Mint Chip Gelato….Homage to National Ice Cream Month

August 2, 2010July 2, 2015 The Culinary Chronicles7 Comments

July was National Ice Cream Month! And what better way to compliment the summer heat than with a big old bowl of your favorite ice cream flavor. My favorite flavor? Easy. Mint Chocolate Chip—-but not just any variety. This gal requires that her Mint Chocolate Chip not only taste good but have that bright green hue that only food coloring can bring 🙂 It just tastes better….True Story.

And although I realize traditional Gelato is different than Ice Cream, I thought that its Italian counterpart would be a great “lighter” alternative to celebrate this fun food month. I was inspired to try out the Mint Chip Gelato from Ravenous Couple as I liked their interpretation from David Lebovitz and Mark Bittman.

The recipe was straight and to the point—-and with my lovely Cuisinart Ice Cream/Sorbet Maker, it was a breeze! Because I added 1.5 bunches of fresh mint to my base, my gelato was MINT-A-LICIOUS—which was perfect for me. I think the only change I would make next time would be to reduce the cornstarch to 1 Tablespoon as 2 was just a little too much for my liking. And because of the high volume of fresh mint that I used, I was able to achieve a very pretty light green hue. Quite lovely with no food coloring needed.

And not only was my end product delicious but I knew exactly EVERYTHING that was in it and could control amounts, etc. No added preservatives or filler ingredients here.

There’s nearly two official months left until Summer ends and I intend to fully give my ice cream maker a work out 🙂

Until next time friends, stay COOL (pun intended).

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Mint Chip Gelato
From Ravenous Couple

Ingredients:

2 Cups Whole Milk
1/3 Cup Sugar
2 Tablespoons Cornstarch
Pinch salt
1-2 Bunches Fresh Mint, washed, dried, and destemmed
5 oz. Dark Chocolate

Make a slurry with about 3-4 tbs of milk and corn starch in a bowl and set aside. Add the remainder of the milk to a sauce pan, mint, salt, and sugar under medium low heat. When mixture starts to bubble, turn off heat and allow mint to steep for about 1 hour. Then pour mixture over a sieve and squeeze out the fluid from mint and discard.

Reheat his mixture under medium low heat. When it begins to bubble, add your mixed slurry and stir making sure there are no clumps. Continue to heat until it thickens..when you can run a line on a back of a spoon without the mixture coming together it should be done. Cool completely (preferably over night) and then add to your ice cream maker, follow it’s directions.

Place the container that you plan on storing the ice cream in the freezer.

In the mean time, coarsely chop the chocolate into small pieces and heat over a water bath. When the ice cream maker is done, scribble the melted chocolate onto your cold container–it should freeze almost instantly. Scoop in a layer of ice cream and break up the chocolate. Scribble more chocolate and layer on more ice cream. Continue until done and freeze until firm. Before serving allow to thaw just slightly before scooping.

Desserts/Pastries

Big, Super-Nutty Peanut Butter Cookies

July 27, 2010 The Culinary Chronicles5 Comments

Growing up in Minnesota, I spent a lot of time with my paternal grandparents. Not only would they would watch over me while my folks were at work but they were my playmates since my elder siblings were way too cool to hang out with their baby sister 🙂

Sure, I admit it now; I was somewhat the quintessential baby sister feigning hurt feelings and tears when I was left out from my older siblings’ adventures. And what were the results? Comfort in the form of kind words from my grandparents followed by secret consolation treats like Fig Newtons and Andes Mint Candies—which I happily accepted. In fact, many foods have childhood memories directly associated to them.

One, for example, are Peanut Butter Cookies. They were my grandpa’s (who we called “Ôn”) favorite sweet treat that my sisters often baked for him. Sometimes they even let me make the traditional tracked prints on the top with a fork—a HUGE honor and joy for a 6 year old. To this day, I can’t eat a Peanut Butter Cookie without thinking about Ôn. And this particular recipe from Cooks Illustrated would have pleased him greatly. First discovered by my sister, this recipe has made its way as one of my favorite cookies to make. A tad laborious (like all Cooks Illustrated recipes!) but the end results are second to none and pack HUGE peanut butter flavors. Super buttery, great texture from the chopped nuts and crunchy peanut butter, slightly crisp on the outside, chewy on inside….yummy.

Delicious on its own and also as a vessel for ice cream sandwiches, I know any Peanut Butter fanatic will just L-O-V-E these.

This one’s dedicated to my gentle hearted, WWF wrestling-watching grandpa. We miss and love you, Ôn!

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Super-Nutty Peanut Butter Cookies
From Cooks Illustrated
Makes approximately 30 Large Cookies

Ingredients:

2½ Cups All-Purpose Flour
½ Teaspoon Baking Soda
½ Teaspoon Baking Powder
½ Teaspoon Salt
½ lb. Butter, salted
1 Cup Packed Dark Brown Sugar
1 Cup Ganulated Sugar
1 Cup Extra-Crunchy Peanut Butter
2 Large Eggs
2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract
1 Cup Roasted Salted Peanuts (ground in food processor to resemble bread crumbs)

Adjust oven rack to low center position; heat oven to 350 degrees. Sift flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in medium bowl.

In bowl of electric mixer or by hand, beat butter until creamy. Add sugars; beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes with electric mixer, stopping to scrape down bowl as necessary. Beat in peanut butter until fully incorporated, then eggs, one at a time, then vanilla. Gently stir dry ingredients into peanut butter mixture. Add ground peanuts; stir gently until just incorporated.

Working with 2 tablespoons dough at a time, roll into large balls, placing them 2 inches apart on a parchment-covered cookie sheet. Press each dough ball with back of dinner fork dipped in cold water to make crisscross design. Bake until cookies are puffed and slightly brown along edges, but not top, 10 to 12 minutes (they will not look fully baked). Cool cookies on cookie sheet until set, about 4 minutes, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely. Cookies will keep, refrigerated in an airtight container, up to 7 days.

Desserts/Pastries

Chocolate Toffee Cookies

July 21, 2010 The Culinary Chronicles9 Comments

Cookies = Good!

Brownies = Good!

So what can be better? Easy—-Cookies that have the rich decadent flavor and chewiness of a Brownie. Which is why this Chocolate Toffee Cookie was destined for greatness.

When I came across the original recipe in Bon Appetit, I knew that the low amount of flour and high amount of melted chocolate would yield a great brownie-like flavor. And it did! The toffee chips also intrigued me though next time, I would leave the toffee bits even more coarse as I think it got somewhat lost in the cookie. No worries because there will definitely be a next time 🙂

So for all you Chocoholics—what are you waiting for? This Cookies is just what the Dr. Cacao ordered!

Until next time friends…..Cheers!

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Chocolate Toffee Cookies
Adapted from Bon Appetit
Makes 20 Large Cookies

Ingredients:

½ Cup All Purpose Flour
1 Teaspoon Baking Powder
¼ Teaspoon Salt
16 Ounces Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
¼ Cup Unsalted Butter, room temperature
1¾ Cups Light Brown Sugar
4 Large Eggs, room temperature
1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract
8 Ounces Coarsely Chopped Toffee Bars

Preheat oven to 350° degrees. Line large baking sheets with parchment paper or silpats.

Sift together flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl. Combine chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl. Melt the chocolate and butter in the microwave using 20-second intervals, stirring in between each period. Continue until the mixture is melted and smooth—about 100 seconds, depending on the oven. Do this slowly and carefully as to not scorch the chocolate. Cool mixture to lukewarm.

With a stand mixer, beat sugar and eggs in bowl until thick, about 5 minutes. Beat in chocolate mixture and vanilla. Stir in flour mixture and then toffee. Chill batter until firm but not hard, about 30 minutes.

Using a #10 ice cream scooper (or spoon approximately ¼ cup), place dough onto prepared baking sheets, spacing the cookies 2½ inches apart. With the bottom of a flat drinking glass, press slightly down on each cookie to lightly flatten the tops. Bake just until tops are dry and cracked but cookies are still soft to touch, about 15 minutes.

Cool on sheets. ENJOY!

Desserts/Pastries

Vanilla Cupcakes with Lemon Curd & Guava Buttercream Frosting

July 19, 2010July 21, 2010 The Culinary Chronicles3 Comments

Confession: Sometimes when I’m testing out a new component to a recipe, I’ll use shortcuts in other areas. For example, when I thought of creating Vanilla Cupcakes with Lemon Curd & Guava Buttercream Frosting, I wanted to focus my time on getting the right flavor profile down for the Guava Buttercream and defaulted to using a packaged Lemon Curd from Trader Joe’s (which, incidentally, is delicious!). And although I love Lemon Curd and would have been able to find many uses for it, I didn’t want to whip up an entire batch for such a small amount. Trader Joe’s to the rescue!

The Guava Buttercream was inspired through one of my other ongoing projects—attempting to make the elusive Hawaiian Guava Chiffon Cake. And although I have been quite unsuccessful with that particular Island pastry, it has left my pantries well stocked with guava products such as jams, syrups and nectar. If you can’t find Guava concentrated Nectar (I used the Hawaiian Sun brand), you can use regular Guava juice—though I suspect the flavor won’t pack as much punch.

As for the cuppies, I turned to one of my standard vanilla cupcakes to offer a subtle but tasty canvas for the Guava Buttercream. It also paired nicely with the lemon curd though I think the buttecream had such a nice tropical flavor that it could stand on its own. Perhaps a Mango Cupcake with Guava Buttercream sprinkled with Li Hing powder? Mmmmm!!!

And with that, here’s my question to you all….

What type of cuppie do you think will pair well with a Guava Buttercream?

CHEERS! 🙂

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Vanilla Cupcakes with Lemon Curd & Guava Buttercream Frosting
Makes 12 Cupcakes

Ingredients:

Vanilla Cupcakes
1½ Cups All Purpose Flour
1½ Teaspoon Baking Powder
¼ Teaspoon Salt
3 Large Eggs (room temperature)
1 Cup Vanilla Sugar* (or plain granulated sugar)
½ Cup Unsalted Butter (room temperature)
1 Tablespoon Good Quality Vanilla Extract
¼ Cup Milk
¾ Cup Lemon Curd

*Vanilla Sugar
Take the scraped Vanilla Bean Pod and bury into one cup of granulated sugar. Cover for a minimum of 5 days, stirring every other day.

Guava Buttercream Frosting
3 to 4 Cups Confectioners Sugar (sifted)
½ Cup Unsalted butter (room temperature)
½ Cup Guava Jam
2-3 Tablespoons Guava Concentrated Nectar

Preheat oven to 350°degrees and place paper liners in pans. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

In a standing mixer, beat the eggs and sugar together until light and creamy for about 2 minutes. Add the butter, and vanilla extract. Mix until well incorporated. Add milk and mix until smooth. Slowly incorporate dry ingredients until well blended.

Fill each lined cup 2/3 full with cupcake batter. Bake for approximately 18-20 minutes, rotating halfway between baking time. Cupcakes are done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes clean. Cool completely in pans on top of a wire rack.

While cupcakes are cooling, prepare Guava Buttercream. In a large mixer bowl, whip the butter for several minutes until very light and fluffy. Slowly add the confectioners sugar until the butter becomes thicker and stiff. Add Guava Jam and Nectar and whip until combined. If needed, add a few more spoons of confectioners sugar until desired consistency is reached.

When cupcakes are thoroughly cooled, fill a piping bag with a small tip and the Lemon Curd. Carefully insert the tip into the cupcake and slowly fill each cake with desired amount. You can also cut a small hole in the cupcake using a pairing knife and fill in with the lemon curd.

Fill another piping bag with the prepared Guava Buttercream. Frost and decorate the cupcakes.

ENJOY!

Desserts/Pastries

Red Velvet Cupcakes…Just in Time for the 4th of July!

July 2, 2010February 10, 2011 The Culinary Chronicles7 Comments

When the Cupcake Craze emerged, it resurrected the huge following of Red Velvet Cupcake goers. People just love them—and in fact, it’s my most requested cupcake.

There’s just something about that bright red color of the cake and mounds of frosting that really draw people in. I’m not sure if it’s more the flavor or the coloring that is the attraction—though I’m partial to the hue. Heck—I’m also the gal who can’t eat Mint Chip Ice Cream that isn’t the brightly colored green type! 🙂

Traditionally dyed with beet juice, Red Velvet Cake has come along way and is produced in variety of incarnations. Some prefer oil to butter, cake flour to all-purpose, buttermilk to regular milk, a ton of cocoa powder to a few spoonfuls……it can go on and on. The particular version I gravitate towards uses a butter base in combination with sour cream. I find that this leaves the cake with a more rich and moist profile. I also love a deep intense color and tend to use more food coloring than others. This is also affected by the low amount of cocoa powder in this particular recipe. Whereas some prefer to use more cocoa powder, I am under the belief that it’s there just for a light flavoring.

These classic Red Velvet Cuppies have been a fav among my family and friends. Top them off with a few blueberries and they will be the perfect addition to any 4th of July Celebration!!!

Have a safe and HAPPY 4th of JULY!!!

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Red Velvet Cupcakes
Makes approximately 18 Regular Sized Cupcakes

Ingredients:

Batter
1¼ Cups All Purpose Flour
½ Teaspoon Baking Soda
¼ Teaspoon Salt
1½ Tablespoons High Quality Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
½ Cup Unsalted Butter, room temperature
1 Cup Granulated Sugar
2 Large Eggs, room temperature
½ Cup Sour Cream
½ Cup Lowfat Milk
1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
2-3 Tablespoons Red Food Color, depending on desired intensity of color

Cream Cheese Frosting
8 Ounces of Cream Cheese, room temperature
4 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter, room temperature
2-3 Cups Confectioner Sugar, varies due to preferred frosting consistency
1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Preheat the oven to 350°degrees and place paper liners in pans.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In a standing mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy for about 3-4 minutes. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Add milk, sour cream, vanilla, and food color. Slowly incorporate dry ingredients until well blended.

Fill each lined cup 2/3 full. Bake for approximately 18-20 minutes, rotating halfway between baking time. Cupcakes are done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes clean. Cool completely in pans on top of a wire rack.

While cupcakes are baking, prepare the frosting. In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the cream cheese and butter until fluffy. Add vanilla extract and gradually add in the confectioners’ sugar, a few tablespoons at a time. Continue adding sugar to desire consistency. Refrigerate for at least 10 minutes before use.

When cupcakes are thoroughly cooled either frost or pipe decorate swirls on top.

Enjoy!

Breads · Breakfast/Brunch · Desserts/Pastries

Blackberry Muffins topped with Almond Streusel

June 28, 2010October 12, 2013 The Culinary Chronicles9 Comments

I try my hardest to eat what is in season and in doing so, I find that I get the best products at the lowest price. The other day while picking up some items at my local grocery store, I came across signs for fresh Blackberries at only $1 a basket! Now that was a deal I couldn’t pass up. I quickly filled my cart with 3 cartons without any idea on how I was going to use them.

The following work day, I decided to greet my new student staff with freshly baked muffins for our early morning meeting. I had never had a Blackberry Muffin before but thought it would be a great use of the fresh blackberries I had just picked up. Plus, I recalled a recipe from Williams Sonoma that featured this combination.

After a little digging around I found the recipe and quickly began making some modifications. The recipe is SUPER easy and I think the additions I made added a great flavor profile to the muffins.

The muffin was light, fluffy, and quite moist. The large blackberries were a nice surprise when biting into the muffin and I was pleased to see that my cautious folding of the batter yielded no “bleeding” from the berries. As for the almond streusel topping, well, what’s not to love about crunchy almonds, sugar and butter? The slight crunch added great texture and it seemed to be quite the favorite component with everyone.

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Blackberry Muffins topped with Almond Streusel
Makes 12 Muffins

Ingredients:

Streusel Topping:
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1 heaping tablespoon brown sugar
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon fresh lemon zest
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
½ cup sliced toasted almonds, roughly chopped

Batter:
2 cups all purpose flour
¾ cup granulated sugar (more if needed, depending on sweetness of berries)
1/4 cup light brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon fresh lemon zest
¼ teaspoon salt
1 egg, beaten
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 cup buttermilk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 cups fresh blackberries

Preheat an oven to 375°F. Place 12 paper liners in a standard muffin tin. Using a cooking spray, lightly spray the cups and pan. Set aside.

Prepare the topping. In a small bowl, stir together the sugars, flour, cinnamon and lemon zest. Stir in the melted butter until the mixture is crumbly. Stir in almonds and set aside.

Prepare the batter. In a small bowl, whisk together the buttermilk and vanilla extract. In a larger bowl, stir together the flour, sugars, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, lemon zest and salt. Make a well in the center and add the egg, melted butter and buttermilk mixture. Stir just until evenly moistened. The batter will be fairly lumpy. Carefully sprinkle in the blackberries (reserving 12 of the berries aside) and gently fold into the batter with a large rubber spatula just until evenly distributed. Take care not to break up the fruit.

Spoon and divide evenly the batter into the prepared muffin cups. Gently place one berry on top of each muffin and lightly press down with your finger until it is submerged. Proceed to cover each muffin with the streusel topping, dividing it evenly .

Bake until the muffins are golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool for 10 minutes. Unmold the muffins. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Enjoy!

Just missing a steaming cup of Joe 🙂

Desserts/Pastries

“I’m a Big Boy” Cupcakes

June 23, 2010July 7, 2010 The Culinary Chronicles6 Comments

Last month my friend Ashley put in a unique cupcake request to celebrate a momentous occasion in her eldest son’s life—Potty Training! In an effort to get him excited about this new phase in his life, she was throwing him a “Bye-Bye Diapers” celebration and wanted cuppies with some undies on them 🙂

I was intrigued and quickly accepted the challenge. Instead of worrying about cake flavors and frosting types (like I usually do when filling orders), I was consumed with how to best illustrate these whimsical cuppies and enlisted the help of the BF. Isaiah is quite artsy and always is able to create some beautiful work. And yes, I realize that I’m a lucky gal for dragging in the BF to not only decorate cupcakes but make BVDs!

For the cake, I settled on a simple Vanilla batter as I find that kids “J’s” age gravitate more to the classics–chocolate, vanilla, or strawberry. Amy Sedaris’ Vanilla Cupcakes were just the trick to a quick and tasty Vanilla cuppie. As for the frosting, kids typically like frosting better than the cake–and usually the sweeter the better! My standard quick-vanilla-butter cream-frosting was in order.

And finally, the decorations—which turned out to be the most difficult decision. I knew I would be happier with the overall look if I used Fondant for it’s smooth, clean lines and it would be much easier to cut shapes out of it. However, if you’re anything like me, I really am not a fan of the taste or texture of eating fondant. And if I don’t like it, I can’t expect the kiddies to either. After much deliberation, I settled on a diplomatic compromise. For the “flavor”, half the cupcakes would have a big mound of butter cream frosting and be topped with a “BVD” fondant decoration. For the “look”, the other half of the cupcakes would be covered in all fondant.

The process with the fondant was actually quite fun! One just needs a bit of cornstarch to ensure it doesn’t stick while rolling it out and you need to be sure to store the unused fondant in airtight containers to prevent it from drying out. Isaiah and I got a pretty nice assembly line pumping them out, too. I’d primarily roll out the fondant and cut the “BVD” shapes and he would pipe the red accents using colored royal icing. For these cuppies, I used Martha Stewart’s Royal Icing recipe as it uses meringue powder instead of egg whites. This is particular nice since some folks are wary of using/eating raw eggs.

We were quite happy with the end result of our “I’m a Big Boy Cupcakes”. It had a great playfulness from the bright colors we chose and of course, because of the “BVDs”. The Big Guy also seemed to enjoy them as he took a big whomping bite directly from the top–frosting, fondant, and all!

Just goes to show–No decoration is too silly. And in fact, the more silly–the better!!!

Wishing you tons of Luck, “J”! You’re a BIG BOY, now! 🙂

Cupcakes packed and ready to go!

“J” Approved 🙂 Pic courtesy of his proud, Mama.

Desserts/Pastries

Key Lime Pie with Macadamia-Graham Cracker Crust

June 21, 2010July 21, 2010 The Culinary Chronicles14 Comments

I have always loved the bright and vibrant flavors of citrus, particularly Limes. And in this gal’s humble opinion, very few desserts can bring such a smile to my face like a good piece of Key Lime Pie. The creamy, sweet, and tart flavors balance so well with the traditional graham cracker crust. Just absolute Yum! So when the Memorial Holiday Weekend came up, I couldn’t think of a better dessert to accompany our barbecue dinner.

Traditional Key Lime Pies are fairly easy to make but I have had so many that fell short on that true “in your face tart flavor”. Therefore, I wanted to ensure that I didn’t skimp on the Key Lime juice—a flavor quite unique to its more commonly found relative the Persian or Tahitian Lime. But have any of you ever attempted to squeeze your own Key Limes? It’s a laborious task! Those little buggers are quite small and often need to be worked quite a bit to release its juices. In fact, after squeezing 28 entire Key Limes, I was only left with a little over 1/4 cup of juice! Yikes! My confession to you all is that I actually supplemented the rest of the juice with Persian Limes. Hey–at least I was honest!

But for those of you who need to stay true to the Key Lime, you can also buy bottled Key Lime Juice at many grocery specialty stores. Just be sure to read the label and not buy the pre-sweetened type.

As for the crust, I wanted to add a unique spin to my version of the Key Lime Pie. Recently equipped with heavy bags of Macadamia Nuts from our visit to Hawai’i, I decided to incorporate these tropical nuts into the crust. I think the addition was quite delicious—offering a little nutty flavor to the party.

And how was it? I LOVED this Pie. Seriously, LOVED IT! If you’re a fan of Key Lime Pie, or any Citrus Desserts, you’ve GOT to try this little goodie. It’s seriously “Nam Tested and Approved“. And no, I won’t tell anyone if you decide to use all Persian Lime Juice instead of battling it out with the tiny Key Limes. It’ll be our little secret 🙂

A Lime Party in a Bowl

Proof that I actually squeezed them all

Macadamia-Graham Cracker Crust ready to be filled

Tart-Citrus-Creamy Goodness!

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Key Lime Pie with Macadamia-Graham Cracker Crust
Serves 8

Ingredients:

Crust
½ Cup Roasted Macadamia Nuts
9 Graham Cracker (2 1/4-inch by 4 3/4-inch crackers)
1 Tablespoons Granulated Sugar
5 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter, melted

Filling
14 Ounces Sweetened Condensed Milk
4 Large Egg Yolks, Room Temperature
½ Teaspoon Lime Zest
½ Cup Key Lime Juice

Garnish
1 Cup Heavy Cream, chilled
2 Tablespoons Granulated Sugar
1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extra
¼ Cup Crushed Macadamia Nuts
Lime Zest
Lime Slices

Preheat oven to 350° degrees.

For Crust: In a food processor, grind Macadamia Nuts until fine. Add Graham Crackers and continue to process until contents reach the consistency of sand. Place mixture into a bowl and add sugar and butter until combined well. Transfer mixture onto the bottom of a 9-inch glass pie plate and firmly press the crust together to cover the bottom of the pan and up the sides. It is extremely important to press the mixture evenly–the flat side of a metal measuring cup can assist in this process. Bake the pie crust for about 10 minutes or until golden. Remove from oven and cool on a rack.

For Filling: Whisk together condensed milk and yolks in a bowl until combined well. Add juice, lime zest and whisk until combined well. Pour filling into crust and bake in middle of oven 15 minutes. Cool pie completely on rack. The filling will continue to set as it cools. Once it reaches room temperature, transfer to the refrigerator and chill for at least 2 hours.

Final Touches: Just before serving, prepare the whipped cream. In a stand mixer, whisk the heavy cream on high until it just holds stiff peaks. Slowly sprinkle in sugar. Add vanilla. Pipe the whipped cream on top of the chilled pie and garnish with remaining crushed macadamia nuts, lime zest and lime slices.

I wish I had a slice right now 🙂

Desserts/Pastries

Guava and Lilikoi Jam Thumbprint Cookies

May 28, 2010July 1, 2010 The Culinary Chronicles2 Comments

Guava (Reddish-Pink) and Lilikoi (Yellow) Jam Thumbprint Cookies

Since being back from our wonderful vacation in Hawai’i, I’ve really missed the flavors and regional cuisine from the islands. To try and relive some of those “ono grindz”, I wanted to bake something with the Guava and Lilikoi (Passion Fruit) jams I picked up. After some inspiration from a friend’s post on Facebook (Thanks, DQ!), I decided to take the tropical flavors from the jams and make Thumbprint Cookies. After a few searches, I settled on Martha Stewart’s “Aunt Maggie’s Jam Thumbprint Cookies” for its simplicity and overall positive reviews.

How did it go? Well, I’ve been baking/cooking long enough to know that I should really trust my gut feelings when something seems odd in a recipe. But no, like a faithful puppy, I followed Martha’s recipe trusting that she would veer me in the right place. Yeah…I should have listened to myself.

Now in all fairness, the cookies weren’t “bad”. They just weren’t great….more like an “ok” response. What was the issue? First of all, the directions listed to make 1 inch balls using about 2 Tablespoons of dough. Sound off? Yup, it was. My cookies were way too big and thus I had to increase the baking time by about 3-4 minutes a batch. Second, two major ingredients were missing that you find in most cookie doughs…..Salt and Vanilla. And perhaps because there was no salt, the final cookie lacked some flavor.

But there was a glimmer of hope. The next day when I got home from work, the BF said that the cookies tasted better. Strange, right? But he was spot on…they DID taste better! Who knew that aging them would increase the flavor?! After all, it’s not a cheesecake!

Next time, I’m not taking the chance and will modify the recipe. I suggest adding about 1 Teaspoon of good quality Vanilla Extract, increase the granulated sugar amount from 1 cup to 1¼ cups, and add about ¼Teaspoon of Salt. Also, when forming the dough balls, only use about 1 tablespoon. I think if you try the modifications, you’ll be happy with your results.

Alohas!

Lilikoi Jam Thumbprint Cookies

Desserts/Pastries

White Chocolate-Macadamia Nut Cookies

May 14, 2010February 9, 2011 The Culinary Chronicles4 Comments

Somewhere along the way I became known as a Cupcake Baker. Now don’t get me wrong…it’s not a bad title to have–especially since cupcakes are just so darn tasty and make people smile. But it made me realize that I have been sorely neglecting my other sweet treats—cookies, brownies, tarts, pies, etc.

In an effort to share the love amongst other baked goods, I decided to whip up a batch of cookies. After thumbing through some recipes, I found a post by Brown Eyed Baker for a White Chocolate-Macademia Nut Cookie. I have always LOVED White Chocolate Mac-Nut cookies and was intrigued with her rendition as she described it as “slightly crisp on the outside with a soft and chewy interior”–my favorite cookie profile. She also said that it was packed with chips and nuts–sounded like a winner to me!

After the first batch came out, I broke one in half and took a bite. Yup, she was right. Crispy outside and extremely chewy and chunky inside. In fact, while I was scooping out the dough onto the baking sheets, I was a bit worried that there were going to be too many chunks and not enough cookie dough. But fear not friends, as somehow things just worked itself out in the oven. What can I say? Magic happens in ovens 🙂

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White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies
Yield: About 2 dozen cookies (depending on size)
From Brown Eyed Baker

Ingredients:
2 Cups All-Purpose Flour
½ Teaspoon Baking Soda
½ Teaspoon Salt
¾ Cup Butter (melted)
1 Cup Light Brown Sugar
½ Cup White Sugar
1 Egg
1 Egg Yolk
1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract
1½ Cups Chopped Macadamia Nuts
2 Cups White Chocolate Chips
½ Cup Shredded Coconut (Optional)

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Grease baking sheets or line with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt and set aside. Beat together the melted butter, brown sugar, and white sugar. Beat in the egg, then beat in the egg yolk, then beat in the vanilla. Gradually add the flour mixture to the sugar mixture until just moistened. Stir in the macadamia nuts, coconut and white chocolate chips by hand with a rubber spatula. Roll into balls or drop by heaping tablespoons onto baking sheets, and press down on the cookies with your palm a bit to flatten.

Bake for 12-15 minutes or until the edges look golden brown and the middles don’t look quite set. Allow to finish cooling on the baking sheet.