Tip of the Taste Bud

Maa Maa Mack Meep

2011-01-08T11:27:00.000-08:00

Have you any Maamoul?

These cookies are pretty fun to make, especially if you have pastry tweezers. I don't have pastry tweezers.

The recipe hails from the book what's cooking Jewish by Elizabeth Wolf-Cohen, and is a simple one. It's a Sephardic recipe, and the most refined version of these cookies is found in Morocco. Fillings can be date (seen here) or walnuts and pistachios.

You'll need:
6 oz/175g flour
2 tbsp sugar
3 oz/85 g unsalted butter
1 tbsp rosewater (or orange flowerwater)
2-3 tbsp milk
powdered sugar

2/3 c pitted dried dates, chopped
102 tsp more of rosewater (or orange flowerwater)

Preheat your oven to 325F, and grease a baking sheet.

With a food processor, combine rosewater and dates til smooth, adding a tbsp or two of boiling water if necessary. Set aside to cool. I let my filling stay a little too lumpy.

Now, sift flour into a large bowl and stir in the sugar. Cut in the butter, til *~FINE CRUMBS~*. Sprinkle over rosewater and 2 tbsp milk. Mix gently==> soft dough. Add more milk if necessary. Make a large ball, and pinch off pieces to shape 1 inch balls.

Press into the center of a ball, and rotate your finger to create a well. Add some filling, and pinch the edges of the dough together to seal it up.

Arrange all the cookies on the sheet 1 inch apart, seam-side down. Press balls into long leafy shapes, and use tweezers to pinch the tops 3 times (or craftily use two knives to do the same). Bake 20-25 minutes (until just set. Must remain pale!)

Let cool 10 min ==> sprinkle with powdered sugar ==>let cool completely ==>sprinkle once more.

I skipped the powdered sugar alltogether and still enjoyed my cookie experience.

-Anna

This raspberry walks into a bar..

2011-01-04T17:32:00.000-08:00

I loved that Trader Joe's creativity so much.

So anyways. I've been meaning to bake with raspberries. I wanted to make muffins, but alas, the muffin forms were nowhere to be found. After a wild sort of a recipe hunt, I settled on oatmeal raspberry bars (RECIPE). Hot damn! I don't even like bars that are not lemon. And I especially don't like oatmeal. But this feels like the best dessert I've ever made. The crunchity-flaky exterior makes the edge pieces extra grand.

Mostly, I stuck to the recipe. I used a bit more salt. And I forgot to butter the 8inch pan before putting the buttered aluminum foil on it. Big whoop.

Biggest difference: I made my own filling. I took about a carton and a half of fresh raspberries and tossed them in a wide pan that had a bit of boiling water and a heaping tbsp-ful of honey in it. I boiled away most of the water, and was left with the most beautifully red and tangy "jam."

-Anna

Thanksgiving Lingerings

2010-12-28T08:58:00.000-08:00

First, we have what may be my favorite dish of all time:

Sweet potato, kale, and sausage
RECIPE
Mostly, I stayed true to it. Of course, I used a nommy tofurky sausage (polish kielbasa, if i'm not mistaken)
I cannot emphasize enough how best this recipe is. I mean you sizzle in mustard! I can't even handle the memory of this flavor.

And my own little cranberry upside down cake. Yes, Amanda, you may be onto something. There is something off about the phrase, making you feel like you've been smacked around a bit, without knowing exactly what part of you got smacked. It happens. RECIPE

I slaughtered a pumpkin that day, and had lots left over, so I made a sugary puree, and put a layer of that between the cranberries and the cake. Therefore, they stuck to the bottom of the form. Therefore, I got to shape the topping on myself! Mush smoooshy moosh. Yum. I've made the recipe a few times. Lusciously buttery taste. The upside-downity remains quite intact when done correctly.
-Anna

AND BAM WE'RE BACK

2010-12-27T22:59:00.000-08:00

So, I don't like the idea of an "upside down" cake. If you're making the cake, whatever side is showing is the right side, kay. So despite Nigella's lovely intentions she named the recipe I made cranberry upside down cake. But that's wrong. So I'm calling what I made cranberry cardamom bomb cake, for obvious reasons. I also mixed it up with the batter recipe, used a little less sugar, subbed half the butter for apple sauce, dialed down the milk to accommodate for the more liquidy apple sauce and added a good douse of cardamom. omomomomom
-Amanda

Twix > Kit Kat

2010-10-01T19:55:00.000-07:00

Baking instead of studying for a Hebrew quiz is always a good idea.

It's okay though since I can spell cake in Hebrew, not that these are cake, but close enough.

Take this add 12 ounce bag semi-sweet chocolate chips, king size twix, and king size kit kat. I winged it on the sugar, they were probably too sugar-y.
I'm very okay with that.
-Amanda

Sandwich!

2010-08-28T22:06:00.001-07:00

Cheese meets English Muffin meets Onion meets Rosemary meets Pear meets Spinach

My first sandwich here! I remember someone telling me a really bad joke about sandwich in third grade. Something about a witch. Actually I don't think 3rd humor was at this level yet, but I just thought maybe it was about a beach-y witch. Ahah, get it?

Kay, anyhow. I got this idea from here . Except regular onion instead of red. Pear was not ripe, sad story and not grilled, which would have been better. The laughing cow cheese is bomb. I most definitely recommend.

Eat this like this .

-Amanda

The Chard Didn't Char, Wilted Instead!

2010-08-25T00:08:00.000-07:00

I couldn't find rainbow, but this chard was red and it worked. Except it wilted quick. I got it on Friday I think, so I probably should have used it sooner than today. It's alright. This smells good and you get to use stems!

It's all from this prettiness.

I left out the thyme and used extra rosemary instead, very good. Maybe one less egg?

This is what you'll be saying to them stems.

-Amanda

Tahini Brownies

2010-08-24T11:13:00.000-07:00

Do you ever have dreams of chocolate halvah but fluffy? I do.

Here it is. From here.

They'll be going like ...

The end.

-Amanda

Crack Pie!

2010-08-21T16:39:00.000-07:00

I did it! It's good. It should have cooked more but that's okay. Not too hard. Got to pull out food processor. Would have benefited from the addition of some rum or something else fun. Imperfect rhyme?

Thank you L.A. Times, where you slump in theatre reviews, you make up for it in providing me recipes.

This fits .

-Amanda

Return of the Muffin

2010-08-21T16:12:00.000-07:00

Apple Bran and Oat Muffins
These are fallish. They have bran, but don't really taste like it. They called for raisins, but I'm not a big raisin fan so I replaced the raisin with a chopped up granny smith. Sadistic?

I went here and adapted.
France would have probably had a muffin deficit. So yay! I like muffins.
-Amanda

Naked Cake: Tres Leches

2010-08-11T15:26:00.000-07:00

Tres Leches is supposed to have whipped cream on top.
I'm not supposed to gawk at my RSS feed while making whipped cream, because whipped cream turns into butter, which with sugar and vanilla is really nasty.

Anyhow this cake was kind of bomb anyway so it's okay. Especially since I used kirsch instead of regular brandy (and too much of it).

Also, I put blueberries on top but only to distract from lack of whipped cream. Make this: time consuming, but not too much effort.
Credits to here.

(switched shot)Changeling?

-Amanda

Cupcakes or Beef Stroganoff?

2010-08-05T10:59:00.000-07:00

The man at the counter guessed the latter, when confronted with my purchases of a few last ingredients. I understand him--I don't instantly think of cupcakes when I see heavy cream and sour cream, and nothing else.

This is what they were actually for!

I'm so glad I had an urge to make traditional cupcakes. It's fantastic. This blog's photo brought something out of me. I want to use the word nostalgic, because of Mad Men, and I'm close, but I can't. Maybe if my mom made me cupcakes as a child or something. Nostalgic for my food-making childhood? Ok I can buy that! I will! Nostalgic :)

I didn't like buying sour cream, and I hated putting it in my cupcakes. It wasn't yogurt! But I think if I thought about it less, the taste wouldn't have bothered me. These were so moist and delicious. The dough is usually never perfect! It was lightly goldened, up and rounded, delicate, cohesive, filling, scrumptious. The topping was the part that drew fans, but that's the easy part, so it's never the part I focus on.

Oh, and the batter tasted just like cream cheese frosting.

I followed the recipe all the way home, but I did use a bit less cream (237ml) and a few ounces less of chocolate. Oh I also did the chocolate-melting in a double boiler.

I want one more! But it's on to bavarian sugar cookies for me now.

-Anna

Vinaigrettik with a pickle!

2010-08-01T19:40:00.001-07:00

Salat Vinaigrette-- something I was very skeptical of as a child. I did not like beets. They were red and squirmy!

But then I grew up, and now, here I am, recreating recipes from memory (and a few google searches just to make sure I had the basics down).

Let me break it down for you:

4 small beets
4 small potatoes (I think I had yukon gold? They were buttery and sweet and delicious.)
1 pickle (I used a persian cucumber I pickled myself. See recipe below)
1/2 med red onion
approx 1 tbsp olive oil
approx 1/2 tbsp chopped dill

Steam your beets and potatoes. Dice them up into semi-small pieces. Usually smaller is better, but it depends on your ~~liking~~ level of laziness.
Toss them into a bowl.
Add in diced pickle.
Dice the onion, and throw that in.
Add the olive oil and chopped dill, and mix everything together gently. It will all be pink! This includes your hands, if that's what you like to mix gently with. Be careful not to mush when you mix.

Pickles! (And pickled tomatoes!)

These were so unbelievably easy. Everything is surprising me so well!

I based my attempt on this

What I used:
6tbsp apple cider vinegar (as per my friend Maddy's recommendation)
3c water
3tbsp salt
many cloves of garlic
lots of fresh dill
tomatoes and cucumbers

Dissolve together the water, vinegar, and salt. Then throw in the dill and garlic. Then lower in your tomatoes. Splish splash. After a few days in the refrigerator, taste one! You will note that the tomatoes have cracks in them. Gorgeous. I can't imagine anything more beautiful, frankly. But beware--they spurt! All over your keyboard, in fact.

Then, when the brine is tomato-free, you can slice up some cucumbers and throw them in to pickle. A few days later, you have perfect Vinaigrette-making material.

I really liked the apple cider vinegar note of the pickles when in the Vinaigrette. The salad is a bit sweet because of the beets, so my sweeter potatoes and pickles seemed to mesh really well. I don't want to toot my own horn, but that may have been my favorite Salat Vinaigrette, of ever. That may also be because I haven't had any in a long time..

Maybe someday soon I'll make Salat Olivier for you too!

Til then, byebye

-Anna

Bananas 4 this frozen treat

2010-07-23T15:35:00.000-07:00

Yumumum.

Roast some bananas (I used 4 smallish ones) for thirty minutes in the oven. They should be cut into bananaslices, and placed on parchment paper. The oven should already be 400F by they time they hop on in there.

Then let them cool, pop them in the freezer, and blend them when frozen! Eat them right away. It's a very filling snack, so share with friends.

See here for the origin of this wonder.
-Anna

Underwhelmed

2010-07-23T10:32:00.000-07:00

These aren't my favorites. They were supposed to be great. I took the good bran muffin from before and then swapped greek yogurt for the milk and added a bit of ground almonds and peaches instead of raisins.

Maybe pumpkin pie spice would have made it better. Or almond extract.

I used this recipe .

You know I used a bit more greek yogurt and only 1/2 c. of applesauce for the muffins. Maybe that killed it?

Also maybe frozen peaches are just dumb.
-Amanda

Bake Vs. Gratin

2010-07-21T18:37:00.000-07:00

I say bake. This seems simple but actually takes quite a bit of leg work. Got it from here.

Swapped the rice for barley, just cause. Didn't feel like buying rosemary, so that go nixed. I must say I do like the idea of using the chard stalks.

Impressive NY Times. I clap for you. Just a little bit.

-Amanda

Boil, Barley, Boom!

2010-07-21T10:16:00.000-07:00

This is really simple and made up. Boil water, rinse barley, put barley in water. For about a 1/2 c. of barley in 2 cups of water that took like 35 minutes. Then chop some carrots, de-stem some spinach, chop some scallions, take the leaves off some thyme and sauté with salt and pepper and a little white cooking wine. Add barley and some grated gouda.

And Bam!

-Amanda

A Brownie Comparison

2010-07-16T17:12:00.000-07:00

I tried making brownies once. I failed miserably, but that's all right.

The image above is not a picture of my failure, but it is a funny picture. It's of the second type of brownie being compared here today.

So I met this girl, and she's not on good terms with gluten. That was all the impetus I needed for the first brownie.

Gluten-free Almond Chocolate Brownies!

Thoughts: Very VERY moist. Soggy. If you like fudgier brownies, it'll work out well for your mouth. I liked the taste a lot. I could only eat teeny tiny bits though--pretty sweet and filling.

link to recipe

I tried sub'ing agar flakes for xanthan gum (i read it online somewhere, but i think it was a silly attempt.) My friend at trader joe's led me to the gum section near the registers when I asked for xanthan. Maybe next time!

I didn't have--or want to buy--rice flour, so I made some almond meal and used that instead. So much almond! I also used all of the zest of my orange, so it was just jam-packed with flavor.

This second kind has its fair share of flour.

link to recipe I think I used

I remember so little about this. I was in a frenzied state, cramming carboxylic acids and their derivatives into the corners of my brain for the text the following day. Brownies needed to happen. I'm glad they did--they served me well that week. I'm realizing more and more how important it is for me to have something to tea with regularly.

-Anna

I Made a Recipe!

2010-07-15T11:14:00.000-07:00

Whole Wheat Penne with Kale, Onion, Thyme
I found a recipe it called for chard. I used kale. It called for feta. I was going to use goat cheese, but then I decided I didn't feel like opening the container. Then I was going to use a combination of ricotta and not fresh Parmesan. The ricotta had expired over a week before, so it was only Parmesan. It called for red onion sauteed in olive oil. I broke our olive oil container last week and only had a white onion, so I sauteed it in vegetable oil. It called for pine nuts. Pine nuts are expensive, so no. It called for oregano, no oregano, so I used thyme. It called for tomato sauce or canned tomatoes, I'm not a fan and didn't feel like opening up a container regardless.

I think this means I made a new recipe(!) So first chop an onion. Sauté it in a tablespoon of oil. It'll cook so fast if it's vegetable and not olive! While this happening heat up a pot of water to cook the pasta. Once the water is ready put in about 4 or 5 handfuls of whole wheat penne. It usually takes like 15 minutes or so to cook fully. While the water is heating/pasta is cooking take a bunch of kale and tear the good leaves off the stalks into bite-size pieces. Gradually add the kale to the onion pan and make sure the heat is pretty low, say simmer. As the vegetables are cooking add some from thyme and salt and pepper. Stir until the kale is nearly soft, but still bright green. Mix together in a bowl with the cooked pasta and add however much Parmesan you like.

It's real.

-Amanda

The First Lemon Bar Post?

2010-07-14T19:57:00.001-07:00

Can it be?

I feel like lemon bars are what I crave making/end up making most often, when I don't have a recipe I specifically shop for. It's usually honey lavender, but these here are going to be nice plain ones. With a guest photo by pro photographer Angela Char.

I used less sugar; still too sweet. This is becoming a recurring problem for me!

When you cut into bars while hot.

When you cut into bars once cool.

And for the grand finale:

Angela's magic.

Recipe: Not sure. It was plain! We googled lemon bars! Maybe you remember, Amanda?

I think powdered sugar all over lemon bars is just frivolous. They are brilliant nude.
-Anna

Brown Sugar Cardamom Friends

2010-07-13T08:01:00.000-07:00

Nothing makes you feel a rumble in your tummy quite like the sight of a forest creature.

The recipe was quite simple. All you need is butter, flour, brown sugar, and cardamom. What could be simpler?

I would definitely add more cardamom.

I also topped the cookies with turbinado instead of more brown sugar. Shiny!

Farewell, Mr. Moose!

Recipe: here
Forest creatures: Hiding in the forest, and in ikea cookie cutters.

-Anna

Edit: I forgot my favorite photo!

Me and the cookie, drinkin that earl grey.

Because it's my birthday in 1 minute.

2010-07-12T23:59:00.000-07:00

Song first: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONd4qSs5B5k

I'm going to post a post about something that adds limitless happiness to my smile spot.

Red currant.

The best part of dealing with gloomy Berkeley summer is the red currant.

=)
-Anna

Pahsta

2010-07-12T16:03:00.000-07:00

Whole Wheat Penne with Caramelized Onions, Cauliflower, and Thyme
Julie Delpy is my favorite person to hear pronounce "pasta." Just watch the first few minutes of Two Days in Paris and you'll understand.

In most cases I hate pasta. Spaghetti is the main offender. But sometimes I make friends. Especially with a non-tomato sauce recipe.

This is a pretty easy recipe. I mean the onions will make you cry and you will burn yourself separating the cauliflower, but it's still worth it. I say use more onion and I doubled both the portions of onion and onion. Also you have to use red onion over white.

The rest is all here.

Oh and no one needs parsley, period.
-Amanda

Soul and Sumac

2010-07-11T12:35:00.000-07:00

Mercimak Cabosi. Turkish Red Lentil Soup. The fluffiest, earthiest soup I've ever slurped out of a mug on a gloomy pre-midterm Sunday. The toasty flavoring was brought out really well before any water even hit the lentils.

recipe, :
http://www.ecurry.com/blog/soups-and-salads/turkish-red-lentil-soup-with-sumac/

Changes: I left out hot pepper flakes and mint, didn't add carrots, used water, not stock.
I used a medium-sized tomato, cubed, instead of tomato paste. I recommend it.
I also added juice from half of a little lemon. Mmmm.

I thought I would have a problem with not adding salt or pepper, but this is not the case! I love this soup! I'm going to send my mom the recipe.

Special hint: Make it when you're ready to serve to mouths. Don't hold it for a week, days, or even half a day. It gets goopy and discolored, and loses some roasted flavor.

I'm probably not going to start posting songs with every recipe like Amanda does (I can see myself getting frustrated if I can't find something), but because I'm obsessed with this S. Maharba video, and it fits my mood, I'll post: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHh76JY9_jA .

-Anna

I like Molasses!

2010-07-11T11:01:00.000-07:00

But these aren't my favorite brans. See "muffin in the rough," ça c'est très bien. Cette recette a été au dessous de mes attentes.

Cependant, c'est bon.

I got it from this book from the seventies (like everything else in my parent's kitchen) called Laurel's Kitchen.

Her recipe is for apple bran muffins, but we didn't have apples, so I used strawberries and blueberries instead.

She recommends eating these muffins with cheddar.
I say no.

Recipe: Bran Muffins
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups wheat bran
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1 TBS grated orange rind
1 cup apple ( I subbed blueberries and strawberries)
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup chopped nuts/seeds ( I left out.)
juice of one orange
scant 2 cups clabbered milk!
1 egg
1/2 cup molasses
2 TBS oil

1. Preheat to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Mix flour, bran, salt, soda, and nutmeg together. Stir in rind, fruit, and nuts if using.
2. Pour juice of orange into a 2 cup measure, fill the rest up with the clabbered milk. Add to egg, molasses, and oil and stir it all together a lot.
3. Combine, but not too much.
Bake for 25 minutes.
Should make about 2 dozen small muffins

This is what I do.

-Amanda

Tofu Tumble

2010-07-08T00:07:00.000-07:00

This recipe really endears itself to titles. So that's what this post will be.
Pistachio Flavored Anger Management.
Fennel FT(RAW)W
Good morning Masala
Don't Cry Over thinly chopped onions.
Don't Cry Over spilled mint!
Cilantro is for sissies, try mint instead!

Courtesy of here.

This is dish is to scrambled eggs like this song is to A Milli.
-Amanda

Muffin in the Rough

2010-07-04T10:34:00.000-07:00

Muffin went for a hike and found a maze. Actually there were two kinds of muffins. Muffins with just raisins (à la recette) and muffins with goozed banana, blueberry, raspberry, and strawberry.

These are moist and the best bran so far. And they're rugged!

-Amanda

The End of Canned Beans

2010-07-03T23:56:00.000-07:00

I used canned. Don't. Skip the walnuts. Obviously.

Oh and I forgot the Parmesan. Silly.
-Amanda

To Start July Off Right

2010-07-01T20:49:00.000-07:00

Mushroom Ricotta Orzo !

Baked :)

Bad news: I ate it too quickly to take a photo.

The beauty of going home for the weekend is that I have no choice but to use up goods before I leave.

Boil somewhere from 1/2 to 1 cup of whole wheat orzo for 8ish minutes (al dente). Simultaneously, chop up about 3 cups of mushrooms into little uneven bits, and add them to a frying pan which already has some minced garlic (I used 5-7 cloves) fusing with some olive oil. I let it brown the slightest bit before adding the mushrooms. Oh right! The mushrooms had some fresh thyme in them, and while they were on the frying pan, I added salt, pepper, and half a lemon's-worth of juice. You let that stew in it's juices for a while (10 minutes? Maybe less. Until you get impatient. At that point you scoop half of the mushroom mixture into an oven dish (8 inches by 4 inches, somewhere there). Pile the orzo on top of that. Spread 1/2 pound lowfat ricotta over that (this was VERY difficult. Fingers were involved). Then top it off with the rest of the mushroom. Pop it in the 400F oven, take it out when your house smells good. Gahhhrlic. Have I already recounted my tale of the visit to the Garlic Shoppe? Awful. Don't ever, and I mean EVER, put garlic ice cream in your mouth. Not worth it. The taste will not leave. Noo it's back. Sorry, I have to leave and go ingest antigarlic now. And also check on the oven.

TL;DR put shit in the oven, don't follow my recipes unless you want to get lost.

-Anna

Don't Burn the Nuts!

2010-07-01T11:24:00.000-07:00

That's what I did. Not pretty, but still yummy. I left out the green onions and dried cranberries recommended in this recipe. The green onions because ours had gone bad and the cranberries just because I'm not a fan.

Also I would have used less feta. But yummy dressing. I didn't feel like getting my hands garlic-y smelling so I just used a nice dose of garlic salt instead.

I've been waiting so long for this.

-Amanda

Remembering our Fs: Frittata!

2010-06-30T12:46:00.000-07:00

We made a pledge in the beginning to make F foods and this is our first frittata! It has eggs, ricotta, mint, garlic, and I added some mushrooms just for texture. I used this guy.

To be honest I think he could have benefited from some Parmesan, but who knows. Also better cold strangely.

-Amanda

Rose Water Madeleines FTW

2010-06-29T22:20:00.000-07:00

I did two batches of these so far. Batch 2 was more successful, but I'm holding out for something better. These are from Nigella's How to Be a Domestic Goddess, and I think to be a domestic goddess, one needs to learn how to not overbake his/her madeleines.

The picture she has is so powdery and angelic, she also called them rosebud madeleines. Maybe that has something to do with it.

It's a vase, get it?

And, obviously. Maybe it might improve the way I look at these buds? (I think I just triple entendre-ed myself.)
-Amanda

A Moveable Muffin Part 1

2010-06-27T09:07:00.000-07:00

Muffin went for a walk this morning! Almost got hit by a car but successfully dogdged the oncoming traffic.

I think it was the sprinkling of pumpkin pie spice that did it.

I also interchanged greek yogurt for the milk and only 1 tablespoon of oil in this . recipe/

And I added cherries too. These have honey and are a bit kiddish in the bran muffin taste department so this is good for them.

-Amanda

The Manouche is in the Oven!

2010-06-26T19:35:00.001-07:00

Manouche manouche manouche manouche

For a Lebanese breakfast pizza, it sure makes my articulators happy.

I wanted to try the 'new' place a block away from my house, so I went with my mom, our friend Richard, and Amanda and her daddy. It was a sort of a goodbye dinner, before I went back up for summer school. I could not settle on a single item, then Amanda pointed to the Manouche, which had a little note next to it: "Brain Booster!"

We laughed.

Then I ordered it.

And was not at all disappointed :)

Theirs was greener though, so I wonder if I did something wrong. I definitely strayed from the recipe.

I like manouche a LOT MORE with yogurt and tomato on top. Moisture is key.

linkity link
-Anna

Salad in the Grass

2010-06-25T10:23:00.000-07:00

I wish these, the fruit, had grill marks.

This called for peaches, but some of my peaches are mushy so I used cheap mangoes from Jons.

Anna introduced me to Jons. It's a lovely adventure. They have rosewater and halvah and cheap mangoes and cheap lavash and cheap tahini.
Magic, except their spinach isn't bomb, but that's okay.

I roughly copied this except: mango instead of some of the peach and spinach instead of lettuce.

Good flavor party in your mouth. Be reserved with your feta use.
I think it's the grass.

-Amanda

Too Much Good Stuff

2010-06-24T21:26:00.000-07:00

These muffins right here, what do you suppose they're made of? Flour, butter, sugar, maybe? With a few poppyseeds mixed in?

Nnnope!

Spoiler alert: recipe

If you want the story to unravel before your eyes, read on.

So once upon a time, there was a girl. She used to eat lots of poppyseed cakes as a child, because her daddy bought them at the Stolichnaya on Fairfax and Santa Monica. So she went to Berkeley Bowl and saw heaps of her favorite little seed, scooped them up into a hefty plastic bag, and tucked them away into her shopping cart. They sat in her cabinet, nestled between a bag of walnut pieces her grandma sent her, and a half-eaten emergency bag of chocolate chips.

Then one day everything changed. She came home after a month away (at her real home) and this bag of poppyseed went squish squish when she went digging through her cabinets. MUFFINSSSS.

Actually that was a lie. This girl just wanted lemon bars. But she ran out of powdered sugar. Fortunately, she later realized that she could make powdered sugar with her new mortar and pestle when (not really) making lemon glaze.

The poppyseed lemon muffins were a suggested link on the website with the lemon bar recipe. But it was not a satisfying recipe, so the girl scoured the web for something butterfree (shoutout to pokemon. not really. shoutout to buttersafe.com. so much funny!). THEN SHE FOUND a recipe. That she could use.

This story has lots of wholes in it and is not very professional.

Same with these muffins:

I used somewhere between 3/4c and 1c honey, 1/3c olive oil, 1-1/4c nonfat milk, 3 eggs, 2-1/4c whole wheat flour, 3-1/2 tsp baking powder, a tsp of sea salt, zest from one lemon, and a heaping 1/4c of poppy seeds.

I mixed the flour, baking powder, and salt, and then poured in a whisked mixture of honey, olive oil, milk, zest, and egg. It took a while to integrate the honey well, but it was worth it. It's all just preparation for the day you'll need to whip cream by hand.

I then mixed in poppy seeds, and poured the batter into (lined) cupcake and muffin tins. I baked at a preheated 400F oven, for approximately 20 minutes. Probably a little less. Toothpicks come out clean, it's nice. Voila

(see I know French too)

The most important point here is that poppy seeds are a Miracle! No they are not from papaver somniferum, which oozes when you slit it during growth, and morphines your soul. But Morpheus didn't forget about us normal-poppy eaters. He made sure that if you combine honey and poppy seed, you grow strong and mentally sound. If you're sleepy, you just eat some ground up poppy seed and away you go. Honestly, any problems you have, poppy seeds will fix them.

-Anna

Deadly Decadence

2010-06-23T21:46:00.000-07:00

I made this for father's day. I didn't let it bake long enough/cool long enough or both so it was like lava when we cut into it.

So be careful. I didn't make the compote since it's not blood orange season and it seemed silly. Grand marnier though takes the cake. I mean it.

Oh and I used nonfat greek yogurt for the sour cream.
La recette, ça c'est ici. J'ai besoin de pratiquer mon français avant que je partie. Je ne sais pas si j'ai oublié toute ma grammaire.

Bien. Ecoutez.
-Amanda

Entering Cupcake Territory

2010-06-22T12:42:00.000-07:00

These are snickerdoodle cupcakes. They're better than snickerdoodles, but they could have been moister and the frosting could have been fluffier. Still, this was easier than the other recipes I found.

I made these a while ago, this guy is stale. He got thrown a way right after this picture was taken. From glory to garbage.

Oh and I added nutmeg, just a tad.

I love melted butter. So here you go.

-Amanda

Blinchiki

2010-06-21T22:00:00.000-07:00

Splash together some whole wheat flour, buttermilk, egg, olive oil, sugar, salt. Fry them up, little by litle--you have yourself nice, firm little blini. Then throw some fresh dark cherries in a saucepan with some water, cinnamon, golden brown sugar, and cornstarch--and simmer til thick and deep red. Drench a stack of a few blini with the syrup, then top with dark chocolate shavings. You've got yourself an Annariginal!

If you lay down some peanut butter first (chunky, always chunky), you get a nice oozing look to the dish.

This is what happens when Amanda's got me craving cherries.

I like that the chocolate shavings melt a bit. It gives it just the right amount of cohesion as a quick and appealing dish.

-Anna

When someone offers you wheat cookies at a party, you say yes

2010-06-21T21:44:00.000-07:00

Here's the recipe, folks. So, I used less sugar (as usual), and no almond extract. The only one I have, I bought at some thai store on santa monica blvd, and it does not taste great. I imagine they'd be great with some though--Amanda, get on that!

They were pretty light, definitely not the typical chocolate chip cookie. People gobbled them up, but I don't think I liked them enough to make them again. Depends what you're after!

-Anna

Ay Conchitas Coloradas

2010-06-21T21:19:00.000-07:00

As Amanda mentioned earlier..

We made conchitas!

Not only did we make them, we hand-carved them. As a kid, I was always drawn to the bright pink conchas in the Mexican dessert racks in grocery stores. I'd always scrape of the topping little by little, and bunch together little bits of its crumbliness to get it to my mouth. I'd usually skip the bread part--it was just dry and greasy (both at once!), and lacking in flavor.

These babies, however, were all ABOUT the bready part. Partially because the topping looked like poo.. We made a batch with margarine topping, and a batch with butter topping. I actually preferred the margarine variety, though I'm usually a butter person.

Here we GOO!

clabber clabber clabber. made the dough nice and apple vinegar-y :)

soft shaggy dough

nice inflated yeasty dough

pressing on the yummy tops

drawn-on concha shell pattern, plus a swirly shell

ooey gooey flexy flooey!

im making these again some day, i know it

-anna

Cheesecake for the Boys

2010-06-21T20:56:00.000-07:00

Oh those Italians!

Letting me make a plump and juicy cheesecake, crustless, ricotta-full.

They do know the way to so many hearts.

So this was my first cheesecake! It didn't fall, which I was not happy about, but apparently this isn't a huge issue for most people who consume your cheesecake, so no need to fret.

I don't think I've ever zested so much in my life. But I loved every minute of it. 3 whole lemons. 2 big ole oranges.

Here's the recipe.

I used less sugar, and it was definitely still very sweet on the tooth.

So rich yet fresh. Mmm. Oh!! And I used low fat ricotta. Still rich enough to only be able to take a forkful, wait a while, take another, share some with your host's roommates, bring some home, have him bring some home, have him drop it on the way home, have him cut off the part that touched the floor and eat the rest, too many commas, not enough grammar.

Cheesecake! Blueberries next time. And chocolate chips. Mmmmm!

-Anna

Something Green!

2010-06-21T20:07:00.000-07:00

This is easy. I used peach instead of mango since it was cheaper it was still yummy. Also I used a red onion. I don't know if that means anything. Here's the recipe.

And I am so clever.

-Amanda

I Thought I Didn't Take Pictures, But I Did

2010-06-21T19:58:00.000-07:00

These are Nigella's blueberry muffins. They're from How to Be a Domestic Goddess. I'm too lazy to write the recipe, but basically they're her blueberry muffins except I added grated orange and ground cardamom.

There's melted butter too.

And there we go. Heehee.

I'm clever.

-Amanda

If I Only Had a Food Processor...

2010-06-21T12:49:00.000-07:00

So this is the closest I've gotten to the types of good bran muffins you find in coffee shops and bakeries and such. You know..the chewy, honeyed kind that's a deep chestnut color and filled with plump raisins. I got it from here, it's sounds kind of authoritative and revered, no?

Except, the part about food processing the raisins was not possible for me. Our blender is from the 70s and most of the knobs don't work anymore. Hopefully we'll get a replacement soon, but who knows.

I added some cherries and raspberries to some of them to get my fruit quotient up. I think next time I would just use cherries and not raspberries. Otherwise I only tweaked a few things: used 1/2 cup of apple sauce in place of the oil and added only a tablespoon or so of canola oil and for the buttermilk/yogurt part I used 1/2 cup of non-fat greek yogurt.

Instead, I squished the hot water-plumped raisin with a potato masher. It did a decent job, but, I would have hoped for better. Next time, I think it would be fun to soak the whole raisins in some sort of liqueur for five minutes before mixing them in, maybe kirsch?

Good with this?
-Amanda

Wonderbread

2010-06-20T18:07:00.000-07:00

I woke up and my mom wanted something with banana. I remembered my roommate making some banana bread that I had thought was funky upon first bite. It tasted yogurty. 10 seconds later, I had wanted to find the recipe. So I looked up banana yogurt breads--they existed! Of course, now that I'm back in Berkeley, I asked my roommate about that banana bread, and she claims that it had zero yogurt. None.

Point is, it turned out we only had one banana left, but I still wanted yogurty bread. Since I got a good grip on zesting, I went for an all-out lemon yogurt loaf. I pumped it full of blueberries, soaked in a tangy glaze, and had myself the tastiest, moistest yogurty loaf of my life.

I found this zesty lemon bread recipe and modified.

Differences:
I used a LOT less sugar. And it was still too sweet.
I used low fat yogurt.
I used more lemon juice, and less powdered sugar, for the glaze. The cake soaked it up nicely, but you had to be very careful slicing/lifting. Maybe you didn't have to be, but I was. This loaf was precious to me.
I used blueberries, of course. There are few bloods more tantalizing than that of the blueberry.

Spongy and glorious.

Please make this and feed it to anyone who needs a smile. I'd recommend making a couple loaves at once--I was sad that I only got a slice and a half.
-Anna

Forgotten Pizza

2010-06-18T10:21:00.000-07:00

We made this a while ago, hopefully Anna will post the quinoa cakes since I didn't get any shots of them. This pizza has a harrowing past. First it was supposed to be grounded by some whole wheat pita bread.
Unfortunately the pita bread had mold on it. We went to Trader Joes though and per Anna's suggestion got whole wheat lavash instead. It turned out a lot better than I think the pita would have--so thin and crispy.

Also originally this was going to be based on a healthy living sort of Martha Stewart recipe of asiago cheese, ricotta, red onion, and mushrooms, a top some sort of whole wheat flat bread. Instead we decided to use leftover spanakopiropita (we've been wrong all this time apparently, spanakopita is just spinach and no feta; however this had ricotta and not feta, so I'm not 100% sure, but anyway) filling. We still grated some of the asiago cheese on top and put a few sliced mushrooms too.

So good. I really want to make this again. Maybe this on a warm summer night?

-Amanda

Cherry Tart Will Get You a Ride

2010-06-18T10:06:00.000-07:00

I made this tart for my mom's friend birthday. I also made same friend that whipped cream cake for her birthday. But this tart was for birthday dinner at her house.

I am cherry pitter supreme now. Forget buying a pitter or using that silly paper clip contraption. I timed my speed with songs on Itunes and you don't even want to guess how many cherries I was able to pit over the length of Suga Suga by Baby Bash.

Otherwise this tart didn't take much skills. The dipshit who honked at me and gave me a condescending shake of the head this morning probably could have made if he has a cherry pitter.

I followed this recipe too the tee except I used skim milk instead of the heavy cream since it seemed silly to go out and buy heavy cream just for a quarter cup. I upped the butter by a tablespoon just to keep things even.

Also I had to rush out and get the ride that a slice of this tart afforded me, so my mom took the picture with a flash. It makes it a bit gaudier, no?

I sadly didn't get to taste it. But it looked really yummy-I love cherries and almonds. Next time.

Maybe this song?

-Amanda

These Muffins are to Bran, Like Charade is to Hitchcock

2010-06-18T09:52:00.000-07:00

So I made these as my muffins of the week. Success? I think yes. But they have no bran, even though I'm branding them as such. Yeah, I did just say that. They have quinoa instead, which is a fluffier substitute for bran...maybe?

They don't give you the weighted down feeling bran does, which maybe or good or bad depending on what you're going for. The berries really make them though--the cherries specifically. I used this recipe , except I
a) skim milk instead of soy, though I'm not opposed
b) Honey for most of the maple syrup since we only had a little bit left
c) Regular whole wheat flour instead of whole wheat pastry flour, since where are you supposed to find that stuff?
d) I replaced the dried fruit with a heck of a lot of fresh cherries, blueberries, and strawberries.

I realized that I ate the last of these on Saturday morning without taking a picture--that's how good they were I guess. Here's a picture of a hedgehog and tea, which I thinks makes up more than enough for it.

Mornings are best with these and this.

-Amanda

Double the Surface Area

2010-06-18T09:22:00.000-07:00

We never blogged these. I don't know why. They were good. Our clabbering was superb, even though Anna said they smelled like apple cider vinegar even after they were baked. My favorite part was the chocolate topping. Usually I just ate the top and threw out the bottom, since the bread part went stale after the day we made them.

So my genius idea was to use the remainders that I hadn't consumed the chocolate topping off of to make conchita bread pudding, conchita chocolate orange bread pudding to be specific.

Mmm, we used this recipe to make the conchitas and I pretty much winged it with the bread pudding. I used an 8 x 8 pan, maybe 10 or so of the conchitas, 2 eggs, some sweetened cocoa powder, some orange zest, a quarter cup melted margarine, 2 cups skim milk, and some raw sugar sprinkled on top.

Bread puddings are pretty flexible, so you never really need a recipe, just stale yeast bread, eggs, and some sort of milk/cream/etc.

The pudding pictures are ugly, so if you make it close your eyes as you eat it.
Rhyme?

Also these are sweet, so here you go.
-Amanda

L@te

2010-06-10T11:28:00.000-07:00

There are always those nights. You try to fall asleep at 11. You end up leaving the wide-eyed world with the scent of cookies/cakes wafting through the house, at 4am.

My mom had an appointment with the hospital at 8am, so I decided she deserved a cake to wake up to.

Using this easy recipe, I whipped up a cake that actually rose a bit! I left a netting of flour on the sides of a cake pan, so that the batter can actually climb as it tries to escape my pan, rather than seeping through the (impenetrable) cracks which allow the bottom to fall out. Good thinking. ..

A nice sun in the middle for radiance!

I don't like cake with buttermilk as much. Yogurt is my favorite way. Soon to come: bomb blueberry lemon bread. so bomb. bomb bomb. i like it so much i'm saying the word bomb. over and over.

This recipe was not as fun for me. I was really excited, because I'd been craving pistachios like who knows what (after seeing this pavlova), and I had a nice thick amount of pomegranate molasses sitting around. These cookies were a hit, but not to my ears. I also didn't think they were attractive. So this is their mention. I'm sticking to using pomegranate molasses in savory dishes.

-Anna

The Pits are for People You Don't Like

2010-06-08T17:02:00.000-07:00

Cherry Lemon Pine Nut Muffins

These are prettier than they taste. The pine nuts and the cherries are the best part. I would go for orange next time. Maybe it's because I didn't use meyer lemons. Oh well.

I used this recipe, but I popped cherries in them. That's not meant to sound sexual; I don't really know how to rephrase it...

Also I didn't grind up the pine nuts since I don't have a food processor and I was too lazy to dig out the blender.

And right, warn people you do like that there are pits in these. Otherwise you can laugh at the people you don't warn about the pits while listening to this.

-Amanda

The Muffin Cup Conundrum

2010-06-08T16:07:00.000-07:00

Wrapper versus naked? Naked is difficult to remove, but paper means a lot of the muffin outer layer is left clinging... I think in the end the extra effort is worth it to get the whole muffin.

These are my third batch in my search for the perfect bran muffin. More bran-y than the last. These call for wheat bran--of which I bought a HUGE bag. They're not as sturdy as the first though. But I I got the right portion of fruit finally!

I adapted the recipe from here, except I
a) Zested a huge orange and put that all in: reminds me of fruit cake for some reason.
b) Used a sprinkling of pumpkin pie spice instead of the recommended pinches of cardamom, all spice, and cinnamon.
c)Uped the apple sauce to 1/2 a cup instead of 1/4.
d)Used splenda instead of regular sugar.
e) Added a banana that was going bad.
f) Added maybe 3/4-1 cup of fresh blueberries.
g) Used only maybe 2 teaspoons of oil.
h) Used skim clabbered milk, instead of low-fat buttermilk.
i) Used almond extract instead of vanilla.

I would say more almond extract and maybe to make it sturdier add flax seed?

And I think this is a good song for them in the morning, it especially complements the tartness of the cranberries.
Anna made a few of these in her pixie muffin pan, yummy. They bled and it was beautiful.

Countdown to True Blood?

-Amanda

Boy Bait: Conquering Phyllo

2010-06-06T10:27:00.000-07:00

Spinach Dill Pie/Make-shift Spanakopita

I made Martha Stewart's "quick spanakopita" last week. That was quick, and this one may take the same time or longer. This is also Martha Stewart actually. I'm not sure what that says about me that all my spanakopita recipes are coming from her. Anyway, I think I like this recipe better:

a) it uses ricotta instead of feta
b) It takes a shorter time to prepare the filling.
c) It uses cumin!
d) Less oil/butter.
e) I learned you can just spray the phyllo sheets with cooking spray so you don't have to melt better and pat it on with your hands!

Also, I had a lot of filling leftover with this, so Anna and I made a pizza with it, mmm, that will be posted soon. And another thing, Instead of using whole 12 by 17 inch sheets of phyllo, or whatever the dimensions are for a full sheet, I used a pizza slicer and cut them in half. AND instead of putting all eight on the bottom, I think I put three on the bottom and three on the top.

You always want a crunchy top.

Is this too tight for you? That's right, I hope you're reading this foodgawker.

It's the summer; you could listen to this while you eat it outside.

-Amanda

Madeleines in May-Hmm

2010-06-04T23:46:00.000-07:00

That was a play on Amanda's title!

check it

We made those! Yeah they were good, yeah we love our dates and our earl greys. Lady grey? No thank you.

I won't lie--I struggled with the use of blender. I forgot to add water, and those blades did not appreciate waltzing with rough little dates. I actually wish I underblended, though, because finding little specks of juicy date really made the madeleine for me, and I wish the madeleine could've made it over and over and over.

We love the grease n flour. Classic.

Also the pelmeni :) Teaching Amanda the difference between pelmeni and pierogi was fun, because, i got hungry but I gave a pretty lumpy explanation. That's ok, our pielmeni were lumpy!

recipe aqui. Minor adjustment: we searched through aisles of beans, parking lots of angry food-shoppers, and mental inventories of frustrated grocers, and no adzuki beans could be found. So we went with the garbanzo. Admittedly, this made our pelmeni a bit drier, but half the work is showing up, right beans?

-Anna

Madeleine Mayhem (in a bad way)

2010-06-04T14:59:00.000-07:00

I still don't understand how to make these. Anna rocked them a lot better than I did. I hope she posts the date earl grey ones she made. Those were bomb.

These are ugly and the fact that I made them at night and took pictures of them at night doesn't help either.

In addition to the recipe here, I added a chopped up Easter bunny.

He was one of three. These are the remainders, waiting for their unfortunates fates and maybe listening to this song in the meantime?

Killing Bunnies,
Amanda

I love parchment!

2010-06-04T14:38:00.000-07:00

Butter your pan. Cut out parchment for the bottom. Butter again. Dust with flour. Tap out excess.

That is all.

Also make sure your frozen berry mixture isn't too juicy. I felt really proud of myself making this cake you will too.

Copy this recipe and revel in your whipped cream listening to this.

Kay, done!

-Amanda

Brighter Bran

2010-06-04T13:09:00.000-07:00

Banana Berry Bran Muffins

So this bran is a little bit lighter, maybe it's because it's oat bran instead of wheat. These are simpler to make than the other bran muffins, a bit less interesting. Again, I should have put more fruit, maybe some spices too.. I wonder what would be good to put in a banana berry bran muffin, ginger? Cardamom? Cinnamon is over-used, nutmeg, allspice, or cloves, would have been too much...Oooh maybe almond extract?

Here's the original recipe. You could nibble listening to this song.

-Amanda

Martha Goes Greek-Super Speed Style

2010-05-31T15:41:00.000-07:00

Phyllo takes like a day to thaw, or overnight-ish (in the fridge). You've been warned.

I made dinner for Gigi, I think I liked it better than she did. I put grapefruit in the salad, that was a no-no. I also made a spanakopita à la Martha Stewart. It was quick. I used frozen spinach even though she didn't okay that (Martha not Gigi). You should make it too. I used whole wheat phyllo dough cause I'm cool like that. I used less phyllo dough than she called for, which made it even speedier.

I win.

I think it looks like a mystical spinach compass.

Speedy Spanakopita
3 TBL olive oil--I used 2ish, we have fancy olive oil that I'm not supposed to waste
1 onion (apparently if you chill onions before you cut them, they won't make you cry-I did not do this. It was bad. I'm glad I don't wear mascara.)
3 cloves garlic
1 lb spinach
(It called for 1/4 c. parsley, but I'm not a fan.)
1/4 c. dill
6 ounces crumbly feta
Salt!!
Pepper!
3 sheets thawed phyllo dough (haha she called for 10-winwinwinwinwin)
1/4 stick of butter/margarine melted

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Chop your onion. Flick off people who make fun of the fact that you're crying. Heat up your skillet with oil, sauté the onion for eight minutes. While that's going on mince your garlic. Your hands will smell gross. Once the onion has cooked its eight minutes, add the garlic and cook one minute. Then add your spinach gradually. If you're using frozen, it should be thawed P.S. and also if its frozen + thawed make sure to squeeze out excess water as you go along. Cook for about 5 minutes. Set aside.
2. Add the egg, dill, salt, pepper, and feta. Stir.
3. Get a baking sheet. Put parchment paper on it. Unwrap your phyllo. Lay it all out flat and get a towel and make it damp, but not too damp. Put the damp towel on top of the phyllo sheets whenever you're not using them, otherwise they'll dry out.
4. Take one sheet of the phyllo dough and put it on your baking sheet. It might be too big-that's okay, just fold the edges. Use your hands and dabble the sheet with butter. It's yucky, but necessary. Do this two more times (i.e. three sheets in total, each coated with butter. You'll probably have butter left over.)
5. Put the filling in the center. Fold the outer phyllo on top of the filling, crumple it however you want. Maybe you can make a swan? Someone should try that.
6. Bake for about 30 minutes-maybe a few more.

If you eat this outside this song should go well, maybe.

Also I made salad, mmm: herb salad mix, pears, persian cucumbers, grapefruit.

-Amanda

Clabber Up that Baklava

2010-05-31T10:00:00.000-07:00

These were very simple. The honey is messy. I'm not a walnut person but maybe you are.

Care of Nigella:

Filling:
1/2 c. chopped walnuts (Pistachios would be better.)
3 TBL melted butter/margarine
1/3 c. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Cake:
1 1/4 scant c. flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 c. sugar
1 big egg
3 TBL melted butter/margarine
1 + 2 TBL CLABBERED milk = 1 c. skim milk + 2 TBL lemon juice or vinegar (I used both!) --mix together and wait 5 minutes

Honey to drizzle

1. Mix all of the filling ingredients together. Set aside.
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and sugar all together. Then mix the clabbered milk, the egg, and the butter together.
3. Mix the dry and wet together very carefully. Put muffins cups in a 12 muffin tin. Fill them with the batter 1/3 of the way up. Add a scant tablespoon of the filling to each. Then fill each cup 2/3 of the way full with remaining batter. Scatter leftover walnut topping on the tops.
4. Bake for about 15 minutes. Take them out of the tin-carefully! And put them on a rack to cool and be drizzled. I recommend putting a piece of wax paper underneath the rack to avoid messes. Then drizzle honey on each muffin--it's messy but it gets absorbed.

Maybe you want to listen to this song while you eat them.

I like bran muffins better.

-Amanda

Getting Up Close and Personal with Bran

2010-05-29T14:30:00.000-07:00

If I had to choose two foods to live on for the rest of my life they would be greek yogurt and bran muffins. Some people don't like bran muffins--they are unenlightened.

But until last week, I'd actually never made them myself. If you live in L.a. I recommend Zen Bakery's vegan line. The cranberry (not dried!), blueberry, mango are incredible.

I found this recipe here.

{Their blog entry is funny-read it!)
Except, I
a) Doubled the recipe--yay more bran!
b)Used skim milk instead of soy or low fat.
c) Put in extra orange zest--good call, I recommend!
d)Put in dates instead of raisins, but only half the amount called for.
e)Added frozen cranberries.
f)Used almonds instead of walnuts but only a few tablespoons.
g)Added some chopped strawberries that were going bad.

I would say next time--more fruit and less honey. There was wayway too much honey. Any vegan would have cried. Well they wouldn't have touched it in the first place thanks to the eggs or milk, but regardless. I would say halve the amount of honey.

Also they would go well with this song.. Actually, I don't know what wouldn't go well with bran, or this song.
Enjoy!
-Amanda

Pixies in Your Breakfast Dish

2010-05-27T22:47:00.000-07:00

Finally! An original recipe!

So I was feeling down, and decided to walk through the glistening heap of (unaffordable, just now) surprises that is Sur La Table. And I made my first purchase--a pixie muffin pan (and a cookie cutter). I also talked to someone who went through culinary school who used that cookie cutter to shape his rice.

Anyways, I had no idea what pixie muffins were, but they had little flower patterning, and muffins are always too large for me, so I gave them a try.

Lemon Berry Pixie Muffins
yield:24

2 heaping (and I mean huuge) tbsps of flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 (slightly smaller) tbsps of sugar
1 heaping (bigbigbig) tbsp of yogurt
half an egg's worth of egg white liquid
1 tsp fine lemon zest
blueberries and raspberries (i used less blueberries than there were muffins, and ripped the raspberries up into pieces)

Preheat oven to 350F.

Combine flour and baking powder, then add combined yogurt and sugar, and finally add combined egg and lemon zest. Then throw in as many berries as needed--I liked my muffins rich and juicy, oozing out deep blues and purples.

Fill well-buttered (I used my finger to get into the crevices) pixie muffin pan either 2/3 of the way or completely with batter, depending on the size of muffin you want. Bake until just before it would start to brown (the muffin will feel nice and springy to the touch). There you have it!

These did not last long at all, so don't plan on serving them to anyone. Just show someone how pretty they are, and then devour them.

I also attempted to make banana nut yogurt pixie muffins, but I was not a fan, so you don't have to suffer through the recipe and consequent disappointment in muffin taste.

But here's a photo for y'all. I still like their figure.

-Anna

Dinner, by Anna and Amanda

2010-05-27T22:34:00.000-07:00

Muhammara-inspired deviled eggs, quinoa-stuffed mushrooms, and a lovely gateau au citron, with honey lavender creme.

I bought a little muhammara at Berkeley Bowl, and spread some on boiled eggs on most days during finals. So I realized, why not make things a bit more complicated by reattempting my favorite dish from middle school days. (I only made deviled eggs and pinwheel sandwiches)

These babies are stuffed with a mixture of yolk, pomegranate molasses, chopped walnuts, quinoa, roasted red peppers, and paprika.

Mmmm. Amanda's brilliance! I wonder what she put in here..

More cakes should be viewed from the bottom. This glaze-soaked, fork-marked floor of cake, for your enjoyment!

We did try to whip the cream, but unfortunately we are not as skilled with a whisk as real women should be. Fortunately, no one cares!

http://lauriebot.com/2010/05/15/gateau-au-citron-avec-la-creme-lavande/

Sweetening the Studies

2010-05-27T22:12:00.000-07:00

Inspiration is like hunger. Have a nibble, suddenly you're ravenous. The trick is, it's harder to motivate myself to take a bite of a book than a cookie. Studying also doesn't have quite the same level of stress-relieving ability as baking does. So during finals I found a sugar cookie recipe to love and adore, and my cookies were a lot less unappetizing than my prior salty, rock-hard, or completely melted attempts.

For the above cookie, I followed the recipe for lavender lemon cookies, and made a little lavender flower trail for appeal.

http://52kitchenadventures.wordpress.com/2010/05/09/week-19-lavender/

For the cookie down below, I used chai tea spices on the same sugar cookie recipe to make cookies that were basically snickerdoodles.

Grapey Grapey Grape

2010-05-27T22:08:00.000-07:00

When you are studying and you would rather not be studying and you have grapes and they are in your freezer and then they are no longer in your freezer and then suddenly they are where your textbook should be, this is when you are truly happy.

Mexican Chocolate Cake

2010-04-20T19:04:00.001-07:00

Definitely adding more cayenne next time.

Fat free/vegan/how did that happen?

Easy peasy.

Based on: this.
-Anna

6 Across: French fruit pastry.

2010-04-11T22:10:00.001-07:00

This was wonderful, I'm not going to lie. I didn't like the crust recipe though, but it will be made again. I messed up lots, but it worked out anyways. Good. Based on: this

-Anna

Friendly Faces

2010-03-28T23:37:00.000-07:00

Spring break was so nice. Eating thirty meals a day on a patio surrounded by my mom's driftwood is very missable. Now it's back to this crud:

"The herbs and spices being investigated in this experiment are: anise, caraway, cinnamon, cloves, coriander, and cumin. Your task is to analyze the volatile oils of some of these botanical products and then identify the adulterant in a sample"

Well I am stressing out quite a lot about all of this chemical nonsense going on all over the tests handed to me. So I decided to try this Chai Cola business today. Didn't like it. At least my two little Red Bull buddies are sitting in the fridge awaiting my desperate plea for their gift of vitality. The Russian ballet on ice is on my television screen. I'm glancing at its reflection in my window, because turning around is too much work when you have a lab report to concoct.

On the bright side Jenny liked the cake I made her !

I finally got to employ the (THE) chocolate painting technique. I'm not going to go into how I made the rest of the cake, but it tasted like chocolate milk. With blueberry on top. Actually I'm a fan of the blueberry sauce I drenched it in, so I'll use that again and it will be posted up here for you all, our droves of fans.

I'd also been waiting since Spain (2005, maybe?) to make a tortilla de patatas. The moment finally came! I modified the wikipedia preparation blurb, using green onions instead of the good stuff, and possibly oversalting. Added some milk with the egg too. Basically I had a really good tortilla de patatas but I was not happy to have to share it.

My posts have been lacking in the recipe department lately, but I'm sure I'll be up to it some day soon. After Thursday. Well after Thursday. If I am still alive Thursday, all is well with the world.

Forevers yours&young,

Anna

Because we couldn't find frozen cranberries, but mango is better anyway.

2010-03-22T17:01:00.000-07:00

So I visited my friend Noa last week and we decided to go on a mini baking spree that ended in some good things like this and some weird thing like the challah dough that got cooked when it was rising in a too hot oven (that's where baby yeast goes to die). But first we made this pie, yum! And very easy too, maybe use a bit more mango than we did and listen to this song. while eating it (chilled of course).

Honey Mango Pie from this site roughly

Graham Cracker Crust
About 1 1/2 c. of crushed graham cracker crumbs (if you're buying that graham cracker brand that I can't remember the name of right now this is about one of those three plastic containers of crackers in the box crushed up)
6 TBL butter or margarine, melted

1. Mix crumbs and butter together and push into a 9 or 10 inch round pie pan, then bake at 325 degrees Fahrenheit for about 15 minutes.

In the meantime, you can make your filling:

3 c. frozen mango chunks (and then some I would say)
1/2 c. honey (I would actually lower this to 1/3 c., there is such thing as too much honey)
14 oz. can of sweetened condensed milk (sickeningly good)
3 eggs
1 TBS vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. cardamom (we didn't have any on hand so we left this out, I'm usually a big fan of cardamom, but for some reason I think this recipe would be better kept simple, I don't know though, try it out, see how it goes)

1. Noa put all the mango chunks in a bowl and microwaved them for a little and took this strange pulverize thing and mushed them. I would have just thawed them and put them in a blender, I guess since I was scared of the pulverizer or whatever it was.
2.Pour everything together in a bowl and mix. Pour into pre-baked graham cracker crust. Then bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about an hour.

-Amanda

BaklaVa Va Voom

2010-03-15T10:53:00.000-07:00

Baklava! recipe~

I used walnuts. And a lot less butter. I also made a horrendous gooey mess of the syrup. I had to dilute it in water many times before it was anywhere near usable. But the end result turned out just fine! Nice and crunchy and flaky. Sage honey is wonderful. I have rose water now, so I can add some next time I make baklava :D Just a little note: the yield was 56 little buggers. I didn't fold the phyllo dough in half; I just used a bigger pan. I had no idea what to do with them all. It was madness.

I LOVE BAKLAVA.

-Anna

Tender Scone

2010-03-06T12:33:00.000-08:00

Today I decided I wanted to make this recipe without using measurements; albeit I had the Joy of Cooking a list of ingredients and measurement in front of me, so it isn't as if I created the recipe, but oh well.
I've had the scone bug for a while, ever since I had a small bite of perfectly soft ginger scone several weeks ago. Now they are here, decked out in formerly frozen raspberries, ground ginger, and bits of crystallized ginger, my favorite. I haven't tasted them yet, so I'm crossing my fingers that I didn't over handle them and I guessed right on how much of each ingredient.
Enjoy!

Raspberry Ginger Scones adapted from the Joy of Cooking Cream Scones recipe
1 3/4 c. flour
2 1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 c. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground ginger (maybe not really sure, to taste)
2 TBL chopped up bits of crystallized ginger (ditto)
1/2-3/4 c. frozen raspberries
1 1/4 c. heavy cream (yay! you don't have to cut in butter/margarine/shortening!!)

1 egg for glaze
sugar for sprinkling

1.Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit (hothothot).
2. Mix flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, and ground ginger together in a medium sized bowl. Make a well in the middle and pour in the heavy cream.
3. Mix together (lightly--too roughly=too tough scones) and add in crystallized ginger and raspberries.
4. Put the big glob of dough on a lightly floured surface. Shape it into a big circle that's about 3/4 of inch thick and 8 inches in diameter. Cut into 8 triangles and put on a baking sheet. (I guess you should grease the baking sheet? I put foil on mine since that was laying around.)
5. Crack open an egg and mix into together with a little bit of sugar and spread it on the 8 wedges. Sprinkle with a little more sugar.
6. Bake for about 15-17 minutes.
Eat early in the morning while listening to this song. Don't watch the accompanying video though, because it's creepy as all get out.

-Amanda

Loving You Is Cherry Pie

2010-02-15T21:54:00.000-08:00

Cherry nectarine pie*

So I found this recipe: http://goodeggseattle.blogspot.com/2009/07/summer-starts-with-vacation.html

And I made it for some friends on valentine's day. But I couldn't find apricots, so I used nectarines. Which is a shame, I love apricots with all my heart. Oh how symbolic, valentine's day without the deepest love. Haha. I like nectarines a bunch though, and am very pleased with the result. I used my trusty pie crust recipe (http://www.cooksrecipes.com/diabetic/reduced-fat-pie-pastry-diabetic-recipe.html , but with butter). I'd add a touch of sugar to it next time.

So, I know I made more changes, but honestly I am writing this post in late March, and I have no clue what I did. Look at the pictures, play a little "spot the difference" with yourself. You can also rearrange the photos til you align them in the appropriate order. So many hidden games in this post! Good times abound.

-Anna

Because I like my cookies salty.

2010-02-14T13:45:00.000-08:00

So Anna and I really like cardamom and cookies, and together--they're all pretty incredible. And I then I was inspired by Anna's brittle and I had to make snacks for my class last Thursday and snacks for a inspire-people-to-live-in-the-house-that-I-live-in-now-but-next-year fair, so chocolate chip cookies in bar form seemed ideal. And then cardamom is also really fun, these could also be really great with ginger. I want to make gingered pear challah soon, mmmm. My version is adapted from this recipe, but a bit spiced up. (note bad pun) Anyway have fun with them, and they would go well with this song, nice and rich. Yeah I did just do that.

Cardamom-y Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars with Salt!
2 3/4 c. flour
1 tsp (and then some) kosher sea salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp. ground cardamom
1 1/2 c. white sugar
1 TBS molasses (alternatively you could just use 3/4 c. white sugar and 3/4 c. brown sugar, but our kitchen's giant open bag of brown sugar could have broken bones)
3 medium eggs (or 2 large eggs)
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 sticks softened Earth Balance (margarine/butter etc.)
20 oz. chocolate chips/chunks whatever (these are veryvery chocolately!)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Make sure butter/margarine is softened!
2. Whisk flour, salt, baking soda, and cardamom together in a bowl.
3. With a mixer, cream the sugars, molasses if using, and butter together. This might take a while, 3 or 4 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, then the vanilla.
4. Carefully stir in dry ingredients (not too much!) and mix in chocolate chips.
5. Spray a 9 by 13 inch glass baking pan with cooking spray and pour the batter in and distribute evenly.
6. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes.
And these keep well if you put them in tupperware at least!

-Amanda

Dad how do I spell pierozhok?

2010-02-09T21:28:00.000-08:00

I made up (and consequently forgot) the recipe for these cabbage pierogi. But this was my second time making them (first was with Amanda) ! So there will be thirds and fourths and fifths, and maybe on the sixth I will write down the recipe.

Til then, here is the email my dad said in response to that last picture:

Very Tasty,
Thank you for delicious supper
Kiss you,
Dad

Brittle Little Chocolate Chip Cookie Bones

2010-02-04T00:15:00.001-08:00

Based on this recipe

So my friend had a Liberace/apartment-warming/dessert potluck party. I made chocolate chip cookie brittle! Warning: it is veryy rich so you are going to be satisfied with a very small piece. I had lots left over, brought some to work the next morning.

You will need:
3/4 c room temp unsalted butter
1c sugar
1/2 tsp salt (but remember, less is less)
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 c flour
1 c semi-sweet chocolate chips, plus some more for drizzling

Preheat the oven to 350, and line your cookie sheet with parchment paper.

Beat together the butter and sugar, then add salt and vanilla. Finally (slowly) add the flour. This dough will look very crumbly. Check it out:

Now, add in chocolate chips. Much better!

Press this dough very firmly onto your cookie sheet, trying to make it level and pretty thin. I've seen some recipes involve another sheet of parchment paper, placing it on top of the goods and using a rolling pin to flatten. Try it?

Bake for approximately 20 minutes. My edges got a bit golden when it was just right. Cut the tip off of a corner of a plastic bag, and fill it with some chocolate you've just melted in a double boiler. Squeeze and drizzle all over the bark. Let it cool so that the brittle is firm enough to break apart, and so the chocolate drizzle is not all over the place. Then hurl it to the ground, causing it to break into a million little pieces. Does this remind any of you of the Russian snow queen story? With the shard of mirror that landed in the little boy's? I think I'd rather have a piece of this brittle lodged in my heart.

Enjoy =)
-Anna

I have cocoa powder, sugar, milk, and four types of vinegar. Can I make chocolate milk?

2010-02-03T23:47:00.000-08:00

The answer is yes!

I call my friend Angela with this request; resounding reply: no way Anna.

I then proceeded to go through these seven steps with her on the line, listening in agony as she realized, with the unfurling of each step, just how embarrassing her mistake was.

This is all you need!

2 tbsp cocoa powder
2 tbsp granulated sugar
as much milk as your mug can hold
[five types of vinegar]

So here's how this is gonna go down.

Step 1, you're a dream come true.

2, just wanna be with you.

3, girl it's plain to see

mix the cocoa powder and sugar with a bit of milk in a saucepan, heating/mixing until combined to form a smooth&silky syrup.

...that you're the only one for me. ...

Add nice cold milk to the syrup and you have homemade chocolate milk! Don't forget to stir so you don't leave residue at the bottom of your mug.

If the only person to appreciate this post is Angela, I understand.

Oh ! I got my slightly newer copy of Jewish Cookery by Leah Leonard in the mail. Just opened it. Mmmm food.

-Anna

Date Day

2010-02-03T11:49:00.000-08:00

Dates used to scare me. In second grade, my primary relationship was them was the fact that you could say the sentence, "On that date I ate a date while I was on a date," and feel really cool. Now they're just delicious. Sometimes they're desecrated though when they're a date nut bread and the nut in question is pecan or walnut. Sometimes you're lucky though, and that nut is almond, or in this case, pistachio. I found this recipe, for scones, which I always thought were so refined. And these are supposed to be healthier scones (though next time I would add a tad more sugar and definitely the orange zest which I skipped out on in this batch). I kept the basic structure of this, but played around with a few things like poppy over fennel seeds, almond extract over vanilla, and clabbering the milk over ready-buttermilk. This would also be wonderful with fig instead of dates, and almonds instead of pistachios, and maybe with ginger or cardamom...so many possibilities.

Date, Pistachio, Poppy Scones
1 3/4 c.flour (I'd say a tad less next time)
2 TBS sugar (increase this, maybe 1/4 c.)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
6 TBS butter, chilled (I used that vegan stuff Earth something, I forget.)
1/4 c. non-fat cottage cheese
1/4 c. low-fat milk plus a teaspoon of lemon juice to clabber it, takes 5 minutes (I needed to add more milk as I made the batter, so I'd increase this to 1/3 c. or maybe even 1/2 c.)
1 tsp orange zest (I didn't use this, but I would highly recommend, or lemon juice would be fine too, or blood orange, mmm)
1/2 tsp almond extract
1 c. chopped dates
1/4 c. chopped pistachios
1 TBS poppy seeds

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. In a small bowl, clabber the milk with the lemon juice, then add the cottage cheese, and almond extract and whisk.
3. In another bowl mix the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Then cut the butter into small pieces and mix it in to the dry ingredients by rubbing it all together with your fingers (because a) I don't have a food processor and b) pastry cutters are useless).
4)Mix in the zest, dates, pistachios, and poppy seeds with the dry ingredients. Combine the dry ingredients and the wet ingredients but don't overmix! No one loves tough scones.
5)Throw out some flour on a cutting board or any surface really and take handfuls of the dough and shape into biscuit shapes, turnover shapes, whatever suits you really. I made mine about 1/2 inch thick and biscuit looking.
6) You can put an egg-wash on at this point, which in retrospect would have looked pretty, but I was too lazy. Just crack open an egg, beat it a bit, and spread it over the top of the scones with a pastry brush or your fingers.
7). Spray a baking sheet and put scones out. (I got about 11 out of this.)
8) Bake for about 15 minutes, more or less.

-Amanda

The Ugly Grape

2010-01-24T10:31:00.000-08:00

A lot of people are scared of baking grapes.
"Won't it just explode?"
"Will it turn into a raisin?"
"That'll just be foul."
It seems kind of fun to me though, like champagne cupcakes with flavor but also a burst of texture. Ooh, considering that, lychee cupcakes could be delicious. Okay, on my to-do list. So,
Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, which was quite a riveting read, but made realize how much of the food that I eat is imported from places far, far away. I need to work on that.
But first the grape cake.
I found this recipe, and thought it would be pretty easy to replicate, but now that I'm back at school I have a more limited number of ingredients at my disposable. Here's my adapted version:

Almond Grape Cake
1 1/2 sticks sweet butter (at room temperature, annoying, but important)
1 c. sugar
5 egg whites (I had a lot leftover from all the yolks used in the custard)
1/4 c. whole milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract (the recipe called for almond, which I would have much preferred, but you work with what you got)
1 c. almond slivers (ground up as much as possible), or almond meal if you have it
1/2 tsp. baking soda (recipe called for 2 tsp. baking powder, but I couldn't find any)
1 c. grapes (however much you want really)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Spray an 8 by 8 glass baking pan or maybe it could fit in a 9 inch pie pan. I think a rounder shape would be prettier actually if you can finagle that.
2. Cream the butter and sugar until it fluffs. Hopefully you don't have to do this with a hand held mixer where the butter flies in you face.
3. Add the eggs gradually. Make sure they combine fully with the sugary butter. Add the vanilla/almond extract and the milk.
4. In another bowl, mix the flour, almonds, and baking powder/soda. Carefully combine the dry and wet ingredients careful not to overmix.
5. Pour the batter into a pan of your choice and put the grapes on top, pushing them in slightly. In retrospect I should have made a smiley face or some picture instead of just rows, but oh well.
6. Bake for about 40 minutes or so. When I took my pan out there was a little bit of moisture bubbling atop, I'm guessing from the grapes. I just poured it out. Also this might be fun with some sort of syrup poured on top to make it moister--like an amaretto syrup, mmmm.

Oh and someone told me the green grapes looked like olives, so maybe you should use red/purplish grapes instead if you care about that sort of thing.
Oh and Anna should know that I really like the new format, but am curious about who all the taste buds belong to.

-Amanda

Okrasaurus

2010-01-23T22:24:00.000-08:00

I don't like shopping lists. I like going to the store (Berkeley Bowl mmmm) and figuring out what's going to happen inside my stomach for the next week or two once I actually get there. So last week I settled on a little crop of okra, and a small bunch of dinosaur kale. I tried making Bhindi Bhaji (http://www.indianfoodforever.com/vegetables/bhindi-bhaji.html) but I won't put up my own altered recipe for it until I'm happier with the result. Here's some okra though! I ate it all.

And I made some kale chips (see Amanda's recipe for chard chips a few posts down) with the dinosaur kale. With some freshly ground garlic chips and sea salt. Mm mm mmm.

I got thirsty, so I made a quick banana shake (banana + ice + milk + blender, wapoosh!) This got me discussing ice with a friend who went through a rough patch where her dependence on the stuff was just a little too much for her to handle. One fine afternoon, we made ourselves a snack of ice, pudding, and chocolate fudge. Best meal I've ever had. It is worth it to face the gates of Porter Ranch just to have Angela (aforementioned friend) make you a glass of that fine concoction. And she's promised to make me my first Orange Julius over the summer!

And yes, I did just redo the layout. That is my tongue you are staring at. Four times. I hope Amanda likes it, this will be news to her.

-Anna

Where's Walnut

2010-01-20T19:23:00.000-08:00

Today I discovered the only thing better than ditching your first ochem lab lecture because you found out the bio lab that was supposed to follow was not happening. The nostril-warming aroma of freshly baked banana walnut muffin. Illuminated by a particularly resplendent flash of lightning.

What you'll need:

1 egg
1 big banana
1/2c olive oil
1c all purpose flour
1/2c brown sugar
1/2c buttermilk (I didn't have any, so I used fat free milk clabbered with some apple cider vinegar)
1/3c walnut pieces
1/2tsp vanilla extract
1/2tsp salt
1/2tsp baking powder
1/4tsp baking soda

Preheat the oven to 400F. Line your muffin tin with muffin liners.

Beat together the oil and sugar, followed by the egg. Then the banana. This part was fun. I threw in chunks and watched the mixer devour them.

Combine flour, salt, and baking powder+soda. Alternate adding this and the buttermilk to the mixer bowl. I probably overmixed the dough, but I liked the fine texture of the muffins.

Stir in walnuts and vanilla.

Fill your muffin tin (I had more dough than could fit into 6 muffin holes, so I used one of my nice large goodwill cupcake container-shaped ramekins to make an oversized muffin.

These are supposed to bake for 20 minutes, but it took me a while longer. It should be nice and golden brown on top. But, as always, poke that guy with a toothpick and make sure that upon extracting your little wooden helper, he leaves your toothpick-touching finger nice and dry. I'm not sure how well I avoided being confusing right there in that sentence. Umm. That's alright.

Oh and, I don't like things that are too sweet, so this was not very sweet at all. Worked well for me. Actually a bit more sugar wouldn't have hurt. Maybe like an 1/8c of granulated. Goodbye.

-Anna

based on this recipe, halved.

Challah Etiquette

2010-01-18T20:55:00.000-08:00

Something that irks me beyond belief is an exchange that goes like this:
Baker: So I made a challah.
Inane Freak: (Obnoxious seedy grin) Challah? Holla!!! (Unwarranted laughs)
Please no more repeats.
Now to the loaf...I love challah, so much more than brioche, another eggy yeast bread that it's commonly associated with. One of my goals this year is to successfully execute a six braid loaf, which is obscenely daunting in my opinion. For the meantime I think I'll just stick with a simple three braid though. I read actually in the Joy of Cooking today that you should dust each rope with flour before the actually braiding. That way each strand stays pronounced post-baking instead of massing into an unappealing cradle-shaped glom.
Although this has almond added to it, the recipe I use for standard challah is a honey vanilla one picked from the pages of Steven Raichlen's Healthy Jewish Cooking. I know some sniff their noses at a sweeter challah, but no matter. They can go enjoy their cornmeal-crusted plain loaves all on their own.

Almond Challah
2 1/4 tsp. yeast (one packet of yeast)
1/4 c. luke-warm water
2 TBS. sugar

2 eggs, room-temperature
1/4 c. oil (canola, olive, vegetable, etc.)
1/4 c. honey
3/4 c. luke-warm water
2 tsp. Kosher salt
2 tsp. almond extract (though I would add more next time, perhaps up to 3)
1/3 c. almond meal (little more, little less depending on your tastes)
4-6 cups flour (this really varies depending on the feel of the dough)

A little bit of egg/egg substitute for wash

1. Combine the yeast, 1/4 c. water, and sugar. Let sit 10-20 minutes or until foamy.
2. Add in the eggs, oil, honey, 3/4 c. water, salt, and almond extract. Mix it up a bit so the the eggs are beaten and such.
3. Add the almond meal and flour gradually, keep stirring to combine before adding more. Once dough is manageable (it doesn't stick and ooze all over your hands when you try to move it) take it from the bowl and put it on a floured surface to knead. Knead the dough (continually fold and press with the palms of your hands, ask someone to demonstrate or watch a Youtube video if you don't know what I mean) until when you pinch it the imprint stays and slowly bounces back.
4. Oil a clean bowl and rub a bit of oil all over the dough. Put the dough in the bowl and cover with a dish towel, saran wrap, etc. Let rise anywhere from 2-8 hours. It should double in size.
5. Punch it down, this is my favorite. Empty the dough out onto a re-floured surface and divide into three equal sized balls (sometimes a sharp knife helps for this). Cover each strand lightly with flour and braid. Tuck the ends on each side under the loaf. Place on a baking sheet with parchment underneath and cover again with a towel/wrap etc. Let rise one hour.
6. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Brush or just use your hands and lightly cover the challah with egg wash. You don't want it soaking so just use a little. Fun fact: I used to put so much that at the bottom of the pan post baking would be a little poached egg. I actually liked this, but others were less keen on the addition.
7. Bake for 30 minutes and let cool on wire rack.

A Glass o' Lassi on a Rainy Day

2010-01-18T14:36:00.000-08:00

There will also be cookies in this post. Stay tuned.

As a little girl, I thought my sister (13 years older than me) was the coolest thing ever. She always took my family to the most exotic restaurants. Well, at least I thought they were, because I'm pretty sure I hadn't heard of Indian food yet. So we order some grub, finding ourselves questioning just how much we desired to taste some of the foods we'd ordered. Sometimes a long, bright pink sausage isn't the most tempting meal. But we went ahead and ate everything, unaccustomed to there being spice in food. And by spice I mean the hot kind. My sister was the only smart one, ordering a big glass of chilled mango lassi to calm her fiery taste buds. At the time, I blegh'd. I'm not sure why, because I liked yogurt, and i liked mango. Fortunately for you all, tastes change. So here you have it: mango lassi.

(based on this recipe)

What you need:

some means of blending (I used a cuisinart hand blender)
1 large ripe mango (yielding a cup of diced mango pulp)
1 c nonfat yogurt
1/4 tsp cardamom
4 or 5 ice cubes

Blend all of these things. Strain. Transfer to a glass. Drink.

I did not strain, and this was not a problem. I don't think it would have made much of a difference at all. Not a single mango hair found in my teeth!

You can add a few tablespoons of sugar before blending, but this was sweet enough for me.

I would also add a little less cardamom, because the flavor was a bit overwhelming. My roommate thought it tasted carroty. At some point I'll be adding some cinnamon to this.

I only read the wikipedia page on lassi after making this, but now I know to sprinkle some pistachio pieces on top of my lassi. And to get some Bhang Lassi next time I'm in India.

||
V

Cardamom Cookies

Making these cookies was a disaster. I'm no good at making cookies. But I found some nice ducks in the rubble.

What you need:

1/2c unsalted butter
1c sugar
1tsp ground cardamom
2 eggs
1 c all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt

Preheat an oven to 325F.

Beat the butter, sugar, and cardamom together. Add eggs to this, one at a time. When well-combined, add the flour and salt and lightly mix with a spoon. Next, you can try dropping the dough onto a greased cookie sheet with a spoon, 1/2in apart. If you are like me, your cookies will form one unified cookie sheet. You will then watch this sheet til it is firm, remove it, and use a duck-shaped cookie cutter to shape the cookies, put them back in the oven til crispy and golden brown, and save the non-duck cookie bits for your mom.

I tried adding some more flour to remaining dough, but I needed to have flattened out the ploomped dough on the sheet. Edges too crispy. Tasted great though ! People really liked my ducks. I really liked my ducks

(based on this recipe, halved)

OH I almost forgot to mention something. Amanda and I made cardamom cookies at the exact same time. Without having planned this, or even bringing up cardamom cookies. That is how important these cookies are to the world.

Halvah is a Homonym

2010-01-16T15:12:00.000-08:00

My dad really enjoys halvah--the kind with sesame and honey and such. He got these little halvah confections flavored with vanilla that I are delicious, so much so that the company decided to call themselves Delicious Halva, but of course. So I got it in my head that making halvah from scratch would be quite the project and started looking up recipes.
So as the title suggests, there are two types of halva, the more common sesame kind, and the other type made from semolina flour (the same flour used to make pasta). I buy a fairly expensive bag of semolina thinking "semolina, sesame, they must be related." And I bring the bag of pricey flour home, and I take it out, and glance over the ingredients...nope, no sesame listed. Semolina is actually made of from the hard grains left over after milling flour.
But I was actually able to find a rather enticing cookie recipe here, that used a hefty amount of the semolina. The recipe called for putting an almond on top, which I did, but in my opinion was a rather silly addition. If you were to replace the vanilla extract with almond it might work, but otherwise I would leave the cookies naked except for the quick egg gloss on top to shine them up.
I thought the flavor would be a bit flat with just the vanilla and semolina, so i decided to add a sprinkling of cardamom. I didn't put very much, so initially I was worried that the flavor wouldn't come out at all. Luckily it turned out to be the perfect amount, the cardamom flavor was there, but very subtle, so you had to wonder for a minute what the note actually was. These also might be nice with a teaspoon of ginger to replace the cardamom.

Cardamom Vanilla Cookies

2 sticks unsalted butter
1 c. flour
1 c. sugar
2 c. semolina flour
1 tsp. ground cardamom
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
A bit of egg for glossing them

1. Melt the butter slowly, i.e. don't let it get any brown speckles in it. After you've melted it use a spoon to remove as much as you can of the white froth that gathers at the top.
2. Combine the flours, sugar, and cardamom in a bowl.
3. Once the butter is cool, stir in the eggs and vanilla, make sure to break the yolks up. Add the flour mixture and stir well. With your hands rub and knead or whatever measure you want to use--just make sure that the dry flour parts and the yolky liquid parts meld together to form a cohesive dough. Let this sit for an hour or so covered with a towel or plastic wrap.
4. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Play with the dough again to make sure it's the same consistency all over. Take out baking pans and put parchment paper on them. Make littles ball with of the dough. Midway between a tablespoon and a teaspoon in size. Put them about an inch apart on the baking sheets. Brush with the egg wash and stick in the oven for about 20 minutes.

It's okay to peek soufflé

2010-01-11T14:21:00.000-08:00

I've made it my goal to conquer soufflés as of recently. Not glitzy dessert soufflés, but fluffy savory vegetable ones. My friend Gigi came over on Friday--I told her I would make her a spinach soufflé. Well she ended up making it to tell the truth or at least guiding and coaching me the whole way a long. For the spinach soufflé you need to make a roux first, a mixture of flour and butter or margarine. If I had heeded the directions for the recipe maybe things would have gone over better, but Gigi pointed out some things that the recipe didn't specify that ended up helping quite a bit.
1) You should have equal amounts of butter and flour. (The recipe said 2 TBS butter and 1/4 c. flour, but after my mess of lumps that happened the first time, I lessened it to 2 TBS flour as per Gigi's suggestion.)
2) You're supposed to whisk constantly as the flour and butter are melting to avoid lumps. It's alright if you can't find a hand held whisk, but make sure you really do stir constantly. Your wrist needs to be panting by the time you're down.
3) After you have a roux, you turn it into a white sauce by adding milk. The recipe didn't specify this, but Gigi pointed out that it's important to heat the milk up a bit before you add it to the melted butter and flour in order to prevent lumps. I put the 3/4 c. of skim milk in a mug in the microwave for about a minute.
And that's how the first soufflé was born.

This second recipe doesn't actually call for a white sauce, but I will be revisiting another white sauce soufflé recipe soon --have your wrists ready.
Getting to the yams... Gigi came over again last night when I was making a Yam, Leek, and Ricotta Soufflé. I roughly adapted the recipe from
here
.

Yam, Leek, and Ricotta Soufflé

3 medium sized yams

1 leek (with the gross dark green stems removed, rinsed to take off all the gunk, and thinly sliced)

4 TBS margarine (separated into two parts of 2 TBS each)

1 c. fat-free ricotta (I've only found this at Whole Foods)

3 egg yolks (next time I'll try it with 2)

4 egg whites (make sure no yolk gets in, you need peaks!)

Kosher Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

1. First you need to roast your yams. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Wash and scrub the yams and pierce them all over to allow steam to escape at they bake. Line a baking sheet with foil to prevent a mess and bake the yams for about 50 minutes. Let them cool 5-10 minutes or so and carefully (you can really burn yourself) remove the skins and put the yam pulp in a medium sized mixing bowl. Mash them up with a potato masher and take out any remaining strains of skin.

2. Change the oven temperature to 350 degrees. Heat 2 TBS of the margarine in a sauté pan over medium heat. Add the sliced leeks and sauté until they fragrance. Gigi sautéed these leeks; she did a really good job making sure they were glistening and tender. Set the leeks aside.

3. Take the four egg whites and put them in a mixer bowl. Whisk them until peaks form; these should be pretty adamant peaks.

4. In the bowl with the yams, add the ricotta, egg yolks, the other 2 TBS of margarine, and salt and pepper to taste. Mash it up as much as you can, get your aggression out and such. Stir in the leeks. Then fold in the egg whites. Yam and clouds yum. Once there's no more cloud, but it into a butter/sprayed 8 by 8 inch glass pan. Bake for an hour. Check at 45 minutes to see if it's done.

Gigi doesn't even like yams or sweet potatoes and she liked this, so you should at least try it too. And like the post title says if you have to open the oven to take other things out, or put other things in, in the meantime you'll be fine.

Bavarian at the Park

2010-01-09T19:55:00.000-08:00

Here's a strawberry bavarian cream cake based on this recipe, which I had originally picked out for my friend Dylan's birthday celebration at the park because of the pretty white chocolate lace. But sometimes things (that are white and chocolate) are expensive at Jon's Marketplace (where I got these strawberries for a buck fifty a carton--also the nicest package of Madras curry powder, complete with recipe booklet), so you accept the fact that if you stuff enough strawberries into a cake, you'll be just fine regardless.

Now, I don't do the whole blooming gelatin thing. I just used a tablespoon of flour to thicken my cream instead, so if you're not okay with that, you can go bloom your gelatin elsewhere. Oh, I'm vegetarian, so if you're thinking about expecting something rich and meaty from my posts... nope.

I hope I remember how I strayed from the original recipe to make this cake, which actually turned out to be tasty.

Here's what you'll need:

For the sponge cake-

6 eggs, separated
1 cup flour
1 cup sugar, with 1/2 tbsp vanilla extract mixed in

For the filling-

4 egg yolks

1/3 cup sugar, with a little over 1 tbsp of vanilla extract mixed in

1/2 cup + 3 tbsps milk

1 tbsp all-purpose flour

2 236ml cream (I had one plain, one heavy)

a carton of strawberries

For the topping-

dark chocolate

leftover cream

I should probably mention that my form was bigger than the one intended for this recipe, but I wanted a stumpier cake ..

Separate the yolks and whites.

With a standing mixer, whip the whites with 1/2 cup sugar until you form stiff peaks. Transfer (gently) to a bowl and keep for later.

Add the remaining sugar to the yolks and beat until tripled in volume or all the sugar has dissolved and the yolks are pale and creamy, about 8-10 minutes.

Now add 1/3 of the beaten egg whites and fold in gently so as not to release any beaten in air.(Folding was maybe my favorite part) Sift in half the flour and fold in gently, followed by 1/3 beaten whites, then remaining flour, and finally remaining beaten whites. Gently turn into prepared tin, and bake at 350F for 25-30 minutes until a tester comes out clean.

Remove from tin immediately, peel off parchment and cool completely.

Whisk the egg yolks with 1/3 cup of vanilla/sugar until smooth.

Simmer 1/2 cup of milk and 236ml cream with a bit of vanilla extract. Turn off heat and let it sit for a bit. Remove filmy milk.

Dissolve flour in 3 tbsps of cold milk

Put the pan back on simmer. Once the milk mixture comes to a boil, take it off the heat and whisk into the yolk mix.

Return to a pan, and place on medium heat until the custard thickens and coats the back of a spoon, stirring constantly.

Take off and whisk in dissolved flour. Strain and leave to cool.

Once it is completely cooled, whip 200ml of cream with 1 tsp of vanilla extract, and fold it into the custard gently but thoroughly. You will notice the Bavarian thickening.

While the custard is cooling, slice the sponge cake into two.

When cool, smear it all over the bottom sponge cake. Slice up the strawberries and cram as many as you can onto the cream.

After placing the top sponge cake over the cream and strawberries, use a double boiler to melt some dark chocolate and your remaining cream. Use a rubber spatula to cover the top of the cake with the chocolate ganache. I would probably have used less chocolate if I knew what was going on when doing this.

Smoosh some halved strawberries into the chocolate, and there you have it--cake!

(ppps don't drizzle chocolate unless you know what you're doing, either. I .. it was .. messybad. Involved adding water to the chocolate to try to thin it out, then realizing that water evaporates. Then adding milk. Then swirling together different colors of chocolate, and covering them up with more strawberries. Then--I'm going to stop now.)

Also I used fat free milk and it was goood.

I'm not a big fan of this blog post, but I really liked the cake, so it had to happen. Thank you so much http://www.passionateaboutbaking.com for the bulk of this recipe, and for the idea of white chocolate lace, which will be implemented eventually.

I would also like to add that Amanda and I seasoned chard chips with some onion powder/cumin, and some garam masala/sesame seeds, and that worked out well. I hope she puts up the Passover Spanakopita we made too. STILL LOOKING FORWARD TO RHUBARB HAROSET.

Is it Passover yet?

2010-01-09T15:26:00.000-08:00

If you're ever out in Canoga Park, you should stop by Follow Your Heart on Sherman Way. It's this incredible vegetarian mini-market and restaurant; it's where I first was introduced to scrambled tofu at the tender age of 11. I don't think that's on the menu anymore, but their spanakopita is amazing. An order comes with two pieces--they're the same shape and size as samosas (instead of like a sheet cake slice), which I prefer since it holds in the heat better and ensures that you're biting into crisp phyllo on the outside and warm-textured-but-creamy-spinachy-goodness on the inside. And to top it off, they make them with whole wheat phyllo dough, which gives every bite so much more depth.

In any case, I'm pretty scared to work with phyllo dough, so you can imagine my excitement when I found a recipe for matzo spanakopita in Healthy Jewish Cooking by Steven Raichlen, a book I routinely check out from the library (Studio City branch in case you're wondering). Obviously it's geared towards someone craving spanakopita during Passover, but no matter. I made the recipe last summer with regular matzo, but this time I thought trying to recreate the whole wheat spanakopita from Follow Your Heart might be fun.
So, on Thursday Anna came over and we set to work. I was an idiot, and didn't think it was a problem that I didn't have dill. Herbs always enhance flavors though, and dill is always supposed to go in spanakopita. So if you make this, be sure to mix in about a 1/4 cup chopped dill into the filling. Fun fact: I read in my Trader Joe's cookbook that you can buy frozen herbs at Trader Joe's, which would be so much more convenient than having to worry about buying fresh herbs and having most of it go bad and so on.
Anyway getting to the recipe, we adapted this from Healthy Jewish Cooking's Passover Spanekopita and here we go:

16 ounce package of frozen chopped spinach
1/2 c. torn chard pieces (leftover from chard chips, though these aren't chips yet, still raw! oh yeah, and you can just replace this with more spinach too btw)
1/4 c. chopped scallions
1/2 c. matzo meal
1 c. fat-free egg substitute, or 1 egg and 6 egg-whites
1/3 c. freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 c. fat-free ricotta (which is ridiculously difficult to find but yay for Whole Foods, the original recipe called for feta or Parmesan cheese)
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
Kosher salt to taste
Olive Oil for brushing
4 sheets of whole wheat matzo

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Farenheit.
2. Cook the frozen spinach according to the directions on the bag. Probably that means heating up 1/4 c. water to boil in a big pot. Then putting the frozen spinach in and simmering it for about 10 minutes, but you should check. Drain the spinach, then once it's cooled a tad, grab handfuls of it and squeeze the extra water out. It will be really squishy and gross. Put squeezed spinach in a medium sized bowl for mixing the rest of the filling.
3. Stir in the chard, chopped scallions, (please use dill and mix it in too!), matzo meal, eggs, lemon juice, cheese, pepper, and salt. You want to season this a lot, make friendly with the salt and pepper!
3. Take a 9 by 13 glass baking pan and spray/butter it. Put two sheets of matzo side-by-side on it and brush with the olive oil. We didn't have a kitchen brush so Anna decided to use the scallion tails for brushing. This is why Anna's amazing.

Spread the spinach filling evenly on top. Brush the other two sheets of matzo with olive oil and place on top. Sprinkle the tops with salt (not too much now!) and bake for 30 minutes until the top crust is golden brown (this is a little bit more difficult to tell with the whole wheat) and the filling seems set. Let cool enough so you don't burn your mouth and enjoy!

And like Anna said in her post before, we made chard chips again only seasoned thanks to Anna's suggestion. She though it would be good to do half a baking sheet with onion powder and cumin and the other half with Garam Masala and sesame seeds. My favorite was the onion powder and cumin--amazing!

Chard Chips and Madeleines Sitting Pretty in the Oven

2010-01-05T15:28:00.001-08:00

So yesterday I found a madeleine pan at Sur la Table--lots of excitement. It was two dollars cheaper than the one at Williams-Sonoma. And last night I decided to try my hand at madeleines. I found some recipes for creative ones like honey spice and chocolate cinnamon, but I decided to go with a basic vanilla for my first go.
Not a good go.
Disaster is, in fact, the most appropriate description.
Hindsight is a beautiful thing, isn't it? Well,
a) I should have let the butter cool COMPLETELY before combining it with the rest of the batter, bad move number one.
b) Nearly every recipe you that you find for madeleines will say that you should let the batter sit in the refrigerator overnight before you bake them. There's a reason that there's near consensus on this fact!
c)Do not overfill them--less is more. You will have a terrible time taking the madeleines out if you overfill them--and they will be ugly. And honestly, madeleines exist to be pretty, so in essence you'd be bringing a good-for-nothing madeleine into the world. Do you want to be responsible for that? Yeah, no.
d) Some recipes say not to butter the pan; that they'll be "prettier" if you don't. Lies. Butter/spray the pan like crazy, otherwise you'll have a mess like mine.
Anyhow, most recipes make more batter than you need for a 12 standard size madeleine pan, i.e. the one I bought. So if this is the case for you too, most recipes make two batches (24 madeleines). Lucky me, this meant that I got a second chance with this batter. I refrigerated what was left of the batter overnight and a then a half day. Not much was left considering my earlier mistake with butter. At the bottom of the bowl was reconstituted butter slabs. They looked like soap. Ew.
But the five madeleines that I was able to recover came out beautifully! Small success but I'll take it.

Madeleines
2 eggs, 1 egg yolk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla (this might be fun with almond extract too)

1 cup sifted powered sugar

3/4 c. flour

1/4 tsp. baking powder (remember powder, soda=soap)

1 stick butter (melted and COOLED, again if not cooled=soap in shape though, not flavor)

Steps
1. Melt the butter. Let it cool.
2. Meanwhile, beat the eggs with the vanilla in a mixer on high speed for 5 minutes. Add the sifted powdered sugar slowly. The batter will start to look really shiny and pretty now. Let it beat for at medium speed for about 5 minutes.
3. As all this beating is going on sift the flour and the baking powder together in a small bowl.
4. Fold the flour mixture in parts to the pretty egg and sugar mixture.
5. Once that is done fold in the COOLED butter. Seriously, if it's not cooled completely it won't combine with the egg and flour mixture.
6. Refrigerate the batter for at least a couple of hours. Preferably overnight.
7. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Spray your pan like you'd spray bug spray at a huge cockroach coming at you (sorry bad imagery when we're talking about food).
8. Don't fill them all the way. Only 2/3 of the way at most. Bake for 10 minutes.
9. Let them cool a few minutes in the pan. Then carefully loosen them with your fingers. Knives can deal a madeleine major damage.
Et voilà!

And as for the chard chips; they're like kale chips only with torn up pieces of red and green chard, left over from the red lentil and chard curry Anna and I made on Saturday. Just tear up chard into bite-size pieces rinse it, pat dry, and drizzle with a teeny amount of olive oil. Bake at 375 for about 10 minutes. Enjoy! Oh and some of them might look super burnt. They're still good, at least I think so. But then again I like marshmallows burnt to a char, so don't necessarily take my opinion on that.

Good Morning Campers!

2010-01-02T21:32:00.000-08:00

Tip of the taste bud to ya! We're Anna and Amanda and this is our burgeoning blog for the senses. You'll find flavors, feta, figs, flan, focaccia, frittatas, and flapjacks aplenty. Rustle up your retinas! You wouldn't want to run the risk of cooking something unworthy of your gaze. Taste with your eyes, nose, and of course buds. And don't forget to swallow! (That was all Amanda. Here's Anna with a touching story) Oh look, Amanda said swallow. This brings me back, way back, to the days I could sit and leaf through my favorite book -- Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs (now a major motion picture, but who's counting) -- featuring a town whose effervescence is composed of vanilla, almond, and lemon essence. Okay so, I just wrote the second half of that sentence so that it'd rhyme (though I'm sure the jello had some artificial vanilla, almond, or lemon flavors). Frankly, a world of hot dogs and pizza is a lot less tantalizing now that I've reached the prime age of nineteen. I'd rather lounge on a sea of fig & cinnamon challahs that Amanda and I are planning on. Speaking of which.. she just asked me what a noob is.. so.. her turn to keep writing. Take it away, Amanda!

So because I have decided that I do not enjoy the word noob, I'll call myself a tenderfoot instead. Anna and I are both tenderfoots in this food blogging business. First, we will leave only photos and that vanilla, almond, lemon essence, and perhaps take only...comments (nice ones please!) But our buds are blossoming and we'll be climbing croquembouches in no time!

We're starting off with this picture of a sweet potato. We used him to make a winter vegetable pie that had one layer of carrots, butternut squash, and sweet potato and a second layer of souffled spinach, all baked in a savory whole wheat crust. We also made a red lentil and chard curry. I wish you could have taken a whiff of the onions when they fraganced! We gathered all the vegetables remains and created a True Blood-inspired heap. Anna wants to know if it's Passover yet so we can make rhubarb haroset. Happy haroset on the horizon!