Someone's in the kitchen with Mama

Q: What kind of person decides to bake scones upon arriving home from the hospital after having a c-section several days earlier?

(Ellen looks around the room and slowly raises her hand)

A: Me.

I know, I'm crazy. But I was so BORED in the hospital, I wanted to take something over to our neighbors to thank them for taking care of the dogs, and I thought baking might take the edge of the searing pain in my abdomen. And the scones were delicious.

This isn't actually about the scones though (Whole Grain Maple Oatmeal, if you were wondering, and I found the recipe here).

It's about the treats I baked 2 days later, Chocolate Malted Whopper Drops from Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours and Blondies adapted from Smitten Kitchen.

Now, if you're wondering what the heck I'm doing spending so much time in the kitchen when I should be recuperating on the couch with my sweet little baby and a pint of Haagen Dazs, well there are a few answers (see above excuses for scone making), but the most important one is Operation Baking Gals.

A few weeks ago, while perusing Dorie Greenspan's website, I learned of a fantastic group of food bloggers who were joining together to bake for the troops. Basically, once a month all these wonderful people were going to bake treats and send them to a designated service member. Okay, so cookies? I love cookies! Supporting the troops? I love the troops! How could I not be a part of this? So I signed up and this week was my first round as part of Operation Baking Gals, and I figured what better time to introduce Wesley to the joys of baking? It's never too early, you know!


I had been wanting to make the Whopper Drops since forever, but I'd had to wait because it's darn near impossible to find certain ingredients around here, like malted milk powder. The Dutch just don't have it, and the commissary, well, I think I've voiced my displeasure with the selection of food at our commissary before. So I had to wait until Ben's recent trip to Chicago when he brought back all sort of goodies and hard to find items like tahini, turkey jerky, and malted milk powder. Mmm... but I digresss.

I had been dying to make these because:

Exhibit A


and

Exhibit B


How do you go wrong there?

And the finished product turned out very nicely.

I found myself wishing that the cookie itself was just a little more chocolately, but too much chocolate is never enough for me. I think for a person of normal tastes these would be lovely.

Wes agrees.

No, no, no feeding the baby cookies. I'm only teaching him to bake, not to eat. More treats for me that way.

Up next was the blondies, which I added a little espresso powder to and stirred in chopped white and milk chocolate as well as Kraft caramel bits (which I was VERY excited to find at the commissary this week. They stocked something I've been wanting! Hallelujah! I bought 6 bags because I know they'll probably be gone soon and then I'll never see them again).

Wesley was a super helper.



And the finished product was awfully good.


Ben was my taste tester and insisted that supporting the troops includes feeding him, too, so that batch may have been short a few blondies by the time I shipped it. Hopefully the soldier I sent it to enjoys them as much as mine did.

So, you may think I'm crazy with this baking thing, but as least I'm crazy for a good cause, right?

J'adore...

Ben, of course, but also macarons!

My love of Paris is inextricably linked with my love of pastries. Every trip involves at least one patisserie purchase, even if we're only there for a day, and walking by many many patisseries in order to lick the windows. And on our last few trips, I have been struck with a love of macarons.

They've become something of an obsession, and I have wanted desperately to make my own. I saw plenty of examples and recipes on the bajillion food blogs I read regularly, but my problem was that the ingredients are always in grams. This makes sense because A) They're French, and B) They are fussy and delicate and I would expect no less of these magnifique little treats. Soooo, I had to get a food scale. I eventually did, and after marveling at how I could now tell you how much my food weighs at any given meal (those chocolate chip cookies in my previous post were about 35 g, in case you needed to know), I finally made my macarons!

I searched the blogosphere for just the right recipe, and I kept coming back to Tartelette and her Macarons 101. She explains it so well and so thoroughly, not to mention the fact that her pictures are mouth-wateringly pretty.

I followed her recipe almost exactly. The only change I made was to substitute vanilla sugar for the plain granulated sugar. And then I filled half with the bittersweet chocolate ganache, and half with a vanilla bean buttercream that I found the recipe for somewhere. But I won't share that recipe because, for whatever reason, it just didn't work for me and I had to wing it and experiment with powdered sugar to get it to a decent consistency. And in the end, my macarons... were delicious! They looked like macarons (although they were a tiny bit flatter than I wanted them, but that's just something to improve for next time) and, more importantly tasted like macarons. Ben proclaimed them as good as Pierre Hermé. I don't know about that, but I'm glad he loves me and my baked goods.

Macarons (recipe from Tartelette)
For the Macarons:

3 egg whites (I like to use 2-3 day old egg whites)
50 gr. granulated sugar
200 gr. powdered sugar
110 gr. ground almonds



For the whites: the day before (24hrs), separate your eggs and store the whites at room temperature on a covered container. If you want to use 48hrs (or more) egg whites, you can store them in the fridge.

In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the egg whites to a foam, gradually add the sugar until you obtain a glossy meringue. Do not overbeat your meringue or it will be too dry and your macarons won't work.


Combine the ground almonds and powdered sugar in a food processor and give them a quick pulse. It will break the powdered sugar lumps and combine your almonds with it evenly.


Add them to the meringue. Fold the mass carefully until you obtain a batter that flows like magma or a thick ribbon. Give quick strokes at first to break the mass and slow down. The whole process should not take more than 50 strokes. Test a small amount on a plate: if the tops flattens on its own you are good to go. If there is a small beak, give the batter a couple of turns.

Fill a pastry bag fitted with a plain tip with the batter and pipe small rounds (1.5 inches in diameter) onto parchment paper baking sheets.


Preheat the oven to 300F. Let the macarons sit out for an hour to harden their shells a bit and bake for 8-10 minutes, depending on their size. Let cool.

If you have trouble removing the shells, pour a couple of drops of water under the parchment paper while the sheet is still a bit warm and the macarons will lift up more easily do to the moisture. Don't let them sit there in it too long or they will become soggy. Pipe or spoon some ganache on one shell and sandwich with another one.


Bittersweet ganache:

3/4 cup heavy cream
1 cup bittersweet chocolate

In a heavy saucepan set over medium heat, bring the heavy cream to a boil. Remove from the stove and add the chocolate to it. Let stand 2 minutes and then stir until fully combined. Let cool until firm enough to put in a small piping bag.

Les macarons!

Tofu for the doubters

Some of you out there may have certain ideas about tofu and its tastiness (cough...Dad...cough). Ben used to be one of those people too. I would mention a potentially good recipe and he would raise his eyebrows or wrinkle his nose or just say no.

When he took his recent two week trip to Chicago, however, I went to the commissary and gleefully bought a package of tofu to cook for me, just me. I also bought some stir fry sauce from the local supermarket. The sauce I have is a product of the U.K., so if you're one of my loyal American readers, good luck finding it, but it's Sweet Soy and Roasted Red Chili, so you could try using a combination of, oh, maybe soy sauce and chili sauce.

Then, I sat at home, alone. And I pondered what I wanted to do with my previously forbidden tofu and my tasty looking new sauce. I ended up deciding to stir fry the tofu with some snow peas, scallions, and portabella mushroom and serve it over some soba noodles that we had lying around. And it was SO. GOOD.

It was so good, in fact, that I thought I could make it for Ben and he would probably eat it without making barfy faces or gagging sounds. So when he returned, I told him my plans. He looked at me doubtfully but agreed to try it. And lo and behold, Mikey liked it! He liked it enough that he agreed to tofu for dinner again the next night! And he's eaten it multiple times since then! It's a miracle!

So for the doubters, my Yummy and Easy Tofu Stir Fry That Ben Not Only Chokes Down But Actually Likes.

Serves 2

Ingredients:
1/2 block firm tofu, cubed
2 tsp each minced garlic and ginger, or if you want it easy a few spoonfuls of jarred minced garlic and ginger stir fry seasoning
1 cup snow peas
2 cups portabella mushrooms, chopped
2 cups scallions, chopped
90 grams (about 3 ounces) soba noodles
Sweet Soy and Roasted Chili Stir Fry Sauce (or something close to that)


Heat a little oil in a pan, add ginger, garlic and tofu and cook until lightly browned. Set aside.
While the tofu is cooking, bring a large saucepan of water to a boil and add soba noodles. Boil for about 5 minutes, drain and rinse with cold water, and set aside.


Heat a little oil in a wok, or if you are wok-less like me, a large pan, and add the vegetables. Stir fry for a few minutes until they are nice and cooked. Add tofu and stir fry sauce and stir together for another minute until everything is heated through.




Serve over soba noodles.

Yum!

Proof that Ben eats tofu:


And likes it:

Delicious!

The baby liked it too...

Baby's gonna be so disappointed when he comes out and doesn't get fun foods anymore. At least not until he can chew. Then we'll go nuts.

I love cookies. A lot. And in my mind, nothing come close to the chocolate chip cookie. Yeah, sure, it's fun to have double chocolate raspberry caramel macadamia nut cookies dipped in white chocolate, but for pure cookie enjoyment I can't help but go back to the old standard.

So it might be a little surprising that I have just now gotten around to making the New York Times recipe from a whole MONTH ago! But the problem, you see, is that I already have my perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe. I found it a few years ago, made a few slight modifications, and haven't been able to beat it since. And then I recently found another that looked really good that I wanted to try. And then, I read the article that goes with the New York Times recipe and know that I have to experiment with chilling the dough for different amounts of time. Do you get where I'm going here? Not only do I have new recipes to test out, I also have to make test batches after different periods of time in the fridge and compare them to my own fail proof recipe. That's a lot of chocolate chip cookie making! Not to mention the fact that Ben was gone so I couldn't send cookies to work with him, I needed to make biscotti for a going away gift for one of his coworkers, and I had to bake Ben a fabulous cake for his birthday last week. That's a lot of baking! And a girl can only eat so many cookies. You might think it would be easier for me being 9 months pregnant because I should be able to sit down with my round self and polish off a batch of cookies, right? Wrong. There is no room in my stomach. And I've been pretty healthy throughout my pregnancy, so now when I eat too many cookies, the sugar overload makes me feel really yucky. So no cookie binges here.

All this to get to the point that last night I FINALLY made the fabulous cookies that the baking world was buzzing about weeks ago. And they were, in fact, fabulous.



The jury (consisting of me and Ben) is still out on whether they replace my chocolate chip cookie recipe or not.

Pros: They are really delicious. They are absolutely gorgeous. They live up to all the promises of the article. I feel like I could be buying them for too much money from an expensive bakery.

Cons: They call for cake flour and bread flour and that seems a little pretentious to me. The recipe makes a massive batch of dough compared to my usual recipe, but the quantities don't seem easy to cut in half, so I'm stuck with a big batch of cookies. You have to let the dough sit for at least 24 hours. That means advance planning for what should be one of the kinds of cookies you whip up on a lazy afternoon.

I think there will be further deliberation this evening after we have both snacked on more cookies today. I have a feeling, though, that these cookies will stay, but only with special occasion status. Even though they are so so so good, there's just not enough room in my regular baking rotation for pretentious chocolate chip cookies. My recipe will stick around as our old faithful. And no, I'm not sharing my own recipe. I'm a cookie tease.

Le dessert

Every once in a while, we like to pretend that it's actually summer here (even though most days it's still cold and rainy and I have to wear a sweatshirt to walk the dogs), and the best way to enjoy summer is, of course, with ice cream. I love all kinds of ice cream and I love to make sorbets and gelatos at home, but there has always been a special place in my heart for Drumsticks. The chocolate covered tops, the caramel cores, the little plug of chocolate at the bottom of the cone... Mmmmm. The problem is, I could never share this love of Drumsticks with my favorite person and partner in ice cream eating because Ben does not eat nuts. Ever. He just doesn't like them in any form. And if you're tempted to ask, "Not even _____ (pistachios, peanut butter, almonds, etc)?" The answer is no. No nuts. So Drumsticks in every form are out of the question because they are always covered in peanuts.

So imagine my delight when I found this, a recipe on one of my favorite blogs for homemeade drumsticks. That's ingenious! Such a simple idea! Why hadn't we thought of it? Even better, our local grocery store actually sold sugar cones for a brief period of time! (Because of course the commissary doesn't have them.) We stocked up while we could, and have been working on perfecting our drumstick making techniques this summer. We made them again a couple nights ago, and I think we're getting pretty good. Allow me to share with you the magic of ice cream and chocolate from the Morrison kitchen.

First, we found a delicious ice cream flavor, no boring vanilla for our cones! And improvised a way to keep the cones upright for freezing periods in between steps. Little glasses work well, but we've also cut out holes in a cardboard box to serve as a cone-holder. We like using the glasses because we can easily move them around and work with one cone while sticking the others in the freezer if needed. Before scooping I spooned a tiny bit of melted chocolate into the bottom of each cone to act as a plug and then stuck them in the freezer for a few minutes to let it set. Then, Ben got to scoopin'.

After scooping the ice cream, we make holes in each one for a caramel center. The caramel is, in our opinion, the very best part of the drumstick.

Next, the carmelling! I feel like a mad scientist with my syringe of caramel deliciousness. The squeezable bottles of caramel topping work just as well, but aren't nearly as exciting.


After that step the cones need to go in the freezer for a few hours to harden so they don't melt and drip and fall apart during our next step. While they are chilling, we assemble our toppings: chocolate for dipping, and white chocolate, butterscotch chips, rainbow sprinkles, and chocolate espresso beans as substitutes for the dreaded peanuts. We've also used crushed Oreos in the past and they were pretty delicious, too.

When the cones are good and frozen, we dip...

And add toppings...

And voilà! Homemade drumsticks! With better ice cream, better chocolate, and tastier toppings than the original! Yum!

Now quit reading our blog and go eat some ice cream!

Summer has (allegedly) arrived!

According to the calendar, it's officially the season of sunshine and ice cream! I, however, am not entirely convinced. You see, it's still not really warm here. When we moved here, people kept saying, "Oh but it gets really hot and sticky in the summer". We looked at them suspiciously and waited for the hot weather. It never came. It got nice and sunny and pleasantly warm, but never HOT. We were assured that last year was abnormal. Suuuuure. This year we're still waiting and wearing sweatshirts when we take the dogs on walks. Maybe now that it's "official", the weather will get the memo and adjust itself accordingly. In fact, it was relatively pleasant at times this weekend, but I'm almost afraid to talk about it out of fear that I'll jinx it and tomorrow it will snow or something.

There has, however, been evidence of the impending ice cream season.
Exhibit A:

Exhibit B:

Exhibit C:

Exhibit D:


Our market has been FULL of beautiful, wonderful, fresh summer fruits and vegetables and we have been buying bags and bags full of produce. We've been eating more pineapple, strawberries, sweet corn, asparagus, zucchini, and tomatoes than you can imagine and we're loving it. And the raspberries up there actually came from a friend's backyard! For free! It's like heaven! Or summer!

In honor of all the marvelous produce, I'm leaving you with the recipe for a delicious light potatoey salad with marinated tomatoes that we had for dinner last night.

Ensalada Rusa with Marinated Tomatoes from Clean Eating Magazine


2 Yukon Gold potatoes
2 large carrots
1/2 large sweet potato
2 eggs
6 oz tuna, packed in water
1/2 cup diced white or yellow onion
1/2 cup diced sweet red bell pepper
1 cup peas

1/4 cup plain low fat yogurt
1/2 cup low fat sour cream
zest of 1 lemon
1 tbsp dijon mustard
1 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/8 tsp sea salt
freshly cracked pepper,to taste

Put potatoes, carrots, sweet potato and eggs with shell in a medium pot. Cover with water and place over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil, and then let boil for 10 to 15 minutes, or until vegetables are soft but not mushy. Drain and rinse with cold water Remove skins and dice vegetables. Remove shells from eggs and cut in half to remove yolks. Dice whites and discard yolks.

In a large bowl, combine potatoes, carrots, sweet potato, eggs, tuna, onion, red pepper and peas.

In a separate bowl, whisk together yogurt, sour cream lemon zest, mustard, lemon juice, sea salt and pepper. Add yogurt mixture to vegetables. Stir gently to caot. Serve with marinated tomatoes on top.

Marinated tomatoes

2 Roma tomatoes, diced (I used about 2 cups mini Roma tomatoes slice in half)
3 tbsp sherry wine vinegar
1/8 tsp sea salt
freshly cracked pepper, to taste

Mix tomatoes and vinegar. Season with salt and pepper and chill for at least 20 minutes before topping salad.

Enjoy!

Ooh la la!

For those who don't know, I spend quite a bit of time in the kitchen. In addition to making fabulous dinners, as previously posted here, I also bake a lot. I probably bake something at least once a week, and I would do it more often if I had more people to feed. However, I can only send food to work with Ben about once a week or so before people start mumbling something about getting fat from all the treats. I can't really blame them. I mean, why do you think the treats all go to work with Ben? We don't want to weigh 800 pounds either.

I usually stick to relatively easy things like cookies, bars, muffins, etc., but this week is special. In honor of my last week of French classes before having the summer off, I decided to make croissants and pains au chocolat for my students. I've wanted to make croissants for a long time due to my love of French pastries, but have you ever looked at a croissant recipe? It is, how you say, intimidating. Hours upon hours of chilling the dough, rolling it out, folding it, repeating the process. Plus, I know how delicious real croissants are and how pathetic the ones you can buy in the grocery store are in comparison. I didn't want to fall short and disappoint myself after a day and a half in the kitchen.

The good news? Actually it's all good news. 1) I made the croissants; 2) They are absolutely completely totally delicious; 3) I used half the dough to make pains au chocolat, which are equally delicious (according to me, Ben just wants the croissants. In fact, he ate two in class last night and was wondering how many he could eat for breakfast today without dropping dead from butter consumption.); and 4) They really weren't very difficult to make.

Sure, they really did take a loooong time. But after reading the recipe and being prepared, I had no kitchen emergencies, no peeking in the oven and gasping, no suspicious poking of what may or may not be a ruined pastry. Nope, just buttery goodness from the oven. If you're interested, I used recipes from epicurious.com for the dough, croissants, and pains au chocolat which you can find here, here, and here.

If you're not feeling that ambitious, you can just look at the pretty pictures and dream that someday I might be in the same city as you and bake them for you.



Bon appétit! And au revoir for the time being; we're heading to Portugal for some sun, good food, and relaxation! Fantastico!