Pistachio Pound Cake and Other Happenings

Dear Reader,

Time has been passing all too quickly in my little corner of the world. Halloween has already gone and November is here. Soon, with all the prepping and flurry of holiday festivities, it will be 2015 before you know it. I have developed a habit of counting time, a form of holding on, which I can't decide if it makes me more mindful and aware of time, appreciative, even, or if I am dreading the passing of time, mourning the loss of my "youth" (that has been long gone, I seem to also be struggling with denial). What I know is, the more you try to hold on the faster time seems to go and I have been trying to adopt the attitude of "life is short". Because it is, dear Reader. Take it from someone who has been carefully monitoring it. It goes by in a pinch.

Pistachio Pound Cake

Fall weather to me triggers pies, loaves of bread/pastries, and hearty stews. When I was a little girl, my father frequently baked a killer banana bread and zucchini bread. Until I was too old, I thought he had cleverly invented zucchini bread and swore that he was a culinary genius of his generation. Clearly he did not invent zucchini bread, but I still believe that his culinary endeavors were adventurous and exciting for a man of his age and circumstance. Pound cake was another one of his favorites, and so in memory of my "youth", I bring you Pistachio Pound Cake. Happy fall weather!

Pistachio Pound Cake - adapted from Leite's Culinaria

I substituted the granulated sugar with Coconut sugar, and used european unsalted butter. I also did not bother with the frosting since we planned to eat it over days for breakfast with coffee. E and i found the cake to be quite dense and a little flaky, but not as moist as I am used to for pound cake. Mr. David Leite has informed me that the lack of moisture may be due to the sugar substitution. Still, i loved the nutty texture added to my morning feed and found it to be a treat.

The Butcher, The Baker ...

Dear Reader,

We have been having some chilly and rainy fall days over here in Brooklyn, NY, but fall days in NYC are almost never wasted in my book and I love them all the same, just because they are part of the very few days that make up my favorite season. With that said, those grey days seem to be made for curling, cozying and cuddling into a favorite throw blanket and binge watching tv show after tv show, or book after book. Days like these call for something homemade and warm, like tea and a nice big piece of fluffy buttered toast. Toast! Aha! Says the brain. We shall make toast, and we shall make it chewy and soft just like the big loaves you can get at almost any Asian bakery. Have you tried them? If not, please do yourself this one great favor and go to your closest Asian bakery and buy a loaf. You can toast them, eat them plain, pull them apart - they are just pillowy and magnificent and so perfect. A statement toast, really. French pastry, I'm sorry, but you ain't got nothin' on Asian bread, a.k.a. Milk Bread, a.k.a. Hokkaido bread.

Fresh made Milk Bread for Saturday morning toast.

Here are two recipes. I have tried the NY Times version and may try the Food52 version next. I won't even attempt to write out the instructions since baking bread is quite a sensitive topic and instructions should be followed very closely.

Japanese Milk Bread Recipe - from the NY Times
Hokkaido Milk Bread Recipe - from Food52

My first batch (pictured above) came out fabulously. I baked into the night and it was well worth it. My second batch...not so much. I doubled the batch in order to get 2 loaves but something must have gone wrong. Lesson learned. If you are a fan of good bread, please make this. And make frequently.

Closer to Free

h my, what a week! We are coming to a close of a very intense case and I see my freedom on the horizon. So close! I've been trying to get back on the horse with wedding planning and have a hair and makeup trial this Friday. This may be a dumb idea, but I think I'll be going with the same makeup artist a friend of mine used, and she was NOT happy on her wedding day. Well, to be fair, she wasn't happy because the agency sent over a different person from her trial to do her hair, and it just wasn't coming out right. My conversation with the artist went something like this: "Remember, I was in the bridal party of the bride who hated her hair and cried?" Hm. You'd think I'd get the hint. BUT, they've had some great reviews in the past, and I recently saw pictures of a bride whose hair and makeup I loved, and this artist happened to have worked on that job. So...I'll chalk it up to a mistake. And at the end of the day, the bride liked her hair. It was just a struggle to get there.

In other non-wedding news, I have a serious shopping bug. I really want to buy something...that's not for the wedding. Obviously, I can't buy anything expensive and will have to satisfy my craving by going to Forever 21 or H&M or ooh, Uniqlo, and going nuts. Then return everything.

And lastly, I have a strong desire to make some of these over the weekend.

{gorgeous strawberries}

{light and buttery biscuits}

~Strawberry Shortcake a la Heart of Light~
Aren't her photos scrumptious? Strawberries have been very cheap as of late, and I plan on doing some damage. A friend of mine suggested using a oatmeal cream, which is popular in Sweden and supposedly very very delicious and "healthy" (or rather, healthIER than regular cream). Hopefully I will get to this.

Fall Traditions

s noted in my previous entry, I love Fall. I love everything about it. The smell and feel of the crisp air, the crunching of the leaves underneath my boots, the beautiful changing colors of the leaves...sigh. Fall is wonderful and my fondest memories are from this season. Fall is also apple picking season which inevitably leads to apple desserts and baked goods. I'm not a huge cooked apple fan, I think the texture is too grainy/weird/mushy for my liking. Apple pie fans are shaking their heads in disappointment, I know. But! I love love apple loafs! Related to the pumpkin/banana/zucchinni bread family (I'm just assuming), apple loafs are often overlooked. I haven't seen them around much, certainly not in cafes or coffee shops, but they are one of my favorites and I've been making them for the last two years, this year making it three, thus (in my book), a new Fall tradition. Below is the absolute best recipe and it's pretty fool-proof. This recipe is from recipe.com, but for some reason it's no longer there! Good thing I wrote it down!

Autumn Apple Loaf

{Ingredients}
1 1/2 stick of unsalted butter (room temperature)
1 2/3 cup of sugar
2 eggs, beaten (room temperature)
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups of all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of baking powder
2 cups of peeled and chopped apples
Optional: 1 cup of chopped walnuts, raisins, etc.

{Directions}
Cream together the butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla until light and fluffy. Mix the other dry ingredients in a bowl and sift with a fork. Add the wet mixture to the dry one. Add apples and whatever else you want to include, walnuts, etc. Pour into a greased loaf pan and fill it to about 3/4 high and bake at 350 degrees for about 40-45 minutes. Make sure to test it to see if it's fully cooked. Use a toothpick and pierce the loaf at the thickest part. If the toothpick comes out clean, it's done. If not, it needs a few more minutes. The top of the loaf will turn a golden brown.

I usually chop the apples into small pieces since I don't really want to feel them. This time I made them slightly chunkier and I actually like it! Also, I added 10 more minutes to the bake, since it seemed to take a bit longer than usual. The top of this loaf comes out very crispy and the inside is very soft and moist. It's the best!

Dinner for the Week

hile the Boyfriend gears up to watch his Sunday football game, I've been going through some recipe books and magazines, looking for dishes to cook for dinner throughout the week. Unfortunately, both him and I work very demanding jobs with very very long hours. For me, most of my time during the week (and sometimes during the weekend) is unpredictable. His aren't as fickle, but that just means we know his days are all going to be long. If I get out of work too late, I don't join him for dinner. But I know him and I'm pretty sure that Papa John's Pizza will come a knockin' 4-5 times a week if there wasn't anything ready-made/easily-made in the fridge. I don't blame him...by the time he gets in it's so late that he's absolutely famished and beat from the day. So this week, I'm going with 3 main dishes; 1) a pasta dish, something hearty and meaty, but fairly simple. Maybe a concoction of kelbasa sausage, onions, mushrooms, bell peppers and tomatoes, cheese, and pineapples. The pineapples provides a nice and sweet surprise to such a salty mix! 2) a casserole. I love tuna noodle casserole, but he is not a fan of tuna. I may make it anyway one day, but for this week I've decided to try my hand at macaroni and cheese. I never make this dish because I think it's pretty difficult to make. I've tasted many homemade macaronis and honestly, I haven't tasted any that I really like. But I'm going to give Emeril's recipe a go. 3) one pot chicken with sausage, potatoes, and veggies. I know, it's all meat and carbs. But hey, he's a guy, he likes his meat and potatoes.

Next, I was thinking of making lemon bars. I've made them once before, and I've posted about it before. But just as a repeat, here yago:

This is a picture of my first attempt. We'll see how the second one goes.

For the recipe, click on Smitten Kitchen.

Who's the Breadmaker Now?

uring my 5 month I-Have-Nothing-To-Do-But-To-Cook stint, I really wanted to take a shot at baking my own bread. You know, take it back to the roots....old school....I've gotta feed my young? Except, I have no young and my ancestors were probably not baking a whole lot of bread and instead were crouched low and making enough kimchee to store for the entire village. Anyhoo, I wanted to try my hand at it but I don't own a bread mixer or maker and I've been told that the entire process could be quite challenging. With the spirit of Julia Child behind me and her chapter on mastering the art of baking bread in a conventional oven, I was ready to do it! After much, much, MUCH research, I found a no fuss no muss recipe over at one of my favorite food sites, Alexandra's Kitchen (who has recently moved her site to here). It's simple, easy, and quick. The bread came out great but I wish the crust browned a little more. I put a little egg wash over the top to keep it shiny and brown but it didn't seem to do the trick. I'll have to try again another time.

You can get the recipe here.

Apologies for the dull lighting but I had to make do with what I had. Happy Baking!

Holiday Goodies Part 1: Toffee Galore!

art 1 of my Holiday Goodies series features good ole chocolate and hazelnut toffee. I grew up loving Almond Roca and milling around See's Candies in hopes that they would offer out yummy samples with crispy centers. Later on in life I worked at an investment firm that received baskets and baskets of holiday treats, one of them being a brick of chocolate toffee, handmade from some lovely state that houses a lovely woman who makes these wonderful bricks of toffee. I wish I remembered the name, I'd love to get a shipment. As I reminisced about the wonderful toffees of my life I thought, hey, why not make my own?

Alexandra from Alexandra Cooks blogged a very easy and no muss no fuss recipe for toffee. The Boyfriend and I gave it a go and true to post, things came out surprisingly well. There's no baking involved and if you drop a glop of toffee on your stove, give it some time to harden and it will lift right off!

Daley Toffee: A Family Recipe 

{Ingredients}
1 C. salted butter 

1 C. sugar 

3 T. water (if tap, put through a Britta or use well or bottled) 

1 1/8 tsp. vanilla
2/3 C. ground pecans (or nut of your choice) 

4-6 oz. premium milk chococlate (bar form is easiest; can also do a dark chocolate but we think milk chocolate is best)

{Directions}
1. Cook butter, sugar, water, and vanilla over medium heat stirring CONSTANTLY until golden brown — test for hard ball stage in cold water. It may smoke, but don't worry.
2. Put half to 2/3 of the nuts in the bottom of a greased 9x9 inch pan. 

3. Pour the cooked butter/sugar mixture over the nuts. 

4. Wait a few minutes and put the chocolate on top — when chocolate softens, spread evenly and sprinkle remaining nuts on top.
5. When completely cool, break into pieces. Store in airtight container. 

NOTE: You can also use an 8x13 if you'd prefer a thinner version — in which case increase nuts to 1 C.

I crushed up some hazelnuts, left over from my Nutella and Hazelnut Biscotti and used some semi sweet chocolate bars that I had left over in my cabinet.

Recipes of the Week!

ust when I thought I was finally catching up with my life I take a look at the calendar and see that there is only one week until Thanksgiving! I can't believe it, time sure flew by! November has been quite a busy month for me. I volunteer 2 days a week for a couple of hours at a non profit organization in Brooklyn and I tutor a 7th grader in New Jersey. The commute alone is very long and eats up a large chunk of my days. Plus, the boyfriend and I have had 3 groups of visitors within a month (2 back to back for a total of 10 days) and we also went to Puerto Rico less than a month ago! Whew!
One of the ways I regroup is by cooking. I won't have a chance to do any of that until this weekend but I'm looking forward to trying some new recipes. I want to try a new pumpkin bread recipe, the Downeast Maine Pumpkin Bread, and stock up on some jars of my own marinara. This time, I'm going to take a stab at incorporating this recipe with my own.
But til then, take a look at Heart of Light's post on making your own pasta. It sounds so amazing!

{Photograph from Heart of Light}

Nothing says Halloween like...Pumpkin Bread

aking isn't really my forte but lately it seems like it's all I'm doing! Pumpkin pie is my least favorite of all pies but I love pumpkin bread and so does the boyfriend! Via facebook eavesdropping (a friend recommended this recipe to another friend through a wall post) I decided to give this one a shot. I actually improvised quite a bit which may explain why the bread wasn't super pumpkin-ey.
Here are the changes that I made: I didn't use pumpkin pie spice, I used cinnamon (didn't feel the need to spend money on it), I also used some fresh pumpkin gut in addition to Libby's pumpkin filling. We carved a pumpkin earlier on and I saved the insides, microwaved them, then pureed them. I also did not add any cranberries since the boyfriend is not a fan. And lastly, I baked in the oven for 50 minutes instead of 60 to keep it moist.
The bread came out quite yummy and the pumpkin aroma in the air really made me feel like the season was in full swing. I wouldn't say that it's the best I've ever tasted-- it could stand to be a little more moist, and I think if I used the pumpkin pie spice it would be more pumpkin-ey. But all in all, it was a success and I would use this recipe again. Click here for some of Libby's Pumpkin Craneberry Bread goodness!

Nutella and Hazelnut Biscotti

uesday was definitely a stay-at-home-and-bake-day. After watching Giada over on Food Network bake biscotti after biscotti, I was inspired to give it a little test drive of my own. A visit to my local grocery store and with my sister at hand, we were ready to bake some chocolatey goodness!
I noticed that Giada's Chocolate Biscotti looked more like a cookie. After some discussion, the sister and I decided to nix that idea and find a more traditional biscotti recipe. Surprisingly, baking one of these treats is easier than I thought and with some Nutella, how can you ever go wrong? We were tempted to just eat the dough!

The verdict: A plate full of yummy, chocolatey biscottis that pair well with the coffee we brought from Puerto Rico.

Recipe is as follows:

Ingredients: {makes 2 dozen}
* 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 1/3 tablespoons cocoa
* 1/3 teaspoon baking powder
* 1/3 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/3 teaspoon salt
* 2 large eggs
* 2/3 cup sugar
* 1/3 cup nutella
* 1/3 cup chocolate chips
* 1/3 cup hazelnuts (optional)

Instructions
First, preheat oven to 350°F. Then sift together flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. If you don't have a sifter, use a fork to make sure all the lumps are gone and dry ingredients are mixed well.

In another large bowl, beat eggs until frothy. Add sugar and continue beating on high for 2 minutes. Stir in Nutella. Then add flour mixture to egg mixture and stir until well combined. Add in the chocolate chips and hazelnuts, if using.

Finally, divide dough into 2 or 3 logs with well floured hands and arrange on a parchment lined baking sheet. Press logs into rectangles approximately 1/2 inch thick. Bake at 350°F for 20 minutes. Then remove from oven and turn down oven heat to 300°F. Using a serrated knife, cut logs into 1/3-1/2 inch slices. Arrange on baking sheet and return to oven. Bake for 10-12 minutes, turn biscotti over and bake an additional 10-12 minutes (depending on the thickness of your slices). Remove to a wire rack to cool. Store in an airtight container.

I would recommend chopping the nuts into 1/4s if you like the taste of hazelnut. Brew a cup of your favorite coffee or tea and you're good to go!