pumpkin pop tarts

I haven't had a pop tart in years. I don't think I've ever even bought a box of pop tarts before. I would buy them in desperation from the library vending machines in college at 10 PM during finals when, I sadly realized, all the studying I didn't do during the semester was catching up with me. Those strawberry poptarts fueled many a long night.

Making pop tarts has given me a whole new perspective on the pastry. It's really pie. It's extra buttery, extra flaky, super delicious pie for breakfast. Those packaged pastries (and I do have a fond spot for them) have nothing on these, warm and fresh out of the oven.

Do you really need an excuse to eat pie for breakfast? I don't.

Recipe based on this one found at Joy the Baker. I made them smaller so I could get about 16 out of the recipe and, because I have a naturally tendency to not measure things, I ended up with a bunch of extra filling. So I made extra crust and made a single lady pumpkin pie. It was one spicy Saturday night at my place. (I'm talking cinnamon and pumpkin)

mocha chip meringues

It's always a tough day when there's no flour in the kitchen. Do you ever get in that mood where it seems silly to go all the way to the store to only buy one thing? You can't think of anything else you urgently need, but if you go you'll end up with a third jar of peanut butter cause it's on sale and a very large bag of tortilla chips and maybe some new nail polish. I'm a grocery store impulse buyer, so I try to avoid it until I actually need groceries. Try is the key word, though. I usually end up there all the time, buying squares of fancy cheese or bags of shredded coconut.

I do have grocery store impulse control sometimes, which is when I end up making meringue cookies. They are so easy to make and require such little effort, things I often forget when egg whites are involved. Egg whites are fun to work with and meringues are such adaptable little cookies. They are always sure to impress too, because everyone thinks they are difficult to make. I went with an espresso+cocoa mixture and studded them with chocolate chunks. They taste like little clouds that melt with each bite.

Mocha Chip Meringues
Adapted from an Everyday Food recipe

3 egg whites, room temperature
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
pinch of salt
3/4 c. sugar
3 tbsp cocoa
1 tsp instant coffee
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 c. semi-sweet chocolate, chopped into chunks

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper (easy, easy cleanup!). Stir together coffee and vanilla until coffee is dissolved. Set aside.

In a large bowl, beat together the egg whites and and cream of tartar using electric beaters or the whisk attachment of your stand mixer, beating until frothy. Add the sugar 1 tbsp at a time and continue beating until the mixture holds stiff glossy peaks. To test this, turn the mixer off and turn the whisk over. If the whites stay firm and tall (they should look like snowy mountaintops) then you've reached the right consistency. Make sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add in the cocoa, coffee mixture and chocolate chips. Mix until just combined.

Drop the batter by spoonful onto the baking sheets. You can also pipe them, using a plastic bag with the corner cut off, to achieve more uniform shapes. Bake until dried out and crisp, about 30-40 minutes. Cool on baking sheets, then transfer to a sealed container to store. Meringues will keep for days and days, if you can keep from eating them.

whole lemon tart+french tart dough

I love the warm, lazy days of summer but sometimes I find myself having trouble filling them. The days, that is. I'm currently in full-on running mode, training for the Marine Corps Marathon in October. It's a commitment and it's given me
a great summer goal. But it's just too darn hot to run during the day. So I either wake up early and beat the heat, or wait til the sun goes down. But what to do in between? I've charged myself with a second summer goal: break out of the baking rut. Try new recipes. Feed my marathon-training hunger.

A few weeks ago, a Costco-sized bag of lemons and 2 dozen eggs lurking in the fridge at home caught my eye. A cake seemed too heavy, a cookie was nothing exciting. I began to research tarts and a few recipes caught my eye. The first was this tart au citron from Dave Leibovitz, which used a charmingly old-French lady, inprecisly measured, melted butter tart dough. It's the kind of casual baking I love, so that was the dough I was going to use. But I didn't want a tart filled with lemon curd, I wanted to the dough and filling to bake up together. Wonderfully enough, I stumbled on another interesting recipe--a whole lemon tart at Smitten Kitchen. The afternoon just got exciting! Two new baking strategies to try!

The tart dough was a blast to make. Read the post here about how to make it. I can't say anything else about it other than work quickly once it's out of the oven to press it into the tart pan.  Once again, it's the casual style of baking that I love. I think the skill of the baker and the elegance of the ingredients really shines when the recipes and techniques are simple and informal. I par-baked the crust before pouring in the filling and continuing to bake. This helped keep the dough from getting too moist and retain a lovely, flaky texture.

Just like the tart dough, I wanted a simple recipe and ended up cobbling a few recipes together. The whole lemon tart uses, as the name suggests, the ENTIRE lemon. Zest, rind, flesh, everything. All thrown into a food processor, then into a tart dough, then into the oven. So easy, so simple; the perfect dessert to me. As I researched whole lemon tarts, I learned that they are typically made with Meyer lemons, which are sweeter and tend to have less of the bitter white pith (that white layer between the zest and the flesh) than the standard lemon. Since I was using a regular lemon, I chose to complicate the process a little a remove most of the pith. It was one more step, but it ended up making the tart the perfect balance of sweet and tart. The filling will look a little curdled and unappealing, but forge on! Pour it into the par-baked shell and trust it. It turns out super yummy, like the best lemon bar you've ever had.

Whole Lemon Tart with a French Tart Dough
from David Leibovitz via Paule Caillat


French Tart Dough
6 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 tablespoon vegetable oil (I used canola)
3 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup flour

Preheat the oven to 410º F (210º C).

In a ovenproof glass bowl, combine the butter, oil, water, sugar and salt. Place it in the oven for about 15 minutes, until the butter is bubbling and starts to brown around the edges.

Remove from the oven and stir in the flour quickly until it comes together and forms a ball. Place the dough into a 9 inch tart pan and press it into the bottom and edges to form the crust. Reserve a small bit of dough to patch up any cracks or missing spots.

Prick the dough with a fork on the bottom before baking for about 7 minutes. You don't want to bake it completely, but it should begin to dry out slightly. Let the shell cool before filling.

Whole Lemon Tart
adapted from Smitten Kitchen and Food52

1 large meyer lemon cut into 8 pieces (if using a regular lemon, see note above about removing the pith)
1 1/4 cup sugar
1 stick butter 
1 tsp vanilla 
1 tbsp honey
4 eggs 


Put all ingredients (except tart shell) into a food processor or blender and mix mix mix until combined.
Pour into par-baked tart shell.
Bake 35 minutes, watching that the top does not burn. If the crust is looking too dark, make a ring of foil to cover the crust (I luckily have a pie shield--it's great.
Allow to cool completely before serving. This would be fantastic topped with fresh berries or a slightly sweetened homemade whipped cream.

cinnamon yumyums

Yes, I did find these in the "cooking with kids" section of a cookbook this morning. But from what I've found those are the best sections of a cookbook. The recipes are quick, simple and always delicious. After all, if you proclaim its good for cooking with kids, it has to please a kid. And they are tough to please (if spending all day with 6 year olds has taught me anything).

These are not quite traditional cinnamon buns, as they are made like a biscuit or scone rather than like a bun, which is made using yeast and left to rise. Basically they are simple and super quick to make. I love cinnamon buns, but I've only made them once before and that was mostly just to try it out. I can rarely predict my cravings for cinnamon buns, so the whole "rising overnight" thing isn't really practical (or even a recipe that calls for rising 2 hours before I want them, gosh forbid, is far too long). My patience for dough is thin and my forethought in making it is rare. If I wake up in the morning craving cinnamon buns, then this is just the recipe.

Because of the lack of yeast, it's not quite fair to call them cinnamon "buns". The texture really is different, but I was actually quite the fan of the cinnamon scented biscuit like rollup thing.* Therefore, cinnamon "yumyums"* they shall be called. So go ahead and try them, they are indeed quite yumyummy with a cup of tea and super fun to eat by unwinding each buttery, cinnamony layer.

Cinnamon YumYums
adapted from Buttercup Bakes at Home

Dough:
1 1/4 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp sugar
1/4 cup butter, cut into small pieces
1 egg
1/4 cup milk

Filling:
2-3 tbps brown sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp butter, cut into small pieces

Icing:
Mix together ~1/2 cup confectioners sugar with a few drops of milk. Stir and add slightly more milk for a thinner icing.

For the dough, mix together the flour, baking powder and sugar. Mix in the butter with your fingertips until the mixture is crumbly and resembles a coarse oatmeal. It's okay if there are some larger chunks and some smaller bits of butter. Mix the egg into the milk and then add to the flour mixture until just combined.
Turn the mixture out onto a floured surface and gently knead it together until it forms a dough. Pat or roll it out into a 10 inch square. Spread the butter, brown sugar and cinnamon onto the surface of the dough, leaving some space at the top and bottom edges. Roll the dough into a log and cut in half. Cut each half in half again until you have 8 even pieces.
Arrange the dough on a baking sheet or in a pie pan (I like using a pie pan, it reminds me of making the PIllsbury rolls), allowing the sides to touch. Bake at 375 for 15-18 minutes until golden brown. Drizzle the icing over the buns before serving.

*sometimes my eloquence in descriptive language astounds me too 
* there's the eloquence thing again. But that is actually what they were named, I can't take credit for it even though I would love to

blueberry scones

I think it's safe to say I eat too many scones. If there is anyone out there looking to sweep me off my feet, just take me someplace nice and get me a scone. We will be in love forever.

That's how love works, right?

If you've read my (often forgotten about, sporadically updated) blog long enough, you'll probably know that I talk about scones quite a bit. And if you've ever had a conversation with me, I've probably mentioned them a lot. And if this were that episode of The Office where they take bets, they would probably be betting on how long I could talk about them just like how they time how long Kelly can talk about Netflix.

I've neglected my blog so much because sometimes I think that all I make are scones and nobody needs to hear about them that much. I've fallen in and out of baking love with many things, but I still fall hard for a scone. I think we're in it for the long haul. So it only seems fair that my grand effort to blog again would be with a scone post. But I made an effort to make a different kind...get ready, I made....

BLUEBERRY SCONES!

In the time since I stopped and started blogging again, I decided I liked berries. Crazy right? Naturally that means they would find their way into a scone somehow. And they were delicious. I stuck with my tried and true, committed to memory scone recipe, but I added an egg to make it more tender and less flaky. Somehow the berries begged for a cake-like home, rather than the flaky biscuit type scones I enjoy.

So here goes, and I promise to be back. It's summer break, I'm baking too much anyway.

Blueberry Scones
Adapted from A Homemade Life by Molly Wizenberg

2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

4 tbsp cold butter

2 tbsp sugar

1/2 cup milk

1 egg

~1/2 cup fresh blueberries (frozen are fine too, but I find the fresh berries much easier to work with in doughs)

Mix the dry ingredients, then add in the butter and sugar. Mix it in using your fingers (like making pie crust) until it looks like coarse oatmeal.

Beat the egg into the milk. Add this mixture to the flour+butter mixture until a dough starts to form. Then gently mix in the blueberries (or any other berry, really)  If its looking too dry to hold together, add in a splash of milk. You want it to be a little crumbly, it shouldnt be a wet dough.

Turn it out onto the counter and pat it into a circle or square. Cut into 6 pieces and bake at 425 for about 10-12 minutes.

a possible cookie overdose

I didn't think it was possible, but December may have done me in on cookies.

I am perhaps the definition of "creature of habit." I eat the same things day in, day out and rarely get sick of them. The only reason I'm okay with pulling myself out of bed at 6:30 to get to work? My morning bowl of warm yummy oatmeal, drenched in cinnamon and cold almond milk (and also not shamelessly, the Today Show). I'm excited about it every morning. I'm excited about going home and making tea. I'm excited about whatever freezer veggies will be roasting for dinner. Not tired of it one bit.

But the cookies this month! I've finally been done in. There were so many more cookies around all the time, and they were all so good. I didn't even make that many because every day I was inundated with tons from everyone around me, which were mostly of the varieties I don't normally make (see: the topped with a Hershey Kiss type. I never make 'em, but yum.)

Even though I was stuffed to the brim before winter break even arrived, I had to get in on the game. I ended up making only one batch, a super simple butter cookie. I topped a dozen with raspberry jam (another homemade Christmas gift, yum again) post bake and the rest with a pecan or walnut half pre bake. I love a simple cookie and these were the perfect compliment to all the minty, peanut-buttery, super chocolate-coconut-nutty-crazy concoctions that were all around. Sometimes a holiday calls for the simplest, easiest things as they're so often overlooked.

Basic Butter Cookies
I love a simple, do-what-you-will-with-me recipe like Mark Bittman's basics. I snagged the app for his How To Cook Everything book from a free download card at Starbucks and it was the best find I've ever made. I would totally pay the 5 bucks for it.

For jam cookies: Scoop dough onto baking sheets. Flatten the scoops, then press a finger into the center of each cookie to create a well (the dough is quite sticky; it can be a little difficult, but the well doesn't have to be too deep). Bake as directed. Once cool, fill the well with a bit of jam, until it just oozes over.
For nutty cookies: Scoop dough onto baking sheets. Press a walnut or pecan half onto the center of each cookie. Dust the top of each cookie with cinnamon and sugar then bake as directed. 

chocolate chocolate chocolate cake

Sometimes I need a little reminder that this tiny little space of mine exists. Sometimes all it takes is a lazy (very lazy) Sunday morning, filled with career-doubting what-am-I-doing-with-myself-internet-searching to remember that it just takes a little initiative to do the things I would like to do. 

It always seemed a little self-indulgent to me to have a blog. I like it, but I can't shake the feeling that the minutiae of my life and my opinions on food-related (or most) matters aren't really all that important enough to warrant one. I like having it for myself, though, and I like that I can have a tiny space all to myself, where the choices and decisions are totally mine. I have the control over what I make, what I share, and how I share it. And that's precisely what I need and what I am craving in my life right now. 

It's not entirely related, but it wouldn't be too kind to share the picture and not a recipe. And I suppose chocolate cake is what we all really need when the going gets iffy. I know I certainly needed it. 

Double Chocolate Layer Cake 

Emergency Chocolate Frosting: recipe loosely doubled, for the 2 layer cake. 

fairy cake, lemon curd, blueberries

ouef.

Resolutions are not my forte. I ought not to resolve to start blogging again, then leave the blog empty for nearly 7 months...doesn't look too good, huh? BUT! It has not been for naught, because I think I was highly productive. I taught kindergarten, ran a half marathon, graduated, got a job, taught some preschool, went on lots of vacations, re-nested in a new apartment, and yes, continued to make more scones than any one human should consume. I just love scones. And also watched a lot of Dawson's Creek. I think that's really been the highlight of 2012.

My favorite summer activity is raiding the cookbook section at the library, wobbling home with gigantic stacks of books and pouring over recipes and pictures. I don't usually ever cook that much out of them because I'm too stuck in my ways to stick to most recipes, but I like just reading cookbooks. It's a super weird habit; I read them like most people read novels. Summer this year has involved lots of lemons, light and easy cakes (courtesy of Nigella and my current favorite library find), and fresh berries made icy and refreshing in the freezer. 

What happens when you put all those together? A satisfying and wholesome late-night dessert, so seemingly elegant, yet so simple to whip up that it doesn't quite seem to make sense. Nigella's fairy cakes baked up as one cake in a loaf pan and a tart lemon curd, topped with a simple blueberry sauce. Summer at its finest!

fairy cake with lemon curd and blueberry sauce

fairy cake

adapted from Nigella Lawson's How to Be a Domestic Goddess

1/2 cup butter, at room temperature

6 tbsp sugar

2 eggs

3/4 cup flour (I usually always bake with a blend of AP and whole wheat)

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla

2 tbsp milk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease a medium size loaf pan with butter or cooking spray. Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, then add the eggs and beat until combined. Mix together the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Slowly add to the butter mixture, then add milk and mix gently to combine. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 25-30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool before serving. 

lemon curd

3 egg yolks

4 tbsp sugar

1/4 cup lemon juice (about 2 medium lemons)

zest of 1 lemon

4 tbsp butter

Stir together the egg yolks, sugar, lemon juice and lemon zest in a saucepan set over medium heat. Cook the mixture, stirring often, until it thickens (it should coat the back of the spoon, this takes about 5 minutes). Remove from heat and add the butter, one tbsp at a time, a stir to combine. Transfer the curd to a small bowl and cover the surface with plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate for 1 hour. To store the curd if not using immediately, transfer to a sealed jar and keep refrigerated. 

blueberry sauce

1 cup fresh blueberries

1 tbsp sugar

1/4 cup water

Stir together blueberries, sugar, and water in a small saucepan. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally until the sauce thickens and the blueberries break down, about 10 minutes. Serve along with cake and lemon curd. This was also delish over ice cream and stirred into greek yogurt. 

resolutions

At the beginning of 2010, I made the resolution to take a picture a day, every day, for the entire year. That resolution failed around late January.

At the beginning of 2011, still scarred by my failed resolution 2010, I made a small list of "to-do's". Naturally, all of the things on my to-do list were things that I wanted to bake (also, graduate). I wanted to tackle baguettes, macaron cookies, and croissants. As per my resolution track record, I only got to one of those, the french macaron cookie, just under the wire on December 30th.

shiny tops and beautiful feet! not bad for a first try.

I also ended up with a cake to-do list. I graduated (score 1!) having completed 3/10ths of that cake challenge. I finished 2011 still only 3/10ths of the way. But it remains on my fridge as a guide for this year's cake endeavors.

Even though I managed to accomplish hardly anything of what I wrote down, 2011 was not devoid of baking. I baked a lot. Lots of birthday cakes, celebration cakes, cookies, and more scones than any human should acceptably make and eat. I even conquered the bread machine!

mini berry pies, graduation cake, bridal shower cake, bagels!

So. 2012. I resolve to return to blogging about all ridiculous attempts to make my life as cute and pleasant as possible. I resolve to re-attempt a picture everyday. I resolve to complete my unfinished cake challenges and baking endeavors. Also, maybe get a job. That would be a nice thing to accomplish too.

chocolate cupcakes with raspberry buttercream

Make chocolate cupcakes fresher by folding in some homemade jam to the frosting. Delicious and colorful!