Blog Archive

Dessert

June 17, 2020

Chrissy Teigen’s Twitter Famous Banana Bread

One of my biggest pet peeves is when a recipe is not upfront with all the necessary steps you might want to consider before starting. We were devastated when we first attempted to make the KitchenAid Strawberry Ice Cream because we had our fresh strawberries, cream and pasteurized eggs from the store and we were ready to go! Only to realize that to actually make ice cream you needed to freeze the bowl for 12 hours before, duh. So here’s what you’ll want to know before making this banana bread.

HERE IS WHAT YOU MIGHT WANT TO KNOW BEFORE STARTING:

The recipe below is meant for a bundt pan, which I prefer because it ends up being moister but I have made this in a loaf pan, and I recently even made it in cupcake tins to cut down the batch. If you want to half the recipe, I recommend using cupcake tins as it makes roughly about 12 cupcakes.

ALSO, you do not need to have ripe bananas for this, we can turn your regular bananas into banana bread ready bananas with just an extra 20-30 minutes! More on that below.

You might be familiar with this recipe, maybe you were like me and watched the whole thing go down on Twitter. If you didn’t, go Google it. The tldr; is that she needed 6 very ripe bananas to work on this recipe, but as you know you can not just buy overly ripe bananas at the store, so she went to Twitter and called on her followers. She had to trade: one of her signed cookbooks, a pair of John Legend’s underwear, and a makeup palette to make this recipe happen. Now, this recipe, while straight out of Chrissy Teigan’s cookbook, has a reduced sugar level by half a cup, and honestly, it didn’t make a difference at all so why the heck not.

MAKE YOUR BANANAS RIPE IN 30 MIN

As I mentioned before, while banana bread is a great way to use up too-mushy-to-eat bananas, if you are hankering for banana bread but your bananas haven’t caught up to match your craving, that’s okay! A quick hack is to lay down a silicone mat or some parchment paper on a rimmed baking sheet, place your bananas down with the peels still on and bake at 300˚ for 20-30 minutes depending on how ripe your bananas are – you’ll know they’re done when the peels have turned black. It’s okay if they ooze out of the bananas a little too. I recommend doing this a little ahead of time if you can to allow your bananas to cool a bit before starting to work them into this recipe.

The last thing I am going to say is that the whole reason we started making banana bread was that back when we were still traveling, we took a trip to Maui and did the Road to Hana; a beautiful scenic drive around the island that is known for its views but also its legendary banana bread. We tried stand after stand and came home with high banana bread standards that we knew were going to be difficult to find. After making many different recipes, we came across this one and I am telling you, the coconut and vanilla pudding MAKE THIS! It’s so good that I can’t imagine trying to top it, and thus, we just wanted to highlight someone else’s recipe because it is the banana bread to end all banana breads. If you make it, let me know if you agree or if you’ve found better anywhere!

Preheat the over to 325˚
In a large bowl take your ripe bananas, eggs and oil and mash them together.
In another bowl, combine the flour, sugar, pudding, baking soda and salt and mix thoroughly before adding it in slowly to the wet mix. Mix again gently until fully incorporated. I’ve done it both by hand and on a low standing mixer setting – do not over mix!
Fold in the chocolate and shredded coconut.
Grease and flour your bundt pan – lightly grease with a little oil on a paper towel then lightly dust with flour, rotate your pan to coat with the excess flour, then tip it upside down and tap out the excess flour. It’s important to have every inch floured to ensure you can release it from the pan when done. I’ve made this recipe in a loaf pan as well as cupcakes tins, bundt pans are my favorite because I feel like they are moister.
Bake for 55-60 minutes for bundt or loaf pans. For cupcake tins, bake for 20 minutes. The timing is much shorter for cupcakes because they are less thick and don’t require as much time to cook through. Don’t forget to always poke with a toothpick though as cook times can vary by oven – always be sure your toothpick runs clean!
Let it cool for 10 minutes and then with a knife, loosen the cake from the edge of the pan. Using a plate, place it on top of the pan, then flip it over to release it.
Let cool again then serve! I’ve recently been introduced to banana bread with salted butter and I will say, while this recipe is delicious without, it should come as no surprise that it’s even better with butter.
NOM!

Half batch in a cupcake tin:

January 7, 2019

Strawberry Cheesecake

I absolutely love making cheesecake. Why? Cheesecake is so versatile and can be made for any occasion! Need a cheesecake for a bunch of kids? Great! Make the crumble crust out of Oreos! Sub out the strawberries with any other fruit that you like! Use any kind of graham cracker you like, dress it up, dress it down, the possibilities are endless!

Last minute Christmas dinner plans led to needing to whip up a dessert for 8-10 people and I couldn’t think of a more fitting dish. Not a whole ton of added sugar (it’s actually only in the crust) leaves the cheesy part of the cheesecake light and fluffy.

Well enough about the fluffiness and how amazing cheesecake is, on with the recipe!

Preheat the oven to 300˚
Grind/blend the graham crackers until they are crumbs, add the sugar and mix evenly. Add the butter and mix until they look like moist crumbs
Pour the mixture into a 9 or 10 in. spring form pan and press it down to form the crust. Place the pan in the fridge for 30 minutes.
While this is happening, prepare the rest of the cake. Blend the strawberries and add in the cornstarch. Boil on the stove until everything is fully mixed then set aside to cool.
In a large mixing bowl add the creme cheese and condensed milk. Mix thoroughly with a hand mixer (make sure you pre mix them with a spoon or something so that you don’t send giant chunks of creme cheese flying all over the place. Also before turning on the hand mixer, have it already sticking into the cheese to form a little resistance).
Add in the lemon juice and eggs then mix again with your hand mixer.
When the crust is done pour in the creme cheese mixture then drop small spoonfuls of strawberry puree to make dots all over the top of the cake. Take a chopstick from the center, spiral out and make swirls!
Bake for 50-55 min. If it’s a little jiggly it’s okay, it’ll firm up in the fridge.
Let it cool and then place in the fridge for a few hours.

Nom!

April 25, 2017

Cinnamon Rolls

Filling

1/2 cup, packed ‏brown sugar
2 tablespoons ‏cinnamon
1 tablespoon ‏flour
1/4 cup, room temperature ‏butter

Frosting

4 ounces ‏whipped cream cheese
2 tablespoons, room temperature ‏butter
1/4 cup ‏sugar

Last year Jimmy’s dad was in town for his birthday, we were driving around and I remember asking him what we should get his dad since the day had been a little uneventful. We were close to a donut shop that knew they used to go to and I remembered that he had mentioned getting the cinnamon buns there. Perfect, his dad loved cinnamon buns! I thought this would be a great little surprise to bring back, only to realize they didn’t have cinnamon buns, but cinnamon rolls, you know those big swirly type donuts; totally not the same. We came back and I felt pretty lousy about it, not only was it a small gesture, but it wasn’t even the right small gesture.

I come from a family where we celebrate birthdays big – it’s probably because we all have birthdays within 10 days of each other – we call it the family birthday – and it’s sort of a big deal. I fly home every year, we go out to a big fancy dinner, there are lots of bottles of wine and of course a big present reveal. So regardless if anyone ever tells me that they don’t want anything or birthdays aren’t a big deal, I always will consider a birthday a big deal. It’s the one day of year you can pick a restaurant you love and your friends won’t battle you to go somewhere else. It’s the one day where you can wake up and declare that this will be an amazing day and most people will go along with whatever plan helps make it that way. Birthdays are great and everyone deserves to at least have one day a year don’t you think?

This bothered me for days until one morning I woke up and it seemed so obvious. I could make cinnamon rolls. Sometimes life has a way of letting all the clutter fog up your mind and then like Karl the Fog, the sun comes out, and it’s gone. I even had cream cheese already in the fridge! The stars were aligning and we were going to have buns!

I will say that the recipe that I went off of told me to use parchment paper but the dough was so sticky and I probably didn’t flour the paper enough, so I had a bit of a nightmare when it all started sticking to the paper. But nothing was going to get in between me and birthday buns. With patience and much precision, we managed to roll the buns without getting paper stucked and baked into the dough.

What I didn’t anticipate was how dangerous it would be to know how to make cinnamon rolls on a whim. Oh well, all in the name of a happy birthday.

***

Melt butter in the microwave and set aside to cool. Mix together the milk and yeast then set aside.
In a large bowl (or in my case a plastic bucket), mix together the bread flour, salt and sugar.
When the butter has slightly cooled, add it into the milk and whisk.
Add the beaten egg and mix thoroughly.
Add the milk mixture to the dry mixture and stir together until fully incorporated. The dough will be pretty wet. Cover with plastic wrap and let it proof for 2 hours. Proofing: Leaving dough to rest and rise during the fermentation process.
In a small bowl, mix the brown sugar, cinnamon and flour. Mix and set aside.
Line an 8×8 pan with parchment paper.
*After 2 hours* The dough should have doubled in size. Generously flour your surface and your hands. I taped down parchment paper and it still stuck. >.<
Using a rubber spatula, drop the dough onto the floured workspace and dust with an additional layer of flour. The dough will be very soft and potentially sticky so be generous with the dusting.
Roll out the dough to a 14″x20″ rectangle and spread 1/4 cup room temperature butter out evenly over the dough. As weird as it sounds, the easiest way to do this is to squeeze soft butter between your palms, rubbing your hands together and then spreading the butter like you are lightly massaging the dough. I know, I know, it sounds weird but it’s very effective.
Evenly layer on the cinnamon sugar mixture and then starting at a short edge, roll up the dough.
Cut into 9 equal pieces. I recommend putting 8 even little notches in the dough before committing to cutting into the dough. There is no turning back.
Place each piece into the lined pan and cover with plastic wrap, all this to proof for another hour (you can leave these in the fridge overnight if you are preparing for the next day, these buns are best served fresh so time your buns appropriately.)
Preheat the oven to 350˚. Bake for 35 minutes.
While the buns are baking, prepare your frosting by creaming together the butter and sugar until fluffy. Using a rubber spatula, fold in the whipped cream cheese then set aside in the fridge until buns are done.
You can frost 2 different ways, if you are going for the Cinnabon style, frost your buns immediately to melt the frosting. If you are looking for the frosting to keep its hold, allow your buns to cool until you can add the frosting without it melting immediately. Either way, you can’t go wrong.

April 7, 2017

KitchenAid Strawberry Ice Cream

Strawberries

2 1/2 cups ‏fresh strawberries, sliced
1/3 cup ‏sugar
1 teaspoon ‏lemon juice

THINGS TO KNOW BEFORE MAKING THIS RECIPE:

You will need to freeze your mixing bowl for 12 hours, so start prepping this the night before! Need to make something faster? Try one of these.
Raw eggs come with the risk of carrying bacteria, while this recipe calls for pasteurized eggs which are safe to use because they’ve been heated to 140°F, killing any harmful bacteria. Pasteurized whole eggs can be pretty difficult to find, so for a recipe like this I recommend getting a carton of ready to pour eggs (like these).

When I was little my mom let me plant some strawberries in our backyard, I watered them every day until next to the little white flowers grew little green strawberries and those turned into big juicy red strawberries. I had a crazy sweet tooth so my mom let me to have a spoon of sugar with them and I would dip the strawberries into the sugar, watching as the sugar started to turn pink from the juice. While I’m no stranger to sweets, as seen clearly on the rest of the blog, I don’t find myself these days craving pure white sugar, especially for my fruit. After my childhood, I never really saw that delicious pink sugar ever again.

Well…. up until now.

One of the gifts of getting married (pun intended) is the fact that someone you know might think, “hmm.. I feel like Heidi and Jimmy would like it if we got them an ice cream maker.” And you know what, that friend would be correct. While I’ll always give different ice cream flavors a fair shot, realistically it’s always going to come down to one of 3 flavors: cookies and cream, chocolate cookie dough, or strawberry. Growing up, we always had ice cream in the freezer, coffee for my parents, and strawberry for me, so it only seemed fitting that our first round of ice cream would be strawberry!

And that’s when it happened. Pulling the chilled strawberry mixture out of the fridge, I remembered that childhood pink sugary goodness. Making homemade ice cream was nostalgic and honestly felt really good putting ingredients in and having it taste straight out of a pint. I’ve seen recipes that call for egg, some that require you to cool the egg mixture on medium heat, and some with no egg at all. But for this recipe, we went the egg route.

Disclaimer: The use of unpasteurized raw eggs increases the risk of food borne illnesses like Salmonella. Please use pasteurized eggs for any recipes where you are going to be using raw eggs!

Place your KitchenAid ice cream mixer in the freezer for at least 12 hours to fully freeze. Once you’re ready to use the mixing bowl, you’ll want to be ready to pour in your ice cream immediately as it will start thawing immediately. If you are looking to buy on, you can find the one we used: here
Wash then dry the strawberries. Slice them and set them aside in a small bowl.
Pour in the lemon juice and mix the strawberries until they are evenly coated in the juice. Do the same with the sugar.
Cover and place in the fridge for at least an hour.
Whisk eggs for 1-2 minutes until light and fluffy, whisk in the sugar until fully incorporated, then the cream and milk.
When the strawberries are ready, use an immersion blender to puree, then add to the ice cream base.
Churn the ice cream for 20-30 minutes then move the ice cream (it will be soft) into an airtight container and allow it to freeze for a couple of hours.

November 28, 2016

Chocolate Chip Cookies in a Jar

It’s Christmas time!! Well not yet, but it’s officially post-Thanksgiving which means it’s acceptable to listen to all day Christmas music radio stations, go searching for the perfect Christmas tree, and of course, all things sugar and spice!

Every year my company puts together gift baskets around the holidays and raffles them off to raise money for charity. This year my team decided on the theme of “by the fire” so think big cozy blankets, mugs filled with cocoa, and of course, warm cookies for Santa! Probably the best thing about growing up and realizing there is no Santa is that you can keep all the cookies for yourself. Considering warm cookies are best when they’re, well… warm, it’s probably best to put something that can keep into the basket. Over the years I’ve tried to make interesting takes on everyday recipes, but sometimes it’s nice to just bake a solid chocolate chip cookie. I’ve seen the cookie in a jar concept around on Pinterest and in stores for the holiday and figured it’d be perfect for not only our gift basket but gifts in general. I mean let’s be real, if people want to gift me food, I’m happy to take it. The trick is to make sure that the items in your jar aren’t perishable, and that you don’t require whoever is receiving the jar to have too many special items. This means, make sure that all they need are the essentials: butter, eggs, water, milk, etc. The worst part about making a recipe is realizing you have all but one thing, only to have to go out to the grocery store for a single item and feeling like you’re applying far too much effort. Why take the fun out of baking when you can gift someone the ease of not having to measure anything out or have to worry about all the cleanup of each measuring tool later. Just dump, mix, bake, and nom!

In a small bowl measure out your flour, baking soda, and salt. Mix thoroughly and using a funnel if you have one, slowly pour the dry mixture into the jar. I like to use the funnel to make sure that flour doesn’t puff up all along the side of the jar walls – I like a nice contrasting separation of each ingredient in my jars.
Add the remaining ingredients one by one, packing down each layer as you go. The order I like to do it from bottom to top is flour, chocolate chips, brown sugar, and white sugar, but you can do it however you like. Other ideas: by gradient, contrasting each layer, maybe if you have a themed jar, by alternating the layers based on the color of your theme.
That’s it! Well, you’ll want to write a little tag or note to attach that has the baking instructions. I plan to stock up in the $1 bins at Target and set myself up for the rest of the year but Michaels has good ones too if you don’t plan to cut and make your own.

On the Tag:

makes 2 dozen cookies

Preheat oven to 375˚
In a small bowl beat, 3/4 cup softened butter, 1 large egg and 1 teaspoon vanilla
In another bowl mix cookie jar mix until even, pour in the wet bowl and mix until you don’t have clumps!
Drop by tablespoon onto a baking sheet
Bake for 9-11 minutes or until golden brown
Wire rack to cool

May 7, 2016

Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies

After our trip to Japan last November, and realizing that one of my friends was more of a Japanophile than I had thought. We all became fully immersed in the concept behind Japanese idols. For anyone that’s not familiar with what I’m talking about, there is a large segment of Japanese pop culture that is devout to idol groups. These are typically young singers/dancers in the music industry that are sort of role models for the youth. These are not your typical starlettes, they’re not overly done up, they aren’t always the best singers, or dancers either 😉 they’re made to feel real and attainable with a “this could be you!” feel.

So what does this have to do with Nomday? As I mentioned in some previous posts, I’m currently cooking through the Easy Gourmet cookbook by Stephanie Le, my all-time favorite food blogger. And the other day, I started thinking… I think I have a food blog idol! Her book isn’t written by the head chef of a Michelin star restaurant, where you read it knowing they have knowledge you’d never know without attending Le Cordon Bleu. I find daily inspiration reading her blog with the “this could be you” feeling. ^-^ Now, enough idolizing, on to the recipe!

————–

Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl and set it aside. Cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add the egg and mix well. With your mixer on low, slowly incorporate the dry flour mixture.

Stir in the chopped mint and chocolate chunks. Chill in the fridge overnight for best results.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone sheet. Using a melon baller, scoop and roll into balls placing them 2 inches apart.

Bake until golden brown but still soft, about 13-15 minutes. Cool on sheet for 10 minutes then move to rack to cool completely.

March 20, 2016

Peanut Butter Chocolate Banana Donut

Bananas are one of these fruits that are great, high in potassium, perfect in cereal, but have you ever noticed how they start as a bunch of super green unedible bananas but once they start waking up they go from sleepy to super party mode really fast if there are other bananas nearby! We see this happening every week in our office so my friend Lindsey and I got to cooking!

We took a paleo-free, gluten-free, dairy-free, everything free recipe and made some …. modifications. I mean… how can you pass up on chocolate? So if you’re looking to figure out what to do with those overly excited bananas, try whipping up this recipe. Don’t have a donut pan? No problem, double the recipe and bake it in a loaf pan and cook for 50-60 minutes.

———

Grease your donut pan very lightly and preheat the oven to 350˚

In a large mixing bowl, combine the mashed bananas, eggs, coconut oil, vanilla extract and peanut butter until fully combined.

In a small bowl, mix all the dry ingredients; coconut flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, and sea salt. Mix into the wet ingredients and after fully combined, fold in the chocolate chips.

Spoon the batter into each donut mold. I like to start with the big donut molds and then use the remaining batter for mini donuts!

Place in the oven for 20 minutes when baking the regular sized donuts, and 7 minutes for the mini donuts.

Peanut Butter Glaze

1 cup ‏confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon ‏peanut butter, smooth, room temp
2 tablespoons ‏milk

Let cool for 30 minutes. While the donuts are cooling, prepare the glaze. Add all the ingredients together and mix until fully incorporated. Drop the donut into the glaze and evenly frost by twisting slowly and gently lifting them out. You can eat them immediately, or allow them to cool in the fridge for hardened icing.

Pour yourself a glass of milk and NOM!

December 24, 2015

Pecan Pie

This pie is my most requested dish come the holidays, with the Strawberry Cheesecake coming in a close second. But come Thanksgiving it’s just expected now that I will show up with one, if not two, pecan pies in tow. I recently asked a friend why he liked it so much and he explained that he loves pecan pie but so often when he gets it, it’s mostly jelly filling with a layer of pecans on top – whereas mine fully incorporates the pecans into the filling. I’ve had others tell me it’s the crust and Jimmy likes to say it’s the maple syrup. My conclusion is this is the end all be all of pecan pie recipes.

I personally love that if you have the time, you can make it from scratch, but if you’re short on time you can grab pre-made pie dough from the store and whip up this filling to still make something homemade-ish in a little over an hour.

This recipe was one that always reminds me of my parent’s home. When I was younger, we had a family friend who always made pecan pie for our big Christmas dinner and when we moved apart, I took the torch and carried the tradition on.

Flaky Pie Dough

In a small bowl, add the salt (a pinch) to the cold water (1/3 cup) and stir to dissolve. Keep in freezer until ready to use.
Put the flour (1.5 cups) in a standing mixer. Cut the frozen butter (10 tablespoons) into 1-inch pieces and scatter the pieces over the flour. Pulse briefly until the mixture forms large crumbs and some of the butter is still in pieces the size of peas. Add the water-and-salt mixture and pulse for several seconds until the dough begins to come together into a ball but is not completely smooth. You should still be able to see some butter chunks.
On a lightly floured surface, form the dough into a ball and shape into a disk
Add some more flour to the surface if needed to ensure it stays lightly dusted, roll the dough into a circle about 1/8-inch thick. Place in pie dish. Trim the dough so it only goes to the edge of the pan then crimp the dough to the edge of the pan with your fingers. If you have enough extra dough, I like to make a personal pie by using metal measuring cups or small glass bowls as the pie tin.
Chill the shell until firm to the touch, 30-45 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 375°F.
Bake the shell until the surface looks light brown, about 25 minutes. If you start to see the shell rise, use a fork to poke a few holes in the air bubbles. Let the shell cool completely before filling – spend this time creating the filling.

Pecan Filling

Have the pie shell nearly cooled and ready for filling.
In a saucepan, combine the sugar (3/4 cup), maple syrup (1/2 cup), corn syrup (1/2 cup), and salt (a pinch). Place over medium heat, bring to a rolling boil, and boil for 1 minute.
Take the pan off of the heat, add the butter (1/4 cup), and whisk as it melts. Let the mixture cool to room temperature. While the mixture is cooling, preheat the oven to 350° F.
Add the vanilla (1 teaspoon) and the eggs (3 eggs) to the cooled mixture and stir to mix well. Add pecans (2 cups) then pour filling into the pie crust.
Okay okay this photo doesn’t look like the rest, it is in fact from the second pie I made because I forgot to take one of the filling the first time around 😉
Bake the pie until the filling is just set, 40 to 60 minutes. If the top is browning too quickly, cover with a piece of aluminum foil. I typically start covering the pie after about 15 minutes to avoid burning.

October 19, 2015

Madeleine’s

I decided to add a new section to all future recipes and that’s the recommended items. You know that feeling you get when you walk into a Crate and Barrel and think, “Man, I want all these things, but do I really need an immersion blending? Can’t I just whisk it by hand? Why would I need a thermometer for my oven? I’ve already pre-set it. Someone told me once to use an ice cream scoop for my cookies but I think I can just eyeball it with a spoon…” While all these things are true (well minus the thermometer, you really can’t trust your oven, but I’ll get into that later) all these things were made for a reason, and it’s to make your life in the kitchen easier and more accurate.

“Okay, we get it, now tell us how to make cookies!”

You got it, but first a quick note about Madeline’s. Despite what you might think by seeing packaged Madeline’s in your local coffeeshop, the lifespan of a freshly baked madeline is really just a matter of hours. Of course you can keep them longer but you’ll notice their texture to change dramatically, the spongy and slightly crispy outer crust will become sticky and stick to the plate, tupperware, or other Madeleine’s that you’ve packaged them with. It’s best to make just enough for you and whoever else you’ll be sharing them with. You can save the batter for a couple of days in the fridge if you’d like to make the rest later. Okay, now onto the recipe!

Blue Bottle’s Ginger Molasses Cookies

This week’s recipe is an adaptation from my all time favorite coffee shop – Blue Bottle. Now while have a strong aversion to ginger – near my sushi, in my salads and especially in my cookies; it appears that my friends do not. Every time we go to Blue Bottle I immediately order a New Orlean-style Iced Coffee, while my boyfriend is quick to order one of their ginger cookies. I remember the first time I had one, thinking it would be like a gingerbread cookie, something that reminded me of the holidays, I was wrong. Typical gingerbread cookies –like the ones you find at holiday parties– are to ginger like… a glass of water with a lemon wedge in it, is to biting down into an actual lemon. To me, ginger is that intense. And so are these cookies.

SO BE WARNED! You better be a big fan of ginger if you’re looking to make these little guys. Do you eat ginger straight from the plate at sushi places? Do you like to drink ginger beer straight? And in your cocktails? Okay, read on.

I will have to admit that I made these, but had to get outside help to judge how they turned out. Because frankly, I am not one of those ginger people. I pick it off my sushi plate, and think that gingerbread cookies, and holiday beverages with lots of sugar are the only way to go. But when your best friend asks you to make them for her birthday, you suck it up, and have other people taste test your cookies.

I adapted the recipe a little bit from their book, Blue Bottle Craft of Coffee: Growing, Roasting, and Drinking, primarily because I couldn’t find light molasses and because of the cocoa powder I had at home at the time. But it came out really good so this is the recipe I’m sticking with. Also instead of rolling the dough in regular sugar, I skipped that step and only rolled the tops with large sugar crystals. I preferred the look especially when gifting them to a friend.

Sift the flour, cocoa powder, powdered ginger, baking soda, cardamom and pepper into a bowl.

(Just for fun, I got this little lens that clips on my cell phone and one of the lenses is a macro lens. Ever wonder what freshly ground pepper looks like up close? Now you know!)
Use a standing mixer (or handheld mixer) beat the butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar on low speed until smooth, 1-2 minutes. Add the salt and mix on low speed until well combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, then mix on medium speed until light and fluffy, 4-5 minutes.
Add the molasses and fresh ginger and mix until well combined. Scrap down the sides of the bowl, and then add the flour mixture. Mix on low speed just until uniform in texture.
Using a rubber spatula, scrape the dough out into an airtight container and refrigerate for at least 3 hours and up to 5 days.
Preheat oven 350F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Roll 1/4 cup portions of the dough into balls, then roll the top of the balls in sugar crystals. Slightly flatten and place on baking sheet, at least 2 inches apart.
Bake 13-15 minutes, or until crackly on top but still somewhat soft to the touch, rotating pan midway through. (The original recipe said 11-13 minutes and I found myself needing a few more minutes on each side, monitor your cookies and your oven and adjust the temperature to your settings)
Let cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes, and then remove. The surface will get firmer as they cool. (If you didn’t flatten your cookies, they might dome a bit, but they will settle again as your cookies cool, so don’t worry!)
Nom!

August 18, 2015

Almond Biscotti

Whether you know me personally and are aware of my love for coffee, or perhaps we’ve never met before and you’re just looking for a new cookie recipe, I felt that there needed to be something that complimented a good cup o’ joe. For those of you that do know me, you’ll know that there are struggles when it comes to eating certain foods when you’re rocking the adult braces. And let me tell you, the struggles are real. Really real. But worry not, for this is a dunking cookie! So whether you’re blessed with mid-twenties orthodontic care or just like your cookies on the softer side, these go great with coffee, hot cocoa, or just on the side of some tea.

Preheat the oven to 300˚F.
Begin by placing the almonds in a pan on the stove, stir frequently to lightly toast and avoid burning. Once toasted, set aside to cool then chop almonds coarsely.
Mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large mixing bowl.
In a smaller bowl, mix together the eggs, vanilla extract and almond extract. (Always use pure extracts! Artificial vanilla is a product made from guaiacol, a coal tar derivative which needs more chemicals to mask its unpleasant smell and is not healthy for the body!)
Gradually pour in the egg mixture into the dry ingredients bowl until it makes a dough then pour in the chopped almonds.
Prepare your baking sheet by either laying down parchment paper or a silicone baking sheet.
Divide the dough in half and place onto a heavily floured surface. Form two logs then place onto the baking sheet. Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown and firm.
Set aside to cool then using a serrated knife cut ½ inch slices and place the pieces on their sides for 10 more minutes in the oven.
Flip them over and bake another 10 minutes on the other side. Poke and see if they are as crisp as you want them to be then set aside to cool.
Make a cup of coffee, dunk your biscotti, NOM!

July 14, 2015

Brownie Madeleines

Brownies have always been around in my house. My mom used to get me the box of Ghirardelli brownies from Costco when I was a kid and when I had a craving, it was a matter of adding eggs, water, and oil; pop it in the oven and we’re ready to have a party in my mouth in about 40 minutes.

But with Forever Nomday in full swing, I’ve been trying to see if I can recreate my favorites, from scratch! It took me quite some time to find the Ghirardelli Sweet Ground Chocolate – not at Ralphs, Vons, Costco, or even the Ghirardelli store! Finally I was perusing in Cost Plus World Market and there it was! So here we are, making brownies from scratch! Oh and they’re in the shape of Madeleines for no other reason other than the fact that I love the portion size of Madeleines and it allows for brownie bites the size they should be – about 3 bites.

Preheat oven to 350˚F
In a standing mixer, mix together the eggs, sugar, vanilla and then add melted butter.
Sift the Sweet Ground Cocoa with the flour, baking powder and salt into a separate bowl.
Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredient mixing bowl and add nuts (not part of this recipe, but this would be the time to do so if you’d like nuts in your brownies.)
Stir in chocolate chips.
Spray your pan with Pam. Alternatively you can take a paper towel and dip it in a little oil, then grease the pan. I used a Madeleine pan, but you can also make this in a 9×9 pan.
Bake for 20-30 minutes.
Allow brownies to cool before trying to pop them out of the pan. If you choose to use a Madeleine tin, I wedge a chopstick between the brownie and the pan to pop it out of place.
NOM!

June 23, 2015

Creamy Lemon Bars

A lemon bar is a common dessert, found in coffee shops far and wide but lemon and custard does not always a good lemon bar make. There’s a magical balance between sweet and tart, creamy and flaky, that makes a perfect bite of lemon bar a little piece of heaven. If you haven’t noticed yet, I am a very big fan of a good lemon bar, and get more disappointed than the average person when it turns out to be subpar – which is probably why I just decided to make it myself.

This was my first stab at making lemon bars and I got this recipe from The Dessert Bible. If you’re looking for a good cook book to explain the why behind what you’re baking, and to test out all the things that could go wrong so you don’t have to, this is a great read.

For the crust: Line a 9 x 13 inch baking pan with parchment paper running along the long side of the pan, hanging off the edges enough to lift the entire bar off the pan when it’s done.
In a food processor pulse the flour (1 3/4 cup), confectioners’ sugar (2/3 cup) and salt (3/4 tsp.). Add butter (12 TBS) and blend for 10 seconds then pulse until the mixture is pale yellow until it looks like crumbles. Layer the bottom of the baking pan and press lightly. Then place in the fridge and let chill for 30 minutes.
After 20 minutes, start pre-heating your oven to 350˚. Bake crust for 25 minutes, or until golden brown. Remember that all bake times are relevant, everyone’s oven cooks at a slightly different temperature, so if you’re not looking to calibrate your oven, just keep an eye on your crust.
While crust is baking: Whisk the eggs, sugar, and zest. Whisk in the flour (3 TBS) and salt (1/8 tsp) then stir in the lemon juice, milk and butter (2 TBS) to blend well. I recommend zesting your lemons first, set the zest aside and then roll your lemons on the counter to soften up the lemons to ease squeezing them for the juice.
Reduce the oven temperature to 325˚, stir the filling one last time (if you don’t, there will be major separation and you’ll have an uneven filling.) Pour into the hot crust and bake 15-20 min or until the filling feels firm to the touch and has set completely – make sure not to over bake. I have sensitive finger tips so I prefer to just shut the oven door firmly and if it jiggles like Jello, it’s done.
Let rest on a cooling rack for 30 minute, then lift the parchment paper off the pan. Grab a sharp knife and cut into rectangles. Wipe your knife after every cut, the filling is sensitive and you will not get clean squares if you do not.

June 15, 2015

Carrot Cake

Carrot cake has always been one of my favorite cakes for 2 reasons. One, there’s something fantastic about being able to turn a vegetable into a dessert – like a real dessert, not just one for health nuts. And two, it’s moist and delicious, as long as you keep raisins out of the picture. For the photos I made this cake in a bread pan but having forgotten how dense this cake is, it didn’t cook all the way through at first. The recipe has been adjusted to appropriate bakeware.

This particular cake was made for my amazing boyfriend’s birthday last week. Happy Birthday Jimmy!

Preheat the oven to 350°
In a large mixing bowl, mix together the dry ingredients: sugar, flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, carrots and 1/2 cup of nuts
In a smaller mixing bowl mix together the oil and eggs
Slowly mix together both the dry and wet ingredients
Lightly flour a 9×13 pan and pour in the mixture. Bake for 45 minutes.
Drain as much liquid as you can from the canned pineapple. It sounds weird but I personally just measure out a cup, and squeeze it between my hands.
Mix together confectioners sugar, cream cheese, butter, vanilla extract, pineapples and 1/2 cup nuts for the frosting and spread frosting on cake. Wait until the cake has fully cooled or you’ll have runny frosting!

NOM!

June 9, 2015

Homemade Glazed Donut Holes

So it was National Donut Day on Friday (the first Friday of June) but because I was completely unaware of this national holiday last Monday, this post had to come after the fact. None the less this is a simple recipe you can make any time, with ingredients you can typically find in your pantry and fridge.

There’s something truly satisfying about being able to make the majority of baked items with the base of flour, sugar, salt and baking powder, adjusting the levels of each and making a completely different outcome. Bake it. Cook it. Fry it. The possibilities are endless and you just need to keep a few items around, and the world is yours.

To make your glaze, sift the confectioners’ sugar, then add the 3 tablespoons of milk, and vanilla extract. You’ll want a thick consistency to dip your donut holes into. Not too thick that it doesn’t spread and drip off a little, but not too thin that it just runs straight down the sides. You can always add a little more milk to thin it out.
In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the 1 cup of milk and the egg.
In a larger mixing bowl (I used a standing mixer) add the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar and mix.
Combine the wet mix (milk & egg) into the dry (larger mixing bowl). Then add the melted butter and mix thoroughly until you have a soft dough
Heat your oil into a pot that allows the oil to sit 1-2 in from the bottom of the pan (If you have a cooking thermometer, heat the oil to 350˚. If not, leave your oil on medium to low heat. If the oil is too hot, you’ll burn the outer shell of the donut hole without cooking the center.)
Lay out a cookie sheet and double layer the top with paper towels. Use this to place your cooked donut holes onto when you remove from the oil. Lay out a cooling rack with a metal sheet underneath – to cool the frosted donut holes.
Using a cookie scoop, drop a ball one at a time (5-6 balls per batch) into the hot oil, flipping each ball over every minute until a dark golden brown. (Test your first ball or two by taking them out when you think they’re ready and cutting them in half, if there is any uncooked dough, bring the heat down to increase the cook time. You can throw these halved donut holes back into the frying oil to complete and enjoy these as tester donuts when you’re done.)
After you have cooked all of your donut holes, transfer the cooling holes onto a cooling rack and let sit until completely cooled.
Drop each donut hole into the glaze mix, coating each ball completely. Transfer back onto the cooling rack and allow at least and hour for the icing to dry completely.

April 28, 2015

Hazelnut Maple Cookies with Orange Zest

This week’s recipe is actually from a really amazing bakery in Brooklyn that I visited a few months ago. We stayed in this great Airbnb walking distance from this great little bakery, Ovenly. One night while waiting for our table across the street at the legendary Paulie Gee’s, we walked by the closed bakery window and smelled the fresh cookies baking in the back. The next morning we went back for a quick scone before our ferry ride across the river and decided, this place was it for the remainder of the trip. So on the last day, I grabbed their cookbook and brought it home to try out. So here we go.

Preheat the oven to 350˚ F. Line two rimmed sheet pans with parchment paper.
In a food processor, pulse the hazelnuts until they form a coarse meal. The pieces should not be larger than about 1/8-inch in diameter.
Transfer the hazelnut meal to a large bowl. Add the sugar, egg whites, maple syrup and zest. Using a rubber spatula or your hands (if you choose this method, wet your hands first to prevent the dough from sticking to them), mix and let rest for 10 minutes at room temperature, or until the dough is slightly dry to the touch.
Using your hands or a small scoop, form the dough into 1 1/2-inch balls.
Pour the maple sugar in a small bowl. Roll each dough ball in the maple sugar, coating it completely. Place on a rimmed sheet pan, and top each with half a hazelnut by pressing the nut into the dough.
Bake for 12 minutes, or until lightly golden. Let the cookies cool fully before serving.

Get Creative

This cookie is also great with toasted hazelnuts. Simply place nuts on a rimmed sheet pan and toast for 10 minutes in a 350˚F oven. Let cool before using.
Try using any favorite nut like pecans or walnuts.
Roll cookies using any of your favorite sugars like confectioners’ sugar, sanding sugar, or even cinnamon sugar (1/4 cup sugar mixed with 1 tablespoon cinnamon)

April 21, 2015

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Directions

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter, brown sugar and sugar.
Mix in one egg at a time and add vanilla.
In a smaller mixing bowl combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Slowly mix the dry ingredients into the large mixing bowl until smooth.
Mix in quick oats, walnuts (optional), and chocolate chips. Scoop out a spoonful per cookie and space them accordingly, they’ll flatten to about twice as wide while they bake. I like to use a mini ice cream scoop because is fast, clean and efficient.
Bake for 12 minutes on a silicone baking sheet then allow to cool

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

NOM!

March 26, 2015

Strawberry Cake

Preheat the oven to 350˚
Blend strawberries until pureed setting 3/4 of a cup aside for the middle layer of the cake. Taste test the puree to see if it’s sweet enough, if your strawberries aren’t ripe enough add confectioner’s sugar until it’s to your liking.
Spray the inside of your spring form pan with PAM and dust on a light layer of cake flour. (You can either use two spring form pans if you have two or one and cut the cake in half after you’re done baking.)
In a small bowl mix the remaining puree, milk, eggs and vanilla.
In a larger bowl mix together the flour (sifted), sugar, baking powder and salt. First cutting the butter into smaller chunks, add it into the mixture. Mix until they look like moist crumbs. Don’t continue mixing or else it will turn into a dough and will be harder to mix with the other ingredients!
Poor the wet ingredients into the dry ingredient bowl until it’s smooth then pour evenly into either your one or two pans.
If using two pans, bake for 25 minutes, if using one pan bake for 35-45 minutes or until firm. When it has finished baking allow the cakes to cool fully before trying to release it from the pan. (I suggest flipping your cake over so you have a smooth leveled surface to frost afterwards rather than a bit of a dome. Be careful not to let the cake split! If you’re cutting the cake in half to make two layers, use a serrated knife and make very small back and forth cuts to avoid making lots of crumbs.)
Use the 3/4 cup of puree to lightly layer the bottom layer of the cake. I put most of the puree in the center and not much around the edges knowing it would end up dribbling over when I put the other layer on top. Place the second layer of cake on top then frost the cake evenly.
To make the frosting add the butter in small chunks and cream it until smooth, add the vanilla and almond extract and mix again until smooth. Slowly add in the confectioner’s sugar and stir with a large spoon or a silicone spatula until smooth. Add the leftover puree from the middle section of the cake to add a little color to the frosting. Adding milk also helps to thin out the frosting to make it easier to mix and spread onto the cake.
(optional) I think it looks nice rimmed with raspberries. I put 12 raspberries on in the same placement as the hours of a clock and it gives it an extra something; along with the spacing for where to cut a perfect slice of cake 🙂
I place it in the fridge for about 10 minutes to harden the icing a little and then voila! You’re done.

NOM! ッ

March 18, 2015

Homemade Thin Mints

In a bowl fit for a standing mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla extract and mint extract and mix thoroughly.
In a separate bowl, thoroughly mix together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. Slowly mix in the dry ingredients into the standing mixer until fully incorporated.
Roll your dough into a ball then flatten into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap and allow to chill for at least an hour.
Preheat oven to 325˚F and line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone liners (my preference.) Let dough rest at room temp then roll dough out to 1/4 in. thickness. Use a mold to cut out 1 inch circles – if you don’t have a mold, look around for a container with an opening the size of your preferred cookie. I used a small mason jar lid.
Transfer cookie dough onto your baking sheets and let your trays chill in the fridge for 20 minutes.
Bake cookies for 20 minutes; then allow to cool for 10 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack for best results.
Double boil your chocolate chips or if you’re hard pressed for time, microwave your chips; making sure to pause every 20 seconds to mix and make sure the chocolate is melting evenly. When chocolate is fully melted, add oil and mix in thoroughly until chocolate is a thin, dipping consistency.
Lower the cookies into the chocolate mixture with a fork, and lift to allow it to drip any access chocolate. Place each cookie on a sheet of parchment paper and allow cookies to chill in the fridge before eating.
I added green sprinkles because it’s St. Patrick’s Day today. Even though they’re minty, a chocolate cookie doesn’t look very festive when it’s just all brown.
NOM NOM NOM! OI OI OI!

November 8, 2012

Snickerdoodle

Let the butter sit until slightly cooler than room temp, and then cut into small chunks and add to a mixing bowl (or standing mixer with a paddle attachment). REMEMBER: If you let your butter melt too much, it’ll thin the cookies out in the end! Never melt your butter in the microwave! This also means, don’t let your batter sit out in the kitchen for too long, once the butter melts too much, there’s no turning back!
Preheat oven to 350˚
Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone sheets.
In a shallow bowl, mix together the 3 Tbs. of sugar and cinnamon.
Mix the shortening in the bowl with the butter until they are creamy and thoroughly blended together.
Add the remaining 1 1/2 c. of sugar to the mixture until light and fluffy.
Then add the eggs one at a time, followed by the vanilla.
In a small bowl, mix together the cream of tartar, baking soda and salt, then add that to the butter mixture.
Add the flour and continue mixing until smooth.
Using a melon baller, scoop out 1” balls and roll them into balls in your hands. Then roll them in the cinnamon sugar until they are completely covered (the more cinnamon sugar the better in my opinion). Then place them on the baking sheet 1 1/2”-2” apart.
Bake for 10-12 minutes, you’ll know when they’re almost finished because the tops will start to crack and you’ll see that familiar Snickerdoodle look. Don’t overbake them though, Snickerdoodles are meant to be fluffy and a little chewy, not hard.
Allow them to cool on a rack, and enjoy!

November 11, 2011

Pilgrim Cupcakes

Something I saw on Foodgawker and just had to try. This is not something I came up with on my own. Regardless, I love baking random things for my friends and wanted to do something new and for the holidays so here goes 🙂

Directions

I could have found a yellow cake recipe but there were so many parts to these little guys that I decided to take one step out and went for a box of yellow cake from the store. I guess I filled the cupcake liners too much cus they all bulged over (you need a more flat surface so the hats don’t tip) but no worries I just cut off the tops and my roommates and I ate all the cupcake tops…. yum!
In a stand mixer or with a beater, mix the butter until fluffy. Then mix in a cup of confectioner’s sugar. Mix in the milk and vanilla (no need to worry about the big clumps yet) then add the last of the sugar. If your frosting isn’t thick enough, add creme of tartar, beat on high for a few minutes until at your desired thickness. (Keep in mind the frosting should be very thick to hold up the hats.) You can add a little cocoa powder too for a touch of color to get a nice off white.
While the frosting is beating you can melt the chocolate in a microwave safe bowl. About a cup and a half will do. Reheat the chocolate if it starts to get too thick.
Drop a marshmallow in the bowl of chocolate and push it around with a chopstick, when all the sides are covered pick it up with a toothpick and place it on the chocolate covered side of the cookie. (I used a bent open paper clip because it was easier to hold on to.)
As those are cooling, fill a piping bag with your frosting and top the cupcakes about 1/4 inch then place the hats on top. (If they are squishing the frosting it’s not firm enough, try refrigerating or adding more sugar)
Let them cool in the fridge until everything is set then you can draw on the hat buckle and their faces!
Enjoy!

Happy Nomdays 🙂

July 29, 2011

Palmiers

Defrost the puff pastry.
Preheat the oven to 450˚
Mix the sugar, salt and cinnamon and pour 1/3 of the mixture onto a clean countertop and spread it out evenly (you’ll be using this the same way you would flour dough to make it not stick)
Unfold the soft puff pastry and lay it down on the sugar mixture, use a rolling pin to lightly roll the dough (enough to get the sugar to stick to the dough, not to flatten it)
Pour 1/2 of the remaining sugar mixture on the top of the dough and evenly spread it out.
Now fold the dough in half, it should look like a book. Unfold and fold both sides of the square towards the middle where your new crease is. Now fold it once more like a book so they meet in the middle. You should have 4 layers.
Cut off the ends of your rectangular pastry log if they are uneven (it’s important for all the pieces to be the same thickness so they bake evenly).
Cut into 3/8 in. slices and set them down on their sides. Using a pastry brush (or your fingers if you don’t have one) brush the cut sides of each piece of dough and dip into the left over sugar mixture (you want all part of the dough to be sugared so that it will caramelize.
Use a handful of remaining sugar mixture and sprinkle it over the entire cookie sheet, covering the cookies and their surrounding baking area.
Place them on a baking sheet with lined with parchment or a silicone baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes.
Take the sheet out and flip each cookie and allow to bake for an additional 2-3 minutes. (Watch your cookies! An extra couple of minutes could turn them into burned crisps!)
Repeat with your other sheet of puff pastry.

Nom!