Auntie Anne certainly is crafty! She and her rug-hooking studio were just featured on the Prim and Whimsy Girls site. Congratulations, Auntie!
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June 2009
June 30, 2009
June 29, 2009
Pop Rocks Meet Milk Chocolate
While wandering around the Lower East Side on Saturday, Pam and I found a little candy store and--of course--stopped in. (As if we hadn't had enough sugar at Doughnut Plant.)
There were all sorts of cool things there, including chocolates wrapped up and packaged to look like canned sardines and these: Pop Rocks covered in milk chocolate.
My first thought was to use these baked into a cookie. But as I thought it through, I realized that the stuff that makes Pop Rocks pop would likely melt or otherwise become deactivated when mixed into cookie dough and baked. Oh...and I took a closer look at the package and saw that these guys were meant for shaking on top of cakes, ice cream, etc.
I'll probably just use these as sprinkles on top of cookies, but it's fun to explore new places to search for potential ingredients. And good news for Pop Rocks fans: this also comes in bar form!
June 28, 2009
Grub Club: Day of Doughnuts...and Drag
New York had its first sunny, dry Saturday in what must have been over a month. And to celebrate, Pam and I took to the streets of the Lower East Side to soak up some vitamin D and to stuff our faces at Doughnut Plant.
1) Tres leches doughnut. How do they get that delicious cream filling in there? 2) Crème brûlée doughnut. Itty-bitty but so worth it. 3) Cinnamon roll. It was calling my name.
We topped off the day at the Kraine Theater for Thank You For Being a Friend, an all-drag Golden Girls parody/tribute. Doughnuts, friends, laughs, and sunshine. Could it get any better?
June 27, 2009
Cotton Ball Sky
Every once in a while in New York, something will happen that stops everyone in their tracks, brings traffic to a crawl, and spills people out of buildings with cameras at the ready.
This was the sky above 7th Avenue on Saturday night. The city was drenched in a pink-and-orange glow, and cotton ball clouds stretched from the Hudson to the East River.
I wasn't the only one to grab a snap.
It reminded me of the lines "The Earth looked like it was lit from within/like a poorly assembled electrical ball" from Liz Phair's song "Stratford-on-Guy."
Update: Check this out.
June 26, 2009
Too Sweet for the Sweet
I made a batch of Ambrosia Cookies on Thursday night. Unfortunately, they came out far too sweet. I used dried pineapple, fresh cherries, orange marmalade, coconut, and mini marshmallows. Each of the ingredients is really sweet in its own right. But in combination, that sweetness is multiplied...by a factor of 10. In other words, they were not bring-in-able.
Oops! Some tweaking is in order.
I think that maybe some sour cream will help balance the flavor.
June 25, 2009
Grub Club: Rainy Recession Special
The Grub Club is always on the lookout for good cheap eats. Last night, Pam and I stopped by Vanessa's Dumplings for the ultimate in economical edibles. (I found this place through the NY Recession Specials blog.) Six dumplings for $1.29! We had to check it out. Nothing chases away the rainy Wednesday blahs like a steaming hot plate of pennies-per-piece pork products.
1) Green tea smoothie with tapioca pearls. 2) Fried pork and scallion dumplings. 3) Wonton and noodle soup. 4) Boiled pork and scallion dumplings and a sesame pancake sandwich.
So cheap for so much food. I'm still stuffed.
June 24, 2009
"I'll Bring the Ambrosia Salad"
My friend Gordon challenged me to come up with an ambrosia cookie. The first thing that popped into my head was the scene from the movie Edward Scissorhands when the oversexed neighbor lady says "I'll bring the ambrosia salad" to the barbecue. (Believe me...it's funny. I looked for the clip on YouTube but found nuthin'.) The next thing that popped into my head was the realization that I was in for some trouble with this recipe.
For those of you not in the know, ambrosia salad is a strange concoction of canned/jarred fruit (maraschino cherries, mandarin orange slices, and pineapple), coconut, mini marshmallows, and whipped cream. Mmmm...healthy!
Ambrosia may be the food of the gods, but all those wet ingredients won't really work in a cookie. Stay tuned to see what I come up with. Or, better yet, say a little prayer. (Anyone know who the Greek god of baking is?)
June 23, 2009
Broadway Beach
New York has turned big chunks of Broadway into pedestrian zones, including one right in the middle of Times Square. I'm sure it messes up traffic royally, but there's something very cool about sitting in a beach chair in the middle of it all. This was the scene last night as I was walking south through Times Square with a new friend. I snagged us seats from a couple German tourists fleeing the drizzle.
See...I knew I'd put my iPhone's camera to good use.
June 22, 2009
Poll Roundup XX
According to my Raising the Bar? poll, readers didn't care if their cookies were round or rectangular. The just wanted those baked bits in their mouths!
The bar thing is something I'll definitely explore some more.
Thanks to all who voted and commented. Voting still remains open, so feel free to weigh in.
June 21, 2009
Picturing Caramel Apple Bars
Here's the recipe for my Caramel Apple Bars in process.
Cream the creamables: butter and dark brown sugar.
Combine the wet ingredients: apple sauce, an egg yolk, milk, and cinnamon.
Add the combined wet ingredients to the creamables. Take everything for a spin.
Peel and dice the apples. My alligator-style chopper makes this bit a snap.
Combine the dry ingredients and add to the combined wet ingredients and creamables. Take everything for another spin.
Scoop the dough into a greased baking dish and spread out into an even layer.
In the microwave, melt the caramel bits and apple juice. Stir to even out the mixture.
Pour the melted caramel over the dough and spread out evenly.
Bake, cool, and cut.
June 20, 2009
June 19, 2009
Caramel Apple Bars
This one's for Sharon, a real-life cookie taster who put in a special request for a mom-friendly bar recipe.
I was really happy how these came out, though I do think I could have left them in the oven for a couple more minutes. It's really easy to tell when drop cookies are done. You just look at them. But bar cookies are a little different because they're bigger and thicker and are almost like baking a cake. For that reason, you should use the toothpick test to determine doneness.
The cookie base is soft, moist, and chewy. It's also really apple-y, with both apple sauce and diced fresh apples--and a healthy dose of cinnamon, which really highlights the apple flavor. The caramel topping is sticky and just a little bit crunchy. There's also a hint of apple flavor there from just a touch of apple juice. These are awesome on their own, but try popping one in the microwave for 30-45 seconds and topping it with vanilla ice cream. OMG!
Make sure you let the baking pan cool completely before you carve out the individual bars. If you don't, you'll end up with mangled, ragged, not-so-pretty pieces of cookie.
Makes 1 dozen bars. For 2 dozen thin bars, split the dough and topping in half and bake in two pans. (To see this recipe in process, check out Picturing Caramel Apple Bars.)
|
Creamables |
1 stick butter 1 cup dark brown sugar |
|
Wet Ingredients |
1 egg yolk 1/2 cup applesauce 1 tablespoon milk 1 tablespoon cinnamon |
|
Dry Ingredients |
3 cups oatmeal 2 cups diced apples 1 1/4 cups flour 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 teaspoon salt |
|
Topping |
1 3/4 cups caramel pieces 1/3 cup apple juice |
- Preheat oven to 350º.
-
In your Kitchen Aid or a large mixing bowl, cream together the creamables.
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Add the combined wet ingredients to the creamables. Mix together until well incorporated.
-
In a large mixing bowl, add the dry ingredients. Using a spatula, fold together until evenly distributed.
-
Slowly add the dry ingredients to the combined creamables and wet ingredients. Mix until evenly combined.
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Grease a 9 x 13 baking pan with butter.
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Scoop the cookie dough into the pan and spread out in an even layer.
- Place the caramel pieces and apple juice in a bowl and microwave until melted--about 1 1/2 minutes. Stir well with a spoon to make the mixture smooth.
- Pour the melted caramel on top of the cookie base and spread out in an even layer.
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Bake at 350º for 30-35 minutes or until the bars pass the toothpick test.
- Remove the baking pan from the oven and let cool completely.
- Using a sharp knife, slice the pan-sized cookie into individual bars.
June 18, 2009
June 17, 2009
June 16, 2009
Grub Club: Rooftop Rummikub Rainout
The Grub Club's plans for a rooftop repast were rained out last night, so In-Young and I headed down to Pam's place for some wine, snacks, and a friendly game of Rummikub. (Well...friendly for me because I won all three rounds. What can I say? Beginner's luck.)
It wouldn't be the Grub Club without some food, and it wouldn't be game night without junk food, so we had the best of the bad stuff. Come on now...admit it! Who doesn't love a Ritz topped with a spritz of Easy Cheese? You know you do. :-)
1) The spread. We also had the linguica rolls I brought home from Mumma's. 2) Ritz and Easy Cheese. 3) Taking it upscale: Ritz, Easy Cheese, and salami. 4) Mini-cupcakes. Because you've got to balance the salty with the sweet. 5) Kicking butt at Rummikub.
June 15, 2009
June 14, 2009
Caramel Bits for Caramel Cookies
When I was home visiting Mumma a few weekends ago, I came across Kraft's Premium Caramel Bits at the grocery store. I had never seen these before, so I picked up a couple bags. A cookie baker's pantry is never too full.
Caramel can be a tricky cookie ingredient because it's soft and gooey when your cookies are fresh from the oven, but it turns really hard and crunchy when your cookies have cooled completely. To avoid causing any damage to my real-life cookie tasters' dental work, I've used Rollo candies in my caramel cookies. The caramel centers of the Rollos stay soft and runny at room temperature, so you don't have to worry about someone busting a tooth or ripping out a crown. (And that gooey center is encased in chocolate. Who could ask for more?)
These caramel pieces feel pretty solid, but I'll give them a try. Stay tuned for caramel apple cookies!
June 13, 2009
June 12, 2009
National Peanut Butter Cookie Day
Hey, everybody. Guess what? Today is National Peanut Butter Cookie Day! To mark the occasion, I've collected here a mini-list of my peanut butter recipes. Make a batch--or four--and celebrate.
1)PB & J(onnie) Cookies. 2) Peanut Butter Cup Cookies. 3) Fluffernutter Cookies. 4) Inside-Out Peanut Butter Cup Cookies.
June 11, 2009
June 10, 2009
June 09, 2009
Grandma's Measuring Spoons
I started writing this post and got the song "Afternoons & Coffee Spoons" by the Crash Test Dummies stuck in my head. It's funny how that works...
These are my grandma's measuring spoons. They're old and a little bent, but It was nice putting them to use when I made my XXX Cherry + Chocolate Cookies.
Grandma used these to make all her baked stuff, but I particularly remember her using them to make pie crust. She'd use the tablespoon measure to add cold water to the flour/lard mixture. Mmmm. Grandma made the best pies.
June 08, 2009
Picturing XXX Cherry + Chocolate Cookies
Here's the recipe for my XXX Cherry + Chocolate Cookies in process.
Halve the cherries and add them to the sugar, milk, and lemon juice. Cook over medium high heat until the cherries break down and the mixture is smooth. Set aside to cool.
Cream the creamables: butter and dark brown sugar. I made this batch at Mumma's, so I had to use her hand mixer, not my trusty Kitchen Aid stand mixer.
Add the cooled cherry mixture to the combined creamables and mix. That's right...this is an eggless cookie.
Add the contents of two cherry-vanilla tea bags to the combined cooked cherries and creamables. Mix.
Combine the dry ingredients and add to the combined cooked cherries and creamables. Mix.
Scoop and bake. Like I always say about my XXX cookies, these are so good they're obscene!
June 07, 2009
XXX Cherry + Chocolate Cookies
I'm visiting Mumma this weekend and knew that she was going to put the Oatmeal Cookie Guy to work as soon as I came home. That's not a problem at all, especially because I knew I'd be rewarded with some BR's pizza. But Mumma's not a baker, so any cookie making would require picking up some basic ingredients--like flour, salt, and butter--at the grocery store. Oh, yeah, and doing the mixing without my trusty Kitchen Aid stand mixer!
I have to give Mumma full credit for this recipe because it was her idea to make a cherry cookie. But cherry and what else? We emptied her cabinets to see what concoction we could make. Aha! To my surprise, Mumma had some fancy-dancy semi-sweet/white chocolate swirled chips. I had never used these guys before, and--quite frankly--I was surprised to find these in non-baking Mumma's cupboard. But upon closer inspection, we decided to pick up a fresh bag at the store.
So there we had it: a cherry and chocolate cookie. Then I got to work putting together the recipe. Why not do a "XXX" cookie that uses three forms of fruit: cooked, fresh, and dried? And what kind of spices would we use? Cinnamon didn't seem right. Then I saw the perfect flavoring: cherry-vanilla tea bags. Mumma had only two left, but they would do the trick.
These cookies turn out moist, chewy, and--best of all--packed with fruit flavor. The chocolate adds that little bit of sweetness and richness to balance the sweet/tart cherries. (I'm going to use dark chocolate chips next time...Mumma's grocery store didn't have any.)
This recipe is eggless, so it's perfect for anybody who has an egg allergy.
Makes 3 dozen cookies. (To see this recipe in process, check out Picturing XXX Cherry + Chocolate Cookies.)
|
Creamables |
1 stick butter 1 cup dark brown sugar 2 cherry-vanilla tea bags |
|
Wet Ingredients |
1 cup pitted, halved cherries 1/4 cup white sugar 2 tablespoons milk 2 teaspoons lemon juice |
|
Dry Ingredients |
3 cups oatmeal 3/4 cup flour 1 cup pitted, roughly chopped cherries 1 cup dried cherries 1 cup chocolate chips 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 teaspoon salt |
-
In a small saucepan, heat cherries, milk, lemon juice, and white sugar over medium high heat. Stir with a wooden spoon or spatula, crushing the cherries until the the mixture is smooth and evenly red.
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Remove cherry mixture from the heat and set aside to cool until Step 5.
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Preheat oven to 350º.
-
In your Kitchen Aid or a large mixing bowl, cream together the creamables.
-
Add the combined wet ingredients to the creamables. Mix together until well incorporated.
-
In a large mixing bowl, add the dry ingredients. Using a spatula, fold together until evenly distributed.
-
Slowly add the dry ingredients to the combined creamables and wet ingredients. Mix until evenly combined.
-
Shape dough into balls--about 2 tablespoons each.
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Place dough balls about 2 inches apart on Silpat- or parchment paper-lined cookie sheets.
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Bake at 350º for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Remove the cookie sheets from the oven and let stand for 2 minutes. Then place cookies on wire racks to cool.
June 06, 2009
Mumma's Old Cupboard
I'm visiting Mumma this weekend, and--of course--she wants to put the in-house baker to work. But you need ingredients to make cookies. We emptied her cabinets to see what she had on hand and what we needed to pick up at the grocery store. Top of the list: chocolate chips that aren't 26 months past the "best by" date. No...Mumma is not a baker.
June 05, 2009
Picturing Blueberry & Lemon Cookies
Here's the recipe for my Blueberry & Lemon Cookies in process.
Cream the creamables: butter and--this time--light brown sugar because I wanted a chewy texture but not the stronger molasses flavor of dark brown sugar.
Combine the wet ingredients and add to the creamables. I use three forms of lemon here: lemon extract, lemon juice, and lemon zest. This triple shot of citrus is guaranteed to give you a lemony cookie.
Combine the dry ingredients and add to the combined creamables and wet ingredients. I halved the blueberries and filled the measuring cups as I went along. (1 1/3 cups' worth.) I sliced these guys in half so that they would be distributed evenly in the dough when I mixed all the ingredients together.
Mix, mix mix.
Scoop and bake. Serve 'em warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, and you'll have a bowlful of summertime.
June 04, 2009
Grub Club: My First Falafel
On Monday, the Grub Club headed to the West Village for some Middle Eastern food at Taïm.
The place was wasn't just crowded, it was nuts! The line spilled out the door, onto the sidewalk, and into the street. I guess being featured on Food Network's Throwdown and handily beating Bobby Flay in a falafal-making contest will do that to your business. Good on them!
So, after braving the hungry horde, Pam, In-Young, and I retreated to my roof to eat our falafel--my first!--in peace. I'll definitely be heading back for more...but I'm not even gonna try going back during the dinner rush.
June 03, 2009
Blueberry & Lemon Cookies
At long last...I made those blueberry and lemon cookies I was promising.
I have fond memories of picking blueberries with my grandparents when I was a kid. We'd fill our buckets to the point of overflowing, and we'd end up with enough blueberries to last until the next season.
Our freezer was always stuffed with baggies of frozen blueberries. That and cheesecakes...and Jenny-O turkey rolls. (Mumma had every contingency covered.)
My grandmother would make blueberry pies and turnovers, and my dad would make muffins--the famous Jordan Marsh recipe--which inspired my Blueberry Muffin Top Cookies.
The lemon is bright, fresh, and summery and is just the right complement to the blueberries. Serve 'em warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, and you'll have a bowlful of summertime.
Makes 3 dozen cookies. (To see this recipe in process, check out Picturing Blueberry & Lemon Cookies.)
|
Creamables |
1 stick butter 1 cup light brown sugar |
|
Wet Ingredients |
1 egg 1/4 cup lemon juice 1 tablespoon vanilla 1 tablespoon lemon zest 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon extract |
|
Dry Ingredients |
3 cups oatmeal 1 1/4 cups flour 1 1/3 cup halved blueberries 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 teaspoon salt |
-
Preheat oven to 350º.
-
In your Kitchen Aid or a large mixing bowl, cream together the creamables.
-
In a small bowl, combine the wet ingredients and whisk together until smooth.
-
Add the combined wet ingredients to the creamables. Mix together until well incorporated.
-
In a large mixing bowl, add the dry ingredients. Using a spatula, fold together until evenly distributed.
-
Slowly add the dry ingredients to the combined creamables and wet ingredients. Mix until evenly combined.
-
Shape dough into balls--about 2 tablespoons each.
-
Place dough balls about 2 inches apart on Silpat- or parchment paper-lined cookie sheets.
-
Bake at 350º for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Remove the cookie sheets from the oven and let stand for 2 minutes. Then place cookies on wire racks to cool.
