Home Made Raviolis

 

Last weekend I went to my friend Janine's parent's house to help make the yearly batch of home made raviolis for the holidays. Janine explained that every year her grandma and the sisters made raviolis for the holidays. Since her grandma is in her late 80's she didn't feel like making them this year. So, Janine's dad wanted to carry on the tradition and make them. I had such a blast learning how to make these yummy filled pillows of heaven! We made three kinds, acorn squash, spinach with ricotta cheese and a meat version. Being able to make your own pasta a rolling it out on the table in the garage was so much fun. Using a rolling devise with the square cut out's on it made me feel like I was in Italy! The end product turned out so yummy and now I can't imagine eating anything else than freshly made raviolis!

John's Birthday!

 

I can't believe it's already October! Where did time go?? So, because time has been flying past me, I didn't have time to make a elaborate cake for John's birthday. So, I ended up using a recipe that I go to a lot when there is not a lot of time! It was just John and I for his birthday dinner and then home for a little cake celebration. I thought the cake turned out really yummy. I also didn't want it to be too rich so I just poured the chocolate ganache over the top of the cake. The cake recipe is from Alice Medrich's book, "Chocolate Holidays"

I love Alice Medrich not only because I use to go to her chocolate store, Cocolat on Fillmore when I was growing up but because her recipes are easy to follow and ALWAYS taste great!


4-1/2 oz. (1 cup) all-purpose flour
1 oz. (1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons) unsweetened natural cocoa powder (not Dutchprocessed)
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. table salt
4 oz. (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, melted and warm
1-1/4 cups packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup hot water
1 cup warm Ganache

Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and heat the oven to 350 F. Grease the bottom of an 9x2-inch round cake pan or line it with parchment.

In a small bowl, whisk the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Sift only if the cocoa remains lumpy after whisking. In a large bowl, combine the melted butter and brown sugar with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula. Add the eggs and vanilla; stir until well blended. Add the flour mixture all at once and stir just until all the flour is moistened. Pour the hot water over the batter; stir just until it’s incorporated and the batter is smooth. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 30 minutes for a 9-inch pan; 35 to 40 min. for an 8-inch pan. Let cool in the pan on a rack for 10 min. Run a thin knife around the edge and invert the cake (peel off the parchment if necessary). Invert it again onto the rack and let cool completely.

Once cool, set the rack over a baking sheet or foil. Pour the warm ganache over the cake and use an icing spatula to spread it over the top of the cake and down the sides. Let set for about an hour before serving.

Sushi on a budget!

One of my favorite ways to eat tofu is fried,tofu agedashi. It's crispy on the outside and soft in the inside. On Thursday we both really really wanted to go out for sushi but decided it was a bad idea. Instead I used the tofu and all the veggies in the fridge to make a little stir fry. I also thought it would be much more economical to buy sushi at the market. We easily saved ourselves $75! I am so proud of us, for not eating out!

Baby Shower

One of my very very good friends is having a baby boy in about 3 weeks! About two weeks ago her mom threw a baby shower for her. It was so much fun. I was asked to make all the desserts and was so honored that her mother would trust me with this task! Mary, the mother to be's mom wanted to do a french theme. I made Gâteau aux carrottes (french style carrot cake), rose water Madeleines, Korova Cookies, and mini lemon tarts! I think everything turned out so yummy!
The shower was on Saturday afternoon so I knew I had to get busy prepping on Friday. Actually, I ended up making the dough for the Korova cookies on Thursday night and then baking Friday night. Friday night was a busy one! I started at 5pm and finally went to bed at 12:30, and I was still not done. I woke up Saturday morning at 6 and made the mini tarts and carrot cake and I had 45 minutes to spare to wash all the flour and sugar out of my hair! I got so many compliments on how good everything tasted, the one thing I forgot to do is bring business cards to promote my business!
My friend, Lauren really enjoyed herself and is totally glowing and looks fantastic, I am so excited to meet her little boy. He is going to have so many people to love him.
I went to David Lebowitz's website and used a recipe for his carrot cake. Which he found in Lulu’s Provençal Table* by Richard Olney, foreword by Alice Waters.) I changed a few things to the original.

For the madeleines I used a recipe from Martha Stewart in her wedding section of her website. I ended up just added some rose water on top of the madeleines so it was not too sweet. The Kovora cookies were from Smitten Kitchen
And finally the mini lemon tarts with lemon curd were from many sources! The dough is a combination of several recipes that makes my own and the lemon curd is from my mom. I have no idea where she got the recipe!

Here is the recipe for the Carrot Cake:

8 tablespoons butter, salted or unsalted, at room temperature
1 1/4 cups sugar
pinch of salt
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 3/4 cups toasted walnuts
2/3 cup flour
1/4 cup, packed,finely grated carrot

1. Preheat the oven to 325F . Butter a 8x8 baking pan and line with a square of parchment paper.

2. Beat the butter, sugar and salt until smooth.

3. Meanwhile, pulverize the nuts and flour in a food processor or blender until relatively fine, but not powdery. If you don’t have a machine, simply chop the nuts by hand and toss them with the flour.

3. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Afterwards, stir in the ground nut mixture and the carrots, mixing just until smooth.

4. Bake for 30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Cool, and cut in pieces to eat!

This recipe was so easy and turned out moist and perfect. Just sprinkle a little powered sugar on for presentation.

Really Good Blueberry Muffins!

On Wednesday, my work, American Land Conservancy had a staff meeting. Instead of buying store bought muffins I wanted to bring some freshly baked ones in. I pretty much use Smitten Kitchen as a place to find really yummy recipes. The recipe I found on her website looked and sounded pretty easy. So, I decided to use this one. I remember using creme friesh in a lemon cake instead of using sour cream and it tasted so good. The blueberry muffin recipe called for plain yogurt. Since I doubled this recipe I used half plain yogurt and half creme fraiche. I also lowered the sugar to 3/4 cup instead of 1 cup. I love a little crunch to my muffins so I added a topping of brown sugar and walnuts mixed with the juice of the blueberries. I think I made a winner!
I also made the batter the night before and in the morning added the blueberries so they would be extra fresh and warm when we ate them!

Perfect Blueberry Muffins
Adapted from Cook’s Illustrated(Find the original recipe at Smitten Kitchen)



Makes 16 to 18 standard muffins

10 tablespoons unsalted butter , softened
3/4 cup sugar
2 large egg
3/4 cup sour cream or plain yogurt
3/4 cup of creme freshie
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
3 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen (if frozen, don’t bother defrosting)

Preheat oven to 375°F. Line a muffin tin with 10 paper liners or spray each cup with a nonstick spray. Beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add egg and beat well, then yogurt and zest. Put flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a sifter and sift half of dry ingredients over batter. Mix until combined. Sift remaining dry ingredients into batter and mix just until the flour disappears. Gently fold in your blueberries. The dough will be quite thick (and even thicker, if you used a full-fat Greek-style yogurt), closer to a cookie dough, which is why an ice cream scoop is a great tool to fill your muffin cups. You’re looking for them to be about 3/4 full, nothing more, so you might only need 9 instead of 10 cups. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until tops are golden and a tester inserted into the center of muffins comes out clean (you know, except for blueberry goo). Let cool on rack (ha), or you know, serve with a generous pat of butter.

It's been a while!

So, its been a while since the last time I have posted. There are a few reasons, one I am not baking just to bake. I have found that in the last year I have gained a few extra pounds due to eating yummy desserts. So, I have decided to only bake for reasons when it is necessary! Not just because I was craving a slice of chocolate cake. So, a few weeks ago, I wanted to bring in a treat for my staff meeting. I made Peanut Butter Rice Crispy Treats, from Baked! These things are dangerously good, an adult rice crispy treat! This was extremely easy to make, it just took a little time. Waiting for each layer to dry was so hard but, all I wanted to do was pour the chocolate in my mouth and drink like a smoothie!

Recipe:
(adapted from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking)

crust
2 cups rice crispy cereal
1/4 cup sugar
2 tbsp light corn syrup
3 tbsp butter, melted

peanut butter layer
5 ounces milk chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 cup creamy peanut butter

chocolate topping
3 ounces dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
1/2 tsp light corn syrup
4 tbsp unsalted butter

To make the crust:
Spray an 8″ square pan with nonstick spray.
Put the cereal in a large bowl and set aside.
Carefully mix the sugar, corn syrup, and water in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over medium high. Insert a candy thermometer and boil until the mixture is 235 F. Remove from heat, stir in the melted butter, then pour over the cereal and mix quickly and thoroughly. Press into the prepared pan and let cool while you make the peanut butter layer.

To make the peanut butter layer:
Melt the milk chocolate and peanut butter together in the top of a double boiler over gently simmering water. Stir until smooth, then pour over the crust and chill for an hour or until set.

To make the chocolate topping:
Clean out the double boiler, then put the dark chocolate, corn syrup, and butter in it and put it over medium-low heat. Stir until smooth, then remove from the heat, cool for about 30 seconds (stirring constantly), then pour all over the peanut butter layer. Chill for another hour so the topping can harden, then cut the bars into small squares to serve.

ENJOY!!!

Chocolate Puddle Cookies

 

My mom went to visit my sister and my nieces last week. Since she lives about 15 minutes away from me she always will bring me home a little treat! Usually something with chocolate! This time she brought me a flour less chocolate walnut cookie from Nuvrei Bakery. This cookie had the perfect mix of sweet and salt! Yum! So, of course I tried to replicate it, I got really close. I found this recipe on 101 Cookbooks. Something happened to my cookies and they did not turn out flat looking and a little thin. The cookie from Nuvrei was chewy on the inside and shinny on the outside. I will have to try again! They still turned out really good!
Here is the recipe I used:

3 cups / 11 oz / 310 g walnut halves, toasted & cooled
4 cups / 1 lb / 453 g confectioner's (powdered) sugar

1/2 cup plus 3 tablespoons / 2 oz / 60 g unsweetened cocoa powder

scant 1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
4 large egg whites, room temperature
1 tablespoon real, good-quality vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 320F / 160C degrees and position racks in the top and bottom third. Line three (preferably rimmed) baking sheets with parchment paper. Or you can bake in batches with fewer pans.

Make sure your walnuts have cooled a bit, then chop coarsely and set aside. Sift together the confectioner's sugar, cocoa powder, and sea salt. Stir in the walnuts, then add the egg whites and vanilla. Stir until well combined.

Spoon the batter onto the prepared sheets in mounds of about 2 tablespoons each, allowing for PLENTY of room between cookies. These cookies are like reverse Shrinky Dinks - they really expand. Don't try to get more than 6 cookies on each sheet, and try to avoid placing the batter too close to the edge of the pan.

Bake until they puff up. The tops should get glossy, and then crack a bit - about 12 -15 minutes. Have faith, they look sad at first, then really blossom. You may want to rotate the pans top/bottom/back/front.

Slide the cookies still on parchment onto a cooling rack, and let them cool completely. They will keep in an airtight for a couple days.

Makes 18 large cookies.

If you notice the pattern that my cookies are sitting on and like check out the following blog: http://lovelydesign.blogspot.com/ Sharilyn has the cutest designs!