what to do with leftovers...

at the end of last summer, i hosted an afternoon tea which i tried to recreate in all its british cuteness...except that the tray i bought off ebay and the hot water pot i ordered didn't show up until AFTER the tea party. oh well...c'est la vie! quintessential to an afternoon tea is the scone. so sunday morning found me sweating in a hot kitchen in the middle of an august summer in nyc furiously trying to put together the recipe for scones. (classic...it was the last thing i put on my list to make since the recipe looked so simple.) and then i ran out of cream...
God bless good friends! E brought over a carton of heavy cream before everyone started showing up and thank gawd this recipe comes together so quickly. if they came out well, it'd be icing...if not, at least there were cucumber and salmon sandwiches to eat instead. beautiful and rustic with a rich taste from the cream...these scones were as good to eat as they were easy to make! classic skimmy...i had lots of leftovers. =)and quite a few strawberries in the fridge...so i used the cream scones as a base and made strawberry shortcake! Y U M...i prefer the scones to traditional biscuits because instead of upping the sugar to make the "cake" part sweet, these had the addition of cream to make the dessert taste decadent and rich (as dessert should be!) but not too sweet.

strawberry shortcake (makes 4)

macerating the strawberries

1 cup strawberries, cleaned
1 tablespoon sugar
juice of half a lemoon

1. remove the hull from the strawberries and cut in half (or 1/4 if they are large). place them in a medium-sized bowl.
   
2. let sit for 20 minutes.

cream scones
(from baking from my home to yours by dorie greenspan)
note: dorie adds currants to the recipe, which i omitted.

1 large egg
2/3 cup heavy cream
2 cups flour

2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold and cut into pieces

1. preheat oven to 400 degrees. line baking sheet with silicone mat or parchment paper.
2. stir the egg and heavy cream together in a small bowl and set aside.
3. in a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt.
4. drop in the butter into the flour mixture and using a pastry blender or your fingers, blend in the butter pieces until small pebbles form. (you will have a mixture of different sizes.)
5. add the heavy cream and egg to the flour mixture and stir quickly with a fork just until the dough comes together (which will be sticky).
6. gently knead the dough by hand or spatula while still in the bowl (about 8 to 10 times).
7. place dough on floured surface and divide the dough in half. set one half aside.
8. pat the dough into a rough circle until about 5 inches in diameter. using a pastry cutter, score the dough creating 6 scones. (repeat with other half of dough.)*
9. place on baking sheet and bake for 20-22 minutes until golden on top. transfer to a wire rack and allow to cool for 10 minutes.

*at this point, the scones can be frozen and wrapped airtight. no need to defrost - just add 2mins to the baking time.

whipped cream

1 cup heavy cream

1/4 cup confectioner's sugar

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. whip all the ingredients together using a mixer until soft peaks form.
2. adjust sweetness to taste.

assemble the goodness and enjoy!

for the love of pumpkin...

one of my girlfriends LOVES pumpkin. her response to "what should i make?" is pumpkin...pumpkin cookies, pumpkin muffins...pumpkin something.

so before we left for the girls trip to montreal, i decided to whip up some pumpkin muffins to give us energy for the journey ahead! i love dorie greenspan's recipe...it's not heavy but dense. the muffins are just sweet enough with endless variations...toasted walnuts, sunflower seeds, raisins...yum!and here is where i re-learned my lesson to always watch what you have in the oven and not go by the time on the recipe. using my trusty timer, i set it for 24 minutes...and ended up with slightly burnt muffins. boo!!!

oh well...we just cut off the edges and ate them anyways! =)

pumpkin muffins
(baking from my home to yours by dorie greenspan)

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
pinch of ground allspice
1 stick (8 tablespoons) butter, unsalted at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 light brown sugar, packed
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup canned unsweetened pumpkin puree
1/4 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup moist, plump golden raisins (which i omitted)
1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts, toasted
1/3 cup unsalted raw sunflower seeds for topping (optional)

1. preheat oven to 400 degrees and butter / spray 12 molds in a regular-sized muffin tin.
2. whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices.
3. working with a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter at medium speed until soft. add both sugars and continue to beat until light and smooth. add the eggs one by one, beating after each addition to incorporate the eggs. beat in the vanilla.
4. lower the speed and mix in the pumpkin and buttermilk.
5. slowly add the flour mixture, mixing only until the flour disappears.
6. stir in the raisins and nuts (if using). divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups and sprinkle the sunflower seeds over the top of each muffin.
7. bake for 25 minutes or until they pass the toothpick test. transfer the pan to a rack and cool for 5 minutes before removing the muffins.

finally...SUMMERTIME!

the sun has finally beaten away the rain clouds and humidty has started its oppression on nyc. but summer means that the grocery stores and farmers markets are inundated with all types of fruit that i just have to buy. (which just means i get home and realize that i already have a pint of blueberries sitting in the fridge...oh well at least it's not another pair of shoes!) :)

stuck with more blueberries than i could consume in a week, i went off in search of a recipe and came across ina garten's blueberry crumb cake. mmm...the picture alone was enough to convince me.

the streusel crumb topping was a tad too crunchy but definitely not skimpy. although i do think it overpowered the cake-to-topping ratio and if the cake recipe hadn't called for lemon peel, its flavor would have gotten lost completely. all in all, it wasn't a terrible way to spend a few extra blueberries and was a nice complement to the morning cup of joe.

the recipe can be found here.

not quite a cake...

if it has cake in its name, is shaped like a cake, looks like a little cake but tastes nothing like a cake...can we consider it baking (even though it's fried)? since the funk refuses to leave my kitchen, i've moved on...to more savory topics for the time being. how 'bout some crab CAKE, folks??

until i met the hubby, there were some things i had never done / eaten before. i had never eaten a meal while sitting at the bar. i had never tried key lime pie...and i had never ordered a crab cake. i couldn't see how a little patty of crab meat + bread crumbs could be worth $20...as an APPETIZER! years ago, i attempted to make these at home...and let's just say that almost 10 years later, the hubby STILL remembers those crab cakes...not fondly. =P

so i put aside the idea of making crab cakes, thinking they belonged to the realm of chefs-only until crab cakes showed up on the menu at cooking class. woohoo! YUM...no wonder the hubby likes these things!

crazy that i am...i also made garlic aioli (plus relish...a la tarter sauce!) to go with the crab cakes. garlic aioli is a fancy word for mayonnaise with garlic...folks, this is NOT something you eat on a first date!! it was a little strong on the garlic (i could still taste garlic for hours...) but still quite tasty.

normally there would be a picture of the finished crab cake but SOMEONE I WON'T NAME ate them so fast i couldn't take a picture!!

crab cakes (adapted from allrecipes.com)
(note: we used peekytoe crab for these babies, which makes for a little "mushier" texture. as it was the first time we tried it, i think we found that we both prefer jumbo lump crab meat.)

2 tablespoons olive oil

6 green onions, chopped

3/8 cup olive oil

1 pound (16 ounces) crab meat

2 eggs
1 tablespoon mayonnaise

1 teaspoon dry mustard

6 ounces buttery round crackers, crushed

1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon old bay seasoning

1/2 cup dry bread crumbs

salt and pepper to taste

1. heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a skillet over high heat. saute onions briefly until tender and set aside to cool.
2. combine crab meat, sauteed green onions, eggs, mayonnaise, dry mustard, crushed crackers, cayenne pepper, garlic powder, old bay seasoning, salt and pepper. form into 1/2 inch thick patties. place in freezer for 15 minutes.
3. remove from freezer and coat patties with bread crumbs. heat 1/2 cup oil in skillet over medium high heat. cook cakes until golden brown on each side. drain briefly on paper towels and serve hot.

garlic aioli (from the joy of cooking)

2 egg yolks

5 cloves garlic, minced

salt and white pepper to taste
1 cup oil*

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon cold water
*the joy of cooking recommends olive oil, or part olive oil, safflower oil or peanut oil.

1. whisk the egg yolks, garlic, salt and white pepper until smooth and light.
2. whisk the oil in by DROPS until the mixture starts to thicken and stiffen. as the sauce begins to thicken, whisk in the oil more steadily. (make sure each addition is thoroughly blended before adding the next.)
3. gradually, whisk in the lemon juice and cold water. taste and adjust seasonings.
4. serve immediately or store in a jar in the fridge for 1-2 days.

IT'S BACK...

by it, i mean the funk...where everything i make has ended up in the trash.

almond and raspberry shortbreads...trash can
chocolate chocolate chip...trash can (and i've made these before!!)
blondies with chocolate chip and peanuts...currently on the counter, headed to the trash can.

WTF?!
it is raining again...s i g h. could it be a sign?!

learn from my mistakes...

a couple of months ago, one of my girlfriends got into b-school and we went to l'ecole to celebrate. if you don't happen to know, l'ecole is the restaurant attached to the french culinary institute and they have this amazing deal ($35 for the chef's classic meal or $42 for a four course prix-fixe dinner). not only is the food amazing but since it's part of the cooking school, you get all these extras! like after we paid the bill, the waiter gave us each a cupcake to go. and walking out the door, the hostess told us we could take a french baguette if we wanted...and that loaf was NOT small.i almost threw away the cupcake...because i didn't get a chance to think about it until 3 days later and was worried it would be stale. but in the car on the way to boston, i decided to try the cupcake. it was this intense dark chocolate color - almost black! and covered in a smear of what looked like chocolate ganache...and i hoped that it wouldn't be too dry after sitting out for 3+ days in my kitchen.

OH MY GAWD...that cupcake was quite literally a little slice of heaven. it was soft and moist and so intensely chocolate there was no room for cloying sweetness. and the ganache? icing on the cake... ;)

i had come across this recipe before but had never made it until now. learn from my mistakes, people...make this now, asap, right this minute. don't wait until tomorrow...there is a reason why there are over 1200+ reviews on the website waxing poetic about this cake. heck! i waxed poetic after eating two cupcakes straight out of the oven standing over the kitchen sink. it is QUITE if not an almost perfect rendition of that little bite of heaven from l'ecole.

enjoy!

(the recipe can be found here.)

the quest for perfection...

over the years, i have made countless versions of chocolate chip cookies. one added pudding mix to the dough (and this one was my favorite for years) while others played around with the ratio of brown sugar to white sugar. and yet none satisfied what i was looking for...warm, gooey centers studded with pockets of melted chocolate that ended in crisp edges.

and then it was like the ny times heard my plea and asked the god of chocolate for the answer in the quest for perfection. the article outlined a couple of really interesting suggestions for improving the homemade chocolate chip cookie and even ended with a recipe by jacques torres!! does it get any better than this??

sadly...i didn't love the recipe. a year later, i couldn't even tell you why i didn't like it (guess i'll have to make them again). but it wasn't love at first bite...so i pressed on in my search until i came across...the doubletree hotel chocolate chip cookies.

i made a few changes based on the ny times article and for now? the quest is over...

there are no prep pictures of this dough because i cheated...i almost always have a batch of chocolate chip cookies pre-made sitting in the freezer ready to be slipped into the oven. because yes, i love chocolate chip cookies that much and yes, chocolate chip cookies were meant to be eaten warm straight off the cookie sheet right out of the oven. try them...i trust you'll forgive me.

doubletree hotel chocolate chip cookies
makes 20

1/2 cup rolled oats
2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon lemon
2 eggs
3 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1. Grind oats in a food processor until fine. Combine the ground oats with the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Toast the walnuts and set aside.
   
2. Cream together the butter, both sugars, vanilla and lemon using an electic mixer. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing after each addition.
3. Stir the dry mixture into the wet mixture and mix well. Add the chocolate chips and walnuts to the dough and mix by hand until well blended.
4. Refrigerate the dough for 3 days.
   
5. Before baking, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with silpat or parchment paper.
6. Scoop out 1/4 cup portions and place 2 inches apart on the baking sheet.
7. Bake for 16-18 minutes until edges are lightly brown and the center is still soft (rotating the sheets halfway through baking time).