November 9, 2013November 8, 2013 by Rachel Sally

Golden Seams

“Sea lion woman,
dressed in green
silver lining and golden seams.”

-Feist

I’ve been listening to all the Feist in my iTunes library, hitting repeat like it’s going out of style.
I can’t help it! I love Feist. I love her lyrics and I LOVE her voice. Ohmagah.

I’m really digging the album “The Reminder” in particular. It helps me during these (many) late nights studying, studying, stuDYING.

(The second round of midterms has descended upon uChicago. We mortals are withering. Or, I am, at least.)

If I were more patient, this post would be happening in, like, a month.

But.
Like, have you ~~met me~~ read this blog?
I am not about that waiting life.

So, these cookies are kind of Christmas-y. Deal with it. Now that Halloween is come and gone, you’re going to see winter holiday celuhbrayshuns popping up left and right. I guarantee it.

Besides, who says spritz cookies have to be for Christmas only?
Traditionally, sure. WHATEVER. I don’t care. I firmly believe there is nothing wrong with wanting buttery, sugary, little cookies at all times.

Right?

I had a luxurious package of Kerrygold in the fridge calling to me to make something buttery, something that would showcase its richness.
Butter cookies seemed like a good place to start. (Ugh. Duh.)

I wanted something different from my standard, go-to 1-2-3 cookies (although those are still my favorites).

Something with a high butter content, so that the extra fat in the Kerrygold would really shine: European butters make especially crisp, tender, and yet soft baked goods.

Spritz cookies were just the ticket.

Little golden pinwheels, piped out and sprinkled liberally with turbinado sugar.

Sandwiched with raspberry jam, they’re like little gems. Bite sized cookies=snacky, addictive cookies.

Make them now, make them in a month. Butter is ALWAYS seasonable.

P.S. IS THIS REAL LIFE. OMG.

Spritz Sandwich Cookies
adapted from Baker’s Royale

ingredients:
1 cup (16 tablespoons) good quality unsalted European butter, like Kerrygold, cut into small chunks
2/3 cup granulated sugar
pinch kosher salt
1 cup powdered sugar
1 egg plus 1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla
6 tablespoons milk
3 cups flour, plus 2 tablespoons
6 tablespoons cornstarch
turbinado sugar, for sprinkling
jam, for sandwiching, if desired

directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Line 2 baking sheets with parchment or silpat.
Prepare a pastry bag with a star tip, or any desired tip, or prepare a spritz cookie press.
In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter with the granulated sugar and salt for 3 minutes, until soft, light, and fluffy.
Scrape the sides of the bowl and add the powdered sugar, egg, egg yolk, and vanilla; mix on low to combine, then beat for 2 minutes.
Scrape the sides of the bowl and add the milk; mix until homogeneous.
Add in the flour and cornstarch in two additions, mixing slowly to combine after each one.
Fill the pastry bag with the batter (you’ll have to fill it multiple times), and pipe out desired shapes.
Sprinkle with turbinado sugar, and bake for 8 minutes, until set and lightly golden.
Allow to cool, then sandwich with some jam!

October 23, 2013 by Rachel Sally

Giggling

Actually, these were not giggle-inducing cookies to sort out. They were kind of a pain in the ass.

Although very worth the headache.

Lately, all the cookies I’ve been making have been quite annoying.

By all I mean two batches. One of which you see here.

Delicious, yes. In the end, worth it, yes. But testing recipes isn’t always smooth going.
Especially when you make it up as you go.

Sans thermometer, no less!

ALSO, I hate photographing cookies (I’m soooo bad at it someone teach me SOS). My cookie skills (in all realms) clearly need brushing up.

(Good thing I have 6 rolls of slice and bake cookies in the fridge right now…)

These cookies struck me in the middle of a autumnal daydream.

Gooey, spicy pumpkin caramel+buttery, soft, cinnamon cookie pillows?

Good grief.

Somehow, I waited days!!! I had no time. I longed to make these lil guys.
I gathered my ingredients round, assuring them in hushed whispers, “You will be great. Magical, even. Just a little longer now.”

Pumpkin, spices, cream, sugar, butter…

The problem- the caramel was supposed to be stuffed inside the stupid cookies. But it kept heating up and becoming hot molten lava that burbled and puddled out of the cookies.
Delicious puddles.

But ugly puddles. I mean, come on… I can’t very well post a picture of an ENTIRE cookie sheet merged into ONE giant mutant cookie and expect people to be attracted, can I?
Yes. That happened.

So I tried and tried again. It didn’t work. I gave up, rolled the snickerdoodles into little puffy balls, and spread gooey caramel in between them.

As I licked my fingers clean of salty-sweet-spicy caramel after biting into one of these little sandwiches, I regretted nothing.

Stuffed cookies are overrated anyways. Hmph.

Soft Snickerdoodle Sandwiches with Pumpkin Caramel

cookie portion adapted from Joy of Baking

ingredients:
for the cookies:
360 grams (2 3/4 cups) flour
pinch salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
225 grams (16 tablespoons) butter, cut into pieces
300 grams (1 1/2 cups) sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup granulated sugar mixed with 2 teaspoons cinnamon

for the pumpkin caramel:
110 grams (scant half cup) pumpkin
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
150 grams (1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons) heavy cream
40 grams (2 tablespoons) butter
225 (1 cup plus 2 tablespoons) grams sugar
60 grams (scant 3 tablespoons) corn syrup
45 grams (3 tablespoons) water
7 grams (big, big pinch) salt

directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
For the cookies, cream the butter and sugar together for 3 minutes, then scrape the sides of the bowl, add the eggs and vanilla, and beat for 4 more minutes.
Meanwhile, whisk the baking powder, flour, and salt together.
Scrape the sides of the bowl and add in the flour mixture all at once.
Gently stir to combine, just until a dough forms.
Use a 2 teaspoon cookie scoop to make little balls; roll them between your hands and roll in the cinnamon sugar.
Place on a cookie sheet and freeze for 10 minutes.
Bake for 10-12 minutes, until slightly spread out and puffed.
Allow all of the cookies to cool completely before filling them.

For the caramel, whisk pumpkin, spices, and heavy cream together.
Microwave for 30 seconds, until warm but not hot, and set aside.
Place the sugar, corn syrup, salt, and water into a small, deep pot.
Heat over medium-low heat until the caramel is a deep tan, about 10 minutes, then remove from heat and whisk in butter (careful!).
Once the butter is melted, whisk in the cream mixture (careful).
Heat over low heat, whisking almost constantly, until the temperature reaches 240 degrees F.
Allow to cool completely before touching the caramel or filling the cookies.

To assemble, place a small spoonful of caramel onto one cookie, and place another one on top.
Easy-peasy! Enjoy!

September 25, 2013September 26, 2013 by Rachel Sally

Windy Wednesday

Today’s post is brought to you by the letter W.

Words are not one of the W’s. They escape me today.

But rather: waffles, waterfalls, and wistful. (Wednesday, too, I suppose!)

Oh… and windy… Because, yes, I am in the Windy City.

So, um, yes. Here are some abstract pictures of a waffle cake.

And my dog, obviously.

My waffle maker makes kind of smushed waffles. It’s pretty old. I don’t blame it.

The result of stacking up these smushed waffles with a lightly spiced brown butter and maple pear-apple compote and a maple Italian meringue is a delicious but somewhat ugly cake.
I know!! So many ugly cakes lately. Sorry. Sometimes that’s how the cookie crumbles.
Whataryagonnado.

Pssst… I even had a slice for breakfast!

(Ginger, on the other hand, did not.)
Which explains her facial expression.

Pear and Apple Waffle Cake

for the waffles:
from King Arthur Flour
ingredients:
1 1/2 cups milk, warmed to 110 degrees F
6 tablespoons melted butter
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 scant cup of Belgian pearl sugar

directions:
Sprinkle the yeast over the milk to prepare it for its job; after five minutes, whisk in the butter and maple syrup as well as the vanilla extract.
Stir in the eggs and the flour and salt; set the batter aside in a warm place, covered in plastic wrap, for one hour, to rest and rise.
Right before cooking, stir in the Belgian pearl sugar.
Cook the waffles in a waffle maker.
for the pear and apple compote:
ingredients:
2 medium pears, peeled and cored and chopped into small pieces
3 medium apples, peeled and cored and chopped into small pieces
3 tablespoons maple syrup
1/2 tablespoon butter
pinch salt
pinch cinnamon
pinch nutmeg

directions:
Brown the butter in a saute pan, then add all the apples and pears and saute them until they soften.
Add the maple syrup and allow it to reduce by 1/2.
Season to taste with salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
Allow to cool before using.

for the maple Italian meringue buttercream:
ingredients:
1 egg white
pinch salt
pinch cream of tartar
1/3 cup maple syrup
1 stick of butter, softened
directions:

Place egg white, salt, and cream of tartar in the bowl of a stand mixer.
Place maple syrup in a small pot and begin to heat it up.
Whip the egg white while heating the maple syrup to 240 degrees F.
The white should be at soft peaks when the syrup reaches temp; drizzle it in with the mixer running.
Once the meringue has cooled, beat in the butter.
Stack up the waffles with buttercream and compote.
Enjoy!

August 29, 2013September 13, 2013 by Rachel Sally

Pudd’nhead

“Adam was but human—this explains it all. He did not want the apple for the apple’s sake, he wanted it only because it was forbidden. The mistake was in not forbidding the serpent; then he would have eaten the serpent.”

-Mark Twain, Pudd’nhead Wilson

I have bad news.

I did that thing I do again.

That thing that I do that makes no sense.

I scratched my compulsive, everything-from-scratch itch again.

I made bread- but not just any bread, a very involved, intricate, fussy, time-consuming bread.

Then, I chopped it up and made bread pudding.

I know. I think I’m crazy, too.

But this bread… Oh, this bread.

Soft, fluffy, snowy white.

Yes, white bread. Even though I’m a nuts-and-seeds, whole-food, whole-grain, fermented, brown, brown, brown bread type of girl, I love white bread.

We all do. I refuse to hear otherwise.

Think about it… crispy, crackly baguettes, eggy challah, white sourdough boules…

White bread is great, occasionally.

Now is one of those occasions.

I baked this bread following instructions at Kirbie’s Cravings.

She adapted it from a cookbook, 65 Degrees, which outlines the Tangzhong method of making bread.

This is a Japanese-style Hokkaido bread, which is a milk, butter, and cream enriched dough.
In my experience, enriched yeast doughs need a little more care to ensure they come out perfectly.
Her instructions could not be any better, so I’ll send you there if you’d like to try the bread.
I highly recommend it.
(You will need a scale.)
I halved the recipe so I would only get 1 loaf, but found myself regretting that we didn’t have two loaves.
The tangzhong paste is sort of like a bread enhancer/saver, so it will last a bit longer than other homemade breads, another reason to make two loaves.

Here’s the link:

Kirbie’s Cravings’ Hokkaido Milk Toast

(Thanks so much, Kirbie!!)

Some tips that I learned while making this bread:

The tangzhong cooks very quickly, so stay near it while it cooks.

Set a timer for 20 minutes and let the dough knead the entire time: due to the enriched nature of the dough, the gluten development is slightly inhibited (the butter, cream, egg, and milk make it difficult for the gluten to form) and needs a long kneading period.

Your dough needs to pass the membrane/windowpane test, which Kirbie describes perfectly. She even provides pictures.

Now, these bread puddings:

you should eat them warm, with a dollop of cold, freshly whipped cream.

The chocolate is melty, the plums are fall-apart tender and tart.

The top of the bread is crunchy and the underside is custardy.

Bread pudding is a fall dessert.

This bread pudding showcases the best of late summer: plums.

They’re roasted until bubbling and syrupy, then cut into small pieces and layered among fluffy bread cubes and dark chocolate chips, then smothered in custard and baked, again, until bubbling.

The juices pour down the sides as the puddings puff up; when you pull them out of the oven they will deflate a bit, but the result of the deflation is a lovely, dense custard, filled with goodies.

You could make these with any white bread: challah, sourdough, sandwich, brioche… just cut the crusts off.

Or, you could make them with Hokkaido milk toast… Which obviously I highly recommend.

P.S. Heat any leftovers (what’s a leftover) in the microwave for 20 seconds, so they warm up again. They’ll taste like they’re straight out of the oven.

Roasted Plum and Dark Chocolate Bread Pudding
makes 4 small ramekins, easily doubled, tripled, or quadrupled
ingredients:
2 plums or pluots
1 tablespoon of sugar
3 1/2 inch thick slices of brioche, challah, or sourdough, crusts removed and cubed
1 egg
3/4 cup milk
1/2 a vanilla bean, scraped
pinch of cinnamon
3 tablespoons sugar
4 tablespoons large chocolate chunks or chips
turbinado sugar, for sprinkling (optional)
whipped cream, for serving (optional)
directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Halve and pit the plums and place in a baking dish.
Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of sugar and bake until syrupy and soft, 12-15 minutes.
Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly.
Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F.
Whisk egg, milk, and 3 tablespoons sugar together with the scrapings of 1/2 a vanilla bean and a pinch of cinnamon.
Lay bread cubes over the bottom of each ramekin and place a few chocolate chips over that layer.
Cube the cooled plums; place a thick layer of plums over the first bread layer, about 1/2 plum per ramekin.
Top with the remaining bread cubes and chocolate chips.
Pour 1/4 of the egg mixture over each dish, then sprinkle liberally with turbinado sugar.
Bake until puffed, golden, and juices overflowing, about 20 minutes.
Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly; serve warm with whipped cream.

June 18, 2013September 13, 2013 by Rachel Sally

Specialty

Have you spent much time on the (food) blogosphere in the past, oh, say, year?

If you answered yes, you can pretty much skip down to the recipe.

Because you’ll want to make it. I just know it.
Ready?
Okay, I made some Biscoff spread.
AKA speculoos spread, AKA cookie butter.
But… I made it from scratch.
Starting with the cookies.

Speculoos (speculaas) cookies are lightly spiced, buttery, brown sugar cookies that are typically found in Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands, where they are important while celebrating Sinterklaas’ (Sint Nikolaas, St. Nicholas) feast.
They’re tinged with nutmeg, cinnamon, pepper, cloves, ginger, and cardamom, but much less so than other gingerbread cookies.
The brown sugar really shines through the gentle spices.

Speculoos spread is basically ground up cookies with oil.
And people love that s&!#.
Obsessive love. To the extent that Trader Joe’s speculoos nearly went extinct.
Probably because people shove this stuff in EVERYTHING.
Pies, cookies, brownies, candies, their mouths.
Basically, spread it on bread or crackers or cookies or a spoon, then
eat.

Obviously, I had to make some myself.
(By the way, you can’t taste the peanuts or nutella at all; the tahini adds a certain richness and spiciness that is very difficult to pinpoint or detect. These three spreads keep the cookie butter emulsified with a proper texture.)
Then, I had to stick it in EVERYTHING.
Look out ahead, because everything in the foreseeable future is speculoos-related.
Yum.

Faux-Speculoos Spread

cookie portion from Eat the Love

ingredients:

for the cookies:

1/2 cup (1 stick or 113 g) cold unsalted butter
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons (75 g) white granulated sugar
3/4 cup (165 g) packed dark brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 3/4 cup (235 g) all purpose flour

to assemble spread:

pinch of cinnamon and cloves

scant 1/4 cup (50 g) coconut oil

6 tablespoons canola oil

1/4 cup half and half

2 tablespoons nutella

2 tablespoons peanut butter

1/3 cup tahini

directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Cream butter on high until softened and fluffy. Add in the sugars, baking soda, salt, and spices, and cream for at least 3 minutes, until fluffy, lightened in color, shiny, and completely smooth.

Scrape the sides of the bowl and add in the egg.

Beat on high until fully combined and fluffy, 2 more minutes.

Scrape the sides of the bowl.

Add in the flour and mix until homogeneous, about 1 more minute.

Pinch off balls of dough and flatten them- they’re going to be crushed up, so don’t bother making them perfectly evenly sized or shaped.
Bake for 8-10 minutes, until golden and fragrant.

Remove from oven and let cool completely.

Place all cookies into a food processor and process with extra cinnamon and cloves until finely pulverized.

Add the coconut oil, half and half, and canola oil, and process until mixture is wet.

Add in the nut butters and nutella and process until mixture is a very smooth paste.

Store in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.

June 16, 2013September 13, 2013 by Rachel Sally

Pitter Pater

Happy Father’s Day!

Especially to my wonderful father, who is currently in London.

(I know. He missed out on father’s day. I shouldn’t be baking him anything!!)

Shout out to you, Pops!

Father’s day seems to be about doing classic flavors in a new way…

Last year was an Elvis cake, based on the famous friend banana and peanut butter sandwiches that the King loved.

This year, I made knockoff Little Debbie Oatmeal Cream Pies. You know, the ones you remember from your childhood. Soft, squidgy, filled with marshmallow and only slightly spicy.

My dad loves soft, chewy oatmeal cookies, and I know he likes OCPs.

When I found Stella of BraveTart’s recipe, I knew I had to make them.

The cookies aren’t exactly intuitive in the making, but once you bite into one, you know exactly what they’re supposed to be. They taste amazingly similar to the store-bought, factory-processed cookies, but fresher and better, and slightly more complex as well.

I had to ship these internationally to my dad, and I’m just hoping that they get to him on time, before he leaves to come back to America.

If they don’t, it’s his loss, right? That’s what you get for ditching your kid on Father’s Day.

Just kidding. I love you, Daddy, and miss you even more.

I hope you like the cookies.

Head here for the full Oatmeal Creme Pie recipe: these are dead ringers for the real deal OCPs.

The ingredients list is a little strange and involved, but it’s totally worth it.

Also, be sure to take your cookies out after exactly 8 minutes: they should be completely puffy and really soft- practically not baked at all, just warmed. Once you take them out of the oven, they will fall and become very chewy and soft, just the way they should be.

April 7, 2013September 13, 2013 by Rachel Sally

La Mer, Mon Amour

I love the sea.

That said, I am not one of the lucky few who feel most comfortable in the ocean.

It should be noted that they are a subset even of those who feel at home in the water, because the ocean, in its unending vastness, in its power and unfathomable profundity, is incomparable to pools and ponds.

It is a special person, indeed, who is a creature of the sea.

Moral of the story, I’m more of a sea-groupie.

I love the smell and the sound, love the taste and feel, I love to lounge and laze at the edge, to dip in and quickly back out, indulging myself in my briny coat.

I love that whether you look up or out, you can see for miles.

The sky seems to stretch near the sea, sensing its competition, bending past the horizon, swelling upward like a filling balloon.

The sea is content to swish around, stealing the show with its quiet confidence.

The sky is threatened by its more brilliantly azure sister, and produces sun shows indescribable in their beauty.

Pale pastels contrast with the darkening sky and silvery waves, trailing the blazing sun as it passes out of sight.

The most radiant, I think, are sunsets where the sun peeks out from holes in pillowy clouds, streaming forth in great, illuminating rays.

I’m not religious, but these are the times when I look up at the sky and see a god beaming down.

Back very soon with food-related posts and pictures.
Sorry for the travel-photo-vomit.

December 28, 2012September 13, 2013 by Rachel Sally

All that Glitters

2013 will soon be upon us, as out of the ashes of the last dying day of December rises the new year.

2012 went by in a flash (don’t they all?). It’s hard for me to believe that the year is almost over.

We got eight-ish inches of snow from the storm, and our entire town is blanketed in thick, fluffy white piles.

It is such a wintry wonderland: picture perfect and well-suited for the holidays.

As we ring in the new year, I hope all of you are surrounded by friends, family, and champagne love. It’s the only way to begin 2013!

These are vanilla bean Italian macarons, filled with rose French buttercream, swiped with a bit of tempered white chocolate, and dusted with a whisper of gold luster dust and silver stars. Luxuriously delicious, and perfect for NYE celebrations!

Well, scratch that. I just finished the last one. New Year’s Eve’s Eve’s Eve’s Eve celebrations. Close enough.

I’m feeling supremely lazy, so I’m gonna link some recipes with adaptation instructions rather than rewriting them here. Sorry Larry.

I used this fabulous recipe, halved, for the macarons. I prefer to use the sucre cuit style, as it has previously given me better results than the traditional French method. And I’m lazy and Anita has absolutely foolproof instructions and pictures, so, by all means, go take a look around her blog. Gorgeous! I swiped each shell with some melted, tempered white chocolate, and dusted them with gold luster dust and silver sprinkle stars.

For the rose buttercream, I used BraveTart’s recipe, scaled down for the weight of 1.5 ish egg yolks (I used about 2.3 ounces of butter, to give you an idea), then added a teeny tiny touch of red food coloring, about a tablespoon of mascarpone, 1/4 cup powdered sugar, and a few drops of rose water (which gets stronger as it ages! so beware!). It made the perfect amount for the macarons.

See you next year! Have a wonderful holiday! xo

La Pêche Fraîche

Category: cozy