The Baking Sisters

Review: Cupcakes of Chicago

2012-01-18T13:06:00.000-07:00

So last weekend, I went to Chicago for a business trip to the American Economics Association conference. I am obviously qualified for such things, because I took Principles of Economics pass/fail and I passed (barely). It felt cool and exciting and grown-up to go on a business trip in a new city, and even though I spent most of the time in the sub-sub-sub-basement of the Hyatt Regency trying to sell books to economists, I did get to explore Chicago a bit. And I loved it! It’s totally charming. With the brilliant blue sky and the balmy weather (balmy for Chicago in January, anyway), it seemed like the whole city was welcoming me. When I was walking in Millennium Park, there was a large group of pre-teen girls who appeared to be on some sort of class trip sitting on a wall and getting filmed for the news, yelling on the cameraman’s cue, “HAPPY NEW YEAR! WE LOVE THIS WEATHER! WE LOVE CHICAGO! WE LOVE FOX NEWS!” Okay, so maybe not totally charming.

Obviously, when one goes to a new city, the most important thing one must do is check out the local cupcake scene. I got some recommendations from my officemate Katy, last seen being awesome here, as she went to University of Chicago. Unfortunately, I had very limited time – I usually had to grab a cupcake from whatever place was nearest to the Hyatt during my lunch break – and the places she suggested too far away. But I wanted to give them a shoutout anyway, because I’m sure they’re delicious. Molly’s Cupcakes and Twisted Baker, we shall meet again.

But what about the cupcake places I actually did get to visit? The first one was called Sarah’s Candies, so even though it wasn’t technically a cupcake store (or even a proper store at all – it’s a storelet located in the Macy’s inside the old Marshall Field’s building), I had to go in! Like almost all cupcake emporia, it was aggressively feminine, which was ironic in this case since this branch of Sarah’s is located in the men’s undergarments section of Macy’s. The clerk was very friendly and she definitely wanted me to get one of those Customer Loyalty cards, but I declined because I don’t live in Chicago. The flavor selection was pretty limited, and I decided on a black-and-white cupcake ($3.00 plus tax), where the one side of the cupcake was white cake with white icing and the other was chocolate with chocolate icing. I wonder how they do that! (the cake, not the frosting). Anyway, the cake was fluffy and delicious, light as a feather. The chocolate side of the icing was fine, nothing to write home about, but the vanilla side was very disappointing. It was way too sweet, to the extent that you could taste the grains of sugar. It was the only non-buttercream-frosted cupcake in the store, so I can’t generalize about the quality of their frosting, but the vanilla icing kind of ruined what was otherwise an enjoyable, if unremarkable, cupcake experience.

The other cupcake place that won the coveted Closest to the Hyatt Regency Award was Sugar Bliss, on North Wabash Avenue. According to their Web sit, they “specialize in gourmet cupcakes” which are “extra moist” and “decorated with our signature Sugar Bliss bloom,” the petal design you can see in the photo above. They had a lot more flavors than Sarah’s, as well as a more neutral brown, blue and pink color palette. Plus, they have mini cupcakes, which are a cupcake reviewer’s best friend (and a cupcake vendor’s favorite rip-off device). For $1.50 each plus tax, I treated myself to a chocolate mint and a chocolate caramel cupcake. I also shared them with my new pals over at the Columbia University Press booth, to see what they thought. We were in agreement that the chocolate mint was the more interesting of the two, with a bold, intense mint flavor in both the cake and the frosting, plus the wedge of peppermint patty on the top. I waited to cleanse my palate before trying the caramel, but they did not, so I’m going to discount their opinion on that one. Oh well, not everyone can be a professional. Neither the chocolate cake nor the frosting made a particularly strong impression on its own, but when I combined the airy cake with the velvety frosting with the chewy caramel wedge, the overall effect was quite pleasing. I would be interested in trying more flavors at Sugar Bliss.

So there you have it. I definitely want to go back to Chicago – probably not in January next time – and I’ll have to try the places that Katy recommended. Plus, I go to a couple of these conferences a year, so y'all can expect Cupcakes of Denver, Cupcakes of San Diego, Cupcakes of New Orleans, etc. in the future I was explaining my review process to my boss and he called me the Derrida of cupcakes (because I deconstruct the cupcakes). I kind of like that for a blog name…

MSC Club: Mint (and Caramel) Filled Brownie Cupcakes

2012-01-15T00:00:00.002-07:00

Martha Stewart Cupcake Club is back...on this blog anyway. I have been absent for the last couple of months, but when Rachel of Simple Girl posted a chance for people to pick new flavors, I jumped on it. I really enjoy being part of baking groups and I wanted to get back connected to this one, so I got to make a pick.

I chose Mint Filled Brownie Cupcakes from page 122-123 of Martha Stewart's Cupcakes. I really like a cupcake where there is a little surprise in the middle and I have had my eye on these for a while. While I was in the store buying peppermint patties, I saw rolos and thought that they would also go well in the cupcakes. My little one and I had a great time making these together. These are a great pre-school baking project. We mixed the batter and he had a great time pressing the candy into the cupcake tins. We made half with peppermint patties and half with rolos and I enjoyed both.

The mint ones infused the brownies withe a nice mint flavor throughout and the caramel ones had nice caramel chunks studded throughout (I used two rolos, but I think I would use three in the future). The brownies had a nice texture, between fudgy and caky and were definitely chocolatey.

I hope everyone enjoyed baking along with me. I look forward to seeing how everyone else's turned out. I am looking forward to next month's raspberry swirl cheesecake.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Bundt Cake

2012-01-10T09:15:00.000-07:00

This cake is so awesome because it tastes just like a chocolate chip cookie but in an elegant cake form. And it is parve (no dairy) so you can serve it after a meat meal. Of course, the orignal recipe calls for butter and milk, but I substituted margarine and soy milk and it was still delicious.

The base of this cake is actually Dorie Greenspan's Brown Sugar Bundt Cake, which has nuts and fruit mixed in. However, the brown sugar base is a lot like a chocolate chip cookie batter in cake form, so it made sense just to replace the nuts and fruit with chocolate chips (although you could probably keep the nuts if you like that kind of thing).

Here is the recipe, with my changes:

Chocolate Chip Cookie Bundt Cake
Adapted from Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
225 g / 8 oz unsalted margarine, at room temperature
2 cups lightly packed light brown sugar
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 cup soy milk, at room temperature
12 oz chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350F. Butter and flour a 9- to 10-inch Bundt pan.

In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Working with a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large bowl with a hand mixer, beat the butter and sugar together at medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating for 1 minute after each addition. Beat in the vanilla. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the flour mixture and the buttermilk alternately - add the flour in 3 additions and the buttermilk in 2, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Mix only until the ingredients are incorporated and scrape down the bowl as needed. Turn off the mixer, and with a rubber spatula, stir in the chocolate chips. Scrape the batter into the pan and smooth the top.

Bake in the center of the oven for 60 to 65 minutes, or until a thin knife inserted deep into the center of the cake comes out clean. If at any point the cake is browning too fast, cover the top loosely with a piece of foil. Transfer the cake to a rack and cool for 10 minutes before unmolding, then cool to room temperature on the rack. Finish the top of the cake with a dusting of powdered sugar.

Cupcakes for a Sweet 2012

2011-12-31T16:27:00.003-07:00

Happy New Year from the Baking Sisters! It's a fun and festive holiday that gives me an excuse to dress up, wear my awesome sparkly headband from J. Crew, and of course bake like a maniac! Tonight, I'm headed to a party, and when I saw these clock-themed New Years cupcakes in the Martha Stewart Cupcake Cookbook, I was intrigued. They are holiday-appropriate and not too tricky to make, although I have to warn that melted chocolate is not really amenable to being poured neatly out of a pastry bag, so I used a chocolate-dipped toothpick to make all the numbers, which was a pain, but whatever. For the cupcake recipe, I used this recipe, which is excellent! It's extremely fluffy and silky; my friend and co-baker Emily said that the batter was more the consistency of mousse, and I agree. I used the Swiss Meringue Buttercream, but as always, I used three sticks of butter instead of four, and it was still plenty buttery. Then I just melted an ounce of chocolate, and after several failed experiments with the pastry bag, I discovered the toothpick trick and all was well. Emily so kindly cut out the clock hands you see above, and I put foil on a cake plate to make the clock face. We're going to bring it to the party and reassemble the whole thing, cause we're ridiculous, in a good way. The Baking Sisters wish you a happy (and sweet) New Year!

For a Sweet New Year, Honey Cookies

2011-12-25T07:29:00.002-07:00

As we have written about before, there is a Jewish tradition to have honey on Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year, for a sweet new year. While this custom has not carried over into the secular world, I am very late in my blogging and so I am starting a new tradition-- honey for a sweet 2012!

These cookies come from the ever great Susie Fishbein, author of the Kosher by Design cookbook series. Somehow I ended up acquiring her latest cookbook, Kosher by Design: Teens and 20-Somethings. While I'm not won over by some of the recipes in the cookbook-- some of them are too unhealthy or too basic for my tastes-- I've also discovered a few recipes I really like, and this is one of them.

These cookies, despite their name, are actually more spice cookies than honey cookies, but I think they're delicious. They're really easy to make and mostly include ingredients you already have in the house. Just watch them while they bake or else they burn. Despite making three other desserts, these were the favorite. You can find the recipe here.

Adventures with the Ice Cream Maker: Dark Chocolate Sorbet

2011-12-20T16:04:00.000-07:00

I come not to praise Dorie Greenspan's chocolate sorbet recipe, but to...okay, I come to praise it. There's just so much to praise!
1) It is easy-peasy lemon-squeezy. No warming milk and pouring warm mixtures onto egg yolks while whisking constantly and scraping things into other things. Just throw the ingredients together, heat 'em up, and blammo. You're all set to make your sorbet (after you chill the mixture and freeze your ice cream maker's bowl for at least 8 hours, of course).
2) It is deliciously creamy, even though the recipe includes no cream! Will wonders never cease? In fact, although the recipe doesn't call for any specific kind of milk, I've only ever used skim, and it's been as creamy as one could ask for.
3) As far as things this tasty go, it's relatively healthful, especially if you use skim milk. Great for keeping off those holiday pounds!!!! LOL!!!!!
4) Dark chocolate. Need I say more?
So this holiday season, enjoy a nice steaming freezing churned chocolate-water-milk-sugar concoction. It drive you to that other chocolate-water-milk-sugar concoction known as hot cocoa, but you won't regret it! You can find the recipe here.

BAKED Sunday Mornings: Buckeyes

2011-12-18T09:18:00.000-07:00

I have never made candy before, so I was a little nervous to make this week's recipe. In fact, it almost didn't happen because I was afraid it might be too much work. However, these buckeyes were easy-peasy. The only complicated part of these is dipping them in the chocolate and even that wasn't so hard once I had some patience.

As my husband points out, these are a candy, named after a nut, named after an animal's eye. However strange their origen/name, they were delicious. If you like the combination of chocolate and peanut butter, you will enjoy these. And if you are a candy making novice like me, start with these. They might give you the confidence to move onto more complicated candy (and looking at the upcoming Baked Sunday Mornings recipes, I think I'm going to need that boost).

I made half the recipe and got 26 pieces. Check out the other bakers over at the Baked Sunday Mornings website.

In other exciting news...2 of the three baking sisters will be reunited today when Rachel comes out to LA. Hopefully we'll get to bake something fun together.

Pecan Pie for Beginners

2011-12-14T10:57:00.002-07:00

Here I am again (see sisters!) Unlike Rebecca, I really like pecan pie, but I have a bit of a pie phobia because it always seems so complicated. Especially pecan pie, with all of its boiling corn syrup and other such things. So I was thrilled when I found this recipe by googling "easy pecan bars" and then reading reviews until I found something that seemed to be as good as the real thing. While I acknowledge that it is a lazy man's (or woman's) recipe, I thought that they tasted as good as regular pecan pie, but with way less work. If you're a purist, you can make your own crust (any sugar cookie recipe will do) but the mix worked as well-- I've made them twice, one time each way, and been happy both times.

One warning-- this are SUPER rich and sweet, so cut small and enjoy! And if you're going to save them for later, they keep best in the fridge. Give them a try; you'll be glad you did. You can find the recipe here.

A Holiday Triple-Header From The Baking Sisters' Dad!

2011-12-08T20:06:00.003-07:00

Ah, Thanksgiving: a weekend of gratitude, family, shopping (for some), football (for others), and food – too much food – for all. In addition to the traditional Thanksgiving dinner (at my sister- and brother-in-law’s home in Connecticut), our family has two long-standing rituals that involve food. The first began more than 30 years ago, before any of the Baking Sisters were born. Because we live near the start of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade route, we used to take friends’ children to see the parade. After standing in the cold for several hours, we would return home to hot cocoa and chocolate chip cookies (we still use the recipe on the package of Toll House chips). This tradition continued during the many years when we stood on the parade route with the Baking Sisters. Now that they are grown, we watch the parade on television, but we still bring out the cocoa and cookies when Santa gets to Herald Square. Next year, we hope to restore the full tradition and take our grandson to see the parade live and in person! The other tradition goes back only 15 years or so. We attend the Big Apple Circus with close friends and then return home, build a fire in the fireplace (it was 60 degrees this year, but we have to make S’mores), eat plenty of wonderful food and go through several bottles of wine. So it was a busy weekend for the Baking Sister’s dad. I started with my traditional Vermont Pumpkin Pie, based on a recipe I clipped from the New York Times many years ago which I adapted to make the pie non-dairy. Beaten egg whites give the pie a light texture, while maple syrup adds New England-style sweetness that seems to be the essence of Thanksgiving. For the post-circus feast, I made Apricot Tarragon Cocktail Cookies, which go wonderfully with cheese and wine. I saw the recipe in Rebecca’s Food & Wine magazine when I visited California in October, and I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the recipe was contributed by Dorie Greenspan. Here is a link to the recipe. I went all-out for dessert. I always have canned pumpkin left over when I make the pumpkin pies, so I looked for a pumpkin ice cream recipe to use it up. I found a great one on David Lebovitz’s blog. As he suggests, I included rum and chopped pecans. And since it didn’t seem right to serve just ice cream, I also made Moosehead Gingerbread from Maida Heatter’s Book of Great Desserts. According to the book, the recipe came from an old-time fishing guide in Maine. In any event, the gingerbread and the ice cream were a great combination.

Mexican Chocolate Chip Cookies, or, The Return of the Rachel

2011-12-05T10:14:00.001-07:00

I know. I am a delinquent. Sarah. feel free to berate me now. Between school, work, and figuring out what exactly I want to do with my life, I have had little time for baking and even less time for blogging. But I apologize for my neglectful ways and will try to do better in the future.

ANYWAY. I actually made these Mexican chocolate chip cookies almost two months ago, for the holiday Sukkot. Sukkot is always one of my favorite holidays-- I love eating outside in the sukkah and even the odd waving the large stick in the air ritual has found a fond place in my heart. This year I moved from sukkah to sukkah (or, since it rained almost the whole time, from house to house) and my job was often to bring dessert. Since I was off from school, I had a little more time than usual and decided to try making some new things (which will hopefully be posted about soon.)

I was excited about these Mexican chocolate chip cookies because I really like the combination of sweet and spicy-- think the old school hard candy fireballs-- and so I was excited to see how these would turn out. While I really liked the flavor, I found that they were a bit dry and crumbly, and became more and more so as the days passed. I think I would make them again, but would add more butter or milk next time to increase moisture. You can find the recipe here.

BAKED Sunday Mornings: Baked French Toast

2011-12-03T20:53:00.000-07:00

This recipe intrigued me, first because it seemed pretty easy and second because I was pretty unsure about what it might look like. Would it be French Toast or would it be more bread pudding. Turns out it was much more bread pudding like and pretty good. I thought the flavor could have been a little stronger, but I'm not sure what else it needed.

I made two changes to the recipe. First, I left out the almonds because I don't like nuts in baked goods. Second, I made blackberry sauce because that is what I could find in the supermarket. Then, I made a salted caramel sauce that I thought would also be good with the blackberry and the combination was delicious.

This would make a good addition to brunch (just remember that it has to sit in the fridge for 8 hours or more before baking). Check out the recipe and the other bakers here.

Turkey Challah for Thanksgiving Shabbat

2011-11-25T09:39:00.000-07:00

I saw this turkey challah on a blog and I knew I just had to try it. It seems like the perfect challah for Shabbat of Thanksgiving, and it is super adorable. All you do is make a batch of your favorite challah dough (we used this one) and after it rises, cut it into 4 pieces. Shape one piece into an oval to use for the body. Cut one piece in half to use for the head and cut the remaining pieces into small balls to use for the feathers. Roll the small pieces into balls and place them around the head and body to create feathers. You can use any leftovers to make the turkey's nose and feet. We used two chocolate chips for the eyes. This was really fun to make and super easy. Thanks to Ariella of Sweet Happy Life for the great idea. She makes lots of really cool shaped challahs that I can't wait to try now that I know how easy it is.

Here's a shot of my little one working on the egg wash (apologies for the photos, they were taken on my phone)...

Happy Thanksgiving and Shabbat Shalom!

Adventures with the Ice Cream Maker: Pear Caramel Ice Cream

2011-11-22T17:21:00.000-07:00

I know I should be posting something more Thanksgiving-like, such as pumpkin pie (but we all know I hate pumpkin) or something to do with turkey. However, once thing I have noticed over the last few years of living in California is that Thanksgiving can kind of sneak up on you, since the weather doesn't really change. That is why I think it is ok to post this ice cream -- it has lots of good fall flavors, but it is appropriate for a place where it is going to be 70 degrees on Thanksgiving day.

This is Pear Caramel Ice Cream from David Lebovitz's The Perfect Scoop. Once again, David knocks it out of the park with this flavor combination. You might think it would be too sweet, but the caramel cooks long enough to get a strong, complex and not to sweet flavor. When you eat this ice cream, you can really taste both the pear and the caramel and they hit you at slightly different times, making the flavor of this ice cream really interesting and the color of the ice cream a gorgeous pale color. This would be a fine thing to eat on Thanksgiving weekend (although not after turkey if you are kosher -- maybe a midnight snack?). Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family.

Here is the recipe:

Pear-Caramel Ice Cream

3 medium-sized ripe pears, peeled and cored
3/4 c. + 2 tablespoons sugar
2 cups heavy cream
1/8 teaspooon coarse salt
a few drops of fresh lemon juice

Dice the pears into 1/4-inch pieces.
Spread the sugar in a large, heavy saucepan. Cook over medium heat, carefully watching and stirring occasionally with a heatproof spatula until melted.
When the sugar is a deep amber, stir in the pears. The caramel will seize, that's ok. Continue cooking and stirring occasionally (again with a heat-proof spatula – caramel will burn heck out of you) for ten minutes. The sugar will have dissolved.
Remove from the ehhat and stir in 1/2 cup of the cream, then mix in the rest of the cream, salt, and lemon juice.
Cool to room temp, puree until smooth, press through a strainer.
Chill according to your ice-cream maker manufacturer's instructions.

Adventures with the Ice Cream Maker: Have You Milked A Goat Today?

2011-11-17T00:00:00.000-07:00

Here's one from the Baking Sisters' dad! Take it away, Dad!

It’s time for another guest blog by the Baking Sisters’ dad. This incredibly delicious recipe is adapted from the signature dessert of Eden Village Camp, the first (and only) Jewish environmental residential camp, located in Putnam Valley, New York. EVC is a wonderful place (you can see for yourself at www.edenvillagecamp.org ) that has what may be the best camp food in America – some of which is grown by the campers themselves!

Enough with the commercial – let’s get right to the recipe:

2-1/4 cups goat’s milk

2/3 cup sugar

scant 1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen)

3/4 cup half & half

3/8 tablespoon vanilla extract

Pour 1-1/2 cups of goat’s milk into a saucepan and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat. Add the sugar and salt, stirring until the mixture is completely dissolved. Chill the mixture in the refrigerator. Puree the blueberries in a blender until almost completely smooth. When the mixture is thoroughly chilled, add the remaining goat’s milk, the half & half, and the blueberry puree. Stir to mix thoroughly. Pour the mixture into the prepared bowl of an ice-cream maker and churn according to the manufacturer’s directions.

As I said, EVC is an environmental camp, so the original recipe calls for milking the goats (I got my goat’s milk in the organic/specialty dairy case at Fairway) and pureeing the blueberries in a bicycle-powered blender (mine is electric). I don’t think either variation affected the taste.

NOTE: I would consider substituting heavy cream for the half & half. And I would add a couple of tablespoons of alcohol (vodka or a fruit-based liqueur) to give the ice cream a smoother consistency.

National Bundt Day: Chocolate Chip Marble Cake

2011-11-15T08:29:00.000-07:00

Today is National Bundt Day! Do you know how I know that? Mary, of the blog The Food Librarian, is obsessed with bundts (in the best way, of course) and, for the third time, has decided to make 30 bundts in 30 days, leading up to today -- National Bundt Day. Mary's blog is a really great read. She is smart and funny and she always has lots of fantastic recipes (especially if you are a fan of jello, check this out). I am always glad to see her pop up in my blog reader.

Mary has encouraged her blog readers to make a bundt to celebrate this momentous day and since all I have to do is make one cake, it seemed the least I could do. This was the first cake that Mary made in her countdown this year, and it caught my eye right away. I mean, what could be bad about chocolate and vanilla batter with chocolate chips, swirled together in a big, delicious bundt?

This recipe is actually based on the marble cake from Buttercake Bakery here in LA. I've never had their bundt cake (only their cupcakes) but now I am eager to try it. You can find the recipe here, on Mary's blog. The recipe calls for dusting with powdered sugar, but I added some ganache as a glaze, since I had some left over from making something else. I figure, what isn't better with a big spoonful of chocolate over it? Happy National Bundt Cake!

Review: New York Chocolate Show

2011-11-13T15:17:00.005-07:00

Sarah here! I just got back from the New York Chocolate Show, and MAN am I hyper! Hyper and happy! And probably about 10 pounds heavier than when I walked in. The Chocolate Show is basically a trade expo for chocolate, and the New York one is the only one in America. My mom had found an ad for the chocolate show in the New York Times Magazine and cut it out for me, and since then it haunted my dreams. My friend Rocio was coming into town from D.C. and I suggested that we buy tickets. But $30 was pretty steep for a couple of poors like us. Luckily, her friend contacted her that very day and said she had two free tickets because she was volunteering there! So we wended our merry way to the show, and after waiting on a line that went down the block (a line sweetened by the occasional free sample!), we confronted the beautiful scene. Soooooo much chocolate! Everyone was there: Valhrona, Jacques Torres, Guittard, not to mention a bunch of chocolatiers I had never heard of but was sure glad to make the acquaintance of: Antidote, Divine Chocolate and the Grenada Chocolate Company were some of my favorites. Every kind of chocolate you can imagine was there. Melted chocolate, chocolate made from an 18th-century recipe, salted chocolate caramels, chocolate covered pretzels, chocolate fondue, chocolate cakes, chocolate bars and boxes...

Beautiful, impressive chocolate art...

Some extremely strange chocolate fashion that would have made Lady Gaga envious...

And the most delicious, melt-in-your-mouth chocolate truffles I have ever eaten, courtesy of Traditional French Truffles. I bought a box because they were too delicious to pass up!

A huge shout-out to Rocio's friend Ashley and the amazing Divine Chocolate she was selling. Thanks for a fantastic(ally caloric) afternoon!

French Lemon Cream Tart

2011-11-06T00:00:00.000-06:00

This is a Dorie Greenspan classic that we have made many times and it is hard to believe it has never made it onto this blog. Dorie calls this the Most Extraordinary French Lemon Cream Tart and she is right -- and not just because there is an extraordinary amount of butter in this tart. You really don't want to know how much.

On account of the butter, this is not a tart that you might make on a whim for a regular night, but for a special occasion and for someone who loves lemon, this is definitely something I would turn to. I made this for a lemon-lover in my office for her birthday and it was a big hit. The filling is not a curd, it is most definitely a cream, like you would find in a chocolate cream pie, but lemon flavored. It is delicious, soft and silky and much lighter than you might imagine given the ingredients. Make this for a special lemon occasion. You can find the recipe here, on Dorie Greenspan's website.

These Cupcakes Are So Good, It's Scaaaaaaary!

2011-10-30T18:01:00.003-06:00

a) I'm thinking of changing the name of this blog to The Baking Sarah. Time to pull your weight, sisters.

b) Tomorrow is Halloween! I had a long-simmering plan to make these delicious cupcakes for Halloween, but with the special limited-edition Halloween Oreos with the orange cream filling. Unfortunately, last year I simply could not find said Oreos in Providence, and so I had to be content with making regular ones. I was very content, though - they were delicious! All the rich, satisfying creaminess of Oreo cheesecake, all in a convenient cupcake-size package. What could be better? Anyway, the plan continued to simmer in my mind, and when I saw the orange Oreos at my local supermarket here in the Greatest City on Earth, I nabbed them! (Never mind that Halloween was more than three weeks away - in my cabinet they sat until they were ready to meet their delicious, delicious fate.) I brought them in to work for a special Halloween edition of Baked Goods Fridays. I have to say, I feared that I was pushing the limits of what people in my office were willing to eat at 9 a.m. with these babies, but they came through, and all the cupcakes were gone by lunchtime!

There's one thing I must warn you about. I probably should have caught on to the fact that a recipe containing two pounds of cream cheese would make a LOT of cupcakes, but I naively believed Martha Stewart when she said it would make 30. Try 60. After I had filled all the Oreo-bottomed cups with batter, I still had half the batter left over, so I made 30 more without any Oreos at the bottom. They were still good, but the crunch of the Oreo (not to mention the special color) combined with the smoothness of the cheesecake is what makes this cupcake a winner. So next time I will halve the recipe. Or buy more Oreos!

You can find the recipe here. Happy Halloween!

Fallen Souffle for Fall

2011-10-15T15:58:00.003-06:00

I don't know if anyone here uses a blog reader (or whatever the kids are calling it these days) to bookmark stuff they want to make. Maybe some of the Baking Sisters' recipes are even on your blog reader, in which case, we're flattered. Anyway, I have no such thing, but I have a rather long-running blog reader in my head. Because it's in my head, a recipe has to really be something special in order to get on this most exclusive of lists. I saw this recipe from Tartelette when she first posted it - in December 2009 - and I haven't been able to get it out of my head since. This is partly thanks to the gorgeous photographs (all the photography on that site is gorgeous), but also because I thought it sounded like such a delicious, elegant recipe. Yet for some reason, I never found the time to make it. Then, one Tuesday evening, my mom came home from the CSA (something that white people do) with a bag full of tiny pears, and I vowed that I would finally take the time to make this recipe.

Honestly, I don't know why I didn't make it before - it really doesn't take much time at all, since you can poach the pears and make the batter basically simultaneously. It was very tasty, although different than I expected. The texture was much more substantial and cake-like than past souffles I've made, but I don't think I overcooked it. Also, as you can see from contrasting my photos with Tartelette's, the pears didn't collapse into the cake but rather baked inside it. Whatever, it didn't matter, it still tasted delicious. And seriously, if you didn't already, go to the original recipe page and look at the photos, they are stunning. No wonder I remembered this recipe for almost two years.

Poached Pear And Almond Fallen Souffle Cakes
From Tartelette

Makes 6

Note: you can core the pears from the bottom to about 1 inch from the top with an apple corer but these are so tiny that I just removed the stem button at the bottom. Everything else in the core baked to very soft texture and the seeds were easy to remove while eating (kind of like tails on baked shrimp).

For the poached pears:
6 mini d'Anjou pears, peeled (or other small pears like Forelles or Seckel)
1/2 cup (100gr) sugar
2-3 cloves
2-3 cardamom pods
1 stick cinnamon
5-6 allspice berries
1-2 star anise
1/2 lemon
4 cups (1 liter) water

For the cakes:
3 tablespoons (40gr) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup (100gr) sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup (190ml) heavy cream
1 cup ground almonds (blanched or skin on - your preference)
1/4 cup (40gr) sorghum flour (or use 1/4 cup all purpose flour)
1 teaspoon baking powder

Prepare the pears:
Place the pears, spices, lemon and water in tall saucepan and bring to a boil over medium high heat. Lower the heat and let them simmerfor 15-20 minutes or until the pears are just soft (poke with a toothpick to check).
Remove from the water using a slotted spoon and allow to cool on paper towel or baking rack.

Prepare the cakes:
Preheat the oven to 350F and position a rack in the middle.
Slightly butter or spray 6 ramekins and place them on a baking sheet. Set aside.
In the bowl if an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffly (about 3 minutes). Add the eggs, one a time and beat well in between each addition. Reduce the speed to low and add the vanilla, heavy cream, almonds, flour and baking powder and beat until incorporated. Fill each ramekins about 1/3 full with the batter and place a poached pear in the center.
Bake for 25-30 minutes.

Review: Cupcakes of DC

2011-10-11T18:56:00.000-06:00

So two weeks ago I went to Washington, DC for the weekend to visit friends from Brown and Cambridge. It was marvelous to see them, but obviously the most important task any time one is in a new city is to check out the local cupcake scene. My friend Lara said she would take me to the famous Georgetown Cupcake, while my friend Rocio took me to Baked and Wired (so called because there's a coffee shop attached), which is also located in Georgetown. Here are my thoughts:

Baked and Wired ($3.50 each) got immediate points for its funky vibe and decor, which verged on the weird. Not that I think funky vibes and weird decor are automatically an asset; it's just that cupcake shops are usually so twee and precious that it was nice to step into one that didn't look like it was decorated by a six-year-old girl with a fetish for pink stuff. (Mind you, it's not really a cupcake shop but more of a general bakery, so maybe that explains it.) I had a hard time picking a flavor because they had a really wide and inventively-named selection, but eventually I went with Texas Sheet Cake, which is a chocolate-cinnamon cupcake with a chocolate-pecan praline frosting. It was large and very delicious! The cake was moist and more cinnamon-y than I had expected, but the kick of the spice was a good contrast with the maybe-a-touch-too-sweet frosting. (That didn't stop me from splitting half the cupcake with Rocio, who ate the cake while I ate the frosting. Then I had a stomach ache, but the good kind.)

Lara and I ordered from the famous Georgetown Cupcake ($2.75 each) so as to avoid the equally famous line. I highly recommend taking this route. Georgetown Cupcake definitely suffers from the whole pink-fetishist issue - why are so many cupcake shops specifically designed to make any male who walks into them feel gay? Straight guys can like cupcakes! - and the flavors aren't as original as the ones at Baked and Wired. With some trepidation, I ordered a red velvet and a peanut butter fudge (a Sunday special), knowing that neither was my favorite flavor.

I was anxious, with only the anxiety that cupcakes can inspire - what if it turned out to be a case of over-hype, as with Sprinkles in LA? Turns out I needn't have worried. These were some of the best cupcakes I've ever had! Although Baked and Wired was a very strong contender, these were even better; they might have even been better than my beloved Crumbs! For one thing, they were a perfect size; Lara and I cut both of them in half and shared them, and it was just right. The red velvet in particular might just make me into a red velvet convert - it was totally luscious, with the perfect frosting-to-cake ratio. And just look at this picture of the peanut butter fudge and tell me that it doesn't make you hungry.

So all in all, a very successful trip. I'll have to go back soon and try other cupcake places, like Hello Cupcake and the Red Velvet Cupcakery, which we passed on our way home (and where I can test my new opinion of red velvet!)

BAKED Sunday Mornings: Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cake

2011-10-09T08:57:00.000-06:00

This week's choice for Baked Sunday Mornings, Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting, used one of the strangest methods I have ever encountered. First, you essentially make oatmeal with boiling water and butter and then you fold it into a cake batter. It may be strange, but it works because this is definitely one of my favorite recipes that we have made so far. The cake had a nice chewy texture, the chocolate chips added a nice layer of flavor and the cream cheese frosting was divine. It might be a little intense for a regular morning breakfast, but it makes a nice morning treat or a yummy dessert.

Today is the day after Yom Kippur, a fast day in the Jewish calendar. It is a really busy time of year for me and not a great time to be baking but this was really easy to put together and made a good break fast last night. I will be making this again.

BAKED Sunday Mornings: Honey Corn Muffins

2011-09-24T21:29:00.000-06:00

Sometimes, when Baked Sunday Mornings comes around, I get scared of how much work the recipe is going to be. However, when I hoped up the book to look at this recipe, I breathed a sigh of relief. 2 bowls, one muffin tin, no mixer and these muffins were done in under 30 minutes. And they were quite yummy to boot, with a good corn flavor and a little something extra from the honey. They tasted like the best version of a corn muffin -- not too sweet with a good texture. I ate one plain right out of the oven, and then the next day with butter and honey and they were both delicious. I've been on something of a baking pause because this is my insane time of year at work, so it was nice to find something easy and yummy to make.

Carrot Cake: Not As Healthy As It Sounds

2011-09-20T18:08:00.005-06:00

Last week, I set myself a challenge. We were at my grandmother’s post-unveiling lunch and my cousin Danielle, who is petite and blond and very pretty, was talking about how she had decided to give up bread for the week after eating seven slices of pizza and realizing how much bread was in her diet. She has the world’s most enviable metabolism, and can out-eat pretty much anyone I know while still remaining super-thin. Some people have all the luck. Anyway, this is relevant because she inspired me to try and give up sweets for a week. I realized that I eat three or four desserts a day – dessert encompassing candy, baked goods, ice cream and soda – and that it probably wasn’t that healthy, and that I was probably addicted. So give up sweets I did. I have to say, it was extremely difficult. Before my mom even knew what I was doing, she asked me why I was acting so ornery. My body really missed the regular injection of sugar. And since I was going to be free of my bond on Thursday night, I had this great plan for all the crap I was going to eat, especially the delicious ice cream my dad and I had made the week prior. (On Wednesday night I went to check on it, and discovered that over my sweet-free week, my dad had eaten it all! The outrage! And I didn’t even get to photograph it, so I’m afraid it won’t be making an appearance on this blog any time soon, although it was extremely tasty.)

Anyway, Thursday night rolled around, and what did I discover? I didn’t even really crave sweets any more. Sure, if you put them in front of me, I would eat and enjoy them, but I wasn’t as excited as I imagined to be re-introducing them to my digestive system. All I ended up eating that night, sweets-wise, was a bit of carrot cake batter, and I was satisfied.

Ah, carrot cake, ye most deceptive of cakes. Your name makes you sound all healthy, yet you are one of the least healthy cakes out there. My friend Allison and her kind mother gave me a new cookbook for graduation, and I wanted to try it out. Luckily, my dad’s birthday was on Friday, so I had the perfect excuse! I happily grated carrots, before being informed that using the food processor attachment would probably be a lot faster. I blithely dumped mounds of shredded carrots, toasted nuts, flour and sugar in the mixer. I gaily cracked eight eggs. As the ingredients mounted, I thought, “Wow, this sure seems like a lot of batter.” But the recipe said it made a 12 x 7 inch cake, so…

Wrong. Dead wrong. It said it made a 12 x 17 inch cake. My kitchen not being a professional bakery, I do not own such a ridiculous pan. So I split it into two pans that had roughly the same combined surface area as a 12 x 17. Grrr, I hate it when I have to do math in order to make cakes. Anyway, it took longer for them to bake than the recipe said because I think they were thicker, but whatevs. I pulled them out of the oven and decided to frost one and bring it into work the next day, and use the other for my father’s birthday cake.

WRONG AGAIN. Apparently, the Amy’s Bread cream cheese frosting is the most high-maintenance cream cheese frosting in the world, as you have to make poured fondant and then refrigerate it for 24 hours before incorporating it into the frosting. Once again, if I were good at reading recipes, this sort of thing wouldn’t happen. So I had to make some quick brownie buttons to bring into the office instead, stick my fondant in the fridge and hope that I would have enough time to whip up the frosting before Shabbat dinner on Friday. Which I did. And it was really good frosting, although there was a LOT of it. Which was appropriate, because there was a LOT of cake. I stacked the cakes on top of each other, trimming one so that they’d be the same size, but even after the trimming it was still the biggest cake in history. It could feed all of North Korea. We had eight dinner guests but we still only ate about a quarter of the cake. I brought another quarter of the cake to my friends’ house, where three boys and three girls were unable to eat even half of it. This cake was nuts.

And how did it taste? Very good! It was moist and dense, but also springy, and it keeps pretty well in the fridge, which is lucky because we’re going to be eating it until my dad’s next birthday. He says that the fondant is probably to stabilize the cream cheese frosting so that it doesn’t melt, and maybe he’s right – I’ve never been much good at that kind of chemistry thing. All I can say is it’s quite a pain, although if you know in advance that you’re going to make it, you can keep the fondant in the freezer for some time and take it out when needed. Next time around, I am halving this recipe, fo shiz.

Cream-Colored Ponies and Moist Strawberry Streusel

2011-09-10T17:53:00.004-06:00

Hey there, long time no Baking Sisters. Wassup.

When you are a prolific baker, it’s good to have what I like to call “back-pocket recipes” on hand. These are foolproof recipes with simple ingredients that don’t take long to make but always impress. Some of my favorite back-pocket recipes are tarte noire, Emily’s apple pie, and chocolate (fake) soufflés. But when I am called upon to make a dessert that is both parve and non-chocolate, this cake from Kosher By Design: Short on Time is always the one that I go to. The problem with most parve cakes is that you can really taste the lack of butter. Not having frosting goes a long way towards helping this, but usually the cake itself is still dry and crumbly. Not so this cake. It’s light yet satisfying, it stays moist and delicious for days, and it’s incredibly simple to make. Try this out, and you’ll want to keep the recipe in your back pocket, too.

I am aware that Rachel had already blogged about this. I would like to state that I have made this cake many, many times and I've never had the problems she had - thus proving categorically that I am a better person than Rachel. Just kidding. But seriously, this cake is fool-proof. Thus proving that Rachel is a fool. Just kidding again. Before I get myself into more trouble, here's the recipe.

BAKED Sunday Mornings: Coffee Ice Cream

2011-08-28T00:00:00.001-06:00

Amazing! A Baked: Explorations recipe that didn't involve every dish in the house. This week's pick was coffee ice cream. Now, I am not a coffee person, but I love coffee ice cream. I have made David Lebovitz's coffee ice cream before and it is good ice cream, but the bitter coffee flavor is a little bit too strong for me. Maybe it is the beans I am using? I was hoping that this version might have a different coffee flavor, since it uses espresso powder and Kahlua to give the coffee flavor. I think something might have gone wrong when I added the salt (like maybe I added 2 teaspoons by accident or something), because the base was really salty. It actually reminded me more of salted caramel ice cream than coffee ice cream. It was actually really interesting and I enjoyed eating it, but I want to make this again to see what it really tastes like. Head over to the Baked Sunday Mornings blog to see how everyone else did.

I put this ice cream on top of a chocolate cake with coffee glaze (that I will blog about later) and the combination was great. The cake was able to cut some of the salt flavor.

Adventures with the Ice Cream Maker: Our Favorite Late-Summer Ice Cream

2011-08-23T19:45:00.004-06:00

We’re coming to the end of summer, and it’s very sad. The days are getting shorter, the nights are getting cooler, and soon all the delicious summer produce that floods the farmers’ markets between June and September will be gone. But fear not, there’s still some time to make this tastiest of ice creams: peach sour cream. We’re serious; if you only make one more ice cream this season, make it this one. It's so easy - it doesn't involve egg yolks or custards or anything of the sort, you pretty much just cut, stew and blend. Daddy and I both agree that it’s the best ice cream we’ve ever had. How good is it? I dipped in a spoon to take a taste while it was churning, and after I tried it, I literally exclaimed aloud, “Oh my God, this is good,” even though there was no one else around. It’s so good that I practically had to drag Daddy to Grom, which has the best gelato in the city (in our opinion), because he just wanted to stay home and eat the peach sour cream ice cream. You shouldn’t even be reading this. Go, make a batch right now. That’s what Daddy and I are doing tonight.

Peach Ice Cream from The Perfect Scoop

Yield: 1 quart

Ingredients:

1 ½ pounds [600 grams] ripe peaches [about four large peaches]
½ cup water
a quarter cups sugar
½ cup sour cream
1 cup heavy cream
¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
A few drops freshly squeezed lemon juice

Preparation:

Peel the peaches, slice them in half, and remove the pits. Cut the peaches into chunks and cook them with water in a nonreactive saucepan over medium heat, covered, stirring once or twice, until soft and cooked through, about 10 minutes.

Remove from heat, stir in the sugar, then cool to room temperature.

Purée the cooked peaches and any liquid in a blender or food processor with the sour cream, heavy cream, vanilla, and lemon juice until almost smooth but slightly chunky.

Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator and freeze in your ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions.

Salty Brownies for Sweet Katy

2011-08-16T17:58:00.003-06:00

Two weeks ago today was my first day of work. I love it so far but, as with any new job, there is a lot to learn! Luckily, I am helped along mightily by Katy, another assistant in the office. She has been training me, and has been so surpassingly kind and helpful and patient in answering even my dumbest questions. (Sample: Sarah: I can't find the Zingales contract, where is it? Katy: Have you checked the contracts folder? Sarah: Oh, thanks.) I wanted to give her a token of my gratitude, and the way I give tokens of gratitude is by baking. Luckily, I had wanted to make the sweet and salty brownies from Baked for a while, ever since finally caving and buying a box of fleur de sel, and this gave me a fine excuse.

As with all Baked creations, this was very buttery, very yummy and very complicated. I was a little disappointed with the caramel flavor, or lack thereof. Maybe I was too cautious because I didn't want it to touch the sides of the pan and so I didn't use enough of it, but I barely tasted it in the finished product. This was probably because of the overwhelming chocolateyness, although next time I will take the suggestion to drizzle the leftover caramel on top. When you eat these brownies, make sure you have a glass of water or milk on hand, because they are EXTREMELY rich. I baked them for 40 minutes instead of 30 and they were still slightly undercooked, but that's how I like 'em. The fleur de sel was definitely worth the purchase, and it really added a special something to the brownies. Between these brownies and showing every how to make PDFs using OpenOffice, I was totally the office hero on Friday.

You can find the recipe here.

Baked Sunday Mornings: Grasshopper Bars

2011-08-14T11:34:00.001-06:00

Just noticed something...this is our 200th post! Wow. Now, back to regularly scheduled programming.

Another Sunday, another Baked recipe that uses every bowl and utensil in the kitchen. These were among the recipes that I was most excited to make because I love the combination of chocolate and mint. However, I had a couple of significant issues with this recipe. First, Kosher Creme de Menthe does not seem to exist. Anyone out there know anything about that. I figured I would just leave it out. The filling tasted fine, but it did not whip up light and fluffy (as you can see in the pictures). I don't know if the flour/sugar mixture was too hot when I added the butter, although it felt cool to the touch or what, but no matter how long I whipped it, it would not whip up and I didn't have the patience to try again this morning. Then, when I put the glaze on, it seemed to melt the mint filling, so it got swirled into some of the glaze instead of creating a nice shiny top.

Despite all that, I really enjoyed the flavor of these. I hope to try them again and try to get the mint filling right because I think it would have provided a nice balance of texture. As they were, I thought they were a bit to heavy and fudgey, but overall yummy.

You can find the recipe and what other people baked at Baked Sunday Mornings.

Adventures with the Ice Cream Maker: Keeping It in the Family

2011-08-07T13:13:00.005-06:00

Note: Today's double-header is brought to you by Sarah and the Baking Sisters' dad, Irv.

If you're like me, then you believe that there are certain things that define summer. Beautiful sunset walks along the Hudson in Riverside Park...

Sunflowers...

And these small, ripe, intensely flavorful strawberries that start to pop up in farmers' markets around June.

For me, this summer has also brought some exciting news - I finally got a job! I started last week and I love it so far. Conveniently, the night before I started my job happened to be Erev Rosh Chodesh Av. For those of you scratching your heads, that means "the evening of the first day of the month of Av" (Av being the fifth month on the Jewish calendar, and Jewish days starting at sunset.) Despite my happy employment news, Av is considered the saddest month on the Jewish calendar because both of the ancient Temples in Jerusalem were destroyed on the Ninth of Av, plus a lot of other sodding things supposedly happened on that date that I won't get into here. One of the ways that we show our sadness is by not eating meat or doing various other happy things for the nine days leading up to the Ninth of Av. So between our impending meat deprivation and my entry into the world of wage labor, the situation obviously called for some meat. And when the situation obviously calls for some meat, there is an equally obvious call for parve dessert.

My contribution came in the form of brownie bites from Kosher by Design: Short on Time. They are a snap to put together, they are moist and fudgy and last for ages, and when I gave one to my friend she didn't even realize they were parve! You obviously don't have to cut them just the way the recipe says but I agree with Susie Fishbein that it's waaaay fun to eat the edges around the brownie circles. I didn't do all that business with flipping the brownies out of the pan; I found that if you just use a biscuit cutter, they come out pretty easily. I also didn't roll them into balls because in my experience that's always made a huge crumbly mess, but if you want to try it best of luck to you.

Brownie Bites

From Kosher by Design: Short on Time (page 240)

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted margarine, melted and placed in refrigerator to cool for 10 minutes

3/4 cup good-quality Dutch process cocoa powder

1/4 cup vegetable or canola oil

2 cups sugar

1 cup all-purpose flour

3 large eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Coating: confectioner's sugar, cocoa powder, chopped nuts, edible glitter, colored sanding sugars

Preheat the oven to 325 F. Line a 7- by 11-inch brownie pan with parchment paper and coat with non-stick cooking spray.

In the bowl of an electric stand mixer, combine the melted margarine, cocoa powder, oil, sugar, flour, eggs and vanilla. Beat to combine.

Spread the mixture into the prepared pan.

Bake for 35-40 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and place into the refrigerator for 20 minutes or until cool enough to handle.

When the brownies are cool, run a knife around the edge of the pan. Flip the brownie out onto a piece of parchment paper on a hard word surface in one whole piece. Using a 1 1/2 inch diameter round cookie cutter, cut circles from the center of the brownie, leaving the harder crust. Roll the circles between the palms of your hands to form into balls, and roll into coating of your choice.

Store in airtight container.

Over to you, Dad!

The Baking Sisters’ father is glad to be back for a guest blog. When Sarah graduated from college and returned home with her ice cream maker, I decided to experiment. (I guess it’s in my blood, since my father owned a drive-in ice cream store when I was growing up, and I worked there every summer when I was a teenager.) This recipe was one of my best finds.

Everyone knows that there are two kinds of strawberries: those made for travelling and those made for eating. The travelling kind – the ones you get in the supermarket year-round that are bred to make it across the country in one piece – look beautiful but are hard and white on the inside and have no taste. The eating kind are small, sometimes misshapen, but red all the way through and almost oozing sweet juice. So while summer lasts, get to a greenmarket or farm stand and buy some locally-grown berries. Then turn them into this amazing strawberry sorbet with flavor even more intense than the berries themselves. You can make it with “travelling” berries, but why bother?

This recipe is adapted from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz. It makes about 4 cups.

1-1/3 lbs. (yes, pounds) fresh strawberries, rinsed and hulled

1 cup sugar

1-1/3 tsp. kirsch (optional, but it adds a nice punch)

1-1/3 tsp. freshly-squeezed lemon juice

Pinch of salt

Slice the strawberries and toss them in a medium bowl with the sugar and kirsch, stirring until the sugar begins to dissolve. Cover and let stand for one hour, stirring every so often.

Puree the strawberries and their liquid with the lemon juice and salt in a blender or food processor until smooth (I prefer the blender). There is no need to strain out the seeds.

Chill the mixture thoroughly, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

Enjoy, and plan to make more soon, since this batch won’t last.

It's Like Summer in Bowl: Peach Raspberry Crisp

2011-08-03T08:36:00.001-06:00

Oh summer. You are so wonderful with your long days, your time off and your delicious ice cream. (We won't mention the oppressively hot weather.) But perhaps the best thing of all-- summer fruit, sweet and fresh, enjoyed plain, with whipped cream or baked into a dessert.

A couple of weeks ago, the program I'm teaching in had a Shabbat program for the college students and I had the pleasure of hosting some of my students for lunch. In addition to being lovely people and excellent Talmud scholars, they have been asking me about my baking and so I wanted to make something to impress them. However, this was also in the midst of a 100 degree plus heat wave-- not a moment for anything heavy, or for spending too much time in my (un-air conditioned) kitchen. The solution? A peach raspberry crisp!

I love this recipe, but for some reason I forgot about it. I am very glad to have rediscovered it, though, because it is amazing. Originally from a family friend, it is great either hot or cold at any time of day (even, apparently for breakfast.) It is also super easy to make, although you have to be careful about draining enough liquid out of the peaches, otherwise it gets runny. To me, this is a great way to celebrate summer in all its glory. The recipe is below.

Peach Raspberry Crisp:

4-5 lbs firm, rip peaches (10 - 12)
Zest of 1 orange
1 1/4 C. sugar
1 C. lt brown sugar
1 1/2 C. plus 2-3 T. flour
1/2 pint raspberries
1/4 t. salt
1 C. quick-cooking oatmeal
1/2 lb butter, diced

350 degree oven
Butter 10 x 15 x 2 1/2" oval baking dish
Immerse peaches in boiling water 30 seconds, then place in cold water.
Peel peaches and slice into thick wedges and place in lg bowl. Add
orange zest, 1/4 C sugar, 1/2 C brown sugar, 2 T. flour. Toss well.
Gently mix in berries. Allow to sit for 5 minutes. If there's a lot of
liquid, add 1 more T. flour. Pour peaches into baking dish and gently
smooth top.
Combine 1 1/2 C. flour, 1 C. sugar, 1/2 C. brown sugar, salt, oatmeal
and butter in electric mixer bowl. Mix on low speed until butter is
pea-sized and mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle evenly on top of
peaches/berries.
Bake 1 hour until top is browned and crisp and juices are bubbly.
Serve immediately or store in fridge and reheat at 350 degrees for 20-30
minutes.

Baked Sunday Mornings: Mom's Olive Oil Orange Bundt Cake

2011-07-31T00:00:00.001-06:00

I know what your're thinking. Olive Oil in a cake...for dessert...ewww! Don't worry, I was thinking that too. I had no idea what this cake would be like, and I was a little worried that it would be gross. However, I read some good reviews of this cake on other blogs, so I decided to take a chance.

I'm really glad I made this cake for Baked Sunday Mornings. The olive oil gave it a complex flavor, but you did not really know there was olive oil in it unless I told you about it. We have a parve orange cake that we usually make, but I think this one might replace it. It is not too sweet and the orange flavor really comes through. I imagine you could make it with other citrus fruit as well.

The recipe gave you an option to glaze or not to glaze. I made the glaze because I had delicious oranges from the farmer's market and because I enjoy glaze. I just combined fresh squeezed orange juice and confectioners sugar until it looked right. It was a really pretty pale orange color from the intense juice.

You can see that I had a little trouble getting it out of the pan, but other than that it was super simple to throw together. I substituted tofutti sour cream for the yogurt to make the cake parve, but otherwise made it as written.

You can view the recipe and the creations of the other bakers at Baked Sunday Mornings.

Ethnic Flavor: Ramah Mandelbrot Revisited

2011-07-27T11:02:00.004-06:00

When we went to camp, the best elective you could hope for was cooking. Two or three days a week, you got to visit the (air conditioned!) mini-kitchen and cook delicious and entirely unhealthy foods. When you left cooking with freshly baked challah, everyone wanted to be your best friend.

Although it's been 11 years since my last summer at camp, I still think especially fondly of one recipe: the one for mandelbrot. Rebecca has blogged about this treat before (see here), but when my mom was cleaning out the kitchen and wanted to get rid of all of the old camp cookbooks, I rescued one mostly with the intention of rescuing this recipe.

Mandelbrot are a magic thing-- part cookie, part biscotti, all delicious. They freeze very well and are fairly adaptable, meaning that they can be made with chocolate chips, raisins, cherries, nuts or whatever else you want. Personally, I'm partial to the chocolate chips. The recipe is below!

Camp Ramah Mandelbrot:
3 eggs
1 cup of sugar
6 tablespoons oil
1 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 3/4 cups of flour
1 bag chocolate chips
cinnamon sugar

Beat the eggs together with sugar and oil. Add other ingredients except chocolate chips and mix well. Add the chocolate. Create two-three logs and put them on a greased cookie sheet. Sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar.

Bake at 350 for 25 minutes. Cut the loaves on the diagonal immediately upon removing from the oven. Turn off the oven and return them to the oven for a few minutes.

Hat's Off to Sugar Cookies

2011-07-25T14:12:00.003-06:00

I am a delinquent. Sad but true. Many apologies-- apparently working three jobs is not conducive to much baking. But here I am, catching up and hoping to depart shortly from my delinquent ways.

ANYWAY... My very dear friend Ruth is getting married in November, interestingly enough to a guy she met here at school. (Who knew that such things happened in a women's program?) Some Jewish women have the practice of covering part or all of her hair when they get married (for more on that click here), so we decided to through Ruth a party where she could get hats and scarves galore. So what better way to celebrate... than with hat cookies!

Props to Sarah, who found me the hat cookie cutter. These were both adorable and delicious. You can find the recipe here. Enjoy and l'chaim!

Vive Le Crepe!

2011-07-14T13:23:00.001-06:00

Happy Bastille Day! For those of you who fell asleep during 10th grade history, Bastille Day celebrates the storming of the Bastille, a notorious Parisian prison, on July 14th, 1789. I've never celebrated Bastille Day before, but for whatever reason I've been celebrating it all week this year. On Sunday, my friend Maya and I went to Fiaf's annual Bastille Day street fair. I can't believe I've never been before! Soooo much amazing French food from vendors from all over the city. In addition to a wine and cheese tasting (three glasses of wine, one beer or cocktail, and all the bread and cheese you wanted for just 15 dollars!), I also bought a caramel macaron and a chocolate eclair. And then later I had a little stomach ache. Worth it.

Maya also got a goat cheese and spinach crepe at the festival. It's so fun to watch crepes being made - there's a lot of artistry in spreading the batter into a paper-thin layer, cooking it to just the right shade of brownness, flipping it over and finally folding the finished pancake around the filling. So yesterday, when another friend and I decided to have a French-themed lunch in honor of Bastille Day, I was a little apprehensive that we had what it took to make thin, delicious, well-cooked crepes. But these couldn't have been simpler! Even my friend, who is a super-novice cook, could make them with relative ease. We quartered the recipe and had just the right amount for two medium-sized crepes. You can find the recipe here. Bon appetit!

Trying a New Chocolate Chip Cookie

2011-07-13T09:21:00.000-06:00

Sometimes it is fun to bake fancy things (cakes in the shape of Churches, Sarah?), but sometimes the fun comes in baking something simple and quick, that you know will be tasty, like a chocolate chip cookie. Yes, there are many bad chocolate chip cookies out there, but most of the ones you bake yourself will be good no matter what.

These chocolate chip cookies come from David Lebovitz (you know him as our ice cream guru) in his newest book, Ready for Dessert. Unlike most chocolate chip cookies that I have baked, these are slice and bake cookies, not drop cookies. You form the dough into a log, let it rest in the fridge for 24 hours and then slice and bake. I actually sliced the dough and then froze the slices, which worked really well, since this recipe made a lot of cookies and there are just two of us in the house right now.

I enjoyed this recipe, although I thought the dough needed more salt, so I will add that next time. I used a combination of chocolate chips and chopped chocolate, since that is what I had in the house, and I omitted the nuts, since you know how we feel about nuts in baked goods. It is really important to use good chocolate in these (chocolate that you like) because there is a lot of chocolate in here. Overall, I enjoyed these cookies. They are not my favorite, but I think with the addition of more salt, they could be a contender.

The recipe is after the jump.

From Ready for Dessert by David Lebovitz
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups (350 g) all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup (8 ounces/225 g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup (215 g) packed light brown sugar
3/4 cup (150 g) granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs, at room temperature
2 cups (about 225 g) nuts, such as walnuts, pecans, almonds, or macadamia nuts, toasted and coarsely chopped
14 ounces (400 g) bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped into 1/2- to 1-inch (1.5- to 3-cm) chunks

Preparation:
1. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt.
2. In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or in a bowl by hand), beat together the butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, and vanilla on medium speed just until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time until thoroughly incorporated, then stir in the flour mixture followed by the nuts and chocolate chunks.
3. On a lightly floured work surface, divide the dough into quarters. Shape each quarter into a log about 9 inches (23 cm) long. Wrap the logs in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, preferably for 24 hours.
4. Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven; preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
5. Slice the logs into disks 3/4 inch (2 cm) thick and place the disks 3 inches (8 cm) apart on the prepared baking sheets. If the nuts or chips crumble out, simply push them back in.
6. Bake, rotating the baking sheets midway through baking, until the cookies are very lightly browned in the centers, about 10 minutes. If you like soft chocolate chip cookies, as I do, err on the side of underbaking.
7. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets until firm enough to handle, then use a spatula to transfer them to a wire rack.

Yield: 48 cookies...and you'll eat them all.

BAKED Sunday Mornings: Blackberry Pie

2011-07-03T06:00:00.000-06:00

This week's sweet from Baked Sunday Mornings was Blackberry pie. Unlike some of the other things that we have made from Baked Explorations, this pie was a true classic -- some berries tossed with sugar, flour and some lemon juice and zest baked inside a double crust pie. I didn't make my own crust (no time), so this pie was super easy to throw together. I used blackberries that I bought at Trader Joe's because the recipe called for 7 cups and I could not spend that kind of money on farmer's market berries. However, you could not tell at all. The pie was delicious -- a great balance of tart and sweet. The only problem I had with it is that the juice dripped out everywhere as it was baking (yes, I had a baking sheet under it) and while I was carrying it. Any suggestions to make that not happen to pies? Even with that, this pie was enjoyed by all. I brought it to a picnic and it was gobbled up.

MSC Club July Bonus: Red, White and Blue Cupcakes

2011-07-01T17:18:00.000-06:00

This month's bonus assignment for the Martha Stewart Cupcake Club was to do 4th of July cupcakes, either just like the ones in the cookbook or inspired by them. I decided to go the "inspired" route and create red, white and blue cupcakes. The beauty of these cupcakes is that on the outside they look normal, but on the inside...red, white and blue surprise!

I know these look complicated, but they are actually pretty easy to make. I made one recipe of Dorie's Perfect Party Cake (sorry Martha) and then divided it into three bowls. I tinted one bowl red, one bowl blue and left the other one white. You really need a white cake as a base, not yellow. Then you spoon in some of the red batter, until the bottom is covered. Then, put some white batter right on top of that and some blue batter after that. It should form concentric circles, not layers. Then, bake away and frost as you wish. These baked for 20 minutes, but you should keep checking on them to make sure they don't burn. I got 19 cupcakes out of a recipe for a 2 layer cake.

I used cream cheese frosting and colored sugar to decorate these, but you could use berries, food coloring, flags or whatever you would like. I think they look very cute and very patriotic. Happy 4th of July!

Cutest Cupcakes for the Cutest Birthday Boy

2011-06-30T14:39:00.002-06:00

Simon is three! Can you believe it? What an old geezer. Because he is supremely loved/spoiled, he had to have a whole bunch of birthday parties, including one with his grandparents, aunts and aunts/uncles/cousins once removed. It was a sublime excuse for his grandma to buy lots of farm animal-themed crap, as this was a farm animal-themed birthday party. And it was an equally sublime excuse for his aunt Sarah to make him the adorable animal cupcakes from Martha Stewart!

After much agonizing, Simon went with the pig

These cupcakes are really pretty straightforward; just make sure you set aside a lot of time to make them, as they are time-consuming to decorate. Since I was only making a couple of each kind of cupcake, I used pink jelly beans instead of Bubble Tape for the pigs' ears, and I used buttercream instead of fondant for the monkey. Amazingly, I had never made Swiss buttercream before! If, like me, you are a novice, I would advise that you not worry too much about the buttercream coming together. I thought mine was really lumpy but I let the mixer work on it for a while longer and soon it was nice and smooth. Timesucking aside, these were a lot of fun to make; I think the mouse was my favorite!

For the monkey click here.

For the mouse click here.

For the lion (bonus lamb included!) click here.

For some reason, the pig recipe is not on the Web site, but luckily it's the simplest one to duplicate. Just make some dark pink frosting and some light pink frosting; spread on the dark pink frosting, pipe a large circle of light pink for the snout, then add two dollops of dark pink on top of that for the nostrils. Add brown mini M and Ms for the eyes and either pink jelly beans or triangular pieces of bubble gum for the ears. Voila! An adorable pig. (Funny side story: my dad asked if it was okay for me to make a pig cupcake, as pigs are not kosher. I pointed out to him that they are no less kosher than lions, mice and monkeys, and in any case it doesn't matter because they're all cupcakes. Silly.)

Adventures with the Ice Cream Maker: Faraway Journeys and a Return to Our Roots

2011-06-27T13:58:00.007-06:00

Ni hao! I just got back from a very fun, broadening and delicious trip to Taiwan with my friend Emily! Here's what you need to know if you go to Taiwan:

1) If you're using the public restroom, bring your own toilet paper. But don't throw it in the bowl, it won't dissolve. Throw it in the trash can instead.

2) Paleness is considered very attractive. Everyone was appalled at the way Emily and I dressed - not because of modesty concerns, but because we were exposing so much of our skin to the sun. There are lots of ads for skin-whitening cream, like in apartheid South Africa. The women there all carry umbrellas to protect themselves from the sun, and they cover up even in extreme heat and humidity, sometimes even wearing kerchiefs over their faces! I don't understand this practice. What's the point of being pale if no one can see you?

3) No one cares about their teeth. We were watching the Golden Melody Awards (the Taiwanese Grammys), and even the biggest stars in Taiwanese music have worse-looking teeth than your average pre-braces suburban teenager.

4) The vendors are super super nice. Imagine the nicest, most accommodating salespeople you know, the ones who will give you endless free samples or will give you a free makeover on Fridays or whatever. That's just about every salesperson in Taiwan. For instance, we went to all these tea tastings where they would do an elaborate ceremony to make and serve us cup after cup of tea, but there's no significant pressure to buy.

5) The food is AWESOME! The sweets and baked goods were especially yummy. They aren't that different from Euro-American treats in their fundamentals - butter, sugar, flour, etc - but they favor fruit flavors, and chocolate is used pretty minimally. A popular flavor that I quite liked was taro, a fruity-tasting root that imparts a purple coloring. Here are some photos I took in Taiwanese bakeries:

Good stuff. My favorite sweet was the suncake, a round, flaky pastry with a sugary filling. I brought some home for my parents and had one for breakfast today. (Unfortunately, breakfast was at 2:30 a.m. since I am jetlagged all to hell.) Here's a picture:

I came home to discover that, in my absence, my dad had intensified his love affair with the ice cream maker. During the ten days I was gone he had made three different types of ice cream, and that was on top of the ice cream we had made before I left. I guess it makes sense that he would have a strong affiliation for ice cream. His father, my grandfather, owned an ice cream shop called Ralph's Dairy Bar in Butler, PA, and he used to work there over the summers growing up. But I think it's been a long time since he had homemade ice cream, since after we spooned the churned Dorie's peach honey ice cream into its container, the two of us licked the freezer bowl clean as if we had never tasted ice cream before. It was so good! Very summery and flavorful but not too sweet, although I did think the honey flavor was stronger than the peach flavor. (I pureed all the peaches instead of putting in chunks, which was actually an error but one I'm glad I made.) And it was a very nice catharsis for me. This was the first recipe I ever made in the ice cream maker, back when the heat wave was melting the freezer bowl and I didn't really know how to make ice cream. Like all the ice cream I made at that time, it didn't churn properly, so it tasted good but the texture was all wrong. Therefore, it was a treat to actually be able to make it and have it taste like ice cream, and it was an equal delight to share the experience with my dad. I loved teaching him how to make ice cream, and he has obviously become quite the expert himself!

Honey-Peach Ice Cream
From Baking from my Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan

4 large ripe peaches (about 2 pounds), peeled and pitted
1/4 cup honey
1 cup whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
3 large egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Coarsely chop half the peaches into 1/2-inch chunks and toss them into a small saucepan. Add the honey and bring to a boil, then lower the heat, cover the pan and cook, stirring occasionally until the peaches are soft but not mushy, about 10 minutes. Scrape the mixture into a blender or food processor and whir to puree. (Alternatively use a hand blender.) Set the peach puree aside while you make the custard.
Bring the milk and cream to a boil in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan.
Meanwhile in a medium bowl, whisk the yolks and sugar together until very well blended and just slightly thickened. Still whisking, drizzle in about one third of the hot liquid - this will temper, or warm, the eggs so they don't curdle. Whisking all the while, slowly pour in the remaining liquid. Pour the custard back into the pan and cook over medium heat, stirring without stopping, until the custard thickens slightly and coats the back of the spoon; if you run your finger down the bowl of the spoon the custard should not run into the track. The custard should reach at least 170 degrees F, but no more than 180 degrees F, on an instant read thermometer. Immediately remove the pan from the heat and pour the custard into a 2-quart glass measuring cup or clean heatproof bowl. Stir in the vanilla and the peach puree.
Refrigerate the custard until chilled before churning it into ice cream.
Scrape the chilled custard into the bowl of an ice cream maker and churn according to manufacturer's instructions. While the ice cream is churning, finely dice the remaining 2 peaches, then, just before the ice cream is thickened and ready, add the peaches and churn to bland. Pack the ice cream into a container and freeze it for at least 2 hours, until it is firm enough to scoop.

Happy Belated Birthday Blog and Beth

2011-06-22T00:00:00.001-06:00

As I think I mentioned before, I work with a group of fabulous women. One of the most fabulous is Beth, who happens to be our preschool director. Although the women in my office are not great about consuming baked goods on a regular basis, they really go all out on someone's birthday. Everyone always gets a cake or a treat tailored specifically to them and we love celebrating together (and having an excuse to eat cake). Beth loves chocolate, so I wanted to find something delicious and festive to make for her birthday. She works so hard and is such a great person, so I really wanted to make her feel special and celebrated.

I have had my eye on this cake for a while, since I saw it on Tracey's Culinary Adventure about a year ago. Everything Tracey makes usually looks delicious, so I knew this was one I had to try. I did not use strawberries in between the layers as she suggests, because Beth does not like fruit with her chocolate, but I think that would have been delicious too.

This cake was fantastic. It was very moist with a strong chocolate flavor and the icing was incredible. You could not really taste the white chocolate, but it make it richer and sweeter than your typical cream cheese frosting, which complimented the cake well. I finished it off with rainbow sugar, which added a tiny bit of crunch and a festive look. I would highly recommend this cake for a great celebration in your life. Here is the recipe.

The other thing this cake celebrated was the second anniversary of our blog! It is somewhat hard to beleive that we have kept this thing going through living in four different cities and two countries over the past two years, but we did. I feel like we have all come a long way as bakers and I am looking forward to many more delicious treats in our future!

BAKED Sunday Mornings (afternoon?): Rosemary Apricot Squares

2011-06-19T17:44:00.001-06:00

Sorry these were so late. We have been doing a lot of traveling and I lost track of the schedule. However, when I saw both dried apricots and pecans in the farmer's market this morning, I knew I had to whip them up this afternoon.

These delicious bars were one of the first things I was interested in making when I picked up Baked Explorations. Something about the combination of apricot and rosemary sounded both intriguing and delicious. And I am always looking for non-chocolate desserts that I think my husband will like. Well it is too bad he is away, because he would have loved these. The flavor combination is really original and they have a great combination of a little sweet, a little tart and a little savory. The rosemary is not overpowering in any way, and it contributes more to the smell of the bars than the taste.

I am glad that I didn't read the whole recipe before I made these, because I might have been scared off by all the steps. Although there are a lot of dirty dishes in my sink at the moment, it was worth it. There are a lot of steps, so you have to give yourself some time (read the recipe first!) but you can walk away and do something else while the filling is simmering and while the crust is chilling and baking, so it is not so bad. If you are looking for something a little different to serve for dessert (or breakfast) look no further than these bars!

You can find the recipe here, along with all the other bakers of Baked Sunday Mornings.

Fudging It

2011-06-07T08:32:00.000-06:00

As a baking sister, one of my jobs is frequently bringing dessert to my friends' birthday celebrations. This week, it was my friend Marci's turn, and when I asked her what she liked, she said, "Chocolate. And peanut butter, but really chocolate." So chocolate it was.

Marci had planned a picnic in the park, so a cake didn't seem realistic, and there were going to be a lot of people there, so I wasn't sure cupcakes would work. Therefore, I turned my attention to bars, which I find are often versatile and used for large numbers of people fairly easily. I ended up making two things. One was peanut butter rice krispie treats, which you have read about previously, replacing the semisweet chocolate with milk chocolate. Just let me say, awesome.

However, I decided it was also time to try something new, and a series of events lead me to a recipe for rocky road fudge.

This dessert is intense-- a layer of graham cracker, marshmallow and pecans, topped with chocolate. The picture shows them both upside down and right side up to give you a sense of the affect. I recommend cutting the pieces pretty small, because it's hard to eat more than a little at a time. But eaten they were, first at the picnic and then at my office, and so we say: success! You can find the recipe here.

Baking Sisters: Graduation Edition

2011-06-05T19:37:00.003-06:00

One week ago today, I graduated college. Such things happen, and when they do, you should commemorate them with cupcakes. Still, I'd advise anyone still in college to stay there as long as possible, because cupcakes aside, graduating blows. It is almost as awful as making the tiny diploma-shaped cookies on top of these cupcakes, except that at the end of that process, you get a cookie, whereas at the end of graduation, you get a useless degree and legions of adults saying, "I know I shouldn't ask you this, but..." Happy fucking graduation, Class of 2011.

Bring Your Cookie to Work Day

2011-05-22T15:32:00.003-06:00

Hello, long lost friends. I apologize for my lengthy absence-- unfortunately, going to school full time, working a job 20 hours a week, and doing other miscellaneous jobs is not so conducive to baking very much. However, school is now over, so I only have to go to all of the jobs, which means I'm back in the kitchen!

In honor of my newfound free time (kind of) and of the lovely people who work with me, I decided that I would bring them some cookies in honor of my first full week at work-- peanut butter m&m cookies, to be exact. Who doesn't love a good cookie, after all, and who doesn't love peanut butter m&ms? I was a little nervous, though, having never baked for this group before, that they would not like my offering.

As it turned out, I needn't have worried. The cookies were demolished, and despite some complaints about ruining people's diets because they were so good (I work with a lot of women), they were received and consumed with much enthusiasm.

I was a little concerned about the cookie to candy ratio because peanut butter m&ms are so much bigger than the regular ones, but these worked out great. I just made the cookies a little bigger than usual and watched them carefully in the oven. Delicious!

Peanut Butter M&M Cookies:
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 medium (11.4 oz) bag of peanut butter M&Ms

Preheat the oven to 375.

Blend the butter, vanilla, both types of sugar, and eggs until smooth. Add the dry ingredients and mix. Once the ingredients have formed a smooth dough, add the M&Ms. Mix by hand until the candy is evenly distributed throughout the dough.

On an ungreased cookie sheet, lay out tablespoon-sized balls. Make sure to leave space in between, as the cookies will grow.

Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until golden brown.

Baking with a little help from our friend Evan Williams

2011-05-19T17:17:00.003-06:00

My friend Pam and I made a momentous discovery the other day. Really, we felt that this discovery put us on the level of a Christopher Columbus or an Isaac Newton. Get this: when you mix butter and scotch*, it makes a butterscotch. Isn't that unbelievable? Thank God we got something out of four years of horrendously expensive Ivy League education.

It all started when Pam called me up to discuss our impending baking date. We knew that whatever we made should involve chocolate, and if I have to explain why, then you are probably a hopeless case like my brother-in-law. But Pam also had an open bottle of bourbon left over from a recent social engagement and, looking to put it to good use, we decided to incorporate it into our baking. We scoured the cookbooks for a good bourbon-involving recipe but, alas, we could not find one with the ingredients we had on hand. At last we decided to just make a regular chocolate cake and pour on some bourbon-y glaze.

We picked Dorie Greenspan's Almost-Fudge Gateau for our cake and found our glaze on the Internet. Dorie had recently come to Brown and given a wonderful lecture on the research she did for her book Paris Sweets. Sadly, she did not remember me from our epic meeting in November of 2009, but I'm sure she meets a zillion fans a year and she was extremely sweet and gracious as always, even as I acted like a huge embarrassing dork. However, I don't think that the gateau was all that special. Part of it may have been the way it looked - rather homely, especially after we punctured it all over with chopsticks. Part of it may have been that we didn't include Dorie's glaze. But I think I would have found it to be a little dense and dry if we hadn't added our own glaze and hence made our magical discovery.

As I said, we searched "bourbon cake glaze" pulled a random recipe off of the Internet, but it was a great success! We halved the recipe and had more than enough, which was lucky because couldn't stop eating the glaze out of the pot! It was deliriously yummy, and it soaked the cake all the way through the chopstick holes and made it moist and flavorful. We would recommend leaving the cake in the springform pan while you pour on the glaze so that it doesn't all run off the sides, and then leave it in the fridge for around five to ten minutes so that it solidifies somewhat but doesn't harden so much that you can't cut the cake out of the pan. Also, this is best served the day after, the flavor is much richer after it's had time to sit and soak for a bit. Sometimes, the best discoveries happen by accident!

*And a whole bunch of other crap.

Almost-Fudge Gateau

From Baking from My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan

Blogger's note: I've included her glaze, in case you want to try the gateau with that

5 large eggs
9 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 cup sugar
5 tablespoon unsalted butter, cut into chunks
2 tablespoons coffee or water
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
Pinch of salt

Glaze:

4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 teaspoons light corn syrup

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 9-inch springform pan, line the bottom with parchment paper, butter the paper, dust the inside of the pan with flour, and tap out the excess. Place the pan on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone mat.

2. Separate the eggs, putting the whites in a large bowl and the yolks in a small bowl.

3. Set a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, and add the chocolate, sugar, butter and coffee. Stir occasionally, until the chocolate and butter are melted. Transfer the bowl to the counter, and let the mixture sit for 3 minutes.

4. Using a rubber spatula, stir in the yolks, one by one, then fold in the flour.

5. Using a mixer with a whisk attachment, beat the egg whites with the pinch of salt until they hold firm, glossy peaks. Using the spatula, stir about one quarter of the beaten whites into the batter, then gently fold in the rest. Scrape the butter into the pan, and jiggle the pan from side to side to even the batter.

6. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes, or until the cake has risen evenly (it might rise around the edges, and you’ll think it’s done, but give it a few minutes, and the center will puff, too) and the top has firmed (it will probably be cracked) and doesn’t shimmy when tapped; a thin knife inserted into the center should come out just slightly streaked with chocolate. Transfer the pan to a cooling rack, and let the cake rest for 5 to 10 minutes.

7. Run a blunt knife gently around the edges of the cake, and remove the sides of the pan. Carefully turn the cake over onto a rack, and remove the pan bottom and the parchment paper. Invert the cake onto another rack, and cool to room temperature right side up. As the cake cools, it may sink.

8. For the Glaze: First, turn the cooled cake over onto another rack, so you’ll be glazing the flat bottom, and place the rack over a baking sheet lined with parchment or wax paper to catch any drips.

9. Put the chocolate in a small heatproof bowl. Melt the chocolate in a microwave or over a pan of simmering water.

10. Meanwhile, bring the cream to a boil in a small saucepan. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate, and stir very gently with a rubber spatula until the mixture is smooth and shiny. Stir in the corn syrup.

11. Pour the glaze over the cake, and smooth the top with an icing spatula. Allow the glaze to set at room temperature, or slip the cake into the refrigerator for about 20 minutes. If the glaze dulls in the fridge, give it a little gentle heat from a hairdryer.

Butterscotch Glaze from Bon Appetit

2 teaspoons water

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 cups sugar

1 cup buttermilk

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter

2 teaspoons dark corn syrup

1/2 cup bourbon

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Stir 2 teaspoons water and baking soda in small bowl to dissolve baking soda. Bring sugar, buttermilk, butter, and corn syrup to boil in heavy 6-quart saucepan over high heat, stirring to dissolve sugar and melt butter. Reduce heat to medium-high. Stir in baking soda mixture (glaze will bubble). Boil until sauce is golden and slightly thickened, stirring often, about 8 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in bourbon and vanilla. Pour on cake.

Adventures with the Ice Cream Maker: Chocolate Raspberry Ice Cream

2011-05-17T16:57:00.003-06:00

It's spring in Providence! What does that mean? It means that we get occasional sunny days to break up the monotony of the rain. It means that the day I made this, it was gorgeous out until a massive thundercrack was heard, sending all the students out on the Main Green scurrying inside as a dark cloud rolled in from the west. Then it poured for about an hour, then cleared up, then poured again, then the rain turned into hail (although all of this business was emanating from one cloud - beyond it, you could still see the sunny sky, and it was still 65 degrees), then back into rain, then it cleared up again and all was fresh and lovely until that evening, when it drizzled. So yeah, spring in Providence. Time for ice cream!

This was the easiest ice cream I have ever made, bar none. I'm not wild about the chocolate/raspberry combination but I had a bunch of frozen raspberries left from my Thesis Cake and I wanted to use them up. Nevertheless, overall, I was quite pleased. The ice cream was very creamy and satisfying, with a good balance between the chocolate and raspberry flavors; I suppose this is one of those recipes where the quality of the cocoa powder you use makes all the difference. I also added chocolate chunks because, you know, that's how I do. If you are looking for a quick, easy, yummy ice cream that doesn't require a lot of ingredients or fuss, this is a great choice.

Chocolate-Raspberry Ice Cream

From The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz

Ingredients

1 1/2 Cup (375 ml) Heavy Cream
5 Tbsp (40 g) Unsweetened Dutch-process Cocoa Powder
2/3 Cup (130 g) Sugar
2 Cups (240 g) Raspberries, fresh or frozen

Method

Whisk together the cream, cocoa powder, and sugar in a large saucepan. Heat the mixture, whisking frequently, until it comes to a full, rolling boil (it will start to foam up). Remove from the heat and add the raspberries. Cover and let stand for 10 minutes.

Puree the mixture in a food processor or blender. If you wish, press the mixture through a mesh strainer to remove the seeds.

Allow the mixture to chill thoroughly, then freeze it in an ice cream maker.

MSC Club May: Tiramisu Cupcakes

2011-05-15T00:00:00.001-06:00

I'm back with the Martha Stewart Cupcake Club. After taking the last few months off (there was a lot going on around the 15th of March and April, with Jewish holidays), I'm back and I'm really glad it is for tiramisu cupcakes. I love, love, love tiramisu. Whenever I am in a good Italian restaurant, I will usually order it for dessert. I have never actually made tiramisu at home, although I have heard it is not so hard, but I have made Dorie's Tiramisu Cake (amazing -- you should totally try it!) and now these cupcakes.

The recipe for these looks really complicated, but they were much easier to put together than it would seem from reading the recipe. I made 1/3 of the recipe and got 5 cupcakes. I made the frosting and the coffe syrup (minus the marsala wine) this morning. As you can see in the cupcake cross section, I didn't let the syrup sink in enough. As a result, the coffee flavor was really concentrated in the top of cake. The frosting was delicious -- very light, with a little something extra from the mascarpone cheese. Theses tasted a lot like tiramisu, and I think they would have been even better if I let the syrup sink into the cupcakes. I may try one in a few hours and see if it made any difference. Thanks to Jen at The Rookie Baker for the great pick!

Adventures with the Ice Cream Maker: Seasonal Strawberry Ice Cream

2011-05-11T10:54:00.000-06:00

I told you this was my own personal strawberry week! There are lots and lots of strawberries all over Los Angeles now, so I have to keep thinking up things to make with them. Last weekend, we went to the farmer's market and, of course, bought strawberries. Then, we sat down to listen to some Cinco De Mayo music, and my son fell off his chair (he was very into the music) and right into the strawberries. So the question is -- what can you do with crushed strawberries? The answer -- ice cream!

I looked in The Perfect Scoop, by David Lebovitz, to find a strawberry ice cream recipe, but there wasn't one. I could not believe it! He has many strawberry recipes, but nothing for straight strawberry ice cream, which is what I wanted. However, after poking around on various blogs, I found a good recipe. I don't normally go for strawberry ice cream, but this was really good. It tasted really fresh -- like strawberries and cream. I would recommend adjusting the sugar and lemon juice to your taste, so you get the right balance of tart and sweet.

Fresh Strawberry Ice Cream

1 pound strawberries, washed and stemmed
1 cup sugar, divided
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 cups heavy cream
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 vanilla bean pod (or 1 teaspoon real vanilla extract)
4 egg yolks

1. In a medium bowl, lightly mash strawberries with 1/4 cup sugar and the tablespoon of lemon juice. Toss to combine and set aside.

2. In a saucepan, stir together cream, remaining 3/4 cup of sugar, and salt. With a sharp knife, split the vanilla bean pod in half lengthwise and using the tip of the knife, scrape the seeds into the pot of cream (if using extract instead of vanilla bean, you will stir it in later); add the pod halves to the pot, too. Bring the cream mixture to a simmer over medium heat, then turn the temperature all the way down to low.

3. In a small bowl, whisk the egg yolks until smooth. Slowly add a ladleful of the hot cream mixture to the egg yolks, whisking continuously. Slowly pour the yolk mixture back into the pot of cream and whisk until incorporated. Bring the liquid back to a simmer and cook, stirring, for 5 – 6 minutes until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Strain the mixture through a sieve into a medium bowl.

4. Puree the strawberry mixture in a blender or food processor until smooth [Note -- I left some chunks, because I thought it would be good, which it was]. Stir the strawberry puree into the cream mixture until completely incorporated. If using vanilla extract instead of vanilla bean, stir extract in now. Place a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface to prevent a skin from forming while cooling. Place bowl in the refrigerator and allow the mixture to cool completely – at least two hours. After it is well chilled, freeze mixture in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer directions.

Strawberry Season is Here: Strawberry Shortcakes

2011-05-09T12:11:00.000-06:00

When you were little, did you ever play the jumprope game that went, "strawberry shortcake, cream on top, tell me the name of your sweetheart." Then, you would say each letter of the alphabet and on whichever letter you messed up on, that was the letter of the first name of the person you were going to marry. Every time I hear Strawberry Shortcake, I think of that rhyme.

Anyway, it is currently strawberry season here in LA and there are delicious strawberries everywhere! I have made a bunch of different strawberry recipes that will make an appearance on this blog over the next few weeks. I hope you will find some inspiration for your own strawberry season.

These strawberry shortcakes were amazing, but what would you expect from Dorie Greenspan? They were super easy to put together (I promise!) and then all you do is toss some strawberries (or any other fruits you like) with sugar and make some lightly sweetened whipped cream. The one thing to remember is not to overwork the shortcake dough. It is better to have some lumps and dry places in the dough then the work it too much.

Here's the recipe, from Dorie's Baking from my Home to Yours, with great step by step photos.

BAKED Sunday Mornings: New York-Style Crumb Cake

2011-04-24T00:00:00.000-06:00

I am quickly dashing off this post as Passover is quickly approaching. By the time you read this, it will be Passover and that means no bread, pizza, cake, cookies, etc for 8 days. As a matter of fact, you are not supposed to own these things or even really look at them/interact with them for the entire holiday. As you can imagine, I could not make this cake on Passover.

However, I made this a few weeks ago and it was a huge hit at the two meetings I brought it to. Everyone loved the large crumbs and the great ratio of crumbs to cake (it is about one to one). Apparently this is what makes it a New York-Style crumb cake -- that and the lack of swirl.

I wish I had more time to tell you all the delicious features of this cake, but you should just make it and see for yourself. When I was making the crumb, I was really unsure about what it would look and taste like, but everything turned out great. Another hit from the guys at Baked!

The Thesis Cake

2011-04-15T10:21:00.004-06:00

This week has seen a lot of endings in my life. Last Sunday was my final show with Brown University Gilbert and Sullivan, a group I've been involved with since my freshman year, although my involvement was pretty minimal this semester. Ahead is my last Brown Spring Weekend (and also my first - long story). On Thursday, my relationship of over seven months ended. But probably the most significant ending came on Monday, when I handed in my thesis. It's 130 pages and I've been working on it for two years, and particularly since September it has been a daily presence in my life. Dropping it off at the History Department was as close as I'll come to feeling like I dropped my kid off at college for a good long time. Pride in what I've produced, relief at having so much of my time freed up, trepidation over what's going to happen now that it's out of my hands, emptiness that something in which I've invested so much and that's been such a constant part of my life is gone.

So what do you do for a milestone such as this? Make a cake, duh. My birthday was a few weeks ago and my parents got me a Jacques Torres cookbook called Dessert Circus. As befits the former pastry chef of Le Cirque, a lot of the desserts are devilishly complicated, but this seemed like an occasion for which a devilishly complicated cake might be warranted. I wanted a cake that would reflect the substance of my thesis, which was about the dissolution of the monasteries in England from 1536-40 (if you've never heard of this, don't worry, you're not alone.) I flipped through it and saw a lovely photo of a tower made from alternating layers of chocolate cake and chocolate cream, topped with a roof made from four chocolate triangles. It's called The Manhattan and it's meant to resemble a skyscraper. Then it hit me: make my own version of The Manhattan, only in the shape of a cathedral! Perhaps I would call it The Canterbury?

This cake was super-time consuming but not as hard as it looks. Because the cake recipe calls for almond paste and that stuff is expensive, I made my own using this recipe. If you have a food processor it's very simple and much, much cheaper- the only trick is to stop yourself from eating it, it's so tasty! The cake tastes extremely light because of the chiffon, and it has stayed pleasingly moist after three days (I made the cake on Wednesday). The cream is also delicious, but next time I think I would use semisweet instead of bittersweet chocolate because you can definitely taste the bitterness. I don't understand why the recipe called for so much raspberry syrup, I only used about a quarter of it, but maybe I was not sufficiently soaking my layers, since I didn't taste the raspberry much at the end. Making the roof was probably the most annoying part of the recipe, but I made an additional, even more annoying part: the church steeple. In order to create this I used Martha Stewart's recipe for caramel-dipped hazelnuts, but I couldn't find any whole hazelnuts at the grocery store so I used macadamia nuts instead. I have no idea if there's something about hazelnuts that makes them more inclined to stay on the skewer, but my macadamia nuts were NOT interested in staying on the chopstick, so I ended up sticking them in the caramel and taking them out by hand, which was quite a painful proposition. Anyway, they looked very cool but I would not recommend it if you don't have a burning need to put a steeple on your creation.

Even though it took forever, this was definitely the coolest, most ambitious thing I've ever baked, and despite everything it was so satisfying and rewarding. Just replace "baked" with "written," and you'll get how I feel about my thesis.

BAKED Sunday Mornings Rewind: Devil's Food Cake with Angel Icing

2011-04-09T21:52:00.000-06:00

This week's recipe for BAKED Sunday Mornings was Carrot Coconut Scones. Regular readers of this blog know that I am really not a fan of coconut, and I'm not much for carrots either. So, I really had no intention of making these scones. Sorry! I hope everyone else enjoyed them.

However, after the Devil's Food Cake with Angel Icing got such good reviews a few weeks back, I decided to make it as a rewind. We had some company for Shabbat dinner a few weeks back, new friends from my son's nursery school class, and since we were having dairy, I decided this would be a great cake to try. I forgot to put parchment paper in the bottom of pan, so this cake stuck like crazy, but even though it came out of the pan in pieces, it still tasted delicious, and (as you can see above) it still looked ok.

The frosting was really good too. It was super sweet on its own, but together with the cake, which wasn't that sweet, it was a great combination. This was the first time that a frosting that required pouring hot sugar syrup into egg whites actually worked for me, and I'm so glad it did. It was a great combination of sweet, fluffy white icing with a dense, chocolate cake. It got rave reviews and I highly recommend it, either for a special occasion or just because you need a cake.

Blond(i)es Have More Fun

2011-04-08T05:57:00.002-06:00

The adventures of the non-dairy desserts continue! As many of you might have read before, I am not a huge chocolate person, which always makes parve desserts a little complicated since so many of them are based around intense dark chocolate. However, in the dead of winter (I made these a while ago, and winter also seems not interested in ending this year in New York), most fruit desserts are out because there were no high-quality berries around. What's a girl to do?

Answer: blondies! The delicious chocolate-but-not-too-chocolate compromise. Usually I make blondies from my chocolate chip cookie recipe, but I thought I would try something new this time. I did some research (ie googling) and found the recipe for these. They looked a little intense because of the amount of brown sugar, but I substituted half of it for white sugar instead and that helped the sweetness issue. I also liked this recipe because it used oil instead of margarine, which I try to avoid at all costs.

The verdict: they were a big hit. They were very chewy, which people liked, and very sweet, but not in an overwhelming way. A good compromise indeed. You can find the recipe here.

Chocolate Peanut Butter, Continued

2011-04-04T08:12:00.004-06:00

Apparently Rebecca and I are thinking in similar ways these days, as I too love chocolate and peanut butter. They cut each other nicely, and you end up with a nice combination of salty and sweet.

One of the benefits of being a vegetarian is that I rarely have to worry about keeping things parve. Bring on the butter! However, I was recently asked to bring dessert to a meat meal, so I had to get creative. I turned to my dear friend and study partner for ideas, and she suggested rice krispie treats.

I ended up making them two ways. One was the classic rice krispies and marshmallow fluff. However, Gila also suggested I make these chocolate peanut butter ones-- success! They were delicious, and super easy to make. Just make sure you like your chocolate to peanut butter ratio, let them set, and then eat. (If you can, I especially recommend eating them with milk. Yum!)

Chocolate Peanut Butter Rice Krispie treats:

1 bag chocolate chips
1- 1 1/2 cups peanut butter
6-8 cups rice krispies

In a double boiler, melt and blend the chocolate and the peanut butter. Once they are blended and smooth, remove from heat and mix in the rice krispies. Transfer into a 9 x13 dish and allow to set in the fridge (about 2 hours.) Cut and enjoy!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Goodness

2011-03-31T22:05:00.000-06:00

Given my great love of chocolate and peanut butter, I can't believe it took me so long to post these. I think I made these back when I was living in Texas, although I have made them a few times since. Usually, I like to try new things when baking, but these were so good, I just kept coming back to them. Think of these as a big, soft peanut butter cookie with just the right amount of milk chocolate frosting to cut the richness of the bars. Delicious. These are great fresh (you have to wait for them to cool before frosting -- don't be tempted to try these without the frosting) and frozen. I took to eating them right out of the freezer. Divine!

You can find the recipe here, on Joy the Baker.

Ethnic Flavor: Trying My Hand at Challah

2011-03-24T14:37:00.001-06:00

None of the Baking Sisters can say we grew up with memories of coming home from school on cold Friday afternoons and helping our mom knead challah dough, or smelling its sweet, yeasty odor wafting through the house. Of course, coming home and expecting our mom to be baking anything would be misguided to say the least, because she a) works very hard and b) has no aptitude for baking. The stronger memories I have are of scrambling through the bread bins at Fairway, searching for that elusive Zomick's braided egg challah just hours before Shabbat began and being shoved this way and that by a horde of equally frantic and aggressive Jewesses. Fresh challah, when we were lucky enough to have it, had always been Rachel's thing, and while I had fond recollections of making challah at camp, it wasn't really something I had ever considered doing at home. Still, my roommate Wendy had expressed a desire to try making it, and one Friday when I had off from work, we got to it.

The first task was to pick a recipe. Although it is delicious, I didn't want to make Rachel's recipe because it felt too proprietary, like I was stepping on her toes, so I just looked around the Internet for one that looked good. Smitten Kitchen is always a good bet, as is Joan Nathan (it's an adapted recipe), plus Deb included lots of tips for a novice bread-baker like me, and relatively easy instructions on how to achieve the famous six-strand challah braid.

The recipe was easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy. Even my well-documented issues with yeast seemed to disappear for the morning! I had no trouble kneading by hand. There was rather a lot of flour but oh well, that's a risk one runs when making bread. There were also some irregular rising times because of various doctors' appointments et al but it didn't seem to harm the dough. Very unfussy. The hardest part was definitely making the braid - be sure you keep very good track of all the strands or else you might have to undo the whole thing and start again! I kneaded chocolate chips into half the dough, because everyone likes chocolate chips.

I was so pleased with how they came out! The chocolate chip one came apart a little bit at the end, but they looked really professional otherwise. And oh my God were they tasty. The crust was crusty, the inside was sweet and moist and springy - perfect. For some reason, the chocolate chip one came out less cooked than the plain one, but that didn't bother anyone in my house, since both challahs were gone by Saturday morning!

Best Challah (Egg Bread)
From Smitten Kitchen, Adapted from Joan Nathan
The secrets to good challah are simple: Use two coats of egg wash to get that laquer-like crust and don’t overbake it. Joan Nathan, who this recipe is adapted from, adds that three risings always makes for the tastiest loaves, even better if one of them is slowed down in the fridge.
Time: about 1 hour, plus 2 1/2 hours’ rising
Yield: 2 loaves
1 1/2 packages active dry yeast (1 1/2 tablespoons)
1 tablespoon plus 1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup olive or vegetable oil, plus more for greasing the bowl
5 large eggs
1 tablespoon salt
8 to 8 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup raisins per challah, if using, plumped in hot water and drained
Poppy or sesame seeds for sprinkling.
1. In a large bowl, dissolve yeast and 1 tablespoon sugar in 1 3/4 cups lukewarm water.
2. Whisk oil into yeast, then beat in 4 eggs, one at a time, with remaining sugar and salt. Gradually add flour. When dough holds together, it is ready for kneading. (You can also use a mixer with a dough hook for both mixing and kneading, but be careful if using a standard size KitchenAid–it’s a bit much for it, though it can be done.)
3. Turn dough onto a floured surface and knead until smooth. Clean out bowl and grease it, then return dough to bowl. Cover with plastic wrap, and let rise in a warm place for 1 hour, until almost doubled in size. Dough may also rise in an oven that has been warmed to 150 degrees then turned off. Punch down dough, cover and let rise again in a warm place for another half-hour.
4. At this point, you can knead the raisins into the challah, if you’re using them, before forming the loaves. To make a 6-braid challah, either straight or circular, take half the dough and form it into 6 balls. With your hands, roll each ball into a strand about 12 inches long and 1 1/2 inches wide. Place the 6 in a row, parallel to one another. Pinch the tops of the strands together. Move the outside right strand over 2 strands. Then take the second strand from the left and move it to the far right. Take the outside left strand and move it over 2. Move second strand from the right over to the far left. Start over with the outside right strand. Continue this until all strands are braided. For a straight loaf, tuck ends underneath. For a circular loaf, twist into a circle, pinching ends together. Make a second loaf the same way. Place braided loaves on a greased cookie sheet with at least 2 inches in between.
5. Beat remaining egg and brush it on loaves. Either freeze breads or let rise another hour.
6. If baking immediately, preheat oven to 375 degrees and brush loaves again. Sprinkle bread with seeds, if using. If freezing, remove from freezer 5 hours before baking.
7. Bake in middle of oven for 30 to 40 minutes, or until golden. (If you have an instant read thermometer, you can take it out when it hits an internal temperature of 190 degrees.) Cool loaves on a rack.
Note: Any of the three risings can be done in the fridge for a few hours, for more deeply-developed flavor. When you’re ready to work with it again, bring it back to room temperature before moving onto the next step.

Adventures with the Ice Cream Maker: Blood Orange Sorbet

2011-03-21T21:20:00.000-06:00

This morning, I was listening to the radio and they were talking about the 2-3 months in Los Angeles when the produce pickings are slimmer than the rest of the year. As someone who comes from the east coast, I find the amount of produce in LA farmer's markets in the dead of winter astonishing, so I'm not totally sure what they are talking about. For example, at every farmer's market we go to (and there are more than one for each day of the week) there are always at least 2 or 3 stalls selling beautiful and tasty citrus. There is every variety -- from regular oranges and grapefruits to pomelos, Meyer lemons and blood oranges.

Ever since I first saw the blood oranges in the farmer's market, I knew I had to make sorbet out of them. They have such an amazing color and delicious taste that I knew the sorbet would not only be beautiful but tasty as well.

This sorbet combined two different types of blood oranges. One was a very, very dark red (it did have a blood-like color) and one was much lighter, almost an orangey-peach color. Combined, they made the lovely color you see above. I could look at that beautiful sorbet all day, if I didn't know it tasted so good and so it usually ends up in my mouth!

This sorbet was very simple. Combine 1/4 cup of sugar for every cup of blood orange juice. Heat in a saucepan until the sugar dissolves, chill and then freeze in your ice cream maker. The hardest part about this was juicing all those oranges, but it was totally worth it!

Ethnic Flavor: When You Go to the Store to Buy a Cookie...

2011-03-18T08:32:00.000-06:00

Hooray, tomorrow night is Purim! This is the happiest of Jewish holidays, so happy that we're supposed to be happy for the entire Hebrew month that it's in (Adar, in case you were wondering). Purim celebrates the saving of the Jews, as usual - those silly Jews are like damsels in distress, they always need saving! Anyway, an evil man named Haman tried to kill us, a beautiful Jewess named Esther used her sexual wiles to save us, we went on a celebratory genocidal rampage, and everyone was very happy! Now we wear masks and costumes to commemorate how Esther had to hide her identity as a Jew from her husband the king, we put on plays telling the story, we drink a lot to increase our happiness, and we eat these most delicious of cookies, the hamantaschen!

My roommates are not Jewish but we had a great time making what my roommate Abi refers to as "Jewish shortbread with jam." That's really the most succinct way I can think of to describe it (although we also made ones with chocolate and Nutella). Oftentimes hamantaschen are dry and flavorless, but these ones have just the right consistency. Unfortunately, I cannot tell you how to achieve that consistency. When I doubled the recipe, I got my measurements confused and I put in one stick plus 1/3 of a cup instead of 2 sticks plus one third of a cup. And then I was really surprised as to why the dough was so crumbly even when I put in less flour than the recipe said. Oh well, it all turned out in the end, even though I'm a dum dum. As you can see from the picture, hamantaschen are like children - some of them come out of the oven weird and misshapen-looking, but you love them all equally, cause they all taste the same. Okay, that simile doesn't work as well as I had hoped. But have fun making your hamantaschen, and be sure to sing this song, which I taught to my roommates:

When you go to the store to buy a cookie
Most of the cookies are round
But a cookie in the shape of a triangle
Can almost never be found
Except for hamantaschen, they have three sides
Strawberries are baked inside
Every time that we hear Haman's name
We play this little game
And we go stomp, stomp, stomp, rat-a-tat-tat
I'm gonna eat your hat hat hat
Stomp, stomp, stomp, rat-a-tat-tat
I'm gonna eat your hat hat hat

Happy Purim!

Joan Nathan's Hamantaschen

Ingredients:

2/3 cup pareve margarine or butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2-3 cups sifted unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
Dash of salt

1. Cream the shortening with sugar. Add egg and continue creaming until smooth.
2. Add the vanilla. Stir in the sifted flour, baking powder, and salt until a ball of dough is formed (a food processor is excellent for this).
3. Chill for 2-3 hours, or overnight.
4. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
5. Taking 1/4 of the dough, roll out on a lightly floured board to a thickness of 1/8 inch. Cut circles of dough with a drinking glass or round cookie-cutter. With your finger put water around the rim of the circle. Fill with the filling of your choice and fold into three-cornered cookies. (Press two sides together, and then fold the third side over and press the ends together.)
6. Bake on a well-greased cookie sheet 10-16 minutes, until the tops are golden.

Adventures with the Ice Cream Maker: A St. Patrick's Day Treat

2011-03-16T09:30:00.000-06:00

Hi all! I hope you had a wonderful Pi Day - I sure did. As per our annual tradition, Emily and I made Emily's foolproof pie, which was delicious as always, although I'd recommend adding some salt to the crust next time. Nevertheless, that pie is foolproof for sure.

Our pi(e) before it went in the oven

Tomorrow, as I'm sure you alcoholics out there know, is St. Patrick's Day. I spent last St. Patrick's Day in London, where they rather pointedly did not give a rat's ass, so it's nice to be back here in America (or more specifically, in college, where any excuse to drink becomes a major holiday). Wasn't it nice that we had this interfaith cooperation so that St. Patrick's Day and the Jewish drinking holiday, Purim, could be in the same glorious alcohol-poisoning-filled weekend? I thought so too.

Is there any point to this rambling? Why yes, dear reader, there is. But first, some additional rambling. When I was fifteen, a young Machoner at Camp Ramah in the Berkshires, my age cohort went on a lot of trips, including to Canada. On our way up to the border we stopped in Vermont at the Ben and Jerry's factory. We took a tour of the factory and each bunk ate a Vermonster, which is 20 scoops of ice cream and all the toppings. On the tour we were permitted to sample some of the flavors the company was going to debut soon. One was some raspberry sorbet thing, which was fine but nothing special. But the other one was amazing, and has been my favorite Ben and Jerry's flavor ever since - Dublin Mudslide. Bailey's ice cream with chocolate chocolate chip cookie chunks and a coffee fudge ripple, is there anything more delightful? So for this St. Patrick's Day, I was inspired to try and recreate Dublin Mudslide ice cream.

For some reason there was no readily available guide on how to do this. I am such a pioneer. The first thing that I was worried about was the coffee fudge ripple. What does it meeeeeean? David Lebovitz to the rescue! Well, sort of. While searching for Bailey's ice cream recipes I came across his recipe for Irish Coffee ice cream. Bam. Problem mostly solved. I wasn't a huge fan of the first David Lebovitz coffee recipe -too strong - but since this one only involved steeping the beans and had no additional coffee added, it was a lot more palatable to me.

Next up, cookies! I made the tried-and-true Dorie Greenspan chocolate chip cookies, only with the cocoa powder substitution for some of the flour. I halved the recipe and only ended up using half of those again, which I crumbled and added to the churning mixture about five minutes from the end, but they're such delicious cookies that you won't mind having a few left over to eat plain.

Finally, the mysterious fudge ripple. Thank goodness for David Lebovitz, whose Perfect Scoop had a simple and delicious recipe. I didn't chill it for as long as I should have - in fact, I barely chilled it at all - but it still came out so professional-looking and, of course, tasty (though a bit more crystalline than I had hoped).

I wanted to buy a pint of Dublin Mudslide and do a taste test along with my homemade version, but I couldn't find any in my local grocery stores/minimarts. Can you believe it? What a travesty. But Dublin Mudslide had initially been released as a limited time only flavor - that would have REALLY been a travesty! So we have to be grateful for what we've got. In any case, this didn't really taste much like Dublin Mudslide, mostly because of the coffee flavor in the base. I couldn't taste the Bailey's at all, which is also the case for the original, so no big deal there. My favorite part was the chocolate chocolate chip cookie chunks. Regardless of its differences with the original, I think that this is an ice cream worth making in its own right. After all, it's less money and effort to just go to the store and buy a pint of Dublin Mudslide if that's really what you're after, but trust me, this confection won't let you down.

You can find the ice cream recipe here, the chocolate chocolate chip cookie recipe here (take out 3/4 cups of flour and replace with 3/4 cups cocoa powder) and the fudge ripple recipe here. Happy St. Patrick's Day, see you on Friday for some Purim treats!

Baked Sunday Mornings: High-Class Oreos

2011-03-13T00:00:00.001-07:00

NOTE: Sarah made these a few weeks ago and I decided to repost, since I didn't have time to remake this time. I know they were enjoyed by all.

The other week I saw the movie Kings of Pastry. It's about a French contest to see who can be (duh) the best pastry chef in the land, or a MOF (Meilleur Ouvrier de France). They didn't focus much on the actual pastry/baking, but I can't blame them, since the sugar sculpting was so spectacular, not to mention emotionally compelling. If you thought that the people who did sugar sculpting on the Food Network Challenge were impressive (and I did), wait until you see these guys! They make the Food Network Challenge people look like total amateurs. It's also full of humor, like when Jacquy, the incredibly affable and charming protagonist of the film, makes an elaborate 12-layer cake and brings a piece home to his daughter, who comments that the cake is very good, very simple. Will they finish in time? Will their sculptures, and with it, their dreams of being a MOF, come crashing down when they move it to a display table? Will the tough former MOF judges cry? Will the entire audience gain 15 pounds just from watching the movie? Go see it for yourself and find out!

Watching this movie will make even an accomplished chef feel pretty bad about him or herself, never mind a beginner like me. Nevertheless, I will recommend these delicious and classy variations on an Oreo cookie, which will probably impress anyone who has never heard of a MOF. They are from the book Baked Explorations, one of the cookbooks of the Baked bakery in Brooklyn - in fact, they are on the cover. Since I bought the book last month, I've made four things from it. All of them have been tasty, but this one was the best.

Like most dough that has to be refrigerated and then rolled out, this dough was kind of a pain, but I guess that's unavoidable, and at least it didn't crumble beyond all recognition when I rolled it out. As for the frosting, I'm firmly in the Shortening Is The Devil camp, so I substituted butter and it came out fine. Just a warning - it's quite an intense cookie, especially if you like a thicker, softer cookie like I do, so be sure not to include too much frosting or it will a) squirt out when you bite into it and b) make it pack the punch (caloric and otherwise) of two or three cookies. My dad and I each ate a whole bunch and then he took them to the office, where he said they got eaten in a jiffy!

Salt-N-Pepper Sandwich Cookies

From Baked Explorations

Ingredients for the cookies:

3 ½ cups all-purpose flour

¾ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon fleur de sel, plus more for decorating

2 teaspoons white pepper

¼ cup dark unsweetened cocoa powder (like Valrhona)

1 ½ cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch cubes, cool, but not cold

1 ¼ cups granulated sugar

1 ¾ cups confectioners' sugar

3 large egg yolks

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

3 ounces good-quality dark chocolate (60 to 72%), melted

For the vanilla filling

5 ounces vegetable shortening, at room temperature

2 ounces (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into small chunks, at room temperature

3 ½ cups confectioners' sugar, sifted

½ teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

1 teaspoon light rum

Yield: approximately 36 cookie sandwiches

Make the Cookies:

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, salt, fleur de sel, white pepper, and cocoa powder. Set aside.

In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugars together until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the bowl, and add the egg yolks, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated. Add the vanilla and melted chocolate and beat until uniform in color. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl and beat again for 10 seconds.

Add half of the dry ingredients and beat for 15 seconds. Again, scrape down the bowl, add the remaining dry ingredients and beat until just incorporated. Loosely shape the dough into two balls, wrap them tightly in plastic wrap, and refrigerate them for at least 3 hours.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Unwrap one ball of dough and divide it into two equal portions. Place the first portion on a lightly flour-dusted work surface and return the other to the refrigerator.

Use your hands to knead the dough until pliable and form into a small disc. Roll the dough into a ¼ -inch-thick round. It will be slightly sticky, so you may have to flip and lightly flour it a few times while you work. Use a 2-inch round cookie cutter to create your sandwich tops and bottoms, and transfer them to the prepared baking sheets, leaving about 1 inch of space around each cookie. Continue the process with the remaining dough. Extra dough scraps can be refrigerated and rerolled, if desired.

Sprinkle the tops of the cookies with a little fleur de sel, then bake them for 10 to 12 minutes, rotating the sheets halfway through the baking time. The tops of the cookies should look a bit dry and possibly cracked. Place the baking sheets on wire racks to cool for 5 minutes. Use a spatula to transfer the cookies to the racks to cool completely before filling them.

Make the Vanilla Filling:

In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the shortening and butter until lump free and smooth. Add the sugar in three parts, mixing each part until just combined. Add the salt, vanilla, and rum and beat again for 10 seconds. The filling should be thick but spreadable (like the inside of an Oreo). If it is too thick, add a drop or two of water as needed. Keep adding water to reach the desired consistency, but do not add too much water or the filling will be too thin.

Alternatively if the mixture is too thin, add a few tablespoons of confectioners' sugar.

Assemble the Salt-N-Pepper Sandwich Cookies:

Use a pastry bag or a small spoon to apply about 2 tablespoons of filling to the flat side of a cookie. Place another cookie, flat side down, on top. Press down slightly so that the filling spreads to the edges of the cookie. Repeat until all the sandwich cookies are made. Let them set up for about 15 minutes before serving. Store the cookies at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Baked Note: In this recipe, I suggest using a 2-inch round cookie cutter; however, it is only for guidance. Obviously, you can use any size, shape, and type of cookie cutter you fancy or have on hand. Also, note that while I prefer a crisp 1/4-inch cookie, I have plenty of friends that like them a bit thicker and chewier. If you are like them, simply roll out the dough to 1/2 inch thick and bake the cookies for a minute less.

For a Good Cause, Part 3: Raspberry Crumble Bars

2011-03-08T09:26:00.001-07:00

I have to say, by the time Wednesday night rolled around and I needed to make these raspberry crumble bars from Kosher By Design: Short on Time, I was not interested in baking anymore. (It was my tenth batch of baked goods in four days.) However, AJWS bake sale week prevails, so bake I did. Due to my mood, I was not efficient in the kitchen, so these ended up taking a very long time. The dough was too dry, so I added more milk, but then it was too wet and I couldn't get it to spread thinly enough to cover the pan, so I had to make another half batch of dough. I love jam, though, so I was hoping that the final product would be worth the trouble.

It was! Although these were not the most beautiful things I've ever made, they were delicious. And they sold out-- making them a success all around. See the recipe below, and click here to support the bake sale week efforts!

UPDATE: Bake Sale week was a success! Over the course of the week, my fellow classmates bought (or donated) $170 worth of baked goods. Thanks to everyone for your support!

Raspberry Crumble Bars

Bars:
1 ½ cups flour
½ cup sugar
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
¼ cup butter or margarine, melted
1 large egg
3 tablespoons light cream or soy milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 (11-14 oz) jar good quality preserves

Crumble:
¾ cup flour
½ light brown sugar
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ cup margarine or butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350. Line a 9x13 pan with parchment paper.

Mix all of the wet ingredients and the sugar. Blend. Add the dry ingredients and mix. The dough will be slightly crumbly.

Put the dough at the bottom of the baking pan. (It will be a thin layer.) Spread the jam evenly over the dough.

Mix the crumble toping together and sprinkle evenly over the jam.

Bake for 40 minutes, or until the crumble turns medium brown. Allow bars to cool completely, and then cut and serve.

Do a Little Dance in That Mississippi Mud

2011-03-06T21:17:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, your friends hate the things you love, and vice versa, to the extent where you wonder how you could even be friends with them. This is the case with my friend Emily. She has been mentioned on this blog before as a certifiable health nut, a lover of broccoli, exercise and extra-virgin olive oil. She is also a hater of baked goods! Can you believe it!? We lived together for three years and she ate everything I made, and now that we are living separately she comes out with the truth. For shame.

Thank God she likes ice cream, or it would really be curtains for us. She also loves coffee, so for her birthday I wanted to make her the beautiful espresso cake in Baked Explorations. Then she was all blah blah blah I hate baked goods, so I decided not to waste me time. But she had been requesting that I make some coffee ice cream. And suddenly, the idea for her birthday treat came to me!

This post is actually a double-header. It's the Mississippi Mud Pie recipe (B) from Baked Explorations, made with the coffee ice cream from David Lebovitz's The Perfect Scoop. I won't say much about the ice cream, since Rebecca already blogged about it and I have basically the same impressions. The coffee flavor is VERY strong - too strong for a non-coffee drinker like me. In fact, I decided to put it in the pie because I didn't think I would end up finishing it otherwise, and it's a shame to waste ice cream, even ice cream you don't really care for. The pie, on the other hand, was awesome. On balance, I think the coffee ended up going well with the sweeter, ever-so-slightly-alcoholic chocolate flavors, with neither one overpowering the other, and the nuts were just tasty extras, giving it additional taste and texture. I was not already in possession of bourbon, not being an elderly Southern gentleman, so I bought the cutest little bottle of bourbon there ever was. The whole thing was probably four tablespoons. So adorable. This was a big hit at Emily's birthday celebration and I would totally make it again, but to be honest I'd probably use my coffee ice cream of choice, which is Starbucks brand. Yummmm.

You can find the recipe here. Plus, they have the same bowls as me so there's an additional layer of authenticity.

For a Good Cause, Part 2: Red Velvet

2011-03-04T07:02:00.004-07:00

The baking for the bake sale continues. I have to say, I have really given Sarah a run for her money these week, and I also have to say, I don't know how she bakes so much because I am totally exhausted. Whew.

Anyway. One of the things that was exciting about this week was I got my first two commissions-- I bake something, and the recipients make a donation to AJWS. Awesome! One of the students here had a birthday on Sunday, so two of her (and my) friends offered to pay me to make a dessert for her. The choice? Red velvet.

As you might know from reading this blog, the baking sisters have a complicated relationship with red velvet. I often find that it is very complicated to make, extremely messy, and not always worth it in terms of taste. In fact, the most successful red velvet cake I've ever made has been from a Dunkin Hines mix. However, I was game for the adventure, and they turned out pretty well.

Yes, red velvet is very messy. This is not the recipe to make in your black tie clothing. However, this version, from the new Kosher by Design was pretty good. It was moist and light. So if you're up for the challenge, I recommend.

And in other news, so far the bake sale fundraising has been very successful. Want to help out? Click here to learn more and donate!

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Cupcakes:
2 ½ cups flour
½ cocoa
½ teaspoon fine sea salt
½ cup butter, softened
1 cup milk
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs
1 cup reduced fat sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 (1 ounce) bottle red food coloring
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon baking soda

Frosting:
1 (8 oz) block cream cheese, softened
½ cup butter, softened
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350. Line 24 cupcake tines with paper liners.

Mix flour, cocoa and salt.

Beat the butter until it is fluffy. Then add the sugar and beat until well blended. Add the eggs, one at a time, and mix after each one. Add the sour cream, milk, vanilla and food coloring.

In a separate bowl, mix the vinegar and baking soda. Add it to the batter and mix until just blended. Then add the flour mixture.

Divide into baking cups and bake for 20-22 minutes.

Once the cupcakes are cool, mix the frosting ingredients until well blended. Spread over cupcakes.

I Cook Like Betty Crocker and I Look Like Donna Reed, Again

2011-03-02T20:21:00.008-07:00

The scene: a classic 1950's kitchen. LINDA is puttering around happily, dusting the tops of the cabinets, when BOB rushes in, flustered.

BOB: Linda! It's an emergency! Mr. Willard is coming for dinner!
LINDA: Mr. Willard? Your boss?
BOB: He'll be here in FIFTEEN MINUTES!
LINDA: Oh no!
BOB: This is our big chance to impress him. If the house doesn't smell like fresh-out-of-the-oven baked goods, I might not get that promotion I've been working for!
LINDA: Well, that just won't do! But what could I possibly make in just fifteen minutes?...(to the camera) WAIT! I know! (She runs over to the freezer and pulls out biscuits wrapped in cellophane; as she speaks, she unwraps them, puts them on a baking sheet and sticks them in the oven) It's a good thing I made these delicious buttermilk biscuits in advance! Why, when all I have to do is work the cold butter into the dry ingredients with my hands and then stir in the buttermilk with a fork, these didn't take more than 10 minutes to make anyhow! They're delicious - flaky, buttery, everything a biscuit should be! And since I can leave them in the freezer and then take them out without defrosting them, they're ready to be baked...any time! (She takes the biscuits out of the oven and into the dining room, where the family and MR. WILLARD sit around a beautifully set table.)
MR. WILLARD: This looks like a delicious spread! And I just love these fresh-baked biscuits! Mmm mmm!
SANDY: Yeah, Mom, they sure are swell!
BOBBY: Jeepers!
MR. WILLARD: Jeepers indeed, little Bobby. You know, Bob, you have such a nice family and such a nice home...I think you deserve that promotion!
BOB: Thanks, Mr. Willard!
LINDA: Dorie Greenspan's buttermilk biscuits are my little secret. Them and the dismembered body parts hidden under the floorboards! (She winks cheekily at the camera. End scene)

What do you guys think, do I have a career in advertising or what? You can find the recipe here!

For A Good Cause, Part 1: Toffee Fudge

2011-02-27T07:04:00.000-07:00

Back in the beginning of January, I had the pleasure of traveling to Mexico with an amazing organization called American Jewish World Service. With a group of future Jewish clergy and communal leaders, I spent 9 days working and living in a small village called Muchucuxcah. Since the trip, I have had the pleasure of raising money for AJWS, helping to support the work they're doing to to alleviate poverty in the developing world.

While many of my friends and family have made generous donations to support my efforts, I still hope to raise more money to achieve my goal, which means it's time to get creative. This week at my school has been declared AJWS bake sale week-- each day, I'll bring a different baked good to school and ask people to make a donation in exchange for some delicious treats.

I'll continue to post on my progress throughout the week, but I wanted to start out with this delicious recipe from my new Kosher By Design cookbook. This fudge is super easy, and also really delicious. I chose to mix in some toffee pieces, but it would be great plain, or with peanut butter also, I bet. This is basically a foolproof recipe: make and enjoy! And in the meantime, if you want to join me in alleviating poverty in the developing world or read more about my trip, click here: http://action.ajws.org/goto/rachel.rosenthal

Happy eating!

Easy Fudge:
16 oz high quality milk chocolate
1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
4 tbsp butter

Over a double boiler, melt chocolate and butter. Stir in the milk. Blend until smooth. Pour into an 8x8 plan lined with parchment paper, and allow to set in the fridge (about two hours.) Cut with a sharp knife and enjoy!

Le Souffle (or something)

2011-02-20T21:57:00.000-07:00

This is one of my favorite recipes! I've never been able to blog about it before now because I usually make it for Shabbat and don't have time to photograph it between baking and serving. Luckily, this time I made it for a dinner party, with dairy ingredients for the first time ever! Yes, the amazing thing about this cake is that it tastes the same whether it's dairy or parve, so it's perfect for after a meat dinner, maybe served with some delicious raspberry sorbet or fresh fruit. It's not really a souffle but it has all of the great taste with none of the temperamental-ness; you can whip up the whole thing in about half an hour and it's pretty foolproof. (After all, it is from the wonderful Kosher By Design: Short on Time.) It has a rich but not overwhelming chocolate flavor, and if you cook it for the right amount of time, the cake will be moist around the edges and hot like delicious chocolatey molten lava on the inside. That's really all one can ask for in life, amirght? Okay, here's the recipe.

Warm Runny Chocolate Souffles
From Kosher By Design: Short on Time by Susie Fishbein

4 ounces good-quality semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate

½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter or margarine

4 large eggs

1½ cups sugar, plus a little more for coating the ramekins

¾ cup flour

1 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Generously coat 8 (6.8 ounce) ramekins with nonstick cooking spray and lightly cot them with granulated sugar. Hold a ramekin on its side. Tap the sides, turning the ramekin to coat the sides with sugar as well. Repeat with remaining ramekins.

Break the chocolate into small pieces; place it and the butter in a small microwave-safe dish. Microwave on medium power for 15-second intervals, stirring between, until the chocolate is completely melted.

In the bowl of an electric stand mixer, beat the eggs on high speed until foamy. Slowly pour in the sugar, and continue beating until very fluffy and pale yellow. On low speed, stir in the flour and vanilla, until thoroughly combined.

Increase speed to high, and while beating, slowly drizzle in the melted chocolate mixture. Once added, beat until all the chocolate is incorporated, about 1 minute.

For ease of pouring, transfer the batter into a large measuring cup. Fill each ramekin halfway. Set the ramekins onto a baking sheet and bake for 14-15 minutes, or until the tops are brown and the centers are warm.

Alternatively, the filled ramekins can be refrigerated. Just leave at room temperature for 30 minutes before baking.

Serve immediately, being careful because the ramekins are hot!

MSC: Chocolate Chip Cupcakes (My Pick!)

2011-02-15T08:02:00.000-07:00

Yay! This month Martha Stewart's Cupcake Club pick is mine! I am super excited about this (in case you couldn't tell) because, while I have enjoyed making all the different cupcakes, sometimes it is fun to make something I choose myself. And obviously, if I was going to choose something, it was going to be chocolate.

Anyway, enough about that. Welcome to the Baking Sisters if you are visiting us for the first time. We hope you'll stay, look around and read some posts by Sarah, who is really the funniest of the Baking Sisters. I also hope that, if you baked along with me, you enjoyed these cupcakes. I tried to pick something that would be delicious, but not to difficult to make. These cupcakes really fit the bill. They were light and fluffy (from the addition of whipped egg whites) and had little bursts of chocolate from the chips.

The only thing I didn't love about these was the frosting. Even though I reduced the butter, I still thought it was too buttery and heavy in comparison to the lightness of the cupcakes. I think I would either do these with a chocolate glaze or a lighter chocolate frosting.

You can find the recipe here, with chocolate chip frosting. Maybe I'll have to try that next time.

Thanks so much for baking along with me! I have had a fantastic time being part of this group and getting to see everyone's blogs and I look forward to making more yummy treats with all of you in the coming months.

Baked Sunday Mornings: Red Velvet Whoppie Pies

2011-02-13T00:00:00.012-07:00

I joined a new baking group, BAKED Sunday Mornings, which is based on the booked BAKED Explorations. I got this book almost as soon as it came out, since I loved the first BAKED book and I was glad to find this group. They bake every two weeks and post on Sunday mornings.

This week's selection is Red Velvet Whoppie Pies. I guess they are appropriate for Valentine's Day (not a huge deal in our house), but they are also very appropriate for another major event in our household...Brown Bunny's Birthday. My very adorable son has a brown bunny that he carries around with him and sleeps with (actually it is a bear, but we don't argue) and he has cleverly named it Brown Bunny. Apparently, the entire past month has been Brown Bunny's Birthday and his favorite color is red, so he needs a red cake for his birthday. I convinced by son that red cookies were just as good as red cake, so we set about making these Whoopie Pies for Brown Bunny. My son magnanimously agreed to eat one for Brown Bunny, and he enjoyed smearing it everywhere as well.

These were delicious. The ones not eaten by Brown Bunny, I took to work, where they were promptly gobbled up, even by people who say they are on a diet. Someone even called me after leaving the office to ask for the recipe. All 15 mini pies and 2 large pies were eaten in one day.

An awesome bonus of this recipe is that it was so easy to put together. I only made one change, which was to substitute butter for the shortening, since I am not a shortening person. I made some mini (with my tablespoon scoop) and two large ones (with my regular ice cream scoop). I think the minis were the perfect size, since you could finish them in a few bites and weren't too rich. The cake was tender and soft and the filling was tangy and sweet at the same time. I highly recommend these for the red velvet fan in your life (and you'll convert anyone who isn't).

You can find the recipe here.

Say It With A Whoopie Pie

2011-02-06T12:18:00.000-07:00

Last Friday I fell. Not on my butt like I usually do, but on my face. It was dark and I wasn't watching where I was going as well as I should have, and I slipped on the ice in the parking lot ten feet from my apartment. I didn't quite register what had happened until I saw the red liquid on my white gloves. It was spilling out of my mouth, so I felt around with my tongue to make sure none of my teeth had fallen out as I staggered home, trailing red in the snow.

We had no ice packs at home so my roommate gave me a bag of frozen corn wrapped in paper towels to press against my lip, which had a deep gash in it. I called a couple of friends from a nearby house who I was supposed to meet up with and informed them there had been a change in plans. They came over immediately and comforted me while one of them called Health Services. Through some miracle of communication (since he doesn't use his cell phone on Shabbat), my boyfriend arrived just before the EMTs showed up, and he came with me to the hospital. He sat there with me as I bled through endless paper towels, he waited in no less than four waiting rooms, he heard the sad tale of Willy, my roommate in the critical care unit, who had swallowed a piece of her own tooth, and finally, when at 2:30 a.m. the doctor told me he was going to try to get me out of there before 5:00, he went home, he witnessed Part II of a two-part barfight in the very waiting room of the ER. And he still liked me enough the next day to come by in morning while I was still asleep, even though I had gotten eight stitches and my lip was a nauseating scabby mess. In other words, he went above and beyond the boyfriend call of duty.

So even though this isn't usually a space I use to talk about my personal life, I just wanted to express my profound gratitude to him, to my roommates who have taken such good care of me, to the friends who insisted on calling Health Services when I was totally okay with just going to bed, to my parents who have called every half hour to check in on me, to the professors who have been understanding about the fact that I'm on painkillers and a little loopy, and to everyone who has asked how I'm doing and wished me well. It really means a lot to me, and so even though only four people could end up eating the "Thank You" whoopie pie, I wish I could give one to everybody!

Pumpkin isn't my favorite, but pumpkin (especially with chocolate) is my boyfriend's favorite, and as soon as I saw this recipe on 17 and Baking I knew I had to make them. It was my first experience with making whoopie pies. They are extremely simple and, if these are any indication, quite delicious. They look homely and higgeldy-piggeldy, kind of like my face right now, but they got the message across. Plus, they're soft and rather mushy, so I can eat them even without the use of the right half of my mouth. Score.

P.S. I'm thinking of opening up a business where instead of buying cards, people pay me to write their heartfelt messages on whoopie pies. It's perfect - they have broad, flat expanses that are good for writing, and since the frosting is usually a different color than the cookie, the piping material comes pre-made. At the end of the day, wouldn't you rather have a whoopie pie than a piece of paper?

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies with Chocolate Cream Cheese Filling
From 17 and Baking, Adapted from Martha Stewart
Makes 2 dozen sandwich cookies

Whoopie Cookies
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup firmly packed dark-brown sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups pumpkin puree, chilled
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Dark Chocolate Cream Cheese Filling
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon milk

To make the whoopie cookies: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line two half sheets with parchment paper or silpat baking mats.

In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves. In another large bowl, whisk together the dark brown sugar and the vegetable oil until well combined. Whisk in the pumpkin puree, then stir in the egg and the vanilla extract. Stir in the dry ingredients until just combined.

Drop the batter by the heaping tablespoon an inch apart on the baking sheets. Bake until the cookies just start to crack at the top and a toothpick comes out clean, about 15 minutes (blogger's note: for me, the small ones took 20 minutes, the large ones a bit longer.) Let cool completely on the pan.

To make the dark chocolate cream cheese filling: Sift the powdered sugar and cocoa powder into a bowl and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter and cream cheese until very smooth and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the powdered sugar and cocoa powder on low speed until incorporated, then mix in the vanilla extract and milk until smooth.

To assemble the whoopie pies: Spoon some filling into a piping bag fitted with a large round open tip. Pipe a dollop of filling onto the flat side of one whoopie cookie and top with another. Refrigerate cookies until ready to eat and keep in the refrigerator, covered with plastic wrap, for up to three days.

A Cookie Medley To Help Pass the Bar: Part 2

2011-02-04T00:00:00.001-07:00

You may remember my friend Brooke, who is studying for the bar, from this post. Well, the bar is coming ever closer, so I decided it was time for another package of goodies. Brooke is a major chocolate chip cookie lover (who isn't, really?) and she made a special request for chocolate chip cookies.

However, I could not just send her one kind of cookie, so this package is about 50% Dorie's chocolate chip cookies (which I already made and blogged about here) and 50% other stuff. The cookie on the left of the picture is the Baked Peanut Butter Cookie with Milk Chocolate Chunks. The recipe specifically says not to substitute semi-sweet, but I didn't have anything else on hand, so I did it anyway. I thought they still turned out delicious, but I can't wait to try them with milk chocolate. These are not your typical peanut butter cookies. They are much thinner than I expected (which might be because I didn't chill the dough long enough) but they are soft and chewy, so I give them a thumbs up. You can find the recipe here.

The other cookies I made (on the right of the photo) were Dorie's Chocolate Malted Whopper Drops. I had some Whoppers in my cabinet and I just decided to go for it, even though I don't know how Brooke feels about Whoppers. When I ate one of these cookies right out of the oven, I didn't like it that much, but once they cooled to room temperature, I really liked them. It gave the flavors a chance to meld and mellow and you were not overwhelmed with malt flavor. They were also good frozen. You can find the recipe here.

I ran out of tupperwear when packing the cookies to ship them to Brooke, so I packed some of the cookies in plastic bags. I assume that means she will get some tasty cookie crumbs, instead of whole cookies, but I think they will be good anyway. Brooke, let us know what you thought of the cookies. Others, wish Brooke good luck on the bar!

Adventures with the Ice Cream Maker: Snow White Ice Cream for a Winter Wonderland

2011-02-01T16:41:00.003-07:00

I love snow. Or I once did. Snow is one of the chief reasons I always told myself I could never live in LA or a similarly warm clime. But these days, I can't help thinking that Rebecca got out while the going was good. Here in New England, it feels like we have been hammered by a major snowstorm at least once every week since Christmas. The drifts outside my apartment are taller than I am, and I have already had one extremely bloody encounter with ice (more on that in my next post). Amidst this frozen hell, who would even want to think about ice cream, which so resembles the hated snow?

Apparently, I would. As devoted readers know, I was having some issues with my ice cream maker back in the heat wave of September (ah, who would believe I would remember that weather with a fond smile?) It seemed to me to be a pretty bad design flaw that an ice cream machine, which would see most of its use in the summer, would be unable to withstand the temperature of my admittedly non-air conditioned kitchen without melting, but whatever. I watched Rebecca put together the sparkling cider sorbet, heard the noise the ice cream maker was supposed to make, saw what churning was supposed to look like, and decided to try again. No one would accuse my kitchen of being overheated these days, so I thought that it might be time to pull out the ole Cuisinart. And behold, turns out all it needed was three months in the back of my freezer to start working! So yay.

For my first (successful) endeavor in ice cream, I made white chocolate ice cream from David Lebovitz's The Perfect Scoop. I have no particular attachment to white chocolate, but I had just gone to Whole Foods and, for some reason, bought a pound-and-a-half block of white chocolate, along with an equal sized block of milk and dark chocolate. Really, I should have just bought three dark ones because that's the kind of chocolate I use the most. But whatever. Anyway, I realized that I would never use that much white chocolate in a semester unless I really really tried, so here we are.

I was worried that the ice cream would be too sweet, since I sometimes find white chocolate to be cloying, but to be honest, this didn't taste like white chocolate or like ice cream. It tasted like really good-quality vanilla frozen yogurt. Take that to mean what you will. It tastes delicious as a side with some chocolate cake, or with a splash of Bailey's.

White Chocolate Ice Cream
From The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz

2/3 cup sugar
1 cup whole milk (Blogger's note: I used skim)
2 cups heavy cream
8 ounces white chocolate, finely chopped
5 large egg yolks

Pinch of salt

1. Put the chopped white chocolate in a large bowl and set a mesh strainer over the top.

2. Put the sugar, the milk and salt in a saucepan and warm the mixture.

3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, then gradually add some of the milk mixture, whisking constantly as you pour in the warm milk. Pour the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.

4. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom with a heat-resistant spatula until the custard thickens enough to coat the spatula. Strain the custard into the white chocolate, and stir until the chocolate is completely melted. Add the heavy cream stir until cool in an ice bath. Chill thoroughly.

5. Chill mixture thoroughly, then freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

Brownie? Biscotti? Cookie? Delicious!

2011-01-27T06:59:00.000-07:00

Let my recounting of New Year's Shabbat continue. As part of the dessert platter (see here for more on that), I wanted to do a twist on the chocolate white chocolate chip cookies that are always very popular. Sure enough, opening up my new Kosher by Design cookbook, there was a biscotti version of those delicious cookies, so I decided to give them a spin.

I definitely endorse the Chocolate Chocolate Chip Sticks. They are super easy to make and they have a texture that is brownie-like without the same degree of density and richness. I made them with the white chocolate chips, which I thought was a nice balance of sweetness, but those who like intense chocolate would probably like them even better with regular chocolate chips. Just two pieces of advice: First, these burn around the edges pretty easily, so watch them carefully. Second, don't make the logs wider than 4 inches, because otherwise they fall apart when you cut them. Follow this advice and you'll end up with a delicious treat!

1 1/2cups flour
3/4cup dutch cocoa
1 tsp b. soda
1/2tsp fine sea salt
3/4 cup canola oil
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
1/2 cup white choc or c. chips
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350
Mix flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Set aside
Mix oil,sugar, and brown sugar until smooth. Mix in the egg
Stir in half cocoa mix until dough forms. Stir in rest of cocoa mixture, knead dough with both hands for one minute. Mix in c.chips & walnuts. Use hands to knead them in dough.
Transform dough into two logs 3-4inches wide
Bake for 25min

Cinnamon Sugar Goodness: The Snickerdoodle Bundt

2011-01-25T23:20:00.000-07:00

A while back, you might remember that Mary, the Food Librarian, made 30 bundts in 30 days to celebrate National Bundt Day. Actually, she has done this twice, so on her blog there are no fewer than 60 bundts (and probably a lot more since she is the queen of bundts). That means that anytime I want a bundt cake, I just turn to her since she has so many choices.

I needed something for Shabbat dinner for a good sized group of people, so a bundt cake is always a good choice. It is fairly easy to make, it feeds a lot of people and it actually tastes better the second day. I made this Snickerdoodle bundt on New Year's Eve and served it with sparkling apple cider sorbet. The apple and the cinnamon sugar were a really nice combination.

This cake was so good, I could have just kept eating it and eating it. The outside had a nice cinnamon sugar crunch, just like a Snickerdoodle cookie and the swirl was so yummy! It brought a nice sweetness and great flavor to the cake, which was rich and light at the same time. I made this cake parve (substituted margarine for butter and tofutti sour cream for the regular stuff) and it was still delicious. I can't even imagine how good it would be made with all dairy ingredients.

There are two slightly tricky parts to this cake. First, you really want to coat the whole pan well with cooking spray and then with the cinnamon sugar mixture. Make sure that you get it into all the nooks and crannies so that you get that crust on the outside of the cake. The second tricky part comes at the end. When you bake the cake, you cover the top with a cinnamon sugar mixture. Then, you have to turn the cake over, so the top with the mixture becomes the bottom. You must, must, must do this over the sink so that you don't end up with cinnamon and sugar all over the kitchen. Seriously, listen to me on this one. If you can master both these parts (and neither is hard, so don't worry), you will be rewarded with a bundt of deliciousness. Next time, I might put chocolate chips in the swirl. Mmmmmm....

Although I found the recipe on Food Librarian, it actually comes from Dozen Flours. You can find it here.

Molten Deep Dish Chocolate Chip Cookies

2011-01-19T18:55:00.000-07:00

Sorry for my recent absence-- I've been traveling the world (or at least the western hemisphere) and been away from my computer and, more importantly, my oven. But now I'm back and it's time to play catch-up.

As has been noted by my dear sisters, New Year's Eve was on Shabbat this year, which made for a different type of celebration. Two of my friends hosted a black tie optional dinner (sadly, not everyone followed directions) and I was in charge of dessert, so I decided to make a platter. And this was the master creation-- the molten deep dish chocolate cookie from the new Kosher by Design.

The awesome thing about this dessert is that it seems very fancy, but it's actually super easy to make. I made it in regular sized muffin tins, but I think next time I would try to make them in something smaller because they were so incredibly rich that most people couldn't finish theirs, which seemed like a waste of cookie. I made them in advance and then warmed them up again-- warm and gooey deliciousness. Enjoy!

You can find the recipe here.

Like the Old Days: Pretzel Rolls

2011-01-18T18:56:00.002-07:00

Back when we used to go to Dalton, there was a bakery called Glendale's on 87th and Lex. They had many delicious things (frozen hot chocolate, anyone?) but I think my favorite thing they made was probably their pretzel rolls. Alas, time passed, as it has a way of doing. I graduated (that was not sad), Glendale's closed, I started only eating in kosher places. It seemed like the end of an era.

But then something amazing happened! While thumbing through the latest Kosher by Design, I found a recipe for pretzel challah! I was nervous to try out the recipe, but my desire to return to the joys of my youth was too strong, so I set out to conquer my fears. I did decide to make them in roll form because they're slightly easier to handle and because they were for a dinner party, but the idea remained.

I needn't have worried. This recipe is pretty easy. The thing that gives it its pretzel flavor is boiling the dough briefly in a baking soda bath, but other than that, it's more or less like other bread recipes. I thought these were delicious. The only thing to note is that if you want to freeze them, you shouldn't add salt because they'll get soggy. They make a great accompaniment to dinner, especially soup, and also are great on their own. You can find the recipe here.

MSC: Black Forest Cupcakes

2011-01-14T17:00:00.002-07:00

Martha Stewart Cupcake Club is back (at least for me). After taking last month off, I bring you Black Forest Cupcakes, chosen by Janine at Janine's Crazy World. When I think of Black Forest Cake, I think of chocolate, cherries and whipped cream. These had pastry cream instead of the whipped cream. I was a bit apprehensive about making these cupcakes because I am not a huge fan of Black Forst Cake, but I thought the replacement of pastry cream for whipped cream was really great and I ended up enjoying these. Don't they look like ice cream sundaes?

These were easier to put together than they looked. The cupcakes were pretty standard and both the pastry cream and the ganache were straightforward. I always seem to cook pastry cream about 30 seconds past done and then it gets lumpy, but it didn't matter in this case, since the pastry cream was not the star. I know pastry cream seems scary, but if you follow the directions and watch closely, it is not too bad. I used flour as a thickener because I didn't have corn starch and it was a totally fine substitute. The ratio is about 2 tablespoons flour for every 1 tablespoon the recipe called for. I didn't make any other changes, except that I didn't have cherry liquor, so I just left it out.

I quartered the recipe and got 7 cupcakes. I didn't turn them all into black forest because there was really no one around to eat such huge cupcakes. These are something I would make for an event, but they are not exactly your "I think I'll whip up some cupcakes today" cupcakes. They are more involved than that. Also, these are best the day they are put together, even though you can make the parts in advance.

Thanks to Janine for a great pick! The recipe is here. Next month is my pick, so tune in!

**This blog is going up on the 14th because we don't put up posts on Shabbat. I look forward to commenting on everyone's blogs on Sunday.**

Happy Birthday Cookies: Peppermint Oreo Chocolate Chip

2011-01-10T00:00:00.000-07:00

Over winter break, two people in my office had birthdays. One of the nice things about my office is that we celebrate everyone's birthdays with some kind of treat. It is both an excuse to celebrate one another and an excuse to eat cake during the work day.

Kirstin, one of the awesome women who works in my office, had her birthday over the break and so we needed to do something for her. We know that she likes peppermint, so we tried to figure out what to make. I had a box of Candy Cane JoJos (Trader Joe's version of oreos) going stale in the pantry, so I decided to try and crush them into chocolate chip cookies and see how it went. They were a snap to put together and, even though it looks like it won't make many cookies, it made over 2 dozen.

It went well. Very well. Kirstin enjoyed them, as Candy Cane JoJos are her favorite and my officemate Eve called them the best cookies she's ever had. 2 dozen cookies disappeared from the office very quickly.

With those rave reviews, how could you not make these cookies? You can find the recipe here and use whatever kind of JoJos/oreos you like!

Mini Chocolate = Yummy Chocolate

2011-01-04T10:00:00.001-07:00

Happy New Year! I hope 2011 is off to a great start for all of you. What better way to start the new year than with chocolate? Truth is, I made these a long time ago and am just now digging them out of the archives, but they are a great treat. They are even good for new year's resolutions! They are so tiny and fairly rich, so you feel satisfied after eating just one.

It is a little hard to see in these pictures, but these are mini molten lava cakes. They achieve that effect from putting a couple pieces of chocolate into the center of the cakes and then baking them. The chocolate melts and the outside is the perfect consistency. When you break into them, chocolate oozes out, just like a lava cake.

What makes them better than lava cakes is that you can freeze them! With lava cakes, if you were to freeze them after baking, they would likely loose their molten centers upon reheating. Since the molten part of these cakes comes from chocolate, they can be frozen and reheated and the chocolate just melts again. Yummy!

These were very easy to make. The only trouble I had was that some of them stuck to the pan. I would recommend greasing your mini muffin tins really, really well.

You can find the recipe here, from the great King Arthur Flour. If you want step by step instructions, those can be found here.

A Festive New Years/Shabbat Treat

2010-12-28T19:59:00.001-07:00

Are you looking for something delicious and festive, but not too heavy, to serve after Shabbat dinner this week in honor of New Year's Eve? Look no further because this icy, apple treat is for you. It is crisp and light, and can be made parve if you are kosher and having a meat dinner.

I am a big fan of Matinelli's sparkling cider. I don't drink it that much but I saw it in the grocery store on sale, 2 for $5 and it seemed like a good time to make David Lebovitz's Green Apple and Sparkling Cider Sorbet, which I have had my eye on since I got the book.

This sorbet was a snap to put together, as most sorbets are. You boil the cider, sugar and some water together, then dump in some apples and let it all sit until the apples are soft. The only hard part was pushing the apple mixture through a strainer, so that you got all the flavor and none of the lumps. Then you are good to churn.

The sparkling cider adds nice flavor to the sorbet, but that bubbly feeling is lost. Since the bubbles are half the fun, Sarah and I decided to put the sorbet in a glass with a splash of cider over it. That way, you get the bubbles and the flavor and a festive, New Year's Look.

Happy New Year and Shabbat Shalom! May 2011 bring you and your family many blessings.

Here is the recipe, from The Perfect Scoop:

Sparking Cinder and Green Apple Sorbet

4 Granny Smith or green pippin apples (2 pounds), preferably unsprayed

2 cups sparkling dry apple cider, with or without alcohol

1/3 cup sugar

1/2 cup water

1/2 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice, or to taste

Quarter the apples and remove the cores and seeds. Cut the unpeeled apples into 1-inch chunks.

Combine the cider, sugar and water, and bring to a boil in a medium, nonreactive saucepan. Add the apples, reduce the heat to low and cover. Simmer the apple chunks for 5 minutes, then turn off the heat and let the apples steep until the mixture is room temperature.

Pass the apples and their liquid through a food mill fitted with a fine disk, or use a coarse-mesh strainer and press firmly on the apples to extract their pulp and all the liquid into a container. Discard the apple peels — they've given up their flavor at this point. Add the lemon juice. Taste and add more if you wish, since sparkling apple ciders can vary in sweetness.

Chill the mixture thoroughly, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacture's instructions.

Makes about 3 cups.

A Seasonal Update on Parve Chocolate Cake

2010-12-26T22:15:00.003-07:00

It has come to our attention that this parve chocolate cake is a big hit on our blog, but we posted it in our early days when we didn't include recipes. Anyway, we've updated the original post to include the recipe, woo hoo! We also made the cake for Shabbat dinner on Friday, with a little twist in honor of Christmas Eve - half a teaspoon of mint extract added to the frosting! Yummy! Don't use any more, especially if you're going to let it sit for a bit before serving, because the mint flavor intensifies as time goes on. Enjoy!