Quickie King Cake

Sometimes Mardi Gras sneaks up on you. You wouldn't think so, as it is a set day every year - the day before Ash Wednesday, 46 days before Easter, and the whole Mardi Gras season actually starts on Three Kings Day (January 6) so, again, you think you'd have time to plan. Well, Mardi Gras snuck up on us. We managed to (barely) get our crawfish order in on time to have them delivered on Fat Tuesday, but the king cakes were outrageously expensive, if not sold out entirely. 

Amy hemmed and hawed and finally came up with a plan, inspired by a can of Pillsbury Crescent Rolls in the fridge and the vague memory of making some sort of stuffed holiday wreath appetizer with them at someone's Pampered Chef party years ago.

This particular version is simple enough to be worthy of the Big Easy itself, where King Cake rules tables in office lunch rooms and teacher lounges for the first two months of the year. Someone starts by bringing in the first cake, and the person who finds a plastic baby in their slice gets the dubious honor luck of bringing in the next one. Needless to say, King Cake has ruined many a New Year's resolution. 

The colors of Mardi Gras have meaning, so remember that when you are decorating - purple stands for justice, green for faith, and gold for power. And don't forget to put a plastic mini baby doll (or dried kidney bean) somewhere inside for luck.

If Mardi Gras snuck up on you, too, you still have time to grab a few ingredients and make this quickie version before midnight rolls around. 

Happy Mardi Gras! Laissez les bon temps rouler!

Quickie King Cake 

Ingredients:

1 8-ounce container whipped cream cheese

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla, divided

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 cans refrigerated croissant/crescent roll dough

3/4 cup chopped pecans

1 plastic mini baby doll or dried kidney bean

1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar

3 tablespoons whole milk

purple, green and gold colored sugar

1. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and preheat oven to 350F.

2. In a large bowl, stir together the cream cheese, brown sugar, 1 teaspoon of the vanilla, and the cinnamon until well-combined. 

2. Unroll each piece of dough in a circle with the flat sides of the triangles on the outside of the circle and the pointed ends of the triangles in the center of the circle, slightly overlapping each other. 

3. Spoon the cream cheese mixture about half way out, then sprinkle with the chopped pecans, if using. Place the baby somewhere on there.

4. Flip each piece of dough over the cream cheese mixture and press on it the seam in the center so it doesn't leak out.

5. Bake at 350F for 30 minutes, until golden brown and allow to cool completely.

6. Whisk together the sugar, milk and remaining teaspoon of vanilla to make the glaze. Spoon the glaze over the cooled cake, allowing it to drip over the sides.

7. While the glaze is still wet, decorate with purple, green and gold sugar.

Sesame-Pistachio Napoleons

We were picked to enter the Simply Sesame Blogger Recipe Challenge and we are excited to share our recipe entry with you. But first, a little bit about Simply Sesame - these are all-natural creamy sesame spreads that are perfect for spreading, dipping, spooning or frosting. They have the texture of peanut butter and a hint of pure cane sugar for a sweet balance to the rich, nutty sesame taste. 

Right now, there are three varieties, but the flavor we chose to play with is the one with pistachio morsels and a hint of cardamom. It reminded us a lot of Middle Eastern cuisine, and so we decided to do a play on baklava and made Sesame-Pistachio Napoleons.

With baked puff pastry as our base, we folded the sesame spread into some freshly whipped cream. After assembling our napoleons, we garnished them with additional chopped pistachios and some confectioners' sugar. Voila! Simple, elegant, and delicious!

Sesame-Pistachio Napoleons

Makes 6

Ingredients:

1/2 of a 17.3-ounce package of frozen puff pastry (1 sheet), thawed

1 cup whipping cream

1/4 cup Simply Sesame Pistachio

1/4 cup chopped pistachios

6 whole pistachio nuts

confectioners' sugar

Preheat oven to 400F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Unfold thawed pastry sheet. Cut into three strips, then cut each strip into 4 rectangles. Place the 12 rectangles on the baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool. Split each pastry into two layers, making 24 in all. Set aside 6 top pastry layers.

Whip cream in a large bowl until thick. Fold in the Simply Sesame Pistachio spread. Using a spatula, top 6 bottom pastry layers with cream. Sprinkle with chopped pistachios and top with another pastry layer. Repeat this process twice, then top with the final pastry layer. You should have 6 Napoleons of 4 layers each. Garnish with a small dollop of whipped cream and a whole pistachio, then sprinkle with confectioners' sugar.

You can find out more about Simply Sesame spreads on their Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram pages, and you can order them through their website.

Cranberry Curd Tartlets

Thanksgiving may have come and gone but fresh cranberries aren't just for holiday cranberry sauce. These sweet-tart, juicy berries are grown on vines in bogs that were originally created by glacial deposits, and thrive in the Southeastern part of Massachusetts, which happens to be Amy's home state. Cranberries possess a variety of health benefits, most notably that they are packed with Vitamin C and antioxidants, and are known to assist in urinary and digestive health. Fall is when cranberries are harvested, so fresh cranberries are plentiful now. 

We've made lemon curd before, which you can read about here, and while looking at a beautiful bag of fresh cranberries in the store, Amy wondered if one could make cranberry curd by heating up the cranberries to get the juice out of them. There would be only one way to find out! 

We heated the cranberries with sugar, orange juice and orange zest until the pop-pop-popping of the berries told us they were done. We squeezed the sugary juice into a bowl, and created a curd by adding eggs, egg yolks and butter. After it cooled, we piped it into those little store-bought phyllo mini-cups and baked them for about 10 minutes so they could set. The color was a little strange (Amy likened it to a slightly darker pink than Pepto-Bismol) but otherwise, these were creamy, tangy, sweet and crunchy all at once. The orange flavor was a bit too strong, so next time we would probably add only the orange zest.

Cranberry Curd Tartlets
Makes 30 

1 lb. bag fresh cranberries

1 cup granulated sugar

juice and zest of one large orange

1 stick unsalted butter, softened

2 large eggs

2 egg yolks

2 packages mini-phyllo shells

Place cranberries, sugar, orange juice and orange zest in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Simmer until cranberries pop and soften to let out their juice (about 10 minutes). Press through a sieve into a large bowl. Cut the stick of butter into four pieces and whisk the pieces into the warm cranberry liquid. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs and egg yolks. Slowly add a half-cup of the cranberry liquid into the eggs, whisking quickly to temper the eggs. Then continue to pour the remaining cranberry liquid into the eggs and whisk to combine. Return the mixture to the pot and cook over low heat, constantly stirring, until thick and bubbling, about 10 minutes. Allow to cool completely, then pipe or spoon the curd into the phyllo cups. Bake the tartlets at 350 for 10 minutes to set. 

Cherry-Lemon Clafoutis

We spotted black cherries and Meyer lemons in the market the other day, things that aren't consistently available where we shop. We usually eat the cherries right out of the bag, plucking them off the woody stems with our teeth and spitting out the pits. And the lemons? Perfect for tart, creamy, velvety lemon curd. But Amy has been slightly obsessed with French cuisine lately and wanted to try her hand at baking something customarily French: cherry clafoutis.

Clafoutis can be made with any fruits or berries, but black cherries are the most traditional. The simple, rustic baked dessert has basic ingredients otherwise: eggs, sugar, milk and flour. It puffs up a bit while it's baking, then slowly but surely deflates, much like the other French classic, souffle. It can be served warm or cold, and is usually garnished with a touch of powdered sugar, although we didn't bother.

Thus it was that Amy found herself pitting cherries (no, not murdering someone, although that's kind of what it looks like...) with a chopstick and baking Cherry-Lemon Clafoutis during this July heatwave. Which is also why we chose to eat it at room temperature.

Cherry-Lemon Clafoutis

Ingredients:

ghee (or regular butter), for greasing baking dish

1 pound pitted fresh black cherries

4 large eggs

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup milk (we used 2%)

juice and zest of one Meyer lemon

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

pinch of salt

confectioner's sugar

Preheat oven to 350F and lightly grease a casserole-type baking dish with ghee. Place cherries in the bottom of the baking dish. Whisk the eggs in a large bowl. Add sugar and continue to whisk until the mixture become pale yellow in color, 2-3 minutes. Whisk in the milk, lemon juice and lemon zest until combined. Whisk in the flour and salt until combined. Pour the egg mixture into the baking dish over the cherries. Bake for 45 minutes, until the edges are puffed and the center is springy. Allow to cool slightly, then serve warm or at room temperature.

The Beauty of Blood Oranges

One of the things we look forward to every year is winter citrus, those exquisite jewels of the coldest of seasons. No matter how early the sun sets, satsumas, clementines, kumquats, and (our favorite) blood oranges brighten our days with their sun-kissed skins. Citrus fruits enliven a host of dishes, both savory and sweet. And it's fun (and easy!) to substitute one citrus for another in order reinvigorate a favorite dish. This time of year, we push our grocery carts past the familiar old lemons and steer it straight for the blood oranges. We need to take advantage! They won't be around for long.

We bought a dozen, but only needed eight for this recipe for Blood Orange Soufflés that found its way into our email box at just the perfect moment. Sure, there's only two of us, but we have neighbors, so why not make all eight? We texted neighbors J and B the minute-by-minute countdown so they wouldn't end up with sunken desserts. Then the four of us relished each warm, slightly eggy spoonful of tangy, orange-scented clouds. 

Here are some other recipes we've made with blood oranges, each one as gorgeous and delicious as its main ingredient.

Lavender and Blood Orange Olive Oil Shortbreads

Seared Scallops with Blood Orange Gastrique

Culinary "School"

Back-to-school happened over a month ago, but now that it finally feels like fall, that means back-to-cooking, and back-to-cooking-club! The EHS (Amy's school) Cooking Club had its first meeting this week and used this recipe from Allrecipes.com to make hot, fresh, flaky apple turnovers. An autumn classic in about an hour!

And speaking of school, Chris has an excellent culinary program at his. Take a look at this amazing birthday gift the chefs and culinary students gave him today! Can't wait to dig in!

Oktoberfest Beer Cookies

Oktoberfest Beer Cookies

Oom pah pah! This weekend marked the official start of Oktoberfest, the German harvest (and beer) festival. Yes, it sounds like it should be held in October, but that's because the first one was. The original Oktoberfest, held in 1810, celebrated the wedding of the Bavarian Crown Prince. It must have been some wedding, because the celebration became an annual tradition, and was prolonged to start in mid-September to ensure better weather. Since we are unable to pick up and fly to Munich for a party, we feel especially fortunate that our friends, the Zs, have an annual Oktoberfest right here in Connecticut. 

Creamed butter and sugar

Some of the other ingredients

The Zs are great cooks, which you can tell when you read the menu. They offered partygoers such as ourselves a feast of traditional German goodies like sweet onion dip, homemade soft pretzels, grilled vegetables, bratwurst with sauerkraut, baked ham, potato salad and cooked red cabbage. Many of the guests brought dessert, and that's where our Oktoberfest Beer Cookies come in (although people were eating them well before dessert). 

The beer and honey is almost reduced

The batter

In the spirit of the day, we decided to try making cookies with beer. We found an interesting recipe on Food Network and made our cookies with Shocktop Belgian White. This particular beer has flavors of coriander and orange peel, so these same ingredients are added to the batter. These not-too-sweet beer-in-cookie-form treats were crisp on the outside with a cakey inside texture. We didn't bother with icing but instead  used some of the honey-beer reduction as a light glaze. Also, you will note there is no salt in the recipe; the beer has some in it and adding some will make them too salty.

Tablespoons of batter staggered on parchment-lined sheets

Surely, you could experiment with different beer flavors and spices and get some amazing results. If you do, do let us know with a comment!

Oktoberfest Beer Cookies

(adapted from Food Network's White Beer Cookies, makes about 3 dozen cookies)

Ingredients:

2 12-ounce bottles beer (we used Shocktop Belgian White)

5 tablespoons honey

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 1/4 cups powdered sugar

1 large egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1-2 drops orange oil

1 1/2 tablespoons dried Valencia orange peel (or zest of one medium orange)

2 teaspoons ground coriander

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Place beer and honey in a medium saucepan and allow to reduce over medium heat until there's about 1/2 cup left (this can take a while, so be patient; you'll know it's about there when the mixture is extremely foamy like in the picture above). Allow the reduction to cool to room temperature. While it is cooking, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy (we do this in a stand mixer). Add and completely incorporate the egg. Then add the vanilla, orange oil, orange peel, coriander, and 1/3 cup of the cooled beer reduction. Blend thoroughly. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour and baking soda, then slowly add these dry ingredients to the batter. Preheat oven to 350 F and line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto parchment-lined sheets without crowding (about 12 per sheet is good). Bake for 15-18 minutes, until golden brown. Remove from oven and transfer to wire racks to cool. Drizzle with remaining beer reduction. 

Baked and glazed!

Wordless Weekender: Celebrating Memorial Day with Homemade Strawberry-Basil Macarons

Luck o' the Irish Cereal Treats

It's time for St. Patrick's Day and we had our annual corned beef and cabbage dinner with the neighbors over the weekend. We saw this twist on the Rice Krispie treat all over the Internet and thought they'd be perfect for the kids. We were right. N, who is 5, surely loved them, but (shhh!), so did we.

Luck o' the Irish Cereal Treats

Ingredients:

cooking spray

5 tablespoons butter

1 10-oz. bag large marshmallows

5 cups Lucky Charms cereal

1 8-oz. bag white chocolate chips

3-4 drops green food coloring

Coat a 13x9-inch pan with cooking spray. In a large pot, melt butter over medium heat. Add marshmallows and stir with silicone spoon or spatula until melted. Stir in cereal until everything is mixed together. Press into prepared pan with wax paper and allow to cool. Melt chocolate chips over low heat in a small saucepan or in the microwave. Add food coloring and spread chocolate over the treats. Cut and serve.

Here are a few more St. Patrick's Day Ideas:

Guinness-Glazed Chicken Wings

Chef Lise's Irish Stew

Beef and Stout Pot Pie

Irish Onion Soup

Meyer Lemon Bars

Lychee Sorbet for Chinese New Year, Year of the Goat

Amy writes:

I grew up in a mostly white neighborhood, and when I was in third grade, the Wu family moved in. I was immediately enchanted. They spoke a different language. They ate different foods. They celebrated different holidays. I felt so lucky that Cheryl was in the same grade as me, and made it my mission to be her best friend. 

Image from: http://www.mypictgallery.tk/happy-chinese-new-year-in-chinese-writing/

Perhaps I had the teaching gene even then, because I already loved to play school, and when I found out her grandfather Ya-Ya, who lived with them, wanted to learn to read English, I joyfully volunteered to teach him. He had a worn, yellowed paperback book with short paragraphs written in Chinese and interlinear English. I spent hours at their kitchen table, reading with him, and when I look back I can only imagine what a picture that must have made - 8-year-old me "teaching" old Mr. Wu. But it was a success, on some level. After a few months, he could read children's books to Cheryl's younger sister. 

My place setting

I tell you that story because I believe this experience is where my life-long fascination with Asian culture began. And it explains why I like to celebrate Chinese New Year. This year, I invited a few of my girlfriends over to celebrate with me, and, of course, I went all out. I know the traditions, having been invited to the Wu household for their celebration for a couple of years before they moved away. I decorated with red, brushed "Happy New Year" in Chinese characters on rice paper for each guest, dug out my Chinese porcelain, and made sure to have some Chinese candy on hand. 

My "tablescape"

But the point was to cook, and to share my love through my cooking.I brushed up on the symbolism of the foods traditionally served on New Year and based my menu on those. I made everything from scratch - roasting the pork, wrapping, and making the dipping sauce for the dumplings; creative a sesame sauce for the soba noodles; marinating and making a stir-fry sauce for the tangerine beef; and even the dessert.  Here is my version of a Chinese New Year feast:

As you can see, for dessert I made lychee sorbet. The recipe is almost too simple to be good, but it truly was. It was a sweet ending to the meal but not too sweet, with hints of grape and melon and ginger all at once. It came out of the freezer at the just the right texture sorbet ought to be - not too icy, perfectly creamy - thanks to the egg white, a tip I found here. I served it with an almond cookie for crunch, but a fortune cookie would be a nice touch as well. One warning - the sorbet MUST be prepared at least a day ahead of time.

Gan bei, everyone! 

I do apologize if I've made any language errors.

Lychee Sorbet

serves 6-8

Note: must be prepared at least one day ahead of serving

Ingredients:

2 cans of lychees in syrup (sizes vary; you want 20 ounces or 500-530 grams)

2 teaspoons caster sugar (although white granulated sugar works fine)

1 1/2-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and sliced

1 egg white

Drain the syrup from the lychees into a small saucepan. Add the sugar and stir to dissolve. Bring to a boil over medium-low heat and boil for one minute. Place the drained lychees, sugar syrup and ginger into a food processor and process until lychees are finely chopped. Pour the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into a shallow baking dish and press on the lychee remnants to extract all the juice. Cover dish and freeze until solid, about 6 hours. Place the frozen mixture into the food processor again and add the egg white. Process on low until egg white is fully incorporated and mixture is smooth. Return mixture to baking dish and freeze again, another 6 hours.