hurricane muffins

I bought some water. I filled up the bathtub. I made sure the flashlights had batteries. And I baked some muffins.

I figured that Hurricane Irene would, at the least, bring some power outages or knock out cable and internet. To my surprise, none of that happened. I didn't imagine any dire circumstances, but I did imagine that we could be caught in a situation where we were stuck at home for a couple days with nothing to do but watch the cats sleep. So, foremost in my mind was making sure that we had plenty of junk food to tide us over.

It does seem that the prevailing food theme of Hurricane Weekend was comfort food. As the rain started rolling in and we were hit with a massive craving for Doritos, J-Cat volunteered to head out in the rain to get a bag, but did not anticipate that he would have to hit 4 different bodegas to find them, and then only in snack size bags. Whoever wanted Doritos next would find none within a 5 block radius of our place. (And I actually have confirmation that a friend in the neighborhood was forced to settle for Bravos, the horror! Sorry, Tom.)

Having secured our crunchy snacks, we were now fully equipped for the weekend - a massive pot of pasta and bolognese, a rice cooker full of rice, a bunch of hard boiled eggs, and these Chocolate Chip Muffins. Recipe after the jump:



CHOCOLATE CHIP MUFFINS

1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 large eggs
1 cup half and half (or whole milk)
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cups granulated white sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a standard 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners, or grease the cups.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, half and half, and vanilla extract. In a another large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients, then stir in the chocolate chips. Fold the wet ingredients and the butter into the dry ingredients, mixing just enough to combine. Do not overmix or you will have tough muffins.

Use an ice cream scoop to fill the muffins cups evenly. Bake in the preheated oven for 18-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Remove the pan to a wire rack to cool for 5 minutes, then remove the muffins from the tin and allow to cool further on the rack.

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variations on a theme: apricot and almond crostata

It takes about an hour to bake a full-on pie, and with the summer we've been battling in the northeast, keeping the oven on for an hour is not advisable. But I really can't go very long without pie. Especially when it's high season for so many delectable fruits. The answer? A crostata. A rustic, free-form tart that bakes in half the time and totally satisfies the pie craving. A simple pate brisee crust, fresh fruit, a touch of sugar, and whatever complementary flavor you're in the mood for.



This time, the apricots at the farmer's market were both adorable and ripe, and I had a bag of sliced almonds that I wanted to use. I always end up pairing fruit with nuts nowadays, because I pretty much want some kind of crunch in everything I eat. Or, as Beth might tell you, because I love nuts. Recipe after the jump:

APRICOT AND ALMOND CROSTATA

For the pate brisee:
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) (unsalted butter, chilled, and cut into 1 inch pieces
3-5 tablespoons ice water

For the filling
1 1/4 pounds fresh apricots
1/3 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon almond extract
pinch salt

Make the crust: Combine the flour, salt, and sugar in a food processor and pulse a few times to mix well. Add the cold cubed butter and pulse until mixture resembles a coarse meal. Add the ice water one tablespoon at a time, pulsing between spoons, only using as much as it takes to get the dough to come together. Turn the dough out onto plastic wrap, flatten into a disk, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. When it is fully chilled, preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

Make the filling: Split the apricots along the seam and remove the pits. Slice each half into 2 or 4 pieces, depending on how large your apricots are. Combine in a bowl the the sugar, salt, and almond extract and toss to coat. Set aside while you roll out your dough.

Roll your dough into a 13-inch circle and transfer onto a sheet pan. Place the apricot slices in a decorative circular pattern from the center radiating to the edges, leaving at least 1 inch of uncovered crust. Sprinkle with the almond slices. Fold the edges of the crust over the fruit. Bake in the preheated oven for 35-40 minutes until the crust is golden brown and the fruit juices are bubbling. Serve warm with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

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not that i don't love pie: strawberry rhubarb cobbler

Sometimes I just don't have the time to make a pie crust. I'm a busy lady, and sometimes the craving for strawberry-rhubarb something or other hits at 6PM. I think that's why cobblers and crisps were invented.



I also like any excuse to eat a biscuit. This cobbler really does look like cobblestones, just like the cobblestones paving the streets of Rome. Where we'll be (finally) honeymooning this September! Woohoo!



Oh, and sorry this is essentially out of season already. To tell you the truth, I baked this back in May and uh...I've been busy. Recipe after the jump:

STRAWBERRY RHUBARB COBBLER

Fruit layer
4 1/2 cups rhubarb stalks trimmed of stringy layer and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 1/2 cups strawberries, stemmed and sliced
1/2 cup white sugar
2 Tablespoons of quick cooking tapioca
1 teaspoon of grated orange peel

Cobbler crust
2 Tbsp white sugar
1 cup all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
1/4 cup milk
1 egg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, mix together all of the fruit filling ingredients and let sit while you prepare the cobbler batter.

In another bowl, combine the sugar, flour, baking powder and salt. Cut the butter in with a fork or pastry cutter. Whisk together the milk and egg and slowly add to the batter, mixing just until moistened.

Pour the fruit mixture into a 2-quart casserole dish. Use a large spoon to drop the cobbler batter on top, you can make 4 large cobbles or 6 smaller cobbles, depending on the shape of your dish. Bake in the preheated oven for 35 minute or until the cobbles are golden brown and the fruit is bubbly.

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purim for the aged

I only made one kind of hamantaschen this year - prune. It's not because prune is my favorite filling, although I do really love it. The sad truth is that I thought it might be a wise choice to counteract the "bagel jam", as J-Cat calls it. Bagel Jam is the digestive situation that arises when you buy a dozen bagels and only two people live in your house, so rather than actually cooking a meal you just keep eating bagels all weekend. I don't think I need to elaborate.



I'm happy to report that it seems my prune theory may have legs. I made the hamantaschen on Sunday evening - after about 18 hours of bagels - and by Monday morning I no longer felt like I was going to splode. You know you have entered middle age when you start planning your desserts around your digestive system. All foods must serve a double duty. It's a sad state of affairs. Recipe after the jump:

PRUNE (LEKVAR) HAMANTASCHEN

For the dough:
(From the recipe by Shmil Holland, NY Times, March 15, 2011)
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
2 large egg yolks
8 ounces unsalted butter at room temperature, in small pieces
Grated zest of 1 lemon
2 1/4 cups all-purpose unbleached flour
Dash of salt
1 large egg, beaten, for the glaze

Put the confectioners’ sugar and the egg yolks in a food processor and blend. Add butter and lemon zest and process to blend. Gradually add the flour and the salt, pulsing until it forms a ball. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour, or overnight. Meanwhile, prepare the filling.

For the prune filling:
(From no particular recipe)
2 cups pitted prunes
1/2 cup orange juice
juice and zest of 1 lemon
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves

Combine all filling ingredients in a small pot over medium heat. Bring to a low boil then lower heat to a simmer. Cover and allow to simmer until the prunes are very soft, about 30 minutes. Remove it from the heat and allow to cool to room temperature. Use an immersion blender or food processor to blend the ingredients into a smooth paste.

Assemble the cookies:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two cookie sheets with parchment. Roll out the dough to 1/4-inch thickness and use a biscuit cutter or glass to cut 3-inch circles. Put a heaping teaspoon of the filling in the center of each, and press up the sides to form triangles. Brush the tops with beaten egg.

Bake until golden and dough is delicately firm all the way through, about 15 minutes. If trays are on different racks, switch them after about 10 minutes.

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keeeesh

Where have I been?! It's been a crazy month. Exciting and stressful and rather tiring. And I haven't been doing much cooking. But it was definitely time to get back in the kitchen, and what better way than cooking some Sunday brunch for mom and brother #2 and sissy and my new baby niece who can't actually eat food yet but should be very familiar with the smells of sauteed leeks by the time she can.

Brunch is a meal that I admit I have not made much of in my life. This is because I am not generally the type of person who wants to wake up in the morning and...do anything. Especially on the weekend. From Monday through Friday my alarm goes off and I roll over and hit snooze and groan and snuggle my Opaw closer and scratch behind her ears while she purrs. I curse the moment the alarm goes off again and I actually have to get up. And I promise my kitty that come Saturday I will stay in bed and scratch her ears for much much longer.

But this morning I had thoughts of leeks and goat cheese in a rich, smooth quiche. And despite the fact that we lost an hour on this damned Sunday morning, I dragged my ass up and made some pie crust, and got everything else prepped while it chilled. It was extremely worth it. WORTH IT. Best. Quiche. Ever. Recipe after the jump:



LEEK & GOAT CHEESE QUICHE

2 medium leeks, white part only, washed thoroughly and thinly sliced
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
1 1/2 cups half & half
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 pinch freshly grated nutmeg
4 ounces goat cheese, crumbled
2 tablespoons chives, snipped
1 par-baked pie crust (recipe follows)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a medium saute pan, melt butter and saute leeks over medium heat until softened, about 10 minutes. While the leeks are cooking, combine the remaining filling ingredients, minus the goat cheese. When the pie crust is par-baked until light golden brown, remove from the oven and spread the leeks in the bottom of the crust. Crumble the goat cheese over the leeks. Sprinkle the chives over the cheese. Place the crust on the center rack of the heated oven. Carefully pour the egg mixture into the shell. Bake the quiche for 30-35 minutes until the top is light brown and a knife inserted one inch from the edge comes out clean. The center should be just set but still slightly jiggly.

PERFECT PIE CRUST
Makes crust for 9-inch single crust pie.

1 1/4 all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small dice
4 tablespoons cold leaf lard, cut into small pieces
2-5 tablespoons ice water

In a food processor, briefly pulse together the flour and salt. Add butter and pulse until mixture forms chickpea-size pieces (3 to 5 one-second pulses). Add ice water 1 tablespoon at a time, and pulse until mixture is just moist enough to hold together.

Form dough into a ball, wrap with plastic and flatten into a disk. Refrigerate at least 1 hour before rolling out and baking.

To par-bake, lightly spray one side of foil with cooking spray and line the crust with the foil. Fill with pie weights, dry beans or rice to weigh it down. Bake in a 375 degree oven for 10 minutes until lightly brown on the edges.

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it's bananas. b.a.n.a.n.a.s

The last few times we've bought bananas they have ripened so quickly we couldn't keep up with them. At one point we actually talked about buying one of those super dorky banana hangers. I don't know if I could do it, it seems so lame.

Worse things can happen than ending up with a bunch of overripe bananas and being forced to throw together an impromptu banana nut bread. With this bread, which I baked late last night after a day of more meals than were truly necessary, I felt the need to be a little healthier. I decided to try out that applesauce trick to cut down on the butter in the recipe. After all, I have a ton of homemade applesauce that I keep making whenever we have a big snowstorm and I'm bored at home, which lately has been every 4 days or something. I also used only egg whites, and a mixture of whole wheat and white flours. Now I've never done this "low-fat" baking thing and I was expecting a result like those weird chewy almost plastic feeling fat free bran muffins I've had in the past, but to my surprise, I couldn't tell at all. AT ALL! It tasted exactly the same as any other banana bread I've ever made. Of course, I did still use some butter, I'm not insane, so this is by no means fat free (there's also those walnuts), but I figure a couple of small concessions is good in the long run and even better is not even noticing those concessions at all. Recipe after the jump:



LOWISH-FAT BANANA NUT BREAD

6 ripe medium bananas, mashed
1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup unbleached all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
4 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup raw cane sugar, or light brown sugar
4 large egg whites
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup chopped walnuts
baking spray

Preheat oven to 325°. Grease 9x5 inch loaf pans with baking spray.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl cream butter and sugar with an electric mixer. Add egg whites, bananas, apple sauce and vanilla, and beat at medium speed until thick. Scrape down sides of the bowl.

Add flour mixture and then blend at low speed until combined. Do not over mix. Gently fold in the chopped walnuts.

Pour batter into loaf pan and bake on the center rack for 60-70 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Let bread cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then invert and remove bread to finish cooling on a wire rack. Allow the bread to cool at least 20 minutes before slicing.

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this one's for beth: nut balls

Buttery, nutty, shaped like a ball. A little snowball, appropriate for the blizzard apocalypse we are still trying to dig ourselves out of here in NYC. It's one of the most basic, classic holiday cookies and one of my all time favorites. It also comes together really quickly, and with ingredients that most of us always have in our pantry.

Be careful not to overbake these so they don't dry out. They are fragile while hot and may seem overly crumbly, but given some time to chill out, they almost melt back into a comfortable little morsel of butter and nuts and that faint dusting of powdered sugar. Don't inhale when you take a bite. Don't wear black. Recipe after the jump:



OLD-FASHIONED WALNUT BALLS

1 cup butter
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour, sifted
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups finely chopped walnuts
powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cream butter, sugar, and vanilla until fluffy. Sift flour and salt together, and mix into creamed mixture. Stir in walnuts. Shape dough into smalls balls, about the size of a walnut (maybe 1 to 1 1/2 inches in diameter. I used a small scoop). If you have the time, you can freeze the balls for 20 minutes or so, this helps them hold their ball shape a little better when baked. Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet at 375 degrees for 11-13 minutes. Let rest on cookie sheet for 5 minutes, then use a spatula to transfer to a wire cooling rack. When still warm but cool enough to handle, roll in powdered sugar.
Makes about 4 dozen.

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presenting perfect pear pie

When you've made a few too many apple pies and need a change - but not a huge one - make a pear pie instead. Maybe don't even mention that this is a pear pie when you serve it and see the thoughtful and slightly confused looks on people's faces when they taste it.



Use fairly firm anjou pears for a stunning texture and sweet, mild flavor. Grate a pile of fresh nutmeg. Make a thick, rustic pie crust, preferably with lard and butter. Serve warm or cold, with ice cream or whipped cream, or with nothing because it's that tasty. And that's it. Pears and nutmeg, whoulda thunk? Recipe after the jump:



ANJOU PEAR AND NUTMEG PIE

2 1/2 lb firm-ripe Anjou pears, peeled, cored and sliced into 1/4-inch slices
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 recipe pie crust for a double crust 9" pie
1 egg

Prepare the dough for the crust and set to rest in the refrigerator for at least one hour. In the meantime, prepare the pears and toss in a large bowl with the flour, nutmeg, salt, lemon juice, and 2/3 cup sugar. Set aside to prep you crusts.

Preheat oven to 425F. Roll out the bottom crust and line a 9" deep-dish pie plate, trimming the overhang to about 1/2 inch. Fill the crust with the pear mixture. Top with the second crust, trim, and crimp the edges. Cut a cross in the middle of the top crust and fold back the corners to expose a square. Brush the crust (but not the edges) with a beaten egg, then sprinkle the remaining tablespoon sugar over top.

Bake pie on a baking sheet at 425F for20 minutes, then lower the temperature to 375 and bake for an additional 45-55 minutes, until filling is bubbling and crust is golden brown. Cool the pie on a rack for at least 2 hours before serving.

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life events and lemon loaf

Straddling the line between savory and sweet, it's where I often love to be. It's a bit cake, a bit bread, bright lemon, woodsy rosemary, fruity olive oil, a touch of salt. It's unexpected.

Foods that surprise me are often the ones I find most memorable. Unusual flavor combinations, strange ingredients, or foods that don't sound like they would work, but they just do. Lemon, rosemary, and olive oil is not a particularly unusual combination, but perhaps in the context of a cake it's a little surprising.



It's corny to say, but surprising combinations are a lot like J-Cat and me. Who woulda thunk, 13 years after first meeting, after all that time that I thought we were a combination that didn't work, we did. So we did a little surprising of our own a couple of weeks ago when we went here:



The rest is history, and the recipe is after the jump:

LEMON ROSEMARY OLIVE OIL LOAF

4 eggs
3/4 cup granulated sugar
zest and juice of 1 lemon
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 sprigs rosemary leaves, finely chopped

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a loaf pan or line with parchment paper. Using a hand mixer, beat eggs in a large bowl until frothy, about 1 minute. Add the sugar and beat another couple of minutes until thick and pale. Add the lemon juice, zest, and olive oil and mix until well incorporated.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and chopped rosemary. Add the dry ingredients into the wet, stirring with a wooden spoon just until incorporated. Pour into prepared loaf ban. Bake in center of oven for 35-40 minutes until golden brown.

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butterscotch

Butterscotch. It sounds strange to say, but I didn't really like butterscotch until recently. It should be the other way around, but as a kid I just thought butterscotch was sweet and not much else. I imagine that might be due to many really bad butterscotch candies or instant butterscotch puddings. It's not until I started actively working with candy and sugar that I started to understand what real butterscotch was about. It's about butter. The amazingness of butter. THAT is something to appreciate.

When butterscotch is made properly - no corn syrup, no weird additives, no hydrogenated fats - it tastes so deeply of browned butter and molasses-y brown sugar, how could that be a bad thing? Though true butterscotch is a candy confection, the classic butterscotch flavor is used in a ton of alternative ways - in puddings, sauces for ice cream, cakes, and cookies. And here are some butterscotch cookies.

A touch of crisp on the outside, dense and slightly chewy on the inside, a sprinkling of flaky sea salt brings out the deep nutty flavor and balances the richness. Recipe after the jump:



SALTY BUTTERSCOTCH BUTTONS
Adapted from Simply Recipes

12 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon sized slices
1 3/4 cups dark brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 cup granulated sugar, for dredging
Fleur de sel, Maldon, sea salt, or Kosher salt for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 375°F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Whisk or sift together the flour, baking soda, and baking powder and set aside. Place the sugar for dredging in another bowl and set aside.

Place 10 tablespoons of butter into a thick-bottomed skillet over medium heat. The butter will foam a bit before subsiding. Once the butter takes on a tan color and begins to smell nutty take it off of the heat. Add the other two tablespoons of butter and mix it in until it melts.

Pour the brown butter into a mixing bowl fitted with a paddle attachment. Add the brown sugar and salt and mix well. Add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract and mix together, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl at least once. Add the flour mixture in three increments being sure to scrape down the sides and bottom once or twice. Mix just until the flour is incorporated. The dough will be very thick.

Take 1/2 tablespoon sized pieces of dough (I used a 1-inch diameter scoop to insure that all cookies were about the same size) and gently roll them into ball shapes. Dredge them in the sugar until well-coated. Place on the baking sheet and sprinkle with a little bit of the sprinkling salt.

Bake for 10-11 minutes or until the edges have browned a bit. Be careful not to over-bake. Allow to cool on the sheet for one minute before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Makes 4 dozen.

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break the butter rules

If you ask me to describe myself in a nutshell, I will answer with one simple fact: I put salt in all my sweets. I think this is actually a profound statement that speaks to just about all aspects of my personality. And I don't mean that little pinch of salt that every baking recipe calls for, claiming it enhances the sweetness of the sweet. If it calls for a pinch, I throw in two or three, and I'll still top that cookie with some flaky sea salt for good measure. So it only makes sense that I would be inextricably drawn to a recipe for cookies that actually calls for salted butter. And not just run-of-the-mill salted butter, but beautiful French butter with fleur de sel. I used a brand called Pamplie, an old brand made in a region of France called Deux-Sevres, which is apparently known for its fine dairy products.

I took the recipe one step further by sprinkling some more flaky sea salt atop the cookie. I imagine that might push it over the salty edge for some people, but for me it was perfection. It's all about balance - sweet needs salty, chewy needs crunchy. I try to live by the wisdom of the salted butter chocolate chip cookie. Recipe after the jump:



SALTED BUTTER CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
Adapted from the recipe by David Lebovitz

4 ounces salted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup packed dark or light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/3 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon flaky sea salt or kosher salt
1 cup coarsely chopped bittersweet chocolate
1 cup toasted walnuts, coarsely chopped
flaky sea salt for sprinkling

In a large bowl, use a hand mixer to beat the butter with the sugars until smooth and creamy. Beat in the egg and the vanilla.

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt.

Add the flour mixture into the beaten butter until well combined, then mix in the chopped chocolate (including any chocolate dust) and the chopped nuts.

Cover the dough and refrigerate for at least 12 hours, preferably 24.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with Silpat or parchment paper. Use a small ice cream scoop to make rounds about 1.5 inches in diameter. Place the mounds evenly spaced apart on the baking sheets, and press down the tops to flatten them so they are no longer domed and the dough is even. Sprinkle each cookie lightly with flaky sea salt.

Bake the cookies for ten minutes, rotating the baking sheets midway during baking, until the cookies look about set, but are not browned.

Remove from the oven and quickly tap the top of each with a spatula, then return to the oven for two more minutes, until the tops of the cookies are light golden brown.

Remove from oven and let cool on a rack.

Storage: The cookies can be stored at room temperature for up to five days in an airtight container. The dough can be refrigerated for up to one week or frozen for one or two months.

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in season: cardamom apricot pistachio crostata

My favorite scents are all foods. I like to wear lemon verbena. The hand soaps in my bathrooms are ginger and lemon, or coconut and honey. My deodorant smells like lemongrass. My body lotion actually has real vanilla beans in it. I even caught myself sniffing a delicious anti-bacterial wipe with lemongrass and thyme scent. Deliciously clean. Now I want a perfume scented with warm cardamom and ripe apricots.

This rustic tart was one of those great recipes that built in my head throughout the day. First I got the gorgeous apricots and sniffed and sniffed them. Then I decided I wanted some crunch and thought that the subtle sweetness of pistachios would be the perfect thing to offset the tartness of the fruit. Then, for some reason, pistachios make me thing of cardamom. It just seemed to make perfect sense.

The tart is true simplicity. A classic pate brisee crust made free-form over the fresh fruit, just tossed in sugar and spice and sprinkled liberally with chopped nuts. I did think after I already baked it that I should have used honey instead of sugar for another layer of flavor, but the good thing about cooking revelations that come a little too late is always having an excuse to make it again. Recipe after the jump:



APRICOT PISTACHIO CROSTATA

For the pate brisee:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into small dice
3-5 tablespoons ice cold water

For the filling:
1 1/2 pounds ripe apricots (About a dozen small)
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
1/8 tsp kosher salt

For the topping: 1/3 cup chopped unsalted pistachios

To make the crust: Combine the flour, sugar, and salt the bowl of a food processor and pulse a couple times to mix and aerate. Add the cubed butter and pulse until the mixture resembles a coarse meal. Slowly add the ice water a tablespoon at a time through the feed tube as the processor runs. Add just enough water for the dough to start to come together. Turn the dough out onto the counter, shape into a disk, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

To make the filling: Slice the apricots along the seam and remove the pit. Cut each half into 2 or 3 wedges, depending on the size of the apricot. Toss the wedges with the sugar, cardamom and salt until well coated. Let sit for a few minutes while you roll out your crust.

Roll your crust into a 13-inch circle. Arrange the apricot wedges in a decorative pattern from the inside out, leaving a 2-inch border of crust all around. Pour over any syrup that may have collected at the bottom of the bowl of fruit. Fold the overhang of the crust over the fruit all around the tart. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes, then scatter the chopped pistachios evenly over the fruit, return to the oven and bake an additional 5-10 minutes until the crust is golden brown and the fruit is bubbly. Serve warm with a dollop of lightly sweetened whipped cream.

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greek diner dinner

I remember once that a friend was visiting from a faraway state and was unfamiliar with the NY-style diner. It's really 24 hours? This huge thing is the menu? You can really get ANY of this stuff at ANY time? What's with all the Greek food? I don't know diners any other way. Everywhere else I've been in the states, a "diner" is not remotely a diner. I think the word "diner" in most of the country suggests simple comfort grub, like burgers and fries and eggs and pancakes. To me, the quintessential diner dinner is spinach pie with a Greek salad.

Spanakopita is probably more commonly known as an hors d'oeuvres at weddings, wrapped as little crispy triangles. Diner style spanakopita is pie-style, a huge square cut from a huge tray. It is certainly easier to make that way, though perhaps not easier to eat. And it's a very simple dish, just a little time-consuming and perhaps a little frustrating, depending on how you feel about phyllo. Phyllo is a pain in the ass, but at least for this dish you're putting on so many layers that no one will care if there's a tear or two. Serve this with a big salad piled with crumbled feta, kalamata olives, grape tomatoes, chopped cucumber, and thinly sliced red onion for the complete diner experience. Recipe after the jump:



SPANAKOPITA (SPINACH PIE)

2 lbs fresh spinach, washed well and spun dry
3 tbsps extra virgin olive oil
1 medium yellow onion
1/4 cup fresh dill
juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 lb greek feta
1 egg, beaten
1 lb phyllo leaves
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
salt and pepper to taste

In a large pot, heat 2 tbsps olive oil. Add the spinach and saute until wilted. You may need to do this in 2 batches. Remove the spinach to a large bowl and allow to cool. Add the remaining oil to the same pot and saute the onions until translucent. Set aside to cool. When the spinach is cool enough to handle, squeeze out the excess liquid, then chop well. Add the onions, dill, and lemon juice and season with salt and pepper to taste. Crumble the feta into the spinach mixture, then add the beaten egg and stir well to combine.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Melt the butter in a small pan. Using a pastry brush, butter the sides and bottom of a 9/13 baking pan. Place 10 layers of phyllo dough in the bottom of the dish, buttering each layer (you may need to cut down the sheets to the correct size of the dish, but it is not a big deal if it is slightly large and the sides go up the sides of the pan slightly). Be sure to keep the phyllo damp by covering the unused sheets with a damp towel until you use them. After 10 layers of phyllo, spoon the spinach mixture evenly over the pie. Top with another 10 layers of phyllo, again buttering every layer. Bake in the preheated oven for 40 to 45 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and crispy. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before slicing into large squares.

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in season: blueberry buttermilk scones

It's summer now, and summer is blueberry season. There's not much more that I can say than that I am obsessed with blueberries and eat them everyday when they're good. I eat them straight, I bake them into everything, I even toss them on salads. This is just a humble blueberry buttermilk scone. It doesn't get much better than this. And these are good for you. In the sense that they aren't BAD for you. Antioxidants and fiber and all that good stuff. Mostly, they're just good. Recipe after the jump:



BLUEBERRY BUTTERMILK SCONES

1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 1/2 tablespoon granulated sugar
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
4 ounces (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, diced
1 heaping cup fresh blueberries
zest of one small lemon
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 large egg, plus 1 large egg lightly beaten for egg wash
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
coarse sugar (like demerara) for sprinkling.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat.

Whisk together flours, granulated sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Add butter and rub with your fingers until mixture has the texture of course meal. Gently stir in blueberries.

In another bowl whisk together buttermilk, 1 egg , lemon zest and vanilla. Drizzle over flour mixture and stir lightly with a fork until the dough just comes together. Do not overwork the dough.

Turn out dough onto work surface and gently knead dough once or twice just to incorporate the flour. Pat the dough into a 1-inch thick round. Cut the round into approximately 10-12 wedges. Transfer to baking sheet.

Brush the top of each scone with egg wash and sprinkle generously with coarse sugar. Bake until golden brown and cooked through, roughly 25 minutes. Transfer scones to a wire rack to cool.

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apparently, sade sang a song about cherry pie, too

It is confirmed, the teeniest touch of almond makes the flavor of cherries burst to the forefront. Of course, it does help to have beautifully sweet and plump cherries to work with. This cherry-almond pie was - if I can give myself a pat on the back - the BEST cherry pie I've ever had.



It is the essence of cherry flavor, the flavor that makes you understand what all of those artificial cherry flavors are trying to go for, but don't quite get right.



If you can manage to stop yourself from eating all of the cherries before they go into the pie (I think approximately the same amount of cherries went into the pie as went straight into my mouth), this is what you should do with lovely fresh cherries. It will ruin you forever for any store bought pie, or pie filling in a can, or those gut bomb pocket pies covered in glaze. THIS is what cherry pie should be, the only thing it should ever be. This pie is fantastic warm with vanilla ice cream, but was actually even better cold with nothing at all. Recipe after the jump:



FRESH CHERRY AND ALMOND PIE

1 recipe for a double crust 9-inch deep dish pie
2 pounds fresh cherries, pitted
4 tablespoons quick-cooking tapioca
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon kirsch
1/2 cup thinly sliced almonds
1 tablespoon butter, diced
3 tablespoons heavy cream, optional

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, toss the cherries, sugar, tapioca, extracts, and kirsch and let sit for 15-20 minutes.

Roll out the chilled pie dough for the bottom crust and line a deep dish pie plate, leaving 1/2 inch of overhang. Fill the pie with the cherry mixture, then sprinkle the almond slices over the fruit. Dot with the butter pieces. Cover with the top crust, crimp to seal, and cut slits to allow steam to escape. Brush the crust with the heavy cream. Bake in the preheated oven for 50-55 minutes until crust is golden brown and juices are bubbling. Allow to cool completely before slicing.

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lemon! pie! lemon pie!

What is this, the 50th lemon pie I've made on here? Who is obsessed with lemon pie? I am!

And this one was really pretty interesting: Shaker Lemon Pie. This sour marmalade-like pie is said to be an old specialty of the Ohio Shakers, and is beautiful in both its simplicity and its craftiness. Kind of like their furniture! It uses the whole lemon, peel and all, to add a depth of flavor and let no part go wasted. For a lemon fiend like myself - who also happens to be baking pie crusts like a maniac lately - it is a perfect slice of tart and sweet and fresh and even a tiny bit bitter. Not for the those who are ambivalent about lemons.

I used Meyer lemons for this recipe, well, mostly just because I could. Recipe after the jump:

SHAKER LEMON PIE

1 recipe pie crust for a 2-crust 9" pie (My Favorite)
4 Meyer lemons
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 eggs

Slice the whole lemons as thinly as possible, taking care to remove all seeds (use a mandoline if you have one). Toss with the sugar and salt and set aside.

Preheat oven to 450°F. Roll out half of your chilled pie crust and line a 9" pie plate. Cut off the excess, leaving about 3/4 of an inch overhang all around. Place in the freezer to chill while you prepare the filling.

Beat the eggs well with the vanilla and stir into the lemons. Remove the chilled pie crust from the freezer and pour in the lemons.

Roll out your top crust and place, cutting away overhang. Tuck the edges of the top crust under the overhang of the bottom and crimp to seal. Cut slits or a hole to allow steam to escape. If desired, brush the crust with egg white and sprinkle a thin layer of sugar on top. Put back in the freezer for 15 minutes to chill.

Bake the chilled pie on the lowest rack for 15 minutes at 450°F. Then turn the heat down to 375°F and move to the center rack. Bake for another 30 minutes or until the crust is golden. If the crust edges begin browning too much cover with foil.

Let cool for at least half an hour before eating. This pie is great with some whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

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classically classic apple pie

I've been working on my pie crust lately, due to a tub of wonderful leaf lard that came at the end of our pork CSA. I think I've found the perfect balance of high fat European butter and lard. Flaky layers of delicate crust, it never gets too hard, but holds it's shape well. It's my favorite crust ever.

So what is the perfect pie with which to test out your crust? Something utterly classic, simple, and dependable - apple pie. And not my usual sour cream walnut apple pie, but the truly classic straight apple pie with spices and a touch of lemon juice and not much else.



I've made dozens and dozens of fruit pies before, and I've often come across the same problem of excess moisture and an unwillingness for the filling to set up. The key to avoiding this problem is to pre-cook your filling, and with apples it really can't be simpler. Just saute until starting to soften, spread out on a baking sheet to cool down, then fill. You end up with a sturdy apple pie that cuts well even while still warm. Serve with some vanilla ice cream if you like, but I'll be honest, it didn't even need it. Recipe after the jump:



MY BEST PIE CRUST
Makes enough for a 2-crust 9-inch pie.
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, preferably a high-fat, European-style butter like Plugra, chilled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
8 tablespoons leaf lard, chilled
2 to 5 tablespoons ice water

1. In a food processor, briefly pulse together the flour and salt. Add butter and pulse until mixture forms chickpea-size pieces (3 to 5 one-second pulses). Add ice water 1 tablespoon at a time, and pulse until mixture is just moist enough to hold together.
2. Form dough into a ball, wrap with plastic and flatten into a disk. Refrigerate at least 1 hour before rolling out and baking.


SUPER CLASSIC APPLE PIE

3 pounds apples (6 to 8 medium-large. I use a combo of sweet and tart, like Empire and Granny Smith)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground cinnamon
pinch ground clove
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 tbsp lemon juice (optional. If your apples are very tart, leave it out)
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Melt butter in a very wide skillet or pot over high heat until sizzling and fragrant. Add the apples and toss until glazed with butter. Reduce the heat to medium, cover tightly, and cook, stirring frequently, until the apples are softened on the outside but still slightly crunchy, 5 to 7 minutes. Add the sugar, spices, lemon juice, and salt.

Increase the heat to high and cook the apples at a rapid boil until the juices become thick and syrupy, about 3 minutes. Stir in the vanilla extract. Immediately spread the apples in a thin layer on a baking sheet, and let them cool to room temperature.

Position a rack in the lower third of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Pour the apple mixture into the bottom crust. Cover with a pricked or vented top crust or a lattice. Bake until the crust is richly browned and the filling has begun to bubble, 30 to 40 minutes. Let cool completely on a rack, 3 to 4 hours.

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ante up: a new kind of chip

I never really spent time contemplating the chocolate chip cookie. I have my moments when I enjoy them - hot and melty right out of the oven, or Chips Ahoy soaked through with milk, or the giant deli ones with chips stuck all over the top - but they were never on the top of my cookie list. Despite my relative disinterest in the classic treat, I was definitely intrigued upon reading this article (a while ago) in the New York Times about the quest for the ultimate chocolate chip cookie. Even though I'm not a die-hard chocolate chip cookie fan, that article made my mouth water.



Well, as luck would have it, the very shop that the recipe in this article is based on - the very chocolate they recommend - is right downstairs from my office. The new Jacques Torres Shop in Chelsea Market is a dangerous thing, because even though I've always said I'm not a huge chocolate lover, if there is one way to make me want to eat chocolate it would be to open the best chocolate shop in town literally under my nose. The recipe calls for their dark chocolate wafers; flat round disks of chocolate about the diameter of a silver dollar. In place of the classic chip, these wafers melt to create amazing thin chocolate strata all throughout the cookie. You get a bit of melty chocolate in every bite, rather than a disproportionate hunk.

And then, the pièce de résistance, the salt. The salt not only within the batter itself, but the flaky sea salt sprinkled on top of the cookies. The salt that makes the chocolate taste chocolatier, the cookie taste cookier. Salt on desserts, one of my favorite things. Find the recipe HERE.

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j-cat cooks: jinese surprise

A few months ago when we were up in Rockland visiting his sister, J-Cat and I went into one of our favorite bagel places from when we were growing up. He pointed out something called a Chinese cookie, which for some reason I have never had. I had no idea that it was called that. It was always in the cookie case at every Jewish deli right next to the giant cookie with the chocolate chips stuck in the top, which was what I always got. Great big yellow cookie with a dollop of chocolate right in the middle. "What is remotely Chinese about that?" I asked. He had no idea. Until he tasted the Chinese Almond Cookies we made this weekend. I took a bite and said "My childhood!". And J-Cat took a bite and said "What? That's my childhood, too!". And there you have it, a surprise Jinese food.

I had found this recipe on Simply Recipes a couple of weeks ago, in anticipation of Chinese New Year. I took one look and said "I want that". And J-Cat said "I want to make those for you". And let me say, I wasn't sure they'd really come out like the Chinatown cookie I grew up on, but they really did. It completely surpassed my expectations. And they are incredibly addictive.



For most of the batch, J-Cat made the traditional sized cookie, but he also really wanted to recreate that Jewish Deli Chinese Cookie. So here he is sitting on the floor staring into the oven watching his giant almond cookie bake. Recipe after the jump:

CHINESE ALMOND COOKIES
From Simply Recipes

1 1/3 cups of almond flour, lightly packed
1 cup of unsalted butter, chilled and cut into cubes
Pinch of kosher salt
2 eggs
1 teaspoon of almond extract
1 3/4 cups of flour
1 cup + 2 tablespoons of sugar
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
Thinly sliced almonds

Place the almond flour, salt, and butter into an electric beater with a paddle attachment and beat on medium speed for three minutes. The mixture will become course and chunky looking.

Add one of the eggs, reserving the other for later, and the almond extract. Mix on low speed until just incorporated.

Sift together the flour, sugar, and baking soda then add to the butter mixture at low speed. Mix until just combined.

Take the dough and flatten it into a disc and wrap in plastic wrap. Place it in the refrigerator for two hours to chill.

Preheat the oven to 325F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place the other egg into a bowl and beat it.

Take pieces of dough and roll them into balls about a half-inch wide. Place them on the sheet about and inch apart and then press them down slightly with your palm to make a coin shape.

Place a slivered almond onto each cookie and lightly press it into place, then paint the surface of the cookie with some of the beaten egg using a pastry brush or your finger (this will give the cookie a lacquered appearance once it bakes).

Bake for 13-15 minutes or until the edges just being to tan. Cool on the sheet on a wire rack.

Makes 5 dozen.

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buttermilk pie, sans diabetes

On paper, this pie sounds like a toothache. It's a traditional Southern dessert, so you know it must be crazy sweet. I worried it would approach momofuku-milk-bar-crack-pie levels of sweet, which quite literally gives me an instant headache and makes me shiver. But then I came across this recipe on NPR with alternative measurements for a less-sweet version. Call me a wuss, but I'm drawn to the idea of buttermilk pie because of the creamy custardy tanginess, and I just don't need killer sweetness to cover it all up.



And it was a good call. I got my creamy custardy tanginess, a simple, wonderfully satisfying pie, and we didn't make faces at the sweetness level. This one is a winner, except for the danger associated with how much of it we can eat in one sitting. Recipe after the jump:

BUTTERMILK PIE
From the recipe by Natalie Moore on npr.org

4 eggs
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons flour, plus a little for dusting
1/2 cup melted butter
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 unbaked 9-inch pie shell

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Beat eggs slightly and add sugar and flour. Then add melted butter and mix well. Add buttermilk and vanilla and mix.

Dust the unbaked pie shell with a little bit of flour. Pour batter into shell, and then sprinkle a little more flour on top.

Bake at 325 degrees until the custard is set, approximately 1 hour.

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