09 Monday Jan 2017
Posted in Cake, Dessert, Uncategorized
Happy New Year to you and yours. A week or so later, but I am wishing you a sweet, successful, healthy year. I started the year with this honey and walnut cake with sour cream frosting and bubbles. The cake was made by my mom, and is one of my favorite cakes.
What are you goals for the year, both in and outside of the kitchen?
Do share.
14 Tuesday Jun 2016
Posted in Baking, Chocolate, Dessert, Recipe, Uncategorized
Sometimes in life you need chocolate.
Sometimes in life you are short on time and need to take a shortcut.
Sometimes in life you need a shot of Baileys.
For those times in life, you’ve got to make a pan of these Baileys and Coffee Fudge Brownies with Walnuts.
These brownies are dedicated to my friend Mariah, the funny, nutty, sweet lady that I got to know at The Pantry over the last 6 months or so. Alabama is lucky to have you back, but we’re going to miss you here in Seattle.
These brownies are indulgent, over-the-top, and decadent. To make them, start with a box of Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate Brownie mix, sub in olive oil for vegetable oil, replace water with a combination of Baileys and cold brew, add in chopped walnuts and chocolate, and cut down on the baking time. That’s all!
Baileys and Coffee Fudge Brownies with Walnuts
Ingredients
Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate Brownie Mix (20 ounce)
1/2 cup Baileys
1/2 cup cold brew coffee
1/2 cup olive oil
1 egg
3/4 cup chopped walnuts, divided
1/4 cup roughly chopped semi-sweet chocolate
Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F and grease a 10×10″ glass dish.
2. Whisk together Baileys, coffee, olive oil, and egg. Stir in brownie mix and 1/2 cup of walnuts. Spread into the prepared dish and bake for 30 minutes.
3. Sprinkle remaining walnuts and chopped chocolate over the brownies and bake for another 5-7 minutes. Cool in the dish completely. Serve in small portions – these guys are super rich!
And now that the post is written, I’m tempted to make another batch to take more photos and to showcase the gooey, fudge-like texture of these chocolate bites. Any takers?
04 Monday Apr 2016
This year, I decided to bake myself a birthday dessert. I wanted something simple to make, decadent, and filled with chocolate. I turned to Giada De Laurentiis recipe for Chocolate-Pistachio Fudge Tart and made a few changes to make it my own.
As I’ve been obsessing about Oregon hazelnuts from Trader Joe’s, I decided to replace pistachios with roasted hazelnuts. I also replaced the heavy cream with half & half to lighten up the texture and the calorie load. I was at first worried that using half&half would not set up the chocolate filling, but it worked just fine. As the chocolate was melting into the hot half&half, I added a few extra ounces of chocolate, to make the filling thicker.
The tart came out just right. A balance between the creamy, melt-in-your-mouth chocolate filling and the crunchy, slightly salty nut and graham cracker crust. The topping of dried apricots is optional. I liked the golden, slightly sour bursts of fruit. I can also see how this same recipe would work well with fresh raspberries or strawberries. Happy birthday to me!
Chocolate and Hazelnut Tart with Apricots
Ingredients
Crust:
1 1/2 cups roasted hazelnuts
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
6 whole graham crackers
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
Filling:
10 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1 1/2 cups half&half
3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup dried apricots, chopped
Directions
14 Monday Apr 2014
Posted in Chocolate, Dessert, Gluten Free, Holidays, Kosher Food
Tags
Passover starts tonight. This year I have decided to follow the no-gluten rule as a way to show my solidarity and test my will power. To lessen the blow of giving up bread and cookies, I made this sweet Passover Chocolate Covered Matzo with Hazelnuts, Cranberries and Candied Ginger. I used the chocolate-covered-strawberry method, where I melted the chocolate with a little bit of butter and spread it over oven-toasted matzo crackers before topping them with chopped hazelnuts, cranberries and candied ginger. This is in my opinion a much easier and faster way and gives you a splendid result.
Let’s give it a try!
Passover Chocolate Covered Matzo with Hazelnuts, Cranberries and Candied Ginger
Ingredients
9 matzo crackers
24 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 tablespoons butter
3 cups roasted hazelnuts, chopped
2 cups dried cranberries, chopped
1 cup candied ginger, chopped
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 3 baking sheets with aluminum foil and arrange matzo evenly among the sheets. You might need to break a few crackers in half.
2. Toast matzo in the oven for 10 minutes.
3. Place chocolate in a large microwave-safe bowl and melt in the microwave at 30-second intervals, stirring in between with a spatula. Once melted, stir in butter.
4. Spread chocolate evenly over matzo crackers and sprinkle with hazelnuts, cranberries and candied ginger, lightly pressing the toppings into the chocolate.
5. Set the matzo crackers at room temperature or refrigerator before breaking into individual pieces.
Now that you know the basic method and proportions, it’s time to play. Try this with sea salt, candied orange, different types of nuts, or a drizzle of white chocolate over the top.
I wish you all a happy Passover. May you have a sweet year.
Back to Snacking in the Kitchen
27 Thursday Mar 2014
The last time you dined at a Thai restaurant, do you remember what you ordered for dessert? More likely than not, you enjoyed a bowl of sticky rice, topped with sweet mango. If you were lucky enough to taste this at a Portland Pok Pok, consider yourself lucky. This is probably one of the most talked about Thai restaurant in the United States. Although I haven’t had a chance to eat at Pok Pok yet, I got a chance to try many of its dishes few weeks ago, during my cookbook club meeting. Our cookbook selection was “Pok Pok: Food and Stories from the Streets, Homes, and Roadside Restaurants of Thailand” by Any Ricker, JJ Goode, Austin Bush and David Thompson.
Among the dishes, there was pad thai, fried egg salad, pork ribs, and much more. For my selection, I picked Andy’s recipe for Sweet Sticky Rice with Mangoes and Sesame Seeds, published in Food & Wine magazine.
You can find the full recipe on the site. I found out, later, that it was different from one published in the book, perhaps an easier, more shortcut version. In this version, the rice is prepared in the microwave instead of steaming, and there are several ingredients missing, that perhaps could be harder to find at a local grocery store.
As such, I adjusted the Food & Wine published recipe but cutting down on the salt and adding vanilla to the coconut sauce. I also chose to use black sesame seeds to offer contrast to white rice and yellow mangoes.
You start by combining coconut milk with sugar and salt in a saucepan and simmering it until slightly thickened and the sugar melts. Feel free to throw in a vanilla bean into the sauce.
For the rice, you might need to head down to your closest Asian grocery store. You’re looking for long grain Thai rice, also called sweet, sticky, or glutinous rice.
Soak the rice for an hour, then rinse it, and cook in the microwave in three stages, until it’s tender.
Meanwhile, you’ll make the second batch of coconut sauce (i added a vanilla bean to this one as well) with sugar and salt – you will add it to the cooked rice and stir it in until it’s fully absorbed. Be sure both the rice and the sauce are still warm.
Toast black sesame seeds and peel and slice mangoes. If at all possible, it’s best to use champagne mangoes.
Serve the rice in individual bowls along with coconut sauce (the first batch you made), mangoes, and sesame seeds. I arranged the mangoes over the bowl of rice and sprinkled with sesame seeds – looks like a happy bumble bee, doesn’t it?
Back to Snacking in the Kitchen
31 Tuesday Dec 2013
Happy 2014! I hope the new year brings lots of healthy, delicious, decadent delights into your kitchen and healthy, joyous adventures into your lives.
Did you know that 2014 is a year of the horse? And what do horses love? They love apples! And with that in mind, I wanted to share with you a recipe for Individual Apple Pies baked in muffin pans. For the crust, I used purchased pie crusts from Trader Joe’s. They were buttery, flaky, and tasted homemade. If you find yourself with extra time and energy, feel free to make your own crust.
Individual Apple Pies (makes 12)
Ingredients
4 large apple, peeled, cored, diced into 1/3-inch
2 tablespoons brown sugar, or to taste
2 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 individual pie crusts
1 egg, beaten
12 teaspoons butter
brown sugar, optional
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees and grease 12 muffin cups with butter or nonstick spray. I used two muffin trays, greasing every other cup to make it easier to assemble the pies, but you can use just one. Confession, I had a very hard time getting the pies out of the tins, so be generous with the butter or consider using silicone pans.
2. Combine apples with sugar, flour, cinnamon, lemon juice and salt. Set aside.
3. Cut unrolled crusts into 24 circles approximately 4-5 inches in diameter. You might need to re-roll the crusts to make enough circles. It’s a great idea to chill the crusts if they get too soft.
4. Fit 12 crusts into the muffin cups and brush with a beaten egg.
5. Spoon the apple filling into each crust and top with a teaspoon of butter.
6. Fit the other 12 crust circles over the apple filling and firmly press together with the bottom crust. Brush the tops with the beaten egg and cut small slits into the top crust for the steam to escape. If you wish, sprinkle with extra brown sugar.
7. Bake in the preheated oven until the crusts are golden brown and the filling is cooked through, 45-60 minutes. Cool and carefully remove from the muffin tins.
Happy New Year!
Back to Snacking in the Kitchen
24 Tuesday Dec 2013
Posted in Allrecipes.com, Baking, Cookies, Dessert
Want a cookie? How about a soft oatmeal cookie studded with golden raisins and toasted walnuts? Hard to say “no” to that!
This cookie combination was a third installment in the tradition of morning birthday cookies for the Artist. He’s been on the oatmeal kick lately, so these have seemed to fit in quite perfectly. The latest copy of the Allrecipes.com magazine ran a story on the most popular cookie selection, and I found the recipe for the Soft Oatmeal Cookies. I halved the recipe and added the fruit and nut. These were a hit!
Oatmeal Cookies with Golden Raisins and Toasted Walnuts (Makes 2 dozen cookies)
Ingredients
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 1/2 oatmeal (I used extra thick, old fashioned)
1/2 cup golden raisins
1/2 cup chopped toasted walnuts
Directions
1. Beat together butter and sugar until creamy.
2. Add in the egg and beat together.
3. Stir together flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a separate bowl. Incorporate the dry ingredients slowly into the butter mixture.
4. Mix in oats, raisins and walnuts. At this point, I refrigerated the dough overnight so it would be ready to bake in the morning. You can bake the cookies right away.
5. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
6. Scoop cookies on parchment lined baking sheets an inch apart and bake 8-10 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack (directly with the parchment paper) and let cool.
Now all you have to do is sing “happy birthday” and pour in a cup of milk or glass.
Happy baking!
I would definitely bake these again. Chewy, sweet, healthy-tasting, with a nice crunch from the walnuts. This recipe lends itself to many variations – how about pecans and dried cherries or pistachios and dried apricots? Give these a try!
Back to Snacking in the Kitchen
01 Sunday Dec 2013
Tags
Happy December 1st! This is the start of the season for cookie exchanges, baking, and decadent sweets. How about adding this recipe for Chocolate Coconut Macaroons to your recipe box this year? With just a few ingredients and steps this is a very simple cookie to prepare, yet boasts a lovely taste and wonderful chewy inside with crispy, meringue-like outside. For a finishing touch, drizzle with melted chocolate and you have a clear winner on your hands.
This particular recipe is based on one I learned from Kaspar Donier when I worked at his Seattle-based catering company as a summer camp cooking instructor. Thank you, Kaspar and Nancy!
Chocolate Coconut Macaroons (12 cookies)
Ingredients
2 egg whites, at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons flour
1 1/2 cups sweetened flaked coconut
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (omit cocoa powder for basic, plain macaroons)
melted chocolate for drizzling, optional
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat.
2. Whisk egg whites with sugar until soft peaks form.
3. Mix together flour and coconut to remove lumps.
4. Combine flour and coconut with whisked egg whites, folding carefully. Add vanilla and cocoa flour. Do not over mix.
5. Scoop the batter on the prepared baking sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes until almost set, but still slightly loose in the center. If you are baking plain macaroons, they will be slightly brown on top and the bottom.
6. Cool completely and drizzle with melted chocolate, if desired.
Enjoy!
Back to Snacking in the Kitchen
25 Monday Nov 2013
Tags
With the Thanksgiving on my mind and a friend’s visit, I wanted to bake a seasonal dessert. Surrounded by fresh local apples and cranberries, I decided on a simple and elegant Apple Cranberry Walnut Tart. This one could easily be adapted for pecans, if you are in the mood for a more traditional Thanksgiving combination.
I used a store- purchased pie crust, but please go ahead and use a homemade if you have time and desire. With apples, I’d recommend using a crisp variety. I chose a combination of Granny Smith and Honey Crisp. If time is an issue, you can cook the filling slightly before baking the tart ~ this will significantly reduce the time it needs in the oven. While a scoop of vanilla ice cream is always a welcome accompaniment, we enjoyed the tart on its own.
Apple Cranberry Walnut Tart
Ingredients
3 tablespoons butter, divided
1 9-inch pie crust
1/4 cup apricot jam
1 large Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored, chopped
1 large Honey Crisp apple, peeled, cored, chopped
1/2 cup fresh cranberries
1/3 cup walnuts, chopped
2 tablespoons flour
2-4 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
zest of 1 orange
egg yolk
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F and grease a baking pan with 1 tablespoon of butter.
2. Roll out the crust on the bottom of the baking dish and brush with tablespoons of apricot jam.
3. Toss together apples, cranberries, walnuts, flour, sugar, cinnamon and zest and pile in the center of the crust.
4. Dice the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter and dot over the filling.
5. Crimp the edges of the crust over the filling lightly and brush with 1 beaten egg yolk.
6. Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes, then lower the heat to 375 degrees F and bake for another 30 minutes.
7. Heat the remaining apricot jam in the microwave for 30 seconds and brush over the tart. Return to the oven and bake for another 15-20 minutes.
And the tart is ready! Do give it about 30 minutes to cool and set up before slicing.
18 Monday Nov 2013
It’s hard to believe that my young brother just turned 25 years old! Time flies, people grow up, mature, and become adults that you are proud to call your friend.
For his birthday, my brother requested Carrot Cake Cupcakes with raisins and walnuts. I took this opportunity to use my wonderful orange KitchenAid and bake something delicious for the whole family to enjoy. For the recipe, I adapted Ina Garten’s carrot cake cupcakes. Modifications: 12 cupcake yield, reduction of sugar and oil, addition of baking powder, change in baking directions, toasted walnuts. The frosting was cut in half and dressed with clementine zest.
I must admit, I was rather nervous waiting for the cupcakes to finish baking and once I removed them from the oven, my fears did not diminish. But! These were truly fantastic – moist, just sweet enough, with a wonderful texture variance of raisins and crunchy nuts. The frosting with the addition of clementine zest played nicely along, lending just enough sweetness and decadence.
Ingredients
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon
3/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 1/5 cups grated carrots (I used organic, with skin on, grated in a food processor)
1/2 cups raisins
1/2 cup chopped walnuts, lightly toasted
1 tablespoons flour
For the frosting:
8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
8 ounces unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
zest of 1 clementine or orange
Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 12-cup cupcake pan with liners and lightly grease with cooking spray.
2. Beat together sugar, oil and vanilla until evenly incorporated. Beat in one egg at a time.
3. Sift together flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
4. Mix carrots, raisins and walnuts with 1 tablespoon of flour. This will keep the mix-ins evenly incorporated with the cupcake batter.
5. Add half of the dry ingredients to the sugar-oil-egg mixture and mix just until blended. Blend in carrots, raisins and walnuts and then add the rest of the dry ingredients.
6. Divide the batter evenly among the prepared cups.
7. Bake in the preheated oven for 30-40 minutes until the tops of the cupcakes are medium-brown and the toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely on the wire rack. I removed the paper from cupcakes right before frosting.
8, For the frosting, beat together cream cheese, butter and vanilla. Gradually beat in confectioners’ sugar (you might want to sift if first so it incorporates easier). Once the frosting is of your desired consistency and sweetness (you can add more sugar), fold in clementine zest. Frost cupcakes as desired. I fit a piping bag with a star tip and filled it with frosting, trying a few different designs when it came to decorating.
If the frosting gets too soft, you can refrigerate it briefly. I chilled the cupcakes for an hour before serving to allow the frosting to set up slightly. These would be beautiful garnished with candied carrots or toasted walnuts. Mine came garnished with candles and a “happy birthday!” song.
By the time the cupcakes were baked, cooled and frosted, it was too dark to take any decent photos. Sadly, I took a few with my phone on the bathroom floor. The good news, there are a few cupcakes safely tucked in inside the refrigerator – I will attempt to take photos tomorrow! Sweet wishes.
Back to Snacking in the Kitchen
23 Wednesday Oct 2013
Pancakes for breakfast? Yes, please! Last weekend I decided to upgrade the traditional “eggs-for-breakfast” and make pancakes instead. Rather than making them plain or over-the-top-pumpkin-spice variety, I decided on the Apple Walnut Pancakes with Homemade Cranberry Sauce and based the recipe on one of my favorites for Apple Bacon Pancakes I have done in the past.
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup of sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1 egg
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 apples, grated
1/2 cup chopped roasted walnuts
Directions
1. Whisk dry ingredients. Add the wet ingredients and whisk to combine. Stir in apples and walnuts.
2. Heat a large pan over medium high heat and lightly grease with oil or butter.
3. Use a measuring cup (1/4 c) or a small ladle to make pancakes. Cook the pancakes for 4-5 minutes on each side. You will notice the edges drying out and bubbles appearing on the surface of the pancakes – that’s when you know it’s time to flip!
13 Friday Sep 2013
Posted in Allrecipes.com, Cookies, Cooking, Dessert, Video
Alright, so you wouldn’t eat these every single day, but on a special occasion, why not? We made multiple batches of Deep Fried Oreos at Allrecipes.com the other day, and let’s just say that everyone who tried these was a fan!
Here’s the video for making this state-fair-favorite dessert. It’s on the homepage today!
04 Wednesday Sep 2013
Happy Rosh Hashanah. I would like to wish you all a sweet year. We celebrate this holiday with a round Challah, apples, and honey. This time, I baked my challah with my sweet friend, Alla. We stuffed the challah with honey-sauteed apples and sprinkled it with sesame seeds. Enjoy!
I would recommend this recipe for challah from America’s Test Kitchen (feel free to substitute butter with oil and add a touch more sugar for a sweeter challah)
And check out Challah Apple Muffins I made a few years ago
Back to Snacking in the Kitchen
09 Tuesday Jul 2013
Posted in Cooking, Dessert, Potatoes, Recipe, recipe development, Sandwich, Vegetarian
You might be puzzled by the title of this post: Peanut Butter and Roasted Marshmallow Sandwich with Potato Chips. Let me explain.
I just came back from my first overnight camping trip with the Artist. Let’s be honest, I was mostly excited about the food, the nature, and spending the time together away from the city. The food came first though.
Camping to me is almost synonymous with fire –> marshmallows. And so, a bag of marshmallows joined us on the ride to mountain Rainier. The marshmallows were skewered and roasted over the fire on our first evening at the camp site. There is something unexplainable delectable about charred marshmallows with warm, delicious, gooey inside.
Enjoying a few of those charred marshmallows, sandwiched in between two European-style butter cookies and high-end semisweet chocolate, I thought it’d be a pity to eat roasted marshmallows just once on this trip. And that’s when the idea of the Peanut Butter and Roasted Marshmallow Sandwich with Potato Chips was born.
The next morning, we toasted four pieces of bread on the open camp fire. We spread one side of two pieces with crunchy peanut butter and spread roasted marshmallows on top of the other two pieces of bread. And then the two came together!
But wait… what about the potato chips? Those joined in later. As we set out to picnic overlooking the leftover snow and the sprouting blooms, I thought “wouldn’t the potato chips be delicious in between peanut butter and the marshmallows?” And they surely were! I used the Kettle black pepper and salt variety. The salt and sweet came beautifully together creating the perfect sandwich.
Apparently we were too busy eating the sandwiches – there are no final photos. So you will need to make the sandwich on your own and let me know what you think!
Back to Snacking in the Kitchen
29 Saturday Jun 2013
Happy 4th of July! The Independence Day holiday is less than a week away and I wanted to present you with a gift that I worked on with Allrecipes.com. Here it is! The photos behind the shoot of the American Flag Cake and the video on how to put this incredibly gorgeous and patriotic cake together.
I know I keep on saying how fun my work projects can be, and this one surely was not an exception. In fact, this might have been one of the more complicated projects, making it that much more rewarding at the end. You and your family will oooh and aaah when you slice into this cake.
Enjoy!
Bake the cake – we used a cake box mix and added food color to create red and white layers. The blue layers has a surprise inside!
The cake is ready!
24 Monday Jun 2013
It’s funny how some of the more delicious things that come out of your kitchen are the product of last minute improvisation. This Plum Pie Crumble as an example. It’s a pie and crumble in one!….Pieble?
Just this Saturday I was going to attend a birthday party for my friend Diana. I wanted to bake something sweet and delicious. Knowing that Diana was a fan of the Apricot and Almond Tart I baked earlier, I decided to bake a similar tart with Italian plums.
Ready, set, go! Except, last minute I discovered that I didn’t have cream cheese required for the filling. I suppose I could have gone to the grocery store, but instead, I turned to Ina Garten as inspiration and used her Plum Tart recipe as a base for this dessert.
Rather than having the walnut crumble as the crust and the topping for the plums, I rolled out the pie crust on the bottom of the pie pan, spread it with apricot jam and then sprinkled it with some of the walnut crumble. The plums went on next, covered with the remaining walnut crumble. This was by far one of my favorite desserts, and I hope it will be yours as well.
Plum Pie Crumble
Ingredients
1 pie crust
1/2 cup apricot jam
I invite you to make it at home to celebrate your friends’ or family birhtdays, or simply to celebrate Summer.
Back to Snacking in the Kitchen
17 Monday Jun 2013
Posted in Allrecipes.com, Dessert, Recipe, Video
Cronuts are sweeping the nation. The delectable marriage between croissants and donuts, created by a New York chef, these fried sweets are in high demand. And just to think that a few short weeks ago nobody has heard of them.
10 Monday Jun 2013
