The Book: Katie Quinn Davies of What Katie Ate has been one of the world’s most celebrated, successful food bloggers. Although she doesn’t post as much as she used to, when she does, it’s always a treat for the eyes – and for the tastebuds, if you get the chance to cook her food instead of just drooling over the photos. Her first, eponymous cookbook, was hugely popular and now, her second book, What Katie Ate on the Weekend has just launched in the US. The book is distinctively hers – Katie’s signature photography and writing style fills each of the 310 pages of the book. Her photography style – which is a bit metallic, with high-contrast editing, off-center styling, and strong shadows – is one of the few that I can recognize before seeing the photographer’s name. Her writing, too, is specific to her – verbose and friendly, as if writing a long and warm letter to a friend she hasn’t spoken with in a while. The two come together beautifully in a book that is quirky, warm, and playful, scattered with images and phrases from old advertisements, fun typography, and of course, delicious recipes. The food in What Katie Ate on the Weekend has a universal appeal – pancakes, crispy chicken tacos, burgers, chili, brownies, etc. – but everything is dressed up just enough to make it feel special. It’s casual food, easy to prepare and to serve to friends during weekend gatherings.

The Food: I feel a bit guilty about defaulting to something as simple as a self-saucing pudding to showcase this book, especially when there are so many beautiful and creative savory recipes included. But I was reading this book on a chilly, rainy Sunday afternoon, after an exhausting and emotionally overwhelming week, and nothing sounded better than melty, gooey, chocolate. Perhaps in the end, it’s appropriate for a book called What Katie Ate on the Weekend… as in fact it was exactly what I needed to close out my weekend. This is perhaps not the most memorable or special warm chocolate cake in the world, but it is really easy, and really chocolatey, and probably one of the better ways to satisfy an urgent chocolate craving. It’s a one bowl affair, and any baker will have all the ingredients on hand, meaning it’s only about 35 minutes from conception to digging into a piping hot bowl of gooey chocolate pudding with quickly melting ice cream. There won’t be leftovers.

Recipe Shortlist: Chocolate and Sour Cherry Hotcakes; Chorizo Rosti with Duck Eggs and Anchovy Mayo; Smoked Trout, Egg, and Potato Salad with Cider Mayo; Crispy Chicken Tacos with Creamy Slaw; Lamb Shank Pie; Truffle Beef Burgers with Creamy Mushrooms and Pancetta; Pretzels with Chocolate and Sea Salt; Double Chocolate Brownies with Salted Butterscotch and Cherries

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Disclosure: I received a review copy of What Katie Ate on the Weekend from Penguin Random House, but I was not otherwise compensated and all thought and opinions are my own.

Self-Saucing Mocha Pudding

Recipe from What Katie Ate on the Weekend. Serves 4.

• 2/3 c. AP flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 4 TBS cocoa powder
• 1/3 c. light brown sugar
• 1 1/2 TBS espresso coffee
• 7 TBS milk
• 1 egg
• 3 TBS butter, melted
• 1 1/2 TBS creme de cacao or chocolate liqueur
• ice cream, to serve

For the sauce:

• 1/3 c. brown sugar
• 4 tsp cocoa powder
• 1 tsp espresso instant coffee powder
• 1 c. boiling water

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Butter a 4 cup capacity souffle mold or baking dish and set aside.
2. Sift the flour, baking powder, and cocoa into a large bowl and whisk to combine. Whisk in the sugar. Add the espresso, milk, egg, melted butter, and creme de cacao and stir to thoroughly combine. Pour into the prepared baking mold and place on a rimmed baking sheet (important to catch drips).
3. Mix the dry ingredients for the sauce (brown sugar, cocoa powder, and espresso instant coffee powder) together in a small bowl. Scatter evenly over the top of the batter, then pour the boiling water over the top.
4. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the pudding has risen and the sauce is bubbling up around the sides. Serve warm with ice cream.

Reprinted by arrangement with Avery Books, a member of Penguin Group (USA) LLC, A Penguin Random House Company. Copyright © Katie Quinn Davies, 2015.

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This Sunday Dinner post is a big one – I’m not even entirely sure where to start. There’s the obvious, of course, that it was for our Valentine’s Day celebration, so it had to be special and a little bit decadent. There’s the fact that we prepared it during a blizzard, the third big storm in what feels like a never-ending chain of snow and white skies and freezing temperatures – a winter so beyond our imaginations that our city is stuck somewhere between awe, deep frustration, and total apathy. There’s the coffee-crusted duck, the centerpiece of the meal, that we lifted from the menu at Bouchard in Newport, where we spent a wonderful evening last weekend, dining in quiet elegance before slipping back to a room with a fireplace and a four-poster bed, where I wanted to stay forever. There’s the champagne we popped last night, the leftovers of which we unexpectedly took to a blizzard brunch around the corner – because day-drinking and eating waffles is a pretty good way to spend a blizzard. There’s the chocolate espresso layer cake, which we ate thick slices of in bed this morning with our morning coffee, our windows completed whited out by the snow whirling outside. There’s the chanterelle bisque, made from chanterelles we foraged in the middle of the summer, a time so green and warm and damp that it seems like it happened in another lifetime. These recipes have so many bits and pieces of memories tucked inside them it’s hard to sort out a clear thread between them – and now of course they will bring back to us the Valentine’s Day Blizzard of 2015, another weekend spent together grateful for a quiet and warm house in which to hide away and dream of spring.

The menu we made for this dinner is wintery, earthy, and elegant all at the same time, with rich flavors tied one to the next: blood orange, endive, chanterelle, chestnut, coffee, brandy, chocolate. Brilliantly colored blood orange mimosas spiked with Campari and honey. A salad of bitter endive and radicchio topped with blood orange slices, goat gouda, and toasted hazelnuts. A velvety bisque of roasted chestnuts and chanterelles. A gorgeous duck breast, coated in coffee and drizzled with rich brandy-balsamic sauce. And a cake – two fat layers of chocolate cake spread thickly with chocolate-espresso buttercream. Everything turned out beautifully, and although there are certainly a lot of components, it was doable to prepare everything in one afternoon, and still sit down with enough energy to enjoy the meal and each other’s company.

The Menu
Blood Orange Mimosa
Endive and Blood Orange Salad
Chanterelle and Chestnut Bisque
Coffee-Crusted Duck Breast with Brandy-Balsamic Sauce
Chocolate Espresso Layer Cake

Past Sunday Dinners:

May 26, 2013: Coffee-and-Chile Rubbed Strip Steaks with Chimichurri Sauce; Charred and Smoky Belgian Endives; Oven-Roasted Potatoes; Strawberry-Sour Cream Ice Cream

July 1, 2013: Strawberry-Lime Agua Fresca; Smashed Pea, Dill, and Feta Crostini; Chilled Asparagus Soup with Meyer Lemon Yogurt; Mustard Spaetzle with Mushrooms; Ricotta Bavarese with Red-Wine Poached Rhubarb

October 28, 2013: Braised Lamb Shanks with Gremolata; Creamy Polenta with Fresh Corn and Blue Cheese; Roasted Brussels Sprouts; Classic Apple Pie

March 31, 2014: Fried Halloumi with Spring Veggies and Strawberry-Basil Gastrique; French Gnocchi with Watercress Sauce; Strawberry-Rhubarb Meringue Pots

August 31, 2014: Roasted Garlic, Ricotta, and Maple-Roasted Cherry Tomato Crostini; Eggplant and Pesto Napoleons; Maple Mixed-Berry Pie

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Blood Orange Mimosa

Serves 2.

• 1/2 c. freshly squeezed blood orange juice (from about 2 oranges)
• 1 1/2 oz. Campari
• 1 TBS honey
• chilled Prosecco or Champagne

1. Whisk together blood orange juice, Campari, and honey until honey is dissolved. Divide between two champagne flutes and top with prosecco or champagne. Stir gently with a long handled spoon or small whisk. Serve immediately.

Endive and Blood Orange Salad

Serves 4.

• 1 small head of radicchio
• 1 large Belgian endive
• 3 blood oranges
• 1/4 c. hazelnuts, chopped and lightly toasted in a dry pan
• 2 oz. thinly sliced goat gouda or other goat cheese
• 2 TBS champagne vinegar
• 1/4 c. olive oil
• sea salt and pepper to taste

1. Remove and discard the outer leaves from the radicchio and cut out the thick core at the bottom. Roughly chop or shred the radicchio and place in a bowl. Remove the outer leaves from the endive. Slice into thin rounds and add to the bowl with the radicchio. Toss the two vegetables together to evenly combine.
2. Peel the oranges. Juice one of the oranges so that you have 1/2 cup of juice. Slice or supreme the remaining 2 oranges and set aside.
3. Assemble the salads by dividing the radicchio mixture between four plates. Top each with several pieces of blood orange, a spoonful of the toasted hazelnuts, and a few slices of the goat gouda. To make the dressing, whisk together the blood orange juice, champagne vinegar and olive oil until well combined. Season to taste with salt and pepper and drizzle over the salads. Serve immediately.

Chanterelle and Chestnut Bisque

Serves 2-3.

• 2 TBS butter
• 1/3 c. finely diced onion
• 2 c. fresh chanterelles, cleaned and torn into bite-sized pieces
• sea salt and pepper to taste
• 1 c. peeled, roasted chestnut pieces
• 3 c. chicken stock
• 3 sprigs fresh thyme
• 1/2 c. heavy cream

1. Melt the butter in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the onion and saute until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the chanterelles and saute until soft and browned on the edges, about 8-10 minutes, stirring frequently. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Set several spoonfuls of the cooked chanterelles aside (for garnishing the soup).
2. Add the remaining chanterelles, chestnuts, chicken stock, and thyme to a soup pot and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Simmer for 10-15 minutes, then remove from the heat. Spoon out the thyme stems and discard. Transfer the soup to a blender and add the heavy cream. Blend on high until very smooth. Pour into bowls and garnish with the reserved chanterelles. Serve immediately.

Coffee-Crusted Duck with Brandy Balsamic Sauce

Inspired by dinner at Bouchard. Serves 2-3

• 2 medium duck breasts, trimmed of fat
• 4 TBS freshly ground coffee beans
• 2 TBS dark brown sugar
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 3/4 tsp chili powder
• 3 TBS butter, divided
• 2 tsp flour
• 1/4 c. brandy
• 1 TBS balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 c. stout or other dark beer

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Mix the coffee, brown sugar, salt, pepper, and chili powder together in a small bowl. Rub the mixture all over the duck breasts so they are fully coated. Melt 2 TBS butter (or duck fat, if you’d like) in a dutch oven over medium-high heat. Place the duck breasts in the pan and sear for 1 minute on each side. Flip them a second time (to return to the original side) and transfer the pan to the preheated oven. Cook the breasts for 5-7 minutes, to at least an internal temperature of 130°F. Remove from the oven, transfer to a cutting board or plate and let rest for at least 5 minutes.
2. Scrape as much of the coffee grounds as you can out of the dutch oven and discard. Melt the remaining 1 TBS of butter in the dutch oven over medium heat. Add the flour and stir to make a paste, cooking for 60 seconds. Add the brandy to the pan (don’t stand over the pan as you do this, as the alcohol will evaporate rapidly and can make you quite dizzy), followed by the balsamic and the stout. Stir to make a thick sauce and cook for 2-3 minutes, until thick and syrupy. Remove from the heat. Slice the duck on the bias and serve drizzled with the brandy-balsamic sauce.

Chocolate Espresso Layer Cake

• 1 recipe of Add A Pinch’s “Best Chocolate Cake,” baked in three 6×2 inch pans for 35-40 minutes
• 1 recipe Chocolate-Espresso Flour Buttercream, recipe below

1. Once you have baked the three cake layers, turn out onto a cooling rack and let cool completely. Use a serrated knife to trim the dome from each cake so that you have flat layers. Frost the cooled cake with the buttercream, using a dot of buttercream on your cake plate to hold the cake steady. If the cake is crumbing too much as you frost, refrigerate the cake briefly before continuing to frost. Chill the frosted cake for at least 30 minutes before serving.

Chocolate-Espresso Flour Buttercream

Adapted from Serious Eats basic Flour Buttercream. Makes about 3 cups of frosting.

• 4 TBS flour
• 1 c. granulated sugar
• 2 tsp espresso powder
• 1 c. whole milk
• 2 oz. unsweetened chocolate, chopped into bite-sized pieces
• 2 sticks salted butter, softened to room temperature

1. Whisk the flour, sugar, and espresso powder together in a medium saucepan until smooth. Whisk in the milk, and place over medium heat. Bring the mixture to a low boil, whisking the entire time. As the mixture begins to boil it will thicken to a custard like consistency – still whisking, cook the custard for one minute, then remove from the heat. Add the chopped chocolate and whisk until melted. Continue whisking the custard until it has cooled to body temperature, about 5 minutes. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, beat the softened butter until it is light and fluffy. If it is greasy, refrigerate for a few minutes to make it more firm. Add the cooled chocolate custard to the whipped butter one spoonful at a time, beating to thoroughly incorporate the custard into the butter between additions. If the frosting begins to break or separate, refrigerate for a few minutes before continuing to add the chocolate custard. Once all the custard has been incorporated into the butter, refrigerate the buttercream for 20-30 minutes before frosting your cake. If you refrigerate the buttercream for longer than 30 minutes, you will need to allow it to come back to slightly below room temperature before using.

The post Sunday Dinner: Valentine’s Day Edition // Chanterelle and Chestnut Bisque, Coffee-Crusted Duck Breast, and Chocolate Espresso Layer Cake appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

The Book: Like many, I’m a long time fan of Green Kitchen Stories, the wonderfully vibrant blog written by David Frenkiel and Luise Vindahl. David and Luise are masters of inspired, healthy cooking, making fruits and vegetables shine in new ways with every post. I loved their first book, Vegetarian Everyday, which was released in the states last year (you can see my full write up here), and it quickly became a go-to book for me when I needed something fast and healthy, as evidenced by this baked pistachio falafel, these savory corn muffins and this baked blackberry oatmeal. When they announced that they were writing a second book, this one based on their travels around the world, I immediately knew I had to have a copy. And Green Kitchen Travels, now safely nestled into my cookbook shelf, does not disappoint.

This is one well-traveled family: together with their four year old daughter, Elsa, they have been everywhere from Spain to Mexico to Morocco to Thailand, picking up new flavors and inspiration in every corner of the globe. The recipes they’ve included to mark their travels are not meant to be recreations of authentic local dishes, but instead are healthy recipes in the unique GKS style influenced by the flavors, ingredients, and techniques they’ve found around the world. It’s fusion at its finest – adopting whatever works from each cuisine and blending it with an existing style to create something balanced and new. I was particularly taken by the chapter dedicated to soups: Vietnamese pho and Indian dal and Italian ribollita all in the same few pages! Of course, the pictures are stunning, as anyone who reads their blog already knows. The travel theme just gives the couple the green light to add to their colorful collection of food pictures with jawdropping landscapes from around the world, market scenes dripping with color and life, and of course, their adorable daughter in exotic locales worldwide. I do love the feeling that in a way, this book is a love letter to Elsa, as you see and hear her influence on their journeys and cooking style throughout the pages – this book is very much a family affair.

The Food: The day I left for my recent trip to Malaysia, I felt like cooking just because. Knowing that I wouldn’t be around to eat whatever I made, I flipped through the pages of Green Kitchen Travels looking for something that I could leave behind for Trevor. I quickly settled on this light Italian cake, which felt like the perfect accompaniment to an afternoon espresso on a warm fall day. The cake is gluten-free, made from a combination of polenta and almond flour, and uses only honey as a sweetener, so you can cut yourself a big slice without too much guilt. I’ve had hit or miss results with “healthy” cakes, and in particular cakes made with ricotta, but this one was very good. It was moist and not overly crumbly, with a delicate flavor of lemons, almonds, and honey. It’s not very sweet, so while I’m not sure I’d serve it for dessert, it’s the perfect thing for an afternoon break or an indulgent breakfast.

Recipe Shortlist: Mexican Breakfast Salad; Rye and Chocolate Croissants; Halloumi Veggie Burgers; Sweet Vietnamese Cucumber Salad; Harira Soup (Tomatoes, Chickpeas, and Dates); Baked Eggplant Rolls; Berber Tagine; Sweet Potato and Eggplant Moussaka; Turmeric Lassi

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Disclaimer: I received a review copy of Green Kitchen Travels from Hardie Grant, but I was not otherwise compensated and all thought and opinions are my own.

Ricotta and Polenta Almond Cake (Torta di Ricotta e Polenta)

Recipe from Green Kitchen Travels. Serves 8.

• 1/2 c.(100g) butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 c. clear honey
• finely grated zest of three small lemons
• 1/2 tsp vanilla or almond extract
• 4 eggs, separated
• 1 1/4 c. (5 oz) almond flour, or whole almonds, ground into flour in food processor
• 1 c. (4 1/2 oz) fine ground polenta
• 1 c. (9 oz) ricotta, preferably creamy
• 1/2 c. flaked almonds
• powdered sugar, for dusting (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F. Line the base of an 8 inch springform tin with parchment paper and set aside.
2. Place the butter, half of the honey, the lemon zest, and the vanilla extract in a large bowl and beat until creamy, using an electric mixer if you have one. Add the egg yolks and continue to beat until fully incorporated and creamy. Add the almond flour, polenta, and ricotta and fold everything together using a spatula.
3. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Still beating, drizzle in the remaining honey and continue to beat the egg whites until medium peaks hold and the honey is fully blended in. Gently fold the egg whites into the rest of the batter.
4. Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin and sprinkle the flaked almonds evenly over the top. Bake for 40-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool completely before removing from the tin. Dust with powdered sugar before serving if desired.

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We currently have a very large supply of beer in our house. Six cases plus four extra 22-oz bottles, to be exact. And it’s all a very dark, very fresh, very rich Russian Imperial Stout that we brewed ourselves at a place in New Hampshire called Incredibrew (their tagline is “Make beer, wine, and friends!” And they mean it, the other customers are the friendliest). My parents went there years ago with friends, and this year their Christmas gift to Trevor was a gift certificate to cover one batch of beer. It took us several tries to schedule a time where all four of us could go (my parents made their own batch, so we could swap some bottles after), but we eventually made it a few weeks ago. It’s a really fun little operation, very well organized and a pretty good deal. You pick one out of dozens of recipes to make, gather your ingredients, get assigned to a copper kettle, and then they walk you through the brewing process. It takes about 2 hours, then your beer sits around for 2 weeks fermenting before you come back and bottle it. The fact that you’re carefully supervised means you end up with very good results, and I never realized how much more flavor and zing really fresh beer has.

So it’s really good, but like I said, we have a lot of it. And while we’re excited to be pouring out something so high quality when friends visit, I got Trevor to agree that a few bottles could be spared for cooking projects. Part of the reason I wanted to go with a stout is that it’s a great beer for cooking and baking – the sweet chocolatey undertones can really amp up the flavor of a batch of brownies or braised ribs. I have a long list of recipes that I’m going to make with it, but first, I wanted to share a really quick and easy cocktail/dessert from Winter Cocktails – a Chocolate Stout Affogato.

This is a very adult dessert. Besides the fact that it has all kinds of things you’re not supposed to give to kids in it (espresso, beer, liqueur) the flavor is rich and mature, not overly sweet and certainly not simple. Both espresso and stout are strongly flavored and have a fair amount of bitterness to them, and when paired with the simple and syrupy sweetness of chocolate liqueur and coffee ice cream, it’s a gorgeous mix of sweet and bitter, with the coffee and chocolate undertones of all four ingredients connecting all the flavors together. The temperature and density contrasts – hot thin espresso, cold creamy ice cream, cold frothy beer – add another element of complexity, at least for the first few bites, before it all melts into one delicious mixture. Since the effort in throwing this together is absolutely minimal – brewing a pot of espresso is the most time consuming task – these are the perfect dessert to end your next dinner party. I promise, they’re so elegant and delicious your guests will have no idea that your copping out on hours in the kitchen to bake that perfect layer cake.

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Chocolate Stout Affogato

Adapted from Winter Cocktails. Serves 1.

• 1 scoop coffee ice cream
• 1 shot (2 oz.) hot espresso, freshly brewed
• 1.5 oz. chocolate liqueur, such as Godiva Mocha
• 1/2 c. stout beer, preferably chocolate stout

1. Place the ice cream in a glass. Pour the espresso, chocolate liqueur, and stout over the top. Serve immediately.

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Sunday afternoon I had a sudden urge to bake. I didn’t have anything planned, and didn’t even have a particularly strong desire to eat baked goods, I just wanted to do the actual baking. The whole whisking, stirring, creaming, folding shebang. Maybe, more than anything, I was just craving ritual. We’re starting to look for an apartment for next year and although I know that there’s no reason to be stressed out about it so early in the process, it can be hard to control that sort of thing. Actually, to tell the truth, I feel stressed out about a lot of things – finding an apartment, finishing planning our upcoming trip, blogging frequently enough, planning my birthday party, getting everything done that I need to at work this week, finding time to exercise, making sure things are going in to the garden on time, and so on. All small things on their own, many of them really fun things on their own, but all together… it feels like a lot. I’m sure everyone has their own list like this and doesn’t need to hear about mine, but it makes me feel better just to write it down. Basically, I need to take a giant chill pill and just relax.

Baking is one version of a chill pill, at least for me. So I turned to my favorite baking cookbook, In The Sweet Kitchen, by Regan Daley – that woman always has something to fit the bill, and her recipes are pretty much foolproof. For whatever reason, I wanted to make something unnecessarily sweet – something with sugary, caramelly flavors in it. As I flipped through the book, I landed on the Pecan Toffee Coffee Cake, and I was sold, even though I knew it meant that I had to run to the store just for toffee bits and sour cream and more nutmeg. (Actually, I took a chance on the tiny Indian corner store down the block and was shocked to find all three things hidden in the shelves. That man’s store is like Mary Poppins’ handbag – I have never gone in there looking for something and left without it. Even obscure things, like power strips and sink strainers.) The flavors in the filling – espresso, cinnamon, nutmeg, pecans, and chocolate-covered toffee bits – are intense and  dark and rich. By the spoonful it would be overpowering, but folded into the center of soft, gently spiced cake, it’s amazing. I’m so glad I gave this a try. Now, the only trick will be to keep myself from stress eating the entire thing.

Pecan Toffee Coffee Cake

Adapted very slightly from In The Sweet Kitchen. Serves 12 to 15.

The only two (tiny) changes I made were to double the amount of espresso powder and use salted butter but omit the salt. I also found that I could only use up about half the filling without having the layers touch each other, so I used the extra filling to sprinkle on top of the warm slices. My advice: make the filling recipe as written below, but don’t fret if it seems like you’ll have too much, and don’t try to overfill the layers.

For the filling:

• 1/2 c. packed light brown sugar
• 2 TBS granulated sugar
• 2 tsp instant espresso powder
• 1 1/2 TBS unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 3/4 c. chopped pecans, toasted until fragrant
• 3/4 c. (half of a 225 gram package) English toffee bits such as Skor or Heath (chocolate-covered toffee bits are even better!)

For the cake:

•  3 c. flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 3/4 c. (1-1/2 sticks) salted butter, softened
• 1 1/4 c. packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 c. granulated sugar
• 3 large eggs, at room temperature
• 2 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 3/4 c. full-fat sour cream
• 3/4 c. (the other half of a 225 gram package) English toffee bits

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Generously grease a 10-inch Bundt pan.
2. To make the filling: In a food processor, pulse together the brown sugar, granulated sugar and espresso powder until finely ground. Transfer to a medium bowl and whisk in cocoa powder, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Stir in chopped pecans and toffee bits. Set aside.
3. To make the cake batter: In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg until evenly combined. Set aside. In a separate large bowl, beat together softened butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating vigorously after each addition. Stir in vanilla.
4. Add the flour mixture to the batter in three additions, alternating with the sour cream in two additions. Mix just to blend in between additions – don’t over-mix the batter at this stage or the cake will be tough. After the last flour addition is stirred in, gently fold in the toffee bits.
5. Spoon 1/3 of the cake batter into the bottom of the prepared pan and spread out with a spatula so it fills the pan evenly. Use a spoon to carve out a shallow “moat” all around the center – you want to leave 1/2 an inch between the edge of the moat and the side of the pan. Generously spoon the filling into the center of the moat, making sure that none of the filling touches the sides. Aim to use about half the filling, but don’t overfill the moat. Spoon another 1/3 of the cake batter on top of the filling and spread all around to cover the filling and reach to the sides. Repeat the moat/filling process to make a second layer of filling. Spoon the last 1/3 of the batter on top of the second layer and smooth with a spatula so the top is even and fills the pan to the edge. Tap the pan once or twice on the counter to remove air bubbles.
6. Bake the cake in the preheated oven for 50-65 minutes, until it is golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake part comes out clean (if you insert it into toffee, it will be hard to tell, so don’t be afraid to poke around a little bit). Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then invert onto a cooling rack. Wait until it is completely cool before slicing. Serve with any leftover filling sprinkled on top.

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Even though my last post was only five days ago, I somehow feel like I’ve been avoiding writing here, and I feel guilty. What is that all about anyway, blogger’s guilt? It’s unwelcome, and I would like it to leave. I tried in earnest to post yesterday – something healthy, since I seem to have been avoiding healthy food posts since finishing the cleanse. I was planning on sharing lamb-and-beet burgers with goat cheese and fried eggs, inspired by Nigel Slater’s Tender. But they came out more like lamb-and-beet sloppy joes, probably because I skipped half the steps out of laziness, and I also didn’t measure any of the ingredients. My bad.

So I’m reverting to cookies. Biscotti, actually, since somehow they seem to me to be a healthier sort of cookie, something just a little sweet and crunchy to have with your tea and help tide you over until dinner. I seem to need a lot of “tiding over” the past few weeks – winter is starting to drag on, and when the light starts to leave the sky and you can tell just by looking that it’s going to be breathtakingly cold as soon as you leave the building, it’s a little depressing. So I’ve been guzzling mug after mug of cinnamon spice tea, and trying my best not to snack mindlessly from the office snack drawer. Tomorrow, though, mindless snacking won’t be a problem – I’ll bring a few of these little guys, and have them to look forward to all morning. A cup of tea, a small plate of biscotti, and I’ll have made it over the hump. And soon, I know the days will get longer and the weather warmer, my seedlings will start to flourish, spring will be back, and maybe I’ll no longer need tiding over. It isn’t so much longer, you know.

Cherry-Hazelnut Biscotti

Adapted slightly from Martha Stewart. Makes about 3 dozen.

• 1 3/4 c. dried cherries
• 1/2 c. frangelico liqueur
• 3 c. flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp coarse salt
• 4 TBS salted butter, softened slightly
• 1 c. sugar
• 4 eggs (3 for dough and one for brushing the cookies)
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 3/4 c. coarsely chopped hazelnuts

1. Preheat oven to 325°F. Place dried cherries and frangelico in a small saucepan, and bring to a low simmer over medium-low heat. Cook until cherries have softened, 5-8 minutes, stirring occasionally. Strain the cherries, reserving the cherry-frangelico liquid.
2. In a medium  bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. In a separate, larger bowl, beat together softened butter and sugar until pale and creamy. One at a time, beat 3 of the 4 eggs into the batter – it should be pale yellow and fairly runny. Beat in the vanilla, and 2 TBS of the reserved cherry-frangelico liquid. Add the flour to the wet ingredients a cup at a time, stirring between additions, until dough is smooth. Stir in cherries and hazelnuts until evenly incorporated.
3. Lightly flour a work surface and turn the dough out onto it. Divide the dough in half, and shape into two logs about a foot long each. Flatten the logs to make rectangles that are a half inch thick. Transfer to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Beat the remaining egg lightly in a small bowl. Brush the beaten egg on top of the dough. Bake for 35 minutes, then remove from oven and allow to cool for 20 minutes on wire racks.
4. Reduce the oven temperature to 300°F. Slice each log on the diagonal into cookies about 1/2 inch thick. Lay cookies down on the baking sheet, and bake for 8 minutes. Remove from oven, flip the cookies, and bake for another 8 minutes. Remove and let cool. Store in an airtight container.

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Time for another week.  Translation: time for coffee to get us through Monday morning.  If you’re me, preferably some milky, sugary coffee, maybe with a little whipped cream.  And chocolate.  It is Monday after all, and Mondays are hard.  Especially after you’ve spent the weekend meeting great people at a great food blogger conference at Stonewall Kitchen and you’re not quite ready to be thinking about your day job, which is not food blogging.  I’ll probably talk more about the conference soon, but for now, let me just thank Alana and Amy of Blog Better Boston for putting it together!

I was never a big coffee drinker until this year (and at 3-4 cups a week, I guess most of you still wouldn’t say I qualify as a big coffee drinker).  I’ve always liked coffee – the flavor, warmth, etc. (again, since by coffee I mean lattes with three packs of sugar, some of you might judge me – I’m OK with that), but I’m super sensitive to caffeine.  One cup of Starbucks coffee and I’m shaking, my heart is racing, and I can’t focus on anything.  Not exactly the desired effect.  But when I’m really dragging, one warm latte is just the thing to get me going.

This is another recipe from Home Made Winter, which I reviewed last week.  Doesn’t it just look like the perfect thing to warm you up on a cold day?  I adapted the recipe a little bit to use espresso instead of coffee, since I don’t have a regular coffee pot (in fact, I don’t have any coffee-making equipment – I had to borrow Trevor’s bialetti for this one!  A great little tool, by the way.)  I also used skim milk, instead of whole, since I wasn’t feeling that indulgent.  Because the recipe has you melt white chocolate into the warm milk, and slightly sweeten the whipped cream, I didn’t even need any extra sugar – I know, I’m a hero right?

Hope everyone enjoyed their weekends, and have a great Monday!

White Chocolate Lattes

Recipe adapted from Home Made Winter.  Serves 2.

Note: Original recipe calls for a smaller volume of whole milk and a larger volume of regular coffee (1 c. milk, 3/4 c. coffee for 2 servings).  Since I wanted to use espresso and have this be more like a latte, I increased the amount of milk and used a shot of espresso per glass, but I’m sure either way would be delicious.  I also don’t love the flavor of cardamom, so I made it optional, but include it if you like the flavor!

• 1 1/2 c. skim milk
• 1 1/2 oz. white chocolate, chopped finely, plus extra for garnish
• 3 oz. (6 TBS) of hot espresso
• 1/4 c. heavy cream
• 1/4 tsp cream of tartar (optional, but I always use it to stiffen my cream)
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1/4 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 tsp freshly ground cardamom (optional)

1. Heat the milk over low heat in a medium saucepan, stirring with a wooden spoon.  As soon as it begins to simmer.  Remove from heat and add the chopped chocolate.  Let sit for 5 minutes, then stir again.  If the chocolate is not fully melted, heat gently for 1-2 minutes over low heat, stirring.
2. In a small bowl, whisk cream until it begins to foam.  Sprinkle cream of tartar over the top, then whisk vigorously until soft peaks form.  Add sugar and vanilla, and whisk to incorporate.
3. Divide hot espresso between two glasses.  Top each glass off with the warm milk and chocolate mixture, and stir to mix.  Top with whipped cream, any extra white chocolate shavings, and ground cardamom, if using.  Enjoy while hot!

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Well, after 12 days of sunbathing, swimming, running, cooking, drinking, and catching up with family and friends, vacation is officially over.  This morning, at the very gray hour of 4:30am, we climbed into the car and made the long drive back to the hot and humid city.  I even had to go to work this afternoon.  Sigh.  But vacation ending isn’t all bad: I missed Trevor a teeny-tiny bit plus it’s good to be back in the garden – while I was gone the watermelon plant grew at least 3 feet, set out its blossoms, and is now covered in tiny watermelons.  The cherry tomatoes started ripening, there’s two baby figs on the tree, and we harvested our first summer squash this afternoon.  And it’s really nice to no longer be the whitest person in my office.  The bright side.

I’m not going to lie, I’m starting to nod off as I type (getting up that early is not really my jam), but I wanted to wrap up a wonderful vacation with a super summery treat – homemade ice cream sandwiches filled with Bailey’s Fudge Ripple ice cream.  Some ice cream recipes – like this one – are super simple, stir it together and throw it in the freezer types… this recipe does not fall into that category.  Making the ice cream itself is a bit time consuming, and when you throw in making the cookies and assembling the sandwiches it’s definitely only the sort of thing you’d do on vacation, or when you really felt like tackling a kitchen project.  However, the rich, slightly boozy, intensely coffee-flavored ice cream with a dense oreo ripple sandwiched between two soft chocolate cookies that is the result?  Worth the effort.  Even if that effort includes scraping off and reassembling your perfectly shaped ice cream sandwiches after not quite closing the freezer door overnight, not that I’m speaking from experience or anything…

Anyways, if you’re also getting back from a blissful vacation, I’d recommend looking at these and then buying a pint of Ben & Jerry’s to fill the void.  If you’re lucky enough to still be on your blissful vacation, enjoy every second of it, and take the time to make yourself a little treat.

P.S. 100% disclosure?  I think I enjoy the classic $1.00 ice cream sandwich a tiny bit more than these (although maybe I’m just a purist).  But the ice cream recipe itself is totally worth making – serve it over  a brownie with a little bit of boiled down Bailey’s syrup for a real treat.

Bailey’s Fudge Ripple Ice Cream

Adapted from The Red Spoon, with a little inspiration from Tasty Kitchen.  Makes about 1 quart, or enough for 6-8 ice cream sandwiches.

• 1 1/4 c. Irish cream liquer, such as Bailey’s, divided
• 1 1/2 c. whole milk
• 3/4 c. sugar
• 1 c. whole coffee beans
• 1 tsp instant espresso
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 c. heavy cream
• 5 egg yolks
• 2 c. oreos or other chocolate cookie

Ice Cream Sandwich Cookies

Adapted from The Cookie Dough Lover’s Cookbook via Brown Eyed Baker.  Makes 24 cookies (12 sandwiches).  Note: although I pretty much always make baked goods by hand (I don’t own a stand mixer), this is one recipe where I’d recommend using a mixer if you have one – the dough is very stiff and hard to work with, and I ended up kneading it by hand to get the best results.

• 1 stick (1/2 c.) salted butter, softened
• 1 1/4 c. light brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 c. cocoa powder, sifted
• 1/2 tsp instant espresso powder
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 c. flour
• 4 TBS room temperature water

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. In a large bowl, cream together softened butter and brown sugar until fluffy.  Add vanilla and stir in.  In a separate bowl, sift together cocoa powder, salt, baking powder, and instant espresso.  Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and stir until fully incorporated.
3. Add 1 c. of flour to the dough and mix until incorporated.  Add 2 TBS of water and stir until dough is even in color and moisture.  Repeat with the remaining 1 c. of flour and 2 TBS of water.  If necessary, knead by hand until dough is smooth and workable.
4. Lightly flour a work surface and rolling pin.  Roll half of the dough out into a rectangle 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick, and use cookie cutter to cut out rectangles.  Transfer to a baking sheet and freeze for 10 minutes.  Repeat with remaining dough.  Bake cookies for 7 minutes until just done.  Don’t overbake!  Let cool for 3 minutes on pan, then transfer to a cooling rack and cool completely.  Freeze cookies for at least 1 hour before assembling.

Ice Cream Sandwich Assembly

1. Remove the cookies from the freezer.  Tear out 6 medium-sized rectangles of plastic wrap, and lay two cookies side by side on each square.
2. Working as quickly as possible, remove ice cream from freezer and use rectangular cookie cutter to cut through ice cream.   Slide a large spatula under ice cream rectangle, holding cookie cutter in place as you work, and transfer the ice cream to one of the cookies.  Immediately sandwich the cookie, pressing down gently, wrap in plastic wrap, and put in freezer.  Repeat with remaining cookies and ice cream.

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Just because I haven’t been writing doesn’t mean I haven’t been cooking.  I have.  I made my first ever baguettes, which came out pretty well despite the fact that I didn’t use bread flour.  I made this delicious quinoa for breakfast and thoroughly enjoyed it even though it was the cause of a full half cup of milk to burn onto my stove (cooking in the morning takes a special kind of person).  I made blueberry muffins with my new muffin tins (thank you family).  I tried a new curry recipe, I made extra saucy and spicy black beans, and I made the this very easy and yummy banana bread.  I even went health-nut (for me at least) and had stir-fried quinoa with kale and jicama.  The kitchen has not been lonely.  Nor has my stomach.  But this blog may have been, and now that midterms are over and my immune system is back on it’s feet I have returned.

I’m home for spring break, meaning a lot of good things: I can sit in the sun for hours without thinking about math, I can have picture-perfect picnics with Trevor, and I have full (when my mother’s not home) use of our beautiful kitchen… and her mixer!  Since I don’t have a mixer and whipping cream by hand drives me nuts, I decided to undertake a whipped-cream-intensive project I’ve been mulling over for a long time – Kardinal Schnitten.  Kardinal Schnitten, which is called Vatican Cake in English, is a light, coffee-flavored cream and meringue dessert that I discovered in Austria.  The first and only time I had it was over fall break on a day trip from Vienna to a small Austrian town called Melk.  Melk is the home to Melk Abbey, a beautiful Baroque compound that dominates a hillside over-looking the Danube.  Despite being followed through town by some confused middle-aged Texan women (“Do y’all speak a lil English?”), our trip was really lovely.  The three highlights?  The abbey library straight out of Beauty and the Beast, the most beautiful chapel I saw during my four months in Europe, and the Kardinal Schnitten.

Here is the story of the schnitten – After finishing our tour of the Abbey, we had about an hour to kill before our train back to Vienna was due.  So we sized up the local establishments and decided on a tiny but bustling little coffeeshop.  We sat at a table in the warmly lit back-room, sipping Viennese coffee and snacking on pastries while we unabashedly observed the long table full of old Austrian ladies gossiping and noshing.  It was the perfect European coffeeshop experience, one we had been looking for but had been unable to find in any of the big cities.  And the schnitten?  Delicious.

The delicate flavor of that cake was not one that left my mind quickly, but finding a recipe for it proved to be difficult.  None of the German cookbooks in my local library featured it, and Google only returned one English-language result.  So I took that and the adventure started.  First, I went about converting the measurements, which were in grams, to cups.  Then, I attempted to decipher the cryptic, translated instructions.  Standing by the counter with my dozen eggs and pint of whipped cream, I was excited, but skeptical.

The process was a bit bumpy, but as I baked, I learned all sorts of things about egg whites and meringues and cream.  For example, even the tiniest bit of yolk really will keep all your whites from stiffening.  Faced with a batch of droopy meringue batter I had to decide whether or not to start over – I ended up deciding to keep going because I couldn’t bear to waste so any eggs, and the meringues were still OK.  The end result was not exactly photogenic, but it was good, and fairly close to what I remembered loving in Melk.  With a little tweaking for better presentation, it would make an elegant and unexpected dessert at any party.

Kardinal Schnitten

Adapted from the Wiener Zucker Website

• 7 eggs
• 1 1/4 c. granulated sugar
• 1/2 c. powdered sugar
• 1/2 c. flour
• 2 c. whipping cream
• 2 TBS instant coffee powder
• 2 tsp vanilla extract

What I Did This Time:

1. Preheat oven to 340°F.
2. Separate 5 of the 7 eggs.  Whip 5 egg whites until they begin to stiffen.  Gradually add granulated sugar to whites.  Continue to whip until stiff.  Spoon into 8 strips on baking sheet and bake 23 minutes. (These are the meringues.)
3. To the 5 egg yolks, add 2 whole eggs, a full half cup of powdered sugar, and a scant half cup of flour.  Whisk until foamy.  Pour into greased 9×13 pan and bake 25 minutes.  Let cool slightly and cut into strips. (This is the cake.)
4. Whip cream with instant coffee and vanilla until very stable, with the consistency of clotted cream.
5. Realize your meringues are sort of disastrous when the top layer completely crumbles off.  Decide that individual pastry squares are not in your future.  Rethink.
6. Place cake strips on a platter.  Top with most of whipped cream.  Crumble meringue bits on top of whipped cream.  Place intact meringue insides on top of whipped cream.  Repeat whipped cream and meringue layers.

Thoughts about next time:

• Whip cream with Kahlua or Bailey’s instead of instant coffee for a stronger flavor.
• Double the cake part in order to have two complete cake-cream-meringue layers.
• Tinker with the meringue size and baking time so they remain intact.

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