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Mama made some adorable little meringue cookies!
Actually, this is my second attempt – the first was not documented on account of an unprecedented pastry bag mishap. You see, I mistakenly used a tiny, tiny pastry tip, one that I had no business considering as a suitable option for this particular application. As a result, I had a minor temper tantrum, my meringue fell flat and my cookies were stupid.
Flash forward a few weeks to when I am in better spirits and have procured a giant Ateco drop flower pastry tip… Now… I can do this.
Started out with 1/4 unsweetened Dutch processed cocoa powder (oh, hi Whole Foods bulk aisle!)…
When I informed my mom of my homemade s’mores endeavor, I was initial met with dead air.
“But Laurieanne,” she began, “why don’t you just buy a box of graham crackers to go with those marshmallows? They’d be just as delicious.”
“No way,” I heartily exclaimed, “I’ve already committed to the marshmallows… I MUST make the graham crackers.”
And so, because I am quite clearly a crazy person, I decided to go ahead and make those homemade graham crackers to go with my boozy, Lillet-infused marshmallows. And here they are… in (perhaps needless) detail!
Started out by gathering my ingredients… Whisked together 1/3 cup honey, 2 tbsp vanilla and 5 tbsp milk (the recipe suggests full fat milk, but I drink 2% and it worked out just fine!)…
Woo doggie, have I been truant! But my excuse is utterly valid – I ran out of $$$, so I had to focus my energies on finding a damn job. Simple as that! I temped my arse off for a few weeks, sent resumes EVERYWHERE, and interviewed till I was hoarse and irritated. And now, what have I got to show for it?
A job! A job that I actually want to do! Huzzah!
So now that I’m getting my life back in order, I can calm down and devote a little time to updating this here bloggie boo… Starting with my latest endeavour, made in honor of our camping trip to Lake Berryessa for the 4th – Homemade S’Mores!
Homemade S’mores?! (You incredulously ask.) Why, yes, my friends… I am of the ilk that refuses to go for the easiest solution to one’s snacking dilemmas. I realize that a bag o’ Jet-Puffed costs about $3 and a box of graham crackers is even less, but where’s the adventure in that? Oh no, it all had to be from scratch.
A few months ago, knowing that I LOVE to make marshmallows, my pal sent me a recipe for Lillet-infused mallows… Boozy marshmallows?! I couldn’t believe it. And camping was a particularly good excuse to try these babies out.
Lillet Blanc is a crazy delicious aperitif, a little sweet (as aperitifs usually are), with a delightful citrusy accent that makes these marshmallows extra special.
My faith in humanity (and my candy-making skillz) has been restored and I owe it all to an unassuming candy thermometer, purchased at Crate&Barrel in a last-ditch effort to reclaim my sanity. You see, I’ve been burned (literally & figuratively) in the past by shoddy candy thermometers. Burned real bad. And it’s taken me weeks to muster up the mojo to try that most tempestuous of the candy family… toffee.
Strangely enough, my first attempt at sea salt caramels (which were brutally thwarted by the aforementioned evil/defective thermometer) yielded results pretty close to toffee. It had a disgustingly burnt flavor and was just a little too hard to chew comfortably, but still… it was toffee-ish and made me think that perhaps, with the right equipment, I might just be able to pull this off!
So I gave it a shot… here’s my version of English Toffee…
It all starts with butter. 1 cup worth…
It’s 9 am, and I’m all kinds of jazzed/pumped/amped after a riveting US showing at this morning’s World Cup match against Slovenia. Don’t know if you caught it, but we was robbed. Had that last goal counted, we would have totally had a Mighty Ducks caliber win. Sigh…
Despite my disappointment at our loss, I did enjoy my 7am Irish coffee and as a result, I’m energized enough to finally get to blogging this amazing chocolate Bundt cake I made the other night! Adapted the recipe from Warren Brown’s (of Cakelove fame – holla, DC!) excellently titled new book, United Cakes of America.
I finally decided to use my lovely vintage Bundt pan to make an actual Bundt cake (as opposed to the jello mold I used it for a few months ago!) and it was so fun! This was my first Bundt and I def consider it a success – spongy pound cake flecked with cocoa powder & the most decadent bittersweet chocolate glaze that raised this cake from plain ol’ delicious to X-rated food porn.
My Bundt pan is a weird size (6 cups), so it was perfect for the small gathering of folks we had over to watch Party Down and old Aeon Flux shorts… [Note to Netflix... as long as you're delving into the Liquid Television archives, please, please, PLEASE get "The Head" on Instantly!]
Anyway… on to the cake!
Started out with 1 oz unsweetened and 1.5 oz bittersweet chocolate (I used Ghiradelli and Trader Joe’s, respectively)…
It’s official… I just can’t get enough candy-making these days! I loved those Strawberry-Rhubarb Pâte de Fruit so much that I decided to try another flava and recipe – this time… lemon!
In my research I’ve found that there are approximately 4,000 different ways to make pâte de fruit; with or without pectin, with applesauce, with citric acid and/or glucose additives. Since I’m not quite willing to go scouting around pro shops for acids and whatnots, I decided to go with what’s already in my cupboard – good old fashioned smooth applesauce! This recipe was way easier than the last one I tried, mostly due to the fact that you only have to bring the candy to one temperature and then keep it there for a bit, rather than bringing the temp up in stages. You also add a LOT more pectin and as a result, these babies had the perfect texture!
Enough chat… lets down to the business.
Started out with about 4 juicy lemons… Rolled them & juiced them until I got 2/3 cup juice.
Hadn’t made muffins in forevs, until that lovely brunch book inspired me to get on it! Muffins are notoriously easy, so I had no problem whipping up a batch of Lemon Almond Blueberry ones for our Memorial Day breakfast…
Started out by preheating the oven to 400 F and buttering my hand-me-down muffin tin… My mom gave it to me (read: I may have stolen this) when I moved to New York and finally procured my first, non-group-house kitchen. It’s not the prettiest bakeware, since it’s old as hell, but it’s imbued with the flavors of ages and makes everything super tasty!
It seems like it’s taken me forevs to finish up these dinner party posts; blame it on the holiday weekend and the absolutely gorgeous weather we’ve had the past few days! But finally, I’m going to get down to the final dish I served the other day, the decadent dessert, Whiskey Chocolate Pots de Creme.
There’s nothing all that complicated to this recipe – I’ve had it a million times and have made it a few times too. But this one was a little special because I got new ramekins just for the occasion, a set of vintagey-hued ceramic dealies that were in a clearance bin at Crate & Barrel. Woot woot!
I’ve been making all kinds of excuses for the past year or so, trying to justify why I hadn’t yet attempted that most tempestuous & persnickety of French confections, the macaron. First I wasn’t confident in my egg white whipping skillz. Then I didn’t have enough baking sheets. Then I didn’t know how to handle the pastry bag situation. But slowly, I overcame each of those minor obstacles and had to come to terms with the fact that I was just plain scurred!
See, I’ve been spoiled… I’ve had moderate success with most of the culinary experiments I’ve attempted in the past year (with the exception of those lavender-infused brigadeiros and that first S’mores Pie, but I totally redeemed myself the second time around). In short, I haven’t met with real failure in the kitchen yet. But, you never learn if you don’t try right?
So I got down to it the other night for my mini dinner party…
Started out by obsessively drawing 2-inch circles on my parchment-lined baking sheets to act as a guide.
Okay, so I may have just made a pretty life-changing decision. I’m thinking about possibly going to pastry school. Like, this year.
I’ve been sitting around the past few days, trying to figure out what to do with my life because now’s a good a time as ever. I approached it the same way I decided my major… by posing the question, “what do I like to do”? In college, the answer was, “read”, thus I became an English major. Right now, the answer is staunchly, “bake”. Not necessarily breads (although, I’d love to learn), but beautiful things like cakes & tarts & candy (granted candy isn’t usually baked, but I’m including it anyway)! I think it would be a really wise investment (both financially and time/effort-wise) for me to actually learn the craft. So that’s what I’m thinking these days.
And in keeping with that thinking, I decided to try my hand at candy again. Armed with a new candy thermometer (my last one conked out mid-caramel, the bastard) and a pioneering spirit, I plunged headfirst into pâte de fruit, which is basically just a fancy French term for fruit jellies.
A few weeks ago I stumbled across a recipe for strawberry-rhubarb pâte de fruit, but I hesitated. Why, you ask? Because, as I’m sure I’ve mentioned once or twice, I am without food processor. This is a conscious decision, of course – I prefer to put a little work into my culinary experiments and not having this modern shortcut at my disposal forces me to use a little ingenuity and keeps me on my toes. So I did a little research and came up with a suitable substitute for the Cuisinart!
There was nothing stopping me…
Started out by preparing the fruit… Cleaned about half a pound of fresh strawberries by swishing them around in a bowl of cool water and then hulled each one with a paring knife.
