Culinary Couture

Jelly Roll Diploma Cake

2012-01-29T19:20:00.002-05:00

I like this cake, but I don't like jelly rolls. Why do you think that is?

I'll give you a hint. It's not because I'm Fannee Doolee from that show ZOOM, on PBS. I know I'm not the only one who watched that show growing up. And I'm definitely not the only one who sat there confused as anything, trying to figure out why Fannee Doolee liked coffee, but not drinks, and trees, but not forests. It wasn't until a few days ago that I googled Fannee Doolee and finally found the answer to all of those questions. Apparently, Fannee Doolee only likes words with double letters. So, she likes sweets, but she doesn't like candy.

That's it? Yes, that's all there is to it. Thank you for messing with my head for years.

So if I'm not Fannee Doolee, then why do I like this cake, and not jelly rolls? Well, because, this cake is not actually a jelly roll. I mean, it is a jelly roll, in the sense that it's a sponge cake rolled into a log and that's what jelly rolls are. But I didn't actually fill it with jelly. I filled it with whipped cream and strawberries. So I guess technically speaking, that would mean that I don't like jelly jelly rolls, I like cream jelly rolls. Or jelly cream rolls? Either way, this jelly roll cake filled with cream instead of jelly, was one of the best cakes that I have ever tasted in my entire life. And I have Pinterest to thank.

I was originally planning on using my mother's jelly roll recipe, as she makes biscuit roulé very often. The thought of searching for a different recipe to use hadn't even crossed my mind. But then I randomly saw this recipe on Pinterest soon after I had decided to make this cake, and it was too coincidental for me to not think it was fate. But first I did a trial run, to test my ability to actually make a jelly roll cake, since I had no experience whatsoever. It was a success, but I guess that's pretty obvious judging by my compliments on this cake.

Not only is it super easy to make, but looks-wise and taste-wise, it's guaranteed to impress any audience. It's good enough alone, just with the strawberry cream filling and sprinkled with powdered sugar. But with a layer of vanilla frosting, it becomes phenomenal. It reminded me a lot of strawberry shortcake, so if you're a fan, then this is definitely the cake for you. And if you're not a fan, this cake will definitely make you one.

Congratulations to one of the coolest moms I know for completing her PhD degree, while working and taking care of her husband and four children, and doing a darn good job of it!

German Strawberry Cream Roll
adapted from Quick German Recipes

Ingredients:
3 large eggs, separated
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup all purpose flour
3 tbsp. corn starch
1 tsp. baking powder
1 cup heavy cream (whipping cream)
1/2 cup powdered(icing) sugar, sifted
1 cup sliced strawberries

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400° F.

Spray a rimmed 15" x 10" cookie sheet or pan with cooking spray. Line the pan with waxed paper, then spray the waxing paper with cooking spray. This ensures that your cake will be easy to remove from both the wax paper and the pan when you flip it.

In a small bowl, whisk together flour, corn starch, and baking powder. Set aside.

Whip egg whites with 3 tablespoons of water until stiff. Slowly whip in the sugar. Stir in egg yolks. Fold in flour mixture.

Spread batter on lined cookie sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Lay a damp cloth towel on a flat surface Place a sheet of waxed paper(the same size as the pan)over the towel. Sprinkle the wax paper with a bit of powdered sugar; this keeps the cake from sticking to it.

Turn the pan over onto the waxed paper, releasing the cake. Slowly peel off the waxed paper from the cake. Trim off any crisp edges. Slowly and carefully roll up the cake and waxed paper together. The wax paper will end up coiled inside the cake. Set aside to cool.

Beat heavy cream and powdered sugar until stiff. Mix strawberries with whipped cream. Unroll cooled cake. Spread with fruit/cream mixture. Re-roll the cake, this time peeling away the wax paper as you're rolling.

Place on a serving plate, seam-side down. Sprinkle with additional powdered sugar.

Three-Cheese Pasta Bake

2012-01-23T16:33:00.000-05:00

My dad was diagnosed with acid reflux disease a little less than a year ago. Since then, my mom has had to make lots of changes to his diet. This has ultimately resulted in changes to the rest of our diets as well. As generous as my mom is, she just can't spoil us all the time. Making two different kinds of meals, one for us and one for him, gets pretty annoying, not to mention, is very time-consuming. She does her best to find a happy medium, but it can be difficult at times with picky eaters like my siblings and I. To make life easier for her, I often contribute/cook yummy looking, acid-reflux safe recipes that I find online; this three cheese pasta bake being one of them.

First off, let me just say that I had tortellini Alfredo for the first time ever at a wedding last month and I don't know how I have lived before it. It took pasta to a whole new level for me, a level that I didn't even know existed. So you could probably imagine how excited I was when I saw that this recipe called for Alfredo sauce.

Unfortunately, that excitement only lasted until I opened up the jar of Alfredo sauce that I bought, after which I was hit in the face with a gross, funky smell that nearly made me reconsider making this dish. Yes, it was that bad. Apparently, I'm not the only one who thinks jarred Alfredo sauce smells horrible--I did some research online, you know, after I scarred my nose for life (figuratively speaking).

Thankfully, after conducting a taste test, I realized that the sauce didn't actually taste as bad as it smelled. So I carried on, hoping nobody else in the house would catch a whiff. Of course, the smell ended up emanating throughout the kitchen when the pasta was baking anyway, but surprisingly, nobody really seemed to mind. In fact, everyone unhesitatingly tried the pasta and thought it was really good! I thought it was going to be heavy, because of all the cheese, sour cream, and the sauce, but it was actually really light and the flavors were nice and subtle, which I liked. I also really liked the crispy mozzarella topping; it was the perfect contrast to the pasta.

Online reviews of this pasta bake say that it is bland, and I kind of see where they're coming from, but I wouldn't say that it is bland in a bad way. Sometimes, there is beauty in simplicity, and the fact that there aren't any overpowering flavors in this dish makes it very comforting, and perfect for the chilly weather we've been having.

Three-Cheese Pasta Bake
adapted from MyRecipes

Ingredients:
Half a (16-ounce) package penne pasta
One (10-ounce) jar refrigerated Alfredo sauce
1/2 cup sour cream
1 cup ricotta cheese
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/8 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/8 cup chopped fresh parsley
3/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions:
Prepare penne according to package directions; drain and return to pot.

Stir together Alfredo sauce and sour cream; toss with penne until evenly coated. Spoon half of mixture into a lightly greased 11x 7 inch baking dish.

Stir together ricotta cheese, egg, Parmesan cheese, and chopped parsley. Spread evenly over pasta mixture in baking dish. Spoon remaining pasta mixture evenly over ricotta cheese layer.

Sprinkle evenly with mozzarella cheese. Bake at 350° degrees for 30 minutes or until bubbly.

Cinnamon Toast Crunch Marshmallow Treats

2012-01-19T17:22:00.001-05:00

Now that I'm not in school anymore, I'm finally able to sit down and eat breakfast. My parents have interpreted this as a green light to buy an abnormal amount of cereal. I should really say my dad and not my parents, because he's mostly responsible for all the grocery shopping. What can I say, he LOVES shopping wholesale. BJ's, Costco, you name it. Even when he's not actually at a wholesale store, he's buying a whole lot of stuff that is on sale.

I guess some time ago, there was a cereal sale and we ended up with 16 boxes of cereal in the house. I'm not even exaggerating. It was cool at the time, because he bought all the cereals that I liked. But after going through four boxes of Wheaties and two boxes of Kix all by myself, cereal started to look very unappealing. I still ate it, though not as often, but I stopped eating the same kind of cereal for weeks straight. That was the main problem; my lack of variation.

But the one cereal that I just couldn't continue eating was Cinnamon Toast Crunch. It was just too sweet for me to handle. Not to mention, before I ever really got a chance to enjoy it's crunchy cinnamon-sugar coated squares, their coating would dissolve, leaving me with soggy squares and outrageously sweet milk. It just wasn't working out. So after months of the half full (or half empty?) bag of CTC sitting on top of the fridge in it's double box, taking up way too much space, I finally decided to do something with it. Enter Cinnamon Toast Crunch marshmallow treats.

I saw the idea for them on Pinterest. Yes, I've joined the Pinterest bandwagon, and I'm proud of it. Where else could I have found a nifty idea like this? You basically mix your Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal with melted butter and marshmallows, spread it into a pan, cool, cut, and serve. It's the same concept behind Rice Krispie treats, except the results are way yummier. Oh, and not only did I use up the leftover bag of cereal, but I also used up the leftover marshmallow creme I had from making these cookies. Win win situation, if you ask me.

I must warn you though, these treats are just as sweet as the actual cereal, if not, a little bit more. But I would rather bite into crunchy, sticky, sweetness, than soggy, milky, sweetness any morning of the week. And I'm sure you'll agree.

Cinnamon Toast Crunch Marshmallow Treats

Ingredients:
One 7oz. jar of marshmallow creme
2.5 cups of Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal
2.5 tablespoons unsalted butter

Directions:
Lightly spray a 7 x 7 inch pan with cooking spray and set aside.

In a large saucepan, melt the butter over low heat. Add marshmallow creme and stir until it is mixed in. Remove saucepan from heat and add in the cereal. Stir together until cereal is completely coated.

Spread cereal mixture into the prepared pan; use a sheet of wax paper or aluminum foil to pat down the mixture evenly. Let cool, then cut into squares.

Housewarming Cake

2012-01-15T15:49:00.001-05:00

I DID IT. I bought my first Wilton tip. And then I bought my second one. I probably would have bought all the Wilton tips, as well as everything else in the cake decorating aisle at Michael's, if you know, I was made out of money. But I'm not. So tip No.48 and tip No.233 had to suffice.

And suffice they did. I was really impressed at the awesome detail I was able to pipe onto this cake by using them. I mean, check out that grass. I considered using a star tip to make the grass but I'm so glad I didn't; it definitely wouldn't have compared to grass made by an actual grass tip. The fences on other models of this cake were all made out of fondant, but I chose to make mine just out of frosting and using the basketweave tip. I like to dare to be different. I also like to give myself major hand cramps.

The first time I went around the cake to pipe the top cross bar on the fence, I decided to go around in one shot. I'm not sure how smart of a decision that was. Imagine me, trying to keep a steady hand, pushing out the frosting at a steady pace, and my mom continuously turning the cake plate for me, since I don't have a cake turntable. Now imagine my mom turning the plate too fast and me freaking out and telling her to slow down, and then her slowing down too much, and me freaking out again, and yeah, there you have it; my cake decorating in a nutshell.

The second time around, I was much smarter, and decided to do periodic stops. The areas where I stopped and started again were actually not as obvious as I thought they would be. That made me happy. But what really, really made me happy, was the fact that I didn't mess up on the writing. The "WELCOME" on the welcome mat was as close to perfect as I think I've ever gotten. My secret? Controlling my inner perfectionist desires.

They've always been my biggest problem when I'm decorating. Feeling that something needs to look better. Like the writing, it needs to be bolder. Or the frosting, it needs to be smoother. And in trying to "fix" any of these things, it should come as no surprise that I almost always end up making things worse. With this cake, I finally just let things be. Acceptance. That's what it's all about.

Accepting that those fence posts aren't going to get any straighter, the frosting isn't going to get any smoother, and the writing isn't going to get any better. Accepting that you did your best and gave it your all, and there will be room for improvement in other cakes. Just leave this one alone :-)

Liebster Award

2012-01-09T12:05:00.000-05:00

It's funny. I just got done writing about finding blogs in foreign languages and then lo and behold, I was nominated to receive the Liebster Blog Award. Liebster? Definitely not English. It looks like it could be English, but it's actually German. And I actually had an idea about what it meant before I Googled it--all thanks to my lovely German-fluent cousins who taught me a few German words and phrases. But for those of you who don't have German-fluent cousins and are too lazy to Google "liebster", it means dearest, or favorite.

*blushing*

Aww, Kendra, you shouldn't have :)

I don't have a speech prepared or anything, but I am super grateful to have been nominated for this wonderful award, which by the way, was created to recognize up and coming blogs that have 200 followers or less, to bring more attention to them and get them the readership they deserve. This is a fantastic idea, if you ask me. And I definitely liebe the person who came up with it.

Now, as per Liebster Award rules, I have to thank the person who nominated me and link back to them (Thanks Kendra!), nominate five other blogs, and comment on their blogs to let them know they've been nominated. Oh, and I have to flash this fancy thing....no problemo :)

In no particular order, my five nominees for the Liebster Blog Award are:

1. Crazy 4 Sweets: Talent. Massive-cake-decorating-talent. That's what you'll see when you click the link to this blog. The person behind the talent? My dear friend Khaoula. She may not update her blog as regularly as many other bloggers do, but when she does, you know you're in for a real treat!

2. Yammie's Noshery: At 18 years young, Yammie's blog looks way better than mine did when I was 18. Her pictures are amazing, her recipes are delicious (tried and tested), and her love for her family and passion for photography remind me so much of myself :)

3. Budget Bytes: I'm not really sure how many followers Beth has, but I am sure of how amazing her blog has been from start to present. Not only are her recipes simple and satisfying, but they're also inexpensive! And to prove it, she breaks down the ingredient list, calculating the cost for each item, the total cost, AND the cost per serving. It really doesn't get any better than that.

4. Eat Good 4 Life: Miryam is 26 followers over the mark, but I HAD to make an exception! I recently stumbled upon her blog and fell in love at first recipe. There are blogs that make you gain weight just by looking at their pictures, and then there are blogs that make you feel awesome because that cupcake on the screen that you're drooling at is actually HEALTHY. Hers is obviously the latter. Without sacrificing any taste, she puts together meals and desserts that make you feel good...no, not good, GREAT :)

5. Sips and Spoonfuls: Sukaina is truly inspirational. She started her blog while she was battling cancer, as a way to distract her. The blog later became one of her passions and cancer became a thing of the past, alhamdulilah(praise to God). If her story of hope and strength isn't enough to show how admirable of a woman she is, just take a look at her phenomenal pictures and recipes. That should definitely do it.

Congratulations, everyone!

Basic Cheesecake

2012-01-07T17:04:00.001-05:00

A lot of times when I'm on Foodgawker, I'll click on a picture and find myself staring at a blog in a foreign language. My first reaction is almost always immediately x-ing out of the page. I just don't feel like taking the time to translate the page through some website, when I know that I won't get an accurate translation. And without an accurate translation, the recipe is pretty useless to me.

Once in a blue moon, I'll get lucky and the blog will list an English translation of their own. Even then, I'm hesitant to dwell further and possibly bookmark the recipe because ingredients aren't the same everywhere, so I worry that I won't get the same results. I took a chance with this cheesecake. All the ingredients looked pretty straightforward, except for the vanilla sugar, which I'm pretty sure doesn't exist in the United States. But I figured I could just substitute it with the vanilla powder I usually use; no reason to write off the entire recipe.

Now although my cheesecake definitely did not look like the one I saw on the blog, it made up for it in taste. It was light and fluffy, and not overly sweet, and the graham cracker crust was on point. This was the first time I didn't use sugar in my graham cracker crust and I didn't notice any significant difference. This was also the first time I whipped the heavy cream with the sugar first, before incorporating it into the cheesecake batter, and I think it's the secret to the creaminess of this cheesecake.

The blog I got this recipe from calls it New York Cheesecake. I've never actually had New York Cheesecake(shocking, since I lived in New York for 13 years), but I've read that it's dense, heavy, and thick--words that I personally wouldn't use to describe this particular cheesecake.

So I've altered the name to basic cheesecake, because I think it's a perfect starter recipe for the novice baker. It's simple, elegant, and produces very delicious results.

Basic Cheesecake
adapted from Попробуем жизнь на вкус

Ingredients:
For the crust
150 g graham cracker crumbs
70 g melted butter

For the filling
650 g Philadelphia Cream Cheese, room temperature
200 ml heavy cream
2 eggs
100 g sugar
pinch of vanilla powder
pinch of salt

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Line an 8-inch springform pan with parchment paper. (I used a 10-inch springform pan and didn't line it). Wrap exterior of the pan, including the base, in a double layer of foil (I skipped this step because I usually just place a pan of boiling water on the rack underneath the cheesecake)

In a small bowl, whisk together the graham cracker crumbs with the melted butter until all crumbs are moistened. Press the crumb mixture firmly into the bottom of the pan, and up the sides, about one inch. It helps to use the bottom of a measuring cup to press the crumbs out evenly and smoothly. Cover and refrigerate the crust while you are making the filling.

Using a hand mixer, beat the cream cheese on medium speed until fluffy and creamy. In a stand mixer, whip the heavy cream with the sugar and vanilla until stiff peaks form. Add to the cream cheese and beat until incorporated. Add in the eggs and salt, and beat on low just until combined. Pour the cream cheese filling into the pan, over the crust.

Place the springform pan inside a large pan. Pour boiling water into the large pan, halfway up the sides of the pan. Bake for 70-75 minutes or until sides of cake appear firm and center jiggles slightly. Turn off the oven and let the cheesecake cool in the oven for at least one hour.

Chill cheesecake in refrigerator for at least 8 hours, or overnight. Garnish with your choice of fruit before serving, if desired.

Side note: I was approached by a fellow food blogger to participate in a sweet treat link party. She had me at the word sweet. And treats. And you know I love a good party, even a virtual one. Oh, you do too? Well, come join us over here at her blog!

It's a Boy- Baby Shower Cake

2012-01-01T11:09:00.000-05:00

This is a baby shower cake. But it’s not just any baby shower cake. It’s a special baby shower cake. Actually, it’s a special cake period. And it’s not because I filled it with homemade chocolate mousse instead of plain old frosting. No, it’s not that. It’s because this is the first cake that I’ve decorated using an actual, real-life WILTON TIP.

Yes, Wilton tip. You heard correctly. I’m doing big things. Granted, it was an almost two decade old Wilton tip that I borrowed from my mother’s lovely friend. But it was still a Wilton tip. No.21, to be exact. I used it to cover the cake in cute little stars; way more fun than spatula icing by the way. I didn’t quite figure out how to keep the stars from being so pointy in the middle and looking like grass, but I didn’t dwell on it too much.

Of course, it wasn't long before I returned to my ghetto cake decorating ways. There was no way I could make an overall outfit out of stars, especially because I didn’t have a smaller star tip. So I brought out my handy dandy, always reliable Ziploc bag. It has never failed me. But my back might seriously fail me one of these days from all the hours of hunching over and trying to keep my hand super steady. If I ever make a business out of these cakes, all the money I make will be going to a chiropractor, that’s for sure.

After seeing how much pain I was in the next day from my back, my mom told me that she would never let me make another cake ever again. Psshhh. I love you mommy and I appreciate your concern, I do, but now that I’m on my Wilton tip flow, there’s no stopping me! I can’t wait to see what else I can do with other tips. I might even my buy my own set! It’s about time I stepped up my cake decorating game :-)

Top 10 Recipes of 2011

2011-12-29T19:39:00.002-05:00

"If all of your friends jumped off a bridge, would you do it too?"

Everyone has heard that at least once in their life. It's parents' favorite comeback whenever their kids ask them if they could do something and use popular opinion as a reason for wanting to do so. It's also the worst comeback I've ever heard. And I've heard some pretty bad comebacks. Come on now, how can jumping off a bridge be compared to wanting to go to a party or wanting to dress a certain way?

And they always make it seem like jumping off a bridge is a bad thing. Well, last I checked, it wasn't clarified if my friends were wearing bungee cords or not, because if they were, I'd definitely be right there with them......sike.

I'll pass on throwing myself off a bridge and counting on a piece of rubber to protect me. I prefer to stick to non-dangerous things that all my friends are doing. Like posting their top ten recipes of 2011. Yeah, I think I'll join that bandwagon.

10. Nutella Crack Brownies

9. Pear Cranberry Bread

8. Sweet Potato Cupcakes

7. Banana Split Cheesecake

6. Caramel Apple Upside Down Cake

5. Soft Apple Cinnamon Snickerdoodles

4. Red Velvet Cheesecake Cookies

3. Chocolate Lava Cake for Two

2. Cheesy Basil Stuffed Chicken Breasts

And the number one recipe of 2011 is...

*drumroll*

1. Molten Chocolate Surprise

Chicken Parmesan Casserole

2011-12-24T18:41:00.000-05:00

So apparently, if a recipe calls for 8 ounces of shredded mozzarella, and you measure out a cup of shredded mozzarella, it's not the same thing. Yeah. Go figure. Of course, I discover this crucial fact after my dish goes into the oven. Classic. But seriously, how am I supposed to know that 8 ounces of shredded mozzarella equals two cups and not one? As far as I can remember, Mr.G had four quarts, two pints in each quart, two cups in each pint, and 8 ounces in each cup. I was never informed that mozzarella would be an exception. They need to start including that in school curriculums. Forreal.

Anyways, rant over. I ended up sprinkling the rest of the required amount of mozzarella cheese ten minutes before I took my casserole out of the oven and it was just fine. No biggie. Just another learning experience. There's no way that I'll forget that 8 ounces of shredded mozzarella is equal to two cups the next time I make this casserole. And there will indeed be a next time, and many more times after that, because it is ah-may-zing.

All props go to Chef John over at Food Wishes for this exceptional idea and recipe. I mean, this is as brilliant as brilliant gets. You skip the breading and frying and still end up with crispy, tender, and delicious chicken. How? Garlic croutons. Sprinkled on top of the chicken and covered with cheese, they provide that crunch that so many of us crave in classic chicken Parmesan. Not only that, but the bottoms of the croutons soak up the marinara sauce and juices of the chicken, making for an even more flavorful dish.

Not a single complaint from my family on this one. Not even half a complaint. Of course, that's great because I love making my family's tummies happy. But I also wouldn't have minded if at least one person didn't like it, you know, so maybe I'd have some more for myself. This casserole will make you selfish yo. It will also have you setting a new standard, where you will be hesitant to have any other kind of chicken Parmesan dish anywhere else, as it will suffer extremely by comparison.

Chicken Parmesan Casserole
adapted from Food Wishes

Ingredients:
2 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
hot red pepper flakes, to taste
1 whole chicken breast, sliced into 6 fillets
One 24-oz. jar of marinara sauce
4 teaspoons dried basil
8 oz mozzarella, shredded (divided)
4 oz Parmesan, grated (divided)
Half of a 5-oz package Garlic & Cheese croutons

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 F.

Drizzle olive oil on bottom of 13x9 inch baking dish. Sprinkle garlic and red pepper flakes over oil. Arrange chicken breasts in a single layer on top of oil. Pour marinara sauce over the chicken breasts and spread to cover evenly. Sprinkle dried basil over the sauce.

Sprinkle 4 ounces of the shredded mozzarella and 2 ounces of the grated Parmesan over the basil. Then evenly distribute the croutons over the cheese. Sprinkle the rest of the cheese over the croutons (4 more ounces of mozzarella and 2 more ounces of Parmesan).

Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through. (Optional: Serve with pasta)

Red Velvet Cheesecake Cookies

2011-12-20T17:54:00.001-05:00

Whoever came up with the idea of using cake mix to make cookies deserves mad props. Not only is cake mix much cheaper than buying pre-made cookie dough, but cookies made from cake mix stay soft and chewy for days, something that many of you probably already know, never happens with cookies from a tube. What's also great about making cookies from cake mix is that the possibilities are endless; you can experiment with different flavored mixes and add-ins, to cater to your taste.

I saw these cookies on Two Peas & Their Pod and I couldn't have gotten in the car any faster to go buy a box of red velvet cake mix. Of course, I would find it out of stock. Of course. This is red velvet we're talking about. America's latest obsession. An obsession that I honestly never understood until I tried one of these cookies, warm out of the oven, oozing with cream cheese filling.

Contrary to what I believed for a very long time, red velvet is not just chocolate cake with red food coloring. No, ladies and gentlemen, it's much more than that. Granted, I'm tasting the cookie version, I can still vouch for the decadence and comforting richness that keeps people coming back for more. I get it now. That said, these cookies are huge, so you'll probably want to stop at just one...if you're able to resist.

I stopped at one...and a half....and a quarter. Those extra three fourths of a cookie were totally for taste-testing purposes (I almost kept a straight face saying that). It was crucial that I eat them in order to provide all of you with an accurate description of how off the hook these cookies are, which is pretty off the hook. If it isn't their indulgent red velvet flavor that keeps you coming back for more, it's their spot on cream cheese filling that brings everything together in gastronomic harmony. Did I mention that they're crispy on the outside and moist and chewy on the inside? Perfection I tell you.

But the absolute best part about these cookies has nothing to do with their texture or taste. No, it's the fact that they are so incredibly easy to make, requiring only a few ingredients and minimal preparation.

So what are you waiting for?

Red Velvet Cheesecake Cookies
adapted from Two Peas & Their Pod

Ingredients:
For the cookies
1 box red velvet cake mix (I used Duncan Hines)
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 large eggs
1/2 cup canola oil
pinch of vanilla powder

For the cheesecake filling
4 oz cream cheese, at room temperature (I used 1/3 less fat cream cheese and only took it out 10 minutes beforehand)
2 cups powdered sugar
pinch of vanilla powder

For the white chocolate drizzle
1 1/2 cups white chocolate chips, melted (If you don't have white chocolate chips, or if you have an issue with melting them, you can simply drizzle some melted vanilla frosting, it's just as delicious)

Directions:
For the cookies
In a large bowl, combine the cake mix and flour. Whisk together until clumps disappear. In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the cake mix with the flour, eggs, oil and vanilla and mix until smooth. The dough will be oily. Wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least two hours.

For the cheesecake filling
Using a hand mixer, combine cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla. Mix until smooth. Using a teaspoon, scoop out balls of cheesecake filling and place on a plate. Continue scooping out cheesecake filling into teaspoon balls until you have 10. Place plate in the freezer and freeze for at least two hours. (I started off making teaspoon balls and realized halfway that I was going to have a lot of filling left over, so I made my balls bigger. If you do this, make sure to use enough dough to completely cover the balls of filling so it doesn't leak out. You can also just make more than 10 teaspoon balls, and consequently, make smaller cookies to use up all of the balls.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly spray a large baking sheet with cooking spray, or line it with parchment paper or silicone baking mat.

To assemble the cookies, take about 1/4 cup of red velvet cookie dough and flatten in your hands. Place a ball of cheesecake filling in the center and wrap the cookie dough around the filling. (If the dough starts to crack when you're wrapping it around the filling, don't freak out. If you just sort of cup the dough between both your palms, it will pull it back together). Gently roll into a ball and place on prepared baking sheet. Only bake 3 cookies at a time because the cookies are very large and will spread.

Bake cookies for 11-13 minutes or until they begin to crackle. Let them cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes, and then transfer to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

Melt the white chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl or over a double-boiler. Drizzle the white chocolate over the cooled cookies. Let the cookies set until the chocolate hardens. Serve and enjoy!

Chickpea Burgers with Tahini Sauce

2011-12-16T13:29:00.001-05:00

Is it falafel? No. Is it ta'miyyah? No. What is it? It's a chickpea burger. A burger very much like falafel, except tastier, healthier, and more flavorful. A burger that will have you writing off every other falafel you've ever had, even those from the best Middle-Eastern restaurants.

My mother doesn't personally make falafel. Most Algerians, if not all of them, don't. So when I asked her if I could make them, she insisted that I wasn't going to know how to fry them and that nobody in the house was going to want to eat them anyway. I gritted my teeth and reluctantly accepted. Then came along this recipe. A recipe that lo and behold, didn't involve any frying, and would in turn, give me the green light. (Kind of reminds me how God doesn't take something away from you without giving you something better.)

I didn't even think it was possible for falafel to taste good if they weren't fried. But I was so wrong. These burgers are the epitome of delicious--slightly crispy on the outside, tender on the inside, colored with fresh parsley, and infused with authentic Middle-Eastern flavors that will make your taste buds sing AND dance.

And to top it off, you have this phenomenal homemade tahini sauce that adds the perfect amount of tang and creaminess to your sandwich. Seriously, just altogether a wonderful balance of flavors and textures. My mom loved them so much, she asked me to make some for her to take to brunch at her friend's house the following day.

Perfect for vegans, perfect for health freaks, perfect as a snack, perfect as a main meal, perfect for me, and will be perfect for you. Try them. I promise it will be one of the best decisions you will ever make.

Chickpea Burgers with Tahini Sauce
taken from Fat Free Vegan Kitchen

Ingredients:
For the burgers
One 15-ounce can chickpeas (or 1 1/2 cups cooked), drained and rinsed
1 yellow onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
2 tablespoons tahini
1 1/2 to 2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup plain bread crumbs (I used about 3/4 cup)
4 buns or pita pockets (I used pita pockets because I made my burgers small)

For the tahini sauce
One 6-ounce container plain nondairy yogurt
1 to 2 tablespoon tahini
1/2 cucumber, peeled, seeded, and finely chopped
1 to 2 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon finely minced fresh parsley
Salt and pepper to taste (I used about 1/8 teaspoon of each)

Directions:
For the burgers
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Pulse the chickpeas in a food processor until thick and pasty. (You can add more water if they are too dry) Transfer to a medium-size bowl.

To the bowl, add the onion, garlic, parsley, tahini, cumin, coriander, salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper, lemon juice, and baking powder. Slowly add the bread crumbs until the mixture holds together. Add more bread crumbs, as needed. Shape into patties.

Place on a nonstick cookie sheet(or foil-lined baked sheet sprayed with non-stick cooking spray) and bake for 10–12 minutes, or until golden brown on the bottom. Using a spatula, flip each patty over, and cook for 10–12 minutes more until the other side is golden brown.

Remove from the oven. Alternatively, you may fry the patties with a little oil in a pan on the stovetop.
While the burgers are cooking, make the tahini sauce.

For the tahini sauce
In a small bowl combine the yogurt, tahini, cucumber, lemon juice, parsley, salt, and pepper to taste. Chill for at least 30 minutes, and serve with the chickpea burgers, along with your choice of condiments on a bun or in a pita pocket.

S'mores Cookies

2011-12-14T18:02:00.001-05:00

If I told you how many times I've gone camping, you wouldn't believe that I've only had s'mores once my whole life. It's true. One time. I guess that year, one of us had the bright idea to spend the night around the campfire making s'mores, instead of pretending to be bears and trying to scare the boys. We were never very successful with the latter. But the year we made s'mores, we were #winning. We joined forces with them and made a complete mess of ourselves and it was one of the best nights we ever had at that good old Spruce Run Recreation Area campground.

So by default, when I saw these s'mores cookies on Pinterest, I could only assume that in making them, I would once again be #winning. Let's face it, there are few things in life better than being able to enjoy the delicious ooey, gooey, chocolatey, marshmallowey goodness of a s'more without the fire, smoke-stenched clothes, or annoying bugs...daddy longlegs in particular.

As for the mini marshmallows, I had to willingly sacrifice those. I was really tempted to call the number on the back of their bag at the store to ask what kind of gelatin they used, but I went against it and continued to the pudding aisle to find the marshmallow creme. Marshmallow creme is just as awesome as any bag of mini, regular, or jumbo marshmallows. It's literally the best alternative out there, so don't worry about substituting it in recipes, because you won't be sacrificing any taste.

Yes, my cookies may not have had big globs of melted mini marshmallows, but they were still nothing short of amazing. I mean, look at them. A graham cracker base, topped with chocolate chip cookie dough mixed with gooey marshmallow creme, and then sprinkled with chopped Hershey's chocolate. I especially loved the hint of cinnamon in them, as well as the fact that the chocolate chip cookie part was slightly undercooked.

My youngest brother (aka my main food tester and critic) didn't like the addition of the graham cracker, and said he would have preferred the cookie alone. My oldest nephew, on the other hand, said he didn't like the actual cookie part and then proceeded to ask me if I had some graham crackers for him to eat. There were lots of other different opinions on the cookies, but I think my brother made a pretty valid point.

A s'more is a s'more, and a cookie is a cookie. If you're going to make a s'more cookie, you can't include an actual graham cracker because then it's basically just a s'more and not so much a cookie. A better representation of a s'more cookie is a cookie using graham cracker crumbs in the dough, like this one. Now that's a real s'more cookie.

Either way, my brother and I both happily devoured these cookies. Of course, it was temporary happiness on my part because after 3 cookies, I started regretting it and I told him to hide them from me or take some to his friends at school because I knew I wasn't going to be able to resist. They are addicting, in every sense of the word. Don't say I didn't warn you.

S'mores Cookies
adapted from The Girl Who Ate Everything

Ingredients:
11 Tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar, packed
½ cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
pinch of vanilla powder
2 ½ cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup marshmallow creme
2 extra large Hershey’s bars, broken into pieces
1-2 packages graham crackers, broken into squares

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line 11x17 baking pan(s) with aluminum foil.

Lay out graham crackers side by side on the pans as close as possible. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon to combine. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter with sugars until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix until combined. Add the flour mixture to the wet mixture and combine on low speed.

Fold in the chocolate chips and marshmallow creme. Chill dough in refrigerator for 1 hour to overnight.

Place tablespoons of dough on each graham cracker, about 1 – 1 ½ inches apart. Press down slightly with fingertips.

Bake for 5 minutes, then remove from oven to press Hershey’s bar pieces on to the top. You can place as many pieces or as little as you want depending how chocolatey you want the cookies to be.

Bake for 5 – 7 more minutes or until dough is beginning to turn golden brown at the edges.

Remove to a wire rack to cool. Make sure cookies are completely cool before you cut them, and make sure to use a sharp knife.

Algerian Couscous with Vegetables طعام بالمرقة

2011-12-10T13:52:00.001-05:00

If you're an Algerian girl, and you don't know how to make some variation of couscous...stop right there. What are you doing with your life? When are you planning to learn?! Couscous is crucial to your culture. I mean, you can basically just throw away any dreams you had of marrying an Algerian guy, because if making couscous isn't at the top of the skills section on your marriage resume, he's not giving it or you a second look. Yes, it's that serious. Don't worry though, I'm here to help you. Making couscous is easier than you think.

First off, let me just say that couscous in a box, you know the one that is ready in five minutes, yeah, don't ever use that. That is not acceptable. Real couscous, is not prepared in five minutes. Real couscous is moistened with cold water, set to rest, tossed with oil, steamed for about 15 minutes, tossed with water again, set to rest, tossed with oil again, and then thoroughly steamed one more time for about 10 more minutes. I know it sounds like a lot, but it's really simple and will result in the plumpest, fluffiest, and tenderest(is that a real word?) grains of couscous ever.

So, that's it. The hard part is over. The most important part of any couscous dish is getting the couscous part right. If you can do that, you're good. Now onto the sauce. The sauce is even easier to prepare than the couscous. Aside from the washing, peeling, and chopping of all the vegetables, you're basically just throwing everything in a pot and cooking it until it becomes edible. That's all there is to it. It'll take about two hours, after which you'll have a rich, mouthwatering sauce with the right amount of spice, filled with wholesome vegetables, to drench your couscous in. Perfect for a winter day, if you ask me.

Algeria has over 40 different provinces and each province has their own way of preparing couscous, using their own choice of vegetables and spices. This recipe belongs to my mother, who learned it from her mother, who was raised in the province of Médéa. And now the recipe has been passed on to me, and I'm passing it on to all of you.

Even if you're not Algerian, or planning to marry an Algerian, I still think this dish would make a wonderful addition to your recipe book, as well as your dinner table.

It's delicious, it's comforting, it's healthy, and it's peculiar name is guaranteed to spark some giggles. And who doesn't love giggles?

Algerian Couscous with Vegetables طعام بالمرقة
Culinary Couture original

Ingredients:
For the couscous
2 cups of medium-grained couscous
water
salt
vegetable oil
6 tablespoons of unsalted butter

For the sauce
3 tablespoons oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 plum tomato, halved
1 ¼ teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon black pepper
pinch of cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons paprika
1 tablespoon butter
¼ cup lentils
1/4 cup dried fava beans, soaked in water overnight
1/4 cup dried chickpeas, soaked in water overnight
4 small carrots, chopped into chunks
1/4 of a medium cabbage head, halved and separated into leaves
3 small potatoes, chopped into halves
1 stalk of celery, chopped into chunks
1 stalk of cardoon, chopped into chunks
1 medium sized turnip, halved
½ a medium zucchini, chopped into half moons

Directions:
For the couscous
Wash the couscous in cold water and drain immediately. Let it rest in a strainer for ten minutes. Fill the bottom of a couscoussier (or any other large pot that can be fitted with a steamer) with 4 cups of water and bring to a boil.

Meanwhile, spread the couscous in a large shallow pan and pour 1 tablespoon of oil over it. Using your fingertips, lift and rake the grains to separate them and break up any lumps that have formed.

IF the couscoussier’s seal is not tight: When the water boils, before putting the couscoussier top in place, dampen a paper towel and place it across the circumference of the rim of the bottom part of the couscoussier(as shown here). This is done to effectively seal the top and bottom parts of the couscoussier and to make sure that the steam goes right up through the couscous as opposed to through the sides.

Pour the couscous into the top part of couscoussier and steam for 15 minutes. When it’s done, spread it out into the large shallow pan again. Fill a small bowl with 1 ¼ cups of water and 1 teaspoon of salt; mix together. Gradually sprinkle the water over the couscous, while separating and stirring the grains gently with your hands. Set aside and let it rest for about 10 minutes.

Then add two more tablespoons of oil to the couscous, and again lift and stir the grains gently. Steam one last time, for about 10 minutes (or until you see steam coming up from the couscous).

Transfer couscous to a large serving bowl; add butter and toss together until butter melts.

For the sauce
In a large saucepan, add oil and sauté the chopped onion and halved tomato with the salt, spices, and butter for about 3-5 minutes. Cover with about 7 cups of water. Add lentils, fava beans, chickpeas, and all the vegetables except for the zucchini and cook on medium high heat for an hour. After an hour, add the zucchini and two more cups of water. Continue to cook on medium high heat for about 30 more minutes. Serve on top of couscous.

Carrot and Zucchini Bars with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

2011-12-08T16:02:00.001-05:00

Are you tired of your arms jiggling when you fist pump? Hate the way your arm waves back at you when you wave at your friends? Well, ladies and gents, I have a workout for you that will tone those arms in no time and have you wanting to wear sleeveless shirts in the winter. I call it, carrot shredding.

This is no joke. Carrot shredding is serious business. At about half a cup, I thought my biceps were going to fall off. And by the time I got to the one and a half cups this recipe called for, I wanted to smash the grater against the wall so hard. But those feelings of frustration soon subsided and I did a little flexing to check out my progress. My little muscle bump was looking super fly.

Unfortunately, an arm workout was all I got from these carrot and zucchini bars. I wouldn't have been so disappointed if they didn't smell so good when they were baking, but they did. And they made me believe that they were going to taste just as good, when in reality, they just taste like carrots...with a hint of ginger.

Even the lemon cream cheese frosting that I thought would make them taste better, didn't. It was like putting perfume on someone who hadn't showered. All the reviews spoke so highly of the frosting and how it was such a great complement to the bars' flavors, but I just found it to be really unnecessary and way too tangy.

If you're a fan of carrots, then you'll probably enjoy these more than I did. I give credit where credit is due, so I'll admit, they were very soft and moist.

But otherwise, ditch the carrot shredding, do this awesome arms workout, and find another way to get some more vegetables in your diet. Because this way really isn't all that.

Carrot and Zucchini Bars with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting
adapted from Real Mom Kitchen

Ingredients:
1 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp baking soda
2 eggs, slightly beaten
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
1/4 cup honey
pinch of vanilla powder
1 and 1/2 cups shredded carrot
1 cup shredded zucchini

Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting
1 (8 oz) pkg reduced fat cream cheese
1 cup powdered sugar
1 1/2 tsp lemon zest

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, ginger, and baking soda. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, brown sugar, oil, honey, and vanilla. Fold in the shredded carrots and zucchini.

Add the flour mixture to the wet mixture and stir just until combined. Spread batter into an ungreased 13x9x2-inch baking pan.

Bake for about 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool completely in pan on a wire rack.

Once the cake is cooled, prepare the frosting. In a medium mixing bowl, beat the frosting ingredients with an electric mixer on medium speed until fluffy.

Spread or pipe the frosting over the cooled bars. Makes 36 bars.

Cranberry Oat Banana Bread

2011-12-06T16:41:00.001-05:00

You know what I hate? I hate when people tell me to do things. Wait no, let me rephrase that. I hate when my mother tells me to do things. Not because I don't love her or wouldn't do anything to make her happy, but because I just don't like being told to do things. I do things when I want to do them; when I feel like doing them. That's just how I function.

And what's worse than being told to do things, is being told to do them over and over again. For some reason, my mother thinks that if I haven't gotten up to do the thing that she just asked me to do in that exact moment, then clearly, I haven't heard her. So she asks again. And again. And again.

I'm pretty lenient with most things. Like washing dishes, or doing the laundry, or just other chores around the house. But the one thing that I absolutely cannot tolerate is being told to cook or bake.

Baking is like art. You don't rush an artist, so you don't rush a baker. I admit, sometimes I'm annoying because I excitedly tell my mother about a recipe, and tell her that I'm going to make it the next day, and then I don't. (And that's usually when she gets annoying and starts bugging me to make it). But she doesn't understand that the reason I don't make it is not because I'm lazy or because I'm too preoccupied with Facebook or because the sun has already set and I can't get any good pictures. Although that is sometimes kind of the reason. But the bigger reason is because my heart just isn't in it. And I won't bake if I'm doing it just to throw it in the oven and get it over with. That's just not right.

I could have easily thrown this bread in the oven and got it over with yesterday, or the day before that, or the day before that. Or the day before that. It would have put an end to my mother's constant pleas and my developing headache. But I didn't. Instead, I waited until today, because today, I felt like baking. Ironically, after all that begging and bugging, my mom ended up not liking the bread. Compared to the pear cranberry bread I made last week, she thought this one was too dry and didn't have much flavor. I have to say I agree.

There was nothing to add to the flavor besides the bananas and the vanilla extract and those just weren't enough. I had a bit of a guilty conscience about the dryness because I kind of used a whisk to mix the flour into the batter instead of an electric mixer. The instructions didn't necessarily say to use the electric mixer, but I still couldn't help but think if it would have made a difference if I did.

But honestly, even if the bread had come out moist, it wouldn't have made me any fonder of the banana cranberry combination. Some things just don't work together. Cranberries and oats work. Cranberries and pears work. But banana bread should just stay banana bread.

Unless chocolate wants to get involved. Chocolate is always the exception.

Cranberry Oat Banana Bread
adapted from A Cozy Kitchen

Ingredients:
1 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus 1 tablespoon for dusting pan
1/4 cup rolled oats, plus a handful for topping
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup buttermilk
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
pinch of vanilla powder
2 large eggs
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated white sugar
1 cup mashed ripe bananas
1 and 1/8 cup dried cranberries (soaked in warm water, for 1/2 an hour)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325˚F. Lightly grease a 12 x 3 inch loaf pan and dust with a tablespoon of flour.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, rolled oats, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

Pour the buttermilk in a small bowl. To the buttermilk, add the vegetable oil and vanilla, and mix until combined.

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat eggs, light brown sugar and white sugar together until thick and pale, approximately 3-5 minutes. Mix in mashed bananas and buttermilk mixture. In two batches, add the flour mixture, mixing until just combined, making sure not to overmix. Fold in cranberries.

Pour batter into prepared loaf pan. Top with a handful of rolled oats. Bake for about 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Invert onto a wire rack to cool. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap to preserve freshness.

Pear Cranberry Bread

2011-12-01T14:29:00.001-05:00

Wow, it's December already? When did that happen? It feels like just yesterday I was turning my tassel to the left and having my last name pronounced incorrectly. I can't believe it's been 6 months. I thought time would pass by slowly without having any papers to write or tests to study for, but apparently that's not the case. Time will always fly (even faster than the supposed faster than the speed of light Verizon FIOS)

Signs of the holiday season are just about everywhere. Neighborhoods are being lit up with colorful, twinkling lights. Malls are packed to the gills. Christmas movies are playing back to back on what seems like every channel. And food bloggers will not stop talking about how excited they are for all the baking that is to come in the next few weeks.

I'm excited too. I may not be celebrating Christmas, Kwanzaa, or Hanukkah, but I think we all agree that the second best thing after baking is finding new recipes to bake. Okay, rewind. Can we just talk about how grammatically incorrect it is to say you are finding new recipes to bake? You can't actually bake a recipe. A recipe is a set of instructions. Unless you're mixing your set of instructions in with the batter, you aren't baking a recipe. You'd be amazed at how many otherwise intelligent people use that phrase. I, myself, being one of them, clearly.

Anyways, so back to finding new recipes...to try. While I won't be participating in any 12 days of cookies or anything of that sort, I will be frequently going online to gawk at all the delicious baked goods that my fellow food blogging friends will be posting, as well as bookmarking some of their recipes (so, impress me people! :-D). Now, this doesn't mean that baking is going to stop on my end. How could it? My family basically needs a steady flow of baked goods in the house to survive.

Enter pear cranberry bread. I've had a bag of dried cranberries lying around the house for 10 months now. The last, first, and only time I used them was for these oatmeal-cranberry white chocolate chip cookies. I know what you're thinking, and, no, they're not expired. But my mom was getting annoyed with seeing them around all the time, looking so useless, so she asked me to make something with them. That's really just her way to get me to bake something period, because her and my dad need something to take with their coffee.

For something with a boring name like bread, this loaf of fruity goodness didn't have anything dull about it. It was super moist and bursting with flavor. I couldn't really taste the pears, but every now and then, my teeth would sink into a cranberry and it would explode with it's tartness, perfectly complementing the sweetness of the bread.

Outta the way banana bread, there's a new boss in town.

Pear Cranberry Bread
adapted from Shutterbean

Ingredients:
1 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 large egg
1/2 cup vegetable oil
pinch of vanilla powder
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 cups grated, peeled ripe pears, with juice (about 2 pears)
3/4 cup dried cranberries (soaked in warm water for 1/2 hour)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F.

Grease a 12x3 inch loaf pan. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together egg, oil, vanilla, lemon zest, lemon juice and grated pears. Add the flour mixture to the wet mixture and fold ingredients together; just before they're fully combined, add the cranberries and gently fold until all the dry ingredients are moistened.

Pour batter into prepared loaf pan and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 50-55 minutes.

Let cool in the pan on a rack for 5-10 minutes before unmolding to cool completely on a rack.

Dutch Apple Mini Pies

2011-11-26T15:19:00.001-05:00

My dad won't stop buying apples. And not even the cool kind. No iPhones, iPods, iPads, or Macbooks. Nope, none of that. Instead, he's spending his hard-earned money on McIntoshes, Granny Smiths, Galas, and Golden Delicious..es. And you'd think I wouldn't mind because of my unnatural love for apples. But too much of something is never a good thing. In fact, too much of something can make you sick of that thing.

Fortunately, I haven't reached that point yet. I still have at least one unpeeled, nutrient-packed apple a day to keep the doctor away. When I'm not eating my apple raw, I'm enjoying it in a savory dessert like this one. Or this one. Or this one. Or this one. Or this one. Or this one. Wow, I didn't even realize that I had that many apple desserts on here.

No matter how many apple desserts I make, I will never love anything more than good old fashioned apple pie. Why? Because there is nothing better. Nothing. And if you believe that there is, then please, by all means, enlighten me on what it is. I challenge you to that actually. Find me something that tastes better than two buttery, flaky crusts encasing soft, tender apples coated in a sweet and gooey filling. Take your time. I'll wait. Meanwhile, I'll just talk about these adorable snack-size Dutch apple pies I made this week.

They're actually supposed to be made in a mini muffin pan, which would make them bite-size. But I didn't realize this until I was pressing the individual crusts into my standard muffin pan and I thought to myself, wow, I'm running out of dough....this recipe is supposed to make 24? So I went back and read the directions and I don't even know how I missed it the first three times I read it over before I started baking because it clearly said 24-cup mini muffin pan. Nonetheless, I was still able to make 16 of these sweet little treats.

For those of you who have never used cream cheese in your pie dough, you are missing out. Tried and tested, it really does make your dough much more pliable and easier to manipulate...and you're definitely going to want a dough that is easy to manipulate because fitting the dough into the muffin cups is no piece of cake. It took a couple of attempts before I finally ~~asked my mom for help~~ realized that the best route to take was to flatten the balls of dough into small disks first and then press them into the cups.

Post baking, the wonders of cream cheese showed as well. The pie crusts were noticeably softer and tender and they browned more when baking, giving them a beautiful, rich golden color. Together with their signature Dutch streusel toppings and smidgens of apple filling, these pies were absolutely scrumptious. And if you're worried that my opinion might be biased, I'll have you know that they were a hit at the dinner party I brought them to. So, it's really not just me!

They're super high on the cuteness scale, low on effort, and perfectly portioned to satisfy your pie craving. It really doesn't get any better than that.

Dutch Apple Mini Pies
from Some the Wiser

Ingredients:
For the crust
1 and 1/3 cups flour
1/2 cup butter, cut into chunks
3 oz. cream cheese, cut into chunks
1 large egg yolk

For the filling
3 to 4 medium apples (Golden Delicious)
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons flour
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

For the topping
1/4 cup flour
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

In a food processor, combine the flour, butter, and cream cheese. Pulse until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add egg yolk and pulse until dough comes together.

Pull off a heaping tablespoon of dough and flatten it into a disk Press the disc of dough onto the bottom and up the sides of a muffin cup. Repeat for all the cups (about 16). Put the prepared muffin cups in the fridge while preparing filling and topping.

Peel, core, and thinly slice apples. In a small bowl, combine the apples, sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg and lemon juice. Toss to coat the apples well. Set aside.

Mix together all topping ingredients until you form pea-sized pieces.

Fill the prepared muffin cups with apple mixture. Sprinkle topping evenly over apples. Bake for 18 minutes or until crust is golden. Cool on wire rack for about 5 minutes before removing them from the muffin pan.

Sweet Potato Cupcakes

2011-11-23T19:16:00.001-05:00

Potatoes in cupcakes? YES. YES. YES. AND YES. It cannot be emphasized enough. Potatoes in cupcakes is the best decision you will ever make. Just make sure they're sweet potatoes. Yams. Kumara. Batata hlouwa. Whatever you call em. Make sure they're orange-fleshed with a kind of maroon peel. And make sure that you load up on them when you see them on sale because you're going to want to make these cupcakes a lot more times after you try them.

For the past week or so, the web has been blowing up with sweet potato recipes...which is expected since Thanksgiving is like, tomorrow. But isn't it kind of sad that sweet potatoes only get one day out of a whole year to feel special? Nobody pays them any attention any other day. I kinda feel bad for them. That doesn't make me weird at all.

But anyways, yeah, sweet potato recipes blowing up the web. I guess everyone tried to be more creative this year because instead of the traditional sweet potato pie, I saw a whole bunch of recipes for sweet potato cupcakes. And you know me, I had to get in on the action. Plus, I bought the cutest baking cups the other day at A&P and this was the perfect opportunity to use them.

Because vegetables in dessert is not healthy enough, I looked for a recipe that called for oil instead of butter. Difficult, but fortunately, not impossible. It was also really hard finding a recipe that used real sweet potatoes and not canned sweet potato puree. Come on people! I know canned stuff makes life easy, and everyone wants to simplify things and cut down on baking time, but think about all the chemicals and preservatives! Blekhhh!

Take the time to boil and mash your potatoes. It's totally worth it and so much better for you. Okay, I'll stop being an organic guru. I honestly couldn't even really tell you what specific chemicals or preservatives are bad for you. But I could tell you how amazing these cupcakes are---and that is, pretty darn amazing. They're moist, and dense, and explode in your mouth with the heart-warming flavor of sweet potato pie. You will not stop after just one.

You wanna know how you know something is going to taste good? When you can't stop smelling the batter. My nose was alllll up in the mixing bowl. Don't worry, no actual contact was made. Though I probably wouldn't admit if it did. Muahahaha. Just kidding. A lot of bloggers topped their sweet potato cupcakes with some kind of frosting, but they're honestly delicious enough(and more nutritious) on their own. It's probably too late to tell you all that these would be perfect for your Thanksgiving dessert table, but... here's a thought! How about we give sweet potatoes another day to feel special...like say, the day after Thanksgiving! Or I guess maybe the day after that since you're probably all still in a food coma. Sounds like a plan, Stan.

Sweet Potato Cupcakes
adapted from Yammie's Noshery

Ingredients:
20 oz. sweet potatoes, boiled and mashed
1/2 cup olive oil
2 eggs
pinch of vanilla powder
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ginger

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375º. Line cupcake tins with baking cups.

Whisk together the mashed potatoes, olive oil, eggs, vanilla, and brown sugar until well blended.

In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger. Add to the sweet potato mixture and whisk until combined.

Fill the cupcake tins about 3/4 full. Bake for about 12-15 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Banana Split Cheesecake

2011-11-17T18:29:00.000-05:00

Last week, daylight savings time ended which means that me and 6,999,999 other people were forced to set our clocks back. (Or is it 6,999,999 people and I?) For most of us, this meant one more much needed hour of sleep. But for food bloggers like me, it meant one less hour to take pictures of food....which in turn, means waking up earlier to get things done sooner....which basically defeats the whole idea of getting more sleep. Funny how life works.

I'm still getting used to the whole waking up early thing. And it doesn't help when something takes an hour to prepare, an hour to bake, and three hours to cool. Like this cheesecake. I realized that I wasn't going to have enough time to take pictures of it when the clock struck 1pm and I hadn't even put it in the oven yet. So I told everyone in the house that they weren't allowed to touch the cheesecake until tomorrow, after it was cut and photographed.

Well, tomorrow is today and after a much anticipated wait, I finally got to taste this beautiful cheesecake. But before we get into that, let's just talk about how amazing this springform pan is. Yes, you heard right-- springform pan. Little miss me is upgrading her baking equipment...and it only cost me a dollar to do it! Don't you just love garage sales?

If it hadn't been for my mom nudging me in my side the whole time and telling me to get it, I probably wouldn't have gotten it. Thank god for persistent moms because using the springform pan made my cheesecake come out looking so legit, like cheesecake in the bakery window legit.

Look ma, no cracks. Just a really fancy chocolate marble design--all credits go to my handy dandy toothpick and obsession with drawing swirls. As for the creamy and indulgent flavor of this cheesecake, well only pastry chef Alisa Huntsman of Loveless Cafe could be responsible for such awesomeness. This recipe is from her book, Desserts from the Famous Loveless Cafe. She combines all the elements of a traditional banana split into a rich cheesecake that will have you floating on cloud nine.

If you can't see the bottom crust of the cheesecake, your eyes are not playing tricks on you. I kind of sort of didn't get the spatula completely underneath the slice before I lifted it up. But honestly, the crust was kind of crumbly in its own, like a bit too crumbly. I've made my own graham cracker crust before, and it stuck together way better than this one did. I think the problem with this one was that it needed more butter. Or maybe using granulated sugar instead of brown sugar makes a difference? Who knows. At the end of the day, this cheesecake is still fabulous and is perfect for satisfying your banana split craving in 40 degree, non-ice cream weather.

P.S. I'm totally guilty for ditching the strawberry sauce that the recipe calls for. I know, I know, it's a crucial part of a banana split, but I only like my strawberries one way, and that is fresh off the vine :)

Banana Split Cheesecake
adapted from Love & Olive Oil

Ingredients:
For the crust
1 and 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
3 tablespoons sugar
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

For the cheesecake
1 pound cream cheese, softened
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup mashed ripe banana
1/4 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
4 eggs
1 ounce unsweetened chocolate, melted OR 3 tablespoons cocoa powder + 1 tablespoon melted butter

For the strawberry sauce
2 cups fresh strawberries
3 tablespoons sugar

Directions:
Preheat oven to 300ºF. Butter a 10-inch springform pan.

In a small bowl, whisk together the graham crackercrumbs and 3 tablespoons of sugar. Stir in the melted butter with a fork until all crumbs are moistened. Gently press the crumb mixture into the bottom and halfway up the sides of the prepared pan.

To make the filling, place the cream cheese, 2/3 cup sugar, banana, sour cream, and flour in a food processor; pulse to form a smooth paste. Add the eggs, one at a time, pulsing briefly after each addition until fully incorporated.

Measure out 1 and 1/4 cups of the filling and set aside. Pour the remaining filling into the crust. Return 1 cup of the reserved filling to the food processor. Add melted chocolate and pulse to combine, scraping the sides of the bowl to make sure the batter is evenly mixed.

Drizzle the chocolate filling in an abstract pattern over the top of the plain filling in the pan. Drizzle the remaining 1/4 cup reserved filling over the chocolate and use a toothpick to swirl them into a marbled pattern; do not overmix.

Bake in the center of the oven for 45 minutes. Then turn off the heat, and let the cheesecake stand for 15 minutes without opening the door. Remove from oven and let stand in the pan on a wire rack until cooled to room temperature. Loosen the cake from the edge of the pan by running the tip of a knife or narrow spatula between the top edge of the cake and the side of the pan. Cover and refrigerate for at least 3 hours or overnight, to allow it to set completely.

To remove the cake from the pan, gently loosen the entire side of the cheesecake from the pan with the top of a knife while slowly releasing the springform pan clamp. Carefully remove the side of the pan.

To make the strawberry sauce, place the strawberries and 3 tablespoons sugar in a blender or food processor and puree until smooth.

To cut, use a large chef's knife dipped in hot water and wiped clean between the cuts. Serve with a drizzle of strawberry sauce or a garnish of whipped cream and chopped walnuts, if desired.

Caramel Apple Upside Down Cake

2011-11-12T15:37:00.001-05:00

Alright, who jinxed me? Seriously. Everything I've made over the course of the past several weeks has gone wrong in one way or another. First my failure apple cake, then my broken fruit tart, and now this. My half burnt caramel apple upside down cake.

I was doing so good. I melted the butter, let the foam subside like the recipe said to, and then carefully measured out the brown sugar and added it to the skillet. Things were dandy, until I noticed that some of the sugar towards the middle of the skillet started getting darker and bubbling. Of course, I thought this was normal because after all, it was a caramel apple upside down cake, and caramel is made by boiling sugar and stuff...I think.

Well anyways, it started smelling not so good so I decided it'd be a good idea to remove it from the heat....the heat that was not on low by the way. Because I, for some reason, don't know how to follow directions--when the recipe says turn the heat to low, you should probably turn the heat to low. To be honest though, I really don't get my stove. If I had turned the stove switch to where it's actually marked "Lo", then the stove would have practically been off. That's how low my stove gets...which I guess would have been fine because I'd rather have had the brown sugar barely cook than overcook. You know, to spare me the embarassment here.

Now even though some of the sugar did get dark and bubbly, smell kinda funky, and look completely ugly when I inverted the cake, it didn't taste half bad. There were some parts that were super bitter (the parts where the sugar was really burnt), but I carefully removed them with a spoon and the cake looked good as new. As if the sugar incident hadn't even happened. You know, I could have started over once I realized that the sugar didn't look like what it was supposed to. It's not like I was too far into it. But as you all know, denial ain't just a river in Egypt. I kept telling myself it would be fine and that it was supposed to be caramely and yada yada yada. What can I say, I have a hard time accepting failure.

But it turns out it wasn't really a failure. As I mentioned earlier, it was only half of the cake that was affected by the burnt sugar. And the actual cake part itself is separate from the sugar, so the bitter sugar flavor didn't mix into it or anything like that. With the burnt sugar parts removed, I was left with a fluffy, tender cake topped with soft and lightly caramelized apples. And if that wasn't delicious enough on its own, I added a spoonful of cinnamon whipped cream topping to completely blow my ~~mind~~ tastebuds away.

If you've ever had a slice of pineapple upside-down cake, then you have a pretty good idea of what this cake tastes like. Just replace the pineapples with apples and multiply the foodgasm by ten. Aside from how tasty it is, I love this cake for two reasons in particular. One, because it's special enough for company but quick enough just for the family. And two, because it's different. I cannot tell you how happy I am to finally find a dessert involving apples that isn't a tart, pie, or muffin. Because that's all I've been seeing over foodgawker for the past three months. Finally, someone found a different way to enjoy an apple. And enjoy it you will.

Caramel Apple Upside-Down Cake
from The Hazel Bloom

Ingredients:
For the cake
1/4 cup(1/2 stick) unsalted butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 and 1/2 medium apples, peeled, cored, and sliced

2 eggs
2 tablespoons buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, softened
6 tablespoons buttermilk

For the cinnamon whipped cream
1 cup heavy whipping cream
3 tablespoons powdered sugar
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In an 8″ or 10″ cast iron skillet over medium heat, melt 1/4 cup butter. Simmer until the foam begins to subside.

Turn the heat to low, and then add the brown sugar and give it a little stir. Keeping the heat on low, let the brown sugar and butter sit without stirring for about 3 minutes.

Lay the apples in the pan in a circular pattern. Continue cooking on low for 2 more minutes, then remove from heat.

In a small bowl, whisk together the 2 eggs, 2 tablespoons of the buttermilk, and the vanilla.

In a large bowl or in the bowl of your stand mixer, mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add 6 tablespoons butter and 6 tablespoons of the buttermilk. Beat on low speed until the ingredients are incorporated, then switch to medium speed (high speed if using a hand mixer) and beat for 1 and a 1/2 minutes.

Add 1/3 of the egg mixture, and beat for 20 seconds. Add another 1/3 of the egg mixture, beating for another 20 seconds. Add the last of the egg, and beat for 20 seconds.

Pour the batter over the apples in the pan, and spread gently to cover the apples evenly. Bake for about 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.

Let cool for 5 minutes, then gently use a butter knife to go around the sides of the cake. Place your cake plate upside down over the cake in the skillet, then smoothly and quickly turn the cake over. Gently lift up the skillet; the cake should come out fairly easily.

In a medium bowl using a hand mixer with whip attachment or in the bowl of your stand mixer with a whip attachment, whip together the whipped cream, cinnamon, powdered sugar, and vanilla until peaks form. It should take about a minute.

Slice cake into wedges, and top with cinnamon whipped cream.

Grilled Cheese Roll-Ups

2011-11-10T15:55:00.001-05:00

Let's bring it back. Back to when life was simple and the biggest decision I had to make was which crayon I was going to color with. Back to when Arthur was the coolest show on television. Back to when people had social skills. Back to the basics. Let's bring it back...back to grilled cheese sandwiches.

My mom actually never made grilled cheese sandwiches for us growing up. Her signature sliced bread meal is and always has been French toast. We were still fans of cheese sandwiches using sliced bread though; we just weren't familiar with the grilled version of them. I remember it like it was yesterday; before making my sandwich, I would always smush my sliced bread till it was super thin. I liked it better that way. I'm not sure why, but there was always something better about it when it was chewy and doughy, rather than when it was fluffy and airy.

When I saw the idea of grilled cheese rolls on Carolyn's blog, I was sold. The picture alone made my mouth water. While my family does not purchase sliced white bread anymore(cause you know, the whiter your bread, the sooner you're dead), we do have an avid supply of sliced whole wheat bread in the house. It took us a while to get used to it, but we did, and we haven't even thought about going back to white bread since. Whole wheat is so much more nutritious and filling, and nobody's paying me to say that, I promise.

Do you see this beauty? A slice of melted, gooey, yellow American cheese enveloped in a slice of crispy whole wheat bread. While I wasn't very fond of the fact that the pan had to be buttered to cook these(apparently that's normal for all grilled cheese sandwiches but this is news to me), I still loved every bite and licked every bit of melted cheese off my fingers. These are definitely the ultimate comfort food for a chilly Fall afternoon.

Grilled Cheese Roll-Ups
Ingredients:
2 slices of yellow American Cheese
2 slices of whole-wheat bread

Directions:
Cut the crusts off your bread. Using a rolling pin, flatten out the crustless bread squares and top each of them with a slice of cheese.

Roll the squares up into a log and place them seam-side down in a pan with melted butter. Cook on medium heat for about 3-5 minutes. Flip them around in the pan to crisp all the sides.

Almond Fruit Tart

2011-11-07T13:03:00.003-05:00

Don't laugh. It took a lot of guts to post these pictures. But I did. Through my tears and my sniffles, I did. Alright, I didn't really cry but I was totally upset that my supposed to be perfect almond fruit tart got destroyed. And I had nobody to blame but myself. Every baker (if I may call myself that) has their failures; this is definitely one of my finest.

I'm not a total fail at making fruit tarts. I've made them before and to say they turned out amazing would be an understatement. But this time around, I was making one big fruit tart, and I was making it using a pan with a non-removable bottom. Okay, so maybe I was asking for it by doing something as unintelligent as that. But I really really thought that I could invert the tart and revert it without any difficulties. I was wrong....but I was right about the inverting part! That part was super simple.

However, in reverting the tart, I ended up crushing the sides mid-air. I was devastated. And then I actually blamed it on my mom because the plate she had given me to invert the tart on had raised edges, which inevitably crushed the sides. I told myself that if the plate had been flat, this wouldn't have happened. Until I realized that the plate that my mom had given me didn't have any raised edges at all. It was the plate that I had personally picked out to revert the tart on that did. It was all my own doing.

Now, if the tart had tasted good, it wouldn't have been that big of a deal that the sides were crushed. But, unfortunately, it was lacking in the taste department too. I wouldn't go as far to say that it tasted bad, but it was just too dry. There was barely any contrast between the filling and the crust. I noticed this before I even put it into the oven; the filling was thick and not runny like it had looked like in the step by step photo recipe. The only step I didn't follow to a T was carefully measuring out the cream cheese, so I figured that was the problem. But either way, I had hoped that by some miracle, the filling would sort of just melt in the oven and become runny and become fabulous. Dream big!

All in all, this was definitely a learning experience. I learned that I need to stop being stubborn and just purchase a removable bottom tart pan. I learned that I'm not boss enough to look at an ingredient and decide that it's approximately what I need; it needs to be measured out. And most importantly, I learned that the Algerian in me refused to let this dessert come out properly because it wasn't an Algerian sweet. Because if it had been an Algerian sweet, it would have been bangin' cause everyone knows nobody can handle an almond like an Algerian can. Real talk.

Almond Fruit Tart
adapted from The Candid Appetite

Ingredients:
For the crust
1 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup almonds, ground
1/8 tsp salt
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup sugar
1 large egg, beaten

For the filling
2 large egg yolks
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/4 cup granulated sugar
pinch of vanilla powder
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup almonds, ground
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup cream cheese, softened

Assorted berries and kiwi, for decoration

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Butter your tart pan.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, ground almonds, and salt. Place the butter in the bowl of your electric mixer and beat until softened. Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Gradually add the beaten egg, beating just until incorporated. Add the flour mixture all at once and mix just until it forms a ball. Flatten the dough into a disk, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 30 minutes or just until firm.

In a bowl, whisk egg yolks, cornstarch and 2 tablespoons of sugar until thick and pale. Set aside. In a small saucepan, stir in milk, vanilla and the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar, and bring to a boil. Add hot milk in a slow, steady stream to the bowl with the yolk mixture, rapidly whisking until combined. When it's combined, return to the pan, and whisk over medium heat until thickened and bubbly. It should take about 2 minutes.

Place thickened milk mixture in a mixing bowl. Beat in ground almonds and flour first. Then add cream cheese and beat until everything is well combined.

Take the chilled dough and gently press it over the bottom and up the sides of your tart pan using your hands. Try to make it as even as possible. Spread the filling into tart crust.

Bake for 15-25 minutes, until golden brown and set. Let cool completely in pan on a rack before you unmold. Top with your choice of fresh fruits.

Eid-ul-Adha 2011 Sweets

2011-11-06T20:12:00.001-05:00

*Insert typical Eid greeting here*

Did I mention I can't stand mass Eid greetings? I can't stand mass anything. If you send me a mass text, Facebook wall post, or email, wishing me a Happy Ramadan, Eid, or Friday, you best believe you will not be getting a response. If you can't take the time to at least insert my name just so it doesn't completely look like something you sent to half of the country, then I don't think I can take the time to write back.

Also, can someone please tell me when everyone decided to get unlimited text messaging? Because here's the thing. If you have unlimited text messaging, that's awesome. More power to ya. Text away. But if you send me a mass text message that has ten parts to it and I don't have unlimited text messaging, we're going to have a problem. A problem that will be solved by you paying for any extra charges on my cell phone bill.

Okay, happy thoughts, happy thoughts. Today was Eid. Yay. I had a decent amount of fun. I saw my friends. And I ate candy. And I ate Algerian sweets. All day long.

It's not Eid until you feel sick to your stomach from replacing breakfast, lunch, and dinner with baklawa, maqrout-el-louz, and linzer cookies. Actually, watching your mom clean a sheep can make you pretty sick to your stomach too. Blekh. I've chosen not to post those pictures for your sake. Hope everyone had a good one! :)

Vanilla Cupcakes

2011-11-04T12:16:00.001-04:00

Have you ever loved somebody so much that it felt like your heart was going to burst because it couldn't handle all the love that was in it? So much that all they have to do is smile and your world is a better place? So much that even when they drive you crazy and make you want to pull your hair out, you still miss them every second they're away? I have. I met him seven years ago. He is my first born nephew.

If you're an aunt, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Nieces and nephews are the most adorable beings to ever grace the universe with their presence. I remember when we first brought my nephew home from the hospital. He only took up 1/4 of the car seat. The moment I laid eyes on him, I was smitten. Nowadays, he's so tall (mashAllah), and quite annoying (I say that with love), but when he called me the other night and asked me to make him exactly 14 cupcakes for his school Eid party, I more than happily obliged. The simple fact that he came to me when he needed something done in the baking department pretty much won me over.

For a 7 year old, he's pretty darn food smart. I'm talking, won't refuse to eat cereal at my house if it has high-fructose corn syrup food smart. So instead of using boxed cake mix like I usually do, I opted to make him vanilla cupcakes from scratch. This was the only recipe I found out of about 50 that didn't call for butter. The weird part though, was that it called for vinegar. I'd never seen that before in a recipe and I'm still not sure what role the vinegar played, but the cupcakes came out so moist that even I couldn't believe that I had just made them from scratch.

They were fluffy and airy, and had just the right amount of sweetness. You could even pass on the frosting because of how delicious they were on their own. But the cake decorator in me just couldn't pass up an opportunity to decorate a baked good. What I failed to realize was that cupcakes take twice as long to decorate. Plus, there's less space to work with so unless you're going to pipe a simple swirl, everything else is just complicated. Like attempting to write Arabic calligraphy. Complicated.

I don't know if him and his classmates actually took the time to read what was written on the cupcakes. But for my non-Arabic readers out there, I wrote "Hajj Mabroor", which is a greeting for Muslims returning from Hajj. It basically wishes them an accepted Hajj. I thought it would be fitting since the kids would be having the cupcakes after their Mock Hajj at school.

Word on the street is that his teacher said they were really yummy; no news about the kids themselves, but I like to think they were so busy stuffing their mouths, that they didn't really get a chance to tell this person who spreads the word on the street how awesome the cupcakes were. It's a shame though, because I would have loved to hear from them. After all, you can always count on kids to give you an honest opinion.

Vanilla Cupcakes
adapted from We Choose Organic

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
pinch of vanilla powder
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon vinegar

Directions:
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and prepare your cupcake pan with cupcake liners.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl and set aside. Add the 1/2 teaspoon vinegar to the milk and set aside.

In another bowl, add the 2 eggs and mix with a handmixer. Add sugar and continue to mix for a minute. Add vanilla powder and vegetable oil and mix.

Add half of the flour mixture and beat on low speed. Then add half of the milk mixture and continue to beat on low speed. Repeat until everything is well blended.

Pour the batter into your prepared cupcake pan, filling the liners until 2/3 full. Bake for about 12-15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Let the cupcakes cool for a couple of minutes before removing them from the pan to the wire rack to cool.

Potato Samosas

2011-11-02T23:25:00.000-04:00

Life is short. Do something crazy. Go on the Kingda Ka ride at Six Flags Great Adventure Theme Park. Better yet, jump out of a plane...with a parachute, of course. Stick half your body out of a car while it's being driven like Algerians do during wedding cortège-es. Delete your Facebook.*gasp* Leave your phone at home for a day. Dye your hair purple. Make samosas when you have no experience whatsoever in Indian cuisine...crossing that one off my bucket list as we speak.

Here's something you probably didn't know about me. I love spicy food; everything from jalapeno chips to just about every Indian dish that makes my eyes water and my nose run. The first time I tasted potato samosas, I was ~~on fire~~ in love. It was Ramadan and my brother had brought some back from our local Pakistani mosque, that supplied them daily for iftar. Unfortunately, Ramadan isn't a year long thing, but in spirit of fasting the nine days of Dhul-Hijjah this week, I decided to take things into my own hands and try to recreate those spicy and savory turnovers, with my grumbling stomach and limited amount of ingredients.

No garam masala? No problem. You can make your own at home...as long as you have all the ingredients for it. Which of course I didn't. But I only needed half a teaspoon of it so I mixed up what I had on hand and hoped for the best. The other required ingredients were all pretty basic--minus the fact that some of them had to be seeds and not powders. I just used my powdered versions, since I read online that if you grind the seeds, they'll usually amount to the same thing.

Using samosa pastry sheets, assembling the samosas was super easy, and eating them was twice as easy as that. I was really proud of myself, as they turned out way better than I thought they would. They weren't as hot as I expected them to be though, but I think that's because I used cayenne pepper powder instead of red chili powder. Plus, I slightly decreased the amount so my family would be able to handle it.

They were able to handle it alright. Every bite they took into the samosas' crispy exterior and soft delicious filling kept them wanting more. My mom could not stop raving about them. Something tells me these are going to become a staple in my household. And I don't think I mind.

Potato Samosas
adapted from Dishes from my Kitchen

Ingredients:
2 large potatoes (boiled, peeled, and mashed)
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
1/2 teaspoon garam masala powder (combo of cumin, coriander, black pepper, cinnamon, and nutmeg)
heaping 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper powder
1/2 teaspoon coriander powder
1/4 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 cup frozen green peas (steamed for 5 minutes)
salt to taste

1 tablespoon vegetable oil- for sautéing the mixture
1 pack of samosa pastry sheets

Directions:
Heat oil in a pan; add cumin and ginger. Saute for about a minute or two.
Add the mashed potato, green peas and all spices. Toss around until well blended.

Remove from heat and add lemon juice. Set aside to cool.

Follow the filo pastry assembling technique here.

Heat some oil in a pan for frying the samosas. Fry samosas on each side until golden brown. Transfer samosas to paper towels to drain oil.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Balls

2011-11-01T10:45:00.001-04:00

It's been 23 days without chocolate. That's 552 hours yo. I couldn't resist. I had to be fat. I had to use butter. I was having withdrawal symptoms. I owed it to myself anyway. I worked out today....for ten minutes. That's how long cardio workouts should be anyway. No need to overexert yourself. Short and sweet wins the....treat?

Do people actually eat cookie dough on purpose? Like, do they buy it to eat it raw? Because that's kinda weird. Not to mention, it's a recipe for disaster (see what I did there?); salmonella disaster to be precise. I definitely don't buy cookie dough to eat or bake, but I did bake these cookie dough balls from scratch and they were off the hook.

Most bloggers who tried these cookie dough balls seemed to have a problem with the amount of sugar but I didn't really seem to notice any prominent lack of sweetness. I didn't really seem to notice any problem with them at all for that matter. I baked my first batch at 12 minutes, but I liked the ones I baked at 10 minutes more. I'm a sucker for soft and gooey cookies, especially ones loaded with chocolate in every bite.

No, it doesn't make me a hypocrite that I like my cookies slightly underbaked. I am 99.9 percent sure that the egg has been cooked all the way through in all my batches; after all, cookies DO continue to bake on the cookie sheet after you take em out. But I do wanna try these cookies with flaxseed instead, just so the egg thing isn't an issue. Maybe I could even try substituting applesauce for the butter. Oh, the possibilities are endless. If only these cookies were too.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Balls
adapted from Lovin' From the Oven

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup brown sugar
3/4 stick butter, softened/room-temp
1 tbsp sugar
1 egg
pinch of vanilla powder
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda. In a medium bowl, cream together butters and sugar. Add egg and vanilla and mix till combined.

Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and using a spatula, incorporate ingredients until they form into a firm dough. Gently fold chocolate chips into the dough.

Refrigerate dough for 20 minutes Roll dough into balls and place evenly on a baking sheet. Bake for 10-14 minutes, depending on how soft you want them. Let them rest on the baking sheet for at least 5-10 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack.

Apple Cake

2011-10-29T21:10:00.000-04:00

Apples are my favorite fruit. Apple juice is my favorite beverage. Apple Cinnamon NutriGrain bars are the best thing that ever happened to me since sliced bread. Apple pie is basically one of my life essentials. This apple cake...not really on the top of any charts.

I saw the recipe online, knew that I had pounds of apples in my fridge, read that I didn't have to peel them for the recipe, and that pretty much just gave me the green light. Plus, I had been trying to find a non cake mix version of this, so I figured, why not give this cake a chance and see how it turns out?.... I need to stop giving cakes chances. Okay, maybe I'm being a little harsh. The cake wasn't THAT bad. But how do you expect me to feel when I invert the cake and it looks nothing like the picture I saw on the blog I got the recipe from?

The directions say to arrange some pecans on the bottom of the pan. I used walnuts. The directions also say to sprinkle those pecans, or in my case walnuts, with the cinnamon sugar mixture. I did that too. But when I inverted the cake, that cinnamon sugar mixture had gotten super duper hard during the baking process, so it stuck to the bundt pan. And the parts that didn't stick were just super duper hard. So in order to get to the inside of the cake, you had to pretty much cut through a layer of ice first.

I didn't really have a problem with the inside. Apples and cinnamon, you know, awesome pair of flavors, can't go wrong with that. The apples were soft and you couldn't even tell that they still had their peel. So I guess it's really just the top of the cake that ruined it for me. Actually, the cake could have been a bit moister than it was too. But other than that, it was edible. My dad really liked it. And the only negative thing my brother had to say about it was that he didn't like the walnuts. If I could change anything about this cake, it would definitely be the whole cinnamon sugar topping. Or... I could just not make it again. Yeah, I'm gonna go with the latter.

Apple Cake
adapted from Dishing The Divine

Ingredients
1 tbsp melted butter + 1 tbsp flour for greasing the pan
4 cups cored, unpeeled chopped apples
2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup olive oil
2 eggs
pinch of vanilla powder
1/2 cup walnuts for decoration.
1/4 cup sugar + 1/2 tsp cinnamon, mixed together

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350.

Grease a Bundt pan with the melted butter. Add a tablespoon of flour and swirl around in the pan. Dump out the excess.

Sift the flour, sugar, salt, cinnamon, and baking soda into a bowl. To flour mixture, add the apples, eggs, oil, vanilla. Mix until just combined. Sprinkle the walnuts in the bottom of the Bundt pan. Sprinkle evenly with the cinnamon sugar mixture. Pour batter into a greased Bundt pan.

Bake for 50 minutes. The cake is done when a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool before turning onto a wire rack. Let cool almost completely before serving.

Dust with powdered sugar and serve.

Cheesy Basil Stuffed Chicken Breasts

2011-10-29T15:00:00.003-04:00

My mom grows basil like it's nobody's business. You'd think we were selling it by the amount of pots of it we have in our backyard...and front yard. I'm not complaining though. It smells amazing. You don't even have to put your nose in it; just walk past and you get a big whiff of it's calming fragrance. Kinda just makes you wanna lie down and breathe it in. It's getting too cold outside to do that though. But what you can do when it's too cold outside, is enjoy a hot and hearty basilicious meal like this one.

Imagine this: succulent chicken stuffed with warm, gooey mozzarella cheese mixed with fresh basil and garlic, topped with crispy seasoned breadcrumbs, and surrounded by juicy tomatoes. Are you drooling yet? I was, before I dug in. And then after that, all I can remember is pure gastronomical utopia. Basil goes with just about everything, but with this chicken, it was absolutely superb. So much so that when I got my midnight munchies, I went straight for the leftovers.

Contrary to the technique used in the original recipe(cutting open a pocket in the breast), I simply pounded the chicken to thin it out and then rolled it around the filling. My favorite part was using the toothpick to seal it. I was literally looking forward to using the toothpick ever since I saw the recipe online. It's the little things in life. I'll never understand how toothpicks don't light on fire in the oven though.

I made rotini pasta with a garlic, olive oil, and basil sauce and served it on the side with the chicken. It was the perfect complement. So you know how I said that it was getting colder outside these days? Well, it just started snowing where I'm at. That's not good. Temperatures like that means all the fresh basil is going to be ruined and unusable. And everybody knows dried basil just isn't the same. But hey, let's look at the bright side. I was able to enjoy this mouthwatering chicken and even though this might have been my last time using fresh basil this year, we certainly ended on a very good note.

Cheesy Basil Stuffed Chicken Breasts
adapted from Let's Dish

Ingredients:
Filling
1 cup shredded mozzeralla cheese
2 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped
2 tablespoons heavy cream
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (divided into 9 portions)

Topping
3 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 cup Italian flavored breadcrumbs
1/2 teaspoon garlic, minced
2 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil

2 plum tomatoes, chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
about 1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

In a medium bowl, combine the shredded cheese, basil, cream, lemon juice, garlic, salt, and pepper. Pound the chicken breast portions to an even thickness and then fill with the cheese mixture. Roll the chicken tightly around the filling and secure with toothpicks. Transfer the stuffed breasts to 8x8 inch baking dish. Spread tops evenly with mayonnaise.

In a medium bowl, combine the bread crumbs, garlic, basil, and olive oil. Sprinkle crumb mixture over chicken, pressing lightly to adhere.

Toss tomatoes with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Arrange the tomatoes in the baking dish in and around the chicken. Bake until the crumbs are golden brown and the chicken is cooked through, about 25 minutes.

Baby Shower Open Book Cake

2011-10-24T17:29:00.001-04:00

High blood pressure. That's what this cake gave me. For the most part, when I decide to take on a cake, I'm pretty confident that I can do it. I don't really try to overachieve or do something out of my capacity. I have a good idea of what I can or cannot do. However, an hour into this cake and I was questioning what I had gotten myself into.

I seriously felt like I was headed for failure. I inverted the first cake too soon out of excitement and didn't level it because I didn't think it would be an issue. And then the second cake ended up magically leveling itself when it cooled, so I found myself staring at two different cakes, wondering which one should be on the bottom. After much contemplation and finally deciding which cake would be on bottom, I realized that the cake that I had just placed on top wasn't aligned with the cake on the bottom. Great. More cake, more problems.

But it gets better. I clearly had a tad bit too much confidence in my carving abilities. I started off trying to use this template I found online, but it just wasn't working out. I couldn't find any how-to videos online and most examples I saw had actually just used an open book pan. The only choice I had really was to dive in and wing it. Whatever happened happened. My mom kept telling me not to worry and that if I messed up, we would just keep the cake for ourselves and not take it to the baby shower. But I surely wasn't going to give up without a fight. Or give up at all, for that matter.

With the help of God, I managed to somewhat make it look like an open book. I definitely could have done a better job on the sides though. Oh, and did I mention that I spent 15 minutes deciding where the middle of the cake was, so each side would be even? Now that I think about it, I'm not even sure why it had to be even. It's an open book. You can open a book at any page and it will still look like an open book. Durr. I guess people just like to be fancy.

Cursive writing is also fancy. And unnecessary. Well, maybe professionals don't think that way but little miss amateur me chose to play it safe and write in print. I actually traced out the first word in cursive and then quickly changed my mind and frosted over it. Twas a good decision because I was very pleased with my print writing results. I sprinkled some edible glitter on the big letters, stuck on some non-edible baby blocks and pacifiers on the opposite "page", and called it a night. Or technically morning, since it was 2 am when I finished.

Everyone keeps suggesting that I turn this into a business, which is quite flattering since I don't think anybody would actually pay for something made by silly old self-taught me. Maybe I'll take them up on it someday, if I think I've reached that cake boss level. But for now, seeing the beaming smiles on the faces of the cake recipients is enough for me. Pay me in happiness. That's all I really need.

Apple Pie To Go

2011-10-20T13:48:00.000-04:00

This is like one of those As Seen on TV products. Is your piece of apple pie falling off your fork? Are you making a mess all over the place? Or maybe you're arriving to work late because you can't take your pie with you? Well, I have good news...now you can! Introducing, the one and only, apple pie to go!

I crack myself up. I think I could definitely make money off of these babies, except I'm not quite the person who invented them. I'm not really sure who invented them but I did see them on TheFauxMartha a couple of days ago, and they just called out to me. Apparently, they've been around the blogging world for some time now, but this is news to me.

Being familiar with bourek, which are made using kind of the same concept as hand pies, I figured these would be a cinch. But as it turns out, working with butter dough is a bit more complicated. Actually, I'm not even going to blame it on the dough. The dough was great, beautiful actually. The problem was that I rolled it out too thin. I should have looked at other examples of apple hand pies online beforehand because then I would have seen approximately how thick the dough should have been. Woops.

I think I slightly over baked the first group of pies, as you can tell from their very golden brown edges, but a little crispiness never hurt anybody. They were still as scrumptious as can be. Me and my family particularly liked their higher ratio of crust to filling, something we don't usually get with a slice of traditional pie. But I have to admit, although these were incredibly adorable and fun to make, they took forever. Rolling, sprinkling, brushing, and sealing 16 different times is no joke. In the future, I'll probably stick to simply rolling out two disks of crust and calling it a day. But if what you're looking for is a delicious, portable alternative to a slice of pie, then these are just the treat for you.

Apple Hand Pies

Ingredients:
For the crust
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1/4 cup cold water

For the filling
3 large apples
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon all-purpose flour, divided amongst pies, for sprinkling
1 tablespoon butter or margarine

(I had plenty of extra filling left over, so I would probably halve this recipe in the future)

Directions:
For crust
In a food processor, pulse together flour and salt a few times to combine.
Cut the butter up into small cubes; add it to the food processor and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse meal, with a few pea-sized pieces remaining. Add water, and pulse just until the dough comes together in a single mass. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 30 minutes.

For filling
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Peel, core, and dice apples and set aside in a large sized bowl. In another bowl, mix sugars, spices and 2 tbsp flour. Reserve 2-3 tbsp of mixture in a seperate bowl. Toss apples in mixture.

Assembling pies
On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough. Using a 4″ biscuit cutter, cut 16 circles out of the dough. Place the dough on a baking sheet. (Note: my circles of dough were on the thin side, so you might not get 16 circles if you roll the dough out properly)

Spoon a small amount of the apple mixture into the center of the dough (about one heaping tablespoon), leaving a 3/4″ clearing space around the edge. Sprinkle with some flour, and then with the reserved mixture. Dot with a piece of butter. Lightly paint egg wash around half of the circle. Fold dough over, pressing to seal. Use a fork to crimp the edges. Cut tiny slits in the top of the dough to allow for breathing while baking.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.

Nutella Crack Brownies

2011-10-17T13:52:00.000-04:00

Many months ago, I purchased my first jar of Nutella to make these really awesome pinwheel cookies. And then I pretty much set the jar aside and never used it again. Not because I don't like Nutella, because come on now, who doesn't like Nutella? And not because 2 tablespoons of Nutella are equivalent to 200 calories....okay, maybe a little because of that. Alright, a little more than a little.

I'm just not the cardio type. And if I stay far away from Nutella, I won't have to be. But when your mom decides to buy two more jars of Nutella because they're on sale, and now you have three jars of Nutella that are about to expire soon, you gotta do what you gotta do. It just so happened that I had a baby shower today, and I just so happen to like baking, so, you put two and two together and you get Nutella crack brownies.

Finding a Nutella recipe isn't hard because everyone and their mother literally has at least four to five Nutella recipes on their blog. I particularly wanted to find one that used the most Nutella and I found just that. And get this, it only required three ingredients! One of which was Nutella! The topping was made of some more Nutella mixed in with Rice Krispies, which of course, I had on hand because nobody really eats cereal in this house....makes me wonder why we still buy it.

While these brownies do not taste like crack (even though I promise I don't know what crack tastes like), they do taste exactly like Ferrero Rocher chocolates. Their delicious, crispy and crunchy hazelnut exterior paired with their moist and fudgy base is divine, to say the least. Even if you make them without their topping (which I did with my second batch because I ran out of Rice Krispies), they're still phenomenal.

I died a little on the inside when I had to hand these over to the lady in charge at the baby shower. We were together for only a few hours, but I felt like we had such an incredible bond. Maybe that's why they call them crack brownies? They got the addictive part down alright. It's a good thing I saved some of the edges for later. Muahahaha.

Nutella Crack Brownies
from Kirbie’s Cravings

Ingredients:
For the brownies
1 cup Nutella
2 large eggs
10 tablespoons all purpose flour

For the Nutella crunch
2 cups of rice krispies
1 1/2 cups Nutella

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Make the brownies. Place the Nutella and eggs in a medium bowl and whisk until smooth and well blended. Add the flour and whisk until blended.

Pour batter into a 9 x 9 baking pan lined with parchment paper.

Bake about 10-12 minutes until a knife inserted comes out almost clean with just a few crumbs clinging.

While the brownies are baking, make the crunch. First microwave the nutella in a glass bowl for about 30 seconds to one minute to make it easier to mix. Add in the cereal and mix thoroughly until cereal is covered with nutella.

Once brownies are out of the oven, spread the crunch evenly on top of the brownies.

Let brownies cool completely and set before serving.

Soft Apple Cinnamon Snickerdoodles

2011-10-13T19:45:00.001-04:00

Snickerdoodles. What an odd name. It would make sense if the cookies actually had any relation to snickers or doodles, but they don't. What's even odder is that the word snickerdoodle is used as as term of endearment. I could understand honeybun, but snickerdoodle? Eh, to each his own I guess.

I had/baked my first snickerdoodle in my Home Economics class in high-school. I distinctly remember them only allowing my classmates and I to have two cookies each. I mean, yeah, we only made enough for each of us to have two each, but what I don't understand is why they didn't just let us make bigger batches? See, I always think of things after.

Well, 5 years later, I'm not so worried about only being allowed two cookies each. Actually, my mom does have to resort to hiding the cookies from us sometimes. She claims that as soon as we see cookies in the house, we forget about eating actual food and instead eat cookies for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. (Yes, you can have cookies for breakfast. No Cookie Crisp, you're just not good enough)

She's wrong. I had these cookies for brunch, afternoon snack, and late night sweet. That's a completely different situation. And the fact that these cookies have apples in them makes it perfectly okay to eat them three times a day. Daily fruit intake, duh.

But don't worry, the apples weren't too overpowering. You still get the same great cinnamon-sugary taste of a snickerdoodle. And the cookies stay SO soft, like really really soft. Almost fluffy, in a way.

Anything apple-cinnamon is just awesome really. Even if it has a weird name.

Soft Apple Cinnamon Snickerdoodles

adapted from The Comfort of Cooking

Ingredients
8 Tbsp. (1 stick) unsalted butter
2/3 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup organic sugar
2 eggs
2 cup all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp. cornstarch
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. nutmeg
1 small apple, shredded (I used Golden Delicious)

Cinnamon-Sugar mixture
1/2 cup sugar
3 Tbsp. ground cinnamon

Directions
Preheat your oven to 350°F.

With a mixer, cream butter on medium-high speed until soft and smooth.

Add both sugars to the creamed butter and mix until fully incorporated. With the mixer on medium-high speed, add the egg to the mixture and beat until the batter looks uniform.

In a separate bowl, combine the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, salt and nutmeg. Gently fold into the batter until just combined. Fold in shredded apples.

Prepare a greased or parchment lined cookie sheet. Form balls of dough and roll them around in the cinnamon sugar mixture. Place the dough balls on the sheet, about 3 inches apart. Use your fingers to press and flatten the dough slightly.

Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until the cookies are light golden brown. They should be soft and chewy. Remove cookies from sheet and cool on a wire rack.

Good Morning Apple Cake

2011-10-09T17:02:00.002-04:00

Does the name sound familiar? Well, it should because this cake has been featured on my blog before. And if you follow me, you would know that! If you don't follow me, boooooooooooo.

Just kidding. I love everyone.

So although this cake has been featured on my blog before, I wasn't the one who made it. But today, I did make it. And it came out so good that I figured it deserved it's own post.

You really can't go wrong with apples and cinnamon. They're always a winning combination, whether they're in cookies, pies, breakfast cereals, or even Nutri-Grain bars (those are my favorite).

In addition to the delectable apple cinnamon combo, the brown sugar + cinnamon + oat streusel topping/filling gave this cake that extra wow factor. Baked to a fluffy perfection, it was just altogether sensational.

P.S. Don't let anybody tell you that you can't eat cake when it's warm. That is totally a myth.

Good Morning Apple Cake

adapted from Smart Cooking: The Costco Way

Ingredients:
1 18.25 ounce package yellow cake mix
3 large eggs
1 and 1/3 cups milk
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 medium-sized apples

Streusel Topping:
3/4 cup old fashioned oats
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup melted butter

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 13 by 9 inch baking pan.

To prepare the streusel topping, combine all ingredients in a medium bowl and mix well. Set aside.

Beat cake mix, eggs, milk, and cinnamon in a large mixer bowl until just moistened. Beat for 2 minutes at medium speed.

Core and slice apples; fold into the batter. Pour half of the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle with half of the streusel topping. Top with the remaining batter. Sprinkle with the remaining topping.

Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Makes 8-10 servings.

Molten Chocolate Suprise

2011-10-07T20:31:00.002-04:00

These days, everybody's stuffing something into something. Or mixing something together with something. Nobody even eats regular chocolate chip cookies anymore. I don't even know what regular chocolate chip cookies are. Do they still exist?

The food blogger world has been turned completely upside-down by these wild ideas that everybody keeps coming up with. Brownie stuffed chocolate chip cookies? Brownie covered oreos? Oreo and peanut butter brownie cakes? Brookies? Chocolate fudge peanut butter stuffed cookies? Snickers stuffed chocolate chip cookies? Oreo stuffed chocolate chip cookies?

Okay, so maybe I'm guilty of the last one. But I mean, it was my 100th blog post so, the celebration called for something extravagant. So what's my excuse this time?

Well, umm... I guess I'm celebrating Fall? Yes, I know I made a summer garden soup last week to celebrate...but...this is part two of my celebration! Yup. The dessert portion. Makes perfect sense.

It's nothing new that I'm obsessed with chocolate. Or that it's extremely hard for me not to make every single chocolate dessert I see online. I'm trying to cut back on the calories so I only pick out the realllly special ones. Like a molten chocolate lava cake with a chocolate chip cookie bottom (or top?).

I found the recipe after skimming through some of my old Kraft Food & Family magazines. It takes two words to catch my attention: molten and chocolate. Actually, who am I kidding? It really only takes the word chocolate. Then of course, there was that picture on the side, showcasing this delectable dessert.

Rarely do magazine recipes ever come out the way you want them to, but this one was all that and more. The combination of the soft chocolate chip cookie, the moist cake, and the molten lava sends a rush of gastronomical euphoria through your body. You won't want to stop. In fact, you won't stop unless you hide these very far away from you.

The fact that these are miniature might make you believe that it's okay to eat one after the other, you know, since small things have less calories right? Yeah, don't fall into that trap. But a real advantage of these being miniature is the fact that they are cute and contemporary, and you can wow your guests with them. Sprinkle some powdered sugar or add a glop of ice cream and your guests will be raving about them instantly.

The magazine says you could also try these with Oreo cookies...mmm just imagine? I will definitely try those out....you know, for a celebration or something.

So, how many more days till Winter?

Molten Chocolate Surprise

adapted from Kraft Food and Family

Ingredients:

1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/2 stick of butter (4 tablespoons)

1 egg

1 egg yolk

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1/6 cup flour

6 Keebler Chips Deluxe Original Chocolate Chip Cookies

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Microwave chocolate and butter in a large microwaveable bowl on HIGH 2 min, or until butter is melted. Stir with wire whisk until chocolate is completely melted and mixture is well blended. Beat whole egg, egg yolk, sugar, and flour with wire whisk until well blended. Gradually add to chocolate mixture, beating constantly until well blended.

Line 6 medium muffin cups with paper liners. Place 1 cookie, upside down, on bottom of each cup; cover evenly with batter.

Bake for 8 minutes or until cakes are firm around the edges but still soft in centers. Let stand for 1 minute. Carefully remove cakes from muffin pan. Invert onto dessert dishes; remove paper liners.

Makes 6 servings, 1 cake each.

Update: I had these for breakfast the following morning, without inverting. I just had to show you.

Baby Shower Carriage Cake...And Some Cupcakes!

2011-10-04T16:26:00.002-04:00

I literally jumped at the opportunity to make this cake. Before my mom could even tell me what the gender of the baby was, I was already online searching through hundreds of baby shower cakes. I've made a onesie cake before, but I wanted to try something different. I kind of hate making the same thing twice. Plus, I like to challenge myself.

This carriage cake immediately caught my eye. From afar it looked simple because there was no carving involved, but once I got to the decorating part, I realized why people get paid for this kind of stuff. I'm pretty sure I wasn't able to walk straight by the time I was done. But then again, I do have a history of back problems so that might have contributed to that.

In the end though, when I was finally done and I stood up on a chair and looked at my cake from an aerial view, the rewarding feeling was indescribable. Mind you, with my perfectionist self, that feeling lasted only a couple of minutes, because then I started pointing out the flaws. I can't help it. I do it all the time.

I guess it's a good thing that not everybody who saw this cake was standing on a chair. And that when you go to Arab baby showers, everyone thinks their dessert is more special than everyone else's, so they end up shoving their plates on the dessert table, and squishing the cake from all angles. Yeah, that's one way to make my crooked writing on the cake look less noticeable. You kind of miss that when half of the wheel is no longer frosted, and the handle no longer exists.

Sigh.

Well, enjoy the pre-disaster pictures :)

Baby Shower Carriage Cake

I used the extra batter to make some cupcakes...

and topped them with these little mini carriages.

Oh, and did I mention I filled them with icing?

Yum.

Summer Garden Soup

2011-10-02T19:10:00.000-04:00

Everyone's been welcoming Fall with soup and apples and pumpkins and all that good stuff, so I figured I would join the club. While some of you may think that I am late in greeting this windy season, I think I am just on time. Constant rain and thunderstorms and humidity is not Fall, people. But when you wake up early in the morning and it's 57 degrees outside...that is Fall. That is when you bring out the slippers and the hoodies. And you start cooking soups like this one.

By the time I finished cooking this soup, it was actually 63 degrees outside and very sunny, which kind of goes against my point here...but let's disregard that. It was still cool outside. And I saw a couple of leaves fall off the tree in my backyard.

This was my first time cooking a non-Algerian soup. Algerian soups are what I've known all my life. I've never had anything beside them. I've never even had chicken noodle soup. So I guess you could say I was a bit worried about how this one would come out and if my family would like it. But as it turns out, this soup tasted very similar to an Algerian soup that my family has all the time, known as bouyoun. The name bouyoun comes from the French word, bouillon, which means broth. And that's basically what bouyoun is; a vegetable broth.

In traditional Algerian bouyoun, my mom uses carrots, squash, celery, onions and potatoes. She boils them in large pot of water and then purees them into a soup. That's exactly what I did here, except I only used zucchini. Seven ingredients and 30 minutes later, I had an aromatic, velvety green soup in front of me. It was incredibly easy to put together and my dad loved it.

I personally wouldn't say it was fantastic, but it was pretty good. I think I was more looking forward to the lasagna I had just popped into the oven, so my opinion might be slightly biased here. Overall though, this soup is a simple, healthy, and delicious way to use your zucchini and I would definitely recommend it for a quick weeknight dinner....and for kids who won't eat their veggies. AKA, moi.

Summer Garden Soup

adapted from Life Currents

Ingredients:

¼ cup olive oil
¾ cup onion, chopped
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 pounds (or one 10-inch) zucchini, coarsely chopped
3 cups water
1/3 cup packed basil leaves

pinch of black pepper

Directions:

Heat oil in 3 to 4-quart heavy saucepan over medium-low heat. Add onion, and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and browned, about 5 minutes. Add salt and garlic and cook an additional 5 minutes.

Add zucchini and cook, stirring occasionally, 5 minutes.

Add water and simmer, partially covered, until tender, about 15 minutes. Purée soup with basil in 2 batches in a blender (use caution when blending hot liquids). Add pepper, and serve hot. Garnish with basil leaves or basil flowers

Thin Crust White Pizza

2011-09-28T14:39:00.002-04:00

As much as cooking makes me happy, one of the main reasons I cook is because I like to make other people happy. I like feeding people. And satisfying their appetites. And hearing sounds of satisfaction. It makes my day, sometimes even my week.

I especially like to make my parents happy. So when I realized how much it must suck that my dad hasn't been able to eat real pizza(with tomato sauce) in a long time because of his acid reflux, I knew that the best way to make him happy was by making him a pizza he would be able to eat.

Yes, I'm just as glad as you are that I'm finally cooking something and not baking. I needed to change things up. There was no way I was using the rest of the ricotta in my fridge for cookies or a cake or anything like that.

I got the idea to make white pizza after seeing it on Foodgawker. I was going to use the dough recipe listed, but then I thought about it, and was like, why would I use a specific thin crust dough recipe when I could just roll my usual pizza dough out really thin? It would basically be the same thing. Plus I kind of didn't have the instant yeast that the recipe called for.

I also didn't have the heavy cream that the white sauce called for but I improvised with just some milk and cornstarch. Oh, and I substituted the Pecorino-Romano cheese with Parmesan, because that's what I had on hand. See, that's the great thing about cooking. You can always change things up or leave things out. The possibilities are endless; you are in control and you can cater to your own tastes.

In this case, I was catering to my dad's diet. And I'm happy to say that it was a success. I knew the pizza was going to be good just by the way it smelled when it was in the oven. With three different kinds of cheeses, a delicious combination of herbs and spices, and a hint of garlic, this pizza is in a class by itself. Some people say white pizza is an acquired taste, but if you don't like it after one bite, then you need to acquire some new taste buds.

Thin Crust White Pizza

Dough: (Culinary Couture original)

3 and 1/2 cups of all purpose flour

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 heaping tablespoon of active dry yeast

1/2 teaspoon salt

White Sauce: (adapted from Pink Parsley, but I changed three ingredients so I think I can actually call this mine!)

1/2 cup whole-milk ricotta

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons whole milk, plus some cornstarch to thicken

1/2 large egg yolk

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 teaspoon salt

about 1/4 tsp black pepper

dash of cayenne pepper

pinch nutmeg

1/3 teaspoon dried oregano

dash of dried rosemary

Topping:

about 1/4 cup whole-milk ricotta cheese

3/4 cup shredded whole milk mozzarella

1/8 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:

For the dough: In a KitchenAid stand mixer bowl, combine the flour, oil, and salt. Pour the yeast in a cup of warm water and add 1 teaspoon of sugar so that it will rise quickly. When the yeast rises, add it to the bowl(along with the water it rose in) and using the dough hook attachment, knead the dough on medium speed. Add warm water as needed, until a soft dough forms. Cover the bowl with a cloth and let it rise for an hour or until it doubles in bulk.

For the sauce: Whisk all the ingredients together in a medium bowl. Set aside.

Assembling the pizza: Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

The recipe for the dough makes enough for a round 13 inch pan and a rectangular 18 x 13 inch pan. So, just pinch off a ball of dough enough for a 13 inch pan because you only have enough sauce for that.

Lightly flour the surface which you are going to work on, as well as the rolling pin. Flatten the dough into a disk and roll it out thinly into a circle to fit the pan. Spray the pan with cooking spray and then transfer the dough to the pan. Use your fingers to make an indentation around the edges to form the crust.

Brush the outer edge of the dough with olive oil. Use the back of a spoon to spread the white sauce over the dough, leaving a 1/4-inch border around the outside. Sprinkle the Parmesan cheese over the white sauce, followed by the mozzarella. Using a 1/2-teaspoon measuring spoon, drop the ricotta over the mozzarella.

Bake for 10 minutes on the middle rack, and then rotate the pizza and bake for 10 more minutes on the bottom rack. All ovens run differently, but basically, if the cheese is browned and the dough is slightly golden brown, the pizza is done. Allow to cool 5-10 minutes before serving.

Oatmeal Banana Bread Cookies

2011-09-24T18:23:00.000-04:00

Am I allowed to change the name of a recipe? I think I read somewhere that if you change three or more ingredients in a recipe, you can call it your own...in which case I would think you can do whatever you want to it, including change the name, right? Well, we're gonna pretend I changed three or more ingredients. Nobody will ever know.

I walked into the kitchen confident that these cookies were going to be awesome because I didn't have to substitute anything. The ingredients were already healthy substitutes, so I knew there was no chance of me messing these up like I did my last oatmeal raisin cookies. Ugh, so embarrassing.

But of course, it really isn't a Culinary Couture classic without me messing something up. I just spent about twenty minutes writing this post and talking about how I had no idea know why the cookies didn't become golden brown and how I barely tasted any oatmeal. I was writing the recipe and just about ready to hit the publish button and that's when I saw it. 1 and 1/2 cups of uncooked rolled oats and 3/4 cups of all purpose flour. I did the opposite. I am such a genius.

In the end though, it wasn't such a bad trade-off. The cookies were still moist and delish. And even though they didn't taste like oatmeal, I didn't mind. I'm not a big fan of oatmeal these days. I'd pick cookies that taste like bananas over oatmeal any day of the week, and especially on the days they show up unexpectedly.

~~Oatmeal~~ Banana Bread Cookies

from Clean Green Simple

Ingredients:
1 and 1/2 cups uncooked rolled oats

3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp baking soda
pinch salt
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 tsp vanilla
1 Tbsp ground flaxseed
About 3/4 of a medium banana
1/2 cup raisins

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Mix all ingredients in a medium bowl – make sure to blend it well enough that there’s no chunks of banana.

Place rounded spoonfuls of dough onto a cookie sheet and bake for about 10 minutes, until light golden brown. Remove from oven and let the cookies finish baking on the cookie sheet for about 5 more minutes. Enjoy!

Kind of Healthy Chocolate Chip Blondies

2011-09-22T19:41:00.002-04:00

I'm really going to try to keep up some healthy habits now that I'm done with college and far away from my cafeteria's cheese steak sandwiches and 99 cent Coca Cola bottles. That means: no soda, no juice, no eating after 8pm, skim milk, and of course, substituting non-fatty ingredients for the fatty ingredients that many recipes call for. There's no way I could completely cut sweets out of my life, especially not chocolate.

I'm already pretty good at portion control. As long as I taste what I bake, and I'm able to tell all of you guys how it came out, I'm good. My craving is usually satisfied just from my taste tests. Granted, my taste tests may include more than one serving, but that's only because I really need to bring out my Chef Ramsay to give you all an accurate description, na means? Or maybe that's just what I told myself today to feel better about having three of these chocolate chip blondies.

In my defense, I was really trying to tell if you could taste the olive oil or not. I used extra-virgin olive oil and I read online that you could taste it in certain foods and I got worried. But of course, I went ahead and used it anyway and although I did indeed taste it slightly, the chocolate chips pretty much overpower it so you can barely tell. You get the same indulgent, chewy chocolate chip cookie taste, with less calories and more heart-healthy monosaturated fats; that's a win in anybody's book.

Kind of Healthy Chocolate Chip Blondies

adapted from Taste and Tell

makes 16

Ingredients:
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons olive oil
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips, divided

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter an 8-inch square baking pan.

In a large bowl, whisk oil and sugars until smooth. Whisk in egg and vanilla. Add flour and salt; mix just until moistened (do not overmix). Fold in ½ cup of the chocolate chips. Transfer batter to prepared pan; smooth top. Sprinkle with remaining chocolate chips.

Bake until top is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Mine took 23 minutes. Set pan on a wire rack, and let cool completely. Cut in 16 squares. Store blondies in an airtight container at room temperature, up to 2 days.

Chocolate Lava Cake for Two

2011-09-19T20:50:00.003-04:00

In honor of passing my ARDMS specialty examination, and in honor of never having to look at another textbook or wake up for a 7:30am class ever again, and in honor of no more stress or hair falling out, I baked chocolate lava cakes today, for me and....me.

No matter what your accomplishment may be, chocolate is always the best way to celebrate. And easy chocolate recipes fill my heart with joy. No stress about not having overpriced ingredients on hand, like in recipes such as ahem, this one. Yes, I'm dissing my own recipe. If I had known that I could use semi-sweet chocolate chips instead of semi-sweet baking squares, I most certainly would not have spent a pretty penny on those suckers.

But let's look at the bright side. I've now found a recipe that calls for semi-sweet chocolate chips, an ingredient that I always have on hand. And on the even brighter side, this recipe turned out to be nothing short of amazing.

The cakes were so rich and so decadent... just a whole lot of intense melt-in-your-mouth chocolatey goodness.

Me, myself, and chocolate lava cakes. That's all I need in the end. That's what I found out.

Chocolate Lava Cake

adapted from Budget Bytes

Ingredients:
1 large egg + 1 large egg yolk

2 tablespoons organic sugar

4 tablespoons butter, plus more for the custard cups

1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 tablespoon flour, plus more for the custard cups

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Butter and flour the custard cups.

In a small bowl combine the egg, egg yolk and white sugar. Using a mixer, whip the mixture until it is aerated and a light yellow color (about 2 minutes).

In a small saucepan, melt the chocolate and butter over low heat on stove top. Stir the tablespoon of flour and the melted butter/chocolate mixture into the whipped eggs and sugar.

Divide the cake batter between the two custard cups.Place the custard cups on a baking sheet and place in the oven.

Cook for 8-11 minutes. Make sure you keep a close eye on the cakes, you want to remove them from the oven when the edges are set but the centers are still soft and jiggly.

Note: If the center rises up, that means it has cooked and will not be molten. So, remove the custard cups from the oven when the edges are high but the center is still a little sunken in.

Let the cakes stand for about a minute before you invert them onto a plate. Dust with confectioners sugar or serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Two Years Ago: Algerian Eid Sweets

Three Years Ago: Puff Pastry Shells

Flying Saucer Oatmeal Cookies

2011-09-09T21:38:00.002-04:00

These cookies? They're out of this world. Even though they came out of my oven, I have reason to believe that they're UFO's and not really cookies. How else would you explain their round disc shape and small dome on top?

Alright, so maybe I used olive oil instead of melted butter like the recipe called for. But come on, they're both liquids! It shouldn't have made that big of a difference. In my defense, I asked my mom if I should use vegetable oil instead and she said "No, use olive oil". So, it's technically not my fault.

We are big fans of the blame game in my household. If me and my mom make something, and it comes out good, it's because of our impeccable cooking skills. If it comes out bad, it's always because one of us suggested something to the other. It's never our fault. Oh, and we like to blame the oven too.

My mom actually didn't think these cookies were that bad. I don't know if I can give you a proper opinion though, because I'm biased. You know how sometimes you have a bad experience with a certain food and then you stop liking it, just because you associate it with that bad memory? That's what happened to me and oatmeal raisin cookies.

It's happened to me with other foods too, like hotdogs. I think I got food poisoning once from hotdogs and after that, I never wanted to look at another hotdog again. But as time went by, that memory sort of faded and I started eating them again. Still, a part of me feels weird after I've had them.

I've started eating oatmeal raisin cookies again, and I think I actually enjoyed the last batch I made. But to sit here and rave about how amazing these flying saucers are, ehhh not likely. They were okay. Definitely for you if you enjoy a crispy cookie. I happen to prefer mine soft and chewy.

I separated the batter into three uneven parts and made oatmeal cookies, oatmeal raisin cookies, and oatmeal white chocolate chip cookies. Yes, I get creative when I'm bored. I think I'm going to look into doing that with other cookie recipes in the future. As for this particular recipe, I don't think I see it in my future.

Flying Saucer Oatmeal Cookies

adapted from Jo Cooks

Ingredients:

3/4 cup olive oil
1 cup of flour
3 cup of old fashioned oats
1 cup of brown sugar
1/2 cup of organic sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup of milk
1 large egg
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup of raisins (since I split my batter)
about 1/2 cup of white chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 F degrees.

Combine oil, brown sugar, sugar, milk, egg and vanilla and mix until light and fluffy.
In a large bowl, combine all the dry ingredients together, excluding raisins and chocolate chips and add the wet ingredients. Divide into three parts. Mix well, and add the raisins and chips to each respective part. Drop by tablespoons onto a greased baking sheet, or a sheet with a silpat on it.

Bake for 12 to 15 min or until golden around the edges. (Mine were done at 10 minutes)
Cool on wire racks.

Fresh Peach and Honey Muffins

2011-09-07T21:46:00.000-04:00

It truly amazes me how some food bloggers are able to post something new almost every single day. That takes a lot of dedication. By the time I'm done baking/cooking/cleaning up the mess in the kitchen/taking a hundred pictures/picking a few out of those hundred for the post/writing the actual post, I am exhausted. I don't know how they manage!

What I'm really curious to know though, is how they never run out of ideas of things to bake? My mom has been married for 37 years and given allllll of her cooking experience, she's still stumped by what to make for dinner, pretty much every day. Then again, that might be due to the fact that she isn't on the Internet browsing for new recipes all the time, as I'm sure these food bloggers are. But still, no matter how much time you may spend on foodgawker or your blogroll, it's not easy to find something that you want to try and have all the ingredients for.

Bottom line is, I give lots of props to my food bloggers. And lots of props to myself if I actually manage to keep this blog up and running when I'm married and have rugrats running around.

I know my blog totally makes it seem like I'll be giving them desserts for dinner all the time, but I promise, I won't spoil them like that. Just kidding. I'm sure it's not considered being spoiled if they contract diabetes. I will only occasionally treat them to some healthy peach and honey muffins IF they are good. Whatever my definition of good is at that time.

Today was such a gloomy, rainy day; the kind of day where you really don't feel like doing anything. I ALMOST didn't make these muffins because it was that kind of day. And because the lighting sucks when it's raining. That's also the reason I don't bake at night by the way...which is why you see more desserts than dinners on here. I could decide to wake up early someday and make lunch. But ~~I like my sleep~~ nobody's ever actually home to eat it.

These muffins were easy to whip up, minus the annoying part where I had to boil some water and then simmer the peaches in it so that I could peel their skin right off. But I guess anything beats peeling peaches with an actual knife. I think the best part about making these was the part where I was so excited to take a picture that I didn't give them enough time to cool, so when I peeled the cupcake liner away from the muffin, I managed to amputate the muffin top, while the rest of the muffin stayed stuck to the liner. I probably should have just stuck to greasing the muffin tins. No worries though. After the muffins cooled properly, I was able to remove them without any injuries. But just for laughs, I posted the pictures of my amputated muffin below.

In my opinion, the muffins needed a little more sugar. The 1/3 cup just isn't cutting it. But other than that, they were moist and delicious. And I really liked the cinnamon sugar topping, it gave them that extra sweet finish. Overall, they were juuust peachy, in both the literal and figurative sense.

Fresh Peach and Honey Muffins

adapted from the meaning of pie

Ingredients:
2-¾ cups all purpose flour
⅓ cup organic sugar
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt

⅓ cup olive oil
1 egg
1-¼ cup sour cream (plus ¼ cup sour cream at the end of the recipe)
⅓ cup honey
1 teaspoon vanilla

1-½ cups peaches, peeled and chopped (2 large peaches were more than enough)

1 Tablespoon organic sugar
1/8 (or less) teaspoon cinnamon

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

To peel the peaches, prepare a small pot of simmering water. Drop a peach in the water and let it simmer for about 20 seconds. Remove the peach with a slotted spoon. Using a paper towel, gently rub the skin off of the peach. It generally slides right off of the flesh. Some peaches may have tougher skin though, so they will need to simmer for a little longer.

Place the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a small bowl. Stir it with a whisk to lighten and combine it. Place the egg and oil in a larger bowl. Whisk the egg and oil together until they are well combined. Add 1-¼ cup of sour cream. Whisk the mixture to fully incorporate the sour cream and then add the honey and vanilla. Again, whisk to fully combine the wet ingredients. (I whisked all of the above ingredients together using my KitchenAid stand mixer, then I used the flat beater attachment for the following part.)

Pour the flour mixture into the wet mixture and stir it gently with a spoon. Add the additional ¼ cup sour cream to the mixture to add more moisture and continue to mix gently until the batter is uniformly wet and combined. Do not over-mix. Add the peaches and stir them into the batter.

Using a spoon or an ice cream scoop, place the batter in a well greased 12 cup muffin tin. In a small prep bowl, combine the sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle the muffin batter with the cinnamon sugar.

Bake for 18 to 20 minutes(I took mine out at 18 minutes) or until golden. Remove the muffins to a wire rack to cool completely.

Fail.

I managed to stick it back together for a picture...


..because I was too lazy to wait and take a bite out of this one.

Algerian Sweets: Eid ul Fitr 2011 Edition

2011-08-30T12:27:00.031-04:00

Eid sweets are serious business in Algeria. My mom was on Skype earlier this morning with our family overseas showing off the ones me and her made this year. Of course, they didn't hesitate to show off theirs as well. You see, even though nobody really says it out loud, deep down, they're really always trying to out-sweet their neighbors, friends, and yes, even family. Why else would "What sweets did you make?" be the first question they ask as soon as you call them to say Happy Eid? Because they want to see what's up, duh. They want to know if you've made anything new and then of course, they end up asking you for the recipe in more or less words. Sneaky sneaky.
Ramadan definitely flew by this year though. And although we were really hoping for one more day to finish the sweets sans stress, the moon made it's special appearance yesterday night in Saudi Arabia. Alhamdulilah though. Me and my mom worked together late nights and early mornings to put together 5 delicious gateauxs for this year's celebration. (You can add an 's' to a French word and make it plural right?)

Take a look.

Maqrout Maqli (Losanges aux dattes frits)

Dziriettes (à la noix de coco)

Hrissa

Mchewek

Tcherek el Aryane

Kaak el Nakach

Baklawa

Peach Cobbler

2011-08-06T15:21:00.040-04:00

Alas, summer is here and peaches are in season. And I could finally make the peach cobbler that my brother has been begging me to make for months.

Side note: the peaches here don't compare to the peaches in Algeria. Peaches in Algeria are farrrrr more succulent and juicy, and more natural tasting. Not to mention, you don't even need a knife to peel them; you can slide the skin right off with your fingers. Of course I would find that appealing. You're talking to the biggest fail of a peeler over here.

Who peeled the peaches for the cobbler then? My mom. Yup. Totally not ashamed to admit it. She then proceeded to yell at me because we're fasting and it was SO hard not to take a bite out of one of them. They smelled so good, omg.

And don't get me started on how difficult it was to take pictures of the cobbler when it was done. I died a little. I think it was the ice cream that really got to me. When you combine that with the warm aroma of the fresh-baked cobbler filling my nose, it's pretty much a recipe for disaster. (see what I did there?)

Nonetheless, I made it until 8:07pm. And I eagerly broke my fast with a glass of milk and ~~dates~~ a bite of the cobbler that my stomach had been grumbling for for four hours; my first time tasting a peach cobbler by the way. It's not no apple pie, but I can see why it's such a great American classic. The fresh peaches surrounded by crusty, buttery goodness easily get you hooked from the first bite.

My brother's opinion? He finished the cobbler by suhoor.

Peach Cobbler
adapted from the trusty Williams-Sonoma

Cobbler Dough (remind me to never halve a recipe again, so annoying!)
Ingredients:
1/2 cup + 1/8 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/6 cup sugar
1/8 tsp salt
3.5 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4 inch pieces
1 egg yolk
pinch of vanilla powder
1 tablespoon very cold water
Directions:
In a food processor, combine the flour, sugar and salt and pulse just to combine. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse cornmeal, with the butter pieces no larger than small peas.

In a small bowl, mix together the egg yolk, vanilla and cold water. Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture and pulse just until the dough pulls together; do not overmix.

Transfer the dough to a work surface, pat into a ball and flatten into a disk. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Roll out the dough as directed in your recipe.
Cobbler Filling
Ingredients:
5 medium-sized peaches, peeled, pitted, and cut into 8 slices
1/8 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar, (1 tsp for topping)
1/8 cup plus 1 tablespoon light brown sugar
1 and 1/4 tablespoon cornstarch
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 tablespoon of butter, cut into small pieces
1 egg, lightly beaten
vanilla ice cream, for serving
Directions:
Preheat an oven to 425ºF.

In a large bowl, stir together the peaches, 1/8 cup plus 1 Tbs. granulated sugar, the brown sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice and nutmeg. Transfer to a 1-quart rectangular baker and scatter the butter pieces on top.

On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the cobbler dough 1/4 inch thick. Tear the dough into 3-inch pieces and place on top of the peach filling. (I chose to do a lattice top without actually looking at any directions...it didn't come out that bad). Brush the dough with the beaten egg and sprinkle with the 1 tsp. granulated sugar.

Bake the cobbler for 10 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 350ºF and bake until the topping is browned, about 35 minutes.

Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool for about 20 minutes. Serve the cobbler with vanilla ice cream. Serves 4-6.

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

2011-07-31T19:32:00.023-04:00

So now that we've established that the first day of Ramadan is tomorrow, let's get to the bigger issues.

What on Earth are we going to eat for suhoor?

Deciding what you're going to eat for suhoor is best described as deciding what you're going to major in in college. Except you have less time to decide. And you have to make that decision every night. Okay, so maybe that wasn't the best analogy. But I assure you, it is a big deal. People even go online and ask Yahoo Answers what to eat, true story!

See you can't just wake up, eyes half open, and grab something from the fridge (or a couple of things) and eat it/them and go to sleep. No, it doesn't work like that. Shopping has to be done the day before, preparation, orders...yes, orders. In my household, my mother takes orders so that as soon as we wake up, whatever we asked for is on the table and ready for us. No time wasted...well, not counting the time we waste in bed of course. ~~Heavy~~ lazy sleepers, what can I say?

Anyways, so I guess you can see how oatmeal raisin cookies fit into all this. If not, then that makes me really sad because I like to think that I give away lots of context clues in my writing.

If you must know, I made these sinfully scrumptious cookies for suhoor. But, not for me. I decided to make them for my dad. My mom may or may not have asked me to make them, but the fact that I eagerly agreed shows that I ~~won't say no to baking~~ love my daddy. You see, he loves oatmeal raisin cookies. But he's been on a special healthy diet lately which means that any cookie packed with butter is a no-no. So my mom figured, how about a cookie that uses oil instead of butter? What I didn't know was that she meant olive oil, not canola oil. Of course, I didn't find this out until after I had put the second batch in the oven. Oops?

But in all honesty, what really matters here is that we managed to make a soft, chewy, and delicious cookie for my dad without using any butter. Winnningggg. Hey, maybe I'll get an extra something something for Eid this year for being such a good daddy's girl? Guess I'll have to wait and see.

Ramadan Mubarak everyone!

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
adapted from allrecipes.com

Ingredients:
1 cup canola oil
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
pinch of vanilla powder
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
4 cups rolled oats
1 cup raisins

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

Grease cookie sheets. In a large bowl, mix canola oil, brown sugar, eggs and vanilla until well blended. Combine the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg; stir into the sugar mixture. Mix in the oats and raisins last.

Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto the prepared cookie sheet. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Banana Crumb Muffins

2011-07-25T17:24:00.007-04:00

Holy moly, do these taste good!

So good that I decided to spare you the intro and just get straight to the point over here. I've made banana cupcakes before. I've made banana muffins. I've made banana bread. I've made banana cream pie. But if you really want to enjoy a banana, you've got to have it in these banana crumb muffins. If it isn't enough that the muffin itself is so moist and purely decadent, it also has a delicious crunchy brown sugar/cinnamon melt-in-your-mouth topping that makes it the crème de la crème of all banana desserts.

I feel like at this point I should say "but you don't have to take my word for it"...but that would sound so Reading Rainbow. On that note, I'm just going to say, you HAVE to try these. You are missing out if you don't. No other banana concoction can measure up to this. And if there is, then please, by all means, give me the recipe. I always love a challenge.

(But is it really a challenge if I already won?)

Banana Crumb Muffins
from my sister in law who it turns out, originally discovered it at allrecipes.com

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 bananas, mashed
3/4 cup white sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/3 cup butter, melted
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon butter

Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly grease 10 muffin cups, or line with muffin papers.

In a large bowl, mix together 1 1/2 cups flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, beat together bananas, sugar, egg and melted butter. Stir the banana mixture into the flour mixture just until moistened. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.

In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, 2 tablespoons flour and cinnamon. Cut in 1 tablespoon butter until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. Sprinkle topping over muffins. Bake in preheated oven for 18 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean.

Classic Chocolate Chip Cookies

2011-07-24T10:16:00.022-04:00

Algeria doesn't have chocolate chip cookies. Wait, let me rephrase...Algeria doesn't have REAL chocolate chip cookies. They have a package with a picture of what looks like chocolate chip cookies on the outside, and there's something written in French...something about the cookies being avec chocolat. In all honesty, I did not buy the package or taste these cookies...and I think I was better off that way because I've tasted Algerian "chips", "cereal" and "gum drops"..and ...no, just no.

Don't get me wrong, Algeria is mad good at making their OWN cookies. Like Bimo? They need to sell that in America. And Tango, which is the chocolate version of Bimo (kind of like Keebler Fudge Shoppe) is amazing. But once Algerians start trying to make western products, they fail on so many levels.

Even if I attempted to make chocolate chip cookies on my own in Algeria, they just wouldn't come out the same. For starters, the butter over there is different...actually, it's not even butter. It's margarine. And you can taste the difference, even when it's mixed in with all the other ingredients. Also, their chocolate...not the same. You just can't have a chocolate chip cookie without the right chocolate.

My only solution was waiting until I got back to the states to finally sink my teeth into a freshly baked, straight out of the oven, warm, gooey chocolate chip cookie. And I knew I could count on Tessa from Handle the Heat to have the ultimate chocolate chip cookie recipe. I know, I know...this isn't the first time I've used some synonym of ultimate to describe a chocolate chip cookie I've made. I can't help it. Every time I try a new recipe, it blows me away and has me ranting on and on about it. That is, until it's 5 minutes of fame are over and I find another amazing recipe. I guess I can't really say that there's one perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe; they're all perfect in their own ways. But taste aside, this recipe is definitely best described as the recipe for a classic chocolate chip cookie.

Recipes that include pudding, or applesauce, or egg yolk, or some other ingredient to give a chocolate chip cookie the perfect consistency kind of take away from it's originality. Not to mention, they won't retain it's authentic taste. When I took a bite out of these cookies, it reminded me of the original chocolate chip cookies my mother used to make for us way back when....before I invaded her kitchen and took control of her KitchenAid.

Overall, I sure am glad to be back on American soil, where I can enjoy a nice tall glass of cold pasteurized milk with my classic non-margarine chocolate chip cookies.
Here come the pounds.

Classic Chocolate Chip Cookies
adapted from Handle the Heat

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup organic sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
pinch of vanilla powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons hot water
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In the bowl of a stand mixer or using a hand-held electric mixer, cream together the butter, white sugar, and brown sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Dissolve baking soda in hot water then add to batter along with salt. Mix in flour until incorporated. Fold in chocolate chips with a rubber spatula. Using a spring-loaded ice-cream scoop, drop even and large spoonfuls of dough onto a parchment-lined cookie sheet. Bake for about 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are nicely browned.

Les Gâteaux Algériens

2011-07-15T18:56:00.009-04:00

Bonjour! Je vous ai manqués tous les!

Unfortunately, that's about all the French you're going to get out of me in this blog post. My French speaking skills don't go very far since I am an American raised Algerian. Wahhhh. I did pick up a few new phrases during my 6 week vacation to Algeria though, so hooray for me. I also picked up some photos of delicious Algerian sweets; most of which were made by my very own family, others bought or from weddings I attended. Think of it as my souvenir for you guys. I knew I couldn't come back empty handed, especially after being gone for so long. I promise I'll be back in business as soon as my jet lag wears off. Until then, enjoy the pictures :)

Vegan Brownies

2011-05-26T21:30:00.006-04:00

I definitely always thought that the word vegan was the short way of saying vegetarian. But then I started hearing people say that their shoes were vegan and I was a little confused because shoes don’t really eat...anything...at all. At that point, I thought it might be a good idea to Google it and see if there’s a difference between the two…which there obviously is. I can’t be the only one who thought they meant the same thing though. Vegan seems like such a good nickname for a vegetarian too. You obviously can’t say you’re a veggie. Or a vegeta.

Anyways, I’m not a vegan. Or a vegetarian. But I didn’t have any eggs on hand, so I had to improvise. My mom kept telling me that these brownies were going to come out terrible because they didn’t have any eggs. I told her to trust me on this. I was using a high rated recipe from allrecipes.com. There was no way it could go wrong.

It took me literally 5-7 minutes to make the batter and 25 minutes to prove that these brownies were far from terrible. Ironically, I have my mom to thank for that because I had set the oven to 25 minutes as the directions instructed me to, but my mom pointed out that the brownies smelled “done” at 20 minutes. And her spidey sense was on point.

I’m not going to lie and say that you can’t tell that there are no eggs in these brownies, because you can. I mean, not that I know what eggs taste like in a brownie, but I know there’s a difference in the way these brownies taste and the non-vegan ones I usually make. It wasn’t a bad difference though. They were just more rich and chocolatey and kind of crumbly. Nonetheless, they were still delicious and very simple to make, so you can bet that I’ll be making these again. And you thought a lack of eggs would get in the way of me and my chocolate cravings? Ha. Not a chance.

Vegan Brownies
adapted from allrecipes.com

Ingredients
3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour plus 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup white sugar
6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

In a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt. Pour in water, vegetable oil and vanilla; mix until well blended. Spread evenly in a 9x13 inch baking pan.

Bake for 20 minutes in the preheated oven, until a knife comes out clean. Let cool for at least 5 minutes before cutting into squares.

Morning Glory Muffins

2011-05-12T14:55:00.018-04:00

Yesterday marked a glorious day. The day of my graduation. So today I made glory muffins to celebrate.

It actually wasn't really a graduation. It was a pinning ceremony. But everyone kept saying congrats on your graduation, and I eventually just started going with it and stopped correcting them.

It was very much like a graduation though. There were handshakes, hugs, smiles, speeches, and tears. The only difference is when your name got called, you didn't walk up the stage just to get handed an empty diploma cover. You were actually pinned with this really cool pin that was engraved with your graduation year, major, and the name of your college. How legit is that?

I think that officially makes pinning ceremonies way better than graduations. Oh, and these muffins were way better than I expected them to be.

I took one look at their ingredient list and couldn't help but cringe. Carrots AND apples? AND coconut? AND raisins?! There was no way that all of those things combined could taste good. No way.

But a good baker doesn't judge a muffin by it's ingredients right? Plus, I had nothing to lose really. If I didn't like them, I knew my parents certainly would. They've been on this super healthy food diet, buying things like brown rice and stuff. Blekh. They would totally love something with carrots in it.

How many of you have had your mother tell you to eat carrots because they're good for your eyesight? In my household, that phrase has become a soundtrack on replay. I don't even know if it's actually medically correct but I don't like carrots. I just don't. There's nothing appealing about them.

It appears that I've made an exception though.

These muffins taste so good, that I refuse to believe that there are actually any carrots in them, and if there aren't any carrots in them, then I have no problem eating them. Makes sense, right?

I don't know how they did it, but the different flavors in these muffins managed to complement each other amazingly. Not to mention, the texture as a whole was on point. And the best part? I won't feel guilty about eating three of these for breakfast.

Congratulations to my ~~graduated~~ pinned class of 2011. You have made these past two years the best and most interesting years of my life.

Morning Glory Muffins
from Photo a Day

Ingredients:2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cups white sugar (used 1 cup)
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups shredded carrots
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (didn't add)
1/2 cup unsweetened flaked coconut
1 apple - peeled, cored and shredded
3 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease 12 muffin cups, or line with paper muffin liners.

In a large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Stir in the carrot, raisins, nuts, coconut, and apple.In a separate bowl, beat together eggs, oil, and vanilla. Stir egg mixture into the carrot/flour mixture, just until moistened. Scoop batter into prepared muffin cups.

Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean.