Because they were baby, I only sliced them in half rather than quarters and I dropped them into the pot still-frozen.

Chipotle Peppers in Adobo Sauce: I used a full 7 oz goya can. I didn't remove the seeds because I love the heat. I also spatula-ed in all of the sauce for more flavor.

Crushed Tomatoes: Instead of 32 ounces, I used a 26 oz tetra pack of chopped tomatoes by Pomi. I use these in all of my tomato-based soups because it's just straight tomatoes and water without an added salt, sugar or herbs.

Garlic: I love garlic. She says four cloves, but I used what amounted to an entire bulb. I buy my garlic in pre-peeled tubs from my local grocery store and I place them in the freezer for convenience and longevity.

Herbs: I skipped coriander because I had none on hand. I used from fresh oregano from my garden that I'd tossed in the freezer at the end of the summer last year, as opposed to dried.

Cooking Commentary and Adaptations:

I followed the recipe nearly to the letter. Everything went precisely as she said it would. I may have let it cook a bit longer, and I added an extra cup of water at one point since it was cooking down too quickly without the sweet potatoes softening enough.

I did let it sit over night in the pot. Mainly it was because I was too lazy and it was too late for me to spoon it into containers, but it worked out kind of like lasagna, where it was even better the next day. Oh, I also forgot the lime juice at the end. I don't think it actually needs it, but I could be missing out on something dramatically enhancing for the dish. Add at your own discretion.

The final product! My additional chili and seeds added a fabulous heat that didn't overwhelm the other rich flavors. Just a nice tingling spice that enhanced the otherwise well-rounded flavors. This is comfort food at its best. I've spend the last three days telling anyone and everyone about this recipe. I ate it for both lunch and dinner. And how much do I have left? A lot. I ended up getting somewhere near 72oz of chili out of this. Enough to feed a small dinner party. And frankly, this is the perfect dish to bring to a potluck. You will win hearts everywhere and people will be shocked when they realize how amazing vegan chili can really be!

An Introduction

noreply@blogger.com (coconutandchartreuse) — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 03:25:00 +0000

I have, for years, dreamed of starting my very own food blog. In my own way I've been preparing for this step for quite some time. Photodocumenting my cooking experiments and successes. Sharing those tales informally with friends and family.

So why start now? Well, the answer is twofold.

Procrastination. I had a lot of work to do this weekend. I brought home all of my research material and files. I told everyone I knew that not only couldn't I socialize, but that I was going to remain inside my home until I finished the three tasks I set out to complete for Monday morning.

Remember back in college when you'd go home for spring break loaded down with textbooks, promising to get in those extra study hours before you returned to the grind of classes? But in the end, all you actually did was get a crick in your lower back from pointlessly hauling those textbooks back and forth on the Greyhound? That is how it goes when I try to work from home. All good intentions, minimal follow through.

So what did I do instead of those many hours of work? I decided it was the perfect time to start a food blog. Chose a name, designed some graphics for the template, took some starter photographs for my initial posts. Anything but slaving over a power point presentation or tackling EndNote.
The Happiness Project. I read this book/blog by Gretchen Rubin this past spring. One of the little ways in which Gretchen tackled becoming happier was by doing something she loved. In her case, she loved to write. She spent one month writing a book, straight through, non-stop. Using her example, I asked myself, if i could spend a month totally devoted to a passion of mine, what would it be? Well, that's easy. Food and drink!

I like to give myself little goals, and if they turn into long term endeavors then all the better. With a short-term goal, my success rate is right near 100%. One month is both long enough to form a habit, but also short enough avoid burning out. Thus I am devoting at least the next, rather busy (since I'm unsuccessful at working from home), month to sharing my love of food, the creations from my kitchen, and my experiments in home mixology.

As Gretchen says 'One of the best ways to make yourself happy is to make other people happy; One of the best ways to make other people happy is to be happy yourself.' This blog is going to be my little package of happy.