Cook Bake Love

Once a month my good friend Greg throws a supper club at his apartment with Chef Ronald Hsu. Chef Hsu is a sous chef at Le Bernardin and prepares 4 absolutely incredible courses. He doesn’t specialize in dessert and invited me to make the 5th course. Obviously, there’s some pressure following a chef of that caliber and wanted to create something that complimented his meal. I saw ginger and citrus in each of his courses and I decided to continue the theme and use blood orange.

I happened to have dinner with Chef Jenny McCoy (formerly of Craft) and I asked her advice. She saw that Chef Hsu introduced a new citrus into each course and she pointed out that blood orange was already used. She helped me brainstorm citrus and I went with key lime. Jenny also introduced me to Fingerling Limes. These little pickle looking limes have these little citrus looking caviar inside of them - bursting with flavor. You can order them from Mikuni Wild Harvest.

I was super nervous but it turned out quite tasty. Its been an entire week and I’m still getting compliments from some pretty serious foodies.

Ingredients:

Crust:

• 1 cup AP flour
• 1/2 cup ground almonds
• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 5 Tbsp butter
• 1 Tbsp ginger syrup

Filling:

• 8 oz chevre / goat cheese
• 8 oz cream cheese
• ¾ sugar
• 2 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1/4 cup greek yogurt
• 2 Tbsp lime zest
• 2 Tbsp key lime juice
• 2 Tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 Tbsp of freshly grated ginger

Key lime Custard:

• 8 egg yolks
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
• 3 key limes, zest grated and juiced

Garnish:
Fingerling Limes

Instructions:

Crust:
1) Preheat oven to 350°f
2) In a small bowl, combine the flour, almonds, sugar, and ginger syrup; cut in butter until crumbly.
3) Press crumb mixture into the bottom and up the sides of a 10 inch tart pan.
4) Bake at 350° for 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned.


Filling:
1) In a small bowl, beat goat cheese, cream cheese and sugar until light and fluffy.
2) Beat in the eggs, yogurt, zest, juice and vanilla just until blended.
3) Pour over crust, and bake for 30 minutes or until filling is set.

Custard:
1) While cake is cooling, place the custard ingredients in the double boiler over boiling water. Ensure that the top pan does not touch the water.
2) Cook and continuously stir until mixture begins to gel or thicken, for about 15-20 minutes
3) Pour over cake while still warm and spread it, using an offset spatula if needed

Garnish
1) Cut fingerling limes and scoop out filling
2) Place the filling (caviar looking)  around the rim and in the center or however you like garnish with fingerling limes.
3) Refrigerate until ready to serve (up to 2 days)

Serving:
1) Remove from fridge 20 minutes before serving
2) Slice with a hot knife
3) Serve

by ShannonLattin. Browse more data visualization.

Last weekend I visited Rabbit Island which my friend Rob bought from an ad on Craig’s List. You can learn more about it from the Kickstarter (they funded an Artist Residency) and from the website. A big group of us went out there to build various things - I made bread, a cobbler and helped with a big dinner for 22 of us. It was a fantastic experience and learned a ton from Kelly Geary, the founder of Sweet Deliverance and author of Tart and Sweet: 101 Canning and Pickling Reciped for the Modern Kitchen. Kelly got involved when Rob put out a post om search of recipes for his cookbook. She brought out two chefs from Madison, WI - Marc and Emily. They brought some Ramp Butter, which they put on top of the first loaf and that’s what made it glisten. I hope we have many more opportunities to cook together cause they ROCK! And I’m submitting this recipe for inclusion in the cookbook. Fingers crossed!

The kitchen on Rabbit Island consists of two gas burning stove tops (coleman’s) and a campfire. I made this bread in a dutch oven on the campfire. The photo above is the first of three attempts.  A few things I learned when making this recipe, let the bread rise as long as possible for the best texture (18-24 hours). You should put the dutch oven in the fire to heat it up before placing in the dough. Definitely put the oven on top of fire burning logs, and place two on top for even cooking. Get those gloves so you can reach right into the fire.  The shape of the dough when placed in the dutch oven is the breads final shape.

The photos below are my third attempt, and definitely my favorite. Also, I doubled the recipe and found that it had a better rise, and made two loafs back to back. They were eaten pretty quickly, but there were a lot of us out there!

Le Pain Lapin

(Makes 2 Loafs)

Ingredients:

• 6 cups bread flour
• 1 1/2 tspn regular yeast (I active yeast cause that’s all I could find)
• 2 1/2 tspn salt
• 3 cups water

Instructions 

Pt. 1. (day ahead)

1. Mix all the ingredients in a greased bowl
2. Form a ball and cover at least 18 hours

Pt. 2. 

1. Heat dutch oven in the fire (or oven if not camping).
2. carefully open lid and slide in half of the dough and place cover on lid
3. Cover the pot for 30 minutes and bake with lid off for an additional 15 minutes 
4. Repeat for second loaf or use a second dutch oven.

I spent a memorial day weekend at a friend’s Lake House and found myself cooking meal after meal for up to 25 people. When we came back to our regular lives I felt a suden emptiness and decided to invite the group over for a sunday night dinner. Chez Moi.

I made homemade pizza dough from Bon Appetite and made a bunch of toppings. Meatballs from scratch, caramelized onions, blanched asparagus with barata cheese, olive oil, salt & pepper. I also made two tarts, a Meatball, mascarpone, asparagus and the other was a strawberry Rhubarb. Both I just whipped up. Which surprised me. Oh and I was nervous there wouldn’t be enough food so I made a bib lettuce salad with a homemade mustard vinaigrette. 

What’s pictured are tartines, the base is bread I picked up that morning from Scratch Bread. The best bread bakery and it happens to be around the corner from me. 

 Cherry Tomato, Truffle Oil Tartines

Ingredients:

• 8 oz Ricotta Cheese
• Fresh 8 Grain loaf of bread
• 20 Cherry Tomatos (one small create)
• 2 table spoons Honey
• Sprinkle Salt
• Sprinkle Pepper 
• 2 Table spoons of Truffle Oil

Instructions:

• Slice bread into somewhat bite sizes
• Spread ricotta cheese
• Slice cherry tomatos and place on top
• Drizzle honey, salt & pepper
• Top with Truffle Oil

It’s easy and its yummy. I did this once with figs but they weren’t in season and the tomato worked out well. 

Tonight I just felt like baking and playing around with my Livestream Profile and live blogged the baking of these muffins!

Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs
• 2 medium bananas, mashed
• 1/3 cup melted butter or margarine
• 1/4 cup beer
• 3/4 semi-sweet Chocolate Chips

Instructions

• Position the rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees. 
• Grease a muffin pan
• In a large bowl mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. 
• In a medium bowl, beat the eggs until foamy before adding in mashed bananas, butter and beer. Combine the two mixtures, blending until the two ingredients are moistened. 
• At the end add the chocolate chips
• Spoon the batter into the muffin pan
• Bake for 25-30 minutes (rotating half way) or wait until a tooth pick inserted into the center of the bread comes out clean and the top is golden. 
• Remove from the oven and cool in the pan for 10 minutes before removing the muffins from the pan.

Inspired by last weeks Oreos and wanting to play with beer and chocolate again, I decided to add one more ingredient to the party: Bacon. As a good Jewish girl, I don’t have all that much experience working with bacon, so thanks to my roommate I learned a few things, like don’t crowd the pan. Keep the heat low so it can cook evenly and have some patience. Otherwise, this recipe is quite easy. And it’s even more fun working with beer, chocolate and bacon when the football game is on in the background. Not that I know too much about it, but The Giants won. And there’s going to be a lot of hoopla over a NYC team playing in the Superbowl. These treats might be a fun one to bring to the party!

Ingredients

• 9 Ounces of Dark Chocolate
• 1/2 Cup of heavy Cream
• 3 Tablespoons of Dark Beer (I used Brooklyn Brewery Dark Chocolate Stout)
• 1/2 pound of bacon, crisp and smashed to bits
• 1/2 cup of Unsweetened Dutch Cocoa Powder

 Instructions

1. Cook the bacon in large frying pan until its quite crispy. Drain, place in a plastic bag and smash to bits
2. Place cream and chocolate in a heat proof bowl over a pan of simmering water
3. Stir until incorporated and remove from heat
4. Stir in beer until fully incorporated
5. Stir in Bacon until fully incorporated
6. Pour into a ceramic or glass bowl, cover with plastic wrap to protect from moisture and let it set for 3 hours
7. Pour cocoa powder in to a bowl
8. Use your hands to roll the chocolate into small truffle sized balls
9. Cover with cocoa powder, tap off excess and transfer into another bowl for serving

photos and styling by Amy Wilkinson

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Searching for what I was going to make for a potluck I wanted to do something traditional with a twist. So, I added beer ganache to Oreos. How did I come up with that idea? Well, I have a cute neighbor and I wanted an excuse to text him and see if he had any beer. I ended up chickening out and my roommate (and food Stylist - Amy Wilkinson) grabbed some Brooklyn Brewery Black Chocolate Stout from our neighborhood deli while walking Rue. (photo of the glorious dog below!). 

Starting on Thursday, January 26, find additional potluck dishes from fellow Gojee contributors. Simply go to gojee.com and enter “gojeepotluck” into I Crave. You can also follow #gojeepotluck on Twitter. 

Homemade Oreos (as found on Smitten Kitchen)
Makes 25 to 30 sandwich cookies

For the chocolate wafers:

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup unsweetened Dutch process cocoa
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 to 1 1/2 cups sugar [see recipe note]
• 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) room-temperature, unsalted butter
• 1 large egg

For the cream filling:

• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) room-temperature, unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup vegetable shortening
• 2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

For the Chocolate Beer Ganache

• 9 oz. dark chocolate, 65% cacao
• ½ cup heavy cream
• 3 tablespoons of beer

Instructions

Make the Chocolate Wafer:

1. Set two racks in the middle of the oven. Preheat to 375°F.
2. In stand mixer mix the flour, cocoa, baking soda and powder, salt, and sugar. While on a low speed, add the butter, and then the egg. The dough stayed crumbly for me but when I rolled it into balls it came together.
3. Round small circles of dough and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet approximately with some good space (they expand a lot.) With moistened hands, slightly flatten the dough. Bake for 8 minutes, rotating once for even baking. Set baking sheets on a rack to cool.

To make the cream:

1. Place butter and vegetable oil in a mixing bowl
2. At low speed, beat in the sugar and vanilla. 
3. Turn the mixer on high and beat for 2 to 3 minutes until filling is light and fluffy.

To make the ganache,

1. Place chocolate and cream in a heat-proof bowl over a pan of simmering water. 
2. Let the chocolate and cream heat up for 3 minutes and then begin to stir. 
3. Whisk until fully incorporated.
4. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.  
5. Stir in beer and incorporate fully (I like working with the ganache while its still liquid, but you can also cover, chill and make truffles)

To assemble the cookies:

1. Pair the cookies into similar sizes
2. On one of the cookies dab chocolate ganache in center of cookie.
3. Grab a small bit of the cream and roll into a ball.
4. Place the cream on the other wafer and spread out to the edge of the wafer
5. Lightly press, to work the filling evenly to the outsides of the cookie. 
6. Continue this process until all the cookies have been sandwiched with ganache and cream. 

Photos and Food Styling by: Amy Wilkinson

A friend of mine posted the most beautiful plum tart on Facebook and I just couldn’t help myself but try one myself. I brought it into my office, paced it in the kitchen and it barely lasted an hour.

Ingredients

Crust

• 250 Grahams AP Flour
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 135 grahams very cold butter, cut into small piece
• 1 large egg mixed with 1 teaspoon of cold water

Filling

• 1 cup toasted almonds
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 5 tabelspoons of unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 egg
• 1 tabelspoon flour
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 1/2 lemon juiced
• Pinch of salt
• 4-5 small plums

Glaze

• 2 tablespoons of honey
• sprinkle smoked salt (or any coarse salt)

Instructions

Crust

1. Sift flour, sugar, and salt onto work surface
2. Add the cubbed butter to the flour mixture and cut into flour with fork (or pastry scraper) until the butter is the size of little peas.
3. Form a well in the center of the mixture and pour in the water-egg mixture. Working until just incorporated and the dough holds together. (You may need to add more ice water). Working any piece into the dough with your palm.
4. Gather the dough into a disk and wrap in plastic
5. Refrigerate the dough an hour or up to 24 hours
6. Flour a work surface, roll out the dough to a 10 inch circle that’s about 1/8 inch thick
7. Lightly wrap over rolling pin and place in pie dish
8. press into dish and cut excess dough
9. Place a piece of parchment paper over the top and add pie weights
10. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes, remove pie weights and let cool

Filling

1. Place the almonds, sugar, room temperature butter, egg, flour, almond extract,  lemon juice and a pinch of kosher salt in a food processor.
2. Spread the almond mixture into the prebaked crust.
3. Top with the sliced plum arranged decoratively.
4. Bake in the 375 degree F oven for 30-35 minutes.  It’s done when the almond cream is puffed and light brown.
5. Once cooled, warm 2 tablespoons of honey and lightly brush the top of the tart, and sprinkle with smoked salt
   

Well, courtesy of photoshop these look okay but I made three trays of macarons and only about 10 came out. :-( These were much harder than I anticipated. The flavor was a vanilla cookie with a plum/rose butter cream. I didn’t do so good. I’ll try again next weekend and post the recipe if it comes out.

Things I learned:

1. Always put the cookie sheet in another cookie sheet. It keeps the cookie from getting to hot and cracking.

2. Let the cookie batter sit for a bit to dry out before putting in the oven. That really made a difference for the successful cookies.

3. Breathe. They are only cookies. (I kept repeating that OVER and OVER again)

Wish me luck on the next round!

It’s been a while since I posted and that’s mainly because I moved, changed jobs and didn’t have my kitchen unpacked until last weekend. It was my first full day at the office yesterday so I decided to bring in some muffins!

Ingredients

Muffin:

• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 egg
• 2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup milk
• 1 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen blueberrie

Streusel:

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 cup butter or margarine

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees f
2. Place lined muffin cups in a 12 muffin pan
3. In a medium bowl Cream sugar and butter. Add egg and continue to mix well.
   
4. Combine flour, baking powder and salt;
   
5. Add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture in small batches while alternating with the milk.  
   
6. Stir in vanilla.
   
7. Gently Fold in blueberries.
   
8. Fill muffin cups about 2/3rds full.
   
9. In a small bowl, combine the first of the streusal ingredients: sugar, flour and cinnamon;
   
10. Cut in butter until crumbly.
    
11. Sprinkle over muffins.
    
12. Put the muffins in the center rack and bake for 25-30 minutes or until browned. (I had extra batter so I greased a Madeleine pan and spooned one tsp in each mold. They came out great, like muffin cookies and were a big hit!)
    

I’ve been piping Madeline at Craft but I hadn’t yet made the batter and I’ve been dying to try. Over the 4th of July weekend I kept wanting to try but I didn’t have the ingredients or the tools. So Wednesday night I decided I wanted to do a google plus hang out in my kitchen and make David Lebovitz Lemon Madeline. I just made some slight changes.I also decided not to make the glaze he suggests because its really hot and humid in NYC and I didn’t think it would travel well.

Lemon Medeline

Ingredients

• 3 large eggs, at room temperature
• 130g granulated sugar
• rounded 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 175g flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder (optional)
• zest of one small lemon
• 120g unsalted butter

Instructions

1. Place the Madeline Mold in the Fridge
2. Brown the butter by placing it over medium/high heat and stirring just till it changes color. It will take about 12 minutes and as soon as it becomes a warm amber color take it off the heat
3. Strain the butter into a glass bowl and let it cool.
4. In the bowl whip the eggs, granulated sugar, and salt for 5 minutes until frothy and thickened.
5. Spoon the flour and baking powder into a sifter or mesh strainer and use a spatula to slowly fold in the flour as you sift it over the batter. 
6. Add the lemon zest to the cooled butter, then dribble the butter into the batter, slowly folding until just incorporated
7. Using a rubber Spatula scoop the batter into a medium pastry bag (I did two small bags) and seal the back end of the bag. (A Tip I learned at Craft: Place the bag over a bain (or large deep cup) when pouring in batter and it will be easier to fill the bag without making a mess!)
8. place the batter in the fridge for an hour or up to 12 hours.
9. Baking the madeleines, preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
10. Pipe batter (directly perpandicular to the pan) placing the tip in the center of each indentation and putting in batter till its about 3/4 full.
11. Lightly but firmly tap the tray on the counter to release any air bubbles
12. Bake for 8-9 minutes or until the cakes just feel set.

These are best eaten day off, but they made it to two offices the next day and were enjoyed greatly. Though a lot of people didn’t know what Madeline were. I mean, Proust. I guess in America to have the same Proust reaction I’d have to bring around funnel cakes or something of that sort.

I went home to my mom’s in New Canaan, CT for the long holiday weekend. Right after she picked us (me, my brother and our friend Monica) up from the train we went directly to the local market. I decided I’d bake whatever looked the freshest, and tasted the best.  Raspberries were it and so I attempted this Brown Butter tart.

Brown Butter Raspberry Tart

Ingredients

Crust

• 250 Grahams AP Flour
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 135 grahams very cold butter, cut into small piece
• 1 large egg mixed with 1 teaspoon of cold water

Filling

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• Pinch of salt
• 1/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, diced
• 2 6-ounce containers fresh raspberries

Instructions

Crust

1. Sift flour, sugar, and salt onto work surface
2. Add the cubbed butter to the flour mixture and cut into flour with fork (or pastry scraper) until the butter is the size of little peas.
3. Form a well in the center of the mixture and pour in the water-egg mixture. Working until just incorporated and the dough holds together. (You may need to add more ice water). Working any piece into the dough with your palm.
4. Gather the dough into a disk and wrap in plastic
5. Refrigerate the dough an hour or up to 24 hours
6. Flour a work surface, roll out the dough to a 10 inch circle that’s about 1/8 inch thick
7. Lightly wrap over rolling pin and place in pie dish
8. press into dish and cut excess dough
9. Place a piece of parchment paper over the top and add pie weights
10. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes, remove pie weights and let cool

Filling

1. Whisk sugar, eggs, and salt in medium bowl to blend.
2. Add flour and vanilla and whisk until smooth.
3. Cook butter in heavy small saucepan over medium heat until deep nutty brown, stirring often, this will take about 6 minutes.
4. Immediately pour browned butter into glass measuring cup.
5. Gradually whisk browned butter into wet mixture until well blended.
6. Place raspberries close together in  circles in the bottom of cooled crust. 
7. Place tart on rimmed baking sheet.
8. Carefully pour browned butter mixture evenly over berries.
9.  Bake tart until filling is puffed and golden and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 40 minutes.
10. Cool tart completely in pan on rack. (I found this tasted better on day 2.)

I made this on the fly at Chez Bushwick after finding some fresh cherries and having left over white chocolate, which I had used for some ice cream. It was really yummy, though I think it needs some salt and the filling measurements I did would work for two tarts.

Ingredients

Crust

• 250 Grahams AP Flour
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 135 grahams very cold butter, cut into small piece
• 1 large egg mixed with 1 teaspoon of cold water

Filling

• 1/2 cup half and half
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 4 egg yolks
• 6 ounces white chocolate
• 1 cup + 3 tabelspoons all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups of cherries, pitted and sliced in half.

Instructions Crust

1. Sift flour, sugar, and salt onto work surface
2. Add the cubbed butter to the flour mixture and cut into flour with fork (or pastry scraper) until the butter is the size of little peas.
3. Form a well in the center of the mixture and pour in the water-egg mixture. Working until just incorporated and the dough holds together. (You may need to add more ice water). Working any piece into the dough with your palm.
4. Gather the dough into a disk and wrap in plastic
5. Refrigerate the dough an hour or up to 24 hours
6. Flour a work surface, roll out the dough to a 10 inch circle that’s about 1/8 inch thick
7. Lightly wrap over rolling pin and place in pie dish
8. press into dish and cut excess dough
9. Place a piece of parchment paper over the top and add pie weights
10. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes, remove pie weights and let cool

Filling

1. Mix half and half, cream and sugar over medium heat until just simmering
2. Temper Egg Yolks, by adding some of warm milk to eggs, mixing and then adding the egg/milk mixture back into the sauce pan. 
3. Chop white chocolate and place in a medium bowl
4. Warm up milk/egg mixture again till just simmering, and pour over white chocolate
5. Add in flour, mix until incorporated
6. Place cherries in crust
7. Pour mixture over cherries, add additional cherries on top if needed.
8. Bake for about 40 minutes or until set at 350 degrees
   

A group of my friends get together every month or so for a dinner/pot luck/ cooking party we call Chez Bushwick. While we were cooking I made a quick munchie which was a great snack for the chefs.

Ingredients

• 4 Figs
• 1 Loaf of bread
• 1 Cup of Ricotta cheese (Here’s a great recipe for homemade ricotta)
• Honey
• Salt

Instructions

1. Cut the bread
2. Spread cheese on bread
3. Thinly slice figs and place on bread
4. Sprinkle with honey and salt
5. EAT!

You must be wondering, what exactly is Gojee? Well it asks you what you’re in the mood for and recommends recipes based on your cravings from contributors, which including Food52.com, Tartlette and many others from around the web (including ME! Yay). It’s such an honor to be a contributor amongst such amazing bloggers. All of them inspire, humble and motivate me to keep baking, blogging, styling and photographing. I can only hope to be as good as them as time goes on. 

When you go to the site, you’ll first see this:

Beautiful, right? And then if you type in a craving… You’ll get something like this:

I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I do. 

I participated in a Kickstarter campaign for Pie in the Park which took place at Smorgusberg food festival. It was really well produced and fun to meet some other bakers. We were in the kickstarter booth at the festival and there was such a nice bunch of bakers. It was $1 to bring a pie, and we all got 3 slices of pie. It was $10 for others to eat 3 slices.  They also gave us personalized recipe cards. It was a really watching people look at my crazy concoction. People were really curious about my pie but before we cut into them my pie completely melted. The chocolate ganache in the sun became a mushy mess. Kind of tragic, kind of comedic but my friend Amy came and I we enjoyed all the amazing food vendors at the festival.

I made the pie again this weekend and it was a huge success but its not meant for the outdoors in the summer.

Salt and Pepper Pie

Crust: Peppered Pate Brisse
Ingredients:

• 250 Grahams AP Flour
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• 1 1/2  teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 135 grahams very cold butter, cut into small piece
• 1 large egg mixed with 1 teaspoon of cold water

Filing Layer 1 : Salted Caramel w. Banana
Ingredients:

• 1 cup of sugar
• 1/2 cup of water
• 6 Tbsp butter
• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
• 2 Bananas Mashed
• 2.5 teaspoons of salt (add more to taste)

Filling Layer 2: Peppered Chocolate Ganache
Ingredients:

• 2.5  cup heavy cream
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 2 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 14 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
• 2 Tsp Ground Black Pepper

Topping: Sliced Bananas
Ingredients:

• 4 Large Bananas
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• Pinch of Salt

Instructions:

Peppered Pate Brisee
(prepares two crusts)

1. Sift flour, sugar, pepper and salt onto work surface
2. Add the cubbed butter to the flour mixture and cut into flour with fork (or pastry scraper) until the butter is the size of little peas.
3. Form a well in the center of the mixture and pour in the water-egg mixture. Working until just incorporated and the dough holds together. (You may need to add more ice water). Working any piece into the dough with your palm.
4. Gather the dough into a disk and wrap in plastic
5. Refrigerate the dough an hour or up to 24 hours
6. Flour a work surface, roll out the dough to a 10 inch circle that’s about 1/8 inch thick
7. Lightly wrap over rolling pin and place in pie dish
8. press into dish and cut excess dough
9. Place a piece of parchment paper over the top and add pie weights
10. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes, remove pie weights and bake an additional 15 minutes or until golden brown, and completely cooked.

Salted Banana Carmel

1. Prepare all your ingredients, and be ready to move fast as caramel is a quick process.
2. Add sugar with a 1/2 cup of water into a large heavy bottom sauce pan. Stir
3. When comes to a boil stop stirring and let boil until all water evaporates and the sugar turns a dark amber color
4. Add in butter, and stir.
5. Once melted remove from heat, count to 5 and add in cream. Whisk till incorporated
6. Add in mashed bananas and salt, continue to whisk until smooth
7. Pour into a glass bowl and let it cool to room temperature
8. spread evenly across the bottom of baked and cooled pie crust.  Reserve extra and store in glass mason jar for upto two weeks.

Peppered Chocolate Ganache

1. Place chocolate chips and butter in large mixing bowl. Set aside.
2. Bring heavy cream and milk to a boil in a heavy saucepan.
3. Add pepper and steep (at slight simmer) for 10 minutes or till desired peppered taste. Remember you want to take it double as strong as you want the final flavor.
4.  Pour over chocolate and let stand one minute.
5. Whisk until smooth.
6. Carefully pour warm ganache into prepared pie crust, filling to 3/4 full. Any leftover ganache, reserve and can be used as a sauce over ice cream.
7. Transfer to refrigerator until set, about 30 minutes.

This guy Adam asked me on a date. I said yes. I usually say yes when that happens. He didn’t believe that I really bake as much as I said I do, so I decided to bring a treat on our date. I decided to make these in a muffin tray because I wanted to be able to throw a couple in a Tupperware in my bag. It also needed to stay in one piece through a day of consulting around NYC.  I decided to play with this recipe because I knew my brother would love them. I reduced the white chocolate to make them less rich and my brother diggs cherries. 

Well, Adam decided to make plans, confirm plans and then never respond to me with the details of the plans. So by 5 PM the day of the ‘7PM’ date, I decided to eat the blondies. It was the right choice.

Cherry Blondies

Ingredients

• 150g Good Quality White Chocolate
• 75g Butter
• 125g  Sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp Vanilla extract
• 150g Plain Flour
• 150g Fresh Cherries
  

Instructions

1. Pre-heat oven to 350oF.
2. Grease a muffin tray
3. Pit and chop the cherries in half.
4. Break up 75g of white chocolate and melt  over a bowl of simmering water 
5. Cream together the butter and sugar in a medium mixing bowl until light and fluffy.
6. Add the eggs one at a time and make sure they are completely combined after each 
7. Mix in the vanilla.
8. Add the melted chocolate and stir through.
9. Sift the flour over and fold into the chocolate mixture.
10. Roughly chop the remaining chocolate
11. Add the chopped chocolate and cherries and fold through the blondie mixture.
12. Spoon the mixture into the muffin tins about 3/4 of the way full and then gently tap the tray on the counter to flatten and smooth.  
13. Bake for 30-40 minutes in the oven or until toothpick comes out clean

It was my friend Ruti’s birthday and she doesn’t like things too sweet so I came up with this strange olive oil shortcake with salted caramel… I was a bit worried but everyone seemed to love them. Some people even ate two!

Olive Oil Shortcake

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled
• 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 2/3 cup milk (low fat or regular)

Filling

• 1 cup of sugar
• 1/2 cup of water
• 6 Tbsp butter
• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 cup of diced strawberries
• 2.5 teaspoons of salt (add more to taste)

Icing

• 2 Tablespoons of caramel (from filling)
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
  
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  
• 1 stick salted butter
  
• 1 stick unsalted butter
  
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
  
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Instructions

Olive Oil Shortcake

• Grease 12 count muffin pan
• Preheat oven to 350
• In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.
• In a large bowl, whisk together eggs and sugar until smooth.
• Blend in melted butter and olive oil.
• Stir in half of the flour mixture, followed by the milk.
• Stir in the remaining flour mixture, stirring only until no streaks of dry ingredients remain and batter is just combined.
• Pour into prepared muffin pan.
• Bake for 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clear or with just a few moist crumbs attached.
• Set aside and let cool

Salted Caramel Filling

• Prepare all your ingredients, and be ready to move fast as caramel is a quick process.
• Add sugar with a 1/2 cup of water into a large heavy bottom sauce pan. Stir
• When comes to a boil stop stirring and let boil until all water evaporates and the sugar turns a dark amber color
• Add in butter, and stir.
• Once melted remove from heat, count to 5 and add in cream and salt. Whisk till incorporated
• Pour 3/4 of the liquid into a glass mason jar
• Add strawberries to remaining 1/4 of caramel and stir over medium head for about 15 minutes or once the compote has a nice flavor.
• Remove from heat and cool
• Cut a small round piece out of the tops of each cooled cupcake
  
• Pour in 1 teaspoon of caramel. 
  
• Replace the cake piece and set cupcakes aside.

Frosting

• In a large bowl cream the butter and salt together until lightened and fluffy.
• Add powdered sugar and beat at a reduced speed
• Mix until thoroughly combined.
• Scrape down the side of the bowl and add the caramel. 
  
• Beat on medium high speed until light and airy, and completely mixed (about 2 minutes).  Mixture should be ready to use without refrigeration.  
• Top caramel-filled cupcakes with frosting. Add a slice of strawberry if so desired!
  

Yup that’s me. It’s my second day at Craft and Jenny McCoy (The Exec Pastry Chef) gave me my hat. The day started with going over all the protocol to ensure I don’t violate any health code regulations. That was a good education and definitely made me want to go home and scrub my personal kitchen.

Then Jenny put four recipes in front of me and talked me through them. Then she said, “Pop Quiz. Lesson in multi-tasking: How would you approach these?” I pointed at the Rhubarb Sorbet and said I start there, then while its cooling, I’d start and finish the Passion Fruit Sorbet. Then finish the Rhubarb Sorbet and move on to the bread component recipes. Jenny said that’s how she’d approach it BUT she’d take out the butter for the Hazelnut Shortbread and the Graham Cracker Crisp so its soft at the beginning. 

In the middle, Jenny sat with me for an hour and gave me a vocabulary lesson. Telling me what some of her short hand, like VB - Vanilla Bean. or AP - All Purpose Flour. And some professional kitchen slang, for instance, the professional food processor is called RoboCoupe. I mean. Is that not a super hero name? And Turbo Sugar. That’s short for turbinado or raw sugar. Turbo Sugar and RoboCoupe are here to break you down and sweeten you up! If I ever have the guts to get at tattoo, I think it might just be ‘Turbo Sugar’. What do you think?

This is a long over due post. I wanted to try and create a multi-component dessert. And well I’ve not learned how to plate so well just yet so I took refuge with a mason jar. Luckily this dessert was a huge hit and all the ice cream was served out in 10 minutes. Success. Big Success.

White Chocolate Ginger Ice Cream

I worked off of David Lebowtiz’ recipe with a few changes. I didn’t realize that its only 1 qt so you might double this.

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 ounces chopped candied ginge
• 100 grams sugar
• 1 cup (250 ml) buttermilk
• 1 cup plus 1 cup heavy cream (500 ml, total)
• 8 ounces (230 g) white chocolate, finely chopped
• 5 large egg yolks

Instructions

1. Add the ginger, the sugar, the buttermilk and 1 cup of heavy cream to the saucepan and warm the mixture.
2. Cover and steep for at least an hour, or until there is a strong ginger flavor.
3. Put the chopped white chocolate in a large bowl.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, then add some of the warm ginger-infused cream mixture, whisking constantly.
5. Pour the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.
6. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly with a spatula until the mixture coats the spatula.
7. Strain the custard into the white chocolate, and stir until the chocolate is completely melted.
8. Discard the ginger.
9. Add the remaining 1 cup of heavy cream and chill completely. 
10. Once completely chilled, place in ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

To serve place some of the pound cake, ice cream and top with Strawberry Rhubarb Compote.

As part of the memorial day feast I made a constructed dessert and needed a little pound cake. (That’s coming soon). I had a LOT of left over batter and Strawberry- Rhubarb compote so I baked it in a pie pan. I chose a pie pan mostly because I didn’t have a loaf pan where I was but none the less it came out really nice.

Poundcake

Ingredients

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup butter
• 3 cups white sugar
• 6 eggs
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup buttermilk

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease one 9 round pan.
   
2. Mix together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, beat butter with sugar.
   
4. Mix in the eggs, one at time, beating well after each addition.
   
5. Stir in the lemon and the vanilla extract.
   
6. Gently mix in flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk. Pour batter into the prepared pan.
7. Bake in preheated oven for 90 minutes.
   
8. Do not open oven door until after one hour. When cake begins to pull away from the side of the pan it is done. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.

Rhubarb- Strawberry Compote

Ingredients

• 2 pounds strawberries, halved if large
• 1 pound rhubarb, cut into 3/4-inch pieces
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons minced crystallized ginger
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
• 3/4 teaspoon grated lime peel

Instructions

1. Place 1 1/2 pounds strawberries and rhubarb in medium pot.
2. Mix in sugar, ginger, lime juice, and peel
3. Cook over high heat until sugar dissolves, stirring often
4. Boil 4 minutes, and be sure to stir consistently
5. Reduce heat to medium
6. Simmer just until rhubarb is beginning to fall apart, about 3 minutes.
7. Remove from heat and add in remaining strawberries.
8. Chill until cold. (I did this the day before so the flavors had more time to sit.)

For a memorial day get together I ran to whole foods to pick up some last minute ingredients and I saw bing cherries that were perfectly in season. They just looked so good I wanted to keep as much of the natural flavor as possible. I had originally prepared to do a lattice but then I was just inspired, and my friend Amy had a star cookie cutter and so it happendl

I saw this recipe on my favorite, Smitten Kitchen and made just a few very small changes.

Ingredients:

• I used this dough recipe from SK
• 4 cups pitted fresh cherries
• 4 tablespoons cornstarch
• 2/3  cup brown sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• Juice of half a lemon
• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
• 2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small bits
• 1 egg, beaten with 2 tablespoons water
• Coarse sugar, for decoration

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
2. Stir together the cherries, cornstarch, sugar, salt, lemon and almond extract gently together in a large bowl.
3. Roll out half of chilled dough on a floured work surface to 13-inch round. Gently place it in 9-inch pie pan, trim edges evenly around the pie dish
4. Spread filling into pie crust, discarding the extra liquid in the bowl. Place bits of cold butter in the filling. 
5. Roll out the remaining dough leaving about double as thick as the bottom crust and cut out stars with cookie cutter.  Place around the top ensuring all the edges of the stars are touching each other. 
6. Brush the egg wash over over pie crust, then sprinkle with coarse sugar
7. Bake the pie in the middle of the oven for 25 minutes.
8. Reduce the temperature to 350°F. and bake the pie for another 25 to 30 minutes more, or until the crust is golden.
9. Let the pie cool on a rack.

It’s been quite busy these days. Having quit my day job in March, and taking on freelance work, I’m just as, if not more busy than I was before. Though thank goodness for that, it was so scary stepping off on my own and having faith that I could make ends meet. And now I’m happier than I could imagine. I work about 60/70 hours a week spread over 7 days, spend 8 hours once a week interning at Craft, and then try and see friends, eat, and BAKE!

Anyway, because of the crazy scheduling issues I haven’t been able to write about this incredible talk I went to at the New Museum where Alice Waters presented her new book, 40 Years of Chez Panisse. She talked about how she got started from her inspiration on lawn of Berkley in the 60’s, to teaching, to travels in Paris and foraging for tastes. Local for her didn’t mean organic but finding the best taste possible. I think that just happen to turn into organic.

The part that struck me and Amy, (Amy is my friends or rather foodie partner in crime) is when Alice started talking about dinner parties. How she’d fly to Vienna a year in advance and work with the local farmers to ensure she can have the menu she wants using local foods. I mean, wow. That’s commitment to taste. She also collaborates with all sort of people from musicians to artists to filmmakers.

Food anchors life to the land and the civilization

This quote is so true, and I just can’t wait to take this journey. A journey of tastes, collaborations and discovering the world starting just outside my door.

I always talk about food, baking, cooking, friends, inspiration but there’s love in the title of my blog. I have a ton of it all around me but, no I’m not IN love. Not at this moment and I’m certainly out there looking for it.

A few nights ago I got close. I met up with friends at a bar in Greenpoint, BK and started flirting with this VERY cute, punk rock boy named John. Some even call him Punk Rock John.  He and I get to talking. We lean in, we flirt. (There’s a photo of it somewhere). I’m smiling, excited, entranced, and then somewhere in the conversation he says, ‘Yeah, I’m a vegan.’ Crickets. My heart stops. I keep telling myself to stay focused, he’s cute, he’s interested, he’s sweet and then I hear, “Wow, you look SO disappointed.”

And I was. And I tried to see past it, but he could never try my brioche, or a pie,  or homemade ice cream and I’m sorry Punk Rock John, but “This just isn’t going to work.”

Yesterday I spent about 7 hours helping out Executive Pastry Chef Jennifer McCoy and the Pastry department at Craft Restaurant. Well, I should say they were helping me out but either way, it was quite the experience.

When I walked in, I was really nervous. I saw Jenny right away and she brought me to the back, grabbed me a chef jacket, an apron, and hand towels. I had three hand towels on me (two dry and one wet). Then I came out and she gave me a tour. I met a TON of people, saw a bunch of equipment I’d never touched before. I’m probably going to have to relearn some of that and the names, but I remember the names of the pastry team. I spent time with Meredith the Sous- Pastry Chef, Eve and Kelsey who were on PM/Service shift and Anastacia (sp?) who was a prep chef (I think). I meant to take a photo in the chef gear but I was eager to get started and nervous, so I just forgot.

My first task was putting Streusel on the Muffins. They do a take away at the end of the night. One of Tom Colicchio signatures. (It’s his restaurant, if you didn’t know and Yes he’s a judge on Top Chef). After putting on the topping of 164 muffins, we put them in the oven and timed them for 12 minutes. Then I turned them. And then the buzzer went off. Jenny showed me how dark they should be and how light they can be. They were done and on the cooling racks they went. I forgot about them until the busers came in for service, put them in celophane bags and prepped them for the end of the night.

Then I worked on prepping the Banana sorbet. which was measuring, checking the sweetness by its fractal. I used this cool gadget that told me the number. Once I added enough simple syrup to get it to fractal 29, I had to sift the Banana into another container and that took me about 40 minutes. Yup. I felt very close to that banana after getting it into the container. Then I put tape on the container, marked what it was and the date and put it in the walk in fridge.

Then I did the passion fruit sorbet and learned how to work with Glucose. I messed up and put too much. To take it out of the container I dipped my hand in ice till it hurt and then grabbed the glucose. Such an interesting texture.

The PM staff showed up and I started working with Kelsely. I scaled a few different recipes for her. (That mean measure out all the ingredients). And then she had me chop 100 ounces of rhubarb. I weighed, washed and then proceeded to chop. Kelsey gave me two knife instructions, then Meredith and then Jenny. Oh how patient they were. I finally started to get the motion and uniform cuts. But if practice is what I wanted, that is definitely what I got. I even have a tiny blister on my hand to prove it. And I need to practice cutting this week at home. Like practice a LOT.

What I was most impressed with was how well the kitchen runs. Everyone knows what they are doing and when. The pastry team was so sweet and welcoming. And if you don’t know this restaurant, you must eat there. Everything I tasted was amazing. And believe me, I did a bit of tasting, and even more smelling. Uh, when that long haired chef took out the Potato Gratin from the ovens, I could feel the drool dribble on my chin. At the end of my day, Jenny had me try all the sorbets and ice creams. Wow, long pepper, Smoked Salt, Butter cream Rhubarb and the banana. Which after my day, I felt especially close to.

I really can’t wait to go back.

photo credit: Nico

I went over to my friend Phil’s for a fun feast of Greek food. Everyone brought or made something from salad to lamb and I of course brought dessert. Such a fun night, from the cooking, and the drinking to the dancing and the chatting. It’s such a great way to build friendships and experiment with cultures.

I’m not in love yet with this Baklava recipe. I don’t like how the Phyllo Dough curved on the edges and was very hard to cut. BUT it did taste nice, which was great. It also took a long time for me to get it to cook accurately. There was a lot of food in a small oven which might have been the issue. I’ve not worked with Phyllo Dough before and definitely need to get use to it.

• For the filling:
• 1 lb. walnuts, coarsely ground (ground separately from the almonds)
• 1/2 lb. almonds, coarsely ground
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tbsp. ground cinnamon

• For the syrup:
• 2 cups water
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 10 whole cloves
• Juice of half a lemon
• 1 lb. phyllo pastry sheets
• 1/2 lb. unsalted butter, melted

1. Mix the walnuts, almonds, sugar, and cinnamon in a bowl. Set aside.
2. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
3. Carefully remove the Phyllo roll from the plastic sleeve.
4. Cut the sheets in half to make two stacks of 9 x 12 inch sheets. To prevent drying, cover one stack with wax paper and a damp paper towel while working with the other.
5. Using a pastry brush, brush the bottom and sides of a 9 x 12 rectangular pan.
6. Layer six sheets of Phyllo making sure to brush each with melted butter.
7. Add half of the nut mixture in an even layer.
8. Flatten with a spatula
9. Continue layering another 6 sheets of phyllo. Add the remaining nut mixture in an even layer.
10. Top with the remaining phyllo sheets.
11. Before baking, score the top layer of phyllo . Place in the freezer for 30 seconds and it will make it easier to score.
12. Bake in a preheated 325 degree oven for about 45 minutes or until the phyllo turns a rich golden color.
13. Prepare the Syrup While the Baklava is Baking:
14. In a medium saucepan, combine the water and the sugar and mix well. Add the cloves and simmer over medium high heat for about 20 minutes. You want the syrup to be slightly thickened.
15. Remove from the heat and discard the cloves.
16. Stir in the juice of half a lemon. Allow the syrup to cool slightly.
17. When the baklava is out of the oven and still warm, ladle the syrup carefully into the pan.
18. Baklava can be refrigerated or stored at room temperature.

I made these Blueberry Crumb Blondies for a friends welcome home dinner party. It was a really easy recipe and people really seemed to like them. It was especially good cause it wasn’t too sweet, and went nice after a rich dinner.

Ingredients

• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup cold unsalted butter (2 sticks or 8 ounces)
• 1 egg
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• Zest and juice of one lemon
• 4 cups fresh blueberries
• 1/2 cup lavender sugar
• 4 teaspoons cornstarch

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) and liberally grease a 9×13 inch pan.
2. In a medium bowl, stir together 1 cup sugar, 3 cups flour, and baking powder.
3. Mix in salt and lemon zest.
4. Use a fork or pastry cutter to blend in the butter and egg. Dough should remain crumbly. Pat half of dough into the prepared pan.
5. In another slightly larger bowl, stir together the lavender sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice.
6. Gently mix in the blueberries.
7. Place the blueberry mixture evenly over the crust. Crumble remaining dough over the berry layer.
8. Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until top is slightly brown.
9. Wait till it is completely cool before cutting. Took about an hour or so to cool.

I had this crazy craving for Brioche rolls and figured, why not just make them from the French Culinary book. And that’s exactly what I did. They look a little lopsided. The cups are a little too big as were the top pieces. But MAN did they taste good. I had to give them away in risk of devouring the whole batch.

Making the dough, wasn’t so hard just a lot of steps and constant reminder to not melt the butter. Though it became really clear that I need to buy a kitchen aide stand mixer. The hand mixer started smoking! It was crazy. And I think since the hand mixer overheated it might have melted the butter a bit. Next pay check is definitely going to my first stand mixer. I mean, how else will I be able to make croissants?

I’m not posting these recipes because they are part of a published book, but I’m hoping soon I’ll be able to start constructing desserts and will be able to share the experiments in great detail.

If you’re interested, the book is The Fundamental Techniques of Classic Pastry Arts.

There was a lot of baking happening last weekend and to start I made Pate Brissee. I used the traditional recipe from The Fundamental Techniques of Classic Pastry Arts book and it really wasn’t too hard. Then turning it into an apple tart wasn’t too hard. I had to stew some minced apples with vanilla and then chop some apples. What I was surprised about was the apricot jam reduction thing that was applied to give it the right color and seal the tart. It really does look pretty. The recipes are both available in the book.

I still need to work on my rolling techniques but it still came out really pretty and even. This is a great tart to practice as it allows you to practice traditional tart doughs while also working on knife skills.

Reading through the FCI curriculum session one there’s a bit of a vocabulary lesson in the knife skills section. But there’s aren’t many tips or tricks on actually how to achieve each of the specific cuts. First I am trying to memorize each of these terms which is a  French Vocabulary Lesson:

émince: To Thinly Slice

Ciseler: Mince / Finely diced cubes (usually an onion or a shallot)

Taillage: Cutting fruit and vegetables

Tranches: Cut/ paired items so they can be sliced  in a specific size

Jardiniere: Thin sitcks

Julienne: Very thin sitcks

Macedoine: Small cubes

Brunoise: Even small cubes, like 1square inch.

There are a few more but those seem to be the most popular. It going to be a challenge getting use to using them without hearing them everyday.  I’ll just have to say them to myself. I do want to practice and started today by dicing some onions, celery and carrots which I turned into a scramble for a healthy lunch.  I also found the below video which really was the most helpful in demonstrating some knife techniques. I’m surprised it doesn’t have more hits! It’s going to take some time to get as fast as this guy! I wonder if a kitchen will let me prep for them so I can chop tons without it going to waist. Anyone want to let me chop?

A few things have changed for me in the last four months. One of them is that I’ve decided to wait and see what I can learn on my own before I go to culinary school. I left my job and turned into a freelancer, which gives me more time but less stability with my income. That being said, I’ve been meeting a ton of chefs and a few of the culinary schools have published their curriculum. The one I’m starting to work from is from the French Culinary Institute and is called: The Fundamental Techniques of Classic Pastry Arts.

The first chapter is about sanitation. And I couldn’t believe how much I hadn’t thought about when it comes to keeping my kitchen clean. Today, I’ve spent close to 4 hours scrubbing it. Something about cleaning and organizing my kitchen is definitely making me excited to dive deeper into the book.

This also reiterated to me how disgusting this concept of eating a meal on the subway is. If you haven’t heard about this stunt, its been getting some viral attention across the hipster foodie set in Brooklyn. They basically served a 6 course meal on the L train. I’m a big fan of A Razor, A Shiny Knife and their culinary adventures but the thought being served and eating while riding the NYC subway just turn me off. And now just makes me think of food poisoning. Not that I’ve heard anyone got sick. But still, the amount of rats, homeless and just plain sick people that ride the subway… The execution is pretty fun to watch though!

One of my closest friends had her first child a year ago. She’s the first of our friends group to have a baby. I can’t even imagine how hard that would be. When she was about 4/5 months she told me the name she chose, Bonnie. I rubbed her belly and told BonBon how excited I am to meet her. Well now that its a year later, I decided I wanted to make the beautiful Bonnie some BonBons for her first birthday.

Well, it seemed easy. Right. Easy. I made the vanilla ice cream in an ice cream maker. Okay yes, that was pretty easy. But then I went to make the BonBons. I melted the chocolate, and every time I went to dip the Ice cream scoops, I’d make it to two and have to re-temper the chocolate. But the cream in the chocolate made it near impossible so I had to start over. 6 Bonbons in and I decided that was enough. Good thing we broke them out at the end of the party, with just 6 people left in the room!

I wish they came out better, but I’ll definitely try again… And it seemed Bonnie preferred pizza anyway!

Vanilla Ice Cream

Ingredients

• 1 eggs
• 3 Egg Yolks
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 1/2 cups whipping cream
• 2 cups half-and-half cream
• 2 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract

Instructions

1. Whisks eggs and place in a heavy saucepan.
2. Add in sugar, salt, whipping cream and half-and-half.
3.  Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture is thick enough to coat a metal spoon and reaches as close to 180 degrees F as possible.
4. Remove from the heat; cool quickly by setting pan in ice and stirring the mixture.
5. Cover and refrigerate overnight or freeze immediately.
6. When ready to make ice cream, pour custard and vanilla into the cylinder of an ice cream freezer.
7. Freeze according to the manufacturer’s directions.

BonBons

Ingredients

• 6 ounces of chocolate
• Ice Cream

Instructions

1. Place parchment paper on a cookie sheet
2. Scoop ice cream in to small round balls (I did them too big…)
3. Put them into the freezer so they set
4. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler
5. Remove from heat
6. Take sheet of ice cream scoops out of the fridge
7. Quickly use two forks to dip and full coat in chocolate
8. Return to fridge before it starts to melt

I had to re-temper the chocolate every two scoops or so but perhaps a heating pad or something would keep it warm.

I’ve never been much of a croissant fan. I felt it was an indulgence. Breakfast is the start of the day, the time to eat nutritious things like oatmeal, egg whites or yogurt. But the further I dive into pastry the more I’ve begun to understand the power of starting your day with something flaky on the outside, with a buttery dough in the inside. One is all you need, and it sets the day up for magic.

In Paris, I heard that Au Levin du Marais has the best croissant. I went on a Monday and it seems they were closed Monday for the Easter holiday and their regular days off are Tuesday and Wednesday. I refused to taste a croissant until I could have one of theirs. The only time I could go was after making a chocolate cake. I was stuffed, had just tried a Madeleine and to top it off, it was raining.

5 hours left in Paris and I hadn’t had a croissant. I powered through, walked in and 1 euro later, I took my taste. For a few brief seconds the rain went unnoticed and I continued to taste the croissant until it was completely devoured. The standard has been set. One day, I will make you and you will taste that yummy. 

Au Levain du Marais
28, Blvd Beaumarchais (11th)
Tél: 01 48 05 17 14
Métro: Bastille or Chemin Vert

My last day in Paris was very special. I took a class at Une Dimance à Paris, which is a chocolate concept shop  by Pierre Cluizel, the son of famed master chocolatier Michel Cluizel. I stumbled on it my second day in Paris, and asked about the shop. When they told me they had classes I inquired further. To my luck there was a class with room available learning to make, Le Fondant Tout chocolat, Tuile Cacao et sauce Chocolate Orange. I took a ton a photos, and have the recipe, which I am going to attempt to translate. 

Walking into the class it was a charming, spotless kitchen, two couples and boyish looking chef. I speak some French but I couldn’t understand a word. The Chef spoke so fast and with an accent, which made it completely hopeless. The other people in the class helped me translate a bit but I was definitely a dear in headlights. Each step the Chef demonstrated and we followed along and did it ourselves. First we made the cakes, and put them in the oven. Then we moved onto the sauce, which went into the fridge for a bit and finally the tuile or chocolate cracker type thing which was really a garnish. We were moving none stop through out the two hours class.

My favorite part was learning to plate the cakes. That’s something I haven’t had much practice with.  We worked so hard on the most delicious sauce and we only use a few drops for decoration. The American in me wanted to just dump the sauce over everything. Especially the special vanilla ice cream he brought out for us to plate with. I was told the vanilla ice cream is quite famous and it certainly tasted that way. I learned a bunch, had a great time and was really proud of what we made!

Tuile Dentelle (Chocolate Cracker)

Makes 5 or 6 Chocolate cakes

Ingredients

• 50 Grams White Sugar
• 50 Grams Light Brown Sugar
• 50 Grams Butter
• 15 Grams Cacao Powder
• 45 Grams white flour
• 50 Grams Jus D’Orange
• 1 Vanilla Bean

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 374 Degrees Fahrenheit
2. Place parchment paper on a large cookie sheet
3. Mix together flour and cacao powder, set aside
4. Melt butter
5. Add Sugars, Cacao, Vanilla to melted butter and stir
6. Slowly add in flour mixture
7. Once its a sticky texture spread a thin layer evenly on parchment paper
8. Bake for about 10 minutes (it bubbles a bit)
9. Take out and immediately cut into desired shapes (but peal shapes away when it cools)

Appareil Fondant (Chocolate Cake)

Ingredients

• 100 Grams Eggs
• 80 Grams Sugar
• 60 Grams Butter (melted)
• 65 Grams Dark Chocolate
• 27 Grams Flour

Instructions

1. Mix together Eggs and Sugar
2. In a pan on the stove melt together the butter and the chocolate
3. Let it cool slightly and then mix in eggs and sugar
4. Then add in flour
5. Put the mixture in a pastry bag
6. Place the rounds on a silicon baking mat, which is on a baking sheet
7. Place the sheet on a scale
8. Fill the rounds with 50 grams of mixture
9. Place a chocolate (fondant) in the mixture
10. Place another 30 grams of mixture on top
11. Repeat in the next rounds
12. Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 10 minutes (it will raise a bit and the top will be very slightly cracked. 

Chocolate Sauce

Ingredients

• 100 Grams Milk
• 1/2 zest of an orange
• 20 Grams Sugrar
• 30 Grams chocolate milk
• 45 grams dark chocolate

Instructions

1. Infuse the orange zest with the heated milk (do not boil)
2. Remove from heat and place in a bowl, cover and let it sit for 20 minutes
3. Mix the sugar with the milk and heat slightly, place over chocolate
4. Mix with an immersion blender, slowly
5. Place in the fridge
6. When its time to decorate, you may need to heat slightly (we used the microwave)

Walking through the 6th, I remembered that Gerard Mulot was not far.  I quickly consulted my map for the quickest route. As I approached, the smell was more than I could have event hoped. There’s nothing like that smell.

I went straight for the counter of macarons and asked for a small box with their favorite flavors and in the middle of assembling the box, he pulled out a strawberry one and said ‘pour vous’. I love that here, when ever I’ve been buying something and excited they’ve given me a bonus. Perhaps similar to the idea of a baker’s dozen. The taste went straight to my lip and it was as perfect as it could be.

Gerard Mulot (Macaron)
76 rue de Seine (6th)
Tél: 01 45 26 85 77
Closed Wednesday

After a long brunch at the (somewhat over rated) Cafe de Flor, I walked into what looked like a beautiful pasty shop and asked what their specialty was… They pointed me to Les Kouignettes. I’ve never had anything like that before and honestly it didn’t look like my thing. They were out on display but it was kept very cold. I thought that was very interesting how they did that. Anyway, I buy two and leave. My friend, Sean and I walk to the Jardin Luxembourg and there we take a bite. The taste of it just rushed over me. I’ve never had anything like it and it was just unbelievable. We oo’d and ahh’d over it for a bit. Definitely do not miss this! Later I showed a French friend and she told me it was voted best in Paris, ‘Meilleur Ouvrier de France’

Chocolaterie George Larnicol

132 Boulevard Saint-Germain, Paris
01 43 26 39 38

Yesterday I ventured across town to take a look at the covered food market Marches Des Enfant Rouges. On my way over I stumbled on to one of the places on my list, Jacque Genin. I went into what may have been the most beautifully groomed store. It felt like a top art gallery in Chelsea. The sales women were a bit intimidating but I asked to try one of each of the caramels. And David Lebovitz was right. Somehow they managed to put a lot of butter into each of these suckers. I want to learn to make these. I will learn to make these.

When I tasted one on the street, I had to stop walking for a minute and just let out a groan. Absolutely amazing. I didn’t try the chocolate but it looked pretty INSANE as well.

Jacques Genin - Caramels
133, rue de Turenne (3rd)
Tél: 01 45 77 29 01

I’m spending this week in Paris and eating all the fine treats they have to offer. I have been going off the link from David Lebovitz and he gives us some pretty good options. Its a bit old so I’ve tried some new things to.

The first thing I went to is the Gallery Gourmet which is the food shop in the Gallery Lafayette department store. Literally I got off the plane, put my bag down and walked over there. It happens to be by where I’m staying in the 8th but still.I had a Baguette Cereal, which was delicious and lasted to the next mornings breakfast. It was good but I wasn’t on the floor.

I tried to take photos but the guard gave me a problem.

Galley Lafayyette

(second floor if the first building)

40 Boulevard Haussmann

75009 Paris, France

+33 1 42 82 34 56

Well, I just liked saying this one. It sounds all fancy and I was definitely nervous to make it. But I found it really simple. The mint cream was a little to minty, but otherwise I didn’t make many changes. I found the recipe on Smitten Kitchen. I started using a kitchen scale with this recipe and I have to say, I’m obsessed. It makes life so much easier. It really is an essential tool. 

I also wish I brought my camera out, but I was so in the zone I probably wouldn’t have used it. I only took some photos with my iPhone at the end. Sorry for the quality.

I made some changes and needed 24 cupcakes - this was just enough for two muffin sheets.

Ingredients

Soufflé Cup-cake

• 340 grams bittersweet chocolate, chopped
• 12 tablespoons  (172 grams) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• Heaping 1/2 teaspoon (2 gram) espresso or instant coffee powder
• 6 large eggs, separated
• 12 tablespoons (194 grams) sugar, divided
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

White Chocolate Mint Cream

•  112 grams white chocolate, finely chopped
• 6 ounces heavy whipping cream
• 1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract

Instructions

Start with the White Chocolate Mint Cream

1. Place the white chocolate in a small bowl.
2. Bring the cream to a simmer, pour it over the chocolate and let it sit for a minute to melt the chocolate.
3.  Whisk well.
4. Add the peppermint extract and whisk again. (Be sure not to pour over the bowl, excess isn’t so great)
5. Lay a piece of plastic wrap on the surface of the cream. Chill until very cold, about two hours.

Cupcakes

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Line 9 standard-size (3-ounce) muffin cups with paper liners. (This is ESSENTIAL)
3. Stir chocolate, butter and espresso powder together in heavy medium saucepan over low heat mostly melted, then remove from the heat and whisk until it is fully melted and smooth.
4. Cool to lukewarm, stirring occasionally.
5. Using electric mixer  beat egg yolks and 3 tablespoons sugar in medium bowl until mixture is very thick.
6. Briefly beat lukewarm chocolate mixture, then vanilla extract, into yolk mixture.
7. With clean dry beaters, beat egg whites in another medium bowl until soft peaks form.
8. Gradually add remaining 3 tablespoons sugar and all of the salt, beating until medium-firm peaks form.
9. Fold whites into chocolate mixture in 3 additions.
10. Divide batter among prepared cups, filling each three-fourths of the way.
11. Bake cakes until tops are puffed and dry to the touch and a tester inserted into the centers comes out with some moist crumbs attached, about 15 to 20 minutes. You might see some cracks, which is fine.
12. Cool in pan on a cooling rack, where the cupcakes will almost immediately start to fall. According to Smitten Kitchen, its to make room for the cream.

Topping

1. Once cupcakes are completely cool, beat mint white chocolate cream with electric beaters until soft peaks form.
2. Remove cupcakes from pan, arrange on a platter.
3. Fill each sunken top with a healthy dollop of white chocolate mint cream. Top with shaved dark chocolate, if you’re feeling fancy. These should be served when complete.

PREP AHEAD: I did the cupcakes the day before, prepped the cream.Then when the meal was almost finished, I beat the cream and finished them off.

For a Passover cake this was incredibly fluffy but there wasn’t a wow factor. Out of all the desserts, this was my least favorite. I think it has potential and definitely want to play with the recipe.

This cake was also one of the harder ones to make and I didn’t realize the glaze took 2 hours. You can make this a day in advance but if I were to do this again, I’d make it first. I found the recipe on Bon Appetit.

• 7 large eggs, separated
• 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed
• 3 tablespoons grated orange peel
• 1/4 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
• 3/4 cup matzo cake meal
• 5 tablespoons potato starch

• 3/4 cup  unsalted butter (if you’re really kosher, use parve margerine)
• 1 1/2 pounds bittersweet chocolate, chopped
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed
• 3 tablespoons honey

Instructions

1. Position rack in center of oven and preheat oven to 350°F.
   
2. Line bottom of 10-inch-diameter springform pan with foil; brush foil with oil. Cut cardboard into 9-inch round. Wrap with foil.
3. Using electric mixer, beat egg whites and salt in large bowl until soft peaks form.
4. Gradually add 1/2 cup sugar and beat until stiff glossy peaks form.
   
5. In another large bowl, beat egg yolks, remaining 1/2 cup sugar, vegetable oil, orange juice concentrate, orange peel and lemon juice until blended.
6. Sift cake meal and potato starch over yolk mixture and beat at low speed just until blended. Gently fold whites into yolk mixture in 2 additions.
7. Transfer batter to prepared pan. Bake cake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 45 minutes.
8.  Cool cake in pan on rack. 

PREP: This can be done  one day in advance, wrapped and stored at room temperature

1. Melt butter in heavy large saucepan over low heat.
   
2. Add chocolate and stir until melted and smooth.
   
3. Mix in orange juice concentrate and honey.
   
4. Let cool until thickened but still spreadable, about 2 hours.

Construct Cake

1. Cut around pan sides to loosen cake. Release sides.
   
2. Cut cake in half horizontally, leaving cake bottom on pan bottom.
   
3. Place top half of cake, top side down, on foil-wrapped cardboard round.
   
4. Spread chocolate glaze over top.
   
5. Place bottom half of cake, pan side up, onto glaze.
   
6. Remove pan bottom; peel off foil.
   
7. Spread 1 cup chocolate glaze in thin layer over entire cake, anchoring crumbs.
8. Refrigerate cake 30 minutes.
9. Rewarm remaining chocolate glaze over very low heat until just pourable.
   
10. Place rack on baking sheet; place cake on rack.
    
11. Pour glaze over cake, coating entirely and smoothing sides with metal spatula. Chill cake on rack until glaze is firm.
    
12. Transfer to platter. 
13. Garnish cake with orange peel strip if desired.

PREP: This can be made up to three days in advance. Refrigerate and let stand for an hour before serving (or allow enough time for it to come to room temperature.

This recipe was really easy and quite good, though I did learn it is really important to wait for the chocolate to cool to room temperature before adding it to the egg whites or the macroons will be more like macarookies. That term was coined by my brother. I did have one batch come out pretty perfect. I’m not sure what possessed me to make the second batch at 10 PM. For some reason I was nervous there wouldn’t be enough dessert. 20 people, and there was enough sweets for 50 people.

I found the recipe on Epicurious and I only made slight variations. 

Ingredients

•  6 ounces of chopped dark chocolate
• 1/3 cups mini semisweet chocolate chips
• 2 large egg whites
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups sweetened flaked coconut

1. Preheat oven to 325°F.
2. Line 2 large rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper.
3. Place shredded chocolate in a double boiler or bowl over a pot of boiling water and melt chocolate. Whip chocolate until smooth, remove from heat.
4. Using electric mixer, beat egg whites and salt in medium bowl until soft peaks form.
5. Gradually add sugar, then vanilla, beating until whites are thick and glossy.
6. Fold in melted chocolate and coconut.
7. Then add remaining 1/3 cup chocolate chips. 
8. Drop batter by heaping teaspoonfuls onto prepared sheets, spacing 1 1/2 inches apart.
9. Bake cookies 10 minutes.
10. Reverse sheets.
11. Bake until tops are dry and cracked and tester inserted into centers comes out with moist crumbs attached, about 10 minutes longer.
12. Cool cookies on sheets on racks.
13. Store airtight at room temperature up to 2 days.

This is the third year I’ve made these and every time it gets the ‘Oh my god’ response from my grandmother and aunts. I originally found it on Smitten Kitchen but have made some changes over the years.

I didn’t take a picture of them alone but I did of the entire dessert spread with my iPhone, they are on the top right.

Ingredients:

• 2 3/4 cups walnut halves
• 3 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 1/2 cup plus 3 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 5 large egg whites, at room temperature
• 1 1/2  tablespoon pure vanilla extract

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350. Spread the walnut halves on a large  baking sheet and toast in the oven for about 9 minutes. They will get fragrant.
2. Let cool slightly, then transfer the walnut halves to a cutting board and coarsely chop them.
3. Position two racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and lower temperature to 320.
4.  Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicon mats. 
5. In a large bowl, whisk the confectioner’ sugar with the cocoa powder and salt followed by the chopped walnuts.
6. Beat on medium speed while adding the egg whites and vanilla extract and beat just until the batter is moistened - Be sure not to let the whites stiffen
7. Spoon onto the baking sheets in small mounds (it will melt a bit on the cookie sheet, and bake for 7 minutes.
8. Reverse baking sheets and bake for another 7 to 8 minutes. You’ll know its finished when the tops are glossy and lightly cracked.
9. Be sure to let cookies cool completely (slide parchment paper to racks)
10. Good for up to 3 days

Last night my mom had 20 people over her house for Passover Sedar. Family, Friends and Friends of Family all stopped in. I decided this year I was going to make a TON of dessert. 5 Different Recipes to be exact. I’m going to blog each recipe separately so its easier to find and work with them.

I’m going to start with this Strawberry tart because it was the biggest hit and definitely my favorite. I prepared the crust and the filling the day before and I assembled in the morning. I should have waited till just before the sedar to assemble as it got a little drippy, though I think that might have been a good thing, to make the crust more manageable. This was sweet, tart, savory.

I found the recipe on Bon Appetit and made just a few changes.

• 2 12-ounce baskets strawberries, stem removed, diced
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3 1/2 tablespoons Passover brandy
• 1 1/2 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• Pinch of ground cloves

• Matzo cake meal
• 2 cups husked toasted hazelnuts - I roasted and removed the skin, and added a little extra salt.
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• Pinch of ground cloves
• 1 large egg
• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
• 3 1-pint baskets strawberries, stems removed, thinly sliced

• Combine all ingredients in heavy large skillet.
  
• Stir over high heat until sugar dissolves and mixture comes to boil.
  
• Boil until very thick, stirring frequently, about 18 minutes. Cool in pan. Transfer to small bowl, cover and refrigerate. Good for up to two days
  

• Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350°F.
• Line 11-inch tart pan with removable bottom with heavy-duty foil, pressing firmly into scalloped sides of pan. Grease foil and dust with matzo cake meal.
  
• Finely grind nuts, sugar, salt and cloves in processor.
  
• Add egg and extract and process until mixture just holds together. Reserve 1/2 cup dough for another use. Using moistened fingertips, press remaining dough onto bottom and up sides of prepared pan. (I also dipped my hands in matza meal which helped with the stickiness.)
  
• Bake until crust is golden, crinkled and feels dry, about 13 minutes.
•  Cool crust completely in pan on rack. Remove tart pan sides. Carefully peel foil off crust. Return crust to pan. Wrap tightly and store at room temperature. Good for one day
  
• Spread filling over crust. Starting at edge of tart, cover tart with berry slices in overlapping concentric circles, with first circle leaning against crust edge. Can be prepared 3 hours ahead. Chill.
• Remove tart from pan. Cut into wedges and serve.

I feel like I’m still just in practice mode before I really get serious about being learning pastry. And as I get more serious about this blog, I’m thinking of adding in a lot more types of posts from inspirations to equipment, not to mention everything I’m learning about the world of pastry.

But some days I’ll just want to throw an extra recipe together. Especially when I was on a roll for that Arty Party. I looked in the fridge and saw Blueberries and Lemon and thought, why not, this shouldn’t be too hard. And it wasn’t. Though I’d definitely categorize this a breakfast bread. It’s pretty sweet.

And being that passover is starting tonight at sundown, one last quick bread, might not be such a bad idea!

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter,  room temperature
• 3/4 cup granulated white sugar 
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon grated lemon zest
  
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 cup fresh blueberries

Lemon Glaze

• 1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated white sugar
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) and place the oven rack in the center of the oven.
   
2. Butter the bottom and sides of a loaf pan (9 x 5 x 3 inch) 
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.
4. In the bowl beat the butter until softened (about 1 minute).
5. Add the sugar and continue to beat until light and fluffy.
6. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
   
7. Beat in the vanilla extract and lemon zest.
   
8. With the mixer on low, add the flour mixture (in three additions) and milk (in two additions) alternately, starting and ending with the flour. Mix only until combined.
   
9. Gently fold in the blueberries.
10. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 55 to 65 minutes, or until the bread is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
11. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, bring the 1/4 cup of sugar and the 2 tablespoons of lemon juice to a boil, stirring until the sugar dissolves.
12. When the bread is done, remove from oven and place on a wire rack.
    
13. Pierce the hot loaf all over with a wooden skewer or toothpick and then brush the top of the loaf with the hot lemon glaze.
    
14. Cool the loaf in the pan for about 30 minutes then remove from pan and let cool completely on a wire rack.
    

In my opinion, this carrot cake is probably the most amazing cake for a birthday. Some find the icing a little two sweet, but it’s cream cheese frosting. So yeah, its going to be sweet. I made this as part of Phil’s Arty Bday Party. He was celebrating it with Anaelle. You’ll notice an extra ‘N’ on the cake. She was polite enough to not mention anything but I was really upset when I realized my mistake. Otherwise, the cake was really well received.

Ingredients

Cake:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 3 large eggs
• 2 cups sugar
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups grated carrot
• 1 (8-ounce) can crushed pineapple, drained
• 1 (3 1/2-ounce) can flaked coconut

Glaze:

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 tablespoon light corn syrup
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Frosting:

• 3/4 cup butter or margarine, softened
• 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1 (3-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 3 cups sifted powdered sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Instructions

1. Line 3 (9-inch) round cake pans with wax paper; lightly grease and flour wax paper. Set pans aside.
2. Stir together Flour, Baking Soda, Salt and Cinnamon 
3. Beat eggs, butter milk, Vegetable Oil, Vanilla and sugar at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth.
4. Add flour mixture, beating at low speed until blended.
5. Fold in carrot, and Coconut.
6. Pour batter into prepared cake pans.
7. Bake at 350° for 25 to 30 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. 
8. Upon taking out of the oven, bring sugar, baking soda, buttermilk, butter, and corn syrup to a boil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat.
9. Boil, stirring often, 4 minutes.
10. Remove from heat, and stir in vanilla.
11. Drizzle Buttermilk Glaze evenly over layers; cool in pans on wire racks 15 minutes.
12. Remove from pans, and cool completely on wire racks.
13. Once cakes are cool, beat butter and cream cheese at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy.
14. Add powdered sugar and vanilla; beat until smooth.
15. Spread Cream Cheese Frosting between layers and on top and sides of cake.

My friend Phil had what he deemed, an ‘Arty Farty Bday Party’ full of friends, amateur painting and food. Phil sent me the link to some mini tarts and asked if I could make them. I liked the filling ideas but didn’t have little tart pans or foils so I decided to do all three as full sized tarts. Two of them were really good, one was a a little undercooked (The goat cheese just didn’t work). I also made the birthday cake but that’s another post later this week.

Ingredients:

Crust (for three 9inch):

• *3 3/4 Cup Flour
• *4 tablespoon Corn Starch
• *3/4 teaspoon Salt
• *18 tablespoons Butter Diced

Filling:

Haricots Vert Goat cheese

• 18 haricots verts, trimmed and cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces
• 18 grape or cherry tomatoes, halved
• 6 (1/4-inch-thick) rounds soft mild goat cheese (from a small log)
• 2 teaspoons finely chopped chives

For crab:

• 2 finely chopped large shallots
• 1 1/2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
• 1/2 cup bread cubes
• 3/4 cup jumbo lump crabmeat (2 oz), picked over
• 1 1/2 teaspoons finely chopped tarragon
• 1/4 teaspoon grated lemon zest
• 2 pinches cayenne

• 3 scallions, thinly sliced
• 1/2 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/2 cup thawed frozen baby peas
• 5 thin slices pancetta

Filling for all  3 tarts:

• 1 cup butter cream
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 5 whole large eggs
• 2 large egg yolk

Crust

1. 1. In a large bowl, combine the flour, cornstarch and one-fourth teaspoon salt.
2. 2. Cut the butter until it is in very tiny bits.
3. 3. Add one egg and mix with a fork until a dough forms. (I usually use my hands until the dough forms.
4. 4. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to a 12-inch circle.
5. 5. Place the dough in a 9-inch pie plate or tart pan and press to remove any air bubbles. Crimp the edges
6. 6. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. No parbaking required.

goat cheese and tomato

1. 1. Cook haricots verts in salted boiling water until crisp-tender, about 3 minutes.
2. 2. Drain and place in shell with tomatoes
3. 3. Top with a round of cheese.

Crab and tarragon tarts:

1. 1. Cook shallot in 1/2 tablespoon oil in a small skillet over medium heat until softened, about 1 minute.
2. 2. Transfer to a small bowl. Heat remaining tablespoon oil in skillet over medium heat, then cook bread, stirring, until golden.
3. 3. Toss croutons with shallot and place in tart shell.
4. 4. Toss crab with tarragon, zest, and cayenne and add to the shell.

Pea, scallion, and pancetta tarts:

1. 1. Cook scallions in oil in cleaned small skillet over medium heat until softened, about 1 minute.
2. 2. Stir in peas and warm through, then place in tart shell.
3. 3. Add pancetta to skillet and cook, turning once, until just crisp. chop and place in tart shell.

Make filling and bake tarts:

1. 1. Whisk together filling ingredients with 3/4 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper.
2. 2. Divide among shells. Sprinkle chives over goat cheese tarts and top pea tarts with pancetta.
3. 3. Bake tarts on baking sheets until custard is just set, about 25 minutes. Cool slightly.