Birthday cupcakes

It was my lovely coworker's birthday yesterday and since I consider edible gifts to be the best kind there is, I decided to make her some cupcakes. As a sidebar, I just want to point out how eeeevil sites like Tastespotting are--pages upon pages of delicious looking foods...so that you start off looking for a chocolate cupcake recipe and the next thing you know, you're making a shopping list that includes a leg of lamb, cucumbers, candied shiso, and couscous. So much food, so little time.

Anyway! Before I get too distracted again, after considering the approximately 8trillion chocolate cupcake recipes that I have, I suddenly decided I wasn't in the mood for chocolate. And yes, I know, these weren't for me, but I felt like something fruity would be more seasonally appropriate. Okay, and I figured I would get to eat any misshapen or ugly ones.

These are actually quite simple to make--the cake has a nice quantity of zest in it and then a lemon syrup is poured over the top. It's pretty tasty on its own, but I didn't think it was festive enough, so I whipped up a quick cream cheese based frosting and folded in some crushed raspberries. Yay, pink! The problem I always have with frosting is that by the time you add up enough confectioner's sugar to get the right, pipeable consistency, the frosting is way too sweet for my tastes. Hence, the runny frosting. Fortunately, what they lack in beauty, they make up for in tart deliciousness.



I won't print the recipe for the lemon syrup cake since I just used this one from Williams Sonoma; just bake it as 12 cupcakes instead of in a loaf pan. It's best to put the lemon syrup on while they're still warm because it seems to soak up better. Once they have cooled completely, proceed with the frosting, plop on a raspberry, and enjoy!

Raspberry cream cheese icing
1 8 ounce package cream cheese, softened
1/2 stick butter, softened
2 C confectioner's sugar, sifted
1 tsp lemon juice
1/4 C raspberries

Mash the raspberries thoroughly with a fork and set aside. Beat the cream cheese and butter together until smooth and well combined. Add the lemon juice and 1 cup of the confectioner's sugar and beat. Gradually add the remaining cup of sugar until you have achieved whatever stiffness you want--if you want something you can pipe, you will actually probably need close to 3 cups total. I stopped at 2. Stir the mashed raspberries in and marvel at the beautiful pink you have now produced. Makes enough frosting for about 20 cupcakes.

Radio silence

Work is going to keep me really busy for the next few days, so, no time to bake or eat anything more interesting than perhaps a new flavor of ramen at lunch (sigh)...so there probably won't be any new posts until next week at the earliest.

The good news is I am headed back to Ithaca for the weekend for some relaxation, hiking, and of course a trip to Shortstop, the best deli EVER. Hopefully some of my favorite restaurants from my college days are still there!

Cherry Friands

It has been a pretty hot summer so far in NYC and so my cooking frequency has fallen drastically, and my baking has been non-existent. Turning the oven on just makes the apartment unbearably hot, and well, although I love baking.....I also love not passing out or having heatstroke!

Anyway, the point of all that was that I was absolutely itching to finally make something and last weekend when I went home, I made a batch of lemon curd to use up some of the fiftygazillion lemons my brother had zested (for his limoncello, which I'm sure I'll need to uh, quality check). Of course, THAT left me with 6 egg whites...so I made friands.

Cherry ones, to be exact! Friands are also known as financiers and are delicious, buttery cakes. I do not have friand tins so I used a mini-muffin pan. This was also my first experience making brown butter and I had stupidly bought salted butter (confusingly labeled sweet cream butter) instead of unsalted so when I tasted the solids, I almost died of salt poisoning. Fortunately those get strained out. I also want to take a moment to say that I took REALLY AWFUL photos of my friands--I can't figure out why, but I guess you'll have to take my word that they were tasty.



Cubee Totoro and I both approve. Aside from browning the butter, this recipe is very straightforward and honestly if you were feeling lazy, you could just melt the butter rather than browning it. Now I just have to wait for the weather to cool off before I can risk turning the oven on again!

Cherry Friands
adapted from The Joy of Baking

2/3 C brown butter
1/2 C all purpose flour
1 C almond meal, toasted (I used 1/2 almond and 1/2 hazelnut)
1 1/2 C powdered sugar, sifted
1/8 tsp salt
6 egg whites
1 tsp vanilla extract
cherries, pitted and cut into halves

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Use a tablespoon or two of your browned butter to grease mini muffin tins (this recipe makes 24). Combine the dry ingredients and whisk. These are traditionally made with all almonds but I only had half a cup of almond meal on hand so I made up the rest with toasted ground hazelnuts. Beat the egg whites lightly and stir into the nut mixture along with the cooled brown butter and vanilla. Fill tins about 3/4 full. Bake for 3-4 minutes; remove the tins and place a cherry half on each friand (this is optional but pretty AND tasty). Bake for a further 4 minutes or until browned. You're supposed to cool these on a rack but I ate a few of them hot because I like the crusty parts the best. It's all up to your willpower, but these are best when they are fresh.

Afternoon Pick-me-up

There are some days at work when I just can't sit at my desk for one minute longer, but the thought of going out for some mediocre, overpriced, generic deli sandwich is just as unappealing.

On those days, I'm grateful that I work in Midtown and have the option of taking a nice, leisurely stroll over to Rockefeller Center to visit La Maison du Chocolat. Not that it has become a habit (bit too pricey for that!) but earlier this week, my coworker J. and I braved the humidity to wander over for some treats to cheer ourselves up.



I admit that I am a sucker for nice packaging. It's one of my many failings. J. got herself a scoop each of chocolate ice cream and strawberry sorbet, which I neglected to take a photo of, but holy frijole was that chocolate ice cream rich. It's a bit pricey ($4 a scoop if I remember correctly) but if you love chocolate, you will really appreciate the intensity of this ice cream. A scoop is almost too much.



My choice was the individual Pleyel, a chocolate and almond cake for $6. This picture is deceptive because it doesn't show anything for scale, but the cake is quite small (about 4 inches long). Like the ice cream though, it is extremely rich and dense and so I actually only managed half of it that afternoon. I saved the rest for the next day. Delicious with coffee.

Not that I hope for too many stressful days at the office, but on the other hand, life can't be all bad if you can have desserts in the middle of the day. And hey, if nothing strikes your fancy here you can wander on over to Teuscher!

La Maison du Chocolat
30 Rockefeller Center
New York, NY 10020

Treats from Switzerland

Yes, I did a bit of a disappearing act from this blog for a bit. It's been very hectic and busy around here....plus, I have to admit I have hardly cooked or baked in about a month because turning on the stove or oven heats the apartment up something fierce, and I'm just too tired.

However, I wanted to share some photos of these yummy snacks from Switzerland.


I received these as part of a birthday gift from the Man (I'm going to have to come up with a better nickname). He knows what I like. These are gianduja filled rolled wafer cookies (somewhat like the flute cookies you can buy at Asian groceries...but BETTER).


I'm not sure if these are manufactured year round, but these seem to have been packed for Sechselauten, that strange but wonderful springtime festival in which a snowman is blown to smithereens. I approve of such holidays.

We also had some visitors from Basel recently and they very kindly brought us some edible gifts in the form of Leckerli. By the way, that's my favorite kind of gift. You know, in case you were thinking of getting me something. I mean, edible--not limited only to Leckerli!



Leckerli is a type of cookie made with almonds, honey, and candied peel and glazed with sugar glaze. I always sort of equated it with gingerbread, and it certainly has a similar texture if not quite the same flavor. It is delicious and I've had to limit myself to only eating one or two squares at a time...because given the chance, I could probably finish the entire box at once. Plus, it came in a gorgeous tin with a Basel scene to remind me of the fun times we had there.

So there you have it. Nothing homemade, but everything tasty. Bonus? No stove or oven necessary. Simply open mouth and insert cookie(s).

Quick post for a quick meal

Salmon on Rice Noodles

It has been disgustingly hot and humid here lately, and although I finally have the air conditioner installed (thanks to the Baron), it's still been too hot to cook. It also helps that in this kind of weather, I really lose my appetite. I tend to only want to eat watermelon or mangos or possibly yogurt for dinner.

Anyway, it cooled off slightly today and I was feeling pretty hungry after a day of cleaning, breaking down cardboard boxes (urgh), and watching soccer (can you believe Turkey squeaking by?) so I put together this quick salmon noodle bowl. All you need to do is to soak some fine rice noodles (like the kind you would use for pho) in boiling water (I used my electric kettle) for about 15 minutes. Meanwhile, cut up and pan-fry some salmon fillet. All I used for seasoning was a little sea salt. Drain the noodles, put them in a bowl (or on a plate), drizzle a little sesame oil over it, place salmon on top, add spoonful of sambal oelek (or two, if you like it really spicy), add chopped scallions and PRESTO. Dinner, with a minimal amount of fuss and application of heat! Usually I also add some toasted sesame seeds but I forgot today.

Anyway, this was just what the doctor ordered. Light enough for a warm summer day but flavorful enough to be completely satisfying. Now, tell me....which photo is better, the top one, or the bottom one? :D

Brazilian Pudding Pocky

I love going to the local Chinese grocery because they have an entire set of shelves devoted to different varieties of Pocky and Pretz. (If I had remembered to bring my camera, I could have shown you the glories of the Shelf, but....I don't have that kind of foresight.)

Anyway! So we were there to pick up more pork belly for the zongzi we were making (more on that in the next post) but of course, I got distracted by the Pocky. And, lo and behold, stuck between the Men's Pocky (bitter!) and the Strawberry Dessert Pocky was a new flavor--Brazilian Pudding.

Judging from the photo on the box, I assume that it was supposed to taste like some sort of caramel pudding or flan. I'll note here that my mother only saw the toucan and assumed it was supposed to taste like...tropical bird.



Pretty! Not as pretty as the dessert or decor lines of Pocky, but check out that swish pattern. The verdict on taste?....well, it tastes kind of coconutty but not really pudding-like. Anyway, pleasant and harmless, although this does not place in my Pantheon of Pocky.