Buttermilk Lemon Bars April 6, 2009

I love summer.  For someone who has been in school for 17 out of 22 years of her life, summer means freedom.  Waking up late, playing outside, swimming.  This year, summer means the chance to read a real book (not a textbook!), no studying for 3 solid months, and finally, finally, a break.

We only have 4 more weeks of school.  I’m finding it very hard to study when it’s sunny outside.  All I want to do is go outside and play.

These lemon bars, to me, are the epitome of summer.  There’s something about lemons that just brings to mind sunshine and warmth.  And since it’s currently April and STILL SNOWING….well, I needed something summery.

I’m not usually a huge fan of lemon bars.  I’ve only had them a few times before, and they’ve always either seemed overwhelmingly sweet or way too tart.  The buttermilk in these bars seems to balance both quite well.  It mellows out the sharp tartness of the lemons and adds a creaminess that balances the sweetness.   They’re still quite tart, but it’s not the kind biting acidity that lemon flavored foods can sometimes have.

I would recommend making sure that the bars are very cold before trying to cut them.  The filling is very smooth and custardy, which makes them pretty messy to cut unless they’ve had time to solidify in the fridge or freezer.  Since lemon is the main (and really only) flavor in this dessert, I strongly recommend using freshly squeezed lemon juice.  I’ve found that bottled lemon juice tends to have much more of that acidic bite, and usually has a very unappetizing aftertaste.  The recipe only calls for 1/2 cup of juice, which is very easy to squeeze by hand, and it really makes all the difference.

Buttermilk Lemon Bars

Adapted from: Baking Bites

Makes: about 16 (2 inch x 2 inch) bars

Crust

1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour

1/3 c. granulated sugar

1/4 tsp. salt

1 tbsp. lemon zest

1/2 c. (1 stick) butter, room temperature

Filling

4 eggs

1 1/3 c. granulated sugar

1/2 c. buttermilk

1/2 c. lemon juice, freshly squeezed (about 4 large lemons)

1 tbsp. lemon zest

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease an 8×8 (0r 9×9) inch square pan.

2) In a medium bowl, combine all the crust ingredients except the butter.  Mix well.

3) Using two knives, a pastry blender or (my favorite) your hands, mix in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.  Press the crust mixture evenly onto the bottom of the greased pan.

4)  Bake for 16-19 minutes until just lightly browned.

5) While the crust is baking, whisk together all of the filling ingredients in another bowl.

6) Pour the filling mixture onto the crust while it is still hot and bake for another 20 minutes.  The filling should not jiggle when gently shaken.

7) Cool completely, then cut into bars.  Dust with powdered sugar to serve.

Spice Awesomeness and a Wedding Cake Update April 3, 2009

So, I probably don’t say it much, but I have a pretty fantastic boyfriend. He’s caring, he’s considerate, he doesn’t like sports (how jealous are you?), and best of all, he’s pretty handy with some wood and a few power tools.

And why is this important, you ask? Because he used his construction skills to build me a spice rack! And not just a small, boring spice rack. A huge, pretty spice rack that was exactly like I wanted. I showed him a picture of what I wanted it to look like and he said “yeah, I can build that.” And he did!

I love it!  I had a small, 15 bottle spice rack before, but it just wasn’t working out.  There were way too many spices that I wanted to have, and I didn’t have any place to put them.  The bottles and baggies of them ended up getting shoved into a small cabinet that had some room in it, but then I ended up having to take everything out each time I needed to find it again, because there was no order to it.

Some of the spices I bought at my local supermarket, but I ordered most of them from the Savory Spice Shop.  They’re a fabulous shop based out of Colorado and they offer a ton of herbs and spices at really reasonable prices — most of which are a lot less expensive than the tiny little jars you find at the grocery store.  They’ve even got some really interesting ones, like honey powder, cheddar cheese powder and black sea salt, all of which I bought.  They also offer a ton of organic products and their own custom spice blends.  I highly recommend checking out their website.  But be warned — you probably won’t be able to resist buying something!

So, needless to say, I’m a very happy girl.  A girl that can’t wait to use all the herbs and spices that are waiting in her pretty little spice rack!

Wedding Cake Project Update:

My wedding cake project is going well.  My cousin and his fiance finally “decided” on flavors, meaning that they said “oh, we think some sort of spice cake would be nice, and do whatever you think would be good for the other two.”  So, after a little bit of thought, here’s what I decided on:

Bottom layer: chocolate cake, filled with chocolate ganache and frosted in chocolate frosting.  It’ll basically be my triple chocolate cupcakes in cake form.

Middle layer: spice cake with penuche filling (kind of a thick, brown sugar caramel frosting) and frosted with cream cheese frosting.

Top layer: vanilla bean cake filled with strawberry filling and frosted with Swiss meringue buttercream.

I made mini test cakes last weekend and then made my friends come over to act as taste-testers.  The spice cake is absolutely FANTASTIC.  Probably the best cake I’ve ever eaten.  And coming from a big chocolate cake fan, that’s saying something!  The chocolate cake was delicious too.  I had a few problems with the vanilla bean and strawberry cake.  The actual vanilla bean cake tasted good, but it was a little on the dry side, and the strawberry filling never set, so once I cut into the cake it came spilling out everywhere.  But I have a few ideas on how to fix it, so it should be fine.

I tried my hand at making marshmallow fondant last weekend, too.  About 5 minutes into making it, I broke my hand mixer.  Apparently the fondant is a little bit too thick and hard to mix for my poor mixer’s little motor.  Luckily it was almost completely mixed, and I was able to finish it by hand.  When I make this at my parent’s house, I’ll have my KitchenAid mixer, so hopefully that won’t be a problem again!  The fondant was pretty impressive…and the best part about it?  It actually tasted good!  I used this recipe, and it was a breeze to make (well, aside from breaking the hand mixer.)  Just make sure to use a stand mixer, or a very sturdy hand mixer!

I unfortunately didn’t take any pictures of the test cakes because I didn’t actually decorate them – I just covered them in fondant.  And to be honest, they didn’t really look all that great without the decorations.  I will definitely be posting pictures of the finished product though.  The wedding is next weekend, so I’ve got lots of work to do!

Triple Chocolate Cupcakes March 23, 2009

So, remember last time when I posted and said that I was trying out delicious but healthy desserts?  These definitely do not fit into that category.  They are amazingly delicious, but definitely not healthy!

I’ve been toying around with the idea of a filled cupcake for a few weeks now, but never got around to making them because I didn’t want to have to eat them all or tote them to class to give away.  Luckily for me, I had a study group at my house last night, and that was the perfect opportunity to try them out and pawn them off on others.

These cupcakes are amazing.  Amazing.  I think the best compliment I got all night was when one of my friends told me he wanted to go home and brush his teeth with my cupcakes.  I’m not sure why he’s brushing his teeth with cupcakes, but whatever…to each their own, right?

I used the recipe for Hershey’s perfectly chocolate cake and frosting for these, and let me tell you — those Hershey’s people sure do know how to make a cake!  The cake was super moist and chocolately, and every single one of the cupcakes rose and formed a perfect domed top.  They were also firm enough so that I could easily cut out the middles (to make room for the filling) without the cake pieces crumbling and falling apart.

I have also found my go-to chocolate frosting from here on out.  I’ve made quite a few chocolate frostings over the years, but this one is hands down the best.  I was a little skeptical at first because it only calls for cocoa powder, and I was concerned that I wasn’t going to get the real punch of chocolate flavor, but I was so wrong!  It was chocolatey, sweet and smooth, and it piped wonderfully, holding it’s shape very well.  I will never use another chocolate frosting recipe.  Ever.

For the filling I made a simple chocolate ganache and filled the cupcakes using the cone method (which I’ll show you how to do below). I really liked having the filling in these cupcakes, because it had a different texture than the cake and the frosting, and brought the chocolate flavor up one more notch.  I have a very high tolerance for chocolate, so if you’re thinking you don’t want such a rich cupcake you can easily leave the filling out and just frost the tops.  But if you’re going for super rich and decadent, definitely go for the filling!

Triple Chocolate Cupcakes

Adapted from: Hershey’s

Makes: about 12 cupcakes

Cake

1 c. granulated sugar

1/2 c. + 6 tbsp. all-purpose flour

6 tbsp. cocoa powder (I used 3 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder and 3 tbsp. dark cocoa powder)

3/4 tsp. baking soda

3/4 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1 egg

1/2 c. heavy cream

1/4 c. vegetable oil

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 c. boiling water

Chocolate Ganache Filling

1 c. semisweet chocolate chips

1/4 c. heavy cream

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Chocolate Frosting

1/2 c. (1 stick or 8 tbsp.) butter, at room temperature

2/3 c. cocoa powder (I used 1/3 c. unsweetened and 1/3 c. dark)

3 c. powdered sugar

1/3 c. heavy cream

1 tsp. vanilla extract

For the cake:

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a 12 cup muffin tin with cupcake liners.  Grease the liners with a small bit of cooking spray (optional, but I find that it helps).

2) In a large bowl, mix together the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt.  Add the egg, cream, oil and vanilla and beat with an electric mixer for 2 minutes.  Beat in the boiling water.  The mixture will be thin.

3) Pour batter into prepared muffin tin.

4) Bake for 20-24 minutes, until a knife inserted into the middle of a cupcake comes out clean.  Remove from pan and cool completely.

5) While the cupcakes are cooling, place the chocolate chips in a small heat-proof bowl.  Heat the 1/4 c. heavy cream in a small saucepan over low heat until it is almost boiling.  Pour the hot cream over the chocolate chips.  Let the mixture sit for about 30 seconds, then stir until the mixture is smooth and silky.  Refrigerate while you make the frosting and core the cupcakes.

6) For the frosting, place the butter in a medium bowl.  Beat until smooth.  Add in the cocoa powder, vanilla, 1 cup of the powdered sugar and a little bit of the cream, beat until smooth, adding more cream if necessary.

7) Beat in the remaining powdered sugar and enough cream to reach the desired consistency.

8) Once the cupcakes have cooled, core them using the cone method (shown below.)

9) Fill the cupcakes with about a teaspoonful of the chocolate ganache, and place the tops back on the cupcakes.

10) Frost with chocolate frosting and garnish as desired (I just sprinkled mine with a little bit of raw sugar).

The Cone Method

1) Using a thin knife, cut a circle in the middle of your cupcake about 1/2 inch in.  Keep the edge of the knife pointing towards the middle of the cupcake as you go around, creating a cone shape from the piece that you’re cutting out.

2) Gently pull out the cone-shaped piece of cake the you just cut.  Set it aside, but do NOT throw it away (or eat it!) — you’ll need part of it later.

3)  Put about 1 tablespoon of the chocolate ganache into the hole of the cupcake, but make sure that the filling doesn’t quite reach the top of the hole.

4) Grab the cone piece that you cut out and carefully tear off most of the cake, keeping the part that was the top of the cupcake intact.  Place that piece back on top, covering up the filling.

Creamy Jell-O March 18, 2009

Today has been a good day.  Not only did I clean my entire house, exercise, and make a delicious dinner, but I also got asked to make a WEDDING CAKE.  My cousin Matt is getting married next month, so my aunt called to see if I would be interested in making the cake.  This is his second marriage and they want the reception to be very laid back, so I’m not too worried about it.  I probably would have said no if they were looking for a flawless, professional-looking cake.  I’m pretty decent at cake decorating, but I’m definitely not up to par with the professionals!  They haven’t decided yet if they want an actual tiered cake, or a bunch of cupcakes.  Either way, I’m super excited!  I’ve been hoping for another opportunity to decorate a cake for a while now.  I will most definitely be sharing the process and the finished product on here as soon as I get more details!

I’ve been trying to try out some healthier desserts lately.  I have a huge sweet tooth, and I’m always trying to find things that are healthier, but still taste great.  This definitely scores in both categories.  And as a plus, it’s very diabetes friendly so I can feed it to my dad the next time I’m home!  He, like me, also has a huge sweet tooth, which is no fun when you watch how much sugar you eat.  This is super easy and quick to make, so it’s perfect if you’re looking for an easy weekday dessert.

I made this with cherry Jell-O because it’s my all-time favorite, but you can use any flavor you want.  The non-fat plain yogurt adds a healthy punch of protein and a creaminess and really nice tang that makes it so much better than regular Jell-O.  I recommend using the thick Greek kind of plain yogurt, if you can find it.  I was so excited to find that my grocery store started carrying the Fage brand, which is absolutely fantastic.

Creamy Jell-O

Makes: about 4 half-cup servings

1 box sugar-free Jell-O (the small, four serving box)

1 c. boiling water

1/2 c. cold water

1 c. plain, non-fat yogurt (the thick Greek kind, if you can find it)

Cool-Whip or whipped cream, for serving

1) Empty the package of Jell-O powder into a large bowl.  Add the boiling water and stir until dissolved.

2) Whisk in the cold water, then the yogurt until smooth.

3) Pour into four ramekins or cups.  Cover and chill until firm, 1-2 hours.

4) Serve with Cool-Whip or whipped cream, if desired.

Panko Crusted Chicken with Sour Cream Chive Sauce March 16, 2009

I can’t believe it’s been almost two weeks since I last posted!  I have a good excuse though — this past week was spring break.  My boyfriend and I went on a road trip to Nashville, Tennessee.  It was a ton of fun!  We stayed at the Opryland Hotel, which if you’ve never heard of it, is this absolutely HUGE hotel that’s made to look like a rainforest.  There are real, living tropical flowers and trees all over, and the entire place is kept at relatively warm and humid to emulate the rainforest.  There were about 7 different restaurants and 3 or 4 bars in the hotel alone, a ton of interesting shops and even a nightclub!

It was a pretty long drive from here to Nashville (about 8 hours), but we managed it quite well!  On the way back we stopped in Kentucky to visit my aunt and uncle, who have a gorgeous house out in the country, complete with two of the most adorable dogs ever.

But now I’m back to the real world of school and studying.  I love traveling, but it is kind of nice to be home.

This is a dish that I adapted from a Cooking Light recipe in their October 2008 issue.  It was originally for pork chops, but I’m not a huge fan of pork…in the chop form, at least.  I’ve tried it both with pork chops and chicken, and I definitely prefer it with chicken.  I thought the combination of seasonings in the flour coating sounded a little strange at first, but it really works.  And the sauce is fantastic.  I could put it on just about everything.  It’s creamy, it’s tangy and it has just the right of onion flavor. I’ve used both chives and green onions in the sauce, and I didn’t really notice any change in taste.

Panko bread crumbs are from Japan and they’re a lot chunkier than regular bread crumbs.  They make a fantastic coating on meat because they’re very crispy.  I usually find panko in the Japanese section of the international aisle of my grocery store, but they might also be near the regular bread crumbs.

Panko Crusted Chicken with Sour Cream Chive Sauce

Adapted from: Cooking Light

Makes: 2 chicken breasts, and about 1/2 c. sauce

1/4 c. flour

1 tsp. chili powder

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

1/2 tsp. onion powder

dash cayenne pepper (to taste)

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

1 egg white

1 tbsp. soy sauce

1 c. panko bread crumbs

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

2-3 tbsp. olive oil

Sauce:

4 tbsp. sour cream

1 tbsp. mayonnaise

2 tsp. red wine vinegar

2-3 tbsp. chives, finely chopped

1-3 tbsp. milk

salt and pepper to taste

1) In a medium sized bowl, combine the flour, chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne, salt and pepper.

2) In another medium sized bowl, beat the egg white and soy sauce.

3) Place the panko in a third medium sized bowl (I used cereal bowls for this, but you can also use plates if that’s what you’ve got laying around)

4) Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a frying pan.

5) Dredge the chicken breasts first in the flour mixture, then the egg white mixture, then cover with panko.  Press the panko into the chicken to make sure it’s nicely coated.

6) Once the oil is hot, add the chicken and cook about 2 minutes on each side, until well browned.  If the chicken is not cooked through, transfer to a greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes, until fully cooked.

7) For the sauce, combine the sour cream, mayonnaise, red wine vinegar and chives.  Add enough milk to reach the desired consistency (I liked mine kind of thick, so I only added 1 tbsp.  If you want it to be more saucy, add more milk.)  Add salt and pepper to taste.

Chocolate Banana Bread March 1, 2009

I am a sucker for a good banana bread.  Take me to a bake sale, and if there’s a loaf sitting there looking moist and pretty, I’ll buy it.  I am also a HUGE chocoholic.  So much so that I have a chocolate stash in the top drawer of my nightstand (but shhhh!  It’s a secret!).  I love putting chocolate chips in my banana bread (if you haven’t ever tried that, give it a shot…it brings banana bread to a whole new level!), so when I saw a recipe on Joy the Baker’s blog for a chocolate banana bread with chocolate chips, I thought to myself, “this is genius!  Why didn’t I think of this before?!”  Luck was on my side, as I had all of the ingredients already in the house, including two very ripe bananas just begging to be used.

(Also, if you have never seen Joy the Baker’s blog, make sure to check it out!  She does amazing things in the kitchen, and her pictures are always gorgeous.)

The bread turned out fantastically, and will definitely be added to my ever-growing list of things to DEFINITELY make again.  I adapted the recipe just a bit — I added a teaspoon of vanilla extract and upped the amount of chocolate chips (I just couldn’t resist!).  As you can see from the picture, it has a very crumbly texture which makes it very difficult to cut nice slices, but the taste is so amazing that I don’t really even care. But even though the texture is crumbly, it still is extremely moist. You get a nice jolt of chocolate, followed by a mellow banana aftertaste.  It’s perfect plain, or if you want to get fancy,  slathered with a bit of salted butter.

Chocolate Banana Bread

Source: Joy the Baker

Makes: 1 loaf

1 stick (8 tbsp.) butter, at room temperature

3/4 c. granulated sugar

1/2 c. brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 very ripe bananas, mashed

2 c. all-purpose flour

1 c. unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. baking soda

3/4 c. buttermilk

1 c. mini chocolate chips

1) In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking soda and baking powder.  Set aside.  (Note: If you’re wondering why my cocoa powder is two different colors, I ran out of regular unsweetened cocoa powder and had to use 1/4 c. dark cocoa powder)

2) Place the butter and sugars in a large bowl.  Using an electric mixer, beat until well-mixed.

3) Add the eggs and vanilla and beat until smooth and fluffy.  Then beat in mashed bananas.

4) Mix in the dry ingredients and the buttermilk.  I did it in 3 installments – about 1/3 of the dry ingredients and 1/3 of the buttermilk each time.

5) Fold in the chocolate chips.

6)  Spread batter into a greased loaf pan.  Because of the long baking time, Joy suggested placing the loaf pan on top of an insulated cookie sheet, or two cookie sheets stacked on top of each other to keep the bottom of the bread from browning too much.  This worked perfectly for me!

7) Bake at 350 degrees for 70-75 minutes or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.  If the top of the bread is getting too browned, place some foil over the top after it’s been in the oven for about 30 minutes, and then remove the foil for the last 10-15 minutes of baking time.

Onion French Bread February 27, 2009

I know I’ve said this before, but I really love making bread.  This semester’s schedule is especially conducive to bread-making, which makes me really happy.  I’m done around noon every day, so I have the rest of the day to do whatever.  Usually that’s mostly studying, but the one nice thing about this bread in particular is that there’s really very little hands-on time.  It takes almost 3 hours total to make, but only about 15-20 minutes of actual work.  During the rest of that time, you can do whatever you want.  I usually end up studying, but there are much better things you could do…I suggest a bath (with a glass of wine, of course!)  or maybe a manicure.

This is just a basic french bread recipe with the addition of a packet of onion soup mix.  This gives it a really nice onion taste — not too strong, but enough that you notice it’s there.  The crust came out really well, too.  I usually have problems with the crust softening once the bread cools, but these loaves stayed soft on the inside and crispy on the outside.

There are a few things that I’ve learned after making (and messing up) quite a few loaves of bread.  First, you should always add less flour than you think you need to begin with.  I used to add way too much flour to the dough right at the beginning, not realizing that more is usually added during the kneading process.  I always try to get a dough that feels silky to the touch and is just slightly tacky (not completely dry on the outside) but won’t leave little bits stuck to your hands.  Secondly, it’s always good to knead more, rather than less.  I read somewhere (and of course when I just went to try to find the article again, it’s nowhere to be found) that nothing bad comes from over-kneading, but under-kneading can lead to a very dense and heavy loaf.

Onion French Bread

Makes: 2 baguettes

5 to 5 1/2 c. all-purpose flour

1 envelope onion soup mix (I used Lipton’s Beefy Onion)

2 pkg. (1/4 oz. each) active dry yeast

3 tbsp. sugar

2 tsp. salt

2 c. warm water

2 tbsp. shortening

1)  Combine 2 cups flour, soup mix, yeast, sugar and salt in a large bowl.

2) Add the warm water and the shortening.  Beat on medium speed for 3 minutes.

3) Add enough remaining flour to form a very soft dough.

4) Turn out onto a floured surface and knead for 4-5 minutes.  Place in a greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap or a damp kitchen towel.

5) Let rise for 1 hour.

6) Place dough back on the floured surface and knead an additional 4-5 times.

7) Divide the dough in half.  Roll each half into a 14×6 inch rectangle.

8) Beginning with one of the longer sides, roll up the dough.  Tuck in each end and pinch all edges to seal.

9) Place each log of dough onto a greased cookie sheet.

10) Cover the cookie sheets with greased plastic wrap and let rise for 30-40 minutes.

11) Make four diagonal cuts across the top of each loaf, abut 1/2 inch deep.

12) Bake loaves at 375 degrees for 30-35 minutes, until outside is nicely browned and hard to the touch.

Mom’s Cheese Ball February 18, 2009

There are very few things that I will eat with reckless abandon.  This is one of them.  I think I could eat this for days on end, and never get tired of it.  It doesn’t matter if I’ve just eaten a full Thanksgiving dinner, I can still find room for this stuff.  I swear, it’s like crack.  Cheesy, garlicky crack.  And better yet, crack that’s not likely to kill you.

I have no idea where this recipe originated, but my mom has been making it for as long as I can remember.  Every holiday and family gathering just isn’t the same without mom’s cheese ball.  I think she started out actually shaping this into a ball, but lately we’ve found that it’s much easier (and just as delicious!) to just spoon it all into a big bowl.  I’ve made this for quite a few friends and parties through the years, and I’ve never found even one person who didn’t like it.  In fact, it usually goes over extremely well, which is both good and bad.  Good because, well, who doesn’t like it when their food is a hit?  And bad because I never have any leftovers for the next day!

This is a really forgiving recipe, and can be altered to suit your personal taste quite easily.  The original recipe calls for Kraft Roka Blue and Old English cheese spreads, but I usually have a hard time finding Roka Blue.  I usually substitute in Pimiento, which I actually like more than Roka Blue anyways, because it gives the dip a little bit of extra spice. I also like my cheese ball heavy on the garlic.  I used about 2 1/2 tsp. of garlic powder in this, which was pretty intense, even for my taste.  I would start with 1/2 tsp. and taste it.  If it doesn’t taste garlicky enough, keep adding more in increments of 1/2 tsp., tasting every time, until it tastes right.

You can find these small jars of Kraft cheeses in most supermarkets in the refrigerated cheese section, usually near the cream cheese.  I’ve also found them in the non-refrigerated section next to the Velveeta.

Mom’s Cheese Ball

2 blocks (8 oz. each) cream cheese

1 jar (5 oz.) Kraft Old English cheese spread

1 jar (5 oz.) Kraft Pimiento cheese spread

1 jar (5 oz.) Kraft Roka Blue cheese spread (optional)

1/2 – 2 tsp. garlic powder (see note above)

assorted crackers (Triscuits, Wheat Thins, Ritz, etc.)

1) In a medium bowl, combine all cheeses.  Beat with an electric mixer until smooth.

2) Add garlic powder in increments of 1/2 tsp. tasting after each addition until the desired taste is attained.

3) Serve with assorted crackers (Triscuits are my favorite to have with this!)

Baklava Bites February 17, 2009

It wasn’t too long ago that I had my first experience with baklava.  My mom’s boss has a big Lebanese family, and one Christmas he sent her home with some of his sister’s home-made baklava.  I only got a small piece of it, as the rest was demolished by the rest of my family, but I was hooked.  I’ve never tried making the real thing myself, but when I saw this less messy and more travel-appropriate version, I just had to try it.  I made these for a new years party, (where I also brought the cheesecake filled chocolate covered strawberries) and they went over quite well with the non-chocolate lovers of the group.  I really love the combination of cinnamon, honey and walnuts in these — it makes the filling chewy, spicy and warm, which is a nice contrast to the crispy puff pastry.

These do take a little bit of time to assemble, but I found that it’s a lot easier when you’ve got everything assembled and ready to go.  I didn’t have to roll out my puff pastry at all, because the sheets were already the size that the recipe called for. The only thing I would do differently is add some kind of glaze.  They looked a little plain on the outside, and I think an extra bit of sugar on the outside would have worked really well.  An easy way to do this would be to combine some powdered sugar, a little bit of vanilla and honey, a dash of vanilla, and enough water or milk to form a very thin glaze to drizzle on top.  Also, unless you’re super confident in your pastry-closing skills, I would recommend lining your cookie sheet with foil or parchment paper.  My pockets tended to leak a bit as the puff pastry expanded, and let me tell you, burnt-on caramel is not an easy thing to get off a cookie sheet!

You can find puff pastry at just about any grocery store.  Look in the frozen section, near the pie crusts and ready-made desserts.

Baklava Bites

Adapted from: Baking Bites

Makes: 20

1 box (16 oz.) puff pastry, at room temperature

1 c. walnuts, finely chopped

1/4 c. granulated sugar

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

pinch of salt

1/4 c. honey

2 tbsp. butter, melted

1) In a small bowl, mix together the walnuts, sugar, cinnamon and salt.

2) Add the honey and melted butter, mixing until well combined.

3) On a lightly floured surface, lay out the puff pastry.  You should have two 8×10 inch sheets.  Gently roll out to reach that size, if needed.

4) Cut each sheet into 2×4 inch strips.  You should get 10 strips from each sheet, for a total of 20.

5) Place 1/2 tbsp. of the filling on one side of each strip, folding over the other side to form a pocket.  Pinch the edges together very tightly.

6) Place pockets on a greased (preferably foil or parchment lined) cookie sheet.

7) Bake at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes, or until puffy and golden brown.

Cheesy Asparagus February 3, 2009

I know what you’re thinking right now: “ew. What is that weird greenish blob?  Is it food?  Is she really posting this on her food blog?”  Well, the answer is yes, and while it may not be the most photogenic thing I’ve ever cooked, it really is quite delicious!

Necessity was definitely the mother of invention today.  I was really hungry, and after being at school all day, I didn’t feel like taking the time to cook something extravagant. I had some asparagus in the fridge that I needed to eat before it went bad.  My rumbling stomach told me that roasting it was out, as was steaming it and trying to throw together a cheese sauce.  Then I remembered this pasta dish that my old roommate and I used to make quite frequently, which combined asparagus with onion and sour cream.  I have an irrational love for sour cream, and will mix it into or dollop it on top of just about anything.  I’ve even put it in ice cream.

I didn’t really feel like pasta today, so I decided to experiment a little and try to take the same flavors from the pasta dish and turn it into a simple side dish.  I’m really proud of this, because I came up with it myself, and it was actually good!  It’s just too bad that it doesn’t photograph well at all.  But trust me, I’m sure you’ll love this lumpy green stuff just about as much as I do, and it is incredibly quick to make.  Even though there’s only a few ingredients in this, it has a really big and bold flavor. The sour cream and sharp cheddar add a nice tang to the smooth sauce that holds it together, and that smoothness is balanced out really well by the crisp asparagus.

Cheesy Asparagus

Source: me!

Makes: a little over 1 cup

1 tbsp. olive oil

1 c. bite-sized asparagus pieces

1/2 c. white onion, chopped small

2-3 tbsp. sour cream

2 tbsp. sharp cheddar cheese, shredded

salt and pepper to taste

1) In a medium skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat.

2) Once hot, add the onion and asparagus and saute for 3-4 minutes, until the onion is translucent and asparagus has reached the desired amount of done-ness (I like mine crisp, but if you like yours softer, cook for 3-4 more minutes)

3) Turn the heat down to low and add the sour cream and cheese, stirring until cheese has melted and everything is completely combined.  Add salt and pepper to taste.