Sugar Break
Gosh, it has been a while since I posted but by I wasn’t intending to slack off on this blog. It’s been totally fun and really rewarding so far but there are a few things holding me up.
A) I’d like a better camera for better pictures. Because right now it’s totally hit or miss whether I come up with a halfway decent shot. And lovely pictures are half the fun of a food blog. I am trying to borrow a digital SLR camera from a friend but it seems I haven’t bribed him with enough cookies yet.
B) I am trying to work out the inverse equation between cookies baked and calories consumed. Let me tell you, a single girl in a kitchen filled with baked goods is a recipe for disaster. I know, I know, share with friends, neighbors, blah, blah. They’re all on a diet. Even the aforementioned one with the camera.
C) Energy. I want this to be a good blog. Meaning I want to devote my total creative energy to it when I am working on it, and not just half-assing it out of a sense of obligation. Right now, life is calling my energy towards other things, so I’d rather leave this be for a little while and get back to it when the creative energy is available.
D) But, I will be back because there are so many goodies I want to bake and so many thoughts I want to share. So please keep watching this space. I may not be able to post as often right now but this blog is by no means dead.
Transparency
Transparency is an awesome gift that the internet has allowed us to give each other. It’s me saying, hey – this is me, being totally weird. You know? And it’s okay. I’m weird, and so are you probably, a little bit – and if we’re all a little weird together then it turns out we all have more in common than we thought.
Whether it’s through blogging, tweeting or facebooking one of the truly great things about”social networking” is the elevated degree of transparency it has garnered for humanity. Our flaws are there for others to see. Remember when we’d rather die than show anyone our high school yearbook pictures? And years later we could smugly assume, all re-done and made-over, that the ugly high-school phase (or how about ugly junior high phase? anyone?) was securely in the past? Yeah, chances are, there’s someone over on facebook who posted pictures of you from back then.
(Note to facebookers – please take mercy on your friends and leave junior high where it belongs – in the past!)
Oh, we might have started out thinking there would be a degree of anonymity on the net at first but with google interacting with facebook and facebook interacting with twitter, we’ve created a monster that really leaves no more secrets. The entire journey is there for anyone who cares to look. The shifting tides of me. This is who I was then, this is who I am now, and who knows what I may be tomorrow?
It may be a little unsettling at first. But then it becomes apparent that everyone actually feels the same way. We are all elevated to a new level of openness where we can claim our “mistakes” and accept them as part of who we are, or were. We can claim our journeys, our imperfections as well as our triumphs and achievements. The things we’re proud of and also what we’re not so proud of.
Ultimately, if you’re not hiding from yourself, you no longer feel the need to hide from anyone else. It always comes back to You, every time. Total visibility can be totally scary. But it is also Total Freedom.
Pumpkin Seed Lace Cookies – makes 60 cookies
(Gourmet Magazine, June 1998)
Okay, so out of an entire batch of 60 cookies, I got approximately 2 that came out in a perfect round. The rest were really, you know, free-form. It’s cool though, it’s all about embracing our imperfections, right? I have yet to master the art of making perfectly round lace cookies, but this pumpkinseed version had a really interesting flavor with the lemon juice and chili powder. I think next time I might even try a pinch of cayenne to kick up the heat level.
1/2 cup sugar
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 tablespoons light corn syrup
3 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons cornmeal
1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup hulled pumpkin seeds
Bring sugar, butter and corn syrup to a boil in a heavy sauce pan over moderate heat. Boil, stirring, for one minute. Off the heat, add the rest of the ingredients to the mixture and stir until smooth. Cool to room temperature.
Preheat oven to 350. Line two large baking sheets with parchment.
Roll level 1/2 teaspoons of the dough and place 4 inches apart on baking sheets. Bake in upper and lower thirds of oven, switching pans half way through baking, until cookies are flat and golden, about 10 minutes.
Transfer parchment with cookies to wire racks to cool. Allow baking sheets to cool completely between batches, using fresh parchment for each batch. (I re-used my parchment paper between batches and it was fine).
Note: Cookies come out quite greasy once they are cool, so I’d recommend giving them a pat between paper towels before serving.
Mundane Magic
Do you believe in magic?
What would it take? Something extraordinary? Or is it about finding magic in what is everyday, ordinary, mundane? If you think about it, even the fact that we are alive can become a meditation on magic. Perception makes the difference between what we consider mundane, and what we consider magical. And our own individual perception informs our whole life.
Breath Have you ever paid attention to your breathing? Really paid attention? Have you noticed that the inhale and exhale happens by itself? In other words, you don’t have to tell your brain “okay, inhale now”, or “okay, time to exhale”. It is happening, every moment of every day, even when you are asleep. How is it happening? Who is in charge? How is it that your body knows to breathe, consistently from the time you take your first breath, to the moment you’ll take your last?
Lilies Well, it’s true – they neither toil nor strain, and yet there they are, perfect, fragrant, beautiful. Growing all by themselves. Without anyone’s help. With their own intricate flower design. Without a worry in the world. Fulfilling their flower destiny in peace.
Thought Have you ever wondered where your thoughts come from? This thought that you had just now – where did it come from? What was its source? What existed before the thought came? And now that you’ve had it and moved on to the next, where did it go? How did you formulate this thought? How come some thoughts feel good, and others feel bad? It’s a complex magical realm, this process of thought, isn’t it?
Loved Ones The people who are near and dear to you – your family, your friends – in a world of billions, how did it happen that these particular individuals crossed paths with you? This lover, that friend, this boss or that kind stranger? Think of all the permutations and combinations that had to occur in order for you to meet the ones who color your world today. How is it that in a network of billions, these particular individuals with their quirks and habits and issues and insecurities became yours?
Taste Buds Well, what would life be if we couldn’t taste anything? The famous saying goes – no matter how well you describe an orange, a person just isn’t going to get it until he has his first taste. An orange, a mango, a cheeseburger, chocolate – each thing creates an explosion of flavor in our mouths. And the really amazing thing is that no two people will taste any one thing the same way. You know those people who don’t like chocolate (yeah, apparently they exist) – it’s a totally different experience from someone who swoons at the sight of a Mars bar. Taste buds. They rock. Magic!
What’s on your Magic List?
My Magic Cookie Bars – makes 9 bars
The magic cookie bar may be an ordinary thing. I mean, the recipe is from the back of a condensed milk can. But in some random act of weirdness, I’ve never ever tasted one. So for me, the simplicity of the recipe was pure magic. Chocolate plus coconut plus nuts brought together by sweetened condensed milk – I mean, that’s my definition of taste bud heaven. I’m not the biggest fan of graham cracker crust however (which is what the original recipe calls for), so I decided to put my recently acquired pastry skills to use and switched it up with sweet pastry dough.
Sweet pastry dough is very easy to make, and very forgiving. You can roll it, re-roll it, patch it together and roll it again. Just make sure it’s very cold when you’re working with it and you should be fine. The quantity here makes about double what you’ll need, but it freezes really well so I’d go ahead and make the whole batch. Or you can use a 9×13 pan instead of the 8×8 that I used, and double up on the filling.
Sweet Pastry Dough
(recipe from Nick Malgieri)
1 cup flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter
1 large egg
Whisk together first four ingredients in a large bowl. Cut the butter into tablespoon size pieces and using your fingers work the butter into the flour. You want to keep going until the flour looks like coarse ground cornmeal, or grated parmesan cheese. Like this:
At this stage, beat the egg in a separate bowl and add to the flour mixture. Using a fork, stir until the dough starts to hold together. It will still look a little dry. Scatter some extra flour onto work surface and knead the dough quickly a few times until it is smooth:
Chill in the refrigerator at least one hour, but the longer, the colder, the better.
For Magic Filling:
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (or more, if you want)
1/2 cup sweetened, shredded coconut
1/2 of 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
To Assemble:
Preheat oven to 350.
Roll out your sweet pastry dough on a floured surface. It’s okay if it cracks, you can patch it together with your fingers. If it’s still being difficult, you can gather it together into a ball again and re-roll it. It’s easier the second time. Roll to about 1/4 inch thick. Place an 8×8 square baking pan on the dough and using a sharp paring knife, cut an outline using the pan as a guide. You can cut about 1/2 an inch larger than the pan. Press the dough into the pan. It doesn’t have to be perfect.
Scatter the chopped walnuts, chocolate chips and shredded coconut over the dough in an even layer. Pour the condensed milk over the top. Using a spatula, evenly distribute the condensed milk.
Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until golden brown at the edges. Allow to cool before cutting into bars.
Inside Outside
“When we allow ourselves to be still, things happen internally that allow our lives to move.” – Ravi Singh
There is a whole world of energy that exists inside each of us. Much of the time our focus is on what’s going on in the world around us, in the controlled chaos of our external lives. We’re caught up in our daily routine which has a forceful momentum of its own. Energy feeds on energy, so once we get the ball rolling, it can be a tough call to hit pause and start over, start fresh.
If we get stuck in a rut, or life feels uninspired, it’s probably a good time to put the breaks on. The thing about our inner world is that it can remain stagnant while our external lives are busy. Similarly, our external lives can seem to be at a standstill when there is actually great transformation happening within us.
To bring the inner self and outer self into alignment is not an easy task. But what’s inside is eventually what life becomes, and what life is really about. So if your life doesn’t look like what you want it to be yet, the best thing to do is turn your focus to your inner world. To hear our inner hearts, we have to allow ourselves some stillness apart from the distractions of our daily lives. There are a million hidden surprises waiting to be revealed where the true treasures are if we’ll only pause long enough to listen.
Easy Morning Muffins With Raspberries – makes 12
(adapted from The Art & Soul of Baking)
Do not be fooled by the plain exterior of these easy morning muffins. The hidden burst of tart raspberry flavor will take you by surprise on your first bite!
For the Muffins:
2 cups flour
2/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
6 tablespoons butter
grated zest of 1 lime
2/3 cup buttermilk
2 large eggs @ room temp
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 half-pint basket fresh raspberries, or 1 1/4 cup frozen (do not defrost)
For Crumb Topping:
3 tablespoons dark brown sugar
2/3 cup flour
4 tablespoons butter, melted
Preheat oven to 400. Spray 12 cup muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray.
To make the crumb topping, combine sugar and flour in a small bowl. Add the melted butter and stir in until evenly distributed. Let sit for 5 minutes, then using fingertips, break into clumps. Set aside.
For the muffins, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. In a small saucepan, melt the 6 tablespoons of butter with the lime zest. Off the heat, add buttermilk to the melted butter and let cool slightly. Pour butter mixture into a bowl, add eggs and vanilla, and whisk until well blended.
Make a well in the center of dry ingredients. Pour butter mixture into the well and stir gently. Mix until batter looks smooth and there are no more streaks of flour. A few lumps is no biggie. Fold in the raspberries.
Divide batter evenly among muffin cups. Top with crumb topping. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until skewer inserted in center of muffin comes out clean. Transfer muffin tin to a wire rack and let cool slightly. Run a small sharp knife around each muffin and transfer them to the wire rack to finish cooling. Serve warm or at room temp.
Splurge
They say we’re in the middle of a recession. I say it’s a good time to splurge.
What’s that, you say? That makes no sense?
Well, hear me out. Sometimes, when we’re feeling the pinch of an economic crisis, we start living our lives in limitation. We’re clipping the coupons and saving the pennies, putting back the filet mignon and grabbing the can of beans. But start living in too much limitation, and that becomes your reality.
So I think it’s a good idea to give your little life project a jolt now and then. Yes, we need to hold on to some of our dwindling cash right now. But wouldn’t it be a bold, audacious, daring little adventure in the midst of all this limitation-doom-is-upon-us thinking that is swirling through the ethers, to splurge a little? To look limitation in the eye and say, no way dude, not today. This is my life and as long as there are options, I will take my chances.
So I splurged a little even though perhaps maybe I couldn’t really afford to. I took my first pastry class at ICE. And let me say, it was one of the best experiences of my life. Whatever doubts I may have had as to the wisdom of spending a couple hundred dollars on a baking class right now, the experience paid for itself a thousand times over.
In my pastry class, over the course of three days, we tackled three different doughs – pate sucree (sweet pastry dough), pate brisee (flaky pastry dough) and pate a choux (that stuff you make eclairs with). It was quite a sensation to be around unlimited quantities of butter and chocolate, to work with high quality stovetops and ovens and of course the beloved Kitchenaid standmixers which I still do not own. And to be around a group of people as excited about flour and butter as myself.
We made Chocolate Hazelnut Tarts, Banana Walnut Tarts, 2 types of Apple Pie as well as Tarte Tatin, Blueberry Pie, Frangipane Fruit Tarts, Pastry Cream with various flavors, Coconut Custard Pie, Lemon Cheese Tarts, Eclairs, Cream Puffs and Paris Brest. I also learned how to really get flaky pastry dough to be flaky (repeat the mantra: DO NOT OVERWORK THE DOUGH). And I can actually make those cute mini-tarts at home now – they are so much easier to make than I thought. It was totally glorious.
So I say, go ahead, splurge a little. Give your system a jolt and follow your heart. Because as they say, you can’t put a price on happiness. And happiness is energy that permeates your life, and the lives of others. There are more things that make the world go round than how much cash is in the bank. It’s true.
Apologies
My 7th grade French teacher hated the word “sorry”.
If any of us came in late to class or forgot our textbook or mispronounced a word and had the gall to apologize for it, we were guaranteed the following reaction:
“Sorreee?!” she’d screech. “What do you mean by sorreee? You are not sorreee. What should I do with this sorreeee?”
At which point we would kind of stand there not sure whether to sit down or leave or offer an explanation as to what “sorry” meant.
It seemed that every day, we would have to repeat some version of the same exchange.
“Where is your notebook Phileep?”
“I forgot it Mme Ianelli, I’m sorry.”
“Sorree, what am I to do with this sorreee?”
“Where is your homework Amee?”
“I’m sorry, I left it at home.”
“Sorreee? What am I to do with this sorree?”
You’d think we all would have learned to come up with a different response as the semester wore on but the only thing available to a 7th grade brain when it was put on the spot in front of classmates was “sorry”. In other classes, teachers would either tell us to “sit down and don’t let it happen again”, or they’d send us to the principal’s office, or send a note home to our parents.
But Mme Ianelli demanded answers. We would spend at least 15 minutes of class discussing the worthlessness of “Sorry” since it was clear to her that the person uttering the word didn’t give a rat’s ass about whatever they were apologizing for. She never let us off the hook. (That, and if any one us forgot our notebooks and needed to go back to our locker to get it, she’d make the entire class recite together “Puis j’allez chercher mon cahier a mon casier.” I don’t know why so many of us kept forgetting to bring our notebooks to class. I may not remember how to say anything else in French, but I will always know how to ask permission to go find my notebook in my locker.)
Sorry is an overused word. And most of the time, we don’t really mean it. I think what Mme Ianelli was trying to instill in us is that it made no difference if we apologized to her. We had to take responsibility for ourselves, to be accountable. After all, any time we do say sorry and mean it, the forgiveness we truly seek is our own.
Mousse au Chocolat – serves 4
(Recipe from Ghirardelli)
Okay, I have to apologize because I think I did something wrong with this here recipe. I followed it to a T but it came out much lighter colored than I expected. My first experience with Chocolate Mousse was in Mme Ianelli’s French class – we all had to chip in and help make it. The end product had streaks of raw egg yolk in it which was not a good thing. We didn’t dare complain to Mme Ianelli, and nor would I apologize to you lovely readers for this extra-light mousse (albeit with an intensely creamy, chocolatey flavor) if I didn’t mean it. Any ideas what I did wrong?
4 large egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
2 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
6 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped
Beat egg yolks on high speed until thick and lemon colored. Gradually add sugar then beat.
Heat one cup whipping cream in a saucepan over medium heat just until hot. Do not boil Gradually stir half of the hot cream into the egg yolk mixture to temper the yolks, then pour back into the hot cream in the saucepan. Cook over low heat, about 5 minutes, stirring constantly until mixture is blended and thickens. (Possibly I didn’t let the mixture thicken enough at this point?)
Let cool for 10 minutes, then add the chocolate to the mixture and stir until thick, about 5 minutes. Cover and refrigerate for about 2 hours, stirring occasionally just until chilled.
Beat remaining 1 1/2 cups whipping cream until stiff. Mix 3/4 cups of the cream into chocolate mixture until blended. Fold remaining whipped cream into chocolate mixture until well blended. Spoon mixture into cups or bowls to serve.
Wants
When Elizabeth Gilbert was promoting her book Eat, Pray, Love on (where else) Oprah, one of the most profound pieces of advice she gave was to identify what you want. Correction – what you really, really, really want. You have to say it three times.
She was right. There is a subtle but crucial difference between things we want, and what we really, really, really want. For instance, I might want, I dunno – to eat the entire batch of these yummy cornmeal cookies all by myself in one sitting. But what I really, really, really want is to be toned and fit and healthy for life.
Get my drift?
Most of us go through life wanting a whole bunch of random things. The Manolo Blahniks, the Iphones, that cute guy who was checking you out at the bookstore. We get more serious, we venture into the “big” things – a fulfilling career, a happy marriage, kids. Maybe at some point we even get a bit spiritual and say, well all I want is peace, all I want is to give back. Most of these decisions though are nudged upon us from the outside. We want it because other people have it. We want it so we’ll fit in. We want it so we don’t feel lonely. We want it to feel validated.
Those aren’t real wants.
What you really, really, really want comes straight out of your heart. Your heart. And usually, it’s one thing – one big overriding theme that has tagged alongside you your whole life, sometimes quietly, sometimes ragingly. Sometimes we ignore it because it’s too painful, or too out of reach, or too much against the norm, so we’ll end up distracting ourselves trying to fulfill other, less authentic wants. But your true desire never quite leaves you. It’s always there, an integral part of you, waiting for the day you will give it your full attention.
The hard part isn’t always going after what we want. Sometimes, it’s knowing and acknowledging what we want that’s half the battle.
Do you know what you really, really, really want?
Savory Cornmeal Cookies - makes 3 dozen cookies
(adapted from Country Living)
These cornmeal cookies may not fall under the “3 reallys” category of wants, but you’ll want them for sure. They are the crazy love child of a scone, a muffin and a cookie. However they were conceived, they’re delicious – all by themselves or as an accompaniment to soups and stews. Just don’t eat the whole batch in one sitting and cancel out the sweaty 45 minutes you spent trying to convince Jillian Michaels not to kill you.
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1/2 cup all purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon cayenne (use 1/8 if you don’t like heat)
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 cup sharp Cheddar cheese
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 large egg
2/3 cups water
Preheat oven to 400. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper
Whisk together the cornmeal, flour, salt, sugar, baking powder, cayenne and black pepper until well combined. Stir in the cheese.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the melted butter, egg and water. Pour the egg mixture into the flour mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until a smooth ball of dough forms.
Drop rounded teaspoonfuls of the dough onto prepared baking sheets. Bake 12-14 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool on wire racks.
Patience
We’ve all heard it before. Patience is a virtue. All things come to those who wait. That’s all nice but when it seems like you’ve been waiting forever for something to happen – whether it’s a job, a significant other, a clean bill of health, success, or even just a feeling of inner peace – you gotta stop and wonder – well, why does it have to take so bloody long?
None of us likes to wait in a culture – a global culture – of instant gratification. And yet, wait we must. Usually, it seems like we must wait the longest for the things we want the most. Why is that? Well, have you noticed that when that thing finally arrives in our lives – whether it’s the latest Ipod or the corner office or the guy you’ve been crushing on for so long – how quickly it loses its charm?
Doesn’t it feel like life then, ends up being a constant journey of waiting? Sometimes while we’re waiting, we decide we actually didn’t want that thing anyway. Then, we’re waiting for the next thing. And when the next thing comes, we already want the other next thing. Got the job? Want the spouse. Got the spouse? Want the house. Got the house? Want the fancy appliances. Got the appliances? Want to go on vacation. It never ends, does it?
But that’s the key. It never does end. Because life is always in the process of happening. And the things we want are always coming. The longer the wait, the sweeter the rewards. All we have to do, is know that, and make the most of every opportunity that’s available to us now. Now, right now. Look around, because those opportunities are definitely there. Even if the opportunity available to you right now is to slow down. Take a breather. Eat a cupcake. Maybe even make some.
Indeed, all things do come to those who wait. And the rewards? They’re definitely sweet.
Tres Leches Cupcakes – makes about 10 cupcakes
(adapted from Martha Stewart’s Cupcakes)
Patience will definitely come into play here when it’s time to soak the cakes with the 3-milk-mixture. It’ll seem like way too much soaking liquid for the amount of cupcakes you have, but you really do need to use all of it up. And yes, this takes a little time and a good dose of patience as you wait for the milk mixture to soak in. Then again, you can use this time to contemplate how crazy it is that a tiny little cake could absorb SO much liquid!
3 large eggs, separated @ room temp
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 stick unsalted butter, melted, cooled
1/2 cup all purpose flour, sifted
1/2 of 12 oz can evaporated milk (okay to eyeball it)
1/2 of 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk (ditto)
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons heavy cream
For Whipped Cream Topper:
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon confectioner’s sugar
Cocoa powder or cinnamon for dusting
Preheat oven to 325. Line muffin tin with paper-lined foil liners.
Whisk egg whites, baking soda and salt with electric mixer on medium until soft peaks form. Add yolks and sugar and mix on low until thoroughly combined. Fold in melted butter using a flexible spatula (it’s a foamy batter, so you wanna use something thin and delicate). Add flour in four batches, folding gently until combined.
Divide batter into muffin cups, filling each about half way. Bake until light golden brown, about 25 minutes. Remove from oven and poke holes into cupcakes using skewers or fork. Or whatever you’ve got.
Whisk together the evaporated milk, condensed milk and heavy cream. With cupcakes still in the muffin tin, brush the milk mixture using a pastry brush. Repeat until all the liquid has been used. Allow cupcakes to absorb mixture, at least 30 minutes or up to 1 day in the refrigerator, wrapped tightly with plastic wrap. Bring to room temp before serving.
For the whipped cream topper, whip heavy cream and confectioner’s sugar until soft and creamy. Dollop onto cupcakes. Dust with cocoa powder or cinnamon.
Simplicity
I was in the mood for something simple today. Or…maybe it’s more accurate to say, I was in the mood for simplicity itself today.
Does that make sense?
In Steven Pressfield’s must-read-for-creative-artists book The War of Art, he makes a distinction between territorial and hierarchical orientation. Basically, what this means is – when you’re doing your creative work, are you working for yourself, or are you working with other people in mind? Are you working because the work itself is fulfilling, or are you always comparing yourself and checking your position in the “hierarchical” order of other artists out there who are working in your field?
Some people are just born knowing what they love to do – ie, they’re born knowing what their “territory” is. For others, it’s a bit of a search. Maybe we’ve been people-pleasers for too long and we’ve forgotten along the way what it is that makes us happy. Maybe we felt that only big, lofty goals were worth pursuing, thereby overlooking pleasures that may have been so basic and simple and obvious, we never even considered them.
One of the ways Pressfield says you can check to see if you are working hierarchically or territorially is to ask yourself, if you’re feeling really anxious, what would you do? Would you turn to the work? Or would the work make you more anxious? Would you turn to others in search of validation? Or would the work, your craft, in and of itself provide you solace?
I struggled with this for a number of years when I was oscillating between wanting to be a novelist vs a screenwriter. In fact, I oscillated so much that I never actually wrote. I got so caught up in the hierarchy, the need for validation and approval and acceptance, the dream of “making it”, that I completely ignored the big empty pit of dread that paralyzed me every time I sat down to write.
Happily I’ve discovered that my orientation in the kitchen is definitely territorial. I’m not looking to get anywhere because I’m already there. I’m content to explore my way into the craft of baking, to discover a path along the way, or perhaps to let a path discover me. The rewards I reap in the kitchen are immediate and soul-satisfying, not dependent on some distant future when I’ll have arrived at someone else’s idea of “success”.
How do you approach your creative work, whether in the kitchen, at the office, or even in caring for your family? Is it hierarchical or territorial? I started out today, seeking solace in simplicity. I just wanted to shut out the world, the voices, and retreat within to do something creative, basic and simple, that connected me to me. I wanted to bake. The kitchen – yes, that’s my territory.
What’s yours?
Lime Thins
Makes 18 cookies
(adapted from The Gourmet Cookbook)
This was the perfect recipe for simplicity today. Zesting limes is one of my favorite things to do – the fragrance gets me every time. Basic ingredients, basic pleasures, total satisfaction. You can also make this recipe with lemons.
3/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
zest of 2 limes
1/4 cup lime juice
Preheat oven to 350.
Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a bowl. Set aside.
Beat together shortening, butter and sugar until incorporated. Beat in vanilla extract, zest and juice and beat until smooth. Reduce speed to low and beat in flour mixture in two batches until well blended.
Roll heaping teaspoons of the dough into balls and place onto ungreased baking sheet, about 2 inches apart. Flatten balls slightly with your palm. Bake cookies in batches, about 8 to 10 minutes, or until edges are golden brown. Cool on baking sheet for a few minutes then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.
Sweets From The Sweet Life
If you’re a foodie of any calibre at all you’ve heard that The Great David Lebovitz has just released a book called The Sweet Life in Paris. My advice on reading the book: do so in the privacy of your living room. Because if you happen to be eating potato chips at the same time? And you end up laughing so hard when least expected that you spray half chewed potato chips all over the place? Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
If you read the blog, you’ll be taken right in with the trademark prose, but the recipes are pretty great too. One of the first that caught my fancy was Ile Flottante, or Floating Island – a classic fancy French dessert that incorporates 3 very basic pastry elements that I find kind of intimidating: creme anglaise (or cooked custard), meringue, and caramel.
Regardless, I was so high from all the laughing that I got right over my fear and gathered up the very very simple ingredients required for this fancy dessert – eggs, sugar, milk and some vanilla. It’s pretty crazy what you can make with this stuff.
First – the creme anglaise.
Here’s what you need to know about creme anglaise. Do not, under any circumstance, try to make creme anglaise while you are simultaneously texting a friend who is asking you for advice on how to save his marriage. Okay? Bad idea. I couldn’t ignore his desperate text-cries-for-help so I had to tend to him. Meanwhile, my milk was warm and I had already tempered the yolks, and there was no way I could tactfully extricate myself from either the heavy duty texting or the demands of the time-sensitive custard.
So I offered some advice that I hoped would give him a 5 minute pause, and poured the entire yolk-milk-sugar mixture back into the pan to thicken. Instinctively I could tell, my body could tell, that this was the moment of truth. I was “stirring constantly” as advised and watching my custard like a hawk but my mind was on my friend (and terrified that I would hear the ping of my Blackberry before the custard was ready).
And, you know? It’s like the creme – which had yet to decide whether it would become anglaise or sweet scrambled eggs – knew that my focus was elsewhere. It took a split second, a split second, for it to go from luscious and silky to ugly and curdled.
Do not mess with the custard, okay? It needs your undivided attention. I made it the second time around (in a text-free environment) and like a madwoman kept testing my spatula for that telltale clean streak that says the custard is ready and immediately set the bowl on some ice. Mission accomplished.
The meringue was much easier and very forgiving. Nothing is more magical than watching measly every day egg whites turn into this lush, thick, glossy mass of fluffy goodness. We were going for a soft meringue here, hence we baked it in a water bath, then you flip it over onto a platter, so the clean white side is facing up, until you’re ready to serve.
Then it was time for the caramel – and it came out great!
Okay, I lied. I burned the caramel. At least I think I did, because it looked okay but tasted awful. It’s amazing what sugar will do with heat, but now I understand why chefs are so stressed out all the time, man. It literally takes a nanosecond for things to go from great to….burnt.
