not quite peaches and cream

the weather has turned in nyc, which just means that it's no longer blazing hot and humid. but it also means that summer is ending...sadness!! the good part? stone fruits are starting to pop up everywhere and these peaches were too pretty to pass up.
again, my eyes were bigger than my tummy and we had way more peaches than two people could reasonably eat before they started to spoil. so i went hunting for a recipe to use them and came across a recipe for peach cobbler. i haven't had one in ages!!good gawd, what is wrong with me?! sweet juicy peaches bathing in their own luscious sauce covered in a flaky pastry dough...i promise that i'll never wait that long again!
peach cobbler
adapted from the dallas morning news (1987) via saveur

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup crisco
1 egg
1/4 cup ice water

3 pounds peaches (6-8 cups), peeled and sliced
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 tablespoons orange juice
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 cup butter

2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons melted butter

1. sift flour, sugar and salt in a bowl. add butter and shortening. work into the mixture until it is crumbly. whip egg and ice water together. sprinkle on flour mixture. form dough into a ball and chill for 30 minutes.
2. preheat over to 350 degrees while chilling.
3. roll half of the dough on wax paper to 1/8-inch thickness. place in a deep 9 x 13-inch pan or long oval baking dish, covering bottom and up 1/2-inch on sides of pan. bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown.
4. slice the peaches and combine with lemon and orange juice. in a separate bowl, combine the sugar, cinnamon and cornstarch.
5. put peaches and butter in a non-aluminum pan and heat until butter is melted. then stir in the sugar mixture. remove from heat.
6. roll second half of dough to 1/4-inch thickness and cut into 1/2-inch strips. assemble lattice top on wax paper.
7. pour filling into pan over baked bottom crust and cover filling with lattice top. brush top with melted butter and sprinkle with sugar.
8. bake for 35-40 minutes until top is crust is golden brown.

*note: it was easier to assemble the lattice top on the wax paper instead of over the hot peach filling. if the dough gets to soft at any time, place in freezer for a couple of minutes until it is a little more "solid" and easier to work with. also the original recipe makes enough peach cobbler for two people to eat for 37 days...i cut the recipe in half (yes, even the one egg) and we still have leftovers after seconds (and thirds...but who's counting??).

more than meets the eye...

i went hunting for a reasonable tailor where it wouldn't cost me $25 for an original hem and thanks to yelp, i stumbled across nelson (who i recommend with some reservations). holler if you want to hear them...but he also happens to be located down the street from this sweet little bakery (which is a nice pick-me-up after making the trek to see nelson).after dropping off my jeans to be hemmed, this is what came home with me.

bob - yellow cake with chocolate almond buttercream
pistachio - pistachio cake with "The Moose"
lemon - lemon cake with lemon buttercream
sassy red velvet - red velvet cake with chocolate almond buttercreami loved the cake part of each cupcake...pure deliciousness - soft, tender crumb with good flavors. but the icing? ugh, the icing was HORRID. i could taste the almond extract in the chocolate buttercream and it was so pronounced that it added nothing good to the flavor at all. the lemon buttercream also had a strong metallic tang and left a not-so-pleasant aftertaste. thankfully on the other hand, "The Moose" is quite yummy...a soft whipped mess.for $1.50 a cupcake, these are some of the cheaper cupcakes available in the city and the cafe is really cute, furnished with a random mixture of comfy vintagey-looking finds. the staff has always been courteous and helpful and while the cupcakes may not look like much, there is more than meets the eye. (just scrape off the icing or get "The Moose.")

pudding in a cloud

the hubby: "do you like chocolate pudding?"
me: "sure...why?"
the hubby: "will you make pudding in a cloud?"
me: "what the heck is pudding in a cloud???"

i've learned a lot from being married...
how to make crab cakes
how to quickly and neatly fold 17 white t-shirts in one load of laundry
how to keep the bedroom cool enough for the hubby but warm enough for me to fall asleep
...and now i can add one more to that list - pudding in a cloud.

chocolate pudding
whippy cream (his words - not mine!)
chocolate pudding
whippy cream
...enough so you can see each layer.

chocolate pudding
from smitten kitchen

i love that this pudding doesn't use egg yolks as a thickener (made me feel better about my thighs as i was licking the spoon). the only downside is that it didn't seem to have the silky rich smoothness that comes from using egg yolks. don't get me wrong - the pudding was silky and rich - but i almost felt like i could feel the granularity of the cornstarch (could totally just be me). but i also liked that there is some variability in the chocolate. you can turn up the intensity of the chocolate by using a darker chocolate (i used 70% which made for a pronounced C H O C O L A T E flavor).

worth the extra hour on the treadmill...

so i signed up to be one of the testers for cook's illustrated.

i got the first recipe a little over a week ago...and i didn't make it.

i couldn't bring myself to use 3 egg YOLKS...i already have something like six egg whites sitting in the fridge, which i keep telling myself will be used to tackle macaroons. (did i mention that they've been sitting there for two weeks already and i have yet to make them??)

and besides, i already had a brownie recipe i LOVED...

intense chocolate flavor

crunchy walnuts

with just a hint of coffee...YUM.

the original recipe makes an awful lot of brownies and so i cut the recipe in half. and if you've ever noticed, the barefoot contessa loves to use extra-large eggs (which are not baking standard btw!). i used large eggs and didn't notice a difference in texture for lack of liquid.

go and make!
...and then if you want, we can just tell everyone we went to the gym. ;)

outrageous brownies (appropriately titled)

adapted from foodnetwork.com

1 cup unsalted butter

8 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped*

6 ounces semisweet chocolate chips

3 ounces unsweetened chocolate

3 large eggs

1 tablespoon + 1 1/2 teaspoon instant coffee powder

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 cup + 2 tablespoons sugar

1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 1/2 cup chopped walnuts, toasted

1. preheat oven to 350 degrees. grease and flour a 9 x 13" baking pan.
   
2. stir together the eggs, instant coffee, vanilla and sugar in a separate bowl. stir in the cooled chocolate mixture and cool to room temperature.
   
3. stir together 1/2 cup of flour, baking powder and salt. add to the cooled chocolate mixture.
   
4. toss the walnuts and chocolate chips with 2 tablespoons of flour. add to the chocolate batter and pour into prepared pan.
   
5. bake for about 25 minutes or until tester come out clean. halfway through baking, rap the pan against the oven to allow air to escape from between the pan and brownie dough (and rotate the pan while you're at it). do NOT overbake!!! cool thoroughly before devouring.

*the original recipe tells you to use chips...except that chips were not meant to be melted and want to hold their shape. so it will take a little coaxing to get the chocolate mixture smooth. you can skip the extra coaxing by using a semisweet chocolate bar as opposed to the chips.

more locavore than i can handle...

really...i want to be a locavore.
i do. i truly do!i want to support my local farmers. i want produce and fruit that hasn't trekked half way across the country and added to the pollution in the air or used my taxes to pay for their oil transport.

but this??
this beauty showed up in my sink after shucking corn i had bought from the farmer's market!

THIS might be more locavore than i can handle...
s i g h...the corn was really sweet (and i made the hubby eat the cob that our little friend was living in!).

taking it back to the old school...

would you believe that even though i was raised in the south i had never had red velvet cake until i moved to nyc?? trust me...i made up for lost time fast!

apparently red velvet cake has been around for ages...some date it back to the mid 1930s! so i was really interested to come across this recipe that had been handed down a couple of generations.

wow, it is good...
i used penzey's natural cocoa and this was the first time that i've made red velvet cake where i could actually smell the chocolate in the batter! i don't know if it was the penzey's or the 2 heaping tablespoons but the smell was delish. i ran out of red food coloring so it's not as red as i would have liked but the flavor more than made up for it. =)and the icing?! having been created in the south this icing can withstand quite a bit of heat and humidity without sacrificing any flavor. it wasn't too sweet, easy to use and stable...all of the things a baker could ask for!

now go make up for lost time!

old school red velvet cake
adapted from chowhound.com

1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 oz red food coloring
2 heaping tablespoons cocoa
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/4 cups sifted cake flour
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda

1. preheat oven to 350 degrees. butter and flour two 9" cake pans.
2. cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. add the eggs one at a time, beating for 30 seconds after each addition. add cocoa and red food coloring. add flour, salt and buttermilk. mix until combined.
3. remove batter from mixer. sprinkle the baking soda over the top and pour the vinegar on top of the baking soda. (it'll do this cool fizzy thing!) add vanilla. gently mix until combined (taking care not to overstir!).
4. pour batter into prepared cake pans and bake for 30 minutes.

old school buttercream icing

2 tablespoons cornstarch or 4 tablespoons flour
1 cup whole milk
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

1. in a small saucepan, mix the cornstarch / flour into the milk. cook over medium heat until thick, whisking the entire time. set aside to cool.
2. cream butter and sugar until fluffy. add vanilla and cooked cornstarch/milk mixture slowly.
3. beat until it looks like whipped cream and the sugar has dissolved into the icing.

the dog days of summer

and i've got the oven cranked up to 450 degrees!

but you can add me to the list...

there must have been countless blog posts after bittman wrote about the infamous no knead bread and yet, it didn't scream "MAKE ME!!" perhaps the lack of chocolate and sugar had something to do with that........??? hmm...

and then i caved after reading jaden's post that her 4-year-old cutie could show me up!

i'm so glad i did...because this was a gorgeous loaf of bread! rustic with beautiful cracks (even though i almost dropped it!) and it really does sing! (the crust crackles as it cools...)

try it...i double dog dare you. even a 4-year-old could do it!