Flipping for Grapefruit

We have been getting citrus in the farm share, and none of us at the house are really big grapefruit fans, so I thought I would give this recipe from Martha Stewart a try.

Grapefruit Upside Down Cake

Ingredients

• 10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter

• 3/4 cup packed light-brown sugar

• 2 small pink grapefruit

• 1 1/2 cups flour

• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• 3/4 teaspoon ground ginger

• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

• 1/2 cup granulated sugar

• 2 large eggs

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 1/2 cup milk

• Whipped cream, (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Put 4 tablespoons butter in a 9-inch round baking pan. Place the pan in the oven just long enough to melt the butter. Remove pan from oven; scatter 1/2 cup brown sugar evenly over the melted butter.
2. With a sharp knife, peel the grapefruit, removing all pith, and slice. Arrange the slices to cover the bottom of the pan.
3. In a bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, baking soda, and allspice. In a separate bowl, using an electric mixer, beat remaining 6 tablespoons butter until creamy. Add granulated sugar and remaining 1/4 cup brown sugar; beat until well combined. Beat in eggs one at a time. Beat in vanilla. Alternately add dry ingredients and milk to butter mixture, beginning and ending with dry ingredients.
4. Pour batter over grapefruit in pan. Bake 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 5 minutes; turn cake out onto serving plate. Serve warm or at room temperature, with whipped cream if desired.

Drunken S'more Brownies

Ingredients:
Crust:
6 tbsp melted butter
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crusts
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tbsp brown sugar

Brownies:
1 1/2 sticks butter
3 oz unsweetened bakers chocolate
1 oz semisweet chocolate
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp instant espresso powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 eggs
1/4 cup boubon (optional)
1 cup flour

1/2 bag mini marshmallows
1/2 cup choc chips

DIRECTIONS:
Heat oven to 350
Combine crust ingredients, and press into baking pan lined with foil and greased
Melt 1 1/2 sticks butter, reduce heat
Melt chocolate then add sugar, salt, vanilla, expresso powder, eggs and optional bourbon
Add flour gradually
Pour over crust
Bake for 25-30 min
Set oven to broil
Take brownies out, top with marshmallos and chocolate chips
Put back in oven until marshmallos toast, 2 min or less
Let cool

Kir Royale Jello Shots

It was my roommate's birthday the other day, and champagne always seems like a good choice for celebrations. We had plans to go to our friends' house that evening, so Kir Royale Jello Shots seemed appropriate. I am a  big fan of the more grownup alcoholic jello shots, where you mimic the ratio of a classic cocktail.  The basic formula is this:

4 packets flavored or unflavored gelatin
1 cup boiling water
4 cups liquor, juice, mixers, in the ratio of the cocktail

In this case, I did 3 1/2 cups champagne, 1/4 cup lime juice, and 1/4 cup chambord
I was going to sink the raspberries into the jello after letting it chill for an hour, but I fell asleep, so the next morning i poured some hot water over top to melt a bit of the top layer and stuck the raspberries on that way.

Cherry Cheesecake Ice Cream

A few weeks ago, my friend and I went to one of the Talking Taste presentations at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston. It's an annual series where local chefs do a talk and cooking demonstration at the museum. You can get an adult beverage from the bar, and have a local chef make you snacky bits while you sip sangria and watch, overlooking Boston Harbor. It is the height of "adult fun".


The presentation by  Tse Wei Lim and Diana Kudajarova  from Journeyman restaurant focused on ice cream. They talked a lot about the different ratio's for making ice cream, sherbet, sorbet, and gelato. They served an arrugula ice cream (and you thought beet was odd), peach ice cream, and blueberry sorbet. 


In a custard based ice cream, you should have 2-11% fat, 15-30% non-fat solids, 15-23% sugar, with egg yolks comprising 7-9% of the base and the rest being liquid.


In a Philadelphia style ice cream base, there should be 7-11% fat, 24-30% non-fat solids, 16-23% sugar, the rest being liquid.


sorbet is 20-60% fruit juice or puree, 25-32% sugar, and the rest should be liquid.


The ice cream I made is a Philadelphia style, made with philly cream cheese (well, Neufchatel to be precise). I got this recipe from a Philly Cream Cheese ad in Martha Stewart's Everyday Food magazine.


Ingredients
1 8oz pkg cream cheese or neufchatel cheese
1 14oz can sweetened condensed milk
1/3 cup whipping cream (I didn't have any on hand so I used half plain yogurt and half milk and it turned out fine)
2 tsp lemon zest (I just zested a whole lemon)
1 1/2 cups fruit cut up bite sized (the ad used strawberries, I used cherries)


Instructions
Combine the cheese, condensed milk, whipping cream/yogurt, and lemon zest in a mixer until smooth. Then add fruit and put in the fridge to cool (the colder your mix is before you put it in the ice cream maker, the better)
Churn in your ice cream maker according to directions.
NOM


The add also included chopped graham crackers, but I chose to omit them

Peanut Butter and Jelly Bars

I've been working overnights, and my hours are kinda weird, so  I've been watching more Food Network. Ina Garten made these on her show, so I decided to bring some to work.

INGREDIENTS
2 sticks butter at room temp
1 1/2 c sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
2 c smooth peanut butter
3 c all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 c jam
2/3 c salted peanuts, coarsely chopped

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350
Grease and flour 9x13in pan
Cream butter and sugar
Add eggs 1 at a time, then add vanilla and peanut butter
Sift dry ingredients and add gradually, mixing just until combined
Take 2/3rds of dough and pat into greased pan and chill
Spread jam evenly over dough
Break remaining dough into chunks and sprinkle over jam
Sprinkle chopped peanuts on top
Bake 45min, cool and cut into squares  

Cherry Berry Port Crisp

I was at the ICA waiting to meet a friend for their Talking Taste series, and I decided to buy a copy of The Boozy Baker from the gift shop.

It didn't take long for me to make something inspired by it. In this case a crumble made with frozen cherries from Target and blueberries from the farmshare, and the remainder of ruby port from a bottle.

INGREDIENTS

Filling
12 oz pitted cherries
1 c blueberries
1/4 c ruby port
1 tbsp cornstarch

Topping
1/2 c flour
3/4 c chopped walnuts
1 c old fashioned oats
1/2 c sugar
1/2 c brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
6 tbsp butter cut into cubes
(I added a tbsp or 2 of scotch)

INSTRUCTIONS
Whisk the cornstarch into the port and then let the berries soak (the longer the better)
Combine dry ingredients and use fingertips to rub butter into dry goods
Sprinkle with scotch

Heat oven to 400. Pour fruit and port into pie pan and sprinkle topping over it. Bake for 20-30 min til bubbly with brown crispy top. Be sure to let it cool off a smidge. Goes great with vanilla ice cream

Blueberry Walnut Maple Tart

One of the best things about summer in New England is fresh blueberries. The're great just to eat, or to put in smoothies, salads or yogurt. Blueberry pie is another option, as is this tart, which is kind of like a no-bake cheesecake. I found the recipie at Eating Well, and made a few adjustments

INGREDIENTS

Crust
1/4 c toasted walnuts
2 c graham cracker crumbs
1 egg white, beaten until frothy
2 tbsp melted butter
1 tbsp olive oil

Filling
8oz cream cheese (I used the low fat one)
1/4 c plain yogurt
1/4 c maple syrup
1 tsp lemon zest
2 c blueberries

Instructions
Run the walnuts in the food processor until pea sized, then add the rest of ingredients and pulse until it looks like coarse sand. Press into tart pan and bake at 325 for 8 min

While crust is cooling combine cream cheese, yogurt, lemon zest and syrup til smooth. Pour into crust, top with berries, and refrigerate for at least an hour.

Baked Raspberry Custard

I got some raspberries in the farmshare a while back and looked for some things to make with them. I found this recipe from Martha Stewart, which is SUPER easy, and tasty. I was alarmed at how much it grew in the oven, but a pie plate is just right.

INGREDIENTS
3/4 c milk
3 eggs
1/2 c sugar
1/2 c flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup (give or take) berries

Grease a pie plate and preheat oven to 400
Pour everything in a blender (except berries) and pulse untill smooth
Pour batter into pie plate and scatter berries. Sprinkle top with sugar
Bake for 20-25 min

Baconsgiving Cupcake

Baconsgiving Cupcake
Originally uploaded by kel h

I am going to "Baconsgiving" tonight (which is a celebration of all things bacon being hosted by friends of a friend). It's an odd thing for a vegetarian to go to a bacon festival, but it sounded like fun, and the challenge of making a bacon cupcake proved too strong to resist.

My friends Mike and Clare have gotten into making milkshakes, and I had a bacon maple whiskey milkshake at their house a long time ago. It sounded like a good departure point. Martha Stewart's maple cupcake recipe (which I found on 52 Cupcakes) seemed to have the most mapley goodness, so I used that with some modifications to make it more bacony. And I am always up for a good whiskey buttercream frosting (and this time I used angostura bitters instead of food coloring to take the whiteness down a notch, which I think added a nice flavor)
Ingredients
2-3/4 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temp.
1/4 cup bacon fat
8 strips of bacon
2 cups pure maple syrup,, preferably Grade B
3 large eggs, room temp
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract or seeds from 1 vanilla bean pod

Frosting

1 stick butter softented1 lb powdered sugar
1 pinch salt
1 tbsp milk
3 tbsp irish whiskey

Directions:
preheat oven to 350

Mix dry cupcake ingredients
In mixer cream butter, then add bacon fat (I broiled my bacon and poured off the fat into a measuring cup and then ran the VERY crispy bacon through the food processor to turn it into bacon crumbs)
Once its all smooth add the maple syrup
Then add eggs 1 at a time, and add vanilla
add dry ingredients and bacon and mix until combined
bake at 350 (I did mini cupcakes and it made four dozen. They cooked for around 11-12 minutes)

for the frosting
cream the butter. Add sugar. Then add milk and whiskey. Add pinch of salt and then add a bit more sugar or milk to get the right texture

Sweet Potato Pie

Sweet Potato Pie
Originally uploaded by kel h

I made sweet potato gnocchi, and figured since I was steaming sweet potatoes, I would make some pie as well. I adapted Emeril's Pie Crust, and used Alton Brown's pie filling recipe

Pie Crust
1 cup flour
1/4 cup shortening
1/4 cup butter
1 tsp sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 cup ice water

combine flour, sugar, salt and fat in a food processor. trickle water in while food processor is running a little at a time just until the dough forms a ball. fold dough in half and squish several times and chill before rolling out. Then chill while making the filling

1 lb sweet potatoes (cubed and steamed)
1 1/4 cup plain yogurt
5 egg yolks
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup chopped pecans
1-2 tbsp maple syrup

Steam and mash the potatoes
put into a stand mixer and mix until smooth
add eggs, yogurt and seasonings
pour filling into pie shell
toast pecans in a pan. pour maple syrup over and shake for a few minutes to candy the pecans before sprinkling over the pie

bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes until custard sets

I had a soup, but I ated it

I had a soup, but I ated it
Originally uploaded by kel h

The bulk of our trivia team bowed out this week, so I decided to make soup for dinner for me and my roommate instead. And THEN I invited another member of the trivia team. And that's how I wound up having a small dinner gathering tonight.

We have a surefit of onions from the CSA, and I've been wanting to make vegetarian french onion soup ever since watching Alton Brown make it on Good Eats a while back. And once we went from just me and G (the roommate) to a small dinner party, I thought I should make dessert. I have a bunch of apples from the farmshare too, so I thought a french apple tart would make a good dessert.

It was a local, seasonal, french supper

The soup recipe was taken from Food Network, which cribbed from Julia Child's recipe. I made a few adjustments, and I want to kiss the man who invented the food processor (so much easier to slice onions with the slicing plate). I used less broth (although I probably could have used the whole 8 cups), and I added a teaspoon of herbs de provance and a bay leaf (Alton made his with a bouqet de garni of bay leaf, thyme and parsley, but I didn't have the whole sprigs of herbs).

French Onion Soup

Taken from Food Network, which based their recipe on Julia Child's recipe for French Onion Soup

Ingredients
1/2 stick butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
8 cups thinly sliced onions (about 2-1/2 pounds)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon flour
8 cups homemade beef stock, or good quality store bought stock (I used better than boullion No Beef Base. I LOVE their stuff and ususally have two or three containers in the fridge at any given time)
1/4 cup Cognac, or other good brandy
1 cup dry white wine
1 tsp herbs de provance
8 (1/2-inch) thick slices of French bread, toasted
3/4 pound coarsely grated Gruyere

Directions
Heat a heavy saucepan over moderate heat with the butter and oil. When the butter has melted, stir in the onions, cover, and cook slowly until tender and translucent, about 10 minutes. Blend in the salt and sugar, increase the heat to medium high, and let the onions brown, stirring frequently until they are a dark walnut color, 25 to 30 minutes.

Sprinkle the flour and cook slowly, stirring, for another 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from heat, let cool a moment, then whisk in 2 cups of hot stock. When well blended, bring to the simmer, adding the rest of the stock, Cognac, and wine. Cover loosely, and simmer very slowly 1 1/2 hours, adding a little water if the liquid reduces too much. Taste for seasoning

Divide the soup among 4 ovenproof bowls. Arrange toast on top of soup and sprinkle generously with grated cheese. Place bowls on a cookie sheet and place under a preheated broiler until cheese melts and forms a crust over the tops of the bowls. Serve immediately.

We had a side of salad with homemade balsamic vinaigrette.

For dessert I made an apple tart based on a recipe from Smitten Kitchen. I am pretty sure I used three kinds of apples (Macintosh, Granny Smith, and Golden Delicious). I altered the recipe a bit. Alton reccomends using applejack in apple pie dough instead of water, and I like bourbon in my apple pie so I used some of that in the syrup. Part of the decision was based on the fact that apple tart is traditionally french, part because I had a bunch of apples, and part based on my recent purchase of a new tart pan from Ikea

Based on Smitten Kitchens Simplest Apple Tart recipe

Alice Waters’s Apple Tart
Found buried deeply within my recipe bookmarks folder!

Dough:
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, just softened, cut in 1/2-inch pieces
3 1/2 tablespoons chilled water (I used applejack)

Filling:
2 pounds apples (Golden Delicious or another tart, firm variety), peeled, cored (save peels and cores), and sliced
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
5 tablespoons sugar

Glaze:
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup bourbon

MIX flour, sugar, and salt in a large bowl; add 2 tablespoons of the butter. Blend in a mixer until dough resembles coarse cornmeal. Add remaining butter; mix until biggest pieces look like large peas.

DRIBBLE in water (or applejack), stir, then dribble in more, until dough just holds together. Toss with hands, letting it fall through fingers, until it’s ropy with some dry patches. If dry patches predominate, add another tablespoon water. Keep tossing until you can roll dough into a ball. Flatten into a 4-inch-thick disk; refrigerate. After at least 30 minutes, remove; let soften so it’s malleable but still cold. Smooth cracks at edges. On a lightly floured surface, roll into a 14-inch circle about 1/8 inch thick. Dust excess flour from both sides with a dry pastry brush.

PLACE dough in a lightly greased 9-inch round tart pan, or simply on a parchment-lined baking sheet if you wish to go free-form, or galette-style with it. Heat oven to 400#176;F. (If you have a pizza stone, place it in the center of the rack.)

OVERLAP apples on dough in a ring 2 inches from edge if going galette-style, or up to the sides if using the tart pan. Continue inward until you reach the center. Fold any dough hanging over pan back onto itself; crimp edges at 1-inch intervals.

BRUSH melted butter over apples and onto dough edge. Sprinkle sugar over the crust and apples. I have some vanilla sugar that I used for this (although instead of alton's recipe I just keep a tupperware with white sugar and used vanilla bean pods that I add as I use them)

BAKE in center of oven until apples are soft, with browned edges, and crust has caramelized to a dark golden brown (about 45 minutes), making sure to rotate tart every 15 minutes.

MAKE glaze: Put reserved peels and cores in a large saucepan, along with sugar. Pour in just enough water and bourbon to cover; simmer for 25 minutes. Strain syrup through cheesecloth.

REMOVE tart from oven, and slide off parchment onto cooling rack. Let cool at least 15 minutes.

BRUSH glaze over tart, slice, and serve.

Port Wine Truffle

port wine truffle
Originally uploaded by kel h

So, it's my roommate's birthday this weekend, and he is a fan of port. I decided to make the port and salted caramel cupcakes I've made in the past, but with a liquid center. The best way I could figure was to make truffles and sink them in the batter. They didn't quite turn into lava cakes, but they were goey and tasty in the middle, and the truffle ganache also made for a tasty frosting.

Today I decided to make more truffles just for fun

Port Wine Truffle

Ingredients:
12 oz semi sweet chocolate chopped
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup port

melt butter and add cream
heat until simmering
add chocolate, reduce heat and stir until smooth
pour into a container and chill

once it gets clay like, scoop into balls
melt more chocolate
chill the balls of ganache and then roll around in melted chocolate and let cool
you may also want to roll it in powdered cocoa or chopped nuts once you coat in melted chocolate

Vanilla Shortbread with Cocoa Nibs

I've had this in my mind for a while. Vanilla shortbread cookies studded with cocoa nibs. Mostly inspired by Taza Chocolate, which is a local chocolate factory here in Somerville, MA that makes a variety of flavors of chocolate in a traditional mexican style using organic and ethically sourced ingredients. You can order from them online, and they also have a factory store that does tours (but no ooompa loompas).

Also, I'm sort of obsessed with vanilla beans now.

So I went to The Joy of Baking site and adapted their shortbread cookie recipe by adding half a cup of chocolate covered cocoa nibs and using the seeds from 1 vanilla bean instead of a teaspoon of vanilla.

Shortbread Cookies:

2 cups (260 grams) all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon (2 grams) salt

1 cup (2 sticks) (226 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 cup (60 grams) powdered (confectioners or icing) sugar

seeds from 1 vanilla bean

Instructions

Shortbreads: In a separate bowl whisk the flour with the salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the butter until smooth and creamy (about 1 minute). Add the sugar and beat until smooth (about 2 minutes). Beat in the vanilla extract. Gently stir in the flour mixture just until incorporated. Flatten the dough into a disk shape, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill the dough for at least an hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) with the rack in the middle of the oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

On a lightly floured surface roll out the dough into a 1/4 inch (.6 cm) thick circle. Cut into rounds or other shapes using a lightly floured cookie cutter. Place on the prepared baking sheets and place in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes. (This will firm up the dough so the cookies will maintain their shape when baked.) Bake for 8 - 10 minutes, or until cookies are very lightly browned. Cool on a wire rack.

to decorate them, I melted some semisweet chocolate and put it in a ziploc baggie. Then I snipped the corner and used it to pipe some shapes.

coconut rice pudding

coconut rice pudding
Originally uploaded by kel h

i had leftover coconut milk from the eggplant earlier today. I also have more sweetened condensed milk than i know what to do with. and a sweet tooth.

also, this is my favorite mug. It is from the Guggenheim, and is based on the Frank Lloyd Wright designed building

1 cup coconut milk
1/4 cup water
1 cup parboiled brown rice
1 tsp orange juice (and orange zest if ya got it)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 to 1/3 c sweetened condensed milk

bring the coconut milk and water to a boil
add the rice and seasonings
cook rice according to directions
once its cooked, add the sweetened condensed milk to make it creamier

Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes with Taza Chocolate and Cream Cheese Frosting

Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes with Taza Chocolate and Cream Cheese Frosting
Originally uploaded by kel h

I keep getting zucchini in my CSA farmshare, and I keep trying to find different uses for it. One of the cooking blogs I read is called Chocolate and Zucchini, and the author recently posted a recipe for chocolate zucchini cake that I decided to turn into cupcakes. I used a package of Taza chili chocolate, which brought some heat, but next time i think i might do one and a half to two packages (Taza is this great local company here in somerville that makes stone ground mexican chocolate in lots of interesting flavors. They recently suffered a lot of damage in the last round of flooding, and can use some support so go buy some chocolate. It's OK, I'll wait...)

The frosting is a basic cream cheese with a package of cream cheese, a stick of butter, and powdered sugar to the proper consistency with some vanilla drizzled in for fun. It's also good if you add a teaspoon of grated fresh ginger.

Much like the parsnip muffins, the great thing about adding zucchini to the cupcakes is that they make the cake incredibly moist without adding fat. You really can't tell the zucchini is in there.

Chocolate & Zucchini Cake

- 240 grams (2 cups) all-purpose flour
- 60 grams (1/2 cup) unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 180 grams (1 scant cup) light brown sugar (I use unrefined cane sugar)
- 115 grams (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature, or 1/2 cup virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon instant coffee granules or 2 tablespoons strong cooled coffee -- this is just to deepen the chocolate flavor, you won't taste it in the finished product
- 3 large eggs
- 350 grams (2 cups) unpeeled grated zucchini, from about 1 1/2 medium zucchini
- 160 grams (1 cup) good-quality bittersweet chocolate chips, or chopped chocolate
- Confectioner's sugar (optional)

Serves 12.

Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Grease a 25-cm (10-inch) round springform pan or a 22-cm (8 1/2-inch) square pan. For cupcakes you want two muffin tins as it makes around 15 cupcakes

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In the bowl of a mixer (or by hand in a large mixing bowl), beat the sugar and butter until fluffy. Add the vanilla, coffee, and eggs, mixing well between each addition.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the zucchini, chocolate chips, and about a third of the flour mixture, making sure the zucchini strands are well coated and not clumping too much.

Add the rest of the flour mixture into the egg batter. Mix until just combined; the batter will be thick.

Fold the zucchini mixture into the batter, and blend with a spatula without overmixing. Pour into the prepared cake pan, and level the surface.

Bake for 40 to 50 minutes (20 to 25 for cupcakes), until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Transfer onto a rack to cool for 10 minutes, run a knife around the pan to loosen, and unclasp the sides of the pan. Serve slightly warm or at room temperature. Sprinkle with confectioner's sugar or a chocolate glaze if desired.