Desserts for Breakfast

TGIF: Italy recommendations, anyone?

2012-02-23T22:01:00.000-08:00

Things are a bit crazy and topsy turvy here at the DfB headquarters lately, but in the meantime, the blog is featured over on Harvard Common Press's food blog blog (oh my, how meta!), BlogEats, this week! Click on over to check out the incredibly flattering feature here.

In other exciting news, I'm going to Italy soon! I'll be traveling in Rome and the Amalfi Coast area, so I would love, love, love any recommendations you might have in terms of must-see or must-eat places there! Oh yeah, gelato for breakfast: here. I. come.

Happy weekending, everyone!

TGIF

2012-02-16T23:16:00.000-08:00

The cloudy, overcast afternoons we had at the beginning of this week were filled with beautiful low light, perfect for Mendelssohn and sweet milk tea. More rain and Mendelssohn to come this weekend--have a great one, everyone!

Passionfruit Tapioca and Lemon Cream Tarts

2012-02-14T18:45:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day! Or otherwise known as, Happy stuff-your-face-with-desserts day! Now, I realize that I'm a little bit late to the Valentine's Day party, but this being a journal and all, I wanted to share what the dessert I'm actually having for Valentine's Day rather than making something weeks ahead of time that I wouldn't actually make again. ... and, I'm just running behind, so please forgive me! :)

It seems that, whenever I think about Valentine's Day desserts, I always come back to passionfruit. It's not your typically romantic fruit, like red strawberries dipped in chocolate--and frankly, it looks like dinosaur eggs, with its bumpy skin and bizarre, seedy insides. But, I think it's the name that gets to me, with passion, and I like that it's a little bit tart and sweet, like love.

This year for Valentine's Day, I decided to mix passionfruit with another thing that my bf and I are obsessed with: tapioca. I've always joked that you can't date me unless you like tapioca (with tea, that is), and one of the first things that happened years ago in our relationship was that Richard learned to like tapioca milk tea, just to hang with me. That's the sign of a keeper! Then, a few days ago, he showed up with a bag of lemons from his backyard (<3), which I also wanted to incorporate into the dessert.

Hence, passionfruit tapioca and lemon cream tarts! with passionfruit curd filling, which is super luscious and studded with small rounds of soft tapioca pearls, and mascarpone whipped cream, which is flavored with fresh-squeezed lemon juice and zest for an overall brightness to the dessert. It's one of those desserts that make you feel like you're eating pure rays sunshine, even if the weather outside and stormy and cold (as it finally is here in the Bay, after a winter of no rain!).

Even though it's a bit late, here's wishing you all a Valentine's Day filled with sugar and candy and delicious desserts (forget love and romance, all we need is sugar anyways)!

Read on for recipe....

Passionfruit tapioca and lemon cream tarts
adapted in part from Tartine bakery
makes six 4.5-inch tarts

for tart shells:
9 Tbspn (4.5 oz/127 gr) butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup (100 gr) sugar
1/8 tspn salt
1 egg
1 3/4 cups (250 gr) AP flour

1. In a mixer bowl, combine butter, sugar, and salt. Beat on medium until smooth.
2. Mix in egg and beat until smooth.
3. Add flour to the bowl, mix on low just until incorporated.
4. Wrap the dough in parchment paper or cling wrap and chill for at least two hours or overnight.
5. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
6. Working quickly, roll out the dough to 1/8-inch thick. Press down into six 4.5-inch tart pans and prick the bottoms all over with a fork. Keep the dough cold, and if necessary, place in freezer for a few minutes before baking.
7. Bake for 15 - 20 minutes, rotating once half-way through for even baking, until the crusts are golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool completely.

for passionfruit tapioca filling:
1/2 cup + 2 Tbspn (5 oz.) passionfruit puree
3 eggs
1 egg yolk
3/4 cup (170 gr) sugar
pinch of salt
1 cup butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup tapioca pearls (not instant tapioca)

1. Prepare a double boiler, with water simmering in the bottom half.
2. In the bowl of the double boiler, whisk to combine the passionfruit puree, eggs, egg yolk, sugar, and salt. Whisking constantly, cook in the double boiler over simmering water until the mixture becomes very thick and reaches 180 degrees F.
3. Remove from the stove and whisk to cool, until 140 degrees F. Place the mixture in a blender or a food processor. While the blender/food processor is running, add the butter one tablespoon at a time, allowing each addition to fully incorporate into the curd before adding the next tablespoon.
4. Meanwhile, fill a small pot with two inches of water. Bring to a simmer and add the tapioca pearls. The pearls should be well-covered with water. Simmer and stir for about 12-15 minutes, until the tapioca pearls are al dente, with a mostly translucent outside. Drain in a mesh strainer.
5. Stir the drained tapioca pearls into the finished passionfruit curd. Pour into the cooled tart shells and refrigerate for at least one hour, until the filling is set.

for lemon cream:
1/4 cup mascarpone cheese
1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 Tbspn powdered sugar
2 tspn fresh lemon juice
fresh zest from 2 lemons

1. In a bowl, combine the mascarpone cheese and whipping cream. Beat until very soft peaks.
2. Whisk in the powdered sugar, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Beat just until stiff peaks but do not overwhip.
3. Spoon or pipe the cream onto the prepared tarts.

Enjoy!

TGIF

2012-02-10T00:42:00.000-08:00

Lots of recipe research and development goes on behind the scenes here at the desserts for breakfast kitchen that doesn't make it onto the blog. There are recipes that just aren't good enough, recipes that need a bit more tweaking and finessing, and recipes that were great in concept but horrible in practice, like this one for an apple-cranberry tart creation that flooded and leaked all over my oven floor when baking. Evidence that I suffer my lion's share of baking #FAILs!

More recipe R&D and experimentation is on the agenda for this weekend, so I'm hoping that it goes smoothly without too many major disasters. In the meantime, for your weekend perusal, desserts for breakfast is featured on Saveur's website this week for their "Sites We Love" column! Check out the interview here.

Happy Friday!

Lemon Speculoos Layer Cake with Chocolate Sprinkles

2012-02-07T00:30:00.000-08:00

The first time I ever encountered speculoos cookies, at a random potluck years ago, I thought that they were disgusting. I had heard so much about how awesome these cookies were from my in-the-know Dutch friends, but, disappointingly, the homemade versions that someone had left on the table were horribly over seasoned and tasted like a shovelful of dry curry powder and ground ginger being forced down my throat. Blech!

Thankfully, my friends later assured me that speculoos were by no means meant to taste that way and that they were indeed very good, so when Trader Joe's started selling speculoos spread this past Christmastime, I very hesitantly put a jar into my shopping basket to take home to try. Plus, how could I resist something labeled and marketed as "cookie butter"?!

To my delight, my second experience with speculoos unfolded much differently from the first: speculoos spread aka cookie butter, it turns out, is delicious. It's like eating cookies in the form of ultra-smooth peanut butter. Joe Black would undoubtedly have appreciated a spoonful of speculoos over a spoonful of peanut butter if he'd known about it, omgdoyourememberthatmovie. Of course, leave it to the Dutch to come up with something like cookie butter, you know, to accompany the chocolate sprinkles they eat on their toast in the morning. Forget fruit loops, this is how you do desserts for breakfast!

[click on photo for a larger image]

Now, as much as I appreciate spreadable cookies, I decided it wasn't a very good idea for me to have an entire jar of it lying around in my cupboards (you know, dessert bloggers have to try to eat healthily every now and then, too!), so I thought I'd try using it up in a lemon speculoos layer cake, with dark chocolate sprinkles that my friend now studying abroad in the Netherlands brought back for me. The result of the combination of lemon and speculoos is bright and sweet, extra creamy with the addition of cream cheese in the frosting, a bit dense from the whole wheat flour in the cake, and punctuated by tiny nuggets of dark chocolate. It's a simple, no frills cake, perfect for an unassuming afternoon of tea-sipping-- or for breakfast, in what I suppose is befitting of the Dutch spirit (I won't tell, promise!).

For those of you in the US hoping to find speculoos spread at Trader Joe's, my local branch informs me that they are currently out of stock until the end of February. But, the good news is that (so the manager told me) the cookie butter isn't a seasonal item, so you won't have to wait until next Christmas to get your hands on some.

Read on for recipe....

Lemon Speculoos Layer Cake with Chocolate Sprinkles
makes one 6-inch, 3 layer cake

for lemon cake:
1 1/4 cups + 2 Tbspn (192.5 gr) whole wheat pastry flour
1 tspn baking powder
1/8 tspn salt
1 stick (8 Tbspn) butter, at room temperature
1 cup (200 gr) sugar
1 tspn fresh lemon zest
2 eggs, at room temperature
1/4 cup + 2 Tbspn whole milk
2 Tbspn freshly squeezed lemon juice

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour three 6 x 2 inch round cake pans, line the bottoms with parchment rounds and grease again. If desired, line the cake pans with bake-even strips. Set aside.
2. In a bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
3. In a mixer bowl, cream the butter, sugar, and lemon zest together until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes on medium.
4. Add the eggs to the creamed butter one at a time, beating well after each addition.
5. Add the flour in three additions, alternating each with milk and lemon juice.
6. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pans. Bake for 35-40 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cakes come out cleanly. Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes before turning out of the pans and cooling completely.

for speculoos frosting:
1 1/2 sticks (12 Tbpsn) butter, at room temperature
1 cup speculoos spread
3 cups sifted powdered sugar
6 oz. cream cheese, cold
dark chocolate sprinkles

1. Beat the butter until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.
2. Add the speculoos spread and beat until well-combined.
3. Gradually beat in the sifted powdered sugar.
4. Gradually add small chunks of the cold cream cheese, beating well after each addition.
5. Frost cake, adding chocolate sprinkles between each layer and on top.

Note: I've been told that the Trader Joe's version of speculoos spread is less sweet that the versions available in Europe, so this frosting was just the right sweetness for me. If you happen to try out this recipe with non-TJ's speculoos, I'd be very curious to know what you think. To kick up the sophistication a bit more, you could also sprinkle the frosting with a small pinch of flaked sea salt.

Cake recipe is loosely adapted from Magnolia Bakery.

Enjoy!

TGIF

2012-02-02T22:55:00.000-08:00

[afternoon pastries at Saint Honore Boulangerie in Portland, Oregon]

Happy Weekending and Superbowl-ad-watching, everyone! As for me, I'll be attempting to sleep off my jet lag from recent travels and to catch up on long put-off emails--and maybe with some baking thrown in here and there. :)

Beet Tart with Blue Goat Cheese and Frisee, and a visit to Portlandia

2012-01-30T00:03:00.000-08:00

Portland, you are awesome--and a food-lover's dream. I spent five days in your misty city-straddling-the-river at the beginning of January, and not once in those days did I eat a single un-delicious bite. Every mouthful was beautiful and fresh and thoughtful, and made me wish that we could have our national linguistics conference in your city every year (no offense to Pittsburgh or Baltimore, where the last two conferences were held in previous years). Of course, I have to include the customary mention of the mammoth Powell's Bookstore, but by the time I made it there at the end of the conference, the impressively-large linguistics section had already been pretty picked over, and there are only so many hours (and, more restrictively, dollars!) one can spend in the cooking section, so instead, we ate our way through the city once all of our official business was through. (Also, thank you all for your suggestions via Twitter and blog comments and email on where to visit and eat in Portland! :D)

[pictured top to bottom: Thai Peacock's tofu tom yum soup, Stumptown coffee, Salt&Straw's ice cream tasting]

My favorite, favorite, favorite thing we had in Portland was the tofu and vegetable tom yum soup at Thai Peacock, a few blocks away from Powell's. Seriously, you guys, this version of the soup was the best I've ever tasted: rich, spicy, delightfully sour, a bit sweet from the stewed tomatoes and vegetables, and all around, incredibly soul-warming. It was so good that I went twice in two days, and seriously considered trying to take a thermos of it home with me (darn TSA security restrictions!). Other stand-out favorites that we tried were the fabulous Salt & Straw ice cream (recommended by many of you, so thank you!), with their inventive and perfectly creamy flavors (particularly, the sea salt ice cream with caramel--yes, the ice cream base is sea salt flavored!--and the lemon-basil sorbet); freshly-made and fantastic Japanese curry from Kalé (not heavy like you normally think of Japanese curry, but light and oh-so-spicy and flavorful!); and the adorable Little Bird Bistro, on the recommendation of Language of Food writer, where we ordered a plethora of small French plates to share, including butternut squash+parsnip+apple soup and beet tart. We even managed to spend one night at the cozy Living Room Theater, watching Melancholia, and feeling oh-so-hipster amongst the cool, twenty-something crowd that populated the place.

Here's a list of where we ate--all wonderful.

Kalé - so good I'd like to beg the owner to open a branch in the Bay Area.

Little Bird - the bread served here comes with local butter, salted with crunchy Maldon salt. 'Nuff said!

Rogue Brewery - they have homemade root beer! (which I'll take over beer any day. :))

Salt & Straw - dare I say it's better than some of the gourmet ice cream places I've had in the Bay!

St. Honore Boulangerie - the Normandy apple tart. Try it.

Stumptown Coffee - though I maintain allegiance to Philz here in SF

Thai Peacock - the tom yum soup: you won't regret it.

Voodoo Donuts - to my surprise, I particularly liked the Butterfingers doughnut/donut

Wildwood - wonderful, wonderful food. The garlicky butter of the mussels is perfect with the crusty toast it comes with, the caesar salad is inventive and novel, and the lobster risotto was exactly what a risotto should be.

One of the marks of a fantastic food experience is that it should inspire you, and my visit to Portland most definitely did. Over the following few days, my friends and I recreated at home some of our favorite dishes that we had had in Oregon: butternut squash, parnsip, and apple soup; crunchy, Maldon salt-flecked butter; and this beet tart with blue cheese and goat cheese and frisee salad.

Before having a version of this tart at Little Bird Bistro, I seriously never thought I would like a beet tart. Beets have just never been a vegetable I voluntarily run to, even though I've had very good beets before in my life (also very bad ones, like the canned beets my parents would insist on putting in our salads when I was growing up, which probably contributed to my aversion). But, for whatever reason, the beet tart looked really good on the bistro's menu, and when I had my first bite of it, it was even better than the menu's description. I think what really did it for me with this tart was how the saltiness of the blue and goat cheeses balanced out the sweet juiciness of the al dente roasted beets, with the buttery, flakey crust and the slightly bitter and acidic frisee on top. It's something I would never dream up on my own, but once I did have it, I had to have more!

One last thing, though not food related: right around my Portland visit, I managed to watch all of Portlandia. I had a few Portlandia moments while I was there (e.g., waiters volunteering detailed information on the origins of the food; little birds everywhere), so watching the show made for was a very hilarious representation of my own experience. I would highly suggest it, in addition to this beet tart. :)

Read on for recipes....

Beet Tart
inspired by Little Bird Bistro
makes one 9x9 tart

6 large beets, peeled
olive oil
8 - 10 sprigs of fresh thyme
salt
pepper
1 sheet of puff pastry (enough to make a 10x10-inch square)
30 - 40 gr goat cheese
10 gr blue cheese
frisee
freshly squeezed lemon juice

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Prepare two baking sheets: line one with foil and the other with parchment paper or a silpat.
2. Slice the peeled beets into thick slices, about 1/2-inch thick. Lightly coat the sliced beets with olive oil, and toss with fresh thyme leaves and a bit of salt and pepper.
3. Lay the beet slices out on the foil-lined baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven.
4. Meanwhile, roll out the puff pastry into a 10 x 10-inch square, or a comparably sized rectangle. Transfer to the baking sheet lined with parchment (or silpat).
5. Arrange the beet slices on the puff pastry, leaving about an inch or two along each side. Roll the puff pastry edges up to create a free-form crust, pinching the corners.
6. Bake at 400 degrees F for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 degrees F and continue to bake for 25-30 more minutes, until the pastry is golden brown and the beets are fork tender. Remove from oven and let cool briefly.
7. Mix the goat cheese and blue cheese together with a fork, and crumble over the beet tart.
8. Toss the frisee with lemon juice, olive oil, and a pinch of salt to coat, and serve over the tart.

Enjoy!

TGIF: Picnic in the Redwoods

2012-01-26T22:12:00.000-08:00

I'm so lucky where I live: within an hour's drive, I can be in a big city, or in quirky suburbs, or standing on the edge of the Pacific Ocean, or gazing up and up and up at the tall tops of majestic Redwood forests. During the same visit in which we plundered the citrus trees on campus for marmalade, a few of my good friends and I packed up an amazing vegan feast--complete with wild rice salad, curried carrots, sweet sauteed mushrooms and kale, roasted acorn squash (and onions and garlic), Blue Chair Fruit jams, a crusty Tartine loaf, and cold-brewed tea--for a picnic under the shady canopy of the Big Basin Redwoods. Then we went hiking to give our over-stuffed bellies a rest and promptly got lost wandering through the damp, dark green forest on a soft carpet of redwood tree needles. It's days and picnics and hikes like this one that provide a wonderful, analog antithesis to the always-on-the-go, always-connected life that I live the rest of the time.

Happy Friday, everyone!

Saffron and Blood Orange Caramel Macarons, with blood orange sorbet

2012-01-22T23:50:00.000-08:00

It's been many, many years since I've celebrated Lunar New Year properly ...until now! Hi from Asia! *commence emphatic waving*

Last time I was here for the new year festivities was decades ago (omg, 'decades' makes me sound so old), when I was five. My only memory from that visit was my grandfather taking me outside on the street in front of our relatives' large apartment building at night and lighting up sparkler fireworks to play with. How they shimmered in the dark, specks of light dancing off the ends of the wands! After that, we never really celebrated Chinese New Year's in the US: there just isn't the same hubbub of excitement and fun brewing around you that makes it feel like a holiday. And, given that the lunar new year never falls during school breaks, I didn't have the opportunity to freely leave and visit again until now. (Yes, one of the wonderful advantages of dissertating, and shhh, don't tell my advisors.)

In preparation for the new year celebration, I whipped up my own version of a few new year's desserts before leaving on my trip. It's traditional to have oranges during the Chinese New Year--for luck--and to wear red--an 'auspicious' color. Lo and behold, what did I stumble upon at the market a few days before leaving: blood oranges! The perfect combination of red and orange, in a delicious fruit. :)

With the blood oranges, I made a blood orange sorbet, that turned out the most gorgeous orange-red color (rivaling the vibrant purples of the last sorbet that I made). Oh, and not to mention that it tastes deliciously orange-y. :) I also whipped up a batch of saffron and blood orange caramel macarons, which I thought were very fitting for celebrating New Year's, with the red and gold of the saffron and caramel, the nuts that traditionally represent blessings for long life, and, of course, the blood oranges. (Recipe inspired by this wonderful little macaron book.)

[click on photo above for a larger image]

I'm hoping that all of this orange and red really brings good luck to everyone for the Year of the Dragon! The last few days of the Year of the Rabbit were quite unlucky for me. On my second day here, this happened when I fell down a pile of unsecured bricks. I freaked out. Luckily, the repairman here managed to fix it because none of the internal glass elements were broken--you don't know how incredibly relieved I am. Anyways, I have been told that since I clearly used up all of my bad luck and misfortune right before the end of the old year, I should be having an auspicious new year! :)

Happy New Year, everyone!

Read on for recipes....

Blood Orange Sorbet
from The Perfect Scoop

3 cups freshly squeezed blood orange juice
3/4 cup (150 gr) sugar
2 tspn white wine, optional
zest of 1 blood orange

1. In a small saucepan, combine 1 cup of blood orange juice and sugar. Warm over medium heat until the sugar has completely dissolved. Remove from heat.
2. Add the rest of the blood orange juice, white wine, and orange zest. Cover and chill thoroughly in the refrigerator.
3. Once chilled, freeze the sorbet base in your ice cream maker of choice. (Here's mine, which works like a dream, and I also have this one.) Once churned, you may want to let the sorbet harden further overnight in the freezer.

Blood Orange, Saffron, and Caramel Macarons
inspired by Les Petits Macarons
makes 45-50 small macarons

for shells:
120 gr almond meal
200 gr powdered sugar
big pinch of saffron (6-8 strands)
1/4 tspn yellow powdered food coloring, optional
1/4 tspn orange powdered food coloring, optional
100 gr egg whites
1/4 tspn cream of tartar
30 gr granulated sugar
1 tspn cointreau
1/2 tspn water

1. Prepare two baking sheets lined with silpats or parchment paper and a pastry bag with a large round piping tip.
2. Combine the powdered sugar, almond meal, saffron, and powdered food coloring, if using, in a food processor and grind until a fine powder. Sift thoroughly through a fine mesh strainer and set aside.
3. In a separate mixing bowl, combine the egg whites and the cream of tartar. Using a balloon whisk, quickly stir the mixture until the entire surface is covered with foam. Then, start whisking the egg whites, gradually adding in the granulated sugar once the egg whites have reached soft peaks. Whisk until you reach glossy, almost-stiff peaks.
4. Gently fold the sifted almond and powdered sugar mixture into the egg whites in two to three stages. Mix just until the ingredients are incorporated and the batter slowly re-absorbs peaks. Do not overmix!
5. Transfer the macaron mixture to the prepared piping bag and pipe rounds on the lined baking sheets. Tap the baking sheets on the table a few times to release air pockets.
6. Rest the macarons for at least 30 minutes (and up to 60), until the outside shells are no longer tacky and sticky to a light touch.
7. Preheat oven to 290 degrees F, with the oven rack in the bottom third of the oven.
8. Bake the macarons in the oven, one sheet at a time, for 24-28 minutes total, rotating the sheet half-way through the baking time to insure even baking.
9. Remove from oven, invert the shells onto their tops, and let cool.
10. Mix together the cointreau and water in a mister. Mist lightly over the bottoms of the macaron shells.

*Note: the resting and oven temperature and times are adjusted to what works in my kitchen and oven (which, to my knowledge and according to two oven thermometers, is quite accurate). Please note that you may have to adjust according to what works in your kitchen and oven.

for filling:
1/2 cup (100 gr) sugar
3 Tbspn butter
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 tspn coarse salt
1/2 Tbspn blood orange zest

1. Have all ingredients pre-measured and ready next to the stove.
2. In a small, light-colored saucepan (with tall sides, preferably), wet the sugar with just enough water to make the consistency of wet sand.
3. Cook the sugar on medium heat. Do not stir once the sugar starts boiling; swirl the pan around gently instead to insure even cooking. Cook until the sugar is a deep amber color. Immediately add the butter and whisk thoroughly.
4. As soon as the butter has completely melted, remove from heat and add the heavy cream and salt, whisking continuously.
5. Once the cream has incorporated, pour the caramel into another heat-resistant container to cool, straining through a fine mesh sieve to remove unevenly cooked sugar, if necessary. Let cool briefly and whisk in the blood orange zest. Caramel will continue to thicken as it cools.
6. Once completely cooled, spoon a small amount on the bottom of the macaron shells and sandwich the shells together. Let the macarons cure overnight before serving.

Enjoy!

[Disclaimer: the publisher sent me my copy of Les Petits Macarons, but, as always, I would not be telling you about the book unless I personally really love it. This book is adorable and super creative with macarons, which is difficult to do in today's overly-saturated macaron market!]

TGIF

2012-01-19T23:47:00.000-08:00

Little known fact about me: I used to be the Spoons -playing champion of my youth group when I was young. I dominated at that card game. :)

Happy Weekending, everyone!

Almond and Stanford Citrus Marmalade Crostata

2012-01-17T00:12:00.000-08:00

It is surely one of the laws of the universe that grad students are the only people who inhabit campus 365 days a year, even over the holidays, and even during that vacation week between Christmas and New Year's. But, you know? I don't care. Because this means that I had first dibs to the bountiful citrus harvest from the trees on campus this year! Haha, suckers! So the lesson? When life gives you lemons and forces you to work over Christmas break... ....make marmalade! :D

I don't often say a lot of nice things about Stanford (after all, I have to maintain allegiance to my undergraduate alma mater--Go Bears!), but one thing I'll give it is the wonderful plethora of fruit trees on campus (plus, I would be hesitant to eat anything out of Berkeley trees, for I've heard those stories of toxic waste run-off in the creek!). In the corner where the history department is located on the Stanford campus sit loads and loads of citrus trees, with branches brimming full of white grapefruits! and oranges of all types! and lemons! Usually, when classes are in session, the low-hanging fruit gets picked off pretty quickly, but during the winter break, far more fruit remains in reach. So when two good friends (incidentally, from my undergraduate days at Berkeley) came to visit after Christmas, we made sure to go and plunder the Citrus Corner to our hearts' content.

With the resulting pounds upon pounds of random citrus fruits I ended up with on my kitchen table, I figured that the only course of action was to make marmalade--a Stanford citrus marmalade, to be exact--so that none of the fruit would go to waste waiting for me to eat it all. ... of course, then I had to figure out what to do with the resulting jars upon jars of the at once sweet and bitter but delicious through-and-through marmalade I ended up with after that. :)

Enter the almond and citrus marmalade crostata. For some reason, I used to be unconvinced that jam could make a robust-enough filling for a tart, eschewing it in favor of other types of tart fillings, like cream or even plain candied oranges. But then, at a recent Blue Chair Fruit event, I had my first encounter with a jam-filled crostata (an Italian-style tart). The nutty, substantially thicker, crumbly crust and the tightly-woven lattice top of a crostata, it turns out, make the perfect vessel for a thin but flavorful layer of sweet jam--better, in my opinion, than your average, more delicate pate sucree-style tart crust. Armed with my jars of marmalade, I jumped at the chance to try a crostata again, this time with the slightly bitter filling of the Stanford citrus marmalade.

I have to say that I think I prefer the marmalade version to a berry-based jam crostata, mainly because the sharp tangs of bitterness in the citrus punctuate the sweetness of the marmalade and almond buttery-ness in the crust. And, I also really liked the chewy chunks of candied citrus peel in the marmalade that texturally lend the tart a bit of bite every now and then. To serve, pair the crostata with some tea that has a spoonful of citrus marmalade mixed in for good measure. :)

Who says grad students can't have (delicious) fun over winter break?

Read on for recipe....

Three Citrus "Stanford" Marmalade
from the Blue Chair Jam Cookbook
makes ten 8-oz. jars

Note: make sure to allot two days for the marmalade process.

5 lbs of citrus, total:
~2 lbs grapefruit
~1 1/2 lbs oranges
~1 1/2 lbs lemons
5 lbs sugar
5 oz. freshly squeezed lemon juice

Day 1: Fruit Preparation
1. Starting with the grapefruits, cut each fruit in half and squeeze and strain the grapefruit juice. Cover and set aside in the refrigerator. Place the grapefruit halves in a pot and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil, then simmer for five minutes. Discard the liquid and repeat the boiling and simmering once more. After draining, cover the grapefruit halves again with enough cold water so that the fruit floats freely in the pot. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and keep at a lively simmer for 1-2 hours, stirring periodically, until the grapefruit is fork-tender. Remove the pot from heat, cover tightly, and let rest overnight at room temperature.
2. For the oranges, juice each half and add the juice to the grapefruit juice. Slice the oranges. Place the orange halves in a pot and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil, then simmer for five minutes. Discard the liquid and repeat the boiling and simmering once more. After draining, cover the orange slices with one inch of cold water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and keep at a lively simmer for 1-2 hours, until the oranges are fork-tender. Remove the pot from heat, cover tightly, and let rest overnight at room temperature.
3. For the lemons, slice each lemon thickly. Place the lemon slices in a pot and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil, then simmer for five minutes. Drain and discard the liquid. Return the lemon slices to the pot and cover with one inch of cold water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and keep at a lively simmer for 30 - 40 minutes, until the lemons are fork-tender. Remove the pot from heat, cover tightly, and let rest overnight at room temperature.

Day 2: Marmalade
1. Place a few spoons on a plate in the freezer. Place clean jars and lids on a baking sheet and bake at 250 degrees F for at least 30 minutes.
2. Strain the grapefruit halves from the liquid, reserving the liquid. Over a bowl, scoop the insides out of each grapefruit, scraping to remove excess pith around the insides. Strain the flesh and pith, reserving the juices and adding them back into rest of the cooking liquid. Discard the remaining solids. Cut the grapefruit into thick slices.
3. In a large bowl, mix to combine the grapefruit, oranges, lemons and their cooking juices with the sugar, freshly squeezed lemon juice, and reserved grapefruit and orange juices. Transfer the mixture to a 11- to 12-quart pot with a wide mouth. Bring the mixture to a boil. Cook at a rapid boil for at least 25 minutes. Do not stir until the mixture starts foaming. Then stir slowly to prevent burning. Test for doneness once the marmalade starts to darken slightly.
4. To test for doneness, remove the pan from the stove. Retrieve a spoon from the freezer and scoop a small amount of liquid. Return the spoon and sample of jam to the freezer for a few minutes. Once cooled, hold the spoon vertically. If the marmalade does not run off the spoon and is thickened to a jelly consistency, the marmalade is done. If not, return the pan to the stove and continue to cook for a few minutes more before testing again.
5. Jar the jams in the sterile containers. Return the jars to the oven for 15 minutes, then remove and let cool, being careful not to disturb the jars during this time. The jars should seal while cooling.

Almond and Citrus Marmalade Crostata
makes one 6 or 7-inch crostata
very loosely adapted from Maggie Barrett for the NY Times

1 3/4 cups (245 gr) AP flour
1 cup (100 gr) slivered almonds
1/2 cup (100 gr) sugar
2 tspn baking powder
9 Tbspn butter, cold and in chunks
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 tspn almond extract
zest of 1 lemon
marmalade (~ 1 1/4 cups), recipe above
heavy cream
turbinado sugar

1. Combine the flour, almonds, sugar, and baking powder in a food processor. Process until the almonds are finely ground.
2. Cut the butter into the almond mixture using a pastry cutter or the food processor until the size of small peas.
3. Add the egg, egg yolk, almond extract, and lemon zest. Process just until a dough begins to form.
4. Remove the pastry dough from the food processor, form it into a ball, wrap with plastic wrap or parchment paper and chill for at least 1 hour.
5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease the bottom and sides of the tart pan.
6. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and divide into thirds. Press 2/3 of the dough into the bottom and up the sides of the pan. The bottom should be slightly thicker than the edge crusts. Fill the tart with a thin layer of marmalade. Roll out the remaining dough to about 1/8-inch thick and cut into strips. Lay the strips in a lattice on top of the marmalade.
7. Brush the top of the crostata with cream and sprinkle with turbinado sugar.
8. Bake the tart for 20-25 minutes, until the crust begins to turn golden brown. Do not let it darken too much. Remove from the oven and let cool until room temperature before cutting.

Enjoy!

TGIF, from cruising altitude

2012-01-13T00:46:00.000-08:00

2012 has already gotten off to an insane start: lots of traveling and projects scheduled for the first few months of the year, so you'll have to please excuse me if the blog scheduling turns out a bit erratic. In the meantime, though, I'll get to share wonderful sights like these. On a recent flight (on a prop plane, no less!), I was treated to the most amazing views of the SF Bay Area from above. It's always fun to have a change of perspective, and I rarely get to see the place I live so clearly from up so high!

[click on photo above for a larger image]

pictured: San Francisco, Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, and good ol' Bay Area fog

Here's wishing everyone a great weekend!

Salt Roasted Pears with Cajeta

2012-01-01T13:08:00.000-08:00

A few days before each new year rolls around, I always get the urge to do a retrospective review of the year, but when I finally sit down to the task, I always find that I'd much rather just leave the past year to the past and look forward to what's coming next. This 'onward' sentiment was particularly strong this time around with regards to the passing of 2011. For me, this past year has felt a lot like the middle section in any trilogy--not as much excitement or change as the previous year and just a lot of set-up waiting for more action in the next year. After 2010, which saw crazy changes and drama, 2011 in comparison was much less exciting: just a lot of chugging along and trying to figure out what "normal" life should be.

...not that I've managed to hit upon "normality" yet! (and not sure I ever want to!) But, I am very much looking forward to leaving 2011 and all of its stalled uncertainty and unanswered questions and stagnancy behind and having much, much more excitement and progress in 2012.

Don't get me wrong though--2011 wasn't uninteresting and dull! In fact, I got to meet a lot of wonderful new people and see plenty of new places, so I guess I really shouldn't be complaining. :) (2011 recap at the end of this post.)

To round out the year and kick off the new one, I turned to this simple but wonderful recipe that I've had bookmarked since this time last year: salt-roasted pears. I'd heard of salt-baked fish or even salt-crusted potatoes before, so when my good friend told me about baking pears in salt, I was immediately intrigued. I don't entirely understand the science of salt-baking, but these pears turn out amazingly: soft and juicy and supple in the centers with an ever-so-slight salty tinge on the skins to balance out the sweetness inside.

[click on photo below for a larger image]

Then, instead of the recommended caramel sauce to accompany the pears, I turned to a slightly more adventurous option: cajeta, which is a dulce de leche-type sauce made with goat's milk. The thick cajeta enrobes these pears beautifully when it's poured on warmed, and the sweet, just barely cinnamon-y caramel is perfect against the lingering flakes of salt on the pears. I love it when desserts are super simple, uncomplicated, a wee bit out of the ordinary, but oh-so-good. ...Hopefully what 2012 will turn out to be as well!

Here's wishing you all a fantastic new year!

P.S. Starting off the 2012 excitement, I'll be headed to Portland, Oregon for a few days in January and would very much appreciate any recommendations you might have! Favorite Portland sights? Restaurants I *must* try? Please leave me a comment below!

--Addendum--

In 2011, I...

experienced life in snow climates for the first time on a trip to the East Coast, with old and new friends.

made a "heart attack in a pie" ... at least twice.

became obsessed with glitter.

was recognized by Saveur.

went to Edinburgh, Scotland and Manchester, England and, on the same trip,...

stopped by BlogHer Food in Atlanta for some quick food-bloggery fun.

had to bid farewell to friends moving away and welcome home friends moving back.

redecorated several parts of my house.

saw the sun rise over Half Dome.

picked olallieberries and blackberries and strawberries.

ate a meal of a lifetime.

got hooked on Doctor Who.

photographed for some exciting folks.

wrote ~5000 tweets.

instagrammed 300+ photos.

finally vacationed in Hawai'i!

spent Thanksgiving in L.A. with my best friend, cooking up a storm.

spent an inordinate amount of time playing Monopoly Deal (and losing).

per tradition, had Korean fried chicken to celebrate Hanukkah.

Read on for recipes....

Cajeta
from David Lebovitz's The Perfect Scoop
makes about 1 1/4 cup cajeta

4 cups (1 L) goat milk
1 cup (200 gr) sugar
1/4 tspn baking soda
2 Tbspn light corn syrup
large pinch of salt
1 cinnamon stick

1. In a dutch oven or a large, heavy-bottomed pot, combine the goat's milk, sugar, baking soda, corn syrup, and salt. Break up the cinnamon stick in a few large pieces and add them to the milk.
2. Bring the milk to a boil over high heat. When the mixture begins to foam, start stirring. Reduce heat to medium high, keeping the milk at a low rolling boil while stirring. Cook for about 20 minutes, until the milk thickens and turns a beige color.
3. Reduce heat to low and continue to stir the milk, scraping the bottom of the pot, cooking until it turns a deep orange caramel brown, about 15 more minutes.
4. Remove the pot from heat and let cool.

Salt Roasted Pears
adapted from Martha Stewart

5-6 forelle pears, firm but ripe
1 lb coarse sea salt
cajeta

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Pour a thin layer of salt to cover the bottom of a deep dish. Nestle the forelle pears vertically into the salt, and cover the pears with more salt until only a bit of the tops show through.
3. Bake for 35-45 minutes, depending on the size of the pears, until the pears are fork-tender. Remove from oven and let cool briefly. Lift the pears out and brush off the excess salt.
4. Warm the cajeta briefly and pour over the pears.

Enjoy!

Happy Holidays!

2011-12-23T00:15:00.000-08:00

Due to a few last minute things that have come up at work, I have to take an unplanned hiatus from baking and the blog for the next few weeks, making for an unfortunately abrupt holiday post just so the festive season doesn't go by without me wishing y'all a wonderful Christmas. Perhaps this is all for the better anyways-- I spent the last week or so with several food-ography and baking projects, and my studio and kitchen haven't yet completely recovered from the insanity! So while I hate taking time off from the blog, I hope you'll all excuse me for dropping in to quickly wish everyone "Happy Holidays!" before this blog goes on a little sabbatical for the remainder of 2011.

I hope everyone has wonderful holiday celebrations and gets to share this lovely season with the dear people in your lives. Thank you all so, so much for being an incredible community and letting me carry on and share my food and photography and life with you every week here on this little web platform of mine. I am very much looking forward to being back and hearing from everyone in 2012!

Happy Holidays!

❤,
Stephanie

TGIF

2011-12-16T01:06:00.000-08:00

photo made and processed with the iPhone

Last week, I had the opportunity to visit the new location of the ever wonderful Dandelion Chocolate chocolatiers with Anita Chu of Dessert First for a special project we're working on together. Their cavernous new space is a former photographer's studio, and I am so envious of their light.

More to come on our new project soon, I promise! It's been many, many months in the making, but hopefully I'll be able to let y'all in on the secret in short time. Meanwhile, I wish everyone a great weekend. Mine is packed with lots and lots of photography project-age, so I know it'll be good. :) Happy Friday, everyone!

Persimmon Spice Tea Cake

2011-12-14T01:25:00.000-08:00

I've been a wee-bit obsessed with bundts lately. (okay, okay, let's get your snickers and 'I like big bundt' jokes out of the way right now, please.) Bundts and quick tea cakes, to be exact. It's because they're so fast and easy and delicious, as simple as mixing the dry ingredients into the wet ones and throwing it all into the oven. And yet, there's something special and "ooooo"-inspiring about a bundt cake. It's as if baking the batter in a bundt pan magically transforms an ordinary cake into an extraordinary! cake.

For this reason, bundt (and loaf) cakes have become some of my favorite things to make during this time of year, when there is so much baking to be done for special celebrations amidst all of the scramble for end-of-the-year deadlines. Like this week. There are waaaaay too many deadlines and things to do--my "to do" list isn't really as much a list as it is a tome.

And so, enter the bundt cake to save my butt (excuse me, I couldn't resist :-P) when it came to baking for the holiday parties of the past few days. I've had these persimmons sitting on my counter, which were ripening themselves into a pulp for a while now, and I thought that a persimmon spice cake, versus the more typical pumpkin spice cake fare, would be a good excuse to use them up. So into the food processor they went, then a quick stir into a cake batter, and a little while later, out of the oven emerged this wonderfully spicy and super, super moist tea cake. I think because the persimmons are a bit more juicy than pumpkin usually is, these cakes came out even more luscious than normal.

[click on photo for a larger image]

For the second holiday party, I made an almond, meyer lemon, and poppyseed bundt, but I'll save that recipe for some other time. :) Now, if you excuse me--I hope you don't mind this ultra-short post, but my to-do list beckons! Til soon!

Read on for recipe....

Persimmon spice tea cake
loosely adapted from Tartine
makes one 9x5-inch loaf or one six-cup bundt

2 cups (280 gr) AP flour
3/4 tspn salt
1 1/2 tspn baking powder
1/2 tspn baking soda
1 tspn ground cinnamon
2 tspn freshly ground nutmeg
1/4 tspn ground cloves
255 gr persimmon puree (see note)
1 cup vegetable oil
1 1/3 cups (270 gr) sugar
3 eggs
powdered sugar

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease and flour cake pans and set aside.
2. In a bowl, whisk to combine the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. Set aside.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the persimmon puree, vegetable oil, and sugar until well-combined. Add in the eggs one at a time, whisking well after each addition. Gradually add in the dry ingredients, stirring just until combined. Do not overmix.
4. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 50 - 60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out cleanly.
5. Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes before removing from the pan, and let the cake cool completely on a wire rack. Dust with powdered sugar before serving.

Note: to make persimmon puree, remove the skin and seeds from 3 - 4 very ripe and soft persimmons, of either the hachiya or fuyu varieties, and puree in a food processor.

Enjoy!

TGIF: on chips and language

2011-12-08T22:07:00.001-08:00

It's not often that the three distinct worlds I seem to straddle--food, photography, and linguistics--happen to collide. But, it's happened! Dan Jurafsky, professor of linguistics at Stanford University, has just published a fascinating article with another researcher, Josh Freedman, in the latest issue of food journal-magazine Gastronomica on the use of language for marking social identity in the advertising of potato chips. And I have a little photography byline in the article. :) (Above is a photo I made for Dan's blog illustrating some of the basic concepts in the article. )

Read a summary of the article on Dan's blog Language of Food here, and then go check out the full-length article, with pictures by yours truly, in Gastronomica itself. (Those with academic access via a library subscription can access the article electronically via JSTOR here.) It'll make for some wonderful weekend morning reading!

On that note, happy weekend, all! I've got three holiday parties over the next four days. I don't know if I'll survive it all--someone might have to fish me out from beneath the inevitable mountains of powdered sugar and cookies come Monday.

Berry, Apple, and Rosemary Shortbread Bars

2011-12-03T12:31:00.001-08:00

M'dears, cookie season is officially upon us! My fridge is stocked with butter, Costco has rolled out the huge packs of parchment paper that they only carry during this time of year, and I've already had to refill my sugar and flour jars twice. Ah, the holidays!

A couple of years ago for the holidays, one of my oldest friends, Priscilla, gifted me with a box of assorted homemade cookies. In them were these amazing, amazing raspberry jam shortbread bars--so good that ever since then, I've been begging Priscilla to make the bars for me again every Christmas. For some reason, however, my begging skills are apparently not up to snuff (NTS: practice Puss'n'Boots face) because I have yet to convince Priscilla to make them for me again! Alas, great sadness. :(

But then, in the midst of a desperate craving for jam shortbread bars, it suddenly dawned on me that, as a baker, I am perfectly capable of taking matters into my own oven-mitted hands. So, enter my spin on this bar-cookie: berry, apple, and rosemary shortbread bars. Before you go and accuse me of once again going off the deep end with potentially insane flavor combinations, allow me to explain where the inspiration for this one comes from. A couple of days ago, a few local San Francisco Bay Area food bloggers and I were brainstorming flavors of blackberry jam that Sean should make (backstory: we were at an event promoting blackberries). Of course, brainstorming flavors is one of my favorite pastimes--I swear a psychologist would have a field day doing food-related free word association analysis on me. Anyways, we all threw out a bunch of suggestions: blackberry-rose! blackberry-ginger! blackberry-vanilla! And somehow, admist all of this, Irvin and I both arrived at a consensus on blackberry-apple-rosemary jam.

Over the next few days, the idea of dark berries paired with apples and rosemary stuck with me. Tart chunks of green apples seemed to be a fitting companion to supple and ultra-sweet berries, and rosemary lends the combination a more sophisticated, rustic air. Together, this trio formed the perfect storm for my long-desired shortbread bars, with homemade blackberry and wild blueberry jam and large pieces of baked apples sandwiched between crumbly layers of almost-savory rosemary shortbread. It's like having jam and apple pie all at once! :) (For a more standard variation, the rosemary can easily be left out of the shortbread, which is flavored with lemon zest as well, so it will still taste plenty yummy.)

As if these bars weren't awesome enough, I realized, after pulling them out of the oven, a fact that makes them even awesome-er. You see, these little squares of delicious are called "Berry, Apple, and Rosemary Shortbread" bars. Now, if you acronym-tize that, you get.... BARS bars. Oh yes, dear friends. Pun-age! (Okay, cue collective groan and facepalm from most of you out there and a mild applause from English major dorks like me who appreciate a good pun when they hear one!)

[click on photo for a larger image]

Anyways, Priscilla--if you're reading this-- I'm still waiting for you to make your awesome raspberry jam version of these bar-cookies again! *hint hint* And for the rest of you: what cookies are you planning to make this season? Share below!

[full disclosure: thank you to Driscoll's for the blackberries used in this recipe, and thank you to my mom for the apples used herein. As always, I wouldn't be telling you about any products that I don't myself use and love.]

Read on for recipe....

Blackberry and Wild Blueberry Jam
makes about one cup of jam
loosely adapted from Blue Chair Fruit

125 gr wild blueberries
195 gr blackberries
17 gr freshly squeezed lemon juice
160 gr sugar

1. Place a few spoons on a plate in the freezer.
2. Mix the berries together in a bowl and add the lemon juice. Let sit for a few minutes to macerate. Divide the berries in half, and set half aside.
3. In a non-reactive saucepan over medium low heat, combine half of the berries with the sugar and cook, stirring frequently, until the juices run. Increase heat to medium high until the berries boil. Boil for 3-4 minutes, stirring frequently.
4. Add the remaining berries. Stir to combine. Bring to a boil and stir every thirty seconds or so. Cook for 10-15 minutes more, testing for doneness after 10 minutes.
5. To test for doneness, remove the pan from the stove. Retrieve a spoon from the freezer and scoop a small amount of liquid and berries. Return the spoon to the freezer for a few minutes. Once cooled, hold the spoon vertically. If the jam does not run off the spoon and is a thick, spreadable consistency, the jam is done. If not, return the pan to the stove and continue to cook for a few more minutes before testing again.
6. Cool the jam completely, preferably overnight in an airtight container in the refrigerator, before using in the following recipe.

Berry, Apple, and Rosemary Shortbread Bars
makes one 9 x 13" pan, about 24 squares
adapted from Epicurious, via smitten kitchen

for shortbread:
4 cups (560 gr) AP flour
2 tspn baking powder
1/4 tspn salt
1 1/2 tspn freshly grated meyer lemon zest
2 - 4 Tbspn fresh rosemary, finely chopped*
4 sticks (1 lb.) butter
2 cups (400 gr) sugar
4 egg yolks

for filling:
~330 gr crisp tart apples, peeled, cored, and chopped
1 tspn lemon juice
2 tspn sugar
1 tspn AP flour
1 cup blackberry + wild blueberry jam

powdered sugar, optional

1. Make the shortbread. Whisk to combine the flour, baking powder, salt, lemon zest, and chopped rosemary. Set aside.
2. In a separate bowl, cream the butter until light. Gradually add the sugar and continue to beat until fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.
3. Add the egg yolks to the butter and sugar one at a time, beating well after each addition.
4. Gradually beat in the dry ingredients until just combined. Do not overmix.
5. Divide the shortbread dough in half. Wrap each half in parchment paper or plastic wrap and freeze until hard, at least 2 hours or preferably overnight.
6. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9x13" baking pan with foil, leaving overhang at the sides.
7. Prepare the filling. Toss the chopped apples, lemon juice, sugar, and flour together and let sit for a few minutes.
8. Heat the jam briefly until it reaches a somewhat liquid, spreadable consistency.
9. Remove half of the shortbread dough from the freezer. Grate using a coarse grater or the grater plate of a food processor. Spread the grated dough evenly over the bottom of the prepared baking dish.
10. Spoon the jam over the first layer of shortbread dough and distribute the apple chunks in one layer on the jam.
11. Remove the second half of the dough from the freezer and grate. Pour the grated dough evenly over the jam and apple layer.
12. Bake for 50-60 minutes, until the edges and top are golden brown. Remove from the oven and let cool completely on a wire rack.
13. Using the foil, lift the shortbread out of the pan. If using, sprinkle with powdered sugar. Cut into squares.

Note: for a strong rosemary taste, use up to 4 Tbspn of chopped rosemary. For a more subtle rosemary flavor, use just 2 Tbspn.

Enjoy!

TGIF

2011-12-02T00:40:00.000-08:00

Yes, it's been a little crazy and hectic here in Real Life land, between Thanksgiving travels and work deadlines and new projects piling up--I'm sure you all know the feeling! But, have no fear, the recently neglected blog should be back up and running soon. Until then, I wish you all a very happy and warm first weekend of December!

Weekend plans for the holiday month? Share below! I, for one, am headed to a cookie swap. Yay, butter and sugar!

Sea Salt and Thyme Chocolate Chunk Cookies

2011-11-20T21:42:00.001-08:00

Everyone is gearing up for epic Thanksgiving cookery right now, which marks the beginning of the upcoming holiday season marathon of roasted turkeys, mashed potatoes, and gluttony galore. In case you're looking for last minute Thanksgiving desserts: might I recommend a drunken pear frangipane tart? or pumpkin pie with caramel brandy hard sauce? (Wait, why did those first two suggestions both involve liquor???) Or, for a twist on a traditional favorite, cheddar apple hand pies?

Sometimes during the holiday season, though, I get tired of all the insane hubbub of endless buffets and fancy eating and zipping from place to place. Sometimes, I just want to slow down, take some time, stare out the window at the crisp winter days, wrap my hands around a mug of tea or hot chocolate or warm apple cider or milk while sitting by a cozy, crackling fire, listen to my favorite Christmas music, and just enjoy the holiday season and the twinkle of the Christmas lights reflecting off of the walls. For those days, this is the cookie you'll want to nosh on: seasalt and thyme chocolate chunk cookies.

This cookie is your wonderfully nostalgic, just-perfectly-chewy chocolate chip cookie (with a bit of delicate crumb still) remixed into something sophisticated and ever so "adult"--or worthy of the adult table!--, with a sprinkling of sea salt and a touch of fresh, earthy thyme. When paired with the mix of dark and semisweet large chocolate chunks, the sea salt and thyme make this cookie surprisingly novel yet familiar. I got a lot of "ooooo! What is that secret ingredient that you put in here?" moments from people who tried these cookies. And then you can just smugly and silently smile in reply. Because every holiday moment should have its share of magic and mystery. ;-)

Have a very happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Read on for recipe....

Sea Salt and Thyme Chocolate Chunk Cookies
adapted very loosely from Thomas Keller's Ad Hoc at Home
makes ~20-30 cookies

140 gr unbleached bread flour
185 gr all purpose flour
3/4 tspn baking soda
1 tspn coarse salt
2 Tbspn fresh thyme leaves
2 sticks (1/2 lb.) butter, cold and in small cubes
200 gr (1 cup) dark brown sugar
150 gr (3/4 cup) white sugar
1 Tbspn molasses
2 eggs
142 gr (5 oz.) semisweet chocolate chunks
142 gr (5 oz.) dark chocolate chunks
sea salt
water, in mister

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare sheet pans lined with parchment paper or silpats.
2. In a bowl, whisk to combine the bread flour, all purpose flour, baking soda, salt, and fresh thyme leaves. Set aside.
3. In a mixer bowl with the paddle attachment, cream the butter for about 2-3 minutes. Scrape down sides of bowl as needed.
4. Gradually add the brown sugar, white sugar, and molasses to the butter, beating until light and fluffy.
5. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
6. Mix in the dry ingredients and then fold in the chocolate chunks until well-distributed.
7. Form each cookie using about two tablespoons of dough per cookie. Roll into a ball and place on the prepared pan, pressing down slightly to form a thick disc. Leave room between each cookie--they will spread. Sprinkle a small amount of sea salt on each cookie and mist gently with water before baking.
8. Bake for 12 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through the baking time, until the edges of the cookies are just turning brown. Remove from the oven and let cool on the pan on a rack for two minutes before removing the cookies from the pan and cooling directly on a rack.

Enjoy!

TGIF

2011-11-17T23:01:00.000-08:00

I can't believe it's almost Thanksgiving! Does anyone else around here get the feeling that time's moving faster and faster by the day?! Slow down and wait for me, please! is how I'm constantly feeling--you know, like in the movies, running desperately after a train that's speeding out of the station without you. *sigh*

Anyways, enough about how too busy I am, and more about food! and photography! Gabriela over at What Liberty Ate has put together an absolutely beautiful and lush magazine spin-off of her blog. There are several wonderful interviews with bloggers around the world in it--including me! :) It was very flattering to be included with such great company, so please go check it out!

Happy Friday-before-black-Friday, everyone!

Apple Cider Donuts

2011-11-12T14:11:00.001-08:00

Sometimes I feel as if my East Coast friends delight in going out of their way to point out all of the awesome and cool things we're missing here in California, as if to make up for the fact that we do have (relatively) mild weather and access to an abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables all year round. "The blueberries are better!" I'll hear, or "The corn is far superior." Or "You don't have seasons here." (Actually, we do. Just subtle ones, and you have to have lived here for a long time to perceive them, but that's part of the charm.) And sure, every place has what it's good at, what makes it special, and that's what's neat about it--that's why I love traveling, so there's no need to go about rubbing it all in anyone else's faces, people! Harumph.

Rant aside, enter apple cider donuts. I first heard of these beauts last year, during one of my friend's "California doesn't have x" conversations. Then, this year, another friend based in NYC instagrammed a photo of apple cider donuts about to be devoured (Ah! You foodies on Instagram and Twitter torture me so!) and Jackie, a fellow tortured foodie/photographer, and I decided that something must be done about this situation. So we set out on our own apple cider donut -making adventure! (If this were a movie, cue the montage of hilariously random escapades on the Quest for the Cider Donut.)

These donuts! were yummy--crispy fried outsides, with cinnamon sugar crunch, and fluffy, cake insides. mmmmmm. They don't really taste much like apple, to my surprise--though I'm told they aren't actually supposed to--but they are nice and cinnamon-y and spicy. Jackie and I took to dipping ours in our mugs of hot apple cider (something my grandpa taught me to do with Chinese donuts and sweet soy milk), which made these donuts even more delicious. ...or coffee! they are good with a hot cup of dark roast, too.

Then we took to photographing our creations! It is so much fun to watch another photographer in action, and it's amazing to see how different people perceive the exact same subject in such drastically different ways: it's a wonderful reminder of how diversity makes this world a much more interesting and exciting place. Sure, you could attribute the differences in our images to cameras or lenses, but when it comes down to it, I'd like to think that a lot of it is about the photographer, our individual experiences, how we see and interpret the world. Such fun to remember that not everyone has the same set of eyes, or heads and hearts behind them!

Jackie also managed to capture some rare photos of my kitchen in action, so if you've ever wondered what behind-the-scenes desserts for breakfast headquarters looks like, please go check out her post about our donut adventure! Somehow, she's managed to magically make my perpetually messy kitchen look dreamy. :-D

P.S. If you remember, Jackie and I went traipsing around Hakone Gardens together in the summer. Check out our posts from that afternoon here and here!

Read on for recipes....

Hot Apple Cider
makes 1 pot

6 cups unfiltered apple juice
1 cup water
4 cinnamon sticks
15 cloves
3 star anise pods
1/2 orange, sliced

1. Combine ingredients in a pot and bring to a simmer. Simmer for 10-15 minutes. Enjoy hot.

Apple Cider Donuts
adapted from Hearth Restaurant, via smitten kitchen
makes twelve 3 1/2" donuts and twelve 1" donut holes

1/2 cup apple cider, recipe below
1 3/4 cups AP flour
1 tspn baking power
1/2 tspn baking soda
1/4 tspn ground cinnamon
1/4 tspn grated nutmeg
pinch of ground cloves
1/4 tspn salt
2 Tbspn butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup dark brown sugar, lightly packed
1 egg
1/4 cup buttermilk
oil for frying

for sugar coating:
1/2 cup sugar
1 Tbspn ground cinnamon

1. In a small saucepan over medium heat, gently simmer the apple cider for about 20-30 minutes, until reduced to 2 Tablespoons. Remove from heat and set aside.
2. In a bowl, mix to combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and salt. Set aside.
3. In a mixer with the paddle attachment, cream the butter until smooth and light. Gradually beat in the sugar and brown sugar. Add the egg, reduced apple cider, and buttermilk and beat until combined.
4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet, mixing until just combined--do not overmix.
5. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and sprinkle lightly with flour. Turn the dough onto the parchment and flatten until 1/2" thick. Freeze for 20-30 minutes, until slightly hardened.
6. Using a 3 1/2" circle cutter and a 1" cutter, cut out donut shapes and donut holes. Return the cut dough to the freezer for another 20-30 minutes.
7. Meanwhile, heat the oil until 350 degrees F.
8. In a shallow bowl, whisk together the sugar and cinnamon for the sugar coating. Set aside.
9. Remove the donuts from the freezer and fry a few at a time, cooking each side for about a minute until golden brown before flipping to the other side. Remove from oil and drain briefly on a paper towel before rolling in the sugar coating. Let cool briefly before serving.

Enjoy!

TGIF: Scenes from Frog's Leap

2011-11-10T23:27:00.001-08:00

As previously promised, here are more scenes from my recent visit to Frog's Leap. It has been a few years since I'd been to the winery last, and in that time, they've definitely grown leaps and bounds. Last time I visited, it was a quiet and sleepy little winery, just starting to make it big, and this time around, it's clear that the secret of this wonderful place has gotten out, because it was packed with tasters and visitors. Yet, somehow, this place still manages to keep its little small-winery charm, especially nestled between the huge Napa Valley behemoth wineries that taste so corporate. Plus, they're still one of the only ones doing dry-farmed, sustainable, and organic wine-making--a huge bonus in my book.

This kitty! was there the last time I visited, perched on the same couch in the same position. She's an old cat now, but she still manages to be the sweetest thing ever.

A winery employee teaching us about different types of grapes and how they have to take care of them.

I love the smell of barrel rooms, with the earthiness of the woods, and the vague dampness from the cool and the wine. It's amazing to see how many barrels are stacked here (and in the basement level below), and how the wine stains the wood a bright maroon red.

For more Frog's Leap scenes and grape-inspired deliciousness --> this previous post.

This week has sort of flown by faster than ever! But that's what happens when you're having fun and getting swamped at work all at the same time. In any case, I hope everyone has a beautiful November weekend!

Concord Grape Sorbet

2011-11-08T02:04:00.000-08:00

Concord grapes! These things are a-mazing. Until a year ago, I had no idea what concord grapes were. And yet, all over the internets and all through the markets, I heard people buzzing about these grapes, how wonderful they are, how awesomely grape-y they are. "What in the world?!--People are insane," I thought smugly. ... until finally one day last fall, someone at the farmers' market offered me a sample concord grape.

The moment that I popped the grape into my mouth, I was stunned. From out of the thick skin burst a huge punch of GRAPE! juice. Like, there was no actual grape flesh--just 100% juice. And I was startled to actually recognize the flavor: this--concord grapes, apparently--was what every kid could identify blindfolded as quintessential lunchbox grape juice, or the ultra-sweet and ultra-purple grape-flavored popsicles. This was Grape, the very definition.

[click photo for larger image]

Unfortunately by the time I had discovered the wonderfulness of concord grapes last fall, their season had come to a close. So I waited (very impatiently, bugging the farmers at the market every week) for the reappearance of concords, and I knew exactly what I wanted to do with them when they did show up: concord grape sorbet.

The wait was well worth it! because this concord grape sorbet is every bit of juicy, sweet, grape-packed nostalgia that you remember from childhood, in a super-smooth sorbet form. It's so refreshing and perfect for the end of a heavy, starch-filled autumn meal, and the color! is absolutely gorgeous as well.

I loved this sorbet so much that I came *this close* to not posting it--I wanted to keep it my little IRL secret! :) But then, when a fellow blogger came to town and I took her and another good blogger friend to tour one of my favorite wineries in Napa/Rutherford, I just couldn't resist a grape-inspired post. Plus, some secrets are just too good not to share!

Many more photos from Napa forthcoming! It's just too gorgeous up there to fit it all in one post!

Read on for recipe....

Concord Grape Sorbet
adapted from David Lebovitz

2 1/4 lb. (1 kg) concord grapes, stemmed
1/3 cup water
6 Tbspn (90 gr) sugar
4 Tbspn red wine

1. Combine grapes and water in a saucepan. Cover and cook, stirring periodically, for about 4-7 minutes until the grapes are soft and juices are dark purple.
2. Remove from heat and press the grapes through a fine mesh strainer to extract all of the liquid, about 3 cups total.
3. Add the sugar and wine to the grape juice. Stir until the sugar has completely dissolved.
4. Chill the mixture thoroughly and freeze in ice cream maker of choice.

Enjoy!

TGIF

2011-11-03T23:43:00.000-07:00

[click on photo to view it large!]

Everyone who had a hard, tough week: raise your hands!

Okay, for those of us with two hands raised way up (and even for those of you with one hand raised or who are too exhausted and drained to raise any hands), I hope for all hopes and for the sake of sanity that next week will be better.

Until then, here's a ray of sunshine for us all. Happy weekend!