Prune & Lemon Baby Cakes

Part 2 of the desserts I brought for Janice's Labor Day bbq--this part, not so much vegan. I wanted to make something lemony because that seems appropriate for an outdoor event and I had bought some French prunes from the farmers market the other day. Prunes are fascinating. I've never seen them in their non-dried form. I just assumed that "prune" was the term given to a dried plum, but apparently I was wrong. According to wikipedia, they are a small plums with easily removable pits. Okay.

These mini prune and lemons cakes were very simple to make. I used cupcake tins to make a small grabbable sizes and just inverted the cakes so that they wouldn't be mistaken for muffins. Ah, the versatility of bakeware. Also I made a lemon glaze to go on top just to give it an stronger lemon kick but you go without out the icing if you'd like. Without the icing I'd imagine that they'd make a very nice breakfast tea cake. I love tea cakes.

Ingredients:

16 prune, split and pitted

The zest of two large lemons (about 3-4 teaspoons)

1 cup granulated sugar + 1/8 cup sugar for muddling with the zest+1/4 cup sugar for cupcake tins

1 stick of butter (1/2 cup) at room temperature + 8 tablespoons of butter for the cupcake tins

1 large egg at room temperature

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup buttermilk

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

1. preheat oven to 375

2. muddle the lemon zest with 1/8 cup of granulated sugar and set aside

3. sift together flour, baking powder and salt

4. with an electric mixer beat together the sugar and butter until light and fluffy (approx. 3-4 minutes)

5. add the egg and beat for another minute

6. add the buttermilk and beat for another two minutes (at this point the batter will seem oddly curdled but do not fear, this is normal)

7. add the vanilla and lemon zest/sugar mixture

8. slowly add the flour/salt/baking soda mixture in three separate additions, folding very gently

9. grease 16-17 cupcake tins with vegetable oil or shortening

10. at the bottom of each mold put about 1/2 tablespoon of butter

11. over the 1/2 tablespoon of butter but about 1 teaspoon of granulated sugar

12. place the sliced prune on top of the sugar

13. divide the batter among the cupcake tins, about 3/4 full

14. bake for 20 minutes

15. let the cakes cool for about 20 minutes

16. while the cakes are still in the pans, take a serated knife and cut of the domes of each cake so that they will sit flatly when inverted (save the cake tops by wrapping and plastic wrap and freezing)

17. invert the cakes by taking a butter knife and gently running it along the edges of each cake and then place a large cookie sheet on top of the cupcake tins and then flip. The cakes should unmold easily.

Optional Icing:

3/4 cup confectioners sugar

2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

1. whisk together

2. put the icing in a sandwich bag and push contents into one corner of the bag

3. snip and small corner off the bag and then ice the cakes.

Vegan Apple Rose Tarts

Happy Labor Day! I don't really understand what Labor Day is, but all the same, it's nice to have an excuse to have a bbq with friends. Janice, Jeff, and Jared (oh! i just realized they are all "J" people) invited me over for an afternoon bbq. This was also coincidentally a good opportunity to test out some dessert possibilities for the Les Figues auction this Saturday. Among the multitude of anxieties I am feeling about this event, the vegan portion of the desserts that I am catering is causing me a fair amount stress. Good stress though. I find the experimentation phase of working out recipes pretty exciting, but only when the recipes turn out well.

When baking vegan desserts, my stipulation is that it should be unrecognizably vegan, that it should be plainly good regardless of its non-dairy-ness.

I think this apple rose tart is 75% there. The pate brisee dough was a little too crumbly, maybe. I can work with this. I wanted to try veganizing this recipe because I'm very comfortable making non-vegan apple tarts and it seemed like an easy transition. And because the primary ingredient of this dessert is fruit, it felt a little safer to me.

I have a couple more recipes I want to try before I settle on a decision for the Les Figues Event.

Ingredients:

vegan pate brisee:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup Earth Balance, cubed and chilled

1/2 Vegetable Shortening

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon sugar

3 tablespoons ice cold water

apple filling:

4 small apples or 3 large ones (granny smith preferably), cored and thinly sliced

1/4 cup Earth Balance

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup apricot jam

1. Pour the flour onto a clean surface

2. Make a well in the flour and put the vegetable shortening, earth balance, salt, and sugar in the center

3. slowly work the flour into the center of the well until the mixture is crumbly (the dough will not hold together at this point)

4. add the ice cold water, one tablespoon at a time and work the dough until it begins to hold together

5. divide the dough in half, pat into discs and wrap tightly in plastic wrap

6. chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour or you can freeze for up to 3 months

7. roll the dough out to about 1/4 inch thickness and place into either 12-15 tartlet pans or two large tart pans

8. arrange the apple slices in a single direction, going around the tart pan so that it looks like a rose

9. dot the apple slice evenly with Earth balance

10. sprinkle with generous amount of sugar

11. bake at 400 for about 30 minutes or until the apples and crust look golden

12. let the tart cool

13. heat up the apricot jam in a sauce pan at low heat

14. brush the tarts with the jam

Peach Scones With Peach Whipped Cream

Yes, these scones were very delicious. But that's besides the point. These are sad scones because their baker is sad. Half way through making these I realized that this is precisely the kind of thing Saeyoung would love. Peachy, barely sweet, moist, and kind of has the texture of a fat fat baby. If scones were the type of thing one could ship, I would do so, immediately. Unfortunately scones have a very limited shelf life. They should probably be eaten within the same day of being baked.

Really, what is the point of baking if not to fatten up the people around you? I certainly don't want all that butter around my hips. no no.

I think I'm in a bit of mourning from having my sister on the other side of the country. But on the up side, we've already started planning a trip to New York together in January, so there's something to look forward to.

Okay, mourning aside. These are very good scones, though perhaps not the most traditional. Most scone recipes call for very cold butter that it cut into the dough to make for a flaky crumb, but more often than not scones are dense and really very clumsy door stop like things. I softened my butter and used sour cream rather than heavy cream, making for a very light and delicate scone--golden and crusty on the outside and so soft on the inside that I wanted to stick my face in the center. I can't take credit for the sour cream/softened butter idea--that came from The Steamy Kitchen Blog where she wrote about a recipe for blueberry scones with lemon curd. I adapted the recipe a bit, adding a little bit more sugar and substituting the blueberries with peaches.

Also, the peach whipped cream was pretty key. I didn't sweeten my whipped cream at all. I just pureed some peaches and very gently folded it into the batter (fold vveeerrry gently into your whipped cream will just become soupy). And then I topped the whole thing with honey.

Peaches and cream and honey. I love breakfast.

Peach Scones With Peach Whipping Cream

Ingredients:

Scones:

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 cup butter at room temperature

2 cups sour cream

1 large peach (or 1 1/3 small peaches), small dice with skin still on

4-5 tablespoons of granulated sugar

Optional: egg wash and sanding sugar for sprinkling

Peach Whipped Cream

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1/4 cup peach puree

1. preheat oven to 350

2. in a large mixing bowl sift together dry ingredients

3. cut in softened butter with a pastry cutter, or use hands to work the dough until it resembles the texture of coarse crumbs

4. mix the vanilla extract into the sour cream

5. fold in the sour cream and vanilla mixture into the dough very gently

6. fold in the peaches

7. use a 1/4 measuring cup or use a very large heaping ice cream scoop to measure out the dough onto a lined cookie sheet

8. bake for about 30 minutes

9. while the scones are baking use an electric mixer to beat the whipped cream until it peaks

10. fold in the peach puree

11. keep the whipped cream refrigerated

makes about 20-22 scones

Honeyed Marscapone Fruit Tartlets

I am amazed at the varieties of figs. Incredible. It isn't just a matter of color. Some taste more tart, almost raspberry like. Some taste like pure honey. And the textures are dramaticially different. The Calimyrna fig has a thicker skin and a seedier bite. Some are less seedy and have flesh that resembles a thick jam.

There's a man that I'm utterly devoted to when it comes to buying figs. I suppose I should find out his name and the name of his farm but all I know is that he's slightly crabby and surprisingly generous (he'll throw in a few freebies here and there). Also, I know that he is of Portuguese descent. I don't know why I know this.

Most farmers market vendors sell either Brown Turkey figs or Black Mission figs but my favorite fig man seems to add new varieties every week.

He is at the Hollywood farmers market and the Echo Park farmers market.

Though I love figs and fruit in all forms, when the fruit is really good it seems like a shame to bake it or to sugar it up. For the most part I ate nearly 2 1/2 baskets of fresh figs all by myself but to use up the last few figs I made tartlets with marscapone cheese.

I had some leftover dough from my quiche so I baked those into tartlet form and filled them with the marscapone cheese and fruit and topped the whole thing with a generous dripping of honey.

Here is the recipe for the marscapone filling:

Ingredients:

1/2 cup marscapone cheese

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons honey

pinch of salt

1. combine all the ingredients together

2. spoon into tart shell

Fig & Apple Galette

Oh, I love galettes!

  I have a thing for rustic looking desserts, free form pastries, things that I imagine a French grandmother with a chignon making.  I wish I were a chignoned French grandmother. 

 I am not.  

I foresee a period of obsessive galette making.  Yes, I think I'll make a bunch of galette dough tomorrow and freeze it.  That is the other great thing about French-type pastry doughs...they freeze beautifully.  You can make them and wrap them tightly and then store them for up to 3 months. 

I'll tell you something about this fig and apple galette: the small extra something, almost imperceptible but absolutely wonderful part of this galette was brushing it with a homemade orange honey glaze and then sprinkling it with sugar that had been mixed with orange zest.  

This dessert makes me anxious for the Fall.  

Cherry Coconut Mochi Bars

It's a great feeling when you're experimenting, when you're throwing out the measuring cups and guesstimating approximates and the results are exactly what you'd want them to be.  

Baking experiments are exciting.  Rice flour is exciting.  These mochi cake bars are exciting. 

 I'm enormously pleased with how these turned out.  Chewy, very tender but not gummy.  And the coconut is fantastic.  It's making our house smell heavenly, tropical and heavenly.  

I'm already thinking of variations.  Maybe matcha, macadamia nuts, and white chocolate?  Some coconut in there too?  

 Ingredients:

note* I wasn't kidding about the throwing out the measuring cups...so these measurements are approximations, though they are fairly accurate I believe.  

1 1/4 cup rice flour (I like Mochiko brand--I used exactly half of one box)

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup chopped cherries

3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut

3/4 cup superfine sugar

3/4 stick of butter

2 eggs

3/4 cup of coconut cream

1 teaspoon vanilla

1. preheat oven to 350 F

2. grease an 11 x 8x 2 pan and fit it with parchment paper on the bottom of the pan

3.  sift together the rice flour and baking powder, set aside

4. melt the butter and let it sit out for about 10 minutes (or until it isn't hot)

5. beat the eggs and sugar together for about 2-3 minutes with an electric mixer

6. add the melted butter and beat for another minute

7. add the coconut cream and vanilla, combine

8. fold in the rice flour carefully in 3 separate additions

9. fold in the cherries and chocolate chips. make sure to fold in very gently so that the cherries do not bleed all over the batter

10. pour the batter into the prepared pan

11. tap the pan on a hard surface to get rid of air bubbles

12. evenly spread the coconut over the top

13. bake for about 25-30 minutes

14. let cool completely

Further Preservation

a sampling

macerated strawberries 

boiling the preserves

Calimyrna, Black Mission, and Kadota Figs

Fig season is here! They've sort of been trickling into farmers markets for the last month and now they are all over the place.  I went to the Pasadena farmers market on Saturday and purchased a smattering of different varieties.  I must have eaten a basket of figs, sampling them from stall to stall.  I'm very particular.  And figs are testy.  

Along with other fruits I bought there I made more preserves, which is quickly becoming one of my favorite summer activities.

also, thank you to Saeyoung and Eli for being my preserve taste testers. Saeyoung's favorite--strawberry balsamic.  Eli's favorite--fig, apple, almond

This round:

strawberry with balsamic vinegar

strawberry with mint and black pepper

fig (mixed variety), fuji apple, and almonds

note*

I am auctioning off a basket of my preserves at the Les Figues Benefit Auction this year along with an alchemical baking commission.

In the basket so far are:

fig.vanilla.honey

yellow nectarine.chamomile

gaviota strawberry.grand marnier

cherry.peach.rosebud

blueberry.white nectarine.vanilla

strawberry.balsamic

strawberry.mint.black pepper

fig.apple.almond

and next week I plan on making peach and white wine preserves, which I'm sure will make it into the basket.  To purchase tickets to the event or for more info, go here.  

Strawberry Basil Challah Bread Pudding

I'm getting a kitten! 

This is enormously exciting and slightly frightening.  Earlier this year I was nursing a basil plant, which became strangely taxing.  I worried a lot about Rita (yes, the basil plant's name was Rita), about making sure she wasn't in direct sunlight for too long, about the lack of sun she was getting when it was overcast, about how top heavy she got and the threat of her toppling over.  I even had babysitters for her (thanks nancy, thanks mom). 

Point is, now I'm going to be have this living moving animal under my care and I'm sure that I will be 10 times more worried for this kitten than for Rita.  But I'm okay with that.  I'm ready for that.  In fact, I'm undoubtedly thrilled for it. I have all these romantic ideas of letting it fall asleep on my lap while I have morning coffee in the kitchen or finding it unexpectedly under my pillow just as I get into bed and saying, get out kitty, this is my spot!

I think it will be happy with me.  I hope it will be happy with me.  

Stephen, a friend and fellow Calartian (him, alumni) has a cat named Louise and Louise just had 5 kittens.  I went over yesterday to claim a kitten and to visit with Stephen in his brand new Silverlake house, which was really beautiful.  How do people find such wonderful places to live? It's confounding.  It felt very Californian--open spaces, a backyard deck.  

Okay, back to the kittens.  I immediately gravitated towards a black and white kitten named Lou Jr/Divorce.  I'm thinking of changing his name but I'll let his personality determine that.  

As evidenced above I tried to take a photograph but found this strangely impossible.  They weren't moving and there was nothing wrong with my camera and on top of that Stephen's camera was out of batteries.  It's like the world did not want me to capture an image of these kittens.  There's something kind of sweet about that, I suppose.  I'm very grateful to Stephen for my kitten. 

It's a five week countdown until I can bring my kitten home!

Oh yeah, and I made strawberry basil bread pudding as a housewarming gift for Stephen.  A very summery dessert.  I really do love the combination of strawberries and basil.

Find the recipe here. 

Kitten!!

Melon Salsa And Tandoori Chicken

My mom made tandoori chicken last night and to utilize the last of my Galia melon I made a melon salsa to eat with her very tasty entree.

Ingredients

1/2 melon, thickly cubed

1/4 red onion, small dice

a handful of chopped cilantro

juice of 2 limes

zest of one lime

2 chopped jalapenos

1/3 cup of corn kernals (preferably fresh and raw)

1. just toss it together

Melonopolis

As has become my habit, I went to the Hollywood Farmer's Market this Sunday. I've said this before, the farmer's market is like my Disneyland.

I bought a Galia melon from Weiser Family Farms (a consistently good vendor that I recommend). I also bought some other fruits but really the prize of the day was that Galia melon.

Sometimes complications are unnecessary. A simple fruit salad is perfect and wonderful. Of course, if you add some grand marnier...well, nothing is wrong with that. For my perfect midday snack, I boiled down some Grand Marnier with sugar and craisins and tossed it with fresh fruit and chopped mint. The craisins plump up in the Grand Marnier adorably. Also, I used very little Grand Marnier in proportion to the fruit because I didn't want the fruit bathing in there. If making this, make sure that the Grand Marnier syrup isn't hot when you toss the fruit or you'll scald your snack. No good.

Dear Bright Morning

Sometimes I make these decisions, these very conscious decision to have a good day. I have to decide this as soon as I wake up or there's no controlling how my day goes. It has to be as soon as I open my eyes. It usually works.

Yesterday was one of those days. It probably isn't accurate to say that my pure will was 100% responsible. These good feelings were also informed by the fact that I knew I had a leisurely day ahead of me. Saeyoung had decided to leave work early so that we could have a sister day, which we've been meaning to do. And also, I decided not to put any pressure on myself to write something for the day.

I woke up around 8 and started the morning with some warm matcha milk tea and a handfull of some gorgeous kadota figs (pictured above). Aren't they lovely? They're a bit sturdier than the black mission figs and have an almost raspberry like tartness to them. And also the color is enormously pleasing. I really liked starting my morning with a palate of greens--the matcha was also of a very calming shade. I don't know that I've felt that unrippled in a while.

I recommend this, especially when there are things to be ruffled about. Choose to blot out the worry. Be avoidant. Drink a milky warm beverage. Eat fruit that seems, by nature, romantic. Eat it without elaboration, with out honey or yogurt but put it in a pretty bowl.

Blueberry Tartlets

These are more for show. The taste, I think, was not as exciting as they looked.  I recently purchased tartlet pans and they've sort of been taunting me in their cuteness.  But making tarts seemed time consuming and I've only just gotten around to using them for the first time.  Surprisingly not that time consuming, especially since I had made the tart dough before hand.  

Ingredients:

pate sucree--

1 3/4 cups pastry flour

7 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold and small cubed

1 cup confectioners' sugar

pinch of salt,

2 large eggs at room temperature

blueberry filling--

2 cups blueberries

1/3 cup sugar

zest of half a lemon

juice of half a lemon

egg was--

one egg, beaten

1 tablespoon milk

Making the pate sucree

1. mound the flour on a large surface and make a well in the center

2. place the butter, sugar, and salt in the well and begin to incorporate the ingredients into the flour

3. again, make a well in the center and this time add the eggs

4. knead the dough until it begins to come together

5. form into a ball

6. wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or until ready to use (or this can be stored in a freezer bag for up to 3 months)

7. when ready to use, unroll the dough onto a floured surface and use a rolling pin to make it about 1/4 inch in thickness

8. drape the dough over the tart pan and press the sides into the flutes of the pan

9. remove excess dough by rolling the rolling pin over the tart pan once

10. preheat oven to 350

11. meanwhile, line the dough in the tart pan with parchment paper and fill it with dry beans or pie weights

12. bake for about 10 minutes

13. remove the parchment paper and beans/pie weights and bake for 3 more minutes

14. meanwhile combine ingredients for blueberry filling and cut out circles in the remaining pate sucree with a mini biscuit cutter

15. fill the baked tart shell with the blueberry filling

16. cover the blueberry filling with the circle cut outs of pate sucree in a circular pattern

17. brush with egg wash and sprinkle with sanding sugar

18. bake for 15 minutes or until the pie top is golden brown