Only two more weeks until Christmas! Hard to believe, right? I think, in truth, I have mixed feelings about this season. I want to slow down and enjoy it and spend long days just, I don’t know, being festive. Like when you were a kid. But there’s still work and projects and wrapping things up for the end of the year. So, like most things in life, I’m striving for balance, getting things done while also indulging in Christmas activities. I’m also trying not to set unreasonably high standards for myself about what it means to “celebrate.” What this balance translates to in my house is the Swinging Christmas Pandora station playing when I’m cooking dinner, even if dinner is not particularly Christmasy. It means watching Love Actually and The Grinch and A Muppet Christmas Carol with Trevor, even if we only make it through 1/3 of each movie every night. It means baking simple cookies that can be made on a weeknight and saved for later, and spending a few minutes every day just sitting by the tree and enjoying the lights. Because a little bit of Christmas spirit every day adds up!

One of my more ambitious Christmas kitchen projects this year was these Spiked Eggnog Éclairs with Nutmeg Glaze. These are a weekend project, good for a freezing cold Saturday like today. Or, in the spirit of what I wrote above, you can split the prep over a few days, like I did, making the eggnog pastry cream in the morning before work, then baking and filling the shells later. I love eggnog – it’s so indulgent but so good. With a splash of rum and just a hint of nutmeg it’s one of my favorite Christmas treats. So turned into a pastry cream and piped into freshly baked éclair shells? I am definitely into it.

This recipe is adapted from Jenny McCoy‘s book Modern Éclairs, which is full of great recipes for sweet and savory éclairs, profiteroles, and other treats using pate a choux. I particularly like the savory recipes, like the Croque Monsieur Éclairs and the Cheddar, Chipotle and Roasted Corn Gougeres. But for Christmas, I couldn’t resist testing out the very seasonal Eggnog Éclairs. The original eggnog pastry cream recipe didn’t call for any liquor, but having tasted it both before and after adding the rum, I think the spiked version is superior. I always have a tough time piping filling into éclairs, so in the recipe below I call for slicing them in half to fill. But if you’re handy with a piping bag, by all means, fill away.

I hope your Christmas preparations are getting underway, too, if Christmas is your thing. And either way, I hope you’re finding some time to enjoy this festive season!

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Disclosure: I received a review copy of Modern Eclairs from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, but I was not otherwise compensated and all thought and opinions are my own.

Spiked Eggnog Eclairs with Nutmeg Glaze

Recipe adapted from Modern Éclairs. Makes 20 large eclairs.

For the eggnog pastry cream:

• 4 large egg yolks
• 1 large egg
• 4 TBS cornstarch
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 cups eggnog
• 5 TBS salted butter, cut into small pieces
• 1/4 cup dark spiced rum

For the elcair shells and nutmeg glaze:

• 2/3 cup water
• 2/3 cup whole milk
• 10 TBS salted butter, cut into small pieces
• 1 TBS sugar
• 1 1/2 cup bread flour, sifted
• 6 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 3 TBS dark rum

1. To prepare the eggnog pastry cream: add the egg yolks, whole egg, cornstarch, and sugar to a large heatproof bowl. Beat vigorously until very smooth (you don’t want any lumps of cornstarch). Set aside. In a medium saucepan, bring the eggnog to a gentle simmer. Slowly pour the hot eggnog over the eggs while whisking the eggs vigorously to prevent scrambling. Return the mixture to the pot and cook over medium low heat, whisking constantly, until thick and smooth, about 2-3 minutes. Remove from the heat and immediately stir in the 5 TBS of butter pieces until melted. Strain the mixture through a fine mesh sieve into a clean bowl. Let cool about 10 minutes, then stir in the rum. Cover and refrigerate until set, at least 3 hours, preferably overnight.
2. To prepare the pate a choux dough: add the water, milk, butter pieces, and sugar to a medium saucepan. Heat over medium heat until the mixture is boiling and the butter is fully melted. Turn off the heat and add the sifted bread flour all at once, stirring hard until there are no dry lumps of flour left. Turn the heat back on and cook the dough while continuing to stir it constantly until a skin begins to form on the base of the pot (or the dough begins to look slightly dry on the surface if using a non-stick pot), which should take about 3-4 minutes. Remove from the heat and transfer to a bowl. Let dough cool for about 3 minutes, and then add the eggs one at a time, beating each egg into the dough completely before adding the next egg. The final dough should be thick and shiny and slowly run off your spoon when lifted out of the bowl.
3. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Fit a pastry bag with a large star tip and fill the bag with the pate a choux dough. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and pipe long, straight, and thick lines of dough, leaving 2 inches of space between them. Each eclair should be about 5 inches long and 1 inch wide. They will look awkwardly skinny but don’t be tempted to make them wider – they will expand as they bake. Press down any pointy tips with your finger. Bake the eclairs until deep golden brown and cooked through, about 45 minutes. Let cool to room temperature before filling.
4. To fill, use a serrated knife to cut the eclairs in half lengthwise. Fill a pastry bag with the eggnog pastry cream and pipe onto the cut side of each eclair bottom. In a medium bowl, whisk together the confectioners’ sugar and nutmeg until smooth, then add the rum and whisk until a smooth, runny glaze has formed. If the glaze does not drip easily off of a spoon, add a little more rum. Drizzle the glaze over the un-cut side of the eclair tops, using the back of a spoon to smooth out the glaze if necessary. Let the glaze dry before putting the tops back on the filled eclairs. Serve immediately.

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Our trip to Japan this February was one of the best trips I’ve ever been on. I wasn’t expecting it – it was more Trevor’s pick than mine, and despite my best intentions, I really hadn’t planned much other than our accommodations and transportation before we got on the plane from Hong Kong. I think my limited expectations contributed to how much I enjoyed the trip, but even without that, Japan is just a magical place. Despite the language barrier, which is very real, it’s an easy place to travel – safe, friendly, and orderly. If you know and follow the rules and schedules, travel is easy and pleasant. On top of that, Trevor and I were in a very happy place. After a year of hectic travel schedules and stressful jobs, spending 4 weeks together in Hong Kong felt like the exact reminder I needed about how much I love simply spending time with him. Taking that feeling into vacation made the trip that much better.

We flew into Tokyo on a red-eye from Hong Kong. Rather than drag our suitcases through a crowded city, waiting for our hotel room to be available while struggling to keep our eyes open, we chose simply to hop on the Shinkansen from Narita and head straight for Kyoto. It was the right choice – I can’t imagine a better introduction to Japan than beautiful Kyoto. Kyoto is both provincial and timeless, sprawling yet accessible, and filled with so much history and beauty and culture.

We took our time exploring Kyoto, only doing as much as we felt like each day. The morning that we visited Fushimi Inari to see the famous orange torii gates turned into late afternoon when we decided to follow a wooded path through the forest rather than return down the mountain with the crowds. That path led to a moss-covered stone garden, a secret bamboo grove, a farm with grapefruit-laden trees, a blossoming plum tree, and a neighborhood of high-end but very traditional homes, tucked away on a quiet side street. Nishiki market was another treasure – we could have spent the better part of a day trying everything it had to offer. As it was, we tasted our way through tako tamago (baby octopus stuffed with a quail egg), freshly made matcha mochi, okonomiyaki, a variety of battered and fried vegetables, and an incredible glass of unpasteurized sake, called namasake. The brilliant gold facade of Kinkakuji Temple was worth the 45 minute walk to get there, despite the swarms of other people who were walking by with us. And in the late afternoon one day, we snuck into Nijo Castle just minutes before closing time, and by walking just a little bit slower than the group in front of us, we found ourselves walking down the airy wooden halls alone, listening to the chirping of the nightingale floors under our feet and imagining what it would have been like to sit in the center of the painted rooms.

One morning, perhaps my favorite morning of the trip, we spent wandering through Arashiyama. The bamboo forest was the initial draw, but ultimately I found it underwhelming. Yes, the bamboo groves are as lovely as the photos look, but they don’t have the immensity or the depth I was expecting – after a few short minutes, we had walked through all of them. But the rest of the Arashiyama area was so worth the visit. There’s a beautiful, wide, pale-green river, dozens of restaurants in traditional wooden buildings with views of the river, a few bustling streets lined with shops, and a perfectly hipster coffee place that fully satisfied my desire to do the “Japanese coffeeshop thing” that Instagram so dearly loves. The weather was fickle and frosty, with brief and furious snow flurries followed by gentle sunshine all morning. We climbed to the top of one of the hills to see the monkeys, and loved it so much we spent an hour watching them play, looking out over the city, and feeding them bananas. When we were thoroughly chilled, we ducked inside a casual restaurant for steaming bowls of katsu donburi, just as the snow picked up outside. It was the sort of day that leaves a lasting impression, where you know just how lovely the memory will be before the day is even over.

Choosing restaurants in Kyoto was one of the more daunting things we experienced. We were staying in a quiet neighborhood a little outside of the main tourist areas (in a little boutique hotel called Villa Aneyakoji, which I recommend without any reservation whatsoever – it was perfect), and we walked by tons of lovely, intimate-looking restaurants, emanating a warm yellow glow from inside traditional wooden buildings. But all the signs and menus were only in Japanese, and with very limited ability to communicate, or even read the prices, we weren’t comfortable enough to go in, although we desperately wanted to. So we primarily ended up at the places with loud English menus – the sort of restaurant I typically try to avoid when traveling (with the notable exception of the meal we had at Tiger Gyoza Hall, which was excellent and felt like a lucky find). One night, after an acceptable but not extraordinary dinner at a conveyor-belt sushi place (worth going once just for the experience), we were wandering home rather late, hoping that the matcha cream puff place we had wandered by in the mall would still be open. Everything in the mall was decidedly closed, but we kept wandering and found ourselves outside of the Lipton Tea House, with pristine pastries beckoning from the window. After a little gesturing to the proprietress, we walked out with a box containing one enormous cream puff and one thick slice of matcha and chocolate cake, to be enjoyed 20 minutes later in our yakutas from the comfort of our room. (An illustration of Japanese hospitality: we asked for a fork at reception when we walked into our hotel, and 3 minutes later someone knocked on our door carrying a tray with plates, hot towels, and tiny gold forks for our dessert. This is now what I expect when I ask for a fork anywhere in the world).

I devoured that cream puff – it was light and rich and flavorful and perfect – and somehow it became my primary food memory from Kyoto, despite not being particularly Japanese. So I’ve made cream puffs for you here – big ones, with perfectly puffed and eggy shells and a matcha-infused cream. I went light on the matcha, because it’s a strongly savory flavor (and because it costs an arm and a leg here), but if you know you love the flavor of matcha feel free to increase it. And although I didn’t end up using these component recipes, Zen Can Cook deserves a shoutout here, if only for the inspiration his beautiful photos provided.

More from Japan:
Japan Travelogue Part Two: Ise Peninsula; Ginger Chicken Miso Ramen

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Matcha Cream Puffs

Pate a choux recipe adapted from Food Network. Makes about 20 large cream puffs.

For the pastry cream:

• 1/2 c. sugar
• 4 TBS cornstarch
• 2 whole eggs
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 c. whole milk
• pinch of salt
• 1 TBS matcha tea powder
• 3 TBS butter, cut into thin slices
• 1 c. heavy cream

For the puffs:

• 1 c. water
• 1 stick salted butter
• pinch salt
• 1 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1 c. flour
• 4 whole eggs

1. To make the pastry cream, whisk together the sugar and cornstarch in a large, heatproof bowl until evenly combined. Add the eggs and egg yolk to the sugar and whisk until the mixture is thick and pale yellow. Set aside.
2. In a medium saucepan, combine the milk and the salt and heat over medium temperature. Bring just to a simmer (milk should be steaming and starting to bubble around the edges but not boiling) then remove from the heat. Sift the matcha powder into the milk through a fine-mesh sieve, whisking to combine. Slowly pour the hot milk into the egg mixture, whisking the eggs vigorously as you do so, to temper the eggs. Transfer the custard back to the saucepan and return to medium-low heat, whisking the custard the whole time to prevent lumps and scrambling the eggs. Cook the custard, still whisking, until it has thickened, about 3-4 minutes, then pour into a clean bowl. Stir in the butter piece by piece, waiting until each piece has melted before adding the next. Let custard cool slightly, then cover with plastic wrap, pressing plastic wrap against surface of the custard, and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled.
3. To make the cream puffs, preheat the oven to 425°F. Combine the water, butter, salt, and sugar in a medium saucepan. Bring just to a boil, then remove from the heat and add the flour all at once, stirring vigorously to incorporate. Stir until the flour is fully incorporated, then return the pot to the heat and cook for 60-90 seconds, beating hard the whole time, until the water has evaporated from the dough to the point that the dough leaves a thin film on the bottom of the pot. Remove from the heat and transfer the dough to a bowl.
4. Beat the eggs into the dough one at a time, thoroughly mixing between additions. When you have added the last egg, the dough should be smooth and shiny, and drip slowly from the spoon when lifted out of the bowl. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Use a tablespoon to scoop rounds of dough onto the parchment paper, leaving at least 2 inches between them. Use your finger to flatten any points as they will burn. Alternatively, you can spoon the dough into a pastry bag fitted with a large tip and pipe rounds onto the baking trays, but I found this more difficult than simply scooping them. Bake the cream puffs for 15 minutes at 425°F, then reduce the heat to 375°F and bake for another 20 minutes, until puffed up and lightly browned all over. Remove from the oven and let cool on a cooling rack.
5. To assemble and serve the cream puffs, beat the heavy cream until soft peaks form. Add 1/3 of the whipped cream to the pastry cream and use a spatula to gently fold into the cream until mixture is even. Repeat twice more with the remaining whipped cream – the resulting whipped pastry cream should be light and airy but still hold it’s shape. Cut the puffs apart horizontally with a serrated knife and place a large spoonful of the cream on top of the bottom half, then replace the top half of the puff on top of the pastry cream. Only fill as many cream puffs as you will be serving immediately.

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If you look at my travelogue collection, which currently includes Ecuador, Italy, St. Thomas, and bits and pieces from around New England and Canada, it sorely under-represents my actual travel history. Where is Russia? Malaysia? Chile and Colombia? Travelogues are some of my favorite posts to look back on, but I often fall into the trap of putting them on my editorial calendar, meaning to sort through all my pictures and memories to share with you and document for myself, and then dragging the post forward month after month until my memories are a little jumbled and I’m not sure exactly what to say. Case in point – I’ve been meaning to write about the 6 weeks I spent in Russia for two years. Two years!

But I’m determined to change this, starting with my trip to Ireland in August. It was a short trip, just 6 days, but after 8 months of hectic and often stressful work travel, it reminded me that traveling for vacation is an entirely different matter – it’s fun and thrilling and wonderful to be on your own discovering someplace new. The trip was just me and my two younger brothers, Ryan and Robbie, and it was special to have time together just the three of us (even when I was screaming at them to stop fooling around and get dressed as we all bumped into each other in the teeny-tiny B&B room we shared in Galway).

Galway, The Aran Islands, The Burren

I won’t give you a day-by-day hour-by-hour breakdown of our trip – in fact, what I really want to share is just the one, perfect day we spent exploring the Burren. We flew into Dublin on Friday morning and after spending the day wandering, trying not to take a nap and enjoying our first few pints, we took the train from Dublin to Galway. The main event in Galway was a full day tour to the Aran Islands and the Cliffs of Moher – with only a short time in the country (and because none of us felt comfortable driving), we opted to do most of our sight-seeing with tour groups, and it worked out perfectly. We went on this tour with The Galway Tour Company, and I would highly recommend it – there was a good balance between the guided, tour-like parts and being able to explore on your own, and it allowed us to see a ton in the one day we had.

We went to the smallest of the Aran Islands, Inisheer, which has a population of only 250. The ferry across from Doolin to Inisheer was exciting, to say the least. I have spent a lot of time on boats of all shapes and sizes throughout my life, and this went straight to my “Top 3 most nerve-wracking boat experiences.” Just looking at the ocean from the dock made me nervous – when they say Wild Atlantic here, they really mean it. I’m sure we were perfectly safe – it is a ferry, after all – but the pitch of that boat and the size of those waves was both awe inspiring and terrifying. And they told us it was a “pretty good” day for crossing.

Once we were on the island (a relief in and of itself), we rented bikes and pedaled our hearts out – up the winding roads to the ruined castle, down through the stone wall-lined paths to the lighthouse, and back around to the rusted shipwreck. It was an exhilarating morning, one that I will look back on for a long time for its beauty, freedom, and sense of discovery. The weather was gray and just a little wild, and the island was incredibly beautiful, with its maze of low stone walls and verdant green pastures. I would go back in a heartbeat – and for more than 2 hours next time.

After a slightly less harrowing ferry ride back to Doolin, this time taking a detour by the base of the Cliffs of Moher (awe-inspiring, but slightly hard to appreciate whilst also worrying you might get swept off the boat), we stopped in at a very efficient pub for beef stew and brown bread and a warming Guinness. Next up were the Cliffs themselves, one of Ireland’s most famed attractions. Unsurprisingly, they were flooded with people, but somehow it didn’t matter – it was still an incredible thing to see in person. Plus, if you walk just a little bit beyond the official visitor areas, the crowds thin to a more manageable point. We had just a little over an hour to wander the paths snaking over the top of the cliffs, which was enough to take it all in and take some lovely pictures. Again, though, if I ever find myself back there, I’ll slow down a little and walk to the top of the cliffs from Doolin, taking the time to appreciate them properly. As it was, we left at 6pm and had a long, sleepy bus ride back to Galway, watching the rocky landscape of the Burren pass us by through the windows.

The Burren is what I’ll be going back to Ireland for – the wild wind-swept landscapes, tumble-down stone houses, and juxtaposition of green and gray and the steely blue of the Atlantic. To rent a house and a little car, spending my days going for long rambling walks and ending them with hot stew and fresh beer in cozy little pubs sounds like the ideal sort of vacation. I got just a taste this time but now I know that this part of Ireland is exactly how I always imagined Ireland would be.

Scones

Ireland is not exactly known for its food, and although we had several tasty meals, nothing was particularly memorable. Nothing, that is, except the brown bread and the scones and the butter. The scones, in particular, were far better than any others I’ve had. The best one I had was at the most unassuming place – the museum café in the National Museum of Ireland for Decorative Arts and History. The café was a little serve-yourself place, with charming blue tablecloths and no pretentions whatsoever, and the scones were just perfect. I think the fact that I went by myself, on our first afternoon while my brothers were sound asleep, added to the loveliness of the moment, and so I’ve taken it away as my primary food memory from Ireland – and the one I want to share with you.

I’ve made scones a number of times (like these Peach Scones with Bourbon Glaze), but they are always much too close to biscuits for me. I don’t want a scone to flake – I want it to crumble. I realize there are many different interpretations of the perfect scone out there, but for me it’s pretty close to that museum scone – soft, more cakey than biscuity, studded with fruit, and served with lots of butter and jam. Here’s instagram evidence of that particular scone, if you’re curious.

So I did some research on the best way to make Irish scones and in doing so, stumbled upon an Atlantic article called “The Secret of the Irish Scone.” The title certainly seemed promising, but I have to say I was a bit skeptical when I got to the end of the article and discovered that the secret to Irish scones was olive oil. And by skeptical I mean I am 100% positive that no traditional Irish baker ever made a scone with foreign, grassy olive oil in place of all that lovely Irish butter they have everywhere. But the reasoning behind using a liquid fat instead of a solid fat stuck with me, and I decided to give them a try. I added dried sour cherries and the last of the frozen red currants in place of the raisins and frozen raspberries, and really they were lovely. Perhaps not the most Irish, as you can taste a hint of olive oil, but certainly closer to the real thing than the flaky buttery versions I’ve made in the past. So I present these scones to you, not as authentic Irish scones, but as truly delicious scones that are wonderful reminders of a wonderful trip.

Olive Oil Scones with Red Currants and Sour Cherries

Adapted from The Atlantic. Makes about 12 scones.

• 1 3/4 c. AP flour
• 1 c. pastry flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 c. buttermilk
• 1/2 c. light-flavored olive oil
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 c. dried sour cherries
• 1/2 c. frozen red currants
• egg wash (1 egg mixed with 1 tsp water)

1. Preheat the oven to 500°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
2. Mix the flours, baking powder, and salt together in a large bowl. Sift the flour mixture twice using a sifter or fine-mesh sieve so that the flour is very light. Set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together buttermilk, olive oil, sugar, and egg until evenly combined. Make a well in the center of the flour and pour the buttermilk mixture into. Add the sour cherries as well. Use a wooden spoon to gently mix the flour and buttermilk mixtures together until just combined. The mixture should be fairly wet.
4. Generously flour a work surface and turn the dough out onto it. Pat the dough into a rectangle about 1-inch high. Sprinkle the frozen currants over half of the dough, then gently fold the other half of the dough on top of it. Press dough lightly to embed the currants into it. Pat the dough into another rectangle that is about 1 and 1/2 inches high. Use a biscuit cutter to cut out round circles from the dough, placing these circles on the prepared baking sheet. Pat any extra scraps of dough into rough circles and add to the baking sheet. Brush the scones with the egg wash, then refrigerate for 15 minutes. Brush once more with the egg wash, and place in the oven. Immediately lower the oven temperature to 425°F. Bake until just golden brown on top, about 15-18 minutes. Let cool on a cooling rack. Serve within a few days for best flavor. Freeze any extras wrapped tightly in plastic wrap.

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Tuesday was Trevor’s 26^th birthday. To celebrate, we made a croquembouche, partly because croquembouche is fun to say, partly because it’s elaborate and over-the-top and oh-so-French, all things that Trevor likes, and partly because peanut-butter pastry cream stuffed cream puffs stacked in a tower and stuck together with caramel sauce is a really delicious prospect. It really wasn’t so hard – pate a choux is easy to make (and it’s extremely satisfying to watch the dough puff up in the oven) and pastry cream is simple as long as you are attentive and patient while tempering your eggs. The assembly is a bit tedious, but I’d recommend getting a birthday boyfriend with extreme attention to detail (and no regard for his fingertips / high willingness to touch hot caramel) to do that for you.

Trevor, I am so happy that we have spent our last 7 birthdays together. I can’t think of anyone else that I’d rather celebrate. I love you and I think this year will bring even more great things for us – our first house (!!), more travels, and who knows what other goodness. I’m keeping this short and sweet since, as per usual, I have to get on another plane, but really. I love you. Happy Birthday. Rock on.

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Peanut Butter Croquembouche

Pastry cream recipe from How Sweet Eats. Cream puff recipe from Food Network.

For the pastry cream:

• 1/2 c. granulated sugar
• 1/4 c. cake flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 4 large egg yolks
• 1 1/2 c. whole milk
• 1/4 c. smooth peanut butter
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 c. heavy cream

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the sugar, flour, and salt until evenly combined. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs. Add the sugar mixture to the eggs a bit a time, whisking until smooth between additions. When you have finished adding the sugar mixture, the eggs should be pale yellow and smooth.
2. Heat the milk over medium heat in a medium saucepan, just until small bubbles begin to appear at the edges of the pan. Do not bring the milk to a boil. Remove the milk from the heat and very slowly drizzle the milk into the eggs, whisking the eggs vigorously as you do so. Pour the tempered custard back into the saucepan and return to medium-low heat. Cook the custard until thickened, about 3-5 minutes, whisking vigorously the whole time. Remove the custard from the heat. Immediately stir in the peanut butter until it is melted, then whisk in the vanilla. Transfer to a bowl, cover with plastic wrap so that the plastic wrap touches the surface of the pastry cream, and refrigerate until fully chilled, at least 2 hours.
3. Just before filling the cream puffs, whip the heavy cream into soft peaks. Fold the whipped cream into the pastry cream until it is evenly mixed.

For the cream puffs:

• 1 stick salted butter
• 1 c. water
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1 c. flour
• 4 eggs

1. Preheat the oven to 425°F. Place the butter, water, salt, and sugar in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat. As soon as it boils, remove from the heat and add the flour all at once, stirring vigorously to incorporate. Stir until the flour is fully incorporated, then return the pot to the heat and cook for 60-90 seconds, beating hard the whole time, until the water has evaporated from the dough to the point that the dough leaves a thin film on the bottom of the pot. Remove from the heat and transfer the dough to a bowl.
2. Beat the egg yolks into the dough one at a time, thoroughly mixing between additions. When you have added the last egg yolk, the dough should be smooth and shiny, and drip slowly from the spoon when lifted out of the bowl. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Use a tablespoon to scoop rounds of dough onto the parchment paper, leaving at least 2 inches between them. Use your finger to flatten any points as they will burn. Alternatively, you can spoon the dough into a pastry bag fitted with a large tip and pipe rounds onto the baking trays, but I found this more difficult than simply scooping them.
3. Bake the cream puffs for 15 minutes at 425°F, then reduce the heat to 375°F and bake for another 20 minutes, until puffed up and lightly browned all over. Remove from the oven and let cool on a cooling rack.

To assemble:

1. Spoon the pastry cream into a pastry bag fitted with a medium, straight tip. Fill the cream puffs by inserting the tip of the pastry bag into the bottom of each cream puff (use a knife to cut a small hole if necessary) and filling until the cream puff is heavy and you can’t add any more cream without it coming back out. Set the filled cream puffs aside.
2. Prepare a caramel sauce for assembling the croquembouche: pour a thin, even layer of sugar (you will use between ¾ and 1 ½ cups, depending on the size of your pan) into a non-stick frying pan. Heat over medium-low heat (do not stir). When the sugar begins to melt and brown in places, use a spatula to carefully push the melted sugar into the unmelted sugar a bit at a time, until the whole pan is melted. Bring to a medium brown color, then immediately remove from the heat.
3. Have a bowl of ice water at the ready in case of burns from the hot caramel. Very carefully dip the bottom and sides of the filled cream puffs into the caramel (or use the spatula to dab it on) and immediately place the cream puffs on a cake stand or other serving vessels (the caramel will harden quickly so move fast). Place the first layer of cream puffs in a circle, using about 6 cream puffs to complete the circle. The second layer should have 5 cream puffs, then 4, etc., until you have used up all the cream puffs and completed the tower. If the caramel hardens while you are assembling, you can gently reheat it until it is molten again. Drizzle any extra caramel on top of the croquembouche. Serve within 4 hours of assembling.

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This past fall, Trevor and I were given our first magazine assignment – to eat and drink our way through Kittery Foreside, the newly rejuvenated downtown area of Kittery, ME. We spent a fantastic weekend in late October doing just that, in addition to exercising our journalism muscles. It was more challenging than I thought to make the switch from basic consumer to curious writer and photographer, but once we got into it, it was kind of a blast. It’s a pretty small area, so by the time we had been there for 24 hours, we had really gotten a feel for the pulse of the town and for the people who are bringing it back to life.

Our article is now published in the winter issue of ZEST Maine, and we couldn’t be prouder to see our work in print. Of course, we owe our gratitude to Trevor’s uncle for the opportunity to contribute. The magazine’s owner has also kindly given us permission to share the full article here – take a look, and if you also happen to be a lover of Maine, hop on over to their website and consider subscribing.

ZEST Winter 2015 – Kittery Foreside Article

One of the culinary highlights of the trip were the incredible crullers we had at Lil’s Cafe. Impossibly eggy and airy, we could have eaten only crullers for the whole weekend and left happy – if you’re in or around Boston, it’s worth the drive up just to try them. When the article came out, we knew that crullers were the only way to celebrate. Trevor likes food projects, so he volunteered to take charge of recreating the crullers at home. I’ve never had truly homemade donuts before, and I have to say, they were pretty amazing. Part of the trick in making them look pretty is in freezing the donuts immediately after piping, then frying the donuts directly from the frozen state. He may not be a pastry chef but I’d drive pretty far for a box of Trevor’s homemade crullers, too.

Apple Cider French Crullers

Recipe adapted from the Food Network. Makes 16 crullers.

• 3/4 c. apple cider
• 1/2 c. water
• 8 TBS salted butter
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 c. flour
• 3-5 eggs
• 2 c. powdered sugar
• 1/4 c. milk
• vegetable oil, for frying

1. Combine the cider, water, butter, sugar, and salt in a large saucepan and bring to a rolling boil over medium-high heat. Remove from the heat and add the flour all at once, stirring hard with a wooden spoon until all the flour is incorporated. Return the pan to the heat and cook, stirring, for about 2 more minutes, to evaporate some of the moisture.
2. Remove the dough from the heat. Beat in the eggs one at a time, pausing after 3 eggs to check the consistency. The dough should be smooth and glossy and run slowly off the spoon when you lift it. If you reach this stage after 3 or 4 eggs, do not continue adding eggs to the dough.
3. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Fit a pastry/frosting bag with a large star tip, and spoon the dough into the bag. Pipe the dough into wreaths about 2-3 inches in diameter. Freeze the doughnuts on the tray for at least 15 minutes.
4. Make the glaze by whisking together the powdered sugar and milk until smooth.
5. To fry the doughnuts, heat the 1 1/2 inches of vegetable oil in a wide frying pan over medium heat. Heat the oil to 325°F. Working in batches, add the frozen doughnuts to the hot oil and fry until they float to the top and are golden brown all over, about 2-3 minutes. You may need to carefully flip the doughnuts over once while they are frying for even cooking. Use a slotted metal spoon or skimmer to remove the doughnuts from the oil and drain on a paper bag. Once cool enough to touch, dip the warm doughnuts into the glaze and let cool on a cooling rack. Serve immediately.

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It’s your favorite guest poster! Trevor is here with his latest creation, pumpkin butter and cream cheese danishes, made from our very own home-grown pumpkins. These danishes are incredibly delicious, and I think they’re multiplying while I’m at work, as we seem to have an infinite supply that gets replenished every time I think I’ve polished off the last one. Raise your hand if you want one! Just kidding, I’m keeping these (and their baker!) all to myself. But you can definitely have the recipe.

Last summer, my greatest garden wish was to have a super wild, super productive squash patch in our garden. This year, we got exactly that, and we learned there is a lot of value in order. We spent a solid chunk of the summer in our new patch tracing out vines from the winter squash and melons as they wound around and underneath our mounds of summer squash and zucchini plants. Half the trick was trying to find all the zucchini before they became giant inedible monsters. We definitely owe Katie’s dad for sacrificing his wildflower field, which will hopefully regrow in it’s new location, and for tilling the whole 30’ x 50’ patch for us and our pumpkin dreams.

Despite the disorder, we ended up with a ton more squash than we’ve had in past years, and a huge jumble of vines of questionable origin. Somehow our New England Sugar Pie pumpkins managed to grow vines about 20 feet long extending in every direction, and setting fruit in literally every corner of the patch. After two big, promising, just-turning-orange pumpkins were completely demolished by our friendly neighborhood deer, we put up a hasty fence and secured a harvest of about 8 nice-sized pumpkins, with more still ripening on the vines. Now the only challenge that remains is figuring out what to do with it all.

So far, I’ve made some apple-wood smoked pumpkin that we used in a risotto, Katie’s done that beautiful vegetable curry, and I made some pumpkin butter to go in these danishes. I’m a huge fan of raspberry cream cheese danishes, so that’s the route I chose to go with for the pumpkin ones. I make the pumpkin butter a little lemony to get some tartness to go with the cream cheese, and I think they came out really well. The dough recipe I used makes about twice as much dough as I needed for the first batch, so more pastries are definitely in order.

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Pumpkin Butter and Cream Cheese Danishes

Pastry dough recipe adapted from Food.com. Makes 16 danishes.

For the pumpkin butter filling:

• 4 c. pumpkin puree
• ¾ c. water
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• ¼ tsp powdered ginger
• 1 Tbsp honey
• ¾ c. brown sugar

For the Cream Cheese Filling:

• 8 oz. package of cream cheese
• ½ c. Greek yogurt
• ¼ tsp vanilla
• ¼ c. sugar

For the Danish Pastry Dough:

• 2 c. milk
• 1 ½ tsp dry yeast
• 2 large eggs
• ½ tsp vanilla
• 7 c. all-purpose flour
• ⅓ c. granulated sugar
• 1 ½ tsp salt
• 1 lb unsalted butter
• ½ tsp cardamom

For the pumpkin butter:

1. If you are using whole pumpkins to begin with, follow these instructions to make your puree. If you are using canned pumpkin, skip to step two.
   1. Preheat oven to 300°F.
   2. Cut the pumpkin in half, and scoop out the seeds and fibers, discarding or reserving for another use.
   3. Place  pumpkins, cut side down, in a pyrex baking dish and fill the dish with ½ inch of water.
   4. Steam pumpkin in oven for about 45 minutes, until flesh is fork-tender all the way to the skin. Remove the pumpkins from the oven and let cool.
   5. Once the pumpkins are cool enough to handle, scoop out the flesh and blend until smooth
2. Combine all pumpkin butter ingredients in a small sauce pan over medium heat. Cook, stirring constantly, until the ingredients are evenly blended and the mixture holds it’s shape.

For the cream cheese filling:

1. Whip together all ingredients until the mixture is smooth and completely combined.

For the Danish dough:

1. Warm milk to 110°F (in a small saucepan over low heat or in the microwave), then sprinkle yeast over the top of the warm milk without mixing. Allow to sit for five minutes, then beat in eggs and vanilla. Whisk until ingredients are thoroughly combined.
2. Mix together dry ingredients in a large bowl until just combined. Cut in 3 Tbsp of butter, cut into small cubes, and use a pastry cutter to loosely combine.
3. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and knead until combined. Refrigerate dough for 1 hour. Leave remaining butter to soften while dough chills. The butter should be stiff, but spreadable.
4. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough into a 2’ x 1’ rectangle. Spread remaining butter over the bottom two thirds of the dough. Fold the top third of the dough down into the middle, then fold the bottom third up onto the top, and roll into a 2’ x 1’ rectangle again. Repeat the folds, and refrigerate for another hour.
5. Repeat the folding and rolling process two more times to create layers of butter in the dough. This is what makes the final product light and flaky.

To assemble and bake:

1. Preheat oven to 450°F.
2. Roll out chilled dough to approximately ¼ inch thickness. Cut into 6”x8” squares.
3. Orienting rectangles such that the long edge is horizontal, make seven 1 ½ inch slits on either side.
4. Spread a line of cream cheese filling and a line of pumpkin butter vertically down the center of the rectangle, keeping approximately ½ inch away from the inner end of the slits on either side.
5. Fold the top and bottom slits on either side vertically down, to create a cup shape at either end.
6. Fold the remainder of the strips over the filling diagonally, starting from the top and alternating sides to create a crosshatch pattern. Pat down the ends of the strips as you go.
7. Place danishes on a parchment-paper lined baking sheet and bake for 8 to 10 minutes, until the pastry is golden all over.

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Picking blackberries is not for the impatient or easily deterred. Our blackberry patch has grown into a monstrous tangle of canes, 10 foot stalks that shoot up then topple to the ground in early summer, heavy with juicy black fruit. This year in particular, the berries are gorgeous – fat and sweet from just the right combination of rain and sun. The berries on the edges of the patch are easy to get to – as long as you refrain from grabbing the canes you can pick plenty of berries scratch-free. But the berries that beckon from the center of the patch are too numerous to waste, so we go after them despite the maze of thorns between us and them. As we cut paths into the center of the bramble and carefully weave our way in, our focus increases, and I find myself thinking only two things. Get the berries. Don’t touch the thorns. At the peak of the season, it can take the two of us over an hour to fully pick the patch, but there’s something I love about the concentration and straightforwardness of the task, moving slowly and precisely through the canes. And the reward – buckets of delicious berries – is always worth the inevitable scrapes and mosquito bites.

Our patch is generous: so far this year we’ve picked 11 pounds of fruit, and I have a feeling we’ll have a last, small batch to pick tomorrow. Like cherries, my favorite way to consume blackberries is fresh, preferably just-picked, when they’re still firm and warm from the sun. But when you have 11 pounds of berries, there’s plenty of room to experiment with recipes and still be able to eat your fill of fresh fruit. This summer I’ve made blackberry clafoutis, blackberry crumble, and a big batch of blackberry jam, all of which were good, but my favorite by a mile was this pie, an intense mix of blackberries, wild Maine blueberries, cherries, and maple syrup.

I love pie – in my book, it’s far superior to cake – and I have a particular weakness for berry pies. Juicy and summery, the berries break down to completely fill the space between the crusts, with no gaps like apple pies tend to have. And because I like berry pie so much, I have high standards for it, so I thought long and hard about exactly how to achieve the pie I was envisioning. I started with blackberry-maple, but thought the blackberries needed extra dimension, so cherries and blueberries got added to the mix. The ratio of cornstarch to fruit is just enough to have the pie hold it’s shape, but not so much that it loses its juiciness. And the crust utilizes a little extra butter and my new favorite pastry method, frozen butter grating, for extra flakiness. To top it all off (quite literally), I used a cute little leaf cookie cutter to decorate the top and make it all foresty and picturesque. Basically, I love this pie. I love it so much that I ate five slices in three days, bookending my Monday and Tuesday with pie: a slice with my morning latte, and a slice after dinner with ice cream. It’s probably good that there’s only a short window during which we get enough berries to make pie. Otherwise, I would be doing a lot more running.

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Maple Mixed Berry Pie

Serves 8-12.

• 2 c. flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 TBS sugar
• 12 TBS salted butter, frozen
• 6-8 TBS ice water
• 1 1/2 c. wild Maine blueberries
• 2 c. blackberries
• 2 c. pitted sweet cherries, torn in half
• 3/4 c. maple syrup
• 4 TBS cornstarch
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 2 TBS lemon juice

1. Whisk together flour, salt, and sugar in a large bowl. Remove butter from the freezer and grate over the large holes on a box grater, working quickly to keep the butter from melting. Add the cold grated butter to the flour and toss with your fingers to coat the butter with flour. Add ice water to the mixture 1 TBS at a time, using a fork to swirl the ice water through the flour after each addition. Add ice water until the dough just comes together when pressed with your fingers. Form dough into a ball and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
2. Mix the blueberries, blackberries, and cherries together in a large bowl. Pour half of the fruit into a large saucepan, and add the maple syrup to the saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, and simmer for 15-20 minutes, or until berries have broken down and released their juices, and liquid has reduced by about half. Remove from heat. In a small bowl, whisk together the cornstarch and cinnamon. Whisk the lemon juice into the cornstarch. If it is still very thick, add a few tablespoons of the juices from the room temperature berries, whisking until you have a pourable mixture. At this stage, scrape the cornstarch mixture into the bowl with the chilled fruit and stir to combine, then add the cooked fruit and stir until thoroughly mixed. Set the filling aside.
3. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Divide the pie dough into two pieces, one slightly larger than the other. On a lightly floured surface, roll the larger piece of dough out into a circle about 12 inches in diameter. Carefully lift and place into a pie plate, pressing dough gently down onto bottom. Trim the edges, leaving about 1/4 inch of overhang. Poke the bottom of the crust with a fork to allow air to vent, then bake the crust for 10 minutes in the oven, until just golden. Remove from the oven and add the prepared filling, then return the pie to the oven and bake for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, roll out the remaining piece of dough and use a cookie cutter to cut out a number of small shapes. After the pie has baked for 15 minutes, remove from the oven and cover the surface of the pie with overlapping pieces of the dough shapes (I used small leaves). Return the pie to the oven and bake until the filling is bubbly and the top crust is golden brown, another 25-35 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool before cutting. Serve with vanilla ice cream.

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The first thing I did with our strawberries was make jam. I know that for many people, jam is sort of a last resort thing, something they turn to when they’ve run out of ideas and their fruit is on its last legs. But I’ve been dreaming about filling my pantry with jars of strawberry jam, made from our very own strawberries, since the middle of winter, so for me getting a batch of jam on the shelves was my first priority. Canning still makes me a little nervous, but with every batch of preserving I get a bit more confident. This time around, I veered ever so slightly from the recipe I was using (Paul Virant’s Strawberry Pinot Noir Jam recipe from The Preservation Kitchen), adding a little bit more sugar (which, from what I understand, is basically always safe to do), and a whole vanilla bean. The resulting jam is sweet but not saccharine, loose but not runny, and very elegant. I only wish 2 pounds of strawberries made more than 3 little pint jars! It’s going to be torture to wait until fall to open the others, even though I know I’ll appreciate them much more when the prospect of meals based mainly on kale and sweet potatoes starts looming.

Of course, as delicious as jam is out of the jar, it’s still a condiment, and you typically need to serve it on something. As I waited for my canning jars to seal, my mind wandered off somewhere along the lines of “If you give a moose a muffin…” until it settled on black pepper buttermilk biscuits as the most appropriate companion for my strawberry pinot jam. Upon comparing a number of different biscuit recipes, I determined that the basic, accepted buttermilk biscuit recipe uses approximately the following ratio: 2 cups flour + 2 tsp baking powder + 1/2 tsp baking soda + 1 stick butter + 1 c. buttermilk, with a bit of variation from author to author. I followed this general guideline, used the frozen grated butter trick and added a few hefty teaspoons of freshly ground black pepper, and the resulting biscuits nearly stole the show from my poor jam. But really, they’re best together – cold and sweet strawberry jam filling in the nooks and crannies of hot and flaky buttery biscuits. And if for some strange reason you get tired of that combo, my next recommendation is to use these biscuits as a vehicle for bacon-egg-avocado sandwiches, with vanilla ice cream and strawberry jam for dessert, of course. Really, you can’t go wrong.

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Strawberry, Pinot Noir, and Vanilla Jam

Adapted from The Preservation Kitchen. Makes 3 half-pint jars.

• 2 lbs fresh strawberries, hulled and quartered
• 1 1/4 c. plus 2 TBS sugar
• 1/2 (750ml) bottle of Pinot Noir
• juice from 1/2 lemon
• 1/2 vanilla bean

1. In a wide, heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine the strawberries, sugar, wine and lemon juice. Split the vanilla bean down the middle, scraping the seeds into the berry mixture, then adding the bean pod. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat slightly and simmer for 10 minutes, until the sugar is dissolved and the strawberries have released some of their juices. Cool to room temperature, cover, and refrigerate overnight or for up to 3 days to allow the berries to continue macerating.
2. On the day you will can the jam, fill a large pot or canner with water and bring to a simmer. Scald 4 half-pint jars in the hot water to sterilize, leaving them there and a gentle simmer until you are ready to can. Soak your lids and rings in hot water to soften the seals, and sterilize your other equipment.
3. Strain the juices from the berries into a large pot, reserving the fruit on the side. Place the juices over medium high heat and cook until they have reduced by half and have reached a temperature of 215°F, about 25 minutes. Add the fruit back to the juices and continue to cook, skimming any foam off the surface with a ladle, until the mixture has reached 212°F, another 15-20 minutes. If you don’t have a thermometer, test the consistency of a jam by dropping a few drops of liquid on a frozen plate – if the chilled liquid gels, then your jam is ready.
4. Drain the hot water from your jars, and place the hot jars on the counter. Use a funnel to fill the hot jars with the hot jam, leaving a 1/2 inch space between the top of the jam and the rim of the jar. Wipe the rim with a clean paper towel, then place the lids on the jars, and screw the rings on until snug but not tight. Use canning tongs to transfer the jars back into the simmering water, increase the heat to a boil, then boil the jars for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and leave the jars in the water for a few minutes, then remove the jars from the water and let cool completely. Listen for a pop as you remove the jars from the water – that indicates a seal has properly been formed. Note: Do not process any jars that are only partially full – it is only safe to process full jars. Any partially full jars should be stored in the fridge and eaten within a few weeks.

Black Pepper Buttermilk Biscuits

Makes 12-15 biscuits.

• 2 c. AP flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp coarse sea salt
• 1 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 1 stick salted butter, frozen
• 1 c. cold buttermilk

1. Preheat the oven to 425°F. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and pepper. Grate frozen butter over the coarse holes of a box grater, then add the grated butter to the flour mixture. Use your fingers to gently toss the grated butter with the flour, fully coating the butter.
2. Pour the buttermilk into the flour mixture, and use a fork to gently mix them together, just until the dough is moistened. Don’t overmix. Lightly flour a work surface and turn the dough out onto it. Knead the dough 2-3 times, just until it comes together, then flatten into a disk that is 1/2 an inch thick. Use a round cookie cutter (about 2-inches in diameter) to cut out biscuits, pressing the scraps together when you’ve run out of room to create a smaller disk. Place the biscuits on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
3. Chill the biscuits in the fridge for 20 minutes, then transfer to the preheated oven. Bake until puffed and golden brown on the top and sides, about 15-18 minutes. Remove from the oven and serve immediately.

The post Ingredient of the Week: Strawberries // Black Pepper Buttermilk Biscuits with Strawberry Pinot Noir Jam appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

It’s mother’s day! Which means every one of you should do something nicer than usual for your mom today. I’m lucky to be able to see my parents almost every week, something that I appreciate far more than I would ever have guessed at the end of high school when I couldn’t wait to flee the state of Massachusetts. It’s so nice to have an escape from the day-to-day only a short-ways a way, somewhere I can spend quiet afternoons outside (in a yard!) and sit down to family dinners with my parents, little brother, and Trevor. Although lots of other parts of the country (and world) appeal to me as destinations, the biggest deterrent to moving somewhere else permanently is being away from my family. Who knew I’d turn out to be such a momma’s girl?

On my visit home yesterday, I brought my mom a batch of these scones, baked fresh that morning, because she really likes scones. We used to go to high tea for special occasions when I was little, and although I couldn’t bring my mom a personal waiter in black tie for the day, I could bring some sweet and flaky baked goods. These particular scones are peach and Bourbon flavored, because not only is my mom sweet and loving and adorable, she’s also a lot of fun, and never one to turn down a margarita or a glass of sangria at the end of a summer’s day. I love that we can now share a drink (and a cackle) and gossip about family and work and friends while rocking back and forth on the porch swing. It’s easy to be friends with my mom.

These scones are quite different than others that I’ve had – whereas I usually think of scones as being a bit dry and crumbly and best served with gobs of jam and cream, these are more like flaky bites of pie crust, already soft and moist and flavorful without the addition of any condiments. I think the crumbly kind of scone has a lot going for it, namely its affinity for jam and cream, but these are a welcome addition to my ever-broadening definition of scones. One thing to note – don’t skip the Bourbon glaze, it’s essential for bringing out the best in these little pastries.

So, Happy Mother’s Day to all the mother’s out there, but especially to mine! I love you, mom.

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Peach Scones with Bourbon Glaze

Adapted from Cook’s Illustrated via The Vanilla Bean Blog. Makes 10-12 scones.

• 2 c. flour
• 1 TBS baking powder
• 2 TBS sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 12 TBS butter, frozen
• 1/2 c. creme fraiche
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 c. diced frozen peaches (in 1/4 inch cubes)
• 1/4 c. heavy cream for brushing
• 1 TBS turbinado sugar for sprinkling

For the glaze:

• 1 c. powdered sugar
• 4 tsp heavy cream
• 4 tsp Bourbon

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, 2 TBS of sugar, and salt until evenly combined. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together creme fraiche, vanilla, and eggs until evenly combined.
3. Grate the frozen butter over the large holes of a box grater. Add the grated butter to the flour mixture, and use your hands to toss the mixture until all the butter pieces are fully coated with flour. Add the creme fraiche mixture to the butter and flour and use a spatula to stir just until flour is fully moistened – avoid overmixing.
4. Lightly flour a work surface, and dump the dough onto it. Knead gently just until it forms a loose ball. Using a floured rolling pin, roll the ball into a 12 inch square, then fold the dough in thirds. Fold in thirds again in the other direction, leaving you with a tall, 4 inch square. Place on a plate and chill in the freezer for 5-10 minutes, until cold to the touch.
5. Once dough is chilled, return it to your work surface and roll out into a 12 inch square. Sprinkle the diced peaches over the surface, pressing them down lightly into the dough. Roll the dough into a log (like a jelly roll), then use the rolling pin to flatten the log into a 4 inch by 12 inch rectangle. Cut into 5 or 6 rectangles, then cut each rectangle in half, resulting in 10 to 12 triangular scones. Place scones on prepared baking sheet, and brush each generously with heavy cream, then sprinkle with turbinado sugar. Bake for 18-25 minutes, until scones are golden brown on the top. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool.
6. To make the glaze, whisk together the powdered sugar, 4 tsp of heavy cream, and Bourbon until smooth. Glaze should be a good drizzling consistency. If it’s too thick, add a splash more Bourbon; too thin, add a few tablespoons of powdered sugar. Once the scones are cool, use a fork to drizzle the glaze over the scones in thin lines. Let set for 10-15 minutes, then serve.

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I started an “Ingredient of the Week” feature earlier this year, challenging myself to make the most of a particular in-season ingredient by posting a creative recipe starring that ingredient for 5 days in a row. I managed to feature rhubarb and green peas, and had grand plans for doing blackberries and peaches and zucchini and tomatoes by the end of the summer, but the summer sort of got away from me. Still, just because home grown produce isn’t as bountiful now as it was in August doesn’t mean that there aren’t seasonal ingredients worth celebrating. This week, I’m celebrating one of the last vegetables we were able to harvest from our garden – the carrot.

While not as popular as another sweet, orange fall vegetable (although I do feel like the pumpkin mayhem is a little more under control this year), the carrot is a humble, under-utilized little root. Usually, when I think of carrots I think of them as part and parcel with onions and celery for starting out a soup, or as stubby little dippers for hummus. But they’re so much more versatile than that! Cakes, sauces, juices, roasts – if you take a minute to think about it, you’ll realize that carrots add sweetness and depth to many different meals.

Whenever I kick off an ingredient of the week feature, I first spend an evening sitting on the floor, surrounded by piles of cookbooks, searching for the most interesting recipes I can find. Once I have a big list compiled, I choose the four or five recipes that I think are the most unique and delicious-sounding. The most interesting recipe from this weekend’s cookbook research comes from a new member of my collection, Maria Elia’s Full of Flavor. In her “roots” chapter, amidst more typical presentations like carrot and herb salad and spiced carrot puree, I found this recipe for a savory carrot, feta, and almond baklava. I’d never had a savory baklava before, and loved the idea. The carrots are thinly sliced and stewed with cinnamon, lemon, caramelized onions, and dill, before a portion of them are pureed. Layered with feta and crushed almonds between butter-soaked sheets of filo dough, they are then baked to crusty perfection and drizzled with honey. I loved the sweet and salty play of the honey and feta cheese, and think these would be a great (if a little messy) vegetarian party appetizer at any time of the year. A good start to carrot week, if you ask me.

Carrot, Almond, and Feta Baklava

Recipe adapted slightly from Full of Flavor. Serves 8-10.

• 3 TBS olive oil
• 1 large onion, peeled, halved, and thinly sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely minced
• 2 lb carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
• 1 small bunch fresh dill, including roots, finely chopped (about 1 1/2 c. chopped dill)
• 1 TBS ground cinnamon
• finely grated zest of 1 lemon
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• sea salt
• 9 sheets filo pastry (about 3/4 of a package)
• 6 TBS butter, melted
• 2/3 c. whole almonds
• 1 2/3 c. crumbled feta cheese
• 4 TBS honey

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan, then add the sliced onions. Caramelize the onions over medium heat until dark and sticky, stirring frequently to prevent burning. This should take 15-20 minutes.
2. Stir in the garlic, carrots, dill, cinnamon, lemon zest, and lemon juice, and season with sea salt. Cook for another 6-8 minutes, stirring frequently. Add 3 cups of water, and bring to a gentle simmer. Cook over medium heat until most of the liquid has been absorbed and the carrots are tender, about 30 minutes.
3. Process the almonds in a food processor until they are the consistency of a coarse breadcrumb, then set aside in a bowl. Mix the feta cheese with the ground almonds. Add 1/3 of the carrot mixture to the food processor and process until smooth, then stir back into the whole carrots.
4. Unfold the filo dough, and cut to the size of the baking sheet you will be using (ideally around 9×13. Save the extra dough. Cover the sheets you will be using with a damp paper towel to keep them from drying out as you work.
5. Brush the baking sheet lightly with melted butter, then lay one sheet of filo dough on it. Brush the filo with melted butter, and top with another sheet of filo. Repeat to have three sheets of filo in the first layer. Spread half the carrot mixture gently on top of the filo, pushing it out to the corners. Sprinkle half the feta-almond mixture on top of this, pressing down lightly to smooth. Repeat the filo-butter process with three sheets of filo, then spread the remaining carrot and feta mixture on top. Finish the baklava with another three sheets of butter-brushed filo. Before brushing the top sheet, score gently with a sharp knife to cut the pastry into diamonds. Then brush with the remaining butter and sprinkle with cold water. Bake for 35-40 minutes, until golden. Remove from the oven and let cool to room temperature before drizzling with the honey.

The post Ingredient of the Week: Carrots // Savory Carrot, Feta, and Almond Baklava appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

Happy Wednesday, everyone! I’m in a remarkably good mood. This can likely be 95% attributed to the fact that today was bonus-day at my real job, but I’m going to pretend for a minute that I’m not primarily motivated by financial gain and tell you some other things that are good right now. Like, that this morning when I was walking to the train it smelled like mud, and the birds were going nuts, and the sun was warm, and I took a deep breath and it finally felt like spring. And that I’m going to be spending this weekend in Philly with my three best college girlfriends, and I can’t wait to see them and drown ourselves in girl talk and good food. And that I went to a challenging-in-a-good-way ballet class tonight and now I feel all loose and tired. And that I started a new and interesting project at work this week, and it’s energizing to feel truly engaged in what I’m doing all day.

It feels really nice to be able to recognize all these positive things. Since the middle of February I’ve decidedly been suffering from a case of the winter doldrums (does that word remind anyone else primarily of The Phantom Tollbooth? Perhaps my favorite childhood book). Work has been a little slow, and the weather has been awfully gray, and I’ve just generally been feeling uninspired and unmotivated. But with the longer, warmer days, and the feeling that life is seeping back into the world, I feel better and better. Ready to get re-engaged. Re-energized.

This apple cream tart from Venezia in Cucina: The Flavors of Venice is another really nice thing I’ve experienced recently. It was the third recipe I made Saturday when reviewing the book (and it’s sister book, Sicilia in Cucina) and it was easily my favorite, and thus deserving of its own post. It’s a fairly simple dessert – store-bought puff-pastry as a crust, a thick, sweet pastry cream filling, and a topping of sliced apples. But somehow the combination really got me. I was skeptical of the technique for the pastry cream – just throw it all in a pan and whisk vigorously? No tempering of eggs? How much potato starch? But I followed the instructions and I actually loved how it came out. It was thicker and less rich tasting than typical pastry creams, and it worked perfectly in the tart. I ate three huge slices of this before I gave it up for good to Trevor, and even then I was a little sad when he ate it all and there wasn’t any more. This will definitely go into the “easy but impressive” dessert rotation around here.

I hope you all are starting to feel the transition into spring too. And if you’re still waiting, make yourself something sweet – it will make the time go faster.

Apple Cream Tart

Recipe adapted from Venezia in Cucina. Serves 6-8.

• 1/4 c. flour (35g)
• 1/4 c. potato starch (35g)
• 3/4 c. sugar (160g) + 2 TBS sugar, divided
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 whole egg
• 2 c. whole milk
• 1 whole vanilla bean (or 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract)
• 2 apples (I used Honeycrisp)
• juice from 1/2 lemon
• 1 piece store-bought puff pastry, thawed

1. In a large saucepan, whisk together the flour, potato starch, and 3/4 c. sugar until lump free. Whisk in the egg yolks and egg, one at a time, then slowly whisk in the milk, incorporating a little at a time. Beat until the liquid is smooth and without any lumps. Add the vanilla bean or the vanilla extract and stir to incorporate. Heat the liquid over low heat, whisking vigorously the whole time, until the custard thickens to a spoonable consistency, then immediately remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.
2. Preheat the oven to 365°F. Wash and core the apples, then thinly slice them and toss with the lemon juice and remaining 2 TBS of sugar to coat the apples. Let sit 10 minutes.
3. Roll out the puff pastry to an even thickness and a width of about 10 inches by 12 inches. Cut a 2 inch strip off to make a 10 inch square. Press the 10 inch square of crust into an 8×8 baking pan, using the extra to press partway up the sides of the pan. Spoon the custard into this as a filling, then top with a layer of apple slices. Cut the 2 inch strip of pastry into 4-6 thin strips and use to criss-cross the top of the tart.
4. Bake the tart for 50-60 minutes, until the custard is set, and the pastry is golden. Remove from oven and let cool completely before removing from pan and serving.

The post A Happy Wednesday // Italian Apple Cream Tart appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

As the official end of summer is upon us, it’s high time I post an update on my summer bucket list from June.  While in my mind summer’s not over until tomatoes leave the farmer’s market and the water’s too cold to go swimming, it is true that the number of nice days left in the season is quickly shortening, and I better make the most of what’s left!

1. Go to the Cape.  While I haven’t done this yet, I haven’t given up on it, either.  Shoulder season on the Cape might even be nicer than the height of summer, who knows?
2. Pick berries.  Blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, even a few straggler strawberries on my landlord’s tiny plants – berries have been picked.  Sadly, the backyard raspberry patch season was ended early by raspberry fruitworms – I will get you next year, worms.
3. Learn to grill.  I did light the grill one or two times… and even flip things over on it… but I still haven’t done it myself, so I’m not checking it off yet.  What are some recipes that will entice me to grill?
4. Make Cassis.  Success!  After much searching, Trevor secured enough black currants to make a batch of homemade creme de cassis and it came out perfectly.  I’m so glad I have enough to last me through several evenings of Kirs.
5. Visit the Harbor Islands.  Ditto the Cape.  We actually tried to go to the Harbor Islands – as in, we went all the way to the dock, waited in line for tickets, only to find that tickets were mostly sold out for that day.  Thankfully, the ferry keeps running on weekends until October 8th, so perhaps an early fall picnic is in order.
6. Ride my bike.  You would think this was an easy one, right?  Wrong.  Apparently I have some sort of anxious relationship with my bike – I own a bike, but have managed to draw out the process of getting ready to ride it for over a year.  First the lock, then the helmet, then finding a pump to put air in the tires – easy things, took me forever.  Anyway, as of today it’s all set to go – I haven’t actually gotten on it yet, but I’m for sure doing it this week, so I’m crossing it off anyway.
7. Train for a half marathon.  I’m 100% surprised that this is one of the things I actually managed to accomplish this summer.  When my friend Steph suggested that Trevor and I join her and her boyfriend in Chicago for a half, I said yes and registered without too much thinking ahead, only to realize immediately after that I had only 6 weeks to whip my butt into shape.  But with Saturday’s 10-mile run under my belt, I’m feeling almost ready to hit the pavement – next weekend!  If that one’s a bust though, I’ve a bit longer to keep training for the Newburyport half with my mom – which isn’t until the beginning of November.
8. Do a producer interview.  Still an idea I like, just haven’t gotten around to it!
9. Plan a trip.  Fail, Katie.  We are going to Chicago, but that’s not exactly the trip I had in mind.  I’ll keep you posted.
10. Make at least 3 kinds of ice cream.  Well this one was super easy – making and consuming ice cream has never been much of a challenge for me.  I started the summer off with cherry-chocolate ice cream, proceeded to Bailey’s fudge ripple ice cream, and most recently popped a batch of super-easy and surprisingly healthy plum sorbet in the freezer.  Now that pumpkin beer has started to show up in stores, I’ve had a custardy pumpkin ice cream on my mind – ice cream has no season!

So 5 for 10.  Not too terrible, not too great.  It’s still possible I’ll finish all of them before the end of September, but if not, it was fun to do the things I did.  And as for the tart you’re seeing here, it’s included because the arrival of figs at the market is a sure sign that summer is slowly shifting into fall.  Figs aren’t my favorite fruit, but even I liked this custardy almond tart with caramelized figs and almond brittle enough to have a big slice.  After that, I handed it over to Trevor to finish off our first dinner in his new house.

Fig and Almond Custard Tart

Adapted from Sunday Suppers at Lucques.  Serves 8.

For the pate sucree (crust):

• 2 TBS cold heavy cream
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 1/2 c. flour
• 3 TBS sugar
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1 stick cold butter
• 2 TBS ice cold water

1. Whisk together flour, sugar, and salt in a large bowl.  Cut butter into 1/2 inch chunks and add to flour mixture.  Use a pastry cutter to cut butter into flour until dough resembles coarse meal, with even pieces about the size of a pea.  In a small bowl, beat together egg yolk and cream until even in color.  Slowly drizzle egg mixture into dough while stirring with a wooden spoon.  Then add ice water 1 TBS at a time, stirring at the same time.  At this point, dough should hold together loosely when pressed.
2. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill for 10 mintues.  Remove from fridge and turn out onto a lightly floured surface.  Roll out into a 10 inch circle about 1/4 inch thick, then carefully lift over top of tart pan.  Press crust into edges of tart pan, and chill crust in pan for 1 hour.
3. Preheat oven to 400°F.  Prick the bottom of the chilled crust 4-5 times with a fork.  Line chilled tart crust with parchment paper, then fill with pie weights.  Bake for 15 minutes, then remove parchment paper and pie weights, and bake for another 15 minutes, until golden brown.  Set aside to cool for at least 20 minutes.

For the filling:

• 18 black mission figs, de-stemmed and quartered
• 3 TBS butter, divided
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 10 TBS sugar, divided
• 1/2 c whole blanched almonds
• 2 eggs
• 1 c. heavy cream
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 1 TBS cognac

1. Caramelize the figs: add 2 TBS butter to a large frying pan and heat over medium heat.  When butter begins to foam, add 3 TBS sugar, then swirl/stir until sugar has dissolved.  Add quartered figs, and cook, stirring, until figs have released their juices and are coated in sugar.  Remove from heat and stir in vanilla extract.  Set half of the fig mixture aside.  Spread the other half over the bottom of the pre-baked tart pan.
2. Wipe out the pan used to caramelize the figs and add remaining 1 TBS of butter and 3 TBS of sugar and stir to dissolve.  Add almonds, and caramelize, stirring frequently, until almonds are a toasty golden brown and sugar has begun to caramelize on them.  Remove from pan onto wax paper and let cool, then break almond brittle into bite sized pieces.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, remaining 4 TBS of sugar, cream, almond extract, and cognac until evenly combined.  Pour custard over fig mixture in tart shell, then bake for 30 minutes (still at 400°F), until custard is set and slightly puffed.  Let cool on a rack for 10 minutes, then top with remaining fig mixture and almond brittle.  Serve warm or after chilling in the fridge.

The post Summer Bucket List Update and a Fig and Almond Tart appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

Remember this?

Yeah, I’m still really excited about it.  And I’ve had my heart set on those danishes all week.  It’s just taken me a while to get to them, because, you see, I’ve been really busy acting like a college student.  Which is actually something of a rarity for me.  I had a wild and crazy freshman year, and then, I retreated.  I like being with people, I like going on adventures, I like dinner parties, and girl’s night in.  I like drinking wine and giggling, I like drinking beer and eating burgers, and I like taking tequila shots with my mother.  Yes, my mother.  But the whole “boot’n’rally” mentality of freshman year has sort of turned me off the party-hard scene.  I go out, sometimes.  But I’m kind of tame.  And for the most part, I consider this a good thing.  A really, really good thing.

However, this past week, a new dimension has been added to the college student life – a pool.  A pool with no rules about alcohol, in a state that averages a high of 98° around this time of year.  This pool is very different from the kid-friendly campus pool we frequented before this pool opened.  That pool is crowded, noisy, splashy, multicultural, and kind of awesome.  I get to play like a little kid there, there’s no shortage of cute baby sightings, and I occasionally brush up on my Czech or Russian because I swear, no one on a research university campus in the summer speaks English.  The new pool is quiet, lethargic, boozy, and kind of awesome.  Bros arrive on the scene as early as 9am with their cases of Busch light, and they sit, and flex their pecs, and concentrate on looking tan, muscular, and uninterested in any life forms that are smaller than them.  Occasionally the bros get in the pool and throw something around, then they return to their babe-watching perches on the side.  The babes, on the other hand, lie draped, completely motionless, over the sunchairs, glistening, skinny, coozie within reach.  It’s kind of disturbing, but it’s kind of the sweet life too.

So all this pool talk is relevant for the following reason: I was going to make pastry dough Wednesday afternoon, but then Trevor got a case of beer and we went to a Kooley High concert and then had to sit in the pool and drink the beer… to cool off from the concert.  Then I was going to make pastry dough Thursday afternoon, but we had to go eat Lo-Yo with Max and then … drink beer in the pool, to warm up from the Lo-Yo.  Then Friday I was definitely, definitely going to make pastry dough, because I really, really wanted danishes Saturday morning, but then we had to go to a BBQ and drink just a little bit more beer.  And then Marc dropped the burgers in the trash accidentally so we had to go back to his apartment.  And then he had a box of Franzia in his fridge so we had to bring it to the pool.  And then we had to spend 4 hours in the pool having chicken fights and slapping the bag and polishing off the entire box, because Trevor and Marc made a pact.  And pacts are very important.  I’m allowed to tell you all this because I’m 21 now, and these activities are entirely legal and responsible.

So Saturday morning, danishless, completely dehydrated, I dragged myself to the grocery store, stumbled through my shopping, literally whimpering the entire time (ohhhh, this is why I stopped acting like a college student) and got everything I needed for the stupid danishes.  Then I went back and I made that dough, damn-it, spending the entire 3 hours it requires inside, not in the pool, and not drinking beer.  Thank God.

And so, now that it is Sunday, I have my danishes.  They are delicious.  They are worth the mental strife I suffered while I was not making them.  And the physical strife I suffered while I was making them.  But really, it’s been a good week.  Time for another one.

[Note:  The pastry dough recipe I used was the “Danish Pastry Dough” from “The Fundamental Techniques of Classic Pastry Arts.”  Previews of the book are not available online, so I decided against posting the exact recipe – I do recommend the book if you’re interested in really learning the basics of pastry baking.  The link included below has an almost identical recipe to the one in the book.  Suggestions to make it more authentic would be to use half cake flour and half bread flour, as well as to add a pinch of ground cardamom, which makes a huge difference in the flavor!  To save time, you could also use frozen puff pastry with equally good results!]

Cherry-Cream Cheese Danishes

Makes 8 danishes

• 1 recipe Danish Pastry Dough (add a pinch of cardamom!), or 1 sheet frozen puff pastry, see headnote.
• 1/2 package Neufchatel cheese or cream cheese
• 1/4 c. sugar
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 tsp. almond extract
• 1 cup Grown-up Cherry Puree
• 1 egg yolk mixed with 2 tsp water

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.  Line two baking trays with parchment paper.  Lightly flour a counter and rolling pin.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together cream cheese, sugar, egg yolk, and almond extract until smooth.  Set aside.
3. Take half of the pastry dough out of the fridge (leave the other half in the fridge until you finish the first 4 pastries so that the dough does not get too soft).  Roll out into an 8×16 inch rectangle, or to about an eighth of an inch thickness.  Cut pastry rectangle lengthwise four times, so that you have four 4×8 inch rectangles.  Cut 4-5 inch long strips on either side of each rectangle.  See this website for a great photo tutorial on making crossovers.  Place two tablespoons of cream cheese filling in center of danish.  Top with two tablespoons of cherry puree.  Cross bottom right strip over filling, then bottom left strip over that, continuing this pattern until you have used all of the strips.  Press top of pastry gently with your rolling pin and transfer to baking sheet.  Brush with egg yolk wash.
4. Continue with second half of dough when first batch of danishes is formed.  Bake for 20 minutes, until golden brown on the top.  These are best straight out of the oven!

The post Cherries for Grown-Ups, Part Two appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

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.

The post Adventures in Austrian Pastry – Kardinal Schnitten appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.