Baker's Theory

Chicken Francese

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Hey, friends. It’s been a hot minute! Jim and I road tripped to see my family for a pre-Thanksgiving gathering last week and I spent a lot of time in my mom’s kitchen. She and Jim had to work during our visit, so I was left to amuse myself in the kitchen. (Oh, the horror.) Beef tenderloin, homemade ice cream, a hilarious variety of Christmas cookies, homemade Snickers bars, and slow-cooked shredded carnitas were the orders of the day! I learned a bit about pulling hard candy (which burned my palms and exerted my biceps more than they’re used to) by making a coconut lime “twist,” though, if I’m being honest, they looked more like disgusting Grinch fingers. I’ll try this again soon as I think I’m starting a candy phase.

I also managed to shoot my next PUTZY episode: Croissants! If I ever manage to complete the video editing–which, I’ve found I’m rather neurotic about–it will be available for public viewing on YouTube by next Wednesday, only one month later than promised. Oh well. Delay is preferable to delivering crappy film footage. That’s what Thomas Jefferson always says.

It has been a productive and very fun vacation, but my blogging fell by the wayside a bit. I guess there is such thing as too much fun. When we returned home, we spent Thanksgiving with Jim’s family, and I finally watched Christmas Vacation. I think I’m too daft to get the humor in it? Regardless, I appreciate the official kickoff to THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR! Immediately after Thanksgiving, Jim and I bought our first (fresh) Christmas tree, a handsome Fraser fir. Miraculously, we also managed to host the whole family over that same day, after decorating the house for Christmas and grocery shopping for fresh pasta and meatballs. (Well when I put it like that, it doesn’t sound that miraculous, but I can assure you we were amazed at the feat.) 

Christmas is the best and I am fully prepared for a cookie-decorating party fit with a hot chocolate bar and caroling through the streets. With that said, I wanted to share with you a very summer-season dish, Chicken Francese. Francese is Italian for “French,” however, Chicken Francese is actually an American-created dish. Since I don’t know how to pronounce “Francese,” and since it doesn’t seem like a very apt name anyway, I think I’ll petition an official rename of this dish to lemon-and-champagne-in-a-butter-sauce chicken because that’s much more pithy. 

It’s a very lemon-y dish and will make you pucker! But it’s yummy and fresh, and will give you a taste of summer during the best of winter. 

Ingredients

1 lb skinless, boneless chicken breasts, sliced into thin, flat cutlets
1 egg
1 tbsp milk
Salt and pepper
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
2 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp onion salt
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil plus 1 tbsp butter, for frying

3 tbsp salted butter
1 clove minced garlic
1 cup dry white wine or champagne
Juice of one lemon, plus the zest of half the lemon
1 cup chicken broth
1 tbsp heavy whipping cream
Parsley, chopped for garnish (optional)

1/2 lb cooked angel hair pasta tossed with butter and grated Romano

 

Process

In a shallow bowl whisk together the egg, milk, salt and pepper. In a gallon-sized Ziploc bag combine flour, 2 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese, garlic powder, and onion salt. Shake to combine. 

Dip the flattened chicken cutlets in the egg mixture and then transfer to the flour bag to coat. Once all cutlets are in the flour bag, seal it and shift the chicken pieces around to ensure they are completely dredged in the flour mixture.

In a large skillet, heat olive oil and butter on medium heat until very hot. Arrange chicken in the skillet and cook 4 minutes per side, or until cooked fully, and there’s a browned crust on each plane. When all chicken pieces are cooked, transfer them to a paper-towel lined plate and set aside. 

Wipe out the pan with a paper towel and return to medium heat. Melt 3 tbsp salted butter and when it’s hot, add the minced garlic. Sautee until golden and fragrant and then add the wine or champagne. It will bubble as the wine flashes from the high heat. Add the lemon juice and zest and cook and stir until the liquid is syrupy, about 3 minutes. Drizzle in the chicken broth and cook and stir until the liquid is reduced by half. It should be thick and velvety. Last, whisk in the heavy whipping cream. 

Add the fried chicken pieces back to the pan and spoon the sauce over them on low heat. Serve immediately by dishing a few pieces of chicken with the sauce over a bed of angel hair pasta. Garnish with parsley. 

A short note on cookies...

I also have a small note on shortbread cookies based on how many batches I have made in the last two weeks. If you have trouble with your dough coming together, you can add cream or milk like I noted in my post on chocolate caramel shortbread, but it will not have the desired dry texture of true shortbread cookies. To get that true, dry texture, there is one critical step you must take. After creaming 1 cup of butter with 1/2 cup brown sugar, you have to add 2 cups of flour verrrrrrrrrrrrrrry slowly. If you add it too quickly, you’ll have crumbly dough. I think this happens because the fat globules from the butter get coated with too much flour at once when you dump all the flour in at the same time. If you introduce the flour slowly, there’s more room for it. 

In my croissant endeavors, I realized a technique that could cross over into cookies. If you want a straight edge for your cookie dough, roll it with a rolling pin by sandwiching your dough between two sheets of Cling Wrap or Press ‘n’ Seal. This helps to keep your rolling pin clean, ergo, fewer dishes, AND you can use the plastic wrap to fold the dough at the edge into a straight line. I’ll demonstrate this technique in an upcoming video, but send me a comment with any questions! 

Chocolate Caramel Shortbread

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Sometimes there are bad days, and for bad days, there is chocolate and caramel. I was so dreading this last weekend because I still hadn’t fully nailed laminating croissants yet and still needed something to upload for my second episode of PUTZY. So at the last minute (not always a great way to start something…) I changed and decided that on Saturday, I would make (and film myself making) a full-on Thanksgiving meal where I got to choose everything on the menu. 

I quickly realized that filming myself doing something putzy is also very putzy in itself. Camera angles vary, and it’s not as simple as making each dish individually. For instance, I switch between mashing potatoes and sauteeing breakfast sausage for stuffing. This is good for maximizing kitchen efficiency but not ideal for explaining how to make each piece of the pie. 

It was a full day of cooking and I filmed the whole eight hours in little segments at different parts of my kitchen. Afterwards, I selected all the .mov files and deleted them. Good riddance. No one wants to watch chaos unfold. 

But the meal was actually really yummy! If I got to pick the Thanksgiving menu it would include…

For me, turkey has way too low of a return on investment. It occupies your oven for around four hours and, in my opinion, roasted poultry just isn’t yummy enough to justify taking up the same amount of time as four bundt cakes. 

Filet mignon, on the other hand, barely needs any oven time or seasoning and tastes like a standing ovation. 

As for dessert, I have never been huge on pies and I think I missed the pumpkin spice craze. To me, chocolate cake with chocolate ganache and whipped cream is the only celebration-worthy dessert! 

Alas, I lost my PUTZY time on Saturday and attempted to demonstrate croissants on Sunday. But by then my energy was gone. Sometimes this happens. I gave myself the grace to mope a bit, then dusted the flour off and picked myself up. I was too much in my head and needed to return to my usual curiosity about food and JUST HAVE FUN! So there is no PUTZY episode planned for tomorrow, but don’t despair. I will be back when I find something marvelously putzy to show you!

And that’s where I’m at now. I have extrapolated my croissant-laminating lessons into biscuits, I’ve eaten a filet mignon that was taller than my stilettos, and I’ve indulged a sudden craving for cookies. Which brings me to…

Chocolate Caramel Shortbread

This is my response to sugar cookies. I am so over those. They don’t taste that good to me! I’d rather give those precious calories to a noble cause like  chocolate. From my YouTube searches, some decorations for sugar cookies require a day for the icing to dry! Another low ROI if you ask me. 

These chocolate caramel shortbread cookies are one of Jimmy’s favorites. It’s a simple Scottish shortbread cookie painted with a homemade caramel sauce and a little chocolate ganache flair. While I admit that brightly decorated cookies are indeed beautiful, I think there is a rich elegance to decorating in caramel and chocolate hues. 

Yield: 12-15 cookies (using 3″ in diameter cookie cutter, cookies are 1/2″ thick)

Ingredients

For the shortbread

1 cup softened, salted butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 cups all purpose flour, plus more for rolling
1-2 tbsp heavy whipping cream, as needed

For the caramel (from Sally’s Baking Addiction)

1 cup cane sugar
6 tbsp salted butter at room temperature, sliced into tablespoons
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1 tsp kosher salt

For the chocolate ganache

1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips or melting discs
1 tbsp heavy whipping cream

Process

For the shortbread

Cream butter and sugar until soft and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl so it is fully incorporated. On low speed, add in the flour. Dough will be just crumbles. Dump the dough crumbles on to a floured surface and squeeze the crumbles with your hands, compressing them together. If the dough does not come together, add a bit of whipping cream slowly–about a half tablespoon at a time–until it comes together. Flatten to a half inch-thick using a floured rolling pin. Cut the dough with a cookie or biscuit cutter and transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake at 325F for 20 minutes. Allow to cool.

For the caramel

In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, melt the sugar on medium heat. Use a wooden spoon or high-heat spatula to stir it as it turns an amber color. Once all of the sugar is melted, add in the butter, one tablespoon at a time. The butter will splatter because it is colder than the sugar. This is normal, but be careful not to get splattered with hot sugar! Stir it with your wooden spoon until the butter and sugar are both melted, about 2 minutes. Slowly drizzle in the heavy whipping cream, continuing to stir as you do so. Allow it to boil for a minute and then remove from heat completely. Stir in the salt and allow to cool slightly so it will thicken more. Can be stored in refrigerator for up to a month! After the cookies have cooled slightly, spoon caramel sauce over the cookies, spreading it generously. 

For the chocolate ganache

In a small glass mixing bowl combine chocolate with cream. Microwave in 15-second intervals, stirring between, until melted. Place a quart-sized Ziploc bag in a drinking glass, folding the sides over the lip of the glass. Spoon the chocolate mixture into the bag and seal it. Cut a small hole in one of the bottom corners of the bag. Pipe chocolate designs over the caramel spread on the cookies. Sprinkle with coarse sea salt. 

Store cookies on a covered baking sheet on the counter. The caramel and chocolate will stick to the other cookies, so if you’d like to maintain their aesthetic, do not stack or stagger them. 

Le Croissant

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Following my PUTZY pasta YouTube debut on Wednesday, I’ve been sweating over the next thing to make. There are so many putzy things, and yet, everyone has their own levels of what’s too much work and what’s an acceptable amount of work. I asked Jim for ideas, and he said everything I make is too much work if he had to make it. 

I had been toying with the idea of bread, butter, and jam for the last couple of days. I tested a batch of macarons this morning and read up on the history of chocolate making. I still like all of these ideas–they’re totally putzy! 

There was that lovely Halloween morning when Jim and Joe went to the library to vote and I tagged along because the fancy grocery store was within walking distance of the library. I grabbed a bakery croissant and watched the world go by in the market cafe feeling cozy and sophisticated. 

It sealed the deal when we had my friend, Maddie, over for dinner last night. Her lovely presence reminded me of the beautiful croissants she had made over the summer during the COVID baking craze. At the time I remember simultaneously giving her kudos and shaking my head. I told her I’d never tried making them because they were, “Way too putzy for me.” 

Bingo. 

I did a bit of research on croissants and it got a little annoying how exacting people can get with their recipes. I gathered the gist of them and discarded any sort of instruction requiring me to do something weirdly specific, like cut dough into 7.25″ pieces. While I accept that certain comestibles are arduous and time consuming, it brings me joy to reject arbitrary precision. I even throw in extra flour. or salt or butter to be devilish. 

I’ve made bread more times than I can count, so making croissant dough was similar enough. You use milk instead of water, and there’s no oil in croissants like there is in bread. The butter you slather over croissant dough supplies all the fat. 

The difference came down to the laminating process. Bread just rises and then you bake it. Croissant dough rises, and then you shape it into a rectangle, place a big, flat block of butter on it, fold it like a letter to Santa, flatten that, chill it, and repeat the folding process 3-8 times. The more times you do it, the more flakey layers you are rewarded with. I lost track of how many times I folded this dough, but I’m guessing it was in the 5-6 range. 

After the laminating process, you get to cut the dough in half, and then the halves in half, and then those halves in half, and then those halves in half. It yields 16 croissants, thousands of layers, and one very buttery-smelling kitchen. 

We couldn’t even speak after we tried the first flakey, crunchy, soft-on-the-inside, slathered-in-more-butter bite. Then we washed it down with some very rich hot chocolate. 

I think tomorrow I’ll make two more batches and deliver them to everyone I know. I’m dough-hooked. 

Croissant Recipe

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups whole milk at 110F
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp yeast
3-4 cups all purpose flour
1 tbsp fine sea salt
1 1/2 cups salted butter
1 egg 

Process

In a stand mixer bowl combine the warm milk, brown sugar, and yeast. Let it sit for about 10 minutes and it will become foamy and bubbly. 

Add 3 cups of flour and salt. Using a dough hook, knead the mixture on the lowest setting until the dough is formed. Add more flour as needed, 1/4 cup at a time. Dough should be slightly sticky but not gooey. 

Take dough out of the bowl and place on a lightly floured surface. Knead it with your hands a bit and then place it back in the bowl. Cover it and refrigerate it for an hour. 

Lay out a long (20″) sheet of plastic or cling wrap. Remove the wrapping from 3 sticks of butter and place them on the plastic or cling wrap. Place another sheet (the same size as the first) on top of the butter. Using your hands (preferably when your hands are cold) gently press the butter sticks down though the plastic wrap so they mash together. Using a rolling pin, even the surface of the butter so it is a flat rectangle, about 8″ x 14″. Use the rolling pin to get straight sides. 

After the dough has chilled for an hour, roll it into a rectangle on a lightly floured surface. The rectangle should be about 10″ x 16″. Place the flattened butter block in the center and fold the dough in a trifold over the butter. Roll this new rectangle out into a flattened 10″ x 16″ rectangle again. Wrap in cling wrap and place on a baking sheet. Return the dough to the refrigerator and allow it to chill for another hour. Repeat the folding process at least three more times, each time allowing the dough to chill for an hour after the fold. 

After the folding (also known as laminating) process is complete, using a bench scraper cut the 10″ x 16″ rectangle in half lengthwise and vertically. This will yield four rectangles. Cut each rectangle in half to yield a rough square. Cut the square along the diagonal to get a triangle shape. You will have 16 triangles. 

Create a small cut on the narrowest side of your triangle. Then roll the triangle from the narrow side to the tip on the opposite end. Repeat for each croissant, and then place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Eight croissants per baking sheet. Allow the croissants to rise for 1-2 hours on the pans. 

In a small bowl, beat egg lightly. Using a pastry brush, brush the egg onto the risen croissants. This will give the croissants a beautiful golden shine.

Finally, bake at 400F for 12 minutes, then reduce the heat to 375 for 5 minutes. Bake one pan at a time. Rotate the pan after reducing the heat. Cool croissants for 15 minutes on a wire cooling rack before consuming. 

PUTZY

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I am so proud to introduce to you my mini show on YouTube: PUTZY. I think I’ve been overloaded on “Dinner in 15-minutes or less!” and “Quick and easy meals!” Apparently those kinds of recipes are short and sweet so that you can focus on what is important. But for me, food is what’s important! I like spending time in my kitchen, and learning about what goes in to my body is a good use of time!

I am going to try (as time allows) to post a new episode once a week on Wednesdays and bring you all the cumbersome, painstaking, arduous, way-too-much work meals you (might?) also be craving. This first episode is all about fresh pasta! It also includes some bonuses like New York Metropolitan grade opera singing and Vito Corleone impersonations. I even do a pro-bono (and thus unsponsored) commercial for Ghirardelli!

Let me know what kinds of putzy stuff you make, too! I’d love to hear about it! 

Fresh Pasta

Ingredients

2 cups all purpose flour
2 eggs
1/2 tsp fine sea salt
1/4 cup water

Process

Place flour and salt in a stand mixing bowl. Create a well in the middle. Crack eggs into the well and add water. Using dough hook, knead on stir or speed 1 until dough is soft and elastic, about 10 minutes. Flatten dough (about 1.5″ thick disc) on parchment or wax paper. Chill dough / allow it to rest for 20 minutes in refrigerator. 

Once the dough has rested you can divide it into 6-8 equal pieces, using a bench scraper to cut it. Flatten the pieces with your hands to about 1/4″-1/2″ thickness, using flour generously to prevent dough from sticking to your hands. You can also use a rolling pin. 

Run a flattened piece through the widest setting of your pasta maker. Add flour to the dough. Then run it through the next, slightly less wide setting. Add flour to dough again. Do this up to the third setting, each time making the dough a little flatter. 

Then make a trifold with the dough. Return the pasta maker to the widest setting and feed the pasta dough through the rollers with the trifolds vertical. Continue running the pasta through the rollers up to the third highest setting. 

Make another trifold in the opposite direction of the one you did previously. Repeat the previous step up to the fifth or sixth highest setting of your pasta maker. Pasta should be quite thin at this point. 

Cut into desired shapes, adding flour to the noodles as you continue so they do not stick to each other. When dough is prepared, boil in heavily salted water for one minute, or until pasta floats to the top of the pot. Serve immediately. 

Say, “Cheese!”

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Say brie cheese, in fact. Or chevre, even. Cream cheese is a classic. What makes these cheeses kitchen all-stars is their versatility. They can play in the appetizer, entree, or dessert round.

Brie en croute is a French appetizer that sprinkles a wheel of brie in brown sugar and encloses it in puff pastry. It’s baked until the brown sugar and top of the brie meld into a caramel. Sweet meets salty and creamy and it is delicious. 

There is an ice cream shop in Minneapolis called Milkjam Creamery and they make wonderfully unique ice creams like chili mango, lychee pineapple, or black dark chocolate. But their namesake ice cream, The Milkjam, is a combination of caramelized goat’s and cow’s condensed milks. 

My maid of honor, Lauren, and her family celebrate Thanksgiving each year with a special dish called Cranberries in the Snow. It is a jam of whole cranberries and pineapples under a “frost” of cream cheese and whipped cream. 

Finally, the Vermont Brownie Company is known for beating Bobby Flay with their dark chocolate, chevre-swirled brownies. 

Excluding my father-in-law from this declaration, cheese can belong in any dish because it encompasses so many wedges on the flavor wheel. 

To use the flavor wheel, first identify the friendly flavors: fat, sweet, and salty. The friendly flavors are spaced between the more adverse flavors: bitter, acidic, and spicy. 

Friendly flavors will go with any flavor on the wheel. Adverse flavors will (usually) need to pair with friendly flavors. When you think about the flavors you enjoy together, it makes a lot of sense. Here are some examples:

Sweet and acid work together in a lemon tart or a sweet and sour chicken.

Fat and bitter work together in a dark chocolate souffle, a cheese and wine pairing, or even adding cream to coffee. 

Salty and spicy work together in buffalo wings, which also have acidity and means you have two adverse flavors! But the saltiness in the breading creates harmony, as does the creamy (aka fatty) bleu cheese dip you serve them with.

When looking at cheese in terms of the flavor wheel, cheese usually falls into the salty and fatty flavors which makes it extremely versatile. Remember, salty and fatty flavors are friendly, and thus they go with any flavor on the wheel. Cream cheese, bleu cheese, and goat cheese have the added element of acidity. 

The goal is not to hit every corner of flavor (alas, it is a wheel…), but to make a relevant combination of flavors. 

Desserts, meet Cheese

Cheeses in dessert is not a novel idea. People have paired cheese with sweets for as long as cheese has existed. <<< I made that up. But it could be true!

I wanted to take a deep dive into the complexity that cheese can bring to dessert and build my own bridge between the two. I have already shared the cranberry orange tart last year and the chevre brownies I make are identical to the cream cheese brownies, except that you substitute half of the cream cheese with chevre, you add a small amount of almond extract, and you fold in 1/4 cup of diced fancy cocktail cherries (with their syrup) like Luxardo Cherries. 

Brie and caramel work in brie en croute and apples and caramel work as a delicious snack. I picture Caramel as the friend introducing Apple to Brie and the shortbread as the charming setting. If you’re lost, feel free to make the face my brother-in-law, Joe, makes at me often and say, “Oh, my gosh. What are you talking about?” Needless to say, brie, apples, and caramel work together because they combine the most friendly flavors with a little bit of tang. 

Apple, caramel, and brie on a shortbread tart

For the shortbread: Combine 1 stick of softened butter with 1 cup of flour, 1/4 cup of sugar, and 1/4 tsp of salt. Press into the bottom of a 9″ tart or cheesecake pan. If you choose a tart pan, press dough into the sides of the pan to get a fluted edge. Bake at 350F for 15 minutes. 

For the filling: In a stand mixer combine 4 oz brie, rind removed, 4 oz of sour cream (it’s about a half cup), a pinch of salt, and one egg. Mix it on high until creamy and smooth, and then spread evenly over the slightly cooled shortbread crust. Sprinkle brown sugar over the brie mixture, about 1/3 of a cup. Arrange thinly sliced red and green apples (you will need about half a red apple and half a green apple) on top of the brown sugar. Sprinkle with a little more brown sugar, about a tablespoon, and place in the oven on a baking sheet at 350 for an additional 20 minutes. Sprinkle flakey sea salt over it when it comes bubbling out of the oven. Let it cool at least 20 minutes before cutting into small wedges or squares. Can be refrigerated and reheated. 

Chocolate Truffle Ice Cream

I think this is the thing I am most proud of. This is the ice cream to rule all ice creams. (Except premium Mickey ice cream bars. Those are king.) There are classic flavors: bittersweet chocolate truffle and literally milk and honey. But there is also a subtle, slightly acidic twist: chevre cheese. It takes a few hours to make, but almost all of it is inactive, just letting the refrigerator or freezer do the work. Jim, wary of most unconventional things, liked this ice cream, so I give it a picky eater stamp of approval. 

Ingredients

4 oz softened cream cheese
3 oz softened goat cheese
2 tbsp sour cream
2 tbsp heavy cream
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1/4 tsp almond extract
Juice from half a lemon
Lemon zest, about 1/2 tsp

1 cup heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
3 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup honey

1 scant cup Ghirardelli dark chocolate melting discs
1 tbsp cold heavy cream

Process

In a stand mixer beat cream cheese, goat cheese, and sour cream until smooth. Add the powdered sugar, heavy cream, and almond extract, beating until well incorporated. Last, add the lemon juice and zest. You can do this a day in advance to save time.

In a medium, heavy bottomed pot combine the cheese mixture with 1 cup heavy cream, 1 cup milk, 3 egg yolks, 1/2 cup sugar, and 1/4 cup honey. Whisk until completely homogenous and turn on heat to a medium flame. Whisk continuously until the mixture reaches 135-150F, about 10-15 minutes. Do not boil. Remove from heat and allow to cool for about 10 minutes. Transfer to a sealable container and refrigerate at least 4 hours. 20 minutes prior to using the ice cream machine, place your custard in the freezer. 

To make the dark chocolate truffle, melt 1 cup of Ghirardelli melting discs in the microwave or a double boiler. It takes about 30 seconds in the microwave. Then add 1 tablespoon of cold heavy whipping cream to the chocolate. It will immediately begin to turn solid. Incorporate the cream until all of the chocolate is a bit stiff. Transfer the chocolate to a sheet of wax or parchment paper and spread evenly. Cover it with another sheet of wax paper, pressing flat and even. Carefully place in the freezer for at least 10 minutes. Once hardened, cut the truffle into 1/4″ squares and store in a sealable container in the freezer. 

Once the custard is ready, use your ice cream maker per its instructions (this usually involves freezing the churning bowl overnight!). I pour the custard into the churning bowl and let it churn for about ten minutes. Then I add in the chocolate truffle and let it churn for another 5-10 minutes. The ice cream should be stiff, a bit more than soft serve, and then you can transfer it to an ice cream container. Freeze it for at least 4 hours before serving. 

One Pasta Two Ways

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Pasta is my kryptonite. Pasta, butter, and cheese could sustain me any day of the year. Freshly rolled or dried, I don’t care. I love it all. One of my all time favorite types of pasta is bucatini. It’s like a hollow spaghetti noodle and it provides a tiny tube for more sauce to burrow. 

Bucatini is great for making any kind of saucy pasta, but a really good one is macaroni and cheese because it very closely resembles the noodles out of the Kraft blue box when you break up the long noodles into inch-long pieces, and the cheese sauce finds its way into the hollow tubes. 

Sometimes it’s hard to decide what kind of sauce to go for on a pasta. Red is tangy and bright and white is creamy and savory. Both have their merits. Today was the kind of day where I really felt the urge to be in the kitchen, so I indulged myself and made (then ate) both. 

The tomato sauce–technically a marinara–is by Marcella Hazan, a famous Italian chef known for an incredible bolognese and particular cooking techniques. It’s no-nonsense and you have everything you need in your pantry already! You can easily add meatballs to it if plain sauce is too boring for you.

The cream sauce is a little more fancy and starts off with leeks, then portobello mushrooms, sage, and garlic. 

Both pastas are topped with a healthy amount of freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese. 

Marcella Hazan’s Tomato Sauce

Ingredients

1 28 oz can of whole, peeled tomatoes, preferably San Marzano 
1 medium onion, peeled and halved
5 tbsp butter
Salt, to taste

Optional additional ingredients:
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp sugar 
2-3 dashes cayenne pepper

Process

Place tomatoes, onion halves, and butter in a heavy-bottomed sauce pot. Cook on low and uncovered for 45 minutes. If using optional ingredients, you can add them with the tomatoes. Discard onion and toss with 1/2 lb cooked bucatini pasta and freshly grated Romano cheese. 

Mushroom Sage Bucatini

Ingredients

8 oz chopped mushrooms
1 tbsp chopped sage
4 cloves minced garlic
3 tbsp butter
2 leeks, chopped
1/2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1/2 lb cooked bucatini pasta
1 cup reserved pasta water
Salt, to taste
Grated Pecorino Romano cheese, as desired

Process

Heat butter in a large skillet on medium. Add leeks and stir until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add in mushrooms, sage, and garlic and increase heat to high. Stir until mushrooms are golden and most of the water from them has evaporated. Add salt, the Worcestershire sauce, and pasta water, cooking until the liquid has reduced by half. Toss with cooked bucatini pasta and freshly grated Romano cheese. 

Holiday Practice

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For whatever reason, it suddenly struck me at Trader Joe’s to buy a whole chicken after we came back from Orlando. Maybe it was all of the commercials for Christmas at the Disney resort, or the fact that the hotel merchandise shop switched from Halloween mouse gear to Christmas over our last night there. It could also be that Hallmark has started airing their new Christmas movies already, and watching Mistletoe Secret is a Mistletoe Secret Indulgence of mine… Whatever the reason, I feel Christmasy, cozy, and in pursuit of comfort food and Bing Crosby music. 

Chef Samin Nosrat wrote about a simple buttermilk chicken recipe in her book Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat. Three ingredients–a whole chicken, 2 tablespoons of Kosher salt, and 2 cups of buttermilk. Marinate it overnight in a gallon Ziplock bag, let it sit out for an hour before roasting, then bake it for about an hour in a cast iron skillet. It’s zero fuss and yields a very juicy bird. You can also build off of that and add fresh herbs (courtesy of a friend’s garden!), a quartered onion, an orange, or garlic. By the way, does anyone else hate tiny cloves of garlic? Ugh. So hard to smash and chop!

Anyway, this year for the holidays will be tough–Jim and I have to divide the cheer between our families. As much as I love to cook, we will likely be either traveling or not home for the upcoming holidays. However, upon reflection, this is actually somewhat of a relief! I get to practice making fun holiday menus without the pressure of hosting (and the cleanup that goes with it…) And I still get to indulge myself with dishes that are completely my own. Nothing makes me want to pull my hair out more than hearing someone complain, “Oh, so-and-so would never eat that. Just make it plain.” I don’t, or rather, I can’t, just make anything plain. It pains me. If you can make something better, you have an obligation to!

So I whipped up this grand lunch on Monday–the roasted chicken I’d marinated overnight, sour cream and garlic mashed potatoes, and a buttery wheat and sage stuffing. Later I made the accompanying elote Brussels sprouts and corn (Brussels also courtesy of a friend named Lindsey’s garden!). And I asked Jim if he wanted any of this spread for lunch. He replied, “That’s too fancy for lunch. I can only have something that fancy for dinner,” and he himself made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. More for me, at least. 

After taking the meat off of the chicken, I boiled the bones in water to make chicken stock. After soaking lentils in water overnight on Tuesday, I cooked them in the chicken stock for a couple of hours until they were incredibly tender. To it I added a sofrito with rosemary (thank you, Lindsey!!!) cooked in bacon fat and a splash of fresh lemon juice after the lentils had really softened. Pro tip: lentils will never soften if exposed to acid or salt too early on in cooking them. (The same goes for onions, actually, so if you ever try to make something with onions and tomatoes, for example, wait to add the tomatoes until the onions are softened and translucent.) 

Finally, we had our Disney Trivia and Halloween party yesterday, also known as Flake Family Fun Night with special guests, Alex and Morgan, who are my old roommates. The BBQ pulled beef was a cinch to make, and it worked perfectly with King’s Hawaiian rolls. Outsourcing the mac and cheese bundt to Jane and the salad to Alex and Morgan was 100% the right thing to do! Don’t you love having reliable people in your life?? They are the best! I also changed the dessert last minute to cream cheese brownies. The night was a success and the costumes were fantastic! I personally loved Morgan’s Disgust from Inside Out costume the most! I also really liked Joe’s Bill Lumbergh! Jim’s older brother, Tom, clinched the award for best costume as Tony Perkis from Disney’s Heavyweights, and now holds the keys to the Hollywood Tower Hotel, while his wife, Angie, led Team Mickey to another victory at Disney trivia! Our home was filled with power couples last night! 

It has been a fun and rewarding albeit busy week, and it was such a delightful feeling when I woke up this morning. No honeymoon to plan, no bus to catch to the parks, the trivia game I’d worked on for the last month was finished, and no party to host or improvise apple schnapps for. I slept in and then went to the market for a coffee and croissant while I waited for Jim to finish voting across the street. It was perfectly cozy.

Buttermilk Roasted Chicken by Chef Samin Nosrat (and all the fixings by me!)

Ingredients

1 whole chicken, no giblets
2 cups buttermilk
2 tablespoons kosher salt

Process

Combine salt and buttermilk in a gallon-sized Ziplock bag. Tie the chicken legs together with cooking twine and add the chicken to the bag and seal. Marinate 24 hours or overnight, turning occasionally. Remove from the refrigerator an hour before you plan to cook it. Preheat the oven to 425F. Remove chicken from the bag and shake off excess buttermilk. Sprinkle with additional salt as desired. Place the chicken in a roasting pan on a rack or in a cast iron skillet. Place in the middle of the oven with the legs pointed to the back left. Bake for 25 minutes. You will hear it sizzling very quickly. Turn the skillet so the legs point to the back right and bake an additional 25 minutes. Then lower the heat to 375 and cover the chicken loosely with aluminum foil. Continue to bake for another 20 minutes. Allow to cool slightly in the pan before carving. 

Sour Cream and Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Ingredients

4 large Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and chopped into 1″ cubes
6 tbsp salted butter
3/4 cup sour cream
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion salt
Sea salt, to taste
Heavy cream, to taste

Process

Boil cubed potatoes in heavily salted water. When pierced easily with a fork, drain and return to the pot. Add butter, sour cream, garlic powder, and onion salt to the cooked potatoes. Mash to desired texture and adjust for salt and cream as needed. 

Wheat and Sage Stuffing

Ingredients

Half a loaf of day old wheat bread (Country Hearth is what I had on hand)
1/2 cup of butter, sliced into squares
3 cups chicken broth
1 onion, finely chopped
2 stalks of celery, finely chopped
1 large carrot, finely chopped
2 tbsp, finely chopped sage
1 tbsp, finely chopped rosemary
4 cloves garlic, minced
Olive oil, for the pot
Sea salt, to taste

Process

Cut or tear bread into bite-size pieces and spread on an aluminum foil-lined baking pan. Bake at 275F for 20 minutes, or until bread is dehydrated and stiff. Meanwhile, chop your vegetables and herbs. Coat the bottom of a large Dutch oven with olive oil and turn to medium heat. Sautee the vegetables until tender, then add the herbs and garlic. Make sure to salt the vegetables as they cook. When the bread is done, distribute it over the vegetables and fold them together to integrate. Add the butter, 2 cups of broth, and a bit of salt. Fold but do not mix vigorously. When bread has been slightly moistened by the broth, turn off the heat and cover the pot for five minutes. Remove lid and test for texture and taste. If it needs more broth, return the heat to medium and slowly drizzle in more broth while stirring. Adjust for salt. 

Elote-style Deep Fried Brussels Sprouts

Ingredients

Vegetable oil, for frying
1 lb Brussels sprouts, halved if large
1/4 cup mayo
1/4 cup cojita cheese, crumbled
Juice from 1/2 a lime
Garlic powder, chili powder, onion powder, and salt, to taste

Process

In a large pot, heat oil until you can feel the heat coming off it. Add the Brussels sprouts carefully with a mesh or slotted spoon. Allow to fry for about 20 minutes, occasionally stirring. Remove and set on a paper towel-lined plate.

In a large bowl combine mayo, lime juice, and spices. Add in the Brussels sprouts and sprinkle cheese over. Serve!

Note: This elote recipe also works for boiled or grilled corn!

Herbed Lentil Soup

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups dried green lentils, soaked in water overnight to soften
1/2 lb bacon
1 medium onion, minced*
1 large carrot, minced*
2 stalks of celery, trimmed and minced*
2 tbsp fresh sage, chopped
1 tbsp fresh rosemary, chopped
8 cloves garlic, minced
Juice from half a lemon
8 cups chicken stock
Salt, to taste

Process

In a large Dutch oven bring lentils and chicken stock to a boil. Allow to boil for ten minutes, then reduce heat to a simmer and cover. This will cook over 2-3 hours. About an hour in to cooking, do the following:

In a large skillet, fry bacon until crisp. Place on a plate lined with a paper towel and set aside. In the same skillet, fry the onion, carrot, and celery in the bacon grease on medium-low heat until the vegetables are brown and soft, about 30 minutes. Then add the sage, rosemary, and garlic, stirring until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and place contents in a food processor. Squeeze in the lemon juice and process on high until a rough paste forms. Add this to the lentils and stock. Continue to cook for an hour and a half, stirring on occasion and adjusting with salt as desired. When lentils are tender (after about three hours of total cooking time in the stock) you can either serve as is or use a hand blender to puree them further into a smooth soup. (Pureeing lentils aids in their digestion, but it’s not necessary.) Ladle into bowls and garnish with grated Romano and crumbled bacon. Serve with warm garlic bread. 

Cream Cheese Brownies

Ingredients

2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp sea salt
3 eggs
4 oz bittersweet chocolate, such as a baking bar
1/2 cup salted butter
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup milk

8 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
1 tbsp flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg

Process. Melt 4 oz bittersweet chocolate with butter in the microwave, about 1 minute, stirring half way through. Then combine sugar, flour, cocoa powder, vanilla, sea salt, eggs, oil, milk, and melted chocolate with butter in a large bowl. Pour into a greased 9″ x 13″ baking pan.

In a separate bowl combine cream cheese, flour, sugar, vanilla, and egg, beating on high until smooth. Use food coloring if desired. Spoon globs of cream cheese over the brownie batter in the pan. Using a butterknife, drag the knife through both the brownie batter and cream cheese to create swirls. 

Bake at 350F for 35-45 minutes on the middle rack. Cool completely before cutting, cleaning the knife between each cut. 

Our Costumes...

Ben Gates aka Jim
Anger and Disgust aka Alex and Morgan
Tony Perkis aka Tom
Bill Lumbergh aka Joey
Holly Golightly aka me
Rey aka also me

Our Magical ‘Moon

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We returned to the un-magical (albeit snowy) Minnesota yesterday from our lovely honeymoon. The depression has set it for Jim that our vacation at the wonderful Walt Disney World is over, and he has informed me he will need lots of cakes and desserts to fill the void. I am very happy to oblige, especially after drawing inspiration from our travels and the book I read during our trip (Miss Cecily’s Recipes for Exceptional Ladies by Vicky Zimmerman–I can’t recommend it enough). 

It was a great trip and our first trip together where we got to learn more about each other’s travel styles. For example, Jim is the type to set an alarm for 5:45 a.m., eat lightly, get on the first bus to the parks, and be in constant pursuit of the next great ride. I, on the other hand, like to sleep until I wake up (whenever that is), have a delicious brunch (Mickey waffles, duh), tan by the pool with a book, then head to the parks to go shopping. We’re totally the same. 

Some of the best parts of our trip were in the most unexpected places. It seems that everyone flocks to the allure of Magic Kingdom and EPCOT, but honestly, my favorite rides were spent at Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios. Because of COVID, all of Disney’s rides and restaurants quickly reach their limited capacities, so we had no hope or expectation of getting in. But through some Mickey magic (and a lot of trial-and-error with the Disney app) we managed to get into the highly coveted Be Our Guest, Beaches & Cream Soda Shoppe, and the new Star Wars Rise of the Resistance ride. 

The Magic Kingdom

We went to Magic Kingdom on Monday and Friday because there is so much to see there, and we didn’t get to all of it by Monday. 

Some of the highlights were The Carousel of Progress, Big Thunder Mountain, Jungle Cruise, the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse, Dumbo, beautiful mosaics in the castle, Hall of Presidents, Be Our Guest, Haunted Mansion, and It’s a Small World.

I also tried my best to dress for the occasion, donning my Ellie pin and my teacup necklace. 

Animal Kingdom

We also did mobile ordering at the Satu’li Canteen at Animal Kingdom where Jim got a deliciously grilled chicken and rice bowl, and I got a slow roasted, thinly sliced beef with noodles. Both were garnished with carrot slaw and jelly bursts. Definitely recommend eating here! 

Despite getting to Animal Kingdom very early, the line to the newest Avatar ride was already about two hours worth of a wait. So we headed to the Navi River Cruise (which was spectacular in terms of color!) and then on to one of my favorites: the Safari. We also caught an educational bird show, rode Expedition Everest, and watched primates taunt each other while we gobbled up premium ice cream bars. 

The dinosaur ride was just the right mix of fun and thrilling. It was a huge delight to see all of the animals in the Maharajah Jungle Trek: a komodo dragon, a bengal tiger, and many colorful birds. Finally, we made it onto the 3D Avatar Pandora ride and it was amazing! The smells were wonderful and the scenery was resplendent. 

EPCOT

EPCOT was…truthfully a huge let down. Before meeting Jim, I never knew there were rides at EPCOT, and so from the time the park opened at 11:00 a.m. until about 3:00 p.m., we went through Soarin’, Nemo and Friends, Spaceship Earth, Jim went on Mission: SPACE, and then we got in line for Jim’s favorite ride, Test Track. 45 minutes of waiting in line for test track, we finally got to the front and the overhead speaker announced that inclement weather was forcing them to stop the ride until further notice. We eventually abandoned the ride and it never reopened that day (but it never rained, either).  

My favorite part of EPCOT has always been the different countries of World Showcase and the great shops that offer imported products from around the world. Unfortunately, the majority (~80%) of these shops were closed.  

We did manage to get a shot of chocolate Mozart liqueur from Germany, Mickey and Minnie pasta-themed dish towels in Italy, and a glimpse at the upcoming restaurant in France called Gusteau’s after Ratatouille. 

I would not recommend visiting EPCOT during COVID. It was definitely not worth the full park ticket. 

Disney's Hollywood Studios

Disney’s Hollywood Studios gave us the best day of our trip. Again, we arrived early and only waited about 10 minutes to get onto the Tower of Terror. Things got busier quickly after that and so we pushed off Rock ‘n’ Rollercoaster until later in the afternoon. We hit up all three of the Star Wars rides, saw the Muppets in 3D (meh), and played the Toy Story Midway Mania. We also walked through a little museum and show on Walt Disney’s life which was interesting. 

Of course, we also had to have another premium Mickey ice cream bar! 

If you are headed to Disney any time soon, here are my tips:

1. Make reservations NOW for any restaurants you want to try. Pretty much everything was either booked or was only available for dinner at 8:30 p.m. You can also try to get on the Walk-up list for some restaurants, but you have to do this (A) through the Disney app and (B) immediately after the restaurant opens, and there is no guarantee you will get in. Everything is done through the app now, and you can’t just walk up to the concierge and put your name on the list. This might get better when COVID resolves, but until then bear in mind that the restaurants are operating at less than half capacity. 

2. You can also order food through mobile order pick up. It works for some restaurants and is the required process for any fast food restaurants (of which we really liked Pecos Bill’s tacos at Magic Kingdom and Satu’li Canteen at Animal Kingdom). 

3. I’d also suggest springing for a room with a view. Unfortunately, regardless of how charming you are or what happy event you are celebrating, Disney simply doesn’t throw in free perks anymore. Of course, you’ll probably spend most of your time at the parks anyway, but it’s nice to open the curtains and not look directly into the fins of an industrial-grade air conditioning unit. The lagoon view we had at the Yacht Club really added to the ambiance that we were on a special vacation. 

4. Go mini golfing at Fantasia Gardens! It costs about $15 per person which is a bit pricey for mini golf, but the 18-hole course is very whimsical and fun, and it’s based on the original Fantasia movie. 

5. Do eat Mickey waffles, do get a premium Mickey ice cream bar, and skip the Mickey pretzel (it’s a dry disappointment and you’re better off at Auntie Anne’s). 

6. Go to Wine Bar George at Disney Springs and get the macaroni and cheese bites, the meatballs, and the grilled romaine. Then go to Amorette’s (also at Disney Springs) and get a salted caramel eclair. 

7. The new Star Wars ride Rise of the Resistance at Disney’s Hollywood Studios is THE BEST RIDE YOU WILL EVER GO ON. The virtual queue opens at 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. You can bet 100 Imperial Credits that by 10:00:30 a.m. and 2:00:30 p.m. those virtual queues are completely filled. So be that person and stay glued to your phone on the Disney app until the second the clock turns to 10:00 or 2:00 and you just might get on the back-up boarding list. 

8. Get to the parks early! The parks might list that they open at 9:00 a.m. but we got into each park at least 30-45 minutes earlier than it officially opened. They do this so people can hop on the big rides that inevitably get crowded throughout the day. We stayed at a Disney resort so a bus took us directly from our hotel to the entrance of Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom, and EPCOT and Hollywood Studios were within walking distance.  

And while Jim has been lamenting our departure from Disney, (and of course, I have enjoyed the vacation thoroughly but) I am thrilled to return to the kitchen!

Having just finished Miss Cecily’s Recipes for Exceptional Ladies, I thought I would borrow a page from her cook book, Thought for Food, where the cook book is laid out in specific menus instead of a la carte recipes. For example…

Dinner for Returning from Your Honeymoon

Aim: to soften the blow of ending a lovely vacation, to nourish your body after a week of rich and indulgent eating, and to not create a mess in the kitchen when you need to spend time unpacking and lamenting the return to reality. Ultimately, it is the closure to your honeymoon and should be a celebrated occasion. Even more, if your husband’s brother is picking you up from the airport, there is plenty of this meal to share.

Now, your refrigerator is probably empty and you’ll have to hit up the market, but if you are armed with your list before you even step off the plane and you are quick, dinner will be ready in an hour. 

It certainly helps to make the potatoes before you depart for your trip and then freeze them in a vacuum sealed bag. When you return from the airport, spread the frozen potatoes out on a parchment paper-lined pan and let them sit in the oven at 275F while you’re at the store. Also leave a cast iron skillet in the oven.

Your grocery list

2-3 Fresh, wild caught salmon filets
1 bag of fresh broccoli florets (preferably not frozen)
Bacon
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese
A demi baguette 
Fresh dill
2 lemons
3 large Yukon gold potatoes
Fresh garlic cloves

I am assuming you already have…

Kosher salt and sea salt
Butter*
Olive oil
Crushed red pepper flakes
Water

*Soften your butter by microwaving it for about 12 seconds

Le Menu

Broiled Salmon with Lemon, Garlic, and Dill

Roasted Potatoes

Aglio e Olio Broccoli with Bacon

Garlic Bread

THE POTATOES

Do not peel potatoes. Cube them into 1/2″ pieces and spread onto a parchment paper-lined jelly roll pan. Sprinkle generously with kosher salt, a pinch of cayenne pepper, a lot of garlic powder, and grated Parmesan cheese. Bake at 400F for one hour, stirring about half way through to get crisp edges. 

Make this before you leave for your trip and once the potatoes have cooled, transfer them to a gallon Ziplock bag, push all the air out, and leave in your freezer. 

When you return, spread the potatoes back on to a parchment paper-lined jelly roll pan and warm them at 275F while you head to the store. They should be warm enough after 30 minutes, but you can leave them in for an hour. 

THE BROCCOLI

In a medium-sized Corningware or glass Pyrex dish, dump broccoli florets in with 3-4 tbsp of water. Microwave for 3 minutes. 

Chop bacon into 1/4″ pieces and fry in a large skillet until crisp. Remove bacon and drain 90% of the grease. Lower the heat and add two cloves worth of minced garlic, sauteeing in bacon fat until slightly golden. Add 2 tbsp of butter and 1/4 tsp red chili flakes and stir for another 30 seconds. Then add in broccoli florets, setting aside the dish you used to microwave for serving later. Stir the broccoli so the garlic, chili flakes, and butter are coating the florets. Lower heat and cover loosely with aluminum foil for 3-4 minutes. When broccoli is tender, remove aluminum cover, add the bacon back in with a quick stir, and transfer back to the Corningware or Pyrex dish. Cover until ready to serve. 

THE SALMON

Mash together half a stick of softened butter with 2 tbsp of chopped dill, two cloves of minced garlic, zest of one lemon, and juice from half of the lemon. Add sea salt, about 1/4 tsp, and mix until well combined. Smear over the salmon filets (not the skin side). 

Take the pre-heated cast iron skillet out of the oven and arrange filets flat on the skillet, skin side down. Bake on HI broil for about 13 minutes on the middle rack. 


THE GARLIC BREAD

Divide the demi loaf into 6-8 pieces. Rub the non-crusted side with a smashed garlic clove. Slather with butter, sprinkle with kosher salt, and broil for 2-3 minutes. 

Bonus (but not required...)

I made a chocolate souffle out of sheer curiosity. I had read about one in my book a few days ago and was just itching to try it. I don’t recommend it for the Dinner for Returning from Your Honeymoon because it’s a lot of dishes and it’s putzy. I used the Julia Child recipe and enjoyed the texture of it a lot, but I was longing for something a bit more chocolatey… (really, nothing will fill the emptiness in my heart or stomach the way the Mickey premium ice cream bars did…)

But here is the recipe I used:

7 ounces of semi-sweet baking chocolate, chopped
1/3 cup strong coffee
Butter for the ramekins (butter these liberally and coat in sugar)
1/3 cup flour
3 tbsp butter
2 cups milk
4 egg yolks
1 tbsp vanilla extract
6 egg whites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
Pinch of salt
1/2 cup sugar

Preheat the oven to 425F and make room to put something on the lowest possible rack. 

Butter your ramekins liberally and cover the butter in sugar. 

In a sauce pan melt 3 tbsp butter and add 1/3 cup flour. When a thick paste, lower heat and slowly pour in milk, whisking until thickened. Allow to cool for five minutes. 

Separate eggs and reserve four egg yolks, adding vanilla extract to them and whisking together. Whip egg whites with cream of tartar and salt until stiff peaks form. Gradually add in 1/2 cup of sugar. 

Temper the egg yolk-vanilla mixture into the milk mixture. In a glass bowl microwave chocolate with coffee, about 30 seconds, until melted. Add this to the milk mixture as well.

Finally, fold in a healthy scoop of the egg whites into the milk mixture. Be delicate to maintain the airiness. Fold in the rest of the egg whites until just combined (no streaks). 

Fill ramekins to the rim. You should have enough batter for between 6-8 ramekins. Place ramekins on a jelly roll pan and lower the oven temperature to 375F. Bake for 40 minutes. Do not open the oven until the 40 minutes are up. 

Serve immediately. 

Happy Fall, Ya’ll!

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Jim and I normally go for a walk in the morning every week day after I wake up. But it has been so chilly the last few days that it is very easy to convince me to hide under the warm covers and not trek farther than the oven (which is also warm). What can I say? I like to be cozy. 

I have been trying to branch out into the baking world more. It is very natural to me to improvise when cooking, and I rarely ever use a recipe. I would like to get to that level of comfort with baking, so lots of experimentation has been going on! 

One of my latest curiosities has been using a familiar cake recipe at different volumes or in slight variations. For one thing, a single cake recipe can bake at so many different lengths of time depending on the pan! Bundt pans, round cake pans, 9″ x 13″ pans, sheet pans, cupcakes, ramekins, and so on. I have been trying to gain an understanding of how a cake should look and feel to the touch after it’s undercooked, overcooked, and Goldilocks. 

So I have a very solid yellow cake recipe (I think this is how the foundations of my cooking knowledge were built–start with one fool-proof recipe) from the New York Times, and I thought I could tug and pull at it in various places until the recipe worked for something similar but with a different flair. This leads me to present…

Apple Cider Cake!

Ingredients

For the cake
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup concentrated apple cider*
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
3 eggs, separated
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1 tbsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
Pinch of cardamom (optional)

For the Frosting
8 oz goat cheese log, at room temp
4 oz cream cheese, at room temp
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 tbsp cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp concentrated apple cider*
Jar of warm caramel (such as an ice cream topping)

*To make concentrated apple cider, Boil about 3/4 cup of apple cider until the volume is reduced by half. Use 1/4 cup of the concentrated apple cider for the cake and the remainder (2 tbsp) for the frosting. 

Process

For the cake
Preheat oven to 350F.

In a large bowl mix the vegetable oil, concentrated cider, and sugars until homogenous. Drop the egg yolks, vanilla extract, and buttermilk in with the sugars and combine well. 

In a separate bowl, whip the egg whites and cream of tartar until stiff peaks form. 

Drop the remaining ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cardamom) into the bowl with the eggs, oil, buttermilk, and sugar. Do not overmix, rather, gently combine with a whisk.

Then, using a spatula, fold in the whipped egg whites into the batter. 

For cupcakes, bake for 20 minutes. For a jelly roll pan, bake 12-14 minutes.
For any other size pan, tell me what you think! 

For the Frosting
In a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, combine the cheeses, powdered sugar, cream, vanilla extract, and cider together on low speed until very smooth. When the cake has cooled completely, you can frost it with a flat coating of frosting. Then drizzle warm caramel in a zig zag pattern. Drag a clean knife or toothpick perpendicular to your zig zag pattern to create a chevron design. Alternate the direction you drag the knife/toothpick to make the chevron go in both directions.

Fun fact: you should always add your flavoring (like vanilla extract) directly to the "fats" of your cake, such as the butter, oil, or eggs. You might have noticed when eating something "fatty," that the fat coats your tongue. When trying to produce a desired flavor, you can flavor the "fat" and it will taste more prominent because that flavor will stick to the fat and coat the tongue.

I think in the future, I’d like to try this recipe again with brie instead of goat cheese because apples, caramel, and brie sound heavenly. There is also the potential to garnish with candied pecans! And don’t underestimate the power of pre-made caramel sauce (I use Trader Joe’s and it’s 10/10). 

Jim really enjoyed this cake and said it reminded him of his mom’s pumpkin bars. Quite a big compliment!! I have never been huge on general fall desserts because my mind instantly thinks I’m eating a scented candle. Plus, I have a sworn allegiance to all things chocolate. But my Jimbo likes them, and I’m pretty sure anyone who mashes together a hashtag and a pumpkin spice latte would like them, and I like to ogle them because I need more excuses to make chevron-decorated cakes. (But seriously, coming from an anti-fall-dessert-eater-and-critic, it’s yummy and not candle-tasting.)

Next up in the fall food lineup are…

No-bake Granola Bars

Something about toasted oats and almonds or walnuts instantly makes me feel cozier. But! You don’t actually have to bake anything in this recipe. I just like to keep my oven running. 

All you need are quick rolled oats, some kind of sticky, dried fruit, nuts, peanut butter, maple syrup, and chocolate. 

The first time I made these, I had leftover dried black mission figs. The second time around, I used dried apricots. You can finely chop them or use a food processor to get a gummy ball of dried fruit and that is what keeps your bars together so you don’t need to bake them! 

The formula is very forgiving and you’ll find you can use almost anything in your pantry. 

I think I will try a chocolate, almond, coconut one in the near future…stay tuned for that one. 

At 250 calories (the batch makes 12 bars) this is a very filling breakfast or snack! 

 

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups old fashioned roll oats
1/2 cup dried sticky fruit, such as figs, dates, or apricots
1 cup nuts, roughly chopped 
1/2 cup dark chocolate chunks and/or cranberries or raisins
1/2 cup peanut butter (chunky or creamy are both fine)
1/2 cup maple syrup
Cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt to taste

Process

If desired, toast the oats and nuts at 350F for 10 minutes on a lined baking sheet. Allow to cool before combining. (You can do this ahead of time.)

In a microwave-safe bowl, combine peanut butter and maple syrup. Heat for 30 seconds on high, stir, and heat for an additional 30 seconds on high. Stir until the mixture is fully combined, adding any spices such as cinnamon or nutmeg, if desired. Allow to cool for 10 minutes, but stir so that it does not harden.

Finely chop or use a food processor to break open and smash the sticky fruit. Dump the sticky fruit into a bowl and add to it the oats, nuts, and chocolate chunks. Slowly pour in the peanut butter syrup and fold the mixture until homogenous. 

Press into a wax or parchment paper-lined 8″ x  8″ pan. Use the flat side of a measuring cup to press the granola into an even surface in the pan. Cover with cling wrap and place in the refrigerator for an hour. Then remove from the pan and cut into 12 bars. 

I saved the best for last. I am very happy with this recipe and know already that it’ll be a go-to it for many future brunches. My friend Maddie gave me the idea on Instagram, but when I looked for a recipe, I couldn’t find one. As a result, I took some educated guess as to what could work, and it was admittedly a bit of a shot in the dark, yet, I will very un-humbly remark that it managed to hit the bullseye. I like it because it has a bit of a “Really?” factor. It’s butter in coffee. Yeah, I see you arching your eyebrow…

Butter-Brown Sugar Coffee

Place 1 1/2 tsp brown sugar and 1/2 tbsp salted butter in a coffee mug. Add 1 oz of bourbon whiskey and fill with coffee, leaving about an inch from the top. Stir with a spoon until butter melts and sugar has dissolved. 

Scoop a liberal dollop of fresh whipped cream over it and serve. It is best when the whipped cream is stirred into the coffee, but present it unstirred (because it looks more attractive that way) and encourage the guest to stir it themselves before enjoying. 

*Quick whipped cream recipe: 1 cup of heavy whipping cream + 1 tbsp granulated sugar. Whisk by hand or with a stand mixer until stiff peaks form. 

That’s all for now, friends. Jim and I are off on our honeymoon in a couple more days and I will temporarily turn my food blog into an “OH MY GOSH WE’RE IN DISNEY WORLD!!!!!!” diary. I am hoping to draw more inspiration for our upcoming Disney trivia night while we are there. I already have an entire trivia category completed and dedicated to Disney food from the films! 

Stay warm, people. And if you are struggling with that, do what I do: turn on your oven and get baking! 

Chicken Pot Pie Soup

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This fall weather goes hand in hand with warm and cozy comfort foods! I am LOVING it! One of our favorite cold weather meals is chicken pot pie. Chicken pot pie can get pretty involved, though, and while very rewarding, sometimes you just don’t have time for all that! This soup takes the filling of chicken pot pie and thins it out a little so it’s more soup-y. Then, to substitute the crust, I put a flakey cheddar biscuit at the center of attention. Crusts can be more than just a medium for filling! 

Thinking about the balance of this dish–the salt, acid, fat, heat, and savoriness–it checks all of the boxes. Salty broth and naturally salty celery is met with a little acidic tang from sour cream in the biscuit dough. The “fat” or the cream in the soup base shakes hands with a little bit of heated cajun spice in the biscuits. Savory shredded chicken slow cooked in sweet carrots and onions finish off the culinary experience. It’s balanced, creamy, flakey, and very warm and cozy. 

This is a very quick soup to make if you have shredded chicken on hand. I can’t emphasize enough how much easier life is when you have already prepared the meat element of a dish. Think of the dishes you save by not having to constantly wash raw meat off of a cutting board or knife! If you’re looking for an easy way drop-in-the-pot-and-walk-away method of cooking chicken, I’ve got my Weeknight Chicken recipe for you here! If you don’t have time to slow cook chicken, Jane, my mother-in-law, has a very savvy trick: pick up a rotisserie chicken at Costco and pull the meat off of it. YUM! 

You can even start this chicken pot pie soup from your weeknight chicken, using the broth the chicken has cooked in as the base of the soup! 

Is that biscuit staring at me?

Is that a love song playing in the background?

Chicken Pot Pie Soup by Baker’s Theory

For the soup
3 tbsp salted butter
1/2 medium onion or leek, minced
1 large carrot, peeled and minced
1 stalk of celery, trimmed and minced 
3-4 cups water
3-4 tsp Better than Bullion chicken base
1/2 lb shredded, cooked chicken (see Weeknight Chicken or pull the meat off of a rotisserie chicken), about 2 cups
3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
Salt, adjusting for your own preference

For the biscuits
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup sour cream or buttermilk
1/2 tsp fine sea salt
4 tbsp cold butter, cut into small, 1/4″ cubes
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp Old Bay Seasoning (optional)
1/4 tsp garlic powder (optional)
1/2 tsp onion powder (optional)
1/2 cup shredded cheddar (optional)
3 tbsp sour cream, milk, or buttermilk (helpful if your dough is too dry)

Serves 6

For the soup
Melt butter in a Dutch oven on medium high heat. When you can feel the heat holding your hand above the butter from about 6″ above it, drop in the onion, carrot, and celery. Stir until the vegetables are soft and the onion is translucent, about 6 minutes. Pour in 3 cups of water and 3 tsp chicken base, or alternatively use the same volume of chicken stock or broth. If you like the soup a bit thinner, add an additional cup of water and an additional tsp of chicken base. Stir so the chicken base dissolves and bring to a boil. Once boiling, add the shredded chicken and lower heat to a simmer. When the chicken is warmed, pour in the cream and give it a final stir so the cream is homogenous with the broth. Taste and adjust with salt as needed. When biscuits are ready, ladle soup into bowls, drop a biscuit in the center, and serve.

For the biscuits
Combine flour, salt, and baking powder in a large bowl. Add other dry ingredients if using to the flour mixture. Add cubes of diced butter. Coat diced butter cubes in flour mix until all of the butter is covered. Add buttermilk and sour cream, if using, and mix with hands until a firm dough forms. (Try not to let the butter soften, and if it starts, put the bowl in the refrigerator for ten minutes! Cold butter is what makes biscuits flakey because the water in butter turns into steam when it’s heated. The steam lifts the layers of dough up to give those lovely, delicious layers!) Lay dough on a floured surface and use a rolling pin to get a half inch thick layer of dough. Use a biscuit cutter to cut biscuits. (Don’t use a cup. The edges of the cutter have to be sharp or your dough will pinch closed at the bottom and won’t rise.) Place biscuits on a greased baking sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes at 450 F.