i'm back...and i brought cupcakes!

so it's been three months. no biggie. i really am going to try and post more in the next 5 weeks or so. this is my favourite time of year for cooking...


anyway, here is a nice treat. coffee walnut cupcakes! 

okay, and i'll be honest. i piped like, three of these before getting lazy and just frosting them with a spatula.
these are inspired by a trip to edinburgh, scotland. 

my friend georgia and i were lucky enough to go during the festival fringe and stay with floss, a wonderful friend of georgia's! we spent a large chunk of time seeing plays and being typical festival goers, but floss knew the in and outs of edinburgh and brought us to lots of great local places...a concert at an underground pub, a polish vodka bar...(had cherry almond vodka...fantastic)
floss worked at the queen anne restaurant at the edinburgh castle and one morning, we made plans to visit her there. such a good decision. the castle grounds are dramatic and haunting, and the view is spectacular! 

we walked around for a bit, then spotted floss' restaurant and went off to get lunch! georgia ordered fish pie, and i ordered:

...can you guess? haha, it's haggis! look how cute it is! the other layers are turnips and potatoes, which in scotland are referred to as neeps and tatties.
okay, this was my first haggis experience and i loved it. i have to admit, i was a little nervous on the walk over there...but it's deep,  savory, and a little spicy. and with the creamy root veggies to mix it with...it's good. and warming. and considering how startlingly cold edinburgh was in august, i'm sure it fares quite well once this time of year rolls in.
by the way: for those of you who are vegetarians and still want to try this scottish classic upon visiting, you will very easily be able to find a vegetarian version with nuts and beans, which i've heard is really good. perhaps if i make it up there again, i will try it...
anyway, after our meal we decided to order a pot of tea and some cakes. i ordered coffee walnut cake, which apparently is quite popular in the united kingdom, but i had never heard of it!

 (check out our "reserved" sign. so vip.)
so the other day, i made coffee walnut cupcakes! nigella lawson had a recipe in nigella kitchen and i just switched it into cupcakes. 
this is a snap to make, and you may even already have all these ingredients on hand. 
as a five year old girl in my art class says, it's "easy peasy lemon squeezy."

 coffee walnut cupcakes 

adapted from nigella kitchen

Ingredients

For the cake:

1/2 cup walnut pieces

1 cup plus 2 tsp superfine sugar

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 1/3 cups flour

4 tsp instant espresso powder, or about 2 tsp instant coffee mixed with 1 tbsp boiling water

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

4 eggs

1-2 tbsp milk

For the frosting:

3 1/4 cups powdered sugar

2/4 cup unsalted butter, softened

2 1/2 tsp instant coffee dissolved in 1 tbsp boiling water

Preparation

 Heat oven to 350 F. Line 2 cupcake tins with cupcake liners, or grease and powder well.

Put walnuts and sugar in the food processor and combine to a sandy powder. Add the butter, flour, coffee, baking powder and soda, eggs and combine until smooth. Add milk, little by little, until the batter has loosened up a bit- you don't need to use all of it. 

Divide the mixture between all the cups, slide into the oven and cook for 15-20 minutes. 

Once cooked, remove from oven and cool on a wire rack. Meanwhile, make the buttercream! Combine the butter and sugar, and then add the hot strong coffee. Mix until a smooth, creamy consistency.

Once the cupcakes are completely cool, frost. And feel free to garnish with walnuts! It was my favourite part!

Banoffee Pie....

Ah, Edinburgh. Suddenly it was winter, although the calendar claimed to be August. Lies. I wore a coat and scarf. Boots every day. 

One pub night in Montpellier, Georgia and I randomly decided that we were going to go to Fringe for a week in August. I think my flight was seven pounds. (Why don't we have Ryanair-or something similar- in the States? It boggles the mind.) 

 My strongest memory of Edinburgh is the night we arrived. Georgia and I were little bundles of excitement. We went to the pub where Georgia's friend Floss was working, so we could pick up her keys to drop our luggage off. A man came out of the pub, saw us outside with our cases and handed us £10. 
"Welcome to Edinburgh! Enjoy your time in my beautiful city."
We tried to give it back to him, saying we couldn't take it, but he waved us off, and disappeared back into the pub with a smile.
And what a magnificent city it is. I am sure I didn't see the "real" Edinburgh, as it is an entirely different place the other eleven months of the year, but I got a wonderful taste. I also was lucky enough to be staying with Floss, who lives there year round and brought us to plenty of fantastic places off the festival track. 
The morning after we arrived, Georgia and I set out to see some shows, but decided to get lunch first. We found a great deal- lunch for £10 a piece, with a free beer thrown in too! For dessert, we each had a slice of Banoffee pie. I'd heard of it, but barely. Georgia, who's English, and therefore familiar with how incredible it is, urged me to try it and...sigh. Banoffee pie. 
The version I made the other night was absolute perfection. It came from BBC Food, and I wouldn't change a damn thing. 
It is almost entirely sugar and butter, so not exactly something I'd recommend making on the regular, but next time you're going to a party and need to bring a dessert, give this a go. It takes under an hour, no baking is required (although you do make two kinds of caramel) and everybody will go crazy for it. 

 Banoffee Pie

BBC Food

Ingredients

Caramel Filling:

100g/31/2 oz. butter

1 can of sweetened condensed milk

100g/31/2 oz. caster sugar

Pie:

150g/5 oz. English digestive biscuits (you can find these in  a number of import or gourmet markets, Whole Foods,  or sometimes just your local grocery store. Or you can substitute Graham crackers, but try for the digestives! They're great!)

230g/8 oz. pecans

75g/3 oz butter, melted

3 large bananas, chopped

250 ml/101/2oz. double cream, whipped until relatively stiff (again, you can find double cream at gourmet or import stores- I got mine at Whole Foods- and it really is different from our heavy whipping cream, so if you can, use it!)

Cocoa Powder, for dusting

Caramel Sauce:

125g/4 oz. butter

124g/4 oz. light brown sugar

125ml/4 fl oz coconut milk 

Preparation 

Crush together your digestives and half of your pecans. Pour over melted butter and pack into a pie dish. This will be your crust.
Make your filling: in a large, preferably nonstick pan, melt your butter and sugar over low heat. Once melted, add your condensed milk and stir constantly, slowly bringing to a boil. Eventually, after boiling, the mixture will thicken, be a light golden and will smell sweet. Remove from heat, taste to make sure, and let cool slightly.
Stir your bananas into the caramel and pour into your crust.
Cover and refrigerate for about a half an hour.
Meanwhile, make your caramel sauce. Pour your coconut milk, butter and brown sugar into a small, heavy bottomed pan, and stir constantly over medium heat. It will come to a boil, keep stirring for a couple minutes, until it is slightly thick (but still saucy) and a beautiful caramel. Never stop stirring, and be sure the heat isn't too high. Caramel can turn on a dime.  The coconut milk is great- lovely touch, BBC. When it's just right, remove from heat. Set aside.
Remove your pie from the fridge. Spread your whipped double cream over, then cover with remaining pecans (or to taste.) Dust with some cocoa powder, if you'd like. You can either pour the sauce all over (I did) or keep on the side and pour over individual slices.


Enjoy every bite....

Chag Purim! Chag Purim!

Anybody who doesn't love Purim has not celebrated properly. It has all the elements of being the best holiday ever. A quick checklist.

• Dressing in costume? Check.
• The consumption of cookies, chocolates, cakes, sweets and everything delicious? Check.
• Rabbinically encouraged drunkeness? Check. 
• Parades, parties, and general revelry? Check. 
• The tradition of putting on a PLAY! Check! (If any of you don't know, I was a theatre major...) 
• Gift giving... Check!

Yes, my friends. I love Purim. It may be my favorite holiday to celebrate, although I unfortunately do not partake every year. This year involved me coming home from work, having a little nap, and making cookies. But last year I was in Israel and it was spectacular. It was my second Israeli Purim and one of the most fun weeks I've ever had. 

The kibbutz volunteers all got together in the kitchen and made hamantashen. These delicious treats are made either with a yeasty or a cookie dough, and are filled with countless versions of sweets. The versions I've seen most often are usually strawberry jam, orange marmalade, and poppy seed. I personally love the poppy seed ones, although I don't think everybody agrees with me. Making the cookies on the kibbutz was so much fun, and it was great because we had hundreds to snack on the whole week. Making costumes was great fun, and all the members, volunteers and other groups on the kibbutz took it very seriously! A bunch of us went into Eilat to buy costume pieces and facepaint...my friend Anna (pictured as Wilma Flintstone!) made her dress out of a tablecloth! My costume was decidedly easier...I was supposed to be Sally Bowles. Because, as mentioned before, theatre geek.  I did craft an old fashioned cigarette holder out of a mechanical pencil.

  Our little group of volunteers also did a secret buddy game with mishloach manot; Purim gift baskets filled with sweets. The children paraded around the dining hall in costume, the members put on a Purim play... (it wasn't in English, so sadly I didn't understand much...hopefully next time my Hebrew will have improved!) There was a giant party on the Saturday night of the week of Purim in the kibbutz "pub". (A converted garage with a bar and a dance floor- which I miss more than I can possibly express...) Everybody living on the kibbutz pitched in to decorate for it's theme of movies. It was amazing! The whole pub was covered in stars, recreations of film posters, and other fabulous decorations. We even had a wooden limo in front of the pub and a red carpet! Everybody worked so hard and it was worth every second of time. The pub was completely packed, there was an open bar and a champagne toast, great music...one of the best parties I've ever been to. Wow...feeling so nostalgic...
I made hamantashen today, but I didn't take a picture. Honestly, they didn't turn out so beautiful anyway, so it's not much of a loss. The pictures I am showing were taken by my friend Shayna, from last year's hamantashen making session on kibbutz, so all credit goes to her!  The dough recipe I used, and use every year,  comes from Joan Nathan's The Jewish Holiday Cookbook.

Hamentashen!

Dough recipe courtesy of The Jewish Holiday Kitchen

Ingredients

2/3 cup butter

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

2 1/2 cups sifted flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

a pinch of salt

Fillings of your choice (I used raspberry rhubarb jam and Nutella!) 

Preparation

Cream together the butter and sugar. Add the egg and beat in until smooth. Add the vanilla, and then the dry ingredients until a dough has formed. Wrap and chill for at least two hours, or even overnight. (I never plan well enough to chill overnight, but if you're more organized than me...)

After your dough has chilled, flour a surface and roll out your dough.

Preheat your oven to 375. Spread baking paper over two baking sheets.

Using a cup, cut out circles from your dough. Lay on your sheets.  Drop about a teaspoon of filling in the middle of each circle. Any sort of jam works really well. I've used lemon curd and that was awesome. In Israel, we used Israeli chocolate spread and that gave me the idea to use Nutella today. Anything goes! Also, if you want to do the poppy thing, I think you can buy the poppy filling in the baking isle of most grocery stores.

Once every circle has a filling, carefully pinch into triangles like so:

Be sure to pinch the corners well so the filling doesn't explode out.

Bake for 11-14 minutes, or when they smell like cookies. 

If you've never had these before, you are in for a real treat. 

Enjoy! Chag Sameach!!!!

Orange White Chocolate Chip Cookies

I got this recipe from the Magnolia Bakery cookbook a while back. I've made it quite a few times and it always has an excellent response. The dough tends to be a bit dry, but somehow the cookies themselves are soft and moist. I have made a few changes to Magnolia's original recipe (the original recipe uses far less orange zest than I do, and calls for vanilla chips, which I couldn't find.) 
If you are looking for a unique, delicious and straightforward cookie recipe, you might want to give this one a go...

 Orange White Chocolate Chip Cookies

Recipe adapted from the Magnolia Bakery cookbook

  

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups flour

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 firmly packed light brown sugar

1 large egg, room temperature 

The zest of one good sized orange

1 cup white chocolate chunks (or vanilla, if you can find it...) 

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 350f. (Or, if you're me, to 349. The 5 button on my oven has decided not to work anymore. What an inconvenient button to stop working! Why can't it be 9???)

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda and salt. 

In another large bowl, cream the butter with both sugars for about three minutes, or until smooth. Add the egg and mix well, then incorporate the flour and beat thoroughly. 

Stir in the orange zest and the white chocolate chunks. 

On a baking sheet (or two) put teaspoon sized balls of cookie dough. Leave enough room between them to spread out.

Bake for 10-12 minutes. I usually take mine out at 11. They will still be super soft when they come out but firm up after a minute or so. If you're worried, check the bottoms.  If they're  golden, you're good to go. 

These cookies are so tasty...kind of impossible to just eat one...

Enjoy!

Chocolate Sesame Shortbread

Chocolate and sesame? What is this madness?
Really one of those "don't knock it till you try it" sort of things. I really like the combination of flavors; a more unexpected and earthy "sweet and savory" than salt and chocolate (which I love), but from the same school of thought. There's a Belgian line of chocolates called Côte d’Or that sells sesame chocolate and it is fabulous. A very popular brand of chocolate in France, my friends and I used to buy the "Sésame Noir" quite often, to be eaten with coffee, or during a movie, or just on it's own.

Côte d’Or is so delicious. The day I got to Ghent, Belgium, I asked my couchsurfing hosts what the best type of Belgian chocolate is. The answer was unanimous: "Look for the elephant". And so, we did. I have happy memories of eating chocolate with Lisa in the achingly beautiful town centre, overlooking the water, contemplating the decision I'd just made. See, I ended up in Belgium only a week after leaving the United States. I had no plans, limited funds, and no flight back home.  The possibilities were endless...a thought that was both thrilling and intimidating. But Belgium, I think, was a good place to start.

 I had been inexplicably drawn to the country and I was thrilled to be there. It really is a place of wonder. The buildings are charming, cozy and somehow autumnal. (That may have just felt this way, as I was there in September).  People are friendly,  funky, adventurous and exciting to be around. During my week in Ghent, I met so many artists, dreamers, squatters and expats.  We were given impromptu tours, shown little undiscovered spots, and treated like old friends. We spent our days wandering the intimate, cobblestone streets and smelling the frites sizzle in oil, the mussels steam in wine, and the distinct buttery sweet scent of  Liège waffles that wafted from the restaurants, cafes and homes lining it. (Literally. Lisa and I actually walked past one house about five times because of the irresistible aroma of chicken roasting in butter that emanated from their open window...) We spent evenings at our host's favorite coffee shop, ambient with multicolored burning candles and rich hot cocoa. Then we'd all head back to their funky apartment, where we'd drink Leffe  and play with their kitten, Mooi. (Flemish for "adorable")

We were also invited along to parties, barbecues, and a very interesting dinner get-together. The dinner was held in a large room in a small building, sort of a tavern. Everybody who came threw a couple of euros in a cup and then helped themselves to a big pot of vegetarian stew. Music was playing, people were laughing and beer was flowing. When everybody finished eating, everyone started drinking and carrying on, dancing...it was a great atmosphere. I loved it. Another wonderful day included a walk to the monastary. There were dozens of different apple and pear trees, and we spent hours with our host, lolling in the grass and crunching on fresh picked apples, still warm from the autumn sun.  
Anyway, in honor of a delicious chocolate bar from a magical country...

Chocolate Sesame Shortbread

The recipe for the shortbread dough is pretty much taken directly from the  Gourmet cookbook. (A cookbook...really a tome.) And then I just improvised a bit. I know chocolate and sesame sounds strange, but try it! I really think I'm onto something with this! Plus, it would make a nice gift.

I find for toasting sesame seeds that it is the easiest to control over stovetop. All you need is your tiniest frying pan and just toss your seeds on it with no oil, butter, or water. When the seeds are fragrant and golden, they're ready. 
I pressed some sesame seeds into the dough when it was about to into the oven...but I wonder how it would turn out if I rolled some seeds into the dough? If anyone does that, let me know. 

Oh, finally. Okay. The original shortbread recipe said to combine with a fork but I actually used my food processor. It turned out beautifully, better than I expected.

 Ingredients

1 stick (8 tbsp) butter, softened

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/8 tsp salt

1 cup flour 

A good handful toasted sesame seeds, optional.

FOR THE TOPPING

1/4 cup chopped, good quality dark chocolate

1/2 tbsp butter

1/8 cup sesame seeds, toasted  

Preparation

Preheat your oven to 375 F. 

Blend together butter, sugar, vanilla and salt with a fork until well combined. (As I mentioned above, I actually used a food processor)  Sift flour over butter mixture and blend with fork (or in food processor) until a soft dough forms. 

Press the dough onto an ungreased baking sheet. Use a knife to cut into squares.

If you're using extra toasted sesame seeds, sprinkle on the dough and then press it down gently.

Bake the shortbread for 15 minutes. While still warm, cut and separate the squares and cool.

While the shortbread is cooling, make a small double boiler on your stovetop. (Just use a small saucepan and a small metal mixing bowl)

Melt the butter and chocolate over the double boiler, and then fold in the toasted sesame seeds. 

As soon as the shortbread is cooled, carefully spread the chocolate mixture over the top. 

Refrigerate for 15 minutes, or let the chocolate cool on it's own. These can be stored in an airtight container, probably for about a week, but somehow I doubt they'll stick around that long...

Enjoy!

 

Happy Valentines Day!

I actually like Valentines day. Chocolate, hearts, and celebrating love? Count me in. Sure, it's commerical, bla bla bla, and I know it is, but it's fun and I've always enjoyed it. I'm hoping/assuming that this one will be better than last, as I was on the kibbutz last year and a really nasty flu happened to be going around the volunteer crew that week. I spent Valentines Day in bed feeling wretched. But you know what? All my healthy friends came in and looked after me, and brought me water and made me tea. I think one of them even made my bed for me!  So really, it wasn't that bad of a day. I felt the love.

 But this year, there will be none of that flu nonsense. 

Anyway, I made a delightful dessert tonight in honor of the holiday. It feeds eight, so if you're having a little get-together, perhaps you could serve this! I got the recipe from BBC Good Food (the October 2010 issue). I made a few reaaaaaallly minor adjustments, but really I just followed the recipe. It turned out really nicely! Check it out.

 Self-Saucing Jaffa Pudding

Courtesy of BBC Good Food

By the way. I had no idea what Jaffa cakes were until I went to England. I have tried them, however, and they were excellent. They're named for the lovely Jaffa oranges, which, incidenally, are Israeli. (Jaffa is an ancient port right outside of Tel Aviv, and it is fabulous. Eventually, I will blog about it...)

This is quite different from a Jaffa cake, obviously. But the chocolate orange element is there. I did not use Jaffa oranges (can one even get them in the US?) I used, in spirit of Valentine's Day, blood oranges (well, really, because I saw a bag of them at the market and was so excited I just had to buy them...guess who's having red orange juice tomorrow for breakfast??) I also used pink salt, just because it felt more valentinesy to me, but I know that's ridiculous.  

Oh. Okay, one more thing. The recipe specified self-rising flour, and since I rarely bake, I didn't want to buy a whole bag of that. I read in a Nigella Lawson cookbook that you can make your own self-rising flour by adding two tablespoons of baking powder for every cup of flour you use, and if the recipe also involves cocoa (or buttermilk, or yogurt), to also (on top of the power) add a quarter of a teaspoon of baking soda to every cup as well. The recipe also calls for baking powder, and I used it. It was a lot of baking powder, but it turned out great, so, no worries. 

Ingredients

1 stick (8 tbsp) butter, melted

250 grams or 2 cups of self-rising flour  (or see above)

140 grams/5 oz sugar 

50 grams/2 oz cocoa 

1 tsp baking powder

zest and juice of one orange (try blood oranges if you see them in the store! mmm)

3 eggs

150 ml or 2/3 cup milk

100 grams/4 oz chocolate (orange chocolate, if you find it), broken into chunks 

FOR THE SAUCE

200 grams/7 oz sugar (light muscovado,  if you have it. I didn't.)

25 grams/1 oz cocoa

Preparation

Grease a 2 litre baking dish and heat oven to 360f (180c). Put the kettle on. Combine the flour, sugar and cocoa for the cake, baking powder, orange zest and a pinch of salt in a large bowl. 

Whisk together the orange juice, eggs, melted butter and milk until smooth. Add the chocolate chunks, stir to incorporate. Pour into the baking dish.

Mix about a  cup and a quarter of the boiling water from the kettle with the sugar and cocoa for the sauce. Pour it over the pudding batter. It will look water, slightly lumpy, and unattractive.  (BBC Good Food even warns this!) 

Slide into the middle rack of the oven and cook for 30 minutes. When you serve, you will find a spongy, delicate, chocolately cake and a rich beautiful sauce underneath. No idea how it works but it's fantastic. 

Serve immediately!

It would be a crime not to serve this with ice cream, or even just cream.  

♥ Happy Valentines Day! ♥